In preparing for my talk, “What are you afraid of?” this past weekend at McLane Church, I shot a video interview with my brother Jeff Natalie, who is a prominent family counselor in Erie and founder of the ErieKIDS.org website. You can reach him through the site. I thought his insight on children and fear was really helpful and I want to share the entire interview with you. The YouTube video is embedded below.
I have the privilege to speak at my church this weekend where I serve as the Director of Communications and Technology for McLane Church. My talk is called, “What are you afraid of?” and it focuses on my faith journey, and my battle over fear, which has been a prominent thread in my life.
If you’d like to come listen here are the times and locations (yes, I’ll be doing all five…four live, one video):
McLane Church-Edinboro - 12511 Edinboro Road, Edinboro: Sat. at 6 PM, Sun. at 9 & 11 AM
McLane Church-Union City - 105 Concord Street (Union City High School Audi.), Union City: Sun. at 11 AM
McLane “church in a bar”-Erie - 1213 State Street (The CellBlock), Erie: Sun. at 7 PM
If you miss it, don’t worry, it will be on the McLane audio podcast this week.
5:30 AM: My new I-Home clock radio wakes me to praise music from my I-Pod. I’m embarking on a new adventure today. I’m going to take the bus to work.
Aside: waking up to my I-Pod instead of my favorite radio station, WCTL has me a little concerned that I’ve crossed over to some very bad parallel universe that diminishes the importance of terrestrial broadcasting. More about that in a future post.
6:15 AM: Time to go. I’ve packed my I-Pod, Bible, a book I’m reading, two Fiber One bars. I haven’t had any coffee yet
6:22 AM: My wife drops me at the bus stop, about 10 blocks from my house. I sit down on the bench. I think that I must have looked like a goober sitting there with my Targus computer case upright on my lap. But the morning is beautiful.
6:30 AM: Still on the bench. I’m afraid to put on my earbuds for the I-pod in fear of getting mugged. Stupid I know, but I’m not yet comfortable about sitting on a downtown street corner with several hundred dollars worth of technology on me. I don’t know when my bus will come. One just passed by but it was the M2 and I’m watching for the 14.
6:34 AM: Well at least that’s the time on my 20-ride ticket. I’m thinking that the ticket swiper is running about seven minute slow. No worries, however, because I’ve got plenty of time before my first meeting. The bus driver is friendly, asks where I’m heading and explains that it’s two swipes to Edinboro. Of course I knew that, since I’ve been researching what the logistics would be like to take the bus for the past month now.
For eight years of my life, taking an Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority bus was a daily occurrence. I rode Route 7 to Mercyhurst Prep for four years, getting on at 18th and State often after traversing some gigantic snow mounds at the Erie Central Mall and enduring sub-zero wind chills in my W.T. Grant parka. When college came I rode with my dad the Route 5 bus downtown to 7th and State. But it has been 24 years since those days, in which I’ve probably ridden a city bus 2 or 3 times, max.; until today.
The bus to Edinboro doesn’t really fit my schedule most of the time. During the school year I’ve got to transport kids, and need the flexibility of having my own wheels. But with that round trip to Edinboro in my car now costing $8.00, taking the bus starts looking really good, especially with the summer here. If I can do the bus even once a week, I can pocket $4, and feel good about doing something about these gas prices.
6:50 AM: We are picking people up at the mall. There’s about six or seven other folks on the bus heading toward the Boro. I’ve put my earbuds in and am reading my One Year Bible readings. It’s pretty noisy and squeaky, but for the most part I’m comfortable.
7:12 AM: I put my stuff away and ask the bus driver if could let me out at my work, which is right on the highway he is taking to Edinboro. He obliges, turns on his blinkers and pulls off to the right of the road, exactly in front of the church where I work. To the door service. As he heads on I see the line of nine cars who waited for me to disembark. I feel a little sheepish to be holding up traffic, but glad for the ride.
7:15 AM: I’m at my desk ready to start the day.
As folks come into the office a bit later they are surprised to see that I’m already there. When I tell them that I took the bus, they are kind of shocked and nearly universally exclaim, “Joel, you’re going green!” I look at the environmental-deal as being a cool, yet secondary benefit to spending less than half the cash on my commute.
3:24 PM: Time for the ride home. I’m the first one on, but by the time I get off, the bus is about 60% full. I shared my seat for a couple miles.
