Endings

As a church we voted to move and to change our church name.  We voted unanimously.  We voted because we want to be salt and light and provide ourselves with better opportunities to do that.  We'll be in a better location to reach Indians, we'll be in a better sized worship facility, we'll be in a more visible location. We'll be meeting on Sunday mornings, which makes sense for believers and is a bit easier on families with kids.  We have made all these choices in an effort to take a step forward as a church.


Shajan John our retreat speaker this year, talked about how to step forward you have to leave the ground you are on.  This is often the most difficult part. And in many ways, I'm sad about leaving the relationships and opportunities in Westchester behind. My eyes are opened anew to the opportunities here as I see chances to engage Gabe's kindergarten class and soccer team. We have neighbors who have been friends for the past couple of years. All of these things as well as the relationships with the people of Grace make this step forward difficult.  But, often it is the difficult things that are best.  There are still more difficult steps for us to take, things we need to change, ways we need to grow as a church.  This step is not the endpoint of the journey.  Only the very first step.  


Please pray for us. 

Utmost

Most of the church today doesn't really take Jesus lifestyle seriously.  We put a lot of pop psychology in there to make the calls to self sacrifice and eternally giving to others in there to make it palatable and sensible.  


I can do that pretty easily as well.  


Oswald Chambers devotional spells out that we need to give, trust follow Jesus at all times.  This faith is impossible without Christ.  Thank God he came to save us from ourselves.

Beginnings

My kids Gabe and Simone just started school.  I just started coaching Gabe's soccer team and our church is going to be starting to minister in a new setting.  It's got me thinking about new beginnings and how just starting something new opens up tons of new opportunities.  I know new things can be tough to take on.  It's a lot easier and safer to do the same old same old, but sometimes the same old gets boring stagnant and in need of change.  

So we take on these new challenges with prayer, because new beginnings have a lot of risk to them. Fortunately we have a God who can help since was around in the (very) beginning.

Retreat

Not long ago I wrote about being in God's creation and the affect that has on us.  How it reconnects us with His presence. How it demonstrates His creative power, and how awe of God restores us to right relationship with him.  Well this last week we went on a retreat at a beautiful conference center right on Lake Geneva.  Beautiful weather, perfect water and lot's of green. The perfect retreat.


Interestingly, we also talked about going on the offensive. About bringing the message of redemption and hope to a dark and overwhelmed world.  I think more than just being able to escape from the day to day, that is really the point of a retreat.  


In battle a retreat is strategic.  Things aren't working, we are overwhelmed, we are losing our position and ourselves.  So we take a step back.  Reorganize, re-prioritize and once settled re-deploy.  I usually think of a retreat as a diversion from the day to day.  But this year, I saw it as a call to renewed purpose.  It was an important lesson. 


Thanks be to God, who leads us in his triumph! thanks be to God who's got the victory!

Best websites

Time's list of best websites is out.  I didn't make it.  Maybe next year. When I post more than once a month...

The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up

This week is surprisingly a good one, that is when one considers the fact that the town I live in just went through massive flooding, when I was on vacation.  Check out these photos to get an idea of the damage. It' pretty insane. I read in one article that there was 60 billion gallons of water dropped on Chicagoland. As I said. Insane.  We had 4 feet of water in the basement.  I spent 13 hours today dragging stuff out.  We lost some memories and some stuff and a lot of carpet and drywall and we might need a new washer dryer air conditioner and furnace. But I also learned some things and have had my heart put right, and for that I thank God.


I have been reading here about a gratitude list.  And figured now is a good time to thank God for lot's of things.  

1) I thank God for getting us out of Chicago on Friday night, before we were planning and mere hours before the flood.  Now my wife and kids are with the rest of my family vacationing as they should be. 
2) I thank God for my Dad who happened to have a layover in Chicago and could hop off the flight to help me take apart the basement.
3) I thank God for this time with my Dad.
4) I thank God that there was a flight and a seat available for me the moment we drove into Denver so I could come home asap.
5) I thank God that on that flight I was able to sit next to, talk to, and pray for a woman who had just lost her sister. A 48 year old mother of 2 and grandmother of 2.
6)  I thank God for the modern conveniences I take for granted. 
7)  I thank God for all the stuff we have.
8) I thank God for the chance to clear some of that stuff out.
9) I thank God for making our time dealing with all of this headache pretty easy. We weren't here to experience the stress, when I arrived the flooding in my neighborhood had receded so that I could drive up to my door.


