Month in Review

My last post was on 11/5...whoa, it's been a while.

I tend to read other people's blogs rather than write on my own.

I also frequent Facebook more often than not.  (Although I don't write much there either.  It's just more fun to read what other people feel the need to write about.)

So the past month.  I'll be brief.

In rewind:

-We've all been sick this past week.  I'm on my second day out of the office with whatever this junk is.

-Sarah is almost 30.  She turned 29 on Wednesday.  Of those years, I've been in her life for 11 of them.  Wild!

-Thanksgiving with Sarah's family had a new twist--we hosted it at our house.  Man, it takes a lot of work and a lot of cash to feed people over a long weekend.  It was great not having to travel though.

-Speaking of money, Sarah's brother spent some of his own on the new macbook and sold us his old powerbook G4.  So we're treading into the mac world.  (Tomorrow I'm hoping to take it to a mac genius in hopes of them helping me undo some things I unknowingly did.)

-William is completely engrossed in football.  He plays it, he dreams it, he watches it.  He knows most, if not all, the team logos.  And perhaps his favorite, he loves to say "Sunday Night Football Night in America" just like Al Roker says on the Today Show every Friday.

-Kate moved into her big girl bed.  No more crib!  She is such a star.  Obviously she was ready because she was starting to crawl in and out of her crib and when we did move her into a bed she didn't fuss or anything.  Just pulled the blankets up and went to sleep.

-Catalyst One Day:  I spent a day of incredible learning at a conference called "Catalyst One Day".  Craig Groeschel and Andy Stanley were the presenters and it was awesome.  Well worth the 4:30 AM wake-up, 500 mile round trip drive, and 8 hours of conference.

-Christmas stuff is is full swing at church and in our home.  We're looking forward to a great Christmas.  Jesus is amazing.  I'm glad  he is my Lord.

Merry Christmas to you and yours...I may not make it back before then.  :)

Image makes a Difference

Our son, William, has surprised us with his name dropping over the past few weeks. He overhears the news (and his parents) talking about the election and has picked up on the names that are out there. He has been a staunch supporter of Barack Obama--not because of what he has heard/not heard in our house--but simply because he think Obama looks like Tiger Woods. Yesterday we told him we were voting for John McCain and today, following us telling him that Obama won the Presidential Election, he proudly proclaimed that he was "right" and we were "wrong".

Image makes a Difference...even 4 year olds have this one figured out!

So you know what we did at lunch today? As a family we prayed for Obama and Biden (you should hear Kate try to say Barack Obama). We asked God to protect them and bless them--and we meant it.

Away!

Sarah and I are having a 24 getaway. We are in Indiana and able to leave our kids with Sarah's folks overnight. This is the view we had last night of the lake where we are stayed (I did not snap the pic but found it online).

For us to get away took a lot of work--in fact, it took a lot of mature conversation between the two of us. It was hard work to accomplish it. We have enjoyed waking up this morning without children calling our names, watching an entire news show without switching channels to watch Curious George, sitting on the couch for the past 2 hours, and our biggest discussion this morning is whether or not we should peel ourselves from our couches and eat some breakfast. Ahh.

Big thanks to my wife for getting us here.
Big thanks to our family for watching the kiddos.
Big thanks to my assistant pastor, Josh, for leading worship & preaching yesterday.
Big thanks to professional mileage reimbursements from the past month that gave some extra cash to get down here.

Star (five) Bucks

Dave Ramsey says he has a friend who calls Starbucks, FiveBucks, because everytime you go there it's going to cost you $5.

Well push that total up to $10 now.

Just moments ago I sauntered into the local Starbucks for a little study time and access to the internet outside of the noise and interference of the church office.

As I waited for my grande cafe mocha and tastey M&M cookie I inquired about the use of internet access. "It's free, right?" I said. The answer was something to this affect, "If you purchase a Starbucks card, even just putting $5 on it you'll be able to register at starbucks.com and get all sorts of free newsletters and offers [junk] sent to you via email. It's a really cool thing. All you have to do to keep your account activated is buy a starbucks coffee once a month using your card and it'll keep your account active."

WHAT?!

Starbucks went from Fivebucks to Tenbucks.

I did it. I joined. But at least I can post on my blog now. Now that's $5 well spent...or not.

Sound Advice

I recieved this videoblog this morning and found it to be timely and solid. Kevin Eikenberry writes good stuff; simple and practical.

