nfl draft 2006

I confess to being a bit of a draft nerd--though not as much as I once was. In 2000 we had just moved to the Tampa area and I entered an on-line draft contest on the Buccaneers' website. You had to fill out you own mock draft. I finished in second place out of all the entries & missed first place (tickets to a game) by just one pick. I did get a nice prize package of shirts and hats for the Bucs which I promptly gave away since my loyalty remains with my Steelers. I'll be hanging around today checking in on ESPN or NFL.com to keep up with who's picking who. Since my boys are the World Champs they're scheduled to pick last which makes it very difficult to figure out who they'll take. They need a safety or a center. They'll also need to replace Randle El as a slot receiver/return man/trick play threat. I'd like to see them take Michael Robinson (QB-Penn State) to fill the trick play role. He was QB at Penn State, but also played receiver & running back there as well.

new photos

I got tired of the slow upload time (even with our cable modem) for Fotopages so I just created some of my own photo albumns for now. Click here for pictures of our vacation up north last month.

If anyone out there knows of a better, easy to use, free photo hosting site please let me know.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

We gathered as a community last night around a backyard campfire for our easter vigil service. We read the Old Testament stories of God's calling and saving his people. We shared the light of Christ from our easter candle, and shared in his body & blood during communion. At the start of our celebration of the empty tomb I recited the Exultet, the ancient Easter proclamation. It is my favorite prayer/hymns of the church so I thought I'd share it here as well.

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!

This is our Passover feast,
When Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night,
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery,
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night,
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin.

This is the night,
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all
defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night,
when Jesus broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:
"The night will be as clear as day: it will become my light, my joy."

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy; it casts out hatred,
brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed, when heaven is wedded to
earth and we are reconciled to God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your people's solemn offering.

May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.

holy days

Palm Sunday has just passed. Passover began this evening at sundown. Tomorrow marks the start of the Easter Triduum (three days). Our community will gather for Holy Thursday for a communion service, Good Friday for a meditation on the way of the cross, and Easter Vigil on Saturday evening to celebrate the resurrection. We'll finish things off with an Easter party and our traditional egg hunt for the kids.

As we gathered for our All Group meeting this past Sunday I reminded everyone that these are holy days. To be holy is to be set apart, and these days should be set apart for us. They should be set apart to tell & remember our Story. As a community we do this by gathering on consecutive evenings. I also encouraged everyone to find some way to personally mark these days, perhaps by reading the Gospel accounts of Christ's last days leading to his crucifixion and resurrection.

I am grateful to my parents (and my Catholic heritage) for instilling in me a profound appreciation for these days. Growing up we always had Good Friday off from school (Catholic school) and my dad always had off from work. Good Friday was observed as a somber day in our home. My parents' rule was that from noon to three o'clock on Good Friday there was to be silence in the house. No TV, no radio, no phone, not even casual conversation. We were strongly encouraged to take that time to meditate upon the cross. I remember every year looking through an old National Geographic magazine article about the Shroud of Turin and what the man on the cloth must have suffered. I would read the passion narratives in my bible. Then we would attend the three o'clock service at our church. That day for Catholics is a day of fasting (three small meals) and abstenance (no meat). I don't necessarily agree with manditory proscriptions such as these, but making a sacrifice on that day seemed appropriate. As was our family tradtion--cultural and "old" Catholic--we also abstained from meat & fasted on Holy Saturday as well until after attending the Easter Vigil service, then it was time to break the fast & celebrate with a late snack.

There is something special about these next few days and I always look forward to them every year. I'm greived somewhat that the business of work & life often interfere, but do my best nonetheless to set these days apart in my heart. I pray that you will find a way to do so too.

communion of the saints

Here's an article I've just finished writing after reflecting on the losses of Chad & Palmer in the last month or so. It seems I'm not the only one doing some reflection on this subject.

