Lost

So, yesterday I flew from Pennsylvania to DC to Charleston, SC. Meanwhile, my luggage flew from Pennsylvania to Chicago to Portland and back to Chicago, hmm... (please say a prayer it makes it from Chicago to Charleston to my house this afternoon).

It's frustrating to be somewhere, but feel like you're not all there. It's downright terrifying to feel like you have no idea where you are at all. I remember watching the movie, American Tale, as a kid and having nightmares for months about not being able to find my parents. The panic of not knowing where you are, where to go next, what to do or who you can turn to. Lost.

As adults, being lost is almost never geographical, but let's play out the geography anyway. I talk to people all the time who tell me, "I feel lost. I don't know how I got here." You see, they thought they were heading to Charleston too, but somehow they ended up in Portland. Maybe it was a foolish decision that seemed inconsequential at the time - they just weren't paying enough attention. Maybe it was a rational decision they thought they could control to go to Chicago but never go the whole way to Portland before coming home, but once they got to Chicago they just couldn't stop, they couldn't get off the train so to speak.

I'm talking about so many things here - addictions, affairs and so much more. We all get lost at various points in our life. We don't set out to get lost, but it happens just the same. We're imperfect, we're human. The question is, how do we keep it from happening again and, if we're currently lost, how do we get back?

A few suggestions:

1. We need people in our life to hold us accountable - people who are going to check in with us and ask the hard questions. These people have to be people we can trust and people who share our faith. They also have to be people who love us enough to not lie to us when we're wrong. Who are the 1-2 people in your life who fit this description?

2. We need the understand the Principle of the Path - enough said, read the book and it will all make sense. It's well worth the time (even better, Ashley Ridge people, join a small group and read it together :). If I have one book I've read in the last year to recommend to anyone and everyone, it's this one.

3. Finally, and most importantly, we need to stay connected to the One who found us when we were lost and made it possible for us to come back. Yes, I'm talking about Jesus. How do you stay connected to Him?

The Time I Always Waste and the Time I Never Waste

Time I Always Waste:

1. Time spent worrying

2. Time spent critiquing other people so I feel better about myself

3. Time spent playing solitaire to turn my brain off (there has to be a better way)

4. Time spent watching excess television

Time I Never Waste:

1. Time spent praying

2. Time spent reading my Bible

3. Time spent getting dirty and out-of-breath playing with my 20-month old

4. Time spent on a date with my husband or cooking dinner for us to eat together at home

How about you? What time do you waste and what time do you spend well? Which area are you currently spending more time on?

After the Message

(Relationships Part 2: "I Do")

Two truths: God created relationships, relationships are not easy

Last week - dating

I like you becomes I do (whole different message on that transition, today we’re

assuming)

What is marriage? What does it look like? What does it mean?

Marriage was God’s idea (Genesis 2:24)

A Numbers Issue – when we talk about marriage, we talk about 2s and 1s (and in the south 20s if we include the whole wedding party)

Two sinks vs. One sink

One bed, two sides

Two ways to do things – my way, your way or right way, wrong way

Marriage License reads as a Two-Party Contract – couldn’t be more mis-leading

Marriage God’s Way: A 3-party covenant

Ecclesiastes 4:9-11

Three instead of Two

Covenant instead of Contract

When's the last time you invited Jesus into your marriage? He's our foundation. He's our hope. He's our forever.

Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

We can live an incredible life of meaning, purpose and hope, or we can simply live. Max Lucado suggests the first option.

Lucado's newest book, "Outlive Your Life" reminds us that there are people, normal people, you and me kinda people, changing the world everyday. And make no mistake, our world needs it. People are hurting, people are dying, and it's time for the people who follow Jesus to step up to the plate.

I remember the day I got my first pair of glasses. I took them on-and-off and on-and-off, marveling at how clear everything was. There was a world around me that I didn't even realize because I simply couldn't see it. Lucado's book is like putting on a pair of glasses, revealing a world and a movement that you can't help but join once you've seen it.

Don't get me wrong, I know that world is out there, but it can be so easy to ignore as we wrap ourselves in the busyness of the day-to-day. Sometimes we get so trapped in the rat race that it takes a 2x4 moment to shake us loose. Lucado's book was a 2x4 moment for me.

