Shocking Yet Beautiful...

I came across this article from Time magazine thanks to another blog that I follow from time to time. It's the story of Mother Teresa and her spiritual struggles and self -proclaimed emptiness. I read the article in shock, but found myself admiring her even more than I already do. Please read this http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html and then post your honest thoughts and questions about it.

Peace and Love.

Rex

Top 10

Today I was driving home from the office listening to the radio when maybe the most popular song of my generation came on..."Thriller" by Michael Jackson. I havn't listened to this song in years and as I drove down the road jammin to the former king of pop I realized how influencial this song was on me as a 13 year old. It was the Thriller album that made me want to learn to break dance and for about 4 years my life revolved around parachute pants and the soundtrack to "Breakin" as I did my thing on a giant piece of cardboard. Well, this had me thinking that I would think of a Top 10 list of albums that influenced me the most as a teen and young adult. These aren't neccasarily the best albums, just most influencial. I would love to hear your thoughts and maybe your own top 10 albums.

Why do I suddenly feel like Jack Black from the movie "High Fidelity"...



Here it is...



10. Phil Collins- No Jacket Required - The song Sussudio was so cool!

9. Lionel Richie- Can't Slow Down - Hello was the first love song I ever got into.

8. Queensryche- Empire- Maybe the best studio recording ever as well as best album at high volume while in a car.

7. Michael Jackson- Thriller- See above

6. Van Halen- OU812- I have to admit that as a junior in HS I thought Sammy Hagar was the man, and I wanted to sing just like him!

5. Sade- Love Deluxe- This album was played in my headphones many a night during college to help me sleep. There is no voice like that of Sade!

4. Pearl Jam- Yield- My favorite of all PJ albums...because of this album I bought a guitar , but never took lessons. :(

3. U2- Rattle and Hum- My first exposure to social justice through music.

2. Alice in Chains- Dirt- Great album, but had big-time negative influence on me during a period of my life where faith was difficult.

1. Pearl Jam- Ten- This album spoke to Gen X better than any other...at 35 years old, PJ is still my favorite band of all-time!

Peace and Love,
Rex

Pursuit and the journey of a church

I'm just returning home from our church's first mid-week gathering called Pursuit. There were about 20 people who came to experience a more intimate worship/teaching time along with sharing in communion together. This was a huge night for the journey of our church! I believe this because it's been obvious to me that God is doing something in the hearts of many people within our faith community. People seem hungry to know God in a deeper more comitted way and this mid-week gathering I hope will help people grow and understand more their identity in God. What I loved about tonight, was that it wasn't a "service" where we had to have everything structured just right and where we the pastors provided all the leadership. Tonight, everyone had a hand in Pursuit and it felt right. I really do believe Redwood Hills is a great church and it's obvious God is blessing our efforts and changing hearts. I think this is the start of something...some would call it revival, I would call it an awakening. People are being awakened to how much they need God and how much they need each other in their faith journey. We'll see where this leads us...

Love and Peace.
Rex

Ensenada Here We Come!!!

Our time is finally here where 23 of us will travel to Ensenada Mexico and build a house for a young family that is currently homeless. I'm so excited! I've been thinking today that the church is ALWAYS talking about Jesus. Think about this for a moment...Christians are always evangelizing. The question is, what are we saying about Jesus? Is our action speaking about him or our inaction? When our community looks at our church, what are they learning about Jesus? I hope things like Mexico is speaking loudly to people about what we believe. I hope that people are learning to trust Jesus and that he offers a life that can change the world. I hope that this journey to Ensenada will transform people in our team so much that they will radically change the way they live...maybe someone will give their life to ministry or begin to give themselves away to a people or a cause that will speak of the love of Jesus in such a way that many people will become followers of Christ. Who knows what can happen...I believe God is up to something within our church and I'm grateful to be a part of it.

Peace and Love.
Rex

Home from a great vacation...

