Ascend

NYR set up has begun!  In 20 minutes, I will be up a mountain with no wifi, tv, or cell phone, etc. for two whole weeks.  Bliss.

See you in august.

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"I marvel that church people are so indifferent to, and neglectful of, the book that tells them about their Saviour. But I marvel more that church LEADERS are doing so little about it. Unquestionably the most fatal weakness of the present day Church is the lack of leadership in the pulpit on this one point of guiding and leading its people into the ONE HABIT that is the source and basis of everything that the church exists to accomplish in its people. ... If it isn't the pulpit's business, then just what is the pulpit's business?

What the church is for: To HOLD CHRIST before the people. The church was not invented by men. Men have used it and misused it. But the church was founded by Christ. Christ is the heart of the church, and it's Lord. The church exists to bear witness to Christ.  Christ himself, not the church, is the transforming power in men's lives.  The mission of the church is to exalt Christ, so that He Himself may do his own blessed work on the hearts of men."

I took this from Halley's Bible Handbook by Henry H. Halley (Zondervan, 1965), in which the front page says "The most important Page in This Book is 814."  Those paragraphs are what I found on page 814.  All of the capitalized statements are not my own, but are actually in print as such.  

Having only been a Christian for 5 years, and having only experienced one church community (which is wonderful), there are a lot of questions I haven't thought about, like, "What constitutes a church?",  "Is megachurch a fad?",  "What is the best, most effective way to grow a church?",  and "What has to change organizationally as a church grows?"  Only recently have I come into those discussions, and in doing so, I realized I have a huge lack of sound doctrine.   There's a lot that I don't know about church history, and I am fresh in my study of patristics.

I've picked up a few biographies, autobiographies, and books on church history, and it seems for every one I read, I need ten more to elaborate.  Feel free to recommend anything from your library.     

From all of that, here's the first foundation I've come to:  Recognizing Christ as the head of the church and realizing that ultimately it's up to Jesus to grow His church is necessary, and liberating.   I can worry much less about keeping my options open because God creates opportunities.  I don't grow the church, but I should be obedient and use my gifts (from God) for the opportunities (from God) in whatever location or organization He appoints for me.  All of life becomes much less about me and the things I need to do, and much more focused on what He has already done, and where I fit into what He's doing.

I'm learning I think a very important lesson.

Life lessons at Sea World

Last Tuesday we drove home from our Texas vacation.  Of the 20 times I've been to Texas, I've hated it 19.  I'm a minimalist who doesn't like humidity.  In that sauna of a state, everything is huge, large, grand, and arrogant.  Doesn't get much worse for me.  My sister Heidi, however, is queen of persuasion, and offered me a free trip to San Antonio with her, her husband Jay, and their three children (Ashtynne 7, Tarynne 3, Brody 1).  The catch?  Babysit so Jay & Heidi could have a couple of date nights.  Aunt Heather is my favorite of all of my roles in life, and with that, off we were for 9 days of bliss (in spite of Texas).  Little did I know, I was going to learn a great big lesson from three little people. 

We stayed at a very cool hotel in San Antonio.  It was an Inn & Suite, with a giant pool, cabana, play ground area, and a secluded jungle-esque hot tub.  The two girls LOVE to swim.  They would swim, eat, play in the playground, swim some more, sleep, wake up, and want to swim again.  On the 4th & 5th, we had a two day pass to Sea World.  This was my first time to Sea World, and it was AMAZING!  I'm not a big fan of theme parks usually, but this one tops the charts.  All of the shows were amazing, the 4D theater was amazing, the frozen lemonade was amazing, even the fireworks were great (although we cut it short to beat some traffic). We were there for 13 hours on the 4th.  We left very tired, but very ready to sleep well and hit up day 2.

So we wake up and start to get around, and were immediately bombarded with questions of, "Can we play on the playground?" followed by ten additions of  "But pretty please? ... pretty, pretty, PRETTY please?!"   Really?  You're not ready for Sea World again?  Then it was, "Well can we at least swim?"  What?!  There's a whole water park IN Sea World!  How naive!  There's something much better about 20 minutes away...  just trust us on this one!  Did you forget already?  It may be one thing if we had only talked about Sea World, and they had never experienced it, but they KNEW the greatness of Sea World!  Why would they put it off?  How could they choose anything less?  

I see people, even myself, naively choose a sandbox over Sea World.  I feel like God says, "Really?  I mean there's Jesus.  You know Him, and love Him.  You've felt grace and you've felt life, and you're choosing that?  You're choosing less?  Did you forget already?"  Thank you Jesus for grace and always remind me lest I forget and choose less.