A mystical Three-Legged Race
by Tom Ponchak

With the recent untimely passing of two fellow followers of Jesus (Chad Canipe and Mark Palmer) I’ve been reflecting on our connection with our brothers & sisters in Christ who have gone before us. We profess in the Apostles’ Creed that “we believe in the communion of saints”, but I have found few outside the Catholic of Orthodox camps that have any appreciation or understanding for this term. Several years ago I out together a small group teaching about the communion of saints using Hebrews 11 & 12 as a foundation.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is known by some as the “Hall of Faith” due the litany of Old Testament heroes mentioned in it. The author of Hebrews starts with Abel and moves through Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to Moses, Rahab, Gideon and Samson to David, Samuel and the Prophets. It celebrates all of their accomplishments made possible by their faith. It goes on to recount the stories of other unnamed witnesses and martyrs. The chapter ends in a rather peculiar manner with the following verses:

39And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (NIV)

We’re told that all of these giants and heroes of the faith did not receive their promise because God had something better for us. Even more radical is the thought that the fulfillment of their promise of being made perfect is somehow tied up in our story as well. Somehow, I have some part to play in Abraham or Moses getting to see their promises fulfilled. The key to understanding how this happens is laid down in the first few verses of chapter twelve:

39And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (NIV)

When looking at this passage it is important to remember that the original author did not create chapter and verse breaks in the letter. While chapter and verse numbers are helpful they can often prevent us from seeing what is intended to be a single flow of thought. This is the case between Hebrews 11& 12. The “therefore” should be read as a bridge from chapter eleven to chapter twelve, connecting the two segments as a single thought process. Taking this approach we can see that the reason it is important for us to “run the race” is so that those heroes of the faith in chapter eleven can receive the blessing of the promises made to them through their connection with us. They are the “great cloud of witnesses”.

So how is this supposed to help me understand the communion of saints? I believe the key word in this passage of scripture is “surrounding” in the first segment of Hebrews 12:1. For so many years I’ve heard teachings and sermons making reference to this cloud of witnesses as the saints cheering us on from the heavenly grandstands. They rooting for us and encouraging us. This paints a picture of those who have gone before us, those who have “made it” kicking back and passively encouraging us from a distance.

When I actually broke down this passage for study and looked at the Greek term that we have translated as “surrounding” I gained a whole new understanding of this piece of scripture and a new appreciation for the communion of saints. The Greek word used here is περικειμαι (perikeimai). It literally means “to be encompassed with”. It is a word used only four other times in the New Testament and those other usages provide a better insight to its meaning. I’ve printed these other passages below and highlighted the way perikeimai is translated.

Mark 9:42
"And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.”

Luke
17:2
"It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

Acts 28:20
“For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain."

Heb 5:2
“…he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness…”

Looking at these passages it becomes apparent that the cloud of witnesses is not cheering us on from the grandstands—they’re bound to us. It’s almost as if we’re running a divine three-legged race with those who have met the Lord before us, and with those who will come after us. We are inseparably united with them for the sole purpose of seeing this whole thing through to the end so that we all get the prize that is awaiting us.

That is the communion of saints. That is koinonia, fellowship, intimacy, community. That is the Kingdom of God. In some mystical way I am now more intimately connected and bound to Palmer and Chad than I ever was in this life when I only e-knew them through blogs and shared values & vision.

great family road trip of 2006

well we survived our road trip up north. we drove from lakeland to lexington, ky to mckeesport, pa to charlotte, nc and back--exactly 2,390 miles in a jam-packed honda civic with two adults, two kids and a baby, not to mention a tightly packed trunk. i took this picture as we pulled in last night at 11:15 after driving 8-1/2 hours from charlotte. in all we had a great time. clare was wonderful, sleeping for most of our driving time. out of 30+ hours in the car she probably cried for only 60-90 minutes of that time.

i'm currently working on getting our pictures up to our fotoblog. so far i've got images from our kentucky weekend there. i hope to have the rest up within the next few days. here are some quick thoughts, observations and awards:

