Jeremiah David Smith

For those of you who don't know, we have delivered our second stillborn son.

Jeremiah David Smith was silently born at 1:27am Saturday morning, May 9. He weighed 13 ounces.

We held him, we love him, and our hearts are breaking.

We are now home. Our parents have returned home and we will sort through things these next few days. We have decided not to do a large memorial service, as we did with Elijah. We will do something simple at the graveside. We will post more as we can.

Thank you for your prayers.

Blessings.James, Kelly, Halle and Judah


Some have asked about our mailing address.
We have a post office box at the Naz:
800 Martinsburg Rd.
Mt. Vernon, OH 43050
OR you can still use our Findlay address, as we will be there at some point this week.

Read more

Modern Marvels

I am sitting here working on my notes for a wedding that I am officiating on New Year's day, so I decided to turn the TV on for some background noise. I flipped through to the history channel which normally has something moderately interesting on it. I have found that the history channel often has programs that make you look up every 3-5 minutes, but can't keep your attention for 30 minutes straight. Of course there are exceptions, and tonight was an exception.

It was a Modern Marvels show, which can be quite interesting. For instance, I watched one of Thanksgiving Break about Hoover Dam. This one happened to be on a Turkey Factory. Normally this type of show would cause me to turn it, but something piqued my interest. They were showing a Turkey farm and how they take the eggs from these tens of thousands of turkeys and incubate them in large heaters , on shelves like the ones they bake the bread in at Panera, until they hatch. Then in a little over 38 days they transform from 1 ounce babes into 10 pound birds. Not natural.

From the farm they went to the processing plant and this is what grabbed my attention. I was watching the workers do their portion of the assembly line; cutting the top, cutting off the wings, etc. Finally it came to this man standing at a station in the assembly line. A bird came to him every five seconds. At this point it is only the torso and legs left. He takes it off the hooks and places it on a conveyor belt that then brings it into an automated process that takes off the legs and moves the torso on. They paused on this man for an extended amount of time as they explained this part of the process and over a couple minutes I saw him continually doing this repetitive motion and I felt so sad.

I thought about that job and why it was created and why he may have applied for it and how he is probably a hard worker who is providing for his family the best that he can. I was thinking about how a job like that would possibly drive me insane, but that sometimes in life you just have to do things that seemingly may drive you insane, because in the end you need a job and you need to provide for your family.

Tonight we had some new friends over, Brody and Emily (Rhoton) Boggs and their kids. We were sharing about our current jobs and what led us here. One thing I shared was that I felt this need to do something where I could directly see how I was positively impacting other people's lives and "making a difference". Brody shared this same need and motivation for him to pursue his current job, working with mentally handicapped people. Watching that show I realized that everyone may not have that same need or motivation that Brody and I do. I realized that if we all did there would be a lot of jobs that would be hard to fill. I realized that a lot of our society is built on those types of jobs that potentially wouldn't be filled (which leads to another post altogether about industrialization). I remembered that many people would never want my job. They wouldn't want the stress. They wouldn't like the need to be creative, to think outside the box, to look for process improvements. They wouldn't want the awkward conversations, the need to confront at times, the need to back off at times. They wouldn't want any of it.

I am glad God made us different. I hope that God always provides a job for me that fits how he made me. I am thankful he opened this door, and put me on the path I am currently walking on. I don't know what I am really trying to say, other than, watching that guy repeatedly move turkeys, and thinking about doing that for 8 hours a day really disturbed me. I think I hurt for him, but perhaps I was mourning the idea of every having to do something like that myself. Or maybe both. I think part of it is that I just wanted more for him... which may lead me back to that other post about Industrialization... which I will probably never get to writing.


I also saw how Turkey Bacon is made... I may never eat it again.

Read more

Dance In The Rain Melissa

If you do not know Melissa Prater or are not aware of what is going on in her life right now follow this link and read the most recent post, so the rest of my post makes sense.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I admit that I am just plain mad right now. That is my primary, dominant feeling.

Kelly is crying in the other room, but I am mad. I am aware that these are the different stages of grieving, or working through pain and disappointment, but it doesn't change how I feel. I sit here typing angrily. Kelly lies in the bed with Halle cuddling through the tears.

I am helpless. We are helpless. Only God can do miracles and I am not very clear on how much our prayers influence him in those decisions. Am I allowed to say that? I feel like I have to right now to be authentic and real, because I definitely feel it.