It's been a little while since my last post because our family had a chance to go to Palm Springs for a week's vacation. We had some family members put us up in a Westin Resort and covered our airfare too! What a great week! The resort was fabulous...the weather hot, and the chance to be with my wife and boys for seven days with no work was much needed. I feel very rested and ready to work and lead through the summer. There were some things that God spoke to my heart about and I thought I'd share some with whomever reads this blog of mine.

I've been too caught up in the numbers of our growth at church. This was a painful realization because I should know better. The Kingdom of God isn't about church growth...damn the mega-church's influence on me!

People always need a pastor and rarely need a church professional.

God has the heart of a father and I need to explore this much more thoroughly.

My family needs more extended times where I'm not focused on work...anyone else want to send us on a trip? :)

Vacations with the kids aren't really vacations...more like family trips!

Peace and Love.
Rex

5.

Lordship 2

It's Sunday night about 9pm and we're just returning home from visiting a new church that's being planted here in the Bothell area. My wife and I know some of the people who are part of the leadership team there and they've been asking us to come visit for quite awhile now. I have to be honest, I didn't really want to go to church again today but I'm really glad we did. It's a church which focuses on some of the celtic traditions and promotes a very experiential service with prayer stations, communion alters, and confessionals. This isn't the kind of church I could do every week but it was really good for my spirit to have a different worship experience and just slow down and reflect for an hour or so. Upon my reflections I began thinking about this idea of Lordship and what it's really all about. One of the words that came to me was care...Lordship is about caring. Caring for people, creation, our money, our stuff, our health, our time and our talents. Everything God has given to us, everyone God has put into our lives we have a responsibilty to care. So where does Lorship and caring and the church fit into a christ-followers life? Unfortunately I grew up thinking that I really only needed to care for my church and not the church down the road. God has since taught me that there is no one church that's better than the other, big ones, small ones, emerging or traditional, they all belong to Jesus and they all need our care. Tonight I took a moment to care for this church and I sat in silence and prayed that God's blessing would pour out on this body of people. I prayed that God would provide for them and protect the leadership as they work so hard to build a church. Now I sit here and I think about my church, and I ponder how to care more for it. I'm thinking about how I need to surrender my leadership of it to God even more than I have and trust him...I'm thinking of how there are hurting people who I need to pray for more often...I'm thinking of the community our church exist in and how we can love them. If you are on this journey of truly making Jesus the Lord of your life, will you join me in praying for your church? Maybe you're reading this and we go to the same church...will you please pray for God's blesisng on it? What can you do to care for your church? That's a big question...but then again, whenever we're talking about Lordship, we're talking about something big.

Peace and Love
Rex

Lordship 1

Did you happen to catch that last Saturday was Earth Day? If you missed it you must live in a cave with no access to any form of media or human contact. Earth Day has never been talked about more than this year. Maybe we have Al Gore to thank, or maybe the media had nothing else to talk about, or maybe it's because God is trying to get our attention. We know the media has plenty to talk about and while Al Gore is doing some great things with his work to bring awareness to Global Warming, I think we need to look seriously at the thought of what God maybe trying to say here. Have you looked at some of the changes and problems our climate is facing? Do they bother you? Is it another ploy by media to cause fear in the mind of americans? Is this crisis something left for the liberals to care about? Do you think God cares about any of this? While I can't say that I am the the best at recycling or saving water, I can say that my attention has been caught to the realities of what is happening in our world and I'm left wondering what Lordship and global care have to do with me. As a church we've been talking about Lordship and the various things like money, family and time that God has given to us to care for. It's true that our stuff is a gift from God and that we must be very careful in how we use it and value it. The same goes with our relationships and the time we have here to live. But what about the earth? Could there be a greater gift than the world in which we live and breathe? For many, many years the western church has promoted a gospel that saves us from living in this world, so go ahead and live how you like because Heaven awaits. Times are changing now as christians are seeing that our salvation is a rescue. It's a rescue from one way of living and an entering into a new, Jesus way of living. This new life he gives us means we have divine resposibilites to care for this world and God's creation. Now, how far you want to take that is really up to you. Does it mean christ followers no longer drive SUV's? Do we transfer our home energy to solar power? Do we dedicate time and money to different global causes? Do you simply brush your teeth without using water? I don't know how much God wants from us, but I do know that God wants his people and church to be aware that there is a problem with his creation and he wants us to be open to him and how he would want to use each of us to protect what he has created for us to enjoy. Caring for our earth isn't a liberal thing, and it's not a hippie thing...it's a love thing. May we learn more and more to love God by loving others and the world in which these "others" live in!

