plant and run
self awareness
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One of the subjects that our coaches here at Fellowship Associates have drilled into us is the idea of “self-awareness.”
A team cannot operate effectively unless each of it’s members are self-aware. Self-awareness means that you know your strengths and weaknesses and you aren’t insecure about them.
That is easier said than done.
A great tool to help each of us along the journey towards self-awareness is the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero.
Scazzero includes this helpful self-awareness scale
0……………….25……………….50……………….75……………….100
0-25
- Can’t distinguish between fact and feeling
- Emotionally needy and highly reactive to others
- Much of life energy spent in winning the approval of others
- Little energy for goal-directed activities
- Can’t say, “I think…I believe…”
- Little emotional separation from families
- Dependent marital relationships
- Do very poorly in transitions, crises, and life adjustments
- Unable to see where they end and others begin
25-50
- Some ability to distinguish between fact and feeling
- Most of self is a “false self” and reflected from others
- When anxiety is low, they function relatively well
- Quick to imitate others and change themselves to gain acceptance from others
- Often talk one set of principles/beliefs, yet do another
- Self-esteem soars with compliments or is crushed by criticism
- Become anxious (i.e. highly reactive and “freaking out”) when a relationship system falls apart or becomes unbalanced
- Often make poor decisions due to their inability to think clearly under stress
- Seek power, honor, knowledge, and love from others to clothe their false selves
50-75
- Aware of the thinking and feeling functions that work as a team
- Reasonable level of “true self”
- Can follow life goals that are determined from within
- Can state beliefs calmly without putting others down
- Marriage is a functioning partnership where intimacy can be enjoyed without losing the self
- Can allow children to progress through developmental phases into adult autonomy
- Function well–alone or with others
- Able to cope with crises without falling apart
- Stay in relational connection with others without insisting they see the world the same
75-100 (Few people function at this level)
- Is principle oriented and goal directed–secure in who they are, unaffected by criticism or praise
- Is able to leave family of origins and become an inner-directed, separate adult
- Sure of their beliefs but not dogmatic or closed in their thinking
- Can hear and evaluate beliefs of others, discarding old beliefs in favor of new ones
- Can listen without reacting and communicate without antagonizing others
- Can respect others without having to change them
- Aware of dependence on others and responsibility for others
- Free to enjoy life and play
- Able to maintain a non-anxious presence in the midst of stress and pressure
- Able to take responsibility for their own destiny and life.
So…where do you think you fall on this scale?
Remember, the opposite of self-awareness would be self-deception…so it would be easy to read over this list and not be honest with yourself about where you really are…
the NOLA Church Plant logo explained
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So perhaps you’ve noticed that we unveiled our “logo” for the church plant. I’m really happy about it. It was designed by our friend Samantha Carr. She did a great job.
Just to be clear, this is not the new church logo. In fact, we haven’t even determined the name of the new church. Part of this church planting process is the gathering of a core group of people who will help to start this new church. We want that group to have a hand in the selection of a name and the inspiration of a logo.
So the purpose of this logo is to help us communicate the vision and dreams of this church plant. We need a movement of people, both in New Orleans and around the country, who will rally around us to support, pray and encourage this new church. This logo is one of the tools God can use to help spark that movement.
The logo is inspired by the Crescent City Connection Bridge that spans the Mississippi River in New Orleans. For us, it is a great symbol that represents a number of things…
First of all, we our moving ministry “across the River.” Berean Bible Church is on the Westbank of the Mississippi and the new church plant will be on the Eastbank. For four years, we have sent short-term mission teams over that bridge to help people rebuild [the Westbank didn't flood].
Secondly, we want to be a church that “builds bridges” into our neighborhoods. Frankly, we are sick and tired of church being defined by merely coming together for a Sunday morning worship service. We want church to also be defined by going together into the darkest parts of our world to bring the Kingdom of God to bear upon the needs we find there. It’s time to stop standing around waiting for the needs to come to us. It’s time to cross over the gulfs in our lives that prevent us from going to the other side.
Thirdly, we love our city! This bridge is a symbol that defines our town and we want to embrace and love it!
tell me about your team [part two - punt]
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I still remember the first foreign mission trip that I lead as a youth pastor. We drove down into the mountains of central Mexico to work on a youth camp that was being built by our Missionaries friends Brock and Heather Hower. It was a great trip.
