Kingdom of God?

The Single Life

2009-10-14T21:34:00.003-06:00

Court and Avery have been visiting her family since last Thursday, so for a time I am a single guy. Timber is still around, a loyal friend, but he isn't much of a conversationalist.

Over the last week I have tried to stay busy working on church stuff, subbing at a few local schools, doing a few things around the house, etc...For about 24 hours having the house to myself was nice.

However, the silence of it all begins to creep in. Avery not being here is obvious, she is so filled with energy. Each day she fills our home with joy in so many ways. Court, I miss her. I miss our quiet conversation. I miss her condescending nature toward my immature sense of humor. I even vacuumed today, 2 days before their return because I miss her complaining about Timber's hair being around our house. Most of all I miss her laugh, I love watching a TV show or movie with her knowing something is going to make her laugh.

I am not sure exactly when it happened, but I am less full when Court and Avery aren't around. We are each designed differently, but I could never work a job that kept me away from Court or Avery for any length of time. I can only imagine those who do such things and how difficult it is, but other than absolute necessity I could never work such a job.

I still have roughly 48 hours to go before they return. I spend most moments of the day thinking about them. I can't wait to see them at the airport.

Being a husband and a dad isn't easy. I often wonder if I am very good at either. I do believe I work hard at it, but I fear I do not work smart. It is hard work, without a doubt it is a labor of love. One thing rings true, anything worth anything is worth working for...

The single life, I'll be glad when I am not single anymore.

Riding Home w/ Avery

2009-09-02T17:44:00.002-06:00

This is an excerpt from the conversation Avery and I had on the way home from preschool today.

Avery: What is that?

Ryan: That is a boat being pulled by a truck.

Avery: That is not a boat, daddy!

Ryan: It is a boat. See the motor.

Avery: That is not a boat.

Ryan: Avery, it is a boat. Watch as it turns right at this red light, from the side so you will see it better.

Avery: You were right daddy. It is a boat.

Ryan: Being the daughter of your mother it must have been hard to udder those difficult but often true words.

Avery: Huh!

Ryan: You were right.

Avery: (giggles) Daddy!

Dad's Day Trip through the Beartooth Mountains

2009-08-17T17:25:00.011-06:00

Mom and Dad came out to spend a few days with the granddaughter, one might mistake the dates and surmise their visit to be due to my birthday. In actuality they came on these dates because of the price of the tickets. :)

Dad and I spent the day driving through the Beartooth Mountains. My love of the outdoors was a gift passed on to me by my father, most of the memories that I have with my father growing up include outdoor related activities. The top 10 list of these memories are all related to the wilderness aspect of the outdoors. A few memories that stick out are: the first morning sitting in a deer stand with dad before daylight asking him what every single noise I heard was, a winter camping trip in the Daniel Boone National Forest sleeping on 10 inches of snow and waking up to dad half in the tent and half out of the tent with the fire blazing, countless days sitting by his side as the haze of night gave way to the clarity of the morning, watching five silly jakes run back down the road giving dad a 2nd chance...the list goes on.

Dad is aging. He isn't ready for a pine box just yet, but his days of strapping on a backpack and heading up a mountain trail (especially trails that go as vertical as the trails around here do) are over. A case of vertigo that he developed in the late 80's doesn't help matters either.

Despite some limitations we pulled out of Billings around 8:40 a.m. this morning and began the drive Southwest to the Beartooth Mountains. Our drive would take us along the Beartooth Scenic Highway with a summit of 10,497 feet and we returned via the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway back to Billings around 4:30 p.m. this afternoon. I wish pictures did justice to the scope of the landscape out here, but they don't. The drive was awesome. Perfect weather with fantastic visibility! We saw fresh snow on August 17, it was way cool. Simply, a great day!

Check out this Youtube of our day...

A Walk for Hope and Dignity

2009-08-03T15:03:00.001-06:00

Our church participated in the Montana Rescue Mission "Walk for Hope and Dignity", a local effort to raise awareness of the homeless needs in our area. Anyway, it was cool.

Avery made some decent air time, go to the link and watch the video.

http://www.ktvq.com/Global/story.asp?S=10822632

The story portrayed it as a youth event, but it was for anyone.

Day Hike to Lost Lake

2009-07-31T21:10:00.009-06:00

Court, Timber and I headed out today for a hike to Lost Lake, out and back totaling 11 miles. It was rather chilly at the start of our hike with temps in the low 50's and rainy. We didn't get a lot of pictures because of the weather, however we were heading up the trail around the 3 mile mark when I noticed Timber's head pop up. I looked to my right and at 75 yards stood a mother moose with her calf feeding in some grass along the stream. They paid us little mind.

Court started getting blisters along the trail and they were as bad as any I have ever seen. All in all it was a good day blisters aside. Beautiful scenery! Great company.

Lost Lake

Where has the time gone

2009-07-22T20:24:00.002-06:00

This month has flown by, things are extremely busy in Billings. The long and the short of it is things are good. We are excited for our church, we will work on a Habitat House on August 9.

Court, Avery and I just returned from a trip back to the "Dub" otherwise known as Wilmington, NC. I had the privilege of marrying one of our closets friends Jamie Miller, now Jamie Miller Craig. It was an awesome weekend. Great wedding, great friends, etc...

On Sunday I spoke at our old church. I felt a bit scattered but God seemed to use the message. Hopefully, I conveyed how God is at work in Montana and how we are trying to join in.

Then Monday came, our friends dropped us at the airport only to find out our flight was cancelled. No trip home! Thankfully some other friends of ours were out of town so we crashed at their place, which has a pool. A quick phone call or two turned the night into one final fair-well party. Avery played with her new boyfriend, Kaden, who by the way was the first little kid I liked. He is still my boy. She could do a lot worse. Though I am not ready for this whole crush thing. It was cute however.

I have long said I don't believe they have bugs in Montana, but this week I was reminded they have them in North Carolina. Avery has 21 bug bites as of today. She had a big week, she played with several of her friends and hung with all of the people who love to spoil her. She loves that and them.

Finally on Tuesday evening we began the trek home. We returned to Billings at 9 p.m., a day behind and tired. I woke up, went to work and hiked 7 miles with the young guy I work with on Wednesdays. Time for bed!

Oh, yea, I have no idea how I ever lived in such a hot, humid climate. I about died!

A week in review...

2009-06-26T18:53:00.017-06:00

We had a great start to the week as our church gathering on Father's Day went well. Early in the week was pretty much status quo. I worked at my job, took care of the weekly church admin stuff and did daddy day care on days when Court worked.

Tuesday was a good day, in the morning Avery and I hung with a friend of hers and her daddy all morning and I pretty much spent all afternoon doing church related stuff. We are looking into purchasing a trailer to haul our childcare equipment to and fro each week.

I recently took on a 2nd kid at my job. Can't say much other than he is a teenager who wants to do outdoor related activities. So we took a day hike on Wednesday. He did well on the hike considering he had never been on such an expedition. We did about 5 miles with less than 500 foot of elevation gain. We also fished a bit at a stocked fish pond. These two pics are from our hike. The picture on the left is West Fork Rock Creek and the one on the right is a glacier stream running into the creek.

Thursday was an early start, Jon (the other pastor) and I left my house at 5:20 a.m. for an over night staff planning retreat. I miss many, many things about Wilmington, NC, however one thing I don't miss was taking staff retreats to the beach. I never fully understood this practice because we lived at the beach. I was also quite bias in that I did not like the beach at all.

We pulled into the parking lot of our trailhead

around 7 a.m. in the Beartooth Mountains. Our plan was to hike 4 miles to Lake Gertrude the hike included roughly a 2000 foot elevation gain. The goal of our trip was 3 fold, fun, fall strategic planning for our church and spiritual retreat. The spiritual retreat part is easy in the Beartooth Mountains for those that appreciate such rugged beauty. Our hike was grueling, but certainly our thoughts rarely left a sense of awe and wonder with God. Spiritual retreat is easily achieved in such a place.

The highlights of the trip were seeing a couple of Moose, Lake Gertrude, a couple hours fly fishing and catching 26 trout, Timberline Basin, taking an afternoon to; talk about, plan and pray for our church and once we got over our fear of seeing a bear on the way out the next morning it was a highlight as well.

We really didn't have any low lights, Timber did chase down and attempt to bite a porcupine. He came back with about 20 stickers in his grill. They didn't seem to hurt him though and I was able to pull them all out.

Below you'll find some pics from the day trip and you can also watch a short video at Ryan's Youtube

The next morning we woke up at 5 a.m. hiked down the 4 mile trail, seeing a black bear on the way and got home in time to take Avery to preschool and start working on church stuff. Oh yea, we bought the childcare trailer.

Lake Gertrude (Base Camp)

Timberline Basin

Silver Run Plateau and Glacier over my right shoulder (12,500 feet)

Bear Spray

2009-06-19T09:24:00.004-06:00

It has been a while since my last blog. With the church up and running with weekly gatherings we are all busy. That being said things are positive and fragile. What does that mean? We are trying not to define success by the old numerical standards, but to help frame our first seven weeks I'll use some numbers. We have had as many as 50 people attend our gatherings and as few as 10. Most weeks now we are running 25-35 people and several people now seem to come week after week. The community we are striving to provide seems to be developing and this is why it seems positive.

Fragile, I guess I didn't understand how uncertain this whole experience would be. Moving out and trying to do this seemed uncertain, but in time we got comfortable with our new life and ministry. Then developing a core group seemed difficult and always felt fragile. Moving to a public gathering felt a lot like do or die time. I believed from that point forward the church would work or not work. I wasn't prepared for the positive mixed with the uncertainty. So it feels fragile. I believe in retrospect I was unprepared for the amount of faith it takes to plant a church. That beings said God continues to walk along side us. That's cool!

The family is well, in fact, we recently returned from Avery's first overnight camping trip. It was awesome. The days leading up to the adventure you could feel and see Avery's excitement rising. The morning of departure she was up early and ready to go. We arrived at our campsite in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness around mid morning and set up the tent and gathered fire wood. Avery was quite the little helper to only be 3 years old.

Once camp was prepared we hopped in the truck to drive over to the trailhead of our intended hike. It was the Lower Basin Lake trail, 2.5 miles which goes from 6500 feet at the trailhead to 8500 feet at the lake. I knew it would be a difficult hike for us, so we planned it first leaving 2 easier hikes for the rest of the trip. A 2000 foot ascent over 2.5 miles is steep, steeper than I imagined. It was kicking our butts, I was toting Avery in her new kid tote backpack. She weighs roughly 35 lbs now, so she was heavy. The hike itself was beautiful. Most of the hike is along the Basin Creek which has a few waterfalls. The views are spectacular and Avery was so wired she made the entire 2 hour hike up the side of that mountain pure joy.

A day or two before we left I realized that the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness not only had black bears, but also had grizzly bears in fact they were more common. So I went to a local outdoor store to purchase a bear bell (a bell you hang on your pack) apparently bears don't like metallic sounds. I also bought a can of bear spray, which is essentially pepper spray on human growth hormone. The spray shoots roughly 20 feet, I have no desire to ever have a grizzly of any kind that close to me or my family.

Turns out the bear bell ($3.95) was a waste of money. Avery literally talked, sang and generally made noise at the top of her lungs all the way up the mountain and back down it. Once we reached the lake it was awesome. So quite and peaceful. You could holler and cause quite the echo. This reminded Avery of a Backyardigans song, "There's an echo in the canyon." She started singing the song on the decent and sang it at the top of her lungs the entire way down, 1 hour and 15 minutes.

