Being Thankful

“So, what’s the schedule next week?”  This was my question in 7:00am Hebrew class this morning just as we were wrapping up for the day. “We meet on Monday and then we are off for the rest of the week,” was the professor’s reply.  “Praise God,” I thought to myself.  I’m ready for a Hebrew-break.

There are times in life when we are ready for a break.  Breaks are good.  God gave the Israelites weekly breaks (The Sabbath), seasonal breaks (Festivals and Feasts), and a break every seven years (Sabbath Year), and even another break every 50 years (Year of Jubilee).  God wants us to have breaks.  God gives us these breaks so we can rest…with Him.

Thanksgiving provides us a seasonal break much like one of the seasonal breaks given to the Israelites. (The Festival of Ingathering took place after the harvest was complete.)  These breaks weren’t just about rest, though.  They were a time to pause and reflect upon the faithfulness of God.  It was a time to remember God’s goodness and how we are recipients of God’s blessings.  It was a time to be thankful to God for all that God had done.

This Thanksgiving, my prayer is that we will take the time to pause, reflect on the goodness of God, and give thanks to God for pouring out that goodness on us.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving

Encouraging Me

I mentioned to one of our teams yesterday that this series has been speaking directly to me quite a bit.  Our “40 Days of Courage” has been encouraging me to walk together with God and help others do the same. Watching Joshua and the Israelites choose, over and over again, to trust God has been inspiring to me.  Even when they fail, it is not the end for them.  They get right back up, turn back to God, and go back into battle knowing that God is with them wherever they go.

We’re in our 14th year at Life Bridge Christian Church, now.  We’ve seen a lot over the past 13+ years since our opening day.  We’ve fought a lot of battles against the enemy.  We’ve won some.  We’ve lost some.  Sometimes we struggle with being discouraged and even frightened.  But, like Joshua’s generation, we have remained faithful to God’s call in Valparaiso, Porter County, Chicagoland, and beyond.  God has planted us here to empower one more to walk together with God, and that is exactly what we are doing.

Over the next couple weeks, we will be reminding ourselves of God’s design and plan for our lives.  We will be celebrating where we have been living out this plan.  We will also be challenged to look forward to our next steps in our walk together with God.  I look forward to seeing you there.

The Glosses Section

I’ve been struggling this week with Hebrew class because, with all the time I’ve been spending on it, it didn’t seem like I was keeping up.  I had missing puzzle pieces.  We are doing midterm projects and, for Hebrew, this includes translating passages of Scripture.  Parts of the passages, though, were just not making sense.  It was all Greek to me!

Let’s Remember Together

It's be a couple weeks since I shared my perspective here.  Last week I was in Anderson, IN attending a week of class for my Doctorate program.  My Hebrew class continued throughout the week, too, so the week was filled with school, school work, and more school-related work.  It was time well spent.

Now, I'm looking forward to Sunday.  We will be celebrating the completion of our 13th year as Life Bridge Christian Church here in Valparaiso, IN.  We will also be celebrating the end of our current series: Remember.  Together we will remember what God has done for the Israelites, for Life Bridge, and for us.  I hope you can make it.  Let's remember together.

And The LORD Said

Yesterday I learned how to read, “and The LORD said,” in Hebrew class.  We’re moving past the alphabet now and moving on to particles and other words.  It’s getting real!  When I boot up my computer, I’ve been seeing a picture like this one before I log in each day.  It has been getting me thinking.

7am Hebrew

I started school this week.  Well, technically I started school a couple months ago.  My DMin class, which meets for a week in September, had pre-work that began back in July.  I’m taking another class, though, this semester to help fill in a gap in my education: Hebrew.

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When I first went to seminary, my specific degree program required that I become proficient in one of the two primary Biblical languages: Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament).  Since I wanted to learn the New Testament as well as I could, I took Greek all the way through an advanced translation class.  I learned tools to help me with Hebrew, but the actual language study would have to wait…until now.

My Hebrew class challenging in several ways.  First of all, well, it’s Hebrew.  I’m learning a new alphabet, how to read right to left, vowel markers that weren’t there in the original language and a script that actually wasn’t the original script.  I’m learning how to pronounce the Hebrew words from a professor who is proficient in eleven or more languages and who originally grew up in Bogotá, Columbia. I find myself wanting coffee just listening to his rich Columbian voice.  Oh, yeah, it’s also challenging because the class meets at 8am and is located in Anderson, Indiana.  So, I conference in four days a week via computer…at 7am here.  (Yeah, I want coffee for more than one reason.)

All that being said, I find myself strangely at peace.  I know that I am learning and growing in knowledge and, hopefully, wisdom as I continue to be challenged by others who are further down the path in their walk together with God.  I’m enjoying the company of people who desire to learn and grow like me.  But, more than all that, I know I am preparing to better serve those God has called me to serve.  I know I am in the right place in my walk together with God.  I’m praying that you are, too.

