Monday....uh, Tuesday Morning Mind Dump

Adjusting back to normalcy after the New Orleans trip!! I'm glad to be back, but wished the weather from down there was up here with us!! So, here's some stuff kicking around in my head...

• Here's a great video about New Orleans and the recovery. It's by a guy named Detroit Brooks, who happens to be a close friend of the construction supervisor that we worked with. He swung by our job site a couple times to drop lunch off for her, but we somehow never managed to meet the guy. Maybe next year. But, the video is great.
  
• I'm reading in the minor prophets this week for my prophecy class. Read through Daniel and Ezekiel last week.
• This Sunday's teaching was rough. The passage I preached on could be the subject of a 500 page book pretty easily. It's a very heavy passage from a theological standpoint. I always struggle with those thicker passages because I want them not just to be revealing of God, but I want to explore what we need to do in response. How do we react? Is God calling us to change our mind, our lifestyle or our attitudes in response? Theology is fabulous, but we also need to know what to do with it all. I hope that came through for you on Sunday!!
• Still have sick kids at home. In the past week, 4 of the 5 have been home sick. Yuck. I get to work from home today as a result.
  
• We are working to start a Leader's Gathering at The Journey. Paul Jonason, David Clark and I have been working on this concept for some time. Watch for further announcements about this. We're hoping to have this started in February!!
• It was great to have Brett playing keys this Sunday. That's his primary instrument...bass guitar is a secondary instrument for him. So, a day on keys is kind of a treat for him and all of us too. One could say he's a prophetic keyboardist (ok, that's an inside joke).
  
• Just had the mother board on my laptop replaced. Thank God I bought that extended warranty.
• Our life group was together last night after a long break. The holidays took us apart for a couple weeks. Then Andrea and I have missed a few weeks due to kids' basketball schedules. We had a 'bye' week last night. It was great to be back with them all. Of 10 people in the group, 9 were there. I miss them when we aren't together weekly. If you aren't in a Life Group, you are missing what really is the biggest and best opportunity to grow your faith and experience community as God designed it.

Well, it's back into the prophets for me. Unless my kid decides to barf again. I'll take the prophets any day.

Where is Him?

I was missing my kids when I was down in New Orleans. Was thinking about them a lot one afternoon and I just started chuckling. I thought of a painting that Abby did one morning in an art class at The Studio. It was a jungle picture with a big old parrot, some palm trees and bushes. In the foreground of the picture, she included a bullfrog, just sitting waiting for flies to buzz his way. In the body of the frog, she put the frog's name: Him.

The crazy part is that Him, the frog, is a girl. She was explaining that to me one afternoon. That just cracks me up. In her 8 year old mind, she envisioned this conversation: "Hey, Abby, have you seen Him?" "Yeah, Dad, I've seen Him; she's over there." What a stitch.

That kind of creativity, humor and spark just shows that there's a Great Creator who has given us all tremendous gifts. Cool.

Thursday

Just a quick update for you all. We've made great progress on Ken and Lynette's home. Such sweet people--they are a joy to work with.

As the week has unfolded, it's become clear to me why God urged me to come down this year. I have had a great chance to minister to a person who once was close to God and who has walked away from her faith. She's endured significant abuse--horrific abuse--at the hands of 3 "Christian" men--2 pastors and an elder. She has panic attacks if she is in a church building. Her hurts are real and very deep. She has opened up to me more and more as the week has progressed. Oh yeah--she's a pastor's kid and one of her abusers was her dad. AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH. She has trusted me enough to open up about her past. After a good 20 minute talk yesterday, I asked her if I could pray for her and her continuing healing. She let me pray for her. After I chatted with God about her, the tears were flowing. She's a precious child of God who is trying to figure out if she's willing to risk herself in God's gracious hands ever again. What a privilege to be part of her journey!!

Please pray for this gal. I'm not gonna use her name right now, but I am hoping that I can stay in contact with her and encourage her more.

One other really cool thing...the rest of the team knew that I had a great opening into her heart. They let me run supply errands with her. They let me ride in her car to the job site. They let me operate out of my strengths as a counselor/pastor. It would have been fun for any of them to be able to run those errands, but they knew that ministry was happening, so they let me move in that direction. They even sat inside the house doing nothing for 5 minutes after we pulled up with a load of tiles. They knew that we needed room for that ministry to happen. They have all loved on this woman and found ways to befriend and encourage her. This team makes me so very proud!!


