Colorado Trip - A Photo Journal

Here we are overlooking Estes Park.  The Rocky Mountains National Park is located there – it reminded me a good bit of Gatlinburg.

Ravencrest is the Torchbearers school located in Estes Park.  This chalet is its signature building and definitely gives the feeling of being in the Alps. 

We spent a week together as a family enjoying the Rockies, eating Big Horn breakfasts, making new friends and watching quite a few episodes of Chopped on the Food Network.

Friday evening found us attending a community concert at Mountain View Bible Fellowship to hear some Mozart and Beethoven.

This is the view looking out from the chalet.  On Saturday we had a Narnian Tea with James and Stacy in their home just around the corner from here.

It’s always good to reunite as a family.  On Sunday we stopped at Barnes and Noble in Boulder on the way to Winter Park.

We are hanging out at the Rocky Mountain Roastery in Fraser with some of our friends from Timberline.  They shared their incredible story of how they met and of God’s hand in their lives.

This was shot the day we drove into the National Park.  In the distance is Long’s Peak, one of the fifty-four 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado.  Daniel summitted this peak last year with his care group. 

Daniel and Adri doing some long boarding.  She cooked up some awesome omelets on Sunday before heading off to Summit Church which meets in the high school auditorium. 

The Triangular Facets of the Christian Life: Way

The Christian life is not lived in a vacuum. Our beliefs find an outlet in our actions and attitudes. The abundant life we enjoy spills over into doings and out-workings. There is a lived out quality to our biblical worldview. Without the evidence of this obedient fruitfulness, any reality of a new birth is questionable at best. It just won’t do to be a hearer only and not doer.

The way of the Christian life is lived in the context of relationships. Showing acts of kindness, praying to God, feeding the poor, living hospitably, training your children, esteeming others higher than yourself, loving your neighbor and listening attentively are relational actions. So are sharing good news, forgiving wrongs, honoring parents, refraining from gossip, submitting to the Spirit, saying words of encouragement and greeting one another with affection. We gauge the reality of our spirituality by the quality of our relationships with God and with others.

It’s in an authentic community that we live out these interpersonal relationships. In community a three way relationship between us, God and others flourishes for emotional and spiritual growth. Not that we are always a perfect people or a happily harmonious group, but we admit our weaknesses, share our heart ache, celebrate true joy, express our failures and most of all love one another. Love is our defining characteristic and we spend a lifetime cultivating it in community.

The way of the Master by necessity is grounded in truth and flows out of life. Yet many Christians enter into salvation truth and then skip right over transformational life into works. This is the self-effort of moralism that Paul warns the Galatians against (3:1-5). Business, formulas for success, involvement in programs, keeping the wheels spinning all take their toll. While they may initially satisfy, in the end the result is weariness and burnout.

Spirit filled Christians with gifts of service show us the way to bring life, love and action together. Stephen is a good example – full of the Spirit, wisdom, grace and power. The merciful spread compassion for those who are hurting, the helpful serve others with diligence and givers come to the rescue with resources. As truth, life and actions come together we discover God’s form for service. Not us doing something for Him, but Him living His life through us. We become His instruments in community, in ministry and in missions.

The Triangular Facets of the Christian Life: Life

The gospel is life giving - full, abundant, brimming. This is true on many levels with an inception, a possession and many applications. It is the quality that sets Christianity apart from world religions and philosophies. Others offer a multitude of “sacred” writings and teachings. They are full of works and lifestyle changes. They promise enlightenment, release from purification, another chance to get it right, spiritual experiences or tranquility. In contrast the gospel regenerates and gives assurance of new birth into life.

We enter in by way of the cross. It is there that our rowdy sin-dead lives are dealt with. There the wage has been paid, the hostility has ended. Now through faith in Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, an intimate, eternal, reconciled relationship with the God the Father is restored. We have passed from death into life.

Even so it is not uncommon to approach Christianity as a dead religion. Christ died for me over two thousand years ago. He did so much for me in His death I should do something for Him. So for all practical intents and purposes we go on serving a dead Christ. But He didn’t stay dead. The resurrected Christ is very much alive. He is very much alive in us. Through His Spirit Christ is in us - motivating, filling, thinking, deciding, captivating, directing, transforming, living His life through us. Thus Christianity is a very lively proposition.

The Word of God itself is living and active, sharper then a two-edged sword. How could it be anything less when all its writings are inspired? God is articulate in His universe so when we open the Bible we can expect Him to speak to us. Some themes have a way of finding applications in our heart and becoming life giving at various junctures of our journey. Even our communication of these life giving themes are in life giving ways – gracious, freeing, hopeful and inviting as opposed to guilt, controlling, burdensome and heavy.

This supernatural life plays out in ten thousand ways in our normal, everyday, ordinary lives. Pastors, encouragers, preachers, and those who speak with wisdom help to cultivate an awareness of God’s presence in everything we do. They remind us that ultimately our lives are about the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ. They invite us to live fully right where we are.

Photos taken on Easter Sunday as we celebrate with some family and friends

Living Like Orphans

Living like the King’s child takes some getting used to. It’s just difficult to believe that I am royally adopted into the family with all the benefits that come along with the title. And to live confidently in this position is somewhat of a hard process. Possibly the hardest of all is to live out of the priceless unfailing love of the Father. Knowing that love is the essence of His character doesn’t mean I relate to Him as One who loves me extravagantly.

How are you at it? I mean do you really believe that the Father loves you extravagantly? That He desires you? That He is crazy about you? That He longs to hear the sound of your voice? It’s all true. You are the beloved child of the Father. Sometimes though if you are like me, you live like an orphan.

We live like orphans when we refuse to accept the extravagant love of the Father. It's hard to fathom that as His child we would be cold toward His perfect love. Sometimes it’s the very teachings we received about God that drives a wedge between us. Wrath, justice, judgment and expectation are used to shame us into obedience while grace is ignored. Or we have been neglected, abandoned or abused by our own fathers making our relationship with the Heavenly Father estranged. Or a difficult incident has left us angry, and we shift the blame onto Him.

We live like orphans when we listen to the “if” voices of the world instead of our Father’s voice. The world says, “I love you if you produce. I love you if you are beautiful, successful, meet my expectations. I love you if you have a good education, a good job, a good family. I love you if you are wealthy and have good connections. I love you if you play by my rules.” The more entangled we become with those voices of manipulation the more difficult it is to hear the Father’s voice.

We live like orphans every time we live a self-pleasured life. Our Father intends for us to find our greatest pleasure in Him. In giving us Himself He also lavishes us with God-centered pleasure….beauty, festivity, holiness, marital sex, creating, romance, wonder, nature, music. Our own self-pleasure on the other hand is satisfied with cheap knock-offs…pornography, impurity, drunkenness, relation-less sex, manipulation, pride, jealousy, orgies. We are satisfied far too easily and miss out on the real thing.

Come to think of it we too easily live like orphans and miss out on our Father’s extravagant love.

All photos are from the opening of the West Virginia Wildflowers Art Exhibt and Reception at Tamarack