How time flies....

Chris and I are off to Mexico City today for our youngest son's graduation from his internship in the missions/leadership academy called TwentyFourSeven. It's so hard to believe that our youngest is already an adult (he'll be 22 in September) and that he's coming home engaged. It seems like just yesterday that he was a cute toddler who amused us with his antics regularly.

Life can be like that - one of the movies coming out today, Click (at least from the previews I've seen) is all about a "universal remote" that enables the user to fast-forward through life. It may make a fun movie with Adam Sandler, but from my perspective, life is already going fast enough with a remote. In fact, I've missed far too much of my kids, my wife, and my friends in the past because I was too busy with "important ministry stuff" to slow down and enjoy the journey.

I'm determined not to do that anymore. I encourage you, my CLC family, to slow down this summer (and fall and winter and spring, for that matter) and savor each moment: cry through the bad times; laugh through the good times; but whatever you do, live life in the moment - because you don't get a second chance.

Chris and I will be meeting our future daughter-in-law, Sol, for the first time, too - so I'm excited about that. We've joked lately that our family will eventually look like the United Nations, with Chad engaged to a beautiful young woman whose mother is VietNamese, Brent engaged to a Latino from Mexico City, and Jen moving to South Africa for a 3-year assignment - we're doing our part for missions! I hope to have some pictures for you upon our return.

So that's my 2-cents for today: don't let life pass you by - enjoy the moment!
Jerry

Daddy's Day

Well, Father's Day is now history, but mine was worth writing home about...

First, it was especially gratifying to hear from several CLCers who were especially touched by the Word about 'Your Heavenly Father' this weekend. My goal every week is to be relevant, but it's still great to get feedback when we have connected.

Just as important, I was a proud papa as my one-and-only daughter, Jen, debuted her first CD, Unreserved by singing a couple of the songs she's written during our service. When I heard her singing about the name of Jesus in the last service yesterday, I was so touched to know that she 'got it' - that our faith has truly been passed on to her and she knows the most important Name she'll ever need to know, whether in darkest Africa or around the corner in Tinley Park. Chris and I are proud of her, not just for the unmistakeable creativity and anointing that shows through in her CD project, but especially because of her heart for the world and her courage to walk away from the security of home to pursue God's best for her life in South Africa these next three years. I love you, babygirl!

After our final service, she and Chris treated me to a steak lunch at Bogart's in downtown Tinley, and it was delicious as ever. I'm so glad that God places the lonely into families (Psa 68:6) - it's just one of the greatest joys in life, to sit together and fellowship with those you love. In fact, I could barely hold back the tears as I related to them a Father's Day card one of our guys shared with me - his 16-year old daughter had given him a card showing a young girl in baseball cap and uniform, and inside she had written that it reminded her of when she played T-ball, and was so scared that her dad had to run the bases with her. Then she said, "I'm 16 now and I don't need you to run the bases with me anymore, but I do still need you in lots of other ways" - wow! I hope every dad who reads this will know how much your children DO need you - even when they don't show it - you are incredibly important to their well-being and success, because that's how God designed us.

I love my family, and I love this CLC family. Good days are ahead of us both!
Jerry

Missionaries for CLC

I had a little fun yesterday in both services, using some plastic balls and wire trash cans to illustrate the fact that we need some CLC 'missionaries' who will commit to worship here on SATURDAY for the next 6 months, in order to free up much-needed parking spaces and chairs on Sundays for new folks and unchurched people who haven't been able to get on the property lately.

I felt pretty dumb when we learned recently (as a staff) that we miscalculated our parking needs when building back in 2001, and as a result, at least until we expand the parking lot in some way (that's another story - we're working on it and we need your prayers for favor), we will never be able to fully maximize the building - because if people can't park, they can't attend. For instance, we had (by actual count) over 850 people in the building last Sunday at the 11:15am service when Bishop Tudor Bismark was here, but we can only provide parking on campus for about 600! That means, if we had ample parking, we could grow to more than 2,000 in attendance in our 3 services, whereas we've been bumping our heads against a 1,200 ceiling for the past 3 years because people couldn't get into the parking lot at the later Sunday service!

So the simplest solution until we expand the parking lot is to try to 'balance' the attendance at our 3 weekend services and the best way to do that is to get some committed CLCers from the 2 fairly-full Sunday services to instead attend the Saturday night service. That will enable guests and unchurched folks (who almost always visit the later Sunday service) to find a parking space and a chair, where they can receive from the Lord - which makes all those wonderful CLCers who unselfishly gave up their preferred attendance time a genuine missionary!

If you already volunteered yesterday, THANK YOU! If you agreed to consider the change, I'm PRAYING for YOU! And if you're just reading about this for the first time, won't you join those brave folks who will worship on Saturdays for the next 6 months in order to help others receive from the Lord? (Who knows, you might discover you enjoy having all-day Sunday for yourself!)

We'll be offering Youth ministry for our Fusion and Consumed students on Thursday nights beginning in September, so you won't be forced to choose between what's best for your kids and what's best for reaching others. Meanwhile, keep praying for us as we seek a more permanent solution. Chris and I love you and we're excited about our future together!

Now What?

What a weekend! Our celebration of Pentecost that we called "Do It Again, Lord" with the Binion's and Bishop Tudor Bismark was the best-attended conference we've ever done, and the meetings were simply wonderful from start to finish. As I told my wife, "it was nothing like I expected, but exactly what we needed!"

Today I'm still trying to sort it out and thought I'd pass this along to you: so many times I've gone to special meetings or conferences, even spending a lot of money and time in travel and effort to attend, and be thoroughly entertained and inspired during the conference, only to return home, put the syllabus in the bookcase and go back to doing life as before. I'm determined not to do that this time, and I challenge you to join me in forging a different future for ourselves.

I think the starting point for me (and you?) is simply to do the 'homework' that Bishop Tudor assigned us in each message. As he ministered on Saturday about the need for structure in our lives, he asked us to complete a "Strategic Life Plan" for the next 100 years (to impact our children and grandchildren as well). I followed his advice about a Google search and quickly found this excellent resource that you may want to use.

He also challenged us to pray 7 times a day for the next 7 days for "wisdom", as well as making some regular confessions to help expand our thinking and prepare us for the elimination of poverty.

More than anything, I just want to urge you to do something. Don't remain as you were before this weekend. Take action. Write your plan. Confess God's will. Ask for wisdom. Do your homework.

And don't be moved by your emotions or your perceived lack of progress. Take one step at a time to the new you!

I hope to see you this weekend when Chris will conclude our series, with "Now What, Lord?"
pj