On the hike we saw several waterfalls, had to cross the creek twice, saw a few old log cabins, Avery went to the bathroom in the woods for the first time in her life and did not understand why it needed to be buried, during a short section of the trek near the top Avery demanded to be the lead of our expedition and Timber who led for most of the trip stopped on more than 1 occasion looked back at us with a face that said, "You guys had to wait until I was 11 years old to start this type of hiking."

We did another short 1 mile hike that day with little to no ascent, however it was around small mountain lake with water so clear trout are easily seen. Avery liked that part of the hike. That night we made a campfire, ate and cooked marsh mellows. Avery like most kids is a pyromaniac and loved the marsh mellows.

She was so driven by adrenaline she powered through the day without a nap and way past her bed time when we got in the tent at 10 p.m. she got into her new sleeping bag. It was a mummy bag which we promptly mummied her up and she was fast asleep within 5 minutes.

As I lay in my bag that night, a little concerned about the potential of grizzly bears entering the camp I realized it was probably the best day of my life to this point. I know the PC thing to say is the day your child was born is the best day, but the reality of that day is I was so overwhelmed with trying to do things I had no idea how to do (i.e. be a good husband and dad) i really didn't enjoy it. Certainly in retrospect the gift of Avery makes that the best day. That being said June 17, 2009 was the best day of my life when I knew it was the best day.

Court, Avery, Timber and I had spent and entire day together experiencing new and exciting things. We enjoyed each others company and worked well together. Court who is generally in most ways a city girl, showed the side of her that I am most attracted to, her fearlessness. She hiked that mountain, collected firewood, cooked over a campfire, etc...she was pretty awesome. She seemed to sleep just fine, if she was worried about grizzly bears she didn't act like it. Laying in my sleeping bag that night I thanked God for the day and my family.

That night a storm came in and rain set in for the morning. It cancelled our hike for the day, but we were all tired and a bit wet from making breakfast in the rain. So we tore camp down and headed home. I can hardly wait to go back. Avery wants to bring her fishing pole (Barbie model) and "catch some of those fishes."

If you subscribe to my youtube account and are on my friends list I'll give you access to a short video retrospective of our day.

Pay Day

2009-05-19T22:25:00.002-06:00

It took almost one year, but I reached the $100 limit today on Goggle Adsense. They won't mail you a check until you earn $100 or more. So now I should have a check coming my way. What to buy?

Church in Tree Hill, NC

2009-05-18T21:55:00.003-06:00

As I sat watching the season finale of the CW TV series "One Tree Hill" 2nite I realized I should have planted a church in Tree Hill. In one hour the magic touch of the writers made all wrongs right and a seasons worth of difficulties and tribulations were washed away as all the main characters finally reached their intended goals and destinations. It was beautiful!

Unfortunately it was also make believe. I know it is a bit cheesy that I watch "One Tree Hill" I blame working with teenagers and the fact that the show was shot in my former home town of Wilmington, NC.

Planting a church in the real world is difficult, this week has been an example of that fact. The first two weeks of our public gathering certainly went well and a general sense of excitement has been among us. However, beneath the surface our small core group has been struggling. This past Sunday did not help when only a handful of people showed up to our gathering. None of us expected miracles, but it felt a bit like a punch in the gut.

It was only one week, but pray for us. It hit us hard and we are uncertain of what to do if we continue down that path.

While planting a church in the real world may never end with a neat bow tied on top like TV land does, watching "One Tree Hill" 2nite reminded me of something.

Believe dreams come true, because they do!

Travel Troubles Up Date

2009-05-13T20:29:00.002-06:00

After our fiasco in late March with Delta I sent a strongly worded e-mail to their customer service department. Loosing the luggage was bad, but the multiple times people lied to me on the phone simply to get off the phone with me was what pushed me over the top.

Anyway, I feel obliged to inform you we got 3 $75 vouchers in the mail last week. Certainly Delta did not have to do anything, but I appreciated the gesture of this token offering. For us in our current situation it was well timed. We booked our flights back to Wilmington for the Jamie Miller wedding the same evening we got the $225 gift. Our tickets were still outrageous, but the $225 we saved was much needed.

Take a Deep Breath...and Jump!

2009-05-05T14:28:00.003-06:00

Our public gathering began this week.

It was a success, much of what we are doing is unorthodox and unconventional so we have few examples from history to look at making it difficult to judge success. However, we have a deep desire to foster community, community in a deep and interpersonal way. I believe our first week was a step in that direction.

I was most pleased with the atmosphere of our first gathering. As we started it felt a little like a first date, awkward. However, quickly our group settled in and a sense of community filled the room. The vibe was open and engaged. I have no idea what to expect next week or the week after that. To confess, I long for a sense of control again. Ministry before now seemed very controlled. This is the advantage of working in long established places, work wasn't always easy but it was controllable. I have no control over what is occurring now, I simply trust God and follow my heart and values.

I will hope things continue to go well, but for now I am thankful for the first week. It went well, we have a lot of work to do, but it went well.

Free Jones Soda

2009-04-21T16:12:00.003-06:00

Today was a cool day, part of our publicity strategy for the church was to purchase about 500 bottles of Jones Soda with our church logo and info about our public gathering and website on them. Jones Soda allows you to personalize bottles if you buy more than a case of them.

Jones Soda is a trendy Seattle based company that probably appeals to the 25 and under crowd. However, their soda is delicious!

Anyway, we took our 500 bottles of Jones Soda today and went over to Montana State Billings and Rocky Mount College for a free give away. It was pretty cool. Our flavor choices were Green Apple, FuFu Berry, Berry Lemonade and Sugar Free Black Cherry. Our strategy was simple, give it all away.

So on a nice 80 degree day Jon and I headed over to the campuses and started giving away our soda. We were well received. The combination of the hot day and the bright colors of our sodas coupled with the end of a long semester seemed to provide a small spark for people.

A few people asked why we would do such a thing which allowed us to direct them to the info on the bottles. Believe it or not a couple of different people had actually heard of us.

I have no idea if this publicity will help, but if nothing else for this one day we were able to make a couple of college campuses a little bit brighter. Unfortunately there was non left for me and Jon so we stopped and got a Gatorade on the way home.

Travel Troubles

2009-04-01T20:22:00.002-06:00

On Monday Court, Avery and I flew out of Billings for a visit with our families and a few friends. Unfortunately Billings was hit with a snow storm Sunday night and our flight was 45 minutes delayed on Monday morning. We even had to have de-icer sprayed on the plane before we left, it was a bit unsettling.

We arrived in Salt Lake City, UT and I ran ahead of Court and Avery in an attempt to catch the connection flight we were about to miss. I got to the gate only to find out the plane had mechanical troubles and the flight was 45 minutes delayed while they got us a new plane. Once it arrived we started to board the plane to find out it also was having mechanical issues. They moved us to another plane at a different gate but now it was obvious we were not going to make our connection in Houston.

I started talking to the gate agent and she found us a direct flight to Memphis from Salt Lake City, UT. Once we finally arrived in Memphis late that night we found out Delta had lost all four of our bags. I spent most of the rest of the evening talking on the phone with Delta who refused to tell me they had no idea where our bags were at, in fact, on several different calls they literally lied to me to get me off the phone.

Thankfully, after taking matters into my own hands I returned to the Memphis airport the next afternoon and found our bags sitting in the luggage area unattended. We then left Memphis to make the drive to Knoxville to start our visit with Court's family. Two days late!

We paid $15 for 3 bags and $25 for the fourth and they lost all of them. How did they loose all four?

The Public Library

2009-03-26T13:22:00.003-06:00

I got a library card yesterday. I do not remember entering a public library before yesterday. I blame my father, to much of my youth was wasted waiting in the car while he picked up or returned a book or books. He makes several trips a week to the library.

So oddly enough I have never been or checked something out of one. Money drove me to our public library. (Jerry if you are reading this it will make you proud.) After my fly fishing trip last weekend I certainly have an interest in learning more about the sport. I also wanted to learn more about places near Billings where a guy like myself could take his rod and head down to a river or stream, a state law allows for public access of all streams inside the high water mark. My other agenda was to investigate potential camping areas near possible fishing access. Court and I plan to take a few family camping trips this summer and I would love to get out and fish a bit before her and Avery wake up each day.

So I went to the library, got the card, checked the online card catalogue and found the fly fishing section. As you can imagine it was pretty large in a library located in Montana. I checked out 12 books and currently am working my way through them.

Mostly, I got stuff about fly fishing destinations in Montana, but I did get a couple of how to fly fish type books. They are not proofing to be much help though.

Still, it felt good to use the public resources and it showed some shift in my own nature. In years past I would have simply ordered several magazine subscriptions and books online. Only to find that little info was useful.

A River Runs Through It

2009-03-21T20:21:00.008-06:00

In the fall of 1992 during my first quarter of college I heard these words for the first time, "Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters."

A good friend, Bobby Newman, and I watched the movie A River Runs Through It, and in an instant we were both captivated by Montana. We were so excited by this land we spent most of the spring of 1993 planning a road trip for the specific purpose of fly fishing in Montana. My mother used to ask how were we going to get there, and being the simple Georgia boys that we were I replied, "We'll go to Chicago and turn left." She rarely smiled at this notion and I believe genuinely feared this road trip would become more than boyhood fantasy.

Like so many childhood dreams time, life and other things got in the way of our plan to drive to Montana to become fly fisherman.

Sixteen years later I stood on the banks of the Bighorn River this morning with a new friend, Brent Downey, who is a fly fishing guide with 20+ years of experience (www.deaddriftoutfitters.com). He had agreed to take me out. Providing me the opportunity for my childhood dream to become a reality.

Today 16 years of hoping became a reality as, finally, a fish rose. I landed my first Rainbow Trout this morning a good fish, 17 inches in length.

The cliche of people moving to Montana because of the movie A River Runs Through It is not something a person who desires to be accepted by the locals mentions. In truth that movie is not why I moved here, but as I think back along the path of the river that is my life I can't help but wonder if it is all connected.

All told we spent about five hours on the river today. A short four mile float. I managed to land four Rainbows and had a fifth one on late in the day, but he got off. Almost as if the river was saying to me, you still have a lot to learn comeback again some day.

My best fish measured just a hair under 18 inches. I managed to catch it on my own, so to speak. Brent had slipped away down the river to wet a fly of his own. I am most proud of this fish, mainly because I made a perfect cast to the area I was attempting to cast to, allowed it a good drift and set the hook perfectly when the trout took the fly.

I felt like a small boy again today, excited by all the sites and sounds of the river. As the sun faded this afternoon I found my mind drifting to May 3, this is the day we begin the public gathering of our church. I am excited, scared and nervous about it. I worry nobody will show up and I worry more people than we are ready for will show up. Yet, I am excited, like a small boy, by all the sites and sounds that church planting has to offer.

Despite the poetic beauty of the quote listed above it is not my favorite quote from the movie A River Runs Through It. Instead I have always fancied this quote, "My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy."

I do wonder. Why did it take me 16 years to first see that trout rise from the water on my line? My excuses are long. In fact, I simply allowed myself to be distracted from the desire of my heart. Or more specifically maybe I was just afraid, afraid of the journey that it might take to get there. Though I am not an old man, I have learned this lesson. I will not be distracted again and I will not live in fear.

