Job Satisfaction in the United States

I read this article called Job Satisfaction in the United States and it made me laugh out loud. Apparently there was a legitimate survey taken by some folks from the University of Chicago and the results suggested that people are happier in some fields than others. Guess I have the best of both worlds. However, the survey is flawed at its foundation. Honestly, I think happiness and fulfillment in your career path has to do with understanding your purpose in life & God's calling for you. You could be a parade horse poop scooper and have the happiest job in the world if you realized that God wanted you there and you came to peace with that. Question to ask is why do people in certain fields feel more fulfillment in their career choice? Should have less to do with the career and more to do with the individual.
Can I get a witness?

Busy September

Oops. Missed my September blog so guess I'll have to post two in rapid succession to make up for it. September was crazy busy. One of the highlights was travelling down to Los Angeles to perform a wedding for a youth group kid from 10 years ago. Got to take the kids to Disneyland and got to go to my own disneyland called the Wedge. For someone who's life story sometimes feels fractured by constantly moving it's very enjoyable to keep connections with friends from the past. And always a real privilege and honor to perform these sacred rites for people. Very powerful stuff. Also a blast when the junior high kid from ten years ago that you used to play worship songs with happens to be leading the garage band at the reception and invites you to sing Journey with them. Partially sated and partially rekindled my desire to one day lead an 80's butt rock cover band.

Race the Rock

So I did it. I signed up for a triathlon here on Whidbey Island and completed it in 2 hours and 17 minutes. Not bad for my first time. I finished 15th overall in my age category. Might have done a little better in the bike had I not gotten lost off the course with another rider and lost my chain once.

I've always wanted to do a triathlon. This one was a 1/2 mile swim, 20 mile bike, and a 4 mile run. By far the most enjoyable part of the race was the beginning of the swim. I felt like a salmon swimming upstream getting kicked in the face and clawed from every direction for several minutes. Kind of weird but neat experience you have to try once in life. The transition from biking to running wasn't so much fun. The defining word I would use to describe it is - 'brutal.' Can't help but think about all of the spiritual analogies to completing a triathlon and the Christian race we're in.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ^Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ^Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. ^In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Hebrews 12.1-4

Feeling exhausted during the final moments of the triathlon and this passage in Hebrews reminds me of what Christ endured here on earth. Remembering the pain from the triathlon run and equating it with the exhaustion that Christ faced gives me strength to continue the race we're currently in. Ministry can be brutal at times. If our eyes are fixed on anything but Jesus we are bound to lose our course. There is no other motivation for ministering to others. If we're in it for the power, money, privilege, or to please other people we'll get lost and discouraged.

Consider him... so that you will not lose heart.

Now for my first marathon...

house fire

it finally happened. what i've been waiting for. ok, i'm sure this is weird, quirky and insensitive but when you spend months preparing to fight fire and never have the opportunity to actually do it you're pretty stoked when a fire call comes in.
this past week i was working on shift when a residential fire was called in. a few moments later as we were responding on the engine it was confirmed that 'flames were showing.' those are beautiful words to a firefighter.
long story, short. i got to make the hydrant connection, fell through the burned out porch, punched holes in the ceiling with my axe to reveal the flames in the attic, and got to spray a fog pattern into the attic repeatedly. i was bouncing around like tigger on the inside all night.
the loss that the house suffered was traumatic to say the least but the joy of battling the destructive force of fire was amazing. that was the highlight of my week.
too many spiritual analogies to draw so i'll let you form your own this round...

Be careful what you ask for

So, I've always had this dream of what it would be like to experiment with bivocational ministry. That is, working another job so that you can pay the bills while you're also doing ministry. I've been toying with this idea for sometime developing my skill as a firefighter in the case God might give me the opportunity to earn my livelihood as a career firefighter to pay for my interests in ministry.

Been experimenting with this for a little while recently to see what it might be like to have another job and try to lead a church at the same time. So far it's pretty difficult. But you get better at it as you develop more energy and find routines. The other thing that makes it difficult for me at the moment is that I've had to go to part time paid status with the church but my other incomes aren't high enough to cover the deduction.

I guess in a perfect world, your tentmaking job would pay all the bills comfortably and cover benefits as well. Right now I'm just working two other part time jobs and not bringing in enough to make ends meet. Good news is that this will probably only last for a few months.

