On Fimpulu, Zambia...

It's been awhile since I've posted but I finally get a chance to sit down and tell a bit about my trip to Zambia back in November.

Wow, what a fabulous experience! We saw a beautiful land of trees, open savannah, the "bush" and very strange and interesting critters. My favorite was this very cool chameleon. I named him "George" and I put him in one of the trees near the place where I was staying so I could visit him regularly. So cool...

But the best thing of all were the interactions with the wonderful people, particularly the children. We were so touched by the smiles of the kids...





Our interactions with the churches in the community were also fabulous. We saw in them a deep and fervent love for God that was so encouraging to us.



By God's grace and enabling we hope to visit them again next year.

Thanks to the generous people of Garland Church as well as many individuals who invested to send our team to Zambia so that we can see if and how we might be of service to them.

May the Lord allow us to continue to serve!

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Hello, I am still here...

My daughter Brielle wanted me to post something so here I am posting something. She says, "my daddy is not dead; he is just very busy. But, we don't want people to think that he is not here, so...he is posting something."

Merry Christmas.

The end.

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Who's In Charge?

I watched the election returns on Tuesday evening with great interest, curious about who was going to be serving our nation in our various local, state and national leadership roles. With a mix of frustration and relief I saw the many issues or candidates either go the way I had voted...or not. Like I imagine you feel, I have those mixed feelings about what all of this means. Allow me for a few moments to encourage you:

God tells us He is sovereign over these matters. “By chance” (no kidding) I read Psalm 75:6-7 on Wednesday morning following the election and was struck with the following encouraging words:

“For no one on earth - from east or west, or even from the wilderness - can raise a person up.
It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall.”

Words like this are designed to give us hope. At a very minimum, God allows some leaders to rise to authority and he allows others to fall. Though we don’t always understand what he is doing, we must take solace that God is providential over all these matters, whether in our own lives or in the lives of others. It’s therefore not right to respond either in prideful arrogance or despondent anger about the outcomes from the election. Whether you think it all turned out grand or you are disgusted with the whole affair, God has allowed it - be at peace.

Whether or not you are the type that really “gets into politics” or not, I also want to encourage you not to put too much hope in government. Again, I watched with interest as supporters of candidates near and far clearly showed their passion and commitment to their candidate, presumably so glad or sad they were being elected...or not. It struck me as odd, but I think it’s because of my own passion for the Lord. As a Christian, I serve a higher authority - the highest authority at that - and the government can only accomplish so much for me. It does not, for example, have the power to change the human heart, and it cannot force me to believe or think anything. That’s the internal world that submits to the Lord...or not...and it’s that super-power zone in which only God and I can operate. No government can ever touch it.

Finally, I challenge you to support and pray for these leaders, whether you agree with them or not. They deeply need the Lord’s wisdom and the right response for the Christ follower is to support them in appropriate actions and in prayer. This past Tuesday night, when the results were rather clear, my wife and I prayed for President-Elect Obama, Governor Gregoire and Congresswoman McMorris-Rogers from the State of Washington (among others), that they would seek the Lord and lead with integrity. We asked God to give them the passion to do right, a heart for the poor and the desire to surround themselves with others of good character. Will you join me in praying for these men and women who serve and carry great weight for us? For Christ...

Lookin’ Up, Pastarod

Where We Want To Be...

Throughout my life and work, I've learned a lot over time about change. It seems that over and over again, whether it's in our family dynamics, conflicts with a friend or issues at work, there is always a challenge to overcome when faced with change.

Recently, I've been struck with the penetrating simplicity of two simple questions: Where are we now? and Where do we want to be? The difference between these two is what Peter Senge, from MIT's Sloan School of Management calls a "vision gap." He says that this gap itself provides the energy we need to move from where we are now to where we want to be. From there, we can only do two things with the gap...either we lower our expecations for where we want to be, or we raise our performance to that level. What a challenge!

Last Sunday I experienced my own "vision gap" as I stood in the arboreal foothills of the Sawatch Range in Colorado, looking up to the alpine summit of Mount Huron, 14,003 feet. I couldn't see the top...it was snowing...my brother-in-law and climbing partner Chuck and I wondered if it was safe to try the climb.

But aha, there's the vision gap: we decided "no guts, no glory," and up we went. Step after step we maintained our desire for the summit, though the vision gap grew smaller. We had to stick with it...there's not much oxygen above 10,000 feet! (Back in my flying days, we had to have oxygen available any time we were above that altitude.) In the end, though it was challenging, we made it. Of course we needed to plod back down, but that's a whole other story.

