Playing basketball every week is a great way to stay in shape.  Over the summer months the guys I run with can’t play ball so I have to find a different way to stay not too out of shape.  Running and other things that health nuts do bore me.  I’ve tried to jog a couple times a week, and have even been successful for a few months at a time.  It’s become apparent that I’m a product of the information age.  If I’m going to be locked into something it has to entertain me.

Bruce Evans gave me a bike a few weeks back.  It’s a 21 speed!  The last time I rode a bike 15 speeds were extreme.  At Vanda’s prompting I actually got on the bike last week and went for a ride of about 6 miles.  It’s a bit more engaging than running.  Maybe that’s because I travel a much farther distance or something like that.  From about the second tenth of a mile a couple of obstacles to my enjoyment began to make their mark.  My backside, which seems cushioned enough, became sore and so did my palms.  What a bummer (pun intended)!  It gives me an even greater respect for people like my brother-in-law, Simon, who does this kind of stuff and circles entire countries in the process – and just for fun.  He lives in England so the surrounding countries are a bit smaller.  Still quite spectacular. 

Our web site gives me the ability to see statistics like from where most people are referred to our site.  Last month it was some NorthEast Ohio runners page.  I can only begin to wonder how they’ve taken the picture at the top of this screen.  Maybe I fooled you guys into thinking I’m really a runner?  (Yeah, I’m sure!).  Either way, now you know the truth.

Anyway, I’ll keep trying.  We are mind, body and spirit after all.  I suppose exercise will remain a thorn in my flesh.

P.S. – Putting more pictures on this page is something that would interest people.  In light of the title of this blog, we’ll start next time.

Once again a dozen or so Gaters hit the streets to give pop out to unsuspecting beneficiaries of a taste (literally) of God’s generosity.  This time there were obstacles to overcome.  The rain held off for most of our time at the “Y” in northern Columbiana.  Even with the rain we kept on giving.  And, at the worst possible time (right after The Give), our web site went down again!  It’s painful to consider how many people went to visit our site and couldn’t last night or this morning to see who it was that gave them a pop last evening and why.  The site is up now, though (obviously)!

For those of you new to the concept, we give out 500 cans of pop as people are stopped a the red light and refuse any sort of remuneration.  Our pop cans have a small card inserted under the tab that simply reads “thirsty?”, and our web address for those that might want to learn more about who we are and why we go through the trouble and expense for such a small gesture.

Here’s the reason: The God we serve and Who loves us is a generous God that wants everyone to know that they can have life to the extreme if they learn how from the One Who made them.  It’s a spiritual journey that we’re all on and that only some of us fully experience, even those who are life-long church goers.  God is a God Who gives, and so we will be His church that gives.  He’s a God worth finding more about.

 So . . . Thirsty?

Exactly 20 years ago to the day – this very day – I walked across the stage of the Civic Center in Syracuse, NY, to accept my diploma as a graduate of George W. Fowler High School.  It’s hard to believe.  Like most of you who’ve reached this milestone, I can assure y0u that if if someone had told me that I’d be doing what I’m doing today I’d have laughed uncontrollably at their failure to grasp reality.  I’d be even more surprised to learn that I would eventually use the word “vicissitude” correctly in a sentence (see last blog).  Ten years ago I would still have laughed, though not as heartily I suppose.

This is filed under “random thoughts” because there is no point to this entry.  Maybe I just wanted to celebrate the road I’ve been on, the very crooked road with ups and downs which has led me to where God has brought me?  It’s okay to celebrate.  It’s important to remember.  God encourages us to do both. 

A sense of dominance has flooded my veins.  My home is certainly my castle.  I’m on a mountaintop of masculine might.  You’re reading the words of a man who truly rules his residence, a powerful proprietor, a vanquisher of vicissitude.

I fixed our phone.

So I’m making a big deal of out a little thing (I even had to look up that last word).  We’ve been home owners for about 2 1/2 years now and it’s only since then that I’ve tried to fix anything.  Now I’m a home owner and now I must act like one.  Our phone started acting up last week and eventually keeled.  The online trouble shooting tool told me to check the box outside to verify that it wasn’t the phone companie’s problem.  It wasn’t.  So I spent large part of the day Monday trying to find info on what was wrong and how I could fix it.

