DownshoreDrift

I thought I'd write a fairly personal post for a change of pace. This has been an eventful week. Emotions have run the gamut of extreme joy to severe pain and sorrow, and everything in between. In a way, this week was nothing unusual. At the same time, it was rather extraordinary, because of the people I met and the things I got to do. God be praised.

• Saturday: travelled back from the Baptist Identity Conference with C.B. Scott and Bob Cleveland. We had some amazing conversation on the way. I enjoyed seeing and spending time with friends and fellow bloggers, Marty Duren, Art Rogers, Ben Cole, Timmy Brister, Steve McCoy, Joe Thorn, Wes Kenney, Tom Ascol, and Dwight McKissic. I have been shaped and challenged by men like these through this incredible blogging experience and it is always good to meet and hang out some with the people behind the blogs that are changing the face of the SBC, in one way or another. Plus, the speakers were great as well. If the tone of the conference is where the SBC is headed, we are going to be alright. It also caused me to see that the depth of the controversy in Baptist life is so great and so complex, that I would be well served to back off from it on my blog so that I can refocus on other things that are more positive and redemptive for the time being. It has been a refreshing decision. I will still write on baptist issues from time to time, but no where near as much as in the past (and everyone said, "Amen!"). But, for a good synopsis of a post that I was going to write in response to the Smith article on Charismatics and Baptists, but never got around to, PLEASE read this by David Rogers, IMB missionary to Spain. I couldn't have said it better in a million years.
• Sunday: What an amazing day! I filled in for a Sunday School class on Job and taught through Job 19-22. Then, I preached on Matthew 8 & 9, about the Authority of Christ. God really seemed to move in a powerful way and we had a significant time of ministry for some folks in our church, as well. In other news, we paid off our mortgage! Around 18 years ago, our church took out a loan to build our current sanctuary. As of January 2006, we still owed $153,000. At our current pace of payment, it would take around 4 years to pay it off. We desperately need more space, so it is time to build again. Well, over the past 3 months, we saw the last $90,000 paid off, with the last $20,000 coming from someone outside our church who just wanted to bless us! We needed about $2,100 on Sunday to finish it, so we took a special offering and brought in that amount and more! Praise God! We are now debt free! God has provided in amazing ways! We have drafted a building team in anticipation of this day, and they have started their work of leading us into building a new building. This will be an adventure. I'll give updates and ask for lots of advice as time goes by!
• Monday: I spent the day with a lady in our church and her daughter as we buried her parents. On Thursday of the previous week, I got a phone call that both of her parents had died tragically in a car wreck. There was much obvious grieving, but I saw God work in their lives as they experienced His presence and faithfully looked to Him. God was so gracious to them to give them strength and help them to grieve while He provided amazing comfort. I was asked to share the gospel at the funeral and it was a really interesting experience. The couple who passed away were in their 70's and 80's and were leaders in the Pentecostal Fire Baptized Holiness Church. So, the funeral was held at one of that denomination's churches, outside, in a camp meeting environment. There were hundreds of people there. I don't think that many of them were particularly crazy about a Baptist preacher speaking, but I faithfully shared the gospel anyway. What a day. Please pray for this family, that God would continue to give them strength and comfort and carry them through this tragedy.

Caelan Update: Caelan continues to do well as he takes his treatments every Monday in Birmingham. He is now 18 months old and, according to the latest scans, the cancer has not returned! Praise God! He is still going in for weekly treatments, but he only has 6 more treatments left. We started this whole thing almost a year ago and were facing 48 treatments, surgery, and a very difficult road. God has been faithful, however, and has brought us through it so far. Caelan is weak, often cranky, doesn't eat or sleep well, and is very small for his age. His color is sometimes bad, and he has lost most of his hair. Chemotherapy stinks. But, God is using it to save his life, and for that, we rejoice. At the same time, he is incredibly fiesty and stubborn. He doesn't take anything off anybody and he's as tough as nails. He'll wrestle his older brothers to the ground and give them a good beating as well. He's one of a kind, that's for sure. What a blessing!