Peace and Love.

Rex

The Questions Keep Comin'

This has been one of those weeks where I just can't keep silent about some of the problems we're facing here in America. Like so many, I am deeply saddened by all that took place Monday morning on the campus of Virginia Tech...but I have to be honest that each and every time these tragedies take place I become increasingly angry toward our country's leadership and their inability to bring change to our gun laws. We are a so-called christian nation founded on christian principles and we're so far from understanding peace and what Jesus would think about the freedom we have with arms. I simply can't understand why some states still have such easy access to guns and weapons. What is it going to take for these lawmakers to see that something has to change? I know I'm in the minority here with my thoughts on guns and peace but I really don't care. I've spent many an hour thinking about peace and what Jesus had to say about it and I'm convinced that we can't keep going on like this. And speaking of not being able to keep going on...today I got a call from a friend in Tacoma who told me that a girl who was in my youth group and lived next door to our family before we moved lost her fiance today in Iraq. My heart is crushed for her as she also lost her brother to cancer recently. Whether it's 9mm hand guns on the streets of America or the big guns in a desert somewhere in the middle-east, it all needs to stop! It's becoming increasingly difficult to make sense of any of this...it all sucks and I just pray that God will be merciful to us as a nation for using his name to justify our war and for passing weak gun laws in a christian nation that influence the hurt and killing innocent people.

Love and Peace.

Rex

Am I Cool Enough?

The other day I was headed south on I-5 to Tacoma when I drove up next to a Hummer H3 all decked out with fancy decals and lettering across most of the car. At first I couldn't figure out what the heck it was all about, but soon I noticed that it was a government owned H3 advertising the US Marines. It wasn't but one day later that I again was on the freeway when I saw a van with the same sort of artwork all over the vehicle...this time the ad wasn't for a branch of our military, it was for a church! A wave of thoughts and questions soon flooded my mind and still rattle inside me today. What made the Marines feel like they had to become cool by driving around in some pipmed out H3? It seems to me that the Marines have never had to portray being cool to anyone. They're the Marines! Are today's teenage boys and girls so wrapped up into image that even the most bad-ass soldiers in the world have to play the cool game? Since when did churches feel they have to spend money to pimp their vans? Does it really make others' who are driving down the road think..."Oooh, what a cool van, I think I'll go there this Sunday."? Why do we as church leaders have to be put out a cool product? I understand relavence and it's importance in today's culture but I think there's a fine line between being relevant and being cool. I think Jesus was, and still is today the most relevant person this world has ever seen. He lived to engage with his culture the message of God and that there is hope and freedom to be had...in all this was he striving to be cool? I certainly hope not. I also hope I as a pastor can lead a relevant church and not worry so much about being cool. I'll keep you updated as to how I am doing with this one...

Peace and Love,
Rex

Things I've been thinking about lately...

Thoughts about how our church is growing is consuming my mind! It's been so exciting, yet I still see how much there is to do to continue to reach our potential. It's stressful at times but I know God is working through us to reach people which does bring peace in the times of stress.

Easter is coming this Sunday and I'm hoping that people will respond to my challenge of praying and inviting.

The Mariners began their season yesterday with an exciting win. I watched baseball all day long...it's kind of my one day of the year to sit in front of the TV and do nothing.

I walked out of the house wearing shorts today and I wonder what I was thinking...it's freezing outside!

Both my boys have birthdays in the next month or so...Cade turns 3 and Mason 1. Time is flying, which makes me ponder my life and the legacy I want to leave. Do I want to be remembered as a great pastor or father? Can I do both? I struggle with this one...

I've been thinking about just how good God has been to me and the ways in which he's provided for my family during this year of transition...it's amazing!

Good Bye Bill...

