What does Change Look Like?

Over the last several days God has been doing quite a work on my heart. It has been some hard work and much of it I don't really understand yet. I've been given a new name to ponder and a ministry focus to consider that is outside of what I would choose. So on my journey home I'll be testing these leadings. Testing to see what God might confirm and what might God might mold more clearly. I would appreciate your prayers in the midst of this, as I know that it won't be something that I can or want to do alone.
The door that God is opening seems to have everything to do with being faithful to the way of Christ and not being content to doing church as it has always been done. In this I know two things: 1) God will be faithful in the midst of it all and 2) it will be quite the ride.

When You Don't Expect It

While I won't go into a great deal of details right now I'm struck with the reality that God has this tendency to show up when I don't expect it or even necessarily want it.
I came out to this conference to learn a little, relax a little, and to catch up with some friends to renew my spirit. While these things have been happening I didn't expect God to show up and touch my heart in the ways and places that have been touched. It goes beyond the renewal of the spirit this time but through some very significant conversations it goes to the very context of who I am in God's eyes. I haven't got it all sorted out but there are some fundamental shifts happening in the last few days that are making me look at life and faith and how I function in the midst of that in a completely different way.
I hope some of you will be willing to step into this with me and see where God might lead us all together.

San Diego

I'm in San Diego now getting ready to head out to the National Pastor's Conference. Yesterday was a great trip down through the desert and across the mountains to the coast. It was a very beautiful and relaxing drive. I haven't downloaded my pictures from yesterday but will try to later and post some in another day or two. So until then here is another picture from Zion National Park.

A Sabbath Day

Because of weather I wasn't able to get as far as the Grand Canyon so instead I spent the day in Zion National Park. It was a great way to spend the day. While the weather was a bit overcast and some rain, it was still a trip worth taking.

There were many wonderful waterfalls along the canyon and the rain and melting snow added to their beauty.

Family Time

I left Boise this morning after seeing my niece play basketball. She is playing on an 8th grade team and it was a fun game to watch. Her team won with 16 seconds left as they broke a tie and the other team wasn't able to get a shot off. Unfortunately my niece fouled out with a couple of minutes left. She plays forward/center and is fairly aggressive just like my brother. I have a feeling that she will learn how to control her aggression a bit as she learns more about the game. Though being 5'7" a still growing I think any coach will take the aggression.
The time with family was nice. It was good to catch up with everyone a bit and just see what everyone was up to. I'm in Cedar City, UT tonight and planning on going down the the North Rim of the Grand Canyon tomorrow. I'd planned on going to Yosemite but the weather was not going to cooperate so decided that I'd check out the Grand Canyon instead.
I'll see about posting pictures tomorrow.

Travel Stop

I'm now in Boise for a couple of days of family connecting and that is nice. The trip out here went well even thought there was a lot more iffy weather than I had anticipated. I don't think I've ever seen that much snow in Wyoming and the blowing snow made the roads a bit slippery in places. But I still got into Boise around 4:30 yesterday afternoon and enjoyed catching up with my parents.

Ok this isn't where I stayed in Rawlins but it was nice to know that I could have if I had to.

Another Trip West

I left yesterday after worship for a trip out west to visit with family and friends as well as spend time at the National Pastor's Conference in San Diego. (I know it's a rough gig, but someone has to do it.)
Everything was going well yesterday as I made it through Chicago without even slowing down. It really is nice to have the I-80 work done on the south side of Chicago, at least on a Sunday afternoon it made it nice. I was making good enough time that I canceled my reservation at a motel just at the edge of the Iowa on the Mississippi river. I didn't think much of it when the desk clerk said, "Well if you change your mind we have plenty of rooms and they shouldn't fill up to fast as the roads between here and Iowa City are ice covered."
Well up to that time the roads were clear and just light blowing snow. Well four hours and a half hours later I made it the 180 or so miles to Des Moines. The roads were not bad most of the way, snow packed in some places, but cars in the diches all over. Most of them had been there for awhile, at least they were tagged with ribbons indicating that some emergency personel had checked them out. But there are some tow truck companies that are going to work long hours over the next couple of days and make a lot of money pulling everyone out.
I didn't stop to take any pictures yesterday, but I'll see if I can't get some up and posted tonight.
From here it is on to Wyoming.

