What an interesting and sad weekend

I have had a great weekend. First we went to watch Chris [launch team member] play soccer in the bittter cold. Then we had an awesome Game stop with fun, friends, and food. Then Sunday night.....WOW! Very cool. It was great to have Carter back on drums, and the band just basically rocked! Even though we are doing the acoustic unplugged thing right now, it was still amazing.

Of course underlying all of that great stuff were the announcments all weekend about Ted Haggard in Colorado. What a blow to the Christian-evangelical-community. I'm not really into slamming anyone even when they have done wrong....after all it is by grace that we all live. There is obvioulsy a huge need for repentence, healing, and grace.

But don't you find it amazing how valuable our lives are? I think many times we get so caught up in the daily minutia that we forget how many people are watching us live. Now if you're like me you are not the leader of a 14,000 member mega-church yet, but people are still watching. And on top of the watching, people are stll impacted by our lives. We affect people. That's what it means to live in a community. What I do does affect you, and what you do does affect me. How I raise my children inevitably affects you. We are all in this thing together and we do matter. How I handle sin and temptation does not only affect me and my life, but it affects you and yours. That is one reason why, in James, it says that teachers will be held to a higher level of accountability on judgment day. Plain and simple our lives do matter.

So even though I'm deeply saddened by Ted Haggard and the admitals of this weekend, it spurs me on to live with more character. More integrity.

Be honest in the little things, so the enemy doesn't have a chance to turn them into big things.