As I stood on the banks for a final moment of reflection this afternoon I realized that for three years now I have been hoping for a church. It was clear to me on the banks of the Bighorn River that all good things, trout as well as planting a church, would come by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy.

And I am not afraid.

Yellowstone River State Park/WMA

2009-03-17T15:07:00.004-06:00

Court and I caught a rare day yesterday where neither of us had to work and Avery was also at pre-school. So we threw our bikes into the Nissan and headed about 30 miles east of Billings to the Yellowstone River State Park/WMA. This area is roughly about 10,000 acres of open grasslands, coulees and ponderosa pine draws. There is a five mile road not open to vehicle traffic that splits the middle of the property.

So we decided to take our bikes to make the five mile ride and turn around and come back. Even though we recently had a good snow melt the road looked very dry and fairly smooth for an off road/dirt road.

This only lasted about 1/4 mile. Quickly the road got almost unrideable at times and the trip was mostly up hill, sometimes a slow grade and other times it was an extremely steep grade. Up hill nonetheless! Still we charged ahead, we made it about 2 1/2 miles before we were completely out of bike riding energy. (A few weeks of riding around the neighborhood might have been a better way to break in the bikes for 2009.)

We stashed the bikes and headed off on foot, after we walked a mile we veered off a side road another two miles that ended over looking the Yellowstone River. The view was worth it.

After finding a spot out of the wind among the rocks we had a short snack picnic and headed back to where we had stashed the bikes, another 2 miles hike up the side road and 1 mile hike back to the bikes. The final 2 1/2 mile bike ride was rough, but at least it was down hill.

By the time we returned to the truck we were both completely exhausted and out of energy. Oh, I was ringing wet with sweat. We finished off our last drinks of water and loaded the bikes to head home. (Total miles traveled for a trip was 11, 5 miles on bike and 6 miles on foot.)

On the way home I stopped at the first gas station we passed and went inside to purchase a couple of bottles of water. I returned to the truck with 2 bottles of water, they were the 1 liter size. Court responded in her typical sarcastic tone, "we don't need that much water." I told her that the 1 liter bottle was only 10 cents more than a 20 ounce bottle. She responded to me with some sort of scoffing sound.

As we drove home I am pretty sure Court was going in and out of consciousness, but as we pulled into the driveway I realized something. Both my 1 liter bottle of water and her 1 liter bottle of water were completely gone. I asked her if there was a hole in her bottle, but she only scowled at me.

All in all it was a great day, Montana truly has magnificent scenery. I don't know if we'll be using our bikes off road in the future. Our bodies may be to old for that, but I see many hikes through rugged terrain on the horizon.

Oh yea, small bonus, I did see some turkey tracts on the WMA portion of this public land. :) Of course, that had nothing to do with why I chose this spot for our day trip. Or did it?

This is pretty lazy

2009-03-09T09:14:00.004-06:00

But, you can check out my friend Jon's blog about our adventure yesterday. :)

Jon's blog about our trip to Red Lodge

March Madness

2009-03-07T11:25:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year, UCONN vs. Pitt, Louisville vs. Marquette...and it is only going to get better.

Google Adsense

2009-02-28T19:03:00.005-07:00

some of you may have noticed i added adsense to my blog, it is a way to make a bit of extra cash. i get a small percentage of money anytime someone clicks through on a site they see and want to check out. i can't really control content on the links. google uses some method to make the links relevant to the stuff on the page it is placed.

anyway, i noticed a link to Christian Leadership B.S., i am aware that means bachelor of science, but i did find some irony in the fact that google thinks my blog is relevant to Christian Leadership BS. :)

heading to orlando

2009-02-22T15:24:00.002-07:00

i am stuck in the denver airport on my way to orlando. i will be part of a CBF related current conference for young CBFers.

airports are funny, i am waiting on some dinner and there is a guy standing out side the eating area just hollering. free tickets! free tickets! free tickets! i can't tell from where i am sitting but he must rep some credit card offering free miles if you sign up.

it is quite funny though peoples reaction to him.

as we prepare to do a small bit a publicity for the church i wonder if any advertising works. we seem so numb to it in our culture. i know it must work or i assume it does. after all why do people spend so much money on it.

still nothing beats word of mouth. i love eating at a restaurant someone told me about or buying something because some other person i know has it and swears by it. i'll be do'n a bit of publicity for our church, but i do so with a bit of a aloof air about it.

i'll take word of mouth any day.

from the mouths of babes

2009-02-05T20:43:00.003-07:00

My daughter, Avery, prefers to have her hair done in a hair style known as "Dog Ears". I only know how to fix her hair with a "Pony Tail". Being that I have worn a crew cut for most of my life I believe it is impressive that I can fix her hair at all.

She doesn't think so, and often attempts to convince me to give her "Two Pony Tails", that is Avery talk for the "Dog Ears" hair style. I gave up long ago trying to explain to her ponies don't have 2 tails. This explanation is always met with an insistence that Timber has two dog ears and she wants 2 pony tails.

On the days I fixed Avery's hair for the last several months I have convinced her only mommy knows how to give her "Dog Ears" or in her words "Two Pony Tails".

Recently Courtney bought some Detangle Hair stuff to spray in Avery's hair after a bath before you comb it out. I hate the stuff. It is greasy! So I choose not to use it. I prefer to work through the tangles naturally.

Wednesday night I gave Avery a bath and she hopped up on her stool by the sink in her fashionable blue robe and asked to use the Detangle Hair stuff. I replied, "Only mommy knows how to use that stuff. Daddy CAN'T DO IT."

from the mouths of babes...

Avery forcefully turned and replied with insistence, "Daddy, yes you can! DADDY YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!"

Only two women fill my heart that way, Avery is one of them. I often respond to her when she is frustrated with the thought, she can do anything she wants if she is willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. Maybe she is listening.

Oh yea, I still didn't use that greasy stuff.

the lighter side

2009-01-30T14:48:00.003-07:00

Most people know that my life is vastly different these days. I have four jobs: part-time community based services worker, part-time stay at home dad, church planter and from time to time I also substitute teach.

Of all the things I do I dislike the sub stuff the most. All respect goes out to my mother and all the other educators I know. I am sure being in a class long term is different, but subbing is kind of boring. I struggle with it, but I make some extra cash and I leave the house each day with a vision of the people God wants to bring together to form this church and know I might meet them anywhere. Still it is boring!

Having so many different jobs means my days are never the same, I have never had a job where things were fairly repetitive, but now things are never repetitive. The bad of that is the unknown. It is scary! Somewhat uncertain, etc...The good of that is the unknown. Everyday is an adventure and I believe God has away of using all of it to more completely shape whatever it is He is doing.

the lighter side...some days are heavy. i get discouraged about the potential of the church almost every day. (i also get encouraged.) For the first time in my life I do jobs I don't always enjoy. Somehow I believe I understand other people better through this. Today however was a funny day.

I am not on the Billings Public School substitute calling list, i.e. I don't get a phone call every morning. Instead I basically surf the school website and pick up jobs of teachers who are out with advanced notice. (Conferences, Personal Days, etc...) It is easier for me to coordinate my schedule this way. I also have time to screen jobs I would be less likely to take. (I.E. Grade school classes, high school classes where the teacher might be required to know something about the subject, etc...) With that said I am not stupid and I can fake knowledge about anything. So I try to take High School and Junior High School jobs of any kind, save math related classes.

A week or so ago I accepted a position for Consumer Science. Honestly, I had no idea what that meant. I knew it was for 7th and 8th graders, so I thought how hard could it be to teach a Science class.

This morning I rolled up to Lewis and Clark Junior High and walked into the main office to get the classroom key and info folder. I walked down the hall and found my room for the day and opened the door to find sewing machines in the classroom. Apparently, Consumer Science is a fancy way of saying Home Economics. Yes, I was the Home Ec. teacher for the day.

I wish I had a video of those students class after class as they first entered the room to see me as the substitute. Hmmmm! They were certainly stereotyping me by the way I looked.

With that said I spent the day showing 12, 13 and 14 year old students how to use a seam ripper and walked them through the proper way to mark fabric and cut it into perfect 90 degree angles. I was to say the least a fish out of water, but I faked it pretty good.

Do you think this is what Paul meant when he exclaimed become all things to all people for the sake of the Love of Christ? Just something to think about.

Spring has sprung

2009-01-19T09:28:00.002-07:00

I know that spring hasn't actually sprung in Montana, but for almost two weeks our average high temp. has been around 55 or so. Save a few shady spots the snow is completely gone from my yard and I contemplated running outside this morning. I decided against it. :)

There is a sense of excitement around the church and life here in Billings. I was reading Jonah this morning and I certainly understood his situation. Not that God told me to come to Billings to save this city, but I understood his reluctance to follow God. I get that. Following God is a scary thing where I take 2 steps forward and occasion I take 2 steps back. Though we continue to move forward.

So the deep thought today, keep moving forward.

The IRS...

2009-01-10T09:58:00.003-07:00

...gets a bad rap. On several occasions I have called and quickly received advice and guidance on issues relating to the church and its non-profit status. Once you find the correct form or instructions for a form(all of which are posted on-line to look at or download) it is all pretty easy. I for one don't mind saying, I am impressed with the IRS.

Acting like a church

2008-12-26T12:48:00.002-07:00

One of the strange things about planting a church is so many things that are normal to church life don't take place in the early days of church planting. No worship, few gatherings and the gatherings you have aren't overtly Churchy...

However, today our little church got the opportunity to take 50% of the money tithed to us (not designated money) just the money given as a tithe. Anyway, we took 50% and gave it away to our missional partnerships. It was cool! I wrote a check to CBF national, a missionary couple, a local youth organization here in Billings, as well as tucked a bit away for our future Montana Church Plants for use in helping to start new Montana churches. These gifts were largely symbolic, we only have a couple of people tithing to our church at this point. However, it was awesome to send those checks out today.

Over time we will fine tune our missional partnerships, i.e. meaning we'll allow our congregation to have more say in where the money goes locally, etc...however, for now we stuck with our original partner CBF and our goal of planting more churches in Montana. We also fulfilled a goal of connecting personally with a single missionary couple as well as helping the young people of Billings. May God bless these gifts given in His name!

A New Record

2008-12-14T09:34:00.002-07:00

It was -13 degrees it is now -15 degrees, YIPPIE!

2nd Day of December and it was...

2008-12-02T11:25:00.003-07:00

...SNOWING!

1st day of December and it was...

2008-12-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

...61 degrees outside and sunny.

Life is moving forward

2008-11-28T13:08:00.003-07:00

November has been a busy month, Court is working one extra shift every other week to make a bit of extra money and I continue to work my one-on-one mentor job and substitute teach once or twice a week. Not a ton to report...I do think I have a lead for a childcare place for the potential church worship site. To early to offer many details but I am excited about the possibilities.

Our entire clan was sick Thanksgiving Day, not much fun. Avery ran a small fever, Court and I both had sore throats and just felt a bit off. We are looking forward to December and I am excited about the first of the year.

Our friends Jon and Andrea will be moving in January to join us, and starting in February, March and April we'll begin making our church more public. Please be praying for our worship site. I plan to approach the owner of a particular space after the first of the year to cast the vision for a downtown church.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Here is a shot of Avery with her "Bubbie".

