A Baby Changes Everything

It's been a busy last week. As a family, we celebrated Ch!istmas with my side of the family on Tuesday afternoon & evening Dec. 21. This was after my wife celebrated Xmas with her MOPS group in the morning, then I had lunch with P@stor Jeff. Wednesday night Dec. 22 we went to a Filipino group Xmas party. Thursday Dec. 23 we attended a Xmas program @ E@stern Hills that some of our friends were in. Friday morning my in-laws arrived & we attended a Xmas Eve service @ New Life. Saturday Dec. 25 my wife's sister & son arrived, as did my father for Xmas @ our temporary townhouse in Aurora. Sunday Dec. 26 our family & my inlaws went to the Denver Art Museum. They returned home to South Dakota yesterday Dec. 27.

It's been hard to have time to process all these events related to Xmas.

The Xmas Eve service was helpful to me. It's different for us to be in the U.S. this Xmas, as the last time was in 2004. It's been nice to hear many of the carols I grew up with.

One new song for me on Xmas Eve was one titled "A B@by Ch@nges Everything." The most well know versions of this are by Faith Hill. Click here to watch her sing it. Another good video that ties together Xm@s & E@ster can be viewed by clicking here.

It reminded me of how the coming of G0d the S0n to earth in flesh as a baby rocked the world of teenage Mary, the shepherds, and even us today.

Some the0l0gians propose that it is perhaps harder to believe in the Inc@rnation, particularly G0d coming as a baby miraculously conceived by the H0ly Sp!irit and born of a Virg!n than it is to believe in the Resurrect!on. This miraculously born baby did change everything...and continues to do so today.

A Baby Changes Everything
Music by Tim0thy Nich0ls, Cr@ig Wisem@n, and C@therine H@rdwicke

Teenage girl much too young
Unprepared for what's to come
A baby changes everything

Not a ring on her hand
All her dreams and all her plans
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

The man she loves she's never touched
How will she keep his trust
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

And she cries
Ooh she cries
Oh ohhh...

She has to leave, go far away
Heaven knows she can't stay
A baby changes everything

She can feel it's coming soon
There's no place there's no room
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

And she cries
And she cries
Oh she cries

Shepherds all gather 'round
Up above the star shines down
A baby changes everything

Choir of angels sing
Glory to the newborn king
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything
Everything, everything, everything
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

My whole life has turned around
I was lost, but now I'm found
A baby changes everything, yeah
A baby changes everything

The F@ther's Provision

Today we celebrate Christm@s, when G0d the S0n became human and was born as a baby in Bethlehem. The Inc@rnati0n is a miraculous event, as well as a point of contention to many. How could God become human? It takes faith to believe that.

We needed the Chri$t to come to this earth to provide the opportunity to again be in right standing with the F@ther. What we celebrate on Christmas was the first step in this. Jesus' sinless life, death as a sacrifice or at0nement for sin, and resurrect!on 3 days later. He provided what we needed.

Since moving back for a year to the U.S. in late July, we've seen the Father provide in many ways for us in big & small ways.

He's provided the rental townhouse where we've been since August 23. We'll be hosting my wife's side of the family here for today's celebration.

He's provided fellowship & spiritual support through 2 different ch*rches. One of them provided the turkey, mashed potatoes, & stuffing that we'll share for lunch today. The other one is becoming a real home for all 5 of us. We weren't sure we would find this type of place when we came back stateside.

Two days ago my wife & I were talking about what would be helpful to have for preparing today. One of those things was a hand mixer. We have a nice one in France, but didn't bring it here with us, as the electrical current is different. We've had to borrow mixers several times for crepe nights we've done.

About 30 minutes after this discussion, we heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw our upstairs neighbor Brenda. She had a mixer in her hand. They bought a new mixer and were going to get rid of their old one (which we've borrowed several times already). So she gave us the mixer.

It's easy to worry about material things, especially as we're trying to raise additional funds for our work in Paris in a morose economy stateside. This gift was a good reminder that the Father will provide for all we need, both in the little things (like mixers), as well as the much more important things.

Cold

It's early Wednesday morning & I'm about to go to bed after doing some writing.

It's really cold outside my in-laws' home in western South Dakota. I'm not used to it being this cold. Brrr! We've been fortunate to have had some warm & sunny weather in Colorado the last 3 months.

Hopefully there aren't any homeless people out there who don't have shelter tonight.

All Saints Day

Today is All Saints Day (Nov. 1), a public holiday in many countries with Roman Catholic heritage. My friends in France are certainly enjoying a day off work or school today. In the U.S., it's a normal work day. This year, it's also a day of election in the mid-term elections for many important state offices around the country.

2 years ago, my wife delivered our stillborn daughter Jessica. After 9 months of waiting for our 4th child, our worlds were rocked when we could hear no beating heart of our daughter. We received the awful news that she had somehow died during the previous 72 hours.

God has brought much comfort to our hearts during the past 2 years.

That being said, it's still hard to not have her among us. When I see my 3 kids together, I wonder what it would have been like to have Jessica among us.

However, I trust that God knows what is best. I believe that Jessica is in good hands now. I often picture her with my mother, who graduated to heaven 3 years ago from tomorrow. Both are fully well and not suffering any pain or struggle.

The hope of bodily resurrection and of seeing loved ones fully well is an encouragement. As some of my older friends are graduating to heaven, I miss them. But were I not confident that this time on earth is only temporary, I would be heartbroken and in despair whenever someone died.

But someday all the saints (those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ) will be gathered together again. This will be for all eternity.

This hope is also motivation to live in such a way that others are attracted to the Lord. I heard a great message yesterday about the outward looking church. Service provides the platform to share of this hope.

So, Jessica & Mom, I'm thinking of you today. Look forward to seeing you again sometime.

Our initial experiences with home schooling

This is the first year we've ever done home schooling.

Our son is in 3rd grade (CE2 in France), our elder daughter in 2nd grade (CE1), and our younger daughter kind of in a no man's land stateside in that she's too young for Kindergarten, yet has already done 2 years of French school, as she started at 2 1/2.

People home school for different reasons.

We have appreciated (at least most of the time) the opportunities that our children have gotten to learn in the 2 schools that they have attended. Our older 2 children attended 3 years at a French PreK/Kindergarten ("Jardin d'Enfants," translated literally as "garden of children"), then at the local elementary school. Our younger daughter has done 2 years at this same school.

We've gotten to know the director, teachers, and staff at the Jardin d'Enfants, as well as many of our kids' classmates & families. Many of our closest neighborhood friends have come through here. It's a small school with only one section of each of the 3 levels. There are usually about 20 in each class, compared to 30 in the local kindergarten just down the street from us. It has been a good place for each of our kids to begin their formal French education.

While it's been harder to do this at the elementary school, these relationships have been gradually developing. The school was a little out of control 2 years ago. Fortunately, it changed directors for this past year. The new director helped bring more discipline and calm, so it's a night and day difference.

As we have tried to missionally connect in our neighborhood, we have intentionally put our kids in French schools. The schools are good academically and not generally violent, so that's been helpful. Sometimes our kids have had challenges and we've tried to help them work through them. It's hard working academically in a language that is not their first one. However, they have worked hard and made loads of progress. Our kids are definitely bilingual and bicultural.

We only plan on being in the U.S. for a year and probably living in 3 different locations (Colorado, New Jersey, Michigan). As we don't want our kids to lose a year of school when we return to Paris for the 2011-2012 academic year, we have registered them in program for home schooling in France. It comes through the CNED, which is part of the National Ministry of Education in France.

The French school year began in early September. Because we signed up late, we only received the official materials this past weekend. However, we brought some of our own materials from France with us and began our own interim curriculum & program in early September. This improvised program has been helpful, as our kids have already been working on math & French.

Like many homeschooling families, we're doing a hybrid system. On Fridays, our older 2 kids attend a school called OPTIONS. Colorado has a lot of home schooling families and is quite progressive in the different possibilities of collaborating with others doing it. The city we're living in has one site, a church, that hosts the OPTIONS program. Our kids have classes in Language Arts, Science, Physical Education, Art, and Music/Theatre. All the children in it are home schooled the other days. OPTIONS is part of the public school system, so it's free. Each class has 12 kids in it, so it's small compared to what our kids are used to.

