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Plus, here's a bonus picture from a recent visit to Seward Park in Seattle.
There's darkness in my skin
My cover's wearing thin, I believe
I'd love to start again
Go back to innocent and never leave
Don't give up now
A break in the clouds
We could be found
Rescue is coming
Rescue is coming
Rescue is coming
Rescue is coming
David Crowder Band
Which comes first, the Great Commission or the Great Commandment? I recently read a blog that posed that very question and it has got me thinking.
Are we to first live out the Great Commission (go therefore to all nations, making disciples...) or are to we first to love the Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul and mind? And let's not forget about the Second Great Commandment (Love Our Neighbors as Ourselves).
At least chronologically, the Great Commandment obviously comes first (Matthew 22 vs. Matthew 28) - but even in practice it just makes more sense. How can you make disciples if you don't first love the Lord? Worship is what we are talking about here. Yes, service is important, but first and foremost is worship. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind."
When our worship is true, it burns in our heart the desire to live out the rest of the equation ("Love your neighbor as yourself") & it also gives us the burning passion to "go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." It's also important to note that this Commission is bookended by the power and presence of God. It's Christ in us.
So I recently started a newspaper delivery route for The News Tribune. The good part is that my early morning routine is a little more regular - the bad part is that it starts at 3:30 a.m. From time to time I'll be posting some of my observations and thoughts here:
Day 1: 3:30 a.m. sure does come early
Day 2: what takes 1 hour for 2 people, takes 2 hours for 1 person (funny how that works).
Day 3: when launching a newspaper over a fence from 20 feet away, it's a good idea to aim away from the bucket of water...
Day 4: sneaking up on a large dog at 5:00 in the morning is not highly recommended
For the past 9 months or so, each Sunday evening I would gather with 20-30 adults and have a time of worship - we called it DiscoWest (Discovery West). But this evening is different & a part of me is sad. Those were some really great times of intimate worship & I will miss them. But most of all I will miss the people - that's what really makes up the church. It's one of the coolest things to lead 20-30 friends in worship - to help them connect with God and leading them to follow after His lead.
One of the songs that stands out to me the most (we sang it fairly often at DiscoWest) is Salvation is Here (Joel Houston). Below are some of the words:
God above all the world in motion
God above all my hopes and fears
And I don't care what the world throws at me now
I'm gonna be alright
Hear the sound of the generations
Making loud their freedom song
All in all that the world would know Your name
It's gonna be allright
If you ever have the opportunity to make it to a DiscoWest worship service, I'd highly recommend it. But in case you live just a little too far away (like Auburn, AL for instance) here's a little taste of DiscoWest worship. Enjoy!
This May we celebrated our 5th year anniversary (wow, it really doesn't seem like 5 years - time has really flown by!). So in celebration we traveled to Victoria, BC and spent the night. We rode aboard the Victoria Clipper (which I would highly recommend) and stayed at the James Bay Inn (a quaint little hotel with some nice charm).
Some interesting things happened along the way. As we were getting off the bus at the local gardens, we heard someone call out our name. It took me quite by surprise (we were, after all, in another country) when I turned around to see our good friends Paul & Mary Mabry who we hadn't seen in over a month - very unexpected. We ended up seeing some of the city together and enjoying some great seafood.
The next morning proved to be quite the adventure as well. It turns out that Victoria was hosting a sailboat race that same weekend. 
I had the bright idea to go out to the coast and watch the start of the race. Several miles later (on foot) we finally arrived (honestly, it didn't look that far on the map...). By then we had worked up quite the appetite and fortunately (so we thought) they were serving a pancake breakfast. So paid for our tickets and jumped in line - this is where the "fun" began. Apparently they were having trouble keeping the grills lit, so we ended up waiting in line for over an hour. This would have been okay if it hadn't been right on the coast with winds around 30 miles per hour. 
By the time we finally got our food, we were so cold that it was all we could do to stuff the food in our mouths as fast as we could to get out of there (and to top it all off, we pretty much missed the whole race while we were standing in line for the pancakes - oh well, at least we got some good pics).
Fortunately, the rest of the trip turned out much better & we ended up having a great time. So just remember, if you ever travel to Victoria, beware the pancake breakfast - other than that I'm sure you'll have a great time!
This is a picture of the sunset we enjoyed on the way back (you can click on it to view it full screen).
So many of you by now have heard that we have had a few changes lately. The biggest is one is that I stepped down from my role on staff with our church. While there were many factors that played into our decision, we ultimately believe that God is preparing us for something new. We're not quite sure what that is yet, but we are excited as we look towards the future. We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we continue to seek God's will for our lives.
We promise to post more updates here as soon as we know.
