Happy Anniversary

I'm going to see The Prisoner of Azkaban with my wife today--it's our sixteenth wedding anniversary. We're going to dinner as well, which, with three young kids (six, 3 1/2, and 22 months) is about as good as it gets.

I'm especially grateful as about 14 years ago, we were a few hours from filing for divorce. It's a long story, but God is good, and not filing for divorce was the best decision we ever made.

A couple random happy blog thoughts:

• Red Auerbach--great human being, best NBA coach ever (even if he's not Zen)
  
• NT Wright--absolutely brilliant
  
• Slacker Moms are all the rage--while Ladies Night is out
  
• Philip Yancey says the world's getting better so ignore the doomsayers
  

Dan Lattin of the San Francisco Chronicle has a great piece on the annual meeting of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, (a 4 million member Pentecostal denomination.) Lattin also reports on the Ponzi Scheme that cost the church more than $15 million-- I know I harp on this all the time, but its just too damn easy to steal money--and a lot of it--from churches. I know of several modest sized congregations that have had more than $300,000 embezzled from them by people they trusted.

Maybe it's time for some public service journalism on how churches (and all kinds of non-profits) can keep watch on their money.

As the former president of the Foursquare Gospel Church put it--the aftermath of losing that kind of money is like going on a trip "to hell and back."