Life moves in seasons and I am sensing my season changing.

Summer is coming to an end and the fall is almost in full swing.This fall is going to be different than I expected but good. I have committed to being in Limon until we can make a smooth transition. I feel toward Life in Christ Church like I would feel toward my daughter, if I had one. I want to make sure the new Sr. Pastor will love her and serve her unconditionally. I know everything will come together at the right time.

This fall I will be teaching 3 classes, two I’ve never taught before, at Cornerstone Cottage School; just a little stressed but excited. The School of Worship is gearing up as well. I love mentoring students and walking with them toward their ultimate calling to lead the body of Christ into His presence.

The biggest thing however is traveling to churches to help build worship teams. This fall we have 4 retreats scheduled and have already made a trip to Ohio. It’s been so rewarding to spend time with churches who don’t have the resources to hire a full time worship pastor or send someone to training. They have so much passion and desire and just need a little direction. Over the next several months I will be praying for direction as to how to move forward and would love any ideas, advice, and most importantly prayer.

If you are in a church or know a church in need of a mentor please point them this direction. We are having lots of fun and seeing lots of fruit. This weekend we will be at The Springs Journey right here in Colorado Springs.  You would be welcome to come and take part if you like it’s completely free. Hope to see you there.

Blessings,

Recently Kim and I were looking at our schedule for the day and realized we needed to be in several different places at the same time. Since I ride my bicycle a lot and don’t have to be dressed professionaly I volunteered to walk from a meeting at the church which is about 5 miles.

It was a beautiful day I had plenty of time and was in no particular hurry so I strode away from the church at a purposeful but leisurely pace. Very soon  I began to catch up with a young man just ahead of me. As it became clear I was going to overtake him I began the conversation in my head.

Should I just walk on by? should I acknowledge him, engage him in conversation? should I walk with him? Very soon the decision was made for me. He turned and said “Good Morning, where are you headed?”

As I walked with him I learned he is 21 yrs old from Nevada where he was the son of a prostitute and grew up in a crack house. Began selling drugs at a very early age and at the age of 17 he and his fiance came to Colorado to deliver some sold product where he was arrested and placed in jail in Colorado Springs. While there he received his GED and a certificate in computers. He now holds a good job but does not know how to drive and must rely on others to drive him. Today the ride didn’t show up thus the hike.

We also talked about his faith and his understanding of God and how God had a plan for him. At the end of the line for him I was able to give him my phone number, pray for him and encourage him to press into relationship with the Father who loves him and wants him to walk in the fullness of all He has created him to be.

The longer I study and consider Jesus time on earth the more I am convinced He came at a time without mass media, email, public transportation or interstates. He came at a time when people walked together. I think of Jesus walking for hours along the road with His disciples and the day of His resurrection when He walked to Emmaus with two men. Things were discussed and taught in ways we very seldom have opportunity for in our cars driving 4.5 mph over the speed limit.

Teaching classroom style certainly has it’s place but it’s only the beginning. We must spend time with those entrusted to us walking with them and answering questions in context using our surroundings to teach and illustrate. So much is missed and incorrectly inferred when we download information to those entrusted to us and leave them to work it out on their own.

This week as you are considering the conversations your going to have with those entrusted to you or with your wife, husband, children etc. etc. consider going for a walk.

I just had one of those when I received a my daily email from the Copelands and from a friend on Facebook from Zimbabwe. We have never met and I don’t know why he found me and asked me to be his friend. He has 6 friends and I am the only one not from Zumbabwe.

Since launching into ministry in January I have had an interesting ride. I am living the dream but have been plagued with fear and doubt shortly after making the decision. Building the kingdom has been in my heart for over 10 years. At a workshop for worship with Job Vijil I knew this is what I was born to do. God has always been faithful so why the worry?

I say He is my strength and my shield, my ever present help in time of need. I’m standing on the Word but I haven’t spoken in in weeks. Instead I have been speaking death. A couple weeks ago my amazing wife scolded me strongly for the way I’m talking and she is exactly right. She is such a blessing to me. The Word of God is the final word but I must put it to work by speaking it out.

I am reminded of a short prayer by Hans Ur von Balthasar I apologize if I’ve posted this before:

Harassed by life, exhausted, we look about us for somewhere to be quiet, to be genuine, a place of refreshment. We yearn to restore our spirits in God, to simply let go in him and gain new strength to go on living.

But we fail to look for him where he is waiting for us, where he is to be found; in his Son, who is his Word. Or else seek for God because there are a thousand things we want to ask him, and imagine that we cannot go on living unless they are answered. We inundate him with problems, with demands for information, for clues, for an easier path, forgetting that in his Word he has given us the solution to every problem and all the details we are capable of grasping in this life.

We fail to listen where God speaks; where God’s Word rang out in the world once for all, sufficient for all ages, inexhaustible. Or else we think that God’s Word has been heard on earth for so long that by now it is almost used up. That it is about time for some new word, as if we had the right to demand one. We fail to see that it is we ourselves who are used up and alienated, whereas the Word resounds with the same vitality and freshness as ever; it is just as near to us as it always was.

Hans Ur von Balthasar, Prayer. Trans. Graham Harrison (San Fancisco: Ignatius Press, 1986)

Today I committ to being in His Word and daily seeking Him in the secret place for His direction. I encourage you to do the same.

Blessings as you walk with Him.