I was hungry and you fed me…
I am very excited to announce a new partnership for theAlley. TST catering has generously offered to provide a free weekly meal for those in need. We will begin hosting this every Wed. as soon as we can get a team put together on our end and the word out to the community.
Praise God and pray that he uses this to His glory!
Permalink Comments Off
Vandalism
The Alley’s van has been vandalized twice now and the steering column completely destroyed. The van, and everything around it is just stuff, but there is a somebody who is behind it.
Join me in praying for them. May our God show them who He truly is.
Permalink Comments Off
Needs no Introduction
This has been floating around for a while but fits well with what we’ve been talking about lately. @ Susan, thanks for shooting this my way and I love the note, “no golf clapping here!”
Permalink Comments Off
Know Why…
I’ve been rereading a little book called, Life is Tremendous and ran into a great little truth.
“You can teach someone how to do a task, but that doesn’t assure his doing it. But let him discover why and he’ll learn how in spite of all obstacles. The key is not how to live but why you are living.”
As a parent I spend a lot of time teaching my children how I want them to behave and not enough on why.
As a church we spend a lot of time talking about how to follow Jesus, but do we get to the heart of why we follow Him?
If we catch the why, the how will follow.
Know Your Enemy…
We are starting a new series this week on Spiritual warfare. It is called, Know Your Enemy: Our battle is not against flesh and blood. We will be dealing specifically with Satan’s tactics and the lies that he tells us.
Be in prayer for this. I’m praying for the Spirit to move powerfully in these next few weeks and for the “captives to be set free”!
Organizing
It seems that every 3 months or so, in attempt at being more efficient with my time I step back and put a new system on place. I’ve used planners, notebooks, calendars and assistants but I think I’m finally stumbling into a system that will work in the long term. I guess we’ll know for sure in a few weeks.
Instead of 40 post it notes and lists in multiple notebooks I broke down and bought a program called “Things” for the phone and the mac. It’s a lifesaver for keeping things in front of me and has some quick access for quick brain dumps, which I need often. But even with that I end up with really long and sometimes overwhelming to-do lists…
So, the real breakthrough came. Instead of organizing around specific tasks, I’m implementing a home grown system based around the type of work that needs to be done.
I’ve identified 4 categories of working that I need to be doing on a regular basis to be sharp, focused, effective and Spirit led.
They are…
1) Connecting
2) Creating
3) Learning
4) Tasking
It seems that creativity comes in spurts and the busier I get the less time I have to invest. Tasks also overwhelm learning. I also need to be fed, spiritually fed. Whether that be quiet time with my wife and the Bible in the morning or reading up on the latest insight from others, it is necessary.
So, call this a resolution, or just the next phase… but pray that out of it comes true effectiveness!
Holy Week
This is our Superbowl! Believe me, Easter is more than honey roasted hams and family gatherings… this is an eternally significant deal. The one holiday we will most definitely be celebrating for the next 10,000 years.
You’re welcome to join the party with us this Sunday…
or Friday for a reflective and interactive Good Friday worship…
Thank you…
From the Friends in Need Foodshelf…
“Dear Alley Congregation,
Thank you so much for the 568 lbs. of food and the $150.11 you donated over the month. We really appreciate all you do for us!”
Way to go church!!
Exploding Tires
Months ago I blogged about a group called the Junky Car Club. Their motto is “Living with Less, So We can Give More” A junky car bumper sticker has proudly been displayed on the back of my Saturn since then. Apparently my car was not yet junky enough…
A few months ago the tire on my car quite literally exploded… while the car was parked in the driveway. (see picture below) Oddly enough, a week later, the spare became a second victim to the driveway explosion. The picture was taken after replacing the second tire.
Lessons learned from this…
1) Time to clean out the garage. The driveway is no longer a safe place to park.
2) Need to bike more often.
3) As much as you try you can’t prepare for everything.
But here’s why I tell you. My car’s surprise explosion brought more blessing than calamity.
A few good friends of mine recognized my inability to fix… well anything and offered to help. They took a Friday night out of their life to not only fix the fender of my car but weld a new tailpipe on as well.
Thanks Shawn, Jon and Mark for being such good friends and examples.
Imagine if we all had our eyes open to the exploding tires around us. Who knows how God could use us!
Awe
I suppose it’s no surprise as I am the “preacher”, but sometimes I leave a Sunday feeling preachy.
But I just need to say, that in spite of me, I so enjoyed seeing the Spirit move in our church on Sunday. The prayer time, the communion time, the way that God moved in His people sometimes just leaves me in awe.
Praise God, for He is truly the heart and soul of this church!
