A vested interest... venture capital in the God's eyes

A few years ago, a group of Campus Crusade for Christ staff flew down to the Silicon Valley and met with several teams of internet experts. Guided by a Christian man who had a vision to use the internet for God's work, they toured the headquarters of familiar software and internet companies...

I wasn't along on the tour, but my friend told me the impact it had on him to sit in the board room of a venture capital company - the company that heard the pitch for Google. It made me think of what it would be like to have been in the room the first time there was an opportunity to invest in what is now the world's largest media company.

A venture capital company is simply a company who matches investors with investment opportunities. These professionals listen to young companies, like Google, pitch their ideas and they decide whether or not they want to recommend investment in these new upstarts.

Can you imagine being one of the first investors in Google? Back in the 90's search engines weren't really understood - and revenue from a search engine made little or no sense at all. Wouldn't you be glad you invested? Wouldn't you have a "vested interest" in the little Google startup?

What is a "vested interest"?
Wikipedia says this: A vested interest is the state or condition of having a special interest in protecting or supporting something for the purpose of self-interest, gain or benefit, often financially or politically.
Dictionary.com says this: a special interest in an existing system, arrangement, or institution for particular personal reasons.

The first funding for Google as a company was secured in the form of a $100,000 contribution from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, given to a corporation which didn't yet exist. Around six months later, a much larger round of funding was announced, with the major investors being rival venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital.

At their initial public offering, Google shares were offered at $85 per share. On March 22,2007, Google shares were offered at $460.21 per share, a gain of 540%.

When our church decided to renovate the basement as phase one of our building updates, Gary and I decided to have a "vested interest". We decided, like many of you, to invest in a "startup" idea. We heard the "pitch" and although we didn't understand all that could happen with a renovated building, we took a step of faith to invest.

Don't get me wrong - I don't feel like a Venture Capitalist. I didn't even know what that meant before I forced myself to read the Financial Post every week. I don't feel like I have hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting around waiting to be invested.

But, in some ways, each of us is like a venture capitalist. We have some "capital" (our money) and are asked by the Holy Spirit to "venture out". The Holy Spirit speaks to us about His work in this world and invites us to invest. We don't know what the outcome of our investment will be. There are no guarantees that it will ever be known to us in this lifetime, either. We hear the "pitch" and have the opportunity to invest.

Once you invest, you become "vested", or interested. You feel like an owner, you care. It doesn't matter numerically what your investment is, but a percentage of your earnings does make you feel invested, whether you make hundreds of thousands of dollars annually or thousands or hundreds. Investing 10% puts everyone on an equal playing field as far as feeling "invested" in the work of the church.

After yesterday's service with the spanish church, I felt like our "stocks went up" - it was a glimpse of what God is doing with our investment. I could barely contain myself, I was so excited. It was a bit like the quarterly report from a company to their shareholders - this is what your investment is doing... it is building a spanish church, it is completing a long-yearned for vision for a pastor who is aching to have a congregation, it is establishing God's Kingdom here in Chilliwack.

That's how I feel at baptisms, too. When I watch one person after another show their commitment to follow Jesus, sharing their story of how God got a hold of their life... it's like a "stock report".

There are many other times that I've been moved by the work of God in Broadway church, but it was yesterday's service that had me feeling very glad that I'm a venture capitalist in God's work in this church in this city. Read more.

Español de Broadway - traerlo encendido

Broadway Spanish... Bring it on! If you missed yesterday's service with the new spanish church at Broadway, you really missed a high-energy, passionate service that introduced us to the new pastor and leadership team of Broadway's spanish church. No sé español, sino que me excitan para tener una reunión española de la iglesia en Broadway.

How am I writing this spanish, you ask? ¿Cómo soy que escribe este español, pides? Simple… http://translate.google.com lo traduce automáticamente para mí.

God was in the house yesterday.
El dios estaba en la casa ayer.

Pastor Sergio preached about his vision, telling us how God put in his heart the desire to pastor when he was back in Costa Rica. Five years ago, he moved to Canada with his wife, Sylvia and two children. The invitation to come to Canada was postmarked from Chilliwack, BC (This is what Sylvia told me later). Once in Canada, he began to paint houses and as he painted, he poured out his heart to God for the opportunity to pastor. And now, the "birth pangs" are becoming a real living "baby" - the Broadway Spanish church.

I couldn't help but think of how so many members of Broadway Church gave from their hearts to finish the basement and cafe renovation. At the time that we embarked on that renovation, there wasn't even a hint of possibility that another church could/would use the facility.

I was reminded of the great faith chapter, Hebrews 11 that tells us over and over again how it was through faith that the heroes of the past received the approval of God - one by one embarking into life in obedience to God through faith.

It was through faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain...
It was through faith that Enoch was removed from this world without experiencing death...
It was through faith that Noah received from God a message about events which were still out of sight...
It was through faith that Abraham obeyed the call of God...
What more need I say?
There is no time for me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets...

It was through faith that Broadway church set out to renovate a 50 year old building, knowing that God was calling us to invest our lives in His Kingdom and establish it here in Chilliwack...

It was through faith that we pledged our funds to the renovation, it was through faith that we built something beautiful and usable to replace the old basement...

It was through faith that Sergio and his family flew to Canada from their home in Costa Rica...

It was through faith that he painted endless hours calling out to God to give him a people to pastor...

It was through faith that he heard God's word to be patient, Habbakuk 2:3, "But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."

It was a beautiful picture of unity to see both pastor Sergio and pastor Gary read together through Phillipians 2:1-11 (unity through humility).

It is through faith that this spanish church will be built, established, encouraged and grown right here in our city, in our beautiful new renovated basement. What a happy day!

Mayo el dios que condujo los héroes del pasado en la fe ahora nos conduce.
May the God who led the heroes of the past in faith lead us now. Read more.

Women's Easter Sunday Choir

A Women's Choir is being assembled to sing on Easter Sunday Morning. The Choir will be under the direction of Lenora Bal. Women of youth age and above are invited to be a part of this exciting event.

Practices will begin this coming Monday, Mar. 26th at 7pm as well as the following Monday, Apr. 2nd. If you like to sing and would appreciate the comfort of a large group, please plan to participate. For further information, encouragement and or affirmation, call Lenora at 604-795-7122. Read more.

Just how many women read this blog?

