thursday..

it has been an incredibly busy but good week. We are all prepping for the easter services, the wine tasting, and the summer children's adventure. alot going on. my prayer for the day is that god would grant me wisdom, discernment, and a voice of truth. with all thats going on i need these things.

the crack known as facebook

I have been on face book for a few months now and it is such a crazy networking system. Email, IM, a wall, etc. a million ways for someone to discover something about you. It sucks you in and before you know it, you have been on for a few hours. it is insane.

Its been a while....

i have been away from this for a while and thought it time to return. it seems to keep me balanced. so for an update... we have been in the church (bethel) for 4 months and are in love with our new world. Our home is phenomenal, our community is a place full of unconditional love, and we got a new dog. ya you heard me right. we got a greyhound that we have named gentleman. he is a great gentle guy.

school has been good this semester as well. I have been taking this great class on the prophetic voice in America. it has been a powerful voice in my life as i seek to be a spiritual leader at bethel. more of that to come.

this week we are reading the memoir of John Dear, A Jesuit activist who has stood against nuclear weaponry for most of his adult life.

heather is doing great. she still likes her job as an after school teacher, and has recently started working at bethel in the morning with the Wise Owls (older preschool.) she is a great teacher so anything that uses those gifts are good.

the time has come.

we are officially official. I am the new pastor of Bethel Lutheran in Encino. My start date in December 1st and i will preach my first Sunday there on the 14h of December. Heather and i will attend this Sunday morning as well since it is the beginning of advent.

as i lay in my bed typing this tonight, my mind is calm, and we look forward with great anticipation to all that is ahead. I am old enough in the ministry to know and understand that much of what is to come will not be easy. there will be rough roads and glorious roads, yet we long to walk them alongside this beautiful and diverse community.

The last year and 5 months have truly flown by. we have grown to know and love our great grandparents (heather's side) and have built cherished relationships with her family. laurie has been an inspiration to us and a beacon of hope in an ocean of monotony. marcie and paul have given us fabulous moments of fun and relaxation, and grammy has given us her consistent love. this is just the beginning of the depth of new relationships we have been blessed to experience. There is also my wonderful family and friends who have been constantly supportive, challenging, refreshing and beautiful during our time in orange county.

please be in prayer for us as we begin to look for a place to rent. as we finish out the semester of school and as we press on with our new community. (God, it feels so good to say those words!)

continued peace and hope.

the new normal...

Life over the last year has been interesting. we are striving to establish the new normal, while trying to maintain hope in our future. i spent a long time talking to Dino about the oddness of this middle space which we find ourselves in. Part has been incredible, part much less. this week is the vote. ya the big one the one where the church decides our future. i am vastly excited by this but with a deep nervousness. a sense of abandon. a recognition that it is truly out of my control. As a control freak i am sure that is where the nervousness comes in.

i have been having a new awakening recently. a new old avakening. i have been going to a matthew class at our church, and reading mark scandrettes book soul graffiti. both are the precurser to my awakening not to mention my two ethics classes this semester. in ethics i am continualy awakened to how truly grey life and moral choices are. every moment and in all actions we each act(hopefully) on the best information and on the entirity of our histories. this is great except each and every action has a reaction, and we dont control those reactions. thus reaction is not under our control, our response is... i know i am rambling. i guess what i am thinking about first is that things grow increasingly less clear in life. even our positive actions sometimes the best action we know how to make can hurt those around us and even others that we have never met.

second... in reading matthew an the the scandrette text i am reawakened to the boldness of christ. both in voice and in action. there was a distinct decisiveness to his action. and it is quite different in my opinion than most of the Church makes it out to be. there was a revalutionary character to christ's actions that he calls us toward. JUSTICE... MERCY...Love these are central to his action and speach. there is a real awareness of the poor and hurting. there is a deep understanding of humanity, its needs, its interconnectedness of spirituality and physicality. can we be the church without truly meeting the needs of the world? can we be the church without dirrect interaction with those the church currently holds as outsiders? can we be the church without be politically active and socially responsible?

As i approach the next month full of possibilities. I wonder how to move the church forward? not my church the Church...

more ramblings to come. one thing is certain we are moving toward a new, new normal.

new year....

Sorry i have been away. i have been working on another blog for a class on immigration reform. Life has been crazy. heather and i have been do our best to remain patient for a church vote. it was moved again from the 12th to the 27th. God willing it will occur this time. i am not sure if heather will be willing to wait any longer. i do not blame her for that because i too am growing weary. I have recently read a book by Andy Stanley that makes the point that the longer that God takes to prepare you for a call is directly connected to the task that he is calling you toward. (aka moses and Israel in the desert). while we haven't been waiting 40 years we have been waiting for over a year now and our hearts and beings crave to move forward from this space of preparation to a entering the new land. heather found out today that she didnt get another job. please pray that she gets something soon. we need this. she is so abundantly talented and gifted and is beyond pleasant and loving i long for a church or organization to see in her all those that know her see.

updates.

Heather is doing well after her accident. she is going to the doctor this afternoon to get her back checked out for saftey sake. We have found a new car. We are buying heathers dad's mazda tribute. This has been a great help as we are both in the job search process.

That being said I have a call interview on sunday in Encino. This is a big meeting and if all goes well we will proceed in the call process with this church. This is extremely exciting and we covet your prayers and support.

this has been more than a year of patiently waiting to see what god is going to do. As we wait, we are enjoying the journey and waiting in expectation of a beautiful future.

heather

most of you may now by now but heather was in a bad accident two weeks ago where her car was totaled. she was stopped at a turn with two cars in frount of her and a young man wasn't paying attening and rammed her from behind at 45mph which sandwiched her into a large dodge ram. she is doing ok she is still having some back pain and anxiety.

please pray for her quick recovery and a regaining of confidence while driving. She also has a job interview on friday at two. all prayers are appreciated.

approved!

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

today was a great day in my lutheran journey. i am offically approved to be a pastor in a lutheran congregation. this process has taken a year and my part has finally reached its end. i am very content and pleased. now we just ask for prayers as we begin the call process.

sometime ill tell the story about the paraket in the parkinglot of the interview flying alongside the doves. but that is for the another day.

thank you all for your prayers.

creed 3

The Creed, johnson says, “communicates a compelling vision of the world’s destiny and humanity’s role that challenges the accustomed idolatries and the weary platitudes of current worldly wisdom.”