Writer's Strike

OK. It's officially been three and a half months since I posted anything on my blog. Would you believe that I was part of the writer's strike? I didn't think so. I was wondering the other day how long you could leave your blog without posting before someone "canceled" you. Apparently, you can leave it forever.

Well, I'm not going to make any promises about frequency of posts or anything like that, but I'm back for today anyway. I've sat down to do this a couple of times now. I've always just quit and moved on, though. We keep all of our pictures on Kelsey's computer and it never seems to be here when I'm ready to post. If you look back and see some posts you've never seen before, it's probably because I've been back-posting. There are a few things I want to write about for my own personal record.

I've been meeting with the girls from my small group on Wednesday mornings for coffee. I've been talking a lot about how our life just seems "normal" right now. Nothing exceptional happening beyond the exceptional of the every day. Every morning as I leave this group, I've been thinking to myself "What am I missing?" The Lord doesn't usually let me "coast" this long.

Last night I got my boat rocked a little. It started with the sermon. It was about discipleship and the struggle between grace and works. It started with this great song called "changed." I wasn't able to find the recorded song, but here's a link to the lyrics. Right after worship, our small group meets. We've been doing a series called "Your Life on Loan." Last night the topic was "your relationships on loan." My good friend Becky was giving the testimony. It seems like almost every time she speaks she encourages me to do something better than I've been doing it. Yesterday was no exception.

Between the video and the group discussion, I was really convicted that I've been missing lots of opportunities. I've been keeping to myself a lot. Definitely not in the lives of my neighbors. I've been managing my time poorly. I'm usually in too much of a hurry to notice anyone else around me. But most of all I was really convicted that I've been neglecting the spiritual formation of my kids. There's lots of little opportunities during the day that I've been letting slip by. I really started thinking that I've been talking to Ezra more about letters and math than I have been about Jesus. Don't get me wrong. Letters and math are important, too. But I want Ezra to know what's really important to us. We've got some work to do. Thanks to everyone in Salt and Light for the encouragement.