Whenever we took trips outside of the US, we would open up our Youth trip to adults in the church. Lawrence “Punt” Sisung, an elder and financial investment banker, decided to come. I knew Lawrence fairly well at the time, but I had no idea what kinda “entertainment” would be waiting for us across the border.
For some reason, I think work related, Lawrence was unable to drive down with us to Mexico. He flew in the day after we arrived. So by the time he showed up, we were already getting acclimated and comfortable.
Lawrence showed up decked out for the wilderness: brand new camping jacket, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, multiple new flashlights, handheld GPS and satellite phone. Apparently he had gone to the local camping store with a map of Mexico, pointed to a spot and said, “I’m going here. What do I need?” All of the teenage boys smiled and eyed all of these camping toys that they could tinker around with for the next two weeks.
Sometime in the middle of the Lawrence’s first night, the whole camp awoke to sound of yelling outside. The boys rushed out in their boxers to find Lawrence being chased back from the outhouse by a “wolf”… the camp dog he hadn’t met yet.
Oh, we still won’t let him live that one down.
It was a great trip. As a youth pastor, I was really grateful to see this white-collar investment banker get dirty in many ways. Of course, he worked his tail off to help build the camp. More important than that, though, was the relationships I watched him build with teenage boys. By the end of the trip, he knew those boys…and I’ve watched him continue to reach out and mentor them.
By the way, we took that trip in August of 2005. Less than a month later, our hometown was under water.
And we thought building a camp in Mexico was hard work…
It quickly became apparent to the leadership at Berean that the two men would would have the time, ability and passion to lead Hurricane Recovery ministries would be Doug and Lawrence.
So we dove in together, and we have absolutely loved it. Lawrence has challenged my faith in so many ways. I think our students probably got tired of hearing me use “Lawrence illustrations” in my talks on Sunday nights. I have to admit that I have honestly never known anyone who ruthlessly trusts God quite in the way that Lawrence does. He prays a ton and then he steps out in faith. I love spending a day with him because inevitably I’ll (1) pray more than I ever would on my own and (2) be thrown into an uncomfortable and unbelievable ministry opportunity that I would never have taken.
On the other hand, Lawrence would say that he could never have survived the past four years of ministry without me by his side. He would say that many of the ministry opportunities would never have happened if I hadn’t provided the structure around him to give him the freedom to follow God’s Spirit. He would say that God has used me to challenge him.
So when the opportunity arose to plant a church. I knew that I wanted Lawrence alongside of me…I knew that I needed Lawrence alongside of me. It took Lawrence a long time to process and gain clarity on whether or not his ministry should shift to the church plant. Just recently Lawrence felt tugged to finally join our team.
So that makes three of us as full-time co-pastors/co-planters: Alf, Lawrence and I. I have to admit, I think we might quite the formidable team. The idea of planting a church together brings to us a sense of confidence that never would be there otherwise. We have all talked about what the image of a “church planter” looks like in our minds. It intimidates us. As Alf likes to say, the expectation is that a church planter is “Jesus with a red cape.” We are asking God to use our three sets of complementary gifts, passions and backgrounds together to make an impact for the Kingdom.
Furthermore, we are all friends. We love spending time together. It is difficult right now for me to be in Little Rock while Alf and Lawrence are in New Orleans. We have decided to spend every Wednesday morning on a conference call together so that God can continue to bind us together over this period of separation.
Our team, though, extends way beyond the three of us. In fact, we believe that God is calling us to weave to concept of team into every little detail of how this new church operates.
Perhaps you are supposed to be part of our team too?
my running schedule explained.
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[NOTE - If you randomly found this post searching the web for info on putting together a running schedule, then, Welcome! Just so you know, I'm a 32 year old guy, 6'1, about 165 pounds and I've been running 20-30 miles a week for about 9 months. Nothing I write below reflects any medical consultation, only what I've pieced together by researching and running.]
So, many of you have left encouraging comments on Facebook about my progress on running over the past couple of weeks. Thanks! One of the things I’ve read recently is that regular training will lead to periodic spurts of progress [it's not slow and steady progress like we would imagine.] Recently, I’ve hit a spurt and lowered my pace pretty significantly. I’ve set a couple of PRs even just in training.
