So....let's try to wrap this up.
You see just over three years ago God called me and Terri Lynn to move to Cheyenne from Gillette to help Jeff plant Element Church.
Sometime the next month we shared the news with Terri Lynn's parents, and with Ben and Jill(Terri Lynn's sister and bro-in law--who were also living in Gillette at the time).
So, here are Jan and Terry living in Alabama. And there two daughters and son-in-laws are both going to sell their homes in Gillette and move their families down to Cheyenne to do this Element Church thing with absolutely no guarantees on this end. They were excited for us. They may not have totally understood all of it--not sure we did . But they were happy for us. So immediately they started to follow Element Church from afar. Janice always read our blogs and listened the Jeff's sermons. Sometimes it seemed she knew more what was going on then we did! She was one of our biggest fans.
Here's the kicker. You see ---in my humble opinion--when Janice started to follow Element Church down in Alabama, she did NOT have a relationship with Jesus. She had professed faith in Jesus as a young child. Even raised her own kids in church. But for the last twenty years had done very little that would tell others that she knew anything about this man named Jesus.
That all changed when we launched Element Church. Soon she was discussing the sermons with my wife. Then came that day in the car I wrote about earlier. Thats when I knew that she had come back "home" to Jesus. What a glorious day!
Shortly after Janice died and went home to be with the LORD, I was talking to my friend Dereck. He kind of knew most of the story. I was talking to him about the "coincidence" of my article about "seasons" hitting the paper the same day Jan died. He said " Ya creepy--In a good way". He then said "Well, Element Church just sent their first person to Heaven!" "What do you mean?" I asked. He said "Well if I'm understanding this right, the fact that you were willing to risk and come down here and plant this church is a big reason that Jan came back home to Jesus". "Ya I guess" I said. "Well" he said " the way I see it is that your mother-in-law is in Heaven today because of you." "And I think that is THE best gift a son-in-law could ever give their mother-in-law!" " And because of that, Element has just sent their first person to Heaven". Wow! Obviously I didn't know what to say. Still don't. Thanks DMan.
Like Jeff says--"for the one". We would do all of this over again for one person coming "HOME".
Grant
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
"Seasons" Part 2
Ok, so there is a bigger reason why I shared on this blog my article that I submitted to the paper back in January. It definitely was NOT to brag about my writing skills.
The same day that the article was in the paper was THE same day that my wife's Mom passed away. I had know for months that the article was going to be published on Janurary 31st. I had also known for months that Janice(mother-in-law) was battling lung cancer and, though there was hope for a full recovery or a miraculous healing, she was very ill. And literally that week had gone down hill very fast.
So that Saturday morning I read my article in the paper and shortly afterwards got the call from my wife Terri Lynn that her Mom had just died. Talk about a new season in life! Was it just a coincidence that they occurred on the same day literally moments apart? I think not.
Yes, my wife lost her Mom. My boys had lost their Grandma. And my father-in-law, Terry, had just lost his wife. And , YES , there would be tears and sadness. But there would also be some "celebration of life" laughter and some tears of joy.
You see, Janice had just recently come back to the LORD! Thusly, the tears of JOY! Jan was in Heaven with Jesus! How can you not celebrate that? Yes she is missed. Yes there are still some sad tears from time to time. And, yes, even though she is in a "better place" we are not. But there are also a lot of tears of joy when we think about how our long-suffering and amazingly-loving and merciful GOD got a hold of Jan's heart. God waited many years for Jan to come back "home" and then He took her HOME.
I will NEVER forget the time that I had to pull the car over to the side of the road for fear of wrecking because of the tears in my eyes. Terri Lynn wouldn't have been able to drive either because of all the tears in her eyes. You see, TL and I were on the phone with her Mom and she was sharing Bible verses with US. What?!?! Janice was preaching God's Word boldly! Wow! Talk about an answer to prayer. That is THE moment when I knew she had truly come back to Jesus after many years of being away. It was awesome.
And , yes, those of us that knew and loved Jan are in a different "season" now. And ,yes, there are still some occasional tears. But it will be OK.
The same day that the article was in the paper was THE same day that my wife's Mom passed away. I had know for months that the article was going to be published on Janurary 31st. I had also known for months that Janice(mother-in-law) was battling lung cancer and, though there was hope for a full recovery or a miraculous healing, she was very ill. And literally that week had gone down hill very fast.
So that Saturday morning I read my article in the paper and shortly afterwards got the call from my wife Terri Lynn that her Mom had just died. Talk about a new season in life! Was it just a coincidence that they occurred on the same day literally moments apart? I think not.
