It's Good (Can you hear Jim Carrey saying it?)

Yesterday was one of the good days. At the Springs, we moved our gathering outdoors to the pavilion at the Y yesterday. It's fun to just mix things up a little. I taught from Philippians 1:9-11, everyone ate afterwards then about 50 of us went to see the Astros play the Pirates. This isn't another baseball post, I promise (even though the Rangers did win to take 2/3 from Boston at Fenway). It was a good day because I have grown to love the people that call themselves Springs and I got to hang out with them for about 9 hours yesterday. I have to admit that I think I saw all of about 5 plays during the game - Pete, Stan and Eric got most of my attention. It's really been the whole weekend though. Friday night we went out with some of our friends from our community group and met up with some of their friends and had a great night in the park listening to a band called Funkshun - can you guess what kind of music they played?

I really feel some positive momentum building right now for our little church. New families are coming every time we do something together and I think this summer has the potential to be a bit of a breakthrough for us. Don't get me wrong, I have not been disappointed with our growth. It's been steady and those who have come have connected. But there is something very cool when a family shows up to our gathering for the first time and can spend the entire day with us because of the pre-existing relationships already in place. That's the beauty of focusing our attention to a particular geographical area. This doesn't mean that we won't have people from outside our "zone" or that we don't want people outside our "zone." However, our goal is to make a splash in the community on the west side of the highway, and that is where we are heading.

Philippians 1:9-11 is where I want to be:

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your loves is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

Live it. Love it.

A New Week...and I'm Glad

Well, last week was a long week in some ways and very short in others.  It was one of those weeks that it is really hard to pause and take a moment to write something meaningful.  Most of my thoughts last week centered around two things.  First, a woman I work with has a daughter that doesn't live with her and a couple of weeks ago she attempted suicide.  Last week, she took some drugs at school that could have done the same thing.  It was a hard week at work for her and I caught myself engaging in her situation more than at other times.  

Second, early voting.  The stories of 2000 people per hour voting and then me maybe standing in one of those long lines...do I or don't I?  I didn't.  I didn't and don't want to write about the election again either.

That brings me to today - a Monday where I have been posting some of the funny videos I have found lately.  However, today I am energized by something that I want to share with you.  Yesterday morning, we went to "church."  It was not church the way most of you did church or most of you may think about church.  In the past couple of months, we have done "church" at the YMCA, in Galveston homes wrecked by Ike, and in Dickinson backyards removing trees.  Yesterday, we were the Church at the Clear Lake Lanes.  Four families and their kids met at the bowling alley, showed off some incredibly humbling bowling ability and shared some rich conversations.  We had long-timers and newcomers.  After we played together, we went to a new burger joint called Mooyah and broke bread together.  All together it was one of the most fun experiences of being the Church that I have had.  Jase and Ashley, I'm glad you made it.  Craig and Andrea, thank you for not rubbing in the Baylor loss to your huskers, and Renee and Nicholas...you always make me laugh.  My family had a place to belong and a place to play yesterday.

Some may say that we are just playing and not doing anything "significant," but I would argue that in the very act of "just playing" we just might be doing something very significant.  You see all of us that were at that bowling alley today have very busy lives and are pushing ourselves to the limits.  By taking a morning to relax and go have fun together, we just might be offering one of the most significant things we can to each other - the opportunity to exhale.

A man named Lyle Schaller, who has studied churches for years, said at the turn of the century, "The biggest challenge for the church at the opening of the 21st century is to develop a solution to the discontinuity and fragmentation of the American lifestyle."  Our lives as families are spent trying to go in all the necessary directions all the time.  In most cases church just becomes one more thing that pulls at us.  At the Springs, we want to be part of the solution here.  We could go ahead and program out your spiritual life too and then call you lax for not doing everything we tell you that you should, but that's not our M.O..  We want to help you be the church where you live, work and play.  We want to help people bring their whole lives under the alignment of a relationship with Jesus.  It's not compartmentalized...and it's definitely not wrapped up in our programmed activities.  I am so glad that my new friends came bowling with us because I would have not been able to have the same conversations at the YMCA with them.  We did not discuss the details of premillenialism or dispensationalism, but we did talk about our real lives.  And we'll be together again next week, too...if not sooner!

It's been a crazy back half...

Eat This Book has been set aside for a couple of days.  After a trip to my friend's hometown for her father's memorial service, a mad rush of gathering students for camp this summer, preparing a message for Sunday and working more at the Sign Shop than I would like to this week, I'm not going to be able to read enough of the book to post for today, so I thought I'd just let you into my brain a little today.

This Sunday I will be talking about "Starting Spiritual Conversations with Your Kids."  It's part two of our series of family-based messages called Starter Homes.  One thing I've realized over the past 10 days or so is that having spiritual conversations means something very different for different parents.  I really want to encourage parents to talk to their kids about spiritual things and not rely on someone else, but a lot of parents don't even have conversations with their kids, so the thought of having spiritual conversations scares them to death.  

I had a great conversation last night with a couple at our Table last night.  There were only the four of us, and the conversation was good.  They are in their twenties (barely!) and have a 2 year old son.  We talked about spiritual conversations with our parents.  I knew that Sarah had grown up in a family that talked about God and their faith regularly, so I wanted to pick her brain a little.  As we talked it became clear that having spiritual conversations isn't something that you can just plan.  What I mean is that, just as with any conversation, good conversation with your kids comes from cultivating an environment for conversation, honesty and self-disclosure.  

We discussed the value of parents being authentic and sharing mistakes and struggles with their kids.  Sarah said, "Perfection isn't approachable," and I totally agree with that.  The fact is that none of us are perfect.  As the church at large, we have entered into what might be called a "grace era."  Most contemporary churches today understand the value of accepting people right where they are.  They also understand the value of being real - pastors that share their struggles and their doubts and their fears.  However, I'm not so sure that this has translated into our homes.  Are we, as parents, willing to let our kids into our doubts, our fears and our failures?  Should we?  Can we?

If you get this today, would you be willing to share with me some of the ways that you talked about following-Christ with your parents?  Or if you didn't, what do you wish you could have talked to your parents about?  What could they have done to make it easier for you to talk to them about spiritual issues?  Also, what are you implementing in your family to help with the conversations with your kids?  Anyone?  Anyone?