I am reading "Jayber Crow" by Wendell Berry right now. The section I am read last night/this morning is so applicable right now:

"But the worst day of all was when it hit me that Jesus' own most fervent prayer was refused: "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." I must have read that verse or heard it a hundred times before without seeing or hearing. Maybe I didn't want to see it. But then one day I saw it. It just knocked me in the head. This, I thought, is what is meant by "they will be done" in the Lord's Prayer, which I had prayed time and again without thinking about it. It means that your will and God's will may not be the same. It means there's a good possibility that you won't get what you pray for. It means that in spite of your prayers you are going to suffer. It means you may be crucified.

After Jesus' terrible prayer at Gethsemane, an angel came to Him gave Him strength, but did not remove the cup...

But now I was unsure what it would be proper to pray for, or how to pray for it. After you have said "thy will be done," what more can be said? And where do you find the strength to pray "thy will be done" after you see what it means?

And what did these questions do to my understanding of all the prayers I had ever heard and prayed? And what did they do to the possibility that I could stand before a congregation...and pray for favorable weather, a good harvest, the recovery of the sick and the strayed, victory in war? DOES PRAYER CHANGE GOD'S MIND? If God's mind can be changed by the wants an wishes of us mere humans, as if deferring to our better judgment, what is the point of praying to Him at all? And what are we to think when two good people pray for opposite things- as when two devout mothers of soldiers on opposite sides prayer for the safety of their sons or for victory?...

"Father, remove this cup from me, " I prayed. And there I stopped. For how would I know what God's will was, even provided I could have the strength to submit to it?...

By then I wasn't just asking questions; I was being changed by them. I was being changed by my prayers, which dwindled down nearer and nearer to silence, which weren't confrontations with God but with difficulty...of knowing what or how to pray..."
--------------------------------------------------------------

Any yet... I prayed with Halle tonight... like every night...for Melissa and Doug and the kids and many other things. I prayed for healing. I prayer for a miracle. I did not pray "but thine will be done", because THAT IS NOT WHAT I WANT MOST RIGHT NOW! If God's will is not to heal this AMAZING WOMAN then I can't honestly say I want it. Who honestly could? Honestly?

Lord,
I want your will, but I don't understand how that can possibly not include Melissa's healing. I can, on the other hand, clearly see how it could/should include her healing. You and I have been here before, at this place. This is where faith and common sense collide, and the collison breaks me and confounds me. My faith persists, but my heart and head and body hurts. I beg that your will and my will are aligned on Melissa's healing. I beg you Lord!

Read more

Community, Loving Your Neighbor, Family

I realized recently that I am passionate about things in my "preaching ministry".
Christian Community
Loving Your Neighbors (Holiness in Action or Active Holiness)
The Role of the Family in Discipleship (both biological and faith families)
(EDIT: I also preach about the Body of Christ quite often, which Kelly just reminded me, but I kind of connect that and flow it into Christian community)

I have known this for a while and felt guilty about it, but realized recently I don't need to. Those are passions God has placed in me. Those are topics I continue to dwell on, research, discuss and grow in. I don't need to know all things, and certainly don't need to preach about all things. This is probably one of the most daunting things to me about the idea of preaching every week, if that were my assignment. I think I would want to talk about these three things every week. Perhaps, if that were my call/assignment I could just rotate them on a once per month basis and then throw in a wild card every fourth week to mix things up and cover other key tenants of the faith. Then, on a fifth Sunday we could just all eat a meal together and allow people to share their stories and God moments of the month.

Another daunting aspect about preaching every week is this... I honestly just don't find that preachers are dynamic enough to preach every week and truly keep most people's attention. Sure, there are some who can do it, but even in those cases I generally think it would be healthier to hear multiple voices from the body sharing from the Word and their experiences. So, I guess that if I ever was the pastor of a Sunday morning church I wouldn't preach every week anyways. Because
a) I don't believe God only, or primarily speaks through one person per congregation/body of believers and
b) I think people need variety, they need different flavors, different perspective. They need to hear from Christian brothers and sisters of different ages and genders and backgrounds and personalities.

So, for me, every time I would/do speak I think I will continue to explore what I know and care about most:
Christian Community
Loving Your Neighbors
The Role of the Family in Discipleship
(EDIT: Body of Christ)

So, if you ever ask me to speak be prepared. If you want something outside that range, make sure I know ahead of time. :-)

I may write my thoughts on each of those topics in the days ahead, but I am done making blogging promises at this point in my life, so we'll see.