Yes, my wife lost her Mom. My boys had lost their Grandma. And my father-in-law, Terry, had just lost his wife. And , YES , there would be tears and sadness. But there would also be some "celebration of life" laughter and some tears of joy.
You see, Janice had just recently come back to the LORD! Thusly, the tears of JOY! Jan was in Heaven with Jesus! How can you not celebrate that? Yes she is missed. Yes there are still some sad tears from time to time. And, yes, even though she is in a "better place" we are not. But there are also a lot of tears of joy when we think about how our long-suffering and amazingly-loving and merciful GOD got a hold of Jan's heart. God waited many years for Jan to come back "home" and then He took her HOME.
I will NEVER forget the time that I had to pull the car over to the side of the road for fear of wrecking because of the tears in my eyes. Terri Lynn wouldn't have been able to drive either because of all the tears in her eyes. You see, TL and I were on the phone with her Mom and she was sharing Bible verses with US. What?!?! Janice was preaching God's Word boldly! Wow! Talk about an answer to prayer. That is THE moment when I knew she had truly come back to Jesus after many years of being away. It was awesome.
And , yes, those of us that knew and loved Jan are in a different "season" now. And ,yes, there are still some occasional tears. But it will be OK.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Seasons
Back in January of this year I was asked to submit an article for the newspaper's "religion" section. I thought I would share it on my blog.
SEASONS
The other morning I was sitting at my kitchen table doing my usual morning routine (coffee, Bible, etc.) when all of a sudden, something outside caught my eye. I looked out into the heavy snowfall and saw a flock of blackbirds roosted in my neighbors trees. They rested for a while, only to take flight again. I thought: “Just two days ago my friends were thinking about going golfing. Now we’re pulling out our shovels instead of golf clubs.” Welcome to seasons in Wyoming.
Randomly I began thinking about San Diego. I’ve been there a few times and have loved it each time. I wasn’t wishing I were there, or booking a flight to leave. It was more like, “Would I enjoy living there?” Being a Wyoming native I think there would be some adjustment to the mass amount of humanity, traffic and cultural differences. But the thought that really stuck in my head was “seasons”. Does San Diego experience four seasons? One? I don’t know. I just know it’s been really nice each time I’ve been there, even at different times of the year. Would I miss the change of seasons? Would I miss the snow? I think I would miss having all four seasons.
What about “seasons” of life? What season am I in right now? What about you? Am I like that dormant tree in my neighbor’s yard where those blackbirds roosted, just waiting out this season? Waiting for brighter days? I don’t think humans are designed that way. Yes, we ARE designed for periods of rest. Maybe even for a “season” of rest. We are NOT however designed to be dormant. We are designed to grow…to be ALIVE!
Recently I was reminded of a season in my life. In 1982, I was a Senior in high school and on the varsity basketball team for Lovell, WY heading to the state tournament. When we first rolled into town, we had an early morning practice at some random gym. All these years later, I had no clue where that gym was. I didn’t really give it much thought. That was until last week. Some friends and I were in Laramie on a business outing. One of the places we landed that day was the Civic Center. It was cool. I love historic buildings. We walked into the gymnasium and BOOM it hit me “This is it. This is that very same gym where we practiced at in 1982.”
I couldn’t help but relive some of the memories. Good memories, and bad ones. I loved basketball, and still do. It was a childhood dream of mine to play high school ball. In that “season” of life I was living my dream. I was on varsity, and we are at the State Tournament. Life is good, right? But something was missing. Why did I feel empty? Why, if I was living a childhood dream, did I feel like there was more? Why did my life feel like that dark, cold and dingy gym?
So, there I was all these years later. Same funky wood floor, bleachers, hoops and even the same tattered padding behind the hoops. It was the same old gym but something was VERY different. ME! My life is no longer empty.
So I left that gym rejoicing. Thanking God for what he showed me while I was there, and praising Him that I no longer feel dormant but ALIVE. Alive in Christ! My life now has purpose no matter what season I find myself in. What about you?
SEASONS
The other morning I was sitting at my kitchen table doing my usual morning routine (coffee, Bible, etc.) when all of a sudden, something outside caught my eye. I looked out into the heavy snowfall and saw a flock of blackbirds roosted in my neighbors trees. They rested for a while, only to take flight again. I thought: “Just two days ago my friends were thinking about going golfing. Now we’re pulling out our shovels instead of golf clubs.” Welcome to seasons in Wyoming.
