I don't own a home in Gainesville right now

Well, at 1pm today I won't. The place where we brought 2 of our children home from the hospital is owned by another. Oh, the faithfulness of God to me, and to my family, that was experienced there. Kim and I have lived under that roof as long as anywhere on earth together. Only our parent's homes have housed us more of our lives. And now it is owned by another. Insert strange, sentimental feelings here.

Distant Relationship with a Loved One

Bono wrote this song while his father was dying w/ terminal cancer
He expresses that strange feeling we all know at some level of not connecting with someone we desperately long to... yet loving them powerfully and wanting that love know

"I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Can - you - hear - me -when - I -Sing,
you're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me"

U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own:

Should Christians Read Harry Potter

Online Audio that's free for a couple o' days

Comprehensive Coverage

The last verses of psalm 121 exult in the sheer comprehensiveness of God’s care over “you” (in the singular, as if the individual pilgrim is addressed by other pilgrims). “The LORD watches over you” (121:5) — day and night (121:6), your whole life (121:7), in all you do (“your coming and going,” 121:8), “both now and forevermore” (121:8).

This reminded me of the children's encouragement to us Sunday morning... Jesus loves "little me"!

Seminal Books for Me

definition of seminal from dictionary.com: Highly influential in an original way; constituting or providing a basis for further development: example:a seminal idea in the creation of a new theory.

Knowing God, by JI Packer
Desiring God, by John Piper
Truths that Transform, by James Kennedy
Transforming Grace, by Jerry Bridges

....to be continued

Put me in coach

Nicole Mytyk thougtht you might be encouraged by this devotional....

MY son had a great first day at basketball camp; however, the second day he came home discouraged. "I didn't make any baskets today," he said. "Two kids on my team just passed the ball to each other, and nobody else got a chance. I was wide open under the basket, too."

Like the two players on my son's team, in churches we sometimes fall into a pattern of involving the same people or working only within one small, familiar group. We may not see a newcomer who longs to be included but has never been asked or a shy person who has attended the church for years but is afraid to volunteer his or her talents.

On the other hand, if I am one of the people who is called upon, I have to guard against thinking, I'm not good enough, or, They don't really want me to help. Perhaps I need to be bolder in showing others I am open to serving. It's not God's plan for a few people and the pastor to do it all.
The church needs all members of the body working together in ministry and mission.

Prayer: Lord, help us to be open to discovering our spiritual gifts and to
use them to serve you within the body of Christ. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Am I open and ready to serve?

-- Cathy Wesolek (New Mexico, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Those feeling left out

From the wedding of 2 members of Christ Community Saturday in St. Augustine. Chris and Anne are now moving to Palo Alto. 

Women's Study Tuesday 7:30pm at Staples' home; Wednesday--Kanapaha Park 6:30pm for Everyone

this week

Tuesday: Women's Study 7:30pm at Staples' home
Wednesday: Night at the Park 6:30-8:30 at Kanapaha Park (This is last chance!)
Thursday:
Friday:

Sunday: 10am worship at Baughman Center on Campus

All week, 9am til NOON, we're co-hosting Vacation Bible School with Faith PRes, at Faith Pres.

Those 16 points in Acts 13

"This text is utterly saturated with God. Sixteen times Paul presses home the truth that God is the central Actor in history. "--John Piper
History Is God's Story:

Good Things Running Wild

This quote will find itself in the wedding tomorrow
"...The more I considered Christianity; the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild. -Orthodoxy"Gems from G. K. Chesterton:

Deep Gladness

Today Kim and I head to St. Augustine where i will officiate the wedding ceremony of 2 of our members, Chris Nyffeler and Anne Osborn. I have deep gladness enjoying this moment as God unites two of His children. Weddings are more and more wetting my appetite for the great Wedding & Wedding Feast to come.

Chris and Anne joined Christ Community as UF students about 3 years ago and Christ Community has played a role in their relationship development. After the wedding they are moving to Palo Alto, California. This is just another way that Christ Community experiences and extends the grace of Jesus Christ.

Audio Bibles on Tape/CD By Max McLean

It is a recent thing for people to have their own bible... most people in redemptive history have primarily listened to God's word
The reader at this site is part of our Manhattan congregation led by Tim Keller

Also, FYI there are
Bible texts available online

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/

NIV http://www.biblegateway.com/

My reading of a portion of Acts 13

A Reader's Guide Through the Wardrobe

This fall IVP will be publishing A Reader's Guide Through the Wardrobe: Exploring C.S. Lewis's Classic Story, by Leland Ryken and Marjorie Lamp Mead. Paul Ford, author of Companion to Narnia and Pocket Companion to Narnia, says this book "is the most thorough literary study of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that I have ever read."IVP | A Reader's Guide Through the Wardrobe

So Simon says, "Read the book in July with Christ Community, get this reader's guide in the fall... THEN see the movie at Christmas."

This song is cheesy...

Until you love or get loved like he's describing... and it came to mind as i read Acts 13.DAN FOGELBERG Longer Lyrics )

Longer than there’ve been fishes in the ocean
Higher than any bird ever flew
Longer than there’ve been stars up in the heavens
I’ve been in love with you.

