Bach'n it with the boys

This afternoon and evening was loads of fun. I spent three hours at Liquid Planet sipping a 20 oz. peppermint mocha (with not nearly enough peppermint) while prepping a message for Sunday night. I may have an office here, but, even with the customers talking all around, I still get more done there in three hours than I would in six downstairs. The theme of the message is the beginning of a series on knowing God's will. The first part's both the easiest and hardest thing to do. We can rest assured that it's God will that we know and love Him passionately. Of course, that's more than just being obedient. That's almost the easy part. The hard part is doing so out of a passionate love for God from the heart, not just obeying out of duty or a religious idea that it's what you're supposed to do as a Christian. There are definitely people who could give the message better than I (Louie Giglio, for starters, as I listened to an 8 minute message by him in my research), but I am passionate (there's that word again) about this topic. I don't want students or myself to just do good things. I want us to love God with all of our hearts, minds, soul, and strength. "The Message" puts it this way: "Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list." (Matthew 22:37-38) I want to love Him that way, and I want others, including students and my boys, to love Him that way to... in part, hopefully, because they follow me as I follow Christ.

So, after three hours of research, outlining, and listening to God's voice (even in a coffee shop), I came home in time to send my wife off on a pastor's wives retreat. I'm praying it's a wonderful time for her. I know it will be slightly uncomfortable (at least at first... I hope) because she's really going to something where she knows almost nobody. The retreat is for the wives of pastors in the Rocky Mountain Bible Mission. Technically, we're not members of the mission itself, but we've been accepted as such because of our roll with Lolo Community Church, one of the founding member churches. So, my prayer is that she'll relax, enjoy time with adult ladies, and come home encouraged and refreshed.

After Shari left, I beat Benjamin at Candy Land, then got beat at soccer with Matthew and Mark. That was so much fun, if for no other reason than we just laughed. I was reminded how little I get to do that with them, and truly enjoyed it, living for just that moment right then. Oh, did I mention it was in our basement, with all sorts of furniture and toys, along with a pole in the middle of the field, as part of the fun. My goal was the back doors. I had visions of the boys kicking the ball through one of the windows, so it worked well that way. It's probably good that Shari didn't see that.

After dinner we went and got a couple movies. I had Matthew pitch in a buck, and we rented a Scooby Doo movie for the little ones, then I borrowed a movie from Pastor Jeff for Michael and I after the younger three went to bed. I hadn't seen Amazing Grace yet. It was a fantastic movie that I highly recommend. How can we as Christians in America be content with life, and say that we have nothing to fight for. We fight against abortion, but we do (in general) considerably less to help the plight of AIDS orphans, children and their parents in slavery, or just children and their parents who are struggling to survive. Aren't they as important as children who are being murdered in the womb? It isn't a either/or thing, but a both/and thing. God has led our family to support two children through two separate organizations - World Vision and Mavuno Village. I'm not great at writing letters, but that doesn't keep me from at least working to make a difference in two kids' lives. What will you do? I've written about Zach Hunter and the Amazing Change campaign before, and Seth Barnes has posted numerous thoughts on AIDS orphans in Swaziland (among other places), with this being his most recent. Yet, even with all those, that's not to ignore the broken and hurting here in our own nation. Anyway, I encourage you to watch the movie, and not forget that to live for Christ will cost us something. David says it needs to cost us something; it needs to be a sacrifice. I wonder if that's why slavery still exists. My prayer is that Michael will take what he saw to heart... and that I will set the example of making a difference, even if it costs us something... costs him and me something.

So, it was an evening of both play and depth. May God give the same to Shari this weekend. Tomorrow is a full day for us. God, please help me to get some sleep tonight. Help readers to get some sleep. If they go to all those links, they'll be reading for quite a while.