Christmas & Church

So, we aren't doing church this Christmas. It falls on a Sunday and we feel it is important that families and friends spend time celebrating together without having to add one more activity to an already crazy day. It seems like Jesus gets forgotten in the business. Some have taken great joy in telling me that we have this in common with some of the mega-churches. Yeah.

One thing I have noticed is how some of us who follow Jesus may be in danger of worshiping church. I have no problem with people wanting to do church on Christmas Sunday. I am concerned about the motivation of some. When people talk like this is their one great opportunity to let Jesus shine, I get concerned. When someone says, "even if just me and my wife show up,... we are doing church". Why? What are you proving, and to whom are you proving it? Yourself?

One pastor said he had to set an example of good Christianity to his kids and family. What about the rest of the year. Shouldn't this be an everyday thing. Maybe the example to set is that your family is important. Let them know that you see how much they sacrifice all year to "the church" and this day is theirs. Your kids get you to themselves. Hmmm, maybe a recipe for less bitter PK's.....

Anyway, whether you do church this Christmas or not, have an awesome celebration of Jesus.

Peace,

K

The Question

Is what we are doing here on this earth to make disciples worthy of Christ's death? Those of us who profess to believe that Jesus' death was significant, need to ask our selves this question; Is your dedication to Christ worthy of His death.

I hate to say it, but I think many of us relegate our "ministry" to our 'spare" time, of which we have little. Therefore we do very little that furthers the Kingdom of God. God loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us. Do we love Him enough to sacrifice more than our spare time for? Do we love Him enough to sacrifice our leisure time, status, ambition for? If not the world is right, our faith is irrelevant.

Dying for your faith is easy, living for it is the hard part.

Peace,

K

Starbucks & Ricky

So, Rick Warren submitted a quote to Starbucks to be printed on their coffee cups, and they accepted. For those of you who live in a cave, Starbucks prints quotes on its cups to entertain and create discussion among its patrons.

"You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny."

-Rick Warren

Now, I am not a big Rick Warren fan, nor a fan of any "bandwagon" Christianity. However, I have heard several comments about Rick's possible motives for submitting a quote, mostly suggesting that he is trying to sell more books. In my opinion, this is an over the top cynicism that is ridiculous. The quote has nothing to do with his books or the purpose driven movement. It is a statement about God and His desire for a relationship with people. Instead of celebrating Ricky's creativity and Starbucks courage, we seem to want to find reasons to discount his effort. How stupid can we be? Well, apparently quite stupid....

Maybe,.... Rick has a desire to share Jesus with the world...

Pray for those who read his quote, that they will think about their lives and God's purpose for them,.... oops, I said "purpose"....

Peace,

K

More Marketing

Here is another article on church marketing. It is amazing to read how much money some churches are willing to spend on this stuff. I have a hard time with the "every pastor is a salesman" philosophy. As John pointed out, we have learned that these methods do not make disciples. So, why do we hang on to them like a bull terrier.

Peace,

K

I came across this essay that was posted on resonate this week. It is a sobering look at the marketing of the church. The question is, will the church wake up and smell the coffee?

Peace,

K

Church Consumerism

The Saddleback question continues to dominate resonate these days. Here is the latest.
Dave shares his thoughts on the subject. What do you think?

Peace,

K

Interesting,....

This was posted on resonate. Interesting.

Peace,

K

Talk, talk, talk

One evening several years ago, I sat in a meeting with a bunch of very well intentioned church leaders. The topic of heating and cooling systems came up, because of the churches problematic system. The heating/cooling system was discussed at great length among these men. We talked about the weight of the system(a roof top unit), what we thought the capacity was, etc. For 45 minutes we poured ourselves into this discussion. At about the 45 minute mark, I asked who actually knew anything about heating and cooling systems. The room went dead, people just looked around at each other, not sure how to answer, because the bottom line was, nobody knew anything about heating/cooling systems.

I have been fairly quiet on the internet lately, both here and in other places. I have been listening. I think we talk too much. I think that we often talk and haven't got a clue of what we are talking about. We need to look like we know what we are doing. God forbid, we lose credibility. With who? What if people realized we are just plodding along on this journey, trying to figure out life and faith, just like they are?

One of my major complaints about church is that we always talked too much. We had committees, and study groups and sub-committees, etc. Sometimes I wonder if the pomo church is any different. We just meet on line and talk ad nauseum about stuff. I guess I am just at a point where I want to talk less and do more.

It's just where I am at these days.....

Peace,

K

What it means to be poor

If you need a little perspective, Read this

Peace,

K

I am not happy

So, gas has hit $1.14.9, just like they said it would. I was reading in the paper this morning That the gas companies expected us to "calm down" and resign ourselves to paying MORE. They were sure that once they got over $1.00, we would accept it.

The paper also reported that crude went down .59 a barrel yesterday. Oil company thieves said this wasn't enough to be realized at the pumps. If that is the case, then why does it show up immediately when a barrel goes up .10?

As for the government, they need to deal with this 51% tax on gas.

Question; Why can the Flying J sell gas at .96, when every other station is ripping us off for 1.02-1.14?

Peace,

K

Gas prices

Last week we hit $1.06 and reports said that was the highest price anyone has paid for a litre of gas in history. Last night, gas was $1.08 in our area. What the heck is going on. I could be wrong, but I think someone is trying to see how far we will go.

That is good question. How far will we go? When the price of a barrel of oil goes up, it takes about 6 months for that to actually impact the gas price, but, the gas companies immediately raise the price. This effectively means that they are exploiting the information to gouge us for more money. We know this, but feel helpless.

How long before the public reacts?

Peace,

K

Wesley, wise old coot

I was reading some Wesley yesterday and was once again blown away by his simple wisdom. Wes, was big on holy living, faith, social justice, etc. Yesterday I was reading one of his sermons, this guy used to go for 2-3 hours, he was reminding us that the only way we can truly live faithful and holy lives is to realize that Love comes before and after all things. The only way I can "not" be selfish is if I am in love with God and His creation. We don't feed the poor because we "have" to, we do it because God first loved us, all of us.

This is basically what 1 Corinthians says, if I don't have love, I have nothing. So many of us strive to behave holy, as an act of the will. We try so hard. Wes reminds us to focus on loving God, and if we can do that, the rest will follow.

The two greatest commandments, if you can live by those, the rest is details.

Peace,

K

Prayer for a new building

So we have come through a week of monsoon type weather with an increasing urgency for a new building. last week we found leaks we never had before. We are running out of creative cieling irrigation ideas. We had about 12 buckets going last week, being emptied every 8 hours or so. We are talking BIG buckets.

We have a line on a new building, close by and excellent for our purposes. Ministries can expand. The only problem is $$$$. Sound familiar? We need about $1.5 million. The owners are willing to work with us on payment and occupancy.

So, what we need now is prayer. Please pray with us that God will provide the $$$$. This is not a stretch for God's ability, but it is a huge stretch of our faith.

Peace,

K

Last Weekend

Have you ever found yourself so busy doing "God's" work that you don't spend any time with Him. I was there last week. Just running around taking care of business and finding no time to Be Still. By the time the weekend was half over I was drained. The heat didn't help, but I just felt like God was off-line, which usually means I was.

So, Sunday nite we had communion at church. Largely, because I needed it. I needed to remember Jesus. I needed to remember why I do what I do, and have it all put in perspective. I am still finding myself exhausted from the whole deal.

I usually put off spending time with God because I "can't" afford to take the time. I often find that I can't afford not to take the time.

peace,

K

Obedience

Thought I would take a break from my Wesleyan studies and write something in "normal" english. Those guys in 1800s couldn't speak to save their lives.