• Tuesday: The day started EARLY with two hospital visits for church members who were experiencing surgery before 7am at different hospitals. I grabbed some breakfast at a local restaurant and studied Scripture. Then, I went into the office to try and catch up on all that I had missed over the last several days. There was a good deal to catch up on. Our church has grown from an average attendance of around 175 last fall, to an average attendance of around 230-240 so far this year. Most of those folks are in their 20's and 30's with lots of kids. So, there is always stuff to do. I had lunch with our elders and we talked about pastoral and leadership issues in the church. Those guys are a pleasure to serve with, no doubt. That evening, I took my son to his Upwards basketball practice where we had a father-son game. He had 10 points and around 12 rebounds. The kids beat the Dads, something like 46-14, but I did dunk it once (on the six foot goal!). Man, those 5 and 6 year olds can play! After that, I went to a meeting at a restaurant with John and Bill to make plans for our upcoming trip to India. We were there until late and I was weary.
• Wednesday: I stayed home in the morning, but met Greg and Glen, the co-chairs of our building team for lunch downtown. We worked on a strategy for how we are to move forward. These guys are amazing, and have already put a lot of work into this. They are top notch professionals in their fields, and they are bringing those abilities to this task as well. I can't wait to see what God is going to do through all of this. I then went back to the office for the afternoon, where I worked on a number of things and prepared for the Wednesday Night Bible Study. We are going through The Mind of Christ by T.W. Hunt. It has been an incredible study and Wednesday night was no different. God is really using it to speak to people in a deep way about their relationship with him. I am co-teaching it with an older, Godly man, who has been blessed with unusual insight into God's ways and character. We are seeing a lot of growth in the lives of the people going through the study. I am growing as well.
• Thursday: Engaged in office work, study, and an elongated staff meeting with our administrative staff, since I will be gone for two weeks. This was the calmest day of my week, and I was able to focus on a few necessary things. That evening, my wife and I met with the folks whose house we have been trying to buy for the past month and watched the deal fall through. The home inspector said that the house needed a new roof, a special roof, because of the low pitch of the roof on the house. A $16,000 roof. Oh well. We'll keep looking.
• Friday:  I'm off on Fridays. My 7 year old daughter, Ashtyn, had a lead role in a school play, where she played a clown fish who felt rejected because she told bad jokes and wasn't really that funny. The play was about all different kinds of fish in the sea, and how they all are unique and learned to be friends, despite their differences. She had a whole bunch of lines and did an awesome job. I am so proud of her. She goes to a magnet school in our city, and we are praying that our son, Peyton, gets in as well. He had his interview on Wednesday of this week, so we are hoping. We spent the rest of the day taking care of different things, and then had dinner with a really awesome family that just started attending our church last month. We hung out with them until way too late and talked about everything under the sun. We had a great time.
• Saturday: Today was a lot of fun. This morning, I took Ashtyn to her ice skating lessons and then, the whole family showed up for Peyton's last basketball game of the year. He played really hard, and I was so proud of him when he went diving head first for a loose ball. I love that! When we returned home, I wrestled with my boys on the floor for a good long while (Kieran, my 3 year old, is a real firecracker - he loves jumping all over me and his older brother, Peyton - It's great!). After that, we were all pretty tired from a hectic week, and rested during the afternoon, before we returned for Peyton's Upwards Basketball Awards ceremony this evening. We saw a woman spin 10 basketballs at one time, and then share the gospel! She was pretty talented. We participated in Upwards at a local megachurch, but folks from our church were all over the place. Three of the teams were coached by people from our little church. It was great to see those guys participating with the larger Christian community in our city.

All in all, it was an eventful week. Of course, I didn't mention the diaper changing, baths given, meals prepared, phone calls, errands run, conversations, and other things. I just scratched the surface. Sometimes, it is good to sit back and reflect on the things that you've been involved with on a daily basis. Overall, my week focused more intensely on my church and family than outside things, mostly because I will be gone to India for the next two weeks. But, this exercise was helpful because it causes me to ask some questions: Where did I see God move? How did I experience His presence? How did I interact with others? What do I need to change? How much time did I spend with the Lord and did it make any difference in my daily life? How much time did I spend with my family? Others? While I ministered to people within my church, I realize that I didn't share the gospel with anyone this week. I was tired a lot. I didn't pray as much as I should have. I was pretty discouraged about some things at times. But, I praise God for His faithfulness and grace. I pray that I will continue to grow in Him and learn to depend upon Him more and more. As I look back, I am grateful for all that happened this week.

Tomorrow we take Communion as a church. I preach about Jesus. In two days, I go to India for almost two weeks. I'll miss my wife and children terribly, but I am excited about what God has in store for us!