IGNITION!

New Blog

2007-02-19T10:36:00.000-05:00

I am trying out a new blogging program called "Vox." Go Here to check it out.

Baptism in New Orleans

2007-02-13T17:50:00.001-05:00

264_IMG_0818,
originally uploaded by Jack Fox.

This is the groups celebrating the baptisms in N.O.

Scapegoats and Sacrificial Goats

2007-02-11T13:47:00.000-05:00

In todays bible reading, I was struck by the use of 2 goats for the Day of Atonement (at-one-ment). One was used as the sacrificial goat (i.e. slaughtered by the priest) and the other was the scapegoat. Both were used as a means of cleansing the Jewish people from their sin. One dies the other lives.

This fascinates me. I have really been camping out in Hebrews for the past several years; trying to figure out some of the deep mysteries within this great letter. Hebrews talks about Jesus being our High Priest and about how the earthly tabernacle is a copy of the heavenly tabernacle. So my fascination is: How the two goats play into the Heavenly tabernacle, and this issue of atonement.

So here is my two cents: Both goats represent Christ. One goat's blood was shed (without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness). The other goat had the sins of the people placed upon its head and was lead out into the wilderness, this was the scapegoat. It is easy to see that the first goat ties in closely to the crucifixion. But the other goat takes a little to understand. My thought ties into the REAL penalty of our sin is that we will be separated from God because of our sin. We will all die right? So Christ simply dying was not paying for our penalty, but shedding his blood did satisfy the Law. The scapegoat was separated from the tabernacle (where Gods presence resided) and led out into the wilderness taking the sins with it. Christ fulfilled the Law for us completely 1) by shedding his blood; 2) by separating himself from God.

We know that Christ was separated form God because 1) on the cross he said "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" 2) he descended into hell and hell could not hold him (no sin=no guilt).

So you can know that your sin, no matter how great, has been completely wiped out. Today is the day of atonement for you. Accept Christ's forgiveness and sacrifice.

Baptisms in New Orleans

2007-02-07T11:52:00.001-05:00

262_IMG_0816,
originally uploaded by Jack Fox.

Scot and I had the honor of baptizing 4 people dring the trip!

Hey that's 10% of the people that went!

Have I noticed this before?

2007-01-31T10:41:00.000-05:00

Acts 7:9"Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

Maybe I'm a little slow....

But the story of Joseph is a great parallel to the story of Christ. The pure and wrongly accused despised by his own. Sold out by those who he loved. But in the end given the place of highest honor second only to one.

Just Copies

2007-01-30T08:26:00.000-05:00

Exodus 25

God goes into great detail in describing the appearances and use of the tabernacle and items that would be contained within. To a jr. higher it might appear that God is just trying to fill up pages for his "book." Combine that with some geneology scattered throughout the bible and you could fill up few pages!

But these things were very important to God. The Tabernacle is where he would minister to his people through his high priest. The Ark contained reminders of Gods power, and was the place where Gods presence would manifest. This is also known as the Mercy Seat.

This is all pretty interesting stuff but we have to ask, "what's the point?" The point we fnd out later on in a letter to the Hebrews take time to read this link:

Hebrews Chapter 9

So the design of the Ark ultimately is a representation of something in heaven. Actually the entire tabernacle is representative of something in heaven.

Giving us what we want.

2007-01-26T08:28:00.000-05:00

On the surface who wouldn't agree that Pharoah had it all...wealth, power, and all the fineries thereunto. His people worshipped him as divine. It's easy to see why Pharoah would not have a need for God. He had everyone since his birth telling him that HE was divine. Have you ever met someone who appeared to have no need for God? They don't want to admit that they have any needs, weaknesses, and they certainly don't need the God crutch do they?

One thing that really struck me when reading about the Exodus was how the Bible refers several times to God hardening Pharoahs heart. I have read a lot about this because it is confusing that God would cause someones heart to harden. But this is not necessarily interferring with Pharoahs free will, because 1) he wanted it. 2) he had been warned that God would make a spectical of him.

If you have kids it's easier to understand how God could do this. Sometimes kids are so stubborn in having there own way that you have to tunr them over to it, even if it causes them pain in order to get them back.

It will be difficult for us to tell who is on the self destructive path. But they are out there. The guy who is wrecking his family while building his business. The addicted, the prideful, sometimes I feel like I am one bad day away from that.

I need to take inventory and see where my heart is hard. I am sure it is there. And while I'm at it; what has God warned me about? I gotta go...got some thinkin and prayin to do.

