Merry Christmas!

It's 9AM Christmas Morning! We are at Lorri's folks. In 3 hours there will be 11 people gathered around a tree opening gifts. The stockings are already opened. Yes, there were some oranges! (some things never change)

Right now people are getting showers. I'm next in line. So I am not being crazy or delinquent by writing a blog. Do I get bonus points for writing one of these on Christmas?

I can't help but think how grateful I am to God today. Not merely for the day, or even for Jesus (which I am). But also for you who are a part of cW church. As people were headed to Christmas Eve services last night, I realized next Christmas we will be having our own in the building God is giving us. I can't wait!

If you are reading this on Christmas day itself... remember to take your card (from church) and be intentional about drawing close to Him today!

Shower is now open... my turn. Merry Christmas!

It's about time... and stuff.

1. I confess. I am blog delinquent. Sorry.

2. Just got back from Vikings/Bears Football game. Lesson learned: football and baseball have totally different style of fans. Man was it loud. Man was it rowdy. Man was it fun. Molly and I went courtesy of a friend who prefers not to become a message illustration. It was especially fun to go to a game because it was Monday night... those Sunday noon games are a little difficult for my schedule.

3. WE WERE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEWSPAPER... check the picture. Here's a copy of the article(italics below). Now let me just say... reporters never seem to get everything right...there is nothing "modest" about $1.7 Million Dollars! But 9000 square feet is on the modest side for a church. I am happy for cW to get the ink. This is "The Rev. Mathers" speaking... although everyone I know calls me "doug". I am excited about the future... crossWinds or Crosswinds... is the greatest and most rewarding team I've ever been a part of... by the way, that's Diane Nickel standing there with me as I point to the window of my future office!

Anyway... here's the story.

$1.7 million church is a 'modest' start
12/18/2007 12:21:53 AM
By Matt Russell

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

It's one step at a time for a Rochester congregation as it builds a worship center on the city's north side.

The congregation, CrossWinds church, is erecting a 9,000-square-foot facility on 31st Avenue Northwest. The $1.7 million church will sit on a 20-acre site about a mile from the 75th Street Northwest interchange at U.S. 52.

"Its a modest first stage for us, but we're excited about it," said the Rev. Doug Mathers.

Modesty of ambition is a mindset Mathers stresses, but the master plan CrossWinds has developed -- allowing for a 100,000-square-foot building -- would result in one of Rochester's largest church complexes.

So what is CrossWinds church?

In a general sense, the 10-year-old congregation is an offspin of Calvary Evangelical Church in Rochester. Its pastor, the Rev. Doug Mathers, is a former Calvary Evangelical Free youth minister who wanted to start CrossWinds as a way of reaching people turned off by traditional church settings.

Mathers' congregation, which has met at Willow Creek Middle School in Rochester for its entire 10-year history, stresses a contemporary worship style with music, drama, and multiweek sermon series on themes connected to people's everyday lives.

Between CrossWinds' two Sunday services, the church's average weekly worship attendance is about 320 people, Mathers said. The new building will seat 260 people, but the master plan allows for a sanctuary with 1,500 seats.

"I don't have delusions of grandeur," the pastor stressed, saying the church will expand as need dictates.

In 20 years, however, he hopes people will ask him why CrossWinds bought only 20 acres of land.

If that happens, Mathers said, he'll tell people what he says now when asked why CrossWinds was ambitious enough to buy 20 acres.

"Because we couldn't afford 40."


4. Finally - thanks for your patience with me. I will try to BLOGON more faithfully.

Makes You Think

We are in a new teaching series at crossWinds called "Say What?" It's a look at some of the statements Jesus made. Yesterday we talked about Jesus call to Love Your Enemies (Luke 6:27-29, 35-36).

Today I received this picture via email. The people represented in the picture are (left to right) German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Tony Blair, England; Kofi A. Annan, UN; George Bush; Osama bin Laden; Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; and Jiang Zemin, former president of China. And that's Jesus on his knees with the basin.

This picture was orignally used to promote a conference on the character of God. The poster drew deep emotional responses.

So I was wondering... how does it make you feel? What does it make you think? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

How would your response change if Jesus wasn't in the picture... what if it was George Bush washing the feet?

Post your responses.

