Monday, June 20, 2005

honey stop the car!

phew! took the big plunge today and put our house on the market. met with my aunt Denise today (she's a realtor) and signed all the paperwork, took all the pictures, etc. my mom and Grace took care of Colin and Elle for us as we went out looking at houses available for sale in Milan, as well as some of the new developments under construction. Ronni and i laughed at the signs in the front yards with slogans like "i'm gorgeous inside!" or "honey, stop the car!". then we realized we'll probably have one like that in our front yard :)

why the move? space. more specifically, the need (desire, really) for more since our family has grown. another bathroom with three of us and four in the not to distant future competing for one would be great. another bedroom for Elle when she outgrows her crib, too. and if we can swing it, a room where Ronni can teach piano lessons and put her computer. figured now would be a good time to go for it, since interest rates are still so low, and as we've prayed about it gotten nothing but green lights as best as we can discern.

there's a lot we're going to miss (assuming our house sells, of course). we've got awesome neighbors that we really love. we've got a great yard, the likes of which is hard to find in the new construction areas. and this has been a really happy house for us. bright and open, trouble free, with lots of unforgettable experiences taking place inside. bringing Colin and Elle home from the hospital for the first time, for example. youth team and high school kor group meetings. parties. gaming fests. sweet times of prayer. etc, etc.

strange combination of joy and anticipation / fear and trepidation / bittersweet feelings brewing inside. have to spend some time talking with Jesus about all that, do some surrendering, let him do some sorting. should be fun :)

no idea how quickly or slowly this process will go -- never sold a house before!

as an aside, we've been so busy i haven't had time to blog about the full motion flight simulator i got to visit, or the pistons, or our come from behind softball victory, or my old man / clumsy injuries, or the fun outreaches at church, or the upcoming week in Cincinatti (leave tomorrow) with the middle school and high school students for the summer of service, or our amazing board at church, fathers day, etc. etc. oh well, better busy than the alternative.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

good meeting

find myself really growing to love some of the other vineyard pastors in our area as we get to know one another over time. it was refreshing and encouraging to meet together in Owosso today. much laughter and love (ask me in person some time about what I learned from Jim Pool about how penguin reproductive practices reflect deep truths about the nature of faith). Don Milton (New Life Vineyard in Midland) is our new area pastoral care leader (my dad was doing that previously, but is now the regional overseer, so he's passed it on to Don), and he's doing an excellent job. he obviously cares for all of us a great deal, and led a great discussion on protecting / fostering / nourishing moral integrity within our lives as leaders. also a sweet time of worship and prayer for one another to close the meeting. it sure is invigorating to be in the company of such humble, excellent servants of the King.

quick update

heading to owasso for a meeting with area vineyard pastors this morning and afternoon...i've been way slacking on posts, and have much to give updates on. but it will have to wait, alas, until tomorrow sometime.

Friday, June 3, 2005

tonight

we won our softball game tonight, after getting mercied in our last game. sure feels better to win. great group of guys, great group of fans and supporters. especially great since the game we got mercied, most of our wives and families at the game weren't paying any attention, or at least feigning ignorance really well. and tonight, when we did alright for ourselves, it seems they were actually taking notice, or at least faking it really well. warning - late night post sermon prep preacher rabit trail ahead: occurs to me that it must have been tough on Jesus, being the alpha of alpha males, to have the whole world, including his closest friends and family, think he'd totally failed. beyond the excruciating physical pain, experience of seperation from his Father, weight of human brokenness, and all the rest. just the plain old "losing" bit of the experience would have been devastating, i think. on the other hand, sunday morning must have been really sweet. a long lasting kind of sweet. safe to read on...

introducing vineyard class tomorrow. makes for an exhausting weekend, energy wise, but i really enjoy the introducing vineyard class experience. invigorating to talk about the most important enterprise in the world with a group of people who maybe never realized how close they are to the center of God's activity in human history, who maybe will discover that God's got a role for them to play, who maybe will get swept up into it, who maybe will begin an adventure that will change the face of this area forever, because of their contributions. invigorating to remind myself that i couldn't be more significantly priviliged than i am. i like the pithy way Bill Hybels puts it: "the local church is the hope of the world, and the future of the local church rests primarily in the hands of it's leaders." maybe i should stop blogging and get a good night's sleep tonight...