When I put this blog online, I also added a snippet of code from Google's powerful Analytics program. This allows me to see how many visitors there are to the site and exactly how many...

...pages of the site are read by each visitor (on average). I thought you might be interested in the numbers of people who are visiting the site.

March 9th:
I sent out the email invitation to 105 email addresses of women in our church.
60 unique visitors to the site.
296 pageviews.
4.93 pageviews per unique visitor (on average) on that day.

Week One: March 4-10
6.06 pageviews per unique visitor (P/V)
121 unique visitors
733 pageviews

Week Two: March 11-17
5.33 P/V
97 unique visitors
517 pageviews

I am working with the Broadway Media Team on an email database solution. When this is put into place, I will send another email and will keep you posted on how the website traffic is affected by the reminder to visit this blog.

I find these statistics very encouraging. Not every unique visitor is associated with Broadway Church, but many are. I hope that this blog continues to be a source of worthwhile reading and a place to connect.

Glossary:
unique visitor
This is a statistical term that is used to describe one visit from one IP address (internet protocol). Each computer has an IP address. When the website is visited from that computer, it is "counted" as a visitor one time (per week), the IP address is remembered and not re-counted regardless of how often that computer visits the website during that one week.

pageview
This is a term that describes how many pages of a website are visited. If you go to the homepage of this blog, that is 1 pageview. If you click on the Read More and go to the full story, that is 1 more pageview.
Read more.

Blended Worship at the Christian Music Summit

Blended Worship - mixing the contemporary worship music with the hymns. I was interested in this session with Scott Wesley Brown and Bill Smiley (of Whiteheart fame). The chapel at Overlake Christian Church (Seattle) holds about 600 people and it was close to full. The conference took place in November 2006.

I was interested because I think our church has a blended worship style (Chris Tomlin, Brian Doerksen, Hillsongs) and hymns into each worship service.

Scott Wesely Brown (who, by the way is about 5' tall) started off by telling us about a blended worship project he is working on. A group of 15 worship pastors, including himself, Bill and others like Aaron Schust are working on a blended worship project. They go into the hills of Alabama (or somewhere down south) to a retreat centre where they "blend" hymns.

Here's what I understood this to mean....
Scott said that one of the reasons that those who worship with hymns don't enjoy worship in the 21st century context is because they have a different "goal" in their worship.

Here's what he meant - when you sing a hymn, you are primarily standing before God declaring to Him what you know to be true. He called this "declarative worship". "Great is Thy Faithfulness, O God my Father...", etc.

When you sing a worship song that is in the contemporary (I hate using that word because it sounds so '80's' to me) vein, you are worshipping God through an experience of His presence in your life. "Experiential worship" rather than "declarative worship". "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, as we wait upon the Lord. Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord..." - Chris Tomlin

Scott and his group of worship pastors have been "blending" the two kinds of worship styles - declarative and experiential - with the goal of getting both sides to expand their worship experiences. How are they doing this?

Primarily by writing bridges that go between the verses of the hymns. So, you sing a verse declaring the truth of who God is, your status as a believer, etc. and then you sing a bridge that pours our your love for God, your experience of Him and invites His Spirit to touch your life at that moment.

Scott also touched on the challenges of hymns for female singers - there is a clear loss of corporate worship power once the melody goes above a high "C" - most women can't sing above that and a congregation can easily lose half of the worship momentum by singing above that note. A lot of hymns are written with the melody above this high "C" making it difficult for women to sing powerfully when they are worshipping. I had never thought of this, but once he said it, it rang true for me.

Following the session, Scott and Bill had a concert of blended worship that was recorded for a live album.

The team who are writing blended hymns are taking many rich lyrics that have been forgotten and writing new melodies for them - adding bridges / choruses and creating new worship songs from the hymns that are being forgotten.

Here are some blended worship hymns that are getting air time on the Christian stations in North America:

Aaron Shust, My Savior, My God: www.aaronshust.com
Chris Rice, Untitled Hymn: www.chrisrice.com
Michael W. Smith, Ancient Words: www.michaelwsmith.com (Worship Again album)
Chris Tomlin / Matt Redman: The Wonderful Cross
Read more.

Men and other anomolies of this blog

As this Broadway Women Talk blog grows, it is important that we understand the audience, the voice, the spirit of what this blog is all about...

First of all, I want to address the idea of men posting on this blog. There have been several posts by a man in our church who has asked to have them removed. I am not sure what all he has endured from you women, but it is enough for him to apologize and seek full removal of all his blog entries. I will do the removing and posting of his apology this morning.

So, as to the issue of men on the blog. They will most likely read the blog. I will most likely publish this blog address in the church's bulletin for the women who aren't on the email list. There is precious little we can do to stop them from reading this (barring threats on the homefront).

That said, it brings me to the issue of privacy on this blog. It's not private. There are various settings that can be set within Blogger to make it more private, but at this point, it is set up as a totally entirely public website. Read more if you want to know the "why's" behind this decision.

In light of the fact that anyone can read this blog and that most likely it is being archived by Google and other search engines, please follow these simple rules:

1. Do not ever post your last name.
Instead, post your first name and the first letter of your last name: sharon s., helen b.
This site will be "spidered" by the search engines and pages of it will be "indexed" in search engine results. The last thing you want is for some new employer to "google" your name and read about your depression or your weight challenges or your nasty divorce or your drinking or your inability to keep friends..... You get the picture, keep your last name off the site.

2. Do not post something that you wouldn't want the people in your life to read.
If an article or post on this blog has provoked something within you to want to share your personal story in a way that is best kept confidential - find another woman in this church with whom to share. Where can you find a woman like this?

* Tuesday Morning Break is full of them
* Care Groups - Wilf Richert, associate pastor can help you find the right one
* The front on any given Sunday morning - come forward for prayer and sharing
* Phone the church office - the church can arrange a meeting for you with a mature and safe woman with whom to share.
* Friday evenings - at some point, we will kick-start this idea and you'll have a chance to meet other women who are also seeking spiritual connection

3. Use a name we can recognize.
This blog is all about connection, openness and friendship. Using a name we can recognize when you post will help us all connect with you and will keep the site editor from kicking your post off of the blog.

If you logged in with a name that is not recognizable to the rest of the women in the church, like: tuttifrutti, then put your recognizable name at the end of your post. So, it will say: Posted by tuttifrutti, (content of my post), sharon s.

Any posts that come from "anonymous" will be deleted regardless of how good those posts are.

Because the blog is entirely open to the public, there are spammers who will be posting on the site. Their goal is to get a link to their own site on "record" within our site. They generally post to really old articles so that none of us are looking at that anymore. They want a link in our site so that search engines will recognize more "inbound links" to their website - they really don't care if any of us ever find their link or go to it. Having more "inbound links" is one of the more than 30 ways that you can increase your ranking in search results.

If you see a spam post, please notify the editor through another post comment. All comments are received in the inbox of broadwaywomen[at]gmail.com.

And now, reasons why this blog is entirely open to the public.
1. There are only a few options with Blogger as to how to set up this blog.

* by invitation only
* moderated comments (an editor approves and publishes your comments - not in real time)
* totally open to the public

By invitation only:
This greatly reduces the number of women who can read / post to the blog. Many women will not be able to either figure out the login process or be motivated to login. It is totally possible that we could have another blog that is by invitation / login only.

One of the goals of this website is to invite readers and writers of all ages in our church to connect with each other. On interactive sites such as this, it is normal and likely that most people will read and never post. Maybe more than 90% of people will never ever post anything. That is totally fine. The reading can be tremendously encouraging for each other as well.

I (Sharon) have received emails and comments about this blog from women of all ages in the church, even though the younger women are most active on the site (besides that one man).

Moderated comments:
This idea is ok. It means that the site administrator reads all the comments and either approves or doesn't approve them to show up on the site. At this point, I decided that more comments are better than less comments. Let's see what happens. We may moderate the comments at some point. I had them set this way originally, but had emails from women wondering why their post didn't go through.

Entirely open:
Seems like the best way to kick-start this site to make it most accessible, but does require some caution in posting.

Thoughts? Read more.

An apology from a man... and some thoughts

This apology comes from Jeremy B. He asked me to post it, but before I do, I have some thoughts...

First off, I like the idea that over the course of the last few days, women in Broadway Church have claimed strong ownership of this blog! So much so, that you let Jeremy B. know that he was un-invited from this women's blog. I had no idea that there would be such a strong sense of ownership so quickly (if ever), so I am quite pleased to hear about it.

Secondly, Jeremy B. missed the intent of this blog as a women's blog. He sure didn't miss the core of it, though - connection. For this, I was very glad! Connection is the core of this site and he wanted to join in - I like the idea that it's a compelling and obvious piece of the blog. Jeremy found out about it through me as we are connected through the newly formed Broadway Media Team. Personally, I liked the idea that he was interested in the blog. Many men have read this blog, by the way - all of the pastors have been invited to read it along with members of the Broadway Media Team.

Jeremy is a super bright guy - one who will likely start his own Men's Blog now that he's been given the official un-invite from this site. If you have enjoyed his input on this blog, seek him out in church and find out his thoughts. You'll be glad you did!
sharon s.
___________

From Jeremy B:

Dear Women,
I humbly ask your forgiveness for disrespecting the "Broadway Women Talk" blog. I sincerely want to apologize for contributing two comments that I felt convicted to post. Sharon's post on "Refusing to look at anything vile and vulgar" touched my heart, and I thought it would inspire the women to view a "guys" perspective and a "guys" response to some of the questions Sharon raised. Secondly, I really liked the book "Bridge to Terabitha", and had been thinking a lot about the whole "God Damning people to hell" part of the book, and felt I could provide a unique perspective on Leslie's first visit to church (haven't seen the movie yet). I've asked Sharon to remove my articles so that you're not reminded of my being there.

There's no Broadway men's blog, and if there were I would have posted there instead. This Broadway blog-site was something new, and I wanted to help get some conversations started. I have no ill-intensions, nor did I want to offend anyone. I especially apologize to those that I've offended. It is important to understand that blogs are public and available to anyone to read & post; however that's no excuse for me to have infringed on your site. I promise I'll never do it again. God is doing amazing things in your lives, and its inspiring to read and pray for you too. I won't even visit the site, but with your permission I'd love to still hear how God is working in your lives, and if there's ever anything you want a "guys" perspective on, I'd be glad to share with you. My email address is jeremybartel[at]hotmail.com and Lora's is lorabartel[at]hotmail.com ..

I'm really, really sorry - "seventy times seven" (Mat 18:22).and hope you find it in your hearts to forgive me. I also ask for Lora's forgiveness for any embarrasement she's experienced as a result of women knowing it was "her" husband that has been disrespectful or discourteous actions on my part.

Sincerely, on the journey;
Jeremy Bartel Read more.

To quit or not to quit... that is the question

I'm an addict. I have been for 23 years. I blame the Christian organization who took me on a short-term missions trip to Brazil where the water was unsafe and my addiction was only $.07 per dose. That's right... it's Coca-cola. I felt I was choosing between the lesser of two evils...

...the second evil in Brazil being "Antartica: Guarana", a (ten times) caffeinated carbonated drink made from the guarana berries of the Amazon rainforest. In the middle of the Brazilian desert (45 degrees and no shade), I could drink 15+ bottles of Coke in a day. And so it began... years of addiction to this black beverage.

Why does this matter? It doesn't I guess. At least it didn't until last Sunday. I was talking to a friend at church and she told me that she picked Tuesday, March 13th as the day that she would quit smoking. God was working in her life to speak to her that He could give her the motivation and the strength to call it quits. She picked a friend to have the same quit-day as her. Since I haven't asked her about writing this to the rest of you, she will remain anonymous for now. I'm certain that there are women in this church who are upholding her in prayer in this really tough decision that she's made.

At the moment that she told me that she was going to quit smoking, I felt the tug of the Holy Spirit about my own addiction. He was saying, "you can quit, too". I have tried gazillions of times to quit drinking coke and moved from classic to diet to c2 to zero. I know how hard it is - I am truly addicted. I've heard testimony of "life after coke" and read the literature about how it eats away your stomach lining. I still haven't been able to call it quits.

Nonetheless, I couldn't get the words to come out of my mouth to tell this friend that I would join her in her quitting. I wished her all the best and said, "I should probably quit drinking coke at the same time, too", but I couldn't commit to it.

I talked to Kate (my 15 year old daughter) about my addiction to coke. She doesn't like it. She knows that it is bad for you and wishes I would quit drinking so much of it. On a stressful day at work, I can down 6 or 7 cans. And so, I quit. Right them and there. On Sunday, March 11th, I decided that I was done drinking coke.