• state with the most contstruction: florida with pennsylvania a close 2nd
• most unreasonable speed limit: 50-mph thru downtown orlando on a saturday nite. i was doing 65 and getting passed like i was standing still.
• fewest state police observed: south carolina. drove thru the whole state & didn't see one cop on the highway at any time.
• worst roads: pennsylvania, hands down
• best idea for the trip: lisa will kill me for saying this, but bringing along her battery operated breast pump so the girls could feed clare without us having to stop.
• second best ideas for the trip: tie, getting the car windows tinted (see best idea #1), and getting the girls a portable 2-screen dvd player so they could avoid boredom by watching movies
• coldest location: lexington--actually saw a little of the white stuff while we were there. we don't see that in florida unless a drug plane crashes in the front yard or something.
• most insane drivers: florida by a long shot
• dumbest traffic law: stop signs at the end of on/off ramps in pennsylvania

overall it was great to connect/reconnect with family & friends. we had a great time in kentucky at casa de creech sharing and exploring ways to express our faith in a new context. it was great to be able to have my family spend time with the girls and see clare for the first time. i got to travel to my football mecca--heinz field in pittsburgh. finally, the girls loved getting to see the former neighbor and best friend hannah at her new home in charlotte. i've said it before and i'll say it again, it's our relationships that make life meaningful and important.

palmer

our vacation has been marked with a moment of sadness as we have learned that mark palmer has passed away. i didn't know mark personally. we share mutual friends and were commrades in the Kingdom. i know his story & feel sadness for his wife, amy, and son, micah. he is now experiencing what no eye has seen or ear has heard. he is now in the loving comforting presence of God where there is no mourning or weeping or cancer. please pray for his family & faith community as they deal with the reality of being left behind.

May the Angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs greet you at your arrival
and lead you into the holy city, Jerusalem.

May the choir of Angels greet you
and like Lazarus, who once was a poor man,
may you have eternal rest.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord,
and may perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God rest in peace.
(from the Catholic funeral rite)

hanging

just got into lexington to spend the weekend with father creech and friends. i'm sitting in casa creech right now taking advantage of his wireless network while listening to ""rock lobster" by the b-52's. really looking forward to this weekend, should be an excellent time. then the road trip will continue to my parents near pittsburgh for the rest of the week.

being incarnational

we had our community gathering tonight, the 3rd sunday of lent. we had a discussion about what it means to be incarnational in our spiritual journal. i think this is something missed by many of the protestant persuasion who tend to fall prey to pseudo-gnostic views of the world. what i mean by that is that many people i know practice an unconscious belief that Christianity is primarily about spiritual things and physical, material things are of lesser value or importance. some take this to the extreme that any physical pleasure must have some inherent sinfulness attached to it so they don't dance, don't go to movies, don't drink, etc. their spirituality is likewise devoid of any valued physical components. that's not the way it's supposed to be.

we weren't created to be disembodied spirits. God purposefully created us to be flesh, blood and spirit. one day we will die and experience the separation of our spirit from our bodies, but this is not the original plan for us. it is the fruit & residue of original sin, and one day that will be reversed. we recite in the apostle's creed that we believe "in the resurrection of the body." on that final day we will be reunited with a new resurrected, glorified body and we will experience eternity in flesh, blood & spirit as God intended.

the early church struggled against the gnostics, a hodgepodge of various heresies all sharing in common a dualistic worldview that declared the spiritual good and the physical evil. the gnostic legacy lives on in much of christendom in the form of warped views about sexuality, iconoclasm, devaluation of the arts, or passionless expressions of the faith. the scriptures are full of examples of our incarnate God redeeming and valuing the physical as a means of experiencing and entering into the spiritual. Jesus used spit (mk 7:33) and mud (jn 9:6) to heal. people touched handkerchiefs to paul & then used them to heal loved ones (acts 19:12). God commanded moses to lift a bronze serpent on a staff so the israelites could see it and be healed (numbers 21:9). of course the old testament is full of the use of physical signs & symbols as given and commanded by God in temple worship. ultimately God himself became Incarnate, becoming flesh & blood--and he still is in flesh & blood human form in heaven.