It has been several years since I've picked up one of Lucado's books and I'm so glad I broke the trend with this one. Lucado tells stories from today side-by-side with the stories from the book of Acts, making an undeniable case for the work of God in our midst. And, as an author, Lucado deserves kudos for the unforced symmetry he portrays between Acts and today. As he points out, there is no conclusion to the book of Acts.

If you need a 2x4 or some preparation to write your chapter in the book of Acts, I encourage you to pick up a copy today.

(And if you're part of Ashley Ridge Church, you may want to start reading early as we'll be using the book in our worship and small groups in May 2011).

I received a copy of this book free from the publisher as part of the Booksneeze program for bloggers. I was not required to write a positive review.

Starbucks May Take Away the "Christian Bar Scene"

So, apparently Starbucks is going to start serving beer and wine. For the record, I have no problem with this. But it does make me wonder what will happen to the hip Christian social scene. Let me explain.

In a world that is increasingly digital and detached, there are few remaining places where people go to gather and interact with other human beings, you know, a place "where everybody knows your name." Remaining places include hair salons/barber shops, bars and, in recent years, coffee shops.

It seems that with the emergence of coffee shops, Christians latched on to their drug-of-choice, i.e. caffeine. After all, the Bible talks several times about getting drunk, but never once does Paul mention the 3x a day venti latte/espresso/mocha/macchiato trend. And so, for the Christian population, coffee shops have all the advantage of meeting the culture at a popular hub without the stigma of a bar. It's trendy, it's hip, it's church meeting culture in the way Martin Luther did in the 16th century.

Before I go any further, a few disclaimers: I often work in a coffee shop. I even host a gathering called Java with Jenn every Wednesday morning in a coffee shop. I know every barista in my local coffee shop and they know me. I like it. I also make the occasional visit to bars, typically when our church's worship leader is providing the music and half of my congregation is in attendance.

So what happens when coffee shops start serving beer and wine? Do we still hold Bible studies in coffee shops? Do we still make coffee shops our meeting place for casual and official conversations?

I hope so.

Not because it's trendy. Not because it's edgy. Not because it's hip. But because Jesus told us to make disciples of all people, and that requires going to where people are. I love coffee shops. I love the fact that there is a group of guys in their 40s, 50s and 60s that I share friendly banter with in the morning, a retired school teacher who brings in her books and talks with me about her love of theater and a 22-year old barista named Travis who is dreaming big about going to New York someday to open a restaurant.

So, Starbucks, do your thing. I hope the church can continue to take some hints about creating environments that encourage conversation and human interaction, environments where life is being shared. (and no, I'm not suggesting churches start serving beer and wine before or after worship)

What do y'all think?

"God did not give you a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power,

love and self-discipline." ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

And yet, how often do we live timid lives? How often do we spend time agonizing and planning over how to please people and keep the waters tame? We weren't meant to hide in our shells, we were meant to live in the sun.

Power, love, self-discipline...it's an interesting list. Faith, hope and love seem to have a more obvious connection. I have some thoughts, but today I would rather hear yours.

What do you think of when you hear that we've been given a spirit of power, love and self-discipline? What would your day look like if you grabbed hold of that spirit?

A Poem

My toddler will not stay in bed. The same toddler who I sat up with during the night because he had a fever and was shaking with chills. The same toddler who threw up several times last night. Yes, that toddler is suddenly feeling better and will not stay in bed.

It's nap time. That precious time on a day like today when I'm home at work with a sick kid and need to get some work done. The hour and a half I'm supposed to have to catch my breath. It's nap time and my toddler will not stay in bed.

I remember the days when a crib did the trick. The glorious days before the climbing began. The days when my toddler would talk for 30 minutes before falling asleep, but eventually fall asleep he would, snuggled secure, contained in his crib. But now the high front wall is no more, replaced by a guardrail meant to catch a sleeping child from rolling out, but an easy escape for my toddler who will not stay in bed.

Someday I know my toddler will be a teenager and I will fight to get him out of the bed. But today, it would be so nice if my toddler would stay in his bed.

(they say art is supposed to be an outlet, a release...I don't know if I feel better yet, I think it may depend on whether my toddler finally stays in bed.)

After the Message

So, this week I'm breaking form and I'm going to tell you that if you would like yesterday's sermon notes, you're just going to have to listen to the podcast. God did something incredible in our worship yesterday and I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with my notes...

Check it out on iTunes. It's called Consequences - Part Three and it should be up very soon.

To Run or To Pray

Okay, so have you noticed how people like to tweet and facebook about exercise when it's going well? Nobody posts an update that says "It's been 82 days since my heart rate rose above 70 bpm." However, if they've been to the gym two days in a row, the world knows about it.

Don't get me wrong, I feel at liberty to write about this because I'm guilty of committing this very act. I'm getting ready for a half marathon in December and I talk about it a lot, in part to keep me motivated and in part to shame myself into doing it if necessary - pride is a great motivator. You better believe that if/when I survive my 5-mile run on Saturday morning I will tweet about it and casually slip it into conversations for the rest of the weekend. That's how I roll.

Naturally, as I'm getting into the thick of this training, my Bible reading today took me back to a verse that I've highlighted, underlined and circled at various points over the years: I Timothy 4:8 "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

That's what we call in the industry "a good one."

Why aren't we more motivated to get spiritually fit than physically fit? Why don't we make sure we get our prayer time in before we get our work-out in? I would love to see someone's facebook page say something like "got up a 1/2 hour early five days in a row for more time with God," or "dominated the book of Ezekiel this morning."

Holy Discontent

What's that thing that makes your gut twist? What do you lay awake at night thinking about? What's the thing that makes you so mad or sad (or smad for all you Gilmore Girls out there) that you have to act?

There's a difference between discontent and holy discontent. You might be discontent with the traffic situation on your way to work, but your discontent becomes a holy discontent when it's something you know God is desperate to change as well. Not that God doesn't care about your morning commute, but you know what I mean.

My holy discontent is cultural Christianity. It's all the people out there who don't know or haven't heard or don't understand that church isn't something you do it's something you are. I'm not mad at the people, I'm mad at the church for creating this culture. I'm sad that we haven't found a way to help people understand that Jesus didn't die for a building or an organ or a drum set - Jesus died for you and me. He died so we could live - live differently, live strong (to steal from Lance Armstrong), live courageously as people take on Jesus' work of redeeming a broken world.

I believe God gave me this holy discontent. I also believe that holy discontent is a big reason God called me to be a church planter - to take away all the obvious and go back to basics of what it means to ignite passion for Jesus Christ that changes our whole lives and our whole weeks.

My sister Laura has a holy discontent for the huge numbers of women with breast cancer. As a result, she's heading to NYC this weekend to walk 39.4 miles in two days with her team, Paper Girls Wear Pink, as part of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

What about you? What's your holy discontent? Is it starving children? Is it human trafficking? Is it alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual addiction? Is it elderly who are abandoned or uncared for? Is it child abuse or domestic abuse? Is it cancer research or Alzheimer's research?

What's your holy discontent? What is God calling you to do with it? How can we as a community come alongside you and be part of it?

A note to my readers: Thank you for being patient with my recent lack of posts. I promise this blog has not been reduced to simply the sermon notes. That said, here are this week's sermon notes, but check back for more content through the week. Thanks for reading!

After the Message

If…Then…

And yet we…

And still God…

Last Week – Nineveh knew what they were supposed to do and chose to blatantly disobey and rebel against God…and they were destroyed

This Week – Different kind of disobedience and its consequences, the disobedience of standing by and doing nothing when someone is in need

What Would You Do? – all these scenarios when people see awful things happening and we get awkward and find ways to pretend it’s not happening versus getting involved

We say things like – “it’s not my place” “I didn’t want to get hurt” “I didn’t want my

kids to get hurt”

Obadiah

– shortest book in OT (17 verses)

– written in the form of a dirge of doom

– Edomites – descendants of Esau

vv. 10-15, Obadiah explains why Edom will be destroyed, namely blatant arrogance toward God and persecution of God’s children

- Obadiah said God would destroy Edom as punishment for standing by when Babylon invaded Judah

o A21 campaign – why didn’t you come sooner?

