Archive for February, 2008
At least God knows what He’s doing… Part 2
The following is part 2 of a 5 part series. Go here for Part 1
I decided it was time to get something to eat, and after eating I Seattle for the week, I decided Wendy’s was probably the best idea for lunch with my remaining budget. After getting my ¼ pound hamburger (sorry April and Alf) with a medium drink (witch was really like a large) and medium fries, I proceeded to sit down on a bench and watch the planes take off and the baggage handlers loose peoples luggage (sorry Donald). About the time I finished my French fries, Diego showed up to tell me that he had gotten his laptop.
I was excited for the man, but he hadn’t gotten a chance to go get his Bible. Looking at the time, I told him that he probably had just enough time to go get it. He agreed and off he was again. This was the last time that I saw him in my story.
So once again I thought the adventure was over. I figured that he would get his Bible, catch his plane, and that would be it…the end. So I got up and proceeded to head to my gate. We had to drop off the rental car early so we wouldn’t have to pay for another day. So, I had a lot of time to waste waiting for my plane. So I made my way to one of the Starbucks to set up camp and relax for a couple of hours. But God had other plans.
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At least God knows what He’s doing… Part 1
As I finally handed the TSA agent my driver’s license and boarding pass for the second time in the last hour, I began to think to myself…God really does work in mysterious ways.
This thought…no…this realization didn’t come through the easiest of fashions. At about 12 today, I was walking back to Diego’s and my table at the restaurant from going to the bathroom (and this had to be one of the cleanest airport restrooms that I’ve been to so far). Diego was frantically looking through every pocket in his backpack. Zipper after zipper was flying open as I sat down at the table.
Diego looked up at me and told me that he had to go.
“Ok…why?”
“I left my laptop at security. And I left my Bible in the rental car.”
I thought it was a reasonable thing to go do and he had plenty of time to go get his stuff and still make his plane. So he threw some money on the table, finished his drink, and headed out the door. I thought that would be the last time I would see him for the day. But God had other plans.
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Seattle Update 3
Ok so Alf and I did a video update today…but for some reason it has no audio. So here are some quick thoughts:
- Matt Chandler is awesome…he is a new favorite teacher.
- John Piper seems like he is on the edge of crazy and that is awesome!
- Seattle has some good beer.
- I like Jamison (I don’t know how to spell) whiskey
- If you want to watch the lessons live from home (for free) you can go to theresurgence.com/live (hurry the conference ends tomorrow)
- I miss Shannon
- Mark Driscoll’s love for his kids makes me look forward to being a daddy
- Mark Driscoll’s love for his wife make me proud to have a wife like Shannon
- Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, John Piper, CJ Mahaney’s love for Christ gives me a passion to grow closer to Jesus and to spread the gospel
- I know that I’m called…I think God will clarify to me later
- The guys that I’m out here with are great men of God and I love them
That’s all for now…I’m on Alf’s laptop and the battery is about to go. Until next time.
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Seattle Update 2
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I’m a Twitter
I normally save technology posts for Wednesday’s, but I wanted to tell you about this while I was in Seattle. I got set up on twitter.com yeterday. Twitter is a mini-blogging system. It’s like your status in Myspace and Facebook, but it is on its own. It alows you to give friends short updates to what you are doing/thinking. They can subscribe to your feed and recieve a text message or IM message every time you update it (here is a full tutorial on twitter).
It’s been pretty fun using it yesterday and today. I like it because I’ve been able to send my wife Shannon the emails too. So she is able to share in my experience while I’m here. You can go to my profile at twitter.com/gregqualls and be able to keep up with me as I’m updating it frequently with what I’m doing and thinking.
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Seattle Video Update 1
Just a quick video update from Seattle for the Text and Context Conference.
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God has other plans..
Isn’t amazing how God works things out sometimes. I’m not necessarily a chatty person when I’m flying. I know there are some of you out there who look forward to taking flights just so you can talk to your seat mate. I’m not that person. I like to read or better yet sleep. So I wasn’t looking for someone to chat with on the plane today. But God has other plans.
After shoving my bag into the overhead storage I took my seat by the window. My seat mate commented about how he ripped his bags on his way to Africa a few months ago and had to duct tape them back together for the rest of the trip. Now you chatty types would see this as an opportunity to hop into a wonderful conversation about Africa and his trip. I don’t do that…I smile, nod, and say, “That had to suck.” I figure this is sympathetic, but keeps me from having to talk anymore.
But God has other plans. A few minutes later, my seat mate asks if I’m originally from Seattle. I told no that I live in Albuquerque and that I’m going to a conference in Seattle. He asked what conference. Now honestly I was thinking about lying and saying I was going to some UPS conference or something…but I decided to say that I was going to the Resurgence conference. At this point he told me he was going to the same one.
After talking about the conference a little, he started telling me about his ministry. He is part of a record label called Reach Records and a ministry called ReachLife. And for the next hour he showed me videos and had me listen to audio that his ministry has produced. I must say they are really using their culture to present the gospel in a way that people understand. You need to check them out at http://www.reachlife.org/. Pretty awesome stuff.
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Video Updates….Maybe
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Text and Context - Seattle Washington
This coming Sunday I’m going to be heading for Seattle WA for the Text and Context Conference held by The Resurgence with five other guys. This is looking like it is going to be a real blast. There are going to be some big names at this conference (John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler…). Although the speaking should be awesome, I’m most excited about getting to drink some good old Seattle coffee/beer while I’m out there.
I’m going to try to keep you guys up to date with what I’m doing while I’m out there. Check out my flickr page to see any new pictures that I post while I’m out and about. I’ll also try to give you at least a daily post of the days events. I’m also going to look into getting Twitter acount or something (I’ve been wanting to get this anyways). If you are from Seattle, give me some good suggestions for where to eat while I’m out there. I fyou live in Seattle shoot me an email through my contact page and maybe we can meet up for some good old Seattle coffee/beer.
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Confessions
photo by: meyshanworld
The following post is from my friend Sandra Bauman. Sandra and I met at City on a Hill a while back. Sandra is the type of person that you can become instant friends with, but one of the things I like to talk to her about the most is how her Jewish heritage her current relationship with Jesus. The following is an email that she recently sent out to all her friends. I hope you enjoy.
[Ash Wednesday] got me thinking — and got the Holy Spirit reminding me — about something that struck me this fall, which I fully intended to implement….but didn’t….
Every so often I miss a bit of the liturgy, the Hebrew prayers, and the traditions of my Jewish upbringing. So, this past Yom Kippur - (the Jewish “Day of Atonement” - the one day of the year a Jew has the potential to be forgiven everything one did last year and hopefully be written in God’s “book” to live another year) - I went to Adat Yeshua.
At one point in the Yom Kippur service the congregation confesses together out loud a litany of sins. The list was intriguing because I could identify something I had done in practically every line. My natural tendency, at the end of a day (or week, or month…or never), is to look back and not be able to specifically identify anything I would call “sin.” This list of sins totally blows that out of the water.
My intention after that YK service was to type the list up handily and go over it every evening before going to sleep. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. But now that I’ve confessed that please feel free to hold me accountable - ask me about it!
I also offer it to you (at the bottom) as a potential tool to use (and share) as we, individually and as a family, enter into this Lent season with the charge Dave and Donovan offered: to truly agree with God about our sin and need for Him, and allow Him to work an amazing transformation within us.
I love you and look forward to the adventures this challenge will bring!
Sandra
Confession*
The sin we committed in your sight forcibly or willingly
And the sin we committed against you by acting callously
The sin we committed in your sight unintentionally
And the sin we committed against you by idle talk
The sin we committed in your sight by lustful behavior
And the sin we committed against you publicly or privately
The sin we committed in your sight knowlingly and deceptively
And the sin we committed against you by offensive speech
The sin we committed in your sight by lewd association
And the sin we committed against you by insincere confession
The sin we committed by contempt for parents or teachers
And the sin we committed against you willfully or by mistake
The sin we committed in your sight by violence
And the sin we committed against you by defaming your name
The sin we committed in your sight by unclean lips
And for the sin we committed against you by foolish talk
The sin we committed in your sight by evil impulse
And the sin we committed against you wittingly or unwittingly
The sin we committed in your sight by fraud and falsehood
And the sin we committed against you by bribery
The sin we committed in your sight by scoffing
And the sin we committed against you by slander
The sin we committed in your sight in dealings with men
And the sin we committed against you in eating and drinking
The sin we committed in your sight by usury and interest
And the sin we committed against you by a lofty bearing
The sin we committed in your sight by our manner of speech
And the sin we committed against you by wanton glances
The sin we committed in your sight by haughty airs
And the sin we committed against you by scornful defiance
The sin we committed in your sight by casting off responsibility
And the sin we committed against you in passing judgment
The sin we committed in your sight by plotting against men
And the sin we committed against you by sordid selfishness
The sin we committed in your sight by levity of mind
And the sin we committed against you by being obstinate
The sin we committed in your sight by running to do evil
And the sin we committed against you by talebearing
The sin we committed in your sight by swearing falsely
And the sin we committed against you by groundless hatred
The sin we committed in your sight by breach of trust
And the sin we committed against you by a confused heart
*(Paraphrased from the High Holiday Prayer Book, Copyright 1951 by Hebrew Publishing Company, New York, and 1979 by Philip Birnbaum)
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