We noticed one difference between French & American cultures on the first day of school. Right at the beginning, in the large group assembly, everyone stood up, put their hands over their hearts, and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Our kids were looking around and trying to figure out what was going on. My wife & I realized that they probably had never heard this before, or at least not for 3 years. In France, their is no such equivalent.

In working with my kids on math, I've noticed that their French classes didn't cover all that was supposed to get covered. This may have been due to some strike days. Or to having larger classes so that the teacher had to go slower in general. So I'm having to help them work on basics, such as addition and subtraction flash cards.

However, the academic challenges are compensated for the diversity of cultures that our kids have encountered in their classrooms & schools in Paris. They are comfortable around a wide variety of people of different skin colors, religious backgrounds, and ethnicities. Plus they are bilingual. If we can help them keep up to speed academically, they'll have a huge advantage in their future.

We've started reading "Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds" by David Pollock & Ruth Van Reken. It cites a talk by Dr. Ted Ward in 1984 in which he predicted that TCKs (children who spend a significant period of their developmental years in a culture outside of their parents' passport culture) were "the prototype citizens of the future. In other words, a childhood lived in, among, and between various cultural worlds would one day be the norm rather than the exception." (xiii)

As parents, my wife & I have the challenge & privilege of helping educate & train our children. This year is a challenging one, as we're forced to learn on the fly how home schooling works, as well as how to use the CNED program for French home schoolers (and for 2 different grades). We're helping our kids with their French program 4 days a week, plus with the Friday OPTIONS program in English.

We've spent the past 5 years helping our kids in the French school program in Paris. My wife has been the primary overseer of this. I admire & commend her for her faithfulness in this, as neither of us grew up in the French system.

Now it's time to get everyone up and ready for OPTIONS school.

First who...then what

We're temporarily (through December or January) in a town that has a great public library. Actually, it has 3 of them and 1 of the branches is just a mile from us. Last week I checked out Jim Collins' "Good to Great: Why Some Corporations Make the Leap...and Others Don't" (Harper Business: New York, 2001).

This is another one of those great business books that has some useful applications to ch&rches & parach&rch organizations. It is based on principles, rather than gimmicks or charismatic personalities.

Chapter 3 is titled "first who...then what."

The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it. They said, in essence, "Look, I don't really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, and right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we'll figure out how to take it someplace great." (p. 41)

The good-to-great leaders understood three simple truths. First, if you begin with "who," rather than "what," you can more easily adapt to a changing world. If people join the bus primarily because of where it is going, what happens if you get ten miles down the road and you need to change direction? You've got a problem. But if people are on the bus because of who else is on the bus, then it's much easier to change direction: "Hey, I got on this bus because of who else is on it; if we need to change direction to be more successful, fine with me." Second, if you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. The right people don't need to be tightly managed or fired up; they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great. Third, if you have the wrong people, it doesn't matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won't have a great company. Great vision without great people is irrelevant. (p. 42).

I have been struck as to the amount of prayer Jsus put in before choosing His 12 disciples out of the group of followers around Him. I wonder if part of the reason is linked to these principles. Certain as the 2nd Person of the Tri*nity, He was present when the world was created. But if these principles are timeless & true, then Jesus was part of establishing them from the beginning of time.

Jesus certainly knew where He was going, unlike the CEOs of good-to-great companies who need to try to figure that out. However, the priority of choosing team members who will be faithful to the team and its direction seems like it was important back then, as it still is now.

In the University of Michigan football locker room, there is a banner or poster that says, "Those who stay will be champions." Part of creating a great team is getting people who will count the cost and stay committed to the team and each other through thick & thin.

This chapter also talks about being "rigorous, not ruthless" regarding personnel.

The good-to-great companies probably sound like tough places to work--and they are. If you don't have what it takes, you probably won't last long. But they are not ruthless cultures, they're rigorous cultures. And the distinction is crucial. (p. 52)

To be ruthless means hacking and cutting, especially in difficult times, or wantonly firing people without any thoughtful consideration. To be rigorous means consistently applying exacting standards at all times and at all levels, especially in upper management. To be rigorous, not ruthless, means that the best people need not worry about their positions and can concentrate fully upon their work. (p. 52)

To let people languish in uncertainty for months or years, stealing precious time in their lives that they could use to move on to something else, when in the end they aren't going to make it anyway--that would be ruthless. To deal with it right up front and let people get on with their lives--that is rigorous. (p. 53)

Collins makes 3 practical disciplines regarding "how to be rigorous." They are:

1. When in doubt, don't hire--keep looking.
   
   Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people. (p. 54)
   
   
2. When you know you need to make a people change, act. (Corollary: First be sure you don't simply have someone in the wrong seat).
   
   The good-to-great companies showed the following bipolar pattern at the top management level: People either stayed on the bus for a long time or got off the bus in a hurry. In other words, the good-to-great companies did not churn more, they churned better. (p. 57)
   
   It might take some time to know for certain if someone is simply in the wrong seat or whether he needs to get off the bus altogether. Nonetheless, when the good-to-great leaders knew they had to make a people change, they would act. (p. 58)
   
   
3. Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems. (Corollary: If you sell off your problems, don't sell off your best people).
   
   If you create a place where the best people always have a seat on the bus, they're more likely to support changes in direction. (p. 59)
   
   Managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great. (p. 59)
   
   Indeed, one of the crucial elements in taking a company from good to great is somewhat paradoxical. You need executives, on the one hand, who argue and debate--sometimes violently--in pursuit of the best answers, yet, on the other hand, who unify fully behind a decision regardless of parochial interests (p. 60)
   

It is vital to choose wisely the members of a team. As in sports, there are some players who add greatly to the team through their locker room demeanor. I find the last 2 paragraphs of this chapter to be significant.

Members of the good-to-great teams tended to become and remain friends for life. In many cases, they are still in close contact with each other years or decades after working together. It was striking to hear them talk about the transition era, no matter how dark the days or how big the tasks, these people had fun! They enjoyed each other's company and actually looked forward to meetings. A number of the executives characterized their years on the good-to-great teams as the high point of their lives. Their experiences went beyond just mutual respect (which they certainly had), to lasting comradeship.

Adherence to the idea of "first who" might be the closest link between a great company and a great life. For no matter what we achieve, if we don't spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect, we can't possibly have a great life. But if spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect--people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us--then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes. The people we interviewed from the good-to-great companies clearly loved what they did, largely because they loved who they did it with. (p. 62)

Mighty to Save

Everytime we come back to the U.S., there are a number of songs that strike me in a positive way.

One of my favorite new discoveries is "Mighty To Save" by Hillsong Australia. You can hear it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-08YZF87OBQ

I must confess that I often think that a lot of Hillsong songs now sound the same. Despite that impression, I really like this particular song. It would be especially great on Easter Sunday.

Here are the lyrics:

Everyone needs compassion,
Love that's never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The Hope of nations.

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus (x2)

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

My Saviour, you can move the mountains,
You are mighty to save,
You are mighty to save.
Forever, Author of Salvation,
You rose and conquered the grave,
Yes you conquered the grave

Kyrie Eliesen

One of my favorite songs of the 80s: "Kyrie (Eliesen)" by Mr. Mister. It is fascinating that a song "Lord Have Mercy" was so popular. Yes, the tune is awesome and catchy. But the message is powerful, even to those outside of the church.

According to Wikipedia,

The words to "Kyrie" were written by lyricist John Lang who co-wrote the songs on all of Mr. Mister's albums. The music was composed by Richard Page and Steve George while on tour with Adam Ant.

"Kýrie, eléison, down the road that I must travel

Kýrie, eléison, through the darkness of the night"

Kýrie, eléison means "Lord, have mercy" in Greek, and is a part of many liturgical rites in Eastern and Western Christianity. Kýrie, eléison; Christé, eléison; Kýrie, eléison is a prayer that asks "Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy".^[1] According to Page the entire song is, essentially, a prayer.^[2]

Here's a live performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOq9v4fAEo0

Kyrie lyrics
Songwriters: George, Steven Park; Lang, John Ross; Page, Richard James;Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison
Kyrie

The wind blows hard against this mountain side
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the road

My heart is old, it holds my memories
My body burns a gemlike flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine
Is where I find myself again

Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going, will you follow?
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

When I was young I thought of growing old
Of what my life would mean to me
Would I have followed down my chosen road
Or only wished what I could be

Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going, will you follow?
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

Dealing with opponents

I've found a couple of interesting things on the Internet this morning.

