Tim Baker

Well, it’s been a few days since I wrote a post. Wow, so much for committing to the discipline of posting every day. I’ve been in the deepest, weirdest, longest weirdness-times, and I don’t think I’ve ever been through a time as weird as the one I’m in right now. Just a general malaise (did I spell that right?, and what the heck is the proper definition of malaise, anyway?). Going through life on autopilot, trying to invest myself and be interested in what I’m working on, but struggling with a blech feeling. It’s not helpful to have the blech, by the way. Others are counting on me to get a lot done…the blech does not build confidence in your abilities.

We’ve been busy around the house, so maybe that’s what’s taking much of my time. The garden is almost 1/2 done. I’m concerned that we’re starting way too late. I’ve been struggling to stay motivated with writing which I silly because the whole process of writing at the moment has been very encouraging. Mexico is fast approaching, and I’ve been brushing up on my Spanish. We went to a wonderful Spanish-speaking church on Sunday which I think reminded all of us of how we need to prepare ourselves.

So, hmmm…what to post. Oh, I know! Fruit flies. Our house has been invaded by fruit flies, which, by the way, are possibly the most annoying bugs in the world. Each summer we are invaded by a new and interesting animal or insect. One year we were invaded by snakes. One year it was ants in our car. Once it was June-bugs. This year, it gnats brought to us courtesy of an apple in Jess’s trashcan. I’ve been spraying bug killer everywhere. I swear, nothing kills those little buggers.

I’ll get back on a regular schedule next week.

Every year the Evangelical Publishers Association awards magazines for excellence. There are different categories for different interests and age groups. This year, for the second year in a row, YouthWalk was awarded the best devotional magazine. YouthWalk is led by Laurin Makohon. Laurin is one of those rare editors who is able to infect you with the vision she has for a piece, while at the same time able to clearly see God’s direction, while at the same time inject enthusiasm into what you’re talking about. She has, in many ways, made writing (for me, at least) enjoyable again.

YouthWalk lets me write a column for their magazine, and writing with Laurin has been a real pleasure. Anyway, if you don’t read the magazine, you probably ought to. Read parts of the magazine online here.

I’ve taken a lot of students on different kind of trips, but this week marks the first time I’ve ever sent one of my kids on a trip. Each year my daughter’s school takes the 8th grade class on a trip to celebrate their exit from middle school. And my kid, being the 8th grader that she is, is on that trip.

It’s a totally weird thing to SEND your kid on a trip without you. I’m having withdrawls from seeing her face, laughing at her jokes and I’m really missing her hugs. She comes home tonight and I’m really looking forward to seeing her.

This site has some very funny pictures of what celebrities would look like if they lived like us normal folks. I think this has been around for a while, but it’s very funny. Check it out.

This is a fairly busy week. Not because I’m out running errands or making any big decisions or meeting with people. I’m home most of the week trying to finish work on a few projects. I’ve got some editing to do on a book. I’m dreaming up a product line with a publisher and I’ve got serious work to do on that.

Just a note of thanks to those of you who prayed for the Sunday worship at Hope Fellowship. We had a good communion service and I feel like it was exactly what we needed. It was what I needed, anyway. I think my favorite part (can you have a favorite part of worship?) was the communion (we did it by intinction, something I don’t think we’ve ever done before at our church) and the message. Instead of sharing anything from scripture for the message, I invited others to share their responses to a few questions. I’d been feeling a few non-message things, and I had a feeling others wanted to share their hearts. As each person stood and shared what was happening, or what they were struggling with in their lives, I was blown away at what God is doing in our church. We talked for about 25 minutes, sang the doxology and closed the service (ending late) and then everyone stood around for at least thirty minutes visiting (some for an hour, I think). It was a wonderful experience.

I’m doing the service this Sunday, and I’m thinking of talking about the Sermon on the Mount and maybe talking about how Jesus’ words must have sounded to a pharisee, and then imagining how Jesus’ words fit with what our church is doing today. I may also (or instead of that) speak about the emotion of God. We’ve got a great Mother’s Day video we’re showing as well.

Anyway, thanks for praying.

I write a monthly column for YouthWalk magazine, an incredible student devo-mag published by Walk Thru the Bible. They’ve got a new issue online here. Go read it now!!

I’m speaking in worship this Sunday. I’ve known a lot of preachers and speakers in my life who make speaking look so easy. Speaking is not easy for me. I’m random in my thinking which often comes out in my speaking. Speaking in public isn’t something I look forward to, so imagining myself talking on Sunday makes me a little weak-kneed.

The last time I spoke in church we had an artist painting a theme that matched what I was talking about. She did an incredible job, and I absolutely loved that format. I’m not 100% sure how I’m going to frame this opportunity yet. If you’re willing, I’d appreciate prayer about 10:45-12:00 this Sunday morning.

I’ m posting this here for no other reason than to say, that I’m thrilled that, for the most part, the whole Facebook Ninja-Pirate invites aren’t happening as much as they used to. Nothing against Ninjas, and if you are actually a Ninja, I’m totally for Ninjas, and I believe that God still loves you if you’re a Ninja. But please don’t invite me to one of your Ninja clubs again because if you do, I might just throw my laptop at you (in a very non-Ninja way). Pulled from here.

It’s a weird thing to walk through book stores, grocery stores, department stores, libraries, churches, etc and see something you’ve written. I’m not at all comfortable with seeing myself in public that way, and I’ve done a lot to not be public about stuff I’ve written. I usually don’t accept speaking requests, I’m so totally uncomfortable with self promotion that I’ struggle with creating lists of people to send promotion copies of my books. I don’t really enjoy professional relationships in publishing because they always seem geared toward selling more books, and not toward genuine friendship. I’m not comfortable lableing myself as anything…writer, student pastor, professor, etc. That has huge effects on your profession, by the way. Our society loves labels, and if you’re not willing to take on a label or a title, it frustrates some folks.

I think part of my lack of desire to professionally accept what I’ve written is because of the really awful mail I’ve gotten. Some of my books have been an honest exploration of a topic I was (and still am) learning about. I have a friend who lives in a religiously dark place and wanted badly to understand that place he was living it - not to convert him, but to understand what he believes. So, I wrote Dewitched, and kablam - I’m a wifebeating racist who hates every religion, believes everyone who doesn’t worship God is a satanist, etc, etc, etc. In an effort to write a book for Christian kids about world religions I plunk out Why So Many Gods?, and I’m a bigot. Wanting to understand my parent’s divorce and it’s effects on my, I write Broken, and I’m theologically inaccurate, don’t understand salvation, a liar, an exposer of family secrets (which only make more sickness, by the way). It’s been interesting to hear from people who have different opinions than I do about life, God, religion, family issues, etc…they’re almost always never open minded and yet, they’re railings against my “closed minded” opinions.

A good friend once told me when I was a teenager that people write books to keep themselves smart. You write, someone challenges you, you discuss the perspectives, attitudes, beliefs, and you work toward understanding each other, and you learn a lot in the process.  So, I’m certainly not complaining. I’ve just had a lot of opportunities to become, uh, smarter. The difficulty is that when you write things (books, magazine articles, etc) people don’t really want to discuss things with you, they more want to either praise what you’ve done, or they want to rail against you. It comes with the territory, I guess. And it doesn’t help that for a lot of my writing life I’ve allowed people to package my stuff with an eye on being definitive, offering trite answers to very complex issues.

Anyway, all that to say that in the last few weeks I’ve gotten some really kind and wonderful email about stuff I’ve written. So, those of you who’ve taken the time to write really kind stuff, thanks a lot.