snow and looking back on 2009

Yesterday was thrown off a little because of the snow storm, but I had a much easier time due to a new addition to our family. No, we don't have Wesley out shoveling yet, but we do have a pretty sweet snow blower - it feels like a family member. I was able to do our driveway, sidewalks, a neighbor's drive way, and a long stretch of side walk in less time than it would have taken me to shovel just our snow. It's also much more fun. I'm still learning the fine points of snow blowing, but I am very glad to have one. Thanks mom!
Due to the snow church was cancelled yesterday, which was a bummer, but we still had our community groups and prayer meeting last night. At our prayer meeting we spent time looking back over 2009 and remembering all that God has done. Here are a few of the things that we have seen God do through prayer:
-provide a new worship location and office space (this has been huge!)
-continue bringing new people to church and working in their lives
-raise up leaders in the church
-heal one of our missionaries of a potential tumour
-provide a location and workers for our work in the inner city of Hartford
-grow and deepen our presence at the University of Hartford
-lead us in shifting the format for our youth meetings
-lead us to serving an Iraqi family in the area
It is exciting to look back at the past year and see all that has happened. It is good to celebrate what God has done, yet we continue to long for more.

finishing off a monster...

...book, that is. I've been reading through this book on the resurrection since the spring and I only have 20 pages left! One of my goals for 2009 was to develop a reading list so that I work through a variety of books focusing on different aspects of Christianity. Within this plan, I decided that I should read one academically oriented book that will challenge me intellectually and make me think in new ways. Well, 730 pages later I can definitely say that I've learned a lot, enjoyed the journey, but that it took a lot longer than I expected. Here's a sentence that I thought captures the purpose and main thrust of the book: "Historical argument alone cannot force anyone to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead; but historical argument is remarkably good at clearing away the undergrowth behind which scepticisms of various sorts have been hiding. The proposal that Jesus was bodily raised from the dead possesses unrivalled power to explain the historical data at the heart of early Christianity." Reading through this book has strengthened my faith in the reality of the resurrection and helped me better understand it's meaning and implications.
Something else that I've been seeing in different ways is that many people don't believe in Christianity because they don't want to. While this sounds obvious here's what I mean. When someone says, I don't buy Christianity because _______, there is usually an equally valid, or sometimes better, explanation of their difficulty which the person does not want to accept. For example, someone may say that he or she does not believe in a good God because of all the pain and suffering within this world. This person's interpretation of the pain and suffering in this world is leading him to a certain conclusion, while in fact there are many other conclusions that could be drawn from the pain and suffering in this world. We all want to hold onto our interpretations of reality and the obstacles to faith are more complex than the needing evidence or the right argument. I think dialogue, and persuasive reasoning have their part but there's more going on under the surface that needs to be dealt with as well.
As I think about my job and all the neat stuff I get to do - like reading great books, thinking about God, and helping people connect to him - I am deeply grateful for the place God has me in life.

recuperating, shots, and a long awesome day

Sometimes I don't feel up to writing. Normally I push through, but last week was one of those times when I didn't. Needless to say, we got back from Thanksgiving and had a generally fine holiday. Hillary was sick a good portion of the time and at points I missed being with my family, but it was good to be up in NY.

So here are a few different things going on with us:

Hillary is about 90% healthy while Wesley and I are feeling good. Getting extra sleep and having less demands on our schedule has been helpful. Our December calendar is pretty low key, since we don't have many church traditions or holiday parties, so we've been able to keep life at a moderate pace.

Last week I received four out of my five shots for going to Africa. My arms were a little sore, but it is much better than the alternative.

Last week I also had a long but wonderful day. It started with a prayer meeting earlier in the morning and ended with youth group in the night. I meet with other area youth leaders to plan for our annual mission called the Hartford Project, brainstormed in our staff meeting about the vision and direction of our church, counseled a college student about some decisions before him and helped a teen connect the bible to circumstances in this family. It was great.

Finally, Hillary and I are reading through the book you see pictured to the left. It is a series of reflections on Advent from Christian writers across the centuries. There are guys like St. Augustine, Martin Luther, and Johnathan Edwards mixed up with contemporary authors. It has been good to go through this different readings and talk about them together. Here's an amazing quote from John Donne, "The whole of Christ's life was a continual passion; others die martyrs, but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha, where he was crucified even in Bethlehem, where he was born; for his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as the cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas Day and his Good Friday are but the evening and the morning of the same day. From the creche to the cross is an inseparable line. Christmas only points forward to Good Friday and Easter. It can have no meaning apart from that, where the Son of God displayed his glory by his death."