2.28.2005
Good news! Well, no news is good news at least. My dad had an MRI today that did not show anything new or different, which is definitely great. Earlier today we thought he would have a laproscoptic biopsy tomorrow, but instead they are just going to do surgery on Wednesday at noon. Then they will send the tissue out to be tested. My dad looks great and is pretty much feeling fine. We have had LOTS of visitors, phonecalls, and prayers. The sweetest thing to me has been his students that have come by to visit. One came and prayed with him, another brought him a teddy bear. The past couple of days have been very scary, but the Lord has granted us peace of mind and heart. Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers!
Hi guys... today I am posting to once again petition your prayers. My dad has been in the hospital since late Saturday night, because of a tumor the doctors found in his abdomen. My mom is doing a great job of keeping updated information on her blog, so I will let you get all of the information there (her link is "Mom" under "Good Readin").
Because my dad was admitted around midnight on Saturday, I didn't go to bed until around 2am, then didn't get to sleep until about 3:45am. Then I had to be at church the next morning at 7:45am to warm up with my praise team. Once people at church found out about my dad, they said, "Why are you here?!? What are you doing here??" And though I was very tired and anxious about my dad, there was no place on Earth I would have rather been. At first I tried not to cry in front of people, but when we were up singing "My Only Hope Is You" the tears started streaming. Too often we go to church and put on our happy face mask, but yesterday was not the morning to do that. I was surrounded by my brothers and sisters and prayed over again and again, then later was able to carry those prayers and love back to my parents. How do people deal with tragedy and grief outside of the body of Christ?
Thank you so much for your prayers and I will post again soon with an update.
Because my dad was admitted around midnight on Saturday, I didn't go to bed until around 2am, then didn't get to sleep until about 3:45am. Then I had to be at church the next morning at 7:45am to warm up with my praise team. Once people at church found out about my dad, they said, "Why are you here?!? What are you doing here??" And though I was very tired and anxious about my dad, there was no place on Earth I would have rather been. At first I tried not to cry in front of people, but when we were up singing "My Only Hope Is You" the tears started streaming. Too often we go to church and put on our happy face mask, but yesterday was not the morning to do that. I was surrounded by my brothers and sisters and prayed over again and again, then later was able to carry those prayers and love back to my parents. How do people deal with tragedy and grief outside of the body of Christ?
Thank you so much for your prayers and I will post again soon with an update.
2.14.2005
To my blog family in Nashville-
I am coming!! My job requires me to take 2 weeks off and because my trip to Haiti was canceled, I get to come see you! The lovely Brad York is letting me ride with him. We will probably leave early Friday morning, March 4th, and knowing how fast Brad drives, we should be able to make it in time for some Baja Burrito for dinner! Then we'll return on Sunday, March 14th. I can't wait- spring break can't come fast enough! Miss Megan Hackler will be handling my schedule, so please let her know if you'd like to arrange for a visit. :)
I love you and can't wait to see you all!
I am coming!! My job requires me to take 2 weeks off and because my trip to Haiti was canceled, I get to come see you! The lovely Brad York is letting me ride with him. We will probably leave early Friday morning, March 4th, and knowing how fast Brad drives, we should be able to make it in time for some Baja Burrito for dinner! Then we'll return on Sunday, March 14th. I can't wait- spring break can't come fast enough! Miss Megan Hackler will be handling my schedule, so please let her know if you'd like to arrange for a visit. :)
I love you and can't wait to see you all!
2.10.2005
Today was the first day of my second grad. school course. It's called "Ministry to Children", and taught by Dr. Samjung Kang-Hamilton, Dr. Mark Hamilton's wife. One of our assignments before class was to read John Westerhoff’s Will Our Children Have Faith? WOW! This is a must-read for anyone in ministry. He wrote this book originally in 1976, but it was revised in 2000. The only changes he made for the revision were updates at the end of each chapter. Though his updates were helpful, I found the majority of his thoughts and challenges to be timeless. This is a book that I will read over and over again throughout my ministry. Here’s some good stuff from Westerhoff:
“We can teach about equality in our church schools, but if our language in worship excludes women, if positions of influence and importance are held only by men or those from upper socioeconomic classes, or if particular races are either implicitly or explicitly excluded from membership, a different lesson is learned.”
“Because God is in relationship with all persons, we cannot be in full community with God unless we also identify with and seek the good of all persons… The Gospel is a social Gospel, a worldly Gospel, or no Gospel at all.”
“True conversion – authentic Christian life – is personal and social life lived on behalf of God’s will in the political, social, and economic world. The converted life is a revolutionary existence over against the status quo, a life committed to a vision of God’s coming community of liberation, justice, peace, whole community, and the well-being of all people.”
“To transmit faith to the next generation is to include them as participants in all the community’s rituals… [Rituals] make possible harmonious communal life and help people to make meaningful transitions in their lives.”
