David Blaine is one interesting cat. His discipline is fascinating to me, I'd love to have a conversation with him. Just see where he is and what he's about.
Who would have thought that my amazing, beautiful wife would have the fortitude to stick with me for 7 years. And yet she has. Today is our anniversary! ( we were together 6 years prior to marriage so that makes a whopping 13 years!) I am a lucky dude. So what does one do for there 7 year anniversary?? Why one goes to get their tattoo finished of course. My wife Rocks!!!I got to hang out all day with my her and we traveled up to see my tattoo artist Matt Hesler of XS station to finish up an arm piece. It has been a very cool day.
We had an incredible weekend celebrating the first marriage among our children. Benjamin and Anna were married in Estes Park, CO Saturday surrounded by breathtaking Rocky Mountains scenery, an enthusiastic church family, relatives, friends and the Lord. We sang, clapped, prayed, whistled, ate, danced, laughed, and cried together the whole weekend.
Coming home, my wife commented that it didn’t feel too much like Sunday. True enough as we had to leave too early for a flight to attend a worship service. It’s an odd feeling not to be with the people you worship, celebrate, study, learn, and serve with.
I wonder if others feel the same way. A call came in this morning from someone looking for a new small group. A shift change to second shift forced her to drop out of her small group. “I really miss my small group and want to find another one quickly.” I think she understands how much it means to be connected with other Christians.
I’ll start today connecting with everyone in my circle at Crossroads Community Church. The catching up will begin and continue throughout the week. But I’ll have to wait for Sunday to really be part of the celebrating…when we’re together with God and God’s family.
One thing you may not know is that I LOVE HOCKEY. I'm pretty sure that Hockey is proof that God truly loves people. So you can imagine how stoked I was to find out that I had two tickets to see my beloved wings at the second game of the 2ND round. We'll that's not going to happen. How the #1 seed gets whooped by the #8 is beyond me. Of course I'm sure that's what Goliath was saying.....
So what did we do that may not have been done before? Earache my Eye by Cheech & Chong. We are in the midst of a series about raising kids. We opened with Earache My Eye,( with a lego brick film created by Mad Mike) Scott came out and explained how we as parents have all screwed up and how amazing God's forgiveness and restoration are. Then the Worship Team went into Maybe I'm Amazed by the beatles. I love the fact that our church speaks God's truth using ways that people that have never stepped into our building can get! The results were changed lives and 3 people accepted Christ!
What do you count? And maybe it's more important to ask why you're counting. Tony Morgan (http://tonymorgan.typepad.com) posts this week on numbers and I started looking at what I count. Here's my list from April 30's Sunday at Crossroads:
3 - kids I high-fived.
5 - volunteers I thanked.
16 - baptism orientation attendees.
19 - grapes I consumed @ the Crossroads Cafe.
21 - single parents who signed up for connecting/mentoring with parenting couples.
46 - parenting couples who signed up for connecting/mentoring with single parents.
Which numbers from my collection do you think are most important and why? If I was starving, the grapes may be most important. If I'm thinking impact on a future generation, the high-fives may have it. If I'm gauging our impact on nonbelievers in Lenawee County, MI, I like the baptism orientation number. How about helping people embrace the joy of serving? My volunteer appreciation count takes top honors. What about our new venture into connecting/mentoring between married parents and single parents? Maybe the 46/21 count is most important.
At Crossroads, we are committed to counting. Counting helps us discover where we are, where we're heading, and how to gauge our progress toward our mission:
"Helping people take their next step toward Christ by creating irresistible environments where people are encouraged and equipped to pursue:
Brian Glass, our church IT and all-around great helper, suggested I switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox. It's up and running and no problems. Thanks, Brian!
I learn well by trying things out and experimenting. When I stumbled onto Firefox extensions, I felt like Lucy standing in the wardrobe, noticing that some place very big had opened up. Now I have my weather hovering under my cursor (current, tomorrow, the next day, and warnings) and a neat feature that turns addresses in Fellowship One into Google map links. No more excuses for not having the umbrella or getting lost!
The extension I've added that really has me thinking, though, is a real-time action report of every earthquake. I now know where an earthquake occurs, how strong it is, and watch my browser screen shake proportionally. Hmm, a magnitude 2.7 just hit in Nevada. Glad I'm east of the mighty Mississippi.
I live in a house built on concrete footers (extra thick), drive to the church and offices on a combination route of gravel, blacktop and concrete, sit at a desk perched over 2 stories above bedrock, and even walk back and forth between office and car on paving bricks and concrete. It's all felt pretty solid, until now.
This Firefox extension has me thinking: what am I assuming is nice and stable, but may sneek up and shake me around? (Look out. Another quake in Nevada…a bit stronger this time at M 2.9.)
I'm grateful for this promise: "God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: 'The Lord knows those who are his…'" (2 Timothy 2.19 NIV)
