This is Mandy's grandma as she told her that if our child is a girl we are going to name her after her, Lucy. 

Winter Wonderland

In Cleveland at my parents house and there has to be two plus feet of snow on the ground, it's great! I just shoveled the drive way, boy was it hard. I got to see neighbors I hadn't seen in years while doing it. I almost got stuck coming back from Bob Evans this morning (they still haven't plowed our street) but thanks to my amazing snow driving abilities I got us out of a potentially nasty situation unharmed.

The Lost Letters of Pergamum

I just got finished reading "The Lost Letters of Pergamum" by Bruce Longenecker. It has to be my favorite book I've read so far in seminary. It's a must read as far as I'm concerned, especially for my friends who like planting house churches. It is a historical finction book about an early martyr of the church. Powerful stuff, it almost had me in tears as I finished reading it.

It really made me start asking what we are supposed to be as a church. Is our job to attract people to God or to be the people of God? What does it mean to be the people of God in the this fallen world? I asked some hard questions today and I think I'm begining to see some cool answers. I have a lot of hope, which is what Advent suppossed to be about. Eric and Kerri, you seriously need to read this book.

I love my church

Today was an odd day. I felt like I jacked up the final advent sermon for this year. It was the Christmas story from Joseph's perspective out of Matthew 1. I tried to talk about how we find our hope in a baby, which is an odd place, but it is where hope is found. I couldn't make it that simple and led our church all over the place this morning and never took them where they needed to go. So I was a little down (ok,a lot down) after service.

Well tonight in our home group we finished up by going around the room and taking time to affirm each person there. It was a special time and I probably had us do it cause I needed some affirmation. We were good to each other tonight, we gave lots of grace.

Probably not twins

The doctor told us today that we are probably not going to have twins based on the first heartbeats we heard today. But on the 26th of January we get our first ultrasound and they'll tell us for sure then, so we still have some hope.
The heartbeat was at 144, which they said was good. Hearing it finally proved to me that Mandy is really pregnant; I was begining to think she was pulling one over on me. Everything is just so odd! I still can't believe I'm gonna be a dad. Yesterday we went and visited some friends in the hospital who had a baby yesterday. It was the most unusual hospital visit I've ever went on. I just kept asking questions knowing that we would be there in six months. I think I'm a little wigged out by everything right now, but at the same time pumped silly. Eziekel DeWayne Peterson is starting to grow on me.

The first snow

Mandy woke me up this morning and told me that it snowed last night. That got me out of bed that much quicker this morning. It wasn't that much snow, cause you could still see the grass sticking through it, but it was enough to make me smile real big. Hank (my dog) loves the snow, so I put some boots and a big coat on and took him for a walk. It's a blast to watch him play in it. I took him back to this trail by my house that goes between a dike (sp?, sorry if I got that one wrong) and a river. It is probably one of my two favorite places in the world. The snow makes it perfect back there in my opinion.

Garbage disposal

I just got finished with a crazy busy week, I hated it. I hardly saw my wife, my dog, or any of my other friends. I spent my time either in class at Ashland, reading, writing papers, or writing sermons. I like doing all those things, but not doing only those things for 10-14 hours a day, it gets old. But as of this past Sunday things got better as Mandy and I went to go see the Messiah. Then Monday I replaced my garbage disposal all by my self. I was so proud until a friend told me to make sure that I take out the dishwasher plug. So I have to go home now and take care of that.

Odd experience yesterday: In class we talked about healing prayers and it really spoke to me cause I've been doing a lot of praying for the guy I blogged about a while back. After class we go to Ponderosa for lunch and I got to use the bathroom. There was an old guy using the urinal next to me and we started talking. He made some complaint about the weather and I said well at least it's not too cold outside. He then said he prefered the cold weather because he has lung cancer and the colder drier weather is better for him. I felt like I had to pray for this guy right then and there, but we were in the bathroom of ponderosa. I felt like are whole discussion was straight from the lecture I just heard in class. After we washed our hands I asked him what his name was and he told me it was Bill Isaac, so I told him mine and I let him know I would be praying for him. His face brightened up so much I knew I had to pray for him right there so I asked if I could and he said, "by all means." So I laid hands on him in the middle of a ponderosa bathroom and prayed for his healing. He said, "that just made my day." Before he left the restaurant I gave him my phone number so he could keep me informed. I'm waiting for the phone call to tell me he has been healed. I felt like I just had to pray for him. There was no choice, or very little, involved on my part.

I now know three people who I'm praying for that have cancer, Mariela Rodriguez, Johnie West, and Bill Isaac. Father, bring healing in miraculous ways to all three.

"Saved"

Trent C. was in town tonight and he brought over the movie "saved." One of the more disturbing movies I ever saw. Not for the normal reasons either. But because...
-it pointed out the hypocrisy in my life.
-it made me want to defend the Church and the Faith.
-it left me judging other Christians.
-it was dead wrong in the end.
-it hurt to watch.
But I guess I can say I was glad I saw it. It sparked a wonderful discussion afterward with Mandy, Trent, and I. Part of me says every Christian should see it, but that is probably the side of me that is judging other Christians. If any of you have seen it or if you see let me know so we can talk about it.

Just to prep you, it is a satire on youth group Christianity. It is definitely from a non Christian perspective, but had to have some inside information based on the way it makes fun of us. You will laugh if you watch it, but you'll probably want to cry as well.

prayer

Our church has started taking prayer a little more seriously lately. We are praying for one another more as well as for people in our neighborhood asking God to do immeasurably more than we could ask or even imagine. It's been powerfull to see our church pray like this and even more powerful to watch God respond.

Yesterday I found out a family in our neighborhood that Mandy and I know have a father who was diagnosed with cancer and has ten to eighteen months to live. His wife just died of cancer about five months ago and it wasn't pretty and his mother died a week after that. We hurt for his son and his son's family that we know pretty well. They are taking it pretty rough. They are connected to our church in a few ways, but I wouldn't say they are apart of it.