">

Call to Prayer

In case you haven't already sensed it, now is the time for prayer; prayer for discernment and action. How will Jesus followers be able to respond to the financial implosion we are witnessing? How will God's people participate in the upcoming election, and shape the next era of our country? How will we creatively and honestly express the good news?

I'm struck with how people in my congregration repeatedly "go without". Embarrassingly, our congregation does not have an action plan in place to assist those with needs. It bothers me greatly. We give and we give well, at times and when we hear about it, but I want to be more intentional. Pray that our church would be able to pull together and respond appropriately and generously.

Thanks.

Dollars and Sex

I live in Michigan, where the financial cruch that the rest of the nation is now feeling has been felt for the past 2 years. More than that, I live 80 miles from Detroit and 45 from Flint--two cities incredibly affected financially. It has affected our small town for some time now.

We have great people we know who are struggling financially. Some people in our church are losing their homes. Others are coming to our church for some finacial assitance. It has been a cause of real concern for me and we have only been able to make small dents along the way. I pray we can do more.

With all the layers of issues wrapped in the financial crisis I don't pretend to know too much about it and I don't pretend to know how to fix it. But I would like to make one observation. I wonder if anyone else has made the observation that the only man who is given any network airtime is that guy from Mad Money? Other than him, NBC and ABC (from what I've observed) has a female-only staff of Financial Consultants/Reporters. Nothing against women but I wonder what the driving force is behind this. Has anyone else made this observation? They seem to give sound advice and accurate reporting but where are the boys?

Hey, thanks!

So if you stop by my blog with any sort of regularity, thanks. I've been away from it for several weeks. Since the beginning of August loads of good things have taken place:

1) the Olympics were fun to watch...in fact William will see Matt Lauer on TV and ask if we're watching the Olympics.

2) William celebrated his 4th birthday. He's a star, we love him.

3) We visited my family in SD for a week. It was great seeing family and great to leave the church in the hands of our very capable layleaders.

4) NBWC has hired an assistan pastor! Josh Hilty and his wife, Jamie, will be moving to North Branch on the 17th of this month. It's weird to think that Pastor Tony's former office will no longer be our office storage space, that a living breathing person will occupy it instead. It's going to be good to have Josh here.

5) The brakes on our '96 Subaru Outback (absolutely amazing car) were shot. Out of the blue we had someone give us a check which covered all but $24 of the mechanic's bill. It was an amazing gift not to have to pay the other $300!

6) Kate's vocabulary is exploding. She still enjoys pulling funny faces and now has verbal expressions to go along with them. She is hilarious.

I could go on. Suffice it to say the latter part of this summer has been great.

Thanks for reading.

He thinks I can

I've just returned from the Willow Creek Summit and am once again blown away. I am not an every year Summit attendee. I've been a few times and really should go every year. My mind is on a bit of overload and I'm refecting on all that I heard over that past two days but I do know one thing right now...God thinks I can.

Willow Creek takes some hits for doing certain things and making certain decisions but what I experienced over the past 48 hours was a clear and present impact by the Holy Spirit. The leaders of Willow Creek have pursued Christ's best and tilled a fertile garden for the Spirit of God to reach me--and I appreciate it.

I've found that leadership chips away at your will power and your confidence. It breaks down your resolve and can get you off center. I am so thankful for God reminding me (and some 100,000 other leaders who attended the conference) that HE thinks we can.

He thinks we can innovate. He thinks we can lead. He thinks we can change the world. He thinks we can survive failure. He thinks we can overcome sin. He thinks we can...

As part of the excitement of the Summit, a group of leadership friends joined me at the retreat. It was great to share the experience with my wife and our friends at church. I don't want our church to stay the same. For that matter, I don't want to stay the same. It'll be cool to see where we all go as a result of this.

Now I'm home watching the Olympic opening ceremony. Kinda interesting to come home after a Christ-centered setting to NBC airing an hour+ long religious ceremony. The religions of China were in the fore of all the presentations and network TV seemed to really enjoy it. (It makes me wonder if they would enjoy airing an Olympic ceremony that was laced with Christianity, its symbolism, and its meaning.) Technologically and the people involved in the ceremony were phenomenal! I think they said a 500 ft. LCD screen was used. Crazy. Should be a fun several days of watching.

Makes me think..."Just how are people going to know that God is good?" Gary Hougen of the IJM asked this question at the Summit. Millions of people need to know that God is good and He thinks we can let them know.