Halloween

2008-10-31T18:50:00.007-06:00

Things that make me angry

2008-10-31T10:30:00.004-06:00

Imagine this. Take your income from the 3rd quarter in 2007 and add 114% to it and that would be your 2008 income for the same quarter. You might ask who increases their income from year to year in one quarter 114%?

Your name would be, CHEVRON.

Oh well, maybe some of their wealth will trickle down.

The Coolest Sub Ever

2008-10-29T12:27:00.002-06:00

I officially became a Substitute Teacher today. 7th and 8th grade Art, :). After the fifteenth student came up to me and suggested I was so cool I should either become the teacher or always be the Sub I realized I was the coolest Sub ever.

Think about it, can you imagine walking into the classroom after a tough or boring day and looking up to see me. All my charm, charisma and rugged good looks. Man, it must have been a real joy for those students today.

What I did today, well, I did manage to work in the "Don't Get Me Fired" comment I am so fond of a minimum of 35 times, I managed to single out a student in each class and let them know in front of the entire class that they were my favorite and I also managed to pit the different classes against each other over who was most artistically talented. By the end of the day the hallways between classes were filled with discussions about who's class was most talented. A good day! :)

My observations:

1) They don't pay anything! I am really not doing it for the money, more for the opportunity to meet the teachers, administrators, etc...and just in general get a better feel for people in Billings. I also like teenagers. Still I believe you could make more working at the Kwiki Mart.

2) 7th graders are still socially uncomfortable, the 8th graders were pretty chill.

3) It is difficult for me to see any scenario where I eventually don't get kicked out of this job because I don't follow rules so well.

Quick Prayer: Pray for the people I interact with each day. I now have my personal interactions and two work places, one of which is multiple schools. Help me to listen and hear how God is speaking to me about the church through these people.

Billings Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-27T09:44:00.006-06:00

The pumpkins in this part of the country aren't as lush as I am used to, but the purpose of heading to the pumkin patch was still the same.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2008-10-12T08:43:00.002-06:00

On Thursday and Friday night the snow really didn't stick much to the street, but on Saturday night...

Welcome to Montana

2008-10-10T15:49:00.008-06:00

Check out what we awoke to this morning.

This is after about 30 minutes of snow.

The snow never stuck on the streets, but it did push these out. They were only about 2 blocks from my house, as I was out and about this morning I saw them, I almost caused a 5 car pile up. :)

Turkeys, 2 blocks from my house in downtown Billings. A town of 120,000 people, are your serious?

Phillipians 3: 4-14

2008-10-03T09:18:00.003-06:00

Some of the scripture I was reading today reminded me of the boldness required to live and participate in the Christ.

¹⁰I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.

Note to self, be bold today and ask for things only God can give.

Fasting

2008-09-04T12:35:00.002-06:00

Anyone who knows me will know I don't normally look for reasons not to eat, but this past Tuesday Court, myself and some friends chose to fast as a spiritual discipline.

It wasn't easy, we chose the sun up till sun down fast. So I woke up extra early and cooked myself one egg for the day. I managed to gobble it down in time to beat sunrise. Then the spiritual exercise began.

Hunger pains! I mean are you kidding me, do I really know what a hunger pain is? I could surely go several days without eating and still survive. Nonetheless I did have some sort of pain I normally medicate with twinkies or something of that nature.

Using these pains as reminders to lift up prayer for myself, Court and our friends was pretty awesome during the day. It was a hectic day, and I found myself needing to pray quite a bit.

It was nice to have others to pray for. It reminded me I was not alone, and it helped me to focus on the bigger picture instead of just myself. I was glad to eat though. I was hungrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry!

I earned some money 2day

2008-08-28T14:11:00.003-06:00

Most of you probably know we managed to raise a housing stipend to help us make ends meet over the next 3 years, so technically I have made some money twice in our time in Montana. However, today I actually worked a job. I made $10.65 an hour for 1 3/4 hours at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, it was orientation.

I recently accepted a part-time position with them working roughly 10 hours a week. I am a Family Crisis Case Worker, which is basically someone who works with a single youth and their family to help them manage emotional issues. (Anger management, etc...) A part-time worker can accept up to 3 kids at a time (30 hours), but I'll probably only have time for 1 because the hours are nights and weekends. These are the major times I try to meet with people, have dinners, etc...about the church. I sense I will like this job. Unfortunately as a leader of a ministry we often make decisions based on what is best for the group and not the single individual. Churches are built this way and it is a failed ideal, but it is nonetheless ingrained in our culture.

Check the song "To Bring You Back" by Paul Allan, lyrics say this, "And I left the ninety-nine to find the one." Over the years I have had to make some tough calls with students and I always used the group perspective. I believe Jesus always kept the individual perspective, I hope to honor that with this job for now.

Other part-time jobs: I have a job interview at City Brew a local coffee shop on Friday and I am still trying to gather up all the documents to apply to Substitute Teach here in town. Oh yea, I stuck my name in at the local Sportsmen's Warehouse for a part-time position. Pray for something to open up from 10-20 hours during the day time, preferably on MWF. :)

We are not in Kansas anymore

2008-08-26T10:15:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, I went to Bozeman, MT to visit my friends Bruce/Debra and Elizabeth Gourley, Bruce and I needed to work on a few things and we also had a wonderful lunch with some CBF friends.

Anyway, Bozeman is a special place, unlike any other I have ever been. Its location brings about quite a bit of Yellowstone National Park and other outdoors related traffic. (River related kayakers, etc...Skiers, Rock Climbers...and so forth)

So, I stop as I get to Bozeman at a gas station and a big sign on the door said, "Please leave all backpacks and other related outdoor gear outside. Thank you!"

That was a first for me. Are shoes considered outdoor related gear? Just a thought.

We have a name...

2008-08-19T22:09:00.003-06:00

Our church officially has a name today...our leadership group has spent the last several weeks praying over this and seeking a name that speaks to what we are attempting to accomplish. A good friend of mine says, "a name can't tell you everything, but it does tell you something."

wise counsel! with that in mind we decided to call our church Missional Life Church. It is our desire for this church (meaning the individuals who make it up) would live a missional life.

An admission: This is a semantics issue, missional life is the same thing as being a Christian, etc, etc... However, too many years of churches and Christians living out a faith that compartmentalizes our relationship with God has left a culture skeptical of words like the Christian life. So we simply hope to use a new word to share an old message.

More importantly we hope to truly build a body of believers living out a missional life. We have a bank account, a reservation of name (Montana State Law) and slowly we are beginning to see the vision God has for Billings, MT.

Keep praying for God to send the people He wants to lead this work.

Chipmunk Whisperer...

2008-08-16T17:17:00.007-06:00

Thank You

2008-08-15T14:47:00.002-06:00

Got a package today full of notes from old friends...it was perfectly timed. Thanks to everyone who sent a card, e-mail, note or message to me in the last few days. God used your kindness!

34 and counting...

2008-08-14T20:49:00.002-06:00

I turned 34 today. B-days aren't that big of a deal for our house, normally very little fan fair. Today was different, some friends are visiting so we went to Beartooth Pass, it was still awesome. Snow in August! Then we had a nice dinner and Court surprised me with a Red Velvet cake, it was cool. I also was surprised to get several walltowalls on facebook with well wishes, thanks!

All in all it is good to be 34, I feel like I earned it. :)

Everything is bigger in Montana...

2008-08-13T15:42:00.002-06:00

Big Sky country...How about big sausage country...These puppies are from the state fair.

Twenty Days and Counting...

2008-08-10T09:37:00.003-06:00

La Brea St. Cook Out

2008-08-02T21:16:00.005-06:00

I know I haven't posted anything of note in a long while. Truth is I have been struggling! I can't completely describe the way I feel, but I miss my friends. It feels like I graduated 50 or so students instead of the normal 10 and to make it worse I don't have 40 or so left to hang with and ease the pain. I look at Court and I know she is home sick and it hurts. Avery, is probably just gett'n into the terrible two's but I can't help but blame myself when she acts bad.

The church has some positive things going, but the other stuff (mentioned above) is fighting for my focus.

We have a goal of planting a church, but we also know there are long odds on that and we can't do it all today anyway. We can however, try to be kind today and show concern for others when the opportunity arises. That whole Love God, by Loving your neighbors thing.

Anyway, in an effort to be kind we spent the last couple of weeks inviting the neighbors on our street to a cook out. We live on a small street. (8 houses, 1 duplex) It is a bit scary asking people to come over you don't know, much like asking that girl out in high school. Truth, I never asked a girl out in high school that I wasn't sure she was going to say yea. Thanx to weeks of investigation! So maybe asking neighbors to come over for a cook out is scarier. We asked anyway, and waited...

The last couple of days have been hard, for the reasons mentioned above. I 1/2 expected nobody to show up 2nite. I am not sure I could have handled that, but I was preparing myself. God has a way of giving us what we need, cause at 6:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time people began to show up to our house. Nothing amazing happened 2nite, but we do know our neighbors. I can't speak for our neighbors, but I believe they appreciated the opportunity to meet us and to meet other neighbors or renew old friendships. Turns out one of our neighbors had a birthday 2day so we sang and another neighbor took the time to buy balloons for all of the kids. That was cool! Avery of course released her balloon the minute it touched her hands which was actually really awesome in Big Sky Country, because we could see that balloon floating away for a long, long, long, long time.

For what it is worth, I am thankful for the gift of time our neighbors gave us 2nite. We needed it! We needed to be reminded God would provide and 2nite He provided by sending our neighbors over to honor our invitation. I have no idea if any of our neighbors read this blog, but thanks!

Exxon posts record $11.68 billion profit

2008-07-31T09:53:00.001-06:00

Need I say more...

Ride'n in the Rain

2008-07-22T22:25:00.003-06:00

Bruce came to town today to join me for a few meetings (1 today and 1 tomorrow) and an afternoon planning session related to our church plant. Good times, good times!

Anyway, he brought his bike and expressed interest in taking in a Billings Mustang game. Court and I had been discussing trying to take in one of these games in the near future. So I called Court at work and suggested she ride the few blocks down to the stadium after work to watch the game with us.

Bruce and I got our bikes and set out on the short 1 3/4 mile ride to the stadium. As we stood in line to get tickets a guy came up and handed us three seats down the third base line. Free stuff! I love it. The 'Stangs were playing a team from Orem, Utah and it was a good game. In the 4th inning the bottom of the sky fell out and huge thunderstorm came rolling in.

So we sat and waited, because it was to dangerous to ride our bikes. :) Court was not happy!

Eventually we caught a break in the weather and off we went, peddling as fast as our legs could take us. Water was spraying up on us and Court appeared slightly angered by our predicament. As we approached a small hill near our home a flash flood was occurring, Court may have become more angry as we crossed the calf deep water, at this point she wasn't responding to my quick witted quips. So I am not certain she actually increased in anger or was already beyond a measurable point.

Thankfully we all arrived home safely, but a bit less dry than before. All in all I called the night a win. We caught 4 1/2 innings of good baseball, for FREE! We also set a Tour De Billings time trial record getting home. I am not sure Court feels the same way.

Beartooth Pass Day Trip

2008-07-18T16:45:00.005-06:00

We spent the day driving up to Beartooth Pass, it is awesome. Not to much to report other than I have never experienced terrain going vertical that quickly in my life. Here are some pics!

