Thursday, December 20, 2007
Merry Christmas/Happy New Year 2008!
A quick update on the Foster family in 2007:
Our youngest, Evan started first grade, lost several teeth this year including his two front ones just last week which makes for a very cute face. He loves math (can’t take credit for that one) and sports (OK, I’ll take some credit for that). He learned lots of things this year not the least of which was the lyrics to the song, “Hallelujah, Your love makes me sing.” He thought it was, “Hallelujah, Yoda makes me sing” (too much Star Wars I guess). He is the greatest kid!
Shay is in 5th grade, plays gtr (you know, switchfoot, finger 11, greeday, etc…) and saxophone (you know, mary had a little lamb, three blind mice, etc…) and makes videos. (Lots of videos. They’re all strangely the same. Lots of screaming, lip syncing, and fighting with light sabers with his brother). Check out his website at www.freewebs.com/shayband Shay is so creative and is a blast to be around.
Quincy. Oh, boy. She’s all grown up on us. I never really cared for jr highers until I had one. Now I love them. She is so much fun. She plays soccer… all the time. And when she’s not playing soccer, she works to pay for her soccer. Besides youth group, which she recently mentioned, was her favorite time of the week, she loves to write. She now has a new blog going at www.cookiesoffortune.blogspot.com that you’ll need to read.
Johnna is working full-time again which hasn’t happened in several years (at least not in the getting paid sense). She works for friends who pay her well and treat her great. That’s a good combination if you can find it. She still sings beautifully and more importantly looks that way too.
The big news for me is the fact that I have resigned from pastoring discover church. My last official day will be Jan 6, 2008 which is exactly six years to the day that I resigned my previous church. (I like to make a move every six years on the first Sunday in January). dc has been a huge blessing in my life. So many great memories and friendships have happened at this church. I will never be able to replace it. But it’s a new season. I know, I know, “what will I be doing?” Well, I’ll be pursuing some music opportunities. I’ll continue blogging because I really enjoy it and many of you have responded well to it. Other than that, I’m kinda not sure what’s going to happen. I’ve got a few job offers out there but it’s going to take a bit more prayer and time to figure it out. And so that’s the real answer to the question, “what will I be doing” … praying.
And there’s God. He still loves me and I feel the same about Him. He’s so creative and amazing. He works full-time, all the time for me and that’s a good combination if you can find that in a God. He loves to help me laugh, learn, work, sing and go through all kinds of seasons of life. At times life appears to go up and down, backwards and forwards, but He never changes. He sticks “closer than a brother”. And even though that seems to read pretty sappy, it’s actually all true!
So, we hope you have had a great 2007 and more importantly that you’ll have a great 2008. Because what’s in the past is done. Gone. Bye, bye. The only thing that counts now is moving forward, trying new things, enjoying the adventure of whatever ’08 brings. Don’t fear. “If God is for you, who can be against you?”
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Humility
A while back I landed on a Christian cable broadcast of a church that is dramatically different than the one I lead. I didn’t say anything out loud but inside I was a being judgmental. The theatrics really annoyed me. I presumptuously asked my daughter to watch with me and tell me if she saw anything different between our church and the one on the program. It didn’t take her long to respond.
She said, “They have a lot more people than you do at your church.”
Kids don’t’ always respond like they’re supposed to.
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She said, “They have a lot more people than you do at your church.”
Kids don’t’ always respond like they’re supposed to.
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Labels:
cable christianity,
humility,
kids,
theatrics
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Selling Fear
A rant for a moment on negativity that runs through our society. Just a small observation… here in Phoenix where it rains very little, of course, we’ve had something like 2 or 3 inches all year. If you were to watch the news (I did once a couple of weeks ago) you would learn how concerned we should be over the lack of rain. Never mind that we live in a desert and the reason it’s called a desert is because periodically we don’t get enough rain. Recently we got a couple inches of rain over the weekend. If you were to watch the news (which I didn’t but I know this happened) you would learn that you should be concerned about how much rain we got… roads washed away, cars stuck, floods, etc… Doesn’t anyone else notice this? This use of fear to constantly assault us? Why do they do it? Because it sells.
Fear is an easier sell than hope.
• Modern Medicine? Essentially focused on fighting disease instead of building health.
• Clinical Psychology? Focused on pathologies instead of optimism. (Dr Dan Baker in his book, What Happy People Know, written in 2003 cites that at recent count, “there have been 54,040 professional articles written on depression and 415 on happiness.”)
• How bout marketing and advertising? Do they not prey upon your fears of not having enough, not being good enough, sexy enough, smart enough, etc…?
What about the educational system, economy, religion...? Hmmmm...
The world is selling fear. Are you buying?

Fear is an easier sell than hope.
• Modern Medicine? Essentially focused on fighting disease instead of building health.
• Clinical Psychology? Focused on pathologies instead of optimism. (Dr Dan Baker in his book, What Happy People Know, written in 2003 cites that at recent count, “there have been 54,040 professional articles written on depression and 415 on happiness.”)
• How bout marketing and advertising? Do they not prey upon your fears of not having enough, not being good enough, sexy enough, smart enough, etc…?
What about the educational system, economy, religion...? Hmmmm...
The world is selling fear. Are you buying?
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