We leave about 2 pm tomorrow. Pray for a good trip home!!

Big Easy, Tuesday...

Hi folks!! I've been thoroughly upbraided by Mr. Odle, a proper Southern gentleman, who has taken me to task for not using the more proper "y'all" when addressing a group of you all. So, y'all, we're having a fabulous time so far.

Got a bit sunburn today. Just not used to the sun and 68 degrees. Hehehe. It's a beautiful week so far. So, here's the scoop...

Arrived on Sunday late afternoon after a very nice drive down. Our two cars left at separate times--one carload stopped for an overnight in Arkansas, the other drove straight through. But, we met up in Jackson, MS, and made the last 3 hour drive together.

Monday, MLK day, was a day off for the contractors who are overseeing the rebuilding efforts that we are part of. So, we had the day off unexpectedly as well. We arranged for the church where we sleep to leave us a list of chores to do. And that was our Monday--cleaning gutters, doing landscaping, sweeping and cleaning. It was needed work, and was a way to thank the church for their hospitality. After a full morning's work, we toured parts of the 9th Ward and located the 2 homes that our Journey team from last year worked on. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the homeowners. One of the homes looks like it's been almost completely rehabbed. The other, well, not so much. The owner hasn't worked to rebuild. That was bittersweet for the team from last year as they saw that home in about the same condition.

This year, we're working for a sweet guy named Ken, and his wife Lynette (I think that's her name...it was a long day!!). They lost everything in the hurricane and we're working on rehabbing. They are about 2 months away from moving back in. They've been gone for almost 2.5 years and are anxious to get back. Ken is mid-60's and is disabled--he has kidney disease and is on the transplant list. He goes for dialysis thrice weekly. He'll be getting a kidney in the next 6 months if all goes well...he first has to have 2 wisdom teeth extracted so that there won't be a possibility of infection settling in to his system through these teeth which have created problems for him in the past. Ken is a sweetheart. Very fun and full of life. He's helping with some of the chores as we work around his home, as did his wife. Their grown daughters will both return to N.O. next fall to teach school. Teachers are getting paid pretty decent bonuses to come and teach in N.O.

This morning, we met about 140 other Minnesotans and Iowans. We are working through a local Presbyterian church and their district has put together a large, district wide relief program now. All groups are funneled together and there is more oversight and guidance for the teams. We were the only non-Presbyterians, and they accepted us gladly. It was cool to meet a bunch of other Minnesotans who were down here!! In the "small world" category, I met Kate O'Brien's pastor from her home church in Bettendorf, IA. He has a team of 7 down here and when he introduced his team this morning, I figured odds were great that he knew Kate, who grew up in a Presbyterian church in Bettendorf!!

Our day today was spent tiling the main floor of Ken's home. Many folks down here want ceramic tile. After the flooding, the smell of rotting, wet carpet was overwhelming for tens of thousands of folks, many of whom don't want to have to smell it ever again. So, ceramic is selling big time down here.

We worked hard and then headed back to the church. The Presbyterians catered a big old banquet for all the teams and we were invited. Great food, followed by a big old church business meeting that we got to skip out on!!

Tomorrow, more tiling, and then some trim carpentry--doors and window frames. We'll hit the French Quarter tomorrow night. We'll be sure to stroll in shirtsleeves along the River Walk and down Bourbon Street, thinking of y'all in the hinterland the whole time.

Talk to you later!!!

Big Easy

Well, it's 8:30 or so on Friday night. Time to pack for New Orleans. I'm very excited about this trip. Get to spend 7 days with a great group of folks (Paul, Scott, Perry, Sue, Anthony and a guy named Jeromy). We get to do some great work--rebuilding someone's home. And we get out of this aching cold spell!!!

Anyway, we will be blogging on here as frequently as possible. Check in for updates.

Your prayers are coveted as we have 2 cars driving down tomorrow and Sunday. Have a great week and I'll blog at you later!!

WARMTH!!!!