Where I struggle today is how I pray. Do I pray for healing? His cancer is terminal and he is in his sixties and seems to have accepted his fate. Yet I feel God leading me to boldy pray for his miraculous healing in a way that we could never ask or imagine. I get scared cause those prayers give hope to the family. But I am not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Father, I pray for his healing in a way that we couldn't even ask for or even imagine. I pray also through the way you heal you would speak to his son's family in a way we could never ask for or imagine. I pray you would guide me and other believers as we are with the family through this time that we would have the words and love to point them to you. May you do more than we have asked or even imagined and may your name receive glory and honor through it all. Praise be to your name!

Vote

Please cast your vote and rationale under the "names" blog (two posts down) comment area when you get a chance and if you care. At this posting Hobbes is leading the way with 3 votes and any other name is stuck at zero. Please be honest and for the record no one is allowed to steal our name for their child!

Twice in a day

Normally I don't post other peoples words on this blog, but today I'm gonna do it twice. Below is a response to a question a church planter received when he stated his church wasn't a postmodern church and was basically asked, "well your church sounds like one, how is different from one?"

Good question. Generally speaking, a postmodern church is one that has structured the way that they "do" church in response to the cultural shift happening around them (i.e. from modernity to postmodernity), usually for the purpose of "reaching" the postmodern people in that culture.At LP, we have not structured ourselves in response to a cultural shift, or for the purpose of reaching people. We believe that the church has been called to be the people of God in the world; it is a culture itself, a culture dictated by the Kingdom of God. our goal is not to reach people, our goal is to be the people that God has called us to be. In other words, we don't do decentralized, relationship-based church because we feel it gives us the best shot at reaching people, we do it because we think it gives us the best shot at being the people of God, people of the Kingdom, the "new humanity" that Paul talks about.That would be why I wouldn't put us in the category of "postmodern church". I think that if anyone who was looking for a "postmodern ministry" spent any time with our community, they would probably be pretty disappointed.Is that helpful?

Names

If our child is a boy I really want to name him Hobbes. Mandy liked the name as well, that is untill she found out she was pregnant. We tell people Hobbes might be our boy name and they make fun of us and say that would be a horrible thing to do to a child. I think the name is so cool and I don't understand what is wrong with it. I think Mandy has lost faith in the name and to be honest I'm slipping a bit too. I love the name, but I'm also beginning to love my unborn child and I don't want to scar him for life by giving him a horrible name. But our child may be a girl and we won't have to worry about it untill we have another child. But is Hobbes really that bad of a name?

Sorry

Sorry about the extremely long previous post. If you could care less about how our faith relates to politics in any way please don't read it. But if you do care Jim Wallis has a lot of good stuff to really stretch us good middle of American Christians. Some times I can't stand what he says, but I still need to listen to him. He comes at our Christian faith from such a different perspective than I am used to, but one that I believe has a lot to offer us.

long but good

Sorry to post this long article, but for once I fully, well almost fully, agree with Jim Wallis on something. He seems to be right on with this article.

A flawed exit poll question has sparked an enormous and important political debate in America, and one that will be with us far beyond this election. Voters were asked to name the most important issue that influenced their vote and almost 22% chose "moral values," just edging out terrorism and the economy. That poll result has sparked a firestorm in the media and in Washington's political circles about who gets or doesn't get the "moral values issue." Conventional wisdom holds that the Republicans do get it and the Democrats don't, and the "moral values" answer on the survey simply indicated voters who are against abortion and gay marriage.
But of course a Christian who cares deeply about peace likely would have checked the war in Iraq (one of the choices) instead of moral values, and a Catholic coordinator of a food pantry likely would have checked the closest thing to poverty, which would have been the economy or health care. The single "moral values" question was a whole different kind of choice to the rest of the "issues," ignoring the moral values inherent in those other concerns.
A post-election poll conducted by Zogby International a few days later confirmed that when a list of specific issues was asked, the results were quite different. When asked which "moral issue most influenced your vote," 42% chose war in Iraq while 13% said abortion and 9% said same-sex marriage. The "most urgent moral problem in American culture" resulted in 33% selecting "greed and materialism," 31% "poverty and economic justice," 16% abortion, and 12% same-sex marriage. The "greatest threat to marriage" was identified as "infidelity" by 31%, "rising financial burdens" by 25%, and "same-sex marriage" by 22%. See the full Zogby poll
Almost a year ago, I wrote in Sojourners and in an op-ed piece for The New York Times that too many Democrats still wanted to restrict religion to the private sphere and were very uncomfortable with the language of faith and values even when applied to their own agenda. And that Republicans wanted to narrowly restrict religion to a short list of hot-button social issues and obstruct its application to other matters that would threaten their agenda.
Well, after a year of political campaigning we ended up at about the same place. While some Democrats are now realizing the importance of faith, values, and cultural issues, a strong group of "secular fundamentalists" still fights to keep moral and spiritual language out of the liberal discussion. And while some Republicans would like to see an expanded application of faith, the "religious fundamentalists" still want to restrict religious values to gay marriage and abortion. A very smart group of Republican strategists effectively appealed to both the faith and the fears of an important conservative religious constituency.
Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne covered our "God is not a Republican...or a Democrat" campaign as a real sign of hope. Days after the election he wrote, "What's required is a sustained and intellectually serious effort by religious moderates and progressives to insist that social justice and inclusion are 'moral values' and that war and peace are 'life issues.' As my wife and I prepared our three kids for school the day after the day after, we shared our outrage that we in Blue America are cast as opponents of 'family values' simply because we don't buy the right wing's agenda. No political faction can be allowed to assert a monopoly on the family."
Later that day, E.J. told me that when he called for that deeper discussion of religious issues and moral values, he was thinking of Sojourners. "That's your job!" he challenged me.
It's time to spark a real debate in this country over what the most important "religious issues" and "moral values" in politics are - and how broadly and deeply they are understood. Religion doesn't fall neatly into right and left categories. If there were ever candidates running with a strong set of personal moral values and a commitment to be pro-poor and pro-peace, it could build many bridges to the other side. Personal and social responsibility are both at the heart of religion, and the two together could make a very powerful and compelling political vision for the future of our bitterly divided nation.

My friend eric s

My friend eric stetler is a funny guy. To see how funny, check out the comment he left on my last blog. The names will be revealed in due time.

To see some friends of eric who he goes to church with look at last Friday's Faith and Value's section in the Columbus Dispatch. My friend Kelli Shearonn got her picture on the front page of the that section. Go Kelli!!!