Read more

Life...

has been flying by in our new town, new life, new pace. Lots of good things. Lots of new friends. Lots of new opportunities. Not a lot of rest.

Overall, God has reminded me that I need to pace myself. I need to take time to slow down. I need to take time to breath deep, to reflect, to dream, to sleep, to relax... all those things we were much better at the last two years.

We are excited about our life here, both what we are experiencing and what we have yet to experience. We are living in a small 3 bedroom apartment, waiting on our house to sell, waiting and waiting, and wondering when we will be able to fully shift our lives to Mt. Vernon. I am still trusting God's timing, but each week, or at least month makes it harder to wait. We feel the need to be more settled here, to be in more of a position to invite other's into our home, to have college kids and the Admissions Staff over, to sleep on our own bed again... but I still trust that we are where we are for a reason, not only in Mt. Vernon, but also at Glen Road.

I love my daughter... I can't deny that she has my heart.
I love my son... his smile can melt me.
I love my wife...I simply love her.

Read more

Big News!

Our Family has been busy! Lots of life change is happening, but we find ourselves feeling peace in these moments as we celebrate…

1) The Birth of our NEW BABY BOY!!!

Introducing…
Judah James William...

He was born at 4:39pm on Monday, 7/7/2008 in Bluffton, OH.
He weighs 6lbs 6ozs and is 19 inches long. He has dark brown hair, a dimpled chin and really soft skin of course.
Kelly is doing well and is thoroughly enjoying bonding with our new son.
Big sister Halle has enjoyed holding him and gave him his first birthday present on Monday night.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Here is the hospital link to view his picture, but I have also included another pic in this e-mail:
http://www.bvhealthsystem.org/BabyNet/ViewBaby.aspx?ID=7348

We should be going home with him later today!
2) A NEW JOB for James!

I have accepted the position of Director of Admissions and Student Recruitment at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

I accepted the job during the Regional BLAST event on June 12th and we announced it to the crowd that night. My first day working for MVNU was June 30th, but I was speaking at a church camp all week, so I really haven’t completely settled into the office yet. This was to be my first week in the office, but Judah altered those plans. We have been on a home repair blitz with much help from our church, friends and family. I will be traveling back and forth over the next month. We hope to have our house listed this week and are praying it will sell by the end of the month. We have already seen 15+ houses in Mt. Vernon and have a few favorites, but won’t offer until ours sells. Most of you know how vital house church is to our DNA, so we are looking for a house with this in mind. Please pray with us that the Lord would lead us to the right neighborhood, the right neighbors and the right house. We are still figuring out temporary plans for us to all be together in Mt. Vernon starting in August until our house in Findlay sells.

We are so excited about this opportunity for multiple reasons. Vocationally it is a fantastic fit for my heart, skills and passions. I have been working in the RPO/Recruiting industry for a year and a half and enjoy it, but now I can take those skills to MVNU (which I have always had passion for) and work with teens and college students (whom I have always had a passion to work with). It is a great mix for my administrative desires and my ministry desires. If you know me, you know I love MVNU, so this makes sense on multiple levels. MVNU has been a part of my life since I was 4½, when my parents went back to finish their degrees! In addition, Kelly will no longer need to work. She has desired for quite some time to stay at home with our child(ren), and this move will provide that opportunity, with a few adjustments in our spending habits. J This is huge for us and something that has dominated our conversation for a couple years. Finally, we can’t wait to join the MVNU community. We have missed it through the years and always had a desire to return. We hope to be a positive influence in the lives of the college students, faculty and staff there in the same way our mentors there influenced our lives. I will also continue to serve as the Regional Big Picture Trainer and be available to speak at youth events, both of which are a natural mix for this role.

Here is the press release for the job: www.ncnnews.com/nphweb/html/ncn/article.jsp?id=10006153


Lot of stuff going on and we are just hanging on for the ride. Kelly just looked at me as she is holding Judah and said softly with tears in her eyes, “I am so happy”.
That pretty much sums it up for us!


Peace and Love.

Read more

You know you are bald...

when your wife is applying sunscreen to you and she begins to rub it into your hair without warning... like you expected her to.

