May 2006

In just a few days….13 to be exact…the World Cup will begin. Once every 4 years the nations of the world get together to compete internationally in the world’s most popular sport.

I am so looking forward to the matches…probably in the end, Brazil will be on top once again but I am pulling for England. We will see.

This is the first year that all the games will be televised in America….we are a bit late to the conversation and boy, don’t we hate that!

So who are you supporting? Let me know.

dale

Sitting at Ethos….the Origins Conference section on stepping into the future. Very much about seizing your divine moments that come into your life.

We just listened to Alex give a talk on Future Trends (and also some visual aids)

The encouragement he gave us was to step forward and create our future. Someone will….we need to be the creative force in our own future. Thanks Alex!!!

Oh and if you want to change your ’superhero’ name…..how ’bout something with “FLY” in it???

Oh, and I am sooooo sorry for all of this…I tried to resist but I was weak 8(

dale

What does your environment say about you? What are those understoods that exist in your reality? Those things that are non-negotiables….those things that define the core of who you are.

I am sitting at the first day of Origins in LA….listening to Erwin McManus speak about ethos and wondering what is my ethos personally? The picture below made me ask…how much of me is a warrior?

Well Jen and I took the trip to LA yesterday. At the end of the day the total travel time was about 15 hours….we got into the hotel at 1am LA time and that felt like 4am Eastern time. That’s not fun in case you haven’t done it.

But we aren’t complaining we definitely are happy to be here. I guess words like potential and catalyst come to mind.

We are here to take part in Origins…an international gathering to discuss global evangelism and how God wants us to do it at William Carey University in Pasadena. Today we sat with the author of “The Celtic Way of Evangelism”, George Hunter. I could give you a transcript of what he said but let me just sum it up to say that it was inspiring to hear such wisdom about the apostolic way to reach this world. The most poignant was when he discussed the composer who spent much of his career performing a certain piece of sacred music. His conclusion before his death was that whenever he performs a piece he performs it for two types of people….those who are hearing it for the first time and those who are hearing it for the last. Maybe that is how we should present the gospel.

But that is not the most striking thing about the day…these things are….

….the genuine look of joy and love in the eyes of friends.
….the extension of true hospitality, the kind you don’t feel embarrassed to enjoy.
….the incredible gift of friendship, old and new.
….the feelings of being incited to follow Jesus with all we’ve been given.

Those are the things that are priceless.

Yes it is true. For you non-believers out there it may be that this post will convince you that my daughter, Audrey, lives on adrenaline and laughs at danger.
In the post just below I joked about starting a timer. Well, if I had I would’ve had to stop soon after posting.
Here is the timeline:

• 3:15p Audrey is scheduled for an appointment to see if she is ready to walk without crutches after her grade 2 sprain to her right ankle. She had been on crutches for 3 weeks approximately.
• 3:30p The doctor sees Audrey and confirms her desire to be free from walking aids. He did use the words “wean off the crutches” which Audrey apparently missed.
• 5:07p I post about the potential that Audrey will receive another injury because in her freedom from the crutches I saw no hint of “weaning”.
• 7:30p What you see below happened. If you are really squeamish try to scroll by.
• 7:35p Is when I would’ve stopped the stopwatch had I started it. I think any injury that requires lying flat and applying ice would’ve been an appropriate stoppage.

Here is the cause of the bump.
The game was to get a running start at a 2 1/2 foot exercise ball. As you approach you launch yourself into the air, attempting to land on the ball on your stomach. Your momentum takes you on a quick ride to the carpet and the pillows spread carefully on the floor.

Oh….and always to be sure that when you launch yourself that the ball is not closer to the bookcase than your total body height, as that may result in your head hitting the shelf rendering the precautions of carpeting and pillows useless.

So…she is alright…she laid down for about 2 hours with ice applied. There was a bit of bleeding but not much and not for long. The skin was still together and was only seeping because of the force of the impact not the tearing of skin. And the next morning she had all but forgotten about it.

Some people learn by hearing, some people learn by doing.

Anyone guess which one Aud is??

….and the timer starts again….

dale

As of 3 hours ago Audrey has gotten the green light from her doctor to leave the crutches behind.

Hm…should we start a timer or something?

dale

p.s. - for more on this see www.thoughtscrashing.com