Valentine's Day

Feb. 14 is Valentine's Day for those who just might have been living in an electronic vacuum the past 6 weeks. It is a day that I have a lot of mixed feelings about. Please understand that I am not completely unromantic as some people might think. However it is all the expectation that faces me whenever I walk into a store over the last couple of weeks. It has just gotten unbearable with all the red and pink offerings looking me in the face.
But isn't love pricesless? At least that is what the credit card company tells us after it encourages us to max out our credit limits in the process of expressing that love.
So today yes my wife will get a nice card and maybe dinner out (though it won't be really fancy, maybe something more than Taco Bell). But I'll find other ways to express my love than spending a lot of money this year (and probably next year and the year after that).

Just a hint for those guys out there that need one. I've been sending my wife a short e-mail everyday for over two years to an account that only she and I use. With the availability of free e-mail sites it is fairly easy to dedicate accounts that are just for the two of you. So each day, usually the first thing I do on the computer is write a brief note that says "I love you" in a different way each day. It really does help to say it early and often. Probably even more than rembering flowers on Valentine's Day one time a year.
(of course your milage may vary depending upon the year and model that you have)

Communicating

Thanks to a link that Shannon sent to me and the work I have been doing with our MyChurch page I've been doing some thinking about the ways that we communicate with one another now and how that is going to change in the coming days. I know that I'm not unique in pondering these things. In fact I'm sure that there are mnay minds that are considering the impact of technology and social networking on the future of religious communication.
I don't have any answers but as usual more questions than anything fully understood. I wonder how the connections of blogging and social networking on line will supplement the usual ways of doing church? I wonder if we can find ways of communicating more effectively through the use of technology so that it will raise peoples level of interconnectedness and depth of faith in ways that will impact the church in positive ways? Can web 2.0 interaction raise the level of faithful action without face to face interaction or are people just fooling themselves?
I don't have the answers but I'm sure that we will have to face some of these things sooner rather than later.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions? How about people or groups that are dealing with this in creative ways?

If We Have to Look at Snow

While it seems like there is just more snow on the ground than usual this winter in Indiana it would be nice if there was something for the snow to be on that was a bit more interesting.

This picture is from a trip to Alaska last summer.

Ash Wednesday

I grew up in a very non-liturgical church. Well ok, we had liturgy it just wasn't the traditional liturgy that many people associate with church. So when I came to SJ and it came time for the first Easter season I had never participated in the imposition of the ashes or really thought about the nature of the Lenten season as being a time for penitence and reflection. It just wasn't something that was a part of my experience.
Having participated and led this service for 9 years now I still haven't completely got my head and heart around it. Each year it seems there is something new that I learn or that surprises me about the moment. It took several years for me to come to grips with the reality of the ashes reminding me of my own mortality. I think it was two years ago when the whole repentence theme hit home. Now tonight I wonder what will it be? What new understanding will the Holy Spirit empress upon my spirit?
What about you? What does Ash Wednesday mean for you?

If you want to know a bit more about Ash Wednesday or Lent click through and check out these brief discriptions.

Snow Day

While it snowed here in Indiana last night most of this area decided that it should stay inside. The schools are closed and the office is almost empty (but I'm guessing that the mall will be filled and that there will be lines at the Hannah Montana movie).

I guess I would rather enjoy the snow and a little quiet to get some things done than to spend my day with hundreds of screaming pre-teen girls watching the latest craze. Sorry I just don't get the whole Hannah Montana and High School Musical thing. I guess it is just another sign that I'm getting old.