porchpondering.com

Announcing...

I am totally enjoying this season of Advent. As I look back over the past year, I see many expressions of God's faithfulness in my life.

(1) I finally finished the D.Min program at Columbia. It feels good to not have to study for classes.

(2) We had a wonderful family vacation even though our landlord gave us a little more than a month to move out of our house on Old Spire. It was a great vacation because

(3) the Presbytery stepped forward to help us move into a home of our own. September was the culmination of many hopes and dreams.

(4) We have enjoyed the many opportunities to host events in our home since then.

Yet the one thing that remained unsettled for most of the year was the Worship Team Leader position.

Well, the wait is finally over! I'm thrilled to announce the addition of Matthew Stark (see picture) to our worship team. Matthew comes to us at Village Presbyterian Church after having served for many years at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Hills. He's a gifted musician with a heart for the Lord and the work we are doing in Ladera Ranch. As I see it now, it was worth the wait.

Thankfully, we have been blessed by the hard work of many talented musicians over the past several months. I'm confident that these same musicians will come appreciate Matthew as much as I do. You're invited to welcome Matthew and his family at the evening service on Christmas Eve (4 o'clock at the Ladera Ranch School) or on his first Sunday morning with us (that will be January 7, 2007).

Good News

Good news comes to us in many forms. In this season of Christmas we give thanks for the good news that is ours through the birth of Jesus Christ. As the work of Christ continues in the world, we give thanks for the many small ways we participate in what God is doing among us. Our trip to Miracle Ranch was perfectly planned. We were able to add much needed supplies to shelves that were pretty sparse. So also, I was encouraged by the faith and enthusiasm of Cesar. He said simply, "the Lord provides." He's absolutely right. I guess it's a life-long lesson.

I'm also glad to announce a new addition to the staff of Village Presbyterian Church. We'll be sending a letter in the days ahead and, as soon as I get the information in order, I'll say something on this site as well. Until then, let me encourage you to attend the 4 o'clock service on Christmas eve where you'll see a few new faces on the worship team.

Supply Run Tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll be heading down for a quick trip to Miracle Ranch. I haven't been there for several months and so it will be good to see how things are going there. John N. will be joining me on this expedition. It will be good to have someone with whom I can share the journey.

It looks like we will be painting backdrops for the Christmas Eve service on Sunday at my house starting at 3 p.m. If you're an art-ist and would like to participate, give me a call.

I'm really excited about our Christmas Eve service. Matthew Stark will be leading the team for the 4 o'clock service. We're putting together an "instant pageant" with all the children. We also have music from two choirs: older kids and younger kids. Thanks to Robin and the Monday Funday gang for bringing everything together. It's going to be cool!

In Color

I pulled together our 2006 Christmas letter yesterday. Black and white copies will be sent via "snail mail" but you can check out the color version here.

New from Apple

The harddrive on my PowerBook failed this week but thankfully it was still under the Apple Care warranty. It's taken a while to get everything loaded again but I'm glad to know I've got a good machine. Things were starting to go painfully slow over the past several weeks. So with a new harddrive and a new battery (received a few weeks ago after the recall), this computer is practically brand new!

I might not have a ton of readers here but I want to call attention to a new blog by a friend of mine, Chris Pritchett. Chris is on staff of PCOM, a student at Fuller (very bright), a loving husband and father, a leader of young people and thoughtful follower of Jesus. I've included him on the friends link on this page so you can easily check out his blog after thoroughly reading mine.

Very Funny

Jesus and Testosterone

I'll be the first to admit that Christianity is not for wimps but Brad Stine might be pushing things a bit too far. Check out the column one article in today's Los Angeles Times (online here or pdf). And yet he makes several good points. How do we reach men with gospel? Touchy-feely worship might not be the best approach. As for taking charge for the household, I hope the day will come when Eric Miller (a guy in the story) realizes that you can demonstrate godly leadership by working with your wife to care for your children. Jesus was manly enough to let children sit on his lap even though the disciples figured he had more important things to do (see Mark 10:13-16).

Missing Worship

If you missed worship on Sunday morning, so did I. It was the first time, for as many Sundays as I can remember, that I was too sick to come to church. That's generally acceptable for most people but since it's my job to preach, missing Sunday caused me to do some serious thinking.

Here are a few of my conclusions:

(1) Everyone of us is expendable, even the preacher. When people miss worship on a Sunday morning because they're sick, we give grace. I was grateful for the grace I received through the well-wishes and the prayers of many. Even though I felt worthless, I was reminded that my worth doesn't come from what I do but rather who I am by faith in Christ.

(2) If everything depends on one person, we're in big trouble. It's good to know I serve with a capable colleague like Pastor Leanne. Without hesitation she stepped to the plate to serve, as did many others in various ways. It was comforting to know that I belong to such a capable team. I was pleased to hear that everything went so well in my absence.

It's funny because I always figured that God would give me an extra measure of protection, especially against flu-bugs on a Saturday night, because I'm a preacher. I now see the error of my ways. God loves me as much as God loves everyone else. It's my privilege to be included in the line-up every Sunday and I'm glad to serve with such a strong roster of players. It's also good to know that in the absence of one or a few, it's not "game over" for us. God's work goes forth even as God continues to choose our frail humanity to accomplish something beautiful in the world.