Day 59 - still looking.

Day 59 and I'm thinking about my closing prayer at the end of this mornings services.
When we finished thinking through St. Paul's incredible statement "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." I prayed that we would come to know the depth of Paul's character because I'm tired/we're tired of being shallow.

This afternoon I read about Louis Agassiz's teaching methods:

Louis was a 19th century paleontologist and Harvard professor who had a unique method of teaching/learning. One of his students Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, wrote in his autobiography about one of Agassiz's assignments. Agassiz pulled out a specimen jar and said "take this fish and look at it; when you think you're done I'll question you." After and hour or so, Shaler thought he'd observed everything there was to observe, but Agassiz didn't question Shaler that day. He didn't question him the next day. In fact, it was a week later that Agassiz said "tell me what you've seen." During that time, Shaler, who thought he'd seen everything there was to see, began to notice new things about the fish: the symmetry of the scales, the number of teeth, the positions of the gills, the paired organs. Shaler shared his observations, but Agassiz still wasn't satisfied that Shaler had seen everything there was to see.
He spent another week of ten-hour days looking at that fish from every angle imaginable. Shaler wrote in his autobiography that by the end of two weeks, he had made observations that astonished himself and satisfied Agassiz.

My intentional follow of Jesus Christ ....having studied Philippians 1 for a week, having preached it this morning .....I'm still looking at it, studying it, learning it.

Hopefully others are too.

Day 58 - the shortest yet

Day 58 and here's my intentional follow ...7am on a wet and windy morning up for Bible discussion on greed!

That's it folks.

That was after staying up way too late watching Winter Olympics!

Tired - but committed.

So excuse my shortness........got to finish tomorrow preach!

Day 57 - took Jesus to the bank with me today.

Day 57 .....but only the tenth day of Lent ....I'm dying for a soda!! Of course my phraseology is rather ironic considering what Lent is preparing us for!
Think about it!

Today's intentional follow of Jesus was/is real practical. I cashed my pay check.
This is how we live.
Cash.
Not credit card, not even debit card - cash.

We are deliberately avoiding the 'no problem I'll put it on my card' route to debt and money mismanagement.
For just about a year now, we've lived (like many others in our church) on a cash only basis.

It works - you spend less.
You have more.....so you can give away more.
No credit card and no debit card helps you become a generous person.

I'm not saying we're where we want to be yet - but we are much further away from where we don't want to be.

It's following Jesus.

Day 56, thanks John, but even more "Thanks Jesus".

Day 56 was a day spent learning more about grace.
John Ortberg was the teacher and as usual one of the premier teachers in N. America brought insight, emotion and new though to his teaching.

He quoted a line from his mentor Dallas Willard which stuck "Saints burn more grace than sinners ever will."

The idea is that saints live daily in grace and therefore, we burn grace like a rocket burns fuel. It is the fuel that we live off of.
For me - yep I use a tank of grace a day!

So, intentionally today, I enjoyed grace.

It's good to follow Jesus.

Day 55 and my dermatologist confirms my intentional following of Jesus

Day 55 and it began with a visit to my dermatologist! Ouch ...dry ice stings.
He burned 6 things off my head and prescribed for me 6 weeks of my head breaking out in bright red blotches as we try to find more things to burn off. Yep - truly a tomato head for a few weeks.

Now I'm young to have all this done .......but ....if I keep being diligent then in later life I won't have to half my ear or nose cut off!! In fact, he told me that some people can ignore the little lumps of precancer growths because its either too much of a nuisance or too little a lump and 10 years later they need to have huge lumps cut off!!

We both agree there was a biblical analogy there about something called 'sin'.

But as look forward to 6 weeks of blotchiness it got me thinking about my intentional follow of today - I am staying/living where God wants me.

Forget the fact that I don't like small towns; forget the fact that it gets way too hot here; forget the fact that I'm 6000 miles from home; forget the fact that I carry a green card and it tells me I am an 'alien' ........my color of skin, my blue eyes, my freckles should force me to leave!! I am a firm candidate for further skin issues and surgery. People my shade should not live here.

But - God has us here.

I've tried to leave.
I've had opportunity to leave.

But intentional follow - I want to be where God wants me to be. Even although I have a more fluid theology of how God might lead and the role of choice in it ....I believe in feeling His presence and knowing this is where God wants you.

