Starbucks: The Saga Continues

Just a quick update. I did hear something from Starbucks. I spoke to the manager who wants to hire me. We are going to get together following my trip to Mexico. She didn't have any time this week and obviously I'm not available next week. So I think I'm one step closer to joining the working ranks again.

A Passover Feast

Our community gathers on Thursday evenings. Since we won't be celebrating Easter together (as on Sunday), we decided to celebrate differently this season. We held a Passover Seder at our home last night for our community. Thankfully, my friend Danielle is Jewish and was able to guide me through the process and provide these really cool Haggadah books that walked us through the ceremony/feast.

There was a beauty to the whole event that truly surprised me. Every part of the meal had significance both for our Jewish ancestors as well as for our Christian experience. It helped me to see more clearly even what Christ would have been doing as he raised the matzah over his head and broke it. This is done in every Seder for thousands of years. "This is my body." Jesus said. And he raised his cup of wine...again as is done in every Passover. "This is my blood." The symbolism of the event was deep and beautiful and full of richness. I've often said that the more I learn about Judaism, the richer my faith is. Well, that statement was never more true for me than last night.

The communal aspect was awesome. Everyone participated. The kids were included in the whole message/feast. The story was told, interpreted and lived out as we shared a very special meal together.

One funny side note to our evening came as we were finishing the Seder. I had ordered a Passover Kit that had many of the utensils and instructions on how to do a Seder. I ordered it one month ago. Well it was backordered. They assured me they would still get it here in time. I called yesterday and they confirmed that it would be delivered that day. As we were finishing the final cup of wine and final blessing, Fedex delivered our kit on the front porch. I had already told everyone the story when Fedex arrived. We all got a big kick out of it.

Blessings on your Good Fridays, Easter Sundays and all your festivities. We are heading to join family for Easter and then off to Mexico to build a home for a family.

Pray for Victims of Accident

Cynthia just called me to ask me to pray for Tom a fire fighter who was involved in the accident out in Upland this morning. Apparently a bus ran into a firetruck on Interstate 10. One person died and many are injured. Cynthia's good friend Kathy is Tom's brother. He is having brain surgery today as a result of the accident. At least 3 firefighters were hurt in the accident. Please pray for all the peope and families of those involved in the accident.

ADHD or Just Plain Impatience?

This morning Mimi and the girls were off to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) so I decided to go work out at the YMCA. During my workout I ran into Roger & Alma Fowble and Melanie. Both Alma and Melanie are in Mimi's MOPS group. So I struck up a conversation with Alma about MOPS yesterday. There were two doctors talking about kid issues...and quite a few questions directed around the ADHD thing. Roger suggested that I had an interest there because I have ADHD. I simply told him that I'd grown out of it 6 months ago.

This has a bearing on my reality right now because I am getting impatient. I want to know from God and Starbucks whether this is where I am supposed to serve. It has been a week since my interview last Monday and I want to know. Now my impatience comes out in other areas as well, but right now I am struggling to trust God with my future... or even my present for that matter. I'm sure God is trying to tell me something. I just haven't figured it out yet. Hopefully, He won't make me wait too much longer.

Dog Training 101

Yesterday a friend of ours, actually a former student in our youth ministry, came over to help us train our very large (105 lbs.) labrador retriever, named Samson. Samson is now 6 years old and when he was very small, went to Puppy Preschool. However, he long since forgotten the lessons he learned back then.

Our day was filled with walks, play and lots of instructions for us! Now if he is the one being trained why do I have to be the one to remember the instructions? I have to remember instructions about eating...when, where, etc. There are lessons about going in and out of doors. I have to decide when and how he can play with his toys. In fact I've come to the realization that he didn't learn a thing. Yesterday was a schooling for Me!

Mimi and I noted all the similarities in working with our two adorable little girls. Just about every lesson we learned about Samson had a correlation to how we are raising our girls. So even if Samson continues in his wayward ways, at least we picked up some helpful hints in working with our other kids.

An Almost Perfect Day

Tuesday afternoon I was invited to go sailing with some friends. Having only sailed once before, I jumped at the opportunity to go. The weather was beautiful and it looked to be a great day off the coast of Ventura. We were encouraged when we reached the marina as there was a slight breeze blowing. We were hopeful that we could set sail into the wild blue yonder. Well, that would be quite an overstatement for our journey.

We putted along behind the small motor until we got out aways. Then we hoisted the sails and looked for wind. We went in one direction and the other...at between 1 and 5 knots (not very speedy for you non-nautical types). We did enjoy eating peauts and sunflower seeds and drinking diet Cokes. But the wind never showed and so we putted back to the marina.

It made me think of my life. Sometimes no matter where I go, I can't seem to get the wind to move me. I try a little of this and a little of that, but nothing seems to work. When the wind does show up it can be quite exhilerating, but when it doesn't disappointment can set in. While I enjoy the windy days much more, I am learning that often times God will work on me during the still times. Though I get restless, He draws me close. Though I long for the noise of life, He speaks in the stillness.