Misha went to be with the Chinese yesterday. Misha is a part of our community and family. She sensed God prodding her to spend a year in China, teaching english and spreading the love that is within her because of Jesus. I am blessed to see her obedience. She is wide eyed and walking in expectancy that God is going to use her to help redeem his kingdom in another place, much as He used her here.

Blessings Misha, may God blow you away with His grace and mercy, so that you can share it with those you come to love in China.

Peace,

K

Korie

I was away for the last 4 days at General Conference for Free Methodist Churches in Canada. Several of us hung out at The King Edward Arms Pub, across the street from the Hotel. We met Korie, a waitress there. She is a very cool lady. We chatted and joked alot. Korie asked where we were from and was very surprised to hear we were all pastors. Monday we met her again and she said that she was beginning to rethink faith.

How crazy is that? Pray for Korie.

Peace,

K

Rebel Manifest

It is rare that we look at the Bible and the letters of the new testament as the rebel manifest that it is. We more often read it from the position of being the normalized religious document of the religion of the masses. That is not what it was back then. That is not the spin the writers were putting on it. Followers of Jesus were an underground ragtag group of people considered to be anything from nuts to heretical and seditious. So, when Paul says that Jesus is the Saviour of the world, he is not screaming it from a raised pulpit, with a bravado that rivals our overconfident TV evangelists. It was from a minority position of "encouraging the troops" and reminding people why they were putting there lives and livelihoods on the line.

These people did not worry about being called irrelevant or stupid, they had to consider their very lives. They served a God who told them to love their enemies, turn the other cheek and who saved them by sacrificing himself, not killing others. He bought peace with his life, not the lives of others. This is a radical, unselfish faith. The challenge is living this radical faith, in a consumerist world that has enculturated and co-opted the church. The challenge is to once again become the body that takes care of people in need. To once again care about social justice and the environment. The call is to radical faith. The faith that Jesus died for. It is a call to action, not just words.

peace,

K

Scandalous

Here is a Christianity Today interview with Ron Sider on His new book. He makes quite a clear statement about the shape of the church. I love his heart and his honesty. He raises several heavy concerns that we as a community need to address. How do we measure up?

Peace,

K

It has been a while

It has been a while since I have posted. I found that I was spending too much time on my computer and not enough time reading books and spending time "being still". This week my power adapter for my computer passed away. Don't fret, it was under warranty. But, it is going to take 2-3 weeks for delivery. I was going thru withdrawl in 10 minutes. Futureshop and Jared collaborated to put me back on the rails today. Futureshop "sold" me another laptop, which I can return when my stuff comes in. Jar put my stuff on it, so hear I am.

I am totally dependent on this piece of equipment. My whole life, office,contacts, etc are on this thing. I am lost without it. It is kind of funny really. The building could burn down, I would still be able to work from anywhere. My computer blows up,... life is over. Technology is an amazing thing, when it works. It is also like a dealer, it gets you hooked, and then you pay.....

Peace,

K

Words

As the "postmodern" or "emergent" church develops, there is this recurring conversation about what we call ourselves. Andrew Jones recently blogged about Emergent Vocabulary This is a needed conversation, but I hate the way we grasp on to words. This has frustrated me to no end. I sometimes feel that there are those of us who have a desperate need to label what we are in order to gain some kind of legitimacy. The fact is that many emergent churches don't follow a prescribed way of doing things. I have viewed words in this context as fences. They tend to be placed around a concept and then the concept has to be defined by the words used. Postmodern church,in many peoples minds, must involve candles, Lecto Devina, and ancient/future worship. That is not and never has been true. Fences are for management. They are a way to manage what is in and outside of them. I have never liked fences. I do not want to build a fence around what God is doing.