One is a Sept. 20 news story titled "Atheist Hitchens skipping prayer day in his honor" by Associated Press write Jay Reeves. It can be found at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap_on_re_us/us_christopher_hitchens_cancer

Christopher Hitchens has been an outspoken critic of Christianity. Age 62, he has been stricken with esophagal cancer and is not doing well physically.

Despite Hitchen's virulent attacks of Christianity, he still has some friends who are Christians, including Larry Tauton, head of the apologetics group Fixed Point Foundation. In fact, some Christians informally declared yesterday as "Everybody pray for Hitchens Day."

My initial reaction to Hitchens was not prayer, but anger. I probably would have had a hard time being a friend with him had I been in contact.

Yet I admire Larry Tauton for being his friend, even though their ideas are opposed. Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees for being a "friend of sinners."

On his Facebook status, Ed Stetzer writes, "Jesus chose to love those and be with those of bad reputations. The pharisees weren't pleased. Some things never change."

Someone quoted A.W. Tozer as saying, "To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men."

May Christopher Hutchens' heart be softened by the Lord, despite his opposition to Him. May we know how to handle the opposition of Pharasaical types today.

New Friends in a New Place

We moved to the Denver area 3 1/2 weeks ago.

As we planned this year of U.S. Home Min*stry Assignment (HMA), it seemed like we needed to spend a few months in this area. A primary reason was to be geographically close to both sides of our family. Since 1989, my brother & his family, and later my father, have all settled in Colorado. My sister-in-law moved here in 2004 or so. My in-laws still live in western South Dakota about 7-9 hours drive from here.

We've stopped through this area pretty much every time we've been in the U.S. But we've never lived here, nor did we know many people here except for our families.

After we flew stateside on July 22, we let out word that we were looking for a temporary rental here. G*d opened up a this townhouse for us while I was in Michigan in early August and we moved in on August 24.

We've been surprised by the kindness of some new friends to us already.

3 Sundays ago, we visited a ch&rch that hosts the Friday school our older 2 kids attend. After the wor*ship service, a couple behind us introduced themselves & complimented us on how well the 3 kids had done (as they stayed with us, as there was no children's ch&rch that day). Ken went out of his well to tell us about the ch&rch & show us around. We mentioned that we were looking for a lamp.

The next Sunday, we went to the ch&rch again. During the service, there was an opportunity to share about G*d's faithfulness. I shared about His provision for housing & mentioned that we were new to the ch&rch. A handful of people introduced themselves to us after the service.

During the brunch, Ken spoke to us again. He then went home & brought a lamp to lend us. He introduced us to Bob. Between them, they arranged for some shelving for us. Bob brought it over 2 days later.

That Sunday, we met a couple of whom the wife is completing her doctorate in French. They moved to the area from North Carolina 3 months ago for the husband's work. This past Tuesday we spent the afternoon with their family, then had supper as well. Our kids got along well & we hope to spend more time with them.

On Saturday we briefly met the family who is renting our place to us. They have daughters the age of our 2 girls, as well as 2 month old twin daughters. Yesterday we watched their older 2 daughters so the mother could have some alone time getting some things done. Our kids all got along well and we hope to spend more time with them.

Last night I was at Walmart picking up birthday invitations. We hope to distribute them to some of our older daughter's classmates today for a party in 8 days.

While in this new place, it's easy to long for the depth of friends & relationships that we have with some of our Paris friends. However, those friendships took time to get to where they are now.

As I reflect on my life, it's interesting to remember the diversity of places where some of my friendships began. You often can't guess when meeting someone for the first time where a relationship with him or her might go (or not go).

I'm pleased to see my children connecting with some other children during this season in the U.S. It takes time. They have expressed missing some of their friends in Paris.

My older daughter misses her best friend from her class in Paris. Last week, her friend telephoned. After the call, our daughter cried a little. She said that it wasn't fair that her best friend was in Paris, while the girls in her Friday class that she wants to be be best friends with already have best friends. But a few minutes later, she seemed to be in better spirits.

For me, it's a good reminder what it's like for new people in a new place. Paris definitely doesn't feel new to me anymore after 16 years there and lots of relationships being established. But it did feel new to me at one time.

Soft hearts

I was struck by the Ps@lm 95:8-11 this morning.

Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof,
though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said,
"They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways."
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
"They shall not enter into my rest."

In recent readings through the Gosp*l of Mark, I was also struck by the hardness of heart of some of the Ph@risees and reli*gious leaders. Ironically, they should have had the softest hearts, as they should have known the most about G*d and His ways. It's a reminder that just knowing the Scrip*tures (or perhaps, even more, different people's proposed interpretations of the Scrip*tures) doesn't guarantee having a soft heart toward the projects & voice of G*d. In fact, knowledge can itself bring pride and arrogance, rather than having the simple, yet obedient heart of someone like Mary.

It seems important to pray for soft hearts for ourselves, our children, ch*rches, as well as those whom we're in contact with, but aren't following Chr*st yet. I know several people who have grown up in Xian homes & attended solid ch&rches as children, yet have given that up as adults. My prayer for them increasingly is that G*d would soften their hearts.

As we seek to raise 3 children, I pr@y this for them as well. As much as we try to influence them to become G*d-lovers and G*d-followers, only through the power of the Spirit will their hearts be softened.

I've recently been reading Tedd Tripp's "Shepherding a Child's Heart." It's a very helpful book on parenting. In his chapter "Getting to the Heart of Behavior," he writes:

The heart determines behavior. What you say and do expresses the orientation of the heart...Behavior is not the basic issue. The basic issue is always what is going on in the heart.

A change in behavior that does not stem from a change in heart is not commendable; it is condemnable. Is it not the hypocrisy that Jesus condemned in the Pharisees? In Matthew 15, Jesus denounces the Pharisees who honored him with their lips while their hearts were far from him. Jesus censures them as people who wash the outside of the cup while the inside is still unclean. Yet this is what we often do in childrearing. We demand changed behavior and never address the heart that drives behavior. (3-4)

Being a good neighbor...in Colorado

We moved to Colorado 3 weeks ago today. God used my sister-in-law's broad relational connections here to help us get this nice 4-5 month rental. Getting short-term rentals in the Denver area is not easy, as most landlords are looking for at least a 12 month commitment. I had read in August that this was the hardest time since the early 2000s to get rentals in this area, as there is a lot of demand and much less supply.

The tenant before us here is a professional soccer player on the Colorado team. He scored a goal at the game that we attended several weeks ago.

During the last few years in Paris, we've gotten to learn a lot about connecting with people in our neighborhood. We've built good relationships with people in our apartment complex of 14 stories. Through our kids, we've connected with children and their parents in a French PreK/Kindergarten, as well as in a French elementary school. We've also connected with local merchants through frequenting their businesses.

One thing that we love about our Paris neighborhood is its ethnic & cultural diversity. While definitely French, it is also a mosaic of other cultures. I was worried about not being able to connect with this same diversity during this year of U.S. Home Ministry Assignment.

I also wondered if we would be able to connect with our neighbors here as we have been able to do in Paris. We hadn't really lived here for more than a few months since our 1998-2000 stint doing graduate studies @ Wheaton. Back then, I wasn't that interested in connecting with those around me, except within the student community @ Wheaton. While that student community was ethnically & culturally diverse, everyone there had at least signed on that they were Xians.

During the past 3 days, I've been happy to connect with a number of neighbors in the complex where our rental townhouse is. These include:
--a woman originally from Latvia who lives with her mother on the place directly to our left. She came by on Saturday to try to get in contact with our landlord (who used to live here) in order to offer a baby gift to his 7 week old twin girls.
--our upstairs neighbors. They have a cute dog. My in-laws were her this weekend and my father-in-law asked him to borrow some tools for some projects in our place. Last evening we had a talk while I was outside our ground level apartment & he was on his 2nd story balcony looking down. His mother is originally from Germany and met his father when he was in the military stationed there. When he found out about our work, he matter-of-factly mentioned that he wasn't a "church-going person." I mentioned that many of our friends in Paris are also like that and that we're often more comfortable around people like that than we are around "church-goers."
--the woman who lives on the apartment to our right. Yesterday my wife asked how her surgery went. I don't know how my wife knew about this, but she certainly must have been in previous conversations with her. She mentioned that it was rather a test that she had and that she would have surgery soon for knee problem. She mentioned that she would be away for a week and asked if we would pick up her newspapers for her.
--another woman in our complex has been in the military for 23 or so years. She works in the videography. We learned this yesterday when she saw the Vietnam vet baseball cap that my father-in-law was wearing and made a postive comment. (We were just giving final farewells to my in-laws right outside our apartment when she pulled into her parking spot just a few meters from ours).
--on Saturday morning I met a woman who parked with her dog grooming trailer right by our place. Her business is driving around and giving beauty treatment to dogs. She comes to her clients, rather than them having to go to her or other dog grooming places. In the course of our conversation, I learned she was originally from Cuba and fled it in the early 1960s when Castro took over. One of her grandmothers had the name "Clavier" and was French. I got her business card and home to be able to pass it on to others who might have dogs looking for grooming.

