BST's Blog

Didn't mean to make anyone nervous by posting late in the day. Sheryl is still her pregnant self. She is feeling tired, but thankful for every day the baby can "cook" so as to be completely healthy. Thank you for your prayers. (Hopefully not 27 lbs of baked Sam)

The guesses on day and weight are clipping right along! Keep 'em coming. It will be fun to see who is the closest. Don't email them to me because the chances of them getting lost in that abyss are too great. Post them on here in the comment section so we can all go back and find out who was closest.

Have you thought much about dreams? My co-worker, Scott Owings, is going through the "Spiritual Director" training this year. He's our minister of outreach and spiritual formation. It's been fascinating to hear some of what he's learning. For those of you who think I'm talking voo-doo and magic, it's basically just helping ministers do what ministers need to do--but better. It's training in being quiet and processing what the other person is saying. It's training in discernment and listening for God's voice. It's training in asking questions to help the other person process. It's really a wonderful thing. It was cool to see that the Emergent Conference had Spiritual Directors available this year (I think they have had them in years past too.) Scott and some of his other SD's were at the ZOE conference and were available for prayer and counsel at different points. We got great feedback on that.

I want to tell you about two dreams. The first is Maddie's. We haven't been mentioning Jonathan Shaub as regularly to them as we had in weeks past. Monday Maddie told me that she'd had a dream about Jonathan. I asked her which one (Vest or Shaub) and she said, "The boy who got hit by a truck". I asked her what he was doing in her dream and she said, "He was walking, driving a car, running, and playing!" I thought that was pretty cool! I pray that he'll be doing those things soon.

Last week I had a cool dream. It's sort of hard to explain because it was so surreal that putting it into words somehow looses the impact. It was simple and basic, but when I tell you about processing it with Scott you'll see how I was reminded of God's goodness. In my dream I was over a huge lake. It was as if I was either standing or sitting right on top of the water in the middle. The water was as smooth as glass all the way to shore and I was leading the song, "It is Well With My Soul" (When Peace Like A River). There were hundreds of voices singing along, although there were no people to be seen. I just remember feeling engulfed in the music and looking all around me feeling this peace and serenity. I woke up and felt so full. I didn't feel the need to process it or think much about it. I mentioned it to Sheryl and that was it. It just made me so happy and was so encouraging.

Today I finally mentioned it to Scott. He began to ask me questions like, "What does a lake represent to you? Were you on top of the water? What were you feeling? What does the song represent to you?" These were interesting questions. I told him that the lake is a place of fun and peace to me. I was definitely on top of the water and it almost as if I were sitting Indian style or something--weird. I was feeling completely full of God's love and peace. The song doesn't really represent anything to me--well at least I didn't think. I've always loved the story behind the song. Scott asked me why and I told him because it was as if the guy made a choice between faith and despair. Scott then reminded me that last summer I had shared another dream with him (and now I remember that I shared it with the worship leaders, while sobbing and talking about my year, during the ZOE leadership conference). In that dream I was sinking and all these people were around me just watching me and talking to me as if nothing were going on--oblivious. I had completely forgotten that dream. He said that to him it was significant that this time I was sitting on top of the water and that the water was a smooth as glass. WOW! I hadn't even thought about that. SO COOL! He reminded me of the Psalm that says something like, "Even in the night God's Word instructs me." It was a great conversation.

And now for something completely different...

Tonight is the American Idol Finale. Glory Hallelujah. Last night Bo and Carrie went head to head. To me, it's a complete toss-up. Who's gonna win??

One last thing to add to this already long entry. (Keith Brooks--hush.) Here's the schedule we're getting ready to release for our Summer program on Wednesday nights. The worship time will be different each week--sometimes the band, sometimes no band, sometimes drama, sometimes youth or kid led. If you're in town, come join us for dinner first and then family time at 7pm. The topics and speakers are as follows:

June 1 -- Lisa Harper -- "The Greatest Thing in the World"
June 8 -- Karyn Henley -- "Raising Children in a Post-Christian World"
June 15 -- Kent Vaughn -- "What Time is it?"
June 22 -- Randy Harris -- "Living Simply in a Complicated World
June 29 -- Rubel Shelly – “The ‘D’ Word: Talking about Death before it’s too late”

July 6 – Jim Williams – “Parenting on Point”
July 13 -- Matt Duncan -- "Can anything good come out of Hollywood?"
June 20 -- Phil Ware -- "Wonders and Worries of the WWW"
July 27 -- Don Finto -- "Who is my Neighbor?"

August 3 – Leslie Collins – “Anger Management”
August 10 -- Chris Peck – “A Wounded Healer"
August 17 -- John Mark Hicks – “Finding God in the Pit”
August 24 – Phil Keagy Concert
August 31 – Michael Card – “A Cord of 3 Strands”