Day 5: Last night I had a dream about a Crunch Wrap Supreme covered in Mu Shu Pork. I am really hungry but I am doing ok. I'm really tired of juice and water and feeling a little fluish. My stomach sounds like a Humback Whale looking for a mate. But really I am good.
I have had some time to pray for some people and not just in a "blessem and bewithem" kind of way but really asking the Lord to move in their lives...intercession I guess.
This fasting thing is going a lot better than I thought. Although I am having a hard time replacing the time that I would normally eat with prayer and scripture. But what is happening is I am developing some serious discipline. And when I do get tempted or just want to quit, it gives me something to offer to God as a sacrifice.
My body is getting a little funky today. I am starting to experience some of the typical symptoms of fasting. But I think I can make it to Sunday.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
May the the things you suffer through today produce character and hope in your life and in the lives of those who witness it.
Warning...honesty approaching....
I don't like to fast. I am not good at it. I want to be better at it. For those of you who read this blog not associated with eXchange I will fill you in on what's happening. We are calling ourselves to a corporate fast. Many people from eXchange are fasting this week through giving up various things. Some are fasting from food for a whole week. Some are fasting from entertainment, internet, video games, t.v., etc. This started last night at 6pm and will end Sunday at 6pm. I think I will have a pizza delivered to the church at 6:05. Probably not.
I am giving up food and video games. So far I have made it through breakfast and lunch. No problem. Except the staff at the church went to Panera bread for lunch and I had to tag along since we were all coming back from Joann Smith's funeral together. So I order an apple juice. The girl behind the counters hands me a juice box. I don't drink out of boxes. So she gave me a cup.
Nice.
I have had problems with my blood sugar dropping like a rock in the past, so I am going to keep track of that. I hope to make it to Wednesday evening with no solid food and then limit it to fruits and vegetables from there. We will see how that goes. The video games won't be a problem because I can only play late at night after the girls are in bed. I don't plan on staying up late on this fast because that is when I get snacky.
All I am hoping for is to be in closer intimacy with God.
What are you fasting from?
I have had the pleasure of being a part of something really cool. This week I have spent almost every night at a place called Club Soda. This is a club in Terre Haute that provides a good environment for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts to hang out. It is also a place that hosts a lot of AA meetings and NA meetings. It all started when I got a call from a couple of art students from ISU. They had heard about the ArtReach program that I have been doing at Maryland Community church and they wanted to do something similar for as a required project for a class.
Abbey and Angelia are two wonderful young girls. They both have a passion for helping people; especially the broken and marginalized.
We spent each night this week from 8-9 or so helping the members of the club to express the 12 steps of their program through art. It was great and I met some wonderful people.
I will try to post some pictures soon.
Gotta go ...baby's crying.
So I'm getting ready for my families vacation to Disney and Siesta Key and I get a call from IRS Special Agent Scot Schnieder...
I thought it was a prank and I basically ignored what he was saying for the first few minutes of the conversation. Then he started reciting letters that I had written to Kent Hovind. I perked up and realized that this was not a prank. Kent Hovind aka "Dr. Dino," I am embarrassed to say, spoke at MCC a few years ago on the topic of Creation vs. Evolution. He and I argued for a year (almost to the day) on the fact that we withheld taxes from money collected at his speaking engagement. In order to get this guy, and his cronies posing as attorneys, off of my back I went ahead and paid the $865 he felt that we owed him. Special Agent Schnieder said that I was being subpoenaed to appear in Pensacola Federal Court and testify on behalf of the prosectution. Hovind has over 50 counts of tax fraud, evasion, etc against him.
But here's the beautiful part of this ordeal...
The date set for me to appear in court was the day before I was to DRIVE to Florida from Indiana with my wife and kids, mother and father in law and my brother and sister in law and their 3 year old. So, I missed out on a 2 day car ride with my in-laws and 3 kids. My heart was broken...yeah right. Seriously, I have the best in-laws a guy could ask for and we have a lot of fun together, but that long of a car ride with ANYONE is going to test the relationship.
So I testified earlier this week and things went very well. I basically read letters that were sent back and forth between Hovind and myself and answered yes and no questions. The defense was pretty week and was asking me irrelevant questions. Oh and did I tell you that the judge looked like a supermodel? That was weird. I was expecting a Wilford Brimly type. Oh well I was not complaining.