I haven't even told my friend from church about it. I don't think she'll care that much - she's in the throws of her own withdrawl - except to know that I committed myself to praying for her as she quits smoking. The way that God reminds me to lift her up in prayer is each time the yearning for a coke comes into my mind (approximately 400 million times a day), I pray for her to have the strength to trust God for His strength and courage to do what she knows is right.

Quitting drinking coke is nothing like quitting smoking. I've heard that the withdrawl from nicotine addiction is worse than the withdrawl from heroine addiction. I'm not pretending that my longings for the black beverage are anything like her longings for nicotine. I'm just using my own experience to prompt me to prayer for a friend who is stepping out in faith in a huge way.

This is very similar to how fasting works. In a way, I'm fasting from coke - with no intention to ever drink it again - and using that fast to pray for a friend on her journey. When you fast from food or TV or desserts, etc., the longings and pangs that you have because of your lack of having that in your life can be turned into the promptings to uphold another in prayer.

I'm entering day four. I am thinking about coke at 8:30am. I'm wishing I could have one right now. I'm praying for my friend. Boy, has she had a lot of prayer in the last hour since I woke up. I know that some of you are thinking how sick it is that I'm even thinking about coke this early in the morning. Ya, it is. I'm asking God to turn this addiction-breaking into something for His glory. It's an ugly part of my life - one that I don't proudly write about, but I want to share it with you because it's a bit of a picture of how the verse works, "when I am weak, then I am strong".

Thoughts?
Any encouragement from those of you who have successfully broken the power of addiction?
Quit smoking? Quit coke? Something else?

What about fasting? Have you tried it?
Have you found it to be a trigger to remind you to pray?



Read more.

Become a Blog Author

Do you have thoughts that you would like to share on this website? Become a blog author...
A blog author is someone who considers Broadway Church their "home" church. It is a place where you attend on a regular basis, or have a strong connection. Blog authors are supportive of the work of Broadway Church through through prayer, financial support or ministry involvement. Blog authors are involved in the church and are recognized by the members of the church - this includes current members, women who attend regularly and missionaries that are supported by Broadway Church. Blog authors submit their posts to the blog editor who posts them "live".

If you want to become a blog author, write to me using the email address: broadwaywomen[at]gmail.com. I'd love to chat with you about the possibilites.

sharon Read more.

Friday night dessert anyone?

When Gary comes home from the Men's Breakfasts (as he did this past Saturday) and tells me about how God is at work, I can't help but feel jealous. Since I work full-time, there is no way I can tap into the Tuesday morning Women's Break, so, I've been thinking....

...that the women in the church can do something once a month on a Friday evening. We did this a number of times last spring, but haven't carried on with it. I think we even talked about doing something after the Women's Retreat in September.

Here's what I was thinking as far as format and environment...

One speaker telling about their spiritual journey 35 - 45 minutes
Questions and prayer time after the speaker
Meet in the Cafe
"potluck" desserts
coffee from the coffee makers
candles lit on the tables for decoration (simple)

My idea is to keep it simple and easy enough that no one woman has to take on more than she can in the area of planning / making it happen.

What do you guys think?
The cafe is ours for the taking if we want to.
Who would you like to hear from?
Are you interested in helping to make sure it gets pulled off?

Read more.

Satan's Dirty Little Secret

The sermon last week on Ephesians 6 - putting on the whole armor of God - has me thinking about the tricks and strategies of the evil one. For one thing, the Bible tells us that Satan is an accuser...

...In the book of Job, Satan is described numerous times as an accuser - Job 1:6 "Satan the Accuser". He accused Job of only following God because of his wealth and prosperity. When God describes Job, He describes him this way, "a man of complete integrity. He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil".

Satan accuses Job right there - "Yes, Job fears God, but not without good reason! Look how rich he is... take away everything and he will surely curse you in the face."

And so begins the pattern of accusations for Job - and the rest of us.

"You aren't good enough to do anything in this church"
"Everything in your life has gone right - your faith in God is meaningless without suffering"
"You won't make it as a follower of Christ to the end of your life - not if you're struggling like this right now - no way you'll make it."
"Would a believer have done THAT? said THAT? You're not a believer."

But there's another trick of Satan. I call it his Dirty Little Secret because that is exactly what it is - a secret. He tells you that if anyone would know about "THAT", they would reject you, you would lose your friendships and your life as you know it would be OVER.

His lie is that if you keep it secret, you will be able to "handle it", "stop it", "forget about it". His lie is that you can do this on your own. He tells you that somewhere in the depths of your being, you will be able to find the strength and the courage and the discipline to stop yourself from something that started off as one-time, that grew to more-times and now is an entrenched habit, addiction or perpetual thinking pattern.

The lie is rooted in fear and shame.

We are scared that if anyone knew about our secret, they would reject us. Our secret is bigger than the love we have in our lives. To tell about it would put into jeopardy all of the relationships that we deem as most important.

Manage it by yourself. Figure it out by yourself. Don't get anyone else involved. That's Satan's lie - his dirty little secret.

It might be very true that certain people will reject you because of your weaknesses and the times that you have fallen into temptation. It's a half-truth, though, because there are so many people who won't reject you - people who love and fear God - people who have known God's grace extended into their lives and who will extend it into your life.

The Bible talks about the power of telling another person what is going on in your life:

James 5:16
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

What does it mean to confess our sins to each other? To start with, it means that you can't do this on your own. That plan - the "manage this yourself" plan is all part of the scheme.

It means that we need to tell someone what is going on in our life. What are they supposed to do with it? They are there to pray for you so that you can be healed.

What does it mean to be healed? It means to be FREE. To be totally free from the power of "THAT" in your life. It says so right in this verse that there will be great power and wonderful results.

This is almost impossible to believe if you have never experienced anything other than Satan's dirty little secret. His secret is a lie. If you keep this secret, you will NEVER manage it yourself. That's the lie.

Is it time to try another way? To stop listening to the Accuser in your life?

The Bible tells us that God himself understands what you are facing - it says that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted (sexual, greed, self-pity, anger, jealousy, fear...) and yet was without sin. God himself has felt the same strong urgings that you feel.

I love 1 and 2 Corinthians. One of the reasons is because Paul tells us in those books some of the most vulnerable thoughts he has about himself. In fact, if you look up the word "weakness" in the BibleGateway website, you will find that almost all the verses about weakness come from 1 or 2 Corinthians.

Here is one that has brought encouragement - and FREEDOM from Satan's lies:

8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Are you trapped by the lie that you can do this on your own?
Are you trapped by the fear that if you tell someone you will be rejected?

Those of us who were at the Women's Retreat last September saw God break the chains of bondage in the lives of the women who shared their struggles. It was a safe place and the dirty little secret was proven to be a lie. Women were NOT rejected. In fact, the exact opposite happened - we grew stronger and closer. Women were supported and freed from the bondage of this lie.

Come to the front one Sunday when Gary calls you forward. I'll be waiting there to hear you and to pray with you. If you come in droves, we will call up the gracious and safe women in the church to stand by all of you.

May you have the courage to do what the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.

Some verses for your encouragement:

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it

Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

Heb. 4:14-16 (The Message)
Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let's not let it slip through our fingers. We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help. Read more.

Love's first light in me....

A catholic friend of mine introduced me to Steve Bell when he came to her parish for a concert in Calgary. After the concert, I bought every one of his CDs. His music touched my soul in ways that kept me pondering long after the song had ended. If you haven't discovered Steve's music, it might be a good time for you to find some of his songs and take a listen.

I thought of this song, Burning Ember, when I decided (on a whim) to put this website together. The song speaks to the love of Christ in us - our "first love" burning in our hearts in a way that is beautiful, raging, painful and joyous. I sense in Broadway Church that Christ is drawing us back to our first love - the love we had when we first met and trusted in Jesus (Rev. 2:4).

When I think of the ember glowing in my own heart and in the hearts of the women at Broadway - I can picture the blazing fire as we unite those embers together. May God who began a good work in us complete it until the day of Christ.

Here are the lyrics to Burning Ember
Music and Lyric by Steve Bell

Judge for yourself how great is the one
Who lives in God - whose God is love
Like an iron when left in embers bright
Everything is fire - everything is light
Oh Love, how beautiful You are
Oh flame of joy within my heart

Burning ember
I remember Love’s first light in me
I was cold then
Like a stone when I saw Your flickering
Oh what beauty as You drew near me
I could scarcely speak
Somehow I knew
I would be new in your glowing

Judge for yourself if a fire isn’t safe
When cities fall before her face
Yet a flower can endure the course of a storm
When bowing to the tempest’s rage
Oh Love, more fierce than all the rest
Oh raging joy within my breast

Burning ember
I remember Love’s first light in me
I was cold then
Like a stone when I saw Your flickering
Burn forever
Let me never curse the pain You bring
Somehow I know
I will be whole in Your burning

Oh Love, more lovely than the rest
Oh flame of joy within my breast

Burning ember
Shine forever in the darkest tomb
Warmth of heaven
Hidden secret in a mother’s womb
Flame of beauty
Blazing through me so that all might see
Somehow we know
We’ll all be whole in Your burning
In Your burning
In Your burning Read more.

Refusing to look at anything vile or vulgar

I came across this verse the other day:
"I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.
I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar."
Psalm 101:2-3

It seems strange that thousands of years ago there was a need to write about looking at things that were vile and vulgar in your own home, but there it is...

...in writing. How many millions of times easier is it for anything vile and vulgar to get into our homes these days than it was back when King David wrote these words?

Let's take the internet, for example.

Last year, I looked up all the kids in our church (the ones I know) in the social network called Nexopia. I found many of them on that site and was terrified to find out what they were writing about themselves and others in a way that was anonymous from us adults.

I was quite pleased that all of the kids web spaces were "clean" and many of the kids from our church put on their web space that they were followers of Christ. I told one of the moms in the church how her son's Nexopia web space was something that was a beacon of light in the middle of a lot of darkness. Her face fell and a look of anguish took over her expression. I was trying to figure out why when she said, "he told me that he didn't have a web space on nexopia".

So, we're trying to keep our kids on the straight and narrow with the web, but the pressure for them at school is a whole different ballgame than we have ever known in our lives. Nexopia can be both vile and vulgar - just the nicknames of kids on that site can be more vulgar than anything you heard, saw or read in highschool.

Have you heard of Nexopia, Facebook, myspace or other social networking sites?
The question is, though, how can we manage social networking sites without allowing anything vile and vulgar into our homes?

Instant Messaging
That takes me to MSN and other instant-messaging (IM) chats. Girls in particular can spend hours upon hours upon hours on MSN. I use Skype (another IM) because it is totally free of ads, strangers don't inundate me with requests to chat and I can get a lot of my work done during the day with it.

So, if your child (or you) like to chat with a few friends / relatives, Skype is a very good option instead of MSN. You don't have to have a hotmail email address and you can chat in an advertising-free environment (you don't have to look at all the soft-porn banner ads).

What can you do about MSN and other IM chats? What are you doing in your home?

Protecting your Internet
I recently installed a piece of software, NetNanny. I set it up on our family computer. It was a bit challenging to set up, but I'm so glad that it is up and running now. It blocks sites that are about:

• porn
• gambling
• intimate apparel
• drugs
• illegal activities
• violence
• hatred

It also allows you to block IM and peer-to-peer file sharing on sites like Kazaa and Limewire. It's pretty nearly hack-proof (so it says on the website), so even a person who is determined to find a way around it most likely can't.

If you are wondering what people have been looking at on your internet, check your browser history. A web browser is the software that you use to look at the internet - there are several popular ones: internet explorer, firefox, mozilla, opera, safari (mac only). You should open all of them and check the history. If you don't know how, open the Help files and type in "history".

What about computers in private bedrooms? Lots of kids these days are given access to the internet in the privacy of their own bedroom. Be cautious. In fact, if your child has access to the internet in the privacy of their bedroom, it is extremely likely that they are involved in something that is "vile and vulgar".

It is our job as parents to protect the minds of our kids and to give them the safety in their own home to not view anything that is vile and vulgar. If your child (or spouse) has private access to the internet, it's time to talk with them. It's time to get rid of or monitor that private access.

NetNanny has a feature that allows you to remotely monitor another computer. That means, that from your computer, you can monitor website access, keystrokes, IM chats and everything else that someone is doing on another computer. This might be the answer for you if your child has a computer in their room.

You can actually read everything they are writing in IM messages, everything they type into a chat room and every website that they view through this remote monitoring. You can also lock a child out of specific websites and specific functions (such as IM).

The internet is full of tricks and traps and schemes of the evil one. He is going around like a lion seeking to devour followers of Christ. We are learning this in Sunday School and through the sermons. Is it possible that he is using the internet to devour someone in your home?

TV
Gary and I didn't used to have cable. For years in Calgary we would sit in our below-ground family room watching CBC with rabbit ears (practically freezing in the room). And then, it slowly crept up on us. We moved to Promontory and the rabbit ears didn't get any channels at all, so we got basic cable. We only recently got full cable. To be honest, I like full cable better. Instead of feeling like I haven't got options, I can now watch Discovery channel or HGTV. We bought a new TV and it can be set to block shows that are rated above 14A. So we did that. It's good for the kids. It's good for us.

TV is a direct line from someone else's mind into our homes and it is full of options that are addicting, vile and vulgar.

I was listening to a group of christian teens discussing the latest show in the OC series. They were describing all the characters and talking about who's sleeping with who. I realized that they are judged by their peers about what they know of this show - if they don't know anything, they lose face. On top of that, it is an addicting nighttime soap opera. I was addicted to Melrose Place (a similar smut-filled soap opera) and it took a close friend phoning me every Monday evening to break the addiction.

What is being watched in your home? How can you break the addictions?

Gaming
Here's a tough one. It's tough because xbox, ps2, game cube, wii can all be so incredibly fun - and there aren't many really wholesome games for teens/young adults. Along with fun comes the temptation to play games that have direct or indirect vile and vulgar messages in them. Today, I asked one of my boys to turn off the music on his motorcross racing game (some type of rap) and he said, "but's that the only reason I'm playing this". I had no idea. I thought he was playing because it was fun.

We moved our PS2 into our family room (from the basement). The noise nearly drives me to the edge of sanity, but this way I can watch what the games are about (when I'm in the kitchen). We work hard to monitor the games our kids play, but didn't even think about the possibility that they could borrow games from other boys at school - or play games at someone else's house.

I don't know much about the kinds of games that are out there for teens, but lots of you are facing this - particularly with your boys - on a daily basis. We need to help each other - what games are better than others?

The end... well, almost
What comes to your mind when you read about not looking at anything vile or vulgar in your own home?

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you about what you might be looking at in your home that is vile and vulgar. Ask Him to show you how to refuse to look. Tell a friend about what you are facing. Ask God to make your home a place where vile and vulgar things are not viewed.

Let's help each other. If you are addicted to the internet, chat rooms, soap operas - tell someone. Find someone you can trust (there are so many women like this at Broadway). Join a Care Group at church (phone pastor Wilf). Also, if you need help installing software, there are people in our church who will help you - as a ministry (me included).

Let's be on guard for our kids. It's our job to protect them. They might be mad at you for cutting their internet or cable connection. I did this for 2 weeks just recently because the computer was taking over our lives. Most of the arguing and frustration between our boys is due to something electronic - it either isn't working or it's too slow or they can't beat the level or someone stole the remote....

Are you committed, like David, to leading a life of integrity in your own home? Refusing to look at anything vile and vulgar?

Post some thoughts to help each other discuss what is going on in our homes - and what we want to stop.

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Confessions from a girl geek

I'll start with a confession. I am a girl geek.

Today was one of the times that I felt really great about being a girl geek. A woman from our church phoned me for advice on how to protect their home computer from the internet.... ...and it was one of the first times I felt "unleashed" in my girl geek ministry.

You see, for the past seven years, I have worked full-time in the computer world - with internet content, programming and networking. I have been in hundreds of meetings where I am the only woman in the room. Although I'm not a programmer, I like hearing about how to set up databases, variables, programming content management systems and syndicating content. Sometimes, I'll admit... I GET the geek jokes and actually laugh along.

It has taken me the better part of these seven years to be "ok" that I'm so different than other women (in my circles). I have a suspicion that there are more girl geeks out there, but not everyone is tipping their hand. I've had to figure out how to balance my career life with my social life, knowing that in most instances, geek-talk will clear the room pretty quickly. People's eyes glaze over, they start to snore, they suddenly need to top up their coffee.... it's just not that interesting to most women.

It's not like the boy geeks readily accept me, either. Sometimes, I have to toss out some key "geek terminology" to get accepted in their circles, but even still... I'm a girl... and I'm not a hard-core geek. I can follow some of their "geekology", but at some point, I can't keep up there, either. Sometimes, it feels pretty lonely to be a girl-geek. I will say, though, that some of the highest compliments I have ever received are from hard-core geeks who like the way I've solved a problem in the geek-zone.

So, today, when a woman was trying to figure out where to turn for advice about protecting her family computer, she thought of me. And when we talked, we bonded - the way women do - and also discussed a topic that she knew was important - but it wasn't something she understands... and I helped her. I liked that - alot. I'm going over to her home next week to install and configure some software for her family computer.... and I can hardly wait!

So here's to the girl-geeks out there. Show yourselves! Let's have a ministry together - as only girl-geeks can!

What did I recommend for protecting her computer from porn sites and other websites?
To find out click here.


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God's calling us...

Sometimes God's call is a small, quiet voice. Sometimes, it jumps out at you. Sometimes it comes with such compelling that you can't help but follow... Last Friday night, I had the privilege of going to the commissioning for all of the TREK teams that are going on short or longer terms with MBMSI...

...it brought back so many memories for me of how God called me into ministry, in particular how exciting it was to be commissioned by a church into God's work. There was a worship time last night and a prayer time for each of the groups. One team is going to Egypt, another to Mexico and a third to work in Thailand for 3 years, including one girl named Bitsy Warkentin.

I sat behind Mr. and Mrs. Warkentin. They sat with their daughter, Bitsy. I sat beside my daughter, Kate. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on in Mrs. Warkentin's head at that moment. I thought about sending my own daughter to Thailand for 3 years. Not easy. I wondered how I would feel sending her off to another land - alone - although she's on a team. I suppose I would come to peace with her calling.

I don't know the Warkentins. I'm sure somehow, someway, we are related. But, I don't know them. I don't know what they think or how easily they trust God. They seemed content with their daughter's decision to go to Thailand. They seemed excited to watch her follow God's call.