However, yesterday, I was having coffee with some like-minded souls and one of them suggested another way of looking at words. He suggested that we treat words like vines, rather than fences. If you are Tarzan, swinging from tree to tree, you use one vine to get from one tree to another further down the line. Then you switch vines to go further. The Vine/word we are on now, will, down the line lose its relevance and we will need to change. If we don't, we will end up swinging back. This whole picture appeals to me, however, the challenge will be helping people to understand that we are using words as vines, not as fences. The big problem here is, we like our fences.

Peace,

K

Church Planting Meetings

I just got back from Ottawa. I met with some other church planting wackos for 2 days. It was a great time. We have some fun and encourage each other with what God is doing. We met at Ecclesiax, an "Artist" church in Ottawa. The church has an art gallery that local artists display their stuff in. It is an awesome way to connect with the community.

Chris and Dave have a thing going on in Peterborough called The Third Space. Here is a pic of Chris ' back after a skateboarding mishap.



He is truly a crazy man.

God is doing some amazing stuff in these churches He is growing.

Peace,

K

Lose Your Life

Matt 10:38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

I have been stuck on this statement for the past week. Especially as I see how we view life. What does it mean to lose your life for Christ. Many people think this is about literally losing your life, and that would be true. However, in our context, I can't help but see it as an encouragement to put God above family, friends, ambition, money, possessions, tv, etc.

How are you changing your world for Jesus? How do you take the sacrifice of Christ and the "Good News" to the street each day? Are you interested in the things Jesus was interested in? Making disciples, taking care of the poor, etc.

Sometimes I think we talk too much. Talking only matters if your feet are moving in the direction your lips are.

Peace,

K

It is over....

Easter is over and so is the month that is "birthday month" in my house. Kayla, Kirstyn and then Syl all celebrate in March. I can hear the sucking sound of $$$ leaving my wallet. We had a great party for Syl on Saturday, which included a coffin filled with beverages and ice. It was very funny. Syl liked it. Lots of people dropped in to show their love for Syl,... good times.

On another note, I have been thinking this week about how we live our lives in sound bytes and "film clips". This has been in regard to how we speak about each other. When we make negative comments about each other in the presence of others we help to paint a picture of that person. If someone hears enough of these sound bytes(and often one is enough), they develop an impression of who that person is. That impression is always false because it is two dimensional. Whatever the criticism is, it is not the sum of who that person.

Proverbs likens this kind of criticism and gossip to putting a hatchet in the victims back, which amounts to murdering them. We are also encouraged to bless and not curse others. It amazes me sometimes that we can be so double minded, asking for grace and mercy from God and not extending it to others. Kind of like that guy in the parable who is forgiven a huge debt, only to go out and be merciless to a guy who owed him change.

We often believe the sound bytes we hear on TV, let's pay more attention to the ones we produce.

peace,

K

Good Shot

That was the title of an email I got today from a senior FM pastor. We were discussing the church's response to homosexuals. He was arguing that "church" accepts "them" fine, but they reject the truth. I don't disagree with some of what he says(except the church accepts them fine part), but it was the way he said it. He came across kind of arrogant and so sure he was right.

Another pastor wrote about his experience and his email showed compassion and grace toward the gay community.

I basically compared the spirit of the two emails and commented on how one was compassionate and the other cold. I also suggested that if we want to know how well we treat gay people, we might be wise to ask gay people how they think we treat them.

This pastor became very defensive and accused me of attacking him, which is exactly what I felt he was doing to Tony Campolo and the gay community. I thought we were just having a conversation.

So, here is what I learned; One of the big differences between emergent and regular church leaders, is that emergent leaders are willing to entertain the idea that we don't have all the answers. We don't have to have all the answers. We can wrestle with scripture and not lose our salvation. We can question our execution of the truth.

The part I have to work on is being gracious to some old farts who use their age as a measure of experience and dismiss anyone younger than them. I do not want to be disrespectful, but I do want the freedom to explore the issues without being badgered by someone who thinks they have the corner on the market when it comes to truth and how to live it.

