This picture is a "snapshot" of Carson growing up with a brother that was 10 years older than him. He spent a lot of time flying through the air with a big grin on his face, sometimes followed by some crying but never for very long. Somehow he was always ready for another round.

-Trey

Eternity is now in Flight

A guy in the church handed me another book that he says is a "must read". It may be a must read but at four hundred pages it won't be an easy read. It's giving me the business right off the bat - so I know it's going to challenge previously held beliefs. I hope it does, that's just what I need. Here is a few paragraphs

"My hope is to gain a fresh hearing for Jesus, especially among those who believe they already understand him. In his case, quite frankly, presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to a profound ignorance."

I had to bust out the dictionary (dictionary.com) to help me understand that a little better so I'll hook you up with some free definitions.

"My hope is to gain a fresh (new; not previously known) hearing for Jesus, especially among those who believe they already understand him. In his case, quite frankly, presumed (to take for granted, assume, or suppose) familiarity (thorough knowledge or mastery of a thing, subject, etc.) has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt (willful disobedience to or open disrespect), and contempt has led to profound ignorance."

Here is another -

"More than any other single thing, in any case, the practical irrelevance of actual obedience to Christ accounts for the weakened effect of Christianity in the world today, with its increasing tendency to emphasize political and social action as the primary way to serve God."

Growing up in the "Bible belt" was a blessing. However, my claim to Christianity met little, if any, resistance among my peers. Living in one of the most unchurched parts of the country, on the other hand, has opened my eyes to a strong distaste for Christ by many many people. Moreover, many people consider the faith a joke. Literally. I certainly had a hard time with this for a while and on many occasions found myself fuming with all kinds of bitter feelings when I would overhear blatant disregard for the faith. Thankfully I learned that kicking people in the shins is not something God needs me to do in order to defend him, in fact, he doesn't need defending at all, He can not be any more or any less than He already is, regardless of people presumptions about him. Nevertheless, I cant' help but sympathize with the non-believers out here; they are only basing their assumptions on what they have witnessed to be others claims of Christianity. And if Christians don't need to follow, obey, and live by the teachings of Christ in order to "make it" in life, then maybe their right, it sounds like a joke to me too.

Look at this -

"However, actual discipleship or apprenticeship to Jesus is, in our day, no longer thought of as in any way essential to faith in him. It is regarded as a costly option, a spiritual luxury, or possibly even an evasion. Why bother with discipleship, it is widely thought, or, for that matter, with a conversational relationship with God? Let us get on with what we have to do."

And one more -

"This third book, then, presents discipleship to Jesus as the very heart of the gospel. The really good news for humanity is that Jesus is now taking students in the master class of life. The eternal life that begins with confidence in Jesus is a life in his present kingdom, now on earth and available to all. So the message of and about him is specifically a gospel for our life now, not just for dying. It is about living now as his apprentice in kingdom living, not just as a consumer of his merits. Our future, however far we look, is a natural extension of the faith by which we live now and the life in which we now participate. Eternity is now in flight and we with it, like it or not."

A few months ago on a Sunday night when we were studying John, our Pastor said, "when you take that initial step of faith to follow Christ, your eternity begins NOW." When I heard that, I about fell out of my chair. I had never heard anyone say that. I had never thought of my eternity like that. It's a game changing thought, it doesn't make life easier, but it changes things for sure. For to long I liked the idea of buying into Jesus for the whole eternal life in heaven thing. But let's face it, I wasn't pursuing anything that had to do with Christ. That's crazy, because this idea says to me - even though I'm alive physically if I'm separated from God by my own Choice, my eternity begins now... without God.

The book is

The Divine Conspiracy: Discovering Our Hidden Life in God

Dallas Willard

Oklahoma here we come.

-Trey

Relevant Magazine

I discovered a magazine that I'm sure many of you are already familiar with, It's called Relevant. The sub-title is - God. Life. Progressive Culture. I've been checking them out at the library recently when the musical artist on the front cover strikes my interest. They've had The Kings of Leon, Wilco, and Jack White on the front just to name a few. I dig it so much because I'm into that music, but when I start reading the articles they are just so, well..... relevant. Its also nice to flip through a magazine and not see scantly-clothed women right next to the article I'm trying to enjoy. I could ramble on about the magazine for days but instead I'll leave you with something that knocked me on my rear-end. Here's the link... Gluttony

If you wish to finish the article I'm going to type the rest out. That link only has the first half (I'm sure for copyright issues) so here is the rest.

* Again, the following is the remainder of the article that can be read by clicking the Gluttony link above.

