there you have it… proof my honey’s spiritual gift is chit chat.  and adam’s, apparently, is pointing out people who need God’s love by hitting them with frisbees.    [ kidding - - about adam    ]

i have an idea…. why don’t we all pair up and go to the park to engage in frisbee hitting and chit chat?  we can win the world for God.  i really think this will work.  once we perfect our methods we can write a study course on how people can implement the program in their cities.  we can win thousands.  we just need to know exactly how adam and ernie pulled it off.

ok, i’m now nervous about lightning bolts… so, let me make my point here.

professional church people (that would include me) spend a lot of time looking for the next new thing.  what’s working?  how can we do our jobs better?  we have a great community.  we learn from each other, we share, we really work hard to grow and learn together, and i think we have the best intentions.  we spend a lot of time looking forward, but what can we learn from our past?  this is what carlos asked of his creative coaching kids.  study the methods of churches long gone and take a good hard look at what they did right.  what was working for them? what can we learn?

i discovered there were a lot of what we would deem “successful” churches before the days of all of our advanced technology and clever marketing ideas.  people got saved, healed and delivered by the thousands long before direct mail, social media and online campuses.  but i didn’t notice the greatest impact coming from the utilization of new technologies, implementation of new methods, or even by using illustrations derived from pop-culture.  i’m sure they used these methods, but their use wasn’t so noteworthy that the history books (ahem… wiki’s) attributed a single mention of such as means to their success.  but, i did find a common thread.  the great revivals i read about all seem to have started much the same way.  with a human, or group of humans, who sacrificed their own ideas, comforts and desires, devoured His Word, got on their faces and sought after Him…..     and you know what?  God showed up.

denominations were born out of some of these great revivals.  denominations (arguably, divisions) for the most part, seem to have been formed when a group of these same humans, who after experiencing a legitimate move of God, over-analyzed it, argued over it, tweaked it, organized a church split and tried to do it better….  when maybe they just should have gotten back on their faces for God’s next big idea.

God never said we had to become an experts on how to change lives…
He already is….

He never asked us to figure everything out then go tell others…
He’s already got that….

He never suggested we come up with new ways, new methods, new technologies to get people to feel loved…
He already loves them…

He said… ask.
He said… seek.
He said… knock.

He said He’d do it.  So, why do we try so hard to figure it all out while we ignore Him?

i’m throwing around the pronoun we very presumptuously.  i mean, me, myself, i, yo, me….  yep, guilty right here. but yeah – - i think you guys can pretty much agree we’re all in this humanity thing together.  and lest you forget, or just don’t know me, all the stuff i just presumed to dismiss is the stuff i do for a living.  i’m not at all suggesting our methods are bad, or our technology useless.  in fact, i still think we have the greatest potential for world change in the history of humanity.  i have no doubt… mostly because God said it’s going to happen.  the formula for success though, and i think there really is one, is this…

God’s creativity is limitless and so is our access to it.  it’s so imperative we learn from our past, get on our faces, seek God’s face until our make-up is running and our eyes are all puffy, make some real sacrifices and start exerting some persistence to hear from Him….

….then lets get up and push some buttons.

i’m so thrilled for my new sister
and the 3 others who met Christ today.
this is what it’s all about.

& i’m quite happy God has me in the wood shed over this issue…
…it means He’s still with me somewhere.

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=shared" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/video.msn.com');" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

ok… that is so stinkin’ cool.

steven hopkins sent me a twitter yesterday asking if we had a daniel fast journal anywhere to download.  we don’t.  but i actually have used macjournal for quite some time and really, really love it.  is is free (well, vs. 2.6.1 is) and allows you to organize different journals by topic.  so i can keep my daniel fast thoughts and prayers seperate from say my bible study journal, or my “what keeps me up at night” journal.  i hope to upgrade to the latest version as it’s has been a really great tool.  it’s $34.95 and well worth it, but i’m gonna have to settle for the free version a little while longer.

i haven’t actually used any pc journaling software but my journal 1 is listed on download.com as a free download.  it seems to get good reviews.  might be a good place to start looking.  there are some other ones that seem to run in the $39.95 range which i’m sure work great.  if anyone has a good one, leave us a comment below.

happy journaling!

rock church is getting ready to participate in awake21 a 21 day daniel fast starting on sunday.  i am starting to get really excited.  but, as i walked through the grocery store today i was a little spooked by the price of produce.  ouch.  so, when i got home i started planning out meals we can afford.

i stumbled on an old recipe i haven’t made in ages.  it’s one of my favorites and very inexpensive to make.  i thought i’d share it in case anyone needs any ideas.

perfect spaghetti with tomato sauce
2 tbsp. plus 1/4 tspn. salt
1 1/2 lbs. of baby pear tomatoes
8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti
4 tbsp. evoo
4 cloves garlic minced (or pressed)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cu fresh basil leaves loosely packed and torn

(note:  this recipe really is best with the real live fresh ingredients.  you can substitute canned italian plum tomatoes and dried basil if it’s all you have, but if you can, take the time to get the real stuff.  you won’t need much of it – it’s still an inexpensive meal with all the fresh ingredients.)

the recipe i use says to blanch and peel the tomatoes, but i never have.  i just seed them and really cut them up fine.

in a skillet, heat up the evoo.  add the garlic and simmer until golden (bout 30 sec.).  add red pepper flakes and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt.  increase heat to high and add tomatoes.  heat them through while crushing them into the garlic, pepperflakes and evoo with the back of a spoon.  the texture you’re going for is super mashed up tomatoes….not sauce.   if it gets too dry you can add a little more evoo or some water from your pasta pot.

drain your whole wheat spaghetti noodles when al dente.  then just toss the tomato sauce into the pasta.

not your typical spaghetti…it’s so, so good.
what about you?  found any good recipes for the daniel fast?