I just got home from "the story: a journey in the life of jesus". It's a Bible Study of this new church starting in Chapel Hill, NC down on Franklin Street. Check it out! We had some great discussion tonight about Jesus and His turning toward the cross in the last few days of His life. My pastor and my good friend Matt LeRoy brought a great time of teaching from the book of John. Matt is just an anointed and gifted teacher of the Word. It's an honor to get to work with this guy!
Anyone is welcome at "the story" that meets in the upstairs of McAlister's Deli on Franklin Street. Every Tuesday night at 7 we share a meal and dive into the life of Jesus. Come join us on a Tuesday night. Find out more at www.lovechapelhill.com
I've got some pictures from DC coming, not to mention this weekend is our annual whitewater race in Webster Springs, WV. Fun stuff...stay tuned!
Realizing it's been too long since I last posted let me just give you a few updates:
In two weeks time we've been able to enjoy 30 degree snowy weather and 80 degree carolina skies.
I've got a new temporary job working at the UNC School of Dentistry.
Jeanine and I head down to Rose Hill, NC just about every other week where I get to do some preaching at Bethel Wesleyan Church.
"The Story" our Tuesday night Bible Study down on Franklin street is in it's 7th week and it's going great!
Dr. Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church and founder of World Hope came to visit Chapel Hill!
Matt and I recently traveled to Oklahoma Wesleyan University and met some students who are going to come spend the summer as a part of the City on a Hill Project Team.
With those updates I just want to share some pictures with you. These pictures remind me of the hope that exists everyday, even in the midst of the rain and when we can't see beyond the gray sky, this always exists -----> (I love to fly)
Over the past few weeks our journey, our story, has had unexpected twists and turns. The experiences Jeanine and I have walked through together will continue to shape our lives, probably for the rest of our years. As our hearts and lives have gone through cycles of brokenness and healing, we've been reminded that pain is a universal experience. There's not one person immune from feeling the pain of loss, disappointment, or struggle. But, neither is there anyone who cannot receive healing.
As we've heard so many life stories over the past few weeks with pain as a consistent theme, we're reminded of a choice we have to make. In our places of feeling and being broken, we can try to control our lives and drive them our own way, seeking out what we think is a better way (definitely our natural inclination). Or, from our places of brokenness we can discover ourselves as part of a larger story, one where pain is exchanged for gladness, and sadness for joy. Each of us has a story that matters: it's the one of where we've come from. At this point, now, each of us gets to decide how the rest of our story will go. Fighting and struggling to make our own way, or loosening our grip to something, to someone beyond ourselves.
We choose the bigger story, the one bigger than us, the one with hope and mystery, the one whose founder is Love himself. It's the story that brought a random group of people around a common table last night to journey together for the next 15 weeks. It's the story of Jesus - God, showing His grace is available to every person, extending the invitation to be a part of the greatest love story on the planet. That's the story, check it out.
On this All Saints Day I can't help but consider the hope that has pierced the hearts of men and women through the ages. The hope is that which has changed lives by bringing freedom to captives, a voice to voiceless people, sight to blind eyes, and second chances to death bound wanderers. The hearts of men and women filled with this hope have been given over to something much greater, much higher than themselves.
The past few weeks I've attended political rallies, heard endorsement speeches, enjoyed a politically motivated concert, and talked politics with people, one on one...through each of these things I've found the word "hope" to be associated with a particular campaign and a particular agenda (if you don't know which one I'm referring to, please stay under your rock for a few more days :). Obviously, people put their hope in many different things, but over the past few months, for some people, the sight or hearing of the word "hope" immediately brings to mind a presidential candidate and the coming election. While I could have a field day here discussing the genius of branding and marketing, I fear that "hope" as a word has lost a bit of its power.
While hope for political change is not at all a bad thing, seeing it as an ultimate goal is significantly missing the mark of where hope best impacts and changes lives. Hope, when it is found in the enemy-loving, self-giving, self-sacrificing, person of Jesus, can not only impact a life for eternity, it can bring about real life-altering change, today. It is that hope that is the hope of the Saints which we celebrate today...the Saints who have decided to give their lives to the good news of Jesus. In the coming week I hope we will consider where we put our hope. Is hope changing lives...literally? ...mine? ...yours?
It's late, but I'm excited to share this with you, so I'm going to stay up just a few more minutes. It's always exciting to debut a new video that I've been working on...It's so much fun to see a project comes together and to see how things just "fall into place" (but I don't even notice till like the fifth time I've watched it). Anyway, this video debut is especially fun because it was a project for our District Conference of the North Carolina East District of the Wesleyan Church. This was just to share the vision we have for the city on a hill project. It's an honor really to share it with you here.
Click on the logo to check out the website. If you are interested in partnering with us be sure to click on the "become a partner" link. Thanks.....It's time for bed!