Stronger than any mountain cathedral
Truer than any tree ever grew
Deeper than any forest primeval
I am in love with you.

I Love to Tell the Story

This is what happens in Acts 13. There is an old hymn: that contains these words:

"I love to tell the story, for some have never heard
The message of salvation from God's own holy Word.

I love to tell the story, for those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest."

What i appreciate about these lyrics is that it acknowledges that we who "know the story best" need it "like the rest."

Pray for these guys, they need it. 

Ultimate Frisbee in Ten Simple Rules

Get ready for 6:30pm tonite!Ultimate in Ten Simple Rules

Enjoying My Son's IPOD

Sometimes a lyric in a song just grabs your heart and allows me to enter a part of life that has been elusive. Recently these lyrics, heard on my son's ipod, have done this for me. And i'm glad.

"One day you'll look back, and you'll see
Where you were held now by this love." --U2 Mysterious Ways

Derek Webb:
" i trust no other source or name
nowhere else can i hide
this grace gives me fear, and this grace draws me near
and all that it asks it provides"

Wednesday Nights at the Park

Wednesday June 22 we will be playing Ultimate Frisbee Football. If you don't want to play, come and hang and watch the fun. 6:30pm at Kanapaha Park on Tower Road.

You're Soaking In It

Several of you asked... so here is quote i used prior to the call to worship on sunday. Remember, i took it from a sermon i heard... so grammar and punctuation is probably whacked:

"My conclusion, after living in several countries overseas, and being back in U.S. for 5 years... is that this is the most dangerous culture to live in in the world.

It is this culture which has a silent, seductive, deadly kind of 'tractor beam' that pulls you in, deadens your senses, dumbs down your desires, to where you really want very little more... than simply comfort, entertainment, and security. And it is working on you all the time, relentlessly calling you to this deadened life where your dreams and visions are little higher than for the place you live or what you drive, wear, and eat. It is terrifying to me what this is doing to our people and to our churches." Hunter Dockery, minister at Redeemer Presbyterian in winston salem

Great Changes online

Christ Community Church -

The Spirit Fructifying

Studying to teach on the Fruit of the Holy Spirit... I came across 30.this: "fructifying"
excellent article

Sunday at Christ Community

ESV Bible Online: Passage: Acts 13
And we'll hear from our own Melissa Pope about her upcoming move to the Far East.

Advancing the Gospel

While at General Assembly I always catch up with classmate/friends who are seeking to do the same thing that Christ Community is seeking to do... experience and extend the grace of Jesus Christ. Here is one who is going to work with Asians in London.

Nights in Park is Tomorrow

Tonite: Tuesday... is women's bible study

Wednesday: 6:30pm-8:30pm at Kanapaha Park on Tower Road
Night in the Parkis great time to get together with others from Christ Community... stay as long or little as you can

In Chattanooga This Week

I'm up north attending the Annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. What is it like? Great, boring, hear reports of God's work extending the kingdom, hear reports of the Evil One at work in the church. Come to think of it, General Assembly is a lot like everyday life.

Want a Bible Memory Challenge?

Several of us are in the process of trying to memorize Colossians 1. Join us.

This looks good

P & R Publishing: Forthcoming Title

Nights in Park is a Success

The proverbial "good time was had by all". Must say it was wonderful to see children playing and people connecting with each other... and people diving in the wet grass to make plays in softball.
If you were there, i know you won't miss next week.
If you weren't able last night, do try to come one of the next 3 wednesday nights at Kanapaha Park.


Don't forget Saturday night women's event which includes dinner and a fun program.

Kanapaha Park 6:30 TONITE

come hang out, enjoy one another, throw a softball, sweat, swat bugs, stand in the shade, swing a child high and listen to the laughter, etc. we'll be there from 6:30-8:30, but come for whatever part you can

also, this is a good summary of the gospel i came across, tuck it awaytwo ways to live

This Week

New Women's Bible Study Launches--Tuesday Night

Nights in the Park-- Kick back at Kanapaha from 6:30-8:30

Women's Table Event-- Saturday late afternoon

We voted to buy this land

Google Maps - 1603 Sw 122nd St, 32669

The Scream of the Damned

"My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?"

This cry represents the most agonizing protest ever uttered on this planet. It burst forth in a moment of unparalleled pain. It is the scream of the damned--for us. --RC Sproul

Sunday shall be a great day
9am classes for all ages
I'll be teaching adult forum on "The Fruit & Gifts of the Holy Spirit"

10am worship with communion as we reap the benefits of Christ's suffering in our stead

11:20 Congregational meeting (childcare available for littlest ones)

getting ready for Acts 13

To become a Christian a Greek does not have to become a Jew, a plebeian does not have to become
patrician or vica versa. For Christianity is not the product of national and
cultural consciousness--rather it is the shaper of consciousness. Acts 7-12 then
was the second stage, in which the gospel spread across all cultures, and thus we
read at the end of this period (“But the word of God continued to increase and
spread” 12:24).
Now the stage is set for the final stage. “All the time the action has been limited to
the Palestinian and Syrian mainland. Nobody has yet caught the vision of taking
the good news to the nations overseas.” (Stott, p.215) The gospel has spread across
cultures, but now it is about to explode geographically.