What a weekend

Man, very full weekend, but good stuff.

Megan's 8th birthday complete with a train ride to a pumpkin patch, good times.

Our Community Gathering on Sunday at our house was a heavy topic for me. We've been tackling theological issues once a month at our gatherings and this month's topic was "divorce". I thought I could just glide by it and talk about what Scripture teaches, but instead all my baggage just came up out of nowhere and destroyed me. My parents divorce is my most painful chapter of my life and every so often it hits me in another wave. It reveals how much of my behavior is just trying to seek approval because of never having that security growing up. I know that many have that experience even w/out going through a divorce, this just happened to be how my life has played out. There is plenty of redemption in my life, Godly men who mentored me as Father-figures at key points in my life, a New Testament re-defining of family and my own marriage and children as the foundation of my life. Even in the midst of that, I am broken at times. I wept on Sunday morning before people came over. And then this morning, some time in between my run and getting ready for work, I heard a voice. And it said, "Chris, I'm so proud of you and I love you." Holy Smokes that feels so good to hear from the Father who has never left me and never forsaken me. I remembered that this was the part of the Gospel that converted my heart while in my bedroom at 17 years old and made a decision for life instead of ending my life w/ some pills in depression and pain. God is good and I need to spend more time receiving His love that is sufficient and satisfying.

Liberty House Church last night as well was just great communal discussion on how Jesus presented the Kingdom of God as a mystery to be understood, and not in concrete language we can control. We discussed Nicodemus in John 3 and his conversation with Jesus. The Kingdom is a mystery, yet it is seen and understood in the person of Jesus. He is the key, He is the gate, He is the only Way to a complete understanding and experience of the Kingdom of God.

Lastly, in house church circles, we often wrestle with "Children's ministry" and what to do with kids. Teenagers developmentally very much can connect to worship and discussion with the adults, but what about school age kids? Well, the past couple weeks, in a vacuum of us adults doing nothing, our kids started organically creating their own. A couple of the older kids took their Bible, read a story with the younger kids, then spent the rest of their time planning a skit re-enacting the story for us adults when we were finished. They set up chairs outside and creatively played out Adam and Eve (w/out the nakedness) for us. It was AWESOME! Last week, they acted out Noah's Ark. I think they're on to something here, maybe us adults need to stay out of the way and let the kids do Biblical community in their way. Whatever it is, I think its fruit that the virus of the Kingdom is taking root with the next generations.

Stop and notice the Kingdom around you today,