Read more

True or False

I found this written on a piece of paper today. I am not sure if it was a thought that came to me one day that I was trying to think through, a quote or a comment in a conversation, but what I am wondering is...

TRUE or FALSE

"Church bodies have life cycles like physical bodies have life cycles.
They are born. They grow. They live. They die (whether literally or essentially)."

Read more

Benji's Letter: Part I

A close friend of mine (Benji) from our house church recently wrote a letter to a friend of his who is several states away. I am going to post it on here in a series of 2-4 posts. The entire letter is so good, but it deals with a couple different things that I would love to share with you. As Bemji read this letter he had written to our church one night I could hear myself saying these exact same things to any of you. Benji and I have been living life together for 5 years now, and we don't always agree on everything, but this letter reminded me how much we have grown together and share a common heart and path to where we find ourselves. Anything in parentheses is a comment of mine. As you read these words please hear them as words that I would use to explain to you where I have been and where I am headed...

"First of all, let me tell you a little about what is going on in our lives to bring you up to speed. About 15 months ago we left the church that we had previously being going to, and also the church that I was raised in because we felt like the questions that we were asking about God, ourselves, and the world we live in were not being addressed. (I wasn't raised in this church, but it is a mirror image of my own church in immeasurable ways. I often feel their people, struggles and issues have reflected one another.)

Since then we have been meeting in our living rooms with about 5-10 other families who are asking some of the same questions. We are attempting to listen to the voice of God throughout history to see what he has repeated…what is it that he is really saying…through the lives of his people in the OT… the prophets, the kings, the political and religious systems…where Jesus fits into the story historically…and what Jesus actual message was to his people."

This is a great summary of what we have been trying to do, how we got to where we are at and the journey we have found ourselves on. I will pick up from here next time I post. Not anything major, just a good summary of my journey/our community's journey this past year and a half.

Read more

Free Wifi - Boston Stoker

We are in Dayton, Ohio for Part II of our Christmas Vacation adventure. I am working remotely the next 2 days, so that Kelly and Halle can hang with the family a little longer and I can enjoy their company in the evenings. After a humorous attempt to work from BW3's last night (they were the only place I could find with free Wi-Fi in the area) I went on a search for a new work spot today. I drove all over Dayton's Northside and downtown until I found a Boston Stoker right downtown. Boston Stoker is a Dayton based coffee chain, that intends to stay in the greater Dayton area only and has snappy, humorous and condescending slogans objecting to national chains like Starbucks written on their bathroom walls. I used up someone's last 38 minutes of downtown parking at the Boston Stoker to look for one closer to the inlaws house, where I wouldn't have to pay $4 an hour for parking. I found one that looked close, called and confirmed they had free Wifi and took off. It turns out this trendy and comfortable little coffee shop is only about 5 minutes from the inlaws abode, and I wasted close to 2 hours (via internet search and driving) looking for some place to connect to the world wide web. Oh, if only one of the 20 people I asked on the street last night would have known. So... if you are looking for free Wifi in Dayton, Ohio now you know where to go. There are only about 25 of these places in town.

I would love to tell you more about the BW3 endeavor last night. Let's just say I was there from 9-1, invited some folks to sit with me since it was packed out and enjoyed some Karaoke, in lieu of my headphones, as the background music for my work toils.

Herb and Chuck... it was nice meeting you.

Read more

Merry Christmas

I snuck onto Kelly’s computer while she was sleeping and had a little fun. I know a lot of people have been doing his and sending these out, but I found it quite humorous myself to select and adapt these pictures of Kelly!

Check it out by clicking the link below:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1551626037

It is our little way of saying Merry Christmas Kelly style!

Love you all!
James (and Kelly and Halle, even though they don’t know it)

Read more

Coffee Amici

Findlay does not have a Starbucks... or a Caribou Cofee, or a Seattle's Best, or even a Cup O' Joe... the closest thing we get to cardboard cutout coffee shops is our newly built Tim Hortons, which is honestly just your average, inexpensive Canadian java, accompanied by delicious donuts! If you don't know what Timbits are I grieve for you.

What we do have are three fantastic and unique locally owned Coffee shops:

Tonight my family went to hear one of my friends from work sing at open mic night at Coffee Amici. Coffee Amici is celebrating their 5 year anniversary on Monday with .99 anything you want on the menu drinks. They are a self proclaimed "fine arts coffeehouse" nestled in our very active downtown, close to the courthouse on Main Street. The seats are not as comfortable as other places, and then ambiance is not as restful as some, but the entertainment/music is unparalleled in this county of 90K! The coffee is strong when black, and favored by many strong coffee drinkers.

