Forward motion

Matthew 6:14-15
If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Looking for adventure?

What if life’s best adventure was waiting for us right under our noses, right where we live?

It takes a place to create a community & a community to create a place. Lets put the 'our' in neighbourhood.

Sink roots. Plant gardens. Have kids. Love your neighbourhood.

This is where you’re supposed to be… God has put you there.

Move from just living, to being invested in your community. From merely tolerating it to being willing to take a bullet for her.

Are we be willing to be mindful of God’s bigger plan, and not just our own personal welfare & thrill-seeking?

This is where we’re supposed to be. This is where God has put us.

God’s mission is much smaller than we might think.

Your neighborhood – God’s mission!

Your community, what an adventure!!

There are many people who think they want to be matadors, only to find themselves in the ring with 2,000 pounds of bull bearing down on them, and then discover that what they really wanted was to wear the tight pants and hear the crowd roar. Terry Pearce

Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat, word for word, what you shouldn’t have said. Or do what you shouldn't have done...

Last year in the play-offs Marty Brodeur blew a gasket after he was interfered with which led to the game winning-goal against Carolina.

While he was 'jobbed' by the ref's his conduct after the goal was scored was not justified. The next day his daughter confronted him, "I saw what you did last night, Daddy."

When his daughter refused to tell him what she had seen him do, Marty simply apologized. Good plan.

A couple weeks back while I was driving Mali heard me say something he wasn't accustomed to hearing me say. He grew quiet & after we got home said, 'Why did you say that word?'

Busted!

I apologized.

What are saying when your kids are around? How are you behaving? What are you going to do about it?

I can't hear what you say because I see your life.

Proverbs 10:32-35
Don't walk around with a chip on your shoulder,
always spoiling for a fight.
Don't try to be like those who shoulder their way through life.
Why be a bully?
"Why not?" you say. Because God can't stand twisted souls.
It's the straightforward who get his respect.

Gods curse blights the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
He gives proud skeptics a cold shoulder,
but if you're down on your luck, he's right there to help.
Wise living gets rewarded with honor;
stupid living gets the booby prize.

Growing up is the move from passion to compassion.

Whether the community is gathered or scattered, the mandate to be Christ's witnesses defines every dimension of the community's life. This is what is meant by incarnational witness: demonstrating concretely the reality of God's love in the ways the community functions.

The relationships among the members of the community are intended to incarnate the powerful and transforming love of the gospel. The compassion with which the community cares for its own as well as for its neighbours incarnates the gospel.

The dependence of God's forgiveness is incarnated in the way that the community forgives, practices tolerance, bears one another's burdens. (Darrell Guder)

live the let-go life

How to build community in your neighborhood

When you focus on place you do everything differently.

Turn off your TV.
Leave your house.
Meet your neighbors.
Look up when you are walking.
Sit on your front step & greet people as they go by.
Plant flowers.
Play together.
Buy from local merchants.
Share what you have with your neighbors.
Take children to the park.
Garden together.
Support neighborhood schools.
Have pot lucks.
Pick up garbage.
Dance in the street.
Talk to your mail carrier.
Help carry something heavy.
Hire young neighbors for odd jobs.
Organize a block party.
Bake extra goodies and share them.
Ask for help when you need it.
Open your drapes & blinds.
Sing together.
Share your skills.
Take back the night.
Turn up the music.
Turn down the music.
Listen before you react to anger.
Mediate a conflict.
Seek to understand.
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles.
Know that no one is silent although many are not heard. Work to change this.
Find the widowers & help them out.

Everything in the Gospel is livable & our task is to get it lived. It is not enough that we announce the gospel, explain it or whip up enthusiasm for it.

It must be lived - lived in detail, lived in the streets and on the job, lived in the bedrooms and kitchens, lived through cancer and divorce, lived with children and marriage.

Along the way I found that this also meant living it out myself & that proved to be a more formidable task. Eugene Peterson

Joy is the best make-up

A woman's heart should be so lost in God that a man needs to seek Him in order to find her.

Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.

Paint your faith

Go ahead. Paint outside the lines. Mix the colors. Love your neighbors in unique ways...

"If you want to paint beautiful pictures you have to use some dark colors." God

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created...

And we aren't supposed to stop!

Above all, remember that the meaning of life is to live it as if it were a work of art. You're not a machine. Abraham Heschel