Veggie Training

Bob and Larry were not harmed in the writing of this blog

I've been training for the past few months, not for a marathon or anything specific. No, I'm in veggie training.


I finally realized I'm WAY too picky as an eater and I need to force myself to like more vegetables. I mean I'm an adult for goodness sake. I need to grow up and refine my palate.


So here are the vegetables that I have conquered so far:

• Pickle


• Squash


• Asparagus


• Split peas


• Lentils (not really a veggie, more of a legume, but you get the picture)


• Eggplant

I am still working on:

• Tomatoes (uncooked)


• Onions (uncooked)


• Cucumbers


• Raw broccoli


• Celery


• Kale

So I'll keep at it, using different spices and literally forcing myself to eat healthier. Amazingly, if you put your mind to it, you can actually eat things that are good for you and like them as well.

London Calling!

*Cue cheesy song from The Clash*

I'm goin' to London, baby!

From January 30-February 2, I'll be in London for the CIS recruitment fair. I went to one last year in Seattle and it didn't turn out well for several reasons. So this year, I'm really letting God do His thing and lead me where He wants me.

Frankly, I'm just excited to go to London even if it is for only one weekend. Mostly because I get to go to church here:

Woohoo! Seriously, even if I don't get a job, I'm super excited to worship in a vibrant and exciting church that is doing amazing things in the city of London.

I will also be eating my weight in these:

There is nothing like Marks & Spencer's All Butter Shortbread Fingers, NOTHING!

So if you think of it, please pray for me to have wisdom and ears to hear what God wants for me.

Submission

I don't like to submit...ever. Growing up in the church climate I did, "submission" took on the connotation of "Shut up, I'm a man and know better" so I have never had a friendly relationship with anything resembling submission.

My natural inclination is, "Hmm...I know how to fix this, let me fix this and I don't care where I am in the chain of command." So, I've been working on the pride issue and the selfishness issue and come to find out it all has to do with submission to Christ and not "running interference". I've been learning to let God do His thing in the life of others without me butting in and trying to do everything myself.

Enter serving at a new church and a new children's ministry. I've been part of a very successful children's ministry in the past that ran five services, had hundreds of kids and small groups and games and life application and joy and...you get the picture. But I'm not the children's pastor. So I have a choice:
1. Be obnoxiously self-centered, expounding on how I know how children's ministry can be successful and here is a five step process to get to that goal and let's start today.
2. Serve humbly and pray for my pastor to have wisdom.

For once, I went with option #2 (*ding ding*) and guess what? Pastor Bobby comes to me today and starts telling me about this exciting new kid's curriculum we are starting with small groups and games and life application and joy and...yeah, I almost bawled. I never said a word to Pastor Bobby about changing the curriculum to meet the needs of our kids, but God did something much more powerful and taught me an important lesson.

Submission. Real. True. Submission.

Fruitful

Continuing on our series of “2009 being the most focused, fruitful and fulfilling year we’ve ever had”, Pastor Art Evans talked about being fruitful.

·         John 15—without Him, we can do nothing.

o   Ask yourself, “How much of my life do I live without Jesus in it?”

·         Luke 13:6—when we don’t bear fruit, we are cut down

o   In the parable, thank God for the vinedresser (Jesus) who says, “Just one more year”!

o   What did the vinedresser do?

§  Dug up the ground around it—what junk in your life do you need to have Jesus “dig up”?

§  Fertilized it—live in faith through “crappy” circumstances

·         To be fruitful, you have to be faith-filled.

·         Root out the bad fruitàliving for pleasure, living for personal gain, living for the flesh

·         Plant a new seed in your lifeàthe Word

·         Psalm 1:1-3: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers.

o   What would it be like to know that what you do every day will be lasting, it won’t wither and that everything you do prospers?

o   How do become that fruitful? “delight in the law of the Lord AND meditate on it day and night”. 

Faith

Pastor Art Evans on faith:

• ·         Hebrews 11:1—What is faith? Having a conviction that what you hope for will happen and what has not been revealed through our senses is a reality.
  
• ·         We whine and say, “Look at my problems!” and God responds, “Look at My promises!”
  
• ·         God says, “Your limitations are not a problem for me. But your doubt is.”
  
• ·         Build up a reservoir of faithàwhen problems come, you’re ready.
  
• ·         “I don’t need to read the Bible today because I’m feeling holy” No, but someone else might need a word and you need to be filled to overflowing.
  
• ·         Jesus walking on water: “That’s just how I roll”.
  
• ·         Focus on God while the “mountains” are there. Matthew 14àthe winds and the waves were still there, but faith superseded the natural.
  
• ·         Hebrews 12:2 (Amplified): “Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher, [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
  

Focus

The church I attend, San Diego Christian Worship Center, is going through an exciting season. Pastor Art Evans has been preaching on the church’s vision for 2009 which is: “2009 will be the most focused, fruitful and fulfilling year we’ve ever had.”

His first message on being focused was incredible. Here are some highlights:

·         On the subject of focus in the purpose of our church: “Think of a target. The bull’s eye is the focal point, but you need the rings to gain your focus and know what’s most important. You don’t ignore the rings, but they are not your target.”

·         Ephesians 1:17—“wisdom and revelation” We need both, not one or the other.

·         Ephesians 1:18

1.       Hope of your callingàPurpose

2.       Riches of His gloryàProvision

3.       Greatness of His poweràPower

4.       Purpose + Provision + Power = Partnership

·         Matthew 16

·         Verse 16: Who is Jesus?

·         Verse 17: You have to see Jesus yourself

·         Verse 18: Peter means “pebble”. Jesus is saying you’re a part of the Rock(Jesus) and when you  are part of My plan even the gates of Hell won’t conquer you.

·         Nehemiah 6:3—Nehemiah is building the walls and two leaders of the surrounding area were trying to “harm” Nehemiah. “Harm” here means “distract” or “distort”.

·         Nehemiah’s response: “NO, I will  NOT come down” Don’t get distracted. Don’t let your purpose be distorted. 

Speechless

For an English teacher to run out of words is a fairly serious thing. I have literally run out of “excitement” words at this point. “Hooray” seems too cheap. “Yay” is more like “Yay, I found my socks” and “Huzzah!” is much too Pirates of the Caribbean.

Nevertheless I cannot tell you how excited I am that two of the dearest bloggers and sisters in Christ you have ever met received VERY EXCITING NEWS THIS WEEK!

Both the Gumms and the Slonigers are leaving next week to bring home their kids from Ethiopia!

Please pray for their safety, their health, and their kids (both here and in Ethiopia) as they travel.

You can meet the two new Gumms here and the newest Sloniger here.