A River of Life....

Life is a voyage, a voyage full of moments which lead to a plethora of decisions. Because of this we encounter countless circumstances that mandate a decision on our part. From the moment we wake up till the time we fall asleep, opportunities arise where decisions must be made. Think about it:

• You decided to press the snooze button more then once this morning (three times if you are like me).
• You decided what to wear.
• You decided what to have for breakfast (or what not to have it all).
• You decided what lane to drive on road on your way to work.
• You decided what to listen to on the radio, CD player, or mp3 player.
• You decided....

I think you get the point. You will notice that the decisions mentioned above are rather easy and mundane, you know the kind we make without thinking. Not all decisions are that way are they? The fact is that we routinely face the task of tackling the "difficult" decisions in life. I refer to them as "difficult" because it is our tendency to elevate them to such a status. We lose sleep over the "difficult" decisions of life. We wrestle back and forth, teeter-tottering on which way to go. Eventually, we end up over spiritualizing the decisions that we must make. As a result, we miss the moments. The moments of opportunities; opportunities to love, serve, share, grow, teach, and on and on. You see, these moments and opportunities that we are talking about combine to make so much more. As I mentioned earlier, our life is full of moments. So, when we fail to make a decision - we miss a moment - we miss a life.

Keep reading and let me share an analogy that might be helpful in regards to life, decisions, God, and the Holy Spirit. Think of it this way, we are a river. As water we are free to flow and meander where ever we desire - as long as we stay within the confines of the river bank. God, is the river bank. He is the channel, He is the guide. He knows where we are going and He knows where we will end up. We on the other hand, cannot see around the river bed. We only see what is right in front of us. But there is more, a river by definition is a moving body of water; one that flows. In each river there is a current that causes the river to flow. This current, is the Spirit. It leads us, moves us, drives us, directs us, and accelerates us to the desired destination.

How does this all fit together with the decisions we make? For one thing, it grants us freedom. Some see the banks as a hindrance, something that is restricting. I on the other hand, see the river as a wide open body of water where I flow freely as I am guided by the Spirit. This my friends, is a river of life where we do not have to lose sleep over the decisions we are faced with. It is a river of life full of moments ready to be seized. A river of life full of opportunities to love, serve, share, grow, teach, and what ever else your heart desires.

It was His voice

I love this time of the year. At this moment I can pear out my window and see the buds on the trees and plants starting new growth amongst brown twigs and shrubs. More importantly, I love this time of year because we are brought to the cross as we remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Christ the Lord. If you are not reading for yourself (which you should be) you are at least hearing the resurrection story from the pulpit. The resurrection story can be found in one of the four Gospels, each communicating the story from their perspective. I am partial to John’s (John 20) perspective of the resurrection because it involves an interaction that is short, but yet telling.

The conversation takes place between Jesus and Mary; one we know very much about and the other we know little about. I think you can figure that one out. We have to look at a few other passages to piece together an identity for Mary because John simply mentions her by name. From the Gospel of Mark we discover the tag line associated with Mary. When Mark mentions Mary he does so by calling her – Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus cast out seven demons. In the Gospel of Luke, the author identifies Mary as one of the faithful “women” who followed, served, and provided for Jesus out of her own means. Other mentions of Mary in the Gospels place her at key moments throughout the life of Jesus.

Mary arrives at the grave of Jesus ready to anoint the body of Jesus. To her dismay, she finds it empty and promptly leaves to tell the others. The story then tells of Peter and the other disciple running to the grave to verify her claim, perplexed they immediately leave to go back home. Mary who followed the disciples back found herself alone once again at the empty grave. She found herself face to face with the risen Lord. All it took for her to realize who was in front of her was a simple word. “Mary,” He said. All it took was an gentle utterance of her name to recognize and respond to Jesus. It must have been music to her ears. It must have reminded her of the numerous times he called out to her with pure compassion and love. Undoubtedly, her first interaction with Jesus was recalled; you know the one where he cast seven demons out.

It is my hope and prayer that this Easter you may concentrate on His voice. Our Lord is alive! He still speaks today as he did to Mary in front of the empty tomb; intimately and personally to each one of us. Listen to it, respond to it, and embrace it.

Leap Day Baby

Well it happened. FINLEY JEAN HARRIS entered our world 2/29/2008 at 12:30 in the afternoon. She weighed in at 8.4 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. Heather and Finley are fantastic. Finley is gorgeous. The evening nurse brought Finley back to us and informed us that Finley was the cutest baby in the hospital. I guess she saw this as critical information because she shared this with us at 2:00 in the morning.

Because of the leap year we knew we would be inundated with requests from the media located throughout the world. We made the conscious decision prior to birth that we were only going to answer requests from the local paper. It is a good thing that the Gresham Outlook was the first to contact us because it made it much easier to decline the Oregonian, NY Times, the Today Show on NBC, and Good Morning America on ABC. (WINK, WINK)

If you receive the Outlook be sure to check out the front page on 3/5/08. Finley, Heather, and I are located on the front page just below the fold on the right hand side. If at any time the Outlook decides to add our photo to there web site I will include a link. Until then you will have to enjoy the following photos.