And now for something completely different

It probably doesn’t look like much yet, but there’s real progress happening here. Our new gathering place is really coming together – walls are being put in place, the plumbing is all ready and the electrician is getting on with the wiring. Every time I drop in I get quite excited about what the future holds.

This has been so long coming now that it’s not funny. There were times in the last couple of years that I thought it would never happen. Some of the obstacles in our way seemed insurmountable. But we always had the vision God had given us before us to keep us in focus. Our main prayer is that we don’t fall into the old habits of ‘going to or doing church’. It’s time for us to just be the church. The building is just the place that we hang out and encourage/develop relationship. We’re glad to have this new place, but it’s not the focus for what we do or, more importantly, for who we are.

And so, the countdown begins…

Release the captives

We watched this in church today, along with prayer. More resources here.

A prayer for today

Quote for today…

I like to read in the morning. Today I couldn’t get beyond this:

“All I want, Jesus is more and more to abandon everything to You. The more I go on, the more I realize I don’t know where I am going. Lead me and take complete control of me. Doce me facere voluntatem tuam quia Deus meus es tu. Teach me to do thy will, for You are my God.”

(Thomas Merton in Dialogues with Silence)

Happy New Year!

So, 2008 is here. Happy New Year! The last month or so has been a blur and I guess I haven’t taken the time to write much here at all.

2007 wasn’t that bad a year. It’s hard to believe that we have been in Elliot Lake for almost 7 years now and it doesn’t look likely that we will be leaving soon, either.

According to my journal I read 28 books last year and watched 106 movies. My top 5 books for the year are as follows:

1. ‘The Sacred Way’ – Tony Jones
2. ‘Serve God, Save The Planet’ – J. Matthew Sleeth, MD
3. ‘Fatal Passage’ – Ken McGoogan
4. ‘Starving Jesus’ – Craig Gross and J.R. Mahon
5. ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek’ – Annie Dillard 

 The best 5 movies I saw for the first time were:

1. Freedom Writers
2. Letters From Iwo Jima
3. Amazing Grace
4. Snowcake
5. Syriana

Some old favourites I watched included:

1. Cinema Paradiso (I watch this at least once a year)
2. The Deer Hunter
3. Friday Night Lights
4. Hoosiers
5. Master and Commander

The good news at the start of this year is that the conditional offer our church placed on a new property downtown has been accepted. There is still a lot of work to be done before everything is finalised, but it’s a positive step in the right direction. We are hoping that everything is completed by February 29.

More news to follow…

Inventory Time – Changes

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about life in general, what things are important, what my priorities in life are, and so on. Sometimes it takes something drastic to bring a person to their senses. At other times it is just a persistent nagging over a long time pointing you in a different direction. Also things you read or watch or listen to can be the catalyst for moving on to other things. For me, I think it has been a combination of most of these things.

I really like to read and don’t always take the time to do this. I aim for at least a couple of books a month, which I sometimes achieve and beyond, but at other times I don’t get close. A couple of books that I have recently read have caused me to take inventory. These are ‘The Sacred Way’ by Tony Jones and ‘Serve God, Save the Planet’ by J. Matthew Sleet, MD. Both of these books took me no time to read, as once started I just couldn’t put them down. Check them out for yourselves and you may discover this, too. I also am now being challenged as I slowly read through ‘The Great Giveaway’ by David E. Fitch. It is one that you have to take your time with and is very challenging. I heard the author speak last Saturday at Cultivate Gathering at The Freeway in Hamilton.

I’m not going to go into great detail on any of these books, but I do highly recommend them to you. The Sacred Way has caused me to think about my prayer/devotional life and how it could be a lot better. It has a welath of resources and ideas and has helped me immensely. It has opened up my eyes and heart to many possibilities. Serve God Save the Planet should be a wake up call to Christians in the west, and really is a call to action. The Great Giveaway is also a wake up call to a church that is sick and needs to gt back to what it means to be the body of Christ.

So, the changes? Well, I’m being more deliberate in my Christian walk, setting aside daily time for prayer, meditation, Scripture, instead of cramming it in wherever. I’m back to reading more and enjoying it. I use the treadmil for 20 minutes a day as soon as I get up. I have cut out nearly all of my snacking. I am only drinking Fair Trade coffee and tea (as much as possible anyway). The TV has been banished to the basement and we have cancelled a large percentage of our channels. We are slowly replacing all of the lightbulbs in the house with compact fluoresecents and are all getting into the habit of turning off lights when we leave a room. Since September I have lost about 25lbs and intend to lose as much again in the next 3-4 months.

There are also changes afoot in our church as well. Our church building should be put up for sale in the new year. We have heard of people already interested in buying it. A conditional offer has been drawn up on a building downtown in Elliot Lake all on one level, where we could house all our ministries under one roof. Even if this offer does not go through, we will still step out in faith and sell the old one. We have been here for over six years and what is taking place is having very little effect on the community, so it is time to kill off that and to move forward. Our DC is recommending us to stay on and that is what we would really like to do, in order to follow through on what God is calling us to do.

Another project we have been involved in for the past few months, with our friends Jeff and Ginny, is the setting up of a 24/7 prayer room for our community. This is ready to go and we are hoping for an official launch on December 1. We have set up a website for this here, but it is still a work in progress.

So, things here are pretty exciting just now and we get busier as we approach Christmas. God is good!