Lengthy

When our former pastor resigned I made an inward and outward commitment: we will take my time to hire the next assistant pastor for our church. The prediction was that we would have someone in place by August 1. Isn't August 1 next week? Ya, we're not all that close to bringing that person to minister to/with us. And so we wait and we search.

I've met some great people along the way and have enjoyed some of the process of the search. Some of it I could do without. But we will get there.

Enough?

It's a funny thing, discouragement. It hits at the wierdest times and in the most unexpected ways. For me, as it may be for others, it comes down to the "enoughs" of life.

• Did I do enough?
• How come they didn't give enough?
• The board said "yes", but did they say yes enough?
• Were enough people at church?
• Will there be enough volunteers?
• How will we be effective enough?
• Did I call enough people?
• Do people feel loved enough?
• Did I work hard enough?
• _____________________________? (fill in your own)

And check it out--it's all centered on performance. But does God want my performance or does he simply want me? He wants me to want Him. He wants me to love Him. He wants me to know Him. Seems to me that Jesus was like this with Mary & Martha--one who was doing and one who was being.

Oswald Chambers makes a distinction between active work and spiritual activity in today's (July 10) entry of My Utmost for His Highest. He writes, "Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity." Trying to do enough is counterfeit spirituality. (I think this is along the lines of what Thomas Merton calls the "false self".)

In a performance driven society it is difficult not to be performance driven our spiritual lives. It is just as difficult to rightly handle performance in our corporate (church fellowship) lives. But it seems necessary. Sure, we have to guage what's going on spiritually, corporately, etc..., but the questions that center on the "enoughs" are just about enough to take one down and lay them out. Tread carefully.

Community Gift

4 days of work, over 100 volunteers, 500 yards of mulch, donations galore from local businesses and individuals equals 1 completed playground project.

Two years ago our church began meeting in our community park for 5-6 weeks in the summer. Two years ago we thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have some updated playground equipment in our park?" Two years ago that thought was planted in my mind. Three days ago it came to a great end!

It was great working with people from our community to see this project come together. Our village leaders supported the project from the get-go and from there it was "simply" a matter of seeing all the details come together. I thank the Lord for the way in which he provided people and finances. Our church really showed up in a great way and it was fun for us to work alongside the people of our community.

Personally this was an exhilarating project...and an exhausting project. I am glad to have been associated with it.

Where You've Been...Where You're Going

In a tribute to our graduation seniors (high school & university), in farewell to our Student Ministries Pastor, and as a word of encouragement to every person who comes and goes from our church I penned the following words for my Sunday sermon. Inspiration came from that all too popular book by Dr. Seuss, Oh, the places you'll go!, as well as from the fact that the Bible reminds us we are all interconnected as the body of Christ. We come and go, but we are in this together.

Here goes...

The big question today, the big thought we all wonder
Is whether or not lwe'll leave here and blunder.
Will we make it far or go just a little?
In Christ you’ll complete every jot and every tittle.

Suess, that is Dr., once wrote a fine book
He wrote it last and it brings a smile in the look.
Will you succeed? He wrote. Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

Your success, my success, our successes are related
For all at this church have been similarly slated.
Common bonds, common friends, common hopes with no end.
We are tied together through thick and through thin.

You go from this place, some to school some to serve
Some on clear paths, some that will swerve.
Some go to a workplace, some go to a home
All want a good life and want HIM to be known.

How will this happen? How can it be?
People like us to make a difference, you see.
You might think you don’t have much to offer
But the king knows exactly what you have in your coffer.

Look at Paul, for example, that great man of God.
He had one purpose in life wherever he trod.
Bring Christ to the center of each location
Despite how he got there or the next destination.

Five times he was beaten forty stripes minus one,
Three times with rods, once he was stoned.
Three times the ship wrecked leaving him in the sea
He found peril in waters and in many journeys.

In danger from robbers, his countrymen, his friends,
In danger from Gentiles—those to whom God did send.
Even in cities, just like the wild
He found no safely like a mother and child.

Weariness, doctrine, hunger and cold
Hardwork and fasting must have grown old.
Yet in spite of all this, in spite of the pain,
His one purpose for Christ yet did remain.

Look at Daniel, from the Lion’s Den, and the great fiery furnace.
He stood his ground and did so with earnest.
Not in shouting or yelling but with strength and with poise
He was indeed the healthiest of all the king’s boys.