I figured, it might be worth it to explain what my weekly schedule looks like. I’ve done a fair amount of reading that has gone into putting together a routine that is meant to not just keep me fit but make me faster.
So here goes:
MONDAY – TEMPO/FARTLEK RUN (6-8 miles). I start off the week with a run that is a pretty long distance usually on a road. It is the second longest run of the week for me. It is also usually the fastest pace I’ll run all week. A tempo or fartlek run is one where you vary your pace throughout the course of the run. Sometimes I pick a mile near the half-way point and try to run it at a faster pace. Sometimes people pick a landmark and speed up to reach it before dropping their pace back down. Another great way to vary your pace here in Little Rock is to choose a really hilly road to run on. I did that this past Monday and tried to increase my speed everytime I went uphill (probably 4-5 times through the run).
TUESDAY – RECOVERY RUN (3-5 miles). I try to take it easy on Tuesdays. My pace should be about a minute per mile slower. I run on trails to give my legs a little extra cushion. I find that being disciplined enough to run slow can be really hard. I need to be more intentional about keeping my pace down for my recovery runs. I’ve read that your recovery runs can actually be more important than your hard days.
WEDNESDAY – SPEEDWORK (3-5 miles). Ideally, I’m on a high school track on Wednesdays. Speedwork consists of a 1 mile light jog followed by 3-5 400 or 800 meter sprints. Between each sprint I jog half that distance to recover [with 400s I jog 200s]. I top it off by cooling down with another 1 mile jog. The trick has been to figure out what a “sprint” means for a distance like this. It isn’t truly a sprint, more like whatever speed you could keep up for one mile all out. It took me a couple of weeks to feel that out.
THURSDAY – RECOVERY RUN (3-5 miles). Same as Tuesday.
FRIDAY – OFF.
SATURDAY – LONG RUN (8-12 miles so far). Saturday is my day to increase my overall endurance. This should be run at a conversational pace. Since I moved here to Little Rock, this run has been with a group of people, which gives me a chance to literally have conversations. I’ll slowly buildup toward maybe 20 miles over the next couple of months. I’ll try to add 1-2 miles per week and “step back” my mileage by about 25% every 3rd week to rest [13...14...10...15...16...12...etc.]. This is a great day to go run in new places. That helps a long run to not get boring. Since I’m up to 12 miles so far, that means I’m running for over an hour and a half.
SUNDAY – OFF
So that is the long and short of it. I don’t keep this exactly. But that is generally where I’ve come to. I’ll probably continue to tweak and refine.
tell me about your team [part one - alf]
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[This post is about Alf Nelson. One of my team-mates who will be one of the co-pastors of the church. I hope to write posts about other members of the team soon. Alf just moved back to New Orleans and is renovating a house in Gentilly to live in. He was just interviewed by one of local news stations as part of a report on the rebuilding of Gentilly. You can watch the interview here.]
Do you remember being in high school or college and saying to some of your friends, “wouldn’t it be awesome if we could go out and do ________ together one day?” I do. There are certain people in my life that I am bound to in a unique way. We are fastened together by common values, experiences and passions. We have fought, laughed and bled together.
For me, one of those guys is Alf Nelson. I first met Alf when I was a young high schooler. He was a new kid in my youth group, an upperclassman who seemed to fit right into the group right away. Alf quickly made many friends in our youth group.
I still remember the day that Alf left for college. I remember getting emotional. I remember crying in the foyer at church. I remember being caught off guard with how saddened I was. We were friends, but not best friends. As I reflect back on it now, I think there was something unique about our connection that I wouldn’t have been able to put into words at that time.
We had a lot in common: backgrounds in broken homes, a craving to grow and lead in our faith and [the best part] a biting, sarcastic sense of humor. Alongside of many of our peers, we were thrown into amazing ministry situations in our church, in the Projects and on mission trips around the country. Youth Group was formative for both of us. Through the experiences we had there, we both felt called to full-time ministry. Alf was a couple of years older than me, and I think in him I saw someone walking the same path a couple of steps ahead of me.
