Thought for the week. Spiritual Gifts

I know, the picture is horrible, but I Googled Spiritual Gifts on Google Image and it came up. WOW! Anyway, I am not writing to make fun of pictures, although this one is worthy of it, I want to talk briefly on gifts. We were driving home from California The other day and as leaders we were praying about what direction we need to go as a base. The thing that I felt the Lord speaking to me about was that we need to figure out what giftings our staff and us have so that we can work together as a team more effectively.

I think that most of us don't really know what our gifts are, or we just don't recognize the things in our lives we are good at or passionate about as practical or spiritual gifts. I believe if we knew and walked in our giftings that we would get more done in our lives and make more of an impact in our job's and in the lives of those around us. I would encourage you to pray and seek God about what gifts he has given you and to learn to walk in them. There are also a lot of gift testings out there that can help you find out what your spiritual/practical giftings are.

Later

Books I am Reading

I have been reading a couple of books currently. I am excited about what they have to say and what I am learning. You can check them our here.






Ancient Future Faith

An Emerging Theology For Emerging Churches

Back in Seattle

Well it is good to be home. We left Chico, CA yesterday at 4:30pm and after one final stop at In N Out we arrived home at 5:00am. It was a great time to spend with our staff in Chico. The conference was not the greatest, but it had it's moments. The best thing for me was just seeing again the big picture of YWAM and connecting with new and old friends like Will Barrow from Pismo Beach, Richard Thomson from Las Vegas and Marty Meyer from Idaho.

I love our organization and the diversity or it and also the unity in it. There is much unity in diversity, but I suppose most people don't see it like that, but assume if you are different then there is nothing to connect on. It was also just great to connect with my friends here from YWAM Seattle. We don't get together as a staff too often, so this was a terrific time to connect with them.

On the other side, the coffee sucked. Oh my gosh, does anyone appreciate a good cup of coffee anymore? For sheesh sake, it was just Awful. So, it is good to be home, it is good to blog again and it is good to have a decent cup of Joe.

Later

Out of town

So tomorrow my family along with the YWAM Seattle staff are travelling to Chico, CA for the YWAM West Coast Conference. I am excited to see some old friends, see what direction YWAM is headed and eat some great food at In N Out Burger. Specifically a No. 1- Double Double, Fries, Dr. Pepper.

I will not be able to post until next Tuesday. I hope you have a great weekend.

Thank you Jesus.

Thought for the week. Prayer

Lately I have found myself forgetting to pray for the things that matter to me. It has been a humbling thing realizing that my prayer life is not very disciplined and I get caught up in so many other things during the day that at night I realize what I should have been praying for, but by then I am so tired that I just fall asleep trying to pray. I decided that this needed to change. If I really believe in prayer, that it is the most important thing, then I need to be doing it more as a part of my daily life.

A couple of weeks ago I just entered some things into the calendar of my phone that I want to pray for. I wanted to pray regularly for the leadership and staff of our base, my family and our support, injustice issues, The Gathering, etc. So, each day starting at 8:30am a different prayer item pops up on my phone every hour and I stop what I am doing and pray for that issue or thing (unless I am driving of course). It is interesting when I am in a meeting and a reminder pops up I just take a few seconds and commit the prayer to the Lord.

I love that I am consciously remembering to pray daily for things that matter. I wonder what would happen if we all did something that helped us stop each day and pray for people or things. How is your prayer life? Is it important to you? Do you really believe that prayer can make a difference? I can't wait to see what a difference it makes in my life.

Thanks.

How Sad

I read an article tonight from the LA Times on the Episcopal church. It was very sad to read. It talkes about how as a denomination they have fallen away from basic, closed hand Biblical truths such as the ordination of practicing homosexuals and the following:

Episcopalian at Columbus overwhelmingly refused even to consider a resolution affirming that Jesus Christ is Lord. When a Christian church cannot bring itself to endorse a bedrock Christian theological statement repeatedly found in the New Testament, it is not a serious Christian church. It's a Church of What's Happening Now, conferring a feel-good imprimatur on whatever the liberal elements of secular society deem permissible or politically correct.

It makes me so sad and angry and confused at how people can fall so far away from the truth. I hope that someone rises up in the Episcopal church to bring it back to Jesus.

Read More

We are done.

11 day's, 6 DVD's, long, late nights and 24 hours later we are done with season 4. It has been great. I am not quite ready to start season 5, although if it were out right now I would probably go and rent it as I write. Anyway, it has been an experience and now is done.

Thanks Jack Bower, your my hero.

