HCLM BLOG

I watched extreme home makeover last night. That show always makes me a little uncomfortable. People always seem a little too good, and the houses are presented as a panacea. I mean I know it's a good thing, but it reminds me that we are not living for this life, but the next and Jesus once said that it's harder for the rich to get that than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle. But the people always seem happy and you can count on tears.

That show was in my mind this morning when I spent some time looking at joy. Chris and I are talking about the fruit of the spirit in the "Audio Conversations" (by the way we are taking suggestions for a better name for those things). We're talking about one characteristic a week. I think we'll consider joy this week.

I have this cool book that shows me each time the greek word translated joy is used in the New Testament. So far it's making me think of the subversive nature of Jesus and his kingdom. You know, that his kingdom is neither beholden nor subject to the leaders or laws of this world. In fact at one point the evangelist Paul says, "in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality." Joy comes with deep poverty? That is certainly inconistent with the perspective of this world. See joy is a gift of the spirit, it comes at the behest of our King independent and often inspite or in the face of the realities of this world.

Joy is difficult to define. It is deeper and broader that hapiness; more substantial. I want to say that is a position of the heart that keeps it from the grip of fear, despair, or even guilt. This position is bought for us by the cross, and comes as a free gift to those who don't refuse it.

At the risk of sounding redundant: I watch Biggest Loser (don't knock it til you've tried it). 

Am I the only one that can taste the pollen on my tounge right now. I mean really. The pollen seems thicker on the ground than thegrass, it lines all the curbs and I’m pretty sure that I can feel it on my tounge when I walk outside. This all spells bummer for someone like me who has allergies with a capital A. I’ve had this crazy sinus pressure that feels like a headache for the last two days; it makes it hard to be in a good mood

A friend of mine told me that God cured him of sinus problems. Like once he finally really forgave his older brother he didn’t have the problems again. Sometimes they start to come back, he forgives his brother again and they go away. Crazy huh?

As I wrote it occurred to me, maybe I should forgive my younger brother. I don’t feel like I’m harboring anything against him. But I suppose people that close to us have done some stuff over the years. So I forgave him for the random things that came to mind and asked the Holy Spirit to bless him.I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Chris and I are getting ready to talk about this list in Paul's letter to the ancient church of Galatia. In one of my all time favorite sections, Paul writes a list for those early christians to describe what life submitted to the Spirit of God looks like. And, big surprise, it looks good!

So here's some thoughts I had today.

I don't know a lot about science. Atoms and cells were interesting to me in school and I still remember some of the parts. You know, cytoplasm and mitochondrea, neurons and stuff. But I don't really know about it. I understand the concept of a stem cell, but couldn't learn anything by looking at one under a microscope. I certainly couldn't figure out how to clone anything from it. Cloning just makes me think of that Michael Keaton movie Multiplicity. So if I have an opinion on the changing stance of the government toward those cells it comes from an eighth-graders science knowledge. 

I gotta say, I'm really excited for the future of our church. I know that is a broad sort of nebulous statement, but I've been thinking a lot about it lately (yes I think about the future of our church a lot).

At critical points in my life I have learned to expect God to drop the answer into my lap. When it came time to decide what college to go to, the answer just became clear. I knew where I was going to go, and even though my scores weren't really good enough to get it, God dropped it into my lap. When it became clear that I really was ready to have someone to love, God dropped Megan into my lap. She moved into town and when I met her I knew she was out of my league. If I she liked me it would be a miracle. And when it came time to start ministry I always counted on God to drop the right situation in my lap, and the Seminary sent me here. So far it could not have been a better situation.

That theme of "dropping answers in my lap" is why I feel so good about the future of our church. I see God continuing to drop folks into our lap. Our attendance is up 10% from last year, which means more people are hearing about the goodness, grace, and freedom of God every Sunday morning. 350 people are finding ways to connect with one another in teams, which means the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. And God continues to open up doors for us to establish leagues of teams in Mt. Dora and Orlando which means the mission of our church is spreading in Central Florida.

Last night a pastor from Canada helped to lead our prayer service. He confirmed my excitement as he told us to expect a move of God in our church. Consider this your invitation to step into the church, into the mission of God, and encounter the God who changes lives forever!

I'm going to a spring training game today. Roger DeanStadium, Spring home of the Cardinals. Could be a good year for them. I grew upa Cardinals fan and am doing my best to spread it to the kid. When I was littleflorida didn’t have any baseball teams besides the random minor leaguers thatplayed on Tinker Field. So I got grandfathered into the Cardinal nation. Literally. My mom is from the St. Louis area and her Dad was big Cardinals fan.Seems like he was always had a game on the t.v., and he knew the radioannouncers personally (at least that what I thought because he knew them bytheir voice and called them by their first names…he probably didn’t really knowthem though). One year in like first grade he came and got me out of class, puta green cardinals hat on my head and took me out to a Spring Training game.

I’ve thought a lot about the end lately. I mean what it willbe like after the judgement. I really like baseball, watching and playing. Theolder I get the worse I play and the better I watch, but if I’m going to besomewhere forever I’d like to be able to do both.