:: Definitions

I wonder what is the true defintion of a blogger. Is it someone who blogs daily? Is it someone who puts their whole heart into each blog? If you blog weekly are you a wannabe? Anybody seen any good blogs or articles along these lines?

Life is so stinkin busy these days. I am working a job that is taking me 60 hrs a week. Somewhere in the middle of all that I am trying to be involved in a church plant. Lately it has been survival mode. Survival mode is when life is spinning a little too fast to keep balanced emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially. There are days in here I feel like the old Randy Stonehill song "Stop the world I wanna get off".

I am sure God is up to something in all this. For the life of me I haven't got it figured out though.

I better stop this is getting too much like a rambling rant. Later.

:: The Wedding

We were in Lubbock this weekend for my sister Beths wedding. It was a family event with me doing the ceremony, my other sister Sherri as the maid of honor, My wife a bridesmaid, my brother in law a groomsman, and my kids candlelighters. It was a great time at the wedding and seeing family.

Going into the wedding I kept praying that it would not be just a wedding but a time of giving glory to God. For me I can tell when the Lord intervenes strongly in a place and this was just such a time for me. I'm not saying all was perfect, but there was such a peace about the whole ceremony. Thanks Lord for your hand upon all of us this weekend.

I decided to begin a photoblog this week also. You can find it at: http://bear.fotopages.com

:: The ultimate bloggers resource

Look at the Ooze annual blog tools roundup for a brief review of tons of blogging tools. It was written by Jordon Cooper.

:: Vintage wisdom

I found Glorify His Name while perusing Greg Burnetts blog. On it are quotes from many saints of old.

:: Prayer a necessity

As I have wrestled with our little community's process of growth, I have been reading on the subject of prayer recently. I am reading a book right now by Terry Teykl called Making Room to Pray.

Three quotes are significant to me.

"Our work is just that, but prayer releases God's work"

"When we pray He (God) breathes upon us. Prayer is to inhale the breath of God. Evangelism is exhaling what we inhale in prayer."

The last is a story about Paul Cho (pastor of the worlds largest church). He said God spoke to him in prayer and asked "How many quail would Israel have caught if they had gone quail hunting in the wilderness?" Not too many. I then realized that God sent the wind which brought the quail. There is a difference in chasing a strategy and in finding the Holy Spirits strategy.

:: Gotta have a dog

Did you know that Americans eat 2 billion hot dogs in July each year. 150 million of those are eaten on July 4th. Personally I like the all beef dog, cheddar cheese, a bit of chili, mustard and topped with sprinkles of onions.

:: Sunday night

We continued our theme of prayer on Sunday night. We all read Phillipians with an eye for the mentions of prayer in the book and an eye out for a verse that stood out to us. Phillipians seems very pertinent to the situations of our little community. We are learning to count all things loss for the sake of knowing Christ, we are learning to be content in all stages of life whether abundance or lack, we are learning that Christ will continue his work in us.

We broke up into groups. Each group did a skit that illustrated a verse on prayer in Phillipians. The shark hunting protection skit was funny.

We then spent time in worship and ended joined in a circle of prayer. It was a good God night connecting with our community.

:: Working, working, working

I have been putting in some hours on the new job. Actually more than some, actually quite a lot. This is an interesting situation for a church planter. The job that I have allows a bit of flexibility and I can take my kids with me so it fits in one way very well. The hard part is I don't know how much I'll be working until day of or the day before, so it runs into our Thursday night FUEL meetings some.

I trust the Lord is working in all this. I am learning to trust by faith in what God brings with the job. I am working for a company that contracts out to mortgage companies cleaning up and checking on houses that are in delinquency, bankruptcy, or foreclosure. I get paid to check on statuses and then at times clean up the properties so they meet HUD standards for resell.

I miss being more regular on the blog and will try to get back to that discipline.

:: Take a moment to pray

Could you not tarry for one hour? These are the words from the Bible that continue to stir my spirit these days. It is a call to prayer for me. I know in my mind that prayer is key to all things. We are to pray without ceasing and in all things pray. Yet in my daily routines prayer is a secondary item.

As I have been studying prayer I came across this flash site with the Lords prayer on it. Take a few minutes to view it and to pray.
link

:: Classic win

For at least a week the purity of basketball in the nba has been restored. Detroit Pistons are winners of this years nba finals. The team with two superstars, the Lakers, didn't win and the team that played great fundamental basketball did.

