Category: Ministry (Page 3 of 3)

Costa Rica Part II?

04/23/2006 / Blake

I’m really thinking of going back to Costa Rica this summer. Today is another meeting. But here is the cool part, I think The Wife is going to come along too! We’ve not worked out the details of where the girls will be yet, but looking to go late July/early August to Liberia, Costa Rica again on a mission trip.

Looking forward to the hot days, hard work, hot nights, great fellowship, interesting church services, and feeling exhausted knowing you did some work for God.

This is me and Pastor Carlos of the church where we work, eat, and sleep pretty much all day. Outstanding man of God.

For more pictures of our trip last year to Costa Rica you can check out this Flickr Set.

Friday's Taize' Service – Annointing w/ oil

04/15/2006 / Blake

I’d heard the name before, but never been a part. And we were running late as Addie, my dad, and I entered the church at about 6:04. I could hear the pastor reading scripture, but couldn’t see him. Only a table up front with candles and some containers up there. Then I saw Bob sitting on the front pew, facing the front like everyone else, as he was reading from The Gospel.

We took a seat and began to look at the bulletin. Hmmm. This Taize’ service isnt’ like a regular service.

Taizé, pronounced (Teh-ZAY) is an ecumenical, peaceful way to pray, using (easy to learn) musical chants, silent meditation, and scripture readings… a meditative, common prayer. Gathered in the presence of Christ we sing uncomplicated repetitive short songs like breath prayers, uncluttered by too many words, allowing the mystery of God to become tangible through the beauty of the Spirit in its simplicity. A few words sung over and over again (mantra) reinforce the meditative quality of prayer. They express a basic reality of faith that can quickly be grasped by the intellect, and will gradually penetrate the whole being.

After scripture and repeatedly singing “Remember me when You come into Your Kingdom” there was time for silent and reflective prayer. It lasted quite a while, then an invitation to light a candle and place it in a mini-sandbox of sorts as a sign of repentance and then to pray at the alter. If you desired to be anointed w/ oil and one of the pastors to pray over you, you’d cup your hands as a signal.

I told Addie I was going to go down and she was quite insistent that she knew how to do it. That she could light a candle. But I told her to wait and we’d explain everything at a later time. So I went up and prayed and was annoited and returned. And she still was saying she could do it.

I told her that people were doing it as a sign of turning from wrong living and telling God they wanted to live completely for Him. She nodded. And she wanted to go ahead.After explaining again that we’d talk about it later, she seemed to be okay w/ waiting. But then I began to think. Even if she, in her four year old head, doesn’t understand it completely, should that keep her from wanting to go down and pray? Heck, how many of the adults that go down understand it completely? Probably NONE. So we went.

She lit a candle, set it in the sand. And then we went to kneel. I prayed for her, and could her her whispering a prayer at the same time. I don’t know if it was one of her own, or if she was repeating mine. And then Davis, our Associate Pastor prayed over her for God to give her wisdom and understanding of Him as she grows and annointed her with oil.

It was quite special.

New Beginning?

04/03/2006 / Blake

Of course we, as flawed people, always recognize the need to start over on somethings. But I think sometimes the actual change is intimidating. But after some both busy and quiet times to myself, I’ve decided there are a few things that need some new beginnings and a few that just need to get started. Maybe if I put them here for all to read (is there really an “all” that reads this?) then I’ll be more likely to do so. And feel free to keep me accountable.

MissSportsTalk.com: My little hobby that started on a whim back in 2002 has grown. It has grown to the point that I need to start putting some extra effort into it and putting in place some ways for it to be self supporting. My first hosting bill was a $15/year plan that was perfect for a while. But my needs grew. And they’ve continued to grow. So much that I think I’m in need of a Virtual Private Server that is a good bit more per month than I’m paying (all out of my pocket) right now.

But I think I have a few possibilities as to how I’m going to do it. It’s going to take an upgrade in the software, which will mean an update in the skin. But then I’ll most likely use phpAdsNew. But I look to get some Mississippi advertisers to place a few ads on there to be able to support the server cost and maybe put a little extra $$ in my pocket if possible.

Running/Exercising: Yeah, yeah. There is always no time like the present to start a new exercise routine, huh? But I think I’ve found a new running partner. My wife would always be ahead of me on the ability scale, so her pace was always quicker than mine. But my 4 year old is my new running partner. Today we ran around the outside loop of our neighborhood. That’s about a mile. She did the whole thing w/o stopping. Then she hopped in the stoller and we did it a 2nd time…but it was The Wife pushing. Not me.

But I think that now is the time for a real exercise plan. There have been days that I’ve more than recognized I needed to watch what I eat and spend some time on the road or in the gym. And there have been days I’ve thought I could stand to lose a few pounds. But this past weekend, I actually began to think I was fat. It was depressing.

Talk Series: I’m planning on starting two new series at youth before school lets out. One will be called The Amazing Race and talk about our journey with God. I’m thinking it will be split up like Preparing For The Race, Running The Race, and Finishing The Race. Might try to get a few teams of students together to actually do a mini-amazing-race like the television show. I want a video camera with each team and put together a cool video of it all as well.
The other one will be on dating or relationships. But I want to have some questions to ask a handful of couples in our church, video their answers, and then edit it together to show. This would be a 2 or 3 part series. I’ve been playing with some demos of video editing packages. Looking to get one in the next month or so.
But I think series talks are good. They bring some continuity together, and you can plan for it, and people can know what to expect as well. Last night we talked about Samson some, and will be looking at him again next week. But I got a text message today from a student that said last night was good and they enjoy learning about OT people.