Birch Bay update

So, some of you may have noticed the work going on at the Birch bay property. Basically 2 things have happened.

1. We have completed the sale of a strip along harbor view rd. required by the county for their Lincoln rd. project.
2. Our negotiations with the county included opening access to our property from sea fir rd & rerouting the ditch from across our property & filling in the old ditch. We received a permit to do that work now & that is what you are observing.

Some time this spring you should see the county  begin to clear their portion & take down our sign. The whole west side will look very open at that time. We will be working on a new sign & replant strategy soon. If you have any other questions let me know. I will try to put updates on my blog so those of you that are interested can see & the rest of you won’t be bothered by emails.

dan

Gospel in life reflection 3

The last three community building practices that Keller advocates are serving practices. I like these and agree.

• Serving one another through accountability.
• Serving one another through forgiveness and reconciliation.
• Serving one another’s interests rather than our own.

I guess some questions would be. Do I ever share my personal problems & needs with you? Do you think I’m willing to hear you if you have an issue with me? Are there things I’ve done to you that you need to forgive? Do you think I ever put your interest above my own? Do I walk the talk in these areas enough to encourage you & help build you up in them?

By Grace & Simplicity

Many people have asked me how I’ve managed to loose so much weight after being heavy for so many years (41). I’m sharing my story only in hope of perhaps encouraging some of you. I am keenly aware of how I used to feel hearing about the success of others in this area & the fact that keeping it off will be the real test.

The short answer is the following 5 things.

1. Gods grace & the discipline of simplicity.
2. Seven hundred calories per meal X 3 = 2100 per day.
3. 30 minute walk in the morning – 6 days a week target
4. Check my weight at least every 3^rd day.
5. More fiber & fluids.

The longer version goes like this.

One part of my retirement decision was a desire just to live the rest of my life simpler & more intentional for Christ. In my case simplicity required less of a lot of things, & real discipline in choices. Also a book I read on retirement was quite helpful. It basically encouraged me to design a lifestyle for my new life intention.

I started by reviewing again what Gods intention is for us concerning food. The whole question about needs vs desires for me & others. How much is enough & how can I live in His will. This resulted in me selecting a desired weight with my doctor’s agreement.

I determined the daily calories needed to sustain the desired weight & worked at developing eating habits around that amount. Actually the 2100 target is designed so that a little less most days, will allow for some feast days too. A few tricks like eating from the senior menu when eating out also helps.

I have always failed at exercise programs in the past. What helped me this time was building the 30min walk into my daily morning routine. Also simplifying the time, time of day, place, & what I do during it. I walk with intensity but have avoided the go faster & farther temptation. It happens at a place that will work rain or shine & no dodging cars, ditches, or dead things along the way. I can focus on prayer or praise in the solitude of walking by myself.

The weight checks (which I always used to avoid) were by design to hold me accountable for my choices. I was very used to looking at performance data for work, so this helps a lot. I am always mindful that the results are from choices made. This along with focus on calories & cost provided more discipline than just self control over choices.

Fiber & fluids should speak for themselves.

So a year & a half later I’m here. It was a desire to live differently & more intentionally for Christ that changed things, & it will only be by His grace that I will be able to stay here.

Gospel in life reflection 2

Keller has 3 more community building practices. These he calls sharing practices.

• Sharing one another’s space, goods, and time.
• Sharing one another’s needs and problems.
• Sharing one another’s beliefs, thinking, and spirituality.

How comfortable are we at sharing these things together? I confess that I tend to be very guarded in all these areas, & limit your access by my own choosing. I have a few folks in our fellowship that I would share almost anything with, but not many. I do think Keller is right however, that we are called to it & we become a more genuine & effective body if we do. How about you? It would also seem that we need to be good at the first 3 for these to happen.

Love

A God who loves is a foreign concept to most people in the world. They are fearful or ashamed in his presence because they do not know, or experienced the love of God. This Christmas take a few moments to think about the wonder of a God who knows you & loves you.

Read 1 John 4:7 -21

Gods Love for us - Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.-NIV

God’s motive for creating you was his love. Eph 1:4 says before the foundations of the earth he had you in mind.

God made you so he could love you – the whole purpose for your existence.

