Still Alive

Just letting you all know that I'm still alive and am planning to relaunch my blog on September 1. I've got some ideas, but still want to hear from a few of you. Let me know why you come to 4three4 and how it could be more beneficial to you. Thanks for checking it out.

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Discerning Purpose for Year Three

Well, it's been almost a month since my last post. We are getting ready this week for another Thumpin' Thursday with our kids and if we see another birth at this one, I'll be worried since we are going to the bowling alley!

A couple of big things have happened since I last posted. Rhonda and I celebrated our 17th Anniversary. We attended her 20-year high school reunion (more to come on that later). I filed the papers and officially opened Gart Graphics for business - which means a little more attention in that direction is on it's way. We have had some crazy Sunday gatherings at the Y with the Springs and I missed my first gathering yesterday - even though I got a call at 8:30 from Justin regarding set-up.

I have been blogging now for two years. It's been a little work, a little fun, a little therapy and a little confusing. When I first started out, I read a book and the author challenged me to answer two questions - Who is the audience? What is the purpose? Over the two years, my audience may have shifted a little. I started with our little church being the audience, and it has grown to friends from all over the place, literally. I have new friends, old friends and friends I don't know yet. While the early blogs focused more on casting vision for our little faith community, the more recent blogs have tended to be much more personal. A critic of pastoral blogs once wrote something like this, "I don't want to hear another sermon when I read your blog, I want to hear something about you." In so doing, my goal has always been to explore the life of a Christ-follower in real, everyday situations. Nothing is off limits - at least I didn't plan for them to be. This got me in some hot water with some people during the election process last year, but it also deepened some other friendships. In any case, I want to be able to be honest - honest about questions I have and honest about my feelings toward the things I experience on a daily basis.

That all said, I am rethinking my third year of blogging. If you are reading this, you've probably visited before. I'd like your input. What have you liked about the blog, what have you disliked? Is there anything I could write about that would help you in your faith journey? I'd like to hear from you, but I realize that many of you don't like to post, so go ahead and email me at bgartman@me.com. I'll take whatever you want to pass along.

Anyway, thank you for being part of my little blogosphere. I'm looking forward to Year Three.

An Experience They Will Remember

All of us that work with children long for those memorable moments. We plan a big trip and we want them to remember it. Yesterday was a pretty cool day for us. To help out with the summer heat, we've created "Thumpin' Thursdays" for our elementary kids. One Thursday per month, we will provide our kids with a Thumpin' Good Time. Yesterday was our first one. We took the kids out to Bayou Wildlife Park - 86 acres of exotic animals. We took a tram ride and fed the animals, took pony rides and had a great lunch. After lunch, our plan was to go to the "petting zoo" and then start packing up to go home. We had a little over an hour to kill at the zoo.

Well, the "petting zoo" consisted of about 20 goats and 1 big fat pig asleep in the corner. The kids were having a fine time, but there was no way we were going to make this stretch to an hour. As the kids played with the goats, some workers came in to check on the pregnant goat. Honestly several of them looked like they could be about to give birth (one in particular looked like it was about to pop, then we found out she was a "he"!). They located the suspicious goat and said it could be about an hour. We were told we could stay in the pen if we just gave her space and if she had the baby, not to touch it. God was providing us an hour of anticipation!

Well, it didn't take an hour and our kids got a front row seat for the birth of baby "Springs," as they called the new goat. Had God really provided us with this incredible experience? I'm not sure all of the parents thought so last night as their kids asked questions like "How did that baby goat come out of the momma's bottom?" It's no surprise that the experience was the highlight of the day for all the kids...and us too. I'm not sure how we are going to top this first Thumpin' Thursday, but I have already vetoed a trip to the hospital.

It's Hard to Be Happy

Today is one of those days when it's hard to be happy. I am helping our Kidsprings director take 15 or so kids to a wildlife park today...no that's NOT what makes it hard to be happy. I have two of the best kids in the world that give me every reason to smile. I have a beautiful wife that gets my heart pumping as fast today as she did 20 years ago. I have three great jobs. All is good and I should be happy..but today it's hard.

Last week, I got word that another one of my good friends, and ministry partners, has cancer. I have another good friend who is watching his parents both battle cancer at the same time and this week learned that his wife's father was killed. Today is just one of those days when I sat down at Starbucks with my Shaken Iced Tea Lemonade and wanted to write something fun and exciting, but it's hard.

In my world, hard does not equal impossible though. So, though there is some pain in the offering today, still I will say "Blessed be the Lord." In the middle of difficulties and watching friends suffer, I know that they are not on the journey alone. This morning, I came across these two verses that solidify my hope.

"The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me." (Job 30:27 TNIV)

"But those who suffer he delivers from their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction." (Job 36:15 TNIV)

"I know that I can cope with the hardships of life and with death because of the hope I have in Jesus Christ." My family and I pray that Father continues to build this virtue into our lives. This is one of those seasons when the hardships of life and with death are right in our faces. We will walk this road in faith - a fully-sighted faith that produces confidence in us because Father has been faithful to others in the past. It doesn't make it easy, but it does make it bearable.

The David Crowder*Band is one of my favorite bands for many reasons, but I think the primary reason is because they write music that is rooted in real life. They are worship leaders that get that life sucks sometimes and we don't have to sugar-coat it, but we also don't have to be paralyzed by it. A Collision was a CD written out of the darkness of loss and tragedy. Remedy brought the Ultimate Hope into focus. On Tuesday, they released their new single - How He Loves. I thought I'd pass along the song and lyrics - listen and be strengthened:

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realise just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,

Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way…

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Written by John Mark McMillan / Performed by David Crowder*Band on their upcoming "Church Music" CD