Weekly Poll: Cannonball!

Poll results last week reflect the presence of a Chicago Bears cheering squad.

This week, let's see how everyone got baptized!

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Prayer Requests

Today we said "goodbye for now" to Preston, who is leaving for basic training with the Marines this week. Keep him in prayer- for strength at boot camp (physically, spiritually, mentally), that he will help support others while he is there, and for God's guidance.
We'll miss you, Preston! Keep us posted.













We also sent the Billings' packing. Well, they're moving to Bend, Oregon ( a great place, I might add) on an exciting adventure in the middle of winter. Pray that God will continue to provide for them as they get established in their new residence.
We'll miss you, Amy and Cole! Please write and send photos!







Also, please pray for Ritchie and his injuries as he awaits an approval to remove the pins from his hand. Pray that God would relieve the pain and discomfort, as well as provide proper medical attention as he prepares for another surgery.

In other news, our friend Sarah, whom we prayed for last week, is grateful to everyone for your prayers and she reports she is doing better. But still keep her in prayer, especially as she laments the departure of three very good friends (referenced above).

Visit from Steve Saint

Today we ate a fantastic breakfast while watching the live feed of Steve Saint speaking from the main sanctuary. Steve Saint's father, Nate Saint, was killed with four other missionaries in the jungle in the attempt to bring the Gospel to the most violent tribe ever studied by anthropologists.
After the men died, their wives and children went back to the jungle to continue the work God had for them. As a result, the tribe came to faith in Christ and were transformed from a violent people into an extended family to the widows and their children.
Steve Saint shared his story of growing up and looking to the man who killed his dad as an unlikely father figure. He shared of God's faithfulness to comfort him, even during the most gut-wrenching periods of his life, including the sudden death of his daughter. It is an amazing true story of forgiveness, redemption, and compassion.

The yellow plane you saw on the front lawn of Twin Lakes was either an exact replica of Nate's Saint's plane, or it was his plane. In any case, it was a cool display.

For more information on this incredible story you can read Elizabeth Elliot's account, Through Gates of Splendor, which documents her personal experiences before and after her husband Jim was killed with Nate.

Also, Beyond the Gates of Splendor is an excellent documentary that includes real footage of the four men interacting with the tribe.

And, of course, there is the film End of the Spear.

Weekly Poll: S-Bowl

Last week's poll on techy stuff came out in favor of Charlie's iPhone. Good luck with that!
Personally, I have recently acquired a Christmas gift in the form of my first digital camera. I hardly know how to work it, so from now on I'll be the annoying girl running around taking pictures with a blinding flash.

Here's one of Craig leading worship. (the close-up came out blurry. Likely my fault)






And here is one of Jeff, Anthony, and Steven at Genesis.







And here is the this week's poll. Remember, if you find difficulty in choosing a favorite team, do what I do: Who has a better logo/mascot? Or, whose team colors do you like best? Or which team's city have you actually been to? Etcetera.

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iTunes Daily Audio Bible Reading Links

Check out these links for the Daily Bible Readings on iTunes:

Old Testament and New Testament.

New Testament Only.

These links will be added to the sidebar for quick reference. Enjoy!

Freedom: Week 3; from apathy to passion

This week we continued our series on Freedom: from apathy to passion, and we read Revelation 3:14-22, the passage about the church in Laodicea (aka: the lukewarm one).
This particular church boasted in their wealth and grew apathetic towards God, since they did not sense a need for Him nor a desire to fully serve Him. They managed to distract themselves with their riches, so that they did not see how desperately poor they actually were. It appears in the context of the passage that they were not passionless altogether. They seem to have a passion for acquiring more wealth or at least to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.
I can really identify with that mindset, as shameful as it may be. There are times in my life when I am completely surrendered and fully willing to serve God and other people. It is a consuming passion that supercedes my own needs and desires. But more often I am concerned with myself, and what I want, and worrying about how I'm going to meet my own needs. The drive to be independent and responsible for myself can distract me from admitting my need for God.
Some people, when financially or spiritually broke, will go directly to God and wait. They are comforted and peaceful, and generally focused on God alone. My husband Patrick is like that and it drives me nuts. I, on the other hand, panic and react emotionally and do everything I can think of to correct my situation. You could say I become very passionate about solving my own problems, which takes my focus almost completely off of God and onto myself. It's like telling God, "Hold on, I don't need you yet, I've got yet another plan to fix this mess I'm in," and the whole time He is just waiting for me realize that His plan is better. And that, by the way, I taste really bad and I make Him want to throw up.

