The Rundown

So last night was tight. We came from the four corners of our city to gather around the table for spaghetti. We ate and caught up on things, and as we did so, a few new traditions fell into our laps. One of them being a scripture reading before dinner, and the other, sharing our "joy" of the week.

Janelle led our creative time and did an amazing job, and I just wanted to share some thoughts and perhaps wrap up what I felt like was the heart of what last night was all about.

I think that God wants us to understand that we are Sons and Daughters, and that He has created us way that we are for a reason. Psalm 139 says that we were knit together by the hands of the God in our mother's womb. It also says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. I think that the Lord wants us to grasp that we are not primarily soldiers, robots or clones, and that those are not the things that we are called to be. Above all, we are called to be Sons and Daughters. God wants our love and our friendship and his calling for our lives is already inside of us. In other words, our calling isn't outside of who he made us to be. Doesn't that change everything? To put it simply, God wants us to walk with him as his children in relationship, and walk with each other as family; to do the things that we love for his glory, to care about the things that He cares about and to act upon them; to bring beauty to the earth.

I hope that you guys have a good week and all. See you guys soon.

Josh

PS.
Last night we brought a sound that was in some sense or another, representative of who we are at the moment. Which was cool and also got me thinking that perhaps the world is waiting for our sound, and the song that we make when we are all playing together.

What sound discribes you

I sent out a mass text message today to the people who's numbers I had. I ask that you bring a sound that best describes you and where you are in your life at this present moment in time. I know this request sounds odd, but it should be cool. This sound can be anything, a whistle, a car horn, beat box noise, a creed song, or anything that you feel like describes where you are at in this season of your life. Our dear friend Janelle will be leading us in our creative time. So get ready for a good time.

Grace and Peace,
Chris

Moving Forward and Looking Back

A few years ago when I still lived in California, I worked at a warehouse up in San Jose, with a good friend of mine. It was, by all accounts one of the best jobs I've had. Driving things like forklifts, trucks, pallet jacks, and programming voting machines. One of the coolest things about the job was the fact that we all got to take our breaks at the same time. Most other places I've worked they stagger your breaks, which of course in the end, means that you are eating and chillin' alone. To add to all this, my friend Matt and I drove up and back together, and would give our friend Aharon a ride home. We would often end up talking about deep things in those car rides. It was good times.

Have you ever had a dream that you felt like was from God? Or one that you felt like God spoke to you in? My friend Aaron did. In fact, it brought him to faith in Jesus. It is a crazy story, and hopefully one that I will get to share with you guys soon. It is an awesome thing that God speaks. In fact he has always been speaking. Since the beginning God has been moving and working in the lives of people, speaking. The question is, are we listening?

The reason I bring this up is that soon we will be looking at the life of Joseph. He had a dream that started him on a journey. It took him through the betrayal of his brothers, slavery, prison, and to eventually becoming the second in command of one of the most powerful nations of that time.

But this next week we will be hanging out around the table, looking back, eating Italian food, and processing some of the things we've been talking about.

I've really enjoyed are time together over this last month. My prayer is that we would be able to love and encourage each other more and more as the weeks go on. So if you can think of ways to do this let us know because we want this to be a community that builds one another up. Peace. See you guys soon.

Josh

Re -Telling the Story

Have you ever opened up a book and started reading from chapter 12? Or similarly, walked into a darkened movie theater after missing the first half of the show? If your answer to this question happens to be no, then you are most likely in the vast majority of both readers and cinema goers. And you probably appreciate a good story.

Have you ever wondered why in telling the Story of God and his redemption of all things, that we start at it's climax (so to speak). Why are we in such a hurry? And why do we often leave the Story's begining untold. Why do we see it is unimportant or irrelevant?

The creator of the universe seems to be quite interested in telling stories, and as a matter of fact He used them as his primary way to communicate with the people around him about the kingdom of God. Jesus spent his time not with the kings of the earth, but with poor, the blind, the lame, and the people who were far away from God. He told them stories about who God is and what his heart is like.

Stories run deep. They hit home. They speak louder than statistics and facts, because in them we identify.

This next week we will be asking God and one another how to re-tell the story of his love for us in todays world without watering it down, or making it hip. We will be looking at Abram and his journey of becoming Abraham. And looking at the covenant that God made with him, and in turn how that covenant foreshadows his sacrifice for us.

