2010...

That's kinda' the scene we came from last night.

My first (ever) 'house party'.  First (ever) actual New Year's Eve party where you dance 'till 12 and blow those silly horns and wear those silly hats and kiss your wife then your friends at the end of the countdown then dance some more then leave before the Cops show up.

And you're thinking, "Gee whiz, what kind of guy waits 'till he's 35 years old to go to his FIRST house party and FIRST 'actual' New Years Eve party?"

A Pentecostal guy.

Or a guy who grew up that way.

See, my NYE's were typically spent with the 'youth group' at a racquet club we'd rented for the night pulling an all-nighter.

There was no music (except Petra or DC Talk...) no dancing (God forbid) and FOR DANG SURE no alcohol of any kind.

I remember getting invited to the house parties that my high-school friends were going to and always turning them down.

I'm afraid I was a self-righteous prick.

I want to apologize for that.  I hope to repent of that.  My desire is to (as my father taught me growing up) get 'looser' or more 'liberal' as I age.  More 'generous' with my orthodoxy, more hopeful with my storytelling.  Less rigid.  Less religious.  Less Pentecostal.

And if you're reading this and YOU are a Pentecostal, don't take it personally.  You know exactly what I'm talking about.  You probably loved those nights at the racquet club and--to be honest--we had the same hormones raging and desires running amok as our non-churched high-school friends did, but our girls, were in their BATHING SUITS by midnight.

(maybe being Pentecostal was actually cool...)

Mmmm...Racquet club.

And I say that to remind myself of the fact that--at heart--none of us are really any different from the others.

We all want to have fun.  Want to belong.  Want to watch girls.  Want to be liked.  Hope to 'get' a girl who we'll like (and who will like us) for the rest of our life so that we won't be lonely and so that we can take it 'past' the swimsuit tease--if you know what I'm saying.

There was an old dude (I realize I'm no spring chicken) pouring champagne into girls mouths last night.  He was much too old to be doing it, but doing it he was.  It hit me, watching him, that he's seen that same image in many of the same place you and I have seen that same image. A party.  A girl in a dress.  Dancing.  Hair flying every which way.  Music pumping.  A dude with a champagne bottle.  Her neck thrown back. The pour--will he miss?--on purpose?

His own little P-Diddy fantasy.

And everybody wants it.

You, me, the old dude.

So there I am, in the middle of all this, "Mr. Church Planting Preacher and TV/Film Producer" and the question is, "What did you do?"  or "What should you do?"

And the answer is:

I partied.  Not to excess (nowhere near there in fact) but enough to enjoy the moment.  I enjoyed (and I mean REALLY enjoyed) the wife of my youth.  The skinniest, most spectacular, butt-straight out of Brazil, looking woman there.  Danced with my friends.  Laughed with them and at them.  Met some new people.  Danced.  Hooted, hollered, then went home and...

(three words) 

Wife. Bathing. Suit.

Awesome.

And, I realized (and am realizing) that life isn't so bad after all.  I didn't miss out on that much. I'm still having fun and it's twenty years since my first turned-down invite to a house party. 

I love my wife.  I love my life.

And, sure, I'm still working very hard to find the 'level'.  Trying to find a way to be a dude who really loves Jesus (not just because he was raised to do that but because it's 'real' for him) really loves his wife (the easiest part of my job) really loves his kids, really produces and preaches/pastors well, while staying connected (in as non-idiotic a way possible) to culture and the people in it AND to the community of faith that is 'The Church' (universal) 'cause--like it or not and for better or for worse--I've got a 'place' within that context and a job to do.

Plus, no matter how hard I look, I can't find the principle of 'balance' in the Bible so that means I have to live with ABANDON in all the above spheres.

What would this next decade (2010-2020) look like if lived with ABANDON?

How would you follow Jesus with abandon?

How would you love your wife with abandon?

How would you love your kids with abandon?

How would you do your job (and for me that means producing/preaching) with abandon?

How would you truly engage culture (and her people) with abandon without abandoning your faith?

That's a piece of work right there.

By the time I figure it out I'll blink--and BOOM--I'll be 46.

On with it!

Happy New Year faithful reader(s), happy new year...

xo

T