back to the blogosphere

this blog was origionally started for me to give voice to some of the works of my mind. it's sufficed well enough for that i guess but of late i've not used it much... maybe because 2009 was such a year of crazy change and new adventure! 2010 rolled in with a bang with both ministry and life being full and fruitful. what a blessing. i'm in chicago this weekend sitting in a coffee shop right now and i'm not going to lie, it's a little surreal. no kids, no wife, and all the people who call me pastor are hundreds of miles away...

just a guy drinking a good cup of coffee with his thoughts. all this leads me to think of the blessings that god has placed in my life. Michelle and i will have been married for TEN years this coming august and what an amazing decade it's been. from the woods and mountains of PA, to the flatlands of

the midwest... (with it's own beauty, i must add), to the big city of chicago and a ministry life that was second to none, finally now back to PA to a church that we've come to love in the small community of wellsboro. michelle has stood right there with me through it all and continues to be my ever present companion and friend through all of the ups and downs. all of those adventures leading us to ari and nate.

if you don't know we've adopted the two best children the world has ever known.... when i think about what could have been their life, it literally terrifies me! such amazingly precious little spirits! it makes me wonder what every child would be if given half a chance and the right amount of love. ari turn

s 2 in a couple days and nate just turned one last month. they're growing so quickly and i can honestly hardly remember life without them... honestly i hardly want to remember it. sure we had freedom and unattachment but also so much less love and joy and silliness... i dare to dream that these two will change the world for Jesus Christ and my prayer is that he will find them young and use them greatly!

nothing hurt last year like the hurt of knowing that our time and ministry at MD was coming to an end. nothing has ever hurt so much but

also brought so much peace in the midst of it all. why would god call us away from such richness and beauty? why now god? little did i realize at the time that the reason for that calling away was because he had been preparing me for the last ten years to do this new work that he's called us too at FBC. the joy in a teenagers face when they begin to understand the truth of the kingdom or the sorry for an ill chosen word when something is given in god's name. i really missed watching god impact the lives of young people through the testimony of his word. a big fear was that of loosing a vibrant college focused ministry in chic

ago and not knowing if ever that piece of my ministry would return... well it was all there waiting and what a pleasure it's been to teach college students and be there thru the good and bad of life with them as well.

this all comes to my mind because god did something to me here in Chi-town... he built me. he pulled on the sharp edges and wore them down thru community and concrete. thru traffic and noise he taught me to listen to his voice. thru every religion and ethnicity under the son he helped me find the

reality that we're all human and searching for the creator and sustainer of life. so as i sit here sipping a cup of brilliantly crafted coffee delight at Chava (which should have been here when i was here b/c i would have been here daily) i thank god that he has taken me down this road and given me this life and calling. i hope you can look at your life and see what god has done... it's a masterpiece and he's still working on all of us... little by little the picture is becoming brilliant!