Fragrance
Every building associated with my wedding has been gutted or leveled. The church where we were married is now a daycare. The city removed our reception hall and built an ice rink in its place. The university we attended bought my wife's home and made it a parking lot. Everything about our world that day has been torn down and replaced with something else. It's a telling picture of what happens in marriage. When we marry, we enter a new life. Our old life was meaningful and valuable, but it gets taken apart and united with another. The two truly do become one. My moods become her moods, my dreams become her dreams, my keys become her keys. Marriage is a total union. When we unite with our beloved, we become something fundamentally different.

The Scriptures use marriage as a picture of our relationship to God. Jesus referred to himself as a bridegroom, and His ministry is likened to a wedding feast filled with new wine, where no one fasts. One of the Bible's last images is of a wedding where the faithful have made themselves ready and are united to God forever in the age to come.

When Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is at hand, we should read this as, "The wedding has commenced." Empty humanity is being fundamentally reconnected with God. People from all over the world are entering the chapel halls, and all four Gospel writers tell a similar story to show what the wedding looks like.

Three days before Jesus' death, a young woman named Mary pulled our her only treasure and broke it at his feet. The jar filled with very expensive perfume had been her mother's. It was the last thing she had to remember her by. It may have been her grandmother's, perhaps even her great-grandmother's. The jar was her ancestry, and she had probably hoped to give it to a daughter of her own.

More than anything else, the jar was her future. It held the precious perfume, representing Mary's ability to gain a husband. Without the jar, she would have to live with her brother for the rest of her years. Without it, she would become an object of mockery at gatherings. Her lack of a husband would ring loudly in her mind as she entered the synagogue or observed celebrations and holidays alone. Without the jar and its contents, no one would see her as beautiful. No one would desire her. We might say that in the jar were Mary's identity, her status and all her hopes of being united to a good man.

The house was full when Mary entered. Her brother Lazarus, was reclining at the table with Jesus. The disciples sat with one another, excited about the festival and the impending revolution. Mary approached Jesus, and as she looked into His eyes, she broke the jar, pouring the precious perfume over his head. The party hushed as the room filled with the exquisite fragrance. Mary then let down her hair - shaming herself, her brother and her family - and began wiping Jesus' feet with the oils. Everyone watched. No one approved.

One man spoke for all, calling the act a waste. But Jesus silenced them. "Leave her alone. She has done a beautiful thing to me. She has prepared my body for burial." His words pierced the gathering - not because of the rebuke but because everyone believed Jesus would soon take the throne of Israel.

But Mary seemed to know what everyone else did not. The man who had done so much for her would soon die, and her knowledge made the gift even more profound. By breaking the jar, Mary wrote our her future as one consisting of a life of poverty, scorn, and loneliness. She chose to die for the sake of the soon-to-be-dead man before her. But the jar, which represented her future union with a good man, fulfilled its true purpose. In dying to herself, Mary was united to Christ.

Christ means "anointed one," and it was in this act of total self-giving love that the anointing took place. Mary's anointing of Jesus was not done by mere holy oils; the anointing of Jesus was done with an object fully representing the whole life of one who loved Jesus

The picture is one of Jesus and His church. This picture is one of the life of heaven - humanity united to God.

When Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," this is the image He had in mind. Whereas the gluttonous unite themselves to what will ultimately kill them, the persecuted, having been united to Christ, give up even what they need for the sake of their beloved. Those who are persecuted are blessed with union with God for they experience the hardship of a lover.



Eden was union with god, but Adam and Eve sought divorce. Through the cross, Jesus restored Eden's beauty and initiated anew proposal to everyone to be wed again.

Pride longs for applause, but gluttony needs to be a diva. Envy covets what other have, but gluttony counts every insignificant detail. It is not enough to be slothful; gluttony abandons virtue in excess. Gluttony is salt when the greedy taste their spoils. One million dollars isn't enough; it must be 10 million. Five-year-old wine isn't good enough; it must be 15 years old. Lust wants another woman; gluttony wants them all. Wrath wants revenge; gluttony wants the infliction of it to be creatively painful. At its most demonic, gluttony amplifies the other sins, enhancing their self-destructive power.

The question of gluttony and the persecuted is a question of marriage. What am I united to? What will I give everything for? The glutton's answer comes through addictive behaviors. Though we may say our first love is for God or for a set of human beings, our actions tell the real story. The glutton sells her soul for another hit, another car, another round of trivial pleasures, a forbidden fruit. The persecuted, on the other hand, gives even what she needs for the sake of her lover.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul ends his brilliant painting of love with this: "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith , hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love" (TNIV).

The love Paul described is the love shared between Jesus and his church.

We live in the time of trials, where we may be and often are forsaken by those we care about. We may loose friends and what we need for the sake of Jesus, but we also hear a distantly familiar voice: Do you believe? Do you commit? Do you unite? And soon, like the blind who see the face of their beloved for the first time, we will enter life where we are united with God forever.

-Jeff Cook is the author of Seven: The Deadly Sins of the Beatitudes
He teaches philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado

I'll follow up in a later blog about the impact the article the had on me and maybe I'll hear a little bit from some of you out there... in blog reader world - or something like that.

-Trey

My New Wheels

So I bought my Bike Friday tonight, I'm excited to say the least. This bad boy is going to bring me home from Oregon. I just need to find Mallory one now.

-Trey

Disclaimer: I am NOT pregnant

A Harvest Story.

I started reading in Matthew on my way to Oklahoma in February and I came across a passage called the Harvest Story. In this passage Jesus is telling a story about a farmer and explaining to the people that when the seed is spread it can't land on the road because the birds will eat it, it can't land in the weeds because they will strangle it but it has to be intentionally spread on the good earth so that it can produce a HARVEST beyond their wildest dreams. As strange as it seems at that moment God told me that Trey and I will one day have a precious little girl and that we are to name her Harvest. It sounds crazy...I know but I can't wait to meet her...I know that she will be something special.

-Mallory

Authors Note

IF YOU WATCHED a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you'd seen. The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later, except you'd feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either. Here's what I mean by that...

-Donald Miller
A Million Miles In A Thousand Years

Our first Hayward Field Track Meet

Saturday Mallory and I went to the University of Oregon's first home track meet of the 2010 season.

Although we've been to the track several times and have even ran on the track it was very surreal to attend a real track meet at the historic venue.

The Ducks men and women teams took first over top rank Texas A&M in front of 5,312 fans.

We're looking forward to the NCAA National Championships that will be held at Hayward Field as well in a few months. We'll most likely have a chance to cheer on the OSU Cowboys too.

Pecan sticky buns

Mallory's made from scratch pecan sticky buns.

Could you even second guess our coffee house business when you see things like this?

Introducing Mr. Arnold...

Check out the newest addition to our future business. Mallory found this 80 year old milk shake blender at an antique store in downtown Eugene. They don't make things like this anymore, it weighs about 45lbs and still runs like a top after all those years. One day you'll see this baby in action.



-Trey

I have a 7 a.m. apointment tomorrow

I got a call tonight from the owner of One Cup, he asked if I would like to come in tomorrow morning and help him roast beans. I told him I'd have to check my schedule first... turns out I'm free. I couldn't be more blessed. Under normal circumstances I don't get that phone call. However, I truly believe God's had his hands all over it.

Let me give you 7 degrees of my One Cup phone call:

1) Mallory and I move to Oregon in search of coffee experience.
2) After a few months of church hopping, Mallory engages in conversation with a guy during running group because he has a cut under his eye.
3) Turns out Drew (guy from running group) moved to Eugene as a church plant from Indiana and Invites us to his "house church".
4) Mallory and I become apart of Awakening Church.
5) Awaking Church came to Eugene to serve. However, upon arrival they did not have a specific mission from God. They soon learned is would be to serve the people on the fringes of society in the most unchuched county in America.
6) The Church is connected with Pastor David, A.K.A the street pastor through a local food bank. David came to Eugene with a church plant that ended up disbursing 15 years ago. However, David continued to serve the homeless of Eugene by feeding people out of the back of his truck and later starting a service at the Lamb Cottage (I emailed many of you about this service) where our church is a major contributor each week.
7) David's Daughter and Son-in-law own One Cup Cafe.

Mallory and I felt peace when I quit my job over a week ago and although I currently do not have "job offer" we are certain God is looking out for us and knows the desire of our heart.

-Trey

Mallory is a puzzler

It's midnight and just look at my wife; cute as can be working hard on a thousand piece puzzle. She's been at it for over a week and she's drawing near the completion and all I've done is move the thing from the middle of the table to the end as to create some more space.

Those are her new savage eye glasses by the way.

-Trey

Picture of the Day

-A rainbow stretches over Dorena Lake east of Cottage Grove, one of several area reservoirs where water levels have risen due to recent storms.

This was on the Register Guard (Eugene Newspaper) website as the "picture of the day." Anybody want to come visit Oregon?

-Trey