Saturday, November 25, 2006

A few thoughts

The last couple of days have gone by quite fast and so much has happened that there is a blurriness to much of it. On Wednesday around noon, we got a call from Sarah's mom and dad, and they informed us that Sarah's grandpa (Her mom's dad) was just taken to the hospital. Tests that day and through yesterday have shown that he has stage 4 cancer in his lungs, and it is to a point where it is not operable. They started chemo therapy last night and the best case scenario is that they can get the cancer in remission so that he could enjoy life a bit with family and friends and die of old age. It was very unexpected because he has been in such good health to this point and there were no signs or symptoms leading up to this point. Sarah's family is beautifully close and very connected, so there is a lot of support and love that is taking place, but there is no such thing as too much prayer, so your prayers would be appreciated.

For Thanksgiving we had my side of the family over for a big dinner and what not, which was a great time and was full of all things my family. Chatter always runs from sports, to politics, and much about current events, which is always an adventure. My brother-in-law loves to dive into big topics and shares with much passion and belief that his way is in fact quite right. To me it is awesome, and I love diving into the discussion that we have, because although there is many opinions being tossed around, everyone is always open to listening. My family doesn't spend as much time together as Sarah's, and so I love the fact that we don't sit on the surface talk, but we get our hands dirty with good, quality discussion. I love my family and I love that no matter the amount of time we spend together, we definitely make the most of it and we don't cover it with fluff and things of little matter.

And there are a couple of things I would encourage you to check out in church world that I think are very worthwhile. First, Watermark has combined a new movie theatre ad with the first of two new websites that we are launching. The first site went live yesterday, and is what we would call a front porch to the Watermark community. If you go to www.iammarked.com you can see a couple of fun videos, one being the theatre ad, and just the basics of who we are trying to become as a community. Secondly I encourage you to read this article on what Imago Dei, in Portland Oregon is doing for Christmas. They are encouraging their people to "create" Christmas gifts this year, and then they are putting to use the money they would have spent on all the hoopla, to impact their community and beyond. Just some awesome ideas and thoughts about how to give love and the gift of Christ in a way that I think is very biblical and honoring to the way of Jesus. Here is the link to that, www.imagodeicommunity.com/article/advent-2006.

I hope that your Thanksgiving was full of great community and was shared with many great friends and family. I'm looking forward to this Christmas in such a new way, and I have a feeling that there is much to come and God is moving in huge ways. So saddle up and then giddy up, because the God-life is full of adventure and an unpredictability that leans heavily on a real and lasting faith.

Grace & Peace
Wallace D.

2 comments:

Sara Maria said...

My Thanksgiving? I was hungover because I did the natural 21 year old thing and got crunked up the night before. MISTAKE! Wont do that again. But Im glad yours was good. Ill send good vibes your way for Sarahs grandpa. Im thinking of you guys. Love, Sara D

KayMac said...

praying