The verse that God used to call me into ministry was this one, Luke 12:48 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

I remember thinking about that verse - and all that I was given in my life - a good home, all the comforts of north american living, a christian education, a supportive family..... and that verse became God's personal calling on my life.

It was emotional for me to watch Bitsy determining to follow God's call to Thailand for 3 years. It took me back to my own call and I felt "re-charged" somehow.

Everyone has a different kind of call - and most of the women in our church have never been called to go to Thailand. So then, what have most of us been called to?

Has God call you? Is He calling you still? Did He give you a verse?

I look forward to hearing how God has spoken to you and called you.

sharon Read more.

Feeling sorry for myself

When Gary was talking about "footholds" in our lives last Sunday, I couldn't help but think of how many times I've felt sorry for myself - lately and throughout my life. Intellectually, I know that feeling sorry for myself doesn't make too much sense - I am a perfectly healthy woman living in a beautiful home in a beautiful country. My marriage is happy, my kids are healthy (mostly) and my work is satisfying.

Still, it is what gets me down quite easily. I find myself in a comparison trap - one where I compare all that I know of my life to the very little I know of multiple other people's lives. In the end, I come out with "less". Less time, less money, less looks, less personality, less holiday time, less freedom, less, less, less, less.... Feeling sorry for myself is a vulnerability for me, a persistent vulnerability to say the least. Emotionally, it's still something that I get trapped by, side-kicked, brought-down.

I did a search of "feeling sorry for myself" on Google and found out that I am by far and away not the only one with this foothold. It's kind of funny to see what people write about feeling sorry for themselves, although it makes you immediately aware of the power of thoughts when someone is suffering from a mental illness, such as depression.

There is one site called "43 Things" and it is a place where people write down what it is they want to accomplish. According to this site, 78 people want to "stop feeling sorry for myself". Another article I read, that I quite enjoyed was written by a British novelist who won a big award for his writing and has now lost the underlying reason to feel sorry for himself. Click here to read "It pains me that I can no longer feel sorry for myself". The funniest line to me is at the end of his article, "My only solution thus far has been to feel sorry for myself that I can no longer feel sorry for myself. Bit perverse, but it works."

I wonder sometimes if I am attached to the "habit" of feeling sorry for myself. I've only begun to think about this as a "foothold" since last Sunday's sermon on the schemes of the invisible enemy, so the thoughts are fairly fresh. It just seems that no matter what happens in my life (good or bad), I find that I move (sooner or later) to the same old trap of feeling sorry for myself. I will say that I have seen progress in this journey at some points. Tremendous progress at some points, but then, without expecting it, I find myself telling myself why I should feel sorry for myself - it's justified. My mom calls this self-talk "the committee". She's often talked about the great freedom one finds when you fire "the committee". "They're useless" she says.

I've been thinking of preaching at church again (in the next year or so) and "feeling sorry for myself" is one of the themes that has been on my mind. With this in mind, I read a chunk of Job. He didn't seem to have this foothold. In fact, when his kids are all killed, his livelihood is taken away (all animals and servants killed or looted), he doesn't lament over "I wish it could be the way it used to be". Instead, he actually wishes that he would never have survived childbirth. He wishes that life never would have even started for him. He wishes that there wasn't breast milk given to him, or that he would have been stillborn. This is certainly a low point for Job.

But, it isn't the same type of low point as feeling sorry for myself. I don't think it is, anyway. Feeling sorry for myself isn't wanting to die or quit. There is something inherent in feeling sorry for myself that wishes things would magically change or improve. It's a wishing that my "lot in life" would match up to someone else's lot in life. There's an element of comparison, longing, jealousy, wishing, hoping.... correct me if I'm wrong here, but it seems somewhat different than quitting. Can it lead to wanting to die or quit? I think so.

I was suspecting when I started reading Job that I would find a picture of a man who felt sorry for himself. I don't read that in the first 3 chapters. There is a whole lot of other stuff in there, but I'm not sure feeling sorry for himself is part of it. Of course, he sits silently scraping his boils for seven days before he tells his friends that he wishes he wasn't even born. It's impossible to know what he thought of in those seven silent days - expect to say that he went downhill pretty far. The "committee" was clearly telling him his life is useless.

It was really meaningful for me that we sang "It is Well" on Sunday after the sermon. There is one line in that great old hymn that challenges and encourages me every time I sing it, "whatever my lot, you have taught me to say... even so, it is well with my soul."

What are your thoughts on the whole topic of "feeling sorry for myself"?
Is this something that you have found to be a 'foothold'?

Adding your thoughts to this post will make all the difference. Most people will be readers only, but there will be so much more to read and process if you add a thought or two of your own.

sharon


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Bridge to Teribithia: Some thoughts

If you haven't read Katherine Paterson's Newberry Medal Award-winning novel, The Bridge to Teribithia, you should pick it up sometime. If you're more the "see instead of read" type, you could take in the new movie now playing at the Cottonwood Theatres. I took my boys last Friday evening and let's just say... they loved it. It's fantasy, reality, life-struggle and heartache all rolled into one exciting drama. The whole movie makes you think, but one line in particular got me going...

...it was when Lindsay, one of the two main characters goes to church for the first time. She is driving home from church with her neighbor and soul-friend, Jesse. They are talking about what christians believe. Jesse's little sister is telling Lindsay that she will go to hell if she doesn't believe in Jesus. You can see that Jesse is uncomfortable with the conversation and doesn't want to tell Lindsay that she will go to hell. At the end of the conversation, Lindsay says something like, "It's funny that you grew up with all of these beliefs and you don't like it. I didn't grow up with any of it and I think it's beautiful."

Katherine Paterson, the author of the book is a follower of Christ - in fact, recently, I found a book at The BookMan that was a updated version of catechism written by her. I didn't buy it (doh!) and now wish I had... don't all go running there to steal it out from under me....

Her books have all sorts of Christian themes running throughout them - and the movie is no different. I am thinking of doing a re-read of the book soon because there are parts of the movie that "don't seem right". My kids agreed that changes had been made. I would like to see what the author's intents in the book were with regard to provoking thoughts on belief in Christ - and compare those to how Disney has altered those provoking thoughts.

All of this to get around to what Lindsay says in the back of the pickup truck. Do you think that if you grow up in Christianity that you don't see how beautiful it is? that you don't see it in the same way as someone who comes into it later in their life? (I think Lindsay is all of twelve years old, so that's not that much "later").

