Hello all. I know it's been a little bit since my last post. I don't want to talk about it too much, but the security job kinda went south. That's all right though. Speaking of going south...it's a good possibility that we may be moving to Lead Hill, Arkansas. Even as early as next month. There is only about 300 people in Lead Hill, but that is why we are going. Some associates of Heather's Dad are buying up a lot of land down there to develop and sell. The town is about a half hour from Branson Missouri which is apparently a big tourist town and a smaller version of Nashville Tennessee. Heather will be selling real estate. We don't know all the details as yet, but we will keep everyone informed. We are going to be put up down there for a while and this is really just a big favor to us. Please pray that the Lord would just open and close doors for us. This is a big decision and we want our will to be in-line with the Lord's. A bit nervous about it all.

Oh, yes. Heather and I have gotten a new car. This morning we picked up a 2000 Chevrolet Prizm. We got a great deal and were surprised at how low our interest rate was on the loan. We really needed a new car. We thank the Lord for providing it for us.

The winds of change are blowing through. Pray that we would use it and go with it...not just stand here and get wind burnt.

I have gotten a job! I dropped off the application yesterday morning and on the way to and from the place I prayed that God would just open up the right doors and close the wrong ones because I alone am not wise enough to know the difference. I was told that I would probably get an interview right then and there and possibly be hired on the spot.(like any thing in life is ever as simple as you think). Anyway-she told me that she had hired three new people this weekend and she really didn't need anyone else, but she would put my application on the top of the stack.(thanks for the good word Steve) This morning she called and said someone didn't show for work so if I still wanted the job it was mine. YEA! Kinda feels odd because yours truly will now be a security guard. Yep. Me a rent a cop. Hee hee. Who would have ever thought that I, who use to spend all my time smoking pot and looking over my shoulder for cops, would one day wear a badge. I thought maybe a Bozo button, but never a badge. Weird!

A security guard?! Hmm.

Well, it's just part time starting out and it will be 12 hour shifts from 10pm to 10am Friday and Saturday nights. Which means I will be missing the service at First Baptist on Sunday for a while. I hope to be awake enough to make it to our Seekers group after work though. I really love the people and conversation. I will be looking to find a gathering or gatherings during the week. I think I might look over by the Purdue campus in West Lafayette. Maybe around the Chauncey Hill/Village. Not sure though. Will let the Lord lead. But I am here and willing to Go where he sends me.(I always have this feeling like - oh gosh what am I asking for, when I say that)

Please pray for my family and I. I have been home with the kids for a while now and it is going to be odd for all of us, me being away working. I like it that it is just the weekends to start out. Makes it easier on us.

I gotta say that I love my family! Heather, Mikah, and Kiara are the most wanderful people that God could have ever placed into my life. All the little problems and the BIG ones that come around just seem so trivial when I set back and look at my family. The children are getting so big. Heather just amazes me everyday the women God has helped her to grow into. If you were to have known Heather, even 4-5 years back, and then saw her today....you would be blown away buy the change. She really is a new person. I loved her then. I love her now. And I will love her always.

I love you all.....e-mail me.

I just wanted to remember to put Jesus at the center of this conversation and my journey. And to remind myself and those who read this blog to stop looking at the computer for a moment and look to Him.

Stop and look at how this one man touched so many people just in his lifetime and the outgrowth of His love into all peoples....into all of time.

He was a Jew. Look at the box he had to think outside of. I think Jesus said, "there is no box. I need no stinkin' box."

He rested his faith and hope in His father. Not in any form of delivery. He knew that his father's love was grand enough to reach those who were not like him. And were not going in to the temples.

We are the temple........let's go!

Jesus

Let us not forget Jesus.

Howie is our pastor for a time while we search for the one God is going to join with us.( I believe Howie is with us by the command of God) He told the congregation that he had a vision and asked the decans to help. He wants to have, on our communion table(durring service-hee hee), enough fried chicken for all a hundred and some of us to have at least one piece. Cool!!!! In my church where you often here, "but we've never done it that way before", this is very cool!