So today's visit to my dermatologist reminded me that I live here only because I'm following Jesus.

Day 54 - follow Jesus via the BBC World Service.

Day 54 and quite a day.

The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe clashed at a Latin America Summit. President Uribe told President Chavez to "be a man"; and President Chavez retoted by telling President Uribe to "go to hell!"

In Germany the first female Bishop of the 25 million strong Evangelical Church of Germany Bishop Margot Kaessmann pleaded guilty to drunk driving and jumping some red lights!

And in Kenya, the two bitter rivals President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga - have actually sat down and talked!!!

I listen into world news with the BBC and I learn not only the big news that all newsrooms carry, but the BBC helps me hear a wider global news - a global news that reports on the smaller stories globally that most other newsrooms miss or only local newsrooms carry.

For me - this is an intentional follow of Jesus. The entire globe is His world. All people's are made in His image and when we become narrow in our news we become narrow in our worldview and when we become narrow in our worldview we end up having a narrow Jesus.

So for Jesus' sake .....tune in to global news.

Try www.bbc.co.uk

Day 53 - late, but Jesus would be glad I was late.

Day 53 ....and I know its slightly late but I began working on my taxes - you know how that goes.

So my intentional follow of Jesus on Day 53.
I received an email from someone expressing some strong thoughts about something, and let's just say the thoughts weren't compliments.
As I read their thoughts my first reaction was sadness and fear that I had stumbled someone, and maybe more than them. As I engaged with the email I began to more and more question the writers interpretation. I then asked others if they felt the comments were right, and as the people I asked disagreed with the comments my reaction then began to grow towards defense and putting the person right. I wanted to get to my emails and write a reply that would have defended me.

But the I remembered the words of Jesus' half brother. "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." James 1:19.

So I have let the email sit unanswered, but not unprayed for the past 36 hours. Today I'll write a reply ...but hopefully I have listened - not only to what the writer was trying to express, and not only what some valued opinions have expressed, but hopefully I have listened to Jesus .

So yep ...Day 53 was delayed by taxes, but it was also delayed by James ...who I guess learned a lot from his brother!

Day 52 and what my wife is looking forward to.

Oops I missed Day 51. It's Day 52.
I was engrossed in my new brilliant read all yesterday afternoon - The Blue Sweater: Bridging The Gap Between Rich And Poor In An Interconnected World @ Jacqueline Novogratz.
You got to read it.....another inspirational story about what one person can do (similar to the impact Three Cups of Tea had on me 2009).
Then I was at a fundraiser event that ran longer than we thought - and with a preach to do the next day I got home, brushed, flossed and slept!

So sorry, but leads me into my intentional follow both yesterday Day 51 and today Day 52.
It's got something to do with my preach today.

I preached from Philippians1:6 where Paul writes and says "he who has begun a good work in you..."
Brilliant verse - 'begun a good work in you!'
It's the word "begun".
He has begun it - something incredible, a work of grace , a work of God's salvation - but He's only begun it.
One day He'll complete it.
But that's one day.
Today He's just begun it.
Therefore .......God ain't finished it.
Therefore, you and I are not yet complete, we are not yet perfect.

So ....my intentional follow ......still not being perfect.

I try.
I try hard.
But ....He's only begun His good work in me .....not yet completed it.

Get the point? Not an excuse.
Sorry about missing yesterday's blog - He's only begun.
Sorry about my inappropriate jokes in the pulpit today - He's only begun it.
Sorry for .........

But He has begun it; and I'm truly looking forward to Him completing it.

So is my wife!!

Day 50 already!

Day 50 - wow ....50 days gone in 2010 already. Ouch. Blink. Flown past.

Friday is always my writing day. Really good preachers start writing on Tuesday; mediocre preachers start on Thursday; but for me it's Friday.
Its always fun.
I sit at my desk and with ideas, God's Word, hopefully His inspiration I know over the next 8, 9, 10 hours something has to be created that is from God for His people at Redeemer's Church.
Normally that inspiration is aided by chocolate. But not today ...remember its Lent and I've given it up!
So church beware, you have been warned, Sunday's preach is non-chocolate inspired!

Day 50.