I think what helps me get past the lukewarm seasons in my life is looking around at what God has done and is doing. That means praying for others and seeing an outcome eventually, or remembering times in my own life when God was faithful. Or encouraging and serving people in a way that reminds us of how God takes care of us. Or looking around at God's magnificent beauty. Which isn't that hard around here sometimes. Yesterday was unseasonably warm and sunny and clear. You could see all the way to Monterey and I didn't need gloves for once in my life. I think even the simplest gratitude for days like yesterday and today could ignite a new passion for God.

Prayer Request

Hey Everyone,
Let's all keep Sarah in prayer this week. As many of you know, Sarah had a personal one-on-one aide for five years who passed away last year.
Pray that God will give Sarah peace and comfort as she grieves, and pray that He will provide a new aide for Sarah as well.
If you've never met Sarah here is a picture of us together. She is a joy to be around and I love to see her smiling face every week.

If any of you have prayer requests of your own just let me know! We would love to pray for you and to see how God works in your life.

Incomplete Beauty

I finally started reading N.T Wright's Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, which took a moment to fully grasp my attention because Mr. Wright is very much British and tends to get a little "word-y" with his writing, as in he uses too many words. But this minor setback is easily overlooked once I get into the habit of reading silently with a British accent.

In chapter four, "For the Beauty of the Earth," the author writes, "The world is full of beauty, but the beauty is incomplete. Our puzzlement about what beauty is, what it means, and what (if anything) it is there for is the inevitable result of looking at one part of a larger whole." (pg 40)

Wright also asks the question, somewhat rhetorically, "If the earth is full of God's glory, why is it also so full of pain and anguish and screaming and despair?" (pg46)

This question is kind of answered by the preceding quote, about looking at one part of a larger whole. Wright illustrates this point with an anecdote about finding sheet music for a piano, but then realizing that the piece is incomplete without an accompaniment of strings or some other instrument that isn't there in the sheet music you have. The manuscript may contain beautiful music, but it is incomplete without the missing accompaniment.
The image that came to mind for me was a puzzle, which is odd because I don't particularly enjoy puzzles, although the images they convey are often beautiful. But the image is not wholly beautiful when incomplete. At some point you can tell it is going to be beautiful, but you are not satisfied with its gaps and stray pieces.
This is how I think all of creation is. At least, this might be how Wright is trying to describe our limited view of creation. We look at the beauty in the world and we are content, but at the same time we acknowledge the pain and the ugly pieces around us and wonder how everything can coexist. Whenever we work on puzzles we usually have a pretty good idea of what it's going to look like when we're through. Sometimes it can be extremely frustrating. Sometimes it can be engrossing.
I've seen my mom work on some puzzles over the course of several days, the giant ones that take up a whole dining room table. She can be deaf to ridicule or discouraging remarks during the process. It looks shabby in the beginning, like a great big waste of time, but when it's complete she feels quite a sense of accomplishment. I think she framed one once.

So I think this is an elementary illustration of how God creates you and me: we look like a hot mess in the beginning, but as God patiently completes us throughout life we take on more beauty and substance. We begin to resemble the true picture He had of us from the start. We can be frustrating at times. Others might have given up on us a long time ago, but He labors and endures and produces a perfect likeness in the end. And all those pieces that looked like pain and anguish and ugliness fit into the larger whole to encompass complete beauty.

Indeed the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the
day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will
praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was
made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your
eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed."
Psalm 139: 12-16a

Weekly Poll: How do you work this thing?

Our weekly poll results from last week reflect the growing favoritism of Boise State's football team.
Yeah.
That's pretty much how we do it in Idaho.

This week's poll is for the more tech-savvy individuals in our midst.

