If I had to use one word to describe this last weekend, I would say, PACKED! I had activity coming out of my ears. Which of course is ironic in that one of the main points of the message was about “DE*BUSY*IF*ICATION!
BOB & RUTHIE THUNE IN SD – my old boss, friend & mentor Bob Thune called Thursday night saying he & Ruthie were in SD and asking if Linda & I could get together. Of course we moved stuff around to do just that. It was great seeing them & catching up. He was the Senior Pastor at Christ Community Church in Omaha when I was the Student Ministries pastor there.
WEDDING ON THE BEACH – I officiated a great wedding at Breakers Beach on Coronado on Friday at 5:00. That’s right 5:00 on Friday! It was a great wedding, but I had to skedaddle right after “I now pronounce you…” to get back for the Friday service. They are a great couple. Wish I could have hung around for the party.
We should pass a law requiring all weddings to have a steel drum band. AWESOME!
MOM’S B-DAY LUNCH – On Saturday I drove to the OC to visit my mom & take her out for her 75th B-day (it was actually on Sunday). I’m so grateful to have her around. About 3 years ago she was in the hospital & we were told she wasn’t ever leaving. The traffic was fairly gnarly, but my mom, who never thinks I should come “all the way up there” actually seemed to have fun.
SOAK – I felt like I wasn’t really living out the message this weekend. I have been excessively busy for about 3 weeks and frankly, not “self-leading” very well. Since I’m being honest, I didn’t particularly like the message. I had too many points that could have distracted from the one main point: SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SOAK. It might interest you to know, that a lot of devotional thinkers put more stock in the periodic long soak than the daily devotion / quiet time thing. I’m totally pro QT, but there is some stuff that won’t happen but in a “SOAK” time.
Here’s what’s cool: I think God really used the message in some people’s lives. I love how He regularly reminds me what’s really going on.
MY JOURNEY – MIRIAM GORDEN shared here MJ this weekend. We are focusing on Journey-ites whom God is answering the “Teach us to pray” prayer. There are some profound & powerful things that God is doing & saying & it’s awesome when people share it. Miriam’s story rocked!
SELAH & WEEK-O-PRAYER LAUNCH – The weekend ended with Selah. It was kind of the launch of our Week of Prayer. I always like Selah, but last night had a really cool sense of anticipation. I even sensed like God is excited about the week ahead. I got the phrase “refreshed in His presence” about an hour b/f Selah. That seemed to be the vibe of the night. An hour in we stopped and I asked if anyone had what they thought might be a “Word from the Lord.” It was stunning how the 7 or 8 people that shared ended up weaving this beautiful tapestry. We also felt led to pray for “depression.” I loved seeing our prayer team “weeping with those who weep”. Sometimes the beauty of the body of Christ is overwhelming.
We are off to a great start to our week of prayer.
An opportunity to feel what it would feel like to run just a little faster. Here’s the ‘prayer for the week’ from the Prayer Journal that many of us are using:
Holy Spirit, as I spend more intentional time with God this week, both AWAKEN & SATISFY my hunger & thirst.
May that happen to us this week!