So for the last 50 days I've tried to daily blog what intentional thing I have done to follow Jesus. missed it a few days while in Kenya, Africa (but truly i was still following Jesus). What I've noticed is that my blogs don't list mighty acts or miraculous deeds in that following. Rather, they highlight often simple choices that I've made to take that day and turn it from another day to another day following Jesus.

Today's follow was again just that. In thoughts, desires, values, obedience - I chose to follow the way of Jesus. Yes, there is more I could have done - bigger acts, bolder acts - but in what I did do it was a follow of the way of Jesus.

So, I head to bed - quiet and content. Not that I've arrived - I'm always pushing on - but knowing that I've tried, or better, been.

Day 49 - the day I met Jacqueline Novogratz.

Day 49 and I spent time today being blown away with the guts, wisdom and vision of a lady called Jacqueline Novogratz. She had stayed in the same hotel as us in Nairobi, Kenya just three weeks ago and during that time one of our team had connected with her. Today I found out just how brilliant a woman she is.
Check out her TED Talks at www.ted.com/speakers/jacqueline_novogratz.html

Two sentences she said stood out for me:

"Dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth"; and "when you've lived on charity your whole life its really hard to say what you mean."

As I listened to Jacqueline and could visualise the slums she spoke about - Mathare Village which is neighbor to the Huruma slum we partner in - it more and more pumped me to believe that poverty could be eradicated if the church stood up tall.

I am more convinced of this after a day listening, learning and merging my listening and learning into my theology.

My heart beat faster at the end of the day as we finished a strong staff meeting (if you're a part of Redeemer's Church you won't believe what we're dreaming up as the next stage in our history that God is nudging us towards - wow!) .....and alongside the powerful dreaming I experiecned came this powerful conviction of what can happen to poverty in Huruma, Jocotillo, Tijuana and elsewhere as Redeemer's Church gets it ...and what can happen globally as more and more churches get it.

So my intentional follow of Jesus today is to write in this blog a strong, bold challenge to all/anyone - play your part in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. Share your faith, and play your part in sharing your resources to see poverty eradicated in our generation.

Day 48 - do Lent and run a PR!

Day 48 and Lent has started .....so .......I've got a headache!
The first day for a while I haven't had either a diet soda or chocolate! Hey ....that's why I run - junk food!!

Now I know its little - deny oneself soda and chocolate for 40 days, compared to what we are participating in - a 40 day preparation in walking to the cross of Christ and to His glorious resurrection. So denying food as part of that preparation seems rather timid if not rather trivial. But it's been the tradition of the Church for centuries in denying yourself something physical as part of your Lentin preparation.

So .....one day down, thirty-nine to go.

That's my intentional follow of today - read some of Matthew's Gospel and say no to the soda at lunch and the cookie at coffee break time.....always remembering why I'm not enjoying myself ....helping me walk towards Easter.

If i keep it up imagine the celebration on Easter and ......if I run so I can eat junk here's hoping my running improves over the next 39 days as well! (Are you allowed to have personal gainthrough Lent as well or do I need to compensate the lack of junk by finding other junk to eat and stay a runner with a slight belly???)

Day 47 - faith talking.

Day 47 and I'm back on the road in Elk Grove, CA - but this time I've got some staff with me and boy can they talk! But great talk. We've talked and talked and talked church. Sweet.
What's got me excited is listening to the vision and plans for Redeemer's Church's Children's Ministry - ouch it's good.

In the summer of 09 when we added 'helping children' as part of our overall vision we wondered how this, along with introducing people to Jesus Christ and serving the poor could all happen simultaneously - all the talking today has excited me not only that it can happen, but that it is happening.

And that's only one reason we are all travelling together ....tomorrow sees us talk more into a huge next step for Redeemer's, and I mean huge!!

And this is my intentional follow today. Faith talking. Talking about how things are and where things could go and believing that such will happen.
What makes it even better is that the faith required to take the vision and see it outworked is not reliant upon just me or someone-else, what's great is I was travelling all day with others who fully believed it and if one of us had a faith stumble, or some weakness in believing it could be - the others pulled us up and strengthened our faith.

Try spending a day with big faith people; talk, dream together for the Kingdom of God ...and see if it doesn't bring you closer to Jesus.
Been a good day ...and I'm excited about another 3 hour car journey tomorrow to do more "faith talking".