Embrace The Pain

Yesterday Amy, Emma and I were picking blackberries for a cake that we are making for Ben's birthday, which is today. I am not sure if you have ever picked blackberries, but the bushes have thorns all over them that make rose bush thorns look like soft little cotton balls. I was thinking as I was picking berries and getting the skin skratched off of me about pain. The thing that I was thinking was that sometimes the pain is a part beauty. There was pain in me picking blackberries, but in the end it was worth it as later on I will be eating an amaizing, fresh blackberry cake with my friends on Ben's birthday.

When Amy and I were in the hospital 2 weeks ago there was much pain. God say's to Eve in Genesis that there will be an increased pain in childbirth. I will be sensitive how I put this, but I am pretty sure that Amy sees that the pain of childbirth brought about the beautiful baby girl that we love so much now. Through the pain came something beautiful.

I feel that this is the same in our walk with Christ. It is painfull sometimes. Life is painfull sometimes. I used to want to walk away from the pain and move on to something else, but I have leared that if I embrace the pain that the result will be something beautiful. Out of my pain has come freedom, healing, joy, understanding, and much fruit.

Jesus embraced the pain of the cross so that he could bring us eternal life with Him. He saw what the cross would bring and went through the pain out of His love for us. I encourage you to ask God if the pain you are in is from Him and ask Him for the courage to embrace the pain. Embrace it so that when you come out of it you are a changed, renewed, wiser person who can sit down with friends and enjoy blackberry cake.

6 hours left to save the world

So nine day's ago Amy and I embarked on season 4 of 24. We only have 6 hours left to see how Jack Bower saves the world and gets us to season 5. It has been 8 day's of going to sleep at approx. Midnight and struggling to wake up only to do it all over again.
It is great what Jack has done for Amy and I. The show (as cheesy as this may sound, and don't take me to seriously) has helped us just wind down and rest together at the end of the day while the kid's are sleeping. It has been fun for us to pound through season 4. We don't usually sit down together at the end of the day. Usually I am reading a book and she is sewing or watching something else. I love spending time with Amy at nights.

It is not that we are engaged in deep conversation, it is just fun and relaxing. So here's to you Jack Bower.

Thought for the week. Goals and Desires

I really want to start posting thoughts for the week on my blog. I kind of got the idea from my friend Rhett where he sometimes puts up weekend musings. I want to be more regular in my blogging and also post with some consistency. I feel that this will cause me to think more about life, become more disciplined and also give regular visitors something to think about during the week. Here's hopin it goes well.

This week we had a guy come in to talk to our staff named Mike. He was talking about counciling people, specifically the students that come to our schools, our staff and each other. One of the things that he talked about which I want to write about here is the fine line and difference between a goal and a desire.

We talked about how people get mad at God, themselves and others because they set goals for themselves that they have no control over. Here is an example. Is it a good goal to want your children to grow up following Christ? NO. The reason that it is not a good goal is that we have no control over weather or not our children grow up following Christ. Now it is a good desire to have that our children grow up to follow Christ, but it can't be a goal. The thing about goals and desires is that they are so close together.

Let me explain. We can only have goals for ourselves. We can have a goal to be a good husband, or a good father, or a good friend, but we can't have a goal that someone be a good friend to us, or a good spouse to us, or a good child. These are desires. We can only do what we can do and the response of those people around us is up to them, not us. If we have a goal for our kids to be followers of Christ we may manipulate or twist things so that this happens, instead of just loveing our kids, raising them in the way's of Christ and letting the Holy Spirit do the work in their lives to draw them to walk in the way's of Jesus. I hope that this in making sense, and if not then take some time to think about it. I still am.

I have set goals in my life to be a good friend, love my wife and raise my children to be followers of Christ. Now it is my desire that I have good friends, that my wife is loving and faithfull to me and that my children walk with Jesus. What are your goals and desires?

Reorganizing

I was talking to my friend Ben the other day and he was saying that God is showing him that he is not what he does, but who he is. It is not about doing, but about being. I totally agree and have been thinking about this for the last few day's steadily, but probably for the last bunch of years off and on.

I know that Ben is right, that we are not what we do, but who we are, but it is very hard for me to live that. I feel that I need to be doing stuff to show who I am. I know that we have do be doing stuff, but I also think that I can get into this thing that if I am not doing anything that I am not being anything. This is where I get wacked.

I have been running and running for years just getting things done, and when I am not getting things done I am feeling stressed that I am not getting things done. This has worn on me and also my family. I remember talking to a pastor and he told me that we need to produce for people. He is a pastor and he needs to produce for his congregation. I am a missionary on support and I need to produce for my supporters to see what they are supporting. This affirmed the lie that I was already believing.