Mom about had another heart attack on this trip. She kept babbling about some childhood scar involving the Smokey Mountains and being sick.
Oh yea, and we saw snow in July. That was a first for all of us.

SunCom made it right!!!

2008-07-16T09:34:00.004-06:00

I got a call from somebody from SunCom today. They have decided to waive the cancellation fees based on the five year history we have with the company and our good credit standing. They do stand behind their normal cancellation policy, but said all policies are open to be reviewed and they decided to exercise their wiggle room on this issue based on the history Courtney and I have with the company.

They even referenced this blog. It was nice to be reminded that the big guys do listen to and hear the little guys, sometimes.

What I learned today...

2008-07-12T21:30:00.004-06:00

1) I wash and clean a vehicle pretty decent.

2) Court and I are not good at Frisbee Golf. In fact, we are terribleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It was a lot like regular golf. I lost my ball (Frisbee) on the 3rd hole, I kid you not. The 3rd hole! After a long search for my Frisbee, which is apparently stuck in a Sycamore tree at Pioneer Park in Billings, Mt near the 3rd tee box of the Frisbee Golf Course, Court actually forgot where her last throw went. Thankfully after a 10 minute search we found her Frisbee, as well as, another frisbee so I could finish the round. Truth be told we have no idea how to keep score in Frisbee Golf, so we played every hole like a Par 4. I won 2 over par to her 4 over par.

3) The picnic on the Rims was cool. Court and I needed it. Here she is sitt'n on the edge.

Side note: We got to watch a couple of planes approaching the airport. That was also impressive.

4) I have been married to Courtney Leigh Tucker for 4017.75 days and I love her a little more each day or 1/4 day of every year.

I want to ride my bicycle...I want to ride my bike

2008-07-11T15:19:00.004-06:00

Today was the first day I have had the opportunity to use my bike as a primary mode of transportation. A bit of background info...

Court and I chose the home we are now in for many reasons, but one reason was the area is friendly to foot and bike traffic. I can honestly say I have never in my life seen so many people out and about on bikes. Court is only about 1.5 miles from the hospital so a short 10 minute ride and she is at work.

I am about .8 of a mile from my office, City Brew located off 17th St. and Grand Ave., So it takes me about 5 minutes to get to the office. I made the trek to the office this morning stopping by the bank to check on getting my pin number personalized. After I finished this brief errand I worked on some computer related details over a nice bottle of City Brew water.

Around 11:45 a.m. I headed another .8 of a mile west on Grand Ave. to meet a friend for lunch, we had a great talk about life, God, following Jesus and the potential of a missional church. I left there for another 1 mile ride further west on Grand Ave. to check out a potential preschool.

Heading back east toward home I stopped off at our Montana Rescue Mission on the west side of town and made an appointment to speak with a guy who helps run it. It is my hope to establish a partnership between our church and at least 3 local missional efforts, the MRM is a potential partner.

I headed the 2.5 miles back toward the house and noticed a home based daycare about .5 miles from my home. I stopped in and checked it out. It was pretty nice and the director was enjoyable to speak with, she attends one of the larger congregations in town that began as a small group out of the pastor's home.

I rode the final .5 miles back to the house. Not a bad day for what is traditionally my day off, I plan to attempt to keep it that way when possible. :)

Why a bike? Hmmmmmmmmm...I guess I have many reasons. 1) Money! We are looking to cut back anyway we can now and our gasoline usage will be something we need to watch. I also hope to reduce some of the normal institutional cost of doing church and mileage reimbursement is one thing that can go for now. 2) Truth be told you just see more people and notice more things on a bike. I hope it helps me interact with people a bit more. 3) Ecological footprint, I hope to reduce mine a bit.

The high today was only about 71 degrees so it was quite pleasant. I did realize the dangers of riding a bike today. The cars are scary at times!

I do believe I look cool in my helmet, though no other person has told me that...

Court and I have an anniversary tomorrow, so we'll be head'n to Pioneer Park for some Frisbee Golf and then up on top of the Rimrocks for a twilight picnic. Will ride our bikes to the park, but Court doesn't think she would make the top of the Rimrocks. :)

SunCom (UP DATE: Read the SunCom Made It Right blog)

2008-07-07T20:32:00.004-06:00

I found out today that a regional cell provider like SunCom has the crazy contract stipulation preventing you from a moved out of the area out clause...so if you move outside of their calling area it is to quote them, "You decided to move we didn't why should we have to void the contract!" I heard that about 50 times today quoted exactly the way I typed it from 3 different people.

We have moved 3 times and each of the other 2 moves the cell providers let us out of the contract because we left there calling area.

So I am using the power of this blog to boycott SunCom...unless of course you want to take over a 2 phone unlimited plan for the next year at roughly $90 a month. :)

Viva La Verizon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part VII)

2008-07-03T21:12:00.002-06:00

Day 8

This is the final Mov'n to Montana blog...I'll have plenty of other things to blog about but we are officially moved.

It is 9:22 p.m. and the sun is setting as we look out of the City Brew window (Port City Java of Billings for my friends in ILM) I won't get internet until Monday so I'll have to hang here a few minutes each day.

Today started early as we began to unload the truck around 8 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. The work went quickly and we were excited to learn we had minimal damage to our stuff. A few broken plastic tubs and a scratch or two on the furniture, nothing major. We finished unloading around 3 p.m. and Court got busy unpacking. The men, argh, we put the beds together and made an errand run or two.

We do have a few issues, our bedroom furniture doesn't really fit the bedroom, but other than that it is good.

A friend from Billings named Jonas came by and helped with the last few heaviest items, but more importantly introduced us to the Golden Phoenix, a delicoussssssss, Chinese restaurant.

I'll drop Donald at the airport around 5 a.m. in the morning and sometime tomorrow afternoon Donald's big adventure will be over. "THANX! I couldn't have done it without you."

If you are interested in my new contact info feel free to send me an e-mail. (Phone, Address, E-mail) If you don't know my e-mail you can find it on the www.montanamc.org website.

Prayer Request: Please keep Court, Avery and I in your prayers, pray for spiritual protection. Also, pray for our first church meeting this Sunday night. I believe there will be 3 other couples from Billings present that have some level of interest in helping to plant this church. Finally, pray for God to develop our leadership team.

The highlights today were Golden Phoenix and Court was extremely excited to find out that we have a strawberry patch in our back yard. Oh yea, Avery picks and eats them without washing them. So we'll have to keep an eye on that...

Text Message Competition Up Date:

Donald 301

Ryan 12 (Personal Best)

Court 1

Police Report:

0 Traffic Stops

Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part VI)

2008-07-02T21:12:00.003-06:00

Day 7

This morning we woke up early and headed to Mount Rushmore. We didn't have long to visit, it was more of an opportunity for Court, Avery, Mom and Dad to see it. After a short visit we were on the road again.

The first couple of hours of our drive this morning were breath taking. Starting in the Black Hills of Rapid City, SD until we hit Sundance, Wyoming I was in awe! It was awesome!

Our drive today seemed slow and we were showing signs of being on the road for one week. We were tired! Our stop at a Subway took well over an hour thanks to less than speedy service. It did provide us with our first Grandma or to be more exact Granny E neck, when my mom attempted to walk into the guys restroom.

Finally, at 5:55 p.m. Mountain Standard Time we arrived at our new home and unloaded most of our gear from the vehicles. We had enough time for a short meet and greet with our new neighbors to the north and then we went for a celebratory dinner at Olive Garden. Avery, of course, imitates everything she sees and attempted to enter the guys restroom at the Olive Garden.

The highlights today were Mount Rushmore and the drive from Rapid City, SD to Sundance, WY. A side note: Sundance is much smaller than I thought it might be.

The total travel distance for our trip was 2355 miles. It took seven days including one day of rest. After all we are planting a church we figured we should stay biblical...

Day 1 486 miles

Day 2 331 miles

Day 3 Rest

Day 4 347 miles

Day 5 519 miles

Day 6 348 miles (plus 35 miles for The Badlands loop)

Day 7 380 miles (plus 30 miles to Mount Rushmore and back)

Text Message Competition Up Date:

Donald 341

Ryan 5

Court 2

Police Report:

1 Traffic Stop

Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part V)

2008-07-01T16:00:00.006-06:00

Day 6

This morning started off bright and early and a bit uncomfortable. Donald and electronic TomTom were a bit close for my own comfort levels...

After a quick breakfast we hit the road. We didn't have a long drive today, only 7 hours, but we had some sight seeing to accomplish.

Driving through South Dakota on Interstate 90W is best described this way...

hhhhhheeee (throat clear)

"This is a bunch of rolling grassy hills and every time we reach the top of a rolling grassy hill we see rolling grassy hills as far as our eyes can see. Repeat for the next 6 hours."

THE END

After two hours we stopped at the Chamberlain, South Dakota Rest Area... This is more than your normal rest area. We took about 45 minutes to check out the info and enjoy the view. For the WPBCer's who braved the mission trip to Rosebud several years ago it was the same Rest Area we stopped at minus the 14 inches of snow and 50 mile an hour minus 10 degree winds.

We trekked another two hours down the road and stopped at 1880 Town, that is actually the name. 1880 Town are you kidding me...

We swapped the vehicle arrangement. Mom, Dad and Timber in the Nissan and Me, Court, Avery and Donald in the Honda with Donald working the Avery Entertainer seat. He did well!

My first visit to The Badlands was in 2000 and I remember wishing Court was with me. I was excited to have the opportunity to share this with her. We made the hour drive through The Badlands loop. Words really can't describe this place! It is special and you feel like you momentarily leave earth. Court also earned her first neck of the trip...when a grasshopper jumped up out of nowhere and almost made her eat a face full of Badlands dirt.

Side Note: TomTom threw a fit today, I mean a hissy fit. When we first detoured off Interstate 90W to take The Badlands loop TomTom began to tell us to "turn around", to "immediately turn around" and to "look for a place to turn around". We didn't realize TomTom was going to spend the next 30 minutes insisting, no, imploring, nay, begging us about these 3 requests over and over and over again. It was almost as if you knew somewhere, someplace there was a single micro chip personally vested in this journey with us. Tear!

Finally, he got on board and rerouted new directions faithfully leading us out of The Badlands back onto Interstate 90W. The Badlands loop ends up in the small town of Wall. Home of Wall Drug! We counted 81 BILLBOARDS on the interstate reminding you Wall Drug was down the road. It is the South of the Border of the west, although it is somewhat interesting and not quite so trashy.

The day finished with the final hour drive to Rapid City, South Dakota. It was good to spend some time in the car with Court today. I have missed her, even though we have been on the same trip. We are enjoying a light afternoon in Rapid City. Donald is lobbying for a Taco Bell dinner which my parents are counter lobbying for something else. Court only wants a salad. We'll head to Mount Rushmore tomorrow morning before making the final leg of the journey to Billings.

The highlights today were seeing a Hen Pheasant with about 15 poults, they looked like they were less than a day old. We also learned that life is truly a circular journey. On two different occasions Avery made a jail break from Granny E and Grandpa. We found out that a 2 year old is much faster than a 62 year old. Much, much faster! Much, much, much faster! Those little alligator legs were just gett'n it as she pulled away from them each time. Thankfully we have Timber trained to run her down and bring her back by picking her up with his teeth and carrying her by the skin of her neck.

