All I can say is Wow.

It has been a trying week...let's see, where to begin....

Last Monday night I got a call from my aunt who had just spoken to my mom and she informed that my mom was down to her last few days of (highly addictive narcotic) pain pills and that since her primary care physician wasn't going to give her any more, she was thinking about ending it all. I called and she promised me she wouldn't do anything stupid and I promised her I would come get her the next day and bring her up here to get some help. Thankfully one of her lifelong friends showed up that night and stayed with her until after midnight to make sure she was going to be okay. I picked her up on Tuesday and with the help of a few friends/family, made phone calls to 3 different pain management specialist to see if we could get in on short notice....all we needed was a 5 minute consultation whereby they would refer mom into a rehab to get her cleaned up. No takers....ever...still waiting on call backs from them.

Wednesday night I came down with the flu....good times.

On Thursday, not having heard from anyone and mom running out of pills, my lovely bride loaded mom up and took her to the ER at St. Anthony's and after 4 hours of fun, they left with a prescription for a few more days of pills and hope that if we kept calling in every morning at 9, they would eventually have a room for her at the St. Anthony's START program. It was a tense few days but by the grace of God, we got her in Saturday and she is well on her way to recovery.

Thank you to all that prayed for us and we would ask that you continue to pray. Mom's name is Nancy LeJeune.

"A Church Where Everybody Feels at Home"

I guess some people have a twisted view of home life???

I stole this from Tony Jones' blog.

The Gameplan

The family watched The Gameplan tonight starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a pro football player (not a huge stretch considering he was a great player at Miami). The movie was pretty good and at the end as the credits rolled my 6 year old son looked at me and said, "I knew they would win the Championship. If they didn't, it wouldn't be a good story."

Almost all of us are suckers for happy endings. That is one of the great things about being a Christ follower. We have an opportunity to walk with Christ here on earth and write a new page to our story every day. God sent his son to bring redemption. His story is still being written and we have a part in that story. I truly believe this is a story with a happy ending.

What is the story that you are writing with your life? The decisions you make every day are telling a story. Will it be one of self or selflessness? Does it point people to Christ? Are you living out the Shalom that Christ came to bring?

In the words of my good friend Samurai Jack, "Get out of the seat and into the story".

Why men don't go to church???

I ran across this post and although it quotes Mark Driscoll, who is one of the biggest theological flip floppers of all time, who has an interesting idea on why more men aren't going to church. Your thoughts?

http://theresurgence.com/the_right_hand_of_fellowship

Preparing for something big!

It's a catchy title for sure. Once upon a time it would have been followed by some story of grand visions of revival or tons of salvations. The longer I'm alive, the more I realize that God has big plans for us that usually include a lot of small (seemingly insignificant) actions. I'm reminded of a quote by Shane Claiborne who said, “Get ready, friends…God is preparing us for something really, really-small.” There is something (evil) in all of us that tells us that if we aren't over achieving and leading the pack, we are worthless. We have to have big buildings and tons of conversions. It seems like many are looking for this "revival" or "awakening" where God sweeps in and saves a bunch of people. I wonder why? Could it be that we are not wanting to go through the inconvenience of having to truly live out a sacrificial life committed to the Kingdom of God? We want God to do it for us. God forbid we actually have to get out there and take responsibility for our part in God's story.

I think all of it comes from a distorted view of Christ and His gospel. If we truly believe that we were created for a life in relationship with God and others, we will see the calling to follow Christ as more than punching a ticket to Heaven. We will see that Christ died so that, as John 10:10 tells us, "...you might have life and life more abundantly". We are called/claimed/saved for far more than a ticket to Heaven. A historical look at this "good news" of the gospel shows us that Jesus had much more than salvation in mind for us. He was calling them to realign their allegiance from following the king of the times and his plans to a new and different life of sacrifice, grace, justice and compassion.

Prepare for something big. Just don't be surprised if your something big is a conversation with someone that is hurting and needs an encouraging word. God might just give you an opportunity to feed or cloth someone who needs it. Keep your eyes open for something big! Many times it will look like "the least of these" and be something so seemingly insignificant that you might be tempted to fly right past it for something bigger.

Do something small for the Kingdom.

This is a link to a lengthy interview published yesterday (1/25/2008) with Brian McLaren, one of the most mis-represented and mis-quoted theologians of our time. Judge for yourself: heretic or hero?

http://www.charlotte.com/449/story/463053.html

love your neighbor

Another great one found at http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/

Great quote

"The work of Jesus was not a new set of ideas or principles for reforming or even revolutionizing society, but the establishment of a new community, a people that embodied forgiveness, sharing and self-sacrificing love in its rituals and discipline in that sense, the visible church is not to be the bearer of Christ’s message, but to be the message.” - Stanley Hauerwas

I found this at http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/ . A cool and very different blog.