Prom Night

Last night was prom night, and I can't believe my little girl attended her first prom - with another girl mind you - but I was AOK with that.  I managed to get a picture of Karine and Jesse just before I drove them down to the venue for the prom - the Red Rocks amphitheater.  Well, not IN the amphitheater, since it had been snowing all day yesterday, but in the restaurant.  Due to the layout of Red Rocks I could only maneuver the car up to within 200 yards of the entrance, and they had to walk the rest of the way in the drizzle and their high heels.  Thankfully Jesse's Dad offered to pick them up around midnight
because I nearly fell asleep on the way home.  But it took me quite
a bit longer than normal to get home, because this enormous boulder had fallen onto the Southbound lane (heading back up the mountain) and completely blocked the traffic.  As we drove by on the opposite side I couldn't believe how huge it was (the news report estimated that the boulder weighs 60 tons), and what a miracle that it didn't crush any vehicles as it came down.  They'll probably have to blast it apart to remove it from the road.  I suddenly have a great deal more respect for those signs on the side of the road that say "Falling Rocks"!
     You can see how beautiful Karine and Jesse looked as we got ready to drive down for the prom.  The prom ended at 11pm, then they all came back to the school for the "after prom" party that was due to last until around 3 am this morning - then off to a friend's house for pancakes.  I wouldn't have lasted even through the prom, let alone all the other festivities.  Karine called around 12:30 this morning to say that she'd forgotten to bring her jeans... and could Papa just run them down to the school for her??  That didn't happen.  She found another solution in the end.

I heard an interesting sermon a couple of days ago. The pastor was making the point that worship is - in essence - love expressed, and that God created us to worship Him.  I'd never thought about this, but he spoke about the three original Arc Angels and their different roles:  Lucifer, who was responsible for worship; Michael, who is the warrior and comes in response to prayer, and Gabriel who brings messages from the Lord.  And every encounter we have with God includes the same three elements:  worship, prayer and truth.  Interesting, isn't it?  Three Arc Angels, so assumedly one third of all angels followed each of the three.  This would mean that when Lucifer sinned and was cast down to earth, he took with him the third of all angels who were responsible for worship... and his place was left vacant.  Now, God could have appointed another angel to that role, but He chose instead to give the responsibility for worship to us!  This would explain why worship is so meaningful to us, and why music has such a powerful effect in our lives.  It gives a whole new meaning to the idea of worshipping the Lord.

We're just on the tail end of yet another Spring snowstorm, and the snow is really wet.  Hopefully it will all melt very soon.

Journey Church

     Life can feel surreal at times.  Nine months ago, in August, Daphne and I were driving around Conifer and Evergreen - dreaming of what it could be like to live up here.  We didn't know a soul.  I remember the two of us sitting on a bench next to Evergreen lake, and we were discussing the idea of moving back to the States.  I had not yet resigned from my roles in the NAMESTAN team, so we were simply dreaming together.  We both loved the idea of living in the mountains, but would God approve?  I was so wrapped up in my own "issues" of what everyone's expectations were of me that I could hardly imagine feeling free to open the door of my heart and discover what dreams and desires were hidden there.

     I remember us driving past a Keller-Williams Realty agency, and just for the heck of it walking in to talk to a realtor.  We were only just at the beginning stages of allowing ourselves to imagine selling our house and leaving France.  The first person we met was Bob Krus, who became our realtor and who eventually sold us this home.  Bob has now become a dear friend - in fact Daphne and I are having lunch with he and his wife Diane today.  God seems to do that a lot in our lives:  the first person we meet, or the first church we visit ends up changing our lives.  We made an appointment one Sunday morning (wow, we didn't even go to church that Sunday!) to meet with Bob to look at a house;  we hadn't even started the process of putting our house on the market, and here we were looking at houses!  We must have been crazy... or God was guiding our hearts.  That day - nine months ago - we drove up to the High School just to see what it looked like, and we saw a sign saying, "The Journey Community Church meets here".  "Hmmm" I said, "We'll have to check this church out some Sunday."  The summer ended, and we went back to France to sell our home and say our goodbyes.  10+ years of life and ministry in the Muslim world had come to an end.  I could never have imagined even two months previously that we would be leaving France and the NAMESTAN region - nor how much pain and misunderstanding our departure would create.  Today, eight months later, some of those relationships are still broken, and God only knows if healing will ever come.  I've lived in four different countries in my lifetime, and traveled to some of the most dangerous places on the planet...  but I have never been as scared, nor felt as insecure as when we moved to Conifer, Colorado.  I was letting go of everything I knew - my life as a missionary, Campus Crusade, the team in France, my job, our church -  to move to a place where we were complete strangers, to start all over again.  The only people we knew were my sister Cathi and her family (50 minutes away in Westminster), our realtor Bob, and a guidance counselor at the High School.  Even as I write this, I'm wondering how in the world we ever did it.  We were either completely mad, or God was leading the way.  For some I know the jury is still out, but for Daphne and me, we are convinced it was the latter.