Believe!

For those of you who don't know... Believe is the name of our church's effort to raise the funds needed and to build a facility for our church. (crossWindschurch.com) We recently began construction.

Believe - is about trusting for two things. First that we as people who are in the church can and will give to be able to build. Secondly, that God will step into the process to guide us and provide for us.

So two stories... after about 20 inches of rain this past month and a half we were nervous about soils. In fact, if it weren't for the Minnesota winter (which happens almost every Nov - March) we probably would have delayed the bulldozers. Our excavator warned us that the soils were so wet that we might have to bring in up to a S100K of fill! That would be less than good for us.

However, after digging in we hit a vein of gold! Okay, not jewlery gold... sandy soil. Which is gold for compaction and building purposes. We just had soil compaction tests done yesterday and we have perfect results! The soil inspector was more than surprised. He's not seeing these kind of results in this area. GO GOD!

Second story: last night I received a phone call... out of the blue... it was from someone who knew of our building effort. He was calling to tell me that a $15K donation for the building is on its way!

All this to say: I'm believing!

Why didn't I write that?

Ever read something so well said that you wish you would have written it? That happens to me frequently. The following was written by Steven Furtick...

Don’t put Jesus first
The worst thing you can do as a Christian is to try and put Jesus first in your life. I know it sounds good, and Lord knows, I’ve said it plenty:

Put Jesus first, your family second, your job third…
But it’s a flawed paradigm. Jesus doesn’t want to be first on your list. He doesn’t need your shout out. He’s not content to be first in your life. He insists on being the center of your life.

Putting Jesus first in my life means I kind of segregate Him from my other priorities. Making Him the center of my life means I integrate Him into every priority.

It’s not Jesus, then my family, then my job… It’s Jesus: in my family, in my job…
It’s not Jesus, then anything… It’s Jesus in everything!

Nail head meet hammer. Like I said, wish I had written it.

Followers of Jesus do more than put Jesus first. She or he rearranges their life around Jesus. They strive to live out their whole life as Jesus might live their life. Spend like Jesus. Save like Jesus. Give like Jesus. Laugh like Jesus. Date like Jesus. Eat like Jesus. Sex like Jesus. Worship like Jesus. Drive like Jesus. Parent like Jesus. Love like Jesus. Serve like Jesus.

Not how I would live "if I was Jesus". But how Jesus would live "if he were me". Huge difference. Jesus was never married. I am.

How to Avoid Pain

In church we are wrestiling through questions that people have submitted. The series is called Real Questions. Next week we tackle "why is life so painful?" Here is C.S. Lewis' comment on heart break.

Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to be sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one - not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safely in the casket or the coffin of your selfishness. But, in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, unredeemable. The only place outside heaven where you can be safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is hell. -C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

I think what Lewis was saying is the price tag is too high to avoid heart break. I wonder if that is part of God's answer to pain (His and ours)as well.

Innovation

Okay... this will be a different kind of blog. A friend of mine from church linked me up with another blog-pastor-guy named Ben Armon. Ben's blog on the church and innovation is copied below. Read it,then I'll blog on...

Why innovation is a joke in the church
My iPhone has opened pandora's box for me in the world of podcasting. It turns every car ride into a church service; every trip to the DMV into a conference session...

One thing I can't get over is how flippantly the Church throws around the world "innovation." Big difference between the innovation I'm hearing about in podcasts from the New Yorker conference and the TED talks... and what the church is calling innovation.

Innovation in the church has almost become formulaic.... "We have the greatest story in the world!" we cry, and then "innovatively" insert pop songs and cultural references into our services, proving that... well... look who's borrowing from who.

These days, innovation isn't recognized or rewarded in the Church until it's no longer innovation... it's commonplace. But true innovation will always leave the masses of men scratching their Selsun Blue, wondering, "Whaaa?" or "Can we really do that?" or "What's the connection?"

True innovation is completely unrecognizable while it's innovating.

Okay. So I don't really disagree with anything Ben wrote. The only question I have is when did the goal become to wow people with true innovation or even psuedo-innovation?

The goal is relavance. We live in a culture where the masses accept "god" or the concept of god but that's where it ends. The truth is they find God and usually the church irrelevant to life. The goal of any change or adaptation is not innovation it should be effectiveness (meaning they can hear and will listen) and relevancy (meaning that people connect to the message).