Hucy

Well I guess I should blog this now that our church knows. Mandy and I found out a few weeks ago that she is with child and we will have an addition to our family sometime around June 18th, 2005. Hank is very excited that he is going to have a little brother or sister. Hucy is what we are calling our child for now. It is a combination of the boy and girl names we have tentatively picked out.

3rd place

Yep, I finished in third place today in the 4 mile homecoming classic. Well, that was in my age division in which there where only three runners. To see my results click here and you'll see that I ran it in 37 min. 15 seconds, which is averaging a 9 min 19 second mile. I was quite pleased cause I was praying to run it under 40 minutes.

I was almost emotional when I started the race which was odd. But this one of the few things that I've ever done that was beyond me when I started training. I'm not sure if I ever have run a mile and a half before I started training. I had to do it cause last April I weighed 250 and my blood pressure was like 140 something over 100 and I couldn't run up a flight of stairs without loosing my breath. Now I weigh 225 (which still needs to go down some), my blood pressure is 127 over 79, and I feel good. I don't like to be a boastfull person, but today I am proud of myself and thankful for a God who has given me the ability to do all of this.

Thanks to James, Mandy, and Hank for coming to greet me at the finish line. That meant a lot! Now the journey begins of trying to stay in shape.

Wesley

I just decided a few weeks ago that I wasn't going to do a master thesis, but I just got done talking with one of my profs. who highly encouraged me to do one. She had a lot of good points and mentioned some things I haven't thought of yet, so now I'm back to undecided.

If I do one it will be on John Wesley and money. I want to explore how the socioeconomic conditions of his day affected his views and use of money. I then want to bring it full circle to see if his views on money have anything to say to us today.

I am highly interested in the topic, I'm just not sure I want to put into it what it will take to do it well or just to plain do it. These things have to be 70-100 pages in length. But I do have the works of John Wesley, all 12 volumes, in my library at home. I hate decisions!

stink

Homecoming is here in two days and I found out today i can't wear my contacts for a week because of a minor eye infection.

Almost done

Tonight is graduation at the seminary we are working at and then tomorrow begins the long journey home. I miss Mandy a lot and can´t wait to be back with her. These trips are so wonderful, but without your love they are bittersweet.

Michael Moore

I asked an 18 year old Christian girl here in Argentina who she wanted to win the election. She reponded that she didn´t like Bush. I asked why and she asked me, ¨have you ever heard of Michael Moore?¨ I guess he is huge down here, they even showed Farenhight 911 in the schools. Well better him than Rush Limbaugh!

Cold and Rainy

For those of you that are jealous that I am in Argentina for the wonderul weather, don´t be today. It´s cold and rainy today. For those of you that are jealous because of all the wonderful things I get to experience, be very jealous. Last night they threw a groucho party for us at the seminary. They had a big bonfire, wonderful food, live Argentinian music, and wonderful fellowship with our group and a bunch of people from their church.

The most frustrating thing is not being able to speak Spanish. I find myself saying gracious all the time, cause that is one of the few words I know. I guess if I only know a few words, that is a great one to know.

Getting to know people through broken spanish, broken english, and hand gestures is frustrating, but worth it. I met this guy last night who graduated from the seminary last year and he told me through an interpreter that his passion is preaching to sinners so that they would draw closer to God. Another guy we´ve been working with is almost done with seminary and when he is done he is going to take his family 500 kilometers away to be missionaries with him in a very poor town.

I love the people we are meeting. I love Colon Argentina. I pray I get to come back. Only next time I hope it is with Mandy. I miss her so much right now.

The other thing I´ll do next time I´m here is not to drink the water, even to brush my teeth, which is the only time I´ve had any local water in my mouth. I´ve been on the pot a ton today!

I don´t know if I made myself clear

God really turned the rain off for us. He showed His power to those there in a mighty way. He made it known that He is our Father and we our His children and He is enough for us. He is worthy all the glory and praise and honor!

espanol

After the first half of this trip is in the book I am really convinced I need to learn Spanish. Preaching last night in a tin roofed church was an amazing experience. It rained the entire service very hard and it made it really loud. That is, until I walked to the pulpit and God turned off the rain so everyone could hear me and my interpreter. It was clear to everyone there what God had done. Dios es suficiente. God is enough. He is so powerful and good.

por favor

I preach tomorrow night through an interpreter at a local church in Argentina, please pray for us as we hear from the Father.

From Colon, Argentina

We´ve been at our work sight for a day now. It is in this town of about 25,000 in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. It is a whole different world for me. I always thought that because I am white, American, tall, and male that it would be hard for me to feel out of place anywhere. Not that I want that, I just know that makes me a member of a very powerful group. I feel weak here. I don´t feel in control. I feel I am looked at differently. It is a very good experience for me. I will treat the Hispanics in Mt. Vernon who don´t speak English with so much more compassion.

Moved lots and lots of dirt today and probably will move even more the rest of the week. But it had to be near 90 today without a cloud in the sky, it was wonderful. I like it here, I like my group. No close friends yet and that´s okay, but the older people in the group take care of me well. They all make fun of me cause I´m a Nazarene, they think I´m pretty conservative. I´ll let them think that. Most go, have a wonderful day!

Today

Today starts the real part of our trip. The last day and the first half of today are all tourist stuff in the big city that caters to tourists. This evening we go to Colon where we will be worshiping in a Charismatic Bretheren Church. Either the pastor or the associate pastor is our hostice and he puts the early part of the trip into perspective for me since I know his wife is facing a very serious form of cancer right now and is in the midst of chemo. I heard about this a few months ago so we´ve already been praying, but if you could join in praying with us for her it would be good. His name is Eduardo and hers is Mariela. Pray boldly for healing. You know what? God is enough.

Two Toilets

Today I checked into my hotel room and had to go pee. I went into this really plush bathroom I had and noticed two toilets. One sorta looked liked a urinal, so I thought, ¨wow a toilet to poop in and a toilet to pee in.¨ So I went pee in the urinal looking one, but something seemed wrong the whole time and then when I went to flush it I realized something was wrong. It didn´t flush like any toilet I´ve ever flushed. So I wondered all day until a few minutes ago in a van ride when I got up the courage to ask what the weird looking toilet was. They told me it is what you sit down on after you poop and it cleans your bottom for you. Hmm. that´s interesting and I can´t wait to try it out tomorrow. That´s all from Argentina where I am experiencing a new culture in new and interesting ways every chance I got.

lamb testicles

at lunch today i tried a lamb testicle. i can`t believe i had the balls to try one. i`ve been waiting all day to tell you all that. funny, huh?

greetings

im in argentina and i cant figure out how to use some of the keys on the keyboard. plane ride was long with little sleep but im excited about the week ahead. i will keep you informed as i can.

