Vacation at Home

Well I have been on vacation all week long. We thought about going
on some big trip, even heading out to New York City. As Cristi and I
talked about it we decided to not go any where. We decided to
vacation at home. It has been a great week! some relaxing on
Monday, cleaning the house on Tuesday, going out of town on
Wednesday, cleaning the basement on thursday and just being with the
family on friday. now this might not seems as exciting as NYC, but
it was so relaxing. Also I had some great time with my wife and
boys. I think these kind of vacations will happen more often in the
future. i will be back at it all this Sunday but have realized, i
need to build in more time with my family than I have. Anyway,
vacation has been simple and good.

God bless you
Nathan

Bear Tracks...not the ice cream kind.

It's October.  A beautiful time a year.  Every Fall my parents rent a cabin on a lake up north and our whole family gets together to relax and connect with each other.  This year was great.  My son Isaac caught the most fish, my brother-in-law, Mike, finally caught the giant musky he has been after for 3 years, and we all were able to chill for 4 days.  

One the second day of our time up there I went for a walk in the woods.  There are some ATV trails all over through the amazing colored woods.   I was enjoying some great music on my iPod and really being so thankful for the day.  I had walked a mile or so from the cabin and started looking at the ground in front of me.  I was enjoying all the different animal tracks,  deer, squirrel, raccoon.  

Then I saw a track that made me think, "Huh, that's different."  

It was really fresh and quite clear, after seeing a few more of them I realized, "Those are bear tracks."  

Now up here we don't have grizzly bears, just black bears, but come on man, I mean a bear is a bear! So I started away very quickly, as i took off my iPod, expecting to hear growling all around me.  As I walked I surveyed the different trees around.  

"I'm sure I could climb that pine tree really quick."  I thought.  Then I remembered, bears can climb trees!  My pace quickened a little more.  I finally got off the trails back on to the main road.  I felt like a criminal, always looking behind me, to the sides.  I made it back to the cabin with out becoming bear food.  The rest of weekend was really nice, but there was always this looming thought of what could have happened.  

If I had never seen that bear print, I would have gone on in ignorant bliss.  God just kind of showed me how much he protects us in everything we do.  He is sure good!

Fwd: Fire

Yesterday I got a call from a friend of mine.  He told me to bring some marshmallows because his business was burning down.  CRAZY!  I went over to spend some time with him and watch the spectacle.  Five fire trucks, police cars burning strip-mall, if it wasn't my friends business it would have been a pretty cool thing to watch.  There was water running into every drain, tons of firemen everywhere and then there were the spectators.  People just kind of seemed in a trance. Staring, talking in quiet voices, a few crying, some laughing a little jokes they had with each other.   Then they started tearing down the building.  This all happened in about half an hour.

The fire had started the night before and the firefighters thought they had put it out.  However, it was still slowly burning between the roof and the ceiling.  by 2:00 p.m. the next day it erupted all over the roof, Sending spurts of flame up all over the building.  Everyone thought that the fire was over, that the burning had finished.  In reality it had just gone out of sight.  As I thought about this, and talked with my friend, and thought and watched, and thought, i realized this is our life.  we might feel like our fire has gone out. that there is nothing left of the passion for life, God, family, friends,  but it just is slowly burning below the surface waiting for that moment to burst out and take over again.  Boy, I should have brought those marshmallows, they would have been great!

God bless you,

Pastor Nathan

The First Day

Well it happened.  Last night I had one of those terrible dreams about the first day of school.  You get to school, you have no idea where your classroom is or even what class you are supposed to go to.  You wander around the school looking for where you belong. Once you find the class the teacher is really mean and ugly.  And you have no idea what you are doing, there is a test on things you have never studied, your stress level goes up and UP AND UP! and then you wake up.

This was what I got to wake up with this morning. Then I remember, it is the first day of school for millions of students across our country.  They are waking up early and getting ready, going into classes feeling totally unprepared for what this next year might bring.  It's fun, it's scary, it's exciting and  it is depressing.  As I talk to teenagers they seem to want to put off the beginning of school for as long as they possible can.  Why is that? It seems like they would enjoy it. They get to meet their old friends and make new friends, they get to experience new things and learn how to learn and expand their thinking.  They get to use free art supplies and computer labs.  All of these things are things teenagers love.  They spend much of their free time doing these very things, as do I.  But I think there are two things that make going back to school so difficult.  One is the you no longer are in control of your schedule and two, you are forced to change. To become different than you have been, which is very stress inducing.  

I think these to principles are the very things that make it hard to follow Jesus.  We are brought to a place where we need to give ourselves to Him.  All the time, not just when it fits our schedule, but at all times.  This messes with our lives.   Also we are forced to change the more we know about Jesus.  When we come into contact with Him we can not leave unchanged, either we change our schedule and selves to align with Him, or we go on knowing that are not lining up with the new information we have gained about Him. That is a terrible place to be, to know about the truth but to reject it. yuck.   I hope that makes sense.  All that being said I still love this time of year with the crisper air, the new start and fun of Fall just around the corner.  I hope you don't have and school nightmares of your own. Also, enjoy the first week of school!

God bless you

Pastor Nathan

Lion Chasing

In a pit with a lion on a snowy day.  Lately I have been reading a boy by this title by Mark Batterson.  Wow! what a challenge it has been to me.  It tells the story of a man who encountered a lion in a snow storm and instead of running from the lion he pursued it.  He chased it into a pit and then killed it.  The point of the book is not hunting or doing stupid things.  It is about pursuing that thing in life that seem too big, too scary or just too far outside of the ordinary.  When we pursue those things in life that God has put in front of us, the doors open to us.  In this story the man ends up being the bodyguard to a great king.  The same things happens to those of us that are willing to go after God's big plans.  The Bible tells us that the person who is willing to start with the smaller things will be trusted with the large things later on.  Lets start where we are and grow from there.  Pursue that lion in your life.  the thing that seems to big, or too hard or just too scary.  Go after it with confidence....man this is starting to sound like a motivational speaker... anyway really go for it.  see what happens. you might get hurt, you might win, you will be changed by it.  

I am having to get outside of my comfort zone and push forward.  To try the big things and see what happens.  Please pray for me and I will pray for you.  

God bless you

Pastor Nathan

The First Blog

Hello Everyone,

Well this is the first of a weekly blog, to fill you in on my life
and what God is doing in my life and the life of our church and youth
group.

I am really excited about what is happening at Highland Church and
more specifically The Source youth ministry. There is all kinds of
new stuff happening. I feel really strongly that Jesus is preparing
us and me specifically for this new school year. I just returned
from district council in Indiana where I received tons of good ideas,
challenges and motivation to go forward.

One major thing we are doing is repainting the youth room. It's going to
be brighter, more filled with energy and light.  We will be getting
games, and TVs and all kinds of stuff. Normally I am not the kind of
guy who puts a high value on all the extra hype stuff like that, but
God has really been challenging me in that area. The fact that he
designed the world to awaken us to His glory through creation and
through our emotions as well as our minds and hearts has made me realize it is
not hype to decorate, have games, and fun, to, as Sara Groves put it, add to the beauty. It is truly a form of worship and a way to draw us closer to Him and value who He is in our
lives.

Well that is all for now, I will probably post at least once a week
moving towards once a day eventually.

God bless you all,
Pastor Nathan