Worshiping In Diversity

This past Sunday at Epic Life was so sweet! The power of God’s Spirit is amazing and the place I get to journey at this particular moment of my life is phenomenal.

There is nothing I am about to write that I mean to be disrespectful to anyone.

This month’s series at Epic Life is “Three Men Who Blew It and Made A Comeback, and One Who Didn’t.” My intro in the Journal is here.  We are speaking on the lives of John Mark, Peter, King David and Solomon and each Sunday will be from a different speaker. I spoke this Sunday on John Mark and told the story of a young man who ran away but was restored by God.

The Spirit moved and even though it was a Labor Day weekend we had many in the service, including several from the streets, many from international communities, families, singles, old and young.

As I finished up the message and Averi brought in music on the keys I told everyone that it is time to Stop running, Drop to our knees and repent and Roll – Turn back to God and follow after Him. He is always there to forgive and has, in fact, already done so. He will restore us.

Recently our Family has been expanding with several men and women from the streets who have the propensity to talk back while I am speaking from the stage. It doesn’t bother me. I just figure they must be paying attention because most of the time what they are saying out loud has something to do with the message. (Not always though). This week I offered prayer to who ever wanted to join me in the front. All of our homeless friends came forward along with a few others and we, (Jeff, David and I) got to pray over each of them. They smelled of alcohol and a lack of bathing, but they did step forward, a couple to repent, another to ask for prayer for someone else, another for prayer as she enters rehab.

So here’s my big prayer! I am praying that we as Epic Life will be able to exemplify the beauty of the Acts 2 Church and have all things in common with ALL the believers. I am praying that we never become like the Corinthians (1 Cor. 11:20-22) who didn’t even share their wealth during communion. I am praying that we are able to break bread together: rich and poor, learned and unlearned, old and young, from every ethnicity, every language, every socioeconomic level, and every spiritually mature level.  I pray that joining us on our knees in the front of church repenting will be all of these people together, side-by-side, without judgement. I pray that this work the Spirit is doing will draw people to Christ and not scare them away.

I know that what happened this past Sunday was scary for many and way out side of their comfort zones, but it was so beautiful!  And, I praise God for counting me worthy to experience it first hand, to see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears the full family of God. If you are reading this and you are part of the Epic Life Family, be Bold! See beyond any selfishly focused motives and judgments. Be humbly confident that God has placed you in this place at this time for his purposes and you get the amazing privilege of being in the front lines of something completely remarkable.

Ruined on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day November 27th, 2008 our first Thanksgiving in our new home in North Seattle.

I have been ruined.

Today was amazing.

This is the first Thanksgiving in Seattle, our new home, where were we have been called to start a church. What will this church “look” like? Today, I believe, portrayed the “look” of Epic Life Church. It started slightly cloudy with the sun peeking through here and there as we headed to the football field to catch a rousing game with other families from the neighborhood in the 7th annual “mud-bowl” which was all but a “mud-bowl” as we played on the new junior-high turf. We met several dads and their kids for an hour playing ball and then hit the Starbucks for mint hot chocolate. The dads I met were surgeons, high powered business consultants and the like, living in sweet spots with mountain and sound views here in North Seattle. It was a great group to connect with and with the hope of seeing again because their kids go to the same school as ours.

Thanksgiving meal was prepared and served by 5:30 pm to all of our team, except Casey Ties, who is in Minnesota now, and to Hsui Yin, from Taiwan, and Jaimie and Richardo, brothers from Mexico, 18 and nine respectfully. We had a great time, eating, playing and sharing the things we are thankful for.

It was wonderful listening to Hsui Yin share about how she feels God has brought her to our group to experience the joy. She is moving back to Taiwan tomorrow. We prayed for her and were able to send her off with many hugs. I believe she still has many questions about God and her position with Him. We have been able to share much with her over the weeks and now pray that she will continue to seek for answers and that God provide other Christ followers to continue to water the seed and be ready for the harvest.

Jaimie and Richardo had a great time. Richardo is a football teammate of Kaden’s and Jaimie is his older brother, whom I have been having conversations with throughout the fall football season. They came to church one night with their mother, who didn’t understand much because her English isn’t the best. I was able to talk with him about Christ and gave him a Bible, to start in John and asked him to make time to discuss it with me.

Later in the evening I took the boys home…to a 10 x 50 trailer house in an extremely run down trailer park, just off Aurora and 125th. My heart was ripped from my chest and crushed as I talked with Narcissa, their mother, who just lost her job and is trying to support her two sons, with the hope of keeping them off the streets. I realized that just a few minutes ago they left a five bedroom two story home filled with lively games and people and piles of food to return to their humble lives. Kaden came with me and was awesome as he recalled aloud our own living in a mobile home in Winona and how much he “loved living there.” Admittedly, those are great memories. Narcissa has lived a hard life, moving from Mexico in 1988 and living here for the past seventeen years.

I drove home with many thanksgivings on my lips as Kaden and I talked about what we had seen this day. The vast difference in lifestyles and how God is moving in our lives. I got a vision of what our church looks like from the three different people groups we met today…a fellowship of believers from every walk of life who are living in such a way that Acts 2:42 is being lived out in real authentic ways.

We must give thanks for the things we take for granted; like beds, chairs, tables, living rooms, kitchens, warmth, light, ideas, friends, partners, spouses, and the list should go on and on.

Tonight I will sleep slightly ruined. Ruined in such a way that will open my eyes to the people surrounding me, the people I pass on the streets, the ethnically diverse, the old and young, the rich and poor, etc. I must consider others better than I and take on the very attitude of Christ Jesus, that of humility. Philippians 2:1-11.

Lord please ruin me everyday so that my eyes will see the lives around me as you see them.