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Well, this is the plan.
December 20th is my last Sunday at NVCC. I am planning on having a great Sunday of celebration with my NVCC peeps, and I hope that you/they are as well.
Then, Shannon and I will have about two weeks of Christmas time before I actually pack up the Mazda and drive up to Liverpool, NY. I am very excited about starting my new adventure, but I am also not looking forward to leaving the family for an indefinite period of time.
I need for my house to sell, but I need for this to happen in God’s timing. I have tried and tried to make it happen under my schedule, but God has refused to allow that to happen. So, I turned it over to Him at the urging of some friends and my wife. In some ways, I have kinda forgotten about it because I felt as though I literally turned it over to God. So, God, we are waiting on you and what you have for us.
Thanks NVCC, I love you guys.
waYne
This past weekend, Shannon and the kids and I took a trip to NY to discuss becoming the Sr Minister with the Liverpool Christian Church outside of Syracuse. Other than getting stuck in DC traffic, the trip was AWESOME. The people were extremely warm, friendly, welcoming and excited to see and meet us. We had an awesome time getting to know a few of the folks up there, and really hope to get to know them better.
So, Friday night, we met Nick, Vinnie, Christina, Barb, Matt, Kate and all of the kids, which was a TON of fun. Also, it was pretty funny because I was told that this would be a relaxing weekend where we would be able to just hang out and get to know some folks, but from the get go I was grilled by Nick and Vinnie. Just kidding guys, I had a blast talking with you.
Saturday I had probably the best breakfasty type thing ever with Joanne, Jim, Mr. Evans, Steve, and Eva. Joanne made this awesome thing called Jewish Coffee Cake which absolutely blew my mind. It was as if God had sent her the recipe for me. Great time talking with those guys as well. That afternoon we kinda chilled out in the hotel and took the kids to the pool, but that evening we went with the leadership team to a restaurant called The Retreat.
At the restaurant, I met a great guy named Angelo who kept on trying to talk me into a dish called Chicken Riggies. Honestly when someone talks so much about a meal, you might think that it could never live up to the hype. I could not have been more wrong. The meal was great. It was everything that I ever wanted in an Italian meal, and I am forever indebted to Angelo for the recommendation. After that we went to Garth and Anne’s home for some desert and time with “Alibi” the dog. It was also great getting to sit around and have fun with the folks from the leadership team. I think that a good time was had by all.
Sunday came bright and early. Matt and I got to church and Stanley was already there getting the coffee ready (THANKS STAN). Both services went very well in my estimation, and Matt kinda confirmed that. It seemed as though everyone was engaged in what I was saying, and that they actually GOT the message from the word, and not from me. Both services were a bunch of fun. Following the services, we had a little luncheon in the fellowship hall and it was also great to sit around and talk to a few people. Unfortunately some of them were Virginia Tech fans, but God still loves them.
Overall, we had an awesome time at Liverpool. Loved the people and the church. It was great.
Now, for some serious stuff.
Pray. Pray. Pray.
The leadership team meets tonight at 6:00 and they are going to be talking about the future. Let’s pray that God would be honored in everything and in every decision that is made for Liverpool Christian Church. We loved it there, and felt very positive about the experience, but more than our feelings, we desire that God be honored.
So, please pray that God makes it obvious to ALL parties involved what should or should not happen.
Thanks friends.
So, I had a revelation that I am still trying to process about television and waYne waGner.
I don’t think that TV is all bad, but I do think that most of it is a total waste of time. IT contributes nothing to my life or to the lives of my family. It takes. It robs. It steals.
But that was not my revelation, that is fact.
Here is my revelation. I need TV to decompress. I need it so that I can slow down. I need it so that my brain will stop for a minute and let me rest.
You see, when I am not watching TV or actively engaging my mind in something that is either entertaining, thought provoking, or whatever, my mind races and the speed of sound. All day long, and as soon as I wake up in the morning, my ADD kicks in and my brain starts to go from this place to that place, wandering to and FRO. It never stops. During conversation, listening to the radio, walking, sitting, standing, playing guitar, or whatever, my mind is unable to focus.
Do you realize how hard that is to deal with?
It sucks. My brain won’t let me relax and enjoy God. I have to FORCE myself to do this. Forcefully.
So, TV allows me to rest. At night TV quietly sings me to sleep. TV is not all bad.