As one who "planted" a church and who has been plugging along for ten years in that church... I'm not overly excited about being cool or innovative (maybe I'm old). I am pumped about being effective and relevant.

Now here's the rub: effectiveness requires innovation and adaptation. I trust that you understand I'm not talking about adapting theology, but how we communicate to the people of our culture.

TEN YEARS!

Wow. Ten years ago yesterday we opened the doors to crossWinds church. I find myself comparing the decade to running a marathon. I’m allowed to make the comparison only because I ran 1/4th of a marathon a few years ago. That makes me an athlete and therefore entitled to use athletic comparisons. I digress in justification.

Anyway… at the start of race you can’t wait. You’re excited to get started. You’ve trained (hopefully). You’ve got the right equipment (shoes and shorts). You have run the race in your mind (over and over). And suddenly you’re off. The mental images are becoming reality.

At first running feels great. The early miles go by fluidly. Any hills are faced bravely and with confidence. But somewhere during the marathon runners often struggle. Doubt creeps in. The legs feel like rubber. Every breath... every step requires focused energy to keep the pavement moving beneath your feet. And suddenly you’re not so sure about this run. This is what runners call the wall. If they hit a wall early in the run… they will probably hit more of them.

Marathons by definition are long distance. Churches are the same. What we began together ten years ago is a long term venture. We started with incredible energy and some naivety. I think both are required or else we might not run at all.

We’ve had our walls. But we continue to keep breathing. We propel our feet forward. And then we get a second wind, a third wind, and so forth. And if we are going to run to the finish line we will need to keep getting “winds”. Because sometimes running is sheer pleasure and sometimes it isn't.

Two related thoughts:

1. I’m grateful to be running with you who are a part of crossWinds. As I barely whispered through choked voice yesterday, it is a privilege.

2. We never run alone. We never ever run alone.

Whether you find yourself fighting the wall today or in an exhilarating down hill stretch of your race, keep running!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1 NLT

Vacation Vancouver – Days 3-4-5

Friday’s Adventures As promised, we spent Friday in downtown Vancouver. Took the bus downtown (buses, “sky-trains”, “sea-buses”, and “sea-cabs” are everywhere in Vancouver). So bused to China Town and we hiked throughout the city.

The highlight of China Town for me was seeing a truck deliver live sea food to a Chinese street store. The picture above is cod, at least that’s what I think they were. They were flopping all over the place and a few flopped right out of the container. In addition to this there were crab crawling all over. A little different than what we see in Rochester.

During the walk we saw many homeless and probably drug users. Drugs are a huge problem in Vancouver. The current strategy is to use treat addiction as a purely medical problem. This philosophy sees addiction as no different than cancer (that’s a quote of a Vancouver doctor). If they arrest and jail all the users, they go right back to using, which is expensive and ineffective. Likewise, forcing a person into treatment that they don’t want seems useless and again expensive.

So instead, they try to help the drug addicted to stay safe and hope that someday they will choose treatment. They provide clean needles, clean drugs, and hotels and safe houses. I don’t know how many of their addicts seek treatment, but I’ve got to think that the safe and clean strategy must make Vancouver an addict’s dream come true. Now I don’t have a better strategy and I’m sure I’ve greatly over simplified what is really going on. I don’t know if there is a good answer to this problem. It’s very sad.

Okay… back to the vacation. Lorri’s highlighthad to be Friday evening. She and Jeremy went on a bike ride with about a thousand bikers. The last Friday night of each month bicyclists from around the city meet downtown Vancouver and then ride throughout the city’s main arteries. It is a different pattern determined on the fly each time.

The event is called "Critical Mass". The goal: to congest traffic. The message: “see bicycles” and “make the city safer”. By the way, Vancouver is a very mild in respect to weather, so bikes are everywhere all the time.

So Lorri and Jeremy went on the ride and disrupted traffic. While waiting for the ride to begin other political protests were being organized. Lorri was invited to take her garbage, along with everyone else there and dump it on the
mayor’s front lawn (his house). This is because all city employees are on strike including the garbage services. So for about 6 weeks garbage has been piling up every where. The mayor made the mistake of saying that the strike was “not his highest priority”. These protestors were trying to help the mayor reprioritize. Lorri did not take part in the garbage protest and will not be arrested on this trip.