Overall it's become a valuable experience for pushing this model of ministry. Definitely helps you understand why being paid full time by a church can sometimes be easier. But in young rural churches and church planting circles I'm not sure that would always be a possibility. So I'm super thankful for the chance to be able to try this out for a short while. Just never imagined this situation would happen so soon after I began asking God for the opportunity. Sometimes it seems like it takes God forever to answer prayers. Other times no sooner does it leave your lips...

Chasing Your Dreams

Learning alot lately about dissapointment. Reaching out to try and do things to see God's kingdom expand. Not always seeing the hoped expansion. No explanation for this. But keep trying regardless. Don't know what else I would do to show my love. Ran into some quotes recently that make me think about this subject.

"I figured from the beginning that it would mean a life of poverty. Because puzzles don't pay much. But I wanted to do puzzles so badly that I was willing to live a life of poverty in order to do it." - Will Shortz 'New York Times Puzzles Editor'

Good quotes don't need an explanation. It's like trying to explain a good joke. If you don't see it, read it again. Here's another from my second favorite blind celebrity (Stevie Wonder is #1 of course).

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble...for the world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker. - Helen Keller

So I push ahead in spite of the difficulty or frustration hoping to turn a corner at some point to get a fresh glimpse of the mission we're on.

Jogging not blogging

Wow, time flies when you're stinkin' busy. Working several jobs right now to make ends meet and try to save some money for a newer used minivan. Our last two vans were donated but the final one is starting to perish.

What else is new for me? I lost 30lbs in the last 3 months. Was 215 in January and 185 today. Feels pretty good. That's probably why I don't have any free time for blogging because I've replaced it for jogging.

Here's a video that alot of folks have been asking me about. Sent to me by a friend a few months ago and really fit into the tail end of a message I delivered this past Easter weekend.

They will know we are Christians by our...

Apparently, they'll know we are Christians by our buildings, signage, and advertisements.

If we want people to find us we need a great location and enough advertisements to direct them to us. Never mind content. What's important is appearances and first impressions.

What if the people of God were so beautiful and so wonderfully reflected God's beauty that the church became a beautiful place and a beacon of God's light. Could that really happen? Could our love be that powerful?

34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13

9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other. John 15

14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5

Multi-site church planting is stinking hard!

Let's see... we were really stoked about CTK Silverdale. At our last gathering we had 4 small groups online. We met again last night to make plans on launching an every other week public worship gathering.
Now just recently got the news that most of the members from two of those small groups made a decision to step into an already up and running Saturday night service at an existing church instead of continuing with our vision to do something fresh and new. Everyone admits that they love the CTK concept but the timing isn't right for them at the moment because they want to step into something that is already up and running that they can sit back and enjoy.
Part of the added difficulty is geography. We're all aimed on seeing something start in Kitsap county but we're spread out along a 50 mile stretch from Port Orchard to Bremerton to Poulsbo and Pt. Townsend. And I live an additional ferry ride away on Whidbey Island.
So this hasn't totally botched our efforts but just set us back a little bit as we feel we need a larger core group to go with the plan. Really feel convinced that God is ahead of us on this vision. I would have given up long ago had it not been for the clear call of God in this direction.

CTK Oak Harbor: Pizza Factory take one.
So we pulled together all of our resources and best attempts at advertising. Leaving for India two weeks before the launch probably wasn't the best idea but Christmas only comes once a year. We said all along that Christmas time would either make or break this new launch. The thought was that lots of folks check in to church during the holidays but lots of folks are also out of town. Long story short... lots of folks were out of town.
In hindsight we all admitted two things: we'll need alot more organization on our advertising attempts and we'll need entire small groups to commit to the next go around. We thought maybe since we had several small group leaders & participants represented that would suffice but I think having entire small groups buzzing around it would provide the momentum to keep going.
All said, Pizza Factory was a great learning and faith experience for us all and through the process we grew closer to each other and identified more key leaders.
Back to the drawing board...

Meanwhile, how many times do you keep trying something before you give up? If you get turned down the first time you ask a girl out on a date do you give up dating? Hopefully, our Christ love for people will continue to propel us forward toward this exciting outreach.

A picture's worth...