So get ready. Good eats are on the menu as always, as well as fellowship. Thank you guys for all your help over the past few weeks and for helping us out in a lot of ways. Last week was tight. If you get a chance be praying and thinking about these things and read some of the story. See you all soon. Peace be with you.

Josh

Be Still

"Be still and know that I am God."

Being still and remembering how God has broken into our lives is what we did this past thursday. We continued with the thought process of "what is the story". Remembering is a crucial part of our walk with God. All through out the Old testament, God tells His people to "remember". He tells them to tell their children about the great works of God.

Often times we feel as though we haven't tasted God, or that God has been silent to us. In Gen 28:16 Jacob has just woken from a God induced dream. When Jacob wakes up he says "Surely God has been here the whole time, and I did not notice!" In the story of Moses, in Exodus, there is a story where there is a bush that is on fire but not being consumed. Out of this bush the voice of God speaks to Moses. It says take off your shoes, your standing on holy ground. How many times had Moses past that bush with out realizing that it was holy ground? How often had he been in that same place and not realized that he could taste God there. Acts 14:17 Paul is traveling and comes to a city. When he is telling this city about God he starts by telling the people how God has been active in their lives. He basically says, you know the rain that waters your crops? You know the crops you eat and celebrate with? You know the joy that is in your heart when you taste these foods, and celebrate? Thats my God. God desires to be tasted and experienced, and God wants us to remember when we do taste Him. God continually breaks into our time line to meet with us where we are at. God even wants us to tell others about it.

In our culture we get so busy that we don't give ourselves enough time to reflect, sit still, be still. In Exodus 14:1 the Israelites are fleeing Egypt after God just performed one after another miracle/plague. The Egyptians start to pursue the Israelites as they are fleeing the land, and the Israelites get scared. They start yelling at moses, "DID YOU BRING US OUT HERE TO DIE! Would it not have been better to have stayed and been slaves.?!?!"(I added ? and !) God then speaks and says "I will fight for you, you just need to be still."
The psalmist who wrote Psalm 46 seems to have been directly referring to this story of the Israelites history when he wrote it. The psalm speaks of not fearing when the earth changes, and the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, and of roaring waters. But at the end of the Psalm it reads;

"'Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.'
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge."

On Thursday night, we sought to be still and know that God is God. A few people shared ways in which they have tasted God, and different things on their hearts.

If you have any thoughts on the other night feel free to share them. Or if you weren't able to attend the other night and have any thoughts please share them as well.

I pray that we are all able to see that we are standing on Holy ground, and that we would be more aware of the surpassing greatness and awe of God that is all around us, all the time!!

Grace and Peace,

Chris

In the beginning God created

This past week started our discussions at the beginning. We decided that if we want to explore who God is as Creator, and seek to understand what that means for us today, we should probably start at the beginning of the story. We need to read much of the bible as a story(of course we need to read the palms as songs, letters as letters, and prophecies as prophecy literature) . While we read and explore we must keep in mind that the story is still going even today. Once the bible got written the story didn't stop, and that is one of the beautiful things about God and life. If we are to understand our place in the story, history, we might want to know the context, and where and how the story began.

After God created man, He gave Humanity planet earth and all that was in it. God asked us to care for the animals, to tend the fields, and to enjoy what He made. Everything was pleasurable and good, but God gave man only one condition. Don't eat the fruit on a particular tree. Then as the story goes, man ate the fruit and opened Pandora's box in a sense. Then God sent them out of the garden for fear that they would eat the tree of life and live for ever. God didn't want sin, hatred, and sickness to continue forever. When he sent Man out of the garden he clothed them with the skin of an animal. If you want to know what happens next, read Genesis.

When we were exploring the beginning of the story we asked a few questions. If God is all powerful why would he create us, what inspired God to create? And if God is in control of everything why is the world so messed up? Did God know we would eat the apple, or did he relinquish some of His all knowing qualities our of love and trust for us? God told us to name the animals, and take dominion over the earth. To work the fields. If in the beginning God told us to take care of the earth, work the soil, and name the animals, is He asking us to do something similar today? Have we decided that God is in control so we have given back the gifts and responsibilities He gave to us? What does this creation story mean for us in the context we find ourselves in today?

That is what we talked about in a nut shell on thursday night.

Grace and Peace
Chris

If you read this but don't attend the group, please feel free to respond to these posts, and add your input and thoughts. I would be stoked if these discussions continued on after thursday night.