You posted comments – Random.org picked winners. Here they are:

Winnas – email me at detzelpretzel{at}gmail.com and let me know you’re the lucky ducky.

If you didn’t win, make sure you pick up a copy of Gungor’s Beautiful Things and get listening.

I saw a band live yesterday that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. They are called Gungor.

Falling in love with them should have happened sooner since my friend Elaine has been an advocate of theirs for a while now. She always knows what she’s talking about. I had heard a little bit of their stuff before, but once I’d seen them in action…in person…what can I say? I’m a fan for life.

Our crew returned home to Cincinnati from the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta late last night, but I couldn’t get this song out of my head. And so I did what any manly man would do; I poured myself a bubble bath – turned out the lights and turned on the iTunes visualizer – and I listened as I soaked. Soaking in the water, and I soaking in the presence of the One who makes beautiful things. The only more worshipful experience would have been if I’d had a pizza lunchable too. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

Here’s Gungor:

Want to win a CD or digital download??

Just leave a comment before Midnight on Sunday (10/10/2010) and you’ll be randomly entered to win one of (3) Gungor: Beautiful Things albums.

What should the comment be about??

Well…I admitted that I like taking bubble baths with all the lights out…
and that I find pizza lunchables to be a worshipful experience…
How about you spill the beans and let us know something that you secretly enjoy?

Come on…it will be fun, and everyone loves free stuff.

♫…You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of us…♫

It’s a little after 1am. My alarm is going to attack all that is good and pure in the world in approximately 5 hours. Catalyst is tomorrow, but I can’t sleep.

It’s not that I’m too excited. I’ve been to the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta three times previous…I know it will do something to me. I know that God will speak to me in this place. Catalyst is “Leader Food”. As politically incorrect as it is to say in our current day, I’m a leader. It’s who I am and that’s how God has wired me. It sounds arrogant even to myself.

People don’t want leaders. They say they do, but what they really want is the ability to text message President Obama. They want the opportunity to have a level playing field. Trouble is, it can never be level. You can’t send a text to the leader of the free world pushing whatever it is that you want and then leave him to deal with the consequences of your decisions. It doesn’t work that way.

And so we have leaders. Some of them make great moves in their leadership, and some make truly terrible calls. I’ve made both.

But, God has called me to lead…and that really sucks sometimes. I have the weirdest job in the world. At first, I thought it was a bit odd being a pastor. Not as strange as operating a chicken farm, or working in a factory that makes all those colored pipe-cleaners…but still pretty odd. Now that I’ve been at this gig for a few years – I feel like I can truly admit that this vocation of ministry has certainly surpassed chicken farming, pipe-cleaner making, and anything else I can imagine in between. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t ask the question, I’m a pastor?

OR:

Is this how pastors are supposed to feel?

Am I just faking my way through this?

My life is tension. Living in the radical middle is difficult. Tell the truth, but don’t hurt them with it. Love people, but not more than you should. Stand up for what you believe, but don’t be offensive. Be a pastor, but don’t lose your soul in the process.

Struggle – Progress – Struggle – Progress…and so on, and so forth.

I met some people that I wished I hadn’t recently. An entire group of them honestly. One of them said to me, “I’m the pastor of such-and-such church located in so-and-so. We were recently ranked the second fastest growing church in blah, blah, blah…It was in this-and-that magazine. Maybe you’ve read about us?”

I responded with the only reasonable thing I could think of, which was…
“They sell that magazine to guys now??”

Pastor so-and-so did not find my response humorous.

And that’s all part of my tension. For me, the tension I live in is one that is constantly struggling to bite my tongue. A desire to knock people down a peg when I really feel like they need it. The tension of feeling like an outsider among the very people I should feel most connected with. The feeling of ‘we should have everything in common, but it appears we have nothing in common’.

What this has to do with anything? I don’t know really. This year, the theme of the Catalyst Conference is “The tension is good.” We’ll see about that – I’m sure I’ll report my whindings* later. The thing I am certain of right now…

The tension is real.

* whindings = whiny + findings