Life, As It Has Been Lately

So I'm not sure exactly what to write about tonight. Life continues on at a typical rate. Church is going great. 98 in attendance Sunday with a number of regulars not present. We had a good "family" congregational meeting. Casting the vision to the rest of the church body.

Susan is still pregnant and uncomfortable. Should/Could be any day/moment now. At least we hope so.

The boys are doing good. Homework is done for the night. That's always a good thing.

Finished The BarbarianWay by McManus. Amazing book. I found it at a discount/closeout store in the area for like $3. Tiny little book packed with a big old punch. Kicked me in the gut a couple of times, that's for sure.

Think I'm going to finish The Passionate Church next. I started it a couple of weeks ago, but was soon committed to finishing A Generous Orthodoxy.
S
o what's going on in your world? I'd love to hear

Barbarians!!!!

So the past week has been quite eventful. Since my last post, we have visited the hospital to take a tour of the maternity department, enjoyed watching Isaac "play basketball" in his Sat. morning league, and many other semi-important things.

Sunday was another good day at church. I preached a sermon on vision and its necessity in the church. We had another high attendance, 107, with a number of regular attenders absent. This week I preach on strategy and accomplishing our vision and mission. Congregational meeting following the service. Those are usually a lot of fun. (Note the sarcasm.)

I continue to get busier and busier with church details. That may sound like I am complaining, but that is certainly not the case. I am enjoying the details that we are engrossing ourselves in right now. They are the necessary details that must be in place for the church to grow and fulfill its mission of reaching out to our community. I am very, very excited about what's going on here.

Susan had an appointment on Tuesday in which the doctor said everything was looking normal and just to be ready. Thursday morning, Susan thought that possibly her "water" had "broken". (I put it in quotes because I am not sure if those are the real scientific terms for that process.) So we call the doctor and they tell us to go to the hospital. (Good thing we took the tour on Friday night.) After laying in the triage unit for a while enduring multiple contractions they come in to tell us that in fact it was not the case. And so we wait. However, the nurses said, like the doctor, that the baby looks perfectly healthy.

I went to Isaac's school today. It's Dad Comes to School week today and all of next week. I told about my job as a minister/pastor/preacher (depending on what these kids understand it to be), and read a book to them. After reading the book, one of the kids asked me if I could tell them a little bit about God. I looked at the teacher, who has been quite supportive of "religious" efforts in the school, and said, "I could, but I don't think that right now is the best time or place." I did eventually tell them, "I can tell you this: God loves you very much." It was nice to be put in that situation. I look forward to more like it.

Been reading The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus. Very good and challenging book. He says that Christians today have become "civilized" and "domesticated" instead of being the barbarian kind of Christians that we see in the New Testament. Very interesting thought. Any comments from you all?

Have a good one. I'll let you know when the baby comes. (At some point!)

World's Worst Blogger

Am I not the worst blogger in the world? I know for a fact that I am not, but still. Nothing of substance for almost 2 weeks. Yikes!!

Wow! Where to start? Participated in my first funeral in over a year. The joys of working with a new and relatively young congregation. Although it seemed like some of the people were wondering if I've ever done a funeral before in my life. I reassured them that I've been a part of many funerals. One person said, "But not as a senior minister though, right?" Like there's a difference?!?

Been doing an awful lot of reading lately. Still trying to finish McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy. It's a very good book that raises a lot of valid points about the church today. That book is my goal in the next week. Finish it and start with McManus The Barbarian Way and Miller's Seeking God Knows What.

We had over 100 in attendance 2 weeks ago. That's great. Ordained 3 elders. Even better. Setting up ministry teams. Great. Seeing a whole lot of momentum. Hoping that we can follow God's lead and really begin to reach out to our community.

Susan is feeling as well as can be expected of a 38 week pregnant woman. We are very anxious for this new one's arrival. My mom has been here this week helping us get ready around the house for his coming. Lots of laundry has been done as well as sorting and organizing of Isaac and Riley's clothes. We are feeling more prepared than we were at this point last week. Mom has been a great help to us.

Isaac continues to do well in school. He had a 2nd grade teacher make a comment the other night at a school reading program that she would love to request Isaac for her class next year. That makes us as parents feel very good.

Riley is 4 and showing it. He continues to mature and grow. He understands more and more games and that makes life fun. Except that his attention span is quite short. LOL.

Both boys are excited as well about the baby. They both will venture into the nursery and look around or sit down and play games in there. It's really neat to see them acting that way, already expressing love to their new little brother (we still think).

Anyway, as I continue to read some of these books, don't be surprised if I seek your input on certain topics. I value your input and sometimes even your criticism.

Later.

Update from Christmas

I know I've needed to update for some time. There really is a lot to tell, but sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. No comments. No thoughts from the outside world. My friend Stevan actually tried blackmailing people into leaving comments. Refused to post until he received 50 comments. How lame! I'm not that desperate (I don't think).

Actually life has been pretty good lately. In the month since I last posted, we have had Christmas here in Delaware, in West Virginia, and in Indiana. We have all spent a little bit of time sick. And we spent a great deal of time in the van.

Susan now has 5 weeks until her due date. We are ready, but she is even more ready. A whole lot more discomfort with this one. (Sign of things to come?!?) She is trying to stay comfortable and off her feet to alleviate the aching.

Isaac is back at school and doing well, although practice spelling test last night was not enjoyable. He starts playing basketball tomorrow in a church league just up the way in Glasgow. Should be interesting again. Much like last year's b-ball experiment.

Riley is now 4. We celebrated his birthday in the same three states we celebrated Christmas. He continues to grow and amaze us. We determined on our whirlwind holiday trip that he needs to drink less. Something about stopping 3 times in 80 miles.

I was very ready and excited to get back to Middletown for church reasons. I feel very excited about what God is going to do in us and through us in 2006. We have been just short of the 100 mark for about a month now. We ordain 3 elders this Sunday and begin to establish our ministry team system in the coming month as well. I don't know if I can fully convey to you my excitement. There is an underlying sense of excitement and momentum. The folks here are just waiting for a direction from these new leaders. Should be a lot of fun this year! Anybody interested in coming out and seeing it?

Gotta run for now. Check out my friend Tom's website here. Great guy and he asks a lot of thought-provoking questions.

Don't forget the comments!