How about you?

Man, we complicate things

2007-01-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[f]"
43Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.
-Jack

There it is...

2007-01-18T15:03:00.000-05:00

1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone leave my presence!" So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household heard about it.

I was talking to my wise sage Keith Gaddis yesterday. We always have these great talks where we share what God has been teaching us lately. I didn't have much. The past few months have been a bit dry for me. By dry I mean not much spiritual input and therefore little output. But I have learned not to beat myself up over the dry times. I'm human, it's part of the deal. I just need to suck it up and press on. My talks with Keith help me with that. I hope that you have someone like Keith in your life. Someone who speaks truth into you and encourages you, someone who sees you as Christ sees you.

So back to Joseph, Keith and I were talking about Joseph and he brought up the above passage where Joseph lets it all out. What we landed on was that maybe this (vs.2) was the load of all those nights wrestling with God, coming to a point. Maybe he saw the whole puzzle coming together at this moment.

Have you ever been through something like that? You think that your world is crashing down around you, only to find out later that God was there the whole time. Or maybe there is something that you are going through right now. You may feel like God is robbing you of something but maybe you are holding onto things you don't need. At any rate have faith and know that God is with you and is crazy about you.

Josephs faith in bad circumstances

2007-01-16T07:44:00.000-05:00

Genesis 39:19-21 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. 20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

I complain a lot more than I should. My recent trip to New Orleans showed me that I have nothing to complain about. People down there lost everything, I have more than I need. People in N.O. lost their families and friends. I have more than I know what to do with. I wonder what Josephs attitude was like. I wonder if God would have blessed him if he was a complainer. Or was God's blessing him unconditional? Old Testemant writers were notorious for leaving out the fine details, but I guess our Bible is big enough huh? I would imagine in the night Joseph would voice his "concerns" about his life to God. But when day came maybe Joseph had wrestled with God enough to trust him...with that day. Maybe it's like arguing with your best friend, you will go toe to toe with them over something but at the same time you would give your life for them.

Which reminds me of what David said:

PS 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
PS 22:2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
PS 22:3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
PS 22:4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
PS 22:5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

And what Jesus said:
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
MK 15:35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."
MK 15:36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.
MK 15:37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

I pray that no matter what my circumstances, I will not complain, that I will honor God, and that I will be worthy of receiving Gods blessing.

Noah had a nice butt?

2007-01-15T15:22:00.000-05:00

I am not sure what Scot was on Sunday night when he kicked off the Sunday School Spectacular with the story of Noah's Ark. He was like an AD/HD kid on Red Bull and Fun Dip. I've been there, you can't stop. It's like eating hot sauce, you're fine as long as you keep eating it. Once you stop then it gets painful.

There is a thing called the "preaching hangover" where you wake up on Monday morning and you begin to remember what you said the night before. It reminds me of being in college all over again because there are so many similarities.

1. You usually get a call from a friend saying, "Dude, do you remember what you did last night?" While on the surface the call seems to come out of a heart of compassion, but really the guy on the other end is looking for a good laugh and to take whatever HE did last week off of the conversational radar. It's like passing around a bad trophy.

2. The morning fog lifts and memories start coming back of some really stupid things you said, in this case "There are some really great "buts" in the Bible" or "Noah had a nice butt."

3. You begin to wrestle with thoughts of guilt, regret and diarrhea.

4. You start making promises to God like: "Dear God, I promise I will never do that again...AND(say it with me) THIS TIME I REALLY MEAN IT."

5. Then you turn to your close friends for support. It might go something like this:
Scot: "Do you think I offended anyone last night?"
Jack: "Noooooooo, anyone who would have been offended left a long time ago. Like around the time when you used "granny got back" in a sermon. I think you're in the clear."
Scot: "Do you really think so?"
Jack: "Suuuurrrrre (rolling my eyes as I turn and walk away).

At any rate the preaching hangover will go away with time. You just have to let the memories die. Of course letting things die has become more difficult due to the use of podcasting sermons
and....heh heh... blogs.

You can download the sermon that Scot is trying to forget at www.exchangemcc.org

Or I may refer to it here on occasion, just to keep the memory alive.

Peace out homies.

