About Pain

5-7-11
I have been overwhelmed by the pain in the world. So many times I put my head down on my pillow and am haunted by the faces of people I have encountered who are in the midst of pain and heartbreak. Now sometimes the pain is a direct result of choices they have made – they are essentially dealing with all the “fall-out” of things they have done or said or been in the past. This is hard and frankly it sucks, but it is something we all have to deal with, me and you and everyone. We don’t want to deal with it, but if we are wise, we do and we realize our part in it all and trudge through, trying to learn as much as we can and make peace and goodness out of it as much as possible. Sometimes the pain is completely random, we are diagnosed with heart problems, or a tragedy occurs and takes someone we love, or a tornado rips through our town and destroys all we had planned, not to mention all our neighbors had planned, or something of the same type of thing. This also sucks, but it seems more unfair, like why me, and yet, as we look around, it seems that most everybody has those “why me” times and if they haven’t yet, we all have a sense that they will someday and we half smirk/half frown as we think about their naiveté. We say to ourselves, “Oh someday it will happen to you and you will understand like it or not and I will feel sorry for you then, but you will not be so cocky.” But, in spite of having to deal with the consequences of our own past choices and being struck randomly with painful circumstances (no matter how universal it is, it still is unbelievably hard), there is a thread of hope in these painful times. No, we do not wake up the morning after this happens and jump out of bed, glad to have been struck in such a fashion with the blind hand of life. But, those of us who are real people, forging through life with purpose, realizing that there is More to life than just the everyday work and pay your bills life that most people live, we attack these times the best we can, we see them as bad, but as the perspective dawns on them, as the reality sinks in, we usually find ourselves changing, growing, getting stronger, becoming a better person – something happens in these times and we sense it, deep in our souls. “There is an end to this” – and at the end, things are better – maybe even better than they ever were before the pain. We do not completely understand this, but it is there, nevertheless. Sometimes it takes a long time to make it to that place, but we get there, eventually, as long as we keep connecting with people we love and who love us, a God who loves us, and wants the best for us, and forging ahead, searching, looking, willing to become, to unfold, like a rose that is budding. I am reminded of a story one of our friends wrote about recently, as she and her husband rushed to their former home in Georgia, where a tornado had destroyed a town, taking with it the life that those people had known. No government aided disaster relief puts back together the pieces of your life in times like that. But our friend talked about this woman whose house had been shredded like a block of cheese. Our friend and her family had spent a portion of their day picking up family pictures strewn about because the tornado had no respect at all for family memories. And this woman, whose life had been so devastated, was a picture of hope – just as sure as she could be that there were wonderful things to come of this (sometimes when people say this I think they need to be medicated, because they must be delusional, but the sense I get is that this was a real spirit of hope, sure that the thread of hope she felt would lead her to something better and that she was not going to give up that thread, but instead she would follow it to a place far away from that field of devastation where she, and all she knew was new and alive and had a meaning and purpose she had never dreamed before the tornado came.) I am not suggesting that we all be jolly about pain here, simply saying for these 2 types of pain, there is an end that is often much better than we dream in the middle of them if we will go through the pain with God and some loving friends.
Now, this is actually not a story about the hope in pain – if you continue to read what I write, there will be more on that topic, but not this time. This is actually about a whole different kind of pain. This is about a kind of pain that slapped me in the face multiple times in the last couple months (and I actually see if very often in my day to day life). This pain is so heinous that I cringe at it. I fume at it. I get nauseated at it and I weep the deep places of my heart about it, more than almost anything else in the whole world. I have dedicated my life to changing it. I can no longer sit by and allow it to go on without a fight!
The first two times I wanted to tell you about occurred when my wife and I were sitting in church. I know, church should not be a place where one witnesses the worst kind of pain that exists and I want to tell you right now that my church is NOT a bad place. It has a group of people that come together to try their best to know God and do what He wants. Many of them live out the love of Jesus in their everyday lives – this story is not intended to be harmful to them – in fact – my church is a good place to learn about God and hang out with other people who are trying to get closer to Him. It is not the church’s fault, at least not directly, that these painful things were going on – the people are simply doing what they know, doing their best – I also want to tell you that this pain is not the fault of my pastor. He is a good man – I love him. He loves God very much. He would be equally grieved by the pain that I saw.
So, the first of them occurred just down the row from me. There was a young man. He was not peculiar in his dress, jeans and t-shirt, or in his look, he was well kempt and respectful. He was not making strange faces or disrupting the service. In fact, he was working, I think. He was with a disabled man in a wheelchair, who could not push himself. This young man was the caretaker, the chair pusher. There was something about the way he carried his body, kind of bent a little in the shoulders. There was a sadness in his eyes, something empty and lost, it seemed to me. He was not weeping and upset, but he looked as if he had taken it on the chin from life a few times. He was there, next to the handicapped man, with his dark backpack. So, as I said, it was Easter Sunday and the sermon was excellent – the pastor did a great job of speaking about how amazing our God is and that the fact that Jesus was resurrected basically meant that God did not do things the way everyone else did and we no longer needed to live all bound up by and controlled by and imprisoned by what was going on in the world – we could live lives that were free. Full of joy and meaning and purpose, our lives could explode with greatness!! I have got to say, I am excited about that message – I have lived far too much of my life bound and imprisoned, wrapped up with stuff and with no real peace in my life and now my life is amazing beyond description – all because of this Jesus of Easter!