The exuberance of making a summit is so high! It's such a gift...the beauty, the majesty of God's wondrous high creation is unparalleled. Even though we were socked in on this summit from clouds, we still had that feeling of great success.

How about you? What mountain looms ahead of you? Where are you now? Where do you want to be?

Narrow that vision gap...start climbing that mountain. It starts with your next step...

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

The end to a perfect day...

Ah yes, the day started early as I had alot to do. My cup of morning tea tasted great and it was a clear commute even though they've been doing construction on my road out. The meetings went well in the morning and I was easily able to get several shots I'll need for my upcoming trip to Zambia. I passed my physical fitness test and then played some great hoops with some friends at the base. Then I was able to do a big grocery shopping trip and the store wasn't even busy. After coming home, taking a shower and getting dinner ready, I sat down with my in-laws, wearing my Buffs t-shirt...

...and watched my Colorado Buffaloes sneak out a win against #21 West Virginia!

Ah, the end to a perfect day. The Buffs are now 3-0 and it's not going to get any easier. But they're well on thier way. Can't wait to see 'em take on Florida State next Saturday!

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Why are we so alone?

It’s been a striking truth to me for years that one of the things that most grieves God and us is our disconnection from one another. Time and time again, we see in our families, workplaces, schools and neighborhoods that relational brokenness drives us to run away from one another, causes us to isolate ourselves. We may be surrounded by people at every turn, but we still often feel that no one really knows us.

This isolation grieves God’s heart, and he has provided a means for us to escape it: through admitting our sin and accepting God’s forgiveness, we receive the power of God for a life-transforming journey. As Paul says, “the old has gone...the new has come.” The potential for a whole new life is now realized. But so many of us still try to remain on the old pathway of life lived alone. We don’t open ourselves to others, fearing their lack of acceptance. Our faith may be intact, but we still try to face life solo. The result is ongoing brokenness and isolation, perhaps no great change.

Why do we do this to ourselves? We bump into each other but don't connect. We stay in our homes and our workplace cubicles wondering how we'll ever break out.

Why not try the Christ's church? In Christ's church we find all kinds of people who are broken but seeking to be made whole together. I know this journey for me has often been painful, but I'll say I've seen God meet me through others in the church. And these days, I'm growing all the more convinced it's the only real way...

What do you think?

Lookin’ Up, Pastor Rod

Buffs Crush Lambies...

The day started terrible, with an early wake-up due to a problem with my water well. My car needed a jump-start after having sat idle while we were gone on vacation. But oh, how nicely things changed.

The Buffs Crushed the Lambies.

Ah, I love it. My beloved Colorado Buffaloes pasted our little brothers to the north 38-17. This is good. This is very good.

The world is still level...

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

I'm Not Dead Yet...

On July 20, 2008 I did one of those things I've always wanted to do but never did...I climbed one of the Colorado "14ers." What an awesome experience...

Mt. Yale - 14,196 feet...one of God's glorious peaks.

On the trail at 5:30 am, I was able to summit 3 hours later....finally. My legs ached and wobbled but there was enough in them. Wow! The view from the top was amazing.

And then I went the other way...down. How did my knees survive? I couldn't believe how steep the last 2000' felt to my unitiated knees, but with persistence and breaks, they made it.

No guts, no glory...thank you, Lord for health and vigor!

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Life's Small Blessings...

Last week while riding my bike to work I was struck with a small but very real blessing of the Lord. As I usually do when getting the bike ready for a ride, I was loading up my “trunk” with my change of work clothes and whatever and noticed that my little hyper-blinking light that I have on the rear of the bike for low light conditions was missing its lens. The light was operable, but exposed. I looked around the bike and couldn’t find it. “Dang,” I thought to myself as I mounted up and set out for the church office, “now I need to replace that thing.” As I rode, my mind was wondering whether I could make something to fix the problem, use a plastic bag, red tape, who knows. For whatever reason, it just bummed me; I found myself rather disappointed.

But just then, I kid you not, when cutting between two rocks near the Centennial Trail, what do I look down and see? There they are: the lens and reflector, sitting there on one of the rocks, clear as day. Someone must have seen them on the ground (I fell there the prior week...it’s a funny) and put them in view, presumably hoping they’d be found by their owner.