Over the next couple of years, Alf and I experienced college and seminary together. We grappled over theological puzzles and dreamed about what the church could be. We both fell in love and got married. Our wives became best friends. By the time we graduated and entered full-time ministry, we could have completed each other’s sentences. We knew each other so well and we had been influenced by so many common mentors and models.
But God did not keep us together. In fact, when it came time to take jobs in churches, our callings couldn’t have been much more different. I felt called to come home. I wanted to be in New Orleans for the rest of my days. Alf, on the other hand, needed some distance between himself and New Orleans. He needed to start fresh somewhere else. So I ended up at our home church and Alf was in the hills of Tennessee.
Then Katrina hit. It was a turning point for the life of every native New Orleanian, whether you still lived in New Orleans or not. I became one of the coordiatators of Hurricane Recovery efforts at Berean. Alf became the point man in his church’s efforts to help from a distance. God reconnected us as Alf took trips down to the city to bring down supplies, resources and people to assist in Recovery efforts [in fact here is a post on the old Katrina blog where you can see some pics of some of the initial equipment donated by Alf's church to get our ministry up and running.]
God used Katrina to woo Alf home. He found himself drawn to somehow be part of ministry down here full-time. He didn’t know what that looked like. He actually dreamed about planting a church. So when God opened the door to church plant through Fellowship Associates, both Alf and I knew what it meant. We were supposed to do this together.
God was allowing our paths to intersect again.
In fact, maybe all of that prior history was orchestrated for this moment…
tell me about team
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Whew. It’s Wednesday morning and this is my first chance to catch my breath since we started the Residency on Monday. We spent the first two days in back-to-back meetings. It’s been great exploring both Fellowship Associates and Fellowship Bible Church Little Rock over the past two days.
While we have already met with a number of staff members at FBCLR, the most insightful meeting perhaps was with Bill Parkinson, one of the founding pastors of the church. The primary purpose of the meeting was to give us some history of the beginnings of the church and specifically the dynamic of having a team of teaching pastors rather than the traditional single pastor model.
Something magical happens when a group of people band together, unified by a belief that there is another way…and convinced enough to dip their feet in the uncharted waters. Back in 1977, a handful of families began meeting in a home in Little Rock to read a Gene Getz book on church, meditate on the “one another” passages and start a new church.
This experience led to a radical decision early on: to not have a senior pastor. Three guys who knew each other from Campus Crusade [I think at U of Arkansas] agreed to function as a team of co-teaching pastors. Their names were Bill Parkinson, Bill Wellons and Robert Lewis.
Thus began a grand experiment in the tricky science of team. Robert, Bill and Bill and their families were bound together by the common cause of leading a new church and reaching a city. They made decisions together, they carved sermon series into thirds and dreamed collectively. Bill told us one story in particular of when they unexpectedly lost their rented meeting space and were scrambling to find a new location. They settled on the decision to rent out a movie theater on Sunday mornings. How did they come to this decision? Bill Wellons and Robert Lewis took their wives to a movie for a date night and inspiration struck.
Over the course of the first couple of years, they began to settle into roles and notice the subtle nuances that each person brought to the table. Robert was a dreamer, the guy that challenged the congregation to reach for the sky with every sermon he preached. Bill Wellons was the wise sage that members quickly learned to seek for counsel. He would take Robert’s dreams and figure out how to turn them into reality. Bill Parkinson was the shepherd whose words and heart would soothe the soul of their congregation. They learned when to step up and when to back down. They truly trusted each other and didn’t care who got the credit. Of course, these roles weren’t clearly defined. All hands were always on deck and all were ready to play any and every role at a moment’s notice.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t always easy. Team never is. Perhaps the reason more churches don’t do it is precisely because it is so difficult. It takes time and patience. Having complementary gifts and passion brings with it periodic clashes and disagreements. I once read one thinker say that when a well-oiled team makes a decision, 100% of the team are only 80% certain [rather than the more typical "team decision" where 80% of the team is 100% certain and the rest are discounted].
Team, though, is something magical. There is a reason why Hollywood has been able to tell the same sports story over and over again. There is a reason why Jerry Jones can spend a billion dollars on a building. Our response to team exposes a nerve somewhere deep in our soul. When synergy develops, we all stand back and notice. We cry, we cheer, we marvel. [Are you ready for some football?]
Which brings me back to those “one another” passages that were spoken aloud by a band of believers in Little Rock back in the 70s. Have we missed it? Is this what Christianity is really supposed to look like? Churches built around personalities? Lone Ranger Christians? Why are 99.9% of churches in America dominated by one man?
Parkinson told us that the two main ingredients in team are: trust and humility. Are you willing to trust others? Am I willing to swallow my pride and not have my way? Is it possible that the way I envision things is inferior to the way we see it? He has lived it out for 30 years. It can be done. And they have changed this city.
p.s.- just found this CT article where Robert Lewis tells a bit of their story…
tell me about Gentilly
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Okay, so I’m here in Little Rock and my residency officially starts on Monday. That means that [finally] I will be devoted full-time to the church plant. I plan on posting on here a lot more over the next couple of days. I know that there are a ton of questions to be answered about this whole church plant thing. If you follow my blog for the next couple of weeks, hopefully you will come away pretty informed about this whole crazy dream. By the way,
we do have an official website…although it has no content yet. Hopefully I can help contribute to that too in the coming weeks.
So, to start off…
WHERE ARE WE PLANTING THIS CHURCH?
Yes, my friend. That is a great question. We are planting in an area called Gentilly. Gentilly is a neighborhood smack dab in the middle of New Orleans that was flooded by Katrina. You can find a lot of info on Gentilly in this wikipedia article and this Times-Picayune article. [I like this T-P graphic too.]
Some notable things about Gentilly:
-For whatever reason, a lot of the mission teams we have sent from Berean Bible Church ended up helping people in Gentilly. We weren’t strategic at all. It just worked out that way. Maybe God has something to do with that.
-My elementary school [Jean Gordon] and my high school [Ben Franklin] are both in Gentilly. Unfortunately Jean Gordon was never rebuilt. I don’t think it ever will be. Sad. It was a good school. My time there as a kid helped to build into me a love for the community. We had so many families there that cared about their neighborhoods and wanted to make them better.
Franklin, on the other hand, is thriving. They are still one of the top academic schools in the nation. For whatever reason, God allowed us to play a key role in the initial rebuilding of Franklin. We sent about 100 Cedarville University students into the school to do the majority of their gutting. [I was able to scare up a vintage video from Cedarville's website.]
-My Dad lives in Gentilly and is rebuilding. Many of you guys who have come down have helped ol’ Buddy.
-Pam Wang, a member at Berean and a life-long friend of my family, lives in Gentilly. She also was helped by tons of work teams. We usually visit her house on our levee break tour that we take teams on.
-Milne Playground is another spot in Gentilly where tons of our work teams have helped to rebuild. In fact, there are some pics on the city website of our volunteers from Faith Bible Church in the Woodlands.
-Gentilly is a very diverse area in many ways…racially diverse…socio-economically diverse…we love that about it. We want to be in a community that reflects the beautiful diversity of New Orleans.
-Alf [another of the co-planters of the new church] has already purchased a home in Gentilly. He is in the midst of rebuilding it as I type. Crystal and I hope to relocate into Gentilly when we finish the residency program here in Little Rock next May. Right now we have other team members who are praying about relocating to Gentillly. Perhaps YOU are one of them?!
So, what is God doing in Gentilly? It seems that all signs have led to Gentilly for us. We believe that a new church in Gentilly is something that can supercharge the physical, emotional and spiritual rebuilding of this community. We are so freaking pumped to see what will happen over the next couple of years!
anybody wanna buy a house?
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So our NOLA house has been on the market for about two months now with nary a bite. Sad. Not worried…just a little concerned since our moving date is creeping closer. I we have done some price adjustments recently and I feed a lot better about things. We have a nice cozy house…in an amazing location…if you only want two bedrooms. Most people want [need?] three or more bedrooms. Most houses are three or more bedrooms [including most of the comps we ran]. We just need to find the right person and we are confident our house will sell.
Anyway, perhaps you are wondering, “why are they selling their house when they are moving back to NOLA in 10 months?”
That, my friend, is a great question.
We want to plant a church that is squarely focused on restoring the neighborho0ds of Gentilly. It will be hard for us to help lead said church if we don’t live in that area. It will be difficult to shepherd people who are rebuilding their homes and lives from the high and dry Westbank.