Great news....at least for those in the Stevens' home in Corcoran. My lawyers tell me I need to retract everything bad I said about CenterPointe ServicePlus. They were able to completely fix all our furnace woes. So, hats off to them. Or at least hats off because of them...

Coldness

It's the coldest morning of the new year. I usually don't mind such things. I've developed a great degree of imperviousishness....uh, imperviarity...I mean the cold usually doesn't bug me.

When it's outside.

Woke up this morning to a house in the mid-50's. Our furnace is OUT. Not like "out" on a date or something like that. "Out" like dead. Kaput. Stick-a-fork-in-it-done kind of out.

Yeah, so the repairman is supposed to come today. And I'm sure he'll have the exact part needed (NOT) for the 23 year old furnace. And I'm sure it will come priority delivery (NOT) tomorrow. And then they will be out in the timeframe promised (NOT) to put it in.

Mom, Dad?? Is the bed in your guest bedroom made?? I have this sinking feeling that we're gonna be sleeping elsewhere tonight.

Yippee....the forecast calls for dropping temps. This 5 below junk last night just isn't sufficiently cold, I guess.

Argh.

Sloughing the Grey Matter (i.e., Brain Dump)

It's the week before the Katrina trip (5 days away, in fact!!), and I'm getting pumped. Here's what's rolling about in my cranium this a.m.:

• Brandy Boyer is joining me shortly at The Studio for some chats and coffee. Should be fun. He's got a good heart.
• It's always a weird week when I'm not preaching. Takes me out of the rhythm of lie to some degree. Since I'll be in Mississippi or Louisianna next Sunday morning, I won't be preaching!
• I missed my life group last week. Basketball started for our 2 youngest kids and they play every Monday night...the same night as our life group. Argh. That's a hard choice. I don't want to take myself out of group for 8 weeks. But I don't want to miss kids' games. 30 years from now, I can still be in a life group, but the days of my kids playing 3rd and 5th grade hoops will be long gone. So, I'm hitting the games. I am gonna try to get creative with carpooling and such and see if I can make it some nights or make it for part of group after games are done.

• I've met for coffee with 2 people in the past week who are really seeking after God. Lots of questions. What an amazing thing to be able to share with people who are hungry after the things of God.
  
• If you didn't hear yesterday's teaching, download it. It's worth taking the first 5 minutes to hear about the chaos we had at our home on Saturday night. What a riot that was!!! I love to be able to tell real life stories that are so incredibly full of the stuff of life. Here's a link It should be up there in a few hours.
  
• I'm reading Jeremiah and Lamentations this week.
• We leave for New Orleans in just 5 days. I am getting incredibly stoked for that. Perry Stuns is excited about "having 7 days to harass the preacher." He scares me most of the time.
• Life sometimes drops unexpected stuff in our laps. Stuff that we'd rather not have to deal with--like being out of work for 2+ months (like my wife) and all the associated stuff with that. But then I get an email from my friend who has lung cancer. My problems aren't really all that big.
• I keep JAcKing anonymous people at The Studio--just paying for their coffee and having the barista hand them a card. I need to start JAcKing people directly, not through another person. I need to also JAcK some people that I know. This whole Get JAcKed deal is sweet. We did get our first person who emailed in their story, and I'm looking forward to having hundreds of stories in the next year.
  

I'm a Bus Nerd

I try to make time at least once a year to help chaperone a field trip for each of my kids. Recently, Abby has been hounding me to come on one of her trips. I yielded and signed up for the mid-winter outdoor nature exploration hike that they do at the Eastman Nature Center. Yippee, looking at animal scat. Who could resist that??

Anyhoo, I showed up at school, got my little ID tag and get ready. I got to Abby's class, got my list of kids to supervise and got to work. Coats, hats, snow pants, gloves, scarves, boots--all had to be tossed on those 11 kids. 26 minutes later, we were off to the bus.

That's when the nerd showed up. Yep, my daughter dissed me. No sitting by dad on the bus for this girl. Had to sit with her friends, way in the back. Wouldn't even look at me on the bus. So, there I was...43 and the loser who no one would sit by.

Of course, I kept the kids around me in relative peace. Made the boys give back all the hats they were stealing from the girls. Made the boys stop sitting on top of each other. Made the boys stop pretending to be thrown from their seats and across the aisle on top of the girls whenever the driver made a left hand turn. But, through it all, I was alone. That felt weird. At my age, I certainly didn't let it ruin my day, and I laughed about it--but I allowed myself to feel the feeling of loneliness.