Randomly I began thinking about San Diego. I’ve been there a few times and have loved it each time. I wasn’t wishing I were there, or booking a flight to leave. It was more like, “Would I enjoy living there?” Being a Wyoming native I think there would be some adjustment to the mass amount of humanity, traffic and cultural differences. But the thought that really stuck in my head was “seasons”. Does San Diego experience four seasons? One? I don’t know. I just know it’s been really nice each time I’ve been there, even at different times of the year. Would I miss the change of seasons? Would I miss the snow? I think I would miss having all four seasons.
What about “seasons” of life? What season am I in right now? What about you? Am I like that dormant tree in my neighbor’s yard where those blackbirds roosted, just waiting out this season? Waiting for brighter days? I don’t think humans are designed that way. Yes, we ARE designed for periods of rest. Maybe even for a “season” of rest. We are NOT however designed to be dormant. We are designed to grow…to be ALIVE!
Recently I was reminded of a season in my life. In 1982, I was a Senior in high school and on the varsity basketball team for Lovell, WY heading to the state tournament. When we first rolled into town, we had an early morning practice at some random gym. All these years later, I had no clue where that gym was. I didn’t really give it much thought. That was until last week. Some friends and I were in Laramie on a business outing. One of the places we landed that day was the Civic Center. It was cool. I love historic buildings. We walked into the gymnasium and BOOM it hit me “This is it. This is that very same gym where we practiced at in 1982.”
I couldn’t help but relive some of the memories. Good memories, and bad ones. I loved basketball, and still do. It was a childhood dream of mine to play high school ball. In that “season” of life I was living my dream. I was on varsity, and we are at the State Tournament. Life is good, right? But something was missing. Why did I feel empty? Why, if I was living a childhood dream, did I feel like there was more? Why did my life feel like that dark, cold and dingy gym?
So, there I was all these years later. Same funky wood floor, bleachers, hoops and even the same tattered padding behind the hoops. It was the same old gym but something was VERY different. ME! My life is no longer empty.
So I left that gym rejoicing. Thanking God for what he showed me while I was there, and praising Him that I no longer feel dormant but ALIVE. Alive in Christ! My life now has purpose no matter what season I find myself in. What about you?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Ascent Conference
Man this conference has been SO good. It has been three years since I have been to anything like this. I have been impressed. There is much I could write about. So much good stuff.
The one thing I feel led to try to unpack right now though is this one truth (amongst the many truths/challenges) that Pastor Boyd shared. I'm not even sure which session it was. Doesn't matter.
His challenge went something like this:
"You have to learn to be a good son before you can learn to be a good father."
When he said that, my heart both leaped and hurt at the same time. I think he's right on. My first thoughts naturally went to my relationship (or lack of) with my own Dad. It was not good. It wasn't violent or anything like that. Just more of the "two ships that pass in the night" and never speak to each other about things that really matter, kind of thing. He was always there but never there, if that makes sense. And YES it mattered. And I did not know how to be a good son. I wasn't horrible just not good. I did not know how to be a good son or father. So....when I took that to pain to God, it mattered. But guess what, My Heavenly Father has healed me. I have shared with very few people exactly how that conversation with God went. Just trust me, He took the pain away and taught me how to be a "son". And then HE taught me how to be a father to my boys. And HE can do the same for you, if you'll just let Him.
And then I thought about my two boys. "Have I been a good Dad"? I like to think so. Perfect? NO! But, doing the best I can, with God's help and with the help of my awesome wife? I hope so.
It has SO blessed my heart this week to see my son Morgan (which, by the way, was sitting in the same room as me when those words of challenge were spoken by Brady). To see the man he is becoming blesses my heart. And to see how much the other students look up to him--and not just because he's tall. He is definitely one of the leaders of his class. SO cool!
I can't wait to have my other son ,Nathan, down here next month at Desperation Conference. It's going to ROCK! I couldn't be more proud of him also. I am blessed.
Have there been tough conversations with each of them? Absolutely! Worth it? Yes.
Has God had tough conversations with me? ABSOLUTELY! Worth it? You better believe it.
Why does God discipline his children? Because He LOVES us!
The one thing I feel led to try to unpack right now though is this one truth (amongst the many truths/challenges) that Pastor Boyd shared. I'm not even sure which session it was. Doesn't matter.
His challenge went something like this:
"You have to learn to be a good son before you can learn to be a good father."