There came such a day as the sins of the whole
Were too obvious to forget and needed forgiveness total.
They weren’t his sins necessarily but they were just the same
For they were his people and he shared in their shame.

He prayed to the Lord, the great awesome Father,
Knowing that God loves his people and those who love others.
He prayed about the sins that the people had committed
Again they weren’t his but all needed acquitted.

How did Paul make it, barely it seems
But his purpose was clear and the fruit can be seen.
What about Daniel and the trials he witnessed?
Would we act similar and take on someone’s missteps?

To succeed we must, we must endure and engage.
The journey we travel knows no age.
Paul’s passion was the church, Daniel’s was purity
The Bible says this church must be likewise—that’s certainty.

Oh it’s fun to think of the places we’ll go
But our journey starts here and from here we will go.
If the start is muddled and the beginning a sham
That doesn’t leave much hope for the rest of the plan.

So it’s here in this place that God resets the game
He has a great plan for us, we go with a great name.
His name is the one we must carry well.
We represent the son of Heaven, not...

Well you know who I mean you know it’s through Jesus
You know it’s in Him that the world should see us.
So put on the new self, Colossians implores.
And see where you’ll go, what God has in store.

For all here today, not just those in transition,
I want you to hear me, “You are on a mission.”
Your work is not done if you’re still drawing breath
It’s possible God is not through with you yet.

So be quick to trust, to finish your work
Be committed to those who sometimes are jerks.
For at times we are jerks and God still loves us.
He loves us, he made us, and for us He makes a fuss.

Confess your own sin, the quicker the better.
The longer it lingers it just settles and festers.
Look around you as well, for their sins are yours,
The Bible is clear, corporate sins He abhors.

If that is the case, then my pain in yours.
And with that as the case your gain is ours.
We share in this journey, we are marked together,
You’ll go from this place connected forever.

Take from here what is good and renounce what brings shame.
You can do it, be free, all in Jesus’ name.
Will you succeed, we began, that was the question?
Succeed indeed with God in direction.

So take hope today, you young and you old.
You’ll do great things in the Bible we’re told.
You’ll wonder at times if you’re doing OK
You’ll wonder at times if today is the day.

You’ll have moments of levity and moments of grief,
But please, oh please, don’t forsake your belief.
For Christ died for you, 100 percent.
And into the world each one of us is sent.

In the name of the one who died in your place
In the name of the one who gives so much grace.
In his name I send you to go and succeed,
For in his name you will, that’s guaranteed.

Long time coming

Well I've been out of it for quite some time. Good grief I'm one of those people who has a blog but has not updated it for a long time.

I know that part of my hesistation in writing is the fear of really being honest in my writing. Have you ever read a deceased person's journal? Have you ever thought while reading it, "Did they mean for me to read this?" But at the same time you find yourself incredibly moved by what they are saying or how they lived. Maybe most writers find it difficult to just lay it all out there for others, I don't know. I do.

My last post covered the fact that our assistant pastor has resigned and is moving. This Sunday is his final Sunday. If I were to be honest (and I will be) it has been a hard transition. There are many reasons why it has been hard but one in particular is how hard it is to pastor the size of church I pastor. We run around 250 or so...at least lately...and summer might change all that. But everything I experience and everything I am reading about churches like ours tells me that this is a difficult size church.

My greatest hope for my church would be the further empowerment of people to do stuff. (In church circles this is called discipleship.) Plain and simple, I want people to do the work of the church. Acts 2, Ephesians 4, et al., all speak about role clarification. I'm finding great pressure to be the "everything pastor" in a church that is too big for an everything pastor.

We are not going to hire a specialized minister for our next hire. We are taking our time and praying for a person who will come to be a "leader of leaders" as I call it. I'm looking for a person who gets excited about leading other people, holding them accountable, and getting other people involved in serving. We must grow wider at our base or the top will keep getting too dull.

I keep wondering who I know that could be this person. I'd love to hire someone I already know and trust but just haven't come to that name yet.

If you're interested in the position, email me: peter@nbwesleyan.org and I'll get you a job description.

Ch-ch-changes

David Bowie sang it.
The rest of us live it.
Changes.

Tony Parsons, our Assistant Pastor, officially resigned this past Sunday. In August it would have been 3 years that he and I have served together. He has accepted a Youth Pastor postion at a church in North Carolina. June 1 will be his final Sunday. For those who read this and know him, shoot him a line of encouragement and prayer at tony@nbwesleyan.org.