- Edom located in the mountains – thought they were invincible

vv. 17-21 – God will fight for His children and those who stand against or stand by will be destroyed

Who are God’s children? We are all God's children - the vulnerable, the oppressed,

the hungry, the abused

The redeemed are called to restore - we can no longer stand by while our brothers and sisters get hurt, it's time to get involved.

For more information on the A21 Campaign, check out theA21Campaign.org. Our senior high students will be fasting on the 21st to bring awareness to human trafficking - would you like to get involved?

After the Message

Consequences, Part One

If…Then

If you ignore your laundry piling up and up and up, you will run out of clothing to wear.

If you eat junk consistently, then you’re going to gain weight and have health issues.

If you spend more than you make, then you will end up in debt.

If you betray someone you love – a friend, a family member, your spouse – then you will lose trust.

And yet we…Do it anyway

(We know if we stay up late, we’ll be tired in the morning – but just this one last show on tv, a few more chapters in my book, a little more time on facebook, hey what about these other internet sites…)

Why? When we’re young we think we’re invincible (that bad stuff won’t happen to me, no one else will be affected, I have plenty of time to turn things around…). We get older and we figure we can manage things (I can take care of it, I’m in control…). Then we get really old and we think, who cares, what’s it going to hurt now.

Bottom line is we do it anyway because it feels good, it looks good, it sounds good and, after all, it’s my life anyway.

Nahum

- a minor prophet (minor as opposed to major b/c of population addressing and size of the book)

- Remnants of the Jonah story re-emerge - Jonah is the if…then… - goes to Nineveh, tells them to repent or get destroyed, so they repent

- 100 years later, Assyria is the world power, Nineveh is the capital – Judah is a vassal state

- Nineveh had heard the if..then, but yet they chose anyway to live in disobedience and rebellion to God

- What happens? Chapter 1:1-8, God tells Nineveh they’re going down, which they do (about 50 years after Nahum’s prophecy, Nineveh is destroyed, shortly after Assyria falls to Babylon)

Consequences are real. Not just an OT thing.

And still God…

Romans 5:8 - God proves His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

It's time to stop running from God and instead run toward God.

Coffee Talk

"I was in the military, attending a church every Sunday, pretty religious if you ask me. It was time for my second child to be baptized and the godparents and in-laws were coming in on Friday night. I went down to the church and asked the pastor if we could do the baptism on Saturday. He explained that the baptism had to happen during a weekend service. I explained that my family was only going to be here Saturday. He said no. I told him I had invested $6k in the church the year before and not to spend it this year because it wouldn't be there. Where the hell does the Bible say you have to baptize in front of X number of people? I never went back."

This was the conversation I overheard five minutes ago as I sat drinking my tall skinny pumpkin spice latte. It was followed by similar stories from the others sitting in the circle. I've heard these stories countless times before. I've read about these stories in books I read about the de-churched. But, I still get heartbroken and angry every time it happens.

Make no mistake, I overheard this conversation from the opposite side of the coffee shop, but it was intended for my hearing. I frequent the coffee shop as does this group. We say hello, we've exchanged names, we've shared friendly banter when we end up in each other's seats. They know who I am and what I do, and today they wanted me to hear what they think about the church.

I hope this is the first step closer to them being open to me joining the conversation. It's taken a year to get this far.

I need some feedback. What do you think when you hear this kind of conversation? Have you had a similar experience personally or with a friend or co-worker who still won't accept your invitation to worship?

Talk to me please.

After the Message (Sermon Notes)

Who’s Your Team? Part 4

Winners

I like to win – you could say I’m a little bit competitive

Doesn’t matter what the event/activity – board games, brushing teeth

So competitive, I’ll compete at being bad at something – someone says to me “I can’t draw,” my response is “Oh, you want to see someone who can’t draw? I promise I’m much worse than you.”

Where are you winning in your life right now and where are you losing?

Are you winning the fight for your marriage? Your kids? Your neighbors? Are you winning with your money (to steal a Dave Ramsey line)?

