Unconditional Love

What an amazing weekend. I felt so blessed to be able to share a message about Unconditional Love to the 11am and the 6pm services this past weekend. Thank you all for the encouraging words and support.

I have to tell you something that happened to me during each service. So, I get on stage at the 11am service and am introducing myself. First off, I get nervous when I hit the stage. So, I look into the front row and members of my Lifegroup are sitting there each hold up a giant letter in front of them reading : "Go George". I must say that really made me laugh and help take off the nerves a bit. Thanks, Will.

As for the 6 pm service, God really showed up big time. So I meet this great guy prior to service and he wants to propose to his girlfriend after the service. So I asked him if this girlfriend was a "sure yes" or not? He laughed and said of course. They had met with John Bishop and talked about a future date. Then he tells me that the official popping of the question had not taken place. So, with God's leading I told him I would cut out part of my message and change it as God leads me. So, during the middle of my sermon I ask for a couple to volunteer to come on stage while I talked about couples. Of course I picked them to come up. Once there. I spoke as they stood and then I asked Sean if he wanted to say anything. He took the microphone and his girlfriend's facial expression was priceless. He proceeded to get on his knee, pulled out a ring and proposed to her right there! Of course she said yes. I looked into the crowd and tons of people were crying and Brittany was crying so much. It's was great. That was such a moment God made for our service and a message on Love. Thank you Lord, for leading us on that one.

From my message:

A dog says, “You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, you must be God.”
A cat says, “You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, I must be God.”

1 Corinthians 14 1 Let love be your highest goal!

Puppy Love - Blushing, young kid often when first experienced; those eyes for each other
Conditional Love - Love is 'earned' on the basis of conditions being met
Unconditional Love - Unconditional Love is when you give it without reason, without cause and without concern for reciprocal favor; a love like no other the love Jesus gives us.

28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”

1 Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

We are his Masterpieces. We were perfectly designed by God. But, you see we are not perfect.
But God is. God is perfect and God is Love. So, Love is perfect. So if we all know fully that we are not perfect, why do we think the people we spend our lives with are suppose to be perfect? Why do we expect our spouses or children to be perfect?

John 13:34-35
34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

1 John 4 Loving One Another
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

We need to just love each other. We need to make it a priority. Making an effort to care about our spouses by not being so quick with our tongue, not being so prideful or trying to get our way...we can avoid family storms. We also can weather the tough times by always being willing to have the tough conversations throughout the relationship we are in. I promise our marriages will be stronger if we proactively have the tough talks and focus on loving each other always.

Love you all and thanks for the encouragement this weekend.
George

Sarcasm & cell phones

Hello all.

It has been a few weeks since my last blog. Sorry. After looking at John's new blog, Seth's video blogging and Johnny's Ecclesia sites I feel pretty neglectful. Tonight I really had something to talk about - cell phones, voicemail and sarcasm.

Do you ever have a problem with your cell phone constantly receiving calls. Your voice mailbox ever get so full it reaches the limit? Yes, I have done that many times. I am not sure why it bothers me so much, but I get irked when people tell me that I have not returned their message quick enough. Or, they say something about never getting me live on the phone. It seems the comments are always sarcastic. John has preached on sarcasm a couple times- in Greek sarcasm means 'cutting of the flesh'. Sometimes I wish God would just allow for all cell phone connectivity to be down for months. We could just get a break and take a breath in life. Then, God could take all sarcasm and make it go away---like forever. So people could actually talk about stuff instead of provoking something else.

Really, I am not needing counseling on this issue. It just became a hotspot because a couple of really close friends and I had this discussion. They were being sarcastic and so was I. In the end feelings get hurt, you know? They are like family to me so it hurt even more when the "sarcasm" hurt was vocalized.

Funny thing is when I was dating Katherine she thought I had funny sense of humor. Then somewhere during the marriage my humor turned to sarcasm. I don't know how that works. Anyway, my point tonight is three fold: 1) don't get on your friends if they don't always answer their phone calls; 2) if your voice mail is always full consider changing your phone number; 3) try to kill the sarcasm this week. If you are making humor at the expense of someone else (oh yeah, God made them perfect), that would be sarcasm.

