An Epic Journey

Hey everyone, I would like to call on you to pray! I just received an email from the Warren Theatre that in 3 weeks we will no longer be able to meet in their facility. Before I go on, please do not say or do mean things to or about the Warren Theatres – they have been kind in letting us rent this long. They are not a facility that is designed to hold church, their business is to make money. We need to take the high road and respond with love.

Anyway. This, as you can imagine, puts us in a bit of a bind. We need to begin praying ASAP for God to open up a facility for us to use. I would like to ask you to also repost this note for others to pray for us. We need to raise up and seek God and his Guidance. The church is NOT a building! The Church is the people and we will not loose heart over bricks and mortar.

So, will you join with me in prayer?

Maybe, I struggle with this more than most…  But lately I have learned the necessity of trusting in the underlying current of God than the overt strategic strength of Kent.  I have learned that it’s better to pray than to postulate, it’s better to trust than to determine trajectory.  The thing in this life that is the least tangible (the personage of God) is the thing that is more real than anything else we know.  He is heftier, weightier, loftier and more sound.  He is complete and unified, the one true and only God – and He is less interested in our scheming than He is in our hearts, souls and strength.

Strategy is not bad, intention is not malign, but both by themselves are only a poor shadow of what can be had when the wind of the almighty is blowing in your sails.  That is what I pray for, the power of the wind to be at our back!

The first weekend of January I shared with the church our vision for 2010.  In 2009 we started a church you could take your friends to.  In 2010 We want to take the church to our friends!

If you missed my message that weekend, or just want to revel in it a second time, you can listen online by visiting this link.

or you can subscribe to all of our messages online via iTunes: Subscribe via iTunes

So, today I wanted to share with you a website that will save you dollars when purchasing eye glasses.  I learned this from Jason M. and it is a great tip that will save you hundreds of dollars!  All you do is get your prescription from your eye doctor, visit www.ZenniOptical.com, choose your frames and put in the information for your lenses and you have the cheapest pair of glasses you have ever bought.  A complete pair of glasses can be bought for as low as $8!  I personally bought two pairs from this website and love them!

If you have a great way to save some money, let me know and I’ll share it for everyone else to read!

Last week at Epic we talked about being intentional with your money. I gave real practical tips on how you can pay off your debt using the same system Jenni and I used to pay off our debt (you can listen to the message by clicking here). I also mentioned a couple of resources in that sermon, the first is a bible study reading guide called 30 Days to Knowing Jesus. The other is a budgeting resource to help you and your family get your finances under control.
I hope this helps you, if you can think of questions you might have or any other resources that will be helpful for you we would love to try and make those available to you!

It’s nearly 2am and I am wishing I had toothpicks to prop my eyes open. My caffeine is starting to wear off. I have been working on my sermon for Sunday. All I keep thinking as I study is that Jesus did not come for us to commit part way. He came for us to commit completely to following Him and learning from Him.

There are so many distractions in this world, so many things that make you weary, so many things that steal your joy. It’s easy to allow the desires that war inside of us to rule our hearts rather than the peace and contentment of Christ. Jesus came to set us free, Jesus came to bring peace to the broken, freedom to the prisoners.

Get out the toothpicks! I’m fixing my eyes on the author and perfecter of my faith!

(I hope that makes sense – you shouldn’t write stuff at 2am)

How do you view money? What are some common world views about money? How do you think your world view about money influences your relationship with God.

Just some questions I’m wrestling with…

I can’t wait for tomorrow’s Christmas Eve Eve service! It’s going to be so much fun! Hope everyone still comes out in spite of the bad weather – I heard Santa Claus might be showing up…

7pm @ Trinity High School Cookies & Cocoa afterwards!!!

Just heard from my sister-in-law that their church (Aviator Church) trailer has been found! Praise God! It had been stolen on Saturday, the news jumped on the story and now the stuff is back in their possession. Man, God is good!

I thought I would repost this for those of you who follow this blog and love to get updates about Peter. Jenni posted this on her blog:

So I obviously haven’t written anything in a while, so I thought I’d just jot down a bunch of random things I thought were cute that I remember…

Today, Peter was eating hotdogs, cheese, and apples for lunch. I gave him ketchup for his hotdog, but he decided to dip his apples in it instead. After trying his first ketchup-dipped apple, he says, “Mmm mmm!”

Yesterday he was chasing Kent around the living room and kitchen saying, “Roar! Roar! Roar!” It was so cute! I love how his personality is taking shape!

When the girls (dogs) are outside, he’ll wait by the door saying, “Hoo, Hoo, Hoo!” (That’s Hoove.)

He’s started sleeping with his “baby.” It’s a little bear that was Kent’s when he was little. He’s so cute with it. He’ll hug it when you give it to him. It really helped him sleep when we were away from home at Thanksgiving.

When you ask him a question, if he doesn’t know the answer, he’ll furrow his eyebrows, raise his hands, and say, “I don’t know.” (Well, a variation of “I don’t know.”) It’s too cute.

We bought him swords the other day. They’re made out of foam, so completely safe. He likes to sword fight with them. Our poor dogs, especially Cana, get the most beatings from them…

My parents have a cat. We visited them over Thanksgiving. Peter decided it was fun pulling the cat’s tail. Poor cat didn’t like him very much.

He is currently on his hands and knees on the floor. I believe he’s pooping. He’s making a “fart” noise with his lips and pushing…maybe too much information for most readers.

He likes to sing “Where is Pointer?”. He doesn’t say any of the words, but he definitely has the melody down and can do the finger actions. He also sings “London Bridge.”

He’s started being a little helper. He likes to throw things away. He also picks up pretty good.

He’s discovered he can make funny sounds with paper towel holders. He goes around with them up to his mouth singing…

He plays fetch with Hoove. Each time Hoove gets the ball he claps for her.

He’s great at the sign language we’ve been teaching him! He knows “more,” “all done,” “thank you,” “please,” and “I love you.” He’s such a smart little guy!

He takes after his mom with his love for chocolate…if you give him a bite, he starts saying, “more, please!” over and over!

I guess that’s all for now. Maybe I’ll get better at blogging and add posts more often…then again, maybe a monthly update will suffice.