The skeptic might say that this was all coincidence and that someone just did the right thing trying to help out, but I think it was so much more than that—I think it was God. And further than that, I think God is doing these kinds of things all the time, we just don’t care to acknowledge it. We seem to prefer the hollow language of “coincidence” or “by chance.”

When you get faced with an opportunity, do the right thing. You never know when God will turn it into one of his small blessings for someone...

Lookin’ Up, Pastarod

My Wife is Amazing...

This Monday through Wednesday my wife is on retreat and I'm so glad she went! Well, sort of...I know it's really great for her and I've been encouraging her to get away to center on the Lord with no distractions. I know in my world this is so critical...it's all part of the "sustainable pace" we're trying to set for life.

But running the whole show at home reminds me how my wife is so amazing...

You see, I promised her I'd "be her" at home for the kids these three days...I'd make sure they stayed on-task, cook, clean, solve the fights, tuck the little ones and fight the older ones to bed and particularly, run them all around to all their various gigs. Now I've followed her carefully-written "matrix" of scheduled activities, and I'm happy to say that it's all going well. And in-between all of this, I've been able to actually get quite a bit done for work.

But wow, does she make alot happen! I'm so thankful for her capabilities, demonstrated in selfless service to me and the girls. Where would we be without her?

Mothers of the world, I salute you!

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Choosing to Remember...

I've been thinking alot lately about forgetting and remembering things. You see, in the wake of my dad's passing, I've often thought: I don't want to forget him. Though he wasn't perfect, he was a good example to me of so many things that are valuable in life...I don't want to forget!

Back in the Old Testament of the Bible, the Hebrew people used to have a practice to ensure they didn't forget things. If some great event happened, especially a God-thing, it was their habit to make a pile of rocks. They were called "standing stones." And then, whenever they would see these standing stones, they would remember what God had done for them.

In our contemporary American culture, it seems we have a forgetfulness problem. If something significant happens to us, we think it's really great. We tell everyone else and even ourselves that we hope we'll never forget it. But then life moves on, the pressures of getting by set in, and the event whimsically comes and goes in our memories. Before we know it, we've forgotten the great thing we experienced.

The problem? I think it's because we don't choose to remember. Sure, life can be complicated, but we don't choose to put things into action in our lives that will enable us to remember God or the event or whatever over time. In short, we don't put up standing stones.

Last Saturday I drove alone on a sunny morning out to a large local tree nursery to get my version of a standing stone to remember my father's life: a Cherokee Brave Pink Dogwood Tree. I've always liked these dogwoods, and admired them as I've driven around town. Now this tree doesn't have any inherent connection to my dad, but I've chosen to attach the meaning of his memory to it. Now, when it blooms it's deep creamy pink in the Spring, I'll view it with joy and consider my dad.

Something about all this feels really good to me. I think it's that I choose to remember him...

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

I'm Being Overrun...

When I was growing up backpacking in the Colorado mountains, I used to get really excited if we saw a Marmot. They were a sure sign that you were in the high backcountry, for they were never to be seen anywhere else.

Until recently...

Over the last few years these varmints have been overrunning our house. Last year their little babies figured out how to get through our garden fence and helped themselves regularly to my lettuce, broccoli and cabbage. Now that's a problem.

They used to be cute...not anymore...

It seems most anytime I look outside one of these Yellow-Bellied Marmots or Groundhogs or Woodchucks or whatever other heinous name you'd like to call them is grazing in my fields, rummaging around underneath the deck, crawling up on the grill, munching away at our flower pots or rooting around the engine compartments of our cars. Ughhh!

And go figure...it's very illegal to trap them and move them.

Oh well...any day, any time, there will be a lot less of these hideous critters in the population count...

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

In the wake of dad's passing...

Hello Friends, it's been awhile since I've posted, but here I am again. A lot has happened since I last had something to say...my father was moved to hospice, he declined rapidly, and then went to be with the Lord:

Friday, April 11, 4:35 pm. And just like that, he was gone.

How does a life so vibrant get reduced to nothing? How is it that God should partner with mankind and bring us into being at our first nano-moment of life and then at some point later we are no more in this body? This has to be one of the wildest mysteries of life...profound...even despairing...

...if it weren't for the good providence of God.

I watched a provocative movie last night, "Tuck Everlasting." It essentially questioned the desirability of living forever in this body, in this life. It posited a family who had unknowingly drunk from a spring that mystically made them impervious to injury, to age, to dying. Though this family had many bright points to their long lives together, they were unable to live among others, to be known as the real people they were, because of the threat of being discovered as unable to age, unable to die. It was presented in the film as a burden to them.