A side note: It seems a bit dangerous that she thinks it is fun to run away from us. Any ideas of how to break this habit?

Text Message Competition Up Date:

Donald 281 (He actually lost a signal at points during The Badlands drive)

Ryan 0

Court 0

Police Report:

2 Traffic Stops

Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part IV)

2008-06-30T20:24:00.004-06:00

Day 5

We went 500 miles today, all the way across Missouri then straight up to Iowa and through Iowa until we hit Sioux Falls, SD. Approximately 9 hrs...we are all tired.

Avery did great and all in all it was an uneventful day. The flooding in Missouri and Iowa was still evident, I can't imagine what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.

We have such faith in TomTom now we actually threw our paper directions into a recycle bin today. I would compare our experience with TomTom to puppy love. We actually sit in the car anxiously awaiting his next word. Our hearts skip a beat when he says, "turn left in 200 yards!"

Court had a great idea about checking out the Falls Park in Sioux Falls so after we checked into the hotel we spent about an hour walking around the park. It was beautiful and the waterfall was spectacular. I wish we would have had more time or better planning they have a nightly light show that seemed to be something worth catching.

On a serious note: During dinner we called a family meeting and made the decision to invite TomTom to sleep in the hotel with Donald. He deserved a good nights rest!

The highlights today were seeing the flood stuff first hand, not so much a highlight, but meaningful. Without a doubt Falls Park was pretty cool! And of course Donald earned a neck for attempting to open a push door by pulling it for about 45 seconds at a BP today.

Text Message Competition Up Date:

Donald 612 (He did bait people by sending out a mass text about the blog.)

Ryan 2

Court 2

Police Report:

2 Traffic Stops

Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part III)

2008-06-29T20:59:00.011-06:00

Day 4

After a short run this morning and a hardy breakfast we all walked the fifty yards over to my father's church, Gibson Baptist, a Montana Missional Communities partner I might add. After the worship service and a quick lunch we were on the road. Donald and Avery continued to grow their relationship as he took her to the playground for a short post lunch/pre trip play date. The Montana caravan now consists of Donald, Timber and myself in the Nissan and Court, Avery, Mom and Dad in the Honda.

About an hour and half into the drive we had our first interesting experience of the day. A roadside brush fire! It was pretty cool. Interestingly enough this is our second fire, in NC near the SC line we saw the largest controlled burn I have ever witnessed. Anyway, this wasn't a controlled burned, just a brush fire, I hope nobody got hurt.

The ride went well today, it was my first time in SE Missouri, I was surprised by the topography. I expected it to be flatter than it was, I knew SW Missouri was hilly, but I figured the SE Mizzo would be flat like West Tenn...

I don't know as much about the happenings in the Honda, but apparently my dad isn't such a good back seat Avery entertainer...he may not get a shift tomorrow. I do know that Court didn't feel well today, but she is a trooper.

Side note...Donald and I both signed a pack tonight pledging our devotion to our TomTom (GPS), we would follow TomTom anywhere. If TomTom told us our next destination was at the bottom of the Mississippi River we would take a hard right and drive on down.

Speaking of the Mississippi River, Donald earned a neck as we approached it today. He stopped playing his PSP, took out his phone, called his mom and proudly told her, "he was crossing the Mississippi river over a bridge for the first time ever." A few moments later I remembered he had indeed crossed the Mighty Mississippi with our Student Ministry when we went to New Orleans last year as a part of our Mississippi Katrina Relief Mission Trip. NECK!!!

After we got to St. Louis we stopped and had a great Cracker Barrel meal and finished the day off a few hours past St. Louis near Columbia, MO.

The highlights today were the brush fire and Donald's Mississippi River neck, as well as, an amusing discussion about what it would be like if a talking car got into an argument with a TomTom (GPS)...I laugh as I type.

Text Message Competition Up Date:

Donald 186 (I asked him to turn off his phone during worship and he drove quite a bit today)

Ryan 0

Court 0

Police Report:

5 Traffic Stops

Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part II)

2008-06-28T19:46:00.010-06:00

Day 3

Today was a day of rest! We spent the day at my parents house and we didn't do much. We ate breakfast at my Dad's dive, it was pretty "Delicious"!Donald did continue to improve his relationship with Timber and even began to forge a new relationship with Bailey.Avery spent most of the day showing her younger cousin Tucker the ropes on the playground. She did fall and scrape her back. That is the 2nd day with a visible injury in a row. She scraped her eye on a fall yesterday.

The highlights were eat'n dinner with my grandmother, my cousin and uncle, as well as, teas'n Donald about only coming out of his room when it was time to eat. Oh yea, I did get to eat some Memphis BBQ for the first time in forever. I was pretty excited about it.

We'll leave for Missouri tomorrow after church. After tomorrow we'll be 8 hours closer!

Oh yea, Avery is beginning to warm up to Donald.

Text Message Competition Up Date:

Donald 481

Ryan 1

Court 0

Police Report:

0 Traffic Stops

Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part I)

2008-06-27T20:12:00.005-06:00

Day 1

We left Wilmington on Thursday bright and early and headed to Knoxville, TN. Thanx to Lanny my last Wilmington meal was a Manhattan Bagel, mmmmmmmmm! Court and Avery in one vehicle; me, Donald (the guy crazy enough to make this trip) and Timber (our 65 lb black lab) in the other. Leav'n is tough! I knew it would be, but it was harder than I expected.

It took Donald and Timber a bit to get used to each other, but I think they are becoming friends.

After a hard day of driv'n we pulled into Knoxville, TN about 5 p.m. on Thursday, we had a great dinner with Court's family. The highlights of the day revolved around me gett'n a neck because I forgot to put the truck in park and Avery's pottie experience. Ask me later...

Text Message Competition Up Date:

Donald 324

Ryan 2

Court 0

Police Report:

6 traffic stops

Day 2

We woke up to a home cooked breakfast and spent the morning with Court's family. After lunch we hit the road to Gibson, TN. This trek was quite a bit shorter than yesterday. Only 5 1/2 hours! Donald slept a lot and Timber took his lead, sleeping more. Court had a tough time leav'n her family, it was to be expected. Pray for her though and her family! Once we arrived in Gibson, Donald was introduced to the chaos of the Tucker's house. :) Within minutes of our arrival we had my mother, my father, Court, Avery, Timber, Donald, myself, my sister (Laura), my brother-in-law (Greg) and nephew (Tucker), oh yea, and their dog, Bailey. The house was alive with activity. We had a great dinner. The highlights of the day were the GPS (TomTom), and our guy Richard (GPS Voice) navigating our trip and walking over to Jerry's for ice cream after dinner.

Text Message Competition Up Date:

Donald 150 (Carrie was at work!)

Ryan 0

Court 3

Police Report:

2 traffic stops

Sorry for the break

2008-06-23T11:46:00.001-06:00

As you can imagine we have had a lot going on. :)

Last week we took our last trip to camp with our students. It was a great week, but a very difficult one. We'll miss this place much!!!

Hopefully tomorrow we'll close on the house, anything and everything is going wrong so we need some prayer.

Court and I are holding up well all things considered! God is really giving us what we need when we need it!

I'll try to take some time in the coming weeks to share more details.

Bought a house and assorted prayer request

2008-06-04T11:52:00.005-06:00

Court, Avery, Timber and I now own a home in Billings, MT. Well, we will as of June 23, but all the paperwork is in the process of being completed. We had a great week in Billings and we love our new home. Pray for our home to become a base for building community.

During our week we met a few people, we still don't know who and who won't be a part of this adventure. However, we do feel as if a support

base is being formed. Pray for us to find people who have a heart for planting a missional church in Billings, MT.

Also, pray for us to figure out the child care issue.

Our move date is June 26...fast approaching!

I need a "Strategery" for faith

2008-05-23T08:10:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I believe I need a new "Strategery" for my faith. To make a long story short I see a lot of holes in my faith, but I don't know which ones to address. I would love to address them all, but it doesn't seem possible. Often the thing that is important to me isn't always important to someone else. The temptation in this world is to be ok with our differences and accept it as individual faith, but that seems anthetical to true community. So I can't take that route.

So what am I to do, maybe having a "Strategery" isn't the answer. It didn't work so well for the other guy.

God please rescue me!

2008-05-20T06:23:00.002-06:00

From the San Antonio Spurs and that horrible brand of basketball...

Now I have to root for Kobie and Lakers, it is like choosing between Bush and Kerry in 2004. No winners!

Pray that the Celtics, I can't believe I just said that...the Celtics make the finals. Other wise for the 3rd time in this Century, which is only 8 years old we'll suffer through another Spurs/Pistons series.

Survivor Frustration

2008-05-12T12:15:00.005-06:00

I admit it...I watch Survivor. I am a loyal follower since the reruns of season one during those first summer months. I guess we all have our guilty pleasures. For some it is chocolate, for others egomaniacal foreign policy and still others it is a stupid T.V. show under the reality tag where most of plot is unscripted fiction.

Why am I frustrated? Simple. I never believe the person who wins should win. It started in Season 2 with Colby and Tina, it continued last night. There is little reason for how the departed survivors vote during the final tribal council. One season all the departed are bitter at the masterful power player in the final two or three and they give the million dollars to the hanger on who just got lucky and went for a ride. Other seasons the departed seem to look beyond their bitterness and see the strategy and skill in the more ruthless player of the final group, so they give the million dollars to that person.

Last night it was Parv, a ding bat Georgia fan. They are TRASH! Sorry, my Auburn colors coming out a bit. I must give her credit she crafted an all womens allaince and held it together. This was a first for Survivor. The ladies normally turn on each other. Without a doubt she played a skillful game and made quick and decisive decisions. Well, done!

Her counter part, Amanda, played this game with as much integrity as possible. She didn't lie to anyone out right and she was punished because she seemed to sincerely struggle over the decision of Cirie vs. Parv. Though her tribal council break down was a bit much!

All in all, it came down to the departed. Next season Amanda in the same role might win because everyone in the role Ozzie, Jason, Alexis, etc...(the people with a knife in their back)would be mad that Parv stuck that knife in their back. This season however, Parv got the million. The departed seemed to appreciate her style and awarded her a handsome check for her efforts.

Amanda, my only thought is sometimes it is best not to show the world your inner turmoil. It was a tough decision, but come on now. You did have immunity!

Beach Baptism/Why?

2008-05-08T07:29:00.006-06:00

Sometimes this ministry thing is a real privilege...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to baptize eight of our students off Wrightsville Beach. These students come from different socio-economic backgrounds; they attend six different schools and run with five or six different crowds. For some this baptism was a long time coming, a life spent seeking God. For a couple it was decision made in the last few days and for one it was a decision made at the beach. Though God has undoubtedly been at work in their lives as well.

I mentioned the privilege part as it concerns me...it is a privilege. I have been walking along side most of these students for the last four or five years, a few of them have only been a part of our group for a year or two, but our relationships are strong. I always say two things to people asking about being baptized.

1) You do go to heaven when we accept Christ into our hearts.

2) Following God is about more than that, much more.

For me baptism is about showing the world that it is your desire to walk through life with God. It is a public acknowledgement that we will seek out Christian community and look for ways to serve this world with our lives. In a nutshell the Great Commandments... We love God by loving others.