I'm optimistic about the next steps for our church and for the student ministries of our church. I"m determined not to hire in a hurry or under pressure. I believe God will direct me and the leaders of our church in the right direction.

More changes to come...

Autobiography

I'm reading an autobiography of a women who loved and lived in Africa, I Dreamed of Africa.
Last night as Sarah and I were in bed reading I told her that in reading this book I keep wondering where it's heading. But then I realized it is the story of one woman's life so it's simply heading through her life.

...from there it went downhill...

While I was in college I thought it might be a cool idea to write my life story. My plan was to give it to my parents as a gift at some point. I told Sarah that I'd once thought this and she erupted in laughter! :) At first I thought it just kinda tickled her a bit but she laughed for several minutes while pushing out words like, "That's the funniest thing you've ever told me" and "Only your parents would think that's the best gift ever"--which is true.

Her laughter caught me and eventually were both laughing.
I told her I was going to blog about this. I also feel like I should tell her that my next attempt at my autobiography will be dedicated to her.

By the way, the first attempt didn't make it too far. It is probably still on some harddrive of the now antiquated computer that reside in the basement computer lab of the old science hall of Indiana Wesleyan University.

If anyone ever comes across it let me know.

Good Reading

The other day I took Kate & William to the North Branch Library while Sarah did some running around. I was very happy when Sarah showed up to take us home; William had played Go Diego Go games on nickjr.com for too long and Kate had put about 30 books in her mouth. In the few minutes we stayed after Sarah arrived I quickly browsed the books our library has in the "leadership" section--it didn't take long.

The book I checked out, Remarkable Leadership by Kevin Eikenberry, is a totally unknown book/author to me. It's secular, it's not church related, and it's not written to/for pastors. (I admit I do not read many books with this criteria.) Some of the content is quite basic. But much of it has been refreshing to me. It's laid out well and covers a great range of topics.

I told Sarah last night that I am enjoying this book because it is not written for me, as a pastor. It is written for me as a leader. As a pastor I can take the leadership aspects of the book and imagine how I can apply them to me and to my church. It is fun for my mind to wander and process versus reading a "how-to run your church like I run my church" leadership book.

Vacation cont...

the obligatory family picture. :)

cute beach girl
william did not stop running...

our vacation spot overlooking the ocean

Vacation

We own a 2006 Ford Freestyle...correction: we don't own it, we are in debt with it...and in the course of 18 months we have had 2 tires blowout and 1 flat due to a nail lodged in the side of a tire. BUT, even a flat tire on I-75 South in Detroit, in rush hour traffic, could not stop us from going on vacation. We had a flight to catch!

Spending the next several days in Myrtle Beach, SC, will be great! Our place for the week looks out over the ocean and is just great. We're here with Sarah's folks who are a great help with our kids and who are going to earn every cent of that greatness---if I have anything to do with it. (Just kidding. I won't be mean. But it is nice to have some additional hands to be with the kids.)

Maybe some pix in another post.

Stoves are great...

Stoves are great, when you have one that works.

The whole Easter weekend was nutty. Thursday - Sunday were jam packed with services and church stuff. On the morning of Good Friday I had a phone call from some folks in my church. Turns out that for the past several days their oven had stopped working. The stove top worked, but they could not cook anything in the oven. They were wondering if I know of an agency that could help them out with this. Here's where the story gets good!

Last summer I went golfing with a guy from our congregation. In the midst of our round of golf he got a call from someone needing an appliance. With little effort he was able to commit to the person on the other end of the line and the deal was done.

So Good Friday morning I call him and ask if he can get his hands on a stove. He said he was on his way out of town and trying to run some errands. He then shared, "I'll see what I can do." Within 30 minutes he called me back with a stove in his vehicle and he was heading into North Branch to make a couple stops. Less than 30 minutes later he calls me and said he was waiting downtown if I'd like to meet him and drop off the stove. Would I...?!

From the time I received the call to the time we dropped it off, it must have been about 90 minutes.

It was so fun to squeeze that in prior to the Good Friday Service I helped lead with a couple other community churches. I'm putting the Stove on the list, right after Jesus' Resurrection, as a favorite Easter Moment of 2008.

Hope your Easter was grand wherever you were.

Returning Home

Saturday afternoon I, and 5 others, returned home from our short term Mission Trip to Antigua. All told I was away from home 9 days. It was a new experience to be away for that period of time. It was also a new experience to travel and minister like that without my wife being with me.