Peace,

K

Niiiccce

God is amazing. Last week we were kind of scratching our heads wondering where the $$ was going to come from. On Rock has had a few donors leave us in the past few months. We had $6000 in payables and $400 in the bank. Well, God certainly is Jehovah Jireh. By the end of last week we received $10,000 in donations to the ministry. Most of it was given anonymously. I hate the fact that God makes us depend on Him. I love the fact that He is dependable.

Peace,

K

Christian Music Pirates

This post appeared on the beliefnet blog concerning Christian music piracy.

Wow, the Christian Music industry is concerned about morals. Since
when? Since their pocketbook is the bottom line. I am amazed that
Christian music is being pirated because alot of it is just a bad impersonation
of the secular market. The industry hasn't been too concerned about
their artists who abuse drugs and alcohol or pick up groupies after the
show, which seem to be much bigger issues that downloading music.

Don't get me wrong, I do not agree with piracy, however, it is hard to
take this seriously when the sharks are complaining......

peace,

K

Worship Music Rant

I listened to the new Kutless CD yesterday. What a piece of trash. With originality is mind, I am sure, they decided to put out a disc with rehashed worship music on it. Wow, that's never been done before. Imagine, a rock band putting out a CD of worship songs. Talk about going for the easy sell. "Now maybe my pastor will like Kutless too". Others are no better. Sonic Flood(are there any original members?) just put out another CD. They are a label fabricated band of hired guns, who are choreographed au but. If you are skeptical go see two concerts in a row. A worship leader from England once said that America would exploit worship music, and well, look at what's going on. How many times has Vineyard Music rehashed the same 30 songs. Just the Touching the Father's Heart series was about 40 CD's, Then the "acoustic" series came out, then the celtic series,... what is next. WOW.

Many Christians complain that Christian music sucks, and that their friends don't like it. No kidding. You are never going to see Green Day do a Motown tribute record. Why not,... duh. Where is the original music. Where is the NEW worship. Let's find some Christian artists that have the conviction to do what they are good at, and not what sells. I am sick of it. We can only vote with our $. I have stopped buying worship music. I was tried of paying %20 for two new songs mixed with 9 I already have on 7 other CD's. While I am at it, shame on the Christian record labels for subjecting us to such bullsh*t. There has got to be a special place in,... heaven(maybe) for labels that exploit people's love for God and desire to worship Him. You label types need to take your head out of your butt and figure out who you are serving. Money doesn't last forever.

Lately I have found myself worshiping to other music. U2 for example. They are original, love God and follow their convictions. Amazing, I know.

I am done.

Peace,

K

The Heart of God

A friend who is searching came to me the other day with one of those hard passages from The Book. You know, the ones that make us squirm and make God look like a bastard, when read in isolation. That was the whole problem, my friend read the passage and took it at face value without understanding the person of God. They don't know alot about Him, so at first glance, his direction seems very heavy handed.

I explained that taking a verse out of The Book in isolation is like listening to a media sound byte. It is easy to take out of context, both what the person is saying and who the person is. My 13 year old does the same thing when she tells her friends, "my parents won't let me",... They don't hear the explanation. They don't know us, so they don't see the love we have for Kikki. They don't have the luxury of "the bigger picture", so they think we suck.

This is where many stand with God, we don't always know His heart. We forget His love for us. All we can see is that He is telling us something we don't want to hear and we don't like it. So, we quickly paint Him as a cosmic killjoy and go about our way.

Our first challenge as people on a journey with Him is to remember who He is and how He feels about us. We need to remember that, like it or not, the "rules" are there to protect us. They are bourne out of love, not a desire to torment.

The second challenge we have is to communicate this to the world at large. It is a challenge to change years of bad christian teaching and present God in the light that He deserves. It is important to talk about motivation and character, when we have conversations about God, because this is where the rest of the story stems from.