Kind of makes me grateful for Rochester’s faithful sanitation personnel and our wonderful bike trails through the area.

That night Jeremy went out with friends while Lorri and I found a hole in the wall Greek Pizza Shop and had a slice and wonderful Greek salad. The pizza was completely void of raw fish.

Saturday
In the morning Lorri went on a little bike ride to a wonderful and huge park about 2 miles from Jeremy’s apartment. Wonderful trails, so we went for a short walk in them with Jeremy. After, we drove Jeremy around doing some errands. He doesn’t have a car, so our rental was nice for him to get some things done.

Finally after a burger (beef!), Lorri and I left Vancouver and drove to Seattle. Besides the beauty, there is not much to report except an hour in line at the border. Get your passports!

We made it to Seattle and stopped at the “Public Market” on Pike Street. This is the place where they throw the fresh fish around. You may have heard of it. It was fun and we even bought a pound of smoked salmon; it’s one of Molly’s favorites. Sorry Molly, no t-shirt, just some smoked fish.

After walking around downtown Seattle for an hour, we drove around for about two! We wandered looking for the best views of the city. Later we stopped at the south end of Lake Washington near a Boeing factory (huge!). The lake was gorgeous… and there was a little burger shack and some docks to walk on. So we ordered fish and chips! (Yes, more fish.) And we took our food out on the dock to eat. It was very beautiful.

Finally we went to the airport only getting a little lost on the way. We were scheduled for the red-eye (12:55 AM flight). The flight was extremely over-booked and we hoped to get bumped (hotel and 300 bucks!). But apparently people make and change reservations all the time, so in the end no one was bumped and every seat was filled on the plane.

Sunday
We sat in our seats on the plane and both fell asleep until we were awakened by the pilot’s voice telling us that we were landing, 6 AM central. Lorri’s mom picked us up (she’s an early riser - God bless her) and we crawled into our bed at her home in Minnetonka at 8 AM.

Tomorrow Molly and I will be taking in the Twins’ game and then we will come home. Back to work and school on Tuesday. Thus ends the trip! Thanks for thinking about us, praying for us, and reading.

Vancouver - Day 2

Okay – travel report. We left downtown Vancouver and went up highway 1 to Squamish, BC. I know there is a joke in that name somewhere… but I’ll let it lie. The drive to Squamish is spectacular; mountains on one side and a beautiful bay on the other. Everything was so postcard that it was hard to know when not to take a picture. We had lunch in Squamish.

Then we continued to Whistler. If you don’t know where Whistler is, you will in 2010 when Vancouver hosts the Winter Olympics. Most of the downhill events will be there. There are no words that can capture the beauty of the area. The picture posted doesn’t do justice. That picture was taken from the peak of Whistler. Two dimensional images have great limitations. I think “grandeur” is found in the 3rd dimension.

Jeremy’s quote of the day was after Lorri said “this is all surreal”: “yah, even when you’re here you don’t feel like your really here”.

In late afternoon we headed back to Vancouver. It’s really not that far away, however they are doing a ton of road construction to get ready for THE GAMES… so some waiting involved. But the view was always beyond description so we didn’t mind.

Finally, back in Vancouver we ate a Seafood restaurant called Monks. We ordered one meal to share and an appetizer. We let Jeremy choose the food. For the appetizer we had “Calimari” - it’s squid that has been deep fried in batter: onion rings with chew. We also had tuna. singed on the outside and very rare in the middle. There is a melt in your mouth quality to it. It was one of those gourmet meals you rarely get to taste.

Today we will visit the China Town of Vancouver. It is 2nd in size only to San Francisco. Thanks for praying for us.

Vancouver Vacation Day 1

These entries will be more of an account of each day of the vacation that Lorri and I are on.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we left Molly with her grandparents in Minneapolis and got on a plane to Seattle. Did you know that you can't always pick your seats in advance? Even though we did when we bought our tickets? So we had seats 11 rows apart. When you check in at the outdoor kiosk you can change your seats for $11! We didn't. But then when we were at the terminal I asked the person at the desk, who, even with a full plane, got the job done. They did it for free. Eleven bucks! Y'all must be crazy!

