A Different Kind of Tear

One doc visit and two kinesiologist visits later, the shoulder is strong enough to ride. Yay!  He's pretty convinced there's no tear.

Had an interesting conversation with a young man yesterday who grew up as a Lutheran, but his congregation got into a fight regarding their pastor.  His question: how could people who went to communion together for years become so angry with one another and so torn up?  He hasn't been to church since then.  His church was torn apart and he feels torn away.  I wonder what it will take to bring healing?  I wonder how many of these stories I will hear this summer?
God of healing, repair his heart! (And my shoulder too.) Amen.

Day 1

I'm on sabbatical!  Can't really tell yet. Friday is my day off. I'm off to see the chiropractor/kinesiologist for my shoulder. Inauspicious beginning.

Murphy Has Arrived

8 Days until I begin my west coast solo trip! However, Saturday night as I was playing broomball with our youth I fell on the ice and I've either bruised or torn my left rotator cuff.  My sports doc and I have a plan in place, but it could be a difficult trip, and, worst case, I could be looking at surgery later in the summer.  Sigh.

His Next Question

Sweet's next sentence: The basic question of the Christian life is this: is Christ a living force to be experienced or a historical figure to be reckoned with?
To this I answer a resounding "YES!"

Today's Question

The basic question of life is this: is God a reality to be experienced or a belief to be remembered? --Leonard Sweet.
I want to experience the Living Christ over and over, and share my experiences with others, that they might experience Jesus for themselves.

Gettting Real

The transport guys just picked up the Road King. It will go to Denver, then be loaded onto a semi for the trip to Seattle.  I'll pick it up and the Harley Davidson dealer near SEATAC when I arrive there on 21 May. It's getting real now!

Sabbatical Dawning...

Two weeks till sabbatical begins...
As people at SOTH and at Synod Assembly are asking about my upcoming sabbatical I am getting awfully excited!  I am really interested in the conversations I hope to have with people in the US and six other countries about what's happening in the spiritual lives of a wide variety of post-modern people.  I am looking forward to engaging with the folks I will meet on my motorcycle rides, both in the states and in Europe.  I hope to learn from them how and where they have room for spiritual things in their lives.

Of course, I'm interested in the amazing riding too!

I look forward to some quiet reflection time, some of it in the saddle of my Road King, to reflect on my own ministry (31 years) and the ministry of the congregation I serve, and to discern a bit of how God is at work in this post-Christian culture in which we live.

If you're a praying person, please pray for me as I embark "On The Ride of My Life."  Thanks!