Don’t get me wrong, we love the Westbank. We have really enjoyed our time on this side of the River. For this chapter of our lives, God is beckoning us to Gentilly.
Of course, all that is contingent on our house selling. At some point, we might have to shift to plan B…namely renting our house. That might mean that come next May, we have no choice but to move back into our same home in Algiers.
I guess God will have to take care of that. We are trusting Him to sell our house.
My story (part 1)
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You have searched me, LORD,
and you know mae.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
We live in a story. Our days are not spare parts but carefully chosen pieces that fit together with a direction and a purpose. God is authoring our lives and that gives all that we do and experience some major significance.
Most mornings…we wake up…and it just doesn’t feel that way.
But on some days, we wake up and we just know it. We look up and the world around us screams, “THIS IS BIGGER THAN YOU!”
Lately I’ve had my fair share of those mornings. All too often I find myself uttering the phrase, “this could be a movie.”
Well, so I figure the place to start this blog is to tell you a bit of my story.
Oh, and I’ll try to make it entertaining for those of you who know most of this part…
My name is Doug…Douglas Christian Daspit. I was born back in 1977 to a nice, young New Orleanian couple named Buddy and Eileen. [Okay, well Buddy's name isn't really "Buddy," it's actually Arthur Charles. He's not a fan of that name. Don't tell him I told you his real name.] Buddy owned his own auto mechanic shop [aptly named "Daspit Automotive"], shaved twice a day and absolutely loved Jack Daniel’s. [Rumor has it there was a family trip to Lynchburg in my early years that I can't remember.] Oh, and one more thing, he was often mistaken for John Denver. Eileen had recently quit her rather posh job at Travelers Insurance, liked to jog at the local fitness center wearing a t-shirt that looks something like this in order to mock the men she was outrunning, and was very excited about devoting her time to full-time mothering.
Over the next couple of years two more Daspit kids appeared onto the scene: Damien and Christina. [Yes, I did intentionally pick random pictures that my siblings probably don't like in order to aggravate them. After all, that is what older brother's do.] Damien was my best friend in the world. We grew up 18 months apart and did everything together…soccer teams…cub scouts…TPing random houses in Chalmette…etc. Christina is 5 years younger than me and we butted heads a good deal when we were kids. She said I was too bossy. I said she was spoiled. Now we get along great…although I’m still a little bossy and she isn’t spoiled at all. We all attended the now flooded Jean Gordon Elementary School in Gentilly. [GOOD MORNING MISTA RIEDLINGER!!]
Our world was shattered one morning in 1988. I distinctly remember riding home from school…Christina was in the front passenger seat and Damien and I were in the back. My mom turned to us and told us that she was asking Dad to leave. She explained to us that he was an alcoholic and that hopefully this separation would lead to him sobering up. We were sad, a little confused [Dad's drinking isn't normal?! Isn't that what all Dads are like?], but hopeful that this was just something temporary.
Little did we know that this moment of heartbreak would actually become the catalyst for the best decision we would ever make in our young lives…
TO BE CONTINUED…SOON…
starting
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Don’t you just love starting? I do.
Starting means that everything is new, fresh and exciting. What’s not great about that? Yesterday evening I walked in the front door to be greeted by three bouncing boys…and a UPS package. I savored every moment as I unboxed some brand new trail shoes. I immediately laced ‘em up and put them on for no reason whatsoever. I even had to “run” down to the levee to throw some rocks in the Mississippi with Sam and Zach. Ah, the sweet rubbery smell of triumph.
Usually, though, starting isn’t just about the new but about renewal. Starting for most of us is starting over. We need redemption like three squares a day.
Right now my life is being reset. I stand on the brink of major upheaval. I can’t wait.
So since I am in the mood to start over. I figure it’s time for a new online presence. This site will be a great place to visit to keep up with the new happenings in my life over the next couple of years.
Wondering what’s going on? Well I’ll gladly unpack it for you over the next couple of days as I flood this site some introductory posts. But the long and short of it is this:
TWO LIFE GOALS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED SOON:
1. plant a church
2. run a marathon
Like I said, I’m excited. See you soon.
doug
