The other night, in preparation for Mother's Day, I played a mean trick on my wife. I teased her and said, "Honey, you know you are going into diaper withdrawal!" Now that Stasi is approaching 18 months, we see the potty training street around the corner and are starting to think about being done with diapers. A dog, to me, seemed like the perfect answer!

Seriously, it was just a joke, and an excuse, to take my top three kids to see Spider Man 3. It was a fun movie, and the most philosophical and "message-laden" of the three so far, in my opinion.

Overt themes included forgiveness, redemption, temptation, and pride. Good stuff. But the best part was the black suit.

I'm sure folks have commented about this elsewhere, but we all have a black suit somewhere, don't we? Our "other self" which gives us a sense of power and control?

It was a transition point in the movie when Peter Parker pulls out the Original Suit to save the day. Good stuff.

My kids seem endlessly to debate which is better: Superman, Spiderman, Batman. They ask me, in all sincerity: "Papa, which one do YOU think is better?" Honestly, I have to say, "Duh, I really don't know!" I grew up in the era of the Justice League when they ALL were needed.

Hey now, there's a remake to consider: a new Justice League!

Watching Capote (R-rating for some violent images and language) recently (warning; some movie spoilers to follow)  it occurred to me that books are birthed from a vision or a passion given to an individual. In Truman's case, his book In Cold Blood was his last. He said writing the book would change his writing forever. It did--he never finished another book. The poignant quote at the end of the film was, "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones."

Shed tears over answered prayers? Seems counterintuitive.

Going along with the story, we see Capote had plenty of warning signs along the way pointing to the fact that he was in too deep. Basically, he lost all perspective and was drowned in his own pursuits. Sounds like burnout with a capital "B."

Burnout among church planters is a well-known phenomenon. As envigorating as it could be (church planting could change my view of church forever--and I welcome that possibility) it can also be spiritually diminishing. How do I keep from becoming so enmeshed in such a venture that  my passion and vision for the pastoral ministry is kept alive?

This seems to be a struggle not unique to church planting, however. Ask any pastor how he keeps his faith and he'll likely tell you, "by the grace of God." Well, there are worse ways to keep the faith, aren't there? I'll raise a glass to church planting "by the grace of God."