Life can feel so often like an uphill battle – the moments we feel as though we’re winning are few and far between

But here’s the good news…

Romans 8:31-39

- Lead-up – God is working things out, despite present hardship or suffering, God is at work redeeming all of creation

- V. 35 – what’s going to separate us from a God who wants to be with us – anger, pride, aggression, bad decisions, pain, anxiety??? None of that

- V. 36 – bad stuff happens, doesn’t change the answer in v. 37

- IN ALL THESE THINGS, WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS

- the only way we win is with Jesus who loved us more than we will ever understand

- with Jesus, we win and we win big – more than conquerors

Priority Check

I'm reading the book "Mad Church Disease" by Anne Jackson and in the chapter I was reading yesterday morning she was talking about the two greatest commandments (i.e. love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves) and she pointed out that it doesn't say to love our neighbors with all our strength, it tells us to love God with ALL our strength - only if we do that are we able to love our neighbors at all. She also went on to say that a lot of us are doing a pretty lousy job of loving ourselves, which means we're setting a really low standard for loving our neighbors. (For more stuff from Anne Jackson, check out her new book "Permission to Speak Freely" or her blog.)

I needed to hear that. It's so easy to get caught up trying to do everything for everyone and forget to first love God with ALL our strength. It's only when we expend all our energy on God that we have energy to give to anyone else, including ourselves.

I'm going through an overwhelming season of life and I'm thankful for the perseverance God is teaching me (even though I'm not always the best student). But even though overwhelming seasons are part of life, we often bring them on ourselves when we think we're too busy to make time, our best time, for God. We start running on an empty spiritual tank and it doesn't get us very far.

So, here's today's gut check - what are the things currently getting the benefit of ALL your strength and where is God?

After the Message (i.e. Sermon notes)

Who’s Your Team?, Part 3

Maximizing Your Investment

College Football Tickets - $150

Parking - $20

Gas to and from game - $60

Tailgating - $45

Hotel room - $150

Game Day Apparel - $40

Big Foam Finger - $5

Spending Saturday with 85,000 of your closest friends – priceless

A few caveats:

Money talk is always a little uncomfortable b/c it’s personal

Too often the church has done a poor job of talking about money b/c we only talk about the 10% we want you to give to the church and we don’t talk about the 100% God has entrusted us with and biblical financial management of that money

To make it worse, we didn’t learn it in home economics either – we learned to sew a pillow and make no-bake cookies, but skipped the “home economy” part

So, most of what we’ve learned has come from the credit card companies who spend millions and millions every year talking us into spending more than we have

This message - Not talking about what we give to God, but what we do with what God gives to us.

Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:14-30

- Jesus has just finished telling a story about the kingdom of God, which he ends by telling his disciples to “stay alert,” because no one knows when he is coming back

- Notice first off that the master entrusted his money with his servants, the money never belonged to them

- A talent was a large unit of money, one talent worth about 20 years of work from your average person

- They didn’t all start with the same amount of money – fair? No. reality? Yes.

- If this were a modern parable, there would have been a fourth guy who spent all of his talents, borrowed more from someone else and when the master came back, he was actually at -6

What we do with our money has eternal significance - do we sit on the incredible gifts God entrusts to us or do we use them for His glory?

- 70% of Americans haven’t kept what God has given them – we blow it and then we finance 30% more, as a result, we’re broke

- Average American family spends between $500-$1500/month on debt payment, excluding our house payment

- Average family can get debt free in 18-36 months

Challenge/Place to Start: Take out a blank piece of paper and open your bank account on the computer – make a list of all the things you spend money on and then rank those things in order of where you spend the most – talk about it with your family, have an honest conversation including your teenagers about how you spend money

If you are part of Ashley Ridge Church, sign-up for a small group today. In the coming months, our small groups will all have opportunities to go through a 6-week study called "I Was Broke. Now I'm Not" by Joe Sangl that will provide practical steps to becoming debt-free and investing wisely.

Someone's Always Watching

It's true, you know. I was making some updates to our church website this afternoon and I happened to click on the stats button. The first graph that appeared showed how many unique visitors come to our site each day, and I was surprised at what I saw. It's easy to think no one is looking, no one is watching, but it can be mind-blowing when you see the data. The same is true with this whole blogging thing sometimes - often, like now, I'm sitting by myself in an almost empty coffee shop, tapping away at my computer, not even thinking about the fact that others will actually read what I write. And then someone I barely know makes a passing comment about something I said on my blog and I think, "wow, did I really put that out there for strangers to read?"