Day 46 - equilibrium.

Day 46 and while most people were off today (President's Day) it was great to get my desk up to date a little and sort things out.
My mother ingrained in me 'tidiness is next to godliness' ......she'd be proud of my passionate pursuit of that neo-theology.
So I could say that today's intentional follow of Jesus was just that - tidying up my desk.

But, eh, it's not really in the Bible, even although my dear mother was convinced it was!

So what did I do today?

Today it was about being honest.
Not that others days I'm not about being honest, rather, today I had some tricky situations where 80% or 90% of the truth would have been the truth but just not everything that needed to be said.
So today was saying the last 10% - twice in person and once by email.

It's something Carolyn has shown me well. She has this total commitment to always be honest yet has the core value of harmony. Sometimes I've viewed holding these two values as impossible - saying the last 10% doesn't endear harmony in relationships.
The core value I often held was the value of truth ....and who cares if the truth creates in-equilibrium in relationships, it was the truth!!
But Carolyn has shown me otherwise.
You can pursue truth and harmony with equilibrium.

So today I tried that and I think it worked!

Thank you Jesus ....or maybe it was thank you Carolyn.

So today was about

Day 45 Revoluntionary Road

Day 45 and I'm sitting watching Revolutionary Road with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.....they decide to risk everything to pursue their dream. As young parents they decide to leave suburban Connecticut and their regular middle class life and move to Paris.
Just to be.
Find themselves.
Do what they've always wanted to do.
Explore who they always wanted to be.

There's one scene where they sit with their two young kids and explain how far they were going to travel to reach Paris....and the kids talk about how they don't know any kids their and the parents assure them they will make new friends ....and eat snails.

I remember that day. Sitting with our two kids talking about crossing the pond and coming to live in America. They responded the same way ...leave their friends, not know anyone in Chicago ....and we assured them they will make new friends and they will eat ......well not snails anyway.

It's weird how in the movie a crazy, flipped out PhD Mathematician who's just spent time in a psychiatric ward is the only guy who gets why they are doing it.

"Knowing what you've got, knowing what you need, knowing what you can do without -that's inventory control."

Interesting line.
A soul line.

The movie moves on ......but this line was such a good line.

When you come to the point where you surrender to God being all you need - WOW.

So today I preached Paul's line about being a "slave of Christ Jesus".
Chain your life to Christ; be taken prisoner by Christ; surrender your rights, your life to Christ.......God is all you need.
Inventory Control.
Intentional following of Christ.

Day 44 - wonder.

Day 44 and I start with a quote I've been reading mad by GK Chesterton "the older one gets, the more it takes to fill the soul with wonder."

Got me thinking today. Sometimes I've seen the snowcapped Sierra Nevada mountains and liked them, but maybe not stirred to wonder. Or take last nights opening Winter Olympic Ceremony - good but again not wonder.
Take the music I have in my iPod (or 'had' until I wrongly sync'd it to another iTunes account - oops), again good but nothing wonder.
The list could go on of good, perhaps a few greats, but no wonder.

Is it just that I'm getting older?
Have I lost my childlike wonder at 'McDonald's Chicken Nuggets'; or the wonder a kid has as you make a face and make them laugh 'again, again, again!!!!'

Perhaps.

What I'm finding is that only God can fill the wonder gap my age has created

And God does.

The wonder of a visiting older guy last Sunday to our church who left in tears as he reminded a friend who comes to our church just what God is doing at Redeemer's.
The wonder of hearing the testominy of a trucker who was helped by a lady who because she was follwoing Christ stopped to help him.
The wonder of grace.
The wonder of a kid insisting they come to church on Wednesday night.
The wonder of ........

Yep - God still delivers wonder and today I enjoyed some of the wonder as I followed Christ.

Day 43 - are we the world?

Day 43 and just listening to We Are The World 25 Haiti as wait for the Opening Ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympics Games in Vancouver -sorry guys nowhere as good as the original. Great idea, great cause - just a weak recording 25 years on.

Maybe it's my warped imagination, but as I listened and watched the recording I wondered what sort of 'ego' issues the producers had to work with when they chose who got the main mics and who didn't.

Or ...were ego's forgotten for the greater cause?? Hopefully.