Love is not what he is like – but how He is known.

Love is God’s gift of Himself, His very presence, revealed through his son so we can be reconciled and have life through Him. Life that can’t be taken away, it is ours forever.

Romans 8:35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -NIV

My Christmas hope is that you have a very confident heart concerning Gods love for you.

The Christmas Paradox

I love to celebrate the Hope, Peace, Joy, & Love we have in Jesus. I like the fact that many still have an encounter with God this time of year. That we as a society are still free to sing out & rejoice in the birth of our savior.

 

But for many the chains of grief, poverty, injustice, & loneliness, hang a little heavier at Christmas time.

 

For those of us who are in Christ, our eyes should see both ends of the paradox. Our hearts should feel the Joy & the sadness as we see the circumstances of our friends & our community. What a wonderful opportunity we have to be like Him as we celebrate His coming.  As you can over the next couple of weeks, Pray, Praise, & look for ways to share the Hope, Peace, Joy, & Love we have in Jesus.

Gospel in life reflection

In the book Tim Keller has a survey of community building practices. These are 3 of what he calls affirming practices.

• Affirming one another’s strengths, abilities, & gifts.
• Affirming one another’s equal importance in Christ.
• Affirming one another through visible affection.  

Which of these do we do best at BCF? Which are we the worst at? How would you like to see us improve?

Thanks for the feedback

dan

Nate reflection 2

I keep going back and rereading these four scriptures. Isaiah 58, Luke 4:16-21, Luke 7:16-23, & Matt 25:31-46. Is there more for me to learn? Can I really grow anymore in Christ without heading more in the direction of the poor & the marginalized?

Is true fasting still a call for us today? What is the result for us? Isn’t this what our hearts desire is?

Isn’t Luke 4 still the mission statement of Jesus? To proclaim the year of the Lords favor? Is there any other path for us if we really desire to be like Him & to please Him? & enjoy Him?

When John the Baptist had doubts, what did Jesus say to confirm who He was? When we have doubts & when people have doubts about us, can we say the same thing?

What’s so penetrating about the sheep & the Goats & judgment in Matt.25 is the fact that the ones doing it right didn’t even notice because it was normal behavior for them.

As Nate said, it is a love issue. Jesus reduce me to love.

Hope

Hope is anticipating that which is to come. Hope equips us to believe that things can be different.

In the OT, Gods people waited in anticipation of God keeping His promise for them & the world. Hope that the prophecies were true, that He hadn’t changed His mind. That deliverance & redemption for mankind was coming.

We celebrate Christmas today because hope came that night.

Jesus is hope. Therefore we look at hope in a new context. I believe in several ways actually.

• In Christ we have hope because of the assurance of the resurrection & eternal life. So we can look to His next coming with confidence.

• We know His salvation, we are recipients of the promise, and we know the way of deliverance & redemption. He has changed & continues to change us & our circumstances. We are never without hope.

• He is a Living hope, resident in us that allows us to extend hope to others.
• How can we extend hope to those who feel helpless, marginalized, & hopeless? Our befriending those in these situations brings hope to them, hope comes & stands next to them, talks to them, perhaps gives them something.
• Hope is the first step in recovery or change.
• Life begins with hope

Do you see hope being shared all around us at Christmas time?

bcfsouthcampus

Hello Friends

The Scriptures say that we are to proclaim the wonders & declare the goodness & faithfulness of the Lord from generation to generation. As an elder & witness of these things I am compelled to share anything I have received from the Lord that may be of use to others. A wisdom recycling center if you will, from an old guy with many years of marketplace & church leadership experience.

Let’s see if this blog is a useful way to share. Some of this stuff is going to be in real time because my(our) journey is not quite over yet. We can be a community that learns together. I welcome your participation & feedback.

Also I need to place a couple of disclaimers.

1. Even though I am an elder of Blaine Christian Fellowship, this is not an official BCF site. These are my views & understandings.

2. I ask challenging questions designed to stimulate thinking & exploration of topics & I welcome responses that can be shared. However I have no desire to engage in online theological debates.

3.  Links & book recommendations are also designed for points to examine, not necessarily full endorsement of other ministries.