Peace,

K

Christians & Gay marriage

Here is my problem. The Christian reaction to this whole issue has started to piss me off a little. Here is the thing, Christians are so concerned about the erosion of their values, that they have shown very little concern for the people that are gay. The gay community is a group of people. They love, hurt, cry and bleed just like the rest of us. The Christian right has portrayed "gay" as some kind of conspiratorial juggernaut, that needs to be destroyed. Not as a people who are, in their minds fighting for their rights. I imagine most gay people do not want to be stereotyped any more than I do.

How can I say I love people, and then attribute less than human status to them, because they don't walk the way I walk or agree with my convictions. Do I believe homosexuality is a sin? Yes, just like greed, pride and not loving God's creation. I also believe the church's treatment of homosexuals is a sin. Now that one, we have control over. So,....what are we going to do about it?

Vote against gay marriage if that is your conviction, but love the people as God does.

Peace,

K

Greasy Grace

I have an American buddy from Syracuse. He used to have a band called Zoa. Kind of a blues rock deal. Amazing guys. Mike is now and always was a pastor. He used to talk about "greasy(pronounced Greeezy) grace. Greasy grace refers to easy forgiveness. You know, thinking that a quick "I'm sorry" after hurting someone makes everything okay. Cause and effect doesn't come into play. The concept of consequence is foreign, as well as that of responsibility.

If we are to make a difference in this world, we need to own our stuff. Without excuse, just own it and be willing to deal with the consequences, whatever they are. Respect comes from walking with integrity. It is earned not given with a title. Not these days. So let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's earn it. Do not defend wrong positions on anything. Speak to what is right and take responsibility.

Don't settle for Greasy Grace. Because when it is all said and done, everyone still feels like they need a bath.

Peace,

K

Questions & Answers

A lady visiting church this past Sunday asked a question at the end of our discussion. It had nothing to do with anything we were talking about, but, she wanted to know what we thought about baptism. She had a baby in her lap and kind of motioned to the baby after she asked the question. I asked for clarification on what she wanted to know and she commented that only one of her two babies was baptized and what did we think about baptism.

I knew right away that she had a Catholic background, so, I answered her question, she thanked me and that was that. Good story eh.

After our gathering was over one of our core people asked me why I didn't answer her question. I stated that I did. This lead to a discussion later about how we need to answer questions as we deal with people who are searching for answers. You see, my friend felt that it was a good opportunity to explain immersion as well and that the lady may be confused at a later date because I didn't give her the "whole answer".

I believe this is why many people are afraid to ask a question. When a child asks what color yellow is, you don't sit them down and explain the color spectrum and light to them. You just simply answer their question. We need to appreciate peoples search and trust the Holy Spirit to be at work in their lives. Jesus often asked questions that he had no intention of answering. His parables were confusing to most, and that was the goal. We need to get away from seeing a persons question as "a window of opportunity" to throw up everything we know and think we know about Jesus, and just answer the question.


Peace,

K

Life is a journey, if we keep looking to the end, we're going to miss what's going on now.

Poverty

It's kind of funny, how this can change you perspective, when you think you are having a hard time.
What can we do about poverty .
Watch the videos.


Peace,

K

About that quote.....

This is a quote I pulled off of the Resonate web site. You can check out www.resonate.ca It is a good Canadian emergent site.

Brueggemann on certitude

"I found this Walter Brueggemann quote at The Ashram, and I pass it on here. I believe it speaks a vital truth.

"We all have a hunger for certitude, and the problem is that the Gospel is not about certitude, it's about fidelity. So what we all want to do if we can is immediately transpose fidelity into certitude, because fidelity is a relational category and certitude is flat, mechanical category. So we have to acknowledge our thirst for certitude and then recognize that if you had all the certitudes in the world it would not make the quality of your life any better because what we must have is fidelity."

What does this say to you?

Peace,

K

Jordon Cooper Interview

Check out Jordon Cooper for Monday Feb, 7. He was kind enough to invite me to do an email interview with Him and posted it on his web site. It is a thumbnail of The Open Door and who we are. Jordon is one of the guys in Canada who has been thinking about and involved in the postmodern/emergent church discussion for quite awhile. And,... He is Canadian!