Let's make church functional again for those of us who have fallen asleep in the pews. Those of us who can't figure out how to make church something other than an event. Those of us who want to make it functional in this lost world we live in.

Howie Ness brought to my attention Sunday that God hates those three little words, "I am only..."

I have been saying this a lot lately. "God you say you want to use me? But I am only..." I don't know what God has in store for me or us as a family, but I do know that we need some close relationships with people who will " challenge us to seek God, either within or outside our church's walls"(thanks Kristen) I have become part of some relationships in my blogging community that are this way and I hope that I have as much to offer them, as well. I need this in my geographic community too though.

We had a conversation Sunday in our Seekers class and the question was brought up whether we should have to go out of our comfort zones and intentionally have relationships with people so God can touch lives or do we set back and let God put those people there in our jobs and in the midst of our daily lives.

I felt as though everyone was saying that we are not called to GO, but we are all only to touch those who we come across right where we are at.

Now, I agree that we are to be a lighthouse to those around us...right where we are, but I also believe that some of us are called to GO. Not just across the street, but across town, across the world, and/or across our comfort zones to touch people who we would never, for any reasons of our own, speak to or have a relationship with.

UPDATE:::I came back to edit what I wrote a couple of posts back for some reason, but I've chosen to leave it there....Sometimes I don't know what I believe about what we as a family needs and we as a Church needs. I just know that I am hungry as Hell for a deeper relationship with Christ. I have no close friendships with anyone besides my wife and my children. I need all of you out there praying for me and joining me in my journey. I do know that I am 'hungry to serve' and it is scary because I feel led to leave the safety of the walls of the Church to 'GO' and be a 'lighthouse' to the world.---Me?! Me who is scared as heck of people? I use to go hide in the library during lunch at school so I could avoid the large clicks. I was friends with everyone I knew, but I was scared of them for some reason.

I don't know where to begin except by intentionally stepping out of my comfort zone and building relationships with people.

Lord help me with my faith and help me to keep my eyes on you and you at the center of everything--separating nothing from my service to you and the Kingdom.

I have not told you yet...Kiwi has strep throat. She started breaking out in a rash and my mom noticed soars in her mouth after church yesterday. Heather took her in to Walk-in last night and we've started giving her Amoxicillin. She already seems to be feeling better, although it seems to hurt her to eat some things. She's lovin' the red grapes though. Please continue to pray for my little princess.

While I am away I want to let you all know some things I am thinking about and if you could share your thoughts with me about them or just share any thoughts with me I would love to get to know you all better.

:::On some of my previous thoughts Marc has said "it helps to make a distinction between your personal journey and Jesus working through many Christians and expressions of Church."

:::I don't feel that people should have to come through the doors of 'the structure we call church' to see us being church.

:::as much as I feel frustrated in the church group I am in, I know that Heather and I need some guidance and some good Christian relationships-for us and we feel we have something to offer in those relationships as well.

:::The winds of change are blowing through. When we get back from our little vacation I will be looking for a job and we will be moving in to our own place soon.

:::I don't have any examples of just getting out and being church to the rest of the world.

:::Yes. We are called to worship-together and in song, but what about the rest of the Bible??? Hmm? What about getting out and loving our neighbor? If shouting out "I am a Christian and my way is the only way" turns more people away than it gathers-is this loving my neighbor? How about I just be a Christian. Never deny it. And just trust in the Holy spirit to work through that. I mean really-the barrier is as big "as the one you'd have to overcome to join a Muslim Paintball club."-except for the reality of the Holy Spirit being at work.(maybe we should go into that Muslim Paintball club)

:::I don't know where to begin except to just be me and the Millers out there to the rest of the world. But we really feel we need to concentrate our efforts outside of the 'Church on Sunday' for sure.

:::We really want to find another way of doing it. Being it.

Well, we will be off to Cedar Point tomorrow morning around 9.