It became apparent that it was a problem with our phone jacks.  Those wires hadn’t seen the light of day in nearly half a century.  I had never seen phone wires before at all.  There were only four and they were color coded to make it easier.  What had seemed a daunting task wasn’t that big of a deal when I actually looked into it.  Calling my brother Tom, who is the ultimate fixer upper guy, helped a great deal as well.

On Sunday we talked about how those of us who are working hard at life to make ends meet.  Many of us feel like we are just spinning our wheels in an attempt to live the dream.  We can’t get traction and are going nowhere.  God uses these times to get our attention.  He wants more of us.  He wants us to remember that we made a commitment to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ and to recognize how easy it is for us to relinquish this drive when distracted by our own interests (“where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”).  When we remember this and refocus ourselves on our relationship with Him we start to recover that often-elusive traction.  I’ve read that the Bible is not a rule book meant to condemn, but a guide on living life as God intended.  As we start to follow this guide a funny thing happens: we begin to see who it is that God actually made us to be.

Fixing things around the house is not a new passion of mine.  All I’m saying is that I was faced with the task of a homeowner and if I hadn’t met it head on – if I’d caved and spent hard earned dollars on a professional electrician to do a job that is quite managable - I would have missed out on what it means to be a home-owner. 

Our church’s vision statement deliberately uses the word “proactive” to describe our approach to experience life to the fullest extent.  We’ll be focusing on this a bit more over the summer and into the fall.  We’ve discovered that it’s the only way to truly be rich.

We’re doing The Gate Give again a week from tomorrow.  On Friday evening, June 27, travelers along North Main Street where it forms a “Y” with route 46 in Columbiana who are fortunate enough to hit a red light will receive a free Pepsi or diet Pepsi from The Gate, just because.  I know many people who read this blog and are in the Columbiana area read it because of the last Give we did.  The same day the number of visits to our site increased by about 70 per day – that’s great for such a small city - and that last couple of days has increased by about thirty more than that.

If you’re interested in being involved in The Gate Give, even if you’re not from our church (or don’t even consider yourself a Christian) but like the idea of giving something for nothing, let me know by emailing me at dave@gatechurchlife.org

For all of you Gaters out there, let me know of your availability by either emailing me or signing up on Sunday morning.  It will also be great if a few of you are available to take a few boxes home to put in your fridges.  I’ll have a bunch with me when we meet for worship this week.

See you at the Give!

Sunday, June 8, was a big day for me.  It was the first day ever for me to wear shorts to preach.  It was the first day ever for me to wear shorts to church at all.  I was inspired by Mike Mazanowski, a young Dad who has been attending our church with his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter.  Mike came to church three weeks ago wearing shorts and looked very comfortable, joyful and ready to worship.

Our church is a place where people can come as they are.  This has been a value of our from the start.  While I was deliberating with myself about whether or not to wear shorts, my wife reminded me of this value and asked if we really meant it.  Talk about getting hit right between the eyes!  Of course we mean it.  And, if we really believe it then we should actually live it.  Anything else is hypocrisy.

Other Christians believe differently, and that’s fine.  The need to approach God with respect is unquestionable and if what you wear is your way of showing respect then by all means do it.  Really, this isn’t sarcasm on my part.  If we can’t tolerate how others approach God how can we expect them to tolerate how we approach Him? 

But, what if respecting God has more to do with telling people about Him in a way they can relate to Him than it does with donning your best duds.  My children act a certain way out of respect for me and what I’ve taught them.  God constantly tells us in the Bible of the importance of relating His message of hope so that people can know Him.  He spends precious little time telling us what to wear as we do it.  If this is true, then we must recognize that there are those who relate to God better wearing a suit, and there are those who prefer wearing shorts.  God accepts every approach to Him that involves a genuine desire to know Him better.  Living life the same way is the best way to show Him respect.

By the way, I’ll probably be wearing shorts on Sundays for most of the summer.

 Thanks for the reminder, Mike.

First of all . . . we’re back!  Some computer database thingy kept our blogs offline for a couple of days, but Daryl once again figured it out.

The last blog I posted last week that didn’t seem to stick was about our new series which started on Fathers’ Day.  I must admit, talking about this subject for a new church scared me initially, but I’ve recently read a great new book that indicates that new churches that are successful are those that talk about money in the first six months of their existence!  We talked indirectly about finances during the Christmas season.  Now we’ll take a closer look.

