fogparty

wash...

i've been toying with simple, but meaningful ways to create space that encourages kalleision with G*D.  of course... every moment is already itself such a space.  but sometimes we need dedicated space for it.  i have to intentionally to carve it out of the noise and busyness.

and at the same time... i'm dedicated to not creating a schedule heavy church environment.  i'm not interested in creating new dinosaurs... just new experiences... or old ones with somewhat fresh shells.

so... for each of the mondays in february... i created "wash". 

nothing fancy.  in fact... almost the antithesis of the normal westwinds flavor.  and yet... true to who we are.  rather than being extremely mult-sensory... i created an environment for people to simply come and sit and listen to the scriptures being read for 30 minutes... followed by 15 minutes of silence... all with the hopes of assisting people in their quest to encounter G*D. 

i used "the bible experience" to make it even easier... for me... as well as easier for others to listen to for that length of time.  and since we started in the gospel of john... the sense of story, so important to understanding the gospels, came out a bit more clearly i think.

anyway... it was a good night.

for some it was like showing up for practice the first time.  for others it was like coming home.  and for a few it was diving into a feast.

for me... it was like engaging an old friend that i just needed to sit with for awhile.  so i walked away refreshed more than with new insight or direction.

i wrote this prayer in the silence...

Lord...  today...

                 ...may i have breath?

                      ...may i have health?

            ...may i see color?

                                ...may i enjoy the laughter of my kids?

                   ...may i love my wife as she deserves?

      ...may i bring joy to those i encounter?

...may i "get the jokes" you place in my day to make me smile... hearing your every chuckle and punch line?

LORD...

...when my kids were small, they took pleasure in walking beside me...

their right foot to my right... then their left matching pace with mine... taking joy in stretching to my stride.

may it be so with you and me...

...today.

a challenging read...

a friend forwarded me this article by an old professor of mine, scot mcknight, who was at teds when i was there.  he tried to teach me greek.

anyway...  scot has an excellent blog and has written some great books too.  he's probably one of the few true scholars i know who understands the movement commonly called "emerging".  and that's probably why i think this article is one of the best i've seen for explaining a complicated movement that has tended to be misunderstood and underestimated...

and... he's not afraid to tell the good and the not so good.  which is why i'm excited that scot's going to be a presenter at an itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny-incredibly-creative pastors conference we're putting on this june.  should be good.

if you care to read... or want to understand why a guy my age would move into a church like westwinds... here's the link.

warning...  since scot is a scholar and the issues he's discussing are not the normal everyday things most people talk about over football... most may find it challenging to understand... some will find it disturbing... and most will enjoy reading it about as much as they like reading their dictionary.  i guess that officially makes the 2% of us who like and understand it "geeks".

déjà vu 2

i drove jenn back to msu saturday morning… and by the time i returned home… i just couldn’t get warm.  and it wasn’t because of the crazy wind-chill we’re experiencing right now.

some motrin… a few hours sleep… and i’m still pretty miserable.  why do these things happen on the weekends?  a call to the surgical oncologist on call, who… of course recommends i come in to find out what’s going on… 6 hours in the e.r…. some strong antibiotics for the road… and we’re home again by 3… ...a.m.

my wife is a saint.

what’s so ironic about it all?

today was the day i had planned to fly to uganda to explore our new partnership with a.o.e.t.  i really wanted to go.  but my docs insisted it was too risky.  the chance of getting an infection with this kind of surgery was too high.  and there’s a possibility you might not have your drain out in 3 weeks, they said. 

c’mon!  i said.  but relinquished in the end.

so... here i am... 3 weeks later... still with my little drainbuddy... and now with an infection.  and to think that at the time i was wondering if i should book those tickets as an act of faith.  i'm glad i didn't jump on those thougths... but rode out my "due process" to get to that spot of some semblance of "godly sensibility."

so... this whole experience reminds me of what happened to emma after her lymph node dissection.  she spent a few days in memphis, recovering from her surgery… then we flew back home to peoria.  in transit she spiked a fever and we headed to the hospital in illinois where she spent several more days on i.v. trying to recover from an infection.

how could i forget that?  i mean, seriously!  in all that's going on... how convenient of me to forget this important aspect of her journey that so perfectly corresponds with mine?

could it be that i wanted that trip so badly that i failed to be still long enough to let G*D help me remember?

i guess i'm thankful he kicked some sense into me in some other ways...

...and...

...so glad the world doesn’t revolve around my wise decision making abilities.

was there any doubt?

frozen...

until my drain comes out… i’m not allowed to lift my right elbow above my shoulders.

seems like a little thing.  but...

i’ve got exercises to do… and then the normal use an arm gets.  but i can’t lift anything heavier than a milk jug for 2 months.

in the last few days i’ve been feeling my right shoulder seizing up.  at my last check-up they said it looks like i’m developing “cords” and may need physical therapy once all is said and done.  frozen shoulder is not what i want to add to my “to overcome” list.

we’d hoped to have the drain out by now… but it keeps doing its thing.  they won’t allow it to stay in past 4 weeks.  i’m at 2-1/2 right now.

so… i got to thinking… if it’s this easy for my body to develop limitations… simply from a little less use… what else in my life is limited from lack of use?

where else am i slowly freezing?

and… maybe this is another way of looking at the damage of sin… when we’re less than what G*D created us to be.  we seize up… freeze, so to speak, in different ways. 

and life without G*D is kind of like what c.s. lewis says… always winter, but never christmas. 

and living in the kingdom is more about living this full life we were intended to live and joining G*D in restoring everyone and everything as we, ourselves, are being restored.

...unfrozen...

hmmmm….