Reflections on being a temporary church hopper

It has now been just over a month since I've been on my summer sabbatical. Lots have happened during this past month...we had a baby, we are trying to sell our condo, I'm being Mr. MOM to Ella while Kathy takes care of Jonathan. We are also now temporarily church hoppers as well- visiting different churches each sunday. It has been an eye opening experience in many ways. I have enjoyed not having the pressure to "be the pastor" and preach the sunday message. It is such a different experience from what I've been used to...and I can see how I could get used to this in some ways. But I am beginning to miss ministry and ministering from the pulpit and shepherding our people. At the same time I can see how many of my former ministry colleagues who take a "break" from ministry many times never get back into it having tasted the "civilian" life and the stability of being a layman. It's kinda of nice though to just attend church without pressure and just enjoying the worship and sermon. So, all that being said I am enjoying the sabbatical so far.

We have visited Park Community in the city, Harvest Bible Chapel (Niles campus), Willow Creek (North Shore campus), and this morning Naperville Presbyterian Church. All are wonderful churches with their own unique strengths and appeal. But as nice as it has been to visit other churches we are beginning to miss being part of a church family. The fellowship, friendship, doing ministry in a gospel community, and being in covenant together as only people can do in a local congregation can experience. Attending worship is important and good to do but it isn't enough to sustain the Christian life. Yet, it is so easy to do- to just worship with no strings attached, and just go home as soon as the service is over.

Sadly, this is the church experience for so many people today and it is no wonder that church makes very little impact in their day to day lives. Thankfully, our sabbatical will be over after this month and we look forward to returning to our church and community. Yet, it is a very unique time for us to be a temporary church hopper...it has given us an interesting perspective to church that we haven't had before and sadly may be an all too common experience for so many. Hopefully, some of the things that we are learning while being a temporary church hopper can be applied to our own lives and ministry as we return...

Things That Go "Bump!" In The Night

Early this morning around 5am as I was sound asleep I was awakened suddenly by the sound of something hitting the hardwood floor of our bedroom. To every parents nightmare it was our baby daughter who had crawled into our bed in the middle of the night and had rolled over the protective pillow barrier that we often set up to prevent rollovers and had hit the floor with a jarring "thud" of her head hitting the hardwood floor below. I immediately jumped out of my bed and grabbed her and held her as I tried my best to comfort her in her shock and pain. She amazingly fell back asleep pretty quickly but I could not. My head was filled with thoughts of her having a skull fracture, brain swelling, or worse. I awoke my father who is her pediatrician as well to ask if she was ok and after giving me a few signs to watch for in the next few hours I was able to fall back asleep. By God's grace she was fine and so goes another notch in the belt of parenting that all parents will go through many many times over their lives of raising their children.

I can't help think about life itself...the fragility of it all, and how truly our lives and health, and daily well being is in God's hands. As I am pretty new to Facebook I have recently found out that one of my close friends has a son that has been diagnosed with cancer. Another one of my former youth group students is now a mother of three living out in the West Coast with her family and whose eldest son has autism. Then I just found out that one of the pastors that I knew who was out here in our city but has relocated to another calling recently found out that their daughter has a malignant brain tumor of which it has already spread. I had to hold back my tears as I saw her precious pictures and thought about my own children as well. Thoughts of anger, rebellion, or doubts about God didn't arise in my mind but rather a deeper sense of trust as I come to a stronger realization that not only are our lives in God's hands but so also our loved ones, friends, family, and churches. My children who are healthy so far are no better or more or less sinful then my friend's children. Whether they are healthy or sick all is by the grace of God. Life itself has been given to us by God and at times it will include sickness and pain.

I can't help but to think about Jesus' words to us:

Matthew 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his i span of life? [7] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, j even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, k O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 Forl the Gentiles seek after all these things, and m your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But n seek first o the kingdom of God and his righteousness, p and all these things will be added to you.

All this flowing from the "Bump!" that I heard in the night of my daughter falling off the bed....

Confessions of a social network newbie...

It has been less then five days since I've immersed myself into the social networking world via this blog, facebook, and now twitter. I'm overwhelmed, excited, and pretty darn amazed by it all. My close friend Seth welcomed me to the 'black hole" which now I'm just beginning to understand. I can't begin to count how many hours I've spent looking for people to befriend and connect with--some of whom I haven't seen in almost twenty years. To see their pics, their families, children, and where they are in life has been just wonderful. And yet at the same time heartbreaking as I also find out news of broken marriages, sick children, and many old friends who aren't walking in their once professed Christian faith. Yet, I realize that it is crucial to exist in this virtual social networking world as it is not only the communication world of the future but already here in the present. I can barely stretch my imagination to think about my daughter pictured here already learning about my Macbook- about her future world of communication and technology. Well, either way I'm definitely hooked and my world will probably never be the same. It's one of those things that you can't imagine having lived without. Well, perhaps this is just the honeymoon phase of it and it will subside in just a few weeks. But being able to connect with so many different people instantly has been just amazing. I'm sure that I'll get my wife to join in as well as my sisters and others who haven't jumped in yet. Now to check my tweetdeck......

ENTERING THE BLOGGING WORLD

Well, I'm finally jumping into the blogging world with my very first post. Currently, I'm on my very first ministry sabbatical this summer since starting my church in 2003. It has been a wonderful time to visit other churches (so far just two) and not have to be the "pastor" but just sit and soak. We thought that it would be a restful time for us but with the birth of our son Jonathan just a few days ago things have been pretty crazy but wonderful. This is the second time we are going through this but seeing your wife go through labor and deliver your child will make a man out of anyone. We did a water birth this time. The hospital wasn't that prepared as they ought to have been and they barely set up the tub in time as Kathy was entering transition. It was more then unnerving seeing my son's head under water while Kathy continued to push him out. They kept telling me that he is fine under water until they take their first actual breath of fresh air. But i had to restrain myself from wanting to pull out my wife and baby out of the water. But everything went fine and he was born healthy and strong.

We had three choices for his name but before the lady came to ask us to fill out the birth certificate info we ended up picking a different name which actually came from the Bible- Jonathan. Here are the scriptures that we read before finalizing the name:

1 sam 14:6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let

us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord

will work for us,for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by

few.”

1 sam 18:3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as

his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him

and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his

belt. 5 And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so

that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all

the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

1 SAM 20:42 Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have sworn

both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord shall be between me

and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’”

Jonathan had a zeal for the Lord, he humbled himself before David in surrender and loyalty, and he claimed God's covenant between his family and that of David's forever. Man, what a hope and prayer that we have as Kathy and I prayed for our son as we named him Jonathan. He's doing well and we are so thankful but a bit tired...Kathy of course more then me.