When he said that, my heart both leaped and hurt at the same time. I think he's right on. My first thoughts naturally went to my relationship (or lack of) with my own Dad. It was not good. It wasn't violent or anything like that. Just more of the "two ships that pass in the night" and never speak to each other about things that really matter, kind of thing. He was always there but never there, if that makes sense. And YES it mattered. And I did not know how to be a good son. I wasn't horrible just not good. I did not know how to be a good son or father. So....when I took that to pain to God, it mattered. But guess what, My Heavenly Father has healed me. I have shared with very few people exactly how that conversation with God went. Just trust me, He took the pain away and taught me how to be a "son". And then HE taught me how to be a father to my boys. And HE can do the same for you, if you'll just let Him.
And then I thought about my two boys. "Have I been a good Dad"? I like to think so. Perfect? NO! But, doing the best I can, with God's help and with the help of my awesome wife? I hope so.
It has SO blessed my heart this week to see my son Morgan (which, by the way, was sitting in the same room as me when those words of challenge were spoken by Brady). To see the man he is becoming blesses my heart. And to see how much the other students look up to him--and not just because he's tall. He is definitely one of the leaders of his class. SO cool!
I can't wait to have my other son ,Nathan, down here next month at Desperation Conference. It's going to ROCK! I couldn't be more proud of him also. I am blessed.
Have there been tough conversations with each of them? Absolutely! Worth it? Yes.
Has God had tough conversations with me? ABSOLUTELY! Worth it? You better believe it.
Why does God discipline his children? Because He LOVES us!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Crazy Love
I was asked by several questions by people on Sunday about video-sermon we showed. The questions revolved around getting a copy of the sermon, the name of the book , etc.
So I thought I would use my first blog in a while to answer some of those and of course to shamelessly plug my Life Group.
The sermon we showed from Francis Chan will be available on our site very soon. Or you can go to the "One Prayer" site and check it out there. Hey, if a techy-challenged dude like me can find it on there , you can too.
The book he has out is called "Crazy Love". It is a GREAT read. So good!
I start this Wednesday taking my Life Group through it. So excited. I have read the book once and will read it again as our group walks through it. I am looking forward to getting other people's insights to the truths and challenges in the book. There is a DVD based study that coincides with each chapter. So if you want to join, let me know. Or if you can't join but want to read the book and have a follow along guide, there are some great resources available at 'crazylovebook.com'. I also heard that on one of the 'book selling sites' you can read the first chapter for free.
Anyway, I can't wait to go through this study. And would love to hear your comments. I had a guy tell me last night " So ya , I stopped and and bought the book for my son and started to read it and could NOT put it down. Two hours later, I still couldn't put it down!" So cool. Yup it'll do that to you.
Pumped!
Grant
So I thought I would use my first blog in a while to answer some of those and of course to shamelessly plug my Life Group.
The sermon we showed from Francis Chan will be available on our site very soon. Or you can go to the "One Prayer" site and check it out there. Hey, if a techy-challenged dude like me can find it on there , you can too.
The book he has out is called "Crazy Love". It is a GREAT read. So good!
I start this Wednesday taking my Life Group through it. So excited. I have read the book once and will read it again as our group walks through it. I am looking forward to getting other people's insights to the truths and challenges in the book. There is a DVD based study that coincides with each chapter. So if you want to join, let me know. Or if you can't join but want to read the book and have a follow along guide, there are some great resources available at 'crazylovebook.com'. I also heard that on one of the 'book selling sites' you can read the first chapter for free.
Anyway, I can't wait to go through this study. And would love to hear your comments. I had a guy tell me last night " So ya , I stopped and and bought the book for my son and started to read it and could NOT put it down. Two hours later, I still couldn't put it down!" So cool. Yup it'll do that to you.
Pumped!
Grant
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Advance
So it's been a little over a week since the Element Church Men's Advance ended, so I thought I would post some reflections about the weekend.
First of all, Thanks go out to Bob, Ryan and Jay for all the planning and organization for the event. I thought we went into the weekend very prepared and most of the event went off without a hitch. The food was awesome and there was plenty of it. Sleep---well that's another story.
Thanks to all of you who attended. I have heard a lot of great stories. Hope you enjoyed yourselves and will join us again next time. We are tentatively looking at late summer/early fall for the next advance. Also, thanks goes out to Calvary Chapel for letting us use their facilities. They stepped up bigtime to get things ready for us.
And thanks to Bob Norris for joining us as our guest speaker. You did great. I loved your concept of "Glorifying God And Enjoying Him Forever". Do I do that? Hopefully most of what I do in my day to day living glorifies God. But do I enjoy Him? Do I enjoy the journey? Have I lost my laughter? I was challenged by that.
Also, kudos go out to Bobby G. Way to go man. Loved your thoughts/talk on Saturday morning. You did great man!. So cool to watch from the sidelines as one of your friends.
