chris and becka warner

I am totally ready for baby to arrive! Well, maybe I should say I’m ready on the “stuff” side of things. A few months before returning to the U.S., Chris and I were wondering how we would be able to afford all the things we needed for the baby. Now, it’s two weeks away from the due date and we are lacking nothing! We have (thanks to the generosity of wonderful friends and family!) all of his clothes for the next year, or 35 pounds, whichever comes first. They’ve been washed, sorted by size and packed away neatly in plastic bins. We also have all of the fun extras: tiny little shoes and socks; a stack of green, yellow, blue and white linens; a pillow to keep his head from flopping around in the car seat; a baby carrier and sling; his first bag of newborn diapers; some of his daddy’s favorite childhood toys to be re-loved. Basically, it’s all there, and we didn’t have to buy a single outfit! We only spent money on a few other essentials. I am totally amazed at how blessed this little guy is. He isn’t missing a thing, and it really moves me that God could take care of us so well. Thanks everyone!

Though it’s wonderful to have all of the things needed to care for a child, it feels like our planning (and my obsessive nesting) can’t prepare us to be decent parents. That’s the mysterious thing about becoming a parent for the first time. No matter what I read, or what people have told me, there’s just no way to know what it’s like to be a mommy…until it happens to me. I still can’t wrap my mind around the idea that very soon, our little boy will be taking his very first breath. After that, it will be years of “firsts”, not only for him but for us as well! But ready or not, he’s still coming and we can’t wait to meet him.

I am now hopelessly addicted to these wonderful little cubes. A family member (who will remain unnamed to protect his genius), who is even more hopelessly addicted and has been so for a lot longer and now actively enables my addiction, was messing around with one a while back. I made the mistake of “giving it a try.” A few frustrated hours later the cube was still unsolved, but I was hooked. This was my “gateway” experience with the powerful drug called Rubiks.

It’s just a few months later, and I’ve progressed immensely (or regressed, depending on how you look at it.) I no longer take pleasure in solving the cube. That is child’s play. I get my high from solving it fast. First I broke the hour mark, then half an hour, then ten minutes, then eight minutes, then five minutes, then four. Now I am down to 2 minutes, 41 seconds. Becka had the audacity to call me a dork, but she doesn’t understand that I’m still a part-time user; an amateur who hasn’t paid his dues in social status, compromised a career, or broken relationships because of the 9×9 squares. Heck, I’ve only taken it out in public once. This guy, on the other hand….is amazing:

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I don’t even want to know what kind of time it took to get those skills. I would hope I would check myself into rehab before I get to that point.

You’re probably thinking, But seriously, why do it? For the money? For the sex appeal? Simple. Because everyone who has picked up a rubik’s cube knows that someday the future of the universe will rest solely on their ability to solve it. Someday, I will find myself hostage to a tyrannical dictator with his hand on a button that will send nukes to the four corners of the earth. He will look at me, and say, “I am going to press this button and destroy everyone. I have set the timer for three minutes.” Then, with a mad glint in his eye, he will look at me and say, “Unless….you can solve this rubiks cube before the timer reaches zero.”

Who will be the dork then? This guy, for starters.

Just beyond the back fence, I can see a lovely tree. From my view outside the window, it’s the lone tree with any color left; its slender, black branches are adorned with tiny red leaves. Up and down the street on either side of the tree are dark, empty branches, a sign that winter is officially here. Each morning for about a month, I have daily come into this room to do some typing or check my email, and the fiery tree was there, in full autumn glory. The more that fall progressed and leaves littered the streets, the more that tree became a beacon of light among a dismal brown jungle of twigs and branches. As other trees faded around it, its color hasn’t diminished in the least.

I can remember the first time I realized that Jesus literally holds the world together. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach with the startling understanding that He is so tenderly connected to humanity that He personally holds it together. Not just the church, or the “insiders”, but the entire cosmos! This man Jesus, who healed blind eyes; who loved and accepted the prostitutes, children, thieves, outcasts, and people just like me-this is what God is like. In this moment of reflection, a beautiful, shocking picture of who Christ is vaulted through years of boring sermons and regurgitated quotes. I finally understood that there is no detachment from the beautiful, life-altering acts of kindness that Jesus did during His lifetime on earth, and who He is right now as He sits at the right hand of the Father, holding and sustaining the universe.

For some reason, this struck me like a wave of color in a black and white world. Kind of like my lone red tree.

It’s been pretty quiet on the blog these days. It’s not that we’ve been overly busy or anything, but just enjoying the days as they pass: time with family, plenty of good food, wondering when baby will decide to introduce himself, and definitely a whole lot to be thankful for.

Becka and I are both big fans of theologian/pastor Greg Boyd. I love his books, but I enjoy listening to his sermons even more. Why? Because he consistently preaches a Christ-centered vision of the Kingdom, or a “Christianity” that is breathed straight from the teachings and person Christ. So much of what passes for Christianity in America these days really has nothing to do with who Jesus was or what he taught, to the point that Christianity is in danger of becoming little more than a nationalistic religion (as it is already perceived to be by much of the world), instead of the radical, universal, and subversive relationship that it is supposed to be. Boyd consistently cuts through all the distractions and gets right to the heart of what it means to follow Jesus. Of course, you may disagree with his conclusions, but the point is you can’t listen to him casually-he forces you to wrestle with the teachings of Jesus and confront what Christ wants to do in your own life. On top of all this, Boyd is also a top-notch scholar, and he brings an interesting and informed perspective on a whole range of themes. If you’re interested…

Listen to his latest sermon, which is a great example of what I am talking about, here.

Or check out the archives and listen to other sermons here.

Or subscribe to his podcast on itunes, called Woodland Hills Church Sermon Podcast.