Sometimes we start believing that it doesn't really matter what we do, what we say, how we act, how we react, etc., etc. But it does, someone is always watching.

It might be your kids... We think they're so caught up in their own world that they don't notice the little things, but they do. My 19-month old is in the parrot stage where he repeats everything he hears - it is a constant, and sometimes not so flattering, reminder that someone is not only watching but listening. I read in a book recently, "Our personal relationship with God and with our spouse make a bigger difference than we think in our kid's lives." Our kids are watching, what are we teaching them when we don't think they're paying attention?

It might be your parents... Here's an example: when I'm on facebook, I'm primarily interacting with people my age and younger. Sometimes I'm not thinking and I put silly things on my status, and then my mom calls and asks me about something going on in my life that I know I didn't tell her about - that's right, she's on facebook too. (I met a youth pastor recently who said one of his favorite Sunday morning activities with his students is to throw facebook up on the big screen and then pick random profiles to open for everyone to look at - yikes!)

It might be the person you ate lunch with who looked to see how big of a tip you left... I know we throw this fact out there all the time, but it's true that you can talk to all kinds of restaurant waiters and waitresses and they'll tell you they hate working on Sundays b/c the after-church crowd are some of the worst tippers of the week.

People are watching. What are they learning from your life?

I Love Wednesdays

Wednesdays are my people days. Wednesdays are my days to ignore my computer through the morning and sit with people face-to-face. I need Wednesdays to remind me sometimes why I love what I do and what it is such a privilege to do what I do.

When is your Wednesday and what does it look like?

Gettin' My Reads On

Stressed? Anxious? Overwhelmed? Self-consumed?

I recommend a date with a good book. There's nothing like a good book to transport you out of your current situation, lift your eyes out of the dense forest and be re-inspired by a greater narrative (gee, I kinda sound like Donald Miller :).

And so, if you're looking for a recommendation, here are a few from my most recent reads and even one that's coming up next on my list:

1. Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel - there are 10 chapters in this book, and I promise you'll find yourself in at least one if not all of them along with some concrete steps forward.

2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett - excellent book about black maids and the white ladies they worked for in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. Of all the books I've read dealing with segregation and the civil rights movement, this one surpasses them all. It's funny, honest and an opportunity to see life through entirely different eyes. This is definitely a good one if you need a little perspective.

3. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett - releases on September 28th and I'm so excited! Follett doesn't write stories, he writes epics. This one won't be for the faint of heart at almost 1,o00 pages and that only the first installment of a trilogy, but based on previous experience, I think it will be worth it.

Go ahead and roll your eyes now, but I won't write a post like this and miss the opportunity to point out that the best book to be reading at all times is the Bible. Stressed? Read your Bible and be reminded of God's faithfulness and provision. Anxious? Read your Bible and be reminded to cast your cares on the One who cares for you. Overwhelmed? Read your Bible and don't miss the part about walking through fire and not being consumed. Self-consumed? Read your Bible and remember life isn't about you - it's about living everyday for Jesus, the One who gave His life for you.

After the Message

So easy to zero in on the things that excite us, the things that get our passion running high –

Can you just imagine if we were as excited about Jesus as we are about football?

Thousands of people crowded into stadiums every weekend, faces painted, signs made – so eager to get in that they show up early and cook out in the parking lot, making friends with the people parked next to them b/c even if they’ve never met, they have this one, amazing thing in common.

Not just football…basketball, rock concerts, etc.

Are we that excited about Jesus, or do we come here when we don’t have anything better to do?

Revelation 3:14-22, Church in Laodicea:

Water source was about 6 miles out of town, so when it came through the pipes into their town, it was tepid

Hence, the metaphor resonated with them that they were not to be lukewarm, better to be cold than lukewarm. Jesus wants us to be hot, passionate, on fire.

Jesus doesn’t need lukewarm, he needs boiling hot, passionate, on-fire people who are ready to live a radical, sold-out life to him

The issue is not feeling guilty about loving college football or basketball, or playing golf or doing any of the things we love – it’s about what has captured your heart, or better said, it’s about WHO has captured your heart.

Where are you going to place your passion? What are you going to get so excited about that you’re willing to look foolish for the sake of it?