“There is no way we can say for sure if our children will or will not have faith, but of one thing we can be sure, they will never have faith unless there is a community of faith for them to live in and be influenced by.”
Challenging, eh? And these are just a few of the topics. While Westerhoff is exploring the faith of our children, these ideas are applicable to any ministry. In fact it is a call to bring all of our individual ministries together. “What? No touchy my ministry!” Sometimes I feel like this is how leaders feel about their ministries. Give it up! We are called to live in community and to not only serve others, but to also serve one another. What would it look like if individual ministries sacrificed their personal goals in order to serve the faith community? What if children’s ministry gave up Wednesday night curriculum for a month in order to assist the outreach ministry in serving meals? What if the adult ministry encouraged Bible-class attendees to give up their class for a semester to teach children’s classes? What if the worship ministry gave up loosened the reins and allowed the youth ministry to plan and lead a Sunday morning service? I could definitely be wrong about all of this, but these are just some thoughts from my ever-challenged mind and heart.
“We can teach about equality in our church schools, but if our language in worship excludes women, if positions of influence and importance are held only by men or those from upper socioeconomic classes, or if particular races are either implicitly or explicitly excluded from membership, a different lesson is learned.”
“Because God is in relationship with all persons, we cannot be in full community with God unless we also identify with and seek the good of all persons… The Gospel is a social Gospel, a worldly Gospel, or no Gospel at all.”
“True conversion – authentic Christian life – is personal and social life lived on behalf of God’s will in the political, social, and economic world. The converted life is a revolutionary existence over against the status quo, a life committed to a vision of God’s coming community of liberation, justice, peace, whole community, and the well-being of all people.”
“To transmit faith to the next generation is to include them as participants in all the community’s rituals… [Rituals] make possible harmonious communal life and help people to make meaningful transitions in their lives.”
“There is no way we can say for sure if our children will or will not have faith, but of one thing we can be sure, they will never have faith unless there is a community of faith for them to live in and be influenced by.”
Challenging, eh? And these are just a few of the topics. While Westerhoff is exploring the faith of our children, these ideas are applicable to any ministry. In fact it is a call to bring all of our individual ministries together. “What? No touchy my ministry!” Sometimes I feel like this is how leaders feel about their ministries. Give it up! We are called to live in community and to not only serve others, but to also serve one another. What would it look like if individual ministries sacrificed their personal goals in order to serve the faith community? What if children’s ministry gave up Wednesday night curriculum for a month in order to assist the outreach ministry in serving meals? What if the adult ministry encouraged Bible-class attendees to give up their class for a semester to teach children’s classes? What if the worship ministry gave up loosened the reins and allowed the youth ministry to plan and lead a Sunday morning service? I could definitely be wrong about all of this, but these are just some thoughts from my ever-challenged mind and heart.
2.08.2005
I want to share about an experience I had on Sunday. Marianne is a lady who attends Highland with her family, and is also a friend of my parents from 11th & Willis days. She has had cancer for (I think) 5 years now, and has been as close to death as possible a few times in recent months. On Sunday her family asked that communion be brought to her house. However Super Bowl Sunday parties seemed to be of more importance, so only my parents, me & Lindsey, and another 11th & Willis friend, Greg, showed up to share in this holy meal. Gathered around the meal was Marianne, her husband (who also lost his 1st wife to cancer), her brother and sister, their daughter, and us. We sang hymns, Greg shared some thoughts, and then Greg and I served the meal. I tore a piece of bread for each person, and Greg held the juice so that they could dip their bread into it. While Marianne did not remember who we were, she sure did remember her Lord and the sacrifice that was made for her. During the meal, her husband held her as she whispered through her tears, “I don’t deserve this… I don’t deserve this.” I have had some delicious, memorable meals in my lifetime, but this meal by far was the most precious. This is what being family is all about. This is what the body of Christ is all about. I want to be a part of a family that values the importance of this meal.
2.03.2005
This past Saturday I attended a talk given by Dan McVey at Highland about Islam and Christianity. I became interested after my dad told me about Dan speaking in his Bible class at church. I have never had much exposure to Islam or Muslims, so I thought this would be a good thing to go to. Let me tell you- I took over 4 pages of notes!! Here are some things I found interesting:
-Something we, as Westerners, may not understand is that in many Islamic countries, there is no separation between church and state, or religion and culture. Something that many Muslims do not understand about Western culture is that religion and culture ARE separate. Therefore they look at our TV shows, our music, our wealth, and see this as Christianity. This clears up a lot of Usama's demands of the US after 9-11 (stopping debauchery, immorality, etc.)
-People of honor/shame cultures (many Islamic countries) believe that if you leave the realm of the Islam culture, then it is okay to take part of that new culture. This explains why the 9-11 hijackers visited strip bars one night, and flew in the name of Allah the next.
