Last weekend I randomly realized that it was the one year anniversary of the public launch of our church plant. The church plant that ultimately failed. I have reflected often on my experiences in the last year, come to few conclusions, and ultimately realized that God had purpose in the pain and that my family and I are still headed for great things, perhaps greater than the things I had in mind a year ago.

As I have written before, we are now living with a family in Lawrenceville so that we can become healthy again. So far, this is going really well, and I’m really glad to be here, surrounded by deep community with people that are never to busy to stop and ask how we are doing or what is really going on.

This move has been really powerful for me because the deep community we experience on a daily basis now sits in stark contrast to where I was a year ago. Even though we had many dear friends helping us with the church plant, that time was still very lonely and painful for me. I often felt like it was me against the world rather than our church body coming together as one to do great work. I felt like the church rose and fell on me, and ultimately it did. But now, we are a part of a community of believers whose lives are so intertwined that it takes a decent amount of work to feel lonely. And, it’s even harder to think of my life as me against the world, or that my life is really about me at all.

Living in community has helped me to embrace one of my most dear beliefs, that our spiritual journey is a walk best taken together. This idea flies in the face of American individualism, but it’s true, only through rich community can we really become the follower of Jesus that we are called to be, there is simply no other way.

So, all of that to say, here’s to putting an end to the hardest year of my life so far.

Tonight begins Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This is a time to reflect on past mistakes, repent and make amends. The next 10 days leading up to the next Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur are a time to search myself, see where I have gone wrong, repent, and change.

I am looking at this as an ebenezer, a memorial established in remembrance of what God has done. For me and my family, God has led us both into and out of the hardest time we have ever had. Now that time is finished, and by His grace we are recovering. I am continually excited about what the Lord has for us and have no doubt that our lives will continue to be anything but ordinary and boring.

For the few of you that still read my blog, thank you, I am humbled to be able to offer what little teaching or wisdom I might posses. I hope that my journey has, and will encourage you to continue on your journey, knowing that we are walking toward the Lord together.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Being a disciple was (and is) more than just learning your masters teaching, but it also involves learning his character and following in his ways. Which is making me wonder, am I really following in all the ways of Jesus?

Am I:

• Teaching and brining up other leaders who can teach?
• Serving the poor regularly?
• Visiting the sick regularly?
• Seeking out the most lost people in every city I visit and developing a real relationship with them?
• Living what I read in scripture as fully and completely as I can?

I do only a few of these things, and I do none of them well. I’m going to keep thinking on this. My list is incomplete, but my goal is to live as Christ. It isn’t easy, but it’s essential to following Him.

Any thoughts?

I was reading through Deuteronomy last week and came across something that made me stop cold. Since then I have told several people about it and every time I do I get chills. I am continually amazed at how the Old Testament sets up and frames the New Testament, and, how you have to view the Old Testament through the lens of the New, and the New Testament through the lens of the Old. Amazing!

So, the text that has really captured me is Deuteronomy 12:22-23 which says,

Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

Did you catch that? It says for the blood is the life. When I read that several things hit me. First was that Jesus’ Disciples would have been intimately familiar with this passage, its meaning and its application to their life. The second (this is where I get chills) is realizing the power of Jesus’ statement at the Last Supper, “and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28). HE TOLD THEM TO DRINK HIS BLOOD! Metaphorically of course, but imagine!

For thousands of years the Hebrews had been commanded not to drink the blood of anything because it was that animal’s life. And now, in a moment of eternal significance, Jesus looks at His closest followers and dear friends and essentially says, “its time to break tradition, you must consume my life as it is given as an offering for you.” Astounding!

When I look at this critical New Testament event through the lens of Deuteronomy it gives a whole new meaning to the idea of being born again. Because as we accept the sacrifice of Jesus and embrace Him as our God, we are spiritually drinking in His life, and His life is being re-birthed in us. We are born again as spiritually new beings, containing the very life of Jesus Christ! Unbelievable!

Note: Now, I’m not saying that I’m an Old Testament Scholar, so if you have any thoughts please share them. This is just the observation of a humble learner, trying to better connect with Jesus through reconnecting with my spiritual (Hebrew) heritage.

One of the things that I have gleaned from Jewish culture is praying the Shema. This is one of the oldest prayers that is regularly prayed by the Jews. It is typically the first prayer that they teach their children as soon as their children can speak. And having been immersed briefly in their culture, I can tell you that this is a prayer that affects every aspect of their physical and spiritual lives, which in and of itself shows the power of this prayer.

The cool thing about the Shema is that it is just strait scripture. The prayer comes from three passages: Deuteronomy 6:4–9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37–41. I encourage you to read it.

I have been trying to read and pray the Shema daily, and the thing that has really impacted me in that process has been how it teaches that the scriptures need to be integrated into every area of our life. In the first and second parts of the Shema the scriptures say to talk about God’s word “when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Talking about His word should happen continually, in everything that we do. I think too often Western Christianity compartmentalizes God’s word to something that is read in church or a quiet time and something that is talked about in Sunday School or a small group. But, it should be much more than that. His word should constantly be in the front of our minds for us to meditate on and bound to our hands for us to deliver to others. His word must play a larger role in our life, both spiritual and physical.

It is this type of dedication to God’s word that I pray I will learn and reproduce in my family for generations to come.