A wedding message...

I was invited to speak at Cory and Lyndsay Pina's wedding tomorrow.

I will be preaching from the text from Genesis 2:25 and will use PowerPoint.

Happy New Years.

For unto us a child is born...

Artwork by Dr. He Qi

An open comment to Sean about Tertium Quid...

To understand this blog go to Sean Oldroyd's blog, "everything that increases me" first and read TERTIUM QUID


Tertium quid is the way of life, Sean. It leaves the two dimensional world of liberal/conservative, traditional/contemporary, black/white... etc. It is as if you drew a straight line on a piece of paper five inches long and on one end you mark a number one and on the other end you marked a number two and the tertium quid would be if you marked the number three on your shirt. It leaves the field. We keep thinking we need to stay on the piece of paper in order to have peace but the marks that use to be so far apart have melted into each other. They both have lost the reality of the spirit and is now doing everything it can to keep people within the line thus retaining power and influence. When influence is lost, power begins by intimidation not love.

I believe we are again at the place where many people are no longer listening to the loud speaker that is yelling, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, pay no attention..." and are beginning to draw back the curtain to see a bigger reality. It just doesn't make sense anymore. For me, I was afraid of being liberal when I quit thinking conservative. That is not the opposite, the opposite is tertium thinking. Thinking in truth instead of dogma. I had a conversation with a camp guy a few years back and he was saying it is easier to teach doctrine to the youth because truth is subjective. Again on the left/right plane.

The idea is not to come up with a new idea to be of tertium quid, but to seek what is it that God is doing and do that. I believe most of it is in LOVE. God acts off the paper most of the time and His greatest was what we are celebrating now... the birth of a redeemer that was born in a donkey stable instead of the Warrior plotting out the overthrow of the occupying forces. His life is what we should be living, it will not be centered around style, candles, and pews but it will be in hearts, homes, offices, coffeehouses, Italian restaurants, and other such places of worship by cooks, campers, accountants, and barristas.

"For unto us a child is born..."

Gotta get better...

I am leading worship and preaching Sunday night. I hope to lead us in worship through a meditation with the carols and such. I don't have much voice but the spirit is willing. I am being touched by the new hope in a child...

Still out of sorts...

I have been sick since last Thursday night and I am just beginning to feel better. Hopefully I will be ok tomorrow to go in and get a little work done. I spent 2 hours today just answering emails. See you soon.

I don't feel so good...

Yesterday morning, on the way to work, I sneezed and had the feeling that was no ordinary, dust in the air, tickle in the nose, clean out the system kind of sneeze. It was the oh crap that hurt my fiber, shook up my head like a cheap snow globe from Florida, I think I have a cold kind of sneeze. My head is clogged, my eyes can't take the sunlight, my ears withdrew their membership from the senses club, my tongue is flaccid, my neck feels like it need earthquake reinforcement, my feet want my slippers, and the only thing that feels good on my body is my $4.99 pjs from Old Navy that I got for Christmas two years ago.

I am going back to bed and sleep.

if only I didn't sneeze...

A Perfect World, Surfing, and the Spirit,,,

I had breakfast with Scott Falk yesterday, in a perfect world we would have breakfast regularly. I always leave thinking better after a Perfect World. It is mind changing...

I also had lunch with my friend Chumley, it was too short but always good...

I was suppose to go to Pasadena yesterday to celebrate with Harambee at a lunch but my brakes started grinding and I had to abort the mission. Sorry Rudy.

Instead of going to Pasadena I did visit another friend, Greg Ehlert at First Presbyterian Church, Fresno. I learned about surfing. Chalkboard and everything, I learned about surfing. Why there are waves, the anatomy of a wave, where to catch the wave, surfing etiquette, and much more. For two hours Greg shared his life, his love, and his passion for surfing. His excitement is always infectious.

Greg's correlation between surfing and watching for the spirit moving was huge and I can understand surfing because it is so much like the move of God. So often they figure since the waves moved in this one area we should plant ourselves and expect wave after wave to come. And when it doesn't, some get out of the water completely and go home never to surf again, some condemn the spot as useless, but others stay in the water and looking out towards the horizon to see the next set and place themselves in the best position to catch and ride it. Some times, Greg tells me they get in their cars and drive up and down the coast looking for where it is happening. They know the water and understand the seasons when to catch the best waves. Apparently Hawaii isn't a good place to go for surfing in the summer, best waves are in the winter.

One interesting fact, they can see what is happening better in the water than those people standing on the shore line. They can feel it in the water as well. They spend the time in silence watching and listening.

I think we should do the same for a while, sit quietly, bathed deeply in the spirit, watch, and listen for the next set to come. We do need to show up, keep paddling, stop tearing each other down, encourage each other, and respect the others even if they are goofy foot or old. It is a time of faith.

Don't give up, it is coming...

Telling the story...

My friend Chris, tells a great story, life changing for me and it can be found here. Check it out.

Praying...

I am praying for the Spirit to scrap off the barnacles that have attached themselves to the undercarriage of my soul and have stolen my joy, my peace, and my love. I know I am the luckiest guy around to be working up here with these people, getting ready for a winter storm that is suppose to dump up 1 to 2 feet of snow, a great family and wife, friends who call and are concern, and a home that is more than adequate.

I want to remember the redemptive gift of relationship God gave me in 1974. May that be fresh again.

Changes...

Ladies and gentlemen, again, Cory Pina upgrades the visual effectiveness of the blog. I am very lucky to have a friend who knows how to do the things Cory knows how to do.

AND Cosby has entered into the blogsphere... Check 'im out.