Still Alive / In a phase of discerning

Yes I am still alive. My family and I have been busy little traveling bunnies over the last month. We have been to the west coast and the east coast looking at ministry opportunities but for reasons not entirely known to me, those opportunities have been closed. Nevertheless, I will trust that God is providentially at work in our lives, as he has always been in the past. We also went home to the southern part of the Lake Michigan area (did I mention we were traveling bunnies?) to see family and most especially Laura’s father who is recovering from prostate removal surgery which caused some serious complications but he is better now and is recovering well. He, Jim Martin, is still not out of the woods in terms of cancer and may need to undergo chemo therapy, so please pray for him.

Any ways, Laura and I are trying to discern the future path God has for us. We know God has called us to serve him and for me to proclaim his Son Jesus as the Messiah. All I want to do is help other people find hope in Jesus and learn to live the life he is calling them too, while leading others around me to be effective witnesses and servants of the Risen One. Yet I am not sure where, so I continue to be discerning. While we continue to discern, we are asking ourselves if God is calling us to ministry through church planting or through an existing congregation. But I believe all discernment should be done in Christian community – and you all, the readers of this blog, are part of my Christian community, so what do you think?

In the meantime, if you know of a congregation looking for a minister, one where I would fit in well, then please let me know. Please keep us in your prayers.

Pat Robertson's Plane Crashes

A plane belonging to the fundamentalist Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson crashed near Long Island, NY. Both Pilots perished as a result of the crash and several other people were injured. Pat Robertson was not aboard the flight. Click on the link in the title for an online news article with more details.

However, now that this terrible tragedy has occurred we all are left to wonder how Pat Robertson will interpret this terrible occurrence. Will he see this tragedy as a sign of God’s divine punishment, as he does with many other tragedies that either occur or are predicted by him? Or will he finally learn that human suffering and human tragedy are not necessarily the wrath of God being outpoured? Even more, will Pat Robertson finally learn that God has not given humans the ability to interpret and declare the reasons for human tragedy and innocent suffering?