Recapturing a Garden Walk

It’s so easy to lose sight of God’s desire for our lives, especially when we get busy.  I’ve talked to many people this week who are just “tired” or “worn out” from all the activity over the past couple months.  Don’t get me wrong.  Porter County Fair and Turkeypalooza were fun and each was a great success in connecting new people to the heart of God.  These events, though, are both exciting and tiring at the same time.  When they are over, then, we need a time of Sabbath Rest.

Traci and I don’t do a very good job of resting.  We both tend to keep working every day – even when we are supposed to take a day of rest.  (I’m not saying this is good.  I’m just being honest about our walk.)  That is why we took the last part of this week to come down to be with Cincinnati, spend some time with family, and let the circumstances here “force” us to rest.

Time with each of our moms has been a great blessing.  We anticipate tomorrow (Saturday) to be a mixed-emotions day as we say goodbye to a childhood neighbor who has gone home to be with the LORD.

More than anything, though, this time has been about backing up, looking at the bigger picture, and remembering what it means to walk together with God.

Thank you, LORD, for your Sabbath Rest.
Thank you, God, for such a beautiful design.
Thank you for walking with us in the Garden.
Thank you for a Garden Walk.

Inside the Cocoon

I was just looking at the process that a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly.  Scientists are learning much more about the process, now that they have technological advances such as Micro-CT.  Inside the Cocoon, the caterpillar changes into kind of a “goo” but with all the important components staying in tact and moving around a bit. The process can take anywhere from 7 days to a year, depending on the species.  When the butterfly emerges, it takes hard work which actually completes the process and allows the butterfly to, well, fly.

It seems strange that I find myself thinking about the cocoon process when Life Bridge is doing some of its most public ministries for the summer.  Men’s Homeless shelter continues.  Building changes are happening.  Operation Christmas Child is stepping things up. Porter County Fair church service was two weeks ago.  Turkeypalooza church service @10:00 AM will be this coming Sunday.  With all this public activity, though, my perspective is that we are in a cocoon.

I see God working in and through a lot of people behind the scenes.  I see structures and teams moving around, morphing, yet retaining their essential components.  I see systems and processes being reworked, redesigned, and preparations being made to implement them in different ways.  I see Gantt charts, project plans, task lists, and team meetings.  Lots of exciting work is happening behind the scenes at Life Bridge.

When will we see the “butterfly?”  Well, there’s more to come on the subject, but I would keep your calendar open in October and November if you want to see something beautiful emerge.  Until then, let’s enjoy the process.

Hope to see you all soon!

Being Busy

I always find this time of year to be kind of funny.  Folks are going on vacations, travelling, and enjoying time with family.  The children are playing in the yard and block parties are in full swing.  Porter County Fair reminds us that harvest time is just around the corner, so even the farmers are waiting for the hard work of harvest season.  We, however, always seem to be quite busy this time of year and this year is no exception.

Let’s remember God @ the Porter County Fair

We finished our church service last week with a reminder that God’s world is much bigger than we often remember:

That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way He scattered them all over the world. (Genesis 11:9 NLT)

#werememberGod

We were meeting this week with the Encounter God team at Life Bridge (that’s the team that plans for the weekend services) when I outlined what the lesson topics would be for the remainder of the series.  The series is entitled “Remember” and will be looking at the first five books of the Bible (The Pentateuch, or The Torah) from a specific perspective: Imagine being an Israelite parent teaching these stories to your children to prepare them for the Promised Land.

We started talking about ways we could encourage one another to remember God and pass our faith on to others, especially from generation to generation.  Frank (our worship minister) asked a question.  “Could we do something with those hashtags that the kids are always using?”  I just laughed inside.  A computer-geek idea came from the least geeky person on the team.  We all just looked at each other and then said, “We could do something like that.”  What a great idea.

So, let’s do it.  Let’s use a hashtag throughout this series to tell one another about times when we remember God.  The hashtag is, big surprise, #werememberGod.  For those of us who are not quite as tech-savvy as Frank, here’s how it works.

A hash-tag is simply the name for the pound # sign on your keyboard.  The pound sign followed by a word is considered a hashtag. Any time you make a post on your favorite social-media site, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, you can add a hashtag in the comment before you post it.  So, whenever you post about something when you, your friends, your family, or your coworkers are remembering God, just add #werememberGod to the comment or post.  It’s that easy!

You can also tag people in these systems.  In most of them you simply type the @ character, followed by the name of the person you want to tag.  Life Bridge has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.  Our account name is empower1more.  So, you can tag Life Bridge by typing “@empower1more.”