It's a great song, with a great theology. We ARE the world. Maybe the tragedy of Haiti will help us get this theology.
The Scripture's "earth God gave to man".
We ARE the world.

Often only at disasters do we get this. We live in/on our islands. We are about our interest and our little kingdoms, but when something awful hits our world - something is triggered within all of us ....all men created equal; all of us belonging together; all of us and all of us together ARE the world.

While the world often misses this truth - the Church can completely miss this truth.
Either through an isolationist or escapist philosophy that separates us from the world; or an elitist pride that separates us from our world - but for decades the Church has missed the truth that we ARE the world.
Verses like "in the world but not of it" have been preached to emphasize our apartness from the rest of the world.

But sometimes our ecclesiology can shrink our anthropology. Undoubtedly something new has happened to people who have trusted Christ and entered the new humanity - but - something remains ......the world and everyone in such are not only our neighbors, but together we ARE the world.

Read the Psalms ..... we remain connected with the rest of this world. We ARE the world.

......but this blog is not about theology. sorry folks got to let this thought slide for your own reflection.

Intentional follow of Jesus today:

Let others go ahead of me in Subway.
Talked with a friend in Guatemala about the Kingdom of God ...and prayed for them.
Prayed for Serina and her healing.
Asked someone to give to help the children of the world via www.whenigrowup-global.com
Looked around me today at strangers, but fellow citizens of our world, and prayed for their souls to know the risen Christ.
Went home to be with my wife.

Yep ......simple, but intentional.
Yep ....still thinking about the theology I began to discuss above and about to log off and keep mulling it over as I watch nation after nation parade at the Opening Ceremony. Stirs me everytime.

Day 42 - trying to listen.

Day 42 and I spent much of the day travelling and therefore reading.
First time in Portland - disappointed, thought it would have been more than it was.
Most of my reading is on church, church leadership or theology. Reading a book called Church 3.0. Unsure about it. Never like when history is written in a presumptuous way; don't like it when postmoderns present their solution with modern insistence while criticizing everything modern (and I'm more pomo than mojo!)

Reading about Jesus is not the same as following Jesus. It can help, but i cannot claim that my intentional follow was reading about Jesus. I could say it was 'learning about Jesus', but perhaps that's playing semantics.

So today's intentional follow?

Not so much reading about Jesus, but reading His Word. Habakkuk in particular. WOW, it was powerful and inspiring. Read the whole book out loud (only three chapters!).

God spoke.
I hope I heard.

My intentional follow - read, try to listen, hear.

Day 41 - switched off the cell phone out of love for my wife.

Day 41 and it finds me in the rain soaked Northwest and Tacoma, Washington - one day I'll be here when the sun shines. And one day where the sun will shine is the church I'm working with. John Sims is a good guy and with his heart, passion and God affirming the vision and newness through miraculous ways - the sun is beginning to shine already.
[Trivial fact - there are more millionaires per square mile in the Seattle area than any where else in the US!]

Flying is a great time to think. Read some of Chris Wright's voluminous work The Missional God. Worth it. Deep. Worked some of the first Holy Hilarity preach on Sunday. Philippians and an interesting take on something new to laugh about!

Arrived at the hotel tonight and found three cop cars including sniffer dog squad
parked outside. Interesting. Told there was/is a killer on the 4th floor! Glad I'm on the 2nd floor. Should be a quiet nights sleep.

Intentional following of Jesus.

Read a billboard on the way sponsored by Catholic Charity. It featured a wife asking what investment have you made in your marriage today. So .....I guess this is also how I intentionally followed Jesus today as well .......so here's my answer:

Carolyn and I didn't talk today!!

Just on Monday we spoke about how with cell phones people are always calling each other - but what do they talk about. Like, what major thing happened between leaving for work and arriving at work 15 minutes later! Or, what seismic thing changed from when you walked into class talking to your friend on the cell phone to immediately calling that same friend 40 minutes later when the class ended.

We both agreed - Nothing! So much cell phone talking is about "nothing"!

More than that - when you do go away there is joy in returning and sharing what happened and the things you did etc. That joy goes when you talk every 30 minutes giving a running of commentary of 'just off the plane'; 'in the car'; 'just finished lunch'; 'sorry I missed you went to the toilet'!!

