Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

Senator is Suing God

Ever hear the saying that truth is stranger than fiction? Definitely applies here.

Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers is suing God. A member of our church forwarded this to me in an email. My first reaction was, "There is no way this is true. Gotta be an email hoax." Turns out, it actually is true.

Ernie Chambers is an agnostic who has often been critical of the Christian faith. He is suing God, accusing him of "making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent."

The suit says God has caused "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects and the like." (I guess he ran out of alliterations after "devastating droughts.")

You can get the full story here.

And after that, you can check out this story from CNN, claiming that God "responded" to the lawsuit.

For Women Only

Listen up ladies! Mark your calendar for Saturday, October 20. Our church is hosting Charley Gerber, a nationally-known author, speaker, and counselor. He will be leading a session called "For Women Only: A Christ-Centered Self-Esteem."

Our culture has done a lot to damage our perception of femininity and it has wreaked havoc on the self-esteem of countless women. Charley's challenge is for you to see yourself through a different lens: the lens of Jesus. You'll laugh a lot and you'll learn a lot through Charley's energetic presentation.

The session will go from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm. The cost is only $10.00 per person, and that includes lunch served up by some guys from our church. You can't beat that with a stick!

You can register this Sunday at ACC. Or you can drop me an email. This would be a great opportunity to invite your mom, sisters, daughters, neighbors, etc. And if money's a problem, just let us know confidentially. Money will never stand in the way of ministry.

Franciscan Benediction

Check out these words from a Franciscan Benediction…

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Thanks to Craig Groeschel for sharing these powerful thoughts.

Brown Grass? Go to Jail.

From the "are you kidding me?" department…

Betty Perry, a 70-year-old great-grandmother, was recently arrested in Utah. The charge? Not watering her lawn. Apparently having a yard that has been toasted to a golden brown in the summer heat is against the law in her neighborhood.

Must have been a slow crime day.

Shouting With Your Story

We'll wrap up our Decibels series this weekend and it's gonna be awesome! I'm not preaching this Sunday, and I'm absolutely stoked about it!

We're going to allow four different people in our church to preach on Sunday. They'll be sharing the story of what God has done and what he is now doing in their lives. These four videos will blow your mind and they will encourage your heart. I promise that you will not miss my preaching at all! (In fact, some of you might be a little too enthusiastic about me not preaching. Don't crush my fragile little ego by telling me so.)

I just finished previewing the final cut of these videos, and they are stellar! Big props to Josh Young and Brian Morrissey who did all the technical work to make these professional-quality videos absolutely sparkle.

The biggest thanks goes to the four people who were so authentic and transparent as they shared their life's struggles and victories. And no, I'm not going to tell you who they are. Come Sunday and find out!

I can't wait to see what God is going to do through our church this weekend! Come and be crazy blessed!

Tony Snow

Tony Snow recently resigned as press secretary for the Bush administration. He resigned, in part, because his cancer has returned.

Tony has written a piece in Christianity Today that is nothing short of incredible. His eloquent writing and authentic faith blew me away. Do yourself a favor: take 5-10 minutes and read it now. It will bless your socks off!

Click here for Tony's article.

Rookies

With football season in full swing coupled with the fact that the Reds have no postseason hopes, the sports focus in Cincinnati has shifted firmly to the Bengals. (Although after that mess in Cleveland yesterday, it makes one wonder.)

I do enjoy football. Still, I have to admit that I'm a baseball guy at heart. (Just like Jerry Narron, who was fired as Reds manager earlier this year.) Even with the Reds out of contention, I'll still take baseball over football. It's my game.

Because most of you aren't paying attention to the Redlegs anymore, here's something you might have missed. Yesterday marked an annual tradition in the Reds clubhouse. It was rookie dress up day.

According to Reds beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans, "It's rookie dress up day in the Reds clubhouse, and there were some doozies.

Jeff Keppinger dressed up as a "Naughty Nurse."

You had Jared Burton as a chicken, Phil Dumatrait as a turkey, Joey Votto as a pilgrim, Tom Shearn, well, I'm not exactly sure what Tom Shearn was supposed to be, but he would fit right in doing the YMCA.

Bill Bray and Mike Gosling were the babies (Bray in pink and Gosling in baby blue).

Pedro Lopez was wearing some kind of Latin dress, complete with maracas.

Brad Salmon, well, he looked in character as Nacho Libre.

Buck Coats didn't look out of place as Dog the Bounty Hunter (complete with mullet wig).

Norris Hopper's Timberlands looked just about right with his cut-off orange prison jump suit, complete with handcuffs.

Some of these poor guys get it a couple of times. Keppinger said it's the third time he's gotten it — two years ago with the Mets (Robin from Batman), last year with the Royals (the Slim Jim guy) and this year with the Reds. I asked him if it was his third, he said yes. "These guys don't care. We've got a bunch of clowns on this team," he said, as he put on his nurse's hat. He looked down and said, "The least they could have done was given me one with pockets."

Not only do the rookies have to ride to Chicago in costume, they must then wait in the lobby for the bags to be delivered, deliver the bags to the veterans' rooms and then they will be paraded down Michigan Ave.

The Day Before Game Day

Now that the NFL season is in full swing, Saturday takes on a new meaning. It's now the day before game day. I'm sure that most NFL players will spend a good portion of this day prepping for the big game tomorrow.

For me, every Saturday is the day before game day. Sunday is the biggest day of my week. I devote some time every Saturday to polishing my message, prayerfully considering what will happen tomorrow…game day.

For the church, Super Bowl Sunday would probably be Easter. The playoffs would be the Christmas season. But I try to approach every weekend like it's the biggest game of the year. It's my passion to bring it every Sunday, regardless of what the calendar says.

The church should approach every single Sunday with the mindset that it will be the only opportunity they have to reach someone. Most weekends, that is exactly what happens. Someone walks in our door for the first time, and we have one shot to connect with them. One shot to make them feel welcome and encouraged. One shot to share God's truth with them. If we're not on our game, the odds of them returning are pretty low.

Most of you reading this are not preachers. But if you're a Christ-follower, Sunday is still game day. Why not take a minute today and prepare? Here's a key verse to get us geeked up for game time.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30, NIV, bold mine)

Take a minute today and prepare for tomorrow.

Prepare your heart for worship

Prepare your soul to meet with Jesus during communion.

Prepare your mind to hear God's Word.

Prepare your strength (or your energy) to go out of your way to greet our guests and make them feel welcome.

Take a minute today and get your game face on for tomorrow!

Ramsey Wrap Up

I don't normally blog on Fridays since it's my day off, but I wanted to post some thoughts from Dave Ramsey's live event last night. In a word, it was awesome! I never, ever, EVER thought I would attend a financial seminar. That just sounded like a snoozefest to me. Ramsey couldn't have been more energetic and engaging.

I love his baby steps approach. It makes what would be completely overwhelming seem very doable. It reminds us all that you can eat an elephant if you take one bite at at time. Nicki and I have a "budget committee meeting" scheduled for this weekend to make sure that we stay on the right track.

One more exciting note…we will be offering Financial Peace University at our church in a few months. Can't wait for that!

Happy Birthday Mario

Couldn't let this day pass without giving a shout out to my buddy, Mario. Today is the anniversary of the greatest video game ever: Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo released this gem on this date in 1985. It holds the Guinness World Record as the best selling video game of all time.

Makes me want to sock it to Bowser all over again.