The people I have baptized have no idea what they are getting themselves into. They don't fully comprehend the breadth or depth of following God. They have no idea the difficult times or the times where they will feel distant from God. They just know they want to follow God. Praise God, because that is enough! I have been do'n this God thing for some time now. I still don't know what I have gotten myself into. :)

I have little doubt these eight young people will struggle in their lives. Some of them might loose their way for a bit, some of them might forget for a time that they wanted only to follow God. My prayer for each of them will be that we as their friends, family and church will walk along side them and disciple them. Jesus showed us the game plan for this!

Following God isn't about getting into heaven and stay'n out of hell. It is about joining the "Missio Dei" (The Mission of God) and living life in a community (Church/Christian Fellowship) and serving the world (with our lives).

Sold the house

2008-05-05T17:10:00.004-06:00

Thanks to everyone for their prayers of support. We sold our house! The close date isn't until May 23, but the inspection is done and it looks pretty good at this point. God really kicked open another door. Now to find a home in Billings, figure out what God is doing and join Him. We can't wait!

Prayer Request:

Pray for us as we choose our home. We know God is at work everywhere, it is our desire to join in and help. We will build this church on deep biblical Acts 2:42-45 community. "Loving God by Living Community and Serving the World" We hope to start with our own neighborhood.

Gas Prices

2008-04-30T10:42:00.004-06:00

Today I filled my truck up and the pump cut off before it was filled. There was a $50 limit on the pump. I had heard about people with large SUV's and work trucks experiencing this phenomenon. However, with a 16 gallon tank I had never reached such a limit before. There is a first time for everything and today was that day.

Everyone seems to be sitting around waiting for the government to do something. Are u kidding me? It ain't gonna happen. We have to change ourselves first. Nothing of note in this world ever begins with legislation or for that matter from the top down. True change must be grassroots!

So stop filling up so much! U ask, how? Maybe walk more, carpool, take your bike, minimize your need to go out, use public transportation, etc...

If you can by a hybrid, if not then buy a vehicle for what you use it for. To many soccer moms have SUV's with 4 wheel drive frames when they could do the same hauling with a Mini Van or Station Wagon for less miles per gallon. Don't forget guys like me! Stop compensating! Our big trucks, V8 engines and mud tires. Give me a break! Your a man already! We get it! All of those things are gasoline guzzlers. A few years back I bought a new truck. I wanted a V8, etc... I was raised in Georgia it might be a birth right to own a large, loud truck. Anyway, I didn't buy one, I bought the smallest truck possible with the smallest engine that has 4 wheel drive for the few times each year I need it for off road hobbies.

I wanted the big truck, but it was wrong to buy it. Why? Our choices matter. They matter to our community, to our world, both economically and ecologically. THEY MATTER!

Lets stop whining about gas prices and start making decisions which will help us to become a part of the solution.

24 hr News Media

2008-04-22T06:12:00.006-06:00

When I was a kid I remember the big deal CNN made about being a 24 hour news source. In retrospect what a mistake. Has news turned from news into entertainment? News sources now own other companies or other companies own news sources. Ratings, money, etc…these are the stories they are truly after.

Was it always like this? I watch the nightly Democratic Presidential nomination race and ponder…Am I watching news coverage? Or a scripted drama where our politicians play their part?

Whatever the case I am pretty sure the news makes the news, they don’t cover it any more. MSNBC, FOX NEWS, CNN...Shame on us for letting you do it!

Questions

2008-04-10T08:32:00.004-06:00

i will have to say, the last few weeks and the support we have sensed from Winter Park, friends, family members and even people i don't really know, well it has blown us away. a midst all the uncertainty of what we are doing God already has a group in place to love and care for us in the coming years.

i must simply say, praise God.

i really don't know what i expected, but i could never have predicted God's blessings.

this week i mainly have questions.

with all of this support, how do we bottle it? take it with us?

does this mean it is going to be extremely difficult in the future? that scares me...

will other things fall into place just as naturally? has God already prepared those initial people to partner with us in billings?

if so, who are they? what are they like? how will we meet?

for some people questions are a bad thing, something to be feared. for me they are an opportunity to experience an adventure. the journey of seeking answers to questions is something to be cherished!

Prayer Request:

Pray we are able to sell our house

Pray for the childcare situation in Billings

Pray for us to be aware of what God is doing in Billings and join Him, the other people will already be there working

Final Four

2008-04-03T10:58:00.002-06:00

The tournament of upsets...or is it? Four the last eleven years my wife and I have made out brackets and competed against each other in the NCAA Final Four. For the first several years she won most years. I realized about three years ago she was winning because about 99% of the time she chose the higher seeded team.

So I adjusted my strategy and began to pick chalk. I have won two years in a row and with a little luck this weekend I'll win again. However, I don't enjoy picking my brackets anymore. I am bored with only choosing the higher seeds. I miss trying to figure out the upsets.

Why is it that the NCAA tournament has an elusion of upsets? Life is that way isn't it...sometimes we have an elusion of reality, but the truth is actually chalk.

There are 64 games each year during the NCAA tournament and only about 3 or 4 upsets actually occur. I do not consider a 7 over a 10 an upset. Despite my desire to beat my wife, I may go back to picking the crazy upsets again next year. Every so often I get one right, I never remember all the times I picked upsets wrong. And it feels good when you get one right. I picked the Zag's (before the Zags were considered a good team) over Duke in 2002. Man, that felt good! I hate Duke!

Life is about perspective, I would rather risk taking a flyer and getting it wrong than never knowing the thrill of being a part of something no other person expects.

Prophetic Voice

2008-03-20T08:16:00.002-06:00

this week Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, has caused quite a stir in our culture.

THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF WRIGHT'S THOUGHTS OR OPINIONS!!!

i have listened and watched as the outrage overflowed as many find his words beyond comprehension. wrong! evil!

my fear is less about what he said. i don't agree with it.

my fear is about how we as a culture look more and more like the nation of israel in the bible. the last half of the old testament reveals a list of prophets, people sent by God, to condemn the nation of israel. their reaction seems to be the same as our reaction today.

they were outraged, the prophets words were beyond comprehension. wrong! evil!

i personally don't agree with the reverend wright, but i do worry that we have to many christians who are not speaking about the failures and wrongs of our culture. christianity has lost its prophetic voice.

a prophetic voice is not to be taken lightly. a great amount of wisdom and discernment is required to speak out on behalf of God. people are called to do it. not just pastors, God calls each of us to have a prophetic voice.

i would worry less about a man like, Jeremiah Wright, speaking to a group of people who can truly understand his message. my worry is for the millions of us who never speak with a prophetic voice. who never try to discern God's voice and speak on its behalf.

it takes courage to live this way. if the bible teaches us anything you'll often be called to speak out against the religious, social and cultural norms. people might not like you. however, we are called to speak with a prophetic voice.

side note: God understands this, He sent His own son to become a man and speak with a prophetic voice. Jesus was rejected and killed for His troubles. I believe God understands the fear we all feel. a fear which often silences our prophetic voices.

Guilt Free Christianity

2008-03-13T08:57:00.004-06:00

Based on Mark 10:17-31 (The Rich Young Ruler) 17As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 18And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.19"You know the commandments, 'DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'"20And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." 21Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 22But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. 23And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" 24The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" 27Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." 28Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." 29Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, 30but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 31"But many who are first will be last, and the last, first."

A friend of mine recently said to me, "There is enough guilt to go around in Christianity." Meaning: to many times we as Christians attempt to guilt people into following God.

I agree with that. Completely!

I also believe Mark 10:21, "On thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me." Maybe in a future blog we'll speculate on the whether or not this should be taken literally.

I do believe it is safe to assume Mark 10:21 can be read to mean, "God is calling us to sacrifice on His behalf."

My question: How do we share the call of God to sacrifice without participating in the "guilt circle" Christianity is often associated with in our culture?

Oh, yea. I forgot the first part of Mark 10:21, "Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him..."

I need some help cyberspace, because I admit openly...

I struggle with the idea of how to share that I believe God calls us to sacrifice and to share this in a way which communicates love and not guilt. I have no desire to participate in making others feel guilty.

I sense I communicate guilt when I share the idea of following God means sacrifice.

Things I believe God might think:

If we give 10% of our money to our church but people starve in our city streets we aren't sacrificing enough
If we have a college education, grad school, etc...but children in our school systems read below their own grade level we aren't sacrificing enough
etc...

No Guilt, Just Love! How? How do we find a way to share like Jesus shared? How do we look into the world and feel love and say give more? No Guilt, Just Love!

3 years w/ Jesus Christ

2008-03-06T13:42:00.008-07:00

I just finished 3 years with Jesus Christ. :)

in March of 2005, i sat at a student leadership conference listening to a Jewish man tell us about Jesus. during his message he suggested every christian should find time to spend 3 years reading and rereading the gospels. in doing so we would catch a small glimpse of what it was like to be a disciple of Jesus walking the earth with Him for the 3 years of His ministry. i.e. we are all supposed to be disciples of Jesus.

more importantly if you did this you would have the opportunity to salt your life with the words, actions and experiences of Jesus.

despite personally offering several similar preaching challenges as a speaker, i rarely act on these challenges when i hear them.

for whatever reason i responded. i came up with the strategy of reading one gospel a month, each month for 3 years. basically i would break each gospel down and roughly read a chapter or two a day. honestly, i don't believe the discipline of embarking on such an exercise is that important. the time spent seeking to know God is extremely important.

knowing increase our ability to love. this is a basic premise of relationships. i don't love my wife, courtney, more today because i have found a way to love more. each day i know her more deeply, more intimately, more completely. as my knowledge of her grows the love i have for her simply expands. i recently heard it described this way. love is like skin for knowledge, as far as relationships go. as knowledge increases the skin of "love" stretches to make room.

with this thought the need to know God better is important. because our ability to love will increase as our knowledge of God increases.

so i read. it wasn't always easy. in fact, many times i became bored with the stories i was reading and rereading. 2 or 3 months over the course of the 3 years i didn't even finish the entire gospel.

despite this, my knowledge of Jesus did increase, i began to see the parables He shared and His experiences with people and miracles in a different light.

truth is this is to fresh in my mind to attempt to sum anything up neatly with 3 points, but i do want to share some basics themes which i noticed over these years.

1. my life is more salted with Jesus. not in a "what would Jesus do" way, hoping to have the answer to all life situations at my finger tips. more like, i know Jesus more intimately now and the strength of our relationship allows me to be more humble, more caring, more daring, more courageous, MORE SUBMISSIVE TO GOD.

2. as i read and reread the story of Jesus being crucified, i am now more keenly aware of how Jesus, who I also believe is God, submitted himself fully to God and God in turn submitted fully to Jesus. perfect relationship! the relationship God wants with us.

God's submission for us=send God's son to die on a cross

our submission to God=give up control of our lives, the way God, Jesus, gave up control and died on the cross

3. i want to follow the teachings of Jesus. i don't care if i am a good christian. i just want to follow what Jesus taught.

i would suggest to anyone, spend 3 years with Jesus. find your own system, but read the gospels over and over for 3 years.

Caution: Knowing God may cause you to act in a manner contrary to our culture!

(It may be possible that many of us who believe in God do not know God. What do you think?)

In March of 2005, the speaker actually said every christian should read the gospels over and over for 3 years.

Have you ever read the gospels? If so, how did they affect you? If not, why haven't you read the gospels?

Do you believe every christian should spend 3 years with Jesus? Why or why not?

Part 2 (Sidewalks in the Kingdom)

2008-02-28T08:04:00.001-07:00

“Sidewalks in the Kingdom” is basically broken into two sections.