Well last week I had a baby, as I have shown off a couple of times in this blog. It has been a season (2 weeks) of just hanging out with my family and doing dishes, playing with Emma, changing diapers, cuddling, and puttering around the house. It has been killing me and making me feel that I am getting nothing done. Today I am reorganizing my storage and getting things in order. My wife loves it, but I feel that I am not getting kingdom stuff done. Well, I am wrong. I know that I am wrong.

My security is obviously in what I do and not in who I am. I can't even have a vacation and not feel guilty about sitting around not doing any "ministry", whatever that means. I am learning. Ministry is all of life, but right now it is my family. Pray for me that I can get it right and slow down and be and not just do.

Thanks.

Could this be a mistake?

OK, so it has officially begun. Amy and I have started watching season 4 of 24. Our friends went away for 2 1/2 weeks and forwarded their netflix to us. We have 2 1/2 weeks to get through it. As if we weren't suffering from a lac of sleep already. This is not going to help. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we push through season 4. This could be a huge mistake, but we are already hooked.

Later.

Change

I have been thinking a lot lately about change. I like change. I think it is good. It is scary, but it is what keeps up alive in some ways. We change a lot of things. Here are ten things that come to mind out of the infinite amount of things we change, good and bad all the time.
1. Underwear
2. Socks
3. Job's
4. Schools
5. Styles
6. Diet
7. Girl friends, Boy friends.
8. Sex Change (This is one of the bad ones).
9. Disciplines
10. Favorite music

I have had a lot of change in my life lately. Some changes have been great, some hard. The great ones are the ones that are inspiring me lately. The bad change inspires me too, but not tonight. There have been two significant changes in my life in the last week. One is the birth of my baby girl Abby. I have more responsibility to my family now. The amount of time that I can go out and have a life outside of my home will change because of Abby. I am excited about this because I want to be a good father and husband to my wife and children. I also want to be a good example of a husband and father to the singles and married people without kid's that we are in contact with daily. I want people to see a good, healthy family structure. A family that is committed to each other beyond anything else. I think that this is rare for people to see.

The other significant change in my life is in YWAM. I feel called in a different direction. A different direction within YWAM. I want to be involved more long term in peoples lives. I feel that I am doing that a little bit now, but I want to be doing it more. I want to be connecting more with seekers, not just people who have already found the truth. Jesus says that He came to call sinners, not the righteous. Not that I want to work primarily with people who have not yet met Jesus, but I want to do it more.

I also want to be involved long term in peoples lives by "feeding His sheep. Jesus asked Peter to feed His sheep. This is not a one time deal. If we only feel sheep once it will only keep them alive till they starve to death. To feed His sheep means long term work. It is laboring with the sheep. The compliant ones and the rebellious ones. I want to feel Jesus sheep. I want to be involved more. I am not sure how this is going to look, but I know that Jesus wants me to figure it out with Him. I am grateful for the change that has happened and the change that I believe I am stepping into soon.

Well that is all the inspiration I have for tonight. I will be waking up in a couple of hours with Abby so I should sign off.

One more thing, Amy and I watched The Fastest Indian tonight. It was recommended to me by my friend Dave Laird. It is good, you should watch it some time.

My two sleeping beauties.

It is 2:58pm and my two little girls just fell asleep. We are all a bit tired lately, but very, very joyfully. This little girl Abby is going to bring so much to our family. It is great to see Emma trying to help out, even though she is always just a step away from dropping her. God has definitely blessed us. I pray that I never forget.

Jesus, thank you so much for your gift to us. Thank you for putting my 3 girls (Amy Emma Abby) into my life. Help me to honor you in the way I serve and lead them. I am without words. -amen-

Pictures of Abby

First Night

Well it is 5:30am and we are almost through the first night with Abby. Man, she is cute. I will be good to get home and upload some pictures for you to see. It was a long night. I forgot how different it is having a newborn. I can't just put on Veggie Tales and go back to bed. Yesterday I was cursing Phil Visher, today I am realizing that he is a necessary annoiance.

I think that I am a parinoid dad. I always check to see if the baby is OK if she is quiet for a long period of time. I also jump up if I hear even the slightest noise wondering if she is fine. I was holding her earlier tonight and she felt hot so I grabbed the nurses nifty thermometer and checked her temperature. She was 99.9. I called the nurse and he came in and checked and she was 99.9. I figured that she was sick, but he just told me to take some blankets off of her as she was wrapped like a burrito on a hot mexican summer day.

I need to realize that God is in control of my little Abby's life. He kept her alive and growing in the womb and He will keep her growing outside of it. I sometimes forget that I am not in control and get all freaked out and worried. I hate when people say that they need to "let go and let God" so I am not going to say it, but I do need to trust my father and Abby's father more.

She is nursing now, so hopefully Amy and I can get some sleep. Thank you Jesus for this new journey and our new little girl Abby.