Growing Mountains

Strange concept isn't it...this mountain growing? Kind of like growing corn, or onions, or peas in your back yard. Anyone grow mountains lately? Place the bulb in the ground, water and fertilize, and voila!



Now I know, generally speaking, mountains don't really grow. Unless you're a seismic geologist, you probably couldn't tell that mountains actually are pushed up by the tectonic plates below the mountain. In fact, Mount Rainier here in Washington has grown approximately 12 inches since 1947. Just like in the world of seismic geology, in the world of church planting, mountains seem to grow too.



When Molly and first started this journey, we thought we had a fairly realistic idea of the mountains we thought would face and then climb. We were willing to pay the price to travel lightly and move up the mountains. But, as we have begun to climb, we've noticed the top of the mountain seems like its growing! The challenges seem greater and more treacherous than we thought!



So, in one of my pity-filled moments, one of my planting mentors (let's call him "Dave") issued the question, "So, what are you gonna do? Quit, or keep climbing?" It was a pretty simple question, but just the perfect one at the perfect time. I'm not ready to quit (I'm more of a fighter than a lover). In fact, it's all the more reason to give Jesus all the credit for making the seemingly impossible, well, possible.



Mountains do grow. Difficult situations sometimes get more difficult. The unthinkables happen. We lose the job. Someone in our family chooses to become more distant and disconnected to us. Stuff happens. But God...



God specializes in the tough stuff. The last minute stuff. To be sure, he's in the small, mundane stuff. But He loves to show himself capable and worthy of our admiration and trust. But something happens to us as we "sweat" a bit. We feel small. We feel desperate. We wonder if God is listening. Or, if He's gone mad by allowing certain circumstances or events in our lives. not sure we can handle them. Effectively, He's brilliant. He knows we need him, but we need to know how much we need him.



Sometimes WE grow the mountains by focusing on just how challenging the climb is. We focus on the impossibles. On the "can't be done" thoughts. On the rational. Been there and do that. But, I'm learning.



Mountains grow. But God is bigger. More majestic. More stunning. More awe-filled. More faithful. More worthy of our reverence. And if we're climbing a mountain, we climb one step at a time with our eyes focused not on the size of the mountain, but on the next step. I'm learning as I go.

Jesus at Microsoft

I need a website. It's today's business card. Problem is, I don't know how to do HTML, but I'm encouraging my 11 year old son, Josiah, to learn. I'd throw in a trip to the Red Robin if he could do a website for me. He says he'll keep the offer in mind.

So, the other day I "myspaced" an old friend of mine who was a tall, lenky, bright kid and about seven years younger than I. He was full of charisma. I hadn't had contact with him for at least 10 years. By some cosmic roll of the dice, he shoots me an email about 5 minutes later. We exchange numbers and talk for awhile. He's attending a church in Redmond, however, asks how he can help with the new church plant called "Emmaus Church." After sifting through the cursory events of our lives, I come to find out he does web design...how odd.

My friend, Sean (we will call him), proceeds to inform me that he can get a domain name pretty easily, which will be made public soon (I had been thinking for months and not come up with a satisfactory domain name and emails me the perfect one in about 30 seconds), and will host the site for free. All of this takes place over lunch at the palacial cafeteria at Microsoft. To make things even better, Bill Gates will actually make a donation to our non-profit church because Sean is volunteering five hours a month! So, at the end of the day, Microsoft is paying me to let Sean do a website for Emmaus Church!

This church planting stuff is a challenge and when I was starring at how high the mountains were, Jesus made himself present to me on the plateau at Microsoft. Who knows what the future holds, but as long as God continues to bring off-the-map kinda people into my path like Sean, I'll know God is in this whole thing.

Colic Blog

Colic blog: A Blog is Born.

I told myself I'd never blog. I promised myself. I contracted with me, myself, and I. Why? It's not hard to get comatosed by the countless ramblings of people with too much time on their hands (note: subtle Styx reference), or people who incessantly express their every thought ad nauseum. In my previous state of assurance, the only exception was if a monetary profit could be traced back to the musings of a blogger. Or, at the very least, even if there could be some non-monetary benefit recording one's thoughts, then it would be worth it. But, I think I've changed. I've been delivered. I see the light. I blog. I'm not going to cry about it anymore.

Why the conversion? Because I see what I've missed by not recording the events of my life and my journey as a church planter. And, I've been negligent in giving God public glory for what he's done in my life and how far he has brought me and Emmaus Church. He deserves both the glory and the blame!

So, here it is...in true fashion....my first blog. Did I write anything that would make anyone want to come back? Probably not, but, hopefully I'll deliver something of value that will honor God in the blog entries to come. After all, at best, my story is a subset to his story.