For anyone looking at the photos I take every morning, here’s a series from this afternoon’s storm:
There has been an afternoon storm almost every day for the past week, but this was the heaviest yet.
Author: Steve
Mobile again!
I’m mobile again! My driver’s licence just arrived – unbelievably, I had forgotten it in the rush to pack between returning from Salzburg and coming here. America without a driver’s licence? 😮 . Mike found out this morning that his insurance covers me to drive his cars, so I’ll be mobile in the coming weeks, if need be.
“Who is your covering?”
I’ve just started reading Frank Viola’s book “Who is your covering?”, which discusses leadership structures in the church. His precept is basically that the hierarchical structures in today’s church, whether Catholic, Protestant, Reformed or most independent churches or denominations, do not conform to the pattern of the early church. He paints a rather black and white picture, but I understand what he is aiming for.
I’ve just started reading Frank Viola’s book “Who is your covering?”, which discusses leadership structures in the church. His precept is basically that the hierarchical structures in today’s church, whether Catholic, Protestant, Reformed or most independent churches or denominations, do not conform to the pattern of the early church. He paints a rather black and white picture, but I understand what he is aiming for. Some of Mary-Anne’s comments in “Heiliger Vater” are similar to the points he is making. I agree with his statement that an organised hierarchy tends to stunt the church members’ spiritual development, because they can, or even must, delegate or defer many spiritual responsibilities to the hierarchy. Imagine permanently confining a person to a playpen from birth; their development would be severely limited, and they would never reach the maturity required of an adult. As adults, it is our responsibility to raise our children so that they become adults capable of assuming responsibility for their lives and the community in which they live. I believe that this responsibility is also echoed in the spiritual realm; it is the responsibility of mature Christians to care for and mentor younger Christians, with the aim of seeing them grow to their full potential, taking the responsibility and using the gifts God gives them.
Just relax…
Don’t worry about not yet having reached the goal; it is a journey, and as long as we aim to finish it instead of staying where we are, we will progress. Also, relax, and do not be concerned about many things; our Father loves us and takes care of us. We should not worry about many things, but simply listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to us, and do what he says.
It’s all about ‘receiving by believing’.
Our time in the mountains, praying and listening to the Lord, was remarkable, leading us to very simple truths! However, putting them into practice could be a major step for us both. We went seeking to experience more of God’s love for us, and to fall more in love with him, and spent the afternoon in prayer, listening to what the Holy Spirit said to us.
Continue reading “Just relax…”
Eleven Miles Out
We had a relaxing time in the mountains, and took some great photos.
We’re back from our time in the mountains. (I’ve put up some photos.) The place we originally planned to stay at had no space, so we drove further, ending up at Eleven Mile, which is, not surprisingly, at the end of an 11 mile long road. The cabin we rented was rather rustic; built in 1872, thankfully somewhat modernised. No telephone, no television and, as we were to discover, terrible beds.
On Thursday evening, we went to a small restaurant in Lake George, where we saw a beautiful sunset. We had a good meal, then headed back to the cabin, where we discovered how terrible the beds were. We both slept very badly; I looked at the clock at least every 45 minutes after 3a.m.
On Friday morning, we headed up 11 Mile Canyon, which is, rather strangely, not the same road as to Eleven Mile! It is a beautiful place; most of the photos I took are from there. It was wonderful to see a Mule Deer crossing the river. Although we were not far away, it seemed completely undisturbed by our presence, even stopping in the middle of the river for a drink. When it reached our side of the river, though, it hid in the thicket on the left of the photo.
Our afternoon was spent relaxing by the river, thinking and praying. Our impressions in prayer are in my post “Just relax…”
A beautiful Colorado day
So, we finally have some beautiful Colorado weather for more than a few hours! This photo was taken at about 7:15 a.m., and it looks like staying this way for the rest of the day. I’ve also put up a photo of Mike and Chris.
We had an interesting breakfast meeting with Ted Olsen this morning, who recently visited people connected with DAWN in parts of Africa. Some of the what he told us was surprising for me, resulting out of the differences in attitude and culture between Americans/Europeans and Africans. Mike and I will be heading off to the mountains tomorrow and Friday for prayer, pressing in to the relationship with our Father which has been occupying our thoughts for the past few days.
Tentmaking?
I am reading Acts at the moment, and have just finished chapter 20. Paul is saying goodbye to the Ephesian elders; a touching story. What I really noticed was Paul’s statement in verse 34: “Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me.” Other books I am reading claim that Paul only worked when absolutely necessary as an example to others, and was otherwise supported by the local church, allowing him to devote his time to teaching. This verse apparently refutes that, being seemingly general, not specific to one particular situation.
However, we see other situations in which the leaders of the church probably were ministering full-time, and supported by church members: in Acts 6:2, where the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.” It is possible, of course, that they also worked, and simply said that it would make more sense for them to use what little remaining time they had on the word of God. However, we see no reference to their fishing boats in Acts, in contrast to the gospels, so it seems reasonable to assume that they were focused full-time on teaching the word of God, and supported by the church.
Finally, a sunny day!
So, we finally have a sunny day! After a rather foggy start, things cleared up quite quickly. We met Jon Dale and David for breakfast (Mike is strong on breakfast meetings!) and had a good talk, starting off with house church network structures (“Do we need paid leaders?”), but ending up where my thoughts yesterday took me: falling in love with God. It really hit a chord with the others, particularly when we started considering the comparison with falling in love with our then girlfriends, now wives. We’ll be following up on this in the coming days.
Chris noticed a bird sitting on the deck rail this morning. Mike took a great photo, and we’re trying to work out what it is. It’s now just after noon, and the bird has only moved from the deck rail to the wooden fence, and is still just sitting there. That’s about 4 hours! Any hints would be welcome. We think it’s young, which makes the identification rather difficult, because we don’t know if this is its final colouring.
Where are the visions?
I’ve been reading Acts in the past few days. I’ve just read chapters 8 to 11. Something which I noticed particularly was the number of very concrete visions: Ananias was told very specifically in a vision to go to Saul (Paul) to tell him about Christ; Cornelius saw an angel, who told him to send for Peter; Peter saw a vision of unclean animals, and could immediately apply it to the situation of going to Cornelius’ house. Why don’t we experience such clear and specific visions?
Continue reading “Where are the visions?”
Is house church what we are looking for?
Is the ‘house’ in ‘house church’ the really relevant part? Or is it more about being changed by falling in love with God?
We are part of a house church, and glad of it. Speaking with Mike today, though, he asked whether house church is what we are really looking for. (Remember, he is a house church coordinator for North America.) He believes that the ‘house’ part is not that which is really relevant, and I think most people involved in house church would probably agree with him.
Continue reading “Is house church what we are looking for?”