One thing that I need to do is write down people's names right away, as I'm drawing some blanks on them.

But I'm pleased that we're making this kind of connections here in the Denver area. I hope that we are salt and light wherever we go on this U.S. trip.

Yesterday I got back to the book "The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes & Posner. One point that struck me was "generate small wins." I think that the idea of "being a witness" can be intimidating, as it's a very large idea. However, one way to generate small & measurable wins is by seeing each interaction or conversation with neighbors as a small win or step toward being a witness to them. In general, we're not going to regularly have opportunities to speak to the masses. However, we can have an impact on a small scale one person at a time and one conversation/interaction/act of kindness at a time.

May God be glorified & honored through us living missionally & connecting with our neighbors in the U.S. this year. While they are different, we're discovering that they are pretty much the same as our neighbors in Paris in terms of concerns (health, economic, aging parents, children, etc.).

Hands and Feet

While driving home tonight, I heard this song by the Newboys on KLove, a station in the Denver area. It's titled "Hands and Feet" and addresses the theme of being the hands and feet of Jesus, a practical way of leading through serving.

An image flashed across my T.V. screen
another broken heart comes into view
I saw the pain and I turned my back
Why can't I do the things I want to?

I am willing yet am so afraid
you give me strength when I say ...

I wanna be your hands
I wanna be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me
I'll be your hands
I'll be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me

And I'll try, yeah I'll try
to touch the world
like you touched my life
And I'll find my way
To be your hands

I'll abandon every selfish thought
I surrender everything I've got
You can have everything I am
And perfect everything I'm not

I am willing, I'm not afraid
you give me strength when I say ...

I wanna be your hands
I wanna be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me
I'll be your hands
I'll be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me

And I'll try, yeah I'll try
to touch the world
like you touched my life
And I'll find my way

This is the last time

I turn my back on you
From now on I'll go out
send me where you want me to
I finally have a mission
I promise I'll complete
I don't need excuses
when I am your hands and feet
I am your hands and feet

Hands,(Hands)(Hands)
Feet, (Feet)(Feet)
Go, (Go)(Go)
Go, (Go)(Go)

I wanna be your hands
I wanna be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me
I'll be your hands
I'll be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me
I'll be your hands
I'll be your feet

I will go
I will go where you send me
I will go
I will go where you send me
I will go, go
I will go, go
I will GO!
Go where you send me

I wanna be your hands
I wanna be your feet

(fades out)

Addressing the heart

In recent days I've been spending some morning time hanging out in the Gospel of Mark.

This morning I was struck by some emotions that I saw in Jesus in Mark. Jesus could perceive his enemies' emotions even before they verbalized opposition to him.

Mark 2:1-12 tells of Jesus' healing of the paralytic man carried by 4 men & lowered to Jesus through the roof. Verse 8 says that "Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them..." Verse 6 says that some of the scribes were sitting there "questioning in their hearts."

Mark 3:1-6 tells of Jesus' healing of the man with a withered hand. Verse 5 says that Jesus looked at the Pharisees "with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart." Anger and grief are combined here in Jesus' reaction.

On Monday we started a home schooling program for our children. This year we plan on having our 2 older kids do 4 days of a French home schooling program offered by the CNED, a program authorized by the French gov't. Then on Fridays, we have them in a special program for home-schooling families. We've never homeschooled before, as our kids have only done French public school in Paris until now.

I think this time we invest in our children this year will be important in all our lives. We've already seen how home schooling allows for better use of time than public school, as we can field questions right away & make corrections immediately. I expect that our kids will come out academically stronger this year because of our home schooling investment in them.

I started reading Tedd Tripp's "Shepherding a Child's Heart."

In summary of what I've already read today, Tripp writes:

"There are 2 issues that feed into the persons your children become: 1) the shaping influences of life, and 2) their Godward orientation. Therefore, your parenting must be addressed to both these issues. You must be concerned about how you structure the shaping influences of life that are under your control (many things are not, e.g. death, and so forth). Secondly, you must be actively shepherding the Godward orientation of your children. In all of this you must pray that God will work in and around your efforts and the responses of your children to make them people who know and honor God." (pp. 24-25)

Tripp points out that children have a Godward orientation that either follows God or idols. Thus, even in the best environments, kids can still choose to not follow God. Or under terrible environments, some kids still choose God.

This will be a year of getting to know our kids better and hopefully being part of shaping their hearts.

Good & perfect gifts

Tonight I went with my family to the Colorado Rapids vs. Houston soccer game @ the Dick's Sporting Goods Center in Commerce City, CO. It was an excellent evening together.

It was a reminder of the kindness & generosity that we've felt this past month since we returned to the U.S. on a planned 1 year Home Ministry Assignment. We had a number of things up in the air when we arrived, including housing in the Denver area. We knew that we should spend time in this area, but didn't know how all the details would work out.

2 weeks ago God provided housing for us even when I was in Michigan & my wife & kids were in South Dakota. It came through a friend of my brother & sister-in-law. He was renting a place to a soccer player on the Colorado Rapids. This player's family had to return to their home country on August 15. My sister-in-law somehow found about an opening in their place from August 15 through mid-January 2011, which is exactly the time that we need housing here.

After moving into this place on Tuesday, we met our landlord on Wednesday. He's on the pastoral staff at a local church in this area, as well as being chaplain for the Rapids' team. When he found out that we liked soccer, he offered us tickets to tonight's game.

I've been meditating on the Gospel of Mark the past few days. This morning I was struck by Jesus' understanding of His own identity in relationship to God the Father. At his baptism, a voice from heaven said this was His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased.

At the game, we enjoyed perfect weather, an easy 3-0 victory, some good munchies, and lots of live entertainment. It was my whole family's first professional live game, except for me, who has already been to a lot of professional games. A good memory created together.

Back in the U.S.

2 weeks ago, we were packing our backs & getting ready to get picked up to go to the airport for our Paris-Denver flight.

That feels like much longer than 2 weeks now. It's been a busy time of the 5 of us adjusting to an 8 hour jet lag, as well as getting settled in in different ways. I dropped off my wife & our kids @ her parents' home in western South Dakota over the weekend, then drove back to Colorado.

Every day has been full of activity.

On Monday I met with a pastor of a young church in Denver. He suggested some great books to read about leadership. I started "Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes & Posner. So much that I want to learn this year away from the Paris field.

But now it's off to bed.

T minus 10 and counting

It's Monday morning and pouring outside. It hasn't rained this hard in awhile here. Have unplugged the computers & am running this one on battery, just in case some big lightning comes. We've done pretty well vs. lightning over the years, although we had a fax machine get fried 11 years ago in Wheaton.

Our flight to Colorado is in 10 days. Over the weekend, we got one major concern straightened out: the use of our apartment while we're away. A woman with YWAM will stay here. It's likely that 1-2 of her female colleagues will also stay here during the course of our year away.

We continue to plug away each day at preparing for our departure from Paris, as well as arrival in the U.S. There is a lot to do on both fronts.

On the Paris side, we've been having a number of events where we're saying goodbye to people. It's encouraging that people generally are sad that we're leaving, but insistent that we come back. They are excited about the opportunity to pass this next year in the U.S. & discover things there.

While I hadn't realized it before, it is a good time for a break away from the field here. Last Wednesday I met with David, a colleague who will take over the communications responsibilities with the arts ministries. He has some excellent ideas that will help move this area beyond where I've taken it. I honestly don't feel threatened by him, but relieved that it will move beyond where I'm able to take it.

