A few weeks ago Mandy and I are starting to teach a class at church on marriage. Yikes! I think there is this temptation to think that we have to have it all "figured out" before we can talk about marriage. We obviously don't have all the answers and are still growing and learning everyday about our own marriage. I liked Wendell Berry's thoughts from Life is a Miracle in dealing with the tension of experience and forumulaic ways of "figuring it out."
“To experience it is not to “figure it out” or even understand it, but to suffer it and rejoice in it as it is. In suffering it and rejoicing in it as it is, we know that we do not and cannot understand it completely.”
I like his approach. I would rather experience life, marriage, the spiritual life, parenthood, etc even with the suffering and the rejoicing rather than publishing a book with the title "How to have it all figured out by 30."
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
the genius of Dave Hampton
Here is my acting debut as "frightened inmate #2." Oh wait, that was Arrested Development. This is actually me playing the mean church boss, but Dave Hampton is hilarious.
Check it out below or on youtube.
http://www.gatheringaustin.com/blog/?p=61
Check it out below or on youtube.
http://www.gatheringaustin.com/blog/?p=61
true religion
This is a great story of a couple of folks within our community who have started a ministry to single moms and widows. We have been teaching through the book of Acts and we keep seeing how God gives the apostles impossible tasks and then provides so that His people can be on a mission. Here is their story of being on a mission.
“We began trying to contact our single mom on thursday to no avail. We spoke with her mom in California, and her high school age daughter here, multiple times everyday but she had disappeared. We originally said that we had to be able to come see the apartment by Friday afternoon to be able to help get her out by her eviction date but kept pushing back the deadline hoping she would show. Finally she called me on Saturday evening and said the apartment was too messy and she wanted to get it cleaner before we came. We said we would rent the storage unit on Sunday and come on Monday morning to move whatever she had packed. She called Sunday evening to say that she was overwhelmed and couldn’t even begin and we would just have to come and do it all for her. We showed up Sunday morning at 9:30 expecting a somewhat messy one bedroom apartment and found a two bedroom apartment filled with unpacked boxes and trash. Only a small walkway led to the two equally full bedrooms. She admitted to us that she hadn’t done dishes in over 6 months. One of our team members called a friend who owns a moving company and on Labor Day morning, he personally came and delivered a 24 foot trailer and his personal truck to help us out. We tore into the apartment and it was filthy. God provided though, two ladies that our single mom had not seen in over a year unexpectedly dropped by and offered to pitch in cleaning the kitchen with our one female team member. We worked until 5:40 p.m. packing the trailer completely full and hauling two pickup loads of trash to the dumpster. We went to the storage unit and unloaded everything, finishing at 7:45 p.m. The next day, I went back to take the last truckload, the apartment was then completely empty. During the process we threw away 12 signs that the mom had held on street corners asking for money. She told us of her struggles with depression and how she had been robbed and her best friend had been murdered. We prayed for her and told her this was a new start that God had given her. Our single mom asked her friend who was cleaning the kitchen if she knew Jesus. Her daughter was working at TGI Fridays to try and buy a car for them, she had to miss work to help pack so we reimbursed her for her lost wages. We bought them lunch and hugged her before we left in the evening. This lady’s mom in California was so thankful, her exact words were “I know that we are the body of Christ but I cannot comprehend the kindness that we are finding down there.” She is part of a weekly prayer group and will now be praying for our ministry. We were blessed beyond our wildest dreams. There are a lot of dumb ways to spend Labor Day and I have spent many a Labor Day that way. But when we three guys stood in the rain outside of that storage unit after 10 hours together, we felt a bond that surpasses brotherly love. We stepped out together and God did the impossible right in front of us, to show us His glory. We saw it. He provided an unexpected trailer, two ladies, and somehow, He moved an apartment, that should not have been done in one day. We each know that God moved on Labor Day and we got to see it. We believed we would find purpose in serving single moms and widows together as brothers, and our inaugural mission of PURE legitimized that belief. If that was the last need God used PURE to meet, praise Him for one incredible day.
The PURE TeamPure Undeilfed Religion EnactedA ministry of James 1:27
“We began trying to contact our single mom on thursday to no avail. We spoke with her mom in California, and her high school age daughter here, multiple times everyday but she had disappeared. We originally said that we had to be able to come see the apartment by Friday afternoon to be able to help get her out by her eviction date but kept pushing back the deadline hoping she would show. Finally she called me on Saturday evening and said the apartment was too messy and she wanted to get it cleaner before we came. We said we would rent the storage unit on Sunday and come on Monday morning to move whatever she had packed. She called Sunday evening to say that she was overwhelmed and couldn’t even begin and we would just have to come and do it all for her. We showed up Sunday morning at 9:30 expecting a somewhat messy one bedroom apartment and found a two bedroom apartment filled with unpacked boxes and trash. Only a small walkway led to the two equally full bedrooms. She admitted to us that she hadn’t done dishes in over 6 months. One of our team members called a friend who owns a moving company and on Labor Day morning, he personally came and delivered a 24 foot trailer and his personal truck to help us out. We tore into the apartment and it was filthy. God provided though, two ladies that our single mom had not seen in over a year unexpectedly dropped by and offered to pitch in cleaning the kitchen with our one female team member. We worked until 5:40 p.m. packing the trailer completely full and hauling two pickup loads of trash to the dumpster. We went to the storage unit and unloaded everything, finishing at 7:45 p.m. The next day, I went back to take the last truckload, the apartment was then completely empty. During the process we threw away 12 signs that the mom had held on street corners asking for money. She told us of her struggles with depression and how she had been robbed and her best friend had been murdered. We prayed for her and told her this was a new start that God had given her. Our single mom asked her friend who was cleaning the kitchen if she knew Jesus. Her daughter was working at TGI Fridays to try and buy a car for them, she had to miss work to help pack so we reimbursed her for her lost wages. We bought them lunch and hugged her before we left in the evening. This lady’s mom in California was so thankful, her exact words were “I know that we are the body of Christ but I cannot comprehend the kindness that we are finding down there.” She is part of a weekly prayer group and will now be praying for our ministry. We were blessed beyond our wildest dreams. There are a lot of dumb ways to spend Labor Day and I have spent many a Labor Day that way. But when we three guys stood in the rain outside of that storage unit after 10 hours together, we felt a bond that surpasses brotherly love. We stepped out together and God did the impossible right in front of us, to show us His glory. We saw it. He provided an unexpected trailer, two ladies, and somehow, He moved an apartment, that should not have been done in one day. We each know that God moved on Labor Day and we got to see it. We believed we would find purpose in serving single moms and widows together as brothers, and our inaugural mission of PURE legitimized that belief. If that was the last need God used PURE to meet, praise Him for one incredible day.
The PURE TeamPure Undeilfed Religion EnactedA ministry of James 1:27
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