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Freedom: Week 2, from guilt to conviction

This week we looked at 2 Corinthians 8-13a. Basically the main idea was distinguishing between godly sorrow (conviction) and false guilt. I'm really glad Charlie made this distinction because when I first became a Christian I had no idea was "conviction" meant, aside from a legal term that alluded to extensive jail time.
The point was that false guilt often comes from not meeting our own expectations, or the expectations of others, which leaves God out of the equation. I remember when I first started reading the Bible. I couldn't get enough. I would read for, like, five hours a day (I was none too busy at the time). But after a couple months things got hectic, school started back up, I was running all over the place, and reading my Bible was often one more checkmark on my To Do list. It's meaning faded and the act became a chore. People would approach me almost daily to ask, "What did you read today [from the Bible]." So I felt compelled to maintain a certain quota per day, and if I didn't meet that quota, I'd lie.
"I read three chapters today. Honest. Actually it was more like a whole book. I read Galatians. Totally. Galatians." Gulp.
In my quiet time, which took place while being stuck in traffic, I spent most of it confessing those lies than actually talking with God. My Bible languished in the passenger seat, and we repeatedly stared each other down while commuting.
Charlie described our conscience as warning indicator for when we do wrong things. It serves to alert us when we're in the danger zone of sin. It is a God-given guilt that steers us away from further harm.
Sometimes we mistake the conviction from God for guilt trips from other people.
For example.
Last week a minor nuclear fall-out occured between two of my colleagues at work. One woman, a self-proclaimed ultra-conservative Pentecostal known for unsolicited "preachiness" in the office setting, was visibly irritated by a co-worker. Her co-worker happens to be a Pentecostal believer as well, of the homosexual variety, which I did not know existed. Apparently there has been some tension between these two people over the last several months. During an office-wide meeting the woman (an HR director) told the man that his gay lifestyle "offends" her church.
That, I believe, is an example of the false guilt we looked at this morning. Because even though God clearly outlines his opinion on homosexuality, the woman took offense to homosexuality personally, and named her church as the offended party. And she did this in an open forum.
How humiliating for that man, to be singled out in front of his co-workers. I wanted to hop a plane to Carolina and hold his hand, and give the HR director a piece of my mind. She was trying to make him feel guilty for not meeting her church's standards. While she was at it, she told the other women in the office they should not wear clothing that exposed their ankles. She was forcing her convictions onto everyone else.
I think we've all done this at one time or another. I know I've ruined relationships during my short-lived period of spiritual zeal. I've since tried to repair the damage, but I wouldn't blame anyone if they never spoke to me again.
I think it is possible to live a godly, worshipful lifestyle without being obnoxious. Actually, I believe a godly, worshipful lifestyle is at odds with being obnoxious.

Anyway, I think now is as good a time as any to relieve ourselves of false guilt, whether it comes from not meeting our own expectations or from not meeting others'. This can be anything. Our own Post Secret, if you will. You can post your false guilt anonymously in the comments section.

I'll start, even though mine isn't so anonymous here.

When I got married 4 years ago we threw a wedding together the way you might throw together a SuperBowl party. Casual and easy. I was still in school and I skipped class on a Monday to get married on the beach in the middle of January. I thought I was being brave and reckless. I was so reckless I didn't even wait for a suitable time for my own father to fly in to be at the wedding. He's my favorite person in the whole world and I left him out of the wedding because I was too impatient to wait a few months. My twin sister had to leave town the day before the wedding because her classes were starting that week. It was, and remains to be, the most selfish thing I've ever done.
Since then I've tortured myself over the fact that I robbed my dad of the joy of walking me down the aisle. I welcomed perfect strangers from church to the wedding, but didn't make a huge effort for life-long friends and family members to arrange travel plans.
Now I hate weddings. I hate looking at wedding pictures and not seeing Dad there. I hate watching dads walk their daughters down the aisle because I'm both jealous and self-loathing. I cheated myself. And I'm making myself pay. I know God forgave me a long time ago. I know my dad has forgiven me. But I refuse to forgive myself. It's a conscious decision I've made to punish myself forever and sometimes the guilt is overwhelming. But it's not a God-given guilt. He may have provided the initial conviction, but I haven't let it go. Patrick and I have talked about having a new wedding, but will it be as meaningful and will it erase the guilt I've carried so long? I don't know.
But I do know that it feels good to be able to confess this sort of thing. I do know that I won't show up at the worship service tonight to be met with, "Omigosh, you're own father? Man, you're such a loser! I had no idea. I'll pray for you."