The Pistons defined again what it means to play like a team in pro basketball. This was team in the purist sense of the word. The great teams are what make up great basketball. The Pistons played swarming team defense. They covered their men, helped out on the superstars, and outhustled the lakers. You have to give props to Larry Brown the coach of the Pistons for their success. He had definitely done his homework and had his team play hard and together.

It was a joy again to actually watch real basketball being played. I may still watch a few nba games in coming years.

:: A financial story

I love God stories. I was reading Living by Faith and came across how God provided financially in the post Being Faithful really works.

:: Brokeness the lost art

I was reading Back to Christ and was really into his dialogue about brokeness. Brokeness is a given and I would even go so far and say something that is blessed in our lives. Take a look at the post.

:: Leaving a Legacy

I have been moved this week at the honoring of the passing of president Ronald Reagan. Remembering his life at his death has made me proud of being an American and what it stands for. I appreciated president George Bush's speech at the funeral. Reagan was a picture of many character traits that are instilled in me that make up an ideal American.

Reagan was a respecter of all people whether janitor or head of state. It was said that he never spoke down to anyone.

Reagan was a man of graciousness. He rose in a ladies presence. He obviously cared about people and treated them with respect. He reminded me of my own grandfather Herman Franklin who was a man's man yet had a profound kindness toward others.

Ronald Reagan was a man of principle. He spoke passionately upon what he believed in and tried to follow through in action. One example I heard this week was how in the hospital room when he had been shot by an assassin, Reagan prayed for the person who shot him before he prayed for himself.

Reagan was a deeply committed Christian. It was moving to hear his son Michael talk of his dad speaking of his faith to his son in 1988 and passing it along to his son. He said he hoped one day he could pass that faith on to his own son.

Reagan was an optimist, he saw the good in life and in people and especially in our country. His daughter told the story of being a little girl and Reagan taking her to a field that had been badly burned. He showed her the small green shoots of new life breaking through the charred ground and told her that their was always new life that would come forth after bad things.

There is honor in the life of Ronald Reagan. There is something right about all of us getting to be involved in that honor.

I understand that honor comes from Reagan's personal faith in Jesus Christ. It was our Lord that gave gifts to President Reagan and enabled him to be able to share those gifts with us.

No, I'm not idolizing a man. I'm sure Ronald Reagan had his short comings as all of us do. But I hope and pray that my life becomes a gift to others as Ronald Regean's was a gift to ours.

Tonight I salute the memory of Ronald Reagan and how he walked out his life with Christ to give others a hope in that faith.

:: Update on blogging

New bloggers begin all the time. Here is an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that talks about how Bloggers find ways to profit.

:: This week

We began a dialogue about the kingdom of God this week. At the very beginning of Jesus ministry the gospel writers tell us He began teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. We talked about the kingdom of God being the rule and reign of God. Seeking first the kingdom of God is seeking first and foremeost the rule and reign of God.

Interesting to in Matthew where Jesus says "If I caste out demons by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God is among you." This is also why Jesus taught the disciples to pray "Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I am also in dialogue with others about the definition of the church (ekklasia) and how that is different from the kingdom of God. There is so much to know about the Lord and what He is all about.

:: Who am I ?

I know I'm a blogger, no really I am, I just don't blog very often lately. Is our identity in what we do or who we are?

This past week I had a day that wasn't going well and I kept thinking " How come I can't be perfect? What is wrong with me? I must be a wicked man because I can't be perfect." I began to really get down on myself and I heard in my heart that calming voice of God say "Let me tell you who you are, you are a lover of God and one that is loved by God."

You know that really is my heart. I love God and enjoy loving God and I am realizing more than ever the truth that I am someone that is loved by God. This latter truth has just began to sink in some over the last three years. I am about ankle deep in the truth that God so loved me, that He sent His son to die on the cross that I might be reconciled to Him. He really loves me and enjoys spending time with me. I look forward to the deepening of that truth.

Yea in my heart I'm a blogger but more importantly for me "I am a lover of God and am someone who is loved by God." Man, that truth sure brings me peace.