Some Inspiration for the Creatives

2007-01-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

From Roger Lipe:

Letters to an artist
January 12, 2007
Dear Jack,
In 1903, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke responded by letter to a young man seeking his advice. Rilke eventually wrote ten letters now collectively known and much published as "Letters to a Young Poet." They are heartfelt advice from a successful (but still struggling) artist to another who was deeply mired in self-doubt. The classic language of these letters soars in beauty as well as lofty good sense. His idealism is applicable today to all who might pursue any sort of creative activity.
Yesterday, on a pathside bench deep in a blustery, storm-destroyed forest, I reread the letters. Here, partly in direct quotation and partly in condensed summation, are some of Rilke's ideas:
Your work needs to be independent of others' work.
You must not compare yourself to others.
No one can help you. You have to help yourself.
Criticism leads to misunderstandings and defeatism.
Work from necessity and your compulsion to do it.
Work on what you know and what you are sure you love.
Don't observe yourself too closely, just let it happen.
Don't let yourself be controlled by too much irony.
Live in and love the activity of your work.
Be free of thoughts of sin, guilt and misgiving.
Be touched by the beautiful anxiety of life.
Be patient with the unresolved in your heart.
Try to be in love with the questions themselves.
Love your solitude and try to sing with its pain.
Be gentle to all of those who stay behind.
Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.
Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.
Bear your sadness with greater trust than your joy.
Do not persecute yourself with how things are going.
It's good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult.
It's good to love, because love is difficult.
You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was born in Czechoslovakia and died in Switzerland. Dogged by fragile health and the constant search for inexpensive and healthful accommodation, he anxiously moved from one climate to another. Considered the greatest modern poet in the German language, Rilke counselled the young poet, known only as Mr. Kappus, over a five-year period. No evidence exists that they ever met.
Best regards,
Robert

New Orleans Disaster Relief

2007-01-10T15:36:00.000-05:00

On January 1 about 40 people from eXchange headed to New Orleans to assist with disaster relief. We loaded into vans, cars and trucks and made our way to the Gulf. Most of our time was spent gutting houses and doing mold remediation. This was one of 5 or 6 trips that eXchange has made this year to help out. From a pastoral persective this is a dream come true. The identity statement that we have wrapped ourselves around is " eXchange is a Community of people, following Christ, and serving in his Cause." As Associate Pastor of eXchange, I was blown away at how this statement was fleshed out by the people on this trip. We believe that community and cause are tied closely together. What draws people together more than a common mission?

Community - Our relationships with each other blossomed on this trip as we worked our butts off, sweat together and even bled together.

Christ - We prayed several times during the day together. Most often with the homeowner. We talked boldly about Christ with people.

Cause - God put on Flesh and moved into the neighborhood. Then he gutted some houses and remediated the mold. some people gave their lives to Christ for the first time and others were obedient through baptism.

We baptized four of our own while we were down there; Laura, Ricardo, Tyler and Nick were all obendient to Christ in baptism.

Selling our birthright

2007-01-10T06:28:00.000-05:00

Jacob and Esau
19 This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac.
Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram [d] and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 The LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. [e] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. [f] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom. [g] )
31 Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."
32 "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"
33 But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.

We don't hear much about birthrights these days except when we talk about English Royalty and hotel heiresses. Living in the land of plenty, birthrights don't mean much.

But in Genesis chapter 25 Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for a pot of stew. Esau was out in the wilderness and was literally starving to death. When he returned, Jacob seized the opportunity to take Esau's birthright. Jacobs name means "to grasp the heal". So Jacob caught Esau in a moment of weakness and took something that was not meant to be given away.

As followers of Christ we are co-heirs with him. We share in his sufferings but also in his power.

I can look back on my life, even in recent past, where I have sold out my birthright. I have squandered the eternal for the temporal. I wonder how many times God was willing to use me but instead I went with my flesh, and sold out.

Father help me to indentify the things in my life to which I am selling out.

If I'm fasting why is this going so slow?

2006-11-17T17:36:00.000-05:00

Day 5: Last night I had a dream about a Crunch Wrap Supreme covered in Mu Shu Pork. I am really hungry but I am doing ok. I'm really tired of juice and water and feeling a little fluish. My stomach sounds like a Humback Whale looking for a mate. But really I am good.

I have had some time to pray for some people and not just in a "blessem and bewithem" kind of way but really asking the Lord to move in their lives...intercession I guess.

Fasting continued

2006-11-16T10:23:00.000-05:00

This fasting thing is going a lot better than I thought. Although I am having a hard time replacing the time that I would normally eat with prayer and scripture. But what is happening is I am developing some serious discipline. And when I do get tempted or just want to quit, it gives me something to offer to God as a sacrifice.