Part 1, Thinking about Our Cities

Part 2, Markers of the City

Last week most of what I shared dealt with Part 1, this week I’ll share some thoughts from Part 2.

I must admit as I began to read chapter 7, Beauty, Quality and Other “Nonessentials”, I contemplated skipping a head to the end of the book. I believe it is fair to say I do not have the strongest eye toward artistic things. Not that I do not enjoy beauty, however beauty for me tends to come from natural things. Like an awesome sunrise or the way fog rises from a river on that first cold morning after a long warm spell. My eye sees beauty in this form without hesitation.

The second part of the book spoke about the beauty of architecture. Honestly, early in chapter 7 I was getting sick of Jacobsen’s wordy effort to explain the beauty of traditional buildings verses the modern landscape. Thankfully for me, I made the mental decision that until chapter 7 I had loved the book, so I continued reading and didn’t skip ahead.

One major theme was any cities architecture should be unique and should develop over time. To make a long chapter short, the buildings we tend to build today have little character and offer little to a community. (Wal-Mart, Ruby Tuesdays, insert chain name here…)

Think about three historic buildings in your community. What do they offer? How do they provide a sense of pride to the community?

Think about 3 locally owned stores. What is unique about them? What makes them perfect for your community?

As I continued to read Jacobsen’s ideas about the importance of architecture to a community I found myself wondering about the Christian church. Think about the historic churches in your community and ask the same questions. (Look beyond their simple structures, because a church is more than a building) What do they offer? How do they provide a sense of pride to the community?

Take this thought a step further; think about 3 churches and how they are uniquely shaped for your community. What is unique about them? What makes them perfect for your community?

I guess I started to think about the Christian church over the last thirty years. Maybe we look less like the historic buildings, which offer so much history and elegance to a community. Maybe, just maybe the Christian church is beginning to develop like our chain stores, cookie cutter approaches for our entire country and our entire world.

Not just new churches either, old established churches are rushing to find the next big thing to keep them relevant. To help them keep up with society.

I am not fully bashing chains stores here. We still shop at Wal-Mart and my favorite restaurant is O’Charlies. However, the church cannot adopt the same approach to ministry as these chains have for entering into a community.

I don’t have this fully worked out in my head. But I know the church does not have to be relevant to the culture. In fact, the more the church tries to be relevant the more irrelevant we become.

Instead, maybe we should simply look for ways to be unique, to be perfect for the needs of our community. We should be comfortable that each church will not look the same. More importantly the bottom line of getting people to attend shouldn’t force us to look past those special qualities that will allow us to stand the test of time.

This same approach was used to help plan and erect each of our historic buildings. Thankfully pre-WWII we looked beyond the bottom line to see the long-term value of beauty.

As the church we should look beyond the bottom line of attracting as many people as possible so we might take part in ensuring the long-term beauty of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Sidewalks in the Kingdom (Take 1)

2008-02-20T13:09:00.002-07:00

When Courtney and I first got married we lived in a duplex about 1 mile from our church and 1 mile from the hospital where she worked. Believe it or not, I rode my bike to work sometimes... We had sidewalks, and I knew the people that lived in the duplex with us, as well as, the people next door to our side of the duplex and the person that lived on the other side of the duplex. I really never thought about how that simple arrangement actually helped me to be a better Christian…

I recently read, “Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith” by Eric Jacobsen. Great book! The more I think about community and its importance to the Christian faith the deeper I am drawn into an understanding of what true community actually could be or should be.

I have been suspicious for some time that we (our culture) have no idea what true community looks like and more over most of us don’t know we even need it. I digress…Ipods, Notebooks, Cell phones, 25 minute to 1 hour commutes in our cars, Digital Video recording, the list is endless…these things are wonderful tools but slowly they all pull us a little further away from the experience of community. Now I still own a cell phone, etc…just be aware of the danger of being atomized by our own cool devices.

Back to my story. After we left Lexington, KY we moved to Richmond, VA so I could chase a Master’s degree. We bought our first home. It was an older 1940’s home that had a detached garage and an old chain link fence. Thanks to those walks from the garage to the house each day we became good friends with our neighbors on each side of us and life long friends with the son of the neighbor to the east. The neighborhood had no sidewalks, but it was built to walk around and we spent many afternoons running and walking those streets. It took me 3 minutes to get to seminary and 5 to 10 minutes to get to our church and Court was only about 5 minutes from her hospital. Naïve as we were, we didn’t realize the gift that neighborhood was to our lives.

We moved to Wilmington, NC a sprawling suburban city in 2003 and I had a bunch of ideas about where we should live. I wanted a brand new home, because I got tired of fixing the old home in Richmond. I wanted a privacy fence and a 2 car attached garage. I didn’t want to live far from church, but a 20 minute commute seemed like a small price to pay for so many of the things I believed I wanted.

Looking back…Our time in Wilmington has been great, the church is a God send. However, I believe I personally fell short of the call of Christ to live interdependently. I have not known a single neighbor during our stay in Wilmington and we have actually had next door neighbors come and go without even saying hello. I am embarrassed to admit that. I spend a minimum of 35 minutes a day in my car traveling to and from work and sometimes more. I pull into my driveway and close my garage rarely walking into my front yard. I never see my neighbors in back because of a privacy fence I actually paid $2500 to own. I have no reason to go outside because until recently, when I gave up digital cable, I always had at least 5 shows recorded to watch at anytime.

“Sidewalks in the Kingdom” challenges my old way of thinking and for that matter challenges the accepted American Dream. This will actually be a two part blog, and we will deal in this first part with the idea of interdependence. The book “Sidewalks in the Kingdom” makes an assertion that Christianity is about interdependence. (One body in Christ made up of many parts…) For any of us to truly experience the Kingdom of God we have to be in community with others, living interdependently. This idea is the opposite of the American dream of independence that fueled the Suburban sprawl of post WWII America.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: Does the suburban sprawl which promotes individualism have anything to do with the rapid and steady decline of Christianity in America post WWII? I believe it is impossible to be a meat of the word Christian in the absence of true community. Knowing Christ has to be about knowing the meaning of Loving Your Neighbor.

The further we sprawl the less we experience community. We spend more time alone in our cars and our houses have less character. New home develops would never put a rental duplex next to a home owner, so the potential for our relationships to vary is less. Sidewalks are a thing of the past, because they take up to much space.

A Few Things important to True Community:
Multi-generational
Human Interaction
Time (spent saying hello)
Time (spent walking the sidewalks and stopping for a brief chat)
Time (spent leaning over a chain link fence talking about the bad storm the day before)

The time thing is tough; our culture prevents people from living next door to each other for fifty years. The senior adults at my church understand True Community because they had the time to allow it to develop. I do believe our emerging generation faces some real challenges when it comes to finding true community. I don’t have all the answers, but I do believe we could think more carefully about where we live. If we live in neighborhoods that allow us to interact more we have a greater likelihood of becoming interdependent.

Do we live in a neighborhood that is multi-generational, racially diverse and socio-economically varied?
Do we live in a neighborhood that is close to our market places, our jobs and social experiences? (less time in a car more time with people, walking, saying hello, talking at the edge of the fence)
Do we live in a neighborhood where we know our neighbors?

Ultimately, this is on us. Do you know your neighbors? It is the Great Commandment. I could have spent more time on my porch these last few years, etc…I’ll plead ignorance. Like so many I had compartmentalized my community to the students I work with and the church I attend. The failure of my thinking was, I have other neighbors.

“Sidewalks in the Kingdom”, reminded me that I am a better neighbor when I live in a neighborhood that is designed to promote community. This generally means pre WWII or New Urban in nature. They do exist. We all cannot move to a new neighborhood, but we all should think of ways that we might over come the road blocks to community that post WWII Suburban sprawl promotes. In doing so maybe we’ll begin to find answers to the rapid decline of Christianity in this country along the same time frame. Maybe Christians will realize and revive the idea that community and interdependence make us Christians not programs and events.

Next week I’ll get into the 2nd part of the book, I was surprised that I enjoyed it. It was about the importance of technical design. Why the way a building looks is important?

Tired

2008-02-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

i don't normally feel tired. as a general rule i am pretty, high energy! still it has been a long 2 years, a tough last six months and the past 45 days has emotionally beat me down. whoooooooooooooooooa! don't feel sorry for me just yet. it is a good tired. you know the kind of tired you feel after you run 3 miles or exercise for an hour. a tired that comes from a sense of accomplishment. i feel tired like that.

now this isn't my accomplishment. but more God's accomplishment...here is a bit of my story.

Two years ago I became restless about the exact call to ministry God has upon my life; this restlessness seemed to be born out of a sense that God might be calling me to lead a congregation. Initially that simply meant beginning the process of seeking a church to serve as a Senior Pastor; little did I know how that initial step would lead me into a two year journey where God has chosen us to move to Montana in an effort to join friends and plant missional churches. Early on as I prepared my resume I wondered to myself if God might be asking me to plant a new church. I can honestly say I spent an entire year wrestling with my own ego, wondering if it was truly God’s calling or my own selfish desires. In the late part of 2006 I started looking into how a person goes about planting a new church. The information I received was overwhelming to the point where I actually put the entire concept out of my mind for the holidays. However, the nudging of the Holy Spirit continued. In January of 2007 Courtney and I had a serious conversation about planting a church, and we made a covenant to pray and seek out this possible call. I had no idea the road this commitment would eventually lead us down. I began by reading everything I could on church planting. Eventually, I signed up to attend a church planting boot camp in Waco, Texas in July of 2007.

My hope was that the boot camp would reveal to me I wasn’t a planter, nor was God calling me to be a planter. I longed for a safe, maybe, easier route to serve God. Instead, my time at the camp became a confident assurance of God’s call on our family to plant a church. Another conversation Courtney and I had in early August led us to again covenant to pray together for a team to step forward in an area that was unchurched and had little or no moderate Baptist voice. I could not have imagined how God would use that prayer.

those last 2 paragraphs are from a form letter i have been sending to friends and loved ones. i'll take it from there. so court (my wife) and i started praying for a place to plant a church. it should be said i have no silly ideas about my ability to bring God to any given place. i believe God is working everywhere and we were simply praying for people to rise up to show us where to join the things God is already doing in this world.

in the fall of 2007 i called a family friend, bruce gourley, for advice and little did i know God was already answering our prayers. the following months would reveal bruce and his family were the beginings of the team that we had been praying for and God revealed to me that God's work in Montana is something i could be excited about joining. over the 5 1/2 months God has continually revealed this to be our path by opening door after door for us.

i have more questions than answers...what kind of church? missional, i think, who is going to be a part of it? i am not sure, what is our purpose? Loving God by Living Community and Serving the World (the only thing i know fore sure), how will i make a living? i have no idea, will God provide (other people to partner with? money to live on? opportunities to serve billings, mt?) i hope...

so because of all of this i am tired. not tired of serving God, cause i still get excited when i wake up and meet one of our teenagers in our current ministry for breakfast or lunch, etc...not tired because of all of the uncertainty surrounding my sense of God's direction for our lives, cause my faith offers me hope.

maybe just tired, because life ain't easy, decisions are tough, leaving those who you love behind is sad and fear of the unknown causes anxiety. following God should make us tired, it ain't simple.

am i tired, yes, i wouldn't have it any other way.