The Bay

When time permits, I like to eat my lunch down on the Peninsula. It's my favorite place to think. I was there the other day watching the fishermen and small boat sailors working against a nice west wind. It brought back a memory from a few years ago from that same spot of this really old guy prepping an equally old-probably homemade boat to launch in what was pretty rough waters. It made such an impression that I did my best to capture it on a piece of scrap paper in the car.

Stiffly shuffling toward the dock-his antique sailing skiff waits. Old sailor, crude craft coming together one more time to challenge the waters. A face so full of lines it looks like cement, his expression shifts slowly as the old man grimaces hoisting the tattered sail. The rust colored multi-patched cloth gulps in a piece of the breeze and together they’re off…two lifelong friends that have obviously performed this ritual a thousand times before.

Almost magically, it happens. Unmistakable elation permeates the severely weathered face and the rigid old body somehow becomes fluid again. Effortlessly, he weaves the tiny craft back and forth across the chop, his face dripping from the spray and the sheer joy of being alive. Completely unaware of his age, he romps like a child at the playground while quickly becoming but a dot on the horizon.

Watching this reminded me afresh that passion, pure passion in something inflates the spirit of a man like nothing else in life.

Allie Dodges A Bullet!

Got a call yesterday…






- Papa
- Hi Boo! You’re my best girl.
- Papa, I fell down the steps.
- You did…what happened?
- I twipped and fell on my head.
- Baby girl, you have to be careful on those steps!
- Papa, the angels saved me!
- You saw angels?
- Yep I did. Flora-Fauna & Merryweather! (three fairy godmothers of Sleeping Beauty...oh well)
- Wow…I am SO glad they saved you Boo!
- OK-bye papa, I have to eat lunch.

So goes my morning. What a kid. It was actually a pretty dramatic fall. Thank you Lord for averting a heartache.

Reality Check- Communication

It has been a joy and a bit of a struggle preparing for this coming weekend. I'll be talking about communication. What a phenominal responsibility managing our verbal interaction with one another is. Proverbs 19:21 says-The tongue has the power of life and death. We can speak life giving things to benefit others or we can crush them with words as Job told his friends.

Communication is an amazing thing. God created us in his image and part of being made in the image of God is our capacity to communicate, so God can have a relationship with us and God builds that relationship with us through the use of words. And then He has given us the capacity to build relationships with one another and again so much of what we use to build those relationships are words. It's an important thing. It's an extremely powerful thing and that's why God takes it so seriously. Could you imagine how our relationships would flourish if every word out of our mouths really counted in a positive way?

God also takes communication very seriously because there are people on this earth who will never hear about Him unless someone speaks up.

My Neighbor Doesn't Always Have An Address

This is my experience at the City Mission on Sunday. It was like I pulled into the parking lot, locked my car and stepped into a movie. The Holy Spirit didn’t whisper…He shouted… “Pay attention and listen for my leading!” The Lord provided an amazing team of ServErie folks that obviously came prepared to do whatever. We prayed and then it started. I began to meet my neighbors.

Matthew looked like a very drunk Ernest Hemingway. I liked him instantly. Life wasn’t bad for Matthew until Vietnam crashed into his story. He said it was “four years in the basement of Hell”. Never found himself again when he returned home but did hold a tight grip on a friend he had made in Southeast Asia….alcohol. He was so beat up in every way but was still able to maintain a pretty apparent amount of courtesy towards and interest in his fellow man. He loved Nancy Clark’s voice and rushed forward to thank her for soothing his pain. Just like that…he was gone.

I accidentally bumped shoulders with another guy as I tried to maneuver the crowd. It was a hard bump and I apologized to him. We locked eyes and it’s as if time raced backwards and I was in the crowded hallway of Cathedral Prep School again. It was Mark, a guy I hadn’t seen since we were both 17. He instantly averted his eyes and I paused to see how I should handle this awkward reunion. I waited for him to go through the meal line and take a seat before I attempted an re-introduction. We spent a half and hour catching up. This guy was one of those people who was Most Likely to Succeed In Everything! Life went really poorly for him at every turn and now he lives in the streets. Absolutely heartbreaking. We parted ways again and I pray he accepts my invitation to get together in the near future.

