Mike Edmisten

My beloved Reds will play the Pirates in their first spring training game this Thursday. Can’t wait to hear the crack of that bat again! As any Reds fan will tell you, last season was surprising, but still ultimately disappointing. And I’m not sure that enough significant moves have been made in the off-season to make a tangible difference this year…but during spring training, there’s always hope. Hope that young players can have a breakout year. Hope that the veterans can stay healthy and provide needed leadership. No matter what happened last season, there is always hope in spring training.

I’ve gone through disappointing and discouraging seasons in my life. You have, too. But one thing that is always available for us as children of God is hope. Hope is not naivete. It is not blind optimism. Hope is simply the belief that God is good. He is faithful. His promises are sure.

We will experience some rough stuff in our life’s journey. God told us that ahead of time in the Bible. But he also told us that our struggles are temporary. And he has promised us that we’re not alone.

God’s most frequent promise in the Bible is not, “I forgive you.”

It’s not even, “I love you.”

God’s most frequent Scriptural promise is, “I will be with you.”

He is with us…even in the most difficult of seasons.

Had a chance to talk with Jim Willison today. Jim is a deacon in our church, but he’s not with us at the moment. Jim is training in California as he prepares for active military duty in Iraq. It was great to chat with him. Seems like he’s making the adjustment very well.

I’m excited that Jim will be blogging his experiences through his training and military tour. I’ve added his blog to my links section. We’ll also be adding a link to our church’s website.

I love Jim’s take on this whole thing. He could be very sour about it. After all, he was supposed to retire from the reserves earlier this month. He’s got a wife and a young daughter at home. And yet he’s been remarkably strong. At his farewell dinner, he told our church family that he views this as “a mission trip to the cradle of creation.”

I have no doubt that Jim will serve his country with honor…and he’ll serve his God with passion and faithfulness.

I’ve never met Tom Gamble…but I respect him. He is currently the host of SportsTalk on Cincinnati’s powerhouse AM station, WLW. This station reaches 38 states, plus a national XM audience. Gamble said that whoever hosts SportsTalk and Extra Innings (the Reds postgame show) is “the voice of sports in Cincinnati.” Since he is only 43 years old, Gamble could be that voice for the next 20 years and beyond.

However, despite the fame and the prestige that comes with this position, Tom Gamble is walking away from it next month. In a Cincinnati Enquirer article, he said, “You have the chance to be the voice of sports in Cincinnati. It was a great opportunity for me - but it’s not about me. I wanted the chance to be part of a voice at my house raising my kids…”

Tom Gamble chose family over fame. Instead of reporting on home runs, he’ll simply be home. And I’m willing to bet that it is a move that he’ll never, ever regret.

Time for a more serious post. Everyone in our area is talking about the sentencing of Liz Carroll yesterday. She is facing a sentence of at least 54 years in prison for the murder of her three-year-old foster son, Marcus Fiesel.

If you live in the Cincinnati area, you’re well acquainted with this whole tragic drama that started last summer. And it’s far from over. The trial of David Carroll hasn’t even begun.

This whole thing is especially poignant for my family because the timing of Liz Carroll’s sentencing eerily coincided with the sentencing of Nick Toscano. Before we moved to Ohio, we were part of the ministry team at Woodland Heights Christian Church in Crawfordsville, Indiana. In November of 2005, the WHCC family, as well as the entire community, was rocked by the death of one-year-old Gabriel Cole Preheim. His grandparents are members of WHCC. When his mom was in high school, she was in my youth group.

Little Gabriel’s funeral was one of the most heartbreaking scenes I’ve ever witnessed. I had never seen a casket that was so small it only required two pallbearers. Just one of the many images from that day that are forever burned into my mind. But the worst part of that whole tragic situation was that this child died at the hands of his stepfather, Nick Toscano.

Liz Carroll and Nick Toscano. Marcus Fiesel and Gabriel Preheim. These situations are huge reminders that I don’t understand everything that happens in this world…and they also make me look forward to the next world.

Nicki has her grad class at Xavier University on Wednesday nights, so that means that Ryan and I get to spend Wednesday evenings together. Thought we’d do something different tonight, so I took Ryan to LaRosa’s. One of our favorite places.

Our booth was in the very front of the restaurant, right next to the hostess station. A new girl was in training tonight. Due to the close proximity of our table, I got to listen in on all the advice the veteran hostess gave to the rookie. I’ve never worked in the food service sector, so it was interesting to hear her take on the ins and outs of working as a restaurant hostess. I actually learned a lot.

For example, I didn’t know that they prefer to seat people at tables, not booths. In fact, the vet even told the rookie a couple of techniques to steer people away from the booths and toward the tables. Hostesses must hate our family because, given the choice between a table and a booth, we’ll booth it every time.

