Sick

I don't get sick very often. But I've got it pretty bad this time. It started on Monday with a bit of a sore throat. Monday night I was up during the night with a fever, going from shivering cold to sweating and back to shivering again. Tuesday the throat was getting pretty bad. I also had some pretty bad headaches, and the occasional fever. Tuesday night - shiver, sweat, shiver, repeat. Wednesday, my throat was awful. More headaches, more fever. I haven't had much of an appetite either, since it hurts so bad to swallow. Wednesday night I ran a lower fever. This morning (Thursday) my throat felt like a bomb went off inside. So I finally went to the doctor. The first place I went was a little clinic, who tested me for strep (which I was convinced I had) and it came back negative. So they sent...

Read More

Kicked in the face

I was just reading a blog post that might as well have been God sticking His foot right through my computer screen and kicking me in the face. Here's what it said:GIVE UP YOUR GOOD CHRISTIAN LIFE AND FOLLOW CHRIST I'm pretty sure the greatest deterrent to following God's leading for most of us is not disobedience, but rather the deep sadness that comes with moving hundreds of miles away from family and loved ones... the paralyzing fear of risking financial security... and the pant-soiling faith-leap of trying something new. But consider the alternative... Posted by: Ben Arment, Risk Taking I'm so thankful for reminders like this. The reason Kimi and I dove into this whole church planting endeavor was for that last line - "consider the alternative." I couldn't keep doing the safe, easy, no...

Read More

Gran Torino

I love stories of redemption. Yesterday I got to see one of the most powerful movies I've seen in a long time in Gran Torino. I'm amazed at the power of a good story. As a Christian, I found this movie to be one of the best redemption stories I've ever seen. It's a story of love, of regret, and of hope in the midst of pain. Unfortunately, many Christians probably won't see this movie. To start with, it's rated R. And for good reason. It's not a family movie. The language in the movie is disturbing, from the very frequent F-bombs, to the unending racial slurs - and those from the hero! And yet, I found myself enthralled by this character, captivated by him, and wishing I was more like him. Clint Eastwood is unbelievably good. Before I go much further you should understand that while I highly...

Read More

Fasting

Our church community is still working our way through the Sermon on the Mount in Matt. 5-7. This week we're dealing with the section on fasting. We've challenged each other to fast in some way this week, whether it's one meal, one day, a media fast, whatever. During this time we are meditating on Psalm 91. My hope is that when we come together this Saturday night to talk about Jesus's words on fasting, that we will have fresh perspective on it.Fasting is an interesting practice. It's been a habit of the church for centuries, done for the purpose of focusing on prayer and hearing from God. It's a way to sort of remind yourself that your place in the world, your very life, isn't sustained ultimately by food or the security of your next meal, but by the God who holds all things together. The...

Read More

New Links for Story Church

Just wanted to give a quick update on Story Church. We've started a blog to go with our website, as well as a twitter feed for Story Church. If you're on twitter, add us @storychurch. Anyway, you can find the links to both of these on the right side of my blog. The goal is to give a little bit of a summary of each week's discussion and of course, any other things that we feel should go on the blog. I like it because it's a way for people to respond and interact more than just our website. Eventually, when we actually pay someone to do our website, we'll have all of this incorporated into one place. Until then, check it o...

Read More

Why do you go to church?

It's an interesting question. Most people would probably answer that they go to church to "worship God." But is that really the purpose? I saw a live event online yesterday with Dallas Willard and John Ortberg discussing spiritual formation and discipleship to Jesus. In case you don't know, Dallas Willard is a brilliant writer, thinker, philosopher out of USC. His book The Divine Conspiracy is one of my favorites, and probably the most life changing book I've read outside of the Bible. Anyway, one of the things they talked about was the role of church in one's spiritual formation and I found one comment by Dallas Willard to be particularly thought provoking. Here's the way the conversation went:Ortberg: Why go to church?Willard: To love and to be loved.Ortberg: I thought you would have said...

Read More