Heather and Mikah will both be celebrating a birthday while we are away. Heather's B-day is Tuesday and Mikah's is Thursday. We questioned, at first, whether we wanted to be away on Mikah's B-day, but we both need a little break and Mikah will have fun. Also, we didn't think we were going to be able to get him much, but Heahter's brother Shane was selling his Gameboy Advance with a couple of games for $80 and we talked him into selling it to us and giving it to Mikah for $40. Cool!!! He loves it. He's already been playing it, but he thinks that it is still Shane's. We will probably still wrap it for him though.

Please pray for Kiwi (Kiara). She has got a couple of more teeth trying to come through....not fun! She's running a temp and screaming all the time. On top of this we are watching our nephew Gavin who is 2. Gavin and Mikah just do not seem to see eye to eye on anything.

Thanks be to God! They have all went down for a nap! All at the same time! And Mikah never takes a nap! YEA!!!

I found a cool link for when I use the word "yea" .

I'm not sure when I will need to use it next-so I'll just use it now....... YEA!!!

The Boaz Project

"telling stories and throwing parties and making friends,"

Sounds about right to me!

Scared and confused really is how I feel right now. I feel led to concentrate my efforts outside of the "church" and its walls. I pray that I have the prayer and support of those within my local church. -- I need them.

Again, I must remind those who visit my space that I do not think that the way Church has been done for years is wrong and everyone should leave it behind. I am saying that we as a whole have gotten stuck there. The rest of the world has been changing and we must change the way we approach it to be able to touch lives.

I want to stop "telling it from the mountain top" and go down into the valley and hang out with the widows, the beggars, the prostitutes, the Samaritans, the adulterers, the tax collectors, the skaters, the bar hoppers, my old friends I had left behind to get sober. There is a lost world out there who don't even know they are and staying in my church and inviting them in is not going to reach most of them.

I wanna get dirty!

Darren tells a story that reminds me that I am not the only one who has felt scared and confused about how to go into the world and be His witness.

Darren has posted a link to a conversation in response to his critique of how businesses put the word 'Christian' in their name and to the question why?

As you read this think about the number of new people "joining" your church. I also thought about "youth group". I know, when I was growing up, the folks around me would have come to hang out with me doing whatever, but as soon as I would invite them to "church" for "youth group"....."Heck No!" We do need to use the brain God gave us in our reaching out to a lost world and be carefull not to build walls between us and the people we are to love. (I'm not saying it's bad to invite people to this or say you are a Christian--just that all the scriptures and law and prophets rested on "love your neighbor")

I like this quote from Darren --"the most successful missionaries in my experience are successful not because of what they call themselves, but because of the way they are able to build relationships with those they are doing mission with."

And this one from "diddle" -- "How big is that barrier? About the same as the one you'd have to overcome to join a Muslim Paintball club."

More thoughts and questions about "church":

First off, I realize when I talk about getting out of the church building and being church to the rest of the world, that it seems to be lip service to me when most of the time I am at home with the children. And I don't mean that I think my job as a parent is one of little of importance. Heavens no! I just don't feel like I have really helped touch any lives outside of the church. But I do realize that there is this BIG world out there that needs Christ and needs us to BE outside of the "Church" on Sunday.

I've only just begun asking questions and trying to see what God wants for the world and for his blessed Church.

Why have we done "church" the way we have done it for so long? Where in scripture do we get a Sunday service and all that takes place in it? I'm sure that the early Christian set and asked themselves, "what should we be doing when we meet together?" My question is were they not "Church" before they decided on an answer? Was it not growing before they decided to set and ask this question? And my definition of growing is lives being touched by Jesus Christ through the love, humility, and brokenness of his bride.