So, this poor sad looking young chair pusher, sat there in that service, surrounded by the love of God, with the words of freedom circling around his head like he was a Sunday comic strip on steroids, all he needed to do was wake up, pay attention, grab even one of those word bubbles and ingest it – breathe it in - and feel the life rush into him. But, what was he doing? He was reading a cheesy paperback novel (now I must admit here that I do not know what he was reading specifically, but it was a small paperback book…). He would read his novel, every once in a while looking up when the pastor was particularly animated, kinda like he was tuning into CNN to see if there was some juicy piece of news or something and then he would go back to his novel. Then , just before the end of the service, when things were kinda wrapping up and all, he put his book away, got up and wheeled the disabled gentleman out, not to be seen again. This young man, slightly bent over, with sad eyes, in his jeans and t-shirt – he represents the worst kind of pain.
Another of the face to face moments I have had with this unbearable pain was also in church (please re-read the section now on how this problem is not my church in particular). It was the Sunday after Easter and the pastor was speaking about Mary of Magdala. She was the first person to see Jesus after He rose from the dead and she was first one Jesus trusted with his message of life. She was also unlikely in her being chosen. She was from a dumpy town, famous for its pickling industry and looked down upon by the people of the region. She was a woman and women were just the most beat down, pitiful, nonrespected people in those days. And to top it all off, she, prior to meeting Jesus, had 7 demons living inside her. Now, she was a pitiful case, but Jesus got rid of her demons, and then she followed him around. And He chose her for one of the most important jobs in all of history. He didn’t choose someone who was high society, or from the country club. He didn’t choose someone who was powerful or respected. He didn’t hold her past against her, but loved her unselfish and tender heart. He pronounced her worthy, even though she wasn’t until she met Him. Now, toward the end of talking about all this, the pastor said this great line: “Now, you may feel like your past is holding onto you and you will never be free of it. You are wrong. Jesus says that you have worth far beyond what you have done in the past.” Now, I don’t know about you, but that is phenomenal news!! I am not proud of my past. If you were to probe it, you would be shocked and I would be ashamed. But Jesus does not hold that against me anymore!!! Instead, He chooses me for something amazing for Him!! Now this makes me want to jump up and down, to express the thrill to everyone I know!! But, the next thing I heard was my wife leaning over and saying, “Why isn’t anyone else excited about that? That’s good news!” I looked around and I agonized to see dazed people, sitting in rows, then I became angry – overwhelmed by the fact that this amazing Truth was right there in front of them and they seemed to not see it – they were missing it, or they were dead! This, this is the worst kind of pain – beyond grief and sadness and destruction.
The third example of this horrific kind of pain that has absolutely slapped me in the face recently has been enacted by many many people I know over the years, some friends and some acquaintances, and some that I do not even know, but lately it has been particularly hard to see in some people that we love very much, who we have invested our lives in loving. The details vary greatly, but the basic story is the same. A person faces life, and while going through life, they face major problems. In the midst of the problems they are presented with the gift of a way of going through the problems so that, in time, they can grow and see the thread of hope of a better day. That gift is given to them in the form of friendships and unconditional love they have never known. It is given to them in the form of resources provided out of love and with no other agenda, but to show them that there is a way through – to be a thread giver, if you will. It is given to them in form of support and advice and experience from having walked that same road in the past. It is given to them in form of tears shed, prayers shared, and late night texts and phone calls agonized over. It is given to them in the form of lunches sacrificed and dinners shared. Now, there is nothing more beautiful than being a thread giver and watching someone grasp onto the thread, with as much grasp as they have, and then to wriggle and writhe their way, searching and seeking and clawing their way to the other side of the pain – then to have the joy of celebrating on the other side! But, there is nothing more painful in all the world than to watch someone presented with something so beautiful as this thread of hope and instead to choose to go right back to the place where the pain is; to stop looking for the thread; to stop searching for the God who can help them through to the other side of the pain; to deny and run away from the love of those people who have been thread givers to them. Instead of grasping onto the thread, they choose to live in their pain – they choose the familiar heartbreak of their lives over the unfamiliar possibilities of the future. They choose to wallow in the mud, when the spa is waiting and free. They choose shoes with no soles in favor of brand new shoes with jet packs on the heels! They choose to ride a broken down moped instead of flying in supersonic jets! They choose to read their cheesy novel and keep their sad face over grabbing the words out of the air and finding some meaning and healing in life. They choose to sit in their rows and satisfy their self-imposed requirement to be religious with that particular time instead of celebrating freedom! This is the worst type of pain of all! This crushes my heart and makes me want to tear my 40 year old thinning hair out. This is a tragedy of tragedies!