I was blessed to be able to wrap things up by sharing on Sunday morning. The basic premise of my talk--"Shepherd Your Flock". Whatever 'flock' God has given you--lead and protect it with all you have. Be a "warrior-shepherd". My final challenge--"Make It Stick". Whatever God showed you this weekend--Make It Stick. How many times have you and I had a 'mountain top experience' and then gone back to normal everyday life and routine and totally forgotten what God showed us on the 'mountain top'? I know I have.
Again, thanks to all that went with us. I enjoyed getting to know more of you and watching you all connect with each other. It was cool to see new friendships formed. One final thought--we might want to put someone else in charge of the bonfire next time!
Advancing, Grant
First of all, Thanks go out to Bob, Ryan and Jay for all the planning and organization for the event. I thought we went into the weekend very prepared and most of the event went off without a hitch. The food was awesome and there was plenty of it. Sleep---well that's another story.
Thanks to all of you who attended. I have heard a lot of great stories. Hope you enjoyed yourselves and will join us again next time. We are tentatively looking at late summer/early fall for the next advance. Also, thanks goes out to Calvary Chapel for letting us use their facilities. They stepped up bigtime to get things ready for us.
And thanks to Bob Norris for joining us as our guest speaker. You did great. I loved your concept of "Glorifying God And Enjoying Him Forever". Do I do that? Hopefully most of what I do in my day to day living glorifies God. But do I enjoy Him? Do I enjoy the journey? Have I lost my laughter? I was challenged by that.
Also, kudos go out to Bobby G. Way to go man. Loved your thoughts/talk on Saturday morning. You did great man!. So cool to watch from the sidelines as one of your friends.
I was blessed to be able to wrap things up by sharing on Sunday morning. The basic premise of my talk--"Shepherd Your Flock". Whatever 'flock' God has given you--lead and protect it with all you have. Be a "warrior-shepherd". My final challenge--"Make It Stick". Whatever God showed you this weekend--Make It Stick. How many times have you and I had a 'mountain top experience' and then gone back to normal everyday life and routine and totally forgotten what God showed us on the 'mountain top'? I know I have.
Again, thanks to all that went with us. I enjoyed getting to know more of you and watching you all connect with each other. It was cool to see new friendships formed. One final thought--we might want to put someone else in charge of the bonfire next time!
Advancing, Grant
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wrecked Afresh
So this morning I read Pastor Jeff's blog . Then I read Pastor Curtis' blog. (Both of them titled the same as this one) Then I picked up Wild Goose Chase to read chapter five -The Cage Of Guilt- to prepare for my Life Group tonight and I got 'wrecked afresh'. Man was my world rocked.
Now you need to understand I had already read the book before. We read it together as a staff back in August. But this time through was different.
Last time reading through I got very little out of this chapter. Maybe I power-read through it to get ready for staff meeting. Maybe my attitude was bad. Maybe I was distracted. Who knows. Interestingly enough, the whole story of Peter's denial of Jesus and his subsequent guilt and shame then later getting "reinstated" by Jesus is one of my favorite stories in all of the Bible. Maybe that was why. Maybe I thought " I already know this story. I'll just skim through it. I mean really, what more can I learn from this story. What more can I learn from this chapter." Uh.........WRONG!
This morning I was "wrecked afresh". SO many challenges from God, so many convictions, so many things to be grateful for, so many blessings--all at the same time. BAM! Wrecked.
One particular line just jumped off the pages straight into my heart---"It's like Jesus is saying to us 'You give Me all your sin. I'll give you all My righteousness. And we'll call it even'. Wow!
Wrecked,
Grant
Now you need to understand I had already read the book before. We read it together as a staff back in August. But this time through was different.
Last time reading through I got very little out of this chapter. Maybe I power-read through it to get ready for staff meeting. Maybe my attitude was bad. Maybe I was distracted. Who knows. Interestingly enough, the whole story of Peter's denial of Jesus and his subsequent guilt and shame then later getting "reinstated" by Jesus is one of my favorite stories in all of the Bible. Maybe that was why. Maybe I thought " I already know this story. I'll just skim through it. I mean really, what more can I learn from this story. What more can I learn from this chapter." Uh.........WRONG!
This morning I was "wrecked afresh". SO many challenges from God, so many convictions, so many things to be grateful for, so many blessings--all at the same time. BAM! Wrecked.
One particular line just jumped off the pages straight into my heart---"It's like Jesus is saying to us 'You give Me all your sin. I'll give you all My righteousness. And we'll call it even'. Wow!
Wrecked,
Grant
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