It seems like there are regular reminders that none of us are irreplacable. In some ways, we're like chess pieces that God moves around His worldwide chessboard. This doesn't mean that we are to rest passive & indifferent. However, we do need to remember that He is ultimately in charge of our placement.

These days are reminders to me of different strengths & weaknesses that I and my wife have and how we can complement each other in working in our strengths. We're also blessed with offers of help that we've gotten from friends & family in Paris, as well as stateside.

Last night Spain won the World Cup football (soccer) tournament in South Africa. 12 years ago when France won the WC in France, we were preparing to return to the U.S. for 1 year of study at Wheaton. This ended up stretching to 2 years. It didn't seem that complicated back then, as we had a lot less stuff, as well as gracious offers of people to store it in their garages or basement storage areas. This time, we're planning on keeping all of it in our apartment, which in many ways is even simpler.

It's strange to think that we'll be away for a year. In 2 Sundays, we won't be hearing French songs & sermons in church. I'll miss the simplicity of our church & church family here.

In Matthew 6, it says something like "Each day has its own worries." This is in the context of the passage that talks about God's provision for our daily needs as we seek first the Kingdom of God & His righteousness. May we accomplish today what we need to accomplish and turn over the rest for the next day(s).

Transitions & replacements

We're scheduled to fly to Denver 2 weeks from today for the start of a planned 1 year U.S. Home Ministry Assignment (HMA). Yesterday I completed my 2nd fairly major home repair job, the replacement of a metal device that helps open & close the rolling curtains in a bedroom. The device itself only cost 18 euros ($25). However, had we had to pay for labor as well, it could have easily cost us 150 euros (over $200). Several weeks ago I had to do replace something in the sink in one of the water rooms. Again, the parts weren't that expensive, but it easily would have run over $200 for labor.

I'm not super mechanically enclined, nor to I especially enjoy projects like these. However, I did enjoy trying to figure out the whole process from discerning what was broken to getting what was needed to fix it to completing the repair.

Yesterday I met with D@vid. He's with another group and has a lot of experience in working with artists. He himself is a musician who has done previous min in Montreal, Brazil, etc. He will be taking over the communications responsibilities that I've been doing for a number of years now. Yesterday I passed on the passwords to a number of different accounts, as well as showed him how to do use some of these different tools.

I periodically hear adages related to the notion that no one is irreplaceable. As we plan for a year away, we're forced to bring closure to some of what we've done, as well as turn things over. It's important to always be thinking about the future & who are those that we should be preparing to turn things over to. For we are all terminal & will have to turn things over eventually, whether we want to or not. If we more intentionally plan for transitions, then they are more likely to go smoothly than if we don't plan for them.

One way to measure the effectiveness of our leadership is by how smoothly the transition goes and how well our replacement(s) do.

Last evening we had an enjoyable evening with Bill & R@chel & their 2 children. They kindly took our kids all afternoon, which helped us get more done yesterday. G*d quickly & miraculously provided an apartment for them in a part of Paris close to Radio France & the Eiffel Tower. They are in a part of Paris that I don't know well, but am glad they are living in.

We first met them in IL while we were doing grad studies 1998-2000. They've been interested in working in Paris since then & left a successful min in a growing ch&rch in order to come here. We have been blessed to track with them these past 10-12 years & now have them in Paris. We are especially excited when new families arrive.

In some ways, it feels strange to be leaving Paris at this time when things are going well & G*d is bringing people like Bill & Rachel to Paris. However, G*d has His ways of moving His personnel around the field.

It's been encouraging to us to have people actually sad that we are leaving for this next year. Several have insisted that we do come back. Actually more people in Paris know about our 1 year stateside than do in the U.S. This is due to our needing to be part of a July 28 or 29 meeting that will help give some direction about this next year stateside.

It's good we're having this season to do some goodbyes to our friends here. It doesn't feel super rushed and we're not having one super bonanza party, but rather different gatherings of friends at different times.

Fatherhood

Yesterday was Father's Day. It was my 9th one as a father.

My wife & 3 kids surprised me with a waffle breakfast. We all climbed into our bed & ate together. Fortunately, we didn't have any syrup, so it was a lot neater than it might have normally been.

As my younger daughter has the chicken pox, she stayed home with my wife, while I took my older two to our ch*rch's worship service. Every 2 or 3 weeks, there is a special catechism for the older kids. We're thankful that they've been able to get some more formal biblical teaching in this way.

After we got home, my wife got Pizza Hut for lunch for us. This is a treat that we often do on birthdays & special occasions.

I then went off to another ch*rch for the religious wedding ceremony of our friends Ch & Ma. I've known Ch for 22 years. My wife was Ma's witness at their civil wedding ceremony 7 years ago. It was encouraging to see the influence of their lives & work in all their friends at the ceremony. They are some of the friends who we've gotten to journey with together over the years in Paris.

It was good to see Ch's son Hu at the reception. He was 4 or 5 when I first met him. It's good to see how he has turned out, as this is an example of G*d's grace.

Being a father is something I enjoy, well, most of the time. Sometimes it's tiring and I would rather be left along. But most of the time, I enjoy being with my kids. As their personalities & capacity to reason are developing, I find them more fun to be around, well, most of the time. It's interesting to see them discover & process the world around them.

A big part of fatherhood is stewardship. In the Psalms, it compares children to arrows. Being a father involves helping the children to move in a strategic & precise direction. This involves trying to understand each child, with his/her particularities, gifts, strengths, weaknesses and particular life calling.

I recently heard Tim Kéller give a 2-3 blurb of the ministry & one's family. He said that at the many pastor's life, that pastor's primary regret was not spending enough time with his wife & children. He suggested trying to proactively reduce that regret by spending time with them now.

Every week I receive a p@stor's letter from Bob Tollïver. This week's one is on fatherhood. He cites a book by Bruce Feiler (www.brucefeiler.com) titled "The Counsel of Dads." Feiler is one of only a handful of New York Times sellers to have four consecutive best sellers in the past decade.

Tolliver cites Bruce Feiler as writing the following:

God and Dad: Four Lessons of Faith.

Why are men abandoning God?

Religion is increasingly a woman’s domain in America. Two-thirds of church and synagogue attendees are women, studies show, with young men fleeing the pews even faster. On any given weekend, 13 million more women than men will attend religious institutions.

Home is even worse. Moms are usually the ones talking about God at the dinner table. When the topic turns to faith, Dad is usually out to lunch.

What a shame. Fathers can find great inspiration in faith. For the last dozen years, I’ve traced the influence of the Bible through the Middle East and America looking at how religious figures from the past are relevant to today’s families. In Walking the Bible, I climbed Mount Ararat, crossed the Red Sea, and spent weeks recreating the Exodus through the desert. In Where God Was Born, I continued that journey through the second half the Bible in Israel, Iraq, and Iran. In America’s Prophet, I explored how the story of Moses has influenced Americans from the Liberty Bell, through the Statue of Liberty, through Cecil B. DeMille and Charlton Heston.

Two years ago this week I was struck by a life-threatening illness and suddenly my travels took a more personal turn. What lessons of faith would I pass on to my three-year-old twin daughters? My new book, The Council of Dads, includes a Father’s Four Lessons of Faith.

1. Wrestle with God. In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with a messenger of God. The two come to a standstill, and the messenger leaves a mark on Jacob. The scar does not end up on Jacob’s hand, nor on his head, his heart, or his eyes. Humans experience God, the text suggests, not by touching him, imagining him, feeling him, or seeing him. Jacob is scarred on his leg, for the essential way humans experience God is by walking with him. Forever after, Jacob is called “Israel,” one who wrestles with God. Don’t be afraid of doubt. The true way to experience the divine is struggle with him.

2. Befriend the Stranger. There’s a reason the Exodus story has inspired so many Americans. It’s a narrative of home. “This year we are slaves, but next year we can be free.” History is not set in stone. It is not an immovable pyramid. The pyramid can be flipped. When you despair, when you hurt, when you fear – and especially when you encounter those feelings in others – remember the slaves who first groaned under bondage. You should read the Israelites’ story and remember: There is a moral dimension to the universe. Right can prevail over might; justice can triumph over evil. Flip a few pyramids yourselves along the way. Overturn injustice. Befriend the stranger, for you, yourselves, were strangers once in a land with no hope.