Don't cry for me...

Tomorrow morning I leave for Argentina. Last night Mandy and I watched the first half of Evida to get me ready. An old college friend used to say that musicals are just like pornos, the only difference is that instead of having gratuitous sex, they have gratuitous singing and dancing. I couldn't agree more.

I've been so busy these last few weeks that I haven't even had time to think about the trip so I'm not too excited, nervous, or anything else yet. I guess I'll start feeling stuff when I start packing tomorrow morning. It's kind of nice to go on a trip like this with pretty much no expectations. Everything then becomes a gift.

Bald Eagel

So I decided to run part of the Gap Trail today. I think I ran 6 3/4 miles today in about 73 minutes. Both are new personal bests for me. It was so beautiful out there, all I wanted to do was praise God.

So I'm jogging along and I ask God if He would bring a deer for me to see and enjoy. I never saw a deer, but I did see a bald eagle. I don't think I ever saw a bald eagle before, at least never in the wild. I ask to see a deer and God shows me a bald eagle! What a good God we serve! He gives us more than we could ever ask for or even imagine. I never would have asked to see a bald eagle, cause you just don't see them, but the Lord knew that today I would have much rather seen a bald eagle. God is enough.

highlights

Had a real good service today, I think because I realized that God is enough. Had lots of college kids there today, most of whom I never met before, it was weird to not personally know a third of the congregation this morning. I never really know how to react to their coming. We had some wonderful highlights this morning.

-Last night Mandy asked me why God has yet to give us someone to help with music, so we prayed about it. Today, one of the college kids came up to Mandy after the service and introduced himself to her. He said he is an international student from Romania and his church back home is just like ours; we sing the same songs, do testimonies the same way and even our bulletins look the same. He told Mandy that at the begining of the service he noticed all the similarities except that he played guitar at his home church. He thought maybe he could play for us, but he said he didn't have enough time. Then he heard me preach on God is enough, so I guess he heard God speak to him and he wants to help us and be commited to us. Go figure, God answers prayers.

-I guy in our church who is having some tough times lately came up after church and said the message of the morning really spoke to him and he rarely if ever gives me feedback like that. I felt it was one of my most scattered sermons in a long time, yet in my weakness God was enough.

-And now my favorite one. This guy (guy A) I've known for over five years now came and told me he was going to come to church today this past week. I've heard that a million times from people who've never showed up and that's ok, but today this guy A shows up. I haven't got to the cool part yet. This guy does not get along at all with one of his neighbors (guy B) who comes to our church. In fact they have each called the cops on each other at least once in the last year. One of those times was two weeks ago when they almost got into a fight and guy A got taken to jail.

So they are in service together and I wasn't worried about them fighting during church, well maybe a wee little bit. The good news is they just didn't fight during the service, but during our shaking hands times guy B went over and shook guy A's hand and said, "Good to see you here this morning."

Having the biggest crowd we've had in a year doesn't impress me very much, seeing God bring peace, even if just for an hour on Sunday, between two guys who really don't like each other is what keeps me kicking. God is enough.

Pumpkin Show

Mandy and I got to have a date day today. We watched the Ohio State game on tv today and then went to the Pumkin show in Circleville Ohio. Eric Frey, if you are reading this I know you are jealous. It rained on us a little but I got to hold Mandy's hand the whole time so it was worth it.

The show is honestly one of the best, if not thee best street fair in small town America that you are going to find. They have everything in pumpkin: pumpkin burgers, pumpkin pizza (the naz church there has a booth there selling that), pumpkin waffles, pumpkin fudge, pumpkin pie, and the list goes on and on. Good day, real good day.

Argentina is only six days a way and I'm not prepared in any way for it yet.

what a difference a week makes

Last week at this time (Saturday night) I was doing things on my own strength and the next afternoon I was crushed. I complained to God telling Him I didn't have enough on my own to do this myself anymore. God came to me Tuesday and told me that He was enough. God is enough.

I can't really describe the difference that makes with everything, it just does. I look forward to our service tomorrow. I look foward to a lot of things more knowing that God is enough.

What I've learned

God is enough.

The Call

This last week in class one of our prof's talked about the "call." Basically saying if you are not called to the ministry you shouldn't be in it and at times your "call" will be the only thing that keeps you in the ministry. I guess I understand that, especially in the light of this neighborhood I am in. I feel called to it. I have a passion to love this neighborhood and to show this neighborhood Christ's love. I want to see people in this neighborhood come to Christ and to have their lives transformed.

I sometimes wonder how that "call" goes along with my other "call" to be a pastor. I sometimes wonder if they conflict with each other. Do I spend to much time trying to reach this neighborhood that I neglect my call to pastor our church and the people that are a part of it?

This Sunday was a real rough one for me, to be honest, I really didn't even want to go into the sanctuary. It was our first birthday today and we sent lots of invitations out to the people we have gotten to know in our neighborhood these last few years. We probably had the most people we have had in about ten months on a Sunday morning, but still very few neighborhood people. It just breaks my heart and makes me want to cry.

It turned out to be a good service, especially as two people shared their testimonies. Neither one of them was in Church this time last year and to see how their lives have been changed by Christ over this past year has been amazing. I am so thankful for them.

Lots of thoughts run through my mind on a day like today. I don't know what to think. What am I doing wrong is usually somewhere near the top of the list. Another one near the top is why is God blessing us so much with such wonderful gifts? How do I ask this seemingly contradicting question at the same time? I don't know. I see God's blessings and at the same time I see so many of my failings.

I think I think I can do this on my own strength and then get frustrated when I realize I can't. Yet I still try in my own strength. I know all of the right answers in my head, I just got to let them sink to my heart and have the courage to live them out.