    Today, eight months later, we are living in a beautiful home in the mountains, not far from family.  We are surrounded by more new, wonderful friends than I can honestly count.  Our girls are settled in school with new friends.  My new company "Storm Guides" is off and running, and my list of prospective clients is growing daily.  And this Sunday, April 18th, I will be named as Executive Pastor of Journey Community Church of Conifer, Colorado.

     Someone once said, "Attempt something so great for God, that it's doomed for failure unless God is in it."  Almost one year ago the Lord communicated with us in a dramatic, supernatural way that we were approaching the key turning point of our lives. At that time we could not have even imagined any of what has since transpired.  A few days ago our Pastor Michael asked me to sit in on a couple of counseling appointments with him, and as I sat there I thought how much I love being a part of his team and this church.  As I drove away, I had a "defining moment" with God.  I sensed Him saying to me, "Do you remember the dream I gave you 18 months ago?"  "Yes, how could I ever forget it?" I replied.  The Lord continued, "And do you remember my promise about a whole new life, and a key turning point for your family?"  "Yes," I replied again.  Then He said, "This is what I was talking about."

     "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

The Journey Church

     It's snowing again.  They predicted 1-4 inches total.  At 3 am this morning there was no snow (guess who was up?); now there's more than 4 inches outside.  I think someone underestimated this storm.   I'm quickly learning just when you need to plow the driveway, and when to leave it ... there will be no plowing today.  Our vehicles can make it through quite a few inches of snow, so I'm not going out in the cold!

     When you look at the picture of our home above, you would think we were living in the wilderness:  It's actually just some clever framing on my part :)   We do have neighbors, but every home is built on at least 2 acres of land, so no one is on top of each other.  I finished the last touches on the rock fireplace, and I need to figure out is why it doesn't draw the smoke.  We've been smoked-out both times we've used it... and yes, I did open the flue.  I've run a chimney brush has high up as I can reach, but there's not much accumulation of soot.  If anyone has an idea, let me know.  The tops of the chimneys have caps and grills that are riveted into place, so it is impossible to run a chimney brush down from the top.

     Last night Daphne and I enjoyed a long, laughter-filled evening with Mike our pastor and his wife Amy.    We had dinner at a local Middle-Eastern cuisine restaurant called the "Damascus Grill" and it was actually pretty good.  I'm extremely partial to good Jordanian or Lebanese cooking, so I'm sure we'll be back to visit in the future.  We spent most of the evening laughing about the strange/funny things that happen to you when you're in full-time ministry... and after all these years we had plenty of examples.  Mike has asked us to coordinate the small group ministry of the church, and he's going to announce it this coming Sunday.  Daphne and I are excited to be more intimately involved in others' lives again.  We've tried to wait patiently for the Lord to show us when it is time to step out of this time of waiting and listening into any kind of ministry leadership.  We have not sought any roles in the church, and Mike asked us several times before we finally accepted.  I'm not sure why we accepted this last time;  I guess we just sense the Lord giving us the green light.  I will say that we're approaching any kind of "ministry" activity with many more personal boundaries and limitations that we have in the past.  Mike promised that he has no intention of "burning us out", and my reply to him was "And we have no intention of letting ourselves get to that place again."   The church is about to open the diner called "The Angry Llama"; don't ask me where Mike came up with the name, as I have no idea.  In the same building we'll have a coffee bar with a big screen TV for watching sports etc, pool tables etc to draw in the high-school kids, several offices, a small gym... and I don't even know what else.  This is a faith-venture from beginning to end, as we don't even have the money to cover the rent each month.  If it works, it will be of the Lord (and lots of sweat and tears from the church team). 

      In our last email newsletter we asked our friends and supporters to help us with our marketing strategy for Storm Guides, and we've already had one very encouraging contact with a missions agency based in Georgia.  This is how I expect things to develop - by word of mouth more than other marketing strategies.  We're hoping to finish a brochure very soon.   All the ground-work of setting up a new company, getting registered, maintaining the website etc still feels very daunting, and I can already see that I'll need to bring someone on to help me administratively in the not-too-distant future.  I simply cannot handle all the details on my own.  Hopefully we'll begin to have income through Storm Guides and we can hire someone part-time.

     My brother John and I have been talking about the issue of listening to God lately.  This is particularly interesting when you think about Peter, James and John.  They hung around Jesus more than the others (I sometimes wonder how the others felt about that), so they had more opportunity to hear Him.  But they weren't always listening.  When Jesus took them up on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter started babbling as usual about how they should make that place a permanent retreat center, with a gymnasium, and cafeteria, and statues of Jesus, Elijah and Moses...  and then God interrupted him and said, "This is my Son.  LISTEN TO HIM!"   It seems pretty clear from the context that God was telling Peter, and the others, to shut up and pay more attention to Jesus.  It seems like John, at least, started to understand because a little while later He told Jesus how he'd rebuked a man for casting out demons because he wasn't "one of the team".  I always read this as though John were proud of what he'd said, but my brother John pointed out that  - in all likelihood - John actually felt bad about it, and was making a confession.  If so, then he had started listening more to Jesus' heart, and arguing less about who was the greatest.  I really want to learn to listen more attentively, more actively and more often.