4:15 PM: After getting dropped off and a brisk walk, I’m back home. I can definitely do this next week!
I also wrote today’s devotional for 106.3 WCTL as part of McLane Church’s week for their Power Up Devotionals daily feature. Here’s the link to listen, or just read it below:
Morphing
I think that WCTL General Manager Ron Raymond agrees with me in saying that one of the most impact-full authors and speakers in both of our faith journeys is John Ortberg. For nine years, Dr. Ortberg was a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, and he currently pastors at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California. He has written some amazingly simple, yet challenging books about the Christian life, which reflect his passion about “Spiritual Formation” or how people become more like Jesus. My favorite book of his is The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People
I had the privilege to write a devotional for 106.3 WCTL’s daily feature, PowerUp Devotionals. You can hear it here, or just read it for yourself:
History of Change
How about an Erie history lesson today? Did you know that in 1753 the French built a fort on the Erie bayfront called Fort Presque Isle with the purpose of keeping the English in their place in what was then the western frontier of the British colonies. Well their efforts didn’t work since they abandoned the fort and the British took over the land only after six years of French occupation. Things didn’t go well either for the British, as they abandoned their fort in Erie after only three years, fearing the imminent attack of Iroquois and Seneca native Americans. It wasn’t until 1795, years after the end of the American Revolution that a permanent town was laid out and called Erie. So the land which is now Erie was claimed by three different countries in a span of less than fifty years. That’s a lot of change for one little plot of land. Sometimes in our life circumstances we encounter change. Change is not easy, often it makes us uncomfortable to even being stressed out or angry. Fortunately, God gives us tools to cope with and even embrace change. First, we are encouraged to build a solid foundation in our relationship with God. That comes through prayer and the reading of God’s word the Bible. As we learn more about God and His character, we are able to better discern what is really happening when a wave of change comes our way. The Holy Spirit is able to bring peace to our hearts for clear thinking and perspective. Finally we can have a strong realization of God’s perfect love for us that will cast out the fear that can accompany change. God created us to be dynamic people, constantly growing in relationship to Him and to others. When change comes, our strong connection to God will help us navigate those new waters.
I’m on-the-air on WCTL all day Thursday hosting a fundraiser in support of the translators the Family First Foundation operates in Warren PA and Jamestown NY. If you are a WCTL fan and you can send a pledge, it would be greatly appreciated. Call 1-800-282-9285 or click here to pledge. Mention my blog…I’d love to get on the phone and chat!
I use Google Reader (I know that there’s probably better ones) for reading syndicated content, and it has this nice feature where it aggregates posts about topics using Google Blog Search. I’ve got it tuned to “Christian radio” so I can keep up with what was a big part of my life for 14 years.
Interestingly in the past week there have been several posts commenting on a piece in World Net Daily by Janet Folger entitled “Letter from a future prisoner.” In it she predicts a future world three years from now where Christian radio would be outlawed, Christians will be persecuted for their beliefs, and uttering the words “mom” or “dad” would be hate speech. All of this would occur if Hillary is elected.
Ok, maybe Ms. Folger sounds a little hysterical, but she’s obviously trying to make her point through exaggeration, a literary tool historically used in much of political literature. What is alarming to me is the equally hysterical reaction of the left-wing blogosphere. First off, most discard her as “typical nut-job.” But if that’s the case, why make such a fuss and sound so defensive? Their references are drawing more attention (like mine) to her column than she would typically have. Take a look at some of these (careful, possible bad language).
Second, you get the sense that the lefties “doth protest too much.” I’ve heard Speaker Pelosi talk about how important reestablishing the Fairness Doctrine is to her party. It is well understood that the Fairness Doctrine is anything but fair, and would absolutely squelch free speech in broadcasting, kill conservative (and liberal) talk radio, as well as Christian radio. The Democrat Party doesn’t like talk radio because their multiple attempts to match Rush Limbaugh have been abysmal failures, both in ratings and revenues. Do I think that a Democrat Congress backed by a Democrat President could bring back the Fairness Doctrine? Probably.
What about this criminalization of Christianity? I have written in the past that the only sociological demographic that can be ridiculed and demonized with impunity are white, male, conservative evangelicals. It’s a stretch to go from marginalization to criminalization…right?
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