Pendant Ce Temps, a Geneve...

Right now, back in Geneva, six of my favourite people (most of my favourite people, actually) are spending their evening together, laughing, eating thai food, and sharing life.
I miss each and every one of them.
And I miss what we are when we're together.
These friendships have taken time. The community they've come to create is something I yearn for almost daily. Some of these people I have grown up with. Some, I have been in ministry with. Some, I have served with. Some, I have been on three different contintents with. They know me. I know them. We all know each other - to a certain degree, at least.
These people are home to me. I love them, I miss them, I want to be in ministry with them.
Ah, impossible dreams!

Rob Bell At Fuller

Rob Bell spoke at Fuller last night. It was good, it was inspiring, it was challenging. Everything I expected from the man, really. He took us through the exodus - from Egypt to Sinai, to Jerusalem, and finally to Babylon. He noted that Israel's history repeats itself in the lives of His people today, he placed Jesus within this story, and he revealed more of our own story through it. His talk seems to have been an abridged version of a series of four sermons he gave at his church in Grand Rapids called "The New Exodus" - you can find them here.
Hearing him speak made me long for more teachings like this. It made me think about the role of sermons, and the role of teachers within a church community. In my church community, we do not have "sermons". In fact, we rarely have any real "teaching". I am beginning to miss it. And it's not necessarily hearing a person preach from the pulpit that I miss, as much as just learning from someone who knows more than I do about following Jesus; someone passionately sharing what they've learned or how God has been challenging them.
I realise a sermon will rarely change my life - it will not transform me overnight. But solid teaching is good. It is biblical. It is one of the ways I am encouraged to grow. I need it. So without idolising the sermon, let me just state that I miss it...

Father & Son at the hospital

Our church visited Ronnie at the hospital today. He has been in a coma for two months, after miraculously suriving a motorcycle accident on Angeles Crest Highway. We prayed for him, and spent time with his girlfriend, his mother, and his father.
The tears didn't come to me until I observed his father bending over him, holding his hand, and placing his face inches from his. It was a gesture filled with a love that is rarely witnessed. It was a gesture filled with desperation, and hope, and intensity. It was a picture of a father loving on his comatose son. It was beautiful.
Can you picture God caring for us like that? Loving on us, His comatose people. His children who are so prone to wandering, to forgetfulness, to idolatry. And yet, He holds us close, He whispers, and He cares for us deeply and intensly.

"The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17

Malibu Creek State Park