My Rock

I'm enjoying a much needed week of vacation. It's really a "staycation," since we are staying at home this week. My time has mostly been spent playing Wii, running a few casual errands, and working on Noah's new bed in the garage. It's such a grace to have a few days to put my hands to work on a project like this. Tomorrow will bring the big moment: assembly and unveiling for Noah's 6th birthday.

This afternoon while I was in the garage Hannah and Noah were on the street riding bikes and scooters with our neighbors. At one point Noah came to me and said, "Dad, check out this cool rock I found in Alex's front yard." I glanced at it and told him he needed to return it to their yard because I'm sure that Alex's father doesn't want to have to order more rock for his landscape due to little boys running off with his rocks one by one. He smiled and returned it.

As he strutted back across the street his eyes fixed on a rock in our yard. "Look at this one, dad!" I looked across twenty feet of pavement to see the one-inch rock he was holding up in the sunlight. "That's a pretty one, Noah."

"Can I keep this one, Dad?"

"I guess so. But, what are you going to do with it? It's just a rock!"

"I'm going to show it to people, so they can see what God made."

I paused from my painting and began to reflect on his answer. My interest in what I was "making" overshadowed my ability to appreciate what God has made and continues to sustain. I'm so thankful to have a son whose constant appreciation of God's goodness provides a daily refocusing for us as we hear his musings.

Jesus said that if the crowds hadn't praised him that the rocks would have cried out. Today I think I heard both child and rock declare God's praise. Thanks, Noah.

Tiger

It's been tough to read the headlines about Tiger over the past few weeks. As each day brought news of another woman with whom he's supposedly had relations that leap over the boundaries of his marriage vows, one can't help but wonder how he's handling it all. I read today, one day after Elin was reported to have left the house with her children and belongings, that he's spending the day watching cartoons and hitting golf balls at night.

I can't help but think about the 32nd Psalm. David new his sin, but until he was willing to be out and open about it he was crushed under its weight. I am praying that Tiger would know the freedom of forgiveness through the gospel.

I've also been reflecting on how obvious it is that one cannot separate themselves as a professional from who they are as a person. I don't have much to say about this as more reflection is needed.

Psalm 36

I've spent time this morning meditating on this great Psalm. The take away for me today: use this Psalm to cultivate humility that leads to wisdom and righteousness!

In the first four verses David speaks about the trajectory of the heart in the wicked. This man's underlying belief is that God will not find him out, that he will not have to give account for his sin. What pride! What foolishness!

The next section of the Psalm (vv. 5-9) is a recounting of God's glorious character and the reality that mankind can only find satisfaction and safety in God! This is antithetical to the one who is trying to find satisfaction in his iniquities and safety in his presumption that God doesn't see or know of his deeds.

Finally, in verses 10-12 the Psalmist prays for God to keep him from arrogance saying, "Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away." What he's saying is, Lord don't let humility and dependence upon you escape from me. He knows that his favor with God is of grace (vv. 5, 9) and he knows how easily each of our hearts can be fooled in a moment outside of God's saving activity (v. 6).

I needed to read this today. It is all too easy to look upon the example of the wicked and say, "I'm glad I'm not that man!" How arrogant! The reality of my daily situation is that any time I make a conscious decision to sin, or to allow myself near the ledge of transgression, I "have no fear of God before my eyes," (v. 1) and I'm acting outside of the wisdom of God! I tremble to confess that and pray myself that today Jesus would not let the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. For with Him is the fountain of life, in his light do we see light (v.8)!

New Worship Site Update

We've asked the leadership of an established church downtown to consider granting us permission to use part of their facilities on Wednesday nights for worship. They will be meeting December 15 to consider our request. If out request is approved we hope to begin our second site of worship by the third week in January. The interest in this new service among a few of our networks is growing and we are planning for around 40-60 people to be part of this from the start. We are praying regularly for Jesus to open this door if it's what he wants us to be about as the next step towards establishing many more local congregations around this city. His will be done! I'll have another update about this development late next week.

How Business Looks when Jesus is Boss

This Sunday I'll be opening up the Bible to Ephesians 6:5-9 to finish our series through the book. (A guest speaker took up 6:10-24 last weekend for us). I've been very refreshed by the view of work that the passage gives us. Ever heard the phrase, "I'm tired of working for the man!"? Paul says that we don't have to work for "the man" anymore. We're freed up to work for "the God-man," the Lord Jesus, the only one to whom we owe ultimate service.

Here's the question I'm asking today as I meditate on this passage: What would a company look like wherein each employee was working for the glory of Christ and where the manager/boss knew that he wasn't boss, but that Jesus is? If that question seems to idealized, then what about this one: What would a career path look like for an employee who is only interested in pleasing Jesus with his work?

Aliante Blue Star Launch Gathering

Aliante Blue Star is the name of our first missional community at CWR. Last night we had our kick-off meeting. I couldn't have hoped for a better evening. Paul Fletcher, our MC leader, did a great job of welcoming people and facilitating an interview with the spouses of deployed military personnel.

The kinds of things that these spouses shared were very insightful, giving great evidence of the real need that exists to minister to these families. Their need is a generally unnoticed one. Whenever we talk about orphans, sex-for-sale workers, or the homeless the need is obvious, but this group of our city's citizens has some very real needs too and I'm looking forward to seeing what opportunities come to serve.

Side note: Some may wonder what the name, "Aliante Blue Star," is all about. Whenever a family member deploys, his family is able to hang a banner, if they wish, that indicates such. The banner includes a large blue star. Since the initial mission of this group of people is to bring the love of Jesus to families suffering difficulty due to deployments, the name makes perfect sense. Don't feel bad if you didn't already know that. I just learned it three days ago myself.

Our next event as an MC will be a family BBQ on December 03 when Paul and the rest of the leadership team will be announcing our service opportunity for December. Can't wait to see how the Lord leads us in this endeavor.

Help is on the Way

Just wrapped up a great three days with Keith Robinson. For three years I lived next door to Keith while studying at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. He actually lived across the hallway of our on-campus apartment. Over the past two years we've kept in touch on a mostly irregular basis. Last June I asked Keith to consider the crazy idea of coming out to Vegas to live, work, and help us establish another worship site in the city. He visited in July. We began to pray. This week he came again to see exactly what kinds of opportunity for work would be realistic. He was offered two jobs. Keith is moving to Vegas in January.

This represents a huge milestone for us as we have prayed with increased intensity for Jesus to send more workers to the harvest field. Keith brings a different set of gifts to the mix, and a different perspective based on his own ministry experience. So glad he's coming. Can't wait until he's here.