Your Name Shall be Abraham

Dear Abraham (an open letter to my son),

I am writing you this blog post so that you can know about your namesake.

In my high school years I became quite intrigued with Abraham Lincoln.  After reading some of his speeches and learning about the difference he made in this country I was fascinated on how this man lived.  Though he was a great leader he had his down falls in family relationships but above all he wanted to make a difference and fix the wrongs that he saw.  Lincoln quickly became my favorite president and inspired me to think about how my life can make a difference in this world.

Years later as I was in college and into my graduate school years I became fascinated by a different Abraham, the one from the book of Genesis in the Bible.  I had to write a paper on Abraham’s sacrificial offering of his son.  It was during the research of this paper that I couldn’t stop thinking about how this man trusted God completely that he knew God would provide for him.

Shortly after this I read the book The Road Trip that Changed the World by Mark Sayers.  In the book he gives a clear picture on the bold step Abraham took by leaving his home in Ur and faithfully following God out into the unknown.  He writes this, “Abraham will be educated by God in a different mode of being.  God will enter into a covenantal mode with Abraham that will flow into his ancestors, and into all areas of life.  Abraham will learn to model covenantal relationship with God in contrast to the utilitarian approach of his neighbors to their gods.”

Your mom and I named you Abraham because we pray that you will be a man of God who lives in faith as you follow God through a covenantal relationship with Him.  That as we watch you grow up you will become a man defined by your faith in Christ.  We named you Abraham because we hope that you will look to make a difference in this world.  That you will see the problems around you and as Abraham Lincoln did step up and affect those problems in positive way.  We hope that you will be a man who follows your faith into the unknown.

Your middle name is Wellington because you are named after Wellington Avenue.  Wellington Ave. has been an important street in your mother and my relationship.  In college we would go on study dates at the Caribou right by the intersection of Wellington and Clark.  You were born at Illinois Masonic Hospital which is on Wellington Ave.  Lastly and most importantly we found our church family at the corner of Wellington and Damen. 

This corner has been a home to a church for decades.  It was formerly Galilee Baptist Church where multiple members of that congregation has influenced my life.  It then became New Life Community Church-West Lakeview.  It was there that your mother and I found our family and began our marriage.  It was there that we felt God calling us to stay and live on mission in Chicago.  It was there that we have met families that have become some of our dearest friends and it is there that you will grow up.

Lastly, your family name, Bacon.  Currently Bacon is popular, when I was younger it was not as popular.  We live in a time where there is Bacon of the month clubs, bacon festivals, bacon wrapped everything, and most importantly doughnuts with bacon on them.  But you are not named after the food but after a great heritage.  There aren’t many firstborn bacon men so you have big shoes to fill.  Bacon men work hard.  Your great-grandpa Harold was an amazing man who worked hard and taught his sons to work hard.  It’s just what we do so you too will be a hard-worker.  You will be surrounded by great Bacon men who will love and care for you.  Your Grandpa Brad will shower you with gifts of food.  Your Uncle Ross will take you to many sporting events.  Your Uncle Wesley will teach you how to use tools.  Your Uncle Taylor will show you how to be cool and genuine at the same time.  You have other amazing family members too who will shower you with love, but most importantly you’re a Bacon now so that means you will love pizza, your first slice of Lou Malnati’s (butter crust) is on it’s way.

Your Mother and I love you and we know that you will be an amazing man.

Love,

Your Dad.

Doughnuts!

I love Doughnuts.

Now that I’ve gotten that confession out of the way I’ll also admit that over the past couple months the pregnant one and I have eaten a lot of doughnuts.  Every time I’ve been within a mile of a well reviewed doughnut shop I’ve stopped to get my wife a treat slash I wanted one and I knew she would appreciate it.

So with all the doughnuts we have devoured over these past few months here are my favorites.