Disney was Disney, a bunch of stressed out parents trying to cram 3 weeks worth of activities into 3 days while we all watched "the mouse" ride our wallets off into the sunset. All of this in the hope of creating some type of great memory for our kids. We did have fun, but there always seemed to be an undercurrent of stress involved. It all made me realized how blessed I am. My life is so good on a daily basis that it makes the Magic Kingdom, not so magical. I love this life that I have been given. My friends, my community, it's all good. Later Mickey.
So now I am sitting in Siesta Key, FL sipping on some fresh coffee, waiting for the sun to come up. The family is still sleeping. 15 mo Chloe will be the first up, she's the rooster announcing the morning with a plea for her milky.
It's a beatiful new day and God is so very good.
Find some beauty in your day today,
tell a friend what they mean to you,
thank God for what you have and don't have.
Much love,
Jack
Here's some good news! I will have a show at the Open Door Bookstore on Saturday, November 4th from 6-9pm. They will also be selling some of my artwork there. I hope you all can make it.
I took Caroline my 5year old to gymnastics yesterday. It's a lot of fun to watch her bounce around and interact with other children and adults. I try to guess what's going on inside that little melon of hers...most often she surpises me.
So i am sitting there trying to keep Chloe from stealing a bag of Cheetohs from the snack machine which was left open by the guy stocking it. She did her best to woo him into tossing her a free bag but he did not give in (he must have kids). She even walked around the open glass door while he was busy restocking and gave it a good open mouth raspberry in an attempt to overwhelm him wiht cuteness. Nothing. Not even a stale bag of animal crackers.
As I was managing Chloe I struck up a conversation with a lady sitting next to me. She seemed to be about my age or a little younger. She just moved to the area about a year ago and is working on getting settled with her family. Her name is Tammy. She reminded me a little like my wife Lori. Extremely easy to talk to, very nice, and pleasant. She also mentioned how cute my little Chloe was, which automatically adds some serious points in my book. I learned that she and her husband were from different church backgrounds and were sort of looking for something. Everything in our conversation led me to think that she and her family are looking for that sense of community that we all look for.
This is where I struggle...to say that I love being a part of this community called eXchange is a severe understatement. I believe that people crave to be a part of community, to have a group of people that they can love and will love them back. When I am sitting there talking to Tammy, I just kept thinking, "You would love my friends and they would love you." "What you are decribing as the things that you are looking for we have." But then as soon as i open my mouth I am afraid that i am going to sound like someone trying to sell a car or insurance (sorry salesmen, that just the way it is). I would rather say nothing at all. I am not motivated to make eXchange bigger, but at the same time I want to see people to have an opportunity to join us and for us to join them.
My desire and my prayer is to come across as genuine because I truly believe that what we have at eXchange is a rare and beautiful thing. I see us as an oasis to a very dry world. I know that's what it has been for me. I just want to share that with others.
She did get a good dose of what eXchange is all about...Connie Wren stopped in to drop off her little girt at gymnastics. Connie is the owner of the Verve night club and a good friend of mine. I introduced them without really thinking how odd it would seem for a pastor to introduce a good friend of his and add that she owns the best night club in town. That was a good segue into telling her about how we Crashed Bluesfest this year with about 50 volunteers....
Do you ever struggle with the fear of coming across as less than genuine? Let's talk about this...
Evie Ogborn is having an art show at Ivy Tech on Friday, Sept 22 from 4-7pm. Her stuff is beautiful. It's very dark and mysterious, yet comfy. Evie has some techniques that I really admire. You can get a good look at her stuff on her website www.evieogborn.com.
See you there!
I have a bunch of new stuff for my art show at Coffee Grounds. I will try to update the photos of my artwork later today. The show will be running the entire month of Sept with a reception on Thursday Sept 7th.
I also have 3 pieces on display at the "Own It" gallery at the Meadows shopping center. Stop in and check out some of the great stuff they have there. All from local artists.
With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it isworth reflecting on the death of a very important person which almost wentunnoticed at the end of May. Larry La Prise, the man who wrote “The HokeyPokey”, died peacefully at age 93. The most traumatic part for his familywas getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. Then the troublestarted….