The way this call stuff relates to the rest is simple, at least in my mind. If I pastor our church more, and reach out less, that means I trust our church to be the witness to the neighborhood and not just me. Do I want to do it all myself or should I let it be the church that is the real witness of who our risen Lord is?

Disclaimer: these were rambling thoughts late on a Sunday night with too much on my mind. I might not have been coherant when writing this.

Argentina

I leave two weeks from tomorrow for Argentina (oct. 29). I have a lot to get done between now and then. I have lots of prayer requests that are associated with my trip and I just ask that all who read this would say a prayer for me. This is not to say that I am not excited, just that I am counting on God for a lot right now.

one year old

West Side Naz turned one year old yesterday (oct. 12) and we will be celebrating it this Sunday during our Sunday service. "Odd," that's what comes to my mind. A year ago we hardly, if at all, knew some people who we are now deep friends with. Some are walking with the Lord and others are still asking him some tough questions. I'll take that!

Francis

In Dallas Willard' "Renovation of the Heart" he tells this story on page 69:

In chapter 8 of Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, Francis gives his friend Leo a teaching about what "perfect joy" is. They are trudging through the snow from Perugia to the home of their group at St. Mary of the Angeles. For their brotherhood to give a great example of holiness and edification all lands would not be perfect joy, Francis says. Nor would a great ministry of healing and raising the dead. Nor would possession of all languages and all science, nor all understanding of prophecy and Scripture, and insight into the secrets of every soul. Nor would even the conversion of all unbelievers to faith in Christ.
By this point brother Leo is amazed, and he begs Francis to teach him "wherein is perfect joy." The reply is that if, when they come to their quarters - dirty, wet, and exhausted from hunger - they are rejected, repeatedly rebuffed, and finally driven away by force, then "if we accept such injustice, such cruelty, and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring," and "if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which we would share out of love for Him, write, O Brother Leo, that here, is perfect joy."

That all sounds strange at first, but I really think Francis was on to something.

Fight

Today at the bus stop was the first fight that happened while we have been there serving hot chocolate. We ended up breaking it up and it wasn't too serious, but sad. I know both the boys really good and I gave one of them a real good lecture afterwards. It made me remember a few of the fights I got into in middle school.

Then about an hour later I heard about how one of my good friends in the neighborhood got arrested for beating on his mom while being drugged up last night. It all adds up to making you a little bit sad, but not suprised. How long O Lord?

4 miles

Long day in Seminary yesterday...left at 7am and got back at 1030pm. Classes until 4 were really good, but then I had Greek, not looking forward to two quarters of Greek. to theo agape estin (God is love). So I came home a little depressed last night, but this morning I got up a little late and went to the YMCA and ran 4 miles on the treadmill! I reached my goal a month early. The real challenge comes in actually running in the race.

a church building

There is this church in our neighborhood that is up for sale and we are interested in buying it, but should we be? I'm scared about being locked into a building and having it determine what we can and can't do. But here is what we like about it.
-fellowship hall for an after school program
-fellowship hall that can be a community center
-fellowship hall where kids can wait for the bus on cold days
-fellowship hall for weekly church dinners
-sanctuary with pews, which can all be ripped out
-it is in our neighborhood
-close to the park
-shows the neighborhood we are in this for the long haul
-I could still walk to work
-24 hour place of prayer

What we don't like about it
-cost $250,000
-not handicaped excesible
-long narrow sanctuary, not round like I would rather have
-too much parking, we're a neighborhood church!
-even harder to convince people that the church is the called out ones, not a building.
-gas bill, electric bill, water bill, leaky pipes bill, leaky roof bill, vandalism...
-whose gonna take care of it?

Does anybody out there have any thoughts or prayers on this one?

For those of you interested in my rock climbing adventure from earlier this summer that I gave a glimpse of a few blogs ago, here is a better picture. The guy on top of the rock is our guide, who was really good, but really expensive. Yes, that is the ocean in the background. 

Here is My wife and myself on our honeymoon over three years ago. We were at the spam museum and gift shop. I love my wife tons. She is the best thing, outside of Christ, that ever has happened to me. Actually, I don't think she happened to me outside of Christ. I think Christ gave her to me. Not like she was destined for me or anything like that, but she is a wonderful gift from God. 

Constantine

I went to the Mayor's annual prayer breakfeast this morning. It was odd. Every politician in town was there as well as most of the pastors. A friend just told me that Tony Campolo once said the last thing we need is another born again leader. We had one once, his name was Constantine, and we all know what trouble that caused the Church.

The speaker for the morning, some county judge, got up and spent a lot of time talking about the Constitution, ten commandments, prayer in schools, homosexuals, and all the other hot button topics in our country today. Basically saying we need to put God back in this country cause we're going to Hell in a handbasket.

Granted we probably are going to Hell in a handbasket, but is that the way to go about it. I think we first must admit that we are no longer a Christian country (and probably never were). We must begin to see the issues in the terms the New Testament Church saw it; not as Church and state, but as Church and World. The state is a part of the world, plain and simple. At times they might help us and that could be good, but we should never count on there help or expect it.

We seem to want the state to smash our opposition and do what we want done. I rather like to think the Church needs to be subversive. By being who we were called to be and changing things from below. By washing feet, sticking up for the powerless, boldly preaching the Gospel to all, letting our selves be doormates, feeding the hungry, and loving the unloveable.

Somehow putting all our energy into forcing prayer into schools, forcing the Ten Commandments into court houses, and forcing our country to ban homosexual marriages doesn't seem like what the New Testament Church had in it's mission statement. They understood the world was going to act like the world (remember the state is part of the world) and they needed to act like the Church. Maybe we need to stop expecting so much from the world and start expecting more from ourselves.

This is me in Maine 

FF Bruce

Yesterday I was talking to one of my professors and he told me a cool story about FF Bruce. Here is the story as best I can remember it.

Bruce was one of the premier scholars of New Testament Theology of the last century, he died in 1990. Every once in a while after his phd. students would ask him a question he would tell them to ask him again next week and he'd have an answer for him. Most students thought he wanted the time to go to the library and research the question or possibly to have time to ask other phd's. Though nobody really new why he occasionally waited a week to give answers to their questions.

At his funeral the answer came out. FF Bruce would go and find the janitor from the church he attended. He thought the janitor was one of the most Christ like men he had ever met. He would go up to the janitor and tell him that his students asked him another question and he wanted to know what he thought. He would listen to the janitor and take that answer back to his students the next week.