It really is an interesting question: if we could live forever in this body, would we choose to do so? If there really was a "fountain of youth," would we choose to drink from it?

Of course we all do live forever...it's either with or without God, and with whatever consequences this means.

I don't know if I'd want to drink from a magical spring that froze my body forever in its current state, but I am thankful that God has provided me the security of life for today followed by life for tomorrow.

I miss you, dad, and I look forward to seeing you in That Place again someday, together with our Lord...

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

This guy is waking me up...

I don't know what his deal is, but there is a male Red-Shafted Flicker that lands on my roof in the mornings, sqwawks a few times and then does his machine-gun thing on one of the metal pieces of my roof. It's SO LOUD and when it comes at 5 am it's a bit undesired! Jenna and I went out on the front lawn yesterday to look at him when he showed up at the more convenient time of 7:30am. I decided he's not actually trying to smash through the metal.

I think it's all about getting a chick. "Males will do the strangest things when it's all about females." That's just the way it is...

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Living without regrets...

While preparing for a new message series to start this Sunday, I came across the following sage words from Ecclesiastes 5: 18-20...

"Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat well, drink a good glass of wine, and enjoy their work - whatever they do under the sun - for however long God lets them live. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life - that is indeed a gift from God. People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy."

It's a funny thing, this life...sometimes it's a joy, sometimes it's a challenge. I'll say that I want my life to be lived simply and for that which matters: walking with God, loving my wife and girls, serving people. In this, though filled with some sorrow, I'm finding there really are no regrets and much reason for joy. Isn't this God's pathway to living without regrets?

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

My church is so cool...

We had our Easter service today, just as most churches. We organized it around a creative theme from Job: When you die, Will you live? I know this isn't the normal theme for an Easter Sunday, but it was one of those things the Lord laid on my heart and it was really cool to watch the many creative people pull together an outstanding worship gathering. Many came, and we were able to creatively present Christ to them.

One of the things I think is so cool is when people, gripped in devotion to Jesus Christ, give themselves to God in any way required. When people give their talents to the Lord for his use, God does so many cool things!

I'm thankful to be a part of such a great church. Thanks, Garland, for being the gracious, loving, and talented people that you are. Keep giving yourself to God's greater glory and He will continue to accomplish great things through us!

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Bluebirds, Goldfinches, Nuthatches & Crossbills...

I'm staying at home for work today...too many interruptions at the office make it hard to get things done sometimes and it's a particularly busy week with Easter coming.

Plus, the Bluebirds are sitting on their nestbox in the back field, right out the bedroom window where I set up my home study.
This is certainly one of the things I like best about spring - when the Western Bluebirds come back. And I'm one of the fortunate ones who is able to have these bright bursts of azure living on our property.

But that's not all! Out the back window I see not only the usual Starlings, House Finches and Robins, but also American Goldfinches at the upside-down feeder, Juncos picking at what's been dropped, a Pygmy Nuthatch at one of the other nestboxes and one of my other favorites, the Red Crossbill. I haven't seen a Crossbill all winter.

The great things about birds is they are there just for the looking...all one needs to do is open their eyes!

Thank you, Lord, for these gifts of song and color!

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Through glass doors...

I got back in town Saturday night with an empty heart...

Through tears I had just said goodbye to my ailing father as he weakly leaned to the side of his bed at his care center in Colorado. He was propped up by pillows. He's almost empty. He's a tired, old man who is but a shadow of what he once was. Throughout the time of my visit I shaved his face and clipped his fingernails. I wiped his face to clean the sleep from his eyes and the crusty food clinging to the edge of his lips. Out loud I remembered with him the many woodworking tools and their uses as I told him about cleaning his garage at home earlier that morning. I read him daily selections from the Psalms and Proverbs. His hair is long...I would have loved to give him a haircut but he was never upright when I visited. Sad, Happy. Sorrow, Joy. He said "yes" on Friday when I asked him if it felt good for me to scratch his head. Parkinson's stinks. As I stepped out of the glass doors at his care center I wondered...is this the last time I ever see my father?

Later, with a hug for my crying mother at the drop-off and brief words of encouragement, I stepped through the glass doors at the Colorado Springs airport and...

...finally...

...stepped through the glass doors at the Spokane airport and received hugs and words of encouragement from my beautiful girls and wife. They are so wonderful, so boundlessly filled with life. Thank, you Lord...