My body is getting a little funky today. I am starting to experience some of the typical symptoms of fasting. But I think I can make it to Sunday.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

May the the things you suffer through today produce character and hope in your life and in the lives of those who witness it.

Fasting

2006-11-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

Warning...honesty approaching....

I don't like to fast. I am not good at it. I want to be better at it. For those of you who read this blog not associated with eXchange I will fill you in on what's happening. We are calling ourselves to a corporate fast. Many people from eXchange are fasting this week through giving up various things. Some are fasting from food for a whole week. Some are fasting from entertainment, internet, video games, t.v., etc. This started last night at 6pm and will end Sunday at 6pm. I think I will have a pizza delivered to the church at 6:05. Probably not.

I am giving up food and video games. So far I have made it through breakfast and lunch. No problem. Except the staff at the church went to Panera bread for lunch and I had to tag along since we were all coming back from Joann Smith's funeral together. So I order an apple juice. The girl behind the counters hands me a juice box. I don't drink out of boxes. So she gave me a cup.

Nice.

I have had problems with my blood sugar dropping like a rock in the past, so I am going to keep track of that. I hope to make it to Wednesday evening with no solid food and then limit it to fruits and vegetables from there. We will see how that goes. The video games won't be a problem because I can only play late at night after the girls are in bed. I don't plan on staying up late on this fast because that is when I get snacky.

All I am hoping for is to be in closer intimacy with God.

What are you fasting from?

Club Soda

2006-11-10T19:45:00.000-05:00

I have had the pleasure of being a part of something really cool. This week I have spent almost every night at a place called Club Soda. This is a club in Terre Haute that provides a good environment for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts to hang out. It is also a place that hosts a lot of AA meetings and NA meetings. It all started when I got a call from a couple of art students from ISU. They had heard about the ArtReach program that I have been doing at Maryland Community church and they wanted to do something similar for as a required project for a class.

Abbey and Angelia are two wonderful young girls. They both have a passion for helping people; especially the broken and marginalized.

We spent each night this week from 8-9 or so helping the members of the club to express the 12 steps of their program through art. It was great and I met some wonderful people.

I will try to post some pictures soon.

Gotta go ...baby's crying.

Wadda week

2006-10-25T06:59:00.000-04:00

So I'm getting ready for my families vacation to Disney and Siesta Key and I get a call from IRS Special Agent Scot Schnieder...

I thought it was a prank and I basically ignored what he was saying for the first few minutes of the conversation. Then he started reciting letters that I had written to Kent Hovind. I perked up and realized that this was not a prank. Kent Hovind aka "Dr. Dino," I am embarrassed to say, spoke at MCC a few years ago on the topic of Creation vs. Evolution. He and I argued for a year (almost to the day) on the fact that we withheld taxes from money collected at his speaking engagement. In order to get this guy, and his cronies posing as attorneys, off of my back I went ahead and paid the $865 he felt that we owed him. Special Agent Schnieder said that I was being subpoenaed to appear in Pensacola Federal Court and testify on behalf of the prosectution. Hovind has over 50 counts of tax fraud, evasion, etc against him.

But here's the beautiful part of this ordeal...

The date set for me to appear in court was the day before I was to DRIVE to Florida from Indiana with my wife and kids, mother and father in law and my brother and sister in law and their 3 year old. So, I missed out on a 2 day car ride with my in-laws and 3 kids. My heart was broken...yeah right. Seriously, I have the best in-laws a guy could ask for and we have a lot of fun together, but that long of a car ride with ANYONE is going to test the relationship.

So I testified earlier this week and things went very well. I basically read letters that were sent back and forth between Hovind and myself and answered yes and no questions. The defense was pretty week and was asking me irrelevant questions. Oh and did I tell you that the judge looked like a supermodel? That was weird. I was expecting a Wilford Brimly type. Oh well I was not complaining.

Disney was Disney, a bunch of stressed out parents trying to cram 3 weeks worth of activities into 3 days while we all watched "the mouse" ride our wallets off into the sunset. All of this in the hope of creating some type of great memory for our kids. We did have fun, but there always seemed to be an undercurrent of stress involved. It all made me realized how blessed I am. My life is so good on a daily basis that it makes the Magic Kingdom, not so magical. I love this life that I have been given. My friends, my community, it's all good. Later Mickey.

So now I am sitting in Siesta Key, FL sipping on some fresh coffee, waiting for the sun to come up. The family is still sleeping. 15 mo Chloe will be the first up, she's the rooster announcing the morning with a plea for her milky.

