roots

After years of wandering and searching I have accepted a staff position with Crosswinds Church in St. Peters, MO.

The road has been long and winding, taking me to unexpected places, but I have come to a place where I can settle in for a while. I am excited to become at last an official worker with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Most importantly, I am a part of a church that is working to expand the Kingdom through actively and fiercely loving our neighbors.

The thrust of my position will be to develop and continue working with our recovery ministry. We are seeing great fruit from work in this area and are anticipating continued growth as we become a church that ministers to the weary, broken, sick, and down-trodden.

To those who have prayed me through times of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness along my pursuit of this desired vocation, I extend my deepest gratitude to you. Thank you for your love and concern. I now seek that you would direct your prayers toward the good work God is doing in the St. Louis area.

Blessings and peace to you in Christ Jesus.

inventory

As the recovery process continues we come to a point where we are confronted with our own thoughts and deeds. The fourth step of recovery tells us to make a searching and fearless moral inventory. To be quite honest, this is not the most pleasant task to be faced with.

There is an endless list of things that I would rather do than to search within my own life, mind, spirit, and heart to lay myself bare to the reality of who I am and what I've done. However, despite the vastly unappealing nature of this step, to do a truly fearless inventory of myself is of unparalleled worth in personal growth and recovery.

How can a wound be treated when its presence is denied?

After a personal inventory has been laid out the issues of life are readily addressed. The reason for this step in the process doesn't need much detailed explanation in my opinion. It has been my experience that most people understand why they need to establish an inventory, but are resistant toward following through on it because of the matters they will face and ultimately have to deal with.

The one point I will stress is the necessity of a thorough inventory... including both positive and negative aspects of life and personality. The inventory must also be thorough in the sense that nothing should be ignored or left out. The temptation is to do a partial inventory and leave out the most unflattering things. Truth be told, the subjects of life that we are most tempted to ignore are the matters that need our attention most gravely.

"Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly."
-Proverbs 26:11

As it is said in AA, "If you don't do your fourth, you'll drink your fifth." If we don't take a serious look inside, we will continue to deny our true depravity and will certainly be led back into our sins. The recovery process is about breaking the cycle of compulsive, addictive, or dysfunctional behavior. It is a path that God has shown us in His word to teach us the ways to receive His healing and deliverance from ongoing sin.

I realize that this post is fairly fragmented. My apologies...
I just wanted to get some thoughts out there.

great news

I now have a place where I can consistantly use the interweb. My posts will undoubtedly become more frequent as a result. Hooray. I'm excited. Seriously.

divine collision

I just concluded our weekly Celebrate Recovery meeting. An amazing intersection occurs when the power of God is experienced in the midst of the broken. It is at that intersection where we see the mercy, love, and grace of God become incarnate in our very presence. There were no great miracles tonight. Nobody was cured of blindness nor deafness nor lameness. No light shone from heaven and no tongues of fire set upon the people of God. Truly there was no aspect to this evening that distinguishes it from any other Celebrate Recovery night. Yet, tonight God gave me eyes to see the ways His people become His words, His hands, and His love as they care for each other in compassion and kindness.

Certainly this is no divine revelation. Rather, this is just a message to encourage you... wherever and whoever you are... to see with the eyes God has given you. He who has ears let him hear and he who has eyes let him see what God is doing in our presence. Seeing with the eyes God has given us is more than receiving optical messages from lens to lobe, but it is perceiving that which is the miraculous ordinary.

I think there was more to God's message to the heavens when He commanded there to be light than what meats the eye. He wasn't merely flipping the switch. I think He was, and still is, beckoning all creation to tune in and take notice of the great things He was going to do. More importantly, He was beseeching us to focus our eyes to the wonder of His being.

God is the miraculous ordinary. He is phenomenal and familiar. He is beyond conception and immediate in perception. God is all around us. Open your eyes and see.

Behold His form. Take it in as best you can as you meditate on His nature. Soak in the presence of the King's majesty. See how lovely He is as you experience Him in every breath... in every smile... in each helping hand... in the day's fragrances... in the vast palette of human emotion... in the rich textures of speech... in the most fundamental fabric of life itself...

Be ravaged by God as He wants to be seen.

art glass

 

Indianapolis Children's Museum

Last weekend I went with my nieces to the Children's Museum in Indy. I must admit that the museuem was a blast. The girls had a ton of fun and I enjoyed every bit of it as well. I was deligthed to see the special display of blown glass artwork. Most of the glass was the work of Dale Chihuly whom I greatly admire as an artist. The display featured a tower strecthing up story after story. Quite an impressive sight. Beneath the tower was a display considered to be firework of glass. A variety of blown glass forms were encased within clear ceiling panels and illuminated from above. There was a rotating round bench beneath that permitted spectators to recline and take in the view. Breathtaking... no doubt about it.
Here are some shots that I took of the artwork on display. If you find yourself in Indy... check out the exhibit.

 

the love of cousins

 

family pictures

 

around town... Morgan

 

around town... Paige

 

around town... Madeline

 

vacation

I've gotten the opportunity to take some time away from St. Peters to spend some time with friends and family. Many miles have been tacked onto my car as I travelled to Wisconsin and to Indiana over the weekend. I'll be returning briefly to the Dairyland before heading back south to the Greater St. Louis area. Here are some pics of my nieces as they were playing in the pool today. There aren't many things in this world worth driving through Illinois for, but I know of three... Madeline, Paige, and Morgan.