Genesis 15- God’s Promise to Abram.
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Travels
I’m on day 11 of this crazy 12 day 4 city tour, and I’ve seen a lot of amazing things. From the west coast to the east coast people are very much the same. Does a hot dog taste as good in Phoenix as it does in Chicago? No. Is the BBQ really better in the south? Yes. Have the Green Bay Packers become America’s team? Yes. Why? It’s the cheese.
I love flying, but the streak of bad things happening continues. I missed my flight so I had to fly standby. So after they completely loaded the plane they called my name and said, “you may board.” what they didn’t tell me was that the person who had my seat on the previous flight had gotten sick and thrown up. I tried to have a good attitude and ignored the smell. But it was a little much when I went to adjust my seatbelt mid-flight and found a chunk on the belt.
Yesterday I flew next to a couple with a “lap child.” Lap child is airline speak for “baby that’s gonna puke.” sure enough when the daddy propped up his adorable baby to burp him, a chunk shot out on to my arm. I asked the dad, “May I use your ‘blankie’?” he said, “Oh, sorry. Ha, ha, ha.” I would have punched him in the face, but there was a nun sitting behind us.
Tomorrow I leave the east coast and hopefully the plane that I leave on won’t be as confusing as the one that brought me here. It says clearly in the instructions that you may not block the aisle. It was impossible to follow that rule because my seat was in the middle of the aisle. Never seen a middle seat on a plane before. Maybe a rental van, but not an airplane. But come to think of it, this plane seemed to hit so many bumps in the air it felt like a rental van.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll write about the ice on the runway in Dallas. ;(
Sunday at the Park
It was a great Sunday with the high school group at Cemetery Park. I had a little talk with Jesus the night before about the weather. The fog didn’t stop us though. We had a great time playing Ultimate, eating some great food, and learning how to Run the Race. It was a great time, but trying to pack it all into an hour is a challenge. People really wanted to hang out and connect more, but the schedule is pretty tight for getting to Gratis. Send me your thoughts on this matter…whether you think we are trying to pack too much in or where we can cut back.
-Gary
What makes Sundays great?
I came away with mixed feelings on Sunday about how things went in our high school ministry “Magnify.” It doesn’t get any better than filling a room full of teenagers all hungry for more of God. But, sometimes Sundays feels great, and other times I feel just okay.
Great in my definition might equal = good student involvement, more discussion than lecture, music was excellent, I saw lots of smiles, and finally, people didn’t want to leave the room when it was over.
What makes it great for you?
And then ultimately we need to ask the question, what makes it great for God?
Just thinking about this a bit as we enter into a new school year. Keep the discussion going please. We’ll continue to grow in our understanding of this as we grow closer together.
Road Trip 7/28
Last night totally rocked! Thank you to the Levesque’s for hosting all of us. What an amazing time of food and playing every sort of game imaginable- ping pong, bball, vball, etc. Does anyone know what happened to the ping pong ball? Mysterious! Closeness is part of what these things are all about. I love how everyone was connecting with other fun people. I think that’s what heaven may be a little like. Only there we’ll have Jesus. But until then, we have each other. So keep connecting! Call somebody up today and do something out of the ordinary. Better yet, call two people (one you would normally call, and another that you wished you had called last time) and go Thrift shopping, or to the beach, or on a night hike. God has put us together as the body, don’t let others fall thru the cracks.
Go Molly!
Molly contacted me a month before coming back from college about helping out with the high school group this summer. I was happy to include her, and when she got home, she jumped right in with both feet and started hanging out with the girls and getting to know them. It wasn’t long before they realized her as a trusted friend. She’s shared her faith story, taken girls out for smoothies, planned sleepovers, organized a coup at camp (jk), and in such a short time has left a big impact on our students. It is nearing the time when Molly will be leaving for Lebanon. Now it’s our turn to get behind her and help support her year long mission trip to the middle east. Please consider a financial gift that would get her to 100% support for the year. Thanks for listening and praying about your involvement.
If there were more time…
I would take you out for a smoothie or coffee. I would go to every music practice because I so love what the band is doing and who they are. I would make more crazy videos with a point. I would invest more time with adults that could be a part of students’ lives. I would actually practice my guitar rather than showing up for Gratis not having played since the previous time. I would go on bike rides with the kids. I would read one book per week. I would keep in touch with old friends. I would plan an all-nighter once per month. I would go out more. I would stay home more. I would go to Forest Home about every six weeks, but they’d probably kick me out.
When I get to heaven, one of the first things I’m going to ask God is, “Why not 26 hours in a day? Or 8 days per week?” And He’ll probably answer, “So you can spend more time doing things instead of being with me?” Ouch, that’s not what I want to hear. But probably the way my life has been characterized lately. I am gonna do more time with God, less feeling like I need to have a reading goal. Does that make sense?
Wednesday Night Road Trip
Renae’s house was the best. So many Ceeps Peeps showed up, and a few guests. I’m convinced that these are some of the best people in the whole world. So real, not afraid to be vulnerable, and ready to take on life and make this a better world. So we played this pretty cool game with only a few casualties. (sorry about that skateboard Julia) and then were treated to some amazing food and I told part 3 of the car story around the campfire. It wouldn’t have been complete without a jam session so everyone that sang out in the living room, you get 500 cannonball points. The afterparty of the party was inspiring. In-n-Out.
Hello world!
“No good comes after 12:00am.” That’s what my grandma always said. So I’m writing this at 11:37pm. I just spent a week with the most amazing group of students up at Forest Home. My roomies were good to me. I could not have been more impressed with the spiritual hunger and desire to know what’s true that the CPC’s Peeps displayed. Right off the bat on Sunday night the questions were flying around the cabin about life, truth, hell, God’s love, and they never let up throughout the week. I’m proud to have been a part of this life-changing week and I hope that in some small way I have blessed you or nudged you one step closer to knowing God’s heart.
Gary Anderson 