Birthday week

This week is action packed as Wesley turns one on Thursday, Hillary has her birthday on Friday, and family comes in town on Saturday for a little party. I'll put up pictures of all three next week. It has been a fast year. Hillary and I were talking over lunch today and she was looking back through her journal to last year when Wesley was born. It is amazing to think of this helpless little person, who is now roaming around the house and getting in to all sorts of things. Wesley loves to open the bottom draw in our kitchen where we keep all our dish towels. He pulls them out and throws them into the air behind him until the drawer is empty. We've started stocking it with tupperware, measuring cups, spatulas, and a whisk - all of which he loves to pull out, examine and then toss. It is lots of fun. As you think of us this week, please pray for us as there is a lot happening in our family life and with my work. I'm doing a lot of teaching this week and have a bunch of other things to work on. Yet, in all this there is joy.

choosing when it is gray

My job with the church touches many different areas and there is this continual overlap of responsibilities and priorities. I love the variety, but sometimes it is hard to know what to do. Last Wednesday there was the possibility of attending a funeral for someone one step removed from our church, climbing with two teenage guys, or having coffee with a guys in his late twenties who comes to church occasionally. All three of these are good and important things to do and there was no simple answer. I'm reading a biography about Johnathan Edwards and when he was a pastor in North Hampton, MA he spent the majority of his 13 hour day in his study (preparing for preaching three massive sermons each week, seeking God in prayer, studying, writing, and some counseling). I can see how this fit his gifts and temperament, but I also wonder about other motives. I find that with the freedom I have in setting my schedule and prioritizing certain tasks over others, that there is the temptation to do only the things I enjoy and am good at. While this describes the majority of my job responsibilities, there are points when I know I am putting off administrative work, making a hard phone call, or making a difficult decision. I need God's help to know what best to do with my day. Sometimes it is very clear and at others I see many shades of gray.

upgrading the office and fun with teens

As you can see, I have furniture in my office. Well, I've had bookshelves and a desk for a while, but until last week I was getting by with chairs I found by the side of the road. They were both workable and fine, but not necessarliy inviting or cosy. I'm enjoying working in my new chair and putting my feet up on the couch as I read. We've had the offices six months now and it has been great for our church. Not only do we have a place for Al and I to come and work during the week, but we're using the space for all sorts of other gatherings. God has given us a wonderful space.
Picture number two is from Friday night when we had teens over after serving at the Hartford Rescue Mission. We go there about every other month and serve meals to folks in need. Our church has a neat relationship with the director and it is great to have the teens invovled. Most of our group that evening were Jr. High students and without the influence of the older teens, they can tend to be a little wacky. They were having fun fighting over the giant blue ball, playing with plungers (unused ones), and just being silly together.

thinking about the end

In March and April I've had the opportunity to do a good amount of reading and thinking about the End. One of the neat things about the bible is that the story has an end. We aren't caught in some endless cycle or wandering through some a random serries of events with no conclusion to the drama. God's story has an endpoint. As I've been studying the book of Revelation and thinking about Jesus resurrection, it has been shaping me and helping me connect the "now" of life to the "then" of eternity. I've been teaching a four part serries on Revelation and a ten part series on the ressurection to teenagers, both of which are opening my eyes to the practical implications of the "the end." First, a neat fact - Revelation has inspired some amazing art work. Check out the woodcut to the right. It is based on images from Revelation chapter one.
Second, I've learned that how we see wealth and material possessions presently has much to dow with eternity. Through the bible, God's people are commanded to live lives of incredible generosity. But as you look at the theme of wealth in the scriptures you see a promise of eternal wealth for God's faithful people. In the new heaven and earther (the final state of ressurected followers of Jesus) there is a city who's streets are paved with gold and who's walls are encrusted with precious stones. This is a picture of incredible wealth. It points to the richness of eternal life with God himself. The cure for materialism and greed isn't to down play the significance of money (because it is significant for this life). However, if we seriously think through the concept of eternal wealth and eternal poverty, this will help. If there is a God, who in himself is infinitely rich and plans to eternally welcome his followers as heirs of his wealth, then following him and forsaking wealth takes on a different tone. Third, in Daniel chapter twelve it is talking about the ressurection and says that some will rise to "shame and everlasting contempt." The idea of hell isn't popular and is easily poked fun at, as we imagine a little red guy with a pitch fork and horns. But if hell is a place of unending shame and contempt, it is a lot more realistic. As I talked with teens about a shame that is completely accurate and never fades, the reality of hell and it's horror hit me in a new way. If there is a God and we blow him off every single day... Imagine facing that reality. There would be complete shame for not loving and thanking him. The deepest embarassement for always ignoring what is true and there would be nothing we could do to hide. Yikes