-(a common Muslim belief) "A sin that is not known is 2/3 forgiven already." Yikes!
-We as Americans and Westerners value and have come to expect our freedom in every aspect of our life. Freedom is not an important concept for Muslims. So when we tell our Iraqi friends that we are making them "free", they might not be quite as excited about it as we would be.
-Americans have very short memories. I would never accuse my Hispanic friends of killing my ancestors in the battle of the Alamo, nor would I accuse my English pals of not allowing us our freedom!! However Muslims have lllloooooonnnngggg memories. Dan said that when he visited an African village made of up Muslims who had never been outside of a 10-mile radius, they were able to recount the names and dates of the Holy Wars and the violent acts of Christians towards Muslims. Therefore we look at the Gulf War and our current situation and not see a whole lot of correlation. But they look at these wars and think back to the crusades.
-Why would a person convert to Islam? (especially true for African-Americans): 1) a sense of anti-establishment, justice, 2) simple, orderly, concrete theology for life, 3) Christianity does not offer equality... maybe in theory, but not in practice when our churches are so culturally and racially diverse.... Jesus died in suffering, then his disciples lived in suffering v. Mohommed died in victory, then his people followed in conquest and victory
-Christian martyrdom is rising, but it is rising in the places of the most concentrated Christianity... therefore martyrdom is a very effective evangelism.
-So how can we bring Jesus to Muslims?
1) DON'T use the term "Christianity"- carries too much historial baggage
2) gospel is to be preached in historical terms, not theological terms and debates (because they WILL win those debates)
3) just let the Bible speak for itself, and let Jesus speak for Himself... don't try to explain every little thing (I think this goes for any evagelism)
4) this is a spiritual (not intellectual) war
5) we have to remember that Satan is the enemy, not our Muslim brothers and sisters
6) our job is not to convince, but to show Jesus
Well these were just the things I found interesting. Sometimes when I have experiences like this that are so completely different from my life norm, I wonder if God is preparing me for something. Like maybe I'll have a chance to reach out to Muslim children or have Muslim neighbors. Just makes me wonder...
-Something we, as Westerners, may not understand is that in many Islamic countries, there is no separation between church and state, or religion and culture. Something that many Muslims do not understand about Western culture is that religion and culture ARE separate. Therefore they look at our TV shows, our music, our wealth, and see this as Christianity. This clears up a lot of Usama's demands of the US after 9-11 (stopping debauchery, immorality, etc.)
-People of honor/shame cultures (many Islamic countries) believe that if you leave the realm of the Islam culture, then it is okay to take part of that new culture. This explains why the 9-11 hijackers visited strip bars one night, and flew in the name of Allah the next.
-(a common Muslim belief) "A sin that is not known is 2/3 forgiven already." Yikes!
-We as Americans and Westerners value and have come to expect our freedom in every aspect of our life. Freedom is not an important concept for Muslims. So when we tell our Iraqi friends that we are making them "free", they might not be quite as excited about it as we would be.
-Americans have very short memories. I would never accuse my Hispanic friends of killing my ancestors in the battle of the Alamo, nor would I accuse my English pals of not allowing us our freedom!! However Muslims have lllloooooonnnngggg memories. Dan said that when he visited an African village made of up Muslims who had never been outside of a 10-mile radius, they were able to recount the names and dates of the Holy Wars and the violent acts of Christians towards Muslims. Therefore we look at the Gulf War and our current situation and not see a whole lot of correlation. But they look at these wars and think back to the crusades.
-Why would a person convert to Islam? (especially true for African-Americans): 1) a sense of anti-establishment, justice, 2) simple, orderly, concrete theology for life, 3) Christianity does not offer equality... maybe in theory, but not in practice when our churches are so culturally and racially diverse.... Jesus died in suffering, then his disciples lived in suffering v. Mohommed died in victory, then his people followed in conquest and victory
-Christian martyrdom is rising, but it is rising in the places of the most concentrated Christianity... therefore martyrdom is a very effective evangelism.
-So how can we bring Jesus to Muslims?
1) DON'T use the term "Christianity"- carries too much historial baggage
2) gospel is to be preached in historical terms, not theological terms and debates (because they WILL win those debates)
3) just let the Bible speak for itself, and let Jesus speak for Himself... don't try to explain every little thing (I think this goes for any evagelism)
4) this is a spiritual (not intellectual) war
5) we have to remember that Satan is the enemy, not our Muslim brothers and sisters
6) our job is not to convince, but to show Jesus
Well these were just the things I found interesting. Sometimes when I have experiences like this that are so completely different from my life norm, I wonder if God is preparing me for something. Like maybe I'll have a chance to reach out to Muslim children or have Muslim neighbors. Just makes me wonder...