So, if you are a person who has faced disaster and is clinging to a thread, keep on clinging – find some others to cling with you, keep searching for the God who made you and loves you and hang on! You will get there!

If you are a person who is a thread giver, keep giving the threads – pass on the hope – let them know that they are loved and cared for and that you will never abandon them and you will never leave them and that God won’t either. Many you will find will find hope and meaning and peace in the world – many will put down their novels and grab up the hope in those threads like a thirsty man in the desert presented with a jug of water. Some will break your heart, I am sorry to say, but don’t let that stop you. Even Jesus, who was the most influential man that ever lived, had some who chose to wallow in their pain (read in the Bible Mark 10:17-27). But having someone not accept it doesn’t make the message any less True. When you feel the stinging pain of watching someone you love deny the Truth, pick up their novel and read away, take heart, you re doing the right thing – but you are not the one who has the ultimate responsibility for them. You only have the responsibility to be faithful and true in what you are asked. They have to choose.

If you are one of those people who is choosing to read your novel, to deny the love of true friends in favor of what you have always known, to stay with the same old pain and badness because it is easy even if it sucks. Would you consider just talking to God about it? Invite Him into your world right now – and keep doing it – i think sometimes we find ourselves denying the threads of hope because something inside us is too broken to actually see the Truth – we have no idea what to do next, or if there’s even a possibility that the thread might be True. Ask God to heal you inside. Ask Him to give you a new vision of what life can be like. Ask Him to change Your mind – keep asking – do your best – surround yourself with people who have an idea of what hope really is – thread givers – don’t isolate yourself in your pain, behind your little cheesy fiction book – there is so much More to life than you have seen if you will just lift up your head.

At More than more we cannot prevent pain from entering into your life. In fact, all of us have been pretty well slammed by pain. But, what we can promise is that we will journey through it with you. We will care about you and we will continue to point you in the direction of goodness and healing. We will journey with you toward More than you have been living for.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please join us this Thursday, May 19th, 6:45-8:00 PM, at McAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.

Ever thought about Thyroid??

Well, let me tell you, if you have not thought about thyroid, you are missing out!!! This is a truly amazing gland in your body (ok not all of you - some of you may have had it removed...) The thyroid is this gland, in your neck, that makes thyroid hormone - great name!! Now, thyroid hormone is absolutely essential to your well being - it controls how you grow, how you maintain weight and energy, how you use food, how you feel, your mood, and tons of other stuff - in fact, one of the rules of medicine is that if something is wrong and the thyroid is messed up, fix the thyroid first, and the other things may normalize too! It is truly amazing and powerful!

So, the way that thyroid works is remarkable - i have attached a picture for those visual learners, like me - basically, it begins in the brain and a signal is sent to the pituitary gland in the form of a hormone - TRH - this tells the pituitary to make TSH, another hormone, and then that goes to the thyroid gland and tells it to make thyroid hormone! Now this seems complicated and unnecessary until you know the next part. The thyroid hormone then floats around doing its work in the body, but both the TSH maker and the TRH maker have a built in sensor for thyroid hormone - these sensors tell them when there is enough thyroid in the blood and then the signal to make more decreases automatically - so the system is so miraculously made that this vital hormone stays at very consistent levels in your system, because of this delicate feedback mechanism!!!


