No great things..

No great things.. interesting title I know but it is the phrase that has been in my heart for the past week or so. I have just finished reading a book by Shane Claiborne, a modern day radical living out his faith in an amazing way on the streets of Philadelphia. The book is titled Irresistable Revolution and I highly recommend it. Seriously.. go get it. Anyway it is basically the story of how this guy saw the injustice in the world around him and set out to fix those things based on Jesus Christ's model of community. He did it all, from going to Iraq to minister to hurting people during the thick of our war on terror to dropping $10,000 from the roofs of wall street to homeless gathered below. Amazing story. He uses a quote in the book from Mother Theresa that I think is one of the most profound statements I have ever heard. Here it is.. get your pencils. " We can do no great things.. only small things with GREAT love." Am I the only one that sees the power in those 12 short words. This came from a woman that in most peoples eyes would say she did some of the greatest humanitarian work of any person in history, yet she lived by a simple philosophy such as that. It puts so many things in perspective for me. In planning events for church the natural goal is to get thousands of people to attend, lots of money, lots of decisions.. We base our greatness as the american church on numbers and not on love and that is so wrong on many levels. I will be going to Vancouver in about 8 weeks and I really want this time to be unlike any time before. We have done some amazing things in my previous 2 trips there but this time.. I really want to model that philosophy in this trip. I want God to use me not as a tool to draw huge crowds whether it be at VBS or playing ultimate frisbee in the park but in loving people. Modeling my Christ in a way people may not see on a day to day basis.. I could really go on and on but I will instead leave you 2 or 3 people that may read this to ponder those incredible words. May God make my heart like that and allow me to live that out.

Ready for more

Well, It has been a couple of weeks since that last post. Things are pretty much the same around here. Life has been some kind of crazy lately it seems like and probably won't slow down anytime soon. Jamie and I got a new kitten so it has been fun to add a new member to the family and watch her grow. I got to name her after a bama football player so of course that is always a good thing. I have been reading Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love" it is good but pretty intense. It is basically written around the idea that if God's people would stop looking at things so hard and realize that salvation and basically everything God does for us is built around his love for us, the world would look incredibly different. Any of you that know me know that I have had problems with "church" here lately. It is not getting any better but I am learning ways to deal with the issues I find it hardest to deal with. A few weeks ago was the first time I have had the perserverance to sit through a sermon at Trinity and it did nothing but make me even more frustrated than when I arrived. How can people take such little effort on the parts of leadership and treat it like some huge revival? I have had a major issue with the interim pastor and his night and day differences over the former pastor. I tell people that on the menu of spiritual food. Jett was a big slice of prime rib every sunday and this guy.. well lets just say he would be the equivalent of skim milk. Harsh? maybe but it is truly how I feel. I get nothing but anger out of church on sundays and I have pretty much determined it is not going to get better. I hope that Jamie and I can figure this whole thing out soon. We have a wonderful Sunday School class and we would absolutely hate to leave them. Changes are a coming for us and the church but only time will reveal what those changes are. I know I said that this would not be a "church" bashing site and I intend for that to stay the case I only say certain things to explain where I am personally on this journey. We are both feeling more and more of a pull lately to full-time missions and I wonder where that will take us exactly. Jamie got accepted to the teaching program for her license so maybe all that will tie together somewhere such as us taking a teaching position somewhere and use it as a tool to spread the gospel? My mind can only wonder at this point but God will reveal it to us as he chooses. Until that day I will try to keep my eyes, ears, and heart open to the choices God wants us to make.
Chasing,
David