Adventures

able to predict or...predictable

Columbian…again… I am starting to wonder if I’m becoming a bore, if I’m slipping into a coffee rut. I don’t want to be totally predictable. I don’t want people to think that I never branch out and try something new.

I am a firstborn. How much does this affect me? I am precise, organized, and follow the rules. You wouldn’t catch me parking in a handicap spot, not even at 2:00 in the morning on a quick run to the grocery store in a snow storm. I am reading a book called “The Birth Order Connection”. It is really giving me some insight into why I think the way I do and what I should be looking for in a spouse. I fit the first born mold…somewhat. I love adventure and being spontaneous. I don’t like to draw attention to myself but would gladly lead people in worship or on an expedition because the focus isn’t on me leading. The focus is on where we are going and what we are doing. I am planning a trip to Colorado with two of my best friends. I am excited to go “rough it” in the woods and be a “man”.

I wonder how much my first born male mentality affects my life; my relationship with God. Do I strive for perfection when I should be resting in His arms? Do I push the congregation toward the same goal while leading them in worship? Do I miss out on the beauty of being able to rest in the midst of a mess because instead I stress? Do I worry instead of having faith and being “anxious in nothing”? Do I overanalyze; like right now?

I know that God loves me and has created me in His image…just the way I am. Why do I sometimes struggle to find that peace that surpasses all understanding? I want to be more like Him; strong, loving, gracious, passionate, peaceful, secure. I care too much about what others think of me and not enough about what He thinks of me. Thank God for grace!

How do you think your birth order has shaped how you view and respond to life; to God; in relationships? How can being aware of these things help you to handle them better?

FYI…I am now on a cup of…HIGHLANDER CRÈME J…I’M CRAZY!!!

Breathe: In and Out ...or... Out and In

Well today I am having the Columbian again. I tried to get a cup and they ran out of that pot so I asked for another one to be made. They gladly made another pot and while I was sitting at my table they brought the whole pot over so I could fill my cup. I think it is cool how there are businesses based around service all over the world. As Christians this is a main part of what we are supposed to do. We are to serve our communities and the people around us.

Today we started working on a promotional video for the River Project that our church is doing for the community. It is based around bringing the river of life to our county. There is a very large river where I live. Two of the others pastors and I got in the river for a goofy promotion. I must remind everyone that there is snow on the ground in MI today. The river was barely above freezing temperatures as evidenced by the ice on the plants that were sticking out of the river. We could not feel our legs or feet for a few minutes after coming out of the river. I am excited about what types of services are going to be going on in our community.

OK, now on to my thoughts for the day.

In…Out…In…Out…In…Out…

(OR IS IT)

Out…In…Out…In…Out…In…

Before you think I am totally crazy I am talking about breathing. We take breaths in and out all the time. The question of what comes first is one that we always ask…chicken and egg, light and dark, seed and plant…you see what I mean. In regards to breathing the simple and obvious answer is we must breathe in before we exhale so that we have something to exhale. We like to think of something coming from nothing. Light is something and darkness is nothing…that is why God spoke light into the darkness, spoke the earth into existence. This shows us though that there must be something before nothing to create something. I will say that another way: without God there to speak into the darkness there would be no light. This brings me back, once again, to breathing. Without room for the oxygen in the lungs an inhale is impossible. Without oxygen in the lungs an exhale is impossible. This leads me to think that maybe we are always asking the wrong question. Instead of figuring out what is first maybe we just need to realize that they are both of equal importance and of equal value. Lets look at the chicken and the egg. There is a chicken and an egg…right? I would say that there is a chicken and an egg because there must be at least two chickens to create another egg. There may be two chickens, two eggs, or one of each but does it really matter? There was obviously someone or something to create the chickens too. Maybe that initial creator is much more valuable to spend our time contemplating than how many chickens or eggs there were. Maybe it is far more valuable to look at the chicken and the egg and worship the creator for creating. Maybe when we look at the seed and see the tree or see the tree and look at the seed we can be amazed at the contrast. A small seed produces a powerful tree and a powerful tree produces a fragile seed. I can look at the contrast and worship the creator for that.

I had a totally different point to make about the inhale and the exhale but I suppose I will save that for next time if I am still in the mood to talk about it. Let me know what your thoughts are on this topic. I look forward to reading your comments.

F1V3 CUPS

Are 5 cups of a great coffee too many?

Even if you're tired and need to wake up?

Someone please tell me that this is ok :-D ...

Pain and a great Columbian

Wow, I am tired! I am working 10-12 hour days Monday thru Wednesday so that I can take Thursday and drive home. I am thoroughly enjoying the best cup of Columbian that I have had here at the Café. It is a huge difference from the cup I had while writing the previous post. I will be leading a worship practice tonight and have been thinking about what to do for our small group devotional. I have been thinking a lot about healing lately.

We are created to heal. We heal from cuts and scrapes. We heal from emotional wounds such as a tough break up. We must be involved in order for things to heal properly. We have a choice as to whether or not a wound will fully heal. When we are cut, we must clean the wound so that it will heal fully and properly. If we leave the pebbles in our skin after a fall there is a chance of infection and potentially becoming re-infected. The word “infected” means, “to contaminate or corrupt”. Anything that contaminates or corrupts any part of us is an infection. As humans we have a tendency to focus on pain and see it as a bad thing when really we should be more concerned about the infection. I recently heard a story of a girl that could not feel pain. This young girl would constantly injure herself by biting into her tongue, or having something hot scald the inside of her mouth. I can not imagine grabbing a cup of hot coffee and drinking it quickly. The entire inside of my mouth would peel off, but I would experience no pain. Pain is something that is created to help us know when to stop doing something that is hurting us. We look at pain and say, “Why would God allow me to be hurt?” This question is easily answered by recognizing that the pain is not the problem but rather the action that was taken to produce the pain. There are some forms of pain that are unavoidable. Why must we still experience pain in these situations? We experience pain so that we know that something is not right and we must take action to avoid infection.

This is the case with our spiritual lives. We must recognize painful things that happen and clean them out so that we can continue to grow and not continue to experience the same pain over and over.

I enjoy pain because it allows me the opportunity to experience pleasure, such as this wonderful cup of Columbian…time for another! YES PLEASE!!!

Let me know what you think of pain being a good thing and how that is played out in your life.

Love those Elixers

My Taylor and a Friend

Djembe and Taylor Photoshoot

Ethan...adorable

Checkin' out the MI sunset

Bad Coffee and the Cross

Why do we settle? I am drinking Folgers Coffee. I don’t even know how to spell the garbage that is widely known as coffee. I am amazed that people everywhere want “Folgers in their cup” because I surely do not. I am really just using this cup of coffee as a way that I can blog right now. I went and grabbed a very strong cup of bad coffee so that I could type. Isn’t it funny how this works in life. We endure things that we don’t necessarily enjoy in order to accomplish something else. I wonder if Jesus was thinking along those lines whenever He endured the pain and death of the cross in order for us to live. I am amazed at how we like to compare things. I just compared the death of our King of Kings to a cup of Folgers. BLAH, another bad sip. Hmm…things that I do in order to do something else…I create a Tech sheet to avoid a hundred questions from the team members (though I get about 50 anyhow). I guess some things are worth enduring for something else.

How does God fit in? If I know that God is in control…that helps. If I know that God loves me…that helps. If I know that I am created to worship Him…that helps. If I know that I am forgiven…that helps. How does knowing all of this help? How do our responses help? Let me know what you think.

I’m finally done with this horrible coffee… I wonder if it was worth drinking…

Crystal Trees