The meeting with Jason and Joel was great tonight. It is always good to bounce ideas around and listen to other points of view. It was so good that we plan to do this regularly...every month or so....I am really looking forward to that.

I need relationships like what we just started tonight...we are all in the same type of "work" and can easily sharpen each other as we meet and talk about life, ministry, and where we fit into all of that.

We don't have any concrete plans coming out of our meeting and that is a good thing...You don't want to rush stuff like this and we are going to allow it to happen without forcing something into existence just because it sounds like a good idea.
An idea that Jason had that I like is to have a time where the leadership of the churches can come together and have a refreshing time of fellowship, worship, encouragement...etc.
I could see us doing something like this every few months to allow some time for the leadership to be challenged and spurred on in growth. I am anxious to see how this idea plays out.

As for something for me to invite my friends to...I think H20(campus ministry) is on to something there. One Thursday night a month geared specifically to people that are curious about spirtual things...developing a theme from month to month for people to get their minds wrapped around.
As Jason described it I thought...that is it...that is what I have been wanting to do...It seems like that need I was feeling is going to be addressed beginning next semester...cool

The questions I have in my head are the:

Who? What? Why? Where?

Who is this meeting supposed to be for?
What is this going to look like?
Why are we doing this...what is the need?
Where will we meet?

I feel like I have a better handle on some of these questions after tonight, but I need to think, pray, and talk about it much more...
We often start programs of "ministry" without really considering if there is really a need for it. I don't want just another program...we have plenty of those to go around...I want to be part of a movement...

Well...The T-bird is back on its feet. Powersteering line came in today and got her buttoned up a couple of hours ago. All for less than $20...man that is nice

Having a couple of junk cars in years past that were broken down every other week didn't seem like much fun then, but boy did I learn a lot from all of that.

Macee is doing much better and I think she'll go back to the sitter tomorrow...we'll see. I was in our new building yesterday and it is very, very nice...not overdone, but nice. It will be nice to have a place to call home...but I hesitate on becoming too comfortable there. With a nice new building it is so easy to fall right back into the "Sunday Morning Psychosis" we seem to be so comfortable in. I have to keep finding balance in all of this. Having this building isn't bad, but just because we have it doesn't make it good either. We have to be deliberate about it.

Well, tomorrow night I am going to meet with a couple of guys and see if we can come up with some ideas for this big "event/concert/gathering...." ,whatever you want to call it, deal sometime this spring. I hope to have it on campus somewhere on BGSU and try to make it something that I could actually invite my co-workers to and that they might actually enjoy themselves. Pray that we can think outside of our preconceived religious constructs that are culturally irrelevant and arrive somewhere that is authentic, relevant, and honest.

Saw this article from Tim Hughes on heartofworship.com...it's a good read

Macee was in the hospital overnight Friday night with Pneumonia. It was probably the most trying and difficult night we have ever had in our 7 and a half years of married life. It is tough to see your kid sick and in pain. Things were just chaotic and stressful, even more than last year when she was in for 3 days with pnemonia and RSV. They tell us that she will likely have lung issues for some time since she was a preemie, but we hope and pray that they are wrong. She seems to be on the mend now.

To top it all off this weekend, when I was running out Friday after noon to pick up a bite to eat for the three of us, my power steering went out in the T-bird. Now we are down to one car until I can get enough time to replace the line(which will not be a quick and easy job)

When it rains it pours...even still I will allow the peace of God and the Joy of the Holy Spirit to keep me from total frustration.
If I am not careful I will allow my circumstances to control my outlook and distract me from my focus. I must remember...I am here to meet peoples needs...my family, my friends, and those I don't even know. If I become consumed by my own self-pitty or frustrated at my own situation, I begin to live for a kingdom that has no life. Even tonight I was frustrated with the woman at wal-mart checking me out because she was a little slow...
I didn't ask her how she was...smile...show any interest in her life. Although our paths crossed for only a short time, those are the little things of kingdom living. "Bear with one another in love".....sometimes I don't do that very well.

We had our second meeting for a "home builders" group tonight and it was good. Both meetings so far have been good to hear the struggles and victories of other couples in various stages of life...a sense of openness and community are beginning to develop. We spoke of transparency in relationships tonight and it is obvious that we are becoming transparent with each other as we share details of our lives and our spiritual/relational developement. Some people are very young in their faith and some are not so young in their faith and it makes for a great mix.

It isn't an every week group which is very attractive. It makes it more of a time to look forward to and not just another obligation on another night of the week of an already too busy schedule.

It is good to build those relationships with other believers, but I have found that I still long to have a semi-regular meeting time with a group of people that are just plain curious about spiritual things but haven't yet made a stand as to what that is going to mean for them. I am not sure what a meeting like that would or could look like, but I know that most of the people I work with don't seem to be ready for anything quite that deep...I'm still trying to get them to tell me about their siblings...that question last week didn't go anywhere. I just want to find out about their lives and show a genuine interest in them. Again, though....that takes time....
"and this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight..." Phil 1:9

May my love for people continue to grow...starting with my family and spilling out into every aspect of my life...