the birthday of a lifetime

yesterday, i celebrated my birthday. it was mostly a restful sabbath day, but did include a couple of games of four-person scrabble (my family was kind enough to comply with my insistence that i be allowed to win, since we were celebrating my birthday!) and dinner with a few friends at amante, our new favorite spot for calzones. a good time was had by all.

but the real story of this birthday is that it was my 47th -- a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. the sharper among you are thinking, "yeah, like every other birthday," and of course, there is some truth in your shallow logic. but 47 is special. aside from the obvious fact that 4 + 7 = 11, 7 + 11 = 18, 11 + 18 = 29, and 18 + 29 = 47 (coincidence? i think not), legend has it that pomona college math professor donald bentley once produced a convincing proof that all numbers are equal to 47; since no one seems to be able to reproduce the proof, one has to think it might be the new 'fermat's last theorem' (especially since that one was finally proven). but consider these facts:

• in star trek, there are 47 sub-orders of the prime directive.

• matisse's "le bateau" hung upside-down for 47 days in the museum of modern art (in b's beloved nyc) in 1961, and not a single person noticed it was upside down.

• according to legend, a 16th century official named wan hu attempted a flight to the moon by using two kites fastened to a sedan chair on which he had strapped 47 black powder rockets. 47 servants simultaneously lit the fuses and wan hu disappeared in a burst of flame and smoke. a crater on the far side of the moon is named in his honor.

• in monsters inc., the scream factory had enjoyed 47 accident-free days at the start of the movie.

• the king james version of the bible was translated by 47 scholars.

• supposedly, there are 47 recorded miracles attributed to jesus (i haven't actually counted these).

well, i could go on (you can find many other astounding examples here), but it should be clear by now that this one was something special. and yes, i'm already working on what makes 48 extraordinary!

a brief update

i know i need to be better about these updates. my apologies. the demands of church life combine in an unhelpful way with my tendency to be tyrannized by the urgent. please pray that i'll be better about focusing on the important things and willing to let lesser issues go.

a quick look the local weather report forecasts rain today, tomorrow, and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. and the next day. literally. no one is saying what comes after that...

b is in louisiana for her spring break this week, doing a service project in new orleans. as you might suspect, this is part of the clean up and rebuilding after hurricane katrina, nearly four years ago. she loves columbia and new york, both of which seem like a perfect fit.

n is contemplating her university options and making plans for senior year. it's unclear whether she'll head to a local community college (which would allow her to continue in french), stay at her current high school, or try to combine the two somehow. options 1 and 3 might be easier if she could drive, as she has pointed out on more than one occasion! she has gotten more involved at her high school -- the french and step clubs, a couple of dances -- but it's really not yet a place that she associates with fun and friends.

m is a busy bee. in addition to her ministry at the bridge, she is also volunteering at a youth center with another church in downtown renton, and taking an online class in pursuit of her tesol certification.

our house remains on the market. our intention has been to sell and move to renton - but perhaps that just isn't God's plan right now. we've been trying to give this every chance, but after two price reductions and over seven months on the market, i'll admit that i've been rethinking things. maybe we're supposed to make it work from here.

we are facing significant challenges at the bridge, our fledgling church in renton, and would really appreciate your interceding for us. i'll give more detail on this in a future post, but the short version is that we already seem to have more needs than we have people power to address them. and the deficit may be getting bigger. one of the surprises and great joys of our church life has been having so many new babies. of the people currently at the bridge, we have seven new babies in the last year or so, with two more on the way. that's a great blessing, but it's also a huge challenge as it raises the level of need in the church while seemingly reducing the available people resources. i'm not sure how the Lord will resolve this yet, but we'll need him to do it. in the meantime, you can pray for our congregation that we will love and encourage one another, and not lose sight of the reasons for having a new church -- the hope of effective outreach among those who don't yet know him.

more to come -- stay tuned.

a new look

most everybody reading this knows that, historically, i have not been an especially well-dressed guy. i've had some decent suits, but anything other than that was... underwhelming. there are plenty of reasons for this. i am not naturally concerned about wardrobe. i don't have a good sense of what goes well together. and i've never been inclined to spend much money on clothes. over the years, that hasn't been a huge problem. the students i worked with no doubt noticed, but either they didn't care or they were just too polite to say anything.

of course, serving as a pastor alters the equation. i'm in front of people a lot. and i'm the most prominent representative of an entire congregation. i was overdue for a change, but all of the problems listed above still applied -- not a good prognosis for transformation in that area.

enter my bridge small group. i'm sure it felt like a delicate subject to broach. but they found a way to do it kindly and have a little fun with it. so just over a week ago, they e-mailed to tell me that we'd be having a special dinner party and fashion show at our meeting. what i didn't realize was that i would be the model! so after a delicious ribeye dinner, i got to try on some clothes and peacock on the fashion runway. well, i didn't shake it quite that much, but there was a modeling soundtrack provided by host g and flash photography by the all-but-professional y. all we needed was the lights.one thing i had to get used to was clothes that fit; i have worn my shirts and sweaters a bit large for so long that clothes that fit often feel tight. there were also style questions. since i really haven't given much thought to a look, i wasn't always sure what i liked.
even so, we had a blast together. i tried on clothes that they had picked out, and they gave their opinion on what worked and what didn't. the critical moment for each outfit was the voting: should i keep the outfit or not? along the way, i also got some helpful hints on fashion, along with a whole new nice-casual look (technically, i didn't have a nice-casual look before...).i made my fashion debut at a church valentine's dinner last night, and will try a second outfit at church tomorrow. hopefully, the new look won't be so dazzling (or just plain shocking) that people can't remember what i'm teaching from the bible!

influential books

one of the things i enjoy most about the internet is the amazing wealth of resources available for free. today, i got to thinking about some of the books that have been the most influential in my own formation as a follower of Jesus (in addition to the bible), and checked to see what i could find online. i was gratified to find a number of my favorite books. here they are, with links, for your reading pleasure.

• the pursuit of God, a.w. tozer
• abide in Christ, andrew murray
• power through prayer, e.m. bounds
• we would see Jesus, roy hession
• pilgrim's progress, john bunyan
• mere christianity, c.s. lewis

what books has God used in your life?

happy new year!

"the object of a new year [observance] is not that we should have a new year. it is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes…. unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven." g.k. chesterton

in 2009, may we experience the transforming presence and power of God that makes all things new!

therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!
2 corinthians 5:17