George House has been around these part for much longer than I have. It is conveniently located across from the University of Findlay on Main Street. It is bustling from morning to night with college kids, seminary students, pastors, a few older regulars and a lot of teens at certain times of the day. The walls are lined with books and protruding book shelves break up the space into nice little cubies for fellowship. Their coffee is typical, but their hot tea selection is unmatched... in Findlay. They also sell many organically grown spices, herbs and other items that have a longer shelf life. I used to study here a lot, but when the teens take over, I take off, cause it gets loud! Lots of art on the walls and a good ambiance, but a little louder than many coffee shops.

Morey's is the newbie. The store had been around as a downtown corner newspaper/book store for years, but they recently decided to reinvent themselves. They bought a building across Main Street, gutted it and built it to suit. It is awesome inside. Definitely has a more business class feel to it, which includes a much quieter atmosphere, with softly played and well selected music. Their close earlier for now unfortunately. If I want to get something done during the day I go there, as do many others who need a break from the office. The coffee is good, but rather similar to other shops as well. They do offer any paper, which they have a ton of, for .25 when you buy a cup of coffee. This is my favorite feature if I get there before the Plain Dealer is gone. Man, I love that newspaper! They also have the largest selection of magazines in town and quite a few books in the back, along with a small child's play area to distract the kids while mom catches up with her friends over coffee. The nice thing is that it is a long shop, so it is far enough back that you don't really hear any kids up front. They actually just opened a second shop in town, but I haven't been there yet, so I am not sure what it is like.

So, there you have it. Coffee Shops in Findlay. If you are in town try one of them out and if Starbucks decides to come to town to appease all of our abundantly wealthy citizens, please don't get off the interstate for it. Main Street is only 2 minutes away and there are 3 coffee shops on it that deserve your attention.

(Ok, there are a couple others. There is a coffee shop in the hospital that 2 of my friends work at and it makes the entire lobby smell great, and there is small one called Java Station where Sarah used to work, that mainly stays alive because the Marathon Building is right around the corner. It is get it an go place for the most part and only has 4-5 seats in it.)

Read more

Hunsakers

Our dear friends the Hunsakers checked into the hospital last night for the birth of their 2nd child and are still going. 39+ hours of labor so far, but Heidi is determined to have a natural birth this time. The doctors are supporting her. Pray for speed and safety if you read this soon. Speed and Safety.

I can't believe that one of us is going to be a two child family tomorrow. Wow. We were just getting used to everyone having 1 kid.

Read more

Thursdays

Our house church decided to move our gathering from Saturdays to Thursdays, starting this week. We are meeting at our house this Thursday for dinner at 6:15pm and teaching/discussion and 7pm. We have decided that folks can show up earlier to help cook or just hang, and we may eat 10 minutes earlier or later, but the 7pm time is set. Sometimes teaching has gotten squeezed out or pushed back to that special time just before the kids loose it, so we have decided that we will read/review the weekly Scripture together at 7 and our teachers will take turns teaching, as they desire. The weekends became too hard and we often had to move it around. We have a desire for consistency in when we gather and perhaps even how we gather. I think we will all be more consistent with this new day/time and it seems like it can only be good for us. So, here we go to the next chapter of our young life as a body. If you are around Findlay this Thursday feel free to stop by... but don't forget to bring the dessert :-) ... I'm serious about the dessert.

Read more

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I watched this "chick flick" tonight. About 1/3 of the way through JP had enough and was compelled to go read about theology at George House (which is noble JP). When he left I moved over on the loveseat and seated myself next to my love and said, "You can tell JP isn't in a serious relationship, because he can't see the beauty in chick flicks yet." When you are in a relationships you begin to enjoy those things a little, or at least you should.

In all honesty the movie did some things well.

• It made me want to make a LARGER difference in the world, a feeling that most movies with any amount of depth stir up in me. Sure, it accomplished this through pulling on some emotional heartstrings concerning the fraility of life, but I enjoyed the little tug.
• It made me miss my friends. It is movie about meaningful relationships and it caused me to miss those who are far, so I have spent the last 2+ hours catching up on all of your blogs.
• It made me appreciate what we have here... amazing friends... a wonderful body of believers surrounding us... honesty, vulnerability, intimacy, depth, knownness.