On Fathers’ Day the teaching from the Bible was the story of the lost Son.  This was a guy who was born into wealth and demanded his share of the father’s estate before his dad had even died.  This may seem bad today, but it was even worse then.  If we’re going to know how to be rich we must first recognize that we are.  I’ve recently read that if you make $37,000/yr you are in the top 4% of wage-earners in the world.  All of the stats weren’t made available, but I wonder how far down the list those who make $30,000 are?  Maybe in the top 10%?  Still not too shabby.  Most of us are rich, we just need to know how to live that way. 

This story focused on how this son, even after wasting all of his Dad’s money, was welcomed back by Dad who had been eagerly watching out for him.  Wealth has a double meaning in this story: material and spiritual.  People who have messed up so much with God tend to avoid Him because they fear judgement, but Jesus’ story here tells us differently.  Like the son in this story, we tend to begin to understand God’s generosity at the point we need it most.

Yesterday was the funeral for Dee Kidd, the mother of Kimmy McLaughlin.  Kimmy and her hubby Kevin happen to be two of the founding members of The Gate.  The evidence of their devotion to God has been made plain since I’ve gotten to know them over the past couple of years (Especially in view of their supernatural inclination to effectively work with middle-school aged children.  What a gift!).

Dee had been a friend of mine for only the last two months of her life.  She was deeply in love with her fantastic husband of 35 years and one day, Ken, almost as much as she was a lover of Jesus Christ (and still is!).  Dee was only 58 years old.  So, it begs the question of even the most mature Christian: “Why would Jesus allow this to happen to such an awesome lady?” 

At the funeral we talked about how Jesus was angry, agitated an very sad at the death of His friend Lazarus.  His anger came when He saw believers in the Resurrection, Lazarus’ sister & other mourners, crying as if they saw no hope in the situation (John 11:33).  Friends, Jesus shows us in this story that it’s both okay and very natural to mourn.  It’s even fine to feel angry at the reality of death.  Death wasn’t God’s plan.  He made Adam and Eve to live forever, but our sin put an end to that.  Tragedy opens us up to the reality of the Supernatural; to ask the tough questions about life (remember how many went to church the week after 9/11?).  Jesus uses the pain of death so that we will be more open to something far greater than we ever imagined . . . life in Jesus Christ.  But be careful that what you see as a present reality doesn’t overcome the reality you’ve already become familiar with: Jesus Christ has freed you from eternal death to start living an eternal life right now, if you trust in Him.

Dee would be more than honored to know that as a result of her death, somebody started asking tough questions about Jesus Christ on their way to experiencing life – real life – for the first time.  Life that will last through eternity.

Sorry about gettin’ all preachy on you, but I felt this would be the best way to honor an awesome lady.  Feel free to comment on this blog if you have any questions about Jesus and the hope He brings for this life and the next.  You can instruct me not to post it if you wish, or to post it anonymously.

Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

How can I begin to praise God enough?!  The Gate Give I told you about in our last blog – the thing where we were planning on giving out 1,000 cans of pop at an intersection in Columbiana – went extremely well.  About a dozen or so of us Gaters met at 6:30 pm on Friday, May 30, 2008, and gave pop out for about 1 1/2 hours to anybody stopped at a red light at the intersection that forms a “Y” where route 164 and N. Main Street split on the northern part of the city.  You learn as you go!  It looks like 1,000 was a bit ambitious since we actually gave out 500.  Good thing is . . . we can do this again.

The hits on our web site have increased exponentially.  The amount of visits in May had averaged in the late teens to early twenties per day until the last two days of May when they shot up to 71 per day!

Our objective was simple: give out as many cans of pop for free before the light turned green.  No obligation placed on the recipients.  No conversation required.  Most people were very surprised that we were simply giving something out for free – no strings attached.  Under the tab of each pop can was a small card the read: “Thirsty?”, along with our web address at the bottom.  The Gaters had a blast doing it.  Seeing the pleasure on people’s faces was enough for me.  Simple, isn’t it?: the act of receiving something for free based only on the beneficiaries’ acceptance of the gift?  Sounds alot like something else.  If you’re interested in a far more significant free gift, be our guest this Sunday at The Gate!

Great job with organizing this Pam Tabak, and awesome pictures Bethany Davis!