3. Plunge Into the Waters. One reason Moses is America’s true founding father is that evangelizes action; he justifies risk. He gives ordinary people the courage to live with uncertainty. The visionaries who have been inspired by him – Christopher Columbus, Benjamin Franklin, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King – were not born to greatness. They became great by tapping into the anger and hope within themselves. Imagine your own promised land, girls, plunge into the waters, persevere through the dryness, and don’t be surprised – or saddened – if you’re stopped just short of your dream. Because the ultimate lesson of Moses’ life is that the dream does not die with the dreamer, and the true destination in a narrative of hope is not this year at all. But next.

4. Be Reunited With the Ones You Love. The Council of Dads tells the story of my “lost year” fighting cancer and the men I asked to be father figures to my daughters. Today I am cancer-free, and I learned a powerful lesson during that experience. The Liberty Bell has a quote from Moses on its side, “Proclaim Liberty throughout the world, unto all the inhabitants thereof.” This line refers to a tradition whereby every seven years, farmers are obliged to give their fields a year of rest. Every 49 years the land gets an extra year of rest, during which all families are reunited, and all people reunited with the ones they love. That fiftieth year is called the jubilee year. That tradition perfectly captures my experience. My “lost year” was my jubilee year. I was needy. I was a stranger. I was reunited with the ones I love. Don't forget to slow down, girls. Reunite with the ones you love.

Take trips. Take chances. Take off.

English Club end of the year party #1

In a couple of hours, we'll host the end of the year party for the Saturday morning English club. My wife has bravely hung in there since September with this group of 6-9 year olds. She's created materials each week, like most 1st year teachers have to do.

It's been a good way to get to know some kids & their families & render a service to them. It's been good for our children to help with the English clubs & earn some spending money. Our son spent 26 euros this week on a "Star Wars" book. This money was earned by helping with English club, around the house, as well as by doing well on his weekly spelling tests.

I read the chapter titled "Friend...But I Don't Know Any Sinners" in David Putnam's "Detox for the Overly Religious" this morning. He cites Mark 2:17--"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." He writes (p. 133):

Toxic Religion: We build religious walls around us to protect ourselves from people who aren't like us.

The Jesus Way: Jesus pushes us outside our walls and comfort zones where we become "friends of sinners."

In The Tangible Kingdom, Matt Smay & Hugh Halter talk about being "advocates" for people. We work in their favor.

Both Smay & Halter and Putnam cite the story of Jesus before the Pharisees when the woman was caught in adultery.

May today's party be one where Jesus shows up.

Finally, I found this great quote on my friend Philip Sawyer's Facebook.

TO BE A WITNESS
does not consist in engaging in propaganda
nor even in stirring people up,
but in being a living mystery.
It means to live in such a way
...that one’s life would not make sense
if God did not exist.

~ Cardinal Emanuel Celestin SUHARD

Wrapping up & goodbyes

Today was the first official end of the school year party for an event that we've been involved in this year. Our son had his final session of football (soccer) and there was a party. We got to speak to his coach David & mention that our son wouldn't be around for next year.

On Sunday night we announced to our kids our plan to spend the next school year in America on Home Ministry Assignment. They actually seemed quite excited about that idea.

Tonight our dear friends Alain & Nathalie told us to be at the corner of Rue Sorbier & Rue Ménilmontant by 9:15 p.m. We got one of our neighbors to come & watch the kids. We ended up getting treated to a French musical comedy theatrical piece called "Coups de Foudre" www.coupsdefoudre.fr . When someone gets hit "falling in love," the French call this "un coup de foudre," which literally has to do with getting hit by lighting & thunder. It was a fun play. We then went out for hot chocolate & fruit drinks @ a café just around the corner from the Vingtième Théâtre.

After having spent pretty much the last 10 years here in Paris and in our neighborhood, it feels a little strange to be planning to spend a year stateside. The last time we did this was in 1998. We had planned 1 year for graduate school for Nicole, then ended up spending 2 years @ Wheaton & both of us getting grad degrees. We had no kids back then, so life was much simpler in some ways back then.

There are a lot of reasons why we believe this is a good and right time to be doing this now. However, there still are lots of loose ends that need to be tied up on both sides of the Atlantic.

Pr*yer for Pers#cuted ch&rch in Ind*a

A friend forwarded me the link to the following 3 minute video about the pers@cution of Xi@n brothers & sisters in Ind*a.

It's a powerful reminder to pr@y for them and others being directly pers@cuted for their f@ith. They are the heroes, the modern-day Hebrews 11 people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lMqscv6bYo

World Cup South Africa 2010 Opening

The Mens World Cup of Football (Soccer) 2010 opened up in South Africa on Friday.

This event held every 4 years is one of my favorite sports activities. Soccer (known as "football" in most of the world outside the U.S.) is the most popular sport in the world (although basketball is growing in its popularity). In many countries, business activities slow down for a month so that workers can watch the matches. Even the preliminary matches during the first couple of weeks are usually good, no matter who is playing.

I'm thrilled that an African nation is hosting this tournament. Hopefully South Africa and all of Africa are encouraged by a successful & safe tournament. It's amazing to think of all the changes in South Africa during the last 20 years.

I was disappointed in France's 0-0 tie with Uraguay. I don't like the leadership style of France's current coach & thought that he should have been replaced 2 years ago. He started a strange lineup on Friday that was missing Thierry Henry (a definite game player who puts the ball in the goal) and Florent Malouda. They were put in for the last 15 minutes of regulation time & France played much better. But had they been in from the beginning, I think that France would have gotten at least 1 goal.

Last night the U.S. tied England 1-1. England was favored, so a tie isn't too bad. The U.S. played much better than I had expected. A good number of their players are on club teams in England, which means they are getting some better competition on a daily basis, versus playing only in the U.S.

A friend sent me a link to a music video on the resurr*ection done by a ch&rch in Budapest, Hungary. Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dSIL358NM I love the celebration & joy I see in it. It looks like part of an opening ceremony to a sporting event like the Olympics.

It's a good reminder that, while crowds will celebrate the victories of their national teams in the World Cup, the greatest event to celebrate is the resurr*ection of Chr*st. This is a historic event with implications even today & for eternity. It's something that people from all nations can celebrate, both communally, as well as individually.

Drinking coffee & sharing stories

Yesterday after dropping of my 4 year old at her school, I went to a café with 2 other dads from this school. Both are artists. One is a French-born documentary producer (married to a woman from Niger). His daughter was in class with my older daughter for 3 years and participates in one of my wife's weekly English clubs. The other is has roots from Algeria & does calligraphy as his profession. He recently gave us a beautiful calendar of his work.

I really enjoyed hanging out with these 2 guys. It was the 3rd time that I've done so in this cafe, although it's been a couple of weeks now.

All sorts of subjects came up during the course of our freeform & non-agenda discussion. One was the difficulty of immigration, including the exploitation of people from the global South trying to move to the "rich" North. I couldn't help thinking about the works against human traficking that I know of and how these guys would probably be interested in helping as they could.

I don't think any of us were trying to impress each other. There was lots of laughter.

I couldn't help but thinking that this is what the T@ngible Kingdom approach is all about. It's going where people are, sharing life, and trying to be "whimsically holy." M@tt Sm@y and Hugh H@lter point out that whimsical holiness isn't as much about avoiding what we can't do as much as it is about discovering all the things that we can do.

While walking back home, another neighborhood friend & school mom said that she saw us "3 muskateers" going into the café. Her husband sometimes participates as well. I'm glad that she noticed that I was with them & even considered me as 1 of the 3 muskateers.

The documentary maker may not regularly be coming to the school after this month, as they have moved outside of Paris & his daughter will start elementary school in their neighborhood. He mentioned having a bbq at their home. I hope that we can maintain seeing each other after school ends. I think that the TK project that we hope to set up would facilitate getting together.

Transitions

In general, I like change. I get bored if everything stays the same. When we go to a restaurant, I often will order something new, just to try something different. If it's not that great, like the cow's tail that I ordered 3 weeks ago, then it's not a great loss. But if it's great, then it's a new discovery.

However, major changes do bring extra stress & fatigue, even if the change is an exciting one. When we had our first child over 8 years ago, it was all new and we were really tired. But now we can't imagine life without our children. I have been in a transformation process as a person through the change of adding children into our home. This process continues on as our children grow and change themselves.

