Nice Friends

I came to work this morning, which is all of three feet from our bedroom, and opened my email to find a note from my friend Steve Argue.  Steve congratulated me on having a nice little promo appear in the Emergent Village e-newsletter.  A few weeks back I was able to connect with Tony Jones and told him a little about the very cool ministry that has allowed me to work with them for the past few months.  Tony liked what we did enough to generously offer to do a piece on us in the Emergent/C newsletter.  Tony hooked me up with James Mills, who writes for the newsletter, and James kindly adapted our information so that it would work . . . and work it did.

I become more and more impressed by the kindness of the people who are ministering, studying, living and doing whatever they can to make missional living a reality in the here and now.  I mentioned that I had coffee with Steve while he was in Wisconsin “on vacation” (which is kind of funny in that Steve had more meetings scheduled while on vacation than I do when I am working) Steve is a real life example of this kind of living; Steve is probably one of  nicest people that I know . . . he genuinely cares about what is important to you, he listens when you have something to say and he takes seriously the questions you ask, and then does a masterful job in answering those questions.

Seeing first hand that our missional life is all about our relationships, spiritually and physically, it is wondeful to know these folks and be able to call them friends . . . it makes the journey a bit more smooth.

Before I end I have to share something I was reading in Dallas Willard’s new book, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

The one we work for and with has placed in our hands the keys to the Kingdom of the Heavens.  Setting aside centuries of ecclesiastical controversy over the meaning of this passage, we need to simply understand that our confidence in Jesus as the one who has say over all things in heaven and in the earth can develop into practical access to the riches of the Kingdom.  These riches, in turn, make it possible for us to do the work we have to do, and to live our lives, in the strength, joy and peace of Christ.  Having the keys is not a matter of controlling access to the Kingdom, as is often thought. Keys do not first mean the right to control access, but the enjoyment of access. Imagine a man who carefully kept his doors locked and his keys in hand, but never went into his house! Having access to the Kingdom, living in it, is what matters.