so how do we become intentionally incarnational in our spirituality? there are plenty of examples, but here are a few. the sacraments are a great example of incarnational spirituality, physical outward signs of an inward spiritual reality. the bread & wine of Eucharist and water of baptism are very concrete physical realities redeemed by God's action. we use a liturgical calendar and colors to mark the seasons of the year to remind us of the ebb & flow of life, the sacred rhythm placed in us & creation by God. candles call us to remember Christ, Light of the world. incense is a visual image of our prayers rising up before God. i use an anglican rosary in prayer as a way to involve my body in entering into meditation. some where crosses as jewelry, but it can also be a powerful reminder throughout the day of our Savior. although most associate making the sign of the cross with catholicism its practice can be traced back to the 4th century as a means of marking oneself for Christ.

this is my body

There's bee a bit of discussion lately in the blogsphere about Eucharist, also known as communion or the Lord's Supper. More specifically, much has been said about coming to a deeper understanding of the bread & wine as Christ's body & blood. You can see what I'm talking about here and here and here and finally here. I lead a discussion on this topic with our community last week.

This can be a touchy subject. Those of us raised in Catholic, Anglican or Orthodox backgrounds have a much different take than those raised in Fundamentalist, Evangelical, Anabaptist or Reformed backgrounds. As I shared with our community, and some of my blogging compatriots have pointed out, somewhere along the line in history we lost the ability to accept as mystery certain elements of our Christian faith that go beyond rational understanding. Too often this has resulted in us trying to codify and define things that are beyond our ability to comprehend let alone explain. Naturally this results in a war of words and meanings and we lose the forest for the trees. This is precisely the case with the Eucharist--literally "Thanksgiving".

There can be little serious doubt that the earliest Christians understood that Christ was truly and really present in the bread & wine as his Body & Blood. Any honest reading of early Christian writings reveals this to be true. What is not so clear, and this is more to the point, is how the bread & wine become and are the Body & Blood of Jesus. There was no formal philosophical or doctrinal statement or explanation to describe the process. It was taken on faith as a mystery, just as the Trinity or the Incarnation of Christ was understood as a mystery. In fact many early Christians saw a parallel between the Incarnation, God becoming flesh, and the Eucharist, flesh becoming bread or more properly bread becoming God's flesh.

I think a key to understanding the Eucharist is to keep it within its original context of Passover. The first Eucharist, the Last Supper, was Jesus' final Passover meal with his disiples. For the Jews Passover is a memorial--a re-living--of the original Passover when God delivered the Israelites from captivity in Egypt. To receive deliverance the Jews had to take a spotless lamb, shed its blood, cover their doorways with the blood, and finally eat the lamb. It is clear from the Gospels that Jesus's death on the cross was the fulfillment of what was foreshadowed in the orginal Passover event. He was the sinless Lamb of God. His blood was shed. We are covered by that blood through relationship with him. Finally, he gave us his flesh--the Lamb--to eat as spiritual nourishment.

Do I understand how Jesus is present? No. Do I need to understand it? No. I do believe he is really present, that the bread & wine are somehow his Body & Blood, because he said so, and because the witness of scripture and the testimony of the early church attest to it. It is a mystery to me, but that doesn't make it any less real. It is an avenue, some would say the avenue, of grace. It gives me strength, I don't know how, but I know it does.

marked

Today is Ash Wedneday, the first day of Lent. It is a day when many Christians, particularly Catholics, have their foreheads marked with ashes in the sign of the cross. The minister says the words: "Remember, man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." (Latin: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.) Lent is the season of spiritual preparation leading to Easter. It is a time for repentance, introspection and spiritual exercises.

There's something mysteriously beautiful about receiving that mark, being publicly marked and set apart as belonging to Christ. And there is something truly humbling about those words, quia pulvis es--you are dust. That mark and those words do not distinguish between race, sex, or social standing. They transcend politics and opinions. In the end, when all is said and done and everything else stripped away we all stand naked, poor, and helpless before God. We are little clumps of clay without life unless he breathes it into us.

There's another Latin saying that I also remember to keep myself in check. Tempus fugit, memento mori--Time flies, remember your death. All that I can accumulate, all the stature I can gain, all the wealth & toys I can store up will turn to dust just like this shell of a mortal body I inhabit. The only things that truly last are relationships; my relationship with God, with my wife, my children, my friends, my neighbors and my coworkers. Those are the only lasting legacy any of us can lay claim to, and they have eternal impact, but how much of my day is devoted to developing and deepening those bonds? Not nearly enough.