Anyway, if you're so moved to post your own secret guilt you may do so anonymously in the comments section. It can be as big as "I committed grand theft auto and never got caught," or as small as "I drink too much caffeine." Everyone's got something.

Reminder: Worship Night this Sunday

January 14, at 7 PM, we're having ourselves a worship night in addition to the regular Sunday gathering. Not sure if there will be open flames as this graphic suggests, but there will be music so come hang out!

Weekly Poll: Gridiron Gang

First of all, I had to laugh at the results of last week's poll. It's like, most of us believe cloned animals are still God's creation but we're also like, "Ew!"
This week's poll may seem out of place, but it's really a testimony of miracles and fervant prayer.

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2007: a year of love

This morning we shared our hearts and visions for what we see/want Genesis to be. How cool that we got to take a time-out from the scheduled series to form a huddle, so to speak (I've been reading Football for Dummies ever since Boise State beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl- Go Boise!- so please excuse any stray football metaphors).
I really, really enjoy hearing about what God is doing in your lives, and how to pray for you, and what your passions are.
One thing I wanted to mention today was how Colossians 2:2 talks about "being knit together in love," and I think it's really important to establish love as a foundation. Even Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 1-2,

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I
have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift
of
prophesy, and understanding all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I
have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing.

God moves in all our hearts differently- to love others in a unique way. We need to be in tune with how the Holy Spirit shows us to reach out in love to people. We have Jesus's example and we can encourage one another to be selfless, but we cannot do it alone. We need the strength of God and we need the support of each other, and not just to be mushy, shiny, happy people but to love through the hard, smudged, miserable reality we face every day. As long as we are here on this fallen Earth we will continue to encounter pain and suffering, but we are also God's gift to one another to bear one another's burdens. And I am happy to shoulder the weight.

Do NOT Try This at Home

Whoa, Guys. The weird news of the Day (as in Days of our Lives) comes as a direct result of Bad Writing and unfortunate lunacy. Back in '99 (I'm ashamed to admit I actually saw this), the writers of the long-running soap experienced a lapse in judgment that affected us all. They decided to make Marlena possessed by the Devil and then her husband, John Black, would mysteriously yet conveniently remember that he was actually a priest once, back when Stefano Dimera brainwashed him (and the entire population of "Salem" and all of its descendants) as his mercenary. He was sort of able to perform an exorcism on his wife and from what I hear, that period of their lives is never spoken of. And hopefully the entire writing staff was forced pursue a different profession.
Fast forward to now, and the lasting effects of Bad Writing have led to the following incident:

LOS
ANGELES -- An Oregon man has pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of
battery and entering private property without permission after bursting into the
Malibu backyard of "Days of Our Lives" star Drake Hogestyn.
A judge also
granted Hogestyn a restraining order against Carl Raymond Cheney.
Hogestyn,
who plays John Black on the popular soap opera, said he was on a ladder on New
Year's Eve when Cheney ran at his daughter screaming, "Where is he? I will cast
him out." Court documents said Cheney was clutching a a bible and was trying to
exorcise the devil from the actor. He was recalling an episode of the soap about
demonic possession, the documents state, adding that the intruder also grabbed
Hogestyn's wife and pushed her backward.
Hogestyn intercepted the intruder and he and his son restrained the man
with duct tape until police arrived.
"I grabbed him by the hair, spun him
around, delivered a right cross to the chin that sent him down the stairs," the
actor said.
"This sick person Carl Raymond Cheney believed that Satan was in
me and that he was the Christ," he wrote.
Cheney was released on his own
recognizance and ordered to stay with his father. Sentencing is scheduled for
Feb. 6.

Hmm. The detail about the duct tape is slightly humorous.
But, man, what's up with that Oregon guy? Is he mentally deranged or-
Nope. You know what, I just can't think of an alternative besides mentally deranged. Could he have been playing an ill-timed, ill-executed prank on the actor and his family? In any case, don't try this at home (this meaning, faux exorcisms, Bad Writing, or this form of punishment)

Genesis Christmas Party Pics!

Weekly Poll: Barbeque!

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