Home again

We arrived last evening back from Jacksonville. Overall the trip was good, but we ran into a strong storm around Macon, and had some pretty serious hail coming down. I've found one dent on the Honda so far. Bummer.

We had a great time, but I'm glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed!

Back in the saddle now, trying to make room in the house for all the Christmas stuff, getting ready to take down all the decorations, prepping to welcome the new year. I don't feel ready for 2006 yet!

God is good to me. I am deeply blessed. I love my family. And they love me.

LWW

We saw "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" today. There were several moments in the story where I got lumpy. Overall, I thought it was a good movie - not great, though. Somehow it didn't have the "depth" that Lord Of The Rings had for me. Also - some of the story changes were not necessarily for the better in my opinion. However, young Lucy was a treat!

Overall, I give the movie a B+. I have to admit that we've been listening to a radio theatre version of The Chronicles of Narnia distributed by Focus On The Family. This radio theatre is so good that it has made it hard for me to not compare it to the movie. At this point I would choose the radio theatre, but I TRULY wish much success on the movie such that the entire series will be put to film. "The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader" is my favorite of the series.

I saw a preview that got me fired up - for "Glory Road", which is about the first non-white NCAA Tourney team, from Texas Western, that won the 1966 NCAA Championship.

Oh the weather outside is...

Not bad! We're in Jacksonville, FL for the holiday. We had an uneventful drive down from Kennesaw, the only traffic clog being near Tifton as it went down to one lane due to construction work on I-75.

A wonderful steak dinner and a relaxing evening afterward. We're planning to go see "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" tomorrow.

By the way, check out http://earth.google.com/ - this site will blow you away!

Will we ever get it "right"?

Meaning we, the church.

Honestly, I think the answer is no. We will get some things right. Momentarily. Partially.

But our calling is such that we'll never "make it." We'll never "get there." The calling is too high, too difficult, too consistent (relentless).

Is this a cause for concern? Yes and no.

Yes, because the world needs to see us REALLY TRYING to get it right. With all our hearts.

And no, because His Grace justifies us freely.

Isn't THAT good news?

It's amazing

The story of the coming of God to earth in the form of an infant is just amazing. This past Sunday night in our small group we looked at the passage in Isaiah 9 using the Lectio Divina technique. It was an amazing time, and the Word is indeed amazing. So much richness. So much depth. So much meaning. So much...

I'm thankful for the opportunity to participate in our Life Group. These folks bless and enrich my life. Thank you, Father, for blessing me with my Life Group.

Lunch with Kent

My (still) very good friend Kent Bickel from my days at DLC (now DLU) and I just had a great lunch together. (At Houston's, no less! Ahi tuna, yum!)

We bumped into each other "by chance" while Natalie and I were in Nashville for the ZOE Conference. He and his wife Kathy went to try the new burrito place where we just "happened" to be. (in quotes because I think perhaps there was a Higher cause...)

It was great to begin to reconnect with Kent. He and I were very good friends 20+ years ago. We spent a LOT of time just listening to music and digging the tunes. I was even in their wedding. We lost touch as we each pursued the beginnings of our careers. However, it felt as if, other than catching up, we just picked right back up where we were. God is good!

Kent comes through the Atlanta area almost every month, so we're going to hope to make this a regular thing.

Long-terms friends are a gift.

Scary sharp...

Well, so far (2 nights) Lectio Divina is going well, in my opinion. The Word is definitely sharp. The conversations we have had have taken turns I did not anticipate. It has opened difficult topics easily, and profitably. There is so much depth to the Bible that it can totally boggle the mind!

I really hope this "sticks" - that we can be consistent and make this a part of our regular life, to the point where we miss it when we don't do this together.

I love my wife.

Spiritual Intimacy

My wife and I are wanting to find more ways to study the Bible together. This is a component of our relationship that has never developed very well (for over 15 years...), and I want to change that. Our prayer life is going better lately, but this study thing...

One suggestion we're going to try is to use the ancient technique of Lectio Divina. However, her experiences with this technique in the past (on her own) have not been all that "fruitful" so I'd like to have some other study approaches to try. Do any of you have something that has worked well for you? What was it? How did it benefit you?