The ministry opportunities on the small island of Antigua are on a grand scale. For the tourist, the island is a tropical get away. For the national people the island is home and is home to many needs. Because we traveled there for ministry we definitely saw a side of the island that few tourists would see. For instance, the church we served, Grays Farm Holiness Church, has housed a preschool in its lower level for the past two years. During that time there has never been running water and functional bathrooms. It's exciting to share that that has now changed. A guy on our team spent 3 days working to get the plumbing functional and the bathrooms operational! So cool. Those of us who are not inclined to digging in toilets and drains spent out time giving a cosmetic facelift to the exterior of the church building. We were like flies as we painted the building. We were everywhere. It was great to see progress on a daily basis.

I found great joy in the several occasions when we were away from the church property and people recognized us. (Who wouldn't recognize a bunch of very white people in the midst of a predominately black population!) Seriously though, we were recognized not so much for our skin color but for the work we were doing. People would say, "You are the group working at the church." Or, "Aren't you the people helping Grays Farm?" It was cool.

We still have a group of people in Antigua for the remainder of this week. They are continuing to minister at the church and the surrounding community. You can pray for them. Check out their ongoing ministry here.

Enjoy the few pix I've added below.


the painting crew
doing my part
the minister at Grays Farm, Brother Michael
with the kids in the preschool

finding shells to bring home (we worked hard and played a bit too)

Joy Spots

In the weeks leading up to Easter I am encouraging our church to be intentional about "spotting" God at work among us, answered prayers, people serving selflessly, etc...

Our sanctuary and foyer are separated by a wall of glass. The hope is to cover that glass with Joy Spots. They are simple in design and function but my aim is to see our Joy increase, our appreciation of one another deepen, and a renewed excitement of God's ongoing work in our midst.

Mark Twain once wrote, "Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with."

Stand!

We are enjoying a 3 week sermon series entitled, "Stand". Two weeks ago the point was Stand: Together (based on Philippians 1:27ff---perhaps my favorite passage in the Bible). Last Sunday found us digging into Romans 14-15 on the topic of Stand: Down (when believers should step back). I wrestled hard with the text throughout the week, finally felt some clarity in the text and then really enjoyed teaching it. This week we'll finish up with Stand: Up. Matthew 5:38-41 is Jesus' famous teaching on turning the other cheek. Is this a passage designed to teach Christians to roll over or is there a message of strength included?

Looking Up

I've had a growing interest lately in knowing more about the night sky. I checked out some books from the Library--but didn't really pick any that helped me. But then my brother in law happened to have this great book, The Stars by H.A. Rey (Curious George author), and wasn't using it. It's been great reading it and learning about when/where to look for constellations and stars.

Wouldn't you know, Saturday was our clearest and most beautiful night. It was also our most frigid night so far this winter. I'd been wanting to go outside and gaze for a few nights leading up to Saturday but the sky was totally cloudy.

I bundled up a bit and spent just 5-10 minutes craning my next so as to spot some of the goodies I'd been learning about.

From eighth grade I remember Orion and I've always know about the Little & Big Dipper. What I didn't know is that the Little Dipper contains a star called the "Pole Star". It rarely moves in the night sky and gives you the indication that you are facing north. I also enjoyed learning that the Big Dipper is part of a larger constellation called the "Great Bear".

It's just something fun to do.
Oh and by the way, I spotted "Cassiopeia" for the first time on Saturday. After finding it, the dog and I were both cold so we called it a good night. Next chance I get, I'll be looking to find the "Herdsman".

p.s.
Thanks to Mrs. Ray (my eighth grade teacher) , Bruce Bain (a great friend from England), and Joe Dongell (a professor from Asbury Seminary) for all enjoying the stars and encouraging me to look up.

Oh the Questions!

It's time again for a little input from Sarah. Hope you enjoy. . .

The other day Peter went to Holly to do a short Graveside Service. This man had been in the Military, so he was buried at the National Cemetery there. The kids have been crazy lately (I foolishly thought this would end after Christmas) and I decided this would be a great opportunity to get out of the house for a bit. We often take advantage of extra miles that Peter has to drive for work to spend time with him. I took my Bible study with me, hoping that the kids would fall asleep and I could sit in the car while he did the service. Perfect! They both woke up the minute we drove into the Cemetery. Why is it that so many of my great ideas so rarely get carried out!?