So, here are a few examples of how this might work:

Maybe you and your family just finished praying together before your meal.  You grab your phone, open Twitter, and tweet:

Me & the fam just prayed b4 eats. Hey @empower1more #werememberGod

Maybe you’re on vacation camping.  You’re on a walking trail when you have to stop and take a picture of the waterfall.  It’s beautiful.  Then, you tag save it to Instagram, tag empower1more, and comment:

Luvin the falls. #werememberGod

You’re surfing the web and find a Christian t-shirt that rocks.  You Pin it with the comment:

I’m gettin this one! @empower1more #werememberGod

You’re at small group Bible study and decide to take a group selfie.  Then you post it on Facebook, tag all your friends and say:

Hanging with my peeps at B-study. @empower1more #werememberGod

You get the idea.  Have fun with it.  Get your tech-savvy friends (like Frank) to help you with it.  More than all that, though…let’s remember God.

Ceiling Tiles

So I walked into the building this week and found stacks and stacks of ceiling tiles.  “Where did they come from?” I wondered.  It didn’t take long before I found out the answer.

Drum Parts

I was at the Life Bridge building with a few team members when someone came to the door looking for Frank.  She had a drum part in her hand.  Apparently, there was a mix-up when the team led worship for a special even at Town and Country Christian Church for Camp LRCA.  When we packed up and came back, a drum part was left behind.  (We ended up getting the high-hats to work with duct tape for a couple weeks.)

Standing there, we started talking about a few coordination things.  Now the drums would work better…we have toner for the copying machine…the air conditioning is working better…etc. As we talked, we were reminded of the gifts God keeps showering down upon us.  The drum part saved us having to buy a whole new high-hat set.  The copier/printer contract is over, saving us $400 per month.  The insulation in the ceiling saved us $600 this month and will continue saving us $100 per month from here on out. 

Of course, the conversation moved past tasks, projects, and money really fast and started focusing on our relationships with God and people.  We (Traci and I) just completed a computer program that allows us to better enter and track Connect Card, Event Attendance, and other involvement information.  This will help us make wiser decisions as we plan events, coordinate teams, and shepherd the flock entrusted into our care.

The capstone of our conversation, though, was the reminder that God is working in and through His people every day.  We enjoyed sharing with one another a visible reminder of God’s work in our lives:  Shannon Uttal and Chuck Hartz were baptized this week.  We all paused.  God really is good all the time.  Go team. Praise God.

Worth Creating

I wrote my post for My Garden Walk a little late today.  It’s good to rest on your day of rest.   Even if you don’t usually read these Daily Devotion blog posts that I write each week, I’d like to encourage you to take the time to read the one I wrote today before continuing with my thought process here. (Click here to read it.)

Good Fog

This week I have been in kind of a fog.  Maybe it’s letdown after finishing up my last class for the year.  Perhaps I’m still in denial about my oldest child turning 24 today and my youngest turning 20 last week.  It could be that the various ministries this week have been pulling my attention in different directions.  Whatever the reason, the week for me has been one where I’ve been watching everything that is happening around me, participating in my part, but all of it in a fog.

Papers and Perspective

I just finished writing my final paper for the class I just took last month.  It is supposed to be 20 pages long and I stopped at 21 and a half.  Yes, I still need to edit it another round or two.  But, Praise God, the paper is written!

These classes, and their corresponding projects, always stir things up for me.  They take me outside my comfort zone.  They force me to think outside the box.  They mess with my perspective.  That is good.

Home Away from Home

Last week, I talked about all the travelling we’ve been doing over the past couple months.  Cincinnati was a primary destination because that is where Traci and I grew up.  Anderson was a regular destination because our youngest daughter, Amanda, was going to school there.  Valparaiso was a final destination because it is, well, home.  It has been for 13 years now.  This week, it’s been nice to be home.

A Lot Like Paul

This past Sunday, our focus was on the Apostle Paul and his conversion from his previous life as Saul.  Saul was a Pharisee of Pharisees.  Paul became a disciple making disciple.  The transformation must have been a sight to see.  Once Saul became Paul, he was unstoppable.  He travelled from place to place introducing people to and encouraging people with Jesus.

I was just looking at my calendar from the past month and a part of me feels a lot like Paul.

New Growth

I find myself ready to take a nap today.  (I doubt that dream will become reality.)  My schedule this week just seemed to be a continuation of the past couple weeks – travel, attend events, meet with people, counsel, teach, and pray.  I’ve had weeks now of long days and short nights.  There is much to do. With my daughter graduating college next week, the schedule doesn’t look like it’s going to let up any time soon.

Living and Active

I didn’t share my perspective on the week last week.  That’s because the ten days prior to that were packed full of long days and short nights.  I was in a one-week intensive class at school last week and was presented with more ministry opportunities than I could physically keep up with surrounding the week.  Busy isn’t necessarily bad.  It’s just busy.