I love good movies that stir something, anything in me... I realize that they are a compliation of moments (high and low) and leave out the mundane and ordinary (the majority of life), but some movies leave you challenged, ready, charged and passionate... or in a daze... all are good. I want a movie to impact me and leave me with something and these are some that do (by no means is this exhaustive):
Crash
Pay It Forward
Elizabeth Town
Big Fish
Dead Poet's Society
Good Will Hunting
Shawshank - duh!
Mr. Holland's Opus
Mr. and Mrs. Smith :-)

Read more

Any Thoughts?

“But the family has changed. It is now a dependent social unit of consumption, rather than an independent unit of production.”

- Living the Faith Community, John H. Westerhoff III

Read more

Housemates

We currently have a full house. JP moved back in with us at the end of June and it has become increasingly permanent every since. He is working on staff in BG at the church that I am serving at as the interim youth pastor/family ministry consultant. My friend Joel (a former fellow youth pastor) is the pastor and he asked me to come on staff part-time to transition them from an "entertainment-based" youth ministry to a family focused ministry, which is in line with my passion. After much deliberation, questions, community discussions here in Findlay and some clarifications, I signed on part-time and temporary. I cut my hours back at work and have been working there 2 half days a week, plus Sunday nights since April. It has been a good balance for me, to remain in the work force, and yet have time to minister to teens and their families. I have spent a lot of time with parents, talking to them, asking tough questions, giving encouragement and helping them develop a vision and heart for their family. The transition is moving slowly, but surely, and quickly in certain areas. There are some great parents and amazing teen in the group. This past week we decided to cut one day off of my weekly routine, as I commited to stay on through the fall, so I will now be going up there 1 half day a week and Sunday nights. I am very excited about that decision, as it frees me up to be more present in our community here in Findlay, and with our house church.

JP came to visit a week or two after his graduation and stayed for a night. We talked about a lot of things and a lot of options and enjoyed one another's company for a night. He took off to head back to Oklahoma a couple days later and give it a shot for a few weeks/months. He was back quicker than expected and I happened to call him as he was heading home. I reminded him that Kelly and I would love to have him come live with us on a more permanent basis and told him about a potential opportunity at the church I was working at. He came up and met with Joel and Jennifer (the pastor's wife/PT children's pastor) and it was a match. They brought him on to lead their worship band, plan intentional worship experience and to lead the church into conversations and actions in the arena of social justice. So, JP has been here for over two months now and every day seems more real. We love it, Halle really loves "JTee" (as she calls him) and I think JP loves it as well. He is really gifted at what he does and it is such a blessing to serve alongside and live life with one of my first teens. He is truly an amazing young man and friend. He feels more and more like family to us every day.

Two families from our house church decided that we should all move into a mobile home park and commit to living in closer proximity to one another. The one family, the Brewers, decided not to renew their lease, which was up two Monday's ago. They weren't able to get a trailer in that time, so we moved all of their possessions into our garage. They stayed with the Stemen's last week and have moved into the Smith Abode for this week. It is so much fun having them here, as they are VERY easy to live with. Their matress is set up in our family room, behind the couch (we have a very large family room 20x25) and their 9 month old daughter is in the pantry/future study. The house is lively, and I am so excited that we are using it to its full potential right now. It is fulfilling for me, and Kelly is enjoying it as well. I like when we can use our home in a way the encourages and helps others. I hope that we can continue to find ways to do so (thanks for the couchsurfing.com link Eric, I signed up!).

So, things are good. I will try to write more about the house church aspect of things another time. In short, we are enjoying our community. We are enjoying our housemate. We are enjoying life. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

Read more

one conversation at a time

I study for my Master's every Monday, from after work until midnight. Studying consists of reading articles and books to finish the thesis for my Master's. I have hit about 23 walls while working on this project, but am currently making some progress and feeling a little better. I want to be done with it in December. I really want to be done with it in December.

Tonight I cheated. Instead of going to the library after work, I went to the Hunsaker's for dinner. I missed Kelly. I missed Halle. I missed the Ballmers and Hunsaker and Stemens and Brewers and JP. It has been such a busy week with all the destruction and restoration going on. It was such a nice time of being with one another. It was refreshing, and then I went and got a solid 3.5 hours in on my project, so it worked out fine.