:: Sunday night

Sunday night we talked about Mary and Martha. In John 11 John tells us that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. I think sometimes Martha gets bad press for her role in Luke 10. We look down on Martha for not "getting it". People have portrayed Jesus as almost scolding Martha: Martha, Martha will you ever learn. Like an arrogant adult scolds a young child.

I think there was a totally different picture going on there. Martha wasn't being scolded, she was being encouraged by the Lord. Jesus was giving her some training in a loving manner. His statement was more like "Martha this is a really important lesson, No I'm serious it is one of the most important lessons, Mary has chosen the wisest thing to sit at my feet and hear my word."

We talked about how Jesus doesn't deal harshly with our immaturities. Can you imagine a mother that did not enjoy her three year old, even though that three year old has many immaturities and needs training and correction? No that mother enjoys that child even though the immaturities are there. This is Jesus stance towards us and this was His stance with Martha. "Martha I love you, that is why I am trying to get you to see the importance of beholding Me."

We also talked about how beholding is the key to becoming. As we behold Jesus in the truth of who He is we become like Him.

The Lord loves us even in our weaknesses. This is a truth I am only about ankle deep in. I desire to get waist deep in it. I pray that our community will embrace that He is the lover of us even in our weaknesses.

:: 40 year anniversary

I attended Trinity churches 40th anniversary in Lubbock, Texas this past weekend. It was a long short trip but worth it. We traveled for six hours on Friday, arrived in Lubbock just in time to get ready and went over to a banquet at Trinity. It was good to see many faces of people who we had known.

I still am honored to have been a part of Trinity's heritage and history. Even though I don't consider myself extremely talented in any area, the Lord allowed me to pastor at Trinity. I can remember being 28 years old and being awed at Trinity church, the size, the spirituality. Yet the Lord spoke to my heart and told me one day I would be on staff there, impossible I thought, but if God wills it let it be.

I am not lifting up a church or an institution. What strikes me most is that I have been at Trinity in times of extreme favor when it was blowing and growing and I have been at Trinity in some very rough waters, ie. Church split, layoffs of friends, etc. and in all those times both good and bad the Lord continued to grow me and teach me and encourage me with His presence. My heritage there is clear, it is about God working in me to will and to do what He delights in.

I was reminded that the kingdom of God is alive and well where peoples hearts are directed towards Him. There are so many people who have left Trinity and are in all manner of ministries across the world. Regardless of style, regardless of human immaturities, God works in those whose hearts are turned toward Him.

On a final note as I reflect on the emerging church my heart turns more and more to loving those things that are near and dear to the Lords heart. I think Gods children both old school and new school, both meeting in buildings and meeting at homes, both with solid structures, immature structures, or little to no structures are loved by Him and He looks to bless those whose hearts are turned towards Him. I pray I continue to love those things and people that are near and dear to His heart.

:: New look

Two Sunday ago we talked on Sunday nights about taking off the old man and putting on the new man. We want our style of dress to be kingdom. Keeping with the theme I thought I would change my blog dress and try one of the new blogger templates. I'll probably make some tweaks soon.

This Sunday night Chris changed all the worship song sets to include us and we where normally there would be me and I. I think this is an appropriate biblical shift. Community is key.

Justin and Kelly, from Mars Hill, came over and shared about their excursion to Russia recently and the passion of their hearts for kids in ophanages there. It was a good time of food, fellowship, and the presence of God. Can I say presence of God on an emerging blog? The emerging movement (already passe) need a book like Roberts Rules of Order. We could call it the Pomo Flow of Chaos.

:: Sunday night

Sunday night had a couple of themes. Chris and Mark taught a new song focusing on Jesus being our refuge. We talked a minute about what a refuge was to us. It was a touching song. We mixed teaching time with some reflection and prayer. We continued to talk about making no agreements with sin. We walked through Ephesians 4 asking God to show us any sin and spent time repenting of it in quiet. This is a great explanation by Paul of taking off the old man (worldy desires and yearnings) and putting on the new man (Christlike desires and yearnings).

One interesting verse tells the man who stole to steal no more. Not only that, but he was to go to the opposite end of the spectrum, work, and give away. We talked a bit about pursuing the other side of our weaknesses. If lust is weakness then pursue purity. If rage and wrath are a weakness pursue passionately quietness and peace. In our weakness He will be strong.