One of the teenagers in our parish asked me a question the other day. She had to interview a person and get their ideas on what they would do if they knew they had four days to live. I thought...and I wrote. Here is what came out:

Dear Elizabeth,

If I knew that I had four days to live, I think this is what I would do.

I would tell my beloved bride that we had 4 days to do some crucial things and that I wanted her at my side the whole time. I would bless her and pray over her giving her all I could give her of God's grace. I would tell her all the reasons for loving her and would try and encourage her not to let grief rob her of the life that she would still before her in Jesus. I would encourage her to use every gift God had given her to touch as many lives with His power and love as she could. I would tell her to draw grace from Jesus through friends and family and to refuse to succumb to despair.

I would bring my son, John-Mark, home immediately from Seattle, WA and would hold him and tell him how much I love him. I would show him where important things were, give to him all the special things I have been saving for him and we would play cribbage and talk. I would tell him of my confidence in the One who has rescued me and was calling me home in 4 days, I would tell him that life without Jesus being the center, source and substance of a man is not life...it is barely existing. I would pray over him my fill blessing as his father and would plead with him to accept the love, mercy and forgiveness that God has for him. I would plead with him to let the Holy Spirit, who is dwelling in him, have His way so life could unfold before him as the adventure God intends it to be

I would gather all the kids I work with at Starbucks and tell them that I was leaving and that because they all know I am a follower of Jesus Christ, I needed to communicate to them the reason for my hope. I would say, "I know that some of you may not care about what I believe, but I do believe you care about me. I love you and would not be your friend if I did not share clearly with you about where I will be going in 4 days and who I will be received by when I get Home".

I would gather the whole congregation of Christ Church together for a feast, a celebration of our life together thus far and share my heart and love for them. I would pray over each one, laying my hands on them and blessing them with whatever the Lord laid on my heart to say. We would feast and laugh and weep together.

We would call our dearest friends, Philip & Claudia Jones, Paul & Carol Wolff and all the folks who have gone with me to Russia, let them know so they could be here for the feast is they could. I would call all our families and invite them to come as well. I would pray over family and friends as well and speak the Lord's blessing. I would give God thanks in the midst of my people.

I would send out one final message on Facebook to call everyone to think deeply and to take a hard look at their lives and to consider how much God loves them and what He has done for them in Jesus Christ. I would ask them to re-read my postings over the years and to let Jesus begin His rule in them so they might be fully alive.

I would give instructions as to how the Church was to celebrate my going Home, what songs to sing, etc. I would make sure that MINIMAL expense would be made to dispose of my "old house". I will not have my family be harmed financially through someone playing on their sorrow to make money for a funeral home.

I would have a cigar and a Scotch with my two near-neighbor guys and tell them one more time about Jesus love for them and that it actually IS all real and that I want to see them there when time comes to an end. I have shared with them before, but this sharing would be a pointed one.

I would take some time alone giving God thanks, offloading anything that burdened my soul and just giving Him thanks for rescuing me, living His Life in me, being my Lord and my very salvation. I would thank Him for making me ready to say goodbye to this life so as to enter Life in all its fullness.

I would spend a morning telling as many people as I could at my Starbucks that I was going away and to plead with them to let the mercy of God embrace them. I would thank them for letting me share my life with them.

I would call each dear friend in Russia to let them know I was going Home, to encourage them to keep seeking the Lord, to keep ministering to the children in the camps and orphanages and to know that one day I would see them again. I would tell them how I love them and how much their lives had touched and changed mine. I would tell Victor he needed to let Jesus be his Lord and to let the grace of God fill him, Dena and Irina. I would thank him for his friendship and the fellowship we shared for 16 year of work with the kids in his camp.

Then, with my wife, son and whoever else wanted to be with us I would wait till I could see them no more and my eyes opened upon Heaven and the fullness of life as Jesus welcomed me home.

I guess that's what I'd do. It makes me realize I should get finished as much of this as I can now, since I don’t know when that fourth day may arrive.

