Fall Blitz...

I'm beginning to feel the press of everything swinging into Fall gear.

Last week a group of guys and myself (The Forum) began our plunge into a nine-week conversation and book dialogue. I'm pretty amazed at what has already began to take place in such a short time. (More on all that later...)

Also, all of our other fall Growth Environments here at Calvary Temple kicked off...

Last week, I officially became a student again. Something that I've been wanting to do for quite some time, but time it seems, is always of the essence. Finally, I decided, an enormous amount of down-time isn't coming my way anytime soon and I'm not getting any younger, not to mention a little motivation from above... I'm enrolled at Spring Arbor University and currently working towards a Masters in Spiritual Formation and Leadership. After a week of orientation and interacting with other cohorts online, we jumped full-swing into our first class this week - Into into Christian Spirituality. I've been spending every spare moment and late into the evenings reading, typing, re-typing, some more reading, analyzing my personality-preference and primary means and modes of connecting with God. Perhaps a little more naval-gazing than I typically partake of in a given week, but it has been extremely thought provoking as I rethink what spiritual formation is and how our journeys with God transpire. Did I mention there are some really cool people in my class?

Last on the docket, at least for now, is the up coming Journey Encounter. I'll write more about this soon, because this is going to be an encounter like none other... A team of us have been brainstorming this night for the past four months. It happens two weeks from today, September 19, and my to-do-find-build-make list is all the way out my office door and down the hall...

In the midst of all this busyness, I read something recently that keeps coming to mind as I re-tabulate what's my to-do list...

"Somewhere we know that without a lonely place
our lives are in danger.
Somewhere we know that without silence
words lose their meaning,
that without listening
speaking no longer heals,
that without distance
closeness cannot cure.
Somewhere we know that without a lonely place
our actions quickly become gestures."
(Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude)