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Cleveland 109 Detroit 107 (Double Overtime)

Even after 13 years in Illinois, if you cut me I still bleed Cleveland sports.  LeBron James turned in one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen.  It was Jordanesque.  He scored 48 points...29 of the Cavs last 30 and 25 in a row to close out the game.  The Cavs now lead the series 3-2 and if they can win one more game they are going to the Conference Finals.  No one was giving them a chance before this series with Detroit started.  I hope they come through for the city of Cleveland.  I've been rooting for Cleveland teams for 36 years and we've never had a championship in any sport in all that time.  I would love to see Cleveland get to celebrate.

Viennefesh

A couple weeks ago in church we talked about rest (Sabbath).  The teaching pastor explained that the Hebrew word for "rest" in the creation passage is "viennefesh" which means to reflect, review, and revisit what you've done in a way that touches your soul.  I'm viennefeshing tonight.

The past two days have been wonderful.  Why?  Because I broke away from the world to get my house and life in order.  I dusted and washed windows and scrubbed toilets.  I layed down new mulch and mowed grass and planted flowers.  I got the oil in my car changed and replaced burned out lightbulbs and programmed a new TV remote.  I put new windshield wipers on my car and wrote out bills and laundered every last piece of dirty clothing.

And so now I'm viennefeshing.  I find peace in the order. 

I feel like most of my life is given to greater things, but sometimes the holy moment comes after vacuuming.

Thursday's Hero

Lee Messersmith was my hero today.  He came to my house to help with the before-mentioned bird problem.  And it was a problem.  Turns out the crafty birds had poked through the venting hose and moved into the attic.  As I squirmed down below Lee was able to remove 5 live birds and 1 deceased from the attic and freed them in the field behind my house.  Well, not the dead one.  He's in the big green can by the curb.

Now with new bird-proof vent covers in place, my house is an exclusively human dwelling once again.  I hope.  Thanks, Lee!!!  You're the best!!!

Me and 19 Pastors

Last night I had a blast at the Chicago White Sox game with 19 of the best pastors on the planet.  The Lead Pastors from each of our NewThing Affiliate Churches are in town for a gathering and a few of us were invited to join them for some fun last night at the game.  The festivities included a pre-game patio party where we had this cool view of the field.  Here's our Lead Pastor Dave and I watching 1st inning play (maybe every week I should feature a picture of Dave and I doing something out of the ordinary?).  It was funny going to a game as the lone girl with 19 guys but I can probably name more baseball players than half of them so I think they didn't mind having me tag along.

Pastor Muscle

It seems like every day I find myself appreciating my co-workers more.  When I moved to the Chicago area nearly 5 years ago I was coming in search of "community" and I guess it only makes sense that I would find it at a place called "Community Christian Church."  You'd think the honeymoon of being overwhelmed by this place would be over, but it's not.  It seems like every week new expressions of community arise that keep me in a perpetual state of gratitude.

Like today when we discovered after services that our volunteer tear down team wasn't coming.  I'm sure the family who was supposed to help just forgot.  I was exhausted just looking at the 13 rooms full of tables, chairs, bins, and toys that had to be put away in a back closet.  And I had a Kids' City event to be at in an hour.  But all it took was a few cries of "help" to a few co-workers and before I knew it we had pastor muscle flying all over the place getting the task done.  Guys that had preached and poured into people for four services came downstairs with unfaded energy asking, "What else can I do to help?"  I love that about this place.  The same people who are in the spotlight on stage are the first to volunteer to push chair carts and carry plastic kitchens.

As I'm typing this post in my loft office at home, I'm listening to the pecking of a bird above my head to the right.  He's not in the house, well, I guess technically he is.  He keeps going in the dryer exhaust vent.  A couple years ago one of his friends decided to get adventurous and made it into the house by following the vent pipe and pecking through the foil hose on the back of the dryer.  I'm all for sharing the earth with God's creatures but not my house.  But the problem will be solved this week.  Our Naperville Facility Manager blocked out time in his busy schedule to come to my house with a giant ladder and install bird guards on my vents.  A little more pastor muscle that will be much appreciated.

Sure true community is about talking and sharing and worshiping together and spending quality time.  But it's also found in hauling bins and climbing ladders.

Things I Never Anticipated #462

Singing a karaoke duet of "I've Got You, Babe" with our Lead Pastor, Dave Ferguson, in the bar at Starved Rock Lodge in Utica, Illinois durng our annual planning retreat.

Surprise

Took a quick flight home to Cleveland after church today to surprise my nephew, Joseph, at his birthday party (he's turning 5 tomorrow) and my mom for Mother's Day.  I think she was surprised.  This will be such a short visit (less than 48 hours) but it is good to be home.

Expectations

With the help of a note in my study Bible, I noticed something today I'd never seen before.  I was reading in Mark 14 about the woman who broke an expensive bottle of perfume and anointed Jesus.  The disciples complained about the wasted resource--the perfume was worth a year's wages--but Jesus commended the woman for her gesture.  "She has anointed my body for burial ahead of time," he said.  "This woman's deed will be talked about in her memory." 

What I'd never noticed before was the transition to the next sentence.  "THEN Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them."  I guess I never noticed the possible connection between these two events.  Was Jesus' reaction to the woman the thing that pushed Judas over the edge?  He probably had an idea...a dream...of how following Jesus would play out.  As "keeper of the money bag" I wonder if his dreams included visions of wealth.  But as he watched Jesus approve of a year's wages being "wasted," Judas knew the gig was up.  His hopes were not going to be realized.  And he couldn't deal with the loss of his expectations.  There would be no power.  No money.  Seemingly no victory.  He became disillusioned.  He snapped.  And so he tried to salvage something from the disaster.  He lost faith in Jesus and grasped for some security in silver.

How tragic.  It had to break Jesus' heart.  And the saddest part is so often we are prone to the Judas path.  We make up rules for the game--if we hold up our end of the bargain (an end we define) then he has to hold up his (our expectation).  We are more attached to the expectation than to him.  And when it doesn't play out the way we expected?  We panic and go for the coins.

May we never make a mistake on Friday that keeps us from living the Sunday.

He can be trusted.  Just keep following him.

Home Makeover

OK.  Anytime I catch a portion of the first 10 minutes or last 10 minutes of this show I find myself instantly crying.  Does anyone else have this problem?

On a much less pathetic note...our Romeoville Campus is going to do a Home Makeover for a single mom in our community.  They accepted applications for the project and selected one deserving mom.  I don't think anyone from our church knew her before this project.  I love how my friends in Romeoville are reaching out to our community!