I just kept thinking the whole time that I hope that guests at our church don't feel the same alone-ness that I felt. It's gotta be awkward to walk into a place where everyone else knows each other, where everyone else is accustomed to the place. We need to be mindful of folks like this in our midst and do everything we can to make them feel welcome. Maybe even sit by them.

Oh yeah--on the way back to school--I wasn't alone. One of Abby's friends apparently felt sorry for me and sat by me. That's funny!!!

Monday Mind Dump

Here's what's swirling in my brain these days:

• My winter class at Bethel started officially today. Did a 'webinar' with the class from 1 - 2 pm. The prof forgot and thought it was supposed to start at 2...he showed up at 1:15 when someone called him. D'oh!!! That somehow made me feel a lot better about the occasional time that I'm late.
• The class is Old Testaments Prophecy. Lots of work, but it's good material.
• Yesterday was a crazy fun day at The Journey. Tons of people there--in fact, the highest attendance we've ever had at The Journey with the exception of our launch Sunday.
• Lots of guests there because we did a baby dedication. 4 babies in all (Elisa, McKayla, Erin and Addison). Always a fun Sunday for that.
  
• Started into Colossians, which is a rockin good book. I felt horrid when I was preaching--had a borderline migraine--but it went well in spite of all that.
  
• I JAcKed someone at the Studio this morning. She told the cashier that she's had to take a second job because money's been so tight, so an unexpected gift of free coffee really meant something to her.
• Basketball season is in full swing at The Stevens home. 3 kids have 3 games tonight...at 3 different locations. Isn't that fun....and of course, it's the night of our Life Group!! I'm going to Abby's game--it's her first basketball game ever, so I gotta get to that...
• Was IM-ing Beto Bautista this morning. He flies back to the states tomorrow and will be at The Journey Sunday--so we should have a full band!! I have missed the full sound lately.
• Saw August Rush yesterday with the family. It's a good movie, particularly for anyone who loves music and/or anyone who has adopted or been adopted. I cried like a baby at the end. It's probably nearing the end of its theatrical run, so run out and see it soon.
  

Apologizing for Another

There's a card game I really enjoy...some call it 'Baptist Bridge.' Not a lot of people know of this 101 year old game. Rook. Lots of fun. Kind of like Spades, there's trump and tricks and bidding and partners. But it's a points-based game. You don't bid tricks, you bid points.

Anyway, I play Rook online occasionally (no, it's not a betting game in any way, shape or form). I played a bit on New Year's Day. During one game, the other team was smoking me and my partner. I typed in a comment that they were pretty lucky with the hands they were getting. One of my opponents said words to the effect that 'I'm a Christian and we don't believe in luck...I'm just blessed.' I almost fell out of my chair. To suggest that God even gives a rip about his rook game is a horrible bit of theology at best and downright disgustingly prideful at worst.

The dude essentially told me and my partner that God likes him better and that's why he was winning. Oy vey. As if our job to attract lost people to Jesus isn't hard enough, this dude makes it all the harder.

A hand later, after I lost my bid and put us in a deeper hole, I told the guy that God must not like me because I didn't get a good hand. HE AGREED with me. AAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH. That's when I decided to let him know that I'm a Christ follower too. Why wouldn't God want me to win as well? Why wouldn't God bless me too? He had no answer. I finally broke down and told him the whole truth...that I'm a pastor. Instead of wanting to talk about his crazy statement, he wanted to hear all about our church and our denomination and what not.

After they won and they left, I apologized to my partner on behalf of God. I told my partner that true Christ followers don't trivialize God by claiming that He is worried about a game of Rook. I hope that she isn't forever turned off to Christ by this guy's prideful, arrogant attitude.

And I pray that we all are always conscious of how we treat people around us. When do I make similar ridiculous statements that I might not even be aware of? How often have I carelessly spoken about God and made someone decide that they want nothing to do with my God?

What powerful things words are. Let's work hard to make sure we don't have to apologize for our own statements, or--worse yet--have someone else have to step in an apologize for us because we're too blind to even know the harm we've wrought with careless words.