Looking Back and Ahead

Welcome back. You belong here.

It's the night before 2008 and all through the house
The little ones are sleeping and my wife and I are watching Hannah Montana on TV at Times Square.
Next year I'm doing a rave: blue hair, blue drink, strobing lights. Can you imagine it?


So what did 2007 bring?

1. Doing Things Together With My Wife. Rachelle and I stopped doing things on our own, which brought a lot of disconnect between us, and we learned to do things together - mow the lawn together, go to IKEA together, drop off the children together, make dinner together, do the dishes together, etc. etc. This has brought a new level of intimacy, honesty and oneness to our marriage. It's probably the biggest change in my life ever. It is because of this that #2 could happen.

2. We left our church Bethany. After 15 years on staff at Bethany (21 attending for my wife) God called us to leave and trust Him for the future. We feel excited and nervous but as Abraham (Genesis 12), we believe God asked us to leave and follow Him in faith. We feel He has promised to guide us and lead us into something amazing. Our desire is to change the world for Jesus.

3. No one in my family died, was in the hospital, or got crazy sick, which is a first in the last 5 years.

4. Great Shape. Even through quitting and learning a lot about myself, I continue to work out 5-6x/week, lifting weights, running, abs, and eating healthy (5 years).

5. I am not Special. I am Special. I saw myself at my worst this year, in self, and at my best, in Christ. I used to think I was something special on my own. That is false, I am hopelessly lost. I used to think I was not very special, but I am. In Christ I am uniquely made and a gift to Him and this world by His grace and power.

6. Made some headway in my issues with Anxiety. I have dealt with anxiety my whole adult life, but this year, I began to pray that God would heal me of it. He hasn't totally, and maybe He never will, but I do feel more in tune with the cure to anxiety - realizing I can't control my life and realizing that I can't figure things out without God's help.

That was a full year.

My goals for 2008:

1. Write. I love to write and I think I'm pretty good at it. I need to write a book, I have no idea what it will be about, but I have tons of material. I want it published by NavPress or someone like that. My goal is to eventually write 10-12 books.

2. Work with Mike Silva in Nicaragua/Latin America. Mike is an evangelist and friend of the family. When Mike preaches, people come to Jesus. He has invited me to lead worship with him world wide.



3. Work among Latinos together with Rachelle. Both my wife and I feel part of our new call is to work among Latinos together. My wife is not Latina, but speaks fluent Spanish and loves the culture and so do I. I also feel called to worship and the arts, developing young leaders, reaching postmoderns and living missionally locally and globally.

4. Love our new church.

Have a great day.

Into the future,

davidT

What Does a Man Do?

Welcome back. You belong here.

So what does a man do the day after Christmas?
1. You Tube his son (4) on drums
2. Laundry
3. R' to Target at 7am (me, home arbitrating new stuff and who gets it when)
4. Did I mention the drums, LOUD! In our Living Room! Can you say sound paneling?
5. Water backyard
6. Work day on Saturday, things seem to break (and not get fixed) during the holidays right?

Hope your Christmas was great. Probably one of the best moments was adopting a family on 7th and Lime Ave in the LBC. We brought over $500.00 of new toys, clothes, ham I baked myself, a Christmas tree and carols. This was my wife's vision and heart.

Ten of our family members went to their one bedroom apartment, to visit Carinna, an immigrant single parent coming out of gangs and her 5 children ages 9 to 6 months. Her niece, teenager, is also staying with her during Christmas (here from Mexico). They both spoke of being abused as young girls by their parents and how they struggle forgiving them.

I spoke to them from John 6 of Jesus being the Bread of Life, of Him being our forgiveness, of the grace and mercy of our God. I told them that we hope the gifts would remind them of the love of God, that God knows everything and yet loves them no matter what. She kept saying how tough it is to forgive. We can't even imagine. She had tears in her eyes.

We listened to them, loved them, prayed together, our children playing with theirs as one family. They spoke mostly Spanish, but the language didn't matter, we were there in the Spirit of God and love.

I learned so much that night, that even beyond "giving" to a family in need, that the message of forgiveness and grace is what they need most. The pain in Carinna's life is evident, and no church or pastor can heal her, only the grace of God can and time.

And those gifts in her house, now opened, her children perhaps moving on to the next thing, represent more than gifts. They represent the grace of God and the forgiveness of God offered to her.

I don't think Carinna has yet experienced this forgiveness, but in a way she experienced it that night as our families in Christ, offered love and acceptance to one another. It wasn't just us giving to them, we all gave to one another. The rest is up to God.

Have a great day.

Into the future,

davidT