Tag Archives: Spiritual Growth

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Wilderness!

Wilderness LogoCIY Wilderness is in seventeen days!

I am so excited about this! Wilderness is a retreat for people in ministry. Check out their website here.

Wilderness is five days at Bear Trap Ranch, in the mountains near Colorado Springs. Wilderness is a time to be alone with God and his Word, seeking him and his will for my life. Wilderness is a time to rest in the solitude found in the mountains, away from the pressures of the office, the phone, email, twitter, facebook, and texting.

Wilderness is discussing life with other men in similar ministries. Discussions wll center around:
     • Retreat – withdrawing to be with God
     • Reliance on Jesus
     • Following God’s call on your life
     • As Christ loved the Church – marriage

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One Of Those Terrible Days

Have you ever had one of those terrible days where nothing seems to go right? I have. In fact, yesterday was one of those days.  

House For Sale SignI have been so stressed out lately. Our house in the Branson, MO, area is still on the market, which translates into two monthly house payments that we have to pay. Fortunately, we were blessed with some financial gifts during our move that has covered one of those payments each month for us. So it didn’t have to come out of our budget; which is good, since I took a pay cut by coming to Mountain View. We are having to re-figure our budget, scrimp more, spend less and generally adjust to a tighter income. At least till we pay off all of our credit card debt (in about three more years!) If we had to pay two mortgage payments out of my weekly paychecks, we would have sunk long ago.  

But those extra funds are running low. We have enough in our savings to cover two more months of those double payments. After that, I have no idea what we will do. Our hope and prayers are centered around God’s provision right now: we are praying that he provides our house to a new owner.  

So my stress level has been high lately. And then yesterday came along…  

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Camping Retreat

I’m back. Back from spending the last couple of days in the woods. Just me and… well me. And my Bible. And a couple of books. And some good coffee. 

I left home Thursday morning around 10:00 or so. After stopping for gas (and a honey bun), and then stopping back at home to pick up something I forgot (I don’t even remember what I forgot!), I was off. I went to Eminence, Missouri, to Discovery Ministries. 

Upon arriving, I took some time and set up camp. Since I was the only one there during the middle of the week, I had my choice of camping spots. I picked the most secluded spot I could find. You can see my tent in the photo… 

My Campsite at Discovery Ministries

My Campsite at Discovery Ministries

 

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2009-2010 Reading List

2009-2010 Reading List

2009-2010 Reading List

Each year as I wrap up the busy summer and start getting geared up for the school year, I try to take stock of where I’m at spiritually. Each August, I try to limit my activities and spend time with my family and spend some time alone to refresh and renew my spiritual life.

It’s at this point each year that I set for myself several goals that I want to accomplish. And that includes putting together a pretty extensive reading list. In fact, I leave tomorrow for two days of solitude and simplicity. I’m going camping. Just me, God’s Word, and a few books from this list.

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Reading List for 2009-2010

BooksSo I’ve been really thinking and praying about what I need to soak into my life over the next several months in my reading schedule.  And I think I’ve finally narrowed my list down to a manageable amount.  And by “manageable,” I mean I’ve narrowed it down to about twenty books that I feel like God will use to teach me this year.  Just twenty.  Out of dozens more that looked like I would /could gain from reading them.

This is a pretty optimistic list.  Because I know there will be several other books that will make it onto my shelf to be read this year as well.  For instance, anything new that Ted Dekker releases will probably take immediate priority.  I just can’t help it.  Dekker is the unchallenged favorite fictional author that I’ve ever read.  He’s even trumped Tom Clancy and John Grisham! (for shame!) 

But after browsing in bookstores, and Amazon, and my own personal library…  And praying over the books that I’ve pulled from the shelves or purchased… I feel like God has identified these books to meet needs in my life and in the lives of my family, and eventually in the life of our congregation.  

The impact these authors could have in my life is potentially enormous.  I pray that I’m big enough to take it all in, and process it, and grow from it…

I plan to post my reading list here in a day or two.  If you have read any of the books I list, and want to make a comment about them, I would love to hear it.  And thank you for it.

Stay tuned…

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Book Review – Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) by Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck

Why We're Not EmergentThe Emergent or Emerging Church has been the buzz of Christianity over the last several months. But is it the glorious answer to taking the Bride of Christ into the 21st century that it claims to be?

The Emergent Church has stepped up to the plate, claiming that it is the new Christianity, for a post-modern world. But, according to DeYoung and Kluck, the Emergent Church has struck out.

According to these two guys, the Emergent Church is little more than liberalism (not just liberal Christianity) redressed. And while social activism and conversations about our faith are good and needed, they do not replace our need to know the specific details concerning our faith: the doctrine presented faithfully for over two thousand years, from generation to generation.

Looking at the Emergent Church, I fear that they face making a dangerous error: “they love what Jesus loves but do not hate what Jesus hates.”

At the risk of quoting too long of a passage from Kevin DeYoung’s epilogue, here is a succinct summary:

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Missing: Miscellaneous Stuff That (Was) Important

Question Mark On SignIt is amazing how a move can rearrange your priorities.

We have moved. We packed up the house in Branson West with a lot of help from our friends and family at First Christian Church on June 1. On June 2, about fifteen people from our new church in Mountain View, MO, came and loaded us up and moved us to Mountain View.

Today, two and a half weeks later, I still can’t find things that I thought were so important, just a couple of weeks ago.

For example, I kept out a certain movie that I knew the kids would want to watch, since it’s new (Horton Hears A Who). I kept it out so I would know right where it was. As it turns out, I should have packed it with the rest of the DVDs. It is nowhere to be found.

I’m sure it’ll turn up. We have a lot of boxes in the garage yet to unpack. It is probably in there somewhere.

But the kids have completely forgotten about it. There are new things in our day to day lives that have captured their attention. And the new movie is suddenly not so special…

And it’s not just the kids who have been affected by this realignment of our priorities. Heather and I have discovered that certain things aren’t as important as we once thought.

We have often thought that we have too much “stuff.” And we do. Maybe now would be a great time to downsize a little. If we haven’t missed some of these things in the past couple of weeks, maybe we can do without them permanently. So, as we unpack, especially as we unpack the things that we have discovered to be non-essentials (we’ve found all of the essentials already), we will be donating them to thrift stores, or to the garbage man.

Maybe we can simplify our lives a little by reducing stuff, and thereby reducing stress.

It’s a worthy goal, anyway.