There will still be church...

As you may or may not know, the Rapture will be happening this Saturday. The good (?) news is that both of my pastors have told me if the Rapture does occur, that I will be leading worship Sunday morning...(yea..it kind of hurt)

I had a dog, Marty who passed away several years ago. Marty was..umm..special. My wife probably wouldn't have worried about this for him, but if you love your pet, you should probably look into this...

 

I have been reading (sort of...when I say "reading", I mean I started a book a few weeks ago and read a few pages since that first day) titled Love Wins by Rob Bell. I really like what I have read so far. It happens to be in stark contrast to a billboard I saw on the way home from Fargo (that's another story, I have to figure out if my wife is reading this or not before I talk about the trip) that had flames on it talking about the Rapture. What is bothering me is the ease that some groups have when talking about Jesus. All it ends up being is a "turn or burn" type deal. Really? That is the arguement for people to follow and become disciples of Jesus? No, excuse me...the billboard wasn't arguing that we should follow and become disciples, it was a "HEY! If you don't want to be damned, do this quick!"

I don't in anyway want to minimize Jesus death and ressurection (I think I made that clear) but at the same time, I want people to understand that there is so much more to this faith that who is in and who is out. That is what I really am liking so far about Bell's book. Plus, lets be clear, that is not our job to decide, it's God's choice.

Anyway, I am looking at real students and parents who are really struggling with a wide range of issues who need to know, that no matter what they are cared for. They also need help where they are. More than just a "Jesus loves you". They need real help from real people.

Anyway, something I have been thinking about lately. I'm leaving it here as I have a meeting to figure out a design for a new sign for the church....yea...not exactly in my job description...but hey, if it helps people hear about what is happening here, I suppose it is a good thing.

Pigs

In my "past life' as a Volunteer Coordinator/Retreat Director, I was in charge of the Annual Quilt Auction at Camp Ewalu. Part of this was having farmers donate hogs, then picking them up a couple of days before the auction and to take them to be processed.

Each year, I would hop in the 15 passenger van (no air conditioning or radio, btw), hook up the hog trailer, and pick up pigs.

During one of my trips to get pigs, I was on my way home from Jim Ludekings home, when I decided to call my brother who lives in New York. To my surprise, he sounded panicked. My parents had been out to visit him, and had gotten on a flight from NYC to come home. He asked me if I had heard anything from them. I told him no, and that they would call when their flight landed. He said "don't you have any idea what the hell is going on?" I didn't.

He proceeded to tell me. I remember having to pull the van over. I couldn't drive as Cory started to tell me the details of what was going on, and that he did know that their flight left that morning, but had no idea where they were. He told me about what the city was like at that time. He could see smoke from his office.

I hung up the phone  and got to camp as soon as I was able. Yes, I was lucky. My parents were fine. My brother was fine. My wife was fine. I was fine.

I do remember getting ready to head off to Traverse City Michigan (its where my parents flight landed), but then they were able to get a rental car and make it home.

This past Monday night I took a group of kids to the police station. The boys were most interested about the guns and other items that could cause harm. When we came home, I talked to my boys about how guns can hurt people. I told them, for the most part, we don't want to hurt people. We are called to forgive people who do us harm.

Tomorrow I will have a talk w/ Luke about how, yes, for the most part, we don't want to hurt other people. This is not one of those times. In this case, I am happy. This was a good thing.