Peace,

Fr. Mark+

I don't follow Jesus because I was socialized as a child to do so. I don't follow Jesus because He is in vogue. I don't follow Jesus as some sort of last resort. I follow Jesus because in the final analysis, no other world view makes sense. I had doubts, but they were simply another sort of belief system. I follow Jesus because He has rescued me and restored me back into the relationship with God I was actually created for. It's not easy, but it is always good since I no longer rely on my finite self for hope, reason and purpose.

Back Again...

Wow...let me sweep away the cobwebs! It seems that I haven't made an entry since the Dead Sea was merely sick! Oh, well.

Yolie and I have been in Midlothian, VA for over two years now . Christ Church Anglican has grown from around 20 folk to nearly 60 as of last count. The community is growing in commitment to one another, to neighbors and to folks God has bump into them. We want to follow Jesus...not the safest thing I know, but the best...we want to live intentionally...meaning we want to learn to life without reference to a box (you know..."outside the box" is still referenced to some box)...we want to impact culture with the goodness of God...that means being real friends, intentional relationships, honest lives, God's power and grace, not human cleverness or oily shtick.

I still work part time at Swift Creek Starbucks. I love the kids I work with. I'm old enough to be their Dad, but they don't believe me when I say I'll be 60 next March 29th! I like that! My great uncle, Kirby, told me when I was 8 years old to never grow old through and through. That's one thing that has remained consistent. There simply is not enough classic silliness afoot in the world today.

We have had the folks known as Christ Church over to our home loads of time. These guys know how to cook! We've looked at Scripture, watched movies, talked, listened, laughed, cried and shared life a lot. I am so grateful to be here working and living life with them.

Yolie is writing great stuff. She does life-on-life discipleship with the kids in the congregation. I went to Russia again this past summer for 2 weeks with a dentist and his wife and three Russians in Camp Druzhnih. It's the camp I've had teams in for 14 years. The dentists...Noel & Elizabeth Roebuck...fixed the teeth on about 250 kids and some adults in 13 days! Amazing stuff. We shared the Gospel with the kids in one orphanage and 2 shelters that were staying in the camp in the . There was loads of other sharing as well.

Well...that's all for now. More later. If you are even in the Richmond, VA area, come see us Sunday mornings at 10:15 AM. We meet in The Learning Playhouse, 208 North Providence Road, Richmond, VA 23235.

Great Rwanda coffee, great worship, pretty good sermons (talks, sharing, etc. by me) and a loving group of folk. Oh, we have communion every Sunday. Jesus meets us at His table every time. wonderful grace to us gathered there.

That's it for now! Bye...

It's been a long time since I've taken time to write anything on this blog. Thought I'd let you all know that as time has been flying the Christian community I pastor, Christ Church Midlothian, has been growing in love, faith and hope. We are seeing God add to our numbers and seeing life happening all around us. I am still doing my "tent making" at a local Starbucks and having almost daily opportunities to share the love and power of Jesus with the kids I work with and with customers. We've seen the Lord do healing right across the register counter!

Do you like the picture? It was taken about 10 years ago before I went gray. Thought you'd enjoy it!

Well, I have accepted a call to serve as the Senior Pastor of a relatively new church plant in Midlothian, VA. Loads of details still need to waded through, like finding a house, giving deposits, transferring my "tent-making" work at Starbucks to a store up there, packing up and moving lots of things from Alpharetta, GA to Virginia. Yolie and I are excited and yet I'm going through grief in leaving all the deep friendships God has given me since moving here from New Canaan, CT in March of 2000. God is faithful and the adventure before us is definitely doomed to failure unless He be in it. That means that when it all connects and begins to rock & roll, everyone will know God did it and we got to cooperate. WOO WOO. Oh, the picture is the center of a spiral galaxy. The heavens actually DO proclaim His love.

Please use this link to see what I have been doing since 1994.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mpQbjJyqE7k

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