Sunday morning I stepped through the glass doors at the church building and received from my Garland community many words of love and encouragement. So many told me that they had been praying for me...others took special time to lift me up and tell me how much they appreciated me. Another one lost her mother this last week and gifted me with her story. The music from the visiting worship band was wonderful, Terry preached a message on hope and reminded me that "when God's grief overlaps the people's grief, God acts."

Why am I discouraged?

Why so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again--

my Savior and my God!

Psalm 42:5

After more good conversations with dear ones from Garland, I stepped through the glass doors at the church building and thought before the Lord...

Thank you, God for this treasure of life.

Thank you that I am not alone.

You know our journey...our ups, our downs.

You take away and you give.

You are the One who makes it fit together.

Because of You, where there is death, there is life.

Bittersweet.

I'll keep walking through the glass doors...

Lookin' Up,

Pastarod

Words of wisdom to live by...

"If your face doesn't match your neck, you might have a problem with your make-up."
Drew Lachey

The World is Flat...

My Lauren is growing up....

Consider the peculiar ability that is getting so common these days: I can be in Colorado caring for my parents, my wife can be home in Spokane doing the mom thing, and my oldest daughter can be in Thailand...and we're all interconnected through this thing called the internet.

Wow am I thankful Al Gore invented this thing.

Anyhow, I'm filled with a mixture of emotions as I deal with an aging father and an excited daughter, on opposite sides of the globe. I guess this is the way life is...

Lauren's certainly not roughing it...yeah, she's tired and all, but the Belle Vista resort is a place where I could have honeymooned! Still, I'm so thankful she's stepping out and serving others in the name of the Lord. My prayer for her, as is the case for all of my girls and the others on her team is that they will be gripped with a sense of mission to their lives...that God wants to work in and through them to reach a lost and broken world. It doesn't matter whether that's in Chiang Mai or Spokane or wherever God may lead. It also doesn't matter what task it is that they do. Ministry is serving in the name of the Lord, whatever the task may be...

May God bless you this day and fill you with His mission...

And go get 'em Lauren!

Lookin' Up, Pastarod

Today my dad turns 76...

My heart is filled today with an understandable mix of joy and sadness...

Joy, because my wonderful father's 76th birthday is today...

Sadness, because his life appears to be approaching its sunset.

That mind of his that was always racing in thought is dimming from the spectre of dementia. That body of his that was always itching to move and get something done is being crippled from the sting of parkinsons.

This is life...this approaching of...death.

Thank you, Father, for giving me the joy of being my father's son.

Thank you, God, for his example of loving you well and expending his life for that which lasts.

Lord Holy Spirit, comfort him, comfort us, comfort me as together we navigate these difficult days.

Lord Christ, may I walk with You as he did...

Lookin' Up,

Pastarod

Darrell Scott Picks the Buffs...

Yes! Yes! Yes! I am more than proud to announce to any soul willing to read this obscure post that the nation's #1 ranked tailback committed to play his college football for the mighty Buffaloes!

I know...you're overjoyed. Well, you should be! I mean this dude is the man...every program in the nation wanted him and he wants to come to Boulder and bring in the National Championship!

“I thought Colorado was a good fit, and I’m excited to be a Buff . ... (Coach) Dan Hawkins has a vision, and I want to be part of that vision,” said my new 18-yr old hero. Add Darrell Scott to several other stud recruits and CU has assembled a mighty bunch of marquis talent.

Everyone, start bowing to the overwhelming strength of the Mighty Buffs...

Lookin' Up,

Pastarod

I am so lame...

Hello All,

Sorry for the delay in posting to this thing. It's been so long, but life is hairy! How do we manage it all?

Today I'm in the church office and am catching up on many of the "little," but important things there are to do in being a leader in Christ's church: Lotsa email, writing thank-you's, meeting with staff over various who-knows-what and future planning. It turns out that not preaching the message I had planned for yesterday actually gives me some extra time this week 'cause I'll just do that one next week! It's all part of my eeeeee-vil plan...














I'm excited about the new worship center we're planning to build and enjoyed kicking off the Capital Campaign yesterday. I'm not into buildings that much...the church is the people! But, God's people need a place to meet, and I am excited about renewing our facilities to enable this people to reach out in this neighborhood for the next decades. Christ didn't die so we could have nice buildings...he died so we could know real life and engage the broken and doubting ones with that offer of true life. If you're a part of Garland, I invite you to give generously and sacrificially to that end.

Well, there you have it. Don't be lame...like me. Post wildly, post often.

Lookin' Up,

Pastarod