Now, as if this is not enough already, we have known for a long time that thyroid levels change during pregnancy and it used to be thought that it was because the newborn must have plenty of thyroid hormone to grow and develop (and God designed an automatic system to protect that little one!!), and because there are more proteins in the blood of a pregnant woman, the levels of the labs we use to test are harder to interpret. But there is more than these things - it turns out that the hormone from the placenta that women make during pregnancy - HCG (this is what pregnancy tests measure) also goes straight to the thyroid gland and stimulates production of thyroid hormone (thus giving plenty of supply to this essential hormone to that precious little baby), but there is some unknown automatic adjustment in the pituitary and brain signals that does not allow the level to decrease because of this special extra hormone floating around!!! Do you see, the baby and mom need extra, and the body would not usually allow that because of the balanced system that it has, but because of that system, God put something in place tht we do not understand to protect them!!!!

Now, i went to a conference a couple weeks ago and this big shot guy was talking about this as if he was surprised by this - as if he has everything all figured out - and there i was in the back of the room, wanting to jump up and down and scream that this is God's plan - to provide for that little one!!! Amazing!!

So, the next time you get up, get that cup of coffee (this is what i do) and feel the energy start to surge through you as you wake up - consider thyroid hormone. The next time you see a little baby, or a pregnant lady, consider thyroid hormone, and God's amazing plan to protect that little one, that even the big shots don't understand. Talk to God in those moments and invite Him to join you in your world, in your moment, in your day. It will be a better day for it!

You see, it makes more sense to believe in a loving creator who made all this especially for us, than it is to believe that is was an accident. And that is beautiful - because if He loves us enough to guard our little ones like this, then He is not going to let us go in our lives - You see, He wants to be part of our lives! And when He is part of our lives, we have the chance to escape the crazy, get more, buy more, become more of this world and find the meaning in life - we find MORE than more.

We will be hanging out tomorrow night - May 6th - at McAllister Recreation Center, Lafayette - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave - 6:45-8:00 PM - we would love to have you join us - you will never find a group of people who will accept you for who you are more than these people and theya re all on this same journey - searching for More.

Hope you can make it!

Why Can New Parents and Residents Survive?

Why Can New Parents and Residents Survive?

So, have you ever wondered how some people can get by with very little sleep and others seem to need a lot? Ever wondered how at some points in your life you seem to need more sleep and then other times (like when you are a new parent) you can get by with very little and be tired, but still be ok?

People always say that you can't "make up" sleep, but it sure does seem like you can miss almost a while night or even more and somehow get a whole lot less than a "night sleep" and still be somewhat functional the next day! Something here does not make sense!

Well, I went to a conference over Spring break and heard someone talk about this - this guy was a good speaker, entertaining, interesting and all, but he was kinda clueless. You see, he just didn't see the Truth in front of him.

He have his talk about sleep - as you may or may not know - sleep has different stages or pasts to it - Stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM or Rapid Eye Movement. We progress through these phases through the night as we sleep and we need certain portions of them to consider ourselves rested and functional.

Well, here's the amazing part, the part Mr. Fancy Lecture Guy totally missed out on, if you miss sleep, like a night, for whatever reason, the baby's crying, work is bugging you, you are stressed out, whatever, your sleep cycle automatically adjusts. You cram the phases of sleep into a much smaller time frame. If you can get what is called "core sleep," which for most people is about 5 and 1/2 hours, you actually get the functionality of the full night sleep - and here is the amazing part: you are made to adjust this automatically. Now, you may not feel like a million bucks after just core sleep, as opposed to your usual, but literally the stages of your sleep adjust on their own!

Now, what did Mr. Fancy Lecture Guy miss out on? He missed God in this! He taught this like it was just an odd coincidence! Ludicrous! God made you this way! He made yo to be able to survive child bearing and me to survive delivering babies in the middle of the night and us to still be able to function in our lives. You see, HE knew that sometimes, some people, would not be able to get the full 8 hours of sleep consistently, and He also knew that people and life depended on those people (like moms and doctors and firefighters, for example) still being able to do all they do and well they next day or 2. So, He made a system where everything auto-adjusts. You don't have to say to your sleep when you go to bed - "now i want you to adjust my stages of sleep tonight" - in fact most of you had no idea how you survived those times in your lives when your sleep was majorly disturbed before you learned this - i sure didn't!

