Relative Truths

Ok, so I did something today that was a major source of relief to my life.  I turned in my paperwork for ordination.  I posted about doing my ordination sermon awhile back.  Today, I turned in about 30 pages of theology, a bible study, the transcript, background, and DVDs of the sermon, about 30 pages of other stuff evaluating my thoughts on ministry, and too many forms to mention here.  I have been working on it for months, and it was such a relief to turn them in today.

The deadline for this stuff is next Thursday.  I am a whole week early, which is pretty rare for me.  I think I was about 2 days early when I did it three years ago.  Anyway, now I will wait until March to find out when my interviews are (either April 19, 20, or 21).  If all goes well then, I will be ordained in June!

I just walked to my truck after turning everything in feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.  That was a lot of stuff to do.  It required so many hours of writing, rewriting, and re-rewriting.  I appreciate the folks that helped me out (my readers, Brad my hero, and Geoff and Kevin). 

The thing is, I still have to “defend” my work.  I still have the interview process.  But, as I walked away, I could say, “I have done my best, I can let go of the rest.”  It made me think of our lives with Christ.  We can’t be perfect.  However, we can give our best to God.  Sometimes great things happen, sometimes they don’t.  All we can control is what we offer to God.  If we offer our best, we can be certain that God is pleased.  Then, we can leave the rest up to Him!

Ok, so like I mentioned yesterday, Connection Church had our first Sunday worship service.  I wanted to provide some highlights for you:

We had right at 70 people.  The weather was bad and it is a holiday weekend.  For our first preview with next to no advertising, I was pleased with the numbers.  At least 4-5 families that I didn’t know.  That was exciting!

My set-up team is the best!!!  We were set up in about an hour and a half to an hour and forty-five minutes.  We broke down in about 40 minutes.  Not bad for having never done it before and figuring it out as we went!

The worship was amazing.  Danny, Mark, Dan, and Josh did a great job.  I loved the set of Salvation is Here, Blessed Be The Name, and You Are The Light.  They also did a version of The Reason by Hoobastank for the offering.  It was tight!

It feels good to have had that experience.  I can’t wait for Feb 1!

There is nothing better after getting up at 4:45 than watching football all afternoon!

Anyway, that is what I got.  Hope you had a great weekend!

Ok, so we are a little over 12 hours away from Connection Church’s first Sunday morning worship service.  We are doing a preview service tomorrow, Feb, 1 and Feb 15.  The series for these services is called “What’s the Point?”  We will be exploring the point of Jesus, the church, and Connection Church.  I am pretty stoked about it.  Danny has done a great job getting music figured out, Rebekah has busted it like crazy to get Connect 4 together (with a lot of help from Jen, thank you so much), and I can’t wait to start preaching again!

We’ll be getting to the community center at George Pierce park at 8 to start setting up, with worship beginning at 11.  Now, there are a lot of things I am nervous about: how long set-up will take, will all the equipment operate, will people show up, etc.  However, I know that when 11 am hits, and we start praising God and the kids in Connect 4 start hearing about God, something amazing will happen.  I have had this desire for Suwanee for over 3 years now, and tomorrow it becomes real in new way. 

I know that most people who read this blog won’t get this until after the service tomorrow.  I’ll post tomorrow night, but I am so excited, I had to do something now.  I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday tomorrow, and say a prayer for Connection Church!

Ok, so today is not my birthday.  It’s Rebekah’s birthday today.  So, I tried to get my most pressing things done this morning so I could help her get the Connect 4 kid’s stuff ready (that is our Children’s Ministry at Connection Church).  I have been unwrapping Bibles, getting stuff out of the garage, printing notebook covers, etc. to help her.  I really just want to try and take a little pressure off of her, especially since it is her birthday.

Nothing too profound, but I have noticed that we usually try to recognize people’s birthdays and make them feel special.  I was thinking of how God tries to give us a new life everyday.  Everyday we wake up is another opportunity to be who God made us to be.  So, in a way, everyday is kind of like our birthday.  I think that the best way to honor God would be to take advantage of this birthday we are given. 

So, I am trying to help Rebekah to have a better day.  In the process, we are doing some kingdom stuff that is honoring God’s work in our lives.  The truth is, I feel like that is a pretty good way to spend a day. 

Ok, so it has been awhile since I was concerned over a Sunday, really since June when I left FUMC to start Connection Church.  I have preached a few times since leaving FUMC, but that is a different level of concern.  For the first time ever Connection will have a Sunday morning worship service!  I can’t really express to you the feeling hodge-podge I have right now.  I am a little nervous about everything working out.  Will we be fine with all of our equipment?  Will everything run fine?  Will people show up?  Fortunetly, I don’t have to worry about Children’s ministry or music because I have amazing people taking care of that.

While I am a little nervous, I also have these amazing feelings of joy and excitment.  I can’t wait to start worshipping with the community.  I can’t wait for all of these great people who have been interested in Connection to be able to come and experience a service together.  This is the culmination of a lot of work, and I am so pumped!

So, I guess the truth is that I can be really excited about Sunday again!  I have enjoyed the opportunity to worship in different settings, but I have missed being part of a community in worship.  I can’t wait for Sunday, and Feb 1 and 15 and beyond.  Please be in prayer for Connection, and if you know someone in or around Suwanee that might be interested, invite them!

Ok, so I was reading my brother’s post about New Year’s.  I agree that making resolutions are usually pointless.  I have made resolutions in the past about eating better, exercising more, spending more time in the Word, etc.  However, those are things I should be doing anyway, not just waiting until a random day in the calender to start.

Now, I love New Year’s (although watching the ball drop isn’t as big to me as it once was).  Don’t get me wrong, I think the idea of starting over with a blank slate is awesome.  Whatever mistakes you made in 2008, you can work to avoid in 2009.  Whatever you didn’t do in 2008, you can in 2009.  I like the idea of starting over because it reminds me of Christ’s grace for our lives.  With Him, our lives are like New Year’s.  We have another chance.  We still will never be perfect or anything like that, but we have an opportunity to live with a plan and a purpose that has eternal meaning.  We have a God that can give us the desire and strength to live a better way than we did before.  So, every day with Christ is like a New Year.  Just like David said (and I am pretty sure he got this from a very good Book), “Jesus can make all things new!” 

So, be new in Christ today, tomorrow, next week, into February, and so on.  The truth is, it is the best decision you can make, and it is way better than watching a ball drop!