I picked a book off the shelves of the library called, "Making Disciples - one conversation at a time". I breezed through most of the book, not seeing much to glean, but found a very helpful section on the "one another" statements of the New Testament and how they guide life in Christian community. Then, I found a fantastic page and a half at the end that I have to share with you. There is some church language he uses that I wouldn't use, but I love the application of this Scripture. It may not be a new thought for you, but it is for me and I love the application of it to my life, your life and the way we ought to live. If you have time... please read it.


-- From Making Disciples - one conversation at a time

"One denominational leader lamented, "... What are we doing wrong?"

I asked, "How straight can you take it?"

He responded, "I'm desperate to know the truth. Our church is dying."

Here's what I told him: "The efforts of your denomination remind me of that story in the reign of King David, when God put it in his heart to bring the ark up to Jerusalem and set it in the Tabernacle (2 Sam. 6; 1 Chron. 13). He place the ark on a cart, drawn by oxen, and headed for Jerusalem. Along the way the oxen stumbled, and the two sons of Abinadab, Uzzah and Ahio, reached up to steady it. When Uzzah touched the ark he was struck down dead, and the whole enterprise came to a halt. David became angry with God that his friend had been killed.... So here's my questions: Where did David get the idea of carrying the ark on a wagon?

"From the Philistines, " He answered correctly. "It had cause so much trouble back in their country that they loaded it on a wagon and sent it back to Israel."

"Exactly!" I told him. "David's bungled project is a pefect picture of your denominations: you are cretainly God's dear people, and you are sincerely trying to accomplish what you belive to be God's will. But you have borrowed your methods from the Philistines. God have explicit insturctiona bout how the ark was to be carried so this very thing woudld not happen. But when you use Philistine methods to do God's work, people get hurt and the whole enterprise breaks down.'

Listen... Why don't we just do what Jesus told us to do: make disciples. And why don't we do it like He did: Daily conversations about the kingdom of God with a few close personal friends -- right in the context of every day life."

Michael D. Henderson
Making Disciples - one conversation at a time
pgs. 172-173

Read more

We Survived

So... we survived the great flood of Findlay.

It is so strange to live in a town that has endured a natural diaster. It is strange because I have always been the one watching the news from afar, not knowing how to help. It is strange because I live on the north end, and many north enders never even saw the flood other than on their tv screens. It is strange because some of our friends actually had to desert their house and stay with us until the flood waters receded. It is strange because there are mounds of rubbish on every street south of the river, throughout the downtown area and alongside any creek... very eerie and sad.

JP and I helped friends clean up their downtown restaurant today. They are within 2 blocks of the river but have never been breached in previous floods. This time 5 inches of poopy water filled their shop from front to back. 5 inches of poopy water is a big deal for a restaurant, but not as bad as it could have been and is for others. We are hoping they can reopen this source of income for their family on Monday AM, after the health inspector visit. From there we drove around to friends homes and businesses to assess the damage and see how we can help in the upcoming days. One family had 3-4 FEET of water in both of their businesses, their only source of income and another 5 feet in their basement at home, all located downtown. Another family stored many family memorabilla in the crawl space of their small house and couldn't do a thing when the waters rose multiple feet in 30 minutes. Now, there is a muddy, soaked pile of belongings stuck in their crawl space waiting to be disposed of. A family from work had their main source of income literally get swept down the river. The river came in one wall of windows, swept up all of his tools and and pushed them out the other windows and down the river. Another friend's entire church is a total loss. Everything, all sound equipment, all chairs, all computers, everything they had. Gone.

People's homes are destroyed. Other's primary source of income has been eliminated, or at least made inoperable for an unknown amount of time. As we drove around and talked to people I saw varying degrees of disbelief and dismay. Many are not sure where to turn. Insurance was either not sufficient, doesn't cover certain things or has a high deductible ($5K for one friend). We discussed this at length at house church tonight. We have been active and plan to be active. We created a list of projects we want to help with, from friends and family we have talked to. My friend Tracy is bringing a crew down from his church in Oregon, Ohio tomorrow, which will help put a dent in our list.

Thanks for your prayers, calls, e-mails and texts.
We appreciate it.
We are fine, but there are many who are not. They are broken.
Pray that we will come in contact with those people and can extend a hand or lend an ear as needed.

Read more

Its True

I don't miss fantasy sports.

Read more