So to invest in my marriage, and to follow Jesus - we each sent a short text saying we are here, safe and still in love with each other.

Looking forward to downloading with Carolyn Thursday night when I get home.

Day 40 and something from Bart Campolo.

Day 40 ....I know it's early but just got this email from my friend Bart Campolo (he's coming here on Sunday April 18 to preach at our services - great Sunday). He works in the projects of Cincinnati and he sent out this email today:

Dear Friends,

As much as she doesn’t belong there, I almost left Denise in jail. The $400 it cost to get her out is a lot of money, after all, especially for a woman surviving on food stamps in a $25 per month HUD apartment our fellowship covers to keep her off the street. Then again, we cover it because we know she’s too sick and disabled to work, let alone do jail time.

Of course, as a taxpayer I understand the county’s case against Denise, whose three kids were raised entirely on county funds despite the fact that neither parent ever paid a dollar in child support. I understand why they want the more than $15,000 she still owes, and why they call it contempt of court when she is consistently unable to pay even her $65 monthly minimum. What I don’t understand is why the judge continues her case every few months, even though it’s obvious she’s permanently broke, or how it helps anyone to lock her up for missing one of those countless court dates, like they did last week.

“I can’t do this, Bart!” she wailed into the phone. Just the night before we had celebrated her long-awaited return to our Monday night dinner, after she nearly died of pancreatitis. Now she was worried about having to move too much, and losing sleep, and missing her medications. “I’m gonna die in here,” she cried.

I felt sorry for her, of course, but I also felt frustrated and angry with her. After all the time fellowship folks have spent hustling around for her these past few years, and all the money we’ve spent on her rent and prescriptions and household needs, and all the phone calls and application forms and letters and hospital visits, how could Denise mess everything up by forgetting her court date? Forget becoming an addict and abandoning her kids in the first place; I almost left someone I claim to love in jail for the higher crime of stupidly inconveniencing me once too often.

Or maybe I almost left her there because I couldn’t stand the thought of having to listen to Denise whine and complain and blame everybody but herself for her troubles all the way home. Maybe I’m just up to here with people telling me about how it was the boss’s fault they got fired, or the teacher’s fault they got suspended, or their friend’s fault they got arrested, or their lawyer’s fault they got convicted, or their landlord’s fault they got evicted, or the minister’s fault they quit going to church.

In any case, the next morning I paid the purge order, drove down to the county jail, and gritted my teeth as Denise got into my car. And then it happened.

“Bart,” she said, “As soon as they told me I was getting out, I knew it was y’all that did it. And I’m just so thankful that I have this fellowship family that does so much for me. But all last night I was laying there feeling sorry for myself, and I got to thinking how all of this is my own fault, and how it wasn’t anybody else’s job to remind me of my court dates or take me to them or anything. I know I told you I couldn’t do it, but I was wrong. If I had to stay there for a week or a month, I decided I wasn’t gonna complain or blame anybody, I was just gonna pray to God and hang on. It was me that put me in this situation, not you or nobody else.”

To me, it was a pure miracle. My frustration, my anger, all gone in an instant. That was all I wanted, I suddenly realized. That’s all most of us want, most of the time, Almighty God included. Not perfection. Not even close to perfection. All we really want is for the people in our lives—our friends, our spouses, our children—to just take responsibility when they let us down. We can put up with a lot, we can forgive a lot, and we can help with a lot, and even do it with a smile most of the time, if only the person who blows it is just willing to admit that they are the person who blew it, not us, not somebody else. That, mixed together with a little genuine gratitude…my God, it is the jet fuel of compassion, the wonder drug for an ailing love.

I didn’t drive Denise straight home. I took her out to lunch first.
Sincerely,

Bart

Just stirred me - hope it has you.

Day 39 .......aargh to the I-99.

Day 39 and another ride up and down the wonderful I-99. Yuck but I lived. Too bad that my "walk around Paris" (Day 38's blog) was really a drive down the worst freeway in CA!
Yet as you drive the 99 you pass thousands of people. I remember driving through Texas and every 100 miles you passed a small town of maybe 400 people. Driving through California every 20 miles you pass a city of 80,000 or 200,000. From Reedley to Stockton you pass by just on the million mark number of people (not counting all the smaller communities east or west of the road). How many of them know Christ? How many have hope? How much has the Kingdom of God invaded these communities? The questions could go on about every community and any true/real/effective testimony for and to Christ each mile of the 200 miles you drive.