But, consider this: If there is a great big God, who is big enough to make you adjust like this. If there is a God who loves you and your family enough to cover you when you are tired. If there is a God who sees into our needs and world so perfectly that He gives gifts like this to us and we don't even know about them. Then, isn't it possible that He is there with us each step of the way in our lives? The answer is yes, a loud and consistent yes!

You see, He loves you very much! He made you!

So, the next time you are laying there in bed, getting ready to go to sleep, or even struggling to sleep, getting up with a sick kid, or having to go in to work, would you consider noticing? Notice that you are made this way! Thank God that He made you this way. Invite Him to join you in your night, your life, your day. Relish the fact, that while life is hard, we are not abandoned to the hardness of it - we have a God who wants to go through it with us, to help us.

If you would begin to notice and invite God into the moments of your life, you will begin to see life differently. You will begin your exit from "life as usual" in the American dream.

If you are sick of the get more, buy more, achieve more, satisfy more, eat more, exercise more, religion more, success more, society we live in. If you have tried it all out and found out that you still feel empty and lost. Please consider joining us Thursday night, the 21st of April, at McAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, 6:45-8:00PM. We spend our time trying to move out of the "more" of usual life and into the "More" of the One who made mom's get enough sleep! We notice people and how amazing they are and we appreciate them. We also notice their pain and hurts and troubles - we do not ignore them - instead, we care about them - we come beside them and help in any way we can. And we would love to share this with you - it is great way to live! Hope to see you there!

update

So, last Mtm, on the 24th, went wonderful - it was great to be able to really help someone out, for no reason other that the fact that they matter - if you were there, tell someone about it and if you were not, you missed a great chance to give something of yourself and get a heart full of joy.

I just wanted to remind you all that we will be hanging out this Thursday night 6:45-8:00PM at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette - it will be a great time to hang with the kind of people who go to people's houses they don't know and help them out, for no reason except that they believe in something More in life than the everyday grind of American life!

hope to see you there!

Next Thursday

Ok - so, as you have read, we will be out in the community next Thursday, helping someone out who could use a hand (or 30!)

Here is the address:

8228 S. 350 E.
Lafayette, IN
47909

we will be there from about 6:45 til 8:00PM

We will then be back at McAllister 2wks from Thursday - 4/7

One final note, the place we are helping is not safe for kids - it is near a creek and has a lot of old equipment laying around - so we are asking, JUST FOR THIS WEEK, no kids.

We always want your kids, any other time...we just want them to be safe too!

Hope to see you soon!

More along those lines...

Fear.

Well, it seems to be everywhere.

As I noted in my last blog entry, my fear has shaped me remarkably. But, have you ever thought about what happens to you when you are afraid?

Your pupils dilate to take in more light and see things more clearly. Your ears get more sensitive to hear every sound. Your body moves blood from the gut to the brain (to think quickly) and the major muscle groups (to react and defend or run). You may even get more aggressive.

Here’s the cool part: Do you stop when you are afraid and think to yourself, “Ok, I’m afraid now, let’s dilate the pupils to take in more light and get the ears perked up and the muscles ready and…?”

The obvious answer is no – you don’t. It all happens automatically! You see, even though fear is complicated and many times distorted in the way we use it, it is a wonderfully made, automatic self protection mechanism that God has given you! It all happens without you even noticing!

Why did He spend so much time making this? Because He loves you! He wants you around. This is a way for you to protect yourself!

It is fantastic…and we take it for granted at every scary movie, every near miss in our cars, every time we get scared.

So, as much as you may not like being scared, the next time you are, don’t just let it slide by – recognize that God made you amazingly well and that when He did that, he was saying how much He cares about you. And if He cares about you that much, then He will not abandon you…ever. Notice His love for you in that moment. Thank Him for it! Invite him into that moment with you and ask Him to be part of your life – right there. Notice the connection point with God and your life will begin to change a little. Your perspective will begin to change.

If you are sick of life as usual in this life, always trying to get more, become more, achieve more and you would like to have a different type of life – one that notices like this – we would love to have you join us!

We get together every other Thursday night – the next time will be 3/24 – 6:45-8:00PM. This next time will be different than usual though – we will be out in the community, doing something to help someone! It will be a fantastic time! Stay tuned to the blog (www.morethamoremtm.blogspot.com) or email (if you get them) to find out where. There will probably not be childcare at the outreach night and so you will need to plan to watch your kids if you come, or get childcare (too hard to watch the kids where we are going to be).