As long as I'm talking about money and planes... this was over a 3 hour flight. We didn't even get a peanut! Sure you can buy "snacks" from the attendant. But the Metrodome has better prices. Okay - I'm done ranting.

From Seattle - sunny and 78 degrees - we drove up to Vancouver. Wonderful drive. We stopped at Sam's for shirts (packing error on my part) Once in Vancouver we went met Jeremy (my 21 year old son) at his effeciency apartment. He looks very thin - but healthy. His hair has returned to his natural God-given color and to a very nice hair cut - no mohawk or wierdness to it. Not that any of that matters - but still it was cool to be reminded of what his natural hair color is.

We drove around University of B.C. Got the tour from Jeremy. We walked through an incredible forest down to a beach. The beach didn't look very nice for swimming, but the 500 stair climb through the woods was wonderful and tiring.

We had supper at a sushi restaurant. I didn't complain once. It was an experience. However, tonight I hope to have my food actually cooked.

After supper we wandered the street of downtown Vancouver. Which was swarming with a wide variety of people. It was an adventure.

Today we hike in the mountains.

Golf

This morning, as I do on many Mondays, I went golfing. This time it was nine holes in Zumbrota. I found myself contemplating what I enjoy about the game.

There is the game itself. No need to compete with others. I compete with my previous scores and with what I consider my true golfing ability. Which, I’m sure, is an inflated estimation of talent, so my competition is pretty stiff.

I enjoy knowing how far I am capable of hitting each club, making adjustments for wind, lie, and an elevated target or one a hundred and fifty feet below me. I enjoy a the rare 250 drive down the middle and the even rarer successful second shot. I relish in landing and holding the green from one-fifty out.

In the end the score doesn’t really matter to me, which is why I can still enjoy golf. But there is more than the game. There is the experience within the game.

On the golf course there is no loud music, no car horns, no yelling (except for the occassional “fore”), there is no running and no hurry. Rushing is counterproductive. There is a lack of distraction. Instead, there is focus. The ball... the swing... the outcome.

There is reward in a great shot. I can’t count on that reward. But every so often, without warning, a shot will go exactly as I saw it in my mind. Sweet.

I don’t pray much on the golf course. At least I don't pray for my game. I don’t really want God messing with my shots. But when I golf, especially when I golf alone, I am never alone.

“Be still, and know that I am God! Psalm 46:10

All Wet

This morning I saw a news report; hurricane Dean is hitting Mexico. They said some areas could receive 10 inches of rain from the hurricane.

Saturday, after a day of rain (about 3 inches at my house), my daughter put an eight inch glass on our patio. The next morning her cup over-floweth. My guess: we were the recipients of 10 to 12 inches of water.

It’s tempting to say we had our own little hurricane.

However, I’ve been in two hurricanes (typhoons) and there is no comparison. Hurricanes have wind. The rain moves horizontally instead of falling vertically. Huge difference.

That said, our 12 inch rainstorm has caused major road damage and widespread damage to buildings. In fact 4-6 people are missing or dead from the rain in SE Minnesota.

Everyone’s homes were tested. We all found out if our houses were ready for that kind of rain. Needless to say, our basement was wet. Not “swimming pool" wet or “knee deep" wet… just “soak the carpet”, “stink up the house” and “wreck our card board boxes” wet.

Tonight we are supposed to get another 2 inches. My basement isn’t even dry from Saturday’s storm yet.

I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.
Luke 6:47-49 (New Living Translation)

Defensive

So last night two people talked to me about something that made me defensive. It wasn’t that they attacked me. They didn’t. It wasn’t that I don’t love both of these people. I do. I wish I could blame them. I can’t.

So later I took them aside and asked their forgiveness. Because they knew I was defensive. Worse yet, this morning after thinking, praying and reading… I know they had a point. They were in a sense right. Now I had a point too… but that isn’t the point (that’s enough points).

I hate when I feel the heat prickles on my neck. I hate when I get defensive. I hate when I’m not soft and gentle. It reminds me how far I’ve got to go. Sometimes it sucks to be me.

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22 NLT

After Sunday Thoughts...

