Still pushing on.

Surprise me, God!

I am still praying that each morning. I may do so for well after these 30 days.

I was encouraged to continue to write this. I was mildly surprised that Terry was reading this, but he encouraged me to keep putting my thoughts down. I am not sure they will provide any help or encouragement to anyone else, but it does help me process the thoughts that go through my head.

Blogging kind of gives me that Kerouac style, stream of conciousness sort of writing where there are no page breaks. The joy of the blog/journal entry is that my thoughts don't need to be terribly cohesive. So, that said... I am sorry if this doesn't make much sense.

We are in the midst of our annual fundraiser today. Things are going fairly well, but I get caught in the trap of comparing it to past years.

Tonight I had a small group discussion about the direction our church is taking. We tend to focus on three areas. Areas that can be represented by 3 overlapping circles.

1 - Internal/Body Life
2 - Outward/Missional
3 - Upward/Worship

Lately, I have found myself leaning "upward". My faith life tends to be introspective. I am not as outreach oriented as I should be, and I am not as focused on the body as I should be.

Tonight's topic was about the Internal/Body aspects of our ministries. I was beginning to get frustrated with the amount of conversation about social events and the need to build strong relationships.

I have always felt the Body part of the church life was to help us be more effective Worshippers and more effective in outreach. But as I thought it through, and examined all the "one-another" verses, it became clear that there was a lot of focus on the "social" parts of the church life (Help one-another, pray for one another, be at peace with one another).

I had cornered the "Body Life" part of the church into one of support for the other two areas of the church. But it has its own purpose. I am not entirely certain what that is yet. It certainly helps with my worship and my outreach. It is clear that all 3 of these areas are dependent on the others. I should spend more time on the Body area of my Christian Life. That will no doubt bolster the other 2 areas.

Wow. That is hard to follow. But that is no surprise.

"Surprise Me, God" Day

Today is "Surprise Me, God" day at KTIS.

It isn't completely 30 days through the experiment, but it is a good milestone as I continue this experiment.

I have found many of my musings need to be limited to my personal journal. Some things are just too personal to place here. So I hope that the inconsitency in my posting is not viewed as an inability to complete this task.

This is a big week.

We hold our primary fundraiser at work this week.

Additionally, my brother and his family are moving in with us this week.

They are packing up their apartment this week, and taking off for a church planting career in Poland.

I know I will miss them, but it hasn't quite hit me yet. I think I am putting too much faith in the technology that makes this world smaller. Skype webcams will certainly help my kids stay in touch with their cousins, but it won't quite be the same as a play-date.

I don't know for sure when their departure will hit me, but I suspect it will be Saturday at the airport.

I am proud of Dave.

Life Missions

My grandparents were career missionaries.

Yesterday, my parents officially became career missionaries as they were commissioned. That makes me an MK! (Surprise!).

It was a very special commisioning service. My brother and his wife were also commissioned for missions work at the same time. In addition to that, their youngest daughter was dedicated AND my wife was able to do the dedication (she is the Children's ministry assistant at our church).

We had a third family from church that was also commissioned as career missionaries during the same service. It is fun to see 3 families, from our church, giving their lives to God's service.

BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE...

The mother/wife of the third family was my mother's roommate many years ago in bording school. I don't know a lot about their relationship, but I do know my grandmother found it funny that they were both being commissioned on the same day.

To top it all off, the 3rd family has a son who is dating my sister.

Looking around the room on Sunday, I realized how blessed I am to have the Christian Heritage I have.

I also realized the severity of my responsibility to raise my girls to continue that heritage.

Day 7

I just started day 8.

Last night I was reading Psalms 52-53. David sure seemed to be dealing with a lot of stuff. And most of it BEFORE he became king.

Psalm 52 saw David lamenting an injustice. It is a great model I should remember when I complain.

Too often I just have to tell someone how aweful life is, or how poor someone has been to me. Then it just stops there. There is really no resolution to my thoughts.

David ends this passage reminding us that, although evil seems to prosper, his hope is still in God.

"In your name I will hope, for your name is good."

Other than that, yesterday was pretty straight forward. I still find myself straining to see God in everything (sometimes, it is so clear, I really don't need to strain).

Here goes day 8...

Surprise me, God!

Day 5

A full day, but I still found myself looking for God.

Work and the first PTA meeting of the year kept me moving.

Oh, and the Vikings won. I am surprised by that, but I won't count that as one of the experiment's surprises.

Day 3 & 4

I need to make this one short, since the kids are upstairs making a mess, but day 3 was probably my most surprising yet.

Jesus came so that I may have life, and have it more abuntantly.

I think I know what that means now.

More life means more of the highs in life. However, it also means more of the lows.

I had an early morning surprise. I had done some pro-bono work for the family of an ailing man. I was shocked to receive an honorarium for the work.

As greatful as I was, I didn't want to give people the wrong idea by posting that as today's surprise (I prayed for a surprise, and God gave me money).

Later in the day, however, I was surprised by a meeting that took me from the highs, to the lows. It was one of those meetings I entered fully believing I could predict what would transpire.

I couldn't have.

I would have gladly sacrificed the "High" for the day to not have experienced the "low".

When I returned to the office after the meeting, I received an e-mail from someone whose life had been changed by a part of our ministry. It wasn't addressed to me at all, I just happened to get it. It really helped me focus on why I do what I do.

The biggest surprise of the day came as I read the name. It was gentleman who had a leadership role in my life when I was in 6th grade. God knows what he is doing.

Here is what I am noticing as I do this.

I am constantly journaling in my head. EVERYTHING I observe, God is getting credit for. Things that used to just be happenstance, I am attributing to God.

Perhaps that is the value in this project. God is opening my eyes to be able to see Him every day.

Tonight (Sunday... day 5) is the first night for this year's youth group. There couldn't POSSIBLY be any surprises there, could there?

Day 2 - I don't have time for this

Quick addendum to the earlier post, and perhaps a request for prayer.

It was very clear to me, as I started this, that it couldn't happen at a worse time of the year.

We are in one of our busiest seasons at work.
The "Back to School" time is one of the busiest at home.
We haven't had a night as a family all week.

It isn't that I don't have time to say a 3 word prayer.

I can even find time to write. (see, twice in one day).

I just don't have time for God to surprise me.

It is a good thing God doesn't need to wait for things to be convenient.

I wonder if Mary thought "God, could you wait a few more months? I am pledged to be married, and this would be a whole lot easier after that."