It's a beatiful new day and God is so very good.

Find some beauty in your day today,
tell a friend what they mean to you,
thank God for what you have and don't have.

Much love,

Jack

Open Door

2006-10-25T06:24:00.000-04:00

Here's some good news! I will have a show at the Open Door Bookstore on Saturday, November 4th from 6-9pm. They will also be selling some of my artwork there. I hope you all can make it.

Being genuine

2006-09-20T11:53:00.000-04:00

I took Caroline my 5year old to gymnastics yesterday. It's a lot of fun to watch her bounce around and interact with other children and adults. I try to guess what's going on inside that little melon of hers...most often she surpises me.

So i am sitting there trying to keep Chloe from stealing a bag of Cheetohs from the snack machine which was left open by the guy stocking it. She did her best to woo him into tossing her a free bag but he did not give in (he must have kids). She even walked around the open glass door while he was busy restocking and gave it a good open mouth raspberry in an attempt to overwhelm him wiht cuteness. Nothing. Not even a stale bag of animal crackers.

As I was managing Chloe I struck up a conversation with a lady sitting next to me. She seemed to be about my age or a little younger. She just moved to the area about a year ago and is working on getting settled with her family. Her name is Tammy. She reminded me a little like my wife Lori. Extremely easy to talk to, very nice, and pleasant. She also mentioned how cute my little Chloe was, which automatically adds some serious points in my book. I learned that she and her husband were from different church backgrounds and were sort of looking for something. Everything in our conversation led me to think that she and her family are looking for that sense of community that we all look for.

This is where I struggle...to say that I love being a part of this community called eXchange is a severe understatement. I believe that people crave to be a part of community, to have a group of people that they can love and will love them back. When I am sitting there talking to Tammy, I just kept thinking, "You would love my friends and they would love you." "What you are decribing as the things that you are looking for we have." But then as soon as i open my mouth I am afraid that i am going to sound like someone trying to sell a car or insurance (sorry salesmen, that just the way it is). I would rather say nothing at all. I am not motivated to make eXchange bigger, but at the same time I want to see people to have an opportunity to join us and for us to join them.

My desire and my prayer is to come across as genuine because I truly believe that what we have at eXchange is a rare and beautiful thing. I see us as an oasis to a very dry world. I know that's what it has been for me. I just want to share that with others.

She did get a good dose of what eXchange is all about...Connie Wren stopped in to drop off her little girt at gymnastics. Connie is the owner of the Verve night club and a good friend of mine. I introduced them without really thinking how odd it would seem for a pastor to introduce a good friend of his and add that she owns the best night club in town. That was a good segue into telling her about how we Crashed Bluesfest this year with about 50 volunteers....

Do you ever struggle with the fear of coming across as less than genuine? Let's talk about this...

Evie Ogborn Art Show!!!

2006-09-20T11:47:00.000-04:00

Evie Ogborn is having an art show at Ivy Tech on Friday, Sept 22 from 4-7pm. Her stuff is beautiful. It's very dark and mysterious, yet comfy. Evie has some techniques that I really admire. You can get a good look at her stuff on her website www.evieogborn.com.

See you there!

Art Show - New Stuff

2006-09-06T08:53:00.000-04:00

I have a bunch of new stuff for my art show at Coffee Grounds. I will try to update the photos of my artwork later today. The show will be running the entire month of Sept with a reception on Thursday Sept 7th.

I also have 3 pieces on display at the "Own It" gallery at the Meadows shopping center. Stop in and check out some of the great stuff they have there. All from local artists.

That's what it's all about.

2006-08-27T16:16:00.000-04:00

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it isworth reflecting on the death of a very important person which almost wentunnoticed at the end of May. Larry La Prise, the man who wrote “The HokeyPokey”, died peacefully at age 93. The most traumatic part for his familywas getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. Then the troublestarted….

ART SHOW AT COFFEE GROUNDS

2006-08-25T08:31:00.000-04:00

I am having another art show in September. This one I have titled "Metamorphosis." The image of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon reminds me of the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It also reminds me of the transformation that I have seen happen so many people who have encountered the life changing power that comes from following Christ.

I will have several new pieces on display. So please come and check them out. I will have a relaxed reception at the Coffee Grounds on Thursday Sept 7th, from 7-9pm children are welcome.

Here is a little secret and a bit of irony: The picture above has changed since I took this photo, come to the reception and see if you can notice the changes.