Beautiful story to me. I think I see a glimpse of the Kingdom in it.

3 mile

I got some bad news yesterday in the mail from MVNU. They changed the annual homecoming run, for which I am training, from a 5K (3.1 miles) to a four mile (4.0 miles) race. But their is good news, I went to the Y today and I was able to run three full miles on the treadmill at 6.3 miles an hour the entire time. I have a month and a half to work up to the extra mile. Don't worry folks, I'll be ready.

Missionary

Today I preached about the power of the Holy Spirit. I made kind of a bold statement that I'm not too sure about. I said before Jesus was given the Holy Spirit at His baptism, He really didn't have too much power. I didn't say He wasn't the Messiah before He was given the Holy Spirit or in any way less God or for that matter less man. I just said "he didn't have the power yet." I know enough to know that this is kind of a controversal point in theology, I'm still debating the point in my head right now. I said all of that in my sermon to make the point that we don't have it in us to change or really even help those in bondage around us. We need the power of the Spirit in our lives.

The funniest thing happened after the service. A guy who I've never met before came up and introduced himself to me. I thought he was a college student and I even asked him if he was one (step one open mouth, step two insert foot). Turns out he's not (he's three years older than I am), instead he is a missionary in the Nazarene church. He coordinates work and witness teams in the Caribean (I was sure glad we prayed for Haiti during prayer time with all those hurricanes) and is based out of Miami and was in Mt. Vernon for a meeting at MVNU.

He heard I was going to Argentina on a mission trip and he pulled out his wallet and gave me twenty dollars towards the trip. That was the least of his blessings though. His spirit and encouragement were worth a ton. What a great man of Christ.

After church he went to Wendy's with me and Mandy and three other people (6 of us total). I really only new my wife well and was just getting to know the others in the group, including the missionary. We ended up having a wonderful lunch. During part of it I brought up my sermon and asked if they agreed with me on the subject of Jesus and power. I usually don't give people a chance to critique my sermon on Sunday afternoons, I'm usually a little too vulnerable at that time. Something led me to ask and it turned into a good discussion. Most of the group seemed to disagree with at least part of the way I framed my arguement, but not in a tear apart type of way. It was a lets learn from one another kind of discussion.

It left me wondering why I preach the way I do. Wondering if we should have everyone talk more after the sermon. Wondering what is Christian community and wondering how we experience Christ through it.

I left lunch today knowing Christ a little bit more. It was a good lunch!

Class is over

Well I finished my class and it was a good experience. It really dug deep into what holiness and sanctification are. If nothing else, I learned they are a real part of the Christians life, in a lot of ways are calling. My prof. is not Nazarene, but sorta Wesleyan in viewpoint. It was so cool to hear him lecture about these things that are so important doctrinally to my church (Nazarene). He brought a new and fresh perspective to me that I enjoyed and am still thinking about a lot. I want to live the Holy life for my Holy God and Savior.

As some of you know I get interviewed for ordination this May. I need to be able to explain to them all the above to get ordained. For the first time I'm not worried about it. Sure a lot of it is still swimming around in my head right now, but I'll get there and I'll be as honest as I can be, and the rest will be in the Lord's hands.

Seminary

My class today was what seminary is suppossed to be all about. I learned new things, I was challenged both spiritually and academically, I was encouraged, I saw my God in a new more wonderful way, and I leave wanting to be more like my Savior, while at the same time knowing that I am more like Him now than when the day began. I thank the most wonderful Father who constantly gives us good gifts!

Luke Keefer

I start a one week intensive tomorrow at seminary, five straight days six hours a day of class. The class is Theology of the Holy Life and it is taught by one of my favorite professors Luke Keefer. I can't wait!

Cold Friday's

Most of you who read this know about this ministry our church has of going to the local bus stop every Friday. There is only one bus stop in our neighborhood for all the middles school and high school kids and between 70 and 90 kids catch one of three buses there every day.

Last year in the middle of winter we feel God led us to start taking hot chocolate and some sort of breakfast food down there every Friday. The kids seem to really like it and myself and the few other volunteers that our there every Friday really like it.

Today it rained the whole time we were down there, thanks Ivan, but luckily Dee brought her tent canopy, so at least the donuts stayed dry. It is only the second time it rained since we've been going down to the bus stop. I wondered if any of the kids realized that we are just like mailmen; rain, sleet, or shine we deliver. We haven't missed a Friday since we started last November, we've been consistent in this. I kind of doubt they've noticed, but if we weren't there this morning they would have noticed. They would have thought we are only there on the good mornings.

I pray we are showing them something about the love of God every Friday. I pray they come to know the love of God. I thank God for letting me know a little bit more about his love through those kids.

gonna try

Ran 2 miles today at the YMCA and then walked another 1/2 mile. My goal is to run the 5k at my five year reunion at MVNU. Running is so hard, but it makes me feel good two hours later.

I think I'm gonna try something new this Sunday in regards to my sermon. It's my last Sunday on this David series I've been doing for the last six weeks and I think I'm gonna invite the church to share what they've learned. I talk about this community stuff all the time, it's about time I try and put some of it into practice. I think I might even try church in the round this week to make it even more community oriented. That way when people share they are sharing to each other, not just to me. Pray that we see God's glory through it all.

How?

