National Day of Prayer

There will NOT be a public prayer event with James Dobson front and center at the White House tomorrow. Some christians are outraged. It doesn't really bother me.

I think prayer is good and here are the options I'm considering for tomorrow...

1. There will be a prayer breakfast in front of the Litchfield Park library, 6:45AM - 8:00AM

2. Prayer walk at the AZ state capitol building. Meet at the flag pole at 7AM.

3. Kid friendly prayer event at Phoenix City Hall at noon.

There are many rallys in the evening but I will be working. What do you do for NDP?

All info was found on the NDP taskforce website.

Pesky comma

A few months ago we had a new expectant couple visit our church. On their connection card they said; "Please pray for our Baby, Orlando". I sent them a note that said we would be praying for Baby Orlando. Evidently, the baby is yet to be named and Orlando is the Dad-to-be's co-worker. Oops! The unknown prayer was that said co-worker, Orlando, IS a real cry baby, so when the ironic miscommunication showed up... said couple had a great laugh.

So what does God do with misdirected prayer and misused commas?

Rivers of Grace

I am not a super creative person. Witty? Yes. Intelligent? I think so. Good at Communicating? Better than most. But not super creative. I am surrounded by and always intrigued by those who create music, capture ideas with photography, and those who design stuff. If you were to talk about spiritual gift envy, well mine would be the creative arts. Recently a new song has been meaningful to me. I thought it was a hot new song only to find out it's on a cd I've owned and listened to for seven years. It's called "Tide Wash over Me"

Chorus 1
I lift my hands up high
I send my praise to the Son
And my voice will sing it loud
(Wash over me)
Verse 1
As I cry out in the night
All my anger all my pride
Seems to wash away
In the strength of Your beating tide
Verse 2
Who could ever show
Mercy to me
Who can quiet an angry sea
It is Christ the King
Holy One who's saving me
Verse 3
I'm in trouble Lord once again
Slowly sinking in all this sin
All I need is Your strength
Flowing through me once again
Misc 1(BRIDGE)
Life with it's heartache
And all the frustration it brings
Get drowned in the light of my singing
And praising Your holy name
Cause all that I want
Is to see Your face
Praise Your name forevermore

My question is...Does this happen to creative people? Do you ever "miss", I mean totally not notice a song for like seven years, and then one day it hits you like a ton of bricks? Just wondering.

For those praying types...

Pray for Cold Water Church?
( I'm not sure that's the name) -
Pray that it will be a place where God
makes Rivers of Grace in the desert

Pray for my current home church - Provision and Plenty
With out sounding like a word faith guy, these words keep being spoken in a prophetic sense.

Pray for Pastor Raj, My friend Patrick, and JDF (JDF, If you're reading this, I'm very excited for you)

Prayer Update...

The 7th grader came home. She is safe. Thank God.

Yo is still in the hospital. Even when he comes home it looks like a long recovery.

It looks like the wife and I will for sure be able to make a trip to AZ, visit family and friends and hang out with those four couples. This will be a much needed rest.

I had a fantastic evening last night. I had the joy, honor and privledge of officiating the marriage of two of my former students. It was like a reunion of sorts since all the bridal party and many of the guests were somehow connecting to my first attempts at youth ministry when I was barely old enough to not be in youth myself. It was cool for the wife and I. Pray a blessing for the couple.

Please Pray For...

Four families in Phoenix that are experimenting with what it looks like to do church "house to house". I'm amazingly jealous.

My friend named Yo had a mild heart attack last Thursday night, He's still in the hospital. I'm hopeful he'll be discharged soon.

One of the 7th graders from our youth ministry is missing. She went to school today and never came home on the bus. Her parents are terribly worried. So am I.

IHOP... with out the syrup

I got a call yesterday from a friend, who wanted me to listen, through the cell phone for just a few moments, to the spoken songs and prayers happening at IHOP Kansas City. It was amazing. And Pretty Cool! Thanks B!

Tragedy...

Check this out... And do something to help.

I just spoke on being "more than conquers" last night during our youth ministry. I can't imagine what this church, group of students, and larger community are going through.

Olivia... update

Several months ago I posted a prayer request. This weekend Olivia is supposed to go home from the hospital with her mom and dad. I am so glad! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

God of Wonders...

There is an interesting piece in TIME magazine titled Einstein & Faith. I don't think Al would appreciate me quoting him to support my belief in a loving good God who has a wonderful plan for my life. And I doubt he would agree with me when I invite others to "surrender their life to Jesus" or even when I suggest they "be more open to acknowledging Him and His Kingdom". I struggle with his fatalistic views and then I wonder what he would have thought if he was around today?

I think me and Einstein find common ground in what I would call the "Mystery of God" and I was inspired by this man's thoughts this morning;

"Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious."

Me too Al, well said. As a student of theology, and a seeker of truth (as well as Truth), I find this even more applicable in trying to penetrate the secrets of not just nature, but the nature of God. This "veneration" drives my faith, my ministry, and my morality, but also challenges me to hold these things, especially the cultural applications of them, a little more loosely. Does that make me a scientist? Maybe only in the sense that I desire truth. Today I pray a prayer for all scientists.

May God Bless us, and allow us to discover truth... and (forgive me Al) may we be more open to Him and His Kingdom. Amen.

"I hope this retreat changes my life"...

...written by one of my students on the required retreat application. I will be spending three days this week with fifty young people from our church at Lawler lodge. There is a deer, whose head also lives there, so I will be spending time with it as well.