As I drove the 99 today, as I passed cars or as they zipped past me (driving if not illegally, certainly stupidly) I looked at the faces of the drivers and wondered at their story and wondered if they'd ever had a chance to hear the truth about the Gospel - in a way that was true and real, and void of the junk that too often clutters and pollutes the Gospel.

I prayed for many of them, and I began to wonder how better we could reach more people. Some thing stirred. Some thing that has been stirring for a few months now. A despite my preference, despite my hope, it feels like I could driving the 99 for many more years to come. Aargh!!!!!!!

Day 38 - enjoying tithing.

Day 38 and welcome to first-timers viewing my blog. A daily 2010 blog with me reporting on what I've done each day to intentionally follow Jesus. Welcome.
Superbowl Sunday and I find myself in Stockton CA (not the end of the world but you can see it from here!)
Day 38 and I must admit this exercise somedays is like driving through Nebraska. You wonder why you ever got into this. However, like driving through Nebraska, the key is to not stop but keep pushing through.

The French writer Jacques Reda had a peculiar habit. He used to walk the streets of Paris with the intention of seeing one new thing each day. It was the way he renewed his love for the city.

Today I saw something new about God. When He taught His people to tithe, he did it out of a desire to bless his people. Tithing was always taught with regards to God being a God who wants to bless you. This seen big time in Malachi 3.

Our minds have a tendency to move to make things legalistic and in their legalism make them negatives. This is not God nor the tithe principal.

This today made me appreciate God more; this made me want to be more faithful in my tithing. This made me confident to preach it with a bold challenge to test God on this ....the only time God invites us to test Him.

Tomorrow I hope to take another walk and enjoy God more.

Day 37 - a reliable old 1991 minivan.

Day 37 and the ancient van is fixed! Many days ago a staff member decided to rear end me and bash in the tailgate of my precious Plymouth Voyager 1991 van. Today, $83 later and with the help of a sledge hammer and Anthony's determination - she lives for another day ....although you can't open the 'new' tailgate!

Carolyn and I have a deal. Spend no more than $200 per year to keep the van on the road or else get a vehicle that the boys aren't embarrassed to be seen in and whose windows, doors and brakes work!

Been thinking through why I'm so attached to the old van, and I think in some way it is a metaphor for my own life - doesn't have the sex appeal and looks of other vans but it just keeps going.

Sometimes that's what the Christian life is like - just keep going. It's not always exciting, not always fun - but during those periods (this week for me), keep you head down and grind out another week, another day in living for Christ.

That's old mini van reality more than sexy sport's car philosophy.

Day 36 - my wife is a pixie!

Day 36 and my wife is out without me tonight dressed as a pixie! Just like the old days when I first met her?? Everybody thinks I'm the wild one in the relationship but there is a lot more to my wife than most people know - pixie dancing on a Friday night is pretty tame!
Of course my wife was born on Halloween .....so that can explain a lot.

Dressing up seems to be the theme of today. I got dressed up earlier (shirt, tie and a suit) to take my friend Dale's funeral. During the funeral they showed pictures of Dale's recent wedding ...and my fear was that they'd see me dressed up in the same suit for the wedding as I had on for his funeral. yep - I possess one suit. I do have a change of ties - one cheery, one sad - I bought the suit en route to Scotland for my mum's funeral ...and decided if I go with the dark brown color I could use it not only for funerals but for weddings - the one 2 times I get dressed up.

Dressing up.

I got a text from a friend just a few days ago about feeling all 'undone'. Got me thinking.
We spend time and effort dressing up, while God often leaves us undone!

Yesterday was an undone day for me.
Today I dressed up.
Which day was I a better follower of Christ?

Maybe this dressing up lark isn't all it's made up to be.
Maybe being undone is healthier for our souls.

My intentional following today involved some reflective thinking about faith, life, authenticity and honesty.

Day 35 - when it just doesn't work!