There will be another interview in Christian Week about The OD. It will be in the Feb. 18 issue. We may even make their online issue.

Stay tuned for a quote tomorrow,.....

Peace,

K

This is the day

This is the day, that God created, did He not? He is our amazing creator. If we could remember in our day to day lives that God is the creator, and loves us to the point of death, our overall outlook on this day would be different. We would look at people who piss us off differently. We may find that they don't piss us off at all, because we see them differently. How I deal with my wife and kids is different when I remember that this is the day God created.

When I remember that God created today and that He is the foundation for all that is, my priorities are different. My outlook on everything is different. I live in a state of gratefulness, rather than thinking I "have rights". It is a privilege to walk God's earth, to be a part of His creation and know He cares about me.

Can I not share that care with those around me. He who is forgiven much,.....

Peace,

K

The Daily Show

Check out this Interview
A friend sent it to me today. It is exactly where my head has been for the last little while. Jon Stewart rocks.

Peace,

K

Social Justice or Just us....

What is your church community like. Is it a Justice or Just us community. yeah, its a cheesy turn of the phrase but it paints the picture. You see many churches are "just us" churches. They are focused inward. They don't pay attention to the world around them. They may have perked up with the tsunami, but for the most part, they worry about themselves. Their carpets, programs, building, etc.
How much of your time is spent "in church". This is not God's heart.

Matt 25 says, "I was hungry and you fed me,... and the people said, Jesus, when were you hungry?" He replied, "if you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me." Do you catch that? Jesus heart is for the poor. His dream for us, is that we love Him so much, that we take care of those He loves. This is true religion, taking care of the widows and the orphans.

So, how is your religion?

peace,

K

Watching your kids suffer

As some of you are aware, I am in my third week of a lingering flu bug that at this point is just pissing me off. Kayla and Josh have been sick as well. Last night Josh finally had a good nights sleep. For the two nights before that he was coughing all night. One night he coughed for 6 hours with 10 second breaks between coughs. He was in a semi sleep state and would whimper after a cough. As parents we were totally helpless as we listened to him suffer. During the day it wasn't much better. You can give medication, but that's it. I found myself asking God to transfer his condition over to me, just make him well.

I guess that is the heart of a father. It certainly was the heart of our Heavenly Father. I got a microscopic glimpse of how God must grieve when we suffer. He can't always intervene, but He feels our pain. He did intervene when it came to our eternal condition and our suffering became His. That is why we can call him Father. Sometimes all a father can do is put an arm around his child and be present.

Peace,

K

On the road to recovery

Well, I am on the road to recovery. I gave in and went to the clinic at 7:15 in the morning. The Doc said I have a wicked sinus infection and gave me some drugs for it. That was Wednesday morning. Last night I slept almost straight through the night for the first time in weeks. I am feeling much better, not perfect, but getting there. However Kayla and Josh are coming down with it now. Yeah. Pray for the little punks, it is a disgusting flu.

Peace,

K

Happy New Year

Well, maybe. I have been out of commission since New Years day with the flu. I think I have a sinus infection, but I am hesitant to give up 4 hours to the waiting room at the local clinic. I am popping sinus meds like tic-tacs and drinking Buckley's. It tastes terrible, let's just leave it at that.

However, with all of my problems, it is not hard to look near or far and realize I am fortunate. Whether it is SE Asia or friends with dying family members. There are people suffering more than me, that is for sure. I have been impressed lately to pray. In many cases that is all we can do. Words don't mean sh*t, when you are devastated. Our world needs God. We are called to intercede, and so, we must pray for those who suffer, that God will comfort, that He will bind up the broken hearted and make His presence known, and most of all, that He would draw people's attention to His amazing love.

Be committed to prayer this year.

Peace,

K