I also didn’t know that there is an actual mathematic formula used to determine how long someone will have to wait for a table. I just thought they guessed!

One more facet of the restaurant biz that I was unaware of. I didn’t know that prepping salads is considered a step up from being a hostess. That actually seemed backwards to me…until the veteran hostess explained it. When you’re a hostess, you deal with people all day. When you’re in salad prep, it’s all lettuce and tomato. Given the choice, most people will choose the vegetables over the people. That’s a sad commentary, isn’t it?

It’s interesting how much you can learn by listening. Something we ought to try a little more often (although eavesdropping probably isn’t the recommended way to do it).

Last night we took our son, Ryan, for a haircut. We go to Cookie Cutters in Eastgate. If you’ve never been there, it is the most kid-friendly place you can imagine. Everything is colorful and vibrant. There is playground equipment inside. Video games are available for older kids. Ryan sat in a fire engine and watched The Wiggles while he got his haircut last night. Then he left with a balloon. Needless to say, he loves going for haircuts.

After his haircut, we all went to Starbucks for a couple of peppermint mochas. (Ryan didn’t partake of the coffee. He was quite content with the Happy Meal we picked up from the McDonald’s drive thru.) I love Starbucks. And I don’t just mean the coffee. I love the whole Starbucks experience. When I was sipping my coffee last night sitting on a comfy leather couch with my family, I actually felt the pace of my life slow down. The whole atmosphere is warm and relaxing.

Their purposes are vastly different, but there is something to be learned from Cookie Cutters and Starbucks. In both places, everything you see is done purposefully. The design of the places is intentional. They don’t just offer services…they offer experiences.

There is a lesson for the church in this discussion. Now, I’m not suggesting that the church should try to copy everything that corporate America is doing. Not at all. The church is not a corporation.

But we also shouldn’t overreact to the point where we think there is nothing we can learn from these places. The experiences from Cookie Cutters and from Starbucks are memorable ones. Shouldn’t our experiences in the church be infinitely more memorable? If we believe that our purpose is to encounter the Living God, then how can we be satisfied with predictable, run-of-the-mill, and ultimately forgettable experiences?

I’m not suggesting that we purposefully play on people’s emotions. That’s manipulative. I’m also not suggesting that we usurp God’s role in comforting or convicting people’s minds and hearts. That’s arrogant. What I am suggesting is that we work hard to create an atmosphere and an attitude that lends itself to meaningful experiences. Like it or not, people will forget most of the messages that are preached. But they will not easily forget something that they experience.

The Cincinnati Enquirer article on blogging pastors will be featured in Your Hometown Enquirer in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, you can get a jump on it by reading it on the web. Click here to check it out.

Blogging has become a very meaningful part of my life and ministry. I’m humbled that Rachel Richardson would think enough of my blog to include me in her story. Thanks Rachel!

I’m even more humbled by everyone who takes the time to read this blog. There are millions of blogs out there. Thanks for spending a little bit of time here.

Had another snowy morning today. But I was thrilled that our attendance wasn’t off much at all. It’s really a mark of people’s commitment to our 40-day adventure of Developing a Servant’s Heart. Loving the feedback I’m getting from this 40-day spiritual journey. Totally awesome!

Jim Willison left for his training in California and Texas this afternoon. This training proceeds his deployment to Iraq. Praying for the whole Willison clan this evening.

Had a great APEX practice tonight. It’s always exciting to see the worship set for APEX grow and develop through the hard work and dedication of our band. We’ve got a new APEX promo video on our website. Check it out.

We had our monthly Chapel Service scheduled for tonight. I was looking forward to bringing my dad’s band in to play for this service. But with all the snow and ice this morning, we made the decision to postpone it to a later date. The forecast today was cold and cloudy, so we figured that the parking lot and roads would still be pretty dicey this evening. Little did I know that the sun would shine brightly all day and that the roads would not only be thawed, but they would be totally dry. Oh well. You’ve got to make decisions based on the info you’ve got at the time. The good news is that we’ve got the band rescheduled for the spring. That date is actually better for them, so it all worked out for the best after all.

So there you have it. Another Sunday in the life of ACC.

Had a fun evening with our friends, the Caldwells, tonight. Always fun to hang out with them and let our kids play together. You would think that the ratio of 4 adults to 3 children would mean that the adults would have the upper hand. If you think that, you probably don’t have children!

Recently I was interviewed by a reporter from the Cincinnati Enquirer. She’s doing a story on blogging pastors. Very cool to be included in the story. It should be published in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I’ll get a little bit of lead time to let everyone know when it’s coming out.