Day 35 and some days you're not as productive as you would like to be. The cylinders never fired today. They needed to, but they didn't. The load of work on my desk shouted out for energy and focus - but today was a day of distractions and dilution. is it delayed jet-lag from Africa trip; is it lack of chocolate; is it poor valley air (you should have seen the smog layer as I drove over the grapevine down into the valley on Tuesday - yuck!); is it teenage boys around; is it ......

Truly it was just one of those days. They don't happen very often - maybe once every six-day months -but when they happen what do you do? Red Bull it?

In my job inspiration and creativity are big deals. when its a paper day and I have to push emails out, budgets out, reports out etc - you just knuckle down and get through the day (caffeine fueled); but when its creativity or inspiration you need to write a message - yikes! When this kind of day happens....its like trying to get blood out of a stone - impossible.

So what does a follower of Jesus Christ do when something like this hits?

Try 2 Corinthians 4:7 "we have this treasure in jars of clay "
It's called the human factor.
God knows it.
Days like this happen.
It affirms that all the glory is God's, not ours .....or in this case not mine's.

Day 34 - seek, always seek.

Day 34 and I'm just back from one of our leadership groups where I had fun stirring the pot. Led with the question "is the Bible absolute truth?" what followed was a great discussion with many side roads. Great fun.
What was so great about it was seeing mature Christ followers, most of them older than me, grappling with new ways of looking at truth and new ways of interpreting truth.
There was energy, enthusiasm, vision and honest critiquing within the room ....and too soon we had to stop.

It's what seekers of truth always bring and its what intentional followers of Jesus always do. We always seek. Not because we don't know truth or haven't found in Christ the truth - but we always want to go deeper and that deeper always involves more truth, greater truth, bigger truth.

Intentional followers of Christ - are seekers. Always.

St. Paul put it this way "I press on so that I many lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus".
Tonight, today was about laying hold of Christ - who is Truth.

Day 33 - a lot of good talking.

Day 33 and my intentional follow of Jesus was to pray constantly as I zoomed down the I-99 and the I-5 to Los Angeles ....my monthly visit to Tujunga CA. Wow - the praying wasn't so much to preoect me from the crazy traffic, but to protect me from the foul smell of the daity farms all the way south - yuck!

But then my more important follow was to spend several hours energetically talking about the potential of the church in being the hope of the world to a group of energetic leaders in Tujunga.

Three things I love to talk about - theology, the church and how to help a church live out its theology in seeing people come to faith in Christ - becoming a missional church. I also love to talk about football (the global game) - which I think is important for being effective in taking the Gospel into all the world. Forget American sports that are only played in this small country - 6 billion people in the planet know and love real football!

Several hours of talking the story of Redeemer's Church and how God is moving in this small town to build His Church and extend His Kingdom. About helping people become contagious Christians. About using the Alpha Course to introduce people to faith and Jesus Christ. About the church being a safe place to explore faith. About opening up the church's front door to reach people who have been shut out, left out, ignored - but not by Christ and not by people who follow that Christ.

Great dialogue.
Great worship.
A great day in Tujunga.
A great day for people far from God in Tujunga.
A bad day for Satan.

Day 32 - telesales or Jesus

Day 32 and I spent way too much of it talking to me new friend 'Derek' in India!
Derek is really Saransh my Microsoft tech support help who I got to know over 1 hour and 30 minutes tonight - the guy is a daft Manchester Utd fan. It was fun talking football with a fellow Man Utd fan as we waited my computer being fixed - fortunately it was successfully fixed before we moved on to talking cricket and why India easily beat England in the last 20 overs world cup. Phew.

But as I sat on the phone with 'Derek' I began to think about my intentional following of Jesus today and I felt tugged to interrupt our football chat and begin asking him about Jesus eventually leading him in the sinners prayer. I could see it all happen before my eyes.

But I didn't.

It wasn't because of fear, or of preferring to talk about football, rather I just don't like tele-sales evangelism. It's so American capitalism, so tacky, so the reason why most decent people have called ID.

So I didn't tele-sales him Jesus, rather I prayed Jesus over him - 13,000 miles away.
I'm so glad God is everywhere. I'm so glad He has given His Spirit into the world for this very purpose.

Following the way of Jesus can sometimes take on too much of an American flavor to it - I think 'Derek' and Jesus would prefer we went with the supernatural God methods rather then the slick consumer methods of our culture.