I also learned that no matter what you do you can't protect things or people perfectly.  Your stuff, and your kids can't be held onto too tightly.  I mean they need to be held onto tightly, your kids need to be loved, but no matter what, things will happen. When they do we all we can do is trust God. We need to trust that he is in control, that all those things I can be thankful for in this hard situation are a product of his divine intervention. I don't know what will happen to Star. This woman that I spoke to on the plane and prayed with, but I do hope she comes to know Jesus as he works in her now to draw her to himself. 




On the drive we listened to a CD my mom made for the kids, they were about family mostly, but one I really like (my adaptation) goes


All I really need is God's song in my heart, food in my belly, and love in my family.  


Amen.

Vows: With my Body I thee Worship

Since I re-read the vows that Dani and I said at our wedding I've been really thinking a lot about the phrase, "With my body I thee worship,  and with all my worldly goods I thee endow." This phrase while surprising to many of us as American Christians I think uncovers 2 of the areas of constant marital strife.  Our sexual relationships and our financial ones.  Today I'm going to deal a little bit with the sexual relationship side of things and later address finances.


The first thing we need to discuss is the idea of worship.  Fundamentally worship is giving appropriate worth to someone or something.  So when we worship God we ascribe to him the majesty and glory he deserves.  When we worship our spouses, we don't elevate them over and above God instead we give them appropriate value which places our spouse in a secondary position beneath God.  Of course, a spouse can become an idol, but in this context it speaks to honoring our spouses, and that we live out that appropriate honor, by giving our spouses what they deserve and desire through intimacy.


It has often been said that men desire respect in the husband/wife relationships more than anything.  That as the head, and leader of the family, a man desires his reasons and opinions and decisions to not be challenged and undermined.  Of course, constructive challenges and criticisms are often necessary, and the wise and loving husband will seek his wife's input and perspective on decisions in order to include her, understand her and care for her needs and well being.  In short to show her love. 


This same situation applies to the marriage bed.


³The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. ⁵Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent...


So here we see that both spouses should seek to fulfill each other sexually whenever the other is interested. I believe this supports the primary desires of husbands and wives.  


Husbands who desire respect experience a woman's acceptance of his advances as respect. Her willingness affirms that he is worthy and she wants to express and reward that. In the same way that he wants his wife to accept his decisions as wise and good he wants his wife to accept his advances. He wants his wife to submit to his will and choices both in life and in the bedroom. When she says yes, she is in essence saying you are good, I trust you and want to please you. However, when the advances are denied it undermines that respect.  Men don't want excuses, I'm too tired, I'm too busy, headache, whatever.  All those things communicate, you aren't good enough for me. I'd rather sleep, work, clean whatever than be with you. That is some pretty crappy stuff to rank beneath. All of those things communicate the opposite of respect and certainly don't give a husband the worth he is due. 


Women want to be given appropriate value and worth as well, and men need to remember that and realize how we can love our wives in a way they feel worthy. Women desire to FEEL loved, rather than respected.  For most of us men, if our wives will give it up at all times, (which is God's plan btw, and is  awesome) we'd likely stop doing all the loving, caring things that score us enough points to actually get us what we want. Its our sinful and selfish nature.  Honestly, If I wasn't regularly rejected I wouldn't try so hard to make SURE it happens "this time."  If I wasn't regularly rejected, my negligence would probably make my wife feel used, rather than honored.  It would make my wife feel unappreciated and not loved.  And I think this is the key for guys.  That is, make sure that we listen to and understand our wives preferences and needs and not simply expect that she be available.  Then we will seek to do the things for her, that make her feel loved. In response she'll want to be available. So give the massages, buy the flowers, just cuddle (I don't get it either!) all those things just because we want to honor our wives with our bodies, not because we want to get something out of it. We need to love through doing the things that she enjoys and that give her pleasure and not simply expect her to bend to your (my) preferences.  Because if we do that, women feel used and not like she is being given appropriate worth.  
So the command to both husband and wife, the promise Dani and I both made is that we will worship each other with our bodies. For me that means putting her first, loving, caring, serving, giving, all the time no stopping, no putting my self first. All her all the time.  


I just hope she is reading this, and is way better at her job than I am at mine.