That is what Lent is for, to give us the opportunity to take stock & evaluate things. The practice of giving something up for Lent was & is supposed to be a means of fasting for the purpose of making changes. Giving up chocolate is nice & might help my waistline, but it does little for those things that have eternal remifications. That's why I'm taking advantage of this season of Lent and the grace that is present from God for change--metanoia, translated from Greek as repent means to change direction. I'm going to seek hard after God and the people close to me in order to build something that will last and stand when my ashes are scattered to the winds.

finally!

i've been waiting 26 years to see my steelers win the super bowl again--i can barely remember their sbXIV win over the rams in jan'80. feels good.

train up a child in the way she should go...

kicking it with clare watching the steelers win the afc championship

not seeing the forest for the trees

From a CNN story about the execution of a 76-year old prisoner:

Having suffered a heart attack back in September, [condemned prisoner, Clarence Ray] Allen had asked prison authorities to let him die if he went into cardiac arrest before his execution, a request prison officials said they would not honor.

"At no point are we not going to value the sanctity of life," said prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon. "We would resuscitate him," then execute him.

Well, at least they value the sanctity of human life.

baby update

we've posted some more pictures of clare on our fotopage.

Why I Have No Respect Left For Pat

Why did I start my C.A.P.S. petition? Why do I no longer have any respect for Pat Robertson? Just look at the following selection of quotes from the news coverage of Pat's latest outrageous statements--taken from CNN, I added the emphasis to some of them. How would you like to be Pat's official spokesperson in the first story after hearing that he reversed his position & apologized?

Exactly who is Pat serving? On January 6th he defended his comments as being what the Word of God teaches. Israel threatens to leave him out of a $50million project & all of the sudden he was wrong to say what he did? He was wrong to begin with, but to have such total lack of conviction to immediately fold on his position because it was going to cost him some money is reprehensible. No wonder the world looks at Christians as a laughing stock, as greedy snake oil salesmen, and as cold hearted and hypocritical people.

(To Israel's credit they're still excluding Pat from the development project.)

Robertson suggests God smote Sharon

Evangelist links Israeli leader's stroke to 'dividing God's land'

Friday, January 6, 2006

"He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,'" Robertson told viewers of his long-running television show, "The 700 Club."

"God says, 'This land belongs to me, and you'd better leave it alone,'" he said.

Robertson said Thursday that Sharon was "a very likable person, and I am sad to see him in this condition." He linked Sharon's health problems to the 1995 assassination of Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the Oslo peace accords that granted limited self-rule to Palestinians.

"It was a terrible thing that happened, but nevertheless, now he's dead," Robertson said.

According to The Associated Press, Robertson spokeswoman Angell Watts said of people who criticized the comments: "What they're basically saying is, 'How dare Pat Robertson quote the Bible?'"

"This is what the word of God says," Watts told the AP. "This is nothing new to the Christian community."

-----------------------------

Israel: Woe unto Pat Robertson for criticizing Sharon

Nation cuts ties with Christian broadcaster

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Israel on Wednesday said it would go ahead with plans to build an evangelical Christian heritage center in northern Israel -- but without Robertson, after the Christian Coalition founder said Israeli leader Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for "dividing God's land."

"From our perspective, such a statement made for a person that is lying in a hospital bed is outrageous," Deputy Tourism Minister Rami Levy told CNN.

Robertson had led a group of evangelicals planning the $50 million center, a joint venture with the state of Israel. The facility is to be built along the Sea of Galilee, where Christians believe Jesus walked on water.

The ministry said its decision to cut ties with Robertson was directly related to his comments. However, Israel will still continue with the project, Levy said.

-------------------

Robertson apologizes to Sharon's son

Comments follow threatened exclusion from $50M heritage center

Friday, January 13, 2006

"My zeal, my love of Israel and my concern for the future safety of your nation led me to make remarks which I can now view in retrospect as inappropriate and insensitive in light of a national grief experienced because of your father's illness," Robertson wrote.