1.  Do-Rite Donuts

I read about this place when it opened but because it’s in the loop I wasn’t able to make my way there.  Luckily my lovely sister Abbie last fall picked us up some because she loved them and ever since then I’ve found my favorite doughnut in the city-The Old Fashioned.

The Buttermilk Old Fashioned is the perfect doughnut.  The right mixture of cake and glaze that fills the tastes buds.  Do-Rite doesn’t only have one Old Fashioned but has the Lemon, Cinnamon Crunch, Chocolate, and the Double Chocolate Old Fashioned.  The doughnuts are huge and are worth every penny.

2.  The Doughnut Vault

The glazed doughnuts here are so big and unlike any doughnut I’ve had before.  They are a little expensive but when you only make it a special trip it is well worth the money and time spent in line.

Personal favorite here is the Double Chocolate-can never have enough of that glaze.

3.  Dinkel’s Bakery

The first time I had their Chocolate Doughnut my eyes were opened to a new world of doughnuts, one where Dunkin’ was ousted for the stale rock like treats that they are.

I am biased on this ranking because I lived across the street from this bakery and smelled them each morning I woke up.

4.  Glazed and Infused.

Maple Bacon Long John

Maple BACON Long John

5.  Enoch’s Donuts at Endgrain.

Counted down the days for the opening of Endgrain and ran over there the day it opened, happening to be their first customer that day.

I was a little disappointed because they are quite expensive for such a little donut.  Then one day I returned and discovered the doughscuit.  A doughnut and biscuit combined.  It was heavenly.

Along these stops over the past couple months I’ve also enjoyed City Dough, Stan’s, and Firecakes.  Firecakes was amazing but one of my doughnuts was missing filling which caused it to be bumped from the list.

Rank Them Movies

I love movies but going to the movie theater often is expensive.  So this list is a little late but I’ve finally caught up with the majority of the movies from 2013 that I wanted to see.  Here are my top 5 movies of this past year.

1. Gravity

No movie has stuck with me more this year than Gravity.  I love when directors do something that makes you stop in awe of what you are seeing on the screen.  This movie not only kept me interested and on the edge of my seat but visually it does so much with 3D and the big screen that it makes you feel as if you are floating in outer space with Sandra Bullock.  I’ve told many people this but if you haven’t seen Gravity yet you better run to the theaters and see it while it's still on the big screen.  I know that watching this on a smaller screen won’t resonate like this film does at the movie theater, in 3D, with large speakers that make the horror-like film score shake your bones.

George Clooney is charming and Sandra Bullock has a strong performance making you feel her panic and fear over and over again.  The weak part of Gravity is the script written by Director Alfonso Cuaron’s son Jonas, but the weak writing is elevated by the amazing camera shots synchronized with the terrifying musical score.  I saw this movie when it came out in October and it left me astounded.  Then I went back for a second watch a couple weeks ago because I wanted to experience this captivating film one more time on the big screen.

2.  Nebraska

I’ve begun to realize that the less and less I know about a movie heading into it the more and more I will enjoy it.  This was the case with Nebraska, I knew it was directed by Alexander Payne (“The Descendants”, “About Schmidt”) and I knew that Will Forte (“MacGruber”) was in it.  I kept hearing how interesting this movie was and so I made sure Brooke and I could see it on the “Let’s go to the movies every week before our baby comes and makes it less likely for us to go to the movies tour.”

We walked into a nearly empty theater on a snow day and as the movie started I remembered that it was in black and white and was nervous this may cause Brooke not to enjoy it.  Side note: I usually have an open mind while going into a movie but I’m mainly concerned with my wife liking a movie, especially when I talk her into seeing it, because if she doesn’t like it I feel like somehow I failed at choosing the right movie for us to see-ridiculous I know.

The movie began on an old man walking on the side of a highway and this was the beginning of a gripping movie about a father and a son.  Fathers and their sons and sons and their fathers is always something that intrigues me.  This movie shows a son who knows his father won’t be with him much longer and wants to know who his father is and where he came from.  I won’t say much more about this movie other than it is a touching story that deserves a watch.