How did I ever become like I am today? My mom recently noted that I was an extremely quite kid who would rarely open an share his feelings. One time when I was a little kid, under 6 I believe, my parents went out and left me and my sister with a babysitter. I think I was asleeep when they got home, so they didn't notice the handprint on my face untill the next day. They couldn't get me to tell them what happened for anything. I remember going to day care the next day and the teachers trying to get it out of me as well, but they also didn't have any success. (Can you say children's services?)
I guess it was my sister who finally told them what happened. The babysitter had to make sure we took baths that night she was watching us and she specifically told me to wash behind my ears, so I did. She didn't believe me when I told her I did and I refused to go wash behind my ears again, so she smacked me across the face hard enough to leave her hand print on my cheek for three days. Needless to say she never watched us again.
So why did I tell you that story? Cause it shows why kind of kid I was. I was pretty quiet and I never really opened up about my feelings. I probably didn't like getting hit so I imagine I thought the less I talk about it the less I have to deal with it.
The more I look back on my childhood and early adolesant (sp?) years I see that really shy kid who was a tad bit backward. That's not the person I see in me today. While I still might be a tad bit backward:) I'm definetly not the shy kid anymore. I love having close friends and sharing life with people on a deep level (even though it still takes a while for me to open up on a deep level). I love meeting new people and introducing them to my closests friends, Jesus being my favorite. I just love living life, but for me living life almost always has to be done with others. I could jump out of an airplane and it would only be a so so experience unless I got to do it with a friend. Life is meant to be lived and experienced with others, well at least for me.
When I was a kid that wasn't the case. I never had to many friends. What formed me or changed me into what I am now. I can't look back to any specific experiences or situations that changed me in one way or another. I guess who I was as a kid was just who I was for that time and who I am now is just who I am for now. But at the same time life formed me into something completely different.
As I look back I can see the love of my parents that gave me the security to come out of my shell. I see my youth group at Bedford Naz who gave me a place to belong. I see a God who opened my eyes to true life and pushed me to experience it in its' fullness.
As I look back across my life I see how blessed I truly am. In some ways I feel like Abraham, blessed so that I may be a blessing. The cool thing is that when I get to be a blessing, I feel even more blessed. Life is good.

Almost that time

In about forty minutes I head out the door and head over to church. It's always such a weird feeling on Sunday mornings wondering what to expect.

done with class

I just got done talking to that class (see previous post) and I felt like I rambled the whole time, but at the end I talked about how I realized we are in it for the long haul. We're not in the West End to evangelize and leave. We are there to live and love in Christ's name for as long as He keeps us there. We're gonna have good and bad days, but hopefully through it all many will come to know Him in a real and transforming way. It was worth the whole class time for me to be reminded of that.

I get to talk

A former prof. over at MVNU asked me to come talk to a class of Religion majors that he has. I'm in a unique position, only a year into my first pastorate (sp?), and he wants me to share out of that experience. I thought I would blog here to prepare for what I need to talk about. He asked me to share on two talking points?
What have I experienced in this last year that I didn't expect?
-How hard it would be to preach every week. It is really hard to bring a fresh word from God to His people every week.
-How much everybody would love and support me in our church.
-Things don't automatically happen because you dream that they will.
-Idealism and reality don't always get along. But some of the people I love must in this life I have not always gotten along with and I still hang out with them.
-What wonderfull gifts God would give us when we least expected them.
-People aren't perfect after hearing me preach every week, I'm usually not either.
-This faith walk is a journey.
-Community takes work and sacrifice.
What is has been like to juggle being a pastor and a full time seminary student?
-They truly help me do the other better. Being a pastor helps me ask the right questions in seminary and seminary helps me be a better pastor.
-There is still not enough time in the day, but it helps me manage my time better.
-It makes me wonder if I should become a viocational pastor when I am done with seminary. If I can do seminary and be a pastor why can't I work a job and be a pastor. Only thing I don't have enough time for now is administrative stuff and I hate that stuff anyway.
I hope that's enough talking points to last an hour. I hope they talk a lot as well.

War

I get really confused when talking about war and my faith. When I read through the Gospels I come to the conclusion that we should be pacifists. When I look at the realities of this world I think war is necessary. I look at Acts 1:8 and I see we are to be witnesses. Maybe being a pacifists is part of the witness we need to be to this world of a wholly different way, a wholly different Kingdom, and a wholly different God. This Kingdom way of living we live is completely different than this world, or at least it should be, so why don't we just become comfortable with that and be that witness of wholly different way serving in a wholly different Kingdom with a wholly different God?

gifts

Today as I was just about ready to study in the library along comes Andrew. I hadn't seen Andrew in years and truth be told I never did know him that well. But we had a wonderful conversation and I found out he lives only about five blocks away from me as of two weeks ago. It was a gift to talk to him today and I look forward to more of those gifts in the weeks and months ahead.

On TV in California

My friend Adam Sylvia called me from California to tell me that he was flipping through the channels on his TV Saturday night and he saw a closeup of me standing next to John Kerry. How cool is that? What is even cooler is that it gave us an oppurtonity to talk, it's been a while. If everything goes right it looks like we me might be getting a lot more oppurtonities to talk in the near future. It's sorta like the movie "butterfly affect" where a butterfly flappin it's wings in South America some how can affect us in America. Only me happinging to pick up a newspaper and seeing that Kerry was coming to Mount Vernon and me meeting him and then my ugly mug shows up on an LA TV station which my friend happens to be watching and next thing you know we have a renewed friendship. You sometimes wonder how much God has to do with all that stuff. It was real good to hear from you Adam!

John Kerry

A most interesting day: It started off at the local school bus stop as nearly all Friday's do during the school year, from there a short visit with Sean Wrenn, then some unfocused time working on my sermon, and then I met John Kerry. Crazy huh?
I heard at about 230 pm that John Kerry's bus tour was gonna drive through Mt. Vernon around 4:45 and he might possibly stop. So I went to downtown Mt. Vernon to see the crowds and possibly see a presidential candidate. (For the record I think only my wife knows for sure who I'm voting for, I like keeping that stuff secret and I would have went to see George Bush just the same.) Tons of people were lining the street, both Bush and Kerry supporters, and it got really annoying listening to the Bushies chanting four more years while the Kerries chanting four more months. People on both sides were just so passionate, it kinda made me sick. Especially when a couple people got into a shooting cussing match in front of me that I had to break up. I ended up hanging out with a couple of middle school kids and we made fun of both sides.

When his bus finally showed up it ended up stopping so I ran down to where it was at and he got off the bus. Next thing you know after getting yelled at by a bunch of secret service guys and girls, Kerry walked right buy me and shook my hand. I tried to tell him "abortion is murder" (I felt like I had to say something prophetic, if Bush were there I would have told him to cancel third world debt), but the crowd was to loud and he was going by to fast to hear me, not to mention I was kinda intimidated and didn't say it too loud. After all that fun he got back in the bus and drove off. I want to be in the secret service now, it looked like a cool job.

