Christmas Reflections

Well, Christmas is almost over. It's almost midnight on December 25th. As I sit alone, the house is quiet, the family is in bed and I can relax, reflect and post some thoughts.

• It's amazing how in just one year, life can change dramatically. One year ago tonight, I got a phone call from Tucker, that he and Cherie were on their way to the Hospital to receive their 2nd gift from God, their son Tait. It was about 1:00am on December 26th (if I recall correctly) that I received a text message and then had a phone conversation with Tucker that Tait was born and mom and son were doing fine. However, it's been almost a month since I've had the opportunity or made the time to even speak with these friends.
  
• One year ago, I was working with one of the most excited and committed ministry teams on the plant. We were experiencing growing pains but God was working in some mighty ways. The church was growing, people were coming to Christ and following God's command to be baptized. Today, one year later, all of that is changed. God moved some of us on to other ministries posts amidst pain, heart ache and even some broken relationships. While I may not understand God's ways or timing, I do trust Him and know that He has all of us in the palm of His hand.
• In the past year, God has continued to stir in my heart the passion to reach the Lehigh Valley for Him. I thought that would be in an established church with a growing staff, completed building and committed volunteer teams. However, God has decided that my role will be with a core group of committed people and a new church start. Again, I may not understand God's ways or timing, but I do trust Him and know that He has our new church in the palm o f His hand.
• A year ago I was on the full time staff of a growing ministry, helping to carry the vision and lead the staff and ministry teams to carry out God's plan. Today, I'm "building tents" for a candy company in NJ and leading a team of people to dramatically, radically change the Lehigh Valley for Christ.
  

While I know what the last year has brought, I have no idea what the next year has in store. However I do know that God is in control, Jesus is alive and well and the Holy Spirit is directing my path. With that team of three leading the way, it's going to be an amazing year. It may not go as "I" would like but God has me in the palm of His hand and . . . I'm OK with that.

G3

WOW: Unsafe Places?

Perry had a great post today.

Read it here if you dare!

G3

Deer Xing

I met with some leaders tonight from NewSpective Church. We met at Wegmans, grabbed something to drink and spent some time reflecting on the past couple of weeks and making some plans for January, February and Easter. Several people couldn't be there but it was a good meeting.

On my way home I drove West on 248 into Nazareth, like I've done a million times before. All of a sudden, I looked up and there in the middle of my lane was a deer. He was just standing there minding his own business like I was in his way. I hit the breaks, swerved into the on-coming lane and avoided Mr. Deer and the on-coming traffic.

My heart was racing a bit faster than normal as I said to myself, "that was close." But then I thought, "no it wasn't. God had it in control the whole time." I think sometimes it's easy to go through near deer experiences and not recognize that God has every little detail in the palm of His hand. I'm not trying to be super spiritual but I'm simply acknowledging that I need God every moment and guess what . . . He's there every moment.

G3

Do We Trust God?

I was sitting in a meeting this morning and looked out the window to see some of the largest snowflakes I've ever seen in my life. They looked like little pancakes. As I watched the snow fall God brought this story to mind.

I can just image what the Israelites must have experienced as their food came down from the sky each morning like snow on a clear day. The obvious question came to mind. . . How much do I trust God? I mean how can you read the account of God providing for the daily food needs of an entire nation and not ask how much you trust God? What's so amazing about this story is that the Israelites had no choice. They had to trust God or they went hungry. Some of them tried to store some food for the next day. Some of them didn't believe that God would provide again. However, when they did not trust God and took matters into their own hands, the food spoiled and was not fit to eat.

So here's a thought. When is God enough for what we need? What do we need to hand over to Him? What area of your life or mine do we finally need to surrender to Him? He is worthy of our trust. He will bring the manna again tomorrow!

Just a Thought.

G3

M & M's and The Church

As some of you know I've been "Making Tents" by doing some consulting work for Mars Snackfood, the makers of M&M's. I recently discovered that M&M's are the number one selling chocolate candy in the world. That's right. This simple, straight forward candy coated chocolate is number one in the world.

Think about that. Candy coating and chocolate. Just two things and together they are number one in the world. Sure, I know they make several varieties. You've got dark chocolate with candy coating. You've got peanut butter with candy coating. You even have a couple of different nuts. But when you boil it all down it's just two things. Chocolate and the Candy Coating.

Isn't that what the church is supposed to be all about? Loving God and Loving Each other. Just two things.

I know there are many different kinds of churches. You've got churches that are fairly traditional and you've got churches that are extremely contemporary and there are many in between. In fact there are even ones with nuts. But here's the thing. What if churches all across this country and the Lehigh Valley would put aside their
denominational difference, personality conflicts, traditions and histories and simply preach the Gospel? What if these same churches worked together to help people connect with God, through life in Christ and then helped them connect with each other through life in community? What if Christ followers across the valley demonstrated their love for one another rather than trying to compete with each other? What if people far from Christ were able to see the simplicity of life in Christ and were able to understand Loving God and Loving Each.

Maybe it's me but I think that Christ Followers can learn a lot from M&M's. There's a reason why simplicity is number one.

G3

Weekend Reflections

Here are some thoughts from this past weekend. They're in no special order just some random thoughts.

• I love my wife! We spent some time together at Starbucks on Saturday and then got a ton of Christmas shopping finished. It was a great afternoon. And productive too!
  
• I never look forward to Christmas shopping but after it's over I now can't wait to see people open their gifts.
  
• Do you think God feels that way? He can't wait for us to accept and open His gift. Jesus!
• We had our second gathering as NewSpective Church. It was great to worship together with friends and learn from God's word. I can't wait to see what God has in store for NewSpective Church.
• We're looking at some meeting space this week. I pray that God provides us with the ideal location in preparation for our Easter Launch.
• Kentucky Fried Chicken is awesome. It may not be the the most nutritious food on the planet, but a couple of extra crispy chicken breasts with coleslaw and biscuits make for an amazing meal.
• NewSpective church is starting to create a buzz. Today at Jennifer's work, someone asked her about the new church. How cool is that?
• If someone tries to give you a computer with Windows Vista on it, don't hesitate, don't think twice . . . Just RUN as far away as you can. I believe that Vista may actually be a good competitor to Windows ME as the worst operating system on the planet.
• I can't wait until our new Mac Book Pro arrives.
• My fantasy team won again yesterday. Can you say "Number 2 seed?"

Have a great week.

G3

WOW - God is AWESOME!

It's 11:15pm. My family is all in bed and I've had the chance to catch my breath and reflect back on the day. It's been a very long day but . . . I wouldn't change a thing.

• I wouldn't change waking up to the 6:30 am phone call wondering if the snow was going to stop the first service of NewSpective Church.
• I wouldn't change the last minute music change due to our inability to get the drum set to church.
  
• I wouldn't change the fact that the room wasn't ready for us and our fantastic team of volunteers had the chance to do "whatever it took" to enable us to start the service on time.
• I wouldn't change the amazing crowd and the positive comments and encouragement of those who are on board with making a dynamic impact on the Lehigh Valley for Christ.
• I wouldn't change the look in people's eyes as I talked about the impact that NewSpective Church is going to have on our community this Easter.
• I wouldn't change the way our volunteers stepped up and began putting a plan together to make NewKids a reality.
• I wouldn't change the fact that Adam and our partners took care of the break down today so that I could connect with people after the service.
• I wouldn't change how God showed up and moved through our space this morning.
  

It was truly awesome to be a part of the first service of NewSpective Church and to be doing ministry with a great group of people. God's going to do something really amazing. I trust Him and believe that we've not seen anything like this before. I can't wait to see what He does next week!

G3