3.  Her

I have an IPhone, you have an IPhone, we all have IPhones.  Spike Jonze movies (“Being John Malkovich” “Adaptation”) always make me stop and process what I just watched and “Her” kept that tradition alive.  This movie asks the question how far is too far in our relationship with technology?  Joaquin Phoenix gives another transforming performance as Theodore Twombly a man who falls in love with his Siri like voice operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson.  This movie shows that technology can’t fulfill the need for relationships, but we need to find our relationships with the people we care for in our lives.  I love the world that Spike Jonze creates in this movie and as I watched this world it seemed like a possible glimpse into our future.  Warning that this movie has a couple uncomfortable scenes of sexual experiences expressed through word.  Aside from those scenes I really enjoyed following Theodore on this journey of figuring out what love is and can you love a programed operating system.

4.  12 Years a Slave

I covered how beautiful this movie is here: http://baconculture.blogspot.com/2013/10/12-years-slave.html

I’ll never forget seeing this movie and the powerful images of the devastation that slavery was.

5.  Mud

Jeff Nichols just keeps directing interesting movies centered around strong male leads.  This movie focuses on Mud (Matthew McConaughey) a man who befriends two boys as he flees men who are seeking to kill him.  At this point anything Jeff Nichols directs will peak my interest because he knows how to tell stories about normal people who go through life changing events.

Honorable Mentions

-Fast 6

-In a World...

-The Act of Killing

The D-Rose Blues

I’ve got the D-Rose Blues and they don't feel good.

About 2 months ago my wife and I came home on a Friday night after dinner out with some friends.  As we entered our apartment I was excited that the Bulls were playing in Portland against the Trail Blazers, because that meant the game started around 9pm instead of 7pm so I hadn’t missed much of the game.  I sat down turned on the game to discover that the Bulls had come out blazin’ (pun intended).  D-Rose looked like he was finally hitting his groove.  It had been a rough start to the season but he had 17pts in the first half.

As the second half began I was pleasantly surprised that the Bulls were leading a game on the dreaded Circus Road Trip part of their schedule.  They usually come out of that road trip with a pretty lousy record, but if they could win this game it could help make the road trip more bearable.

Then towards the end of the 3^rd quarter the Bulls let the Trail Blazers back into the game and Rose was cutting towards the basket.  The Blazers stole the ball and Rose pivoted his knee to go back on defense but as he moved something was wrong!  I could sense it right away.  He turned a casual turn, the kind basketball players make a 100 times a game but his knee couldn’t take the turn.

The camera followed the fast break on the other side of the court but I didn’t care about that, I cared about the little guy at the far left of the screen who was now LIMPING up the court.

The next 10 minutes I was in panic.  Stacey King and Neil Funk kept calling the game like nothing was going on, but there were doctors around Rose!  I knew it was going to be bad news but King and Funk continued to not say anything about it.  Didn’t they realize this was the end of the 2013-2014 Bulls season.
I watched the rest of the game in horror.  Even watched the post game show hoping for news on Rose.  I was 'DApressed' that this could happen again.  I kept asking Why?Why? as I texted my friends and as my wife mourned with me then laughed at me and reminded me that it's basketball, but that fell on deaf ears.

Hours later the news broke that the knee injury was bad and then a couple days later it was announced that Rose was out for the whole season.

This is when I began to get stuck in the D-Rose blues.

The D-Rose blues is the realization that another full season of Bulls basketball is irrelevant.  The D-Rose blues is turning on a Bulls game and cheering for them to win but in the front of your mind you realize it would be better if they lost every game to get a lottery pick in this years hyped NBA Draft.  The D-Rose blues is cheering for your favorite team to lose but then feeling like a bad fan so changing your mind but then feeling sad when they win a game.  The D-Rose blues is hoping that your favorite coach in the world would take his foot off the gas and let the team lose this year because it’ll give them a better future.  The D-Rose blues is seeing how dysfunctional of a franchise you cheer for and reading they might trade one of the best coaches in the NBA.  The D-Rose blues is seeing Luol Deng get traded and getting excited that the Bulls got more draft picks and saved 20 Million dollars in salary, though they lost an amazing defender and one of the leaders of the team.  The D-Rose blues is loving a team that’s future seems bleak.