Like many sports fans across the Seattle area this morning, I am saddened with the news that Bill Scott aka, "Bill the Beer Man" died yesterday in his home at the young age of 58. Bill the beer man was best known as the vender-turned cheerleader for the Seahawks and Mariners during the early 80's. I can remember as a young boy going to games with my dad and seeing Bill go crazy with passion as he worked the crowd into a frenzy. I used to wonder how a person could have that much energy and passion...I also wondered if in his case it actually came from too much beer. :) Bill had been suffering from colon cancer for the past 5 years and had been unable to go to many games but his legacy in the Seattle sports scene will live on for many, many years.

So, as I sit in Starbucks this morning writing this blog I raise my cup (because it's too early for beer) in honor of Bill the beer man and everything he meant to me and all Seattle sports fans. May his life of passion and energy live on and may more
cheerleaders like Bill come along...because let's face it, sometimes in life someone as simple as Bill Scott can make our day just a little easier.

Peace and Love.
Rex

Grace and my Spiritual Bank Account

For much of my life I have struggled to understand grace and it's power to change my life. I know that God always has and will love me unconditionally yet I have been trained through traditional religon to believe that his love for me comes only after I have taken some form of action. What I mean by this is that it was communicated to me that I MUST believe that Jesus died for me...confess my sin...and then I will recieve his grace. Before I go any further, I want to express that it is very important to believe in the death of Jesus and that owning up to my sin is very important...but I can no longer accept that after doing this I receive acceptance. I read something this week that continues to float in my thoughts..."Salvation involves faith, not belief". The experience I grew up in was one of information and knowlege equals salvation, meaning that once I have knowledge of the events of the cross I'm safe. The problem with this idea is that the church has converted thousands every year with alter calls and sermons asking the question..."if you die tonight will you go to heaven?". So people respond in eternal insecurity but with very little desire to be changed by grace. Maybe we don't experience salvation because of what we believe but because we have faith in the experience of grace in our lives. The "sinners prayer" as I have prayed hundreds of times in my life is not a prayer I find in my Bible...yet it's widely regarded as the way slavation comes. The problem with this idea is that we use grace as a bank account from which we make withdrawls when needed to keep us assured of our eternity. I don't know about you but this doesn't seem like the kind of conversion Jesus offered or what the disciples displayed in the early church. I like what Spencer Burke says about conversion..."We need to be converted to a fresh understanding of God's desire and vision for us". My spiritual journey is one that seems long and sometimes frustrating but I'm learning that along the way I'm not stopping to make some kind of divine withdrawl from God's love bank, but rather grace is in me throughout my entire journey. It resides in me...changing me...leading me.

Simply accept that you are accepted! IF that happens, we experience grace. After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed...and nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presupposition, nothing but accaptance. -Paul Tillich

May we cease in trying to grab grace and learn to just live in it...

Peace and Love
Rex

Interesting Times...

Today is the last day of Winter and yet it feels like we're entering the month of November! I so look foward to consitent days of sun and warm weather. Today has been tough as I've thought so much about two of my closest friends struggling to keep a marriage together. It's hard to see a couple who I had the honor of marrying, question their comittment to each other. Actually, it's more than hard; it's painful. It's made me realized on a deeper level just how messy life can get when we risk love. It's also made me take a hard look at what I believe about divorce. I'm not sure we can say "God hates divorce" and expect two christ-followers to be happy together, yet I cringe at the thought of even thinking it's ok for my friends. I believe God can do any miracle, but it won't happen if one of them becomes unwilling to put forth the effort to stay together...I'm glad God gives us choices and free will but this is one case where I wish He would just fix it! Please pray for me to have wisdom and godly insight...