I don't think that having pastors is bad. I don't think that having a large building to meet in is bad. I don't think that the traditional Church is bad. I believe I am here and alive today because of Christ being at work in and through those people. And that is just it-it's the people. Not a service structured in whatever way or the fact that God has blessed us with the building or really good sermons. It was the relationships and the conversations. We must have time to set and say thank you Lord as a group, but when there is so much red-tape to get through before we can do this or that even if Christ is leading something is wrong. It becomes something other than the relationships and Christ working through them and we just get frustrated. At least I am.......I feel like a Timothy without a Paul.......when it has become what feels like a business that things have to be so organized because of all the red tape and everyones lives are so busy, I want to STOP..........................I want to light a candle and have some time with God. I want to go sit down with a cup of coffee and talk about my kids. My wants. My hurts. I want to listen to you. I want to serve the Lord! Full-time. I don't, EVER, want to be a preacher. Many men in my family are and were pastors. They are good men who have touched many lives by serving the Lord, but all the red-tape sucks! I want to serve the Lord's Church (full-time), but it will be by being me.

For the past eight months or so, I have been feeling the Lord tug on my heart to realize he wants my service. He has placed a burden on my heart for a hurting world. I have been up many a night pulling my hair out (no bald jokes!) trying to answer the question of what I am to do with my life. (I had been looking at it from a career stand point). I have concluded after much prayer and while typing this post that what the Lord wants me to do.........after all this time searching and frustrated, asking the question, "how can the Lord use me?"...............what does he want me to do with my life?.......................to love him with all my heart and being and to love my neighbor...Duh!

Sarah Stuart left this on the table today.

"I simply argue
that the cross should be raised
at the center of the market place
as well as on the steeple of a church.

I am recovering the claim
that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral
between two candles,
but on a cross between two thieves;
at a crossroad, so cosmopolitan
they had to write His title
in Hebrew, Latin and Greek....

At the kind of place
where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse
and soldiers gamble.
Because that is where He died.
And that is what He died for.
And that is what He died for.
And that is what he died about.
That is where church ought to be
and that is what church ought to be about."

by George McLeod - The Iona Movement

You are: Andrew Dowsett. A dependable sort of chap
with a wicked sarcastic streak.

Which St Tom's member of staff are you turning into?
brought to you by Quizilla

There ya' go andy. I even did the test twice to see the result with my alternate answers to a couple of the questions.

Heather would say, "Scott? Sarcastic? Never!"

Ah, but dependable Heather.

"Hah!", she would say.

Ok. Say we begin some relationships, there emerges a small group. Church. Whether it be a cell group of an existing traditional church or a church plant or what ever, believing that small cell churches are a more affective way to have intimate relationships and touch each others lives....once they begin to grow are they to separate? What if they don't want to? Isn't that how the institutional churches started? What is the difference between what is happening in today's emergent church and what has been going on for years? I'm not saying that I don't agree. I truly believe small groups are the spine of church. These are just honest questions.

We've got enough church buildings I think. How do we avoid settling down, buying a building and then having to be structured in such a way as to fit inside the legal system so we don't have to pay taxes and blah blah blah....How do we avoid making a business out of it? If the group chooses not to separate is this not ok? Yes, it may become exactly what it set out not to be. But if that particular group of people chooses to settle down and buy a place aren't they just doing what is right for that group?

I think, maybe, none of us know for sure how to do it. "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." I don't think there is a 'just right' way to do it. I do know the thing we should all be doing is keeping Christ at the center and loving our neighbor. What ever stems from that is just the out-growth of love. However imperfect it may be because of our flesh.

I can't remember the exact quote, but C. S. Lewis said something to the affect that you are not yet dancing while you are still counting the steps. A good shoe is one that you don't notice is there.

While we are still on this earth and in this flesh I think that maybe we will always be counting. Or maybe we stop counting when we stop relying on ourselves and start relying on Jesus to lead us. I am sure that saying this way or that way is the only way is not the way to do it. And I do believe that the traditional church needs to wake up to the fact that people ARE doing it another way and we can either set back and not be a part of it or we can jump in and support it in whatever manner Christ leads. People are not walking through the doors of the building on Sunday morning though and to think that waiting in our pews and just praying is the way to reach the rest of the world is nonsense.

Lord help me to get off my..........butt and love my neighbor.