Cheerio everyone! I made it to London. I have seen Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parlaiment, and have already mastered the underground. Okay, maybe I haven't mastered it, but we're getting around pretty well.

I'm hoping to connect with some of the folks at Grace here in London. That would really make this trip worthwhile to me...honestly. I am planning also on seeing Stonehenge next week. I know they don't let you walk up and touch them anymore, but it will still be cool.

London is really a place that needs a powerful presence of the Spirit of Jesus through His people. I stood in the customs line for nearly an hour and a half and there were people there from every tribe and tongue and nation. There were so many muslims, hindus, and loud mouthed Americans. I thought, "Our West Michigan Dutch Conservative ghetto is keeping us from seeing the true need in the world." Okay, it wasn't exactly that, but close enough. We really are sheltered from the rest of the world and I am not sure if we are better off for it.

Well, I think I should cut it off there and share the computer with the fellow behind me. He seems a little impatient. So I'll share....

peace.

It's late; I'm tired. I am also very content. My wife, Kathy, has been supporting our family habit of doing the water's edge new church thing. She is a chemical engineer; I stay home with our three year old, and I try to keep the home going as well as give direction to water's edge. WELL, two weeks ago she got laid off. So, we are without a significant income.

Funny thing... neither of us are alarmed that we are six weeks away from our second child entering the world, and we have no real income other than the unemployment stuff. Before you think anything else, let me say the following - We are not looking for sympathy or food handouts. God has simply given us the faith (on this particular issue) to believe that He is in control. While leaving co-workers has not been an easy thing after such a good review only a month ago, Kathy has clearly realized that God is in the midst of this unemployment thing.

While God has given us peace in this situation, I wonder why I have much less peace about situations that are much less significant? ... and my mind wanders... why is it easier for us to sometimes leave the big things for God, but we have a hard time doing the same with the less signficiant things in life? ... let me know if you have any great revelations! God Bless!

In case you missed it, here's what we did last night...

Kyle did a great job leading us in singing. I really appreciate Kyle's concern for putting significant thought into choosing songs.

I shared my thoughts on Luke 10:25-37 and Matthew 5:43-48. The big idea was that it is the nature of the kingdom heart to love. I suggested that it is antithetical to the nature of the kingdom heart to cherish, excuse, or tolerate any degree of bitterness, rage, or malice toward others--even our 'enemies'.

Then we did two stations: one of emptying our hearts of malice, and one of filling our hearts with God's love. Here's the text from the stations...

EMPTYING
1. Examine the condition of your heart.
Are you holding any grudges against someone?
Do you desire someone to “get what’s coming to them”?
Have you spoken harmful words toward anyone recently?
Have you spoken harmful words about anyone recently?
2. Take a cup of the dark water in your hands. Identify that corrupted water as a picture of how hatred and malice may be corrupting your heart.
3. Read the Scripture below.
1 Peter 2:
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4. Empty your cup into the basin and ask God to empty your heart of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.

FILLING
1. Identify the relationships in your life in which you need to demonstrate love, mercy, and forgiveness.
2. Read the Scripture below:
Romans 12:
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
3. Take an empty cup into your hands. As the water is poured into your cup, let it symbolize the love of God flowing into your life and out to your neighbors.
4. Ask God to change your heart so that love and forgiveness will be the hallmark of your life.


Lastly, Mike Dies led us in communion. It was so great to see people really participating in our worship service. I hope to see it more and more as people really begin to see themselves as ministers and missionaries.

One final note, my wife Torie has been demonstrating love in a way that, too often, I only talk about. She has been a friend to a woman who is in great physical danger because of an eating disorder. Marcia is 5'6" and weighs 91 pounds and needs to get treatment very soon. Please pray that God's people will step in and come up with the money to get her the treatment she needs. We are hoping she can get to Remuda Ranch in Arizona, but she needs $20,000. It is really becoming a life and death kind of thing. Above all these things, please pray that Marcia will come to see herself as God's beloved daughter, a person of immeasurable worth--a truth that she is having great difficulty believing.

Also, please pray for Randy and Kathy. Kathy was 'laid off' last Thursday along with a number of other people at her firm.

A little bit from my reading today...
from "The Hauerwas Reader" P.133,
"(Disciples) are to make a radical break with security and possessions, with the customs and habits of everyday life, for no other purpose than to share in his ministry of preaching the repentance needed to become part of the kingdom.... Discipleship is quite simply extended training in being dispossessed. To become followers of Jesus means that we must, like him, be dispossessed of all that we think gives us power over our own lives and the lives of others. Unless we learn to relinquish our presumption that we can ensure the significance of our lives, we are not capable of the peace of God's kingdom."
"...the cross is Jesus' ultimate dispossession through which God has conquered the powers of this world. The cross is not just a symbol of God's kingdom, it is that kingdom come. It is only by God's grace that we are enabled to accept the invitation to be part of that kingdom. Be cause we have confidence that God has raised this crucified man, we believe that forgiveness and love are alternatives to the coercion the world thinks necessary for existence."

Friends of mine, my wife, and I have recently been talking about life being too busy and too complicated at times. If you visit here regularly, it is obvious that Joel and I are each victims of a life that is currently too busy; we simply are not posting blogs. While this may not rank high on our list of priorities, the start of the school year and church education programs have made us too busy.

My three year old plays with her telephone, and she answers with, "Hi! Fine. Busy." She must have heard those words too many times over the past three years. So, how are we going to learn to follow God when our lives are so busy that we don't seem to have time? I am not sure that I have the answer. I think we need to really struggle with this question. I am contemplating resigning from the board of an organization that I really believe is making a difference in the lives of many people. I believe that I contribute to the direction of the organization, but the words of my three year old are almost haunting me.

In addition, last night I did not sleep well. It was one of those incredibly restless nights when you feel like you didn't sleep more than a few minutes. As I was attempting to sleep, my mind kept going to the phrase, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be granted unto you." I have no idea why my mind found these few words in the midst of sleeplessness. Yet, it was that "seek ye first the kingdom of God" part that bounced around my head for the night. Perhaps "fine," "busy," and "seek first the kingdom of God" are words that can't really go together? I don't know...