Nursery

Well, we finally finished the nursery! It took a lot longer than I had anticipated, but now it's done! You can click "read more" below to check out a video.

Here it is:

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House Church

We had a great time at house church last night! Click "Read More" below to check out some pics.

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Brian Regan

yeah...this makes me laugh.



You can check out more videos here.

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invisible

I spent much of my afternoon praying today. Unfortunately this is unusual for me. A few different things came to mind as I was praying. Some of you came to mind. A passage from a book called James came to mind as well, it says something like this: “following Jesus takes balls.” Yeah, I guess that’s just my own translation. It really says that following Jesus means following Jesus. It means taking action. It means loving the oppressed and the cast out and the poor, and those experiencing injustice. It means standing up, and alongside those who get beaten down and pushed away. But in my mind, I have the ability to make those things disappear…

It’s hard for me to imagine how my brain has the ability to pretend things as real and as tangible as the jar of starburst sitting on my desk in front of me don’t exist. As often as I glance at this jar, my mind is bombarded with images of poverty and injustice. Graphic pictures of children wounded by car bombs. Blood soaked strips of fabric formerly weaved together as clothing draped over people celebrating liberation in Pakistan only to find that death had made it’s way into the midst of their parade. Unbridled flames that threaten to roam wherever they please leaving a haze occupying the void where homes once stood. People who know homelessness to an extent that my mind could not comprehend. Fathers and mothers who experience stress stimulated by whether or not they will have enough clean water for their children to drink. Yet my mind can conveniently gloss over these realities as if they are not real at all.
Is it because they are far away? In different countries? In different states?
Or does my mind have the ability to not only see past the devastation, injustice and poverty of other places, but here as well?
And if so, what am I not seeing? What has become invisible to me? Might God not only bring those things into focus, but give me the courage to do more than just pray. The courage to help. To feed. To care for. To love. To stand up for. To die for. Is this maybe what James means when he describes the core of what following Jesus is all about?

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Breathe hope.

The British version of “American Idol” had a guy on last year named Paul Potts. I saw his audition video this week for the first time.
For the most part, I like watching American Idol because I think it’s hilarious to laugh at the socially awkward people, and the people who think they are great singers and are offended to find that they are not.
Paul Potts’ audition was different. Every stereotype I know told me that this video would be hilarious. That he would horribly humiliate himself, and his embarrassment would only be made worse as Simon vividly criticized his singing just as much as his appearance. (I know that shouldn’t be funny, but I can’t help it.) But again, Paul Potts’ audition was different.
From his initial interview, through his singing and the reaction of the audience, which was everything from tears to standing ovations, there are a few things you can tell about Paul.
For so long, Paul’s life has been clogged with despair and his dreams weighed down by doubt. In a moment of courageousness he boldly calls out for hope to break through the long forgotten passages to his soul. Paul is an exception. Paul is an example. Paul is an encouragement.
My vision is clouded by stereotypes, and my eyes deceive my heart as I categorize and group together people, yet Paul reminds me that people can’t be categorized. That life takes effort. It’s not as easy as grouping people together and only associating with those in my group. Paul encourages me to peel back the layers of my own preconceived ideas and breathe hope into the lives of those around me. Breathe hope into the lives of people who normally get overlooked. Breathe hope into passageways of their souls where despair has clogged all entry. Paul is an exception. The “Paul’s” in your life might not have even a shred of hope to give them the boldness to be heard. What would it mean for you to remove the fog of social norms and peer into the heart of people; calling out their beauty, breathing hope into their souls.
Check out Paul’s audition tape here:

Paul went on to win the entire competition.

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