I had to go out to the car for something and nearly missed my opportunity to meet an incredible soul. A frail kid with a backpack that loomed over his shoulders named Jacob was standing by the curb with a tattered map. He asked for directions to hitch a ride to I-86. He was on his way to Maine. I showed him what I thought was his best shot as we both got wet standing in the steady rain. He was so thankful for the meal and the kindness that was extended to him. I said good-bye and headed to the car when I faintly heard him say… “I hope God blesses me again today.” Went back into the mission to help clean up and was inwardly and instantly reminded of the Spirits prompting to “Pay attention and listen.” “I hope God blesses me again today”. I missed it. I grabbed a couple of the ServErie team members and explained I needed to find a young guy and give him a ride. They instantly reminded me that earlier in the morning I gave the team strict instructions not to give out personal information, money or rides to anyone. I’m such a crappy leader. Anyway, I drove up and down State St. looking for Jacob but he had vanished. Just as I headed back toward the mission I spotted him trying to stay dry near Hamot Hospital. He eagerly accepted a ride and a discussion I will never forget began to unfold. He was hoping to make Jamestown NY by nightfall to camp there until morning and pick up a little work to continue his journey to Maine. Maine is where his sister lives and hopefully an opportunity to build a more stable life. Jacob is 25. He was arrested for drugs at 19 and spent 2 really nasty years in prison. For the past 4 years, he has been hitchhiking back and forth across America. He estimates he has logged 32,000 miles in the past 48 months. Everything he owns is in that backpack. He told me stories so incredible that I consistently charged him with writing a book. Why the dramatic wandering? Jacob said he was searching for something to quiet the screaming in his head. He wants peace and the only place he can find it is on the open highway during the day and lying on his tarp at night in the woods staring at the stars. At one point just outside of Jamestown, he told me that Mike’s talk really intrigued him. We talked about Someone who made the open road and star filled skies. Someone who could give him the peace he was after. We prayed together and shook hands knowing we will both live out our lives and never see each other again. On the drive back to Erie I thanked God for my neighbors. Men who are broken, tired and searching for something that life hasn’t provided thus far. This kind of stuff is out there waiting each and every day. I could have invested the same 7 hours on Sunday in a nap, a ballgame or just kicking around the house (all of which is good and often necessary) but what an adventure I would have missed.

What Does ServErie Look Like?

If you’ve spent any time around Grace Church the last few months, you would have heard about ServErie. This is a heartfelt initiative to rally our church to meet the needs of those struggling with poverty and brokenness in our community. There is a kiosk in our lobby that is alive with activity after each one of our weekend services as people sign-up for opportunities to serve the down trodden. If you’re wondering what happens at a ServErie event…let me give you a glimpse.

Last Sunday, 17 risk takers went to the City Mission to serve a meal and provide a simple devotion time for some of Erie’s homeless. We circled up in the missions kitchen to pray and yield our hearts/minds to God prior to digging into the experience. I honestly wish I had a picture of the faces of those in that circle. Willingness, compassion, a little fear, determination and obvious love were all alive in their expressions. One by one, people streamed into the dining hall to eat lunch. Some soaked in alcohol, others still wrapped in the wet blankets that they had used to keep warm in some ally the night before, young moms with very young kids looking all to comfortable in this setting and the mentally troubled. The members of our team did a phenomenal job of loving on these folks. Mike and Nancy Clark played some music and Mike gave a very moving talk on being honest with God. Team members could be seen all over the dining hall sharing lunch, providing encouragement and praying with these special guests. It just felt really right to be there.

Man vs Wild #1 The Pretty Stuff Is Often Poisionous

A major issue to overcome to staying alive in the wild is finding something suitable to eat. Quite often, the most visually appealing plants and animals are the ones that are most deadly. The Amanita Phalloides or “death cap” mushroom is dramatically beautiful, yet one mouthful will plunge you into horrific cramps, boiling fever and a quick death. Poisonous insects and reptiles will lure a victim in close by the sheer beauty of their appearance and then fatally sting the curious prey. To survive the spiritual wild, we can’t be dazzled by the surface beauty of things in this world. They promise happiness, fulfillment, success and don’t deliver. Evil is intelligent. It knows man can fooled by cheap tinsel and short cuts. Know your environment. Embrace the scripture that discerns and illuminates our surroundings to keep us from ingesting the poison that is everywhere.

Man vs Wild

I've been enjoying one of the Discovery Channels newer programs called Man vs Wild hosted by Bear Grylls. Other than having a very cool name, Grylls is supposedly a former British military person schooled in primitive survival skills. In the show, he both demonstrates and narrates techniques for wilderness survival in regions around the globe, from ice fields, mountain ranges, swamps and deserts. The general format of each episode is that Grylls is dropped into the region simulating a stranded explorer/tourist. The episode documents his efforts to survive and find a way back to civilization, usually requiring an overnight shelter of some kind. Bear also tells about successful and failed survivals in the particular area he is in. Not sure how accurate the actual demonstrations are but the premise of the show is totally compelling to me. I've been an outdoorsman since I was 13 years old. Even with what I know, could I survive in a dangerous isolated wilderness setting by sheer determination and a knowledge of how to use not so obvious things to sustain myself?

On a spiritual level, this is exactly what we are faced with every lucid moment of the day. Peter wrote "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in this world..." Living wholeheartedly for Jesus requires an understanding that we are living life in a spiritual wilderness. We can sustain ourselves until death calls us forward or Jesus returns. I don't want to just survive in this place...I want to thrive! I'm going to take the next few days and examine ways my world and Bear's intersect. I'll be blogging some of my personal observations.

Kid Meets Hero!

Allie my grand daughter loves the fairy tale princess Cinderella. While on a trip to Florida last week, we spent a day at Disney World hoping for a few princess sightings so she could have the thrill of seeing her hero up close. The park actually had a meet & greet where kids could walk through a reception area and shake hands with Cinderella and many other of the classic characters. The lines were long and time spent with the characters was extremely brief. Allie and her mom walked in and for some reason, she was the only kid in the entire throne room. The very gracious girl who played Cinderella sat on the floor and invited Allie to sit on her lap. They talked and laughed together. Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Snow White also came into the room...Allie was now surrounded by her favorite story characters. What a significant little blessing this one on one interaction was for this amazing kid just about to turn three. As she left the throne room, she stopped and did a crazy little dance fueled by pure excitement.