I've sometimes felt this way - that the beauty of Christ's love, his death, his resurrection is "old hat" or dwarfed in comparison to all the "shushing", "no running", "no touching the old woman's fur coat in front of you" that I experienced as a kid growing up in church.

What do you think? How is christianity beautiful to you - or something that doesn't seem so beautiful? Can we miss the beauty of it just because it's all so familiar?
If so, how do we find that beauty again?

sharon Read more.

Spiritual Direction: It intrigues me

Have you heard of spiritual direction? or a spiritual director? If not, it's simply because it isn't a very "evangelical" idea. It's only becoming more popular in evangelical circles as the bond of unity between evangelicals and catholics grows stronger around the world. It is only in the last 20 years that evangelical organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ, Billy Graham and Alpha International have forged partnerships with the catholic church.

Along with those bridges has come an acceptance of other styles of worship - the rise in popularity of the liturgical service in evangelical churches is an evidence of this. Evangelicals are embracing ways of spiritual growth dating back to pre-reformation, mystical teachings and catholic teachings. Among those ideas is the concept of spiritual direction. Traditionally, a catholic nun or priest would be guided in their spiritual journey through a director - an older priest or nun who helped them decipher how God was intersecting their life.

Bruce Demarest in his book, Soul Guide: Following Jesus as Spiritual Director, takes a look at how Jesus enlightened people with the knowledge of God's presence and activity in their lives. In his book, he outlines the difference between a spiritual director, mentor, discipler and counselor.

A spiritual mentor helps you with skills for ministry. This could range from how to use powerpoint slides to the benefits of nametags. It could be training in how to do sound, lead a bible study or write a sermon. A mentor takes you with them as they teach practical ministry skills.

A spiritual discipler helps you to grow in your understanding of doctrine, theology and spiritual disciplines. They may lead a bible study, memorize scripture with you, teach you how to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit or help you to lead a friend to Christ.

A spiritual counselor helps bear your burdens. They listen and provide direction, usually out of a crisis in your life. They provide wisdom for that circumstance and help you understand what has transpired in your life to bring you to this point of crisis. They provide practical help in how to move ahead and not fall back into old patterns that lead to crisis.

A spiritual director helps you to figure out how God is intersecting your life. They ask questions that encourage you to think about God's work, God's character and God's desires as they relate to your specific circumstances, personality, skills, hopes and dreams.

As you can see, these categories are not that clear-cut, they overlap on occasion. A spiritual director, however, is something that is new to the evangelical community.

The Mark Centre was founded by Steve and Evy Klassen as a place of retreat for people in the MB denomination. In speaking with Steve recently, I discovered that he is a spiritual director as well. His experience in being directed comes from meeting with either Steve or Jeff Imbach (can't remember which one) brothers who are both spiritual directors.

Spiritual direction in the evangelical community was hugely influenced by Henri Nouwen. You can read more about it on the Henri Nouwen website, or take a look at a book that was written post-humously by two of his students, Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith. I have been reading this book and enjoying the practical questions that help me think and discover God's character, His interest in me and how my life is being intersected by His desires, purpose, love and plans.

Since some of the concepts in spiritual direction are very catholic, it is important to have an open mind, but not to be theologically dull when you are reading or growing in spiritual direction.

An example of this is found in a book that I recently purchased at Nugget's Bookstore. It is a series of spiritual exercises written by a catholic nun (many years ago). She writes about how the icons of Mary that were painted in the 1500's are God's work, inspired by the Holy Spirit the same way that the Scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

A reader of this concept needs to exercise caution - allowing that the painter of the icon painted with passion, insight and emotion - moved in their spirit by their faith in God to paint in a way that can likewise move the one who views the painting. This kind of inspiration is quite different, however, than the inspiration we mean when we talk about all Scripture being inspired (God-breathed) by the Holy Spirit.

Steve Klassen tells me that he is interested in putting on a retreat about spiritual direction - or perhaps a weekly course for those who are interested. I have found it difficult to connect with women who are spiritual directors or who are interested in growing in this area. There seem to be more men involved at this end of the Fraser Valley. Let me know if you know otherwise.

What are your thoughts on spiritual direction?
Have you heard about it?
Does it interest you?

sharon


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Anne Lamott: she makes me laugh

Have you ever wondered if there are any authentic christians left in this world? Or were there ever any? Well, Anne Lamott is sure one. If you haven't heard of her, you will find a breath of fresh air in her writings. Anne is a liberal christian who hates right wing conservative politics in the US.... so, you've been warned. If that is enough to stop you, read no further. Otherwise, here's what I like about Anne...

I discovered Anne Lamott by accident at the Nuggets Used Book store in Sardis (right beside Windsor Plywood). I bought her book on how to be a writer, Bird by Bird. I had no idea what a treasure this book would be for me. In it, Anne skillfully describes the ins and outs of writing in a style that is compelling, hilarious and persuasive. You have to work very hard to not love a person who can make a "how to" book into a series of life lessons that open up your heart to new worlds.

After Bird by Bird, I became addicted to Anne. She is an author on the somewhat edgy online magazine, Salon.com. I read what I could without a subscription. And then, after a year without one of her books, I picked up her book, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. I laughed, I cried. I read her short stories out loud to my unsuspecting dragonboat team as they tried to snatch naps between races.

How is it that an author can write about her mother (who hurt her so deeply) and make the reader laugh and cry and laugh all over again? This skilled writer takes you into her heart, connects you with the common thread of humanity and makes it "ok" to be human, to desire more and to put it all into the context of faith in Jesus. She talks about forgiveness without preaching it's benefits - just by sharing her own pain, her own hurt and her own failure at spreading her mother's ashes.

In an honest struggle to express unconditional love, Anne tells of how the Holy Spirit convicts her of her hatred toward George Bush Jr. She enters a journey of "working on loving him". It lasts 2 days. I don't hate George Bush Jr, his presidency doesn't make me want to "quit". And yet, I understand how hard it is to love someone past 2 days if the Holy Spirit isn't doing the loving and changing in my heart.

Someday, I hope to meet Anne. I feel like I know her. She's safe and fun. She's insightful and authentic. She inspires and enlightens. She shows me Jesus from another angle - and because of that, I am a better person.

Have you read any Anne Lamott?
Any other authors that have inspired you through their honest look at life?

sharon
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