Back From Vacation

I'm back from a vacation my family and I took in Atlanta... it was a great time to relax and have some fun. But, I couldn't get to sleep last night and so I'm not very rested

While I was awake, I did catch the 9th stage of the Tour de France (it ended about 2:30am) and it got me thinking about some things. Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez of Colombia was the winner of this 99.1 mile section of the race. The race was grueling... two insane uphill climbs that were so steep and difficult, they were "uncategorized" in difficulty. And, four hours, fourteen minutes after he began, this 24 year old took the winner's jersey for this stage.

The race was impressive... or "mind-boggling" might be a better description. But, the most important thing I saw was the focus that the racers had. By the end of the race, they were throwing every unnecessary thing away so they could race their best. They knew their body had a limited amount of energy, so they cast aside everything that they couldn't support with that energy. In the last twenty minutes of the race, riders were even throwing aside their water bottles. Water... as important as it is for athletes... was being tossed away because the extra eight ounces was holding the racers back from their peak performance. They needed every bit of their energy to go toward getting themselves and their bikes up the last hill and across the finish line... and wasting energy on carrying even an extra cup of water across the line with them would have been crazy.

When Russ and I partnered with 16 other families to start Church At The Grove, we were focused. We knew we would have a limited amount of time, resources, and energy. And our goal - creating an environment for disconnected people to explore God at their own pace - was so important, that we knew we would have to toss some things to the side. The result has been a church that has an incredible environment for people that are spiritually unconvinced to figure out how God wants to connect with them through Christ.

Throwing some things aside (land and a permanent building, small groups that meet on "campus", fully developed children's ministry, etc.) has been difficult... but we've got limited time, resources and energy... so we've had to put them away for now. To put our energy toward things that don't help create the environment for disconnected people to explore God at their own pace would be crazy. Sorry if this is hard to handle... just know that we're trying to be the best "stewards" (care takers, managers, handlers) of the limited resources we've got... that's all we can do.