i wrote an article a while ago that ended talking about contentment as a goal to answer our need to have more stuff. i was thinking today about what i am content about what so here is a list
i am content with
my 1993 tercel that daniel gave to me.
my job
my new house
what i had for lunch today
my friendships
the new shirt i have on
the attitude of my 18 year old
my life
my wife (i think its a little more than content)
i am not content with
my prayer life
my committment to God
my abilities as a parent
my skills as a writer
my humility
my contempt
my tendency toward anger
my life
it seems i have many things to work on. i need God to change me, yet at times i will not let him. too often i am more concerned with my way than his. contentment at times perfect in its joy and others like a elusive animal that a hunter can not track down. i will continue my journey toward contentment, striving to be something better than i was yesterday. God please help me find your contentment in all things
::..:: gathering my way ::..::
June 30, 2003
|June 23, 2003
Choices,
i have a lot of choices to make all of the sudden, well maybe not all of the sudden. i have been asked to teach at our student ministry but am hesitant. it seems they are interested in information transfer. i was reading dallas willard's divine conspiracy and he talked about how teaching is about transformation and transfer of info. i remember a class in seminary the teacher a brilliant man made a statement that he wished he could open our heads and pour in all his knowledge. something about that statement really bothered me. i dont want his knowledge i want his story why has he spent so much energy trying to learn the things he has and yes i want to talk with him and take some of his knowledge but i dont want verbatim like a file transfer on a computer. i need to struggle with what he states not just digest unaware.
second choice is this "vision" committee i am part for my denomination for exploring things at the university of cincinnati, i have volunteered to lead the group but am not sure my motives are in the right place. it is my hope that the group have an open mind about what to do there and be willing to experiment and fail.
third choice is should sydney and i go to idaho in august for four days and hang out with the allelon crew and dallas willard or go to visit jason and brooke in sept.
fourth choice is whether to begin having a series of bar-b-ques at our house and invite our new neighbors and old suburban friends and mix them all together and see what happens. not sure we have the energy right now to do this one. but feel it is something we should try.
fifth choice, we are contemplating bringing riley and avery's sibling here. that would be three more. they are 13, 15 and 18. not sure if this is what God is asking right now but am feeling lead that way yesterday in church before i got up and walked out i felt God pulling toward that decision.
sixth choice is staying at our present church, i get very uncomfortable there at times like yesterday when the sermon was something i just couldn’t listen so i used squirming kids as an excuse to leave. anyway right now i think we need to stay where we are we have enough uproar.
any ideas or thoughts about my choices would be welcomed.
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i have a lot of choices to make all of the sudden, well maybe not all of the sudden. i have been asked to teach at our student ministry but am hesitant. it seems they are interested in information transfer. i was reading dallas willard's divine conspiracy and he talked about how teaching is about transformation and transfer of info. i remember a class in seminary the teacher a brilliant man made a statement that he wished he could open our heads and pour in all his knowledge. something about that statement really bothered me. i dont want his knowledge i want his story why has he spent so much energy trying to learn the things he has and yes i want to talk with him and take some of his knowledge but i dont want verbatim like a file transfer on a computer. i need to struggle with what he states not just digest unaware.
second choice is this "vision" committee i am part for my denomination for exploring things at the university of cincinnati, i have volunteered to lead the group but am not sure my motives are in the right place. it is my hope that the group have an open mind about what to do there and be willing to experiment and fail.
third choice is should sydney and i go to idaho in august for four days and hang out with the allelon crew and dallas willard or go to visit jason and brooke in sept.
fourth choice is whether to begin having a series of bar-b-ques at our house and invite our new neighbors and old suburban friends and mix them all together and see what happens. not sure we have the energy right now to do this one. but feel it is something we should try.
fifth choice, we are contemplating bringing riley and avery's sibling here. that would be three more. they are 13, 15 and 18. not sure if this is what God is asking right now but am feeling lead that way yesterday in church before i got up and walked out i felt God pulling toward that decision.
sixth choice is staying at our present church, i get very uncomfortable there at times like yesterday when the sermon was something i just couldn’t listen so i used squirming kids as an excuse to leave. anyway right now i think we need to stay where we are we have enough uproar.
any ideas or thoughts about my choices would be welcomed.
June 10, 2003
i found this on jason and malcolms blog so i took it too. neo?
You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.
What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
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You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.
What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
June 09, 2003
where have the past two months gone. i read someone elses blog this am for the first time in about two months. we have had a succession of big events going on in the past weeks. our oldest graduated from high school and is doing an internship with our church 's student ministry, he is stoked about it and feels God leading him to that area. our four new kids from ethiopia are doing great. the language thing is coming along and we have had no real issues communicating. meet a guy 22 who was adopted from ethiopia at three and he hooked us up with a lively ethiopian/eritian community in cincinnati. went to an eritrian independence day celebration and the three girls, riley, avery and kasey loved it, kasey is an amazing little girl she was charming all the ladies with her stories. our new house is awesome, so much room and so much to do. we got a huge playset from a guy for a few hundred dollars and got that set up saturday and the kids are loving it, even my oldest is using it. we had another offer on our old house fall through, i even told the people i would replace the furnace and water heater which they were concerned about, it needs to sell soon or we will be in serious financial stress. i become part of a "vision" committee to explore what to do with a denominational university ministry thing and i think its a great place to unleash some missional communities and see what happens, but i sense "selling" that vision to the committee will be tough. i volunteered to lead the committee so we will see what happens with that. also i have felt a convistion that we should be having cookouts every other week at our new house and invite neighbors and people from our other life in the burbs and who ever else we meet from day to day and see what God will create. we are planning on having the first one in two weeks. anyway i hope to get some more time to post and get back into the groove of blogging.
blessings
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blessings