I love the Chicago Bulls but what will Derrick Rose look like next year?  Can he make it through a season of basketball ever again?  Will Tom Thibodeau be their coach next year?  Can the Bulls ever win the NBA Championship again?

These questions will remain unanswered for a while.  As they wait to be answered I’ll place my hope in a young man named Nikola Mirotić

And if all else fails well I’m becoming a Chicago Sky Fan and fully embracing Elena Delle Donne

12 Years a Slave

The other night I was able to venture to the theater to go see the new movie “12 Years a Slave,” directed by Steve McQueen.  This is McQueen’s third film and follows his most controversial film “Shame” which is about a man who is a sex addict.  McQueen’s films have often been described as photographs that are strung together.  This meaning, that you could take one shot from his movie, put it in a picture frame, and people would comment on how beautiful the picture is.

In his new film “12 Years a Slave” he takes on the task of showing us the journey of Solomon Northup, a free black man in the mid 1800’s who is taken captive and thrown into slavery.  McQueen co-wrote the screenplay with John Ridley who adapted it from Northup’s autobiography that was written in 1853.  He uses his technique of picture taking to convey this powerful story through dynamic pictures that show the horror of slavery.

Throughout the film we see this crushing journey of a man who lives an honest life, working various jobs here and there to provide for his family.  He is a great violinist who is asked to travel for a job to Washington D.C. which ends up being a trick, as he is drugged, and sold into the slave trade.  The movie chronicles Northup’s life as he is taken from Washington D.C. by ferry down to Louisiana and sold to slave owner William Ford.

In one of the most soul crushing scenes in the movie we see a slave trader played by Paul Giamatti, present his slaves as merchandise for the slave owners.  Giamatti shows off the muscles on the young men, and commands one young child to perform for the slave owners to show how great of a steal they could get by purchasing him.

As the movie progresses we see Solomon move from a confident free man to a man that is trapped, scared, and unsure if it is better to live or to die.  He stands out from the other slaves as he tries to excel at his work but he soon finds out that standing out to the slave owners is not a good thing and only leads to more punishment and abuse for thinking he is better than them.  Solomon has to face fierce wicked men who degrade him and tell him he is no man but a mere beast born to work for them.

Just as “12 Years a Slave” portrays a man who is tricked and delivered over to slavery we see a similar picture in the Bible.

In Genesis 37 we meet one of the sons of Israel by the name of Joseph.  Joseph like Solomon Northup was a man that stood out from others.  He excelled at what he did and found favor in the eyes of his father.  He is elevated above his brothers as his father gives him an expensive coat of color, usually given to the first born not the baby of the family.  Then Joseph begins to tell his brothers about dreams he is having that they will one day bow down to him.  These stories eventually bring his brothers to fierce anger and they rise up and plot against him.  Throwing him in an empty pit and stripping him of his coat his brothers decide to sell him into slavery for twenty shekels of silver.

From this point on Joseph starts a journey from being a prominent member of his father’s household to the lowest position in society as he is sold in the slave market.  Joseph then is bought by Pharaoh’s chief of security, Potiphar.  From the life of Joseph we see him excel and stand out from the other slaves but being brought into a prominent position only brings to a further down fall.  His Master’s wife tries to make a move on him and as he avoids her, she puts the blame on him and he is cast into prison.

In prison Joseph is left alone and faces the darkness, hurt, and humility of being a slave in prison.

At this point in Joseph’s life he is about 28 years old and has been a slave for around 11 years.

As I watched “12 Years a Slave” I was brought to tears to see a man who was drugged, sold, and imprisoned as a slave all because of his skin color.  As the movie portrays the real darkness of man’s sin, Solomon is faced with the decision of showing how educated he is or to hide it so he isn’t punished for being smart.  Throughout the movie we see Solomon have to make hard decisions each day on how and when he can stand up for the injustice around him, which ends up only hurting him further.

We see similarities in the life of Joseph, a man who is tricked, sold, and imprisoned as a slave.  One who has to face decisions each day on if he should stand out from the other slaves or if he should just get lost in the fold.  God eventually brings him to Pharaoh’s attention and we see the rise of Joseph from a slave prisoner to Pharaoh’s right hand man.  

Solomon Northup faced years of abuse and wrongful imprisonment.  I won’t spoil his story for you but at times it is easy to think we are over our problems from the past.  It is easy to think that since slavery is abolished and black men and women are free that these problems no longer exist in our society.  But from the life of Joseph to Solomon Northup to our current time we see that the sin of jealousy, anger, and hate will never leave this present world.  This world will be filled with people who feel anger and hatred towards others, maybe because they think a certain person acts as if they are better than them, maybe because they think a certain person should not be allowed their same freedom because of their skin color.  Maybe because they think a certain person is a terrorist just because of the way they look.  Maybe because they think that a certain person is on their turf, or part of another gang.  It will happen for different reasons but we can’t live in a naïve state where we think sin doesn’t thrive.  People feel evil, wicked, hatred that causes them to act in sinful, unjustly ways.

When I watch a movie like “12 Years a Slave” or when I read Joseph’s story I weep. I weep because I yearn and hope for a time when this hatred, this sick sin, will no longer thrive.  I cry out for the return of Christ.

Hebrews 1:8-9 describes how Christ will reign saying, “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.  You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.’” (ESV)

When Christ returns the world will see his scepter of uprightness as wickedness will perish and righteousness will reign.

I can’t wait for the return of King Jesus when his reign will fill this world.  I can’t wait for evil to be punished and righteousness to reign.  I see the evil in our world and I do the one thing I know I can do, I worship Jesus, I seek His Face, and cry out to Him asking for his name to be praised and for his love to be spread across my neighborhood, my city, my country, across His world.

Introduction

Last December I graduated from Grad School.  I thought to myself that now that I don't have homework I will read all the books I want to read and I will be able to spend time writing what I want to write.  Well almost a whole year has passed and I've read some books I've wanted to read (working on that) and I've written a little.  I enjoy writing and wanted a venue to put out some of my thoughts and just want to write about things that interest me.  So here it is I've created a blog to post various thoughts or interests that I have.
Some things you should know about me.
1.  I work at New Life Community Church in West Lakeview and am constantly going to God's word and praying to see how God desires to use our church to reach our neighborhood and all of Chicago.
2.  I am married to an amazing woman, Brooke Bacon, who is currently carrying our first child.  So we are going through a change of life and as I got to see my baby move for the first time last week I felt my whole perspective on life start to change.
3.  I love Chicago Sports, particularly the Chicago Bulls.  I grew up in the time of Jordan and have been caught up with the Bulls even during the dire years of one Marcus Fizer.  If we have a girl I would be tempted to name her Rose Mary-Jane (MJ) Bacon.  Don't worry the wife won't let it happen.
4.  I thoroughly enjoy movies.  Growing up I memorized what movies we had taped off of TV and tried to watch each one from "Fried Green Tomatoes" to "Escape from New York."  If my budget was large enough I would go to the movies every weekend.
5.  I really really like Pizza.  I grew up on eating pizza at least once a week.  Rosati's, Lou's, Dondi's, Moretti's, and Gino's were common carryout names in our household.  Pizano's thin crust pizza is the best pizza in the world and there is no discussing this.
Based on these facts about my life you can get a picture of the various things I will write about.