In his letter, Robertson expressed "profound sympathy" for Sharon, who is making slight improvements after the cerebral hemorrhage he suffered last week. Robertson also called the 77-year-old leader "a kind, gracious and gentle man" who was "carrying an almost insurmountable burden of making decisions for his nation."

He added, "I ask your forgiveness and the forgiveness of the people of Israel for saying what was clearly insensitive at the time."

The evangelist also chided the news media for not conveying the "heartfelt sentiments" he also expressed the day after Sharon fell ill.

plese sign my petition

I've created a new on-line petition. Follow this link to sign the petition for CAPS (Christians Against Pat Speaking) asking Pat Robertson to stop saying stupid things. I'd appreciate it if you could forward the news of this petition on to your friends as well.

Thanks
Tom

baptism

we're getting ready to baptize clare so i took the occassion to get all theological on the subject here.

clare elizabeth ponchak

born @ 4:11am, 12/9/05.
6-lbs, 3-oz, 19-inches.
mom & baby are doing fine.

more pictures at our fotoblog site.

20 years

yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of a life-altering moment at a young life youth retreat on a cold december night spent sitting on a rock at the laurelville mennonite church camp. that was the moment i had my evangelical "born again" experience. nothing in my life has been the same since. i've been thinking about things i thought i thought then & think i think now. here's just a few things i've come to believe:

1. while i do not doubt the important role it played in my life, i don't think that kind of born again experience is necessary for salvation. it is important that we decide to own our faith, to make it ours, but i don't think the particular experience of "asking Jesus into my heart" is the only way to do that. salvation is ultimately a gift of God--"it is by grace that we are saved". grace is completely free, utterly unearned, recklessly lavished upon us by our Father, through the work of Jesus. to say that it depends on me asking Jesus to come into my heart puts the onus on me & it gets salvation backwards. it's not Jesus being invited into my life, it's me being invited into the life of the Trinity. it's this understanding that has made me come full circle in my thinking & understanding to re-value my baptism as an infant. granted this is a subject for an entire posting of it's own, infant baptism is the perfect picture of salvation by grace. freely poured out upon someone so obviously incapable of doing anything to deserve or earn it. that faith must be nurtured & if done right will naturally (or supernaturally?) lead to acceptance & ownership of that faith.

2. community is extremely important, even inseparable from our faith. that community is best found in small groups of people committed to experiencing the life of God. those small groups can be found in larger, traditional churches or in smaller, simple home churches. the important thing is that there is love of God & each other, honesty, trust, openness, and shared vision. how worship is done, where it takes place are secondary to this community of the heart & can even overcome apathy and routines of others in the larger body of Christ. going it alone is never an option for a follower of Jesus. this is one concept that hasn't changed in 20 years.

3. God's will if for each of us to be faithful, loving & whole. the job we get, the person we marry, the car we drive, the home we buy are all the context for his will to be experienced, but he doesn't have a perfect job, wife, car, home for us. discovering those are part of what it means to be free. we can drive ourselves crazy--i know i have-- looking for purpose & meaning for our lives through creation when what really matters most is finding our identity in the Creator. callings do not always translate to careers. i can be called to be a pastor & fulfill that destiny without ever being on a church payroll. his callings & gifts are intended for us to use in the context of everyday life. the highest way for me to show faithfulness to his will is to stay faithful to him and to selflessly love my wife & children. if i can succeed in those simple things i have done much with my life.

4. sin isn't as much of a problem as self. sin is simply the result of letting self have control, letting self feed it's hunger. the goal of discipleship in the here & now is to conquer the self and not get sidetracked by focusing on individual sins. this is the new testament's dirty little secret. "he must increase, i must decrease." "take up your cross & deny yourself." "it is no longer i that live but Christ that lives in me." the problem isn't sin, it's me. if i could just stop being so self-focused, self-absorbed, self-loving i would be in much better shape & so would those around me. the real meaning of humility isn't having a proper view of myself, it's having no view of myself at all.