Newsletter:

Dear Fellow Sojourners,

We want to begin by saying that if we are your spam and you would like to removed from our emailing list please let us know. It has become a reality that we now have so much spam in our lives, the clutter of our busyness, that email has become as annoying as solicitation phone calls. We hope we are adding and not detracting from your walk with Jesus.

At Journey, We Have Some Simple Goals...

Don't forget...Our Vision is Jesus

We want to encourage you to keep your eyes on Him minute by minute. You life will be changed. Maybe that is what scripture calls us to do when it says "Pray without ceasing".

How do We Do this Vision?

How do we live this vision? How do we do it in everyday life? We suggest a simple plan.

Strategy # 1; we study the Bible. Read it because you want to; not because you have to. If you are seeking God by some kind of internal law that says you are "bad" if you do not read today, then maybe you should pray instead of read today. Guilt is just plain silly when you are looking at Jesus.

If you come to the Bible with a demand in your heart that "God must supply an answer to my anguish; an answer to my dilemma", then you are reading the Bible no differently that reading any of the "fix it" books in the many Christian "marketing for profit" stores.

Read the Bible for delight. Read it for fun. Read it our of curiosity. Read it because you want to find a nugget of gold. Read it because it is great way to get closer to your real daddy; your Abba.

The second strategy, study the Bible with friends; in community, in koinonea, in intimate community, not shallow community. Do not read it like a text book. Talk about the Bible with people. Talk about what you have read that confuses you, frustrates you, makes you feel inadequate, makes you cry, and dare I say, makes you laugh. You are not bringing your whole heart to the reading of scripture unless it makes you laugh at times.

The third strategy; pray without ceasing. Our third strategy for sticking to our vision of Jesus; of seeing Him in our mind's eye minute, second by second as if we have to look around Him to see anything else, is to teach and/or encourage you to pray without ceasing. TEST YOUR HEART

As I think of who we are in our church and in our city and our country of rich Americans, which of these does the local church do well and which do we not do well? Maybe we should take a poll? Or maybe we should be honest before God. I have my opinion; what is yours for you and your church; for our church?