samwise the brave

so we’ve stepped into the youthscape even deeper. lots of activity. i’m thinking most folks have a latent “demoliton” wish in their lives. but some very good work has been done and we’ve stumbled on somethings that are making our plans even better. the first priority was to get the electrical straightened out. our good man “hagg” and “mikey” have spent the past three days working making a mess into a masterpiece. it looks very good.

then…we learned a couple of nights ago that the wall that we thought would be our work around can actually be taken out. amazing stuff. that alone has made the project really worth the effort. we’ve got some big things happening this weekend with our pal alan root visting the outpost. surf over to the church site and click on the children’s link and hear the interview on wcrf this morning with our pal mark. we took the night off just to gather our energy. most have a gridiron game to hit tomorrow, so we’ll be back at it strong on sat early in the a.m.!

busy couple of days all around. the most pressing was the stepping off on the renovation of the student space at the outpost. had a good day yesterday with a team of good folks who made a real dent. you can see the video here. right now the house is filled with a great aroma as rose has been extremely busy putting food away for the winter. applesauce, tomato…paste…sauce, now there’s peach butter simmering away. her potato’s have hit a new mark too.
look at the size of these guys… the cents part comes from the money we’re all saving…here at home and even the work at the outpost. we’ve got two work days scheduled this week. which should hopefully bring down the ceiling in the bell tower and give us a sense of what the cafe area might look like when we poke a hole there. have a couple of subs to talk to this week about their part in this work and hopefully we can see it all together by all hallow’s eve if not before. the joy of yesterday was the drive home…seeing the sunset. i had missed it the past couple of nights and well…it just worked out. imagine. blessings!

so i stepped into it again. and according to my sojourners…like a fine bottle of wine, i’m getting better with age. its amazing that has taken this long to find this place in the journey. i choose the title “consortium” to sort of stir it up a little. beyond the crazy chugging contest (gone in 60 secs….we learned you could down a 32 oz coke in 19 seconds…amazing stuff). i’ve heard other good reviews so i guess…perhaps i’m finding my voice. it still is a very tiring process. but it is very good stuff.

announced the final take on our youthscape campaign and we’ve already begun stepping into the demo process. there’s lot to do…many work arounds to get things in order from the many modifications and remodels on the older part of our building. a lot of stranded issues. so i’m hoping that i can give some oversight to the loose ends, getting them resolved and step into the new image in just a couple of months. one very encouraging thing came in the 57 volunteers that signed up this weekend. that was a huge step in the right direction.

on another front, our pal alan root is making a trip to the outpost for a family concert. if you’re in the area 8/9 of Sept…you’ll have to stop by. i’m praying we pack the place. he’s coming has been a huge encouragement to our children’s ministry folks and i know it will be a great evening of fun. its been 8 years since i met him. we’ve continued a great friendship. its been a couple since i’ve seen him face to face. but it’s for sure to be a great evening. to prep for it i had lunch yesterday with our common friend mark zimmerman at wcrf radio in cleveland. we metup at our usual haunt at the buffalo wild wings at 18 & 71. many great conversations. mark got bit a few years ago by the “mission” bug. he’s made several trips aboard and that has impacted him in a huge way. he’s got a new project…1 night on the street i helped him set up a new domain and website last night and added him to the world of wordpress bloggers. check him out and leave comment that you like what he’s up to. it’s interesting to be able to add to the conversation about the need for social change through programs other than government. mark has an interesting take on it…and we’ll see what happens. finally i grabbed a couple cool shots of the moon. including getting up at 5 yesterday to grab the lunar eclipse.

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i’m in the teaching queue again this weekend. the title for the teaching is “consortium.” my attempt will be to draw our adults into a better understanding of the many things they have to offer especially to those that are younger at our outpost. i’m hoping that it will be a stepping off spot of invitation to invest in the lives of our students.

one of the songs we’ll work through is a new addition to the play list. it comes from our friends at sovereign grace in md. i had passed along to our worship folks a couple of months ago. we’ve used a couple of times already, and my pal adam, our youth worship leader added it to the mix. let your kingdom come it comes from the an old purtian prayer…the valley of vision. i hadn’t looked at it till now.

The Valley of Vision
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine; let me find Thy light in my darkness, Thy life in my death, Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin, Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley.

its been like a monsoon around here. it literally rained all night and i think the final downfall was around 5 inches in 24 hours. i grabbed this picture on the way to the office this morning. i love the look on the cow’s (can’t tell if its a steer?) face. has done well for rose’s garden. she brought in the first round of tomatoes tonite. the way it looks out there in the garden is that them fruits have been fruitful. she put them in the crock tonite to begin to simmer down, which means the house will have an incredible aroma. great stuff.