My favorite school field trip (at least the one I can remember) was touring the Coca Cola bottling plant in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We all got mini glass coke bottles. I think my parents still have it somewhere. It’s probably lost some of its fizz by now.
Today, I’m going on a field trip with Reese and his class. We are scheduled to tour a trophy factory. Please begin the jokes and puns at your leisure. What to get the winner of the best joke or pun . . . what to get the winner?
In addition to the two funerals this week we had meetings all weekend to cast the vision for our community of faith. The meetings went well. There were relatively few questions (which can be good or bad) and people seem genuinely interested in getting to work. So here is our vision - here is where we are headed.
We EXIST to develop mature followers of Jesus Christ.
Our VISION is to become a relevant community of faith devoted to loving God and serving Stockton.
The GOAL for each person in our community of faith is:
As a community of faith we VALUE:
As a community of faith we are intentionally involved in MINISTRIES that actively engage those serving and those being served.
As a community of faith our LEADERSHIP is intentionally designed for growth and service.
Our STAFF serves the community of faith by leading.
Our SERVANT LEADERS lead the community of faith by serving.
Our SHEPHERDS serve the community of faith by shepherding.
Right now these are just words. We are working diligently to make this a reality.
She would have turned 16 this past week. Unfortunately sweet is not a word that will be associated with the passing of her birthday. She was killed in an automobile accident last Saturday night. Her family and friends, along with members of our community of faith, will gather today to pay tribute to her very short life.
I went seven years at Arlington without doing a funeral. We’ve been here in Stockton two months and my first funeral will be for this child.
We just came back from the graveside service for Beth’s grandmother. The service went well and because he won’t tell you (I will) Greg did a tremendous job. We are now gathering in the Smith backyard where many a tri-tip has been grilled and served. The backyard is set up with tables and the party will soon begin. The atmosphere and climate of these gatherings is certainly infused with faith, hope, and love.
Some thoughts to consider from God In Search of Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel.
It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid.
When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion — its message becomes meaningless.
In the eyes of a 10 year old it was the perfect day. Who am I kidding? In the eyes of a 40 year old it was also a pretty good day. Reese waited two months for Saturday when his friend from Virginia came to visit. The rationale for the coast to coast visit was to see family in the bay area. But, put it to you this way, the family had lived there 6 years and this was the first visit from the east coast to the west coast.
We knew we would have one day and Reese made some plans that we executed with precision.
Here is a recap of the schedule (times are approximate):
8:30AM - Ben arrives (ackward moment between two friends - do we shake hands do we hug? In the immortal words of Tommy Boy, "brothers don’t shake hands brothers gotta hug."
8:45AM - Basketball on the sweet basketball court in our backyard.
9:15AM - Drive to the bait shop and buy some bait (Nightcrawlers).
9:30AM - Arrive at super secret fishing location and begin to fish. (The boys combine to catch 45 fish!)
12:30PM - Run out of bait - clean up, pack up and head to In-and-Out Burger
12:45PM - Lunch at In-And-Out Burger (ordering from the secret menu) The most memorable line from lunch came from Ben "I am so full but I can’t stop eating because these Animal Fries are so good!"
1:30PM - Quick tour of Reese’s new school
2:00PM - Return home to play video games
4:00PM - The three of us play basketball. Games include: Tips, Survivor and 2 on 1 (I can still dunk and dominate over two 10 year olds)
6:00PM - Run over to Sonic for a slush
6:30PM - Drive the short distance from our house to see the Sacramento River Delta. (We spot a double trailer tomato hauler and proceed to follow the trailer hoping to see tomatoes spill out as the truck navigates turns at high speed. We kept a safe distance).
7:00PM - More video games
8:00PM - Reese’s favorite chicken and tortellini dinner.
9:00PM - Ben leaves
Days like that go along away to handle weeks like this one. More on that later.
Each Friday I take a truckload of boxes to the recycling bin. It seems we are almost officially moved in. We’ve been here 56 days or so and I’ve only re-arranged the home offices and theater room twice. I’m not sure what it is about me or what mutated gene resides within that at around 10PM when I’m tired and have other things to do I decide to re-arrange furniture. Anyone out there identify with this strange behavior.
We’ve reached the point where it’s time to start hanging the art on the wall. I have an especially big painting that will require some assistance. If all goes as planned I will not be blogging on Monday about my visit to the ER whilst attempting to hang the big painting.
Perhaps tonight at around 11PM I’ll sneak back down to the church and re-arrange all my sound equipment.
"Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)
Stop worrying. The bible commands us not to worry, about anything.
Sometimes I wonder if the gospel according to Bobby McFerrin might do more good than bible quoting robots.
We all worry. It’s not something we can really stop doing. When we can replace worry with prayer we are on the road to security and peace.
(I’m not sure why this didn’t post yesterday - i just realized this morning that it didn’t post. I guess that means I don’t have to write anything new today!)
My dad says he invented the automatic seatbelt. You know the kind that is attached to the car door? I have no reason to doubt his claim. He doesn’t brag much. He exercises quite a bit of, well, self-restraint. The problem is he does not actually receive a royalty check or patent payments. Someone else developed the idea and has secured the bragging rights.
I’m taking credit for the idea to have an ATM keypad on the pew for the church offering. Like father like son - someone has cashed in on my million dollar idea.
Special thanks to my friend Zeke for sending me the picture and this article.
So, let’s hear it. What million dollar (or $1.95) ideas have you had that someone else has actually developed, marketed and named their luxury yacht after?
Momentum is an important part of church life. Small success leads to great success. Effective activities and events can build upon each other to propel the community of faith forward. We’ve begun to build momentum here and it is quite encouraging. I believe in using key events as the big building blocks and involving as many people as possible in the execution of these events as the small building blocks. Stemming the Sit, Soak, and Sour tide is only possible when opportunities for growth and service abound.
Yesterday was homecoming Sunday. This community of faith has observed this day each year as the anniversary of the start at their current location. Many people were involved in many different ways to faciliate this "big" event. Led by the Spirit we exalted Jesus and glorified God. In my opinion, this is a pretty good measuring stick for success. Our plan is to continue having a "big" event once a month through the end of the year. The plan is to continue building momentum so that people look forward to the weekly gathering of our community of faith.
We had our first rain last night here in Stockton. Funny how you can get excited about something like rain. It was a nice gentle rain - easily viewed as God blessing a very effective day.