Peace and Love.
Rex

Revolution Pt. 4

Today I sat in Starbucks reading from a book when I noticed a lady do something very strange. She sat alone at a table drinking her coffee while reading the newspaper. Now this doesn't seem strange at all, in fact it seems quite normal...but it's what she does later that caught my attention. When this lady had finished her coffee she stood up, took her paper and walked out the door. She then proceeded to go to the garbage can and put the newspaper in the garbage! I don't know about you, but when I buy a newspaper at Starbucks I never throw it away...but rather I leave it in the used paper bin for others to read. What makes her decide not to leave her paper there but instead throw it in the trash? Is she a selfish person? Could she really be that person who says, "buy your own paper"? In my mind a newspaper is valuable beacause it contains important information and thoughts about our world and local community. True, much of it is sad and frustrating...but it's still important.

I like to share my paper because there are always those who don't want to buy one, but just might read it if it's free. When we talk about the Revolution Jesus invites us to, we have to as Christ-followers be very honest about our faith and ask ourselves if we are taking something (grace / freedom) that was freely given to us and withholding it from others around us. Let's be honest about how comfortable we can be going through life with our faith tucked deep inside refusing to share it. Is it because we've forgotten it's value? Have we become selfish with what God has given us? Like buying newspapers some people may never go find faith on their own...but they just might take God into their life if he's offered to them. This means we need to be open to conversations...open to messiness...open to investing in others' lives. This is the shared experience the disciples had in Jesus. Maybe it's the way it's supposed to be for all of us, all the time.

Peace and Love,
Rex

Things I've been thinking about lately...

I have been thinking about our church and how important it is for us to trust Jesus that he is leading us. Churches (even the big ones) are fragile and we must never stop placing our trust in him for the protection and health of Redwood Hills.

Honesty. I'm realizing that our relationships can only go so deep if we're not being honest. I don't mean honesty with others...I mean with ourselves. We need to be honest about our fears, our struggles, our insecurities, our wants and desires.

That American Idol is a joke and waste of my time each week...yet I continue to watch. :)

Making new friends is hard and it takes time...

I'm coming up on my one year anniversary with being a pastor at Redwood Hills! I love our church and believe whole-heartedly in a great future.

I'm worried about church finances...we need God to provide the money it takes to live out our vision as a faith community. Here I am back to trust...

Peace and Love
Rex

Revolution PT 3

I hope you had a chance to hear John's talk yesterday about spending an ordinary day with Jesus. It was a great talk because it showed how the simple things can be truly revolutionary. Did you try and involve God into your everyday actions today? What was your experience like? Why is this idea revolutionary?


On another note...The Mariners lost again today in down at Spring Training. They are 0-6 so far...I know they're just practice games but things are pointing to another long season. Still, I can't wait for Opening Day...there's always hope!

Peace and Love.
Rex

Oscar and the Revolution

Did you watch the Oscars last night? Do you care about who wins or what movie gets best picture? I was one of about a billion people in the world who watched last night and to be honest I love the Academy Awards. I love them because I love movies...I love movies that have a point, that make me think, that express art and the beauty of humanity. I was really hoping that Babel would win best picture, but Departed was a great film in it's own right. I was excited that Forrest Whitaker (see him in Ghost Dog...The Way of the Samurai) won best actor for his very impressive role in the Last King of Scotland! I do have to admit that the "night at the Oscars" had me thinking once again about just how much we are surrounded by the influence of money, stuff, and beauty (when I say beauty I mean in the way of having a pretty face and a skinny body). Today the news of the day isn't about war or who's running for president, but rather who was a fashion hit and who was a miss. This truly saddens me...it makes me wonder just how much influece Hollywood and the media are having on us and particularly our youth. As Christ followers we're not at war with Hollywood as some would think or suggest, but we are in a revolution. A revolution that speaks of what true beauty is, and understands the life of contentment. This revolution can and is changing the world! Jesus said it would not be easy and very few would choose to follow him, but those who do will have the help of the Holy Spirit to give them wisdom in a world that is looking for Truth.
How do you want to revolutionize our community? What changes do you think you can bring? How can we work together to make these changes?