Why am I writing this? I don’t know. My brain is making me do things. Crazy things.
Here is my point, I think.
I need to stop beating myself up about not being able to focus. I still need to try to focus, but I don’t need to be so angry with myself when my mind wanders and wonders all over the world.
God knows me and understand me and realizes how hard it is for me to actually get this out. God, I pray that you would help me to be happy with me and stop trying to think that I have to fit into some sort of predetermined mold. You didn’t create a mold for me that I need to magically try to fill. You mold me however. You mold me however you want me to be when I allow myself to become clay. God, I am the clay, please mold me and grow me into a new creation instead of the lump that I sometimes see myself as.
Love.
I just wanted to send you a very short note to update you on the church income this fall. Many factors have played into the picture including the economic condition and job market, however, here’s how we have fared.
Finances for the last six weeks.
Weekly budget needs $5700.00
Average weekly offering $3739.00
Weekly shortfall for the fall $1961.00
We need approximately $12,000 income to pay current expenses and meet payroll by the 30th of October.
Thanks for your response and your support of what God is doing through New Venture in this area and beyond.
Gratefully,
Steve
Well, something is happening. I have an interview. Now, I am suddenly scared. Suddenly a little apprehensive. Suddenly a bit well, anxious. Ahh, the litany of sins that surround my worry, and my fear.
Thursday at 12:15 I am flying out to a small church near Canton Ohio that needs a minster to lead them. It is a small church, and a small town, but I really think that they might actually want to grow. It is a young-ish church, and they want to take a chance on someone who has a great deal of desire but no experience to back it up.
That is me.
I am excited, but I am also a little nervous. I want to trust God more, and I am praying constantly for that trust to grow and grow.
Please pray for me and my travels, Shannon and the kids are staying at home so will have to take pictures and video to show Shan and the kids. Thanks for praying everyone. Now we need to sell out house.
Any takers? Any renters? Let us know.
We love you all.
waYne
p.S. Thanks Levi for being Levi. Love you bro.
As told to Jeremiah by GOD himself. Maybe we should listen:
Jeremiah 7
False Religion Worthless
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message:
” ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. 3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
9 ” ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, [a] burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”-safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.
12 ” ‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. 14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. 15 I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.’
16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. 19 But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?
20 ” ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched.
21 ” ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. 25 From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. 26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.’
27 “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. 28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.
So, today I decided to go through the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is not a book that I have ever gone through devotionally before, so I thought I would give it a try. From the beginning, God and Jeremiah DO NOT disappoint.
Two verses stand out, but one of them will be my focus. The first is this 1:19 “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, FOR I AM WITH YOU AND WILL RESCUE YOU, declares the Lord.”
Not much to say here, it is just awesome to know and be reminded that God is FOR US and will help us overcome any for, be that smoking or porn or whatever. God is there, and God is going to prove himself by love and rescue.
The verse that I want to focus on, and that seems to stand out in suburbia more and more is 2:19 “Your wickedness will punish you: your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and HAVE NO AWE OF ME, declares the Lord almighty.”
Although I am NOT tremendously affluent, I live in a fairly affluent suburb by the skin of my teeth and checkbook. People here love thier stuff. They love thier HD and plasma and LCD and Hummers and Lexus’sss and Beamer’sss and banged up Mazda’ss (oh wait, that’s me) all the while being very uninspired to do much more than the same old boring stuff that they are used to doing. There is nothing to be in AWE of.
They/we/me have no AWE of God.
That is AWFUL.
I think that real life has been diluted because of all of the stuff that we surround ourselves with. Life is no longer this great and glorious thing that we marvel at with our families. There is too much JUNK to be in awe of anything let alone a God who quietly waits for us.
God quietly waits for us. Patiently he waits like a lion tracking her prey. God waits until the right moment to reveal a little part of himself and give us the opportunity to stand/sit/lay/lean in AWE of him.
This post could be so much more, and I invite your comments but I think that I really want to say to myself that I need to eliminate some of the cloudyness that blocks the wonder and amazement that God has waiting for me.
God, show me today what I need to rid myself of in an effort to stand in AWE of you once again.
waYne
P.S. I think that the last time I was really in AWE of God was when I caught my baby almost five months ago. How pathetic is that? God, blow my mind in some way today, and make it obvious enough for even me. Please.