From where our car was, we could see the Veterans standing straight with their guns in the air. I should’ve been prepared for the barrage of questions that come from any three year old:

“Mommy, why do those men have guns? Are they going to shoot my Daddy?”
“No, Son. They are soldiers. They protect us from the Bad Guys”

Bad guys are a hot commodity in our house. William loves to talk about them, play games with ‘bad guys’, pretend he is the bad guy . . . (When I tried to teach him to call out the name “Jesus!” if he was ever scared of a bad guy, he replied that he’d just get out his sword and kill them himself.). So I thought this would be a good analogy for his little mind. Until a man walked out of the pavilion with his long black coat: “There’s the Bad Guy, Mommy! They’re going to shoot him!”

Next, I got this question: “Mommy, why do some people die? Am I going to die?” Now, this is very tricky. Do I give him a sense of false hope?-- “You won’t die for a very long time”. Or do I give him the harsh truth?—“Yes. You’ll die”. Or do I give him the huge theological discourse?—“William, we never know when our last breath will come. Then again, Jesus may come at the blink of the eye to separate the sheep from the goats. . .” Instead I simply told him, “You probably won’t die until you’re a grandpa.” I’m pretty sure this is going to backfire on me.

I quickly tried to change the subject. It wasn’t that hard to do as the Veterans commenced their 21-gun salute at this point. Again, the questions about shooting came and I realized it was getting very hot in the car. At this point I was wondering why in the world I thought this was going to be a nice, relaxing afternoon.

As the soldiers turned to march away, another man (a member of the VFW) with gold medals in his hat marched along with them. William, with reverence in his voice said, “Mommy! The King! The Soldiers are protecting their King!” Oh to have the awe and imagination of a three year old again!

Get up...

Back in the days when I had hair, grew it long over my eyes, and doused it in "sun in" so that it would be blond, a lot was going on my teenage life. Skateboarding ruled most of it but there was other stuff too. Art, Pursuit of Identity and Music. Although at that point in my life I rejected playing an instrument (crazy!) I did listen to a bunch of it. Some good, some not so good.
-Red Hot Chili Peppers
-Skater Master Tate
-Young MC
-Public Enemy
-DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
-and more...

Public Enemy had a song with the lyrics, "Get up a get get get down. 9-1-1's a joke in my town..." Pretty much it bashed on police and rescue services in the inner city. (I don't know how valid the picture is that they painted as I was living up in rural Wyoming.)

My thought in all this...what if the song said, "Get up a get get get down. Jesus Follower's a joke in my town..."? Am I (are we) truly living the story of redemption in my town? Does it really shake the foundations of my (our) priorities, agenda, passions?

When I was into skating, it was pretty much all I was into. Sometimes it was to the point of being completely lop-sided. I still laugh at the fact that my friend, Jim, and I used to take our skateboards with us up into the Big Horn Mountains when our families would head up for an afternoon. I mean seriously, did we think we were going to find a natural half-pipe up there or something? We did not know that we could appreciate skateboarding and other things too.

What I loved about being completely immersed in skating was the fact that it consumed me--and I loved it. I dressed the part, bought the right stuff, grew my hair accordingly, defended it (my only actual fight was over being called a poser). On and on it went. My room was plastered with torn pages out of skate magazines. I drew skaters on my church bulletins. I talked to girls about skating--over which I'm sure they swooned!

I've been evaluating; Does following Jesus consume me? Do I defend my position on Jesus? Do I get excited when I talk to others about Jesus--wanting them to also experience what He offers?

Jesus & Peter had a great dialogue in the Scriptures. At the end of John Jesus asks Peter about Peter's love for him. After some back & forth chat and Peter saying "Yes, I love you" he looks over and sees, presumably, John and asks a great question. "What about him?" Jesus' response is, "What does it matter what happens to him. You follow me."

We are part of such an amazing story. Consider the God of the Universe. Consider His divine story being written. Now, consider Him inviting you to be a principle player. Or consider Him wanting you to be even a supporting actor. Consider Him wanting you to be an extra on the set. How cool...God wants you his movie!

But somehow I (we) lose sight of the importance of God's story and how important we, as his creation, are to the story.

Here's an obscure music lyric...
"Skate, skate, skate. As fast as you can. Skate, skate, skate. All across the land..." (Skate Master Tate)

With passion and purpose and with knowledge that the same power of God who raised Christ from the dead is available to me, I will participate in the story of God. Doing so as fast as I can and all across the land.