Pray with me that her prayer (the student, not the deer) will be answered... for all of us.

Is it okay to Blog prayer request?

Are there ethical boundaries or guidelines I've violated today (see next two posts)? Is there bloghead jargon for such a thing? A blogtition? rss God feed? Standing in the Virtual gap?


Any Thoughts?

Olivia

Somewhere in a hospital in Georgia there is a little girl who was born just yesterday, prematurely, only 25 weeks into pregnancy. Today she is fighting for life. I love her mom, despite some past hurts. I've never met her dad. Would you pray with me? May God bring good from all things.

She is Beautiful...

No posts lately... It's not because the process has gotten old already and its not because I'm lacking in ideas or material. I have been way too busy! This week was insane! Worse than last week. The weekend included a wonderful couples retreat, which was very nice when my wife and I weren't wrestling with leading others in worship or trying to make a computer do what it for whatever reason did not want to. I know... I know... I need a mac. Sunday was a good day at church followed by a late night drive to Los Osos. Monday included a relaxing lunch with the inlaws and coming back to the IE. We arrived in the heart of the San Fernando Valley at 4:44 when traffic stopped. We finally arrived home around 8:30 after having Bj's Pizza in Ontario. Tuesday was Staff Meeting, Bible Study, and Free Baby Sitting ( an event we offer and lead with students). Wednesday was whack. Thursday got better and Friday was ok. Dodgeball for Missions was GREAT!

All this to say, it's been one of those weeks when more than once I've thought, "I should really just go get a "real" job." Here it is Saturday and I was testing some missions videos for Sunday. I was watching the 12 min documentary of a house being transformed into a church building, and then 3.5 min on a missionary plane that transports workers around South America. I started crying, more than once, and then again. When she's working like she'd supposed to, the church really is a beautiful thing. I saw all these cars in front of that house... and thought of all the families being ministered to inside. I viewed the faces of these Brazilian kids, playing soccer, getting medical treatment, and hearing about Jesus. I knew that the plane that I put fuel in, made that possible. I thought of the different lives I spoke to this week, worked with, and threw dodgeballs at. I love my job. I love the church. I love Jesus!

God, may you grant me balance in all this craziness. Thank you for your body, the church. Thank you for the redemtive work you are doing in her and through her. And may we have the joy of seeing Your Kingdom come.

Shalom.

Nailing YS to the cross.

Today I was at the local public middle school, doing bible study with about ten students. As I walked out, I saw one of the teachers, an alumni from my high school band, wearing a jacket from our cross town rival. "Why is she wearing green and orange?" I thought. And then I remembered, tonight is our regularly scheduled all together BIG youth ministry night at the church I serve. Earlier, I had decided to combine our group with the rest of the church for some "special meetings" we've been having all week. This is kind of an old school thing, and I had been second guessing my choice wondering if our students would be better off enjoying the regular more youth friendly "programming" we normally offer. My thought was... sending youth to listen to an old white haired guy in a suit is kinda like wearing a Poly High jacket when you graduated from Ramona.

Then I came back to the office to read my favorite wednesday afternoon updates. Marko, from YS, has posted a wonderful apology for ys' unintentional role in the overprogramming of youth ministry. While I totally respect Marko, and the entire organization, the whole idea that someone else brought this up angered me a bit. Do I have to throw away all my pre 1990 ys resources? (So you know, I am working on a not yet finished future post on what to do with your Ted Haggard books). Surely there is still plenty to glean from these dated resources. Asking one organization to take responsibility for the so called mistakes of youth ministry is alot like blaming the crucifixion of Jesus squarely on the shoulders of the Jews. Even for Marko to acknowledge ys' part in where youth ministry is today, and then apologize, seemed in a way, to take away from the good that was done. Perhaps God was working in that season, just like he is now. I throughly enjoyed the entry, and don't want my little soap boxing here to come across as a knock on Marko or YS . But maybe it would be good for each of us to own up to our own part of what has happened, instead of blaming others.

The whole thing reminded me how unsignificant programimg is. God used this to bring peace to my heart as I throw out our regualarly scheduled "programming" and ask students to experience worship in our "special meetings" tonight.

God forgive me for being a part of the mess both youth ministry and the church find themselves in. May I be an effective part of the solution. Thank you for the voices you have allowed to speak to me during the journey. May you use tonight as an unique oppurtunity to speak into the lives of our students. Amen.

May you find yourself joining your own prayers to the own I've made above. And may the Rams always rule over the Bears!

Pilgrimage

Today I hugged my brother and wished him well as he heads out for a winter road trip up the coast and through the Northwest. First stop... FRESNO! So maybe the first leg isn't technically up the coast, but you gotta go where your friends are.

What is it about the journey that can be so healing... freeing... and theraputic? I sit in my suburban office, several yards away from my suburban house, thinking about my three kids, the mini-van, and the 24 season one disc two I viewed last night, and can't help but think... THERE HAS GOT TO BE MORE TO LIFE THEN THIS!

Don't get me wrong. God has blessed me and my family in unimaginable ways. I am constantly amazed that God has chosen us to be part of His extra ordinary, super natural, redemptive work of letting His Kingdom come. I love my wife. I love my kids. I love the students and church that God has called me to serve. But sometimes I wonder. Where is the adventure? Where are the new faces? New Places? Different voices?

To the one on the road, and also to the one "planted" by the river, may we both see God in fresh new ways. May we find rest in the beauty of creation and the mystery of the creator. May we find strength and grace as we search for our place in His Kingdom, and love one another and others along the way. Shalom