I'm Not Dead

Not that this is definitive proof of that since someone could be posting under my name but they're not. I always said that one of the challenges of blogging for me would be actually doing it, especially making/finding the time. The time's there but there are so many demands on it from things that need to be done to things that are easier to do.

It was another good weekend. Friday was a movie night wherein I watched The Brothers Grimm and Dark City while doing some laundry and talking on the phone to Mom and Dad. Also some Mormons came to the door. I wanted to watch my movie and make a phone call so I told them it was a bad time. They asked when would be a good time. I told them to come back on Wednesday at 6 p.m. They said they would. Please pray about my meeting with the Mormons tomorrow night.

Saturday morning was our church's water giveaway at the Libertyville Days Parade. The predicted high for Saturday was 59 with rain in the morning. It was cold at 9:15. The parade was to start at 10. It stopped raining around 9:30. There was still a good turnout for the parade, not of course like last year when it was 90 degrees and sunny but a good turnout. By 10:30 the clouds had broken up and the temperature had reached the 60's. We set up our water station and sent teams up and down the route with giant trashcans full of bottled water and ice. My roommate Steve and I gave out 5 trashcans worth of water. Each bottle had a sticker saying it was free like God's love with no strings attached and with the name of the church and the website. Something we did this year that I've not done in the past was go through the park in downtown Libertyville where people set up tents to sell things and give bottles to all the peddlers and sales people including the psychic. We probably only gave out 1/2 the water that we had but it was a good time. After that I went and looked at new carpet for our living room and then went home to do more laundry. All told I did 6 loads this weekend. While I was doing laundry on Saturday I watched the Matrix trilogy. Saturday night I went to see the movie A Prairie Home Companion and was joined by my friend Dianne who is a PHC fan. It is a very good movie, funny with good music and Garrison Keiller.

Sunday morning we heard a great sermon from Matt Buerhle. Matt is a former intern at our church who leads a couple of our small groups. He's also very funny. He got to preach the final sermon in our series on How to Grow Spiritually. Just as John had started the series by reminding us that spiritual growth begins in God's grace, Matt reminds us that that is where it must continue. We know that we will fail in spiritual disciplines so why bother? 1. Because the goal of spiritual growth is a relationship with the God of the universe and not a task. 2. Because we are not our own but were bought with a price, the blood of Jesus and wasn't some impulse buy because we were on sale but because God loved us and chose us in Jesus from before the beginning of time. How do we grow? Not by ordering our time to be able to have a quiet time but by ordering our hearts around Jesus' values and doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Matt gave us three questions to take away and think about: 1. When and how will I pray? 2. How can I approach work in such a that will help Christ be formed in me? 3. How can I fill my daily tasks with a sense of the presence of God? The rest of Sunday involved lunch at the mall, bourbon chicken, mmmm good, more laundry, and three games of Settlers of Cataan with Steve and our friends Jason and Bonny. So six movies, three games, a few thousand bottles of water given away, and one good sermon = one good weekend.

Verse of the day:

"For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men." 1 Cor. 7:22-23 (ESV)