Ten at Ten for Ten

The next phase of our move toward the Austin Ranch area is under way! God has seen to fit to answer our request for a meeting with the developer of Austin Ranch. The meeting is scheduled for 10/10 @ 11 a.m. That is the inspiration for my call for 10 minutes of prayer at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. for the next 10 days.

For many of you, praying for this meeting and now the meeting itself is something that you have been involved in all along. Let me challenge you to consider joining me in a whatever 10 day fast God may lay on your heart. A fast from coffee. A fast from lunch. Maybe even a fast from all food for the next ten days.

Consider sharing your stories of your fast and the results of your times of prayer!

Spiritual Graffiti

Our focus Sunday was on the power of passion. The word passion has its Latin roots in the word passio which means suffering. As someone passionate about Notre Dame football, I can attest to the connection between passion and pain (for those of you who don't follow college football, the once mighty Fighting Irish have begun the 2007 campaign with four consecutive losses for the first time in their storied history).

I'm interested in your reactions to the power of passion and our model of discipleship summed up in the phrase, be one, make one, for one. Do you connect with the phrase and the accompanying concept of personal responsibility in fulfilling Christ's command to make disciples? Did you participate in the graffiti experience at the end of the Gathering? Did it connect with you? What challenges to you foresee in fulfilling the covenant you made on Sunday?

Divine Positioning

As I said Sunday, I believe God is positioning us strategically to fulfill our divine destiny. Full possession of that destiny will require courage. Courage that is both counterintuitive and strategic. Courage like that often wanes in the face of obstacles, time and other challenges. Chief among those challenges is our natural tendency to be pulled gravitationally toward the familiar. Breaking free of the gravitational attraction of the familiar may well be our greatest obstacle.

What makes the gravitational attraction of the familiar so powerful? In what ways have you felt that pull throughout this process? What ways have you discovered to break free of this gravitational field?

20/20 Vision

Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that people who played action video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved by about 20 percent in their ability to identify letters presented in clutter—a visual acuity test similar to ones used in regular ophthalmology clinics. In essence, playing video game improves your bottom line on a standard eye chart. "Action video game play changes the way our brains process visual information," says Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. "After just 30 hours, players showed a substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision, meaning they could see figures like those on an eye chart more clearly, even when other symbols crowded in."

Wouldn't it be wonderful if each of us could improve our spiritual eyesight as simply as adding a few hours of video gaming to our daily lives? In what areas have you seen improvement in your spiritual eyesight? If you battle a vision problem in your spiritual life, what would it be? Would it be spiritual nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism or tunnel vision? How has your spiritual vision problem been corrected?

Time Travelers

Our lives seem to have a common refrain, "I'm so busy!" Author and Pastor Mark Batterson suggests that we wear it like a badge around our neck with no small degree of pride. As if our exhaustion were a trophy and our ability to withstand stress as a mark of real character.

Our challenge Sunday was about creating some space in our lives for "mindful breaths." We spoke of creating margin by observing the 6:1 rhythm of God's creation -six days of work with one day of rest. We also talked about the importance of putting first things first in our lives and creating some sacred space in which God can do some unexpected things.

What are the greatest challenges you face in godly time management? Do you even struggle with creating space in your life? How can the church assist you in that process or is the church part of the problem?