intermittent...

As these next several weeks unfold (packing, moving, unpacking, etc.) and it becomes harder and harder to stop and take time to update I thought this might be a good time to repost my first entry... the beginning of the story of this BLOG... why it exists... really, why I exist... awaken us.

awaken us… Lord

awaken us from our slumber

too long have we slept.
too long have we looked upon a darkened, dieing, hopeless world and lazily looked to the horizon for Your coming… or was that our T.V. set?

Awaken us Lord to the hunger that is within.

Stir your children of light from their comfortable seats… that we would know the feeling of Your armor again… the feeling of your sword.

Fan the fire of passion for Your Name… Your Fame… that we might feel the coursing fire flooding through our souls… like rivers… like springs of life.

Let us sleep no longer!
Let us waken from the night in search of our Beloved.
Let us throw ourselves against the gates of injustice… the gates of poverty… the gates of darkness… the gates of hell. Until we can no longer stand AND YET we stand!

AWAKEN US LORD!

Move us to the edges… gather us to the corners… take us OUTSIDE THE CAMP…

AWAKEN US LORD!

Awaken hearts that are broken for the broken hearted. Lives that are lived for the lost.

AWAKEN US LORD!

The night is far gone; the day is at hand.

Even so. Amen.

timothy mark mcdonald

"de-churched"

Hey guys,
I haven't had a lot of extra time to write lately BUT I stumbled across this clip on Desiring God that is really good... thought I would share it!
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers...

interesting...

I've thought this idea before... it is interesting that they actually have a fancy word for it!

home...

Kinda feels like we were just here...

Over the course of the last couple weeks we have been undoing what we have spent the last 8 months doing... creating a home. All the pictures, plates and papers that we brought out to make our "temporary" place feel like home are going back in the boxes they came in. We've got piles of boxes all over the house (and in the garage) and our home is beginning to get that rental feel again.

Home... it feels a bit like a surreal idea to us. Partially, it feels like we are moving home OR at least closer to it. We are so excited to move back to Portland and have in fact (God willing) bought a house... a home. Not only closer to friends, we are also closer to Canada and family - there is a lot of excitement in our home right now. On the other hand, it feels like we are leaving what we have known for the past 8 years (the family of NieuCommunities) and trudging off into a new unknown... kind of like leaving home. There are so many things that feel unknown, unfamiliar... it is a strange tension.

This morning I was reading in Acts 2 where Peter was speaking to the crowd and he refers back to a passage from Psalm 16 that goes like this:

You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

I love the hope of this verse... the promise of REAL home. It was a powerful encouragement to a discouraged King David, the incredible motivation that got Jesus through the cross and a picture of God's best for each and every one of us. A picture that we, the McDonald clan, need right now as we walk through this next transition.

The Details:

Now that CRM has given us the "green light", we will be moving to Portland July 10th to begin working with The Berean Way (Check out their webpage if you haven't already). Jeff has just recently returned from India where he had an amazing time of connecting with Pastors there - I would encourage you to read about it here. We are so excited but in need of your prayers as we try to get everything done before our move date.

A part of what we are looking at doing with The Berean Way is the development of the discipleship base for the trips. We desire not only to go to India (and the nations) to teach, equip and duplicate, but to do it with increasing excellence, boldness and power in our local communities and churches. To allow our experiences with our couragous brothers and sisters in Christ around the world to shape us... transform us... unite us. As Paul puts it in his amazing letter to Titus, that we would be like Jesus, "...bringing [HIS] salvation for all people, training... to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." (Titus 2:11-14)

Friends... we are that people... we are His possession... it is time to be a part of awakening that zeal!

Please be praying for us as we move... especially for Duncan, Celtin, McKenzie and Hallie.

Special thanks to Peter Schrock for the photo's!

are you a... christian?

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

I heard the question from behind and, at first, it sounded more like a statement than a question. It had a bit of an edge...

"Are you a... christian?"

I was sitting in Starbucks getting some work done and the young Latino man asked the question again... this time nodding at the bible laying on the table. He had that tough guy look (the one that is usually accompanied by "tats" and "tude")... a look that we are used to seeing in our neighborhood. I nodded and said, "you bet" a bit unsure as to the intent OR what was going to happen next.

"How long?"

A bit surprised by the follow up question, I smiled and said, "a long time." Then he got a bit giddy (yeah I know, I didn't see it coming either) and said, "I have only been one for a little while... but the Bible man... that is where it's at! I have read it through cover to cover in a sitting... it's changed my life!"

Now, I'm not sure if I misunderstood him OR if he was just saying that he read it through really fast but I will say this... it has been a LONG time since I have seen that kind of excitement for the scriptures. We chatted a bit more and he told me that he was still trying to "figure it all out" but that the bible was helping him "make sense of it all".

This weekend our pastor said that we all run the risk of becoming too dependent on the Sunday preacher instead of going daily to the bible ourselves... allowing the Spirit to teach us.

This young man was a great reminder to me today of the amazing gift we have been given. May he teach us all how to love the scriptures... so that we can "make sense of it all."