Monday, August 27, 2008

Yesterday Charlotte and I celebrated 29 years of marriage. We had a quiet celebration that included lunch with friends from church and a late afternoon dessert with Kristina, José, Sophia, and Eric. The day before we had brunch at a restaurant we had wanted to try—Good Enough To Eat—and it was!
The five plus years we have lived in Manhattan are the longest continuous stretch we have lived in any one place. Our years in Lima were interrupted by three home ministry stints. So we now begin our 30th year of marriage and our sixth year in the Big Apple.
Charlotte and I are enjoying reading together. We have always done it while traveling, and our recent trip to Michigan/Indiana was no exception. On the way out she drove and I read A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah who was a boy soldier in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. We highly recommend it to you to get a better picture of what happens to so many children in countries torn by war, especially in Africa. On the way home we read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. That too is quite a story. So now we have decided to set some time aside even while we are home and share some books together.
We are excited about the coming weeks and the fall season. We will be attending a leadership community retreat in Greenwich, CT, with Origins Church on September 7-8. We look forward to renewing our small group on September 9. We are thrilled that one of the members of our group, Jeremy, is leading a team to India to minister in an orphanage during the month of September.
I have been challenged recently by a book by Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling, The God of Intimacy and Action. The book attempts to reconnect ancient spiritual practices, evangelism and justice. To be honest I have been struggling to put it into practice, yet I see how powerful is the connection between intimacy with God and being a true follower of Christ. I have never really participated in contemplative spiritual practices but I can see where this will lead to greater intimacy with God and the outflow will be greater passion for reaching out to others through spreading the Good News and being involved in justice issues. I remember years ago sitting through Keith Drury’s Stratogetics and being impressed with the “ministry wedge”—if we concern ourselves with the depth of our lives, God will take care of the breadth. That’s what I want to see happen.
I appreciated hearing back from some of you. It was an encouragement to have been an encouragement. This is truly an exciting time to live and make a difference in this world.

Seeking His face,

Gary