Okay, joke's over

Many of you already knew, my post yesterday was a joke.  Just a small part of the fun of April Fool's Day.  I'm not going to be blogging about plumbing.  If you visited yesterday and fell for it, lost interest, and decided to never read my blog again I understand.  I wouldn't want to read a blog about plumbing either.  If you are disappointed and really have plumbing questions, I will be happy to answer them if you email me.  Just click on the "how to contact me privately" page in the right column.

On a more forward note, its looking like I will keep my blog name as it is.  I do resolve to make some changes.  The changes I plan to make are in regards to what I write about.

Official name change

Well I've decided on a name change.  In fact I've decided to change my blog focus all together.  There are plenty of blogs that write about Jesus, doctrine, and the church.  Frankly I'm sick of it so I'm hanging up my hat and I'm gonna start blogging about something I know I excel in. Beginning today my blog will be about plumbing.

Changing my blog name: a poll

I stated before that I have been considering a name change for my blog.  So, at the top you will see a poll you can participate in. I have a few ideas and I think I have settled on one.   This is the result of a couple things.  First, I intend to focus my writing more on building up than tearing down.  I also want my blog to reflect the way God has revealed his Son in me and in my understanding of all things.  Included in this is my thoughts on salvation, the church, and our mission as disciples of Christ.  That is why I am leaning toward Once Was Blind.  It reminds me that what I see now I haven't always seen.  It reminds me that I could not see unless it had been revealed to me.  In all this, it is humbling for me.  I like that.

Still, I would like your input.  Do you think this is a good change or should I leave well enough alone?  Maybe you have another suggestion you would like me to consider...either way, please participate in the poll and leave me a comment.  Thanks.

organic church planting = make disciples

When we think of church planting we usually think of a missionary or a group of missionaries who enter an area, preach the gospel, have a kingdom presence in the community which eventually becomes a group of believers with a name, a building, and non-profit status.  This is far from what we see in the NT.  There we find believers living out the great commission of making disciples of Jesus and equipping those disciples to make more disciples ad infinitum.  The Church is the body of believers who met to stir one another up and build itself up in Christ.

Gathering to build

As I said in a previous post, one of the things I want to write about is praising God in thankfulness for how great it is to have a gathering of believers locally that meet in a simple/house church/organic fashion.  You can expect more of these types of posts here because I want my blog to provide a picture of how the whole simple church works out practically.  In my own search, I have found this information lacking which left me in the dark as to what to expect if my family and I stepped out of the institutional church.  Hopefully, these posts will help answer the question:  what does an organic church look like?

Possession with intent to distribute

As a businessman walked the streets of his city one night, a common, blue collar looking fellow approached him.  He said he had an offer he couldn't refuse.  A substance that would take away his burdens and make his life much better.  The businessman had heard of it before but was never really interested.  The fellow offered it to him for free.  Finding the offer irresistible, he decided to take it.

His life has never been the same.

It's all my fault

We are going through some very trying times in our lives right now. The story is this: we have a daughter that is nearly 16 months old. Most toddlers her age are walking, talking, feeding themselves and being chased around by their parents. Our daughter still has to be fed with a bottle to be well nourished. She cannot walk, she is not even able to crawl on her hands and knees. We haven't heard the joyful sound of her calling for mama or dada. She is like a newborn in a toddlers body and I think it is all my fault.

It never fails

Every time I get a thought, an inclination, a desire to come along side and join with my brothers and sisters that are still clinging to the institutional form of church I run into a dead end.  It's very frustrating and grevious.

Just as I go ahead with the intention of living out the union we have in Christ Jesus with one another I get another slap in the face, a stiff forearm, and a swift kick in the rear end as I am sent away from the ones I love.  I don't understand it, I can't explain it and I am broken because of it.

The complexities of a love/hate relationship over dinner

It took a while, I know, but the waiting is over.  Here is the way I tackled the kindergarten inquisition of whether or not God loves Satan. And no, I didn't have an easy button.

A while back I shared with you all a question that was asked by our five year old son. God says we should love our enemies, does God love Satan?
I also told you about an email I sent to my wifey to try and equip her to answer the question.  Here is the email I sent

It's not as simple as black and white. God has the capacity to love and hate at the same time. Similar to how a child always has love for their parents even when we disappoint them. There is love and there is disappointment. Or between brothers, even when we are angry with one another we have love for one another. Furthermore, God has these same complexities but the most loving thing He can do is glorify Himself. He can glorify himself through the destruction of sin through condemnation in Hell and also through dying to ransom undeserving sinners. So, God all at once loves and hates Satan. He will both be saddened by the ultimate destruction of his creation (Satan) and pleased by the vindication of his holiness that the same destruction brings.

 As I said before, this email didn't get me off the hook.  In fact, my wife gave me a "I can't explain that to a five-year-old...I don't even get it" look.  Later, as we gathered around the dinner table, this question became the topic of conversation.  The dialogue went something like this.

It has been quiet in Neverland

This is my first post in almost two weeks.  I haven't gone this long without writing a blog post since I started blogging again. I have been busy doing this and that but that is not the only reason why I haven't been writing.  My main reason for being absent is because I have been trying to let the dust settle in my mind over a meeting I had a little over a week ago.  The results of that meeting have been on my mind quite a lot over the last two weeks.  I have had to refrain from writing anything publicly because quite frankly I wanted to blast out and throw a pity party.  Instead I decided I should meditate on our conversation and focus on what Christ is bringing about in me as a result.  So, I'm ready to jump back in and I have a few thoughts bouncing around as a result of my recent internal gymnastics.  They are as follows: