Ready For A New Season

I'm ready for the new season to begin. It's going to be a great fall, following one of the best summer's ever. In this past year I have been blessed to see God at work in His people and in His church. He has been faithful, His promises have been true. He has been present, he has never left me on my own. He has blessed and he has provided in ways that have changed me and my family forever. I am blessed to work on a team that does not punt, it is wonderful to be part of a team that seeks only to give God glory - nobody is looking for credit, they are looking for how we can glorify God - I praise God for that. I have also been blessed with deeply intimate and profound friendships - I praise and thank God for that. It's been a great year.

In this past year we have lived in seven different places, they were all nice but they weren't ours. Today I write this post in the kitchen of a beautiful apartment that God has blessed us with. It's ours, it's very nice, it feels like home - Thank you Lord.

This past year we, like many others walked through the gunk of selling a home in Michigan. After being on the market over a year, we were blessed to close on our home just a few days ago. I thank God for His provision in selling our home and in providing a great real estate agent to help us through that part of our journey.

This year I was also blessed to baptize my oldest little girl. As a dad and as a pastor, that's got to be about the coolest thing I could ever be part of - period. I thank God for that blessing. The little video is of Katie getting baptized.

Today I was blessed to be able to bring the message. My senior pastor is fantastic - It is a great privilege to fill the pulpit for him when he is gone. This past year has been a time of growth for God's church. Even today (Labor Day Sunday) our attendance pushed forward in growth and we added an extra row of chars to the back row for our second service. God is doing great things. I am blessed to witness how He is healing and restoring, how he is meeting the needs of His children in ways that can only be God.

Blessing on top of blessing - that's last year with the Lord. I am looking forward to all that God has for me and for His church in this new season. I want to live life remembering all He has done for me and looking forward to all that He has for me this fall season.

Think small, Imagine big

I feel myself leaning forward into the next season of my walk. Standing at the new beginnings of serving His call on my life in more vivid and pronounced ways. There is enough journey behind me to know there will be curves ahead of me, and still I lean into the next step. Putting weight and significance into my walk is bringing with it a distinct forward momentum - I want to get where He is calling me to. Some of the journey He is calling me too seems way to big for me to ever tackle. Some I am excited to get to, and some I'm excited to get out of. I sense God is going to move in strong ways this summer and I want to part of that moving.

Willow Creek has a Christmas program they have called "Imagine" and the promo line for the program keeps coming back to mind as I consider all that lay ahead. The promo line is "Think small, imagine Big". It has made me think of these verses in a different way.

Proverbs 3:5-7

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. ⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil

Ephesians 3:17-21
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Think small, Imagine big.

I am excited about this season, I am going to give myself to listen and obey - I want to lean forward into the walk - with the advantadge of Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine - I want to think small and imagine big.

Great Taste, More Filling

I am having a blast, and I am being filled again and again as I partner with a staff that is doing all we can to give God glory. Every week as part of our Podcast production we record a conversation to tag on to the end of the Podcast. This has become a great time during the week. The last two conversations have been unguarded and Spirit led. These weekly conversations have become a blessing to be part of. I am also blessed to have moved my family this week into a place we can unpack our boxes after seven months of storage - the girls have been discovering forgotten toys and screaming like boiled kittens with unspeakable joy. I, however, have discovered that many of my forgotten toys have been mysteriously donated to Good Will- I gently weep.

Answers

Today we are publishing a new video that I am very excited about. This video was shot and edited by Dan Goodell our youth director. Dan is a good friend and an extremely talented part of our team. I am blessed to be able to serve in such an anointed and creative environment.

I'm In a Cartoon!

I have a wonderful friend, who happens to be a great artist, who drew me in a cartoon that was published in a magazine. Seriously - I had no idea how good it would be to be used, even slightly, as an image for a cartoon, but today I know this sweet rich chocolaty joy. And oh sweet potato-cakes do I look fine as a cartoon! As I drink in this tremendous moment, I also feel the burning unrestrained, unfettered, unsaturated jealousy of the rest of the , "un-drawn" as I now call them, pastoral staff. Oh yes, for the "un-drawn" it is indeed a dark, lonely, un-shadowed existence. Any reference to - standing in line, reading between the lines, drawing a conclusion, or simply asking them again and again "did you see my cartoon?", brings low mournful groans from deep inside their "un-drawn" bodies. Anyway, being a cartoon will definitely be included in my list of skills. I think this Sunday I'll sing the Chris Rice "Cartoon Song" to open service. That's all folks.