Interrupted

When I grow up I want to be funny and speak like Tim Hawkins.  I also want to be funny and write like Jen Hatmaker.  Her blog is great and I loved reading Seven: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.  On Monday I received a package from a college friend and it contained the Hatmaker's book, Interrupted: An Adventure in Relearning the Essentials of Faith.  I started reading immediately.  And now I have a new book on my Dangerous Books list.

Even if you're not a reader, Hatmaker's books are for you.  She writes with a simple, conversational, blog-like style.  She is honest and admits her weaknesses and pitfalls in her journey.  She doesn't write from a you-have-to-do-it-just-like-me perspective but rather from a heartfelt retelling of her journey and in such a way that you want to experience the same freedom and joy that she has found.

Hatmaker writes from a very missional perspective.  I admit that I first heard the term missional about 20 years ago and I didn't understand it.  No one really had a good working definition and it seemed that it was each to his own interpretation.  I've had Christians tell me that they despise the term.  I, on the other hand, was noncommittal because I was still trying to find someone to definitively tell me what it meant to be a missional church, missional community, or even a missional person.  In the forward of her book, Hatmaker's husband quotes Rick Meigs' description of missional as "a life where 'the way of Jesus' informs and radically transforms our existence."  I don't know if that's the definition everyone uses, but for me, I'm in.

And of course I love her book.  It is the same message Francis Chan preaches and writes about.  It's the same transformation Richard Stearns took in going from successful CEO in corporate America to president of World Vision.  She tells of the same journey that took Katie Davis from popular high school senior to adoptive mother living among the poorest of the poor in Uganda (Ann Voskamp recently visited Katie Davis and wrote this about her experience).  And it's the same pilgrimage that's captivated me for the past 10 years and just won't let me go.

If the word missional turns you off, call it whatever you want; I'm not one to argue semantics.  Taken down to it's root, it's what Christ-following was meant to be; serving others and not self, placing God's Will above my own, and sacrificing for love, grace, and justice.  That's the 'way of Jesus'.

And that's why I'm in Utah while my family is in Pennsylvania.  That's why I'm willing to open my home to the least of these.  And that's why you are using your gifts and time to serve a motherless family in PA.  Our churches and communities are not going to change the world by sitting back and hoping the government, or mismanaged agency, or even just "someone else" will do it.  We can, and are, called to work alone.  But we've also been called to work in community.  That's what took Jen Hatmaker and her husband to go from "playing church" and religious games to a church that at its very core serves.  And while my first thought is that I want to pack up and move to Texas to join them, I recognize that we can start right where we are.  I can start right where I am.

A wonderful nurse took the time to invite me to have dinner with her last night.  It was so nice to have something to look forward to during the day, and to have conversation over a meal.  I was so blessed.

Victor continues to devour each and every bottle and gets very angry at the nurses during his non-bottle feedings, wanting the bottle, not a tube feeding.  I was told again today that this is just another amazing moment in his healing process.  He should not have such a great suck.  He should not have the stamina to finish the whole bottle.  But he does.  Amazing VICTORies everyday.

Pray for the following things which will lead us to discharge:
1. No more bradies.  He needs to go one week without a brady.  The've been once every other day, usually at night.
2.  Adding more bottle feedings each day.  Some babies do really well but then have a day or two where they are worn out and need a break.  Pray that this doesn't happen and that we can continue on the right path to all bottles, all feedings.
3.  That he gains weight while taking his own feeds.  So far, so good.  Today he weighs 5 lb. 2.5 oz.
4. That we can coordinate his discharge and a hearing and going home with minimal time off for John.
5. NO setbacks of any kind!

Also pray for my family at home.  They've had various illnesses.  Pray especially for Andrew who is being treated for Lyme disease.

Pray for my mom and Mariana who will be flying out here on Sat. and spending most of the week with me.

Pray for John who will be leading a family camp with adoption emphasis next week.  This is a commitment we had on the calendar for over a year.  Who knew?  John will be speaking solo with things are as they are.