Twelve years ago, we returned to the U.S. for what we thought would be 1 year of graduate school for my wife. We also changed agencies as well to our current one. We had just been married 1 year, which had been a huge change for us too. We moved to a location new to my wife, but that I had known as a single for 2 years. We began attending a new church and a new young marrieds adult Bible fellowship. We ended up extending that planned 1 year into 2 years and both did M.A.s.

A year ago at this time, our lives seemed pretty stable here in Paris. But a conversation with a friend & colleague in a Paris cafe last October has begun a process of change that now feels like it's moving at breakneck speed. While it was just my wife & me 12 years ago, there now are 3 children involved as well.

Last November, a wise former professor & now friend gave some wise advice. I shared about this possible transition when it was just in the early stages of discussion. He said, "Don't leave something, but rather move into something."

I've thought about this over the past few months. This probable new transition isn't primarily due to wanting to leave our current organization or location or ministry. It rather is wanting to pursue an opportunity that continues to grow in excitement & possibility for us. However, moving into this "new thing" would necessitate some changes in our priorities & ministry allegiances.

As followers of Chr*st, we should be changing & becoming more conformed to His image and agenda. As we do this and follow His path for us, we will need some changes in our lives. Some of these will be relatively minor in terms of the overall repercussions in our lives, while others will be major.

We hope to receive further official news later this week. We'll advise further here about the details.

Seeing...I think I have something in my eye

During the DWELL P@RIS conference on ch-pl@nting last Wednesday, L@rry McCr@ry (founder of the Upstre@m Colléctive gave me the book by D@vid Putn@m titled "Détox for the Ovérly Réligious" (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2010). It's an excellent book that helps readers, particularly those of Xian backgrounds, to a journey to rediscover the simplicity of Jésus.

Yesterday was Mother's Day in Paris. It ended up being my busiest Sunday of this year, as I visited 2 different churches in Paris, both in the 9th district, one I knew the least about until the last few days.

I caught an early bus in order to make the 9:00 a.m. m@ss @ l'Eglise de la Trinité (Church of the Trinîty. I've been helping with a group from Whe@ton College that is doing a 3 1/2 week class in London and came to Paris for the weekend. The organist at Trinïty is a WC alumna. The WC group was invited to attend the mass, then a tea with the choir afterwards. I had my backpack full of apples & chocolate bars that I had purchased on Saturday for the sack lunches of the WC group, as they had a train from Paris to London around noon.

While riding the bus to Trinîty, I read chapter 4, which is titled "Seeing...I Think I Have Something in My Eye." M@tthew 13:13 says, "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand." David Putnam proposes the following:

Toxic Religion: We are so busy with our religion that we fail to see God at work in our world.

The Jesus Way: When we walk with Jesus, our eyes are opened to a whole new world that involves his kingdom coming on earth right now.

Yesterday I caught glimpses of the kingdom of God here in Paris. These were in locations & among people whom I might have thought this unlikely to happen in my earlier years in Paris.

Yesterday was Trinîty Sunday in one of the main churçh calendars. I'm not sure if it is Trinîty Sunday in the Eastern Churçh, but it is in the Rom@n C@tholic and Anglican one. Trinîty Church is a Rom C@th one that takes its name seriously and holds all 3 Persons in the Trinîty in high esteem. It is known as one of the most dynamic p@rishes in Paris and was part of the ch@rism@tic renew@l. It is a beautiful cathedral with stained glass and a beautiful organ.

The service was held in the very front section of the cathedral. Part of it was in Latin, which fortunately I understood a lot of from my few years of Latin in high school & @ the Univ. of Michigan. It's funny for a subject that I haven't really used in 30 years became useful yesterday. I guess G*d doesn't waste any of our training.

The young priest gave a sermon on the Trinîty that I appreciated & didn't find anything I disagreed with. I don't agree with all that is taught within official Rom Cath doctrine. However, I don't necessarily agree with everything that is taught within some churçhes or denomînations that call themselves Protest@nts or ev@ngelic@l. But I felt God's presence during the course of the liturgy and sermon.

The reception with the choir afterwards was cordial. They offered us some cakes, tea & coffee. The choir did their best to speak English & reach out to the students. Christ's presence was felt through the hospitality they gave.

After the reception, I went with the Whe@ton group to their bus, then passed out apples & chocolate to them while we rode to la Gare du Nord train station. They thanked me for my help & prayed for me before heading toward check in for their Eurostar to London. While I didn't get to interact that much with this group, I did enjoy the time with the students & several Art & Theatre department faculty. Hopefully these contacts will lead to future collaboration in the work in Paris, as well as encourage Whe@ton, a school that has given so much to me & my wife.

After hanging out with my wife & kids in the afternoon, we travelled by stroller, scooter & metro to the monthly worship & prayer gathering in Paris called VERTIC@LE. This was the first one on a Luthér@n chûrch building in the 9th district (and not that far from Trinîty where I was in the morning). We arrived 40 minutes late, but still caught some of the worshîp songs, as well as the message on "blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."

It was great to see some friends from different places whom we haven't seen in several years.

There were 10-12 kids the age of ours. VERTIC@LE potentially has great possibilities for helping discïple these children.

I'm excited about the future for VERTIC@LE. La Fondérie helped launch it several years ago, but it now has a wider group of leaders behind it. Now that it has a large & pleasant space to gather in, it can gear up for a bigger kick off this September.

May G*d guide the leaders @ Ch of the Trinîty and VERTIC@LE so that they are both places where His kîngdom continues to come in tangible ways in Paris.

Being an advocate for artists

In "The T@ngible Kingdom," M@tt Sm@y and Hugh H@lter talk about the power of being advocates for people. One prime example is Jesus defending the woman caught in adultery from the proud & legalistic Pharisees. Jesus knelt down next to her.

Sometimes I'm puzzled about why God has led a basically non-artist like me to work with an arts ministry. It would make more sense in some ways to have me be more artistic in order to better fit in.

However, I believe that one reason that God has placed me here is to be an advocate for artists, both those who share my faith, as well as others who don't. Because I'm more left brained, I have gained somewhat of an understand of artists from an analytical point of view. This allows me to sometimes help them by using my different manner of thinking & processing. It allows me to try to defend & explain them to those who are more analytical like myself, but not necessarily sympathetic to the traditionally right brained artist.

While walking home from the tax office today, I ran into a friend who is a singer. She's also a mom of 2 young children. I asked her if was doing any concerts now and she was able to explain some of her current projects. One tough thing for less-known musicians trying to make a living from their art is that they not only must do music (which they usually enjoy), but also do their own marketing & trying to brush up contacts and meetings. From what I've observed & heard from others, this can be a precarious life.

I was able to encourage her a little bit by saying how I appreciated her efforts to use her musical gifts to try to help people. She mentioned how it's important to feed herself, so that she then can feed herself artistically.

She's not yet a Christ-follower, but does have a good heart & is trying her best. Many of our "outsider" friends in Paris are like this. If there would be ways in the future to pool efforts & bring some Christ-followers into the mix as well, I think that we would see some positive movement in many lives.

Last night we had a very full house for a few hours during an opening night exhibit accompanied by a quartet of instrumentalists. I was happy to think how my work with publicity probably helped draw some of our audience in. This was another way that I'm able to be an advocate for them.

May our good works toward musicians and other artists shine before them & the world so that they may see these good works of advocacy and glorify their Father in heaven.

Cultural distance & church-planting in Paris

This is a super busy week for me, with the convergence of 3 different groups of visitors in Paris that I'm helping orient to one degree or another.

The previous 2 days, I've been involved with the JET SET group of primarily N Ameri@n ch-pl@anters linked with the Upstre@m Collective. I helped them get from the train station to their hotel, then gave a brief session on Paris worldview & its ministry implications. I also helped preorder a Asian lunch for 30 people & it went well.

Yesterday I also caught a 11:00 a.m. concert @ the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris of a musical group of home-schooled H.S. students from New Jersey. I know 3 of the students, as well as 2 of the parents and the choir director. I gave some advice via e-mail during the last few months.

This Friday though Sunday, a group of students from Wheaton College will be in Paris. I tried in vain yesterday to order bag lunches for their return trip to London on Sunday. The area around Eglise de la Trinité was one where I've never had as hard a time finding a bakery as I did yesterday. I'll be giving a brief orientation to Paris tomorrow.

