to blog or not to blog...

...that is always the question. I've been out of the habit, that's for sure.

But I'm still here, still kicking. Looking forward to about a month from now, when things will calm down a bit. And then a little more so a month after that.

Seasons are so needed in life. We need a little sunshine, we need a little rain, a little warmth, a little cold. When we taste something bitter, the sweetness we taste later is all the more sweet. And though no one wants pain, how could we know how good life is if we didn't have that faint memory of hurt for comparison?

I think this is why grace is the greatest, most glorious thing in the world. Because we, all of us, know what it means to be undeserving of any good thing. We know true worth or value when we see it, and we realize how far off we often are from its mark. But when grace is imparted, a little of the goodness of the one who gave it is imparted onto us as well, and all of a sudden redemption springs up inside. The worth we had somewhere buried is made worthy again. It turns the pain into soothing comfort, radiant beams of warmth and light.

How much grace have you imparted today?

'the frequency with which i remember it' picture?

late JANUARY 2007 PRAYER LETTER

Here's the current prayer letter I send out to supporters of the ministry...

R E N O V A T I O N S

We definitely have some more changes going on, once again. That seems to be the theme of the ministry of h2o! Maybe God just wants us to learn patience and trust. Maybe He wants to equip us with the ability to remain calm for any future hardship that comes. If so, I’m very grateful to Him! I think He’s constantly working something out in our hearts. Wisdom I’ve come to live by goes something like, ‘It’s not what happens to you in life, it’s how you respond to it.’ Our God is a gracious and loving Father, and He does nothing to harm us. But He does test us, to help us realize how faithful or unfaithful we are, to remind us once again how weak we are when our pride swells and we believe we are self-sufficient. And these are not cruel tests, far from it; they are some of the kindest things done for us, and we should be thankful.



These pictures are the current state of so.zo (the first one is looking toward the back as you walk in, and the second one is looking toward the front from the back), and it has been this way for a number of weeks now. Remember back in August when we demolitioned the interior and prepared and painted the walls in about a week’s time? Well, this stuff is taking a lot longer! What we’re waiting on to keep moving is the building permit from the city code enforcement office. Once we have that, we are going to refinish these awesome wood floors, build a coffee bar (it will be on the right side as you walk in) and install handicap accessible bathrooms in the back. Christopher, my older brother, is an architect down in Knoxville, TN and is designing the build-out; he’s got some awesome ideas for down the road when we get some more money together! We are also working on forming a business team along with investors to make so.zo truly a great coffeehouse in Morgantown. I will tell you more in future letters about the vision for the space and how we hope it will impact lives here for the Kingdom, but for now, please pray for some specific things concerning the renovation:
1. Pray that the building permit is given to us within the next two weeks so we may get the floor ready to build on.
2. Pray that the floor is ready by the last weekend in February, and that it works out for Christopher to travel here then and has the help of many of us h2o-ers to put in an intense work weekend to build the bar and bathrooms.
3. Pray that there will be a good response and subsequent meeting to our request for investors and business partners.
(If any of you, my faithful supporters, feel led to invest in so.zo or want more info, you can of course call/e-mail anytime!)

Meanwhile, as we wait for these things to take place, h2o has been meeting Sunday nights at Trinity Episcopal Church downtown. It’s been fun setting up and tearing down with everyone, and the worship and general atmosphere has been very sincere and heartfelt, and we are seeing new people come as our people have been taken up the call to invitation; we want to be more inviting people in 2007, not just to h2o, but into our lives and to Jesus. The temporary dislocation has helped us, actually, to be refreshed on our identity, which isn’t necessarily tied to a physical place. We are a community of young people who come together and celebrate the goodness of God and to encourage each other as witnesses of that goodness and that God. Pray for h2o, not just the service but the people, that as we look forward to what God will do in 2007 we are expectant, enthusiastic and willing to join Him in His work.