Love and Peace,
Rex

Talkin' Bout a Revolution Pt.2

How dangerous do you want to be? This was the question of the day today as John talked about the revolutionary ways Jesus established God's kingdom. It really is fascinating to take a closer look into how he communicated and lived against the political powers of Rome and Herod in particular. The power of their day set out to create a culture of threat...each and every day Jews were oppressed with threats. Threats create fear...fear over time leads people to isolation. This was the life of a common citizen in Jesus' day. Fear of Ceasar and his kingdom and isolation from the the relationship and life (kingdom) their God had created for them. Until Jesus began to fip things upside down... until he began to talk about a new kingdom...one that held no threats, but rather freedom, love and relationship.

The other day I drove past a church that had one of those traditional church signs out front near the street. You know that kind of sign I'm talking about...these church signs that always seem to have some catchy phrase on it ("come to church today and God will turn your frown up-side-down" I actually saw this once.). I hate these signs! They're cheesey, uneffective and sometimes threatening. This particular sign read, "The Kingdom of God is near...are you ready?". The problem I had with this sign is that it was used as a threat. I'm tired of pastors and churches using using God's Kingdom as a way to scare people into heaven! The fact is, the Kingdom of God is already here...Jesus brought this kingdom into effect and it has never left us! To make God's Kingdom sound like some sort of apocolyptic, repent or die kind of thing is wrong. It's wrong because that's a threat and threats create fear and isolation. When we enter into the revolution and give our lives to doing all we can to bring heaven to earth, there is no fear, there can be no isolation, because we're living lives that have been set free by the grace and mercy of God. So, if you we want to live dangerously for Jesus...get ready for freedom like you've never experienced before. Prepare for love and generosity that will change our homes and schools and workplace's. We can do this...God will help us...

I don't know about you but I think I want to be very, very dangerous!

Peace and Love,
Rex

Talkin' bout a Revolution...

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this whole idea of the spiritual revolution we're invited to join by Jesus. Have you thought much about it since Sunday? Were you thinking about it before? What does it mean to you to join this world-changing revolution? I was reading a book this morning about the ways in which all of humanity is deeply connected yet we live in a world that values individuality so much that we divide and rank ourselves according to what we look like or the standard of living we have. We convince ourselves of how different, better, and analike we are that we eventually become so disconnected to each other in the ways that God created us to live and abide. What happens next is that we in the church try and "create" community for everyone in order to bring us back into the right relationships God intened to exist. I'm beginning to see that when we give our lives to living the revolution with Jesus, that suddenly there are some incredible cool and spiritual things happening in us personally. I'm finding that we will begin to look upon this world and see it as ours...ours to protect, ours to love, ours to freely live in. We begin to see others (not just americans, but everyone) as people who are deeply connected and much alike to us. The scriptures tell us that God is the one "for whom and through whom everything exists". The revolution helps us become aware of the commonalities we have with everyone...so maybe we can't really create true community, maybe it's discovered. If the revolution Jesus lived was about bringing Heaven to earth (Kingdom of God) and it's the life he wants the church to live, than I'm certain that living in true community with people and seeing this world as ours is the greatest thing we can do to to bring Heaven to our world.

BTW...I recently saw a brilliant movie that portrays a lot of what I'm talking about here...it's called Babel. The story does a great job of revealing our connectedness. It contains some very graphic scenes, so be aware that it may not be the kind of film you'd appreciate.

Peace and Love,
Rex

It's Time!

Today I woke up with a fever. You need to know that on this particular day each and every year I catch this same fever. No, I don't have some strange and contagious illness, my fever comes from my deep love for the game of baseball. If you close your eyes and listen closely you can hear the greatest sounds in the world...the sound of baseballs pounding the leather of a glove...the sound of a ball cracking off the sweet spot of a bat...the sounds of players popping their gum and spitting their chew. I love this time of year! Go Mariners!

Things I've been thinking about lately...

I wonder how many people are going to show up for our Super Bowl Party?

How excited I am for people's renewed excitement for community through Home Groups.

That Home Groups can never be the answer for people's need for communtiy.

I can't wait to go to Mexico and join God in the work he's already doing...and to do it with my church!

I'm sickened with the fact that big oil companies are recording record profits every quarter while so many poor americans are struggling to fill their tanks. "When the gas in my tank feels like money in the bank..." Eddie Veddar

I'm looking at a picture of my 2 boys and I can't believe how much love this heart feels for them!

