teaching prayer and an amazing sandwich

I've been reading this book the past month or two and just finished it yesterday. Hughes Oliphant Old, which is quite a name, opens up a wealth of information on leading in prayer. You can tell that he has read and thought deeply about public prayer. This books is historical, theological, and highly practical. He looks at the different ways we pray in church and provides a deep analysis of each and then prayers that he has written based off of his studies. What strikes me is both the depth and simplicity with which he composes these prayers. His prayers are not particularly long or drawn out but in their sum cover so much of human life as seen through the lens of the scriptures. This book has shown the path to a deeper practice of prayer and encouraged me to walk down it.
Yesterday i went to Nardelli's a well known deli in CT to meet with a college student who was in our youth group. They asked if I wanted the foot long or the half sandwich, and being a hungry guy, I ordered the foot long without hesitation. I'm not sure the picture to the right does the sandwich justice. It is about four inches wide, four inches tall and a foot long. It is a serious undertaking to try and eat one of these! I was pleasantly full after eating half, so I had the other half for dinner.

moving fast

This past Thursday through Saturday I was hiking with teens in the White Mountains of NH and it was awesome. You can see us on the summit of Mt. Madison. I love being above the tree line. The views are amazing, the wind is always blowing, and it is much cooler. It's fun to have a hat and long sleeve shirt and be just warm enough when at first your sweating like crazy as you hike through the woods for the first few miles. We were able to get up to the summit and back down before the weather got nasty. A neat aspect of this year's trip was our focus on Psalm 19. It starts out, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands..." We read this a few times during the trip and had a great time talking about the reality of God's beauty and power streaming through what he has made. There were no major injuries, we all ate well, and got back there and back in a reasonable amount of time. It was an energizing trip.

As I was thinking about hiking up mountains and trying to keep people moving, it reminded me of this photo of Wesley. There is a special setting on my camera to take pictures of "fast moving children" and as you can see, it isn't very effective! He is on the go al ot and we enjoy it. He loves playing in the pool, throwing balls, and is just starting to sit down with books by himself. He especially likes the ones with pictures of household objects and the corresponding words. He'll point at forks, spoons, bread, tables, bathtubs and we'll tell him what he's pointing at. It is lots of fun.

Off to the mountains

This week is one of my favorites for the summer because I'll take some of our teens hiking in the White Mountains of NH. I'm not sure what it is, but there is something wonderfully freeing and sometimes almost intoxicating about being in wild places. The summit of Mt. Washington is pretty busy and built up because you can drive there or take a rail car up the mountain. Otherwise, there are miles of trails to wander. You'll pass other groups of hikers now and then but often it's just us and the trees. I'll put up some pictures next week and tell a story or two.

Singing at the Old State House

Can you imagine 80 teenagers in purple shirts swaying, clapping, and singing gospel music on the steps of Connecticut's Old State House? This is the scene from last Thursday as we concluded the Hartford Project in the center of the city. It was a beautiful day as the other 200 of us watched, gave out free water, and chatted with passersby. Starting Sunday night 18 churches partnered to display the free love of Jesus through words and deeds in the city of Hartford. There were nine from our church and it was an amazing time. We all stayed at South Church, a big old church on Main Street. We would spend the days partnering with different churches and service organizations throughout the city. We'd also have times of worship, teaching, and had the luxury of showering once during the trip. It was powerful to see God working in and through so many teenagers and it gives me great hope of what he will accomplish long term in the city of Hartford. Each year we encourage teens to ask God if one day he would have him be a part of his work in this city.

If only ten percent say yes each year, that could have a profound impact over time. Here are a few of my favorite points during the week: Watching our teens hand out bibles during the street fair we ran brought me such joy. They enjoyed passing God's word onto others and interacted with those who came to the booth in a meaningful way. We took a long and a brief prayer walk and had good times of prayer through the week. The first prayer walk was challenging due to it's length, but all of our times in prayer were rewarding. One of our teens spoke one evening of how God was teaching him through the week. It was a wonderful testimony to God's free love. We played tag at a beautiful rose garden in the city on our final night. It was so much fun and I think we saw God's beauty, not only in creation, but also as we enjoyed each other. There is so much more to tell, but God worked in wonderful ways.

unAnchored

Two weekends ago my sister stayed with us to help me care for Wesley while Hillary was with family. We visited Celebrate West Hartford, which like a town fair. There was face painting and since there was now way Wesley would sit still for that he got an anchor tattoo. Looking back, this has been a month where we've felt as if we're moving all over the place. Family has been in town, Hillary has gone on vacation and visited family. I'm gearing up for our annual missions trip with our teens and then we're off to the Poconos for a few days of vacation. It has hard to imagine it slowing down, though I know that time will come.
While all this is happening there have been times where we are deeply anchored despite the activity. I've been reading through 1st John and in there I keep running into the theme of "abiding:" abiding in Jesus, his love, his commandments, and the opposite, abiding in death, the ways of the devil, indifference, and hatred. Even amidst busyness and stress there are times when we have been abiding, in a right way, and it has made all the difference. I want to grow in abiding, not just because it helps me deal with life, but because I love God and it is what he deserves. That is a huge idea to unpack, because often we think of what we deserve and are owed. Thinking about what God is owed helps me all the unanchored times in perspective. This isn't some wooden legal sort of things but the dynamics of a real relationship. Maybe I'll write more in the future.

diverse scolding

Our church has community groups where people who live in a local area get together on a Sunday night to spend time together, talk about the sermon, and pray for each other. This Sunday night we had people from two groups at our home and Hillary related this neat interaction. Fabi, from Nicaragua, and her son (7yrs old) were there early and he was exploring and playing with different toys. Another woman who is Ukranian arrived a little later with her son (2yrs old). Both of these boys were getting into things they shouldn't have and one mother was scolding in Spanish while the other mom was scolding her son in Ukranian. It was a neat picture of life in the body of Christ. We come from different places but have similar difficulties and are working towards the same ends.

The splash park - part of Wesley's daily regimen

Wesley's usual day: sleep, eat, play, eat, splash park, sleep eat, play, eat sleep. In the past week and a half that it has been open we've gone pretty much every day and Wesley enjoys it more each time. At first he would only stick his hand into the smallest jet of water shooting out of he ground. Now he goes in face first, mouth open, as he dashes around the area, running right into the jets of water and even braving the purple tunnel which sprays you from all directions. This park is about a block and a half from our house so it is super convenient and we've had so much fun taking him there. We usually get pretty wet when we go because he'll want to be picked up every now and then or he'll get knocked over by another child running around and need to be held. This past week was my (Jarrett's) first night on my own with Wesley as Hillary traveled with a friend to Newport, RI to get a little break. It was good for Hillary to be away and I enjoyed my time with Wesley. This week I'll have another two nights on my own with Wesley. Fortunately my sister will be in town, so that will help. I'm looking forward to the time spent together, but a little cautious as to how it will all work out. We are heading into a busy few weeks as school winds down and summer begins. This is an exciting, but stressful time for teens as they transition from the challenging finals season to the relaxation of summer. I need to do my best to care for them well.