The time after, 4/7 – will be back at McAllister Recreation Center- just off 20th and Schuyler in Lafayette, 6:45-8:00 PM and there will be wonderful and free childcare for that night!! Hope to see you there!

So, what are you afraid of?

So, my wife and I were talking the other night about something she has been reading and studying and talking about with some friends of hers. The entire discussion was about fear. Seems fear is something that is present all over the place in our society. I deal with it often in my office – it manifests itself as anxiety in the lives of thousands of Americans and seems to suck the joy from our lives.

So, she asked me, “What’s your greatest fear?” “Woa, hold on a second,” I thought, “I know this is marriage and all, but do you have to get so personal.” Well, after a second of adjusting to the question and the fact that I really did not like thinking about it or dealing with it, I decided on an answer and here it is:

I am most afraid of failing.

When I type them out on the screen, they seem so small and insignificant, but when I say them, even as I’m typing them, they conjure some senses deep inside me that cringe, even feeling like I am being prepared to be hit or something (and as far as I know no one is lurking around me ready to smack me!).

The thing is that this seemingly insignificant 6 words have shaped my life massively over the years. You see, I am an analyzer – I try to think ahead of everything, anticipate everything and figure everything out before it happens. This tends to drive those I love crazy sometimes (it is not unusual for my wife to say, “Quit analyzing me!”) There is no question that this fear has also been responsible for many, if not most, of my decisions in life. So, just imagine with me, someone comes up to me with a great opportunity, but a lot of risk, what am I most likely to say? Of course, I tend to be extremely conservative in my decisions (not politically necessarily, another discussion). I am too afraid of fear to really risk very much! This also has negatively shaped my relationships – imagine what it is like to be most afraid of failure and to grow up in a home where the 2 adults could not get along – where marriage was not harmonious to say the least. I have been afraid of failure forever in my marriage and relationships! This has handcuffed and imprisoned my marriage in a cell of my fear for most of our lives. And this is just a couple of examples.

In fact, last night when my wife and I and the kids were driving back from Indianapolis and talking, I told her that I remember back in the younger days of our relationship that I was happy, but not like this – there was so much i didn’t understand, so much frustration and hurt and anger at myself that even though I loved Melissa, much of my joy was sucked away. But now, my joy seems to leap from my life. Things have changed.

You see, I figured out the fear inside me was responsible for much of the good in my life – like driving me to be good at medicine and parenting and all, but that it was also a terrible thing for me – sucking the life from me – the joy. Then, I began to realize that this fear was really just my way of protecting myself from what might happen next – anticipating failure so that it would not overwhelm me when it happened.

But, how did I find freedom from this, or at least begin on the road? Well, I began to see that succeeding did not validate my life – it was nice, but there was never enough success to keep me happy! And I began to see that failure was not nearly as bad as I thought it was – usually when I failed I learned something amazing and life got better from there. I began to realize that my true value and my future and accomplishments and successes were controlled by God. He was the One who gave me success and the ability to gain it. He was the One who gave me value in success or failure, regardless. He accepted me either way. And, He was the One who controlled the outcome of the decisions I was making (as long as I was keeping Him in my life and not shoving Him out) – there was no need to fear failure, when the One who created all that exists was the One who was in charge. Now, it has taken years and years of trying and failing to get to the point where I trust God with my identity and my future, but as I look around me, I see no handcuffs! I see little bondage to my fear anymore. Of course, sometimes it rears its ugly head again and I slip back into my self-proving life, but mostly, I live full of bubbly joy, not because of what I have done, but because my life is about something different than it ever was before!

This is what we are all heading toward at More than more – we are joining together to begin to see this freedom of life and spirit that is found in the release of our fears to the One who made us. We are on this path with many others, who remind us of our journey and encourage us along the way. They accept us for who we are, not who we prove ourselves to be! It is a wonderful thing!

If this sounds nice, and you are tired of being ruled by drives inside you that you do not understand and cannot seem to get around, if you crave peace – I wish you would join us – it will not be a magical insta-fix, but you can come alongside us, and we will help you see what we are already seeing – something More…than more.

We will be hanging out tomorrow night, 3/10/11, 6:45-8:00PM, at McAllister Recreation Center, Lafayette, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, and of course there will be free, excellent childcare available – we want your kids to be safe and have fun too!