Interesting thing happened after that. I ran into this seventh grader I know from the neighborhood who was down there watching the whole thing. He got so lost in the crowd that he never got to see Kerry. He asked me for a ride home and on the way to the car he asked if we could hang out for a while, I couldn't say no. It's safe to say this kid is pretty lonely and needs a few more friends. It was odd for me to hear his request to hang out after I just pushed through a screaming crowd of Kerry supporters to shake Kerry's hand. It made me look at the crowd (the bushies and kerries) this evening a little bit differently. Are they all, and myself included, missing the point a little bit. I look at Christians who are really involved in this election on both sides and I especially wonder if we are missing the point just a bit. We fight and fight for our candidate or issue while there are people all around us who would just like us to spend a little bit of time with them. It just makes me wonder a bit.

I doubt that all made since, cause I'm not sure I even understand what I'm saying.

May our God bless my friend I got to hang out with tonight. May he know that God would rather hang out with him than with presidential candidates. May he know God's amazing love!

Almost what I expected

It's completely official that I'm going to Argentina Oct. 29 through November 7th. The only change is that I have to come up with $300 dollars for the trip when at first I didn't think I needed anything. But I am so excited about this trip, yet still nervous about leaving Mandy and the church for ten days. The Lord knows I have been dreaming about going on a mission trip out of the country for years now and without me even asking he gives it to me. He does that a lot for me; gives me my dreams when I don't even have the nerve to ask for them. It kinda flies in the face of that theology that says when we get to heaven there will be a box of things there that God wanted to give to us, but we never asked for.

Yesterday we got our carpet installed and it looks really nice, expect they couldn't install one room cause they didn't order enough carpet. It's really frustrating cause our house has been a mess these last two months we have been remodeling and we thought we could finally put everything back where it belongs, but now we have to wait a few more weeks. It's hard figuring out how I'm supposed to respond. We were promised one installer by the carpet people because we heard good things about him, but they later told us because of contractural obligations we couldn't have him and we had to go with somebody else. We didn't complain and said "ok," and they gaurented us these guys would do a good job. The guys we eventually had to go with measured wrong and didn't order enough carpet so now we have to wait. I feel bad for the guy who measured wrong and I'm afraid if I complain I'll get him in more trouble than he is already in, but the store manger gaurented me they would do a good job. How do I respond? I don't know.

Argentina

I know this post was not going to be posted until tomorrow night, but I can't wait to write about it. The phone call I got Friday night was from Ashland Theological Seminary, where I go to school, offering me an all expense paid trip to Argentina! It's not for a vacation, but to go work at South American Theological Seminary, our sister seminary, for ten days. The seminary has had this trip planned for awhile now and I'm part of a group that has been real interested in finding ways for our students to partner with their students so they invited me along to go for free. I feel so blessed! I'll post more about the trip as I find more out.
To do list for tomorrow:
1. Hang out at the bus stop for first day of school
2. Play golf with new friends (I haven't played in two years)
3. Apply for passport
4. Move all things in the upstairs to the downstairs so we can get carpet installed Tuesday.
5. Start studying for Greek
6. Go visit a few people
BUSY DAY

A Beautiful Night

This morning started off with a long thunderstorm, but by 930 AM the sun was out and pretty much stayed out. That is until about 530 PM when the rains and thunder came back out to play. Our baptism service along with our cookout was scheduled to start at 6 PM. So we all crunched into Aaron and Rachel's house while a few of us tried to cook out on the grill in the rain. That went fine until the grill ran out of grass. Jamie, the wonderful saint that he is, went and got more gas for us as we started eating what we had. God decided we had enough bad luck for the day and took away the rain for a few minutes while we went to the back yard and had a baptism service. We had a wonderful time baptizing Jaime. The Lord was really with us. I just love our church and the wonderful things God is doing in it. I am so honored to be apart of it.

Aaron and Rachel I thank you again for opening your house and your back yard pool to us. You guys are wonderful!

cool phone call

I just got a message on our answering maching last night offering a wonderful opportunity. I have to decide by Monday morning whether or not I'm gonna take it. I'll let you all know Monday night what's going on. Say a prayer for me that I'll have wisdom in this whole matter.

Crazy Ideas

So my friend Mark, who works for the Peace Core in El Salvador, recently wrote me and some other friends and invited us to go on a three month bike trip across the ole USA next summer. My friend Eric can only get permission for a week, I think I can only do a week as well, and we have a friend named James who thinks after reading "Wild At Heart" that he could do the whole three months, but he's just dreaming. I hear Ked might be in as well and there is an outside chance on Sean, but then again we were all gonna go White Water Rafting a summer ago and that didn't happen, so who knows if we can pull off a week long bike trip.

I really hope it happens, it just sounds like so much fun. I figure in a week we might be able to make it four hundred miles and then rent a van for the way back home. I wonder where that can take us? I know this is farther than four hundred miles, but i think it would be cool to make it to the Gulf of Mexico.

Baptism

Our first baptism service for our new church is this Saturday night at the Thackers. Today my job is to sit down and figure out how we are going to do it. I've got my Bible, the Nazarene church rituals handbook, some info on how the Christians who have gone before us have done it, and a few scattered other sources to go through. I plan on using all that stuff and then hopefully adding some stuff from who we are as a church in the West Side.

On a journey

I'm the pastor of a new church in our neighborhood and lately my wife and I have really been struggling with how we do our "church services." We always wonder why we do what we do and we feel we are on a journey to bring more meaning and authenticity to what we do on Sunday mornings. This past Sunday, Mandy, who leads our music, prayed spontaneoulsy where I normally have my pastoral prayer. It was a beautiful prayer that fit perfectly into our service, but it left me in an odd position. You see it would have been too ackward for me to pray again once she was done and I really wanted to lead the church in prayer for some people we really needed to be praying for. I ended up just going on with the service and not praying again at that moment.
It just sounds weird to me that I got frustrated at that, cause Mandy did the right thing in following the Spirit to pray at that time. Is what we do so much a show that things can't happen spontaneously? Why couldn't I allow ackwardness in our service and just continued on with Mandy's prayer? Sometimes I really think I'm missing the point in all of this. I guess that I'm noticing that I'm missing the point is probably a good thing.

I try again

This is my second attempt at blogging, I hope this attempt goes a little better. I figure I should start because I read at least three peoples blogs a day and I feel that I should be giving back in some way.