Today I'll be attending the DWELL Paris daylong conference about ch-pl@nting in France. It's been interesting having some interaction with the group from the Upstre@m Collective. Many of them are linked with a network of newer ch*rches called Acts 29. Many are ch-planters in places in the U.S.

I have several questions that I would like to get some prelimary answers to today or in the coming season.

Alan Hirsch talks about "cultural distance." That is, how far is a culture or person from a biblical worldview (or sympathy to a biblical worldview).

Many of the 30 with this group work in ch-plants that are doing well. However, only 2 of them work in world-class cities that are in areas more "post-Xian." Most work in areas of the U.S. where there would be a good number of the local population would be sympathetic or informed somewhat to a biblical worldview.

I wonder how much of their successful strategy or methodology would actually work in Paris. For I know that the WillowCr**k initiatives in Paris over the years have pretty much crashed & burned. IMO, this is largely due to Paris having much less of a population sympathetic to their seeker style.

However, I do think I have some things to learn from some of their initiatives, so I'm not coming in as blatantly critical. What can be gleaned from them is worthy to be considered & applied here.

One nugget of gold for me yesterday came from the mouth of Ed Stetzer. He talked about the continuum of presence & proclamation in ch-planting. He said that the more culturally distant a person or culture is from a biblical worldview, the more important presence becomes.

Pentecost Monday

Today is lundi de Pentecôte, another national holiday in Paris. I should state that several years ago, after the heat wave of summer 2003 in which many elderly people died, the government no longer made it an official holiday. For French workers are supposed to work this day, but all their salaries go toward programs that help elderly people. I just heard the garbage truck outside, so some people obviously are working. However, most people & businesses take the day off, then workers use their vacation time built up with the 35 hour work week and just take away 7 of their vacation hours away. Our kids' schools are all closed today, so it's a holiday for us.

Last night one of our kids' friends stayed over night here. So the kids room had 4 kids and a guinea pig together.

Pentecost is the day when the Holy Spirit blew into the room in Jerusalem where 120 followers of Jesus were gathered. It was 10 days after the Ascension of Jesus. What looked like tongues of fire rested over the head of each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages that they had not ever learned or studied.

God-fearing Jews from around the world were gathered. They were bewildered to hear these basically uneducated, "blue collar" disciples speaking in their own languages and declaring the wonders of God. They asked, "What does this mean?"

In Tangible Kingdom, M@tt Sm@ay and Hugh H@lter underline who Jesus often gave surprising responses and actions that went against the presuppositions of how "religious people" were supposed to act or talk. This actually appealed to those outside the religious establishment. This group of people is growing today, while the number of those who are naturally sympathetic to "established Christianity" is shrinking. In our post-Christian society, perhaps the biggest fight is tearing down people's assumptions of what a Christian is.

At Pentecost, these surprising circumstances weren't humanly contrived, but came from the Holy Spirit.

In yesterday's sermon, our pastor talked about how we can either be bridges to unity or barriers that promote division. Pentecost was an event in which God reached out to those separated by languages and cultural identity. God cared enough about communicating to these diversified groups that He miraculously gave the capacity to speak in different languages to His followers.

As I think about reaching Paris, I wonder what kinds of God-surprises will be part of this. The language barrier can be a challenge to many workers who come here from non-Francophone countries. While the language can be formidable, perhaps even harder is understanding the different cultures that are here.

Since Thursday, I've found myself connecting a lot more with outsiders in my neighborhood. Friday morning I went out for coffee again after school drop off. This time there were 4 other dads and 1 mom who came and I got to treat. Saturday night was my 2 daughters' dance recital, where we connected with some other families. Last night we had a friend of our children stay overnight and got to speak with his dad then, as well as this morning. Now our older daughter is at the home of a friend.

In The Tangible Kingdom, M@tt Sm@ay and Hugh H@lter write, "Our goal isn't to attract Christian people to our worship service but to be the faithful church in small pockets throughout our city. We are creating places of inclusive belonging where God's alternative Kingdom can be experienced" (p. xxi).

Sm@y and H@lter write (pp. 56-7):

"Seventeen hundred years later , we're still entrenched in Constantine's Christendom way of church. Church is the place you go to, and commoners don't have to do much in the way of mission because the paid pros do it for them. We show up at church to get what we want (which is feeding from a leader), not what we need (to feed ourselves and others). And if we don't get what we want, we head to the basilica next door because that chaplain is better at giving us what we want.

Although frustrated by the consumer approach of their adherents, the modern-day paid pastors don't feel they can lead the way their hearts tell them to for fear of losing a tithing attender. Often, the pressure is so strong, they find themselves frantically trying to update their presentation, increase programs to attract people, or lighten up the message of the gospel. Basically, we're just playing musical pews (and will the last one sitting please turn out the lights?).

The spiritually disowned world is unconsciously asking us to return to ancient church now! They're weary of our rhetoric, the same stories, or to pat answers and structures of Christendom. Their ears are closed to the authoritarian approach as well as to the watered-down pop Christianity...A new and fresh look at a Kingdom with true and eternal values may be the only thing that Sojourners are interested in any more.

God-sightings in Paris

Yesterday I had an amazing morning. It was one of those times where it seemed like God was opening doors ahead of me & I just needed to walk through them.

My goal for the morning was to get a couple of questions answered at my local French tax office, as 2009 French income tax forms are due May 31. I had some doubts about a couple of things and wanted to make sure that I was filing correctly, even though it might end up being more expensive.

I dropped off my younger daughter at her school. After leaving the school, I greeted one of the fathers whom we have known for 4 years now and whose daughter is in English Club. He is a documentary film maker.

While talking with him, another father came out. He does calligraphy art, which I knew because his wife recently gave my wife a 2010 calendar featuring his work. His daughter has attended several events at our home and his wife was at the Taste of California night in January for mothers.

A bunch of the dads (nearly all in artistic professions) get together after school drop off to drink coffee in a local cafe. Yesterday was the first time I joined them. When asked if I was coming, I initially hesitated due to my tax plans of the morning. However, I said that I could come for 15 minutes, then would need to go.

My time with these 2 days helped me envision how our future work in Paris might go.

Two weeks ago I was in Dublin, Ireland at a conference of a movement called T@ngible Kingd0m (TK), led by M@tt Sm@y and Hugh H@lter. I've also been in meetings regarding a new initiative in Paris that I would help lead, with a focus on the arts, compassion ministry, and the development of new faith communities using a more TK approach. There already are 2 other families in the pipeline for this new initiative, with the possibility of other people coming aboard as well. It's very exciting, but would entail some changes in my & my family's lives.

Both men talked about the importance of using art to help raise up young people from some of the problem suburbs around Paris. This helped me better grasp how combining arts ministry and compassion ministry could be a powerful mixture out of which new faith communities might develop. It was an AHA moment for me.

I hope to regularly participate in these cafe get togethers with these dads. To my knowledge, none of them are Chrïst-followers. It's fun to be with them. One of TK's premises is the need to be like Jesus and go out to where people are, rather than expect them to come to us or into our churches.

After the coffee time, I went to the tax office.

I had a couple of interesting conversations with a man who has lived in this area for 70 years, as well as a woman who has watched others' children for nearly 40 years. Both are long-term Parisiens with lots of wisdom & perspective.

When my number was called, I went into a glass office "A" to ask my questions. I must admit that I don't like going to the tax office, as it's kind of scary to me. It's like going to the dentist for some people.

The woman who helped me as amazing. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to answer my questions and rush me off. Because we're paid in U.S. dollars and receive a ministerial housing allowance, my case was more complex than most others. She left at one point for 10 minutes to get info from her supervisor, even though I think she is already pretty high up in the rankings there. She came out with some pages about Protestant pastors from some manual that was probably pretty dusty.

She spent a lot of time reading the fine print on one of the forms. I admitted to her that this form had looked like Chinese to me (a French expression for something that is not understandable).

It seemed like she felt it was her mission to help me not have to owe any taxes this year.

Then she asked if I wanted to complete the forms there. Of course, I said yes. So she took all the numbers that she had written in pencil and wrote them in ink on new forms.

I left the office feeling relieved that we had filed correctly, as well as that we didn't owe anything. How thankful I am for this woman of peace that God led me to.

We hope to see many times of God smoothing the way in the years ahead. Praise be to Him.