I love random blogs....

Hunger...let's call it what it is!

One of my favorite food establisments here in the Eastside is the Wilde Rover in downtown Kirkland. I can usually be found there once a week enjoying their amazing nachos and conversing with their really cool servers. One reason I like going to the "Rover" as we regulars like to call it :) is that they provide free newspapers for patrons to read as they sit at the bar. Most days, I go for the Seattle Times but on this particular day in December all that was left was the New York Times. I enjoy the news and reading the papers, but the NY Times is an entirely different level of news...I mean you really have to like the news to find this paper interesting! Anyways, I went straight to the commentary page and found a very intersting article about hunger here in America and what our governement is doing about it. Before I go any farther you need to know that I am not in any way bashing our government or our current administration...I'm simply expressing concerns. Currently in America there are about 11 million americans who each month do not have the money to provide enough food for their families. The 23 largest cities in America have all recorded record increases in emergency food requests from citizens according to a recent US Conference of Mayors. In Fairfax County, Virginia the health department cracked down on the people who cook meals for the homeless from their homes and churches because they don't have commercial-grade kitchens! But maybe the most disturbing of all to me is the fact that our Dept. of Agriculture has taken the word "hungry" out of it's verbage and replaced it with "very low food security". Who are they kidding? Changing the language will never change the facts, and we as the church should not be convinced that these people who for whatever reason don't have enough food aren't sometimes hungry! Let's call hunger what it is...hunger! I have learned recently that the people of Fairfax County fought hard and the health department backed off and these kind people are back to cooking meals for the homeless. It's stories like this that makes it easy for me to pick on politics and it's leaders, and not see the good that's taking place in churches and shelters. I pray that we as a church can continue to be a voice in our community and continue to serve as many needs as possible. Remember what Mother Teresa once said..."small things done in great love can change the world". I believe we can change the world with Jesus...as long as we're not blinded to the real hurt and needs all around us.

Peace and Love to you.
Rex

Good Friends...

Just got home from our Nooma Night / small group and I'm really encouraged by the love and commitment these people have for each other and Redwood Hills. We had such a fun time tonight eating and talking about some great stuff! I love our church and the good friends who have come into my life in the last 8 months...

Peace and Love to you,

Rex

Extreme Makeovers

A couple years ago a buddy of mine was telling me that his favorite show was Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. He said that every time he watched it he cried. I said he was a sissy for crying over just another lame reality tv series. It wasn't 2 weeks later that I found myself on the couch watching one Sunday night, the very show I had made fun of. I have to confess a secret about that night...I cried. Since then I watch this show most every Sunday and still I cry. I can't help it...there's something about seeing people getting a second chance! Tonight I watched as a hispanic family in Chicago walked into an absolutely beautiful home...complete with state of the art appliances and plasma tv's, this was an over-the-top makeover. During the "walk through" part of the show the mother stops and breaks down in tears of joy, beginning to reflect on their family's hardships...She too is amazed at second chances. It's at this point that I begin to think about the scripture in 1 John where it says "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us". God in his mercy has given me so many second chances and each time he forgives and restores me he lavishes his love on me! God takes what was old, and nasty and creates beauty and value...it's amazing to me. May we all find ourselves amazed at God's work in our souls.

Peace and Love to you,
Rex

Things I've been thinking about lately...

That Redwood Hills is entering one of its most important and promising years in its brief history...

It's lame that the Hawks are playing Sunday at 10am! Well, I don't pay for my DVR for nothing...

I'm sick and tired of the media feeding America's scarcity mindset...generosity could change the world if we just accepted the truth about our abundance!

I'm amazed at God's faithfulness to my family during this past year of change...

Spring Training begins in a few weeks and my beloved Mariners are going to suck bad!

I'm learning to trust God deeper through seeing how much my boys trust me...

I'm feel strongly that God wants Redwood Hills to reach out to women who are victims of domestic violence in the Eastside...but I have no idea how!

The Office begins new episodes this Thursday...the legend of Dwight Shroot continues!

Peace and Love to you,
Rex