I am still hoping for some wind...the next time I go out. But for now I am thankful for the time I spent with friends out on the water.

Starbucks Take 2

Someone wise once said, "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again." Not long afterwards someone wiser said, "If at first you don't succeed, throw in the towell you'll save yourself time and a whole lot of effort." Well I'm not quite that wise yet. So I am giving another go to the Starbucks Corporation. I had another interview on Monday. I think it went well. They told me I should know something by next Monday. So the waiting game continues...

Sam & Frodo

As most of you know by now, we are winding down a series at our home church based on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Last night we talked about friendship for the journey, and particularly in regards to the relationship between Sam and Frodo. Well, my dog Samson was his usual nuisance during our gathering and so I had to yell Sam more than once. At one point, my friend Mark quipped, "I think it's funny that you're Frodo and he's Sam." We all got a great laugh. I added that Sam listened to Frodo much more than Samson listens to me.

Tiffany

When I first met Tiffany about 6 weeks ago, she had bottle blonde hair and was eating a tv dinner on the couch. I (Mimi) decided to walk next door and introduce myself because her 2 youngest children, Dylan (5) and Taylor (2) had spent the last several days ringing my doorbell asking if the girls could come out and play. From there they wanted to come and play inside and even though I always said, "Go ask your Mama if it's OK," I still felt that I should introduce myself as the Mother of this house where they had been disappearing to. I knocked on her garage door and we talked briefly—she was shy and softspoken— then she disappeared back inside, leaving me to watch out for her children who were playing out front with mine. Dylan and Taylor have been Natalie and Becca's constant companions for the last month. Those 2 were always playing, unsupervised, in their garage when we came home from the grocery store, or the library, or the gym, asking if the girls could play even before we'd stepped out of the car. My collection of bikes and trikes became community property, my floor tracked with dog poop from when Taylor stepped in it in my backyard and then came inside to have a snack.

On Tuesday, Tiffany came with me to the Bible Study Fellowship group I attend weekly. Bob watched her 2 kids so she could attend the intro day and get them registered for the children's program. In the car on the 25 minute drive each way, I asked Tiffany about her story. It was good to see more of her than what she appeared to be. Thursday night, she came to church at our house, for the second time. Her kids joined right in with the 7-8 others, learning Bible verses and making crafts along with the rest. This night she asked for prayer. Her simple request was, "That my heart would know what my head already does," and she started to cry. We all prayed for her and then I sat and talked with her while everyone else did dessert. She had had a fight with her husband, so we sent her home with diapers, my phone number and a Bible. We agreed to have her over for lunch next week.

Yesterday afternoon, I got a call from Tiffany at the bus station. She had packed up her 3 kids and was taking a bus back home to Florida. Even though I managed to say some appropriate things and pray with her before she got on the bus, this phone call left me in shock. Obviously, I hadn't seen the situation as desperate as it was to her. I felt like a counselor who is talking a suicidal person down from the ledge and then without warning, they jump. She left the bag of diapers and the Bible for me to pick up next door from her husband, who is still living there.

"Lord," I ask, "why did you bring Tiffany into my life?" We were excited about her coming to church here and starting Biblestudy and asking for a Bible. I was even growing to love Dylan and Taylor who rang my doorbell over and over again during naptime, who left playdough and chalk all over our driveway, and who were finally responding to my lessons in cleaning up and putting toys away.

Was it because I was needing a lesson in giving without any thought of return? Or in loving the unloveable? About being a blessing to others because I have been blessed by the Lord by so much? Or for me to work on the area of my personality that hesitates and agonizes over what I should do. I almost gave her the cash out of the offering basket sitting on my coffee table that night, but I didn't. I had wanted to give her a Bible of her own, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I'd been meaning to have her over for lunch for a while, but the days had been to full to find an opening. Looking back, I wish I had seized the moment more.

Do you have a Tiffany in your life? With whom the Lord would like you to seize the moment before it is gone? Do you have any stories to share?

Mimi

A Full House

One of the things about organic church is that it is in a continual state of flux. If you read our blog or newsletters you get the sense that we don't really know how many people are involved in our church or what their commitment would be to our vision. This is absolutely true! It reminds me of the great quote by the theologian of the last decade, Forest Gump. "Life (insert organic church) is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

We had our largest gathering ever with 13 children and 12 adults this week. At the current rate the kids will completely take over by June! Anyway, God continues to bring fresh faces and lives in need of redemption. We are doing our best to meet people where they are at in the spirit and love of Jesus. At the same time we are realizing that multiplying is becoming a necessity. My house cannot take many more people, especially of the little variety. So we are praying about God's timing and how that will all work out.

Thanks for taking the time to listen and pray with us.

Bob