Yesterday we talked about Adam and Eve and the evil “serpent”. One of the ‘aha’ moments for me was discovering the serpent didn’t merely wave a good looking piece of fruit in front of Adam and Eve’s noses. Instead he first attacked their view of God.

He manipulated them into focusing on the single restriction of God rather than the all the freedoms. He directed their thoughts to the one tree they were supposed to avoid instead of the forest of trees they could eat from, climb, or even hug if they were so inclined.

He persuaded them to believe God was depriving instead of protecting. (Read Genesis 3 to see how he did it)

By the time the ‘serpent’ was finished talking Adam and Eve’s view of God had gone from a wonderful loving creator and provider to being a restricting and depriving power monger who was holding them back from their true potential. It was at that point they were ready for their bites.

I find I am a child of Adam and Eve and that the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.

When I doubt God’s existence, life loses meaning. If I think God is depriving me I live with a sense of bitter entitlement. If I think God’s restrictions are for his benefit or worse his entertainment, God becomes “a mean kid with a magnifying glass” (Bruce Almighty).

If my view of God becomes warped by deception, I forget God’s ever faithful love and his provisions. And life really “bites”.

God invites me (and you) to know Him and experience his love. He desires to help us become the men and women we were created to be. Life can be dark and bitter or it can be a great adventure. Ultimately it depends on who we believe God is.

The Bridge

9 days ago - it went down. I35. Death and destruction. The funny thing is it didn't really surprise me. Maybe I've done too many tsunamis, hurricanes, acts of terrorism and war.

What does surprise me is how rarely bridges collapse. Think about it. We have a gazillion bridges out there crossing mammoth rivers, canyons, swamps, and roads. We cross them daily feeling absolutely secure. My hat is off to all you engineer type folk who make us take the incredible for granted.

This bridge collapse was a shocker because it was so close to home. I have crossed it hundreds of times. My Mpls family members are used to crossing that bridge. It could have been me, a friend or one of my family. Maybe it was one of yours.

It reminds me our engineers can't do forever stuff. There are no forever bridges or forever buildings. The grandest of our accomplishments are ultimately temporary. It reminds me forever belongs to God. As I go from point a to point b in this life I need to place my trust in Him.


Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever.

The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations.

Psalm 146:3-6 & 10 NLT

fine line - huge difference

So I was thinking about this blogging deal - benefits, costs, fears, good and bad blog etiquette, the humiliation of poor grammar being posted within one's blog...

Anyway, under benefits I mentally noted blogging might lead to a heightened sense of self-awareness. To write anything beyond mere data requires writing from the heart. To do that one must know the heart. So maybe this whole blog thing will help me look into my own life at a deeper level and the byproduct: self-awareness.

Of course there is a fine line between being self-aware and self-absorbed. We've all encountered people who have low self-awareness who are very self-absorbed. The more they think about themselves the less aware they become. These are not fun people to be around. But a person who is self-aware lives a deeper, richer and more purpose filled life.

Maybe there's a fine line, but there is a huge difference. I see I'm writing as if self-awareness and self-absorption were constants. They aren't. There are times when my wife would tell you I am very self-absorbed and not self-aware in family settings. Other times, when I'm on top of my game I am self-aware and more able to focus on the feelings and needs of others.

Related Tangent?

Merv (worship pastor at crossWinds) and I were talking about people who torture themselves with their own thoughts. Hmmm...

Related Scripture?

22 “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:22-23 (New Living Translation)


Related Apology

I'm really not looking to be preachy in the blog. I have enough of that in my life...

out of the gate

Okay, so this is dangerous. Any time anyone puts their thoughts on paper for anyone anywhere to read... it's dangerous. Add to that the fact that this is going to be more or less "off the top". Which does not mean without thought (hopefully), but does mean without much premeditation. The "off the top" factor makes this even more risky.

What do I hope to write about? Current events - thoughts from my interactions with the Bible - internal struggles - observations. In other words, whatever I feel like on any given day.

Having never done this before I have no idea where it will end up. This sentence seems to sum up much of my life. But to date God has taken me some pretty cool places even when I had no real idea where it would end up.

As to how often I will "blog" - we'll see. I make no promises but I will shoot for a couple of times a week. So let's see how it goes...