Looking forward to seeing 15 pastors speak their own messages this weekend. See you at 11am and 6pm Sunday! Love always wins.

George

Summer Vacations

I love summer vacations. The trip we took was about a 13 hour drive down near Reno Nevada. We stay in a small town called Greagle, CA. It has been a tradition with Katherine and me for 16 years. Her family built this cabin 26 years ago and they have been doing 4th of July every year there with all the relatives. Some years we have 25 people, some years 10-12. It all depends on when the holiday falls in the week and who can get away from work, etc. Regardless it is always fun, totally beautiful and completely relaxing.

This year I had the blessing of Isabella joining me for the first time on a round of golf. She sat in the cart and we had nobody playing with us. It was the greatest round of golf I have had in years. We talked about stuff all the way. She held my clubs, helped me putt the ball and just was so sweet the entire time. I will never forget the first hole we played. I hit my tee shot down the fairway. So, we go out to hit the ball and I get ready to swing. Now, I taught Isabella that there were only 2 rules she had to follow during our golf date: 1) always stand very still when daddy goes to hit the ball; 2) always be very quiet when daddy goes to hit the ball. she did great on the first shot. But when I went to hit that second shot she said "dadda?" Of course I said "Isabella, remember what we said about being quiet?" She says " I know dad". She reaches down into her pocket and pulls out a golf ball and says "dad, I got this extra ball in case you lose that one". I absolutely lost it. I could not help but laugh and with a tears in my eyes I squatted down to her level and said "I love you so much, honey. This is the best day ever". It was so cool.

Such a blessing, kids are. So many times we look at our schedule as being too busy to spend time with our kids. Really, we are investing in their lives and future when we spend quality time with them. We also are modeling a behavior to them that says family matters. It doesn't matter if a vacation is 2 weeks or 2 days. It doesn't matter if the mini-vacation is 2 hours. I love the movie What About Bob. There's a classic line in there from Bill Murray when he is told to "take a vacation from his problems". Even in our regular routines it is good to take a few moments for these mini-vacations during the summer.

Attached are some photos from the annual summer trip to the cabin.

George

Lost Blogger...

Hello everyone.

Sorry for such along break from the blogging. That 10-day camping vacation threw my schedule for a loop and it seems I have never caught up.

Luke is doing great. Thank you all for the prayers. He is still trying to get used to his hearing aids. He often pulls them out and starts chewing on them! (this is not good) He has been teething lately so it makes the hearing aids so tempting! Luke also started crawling last week. He does this army thing using only arms and moving like an inch-worm. He has not figured out the legs yet.

My daughter Isabella has been such a great sister. She always wants to feed Luke and often asks if she can hold him for a while. Of course this lasts until he pulls her hair or grabs her face. Since her baptism at Easter her spiritual fire is so cool to watch. She comes home from Kidsworld and recites the memory verses for me. I loved one recent one: "Be strong and brave because God is with you" Joshua 1:9 ...she proclaims! I love it. Sometimes I wish we could all see the world through the eyes of a child.

Katherine and I are so blessed to have these two children. They are gifts from God.

I will try to post some of the summer photos on the next blog.
~George

Check out my ears...

Luke got his hearing aids today. We are having fun with his facial expressions as it appears the world of sound just opened up to him. He's making so many new sounds of his own. I think he is testing them out.

God has been so good to us through this process. We have met many encouraging people and received so much prayer. Thank you.

Hope you enjoy Luke's photos showing off his new head gear!

God bless,
George

"George, no scooters in the house!"

Okay, so the word is out: George is not an actor, just merely a man trying his hardest to make a fool of himself for Jesus.

Those of you attending Saturday services got to see that intro video with Isabella and me. We had so much fun making it. Savannah, Nathan, Bryan, Terry and Dustin all helped put that together. I hope you all could find some humor in it and at the same time see yourselves in some of the strange moments Isabella found herself when I was interrupting all the time.

If you have children, you so know what that was about. Funny thing was they were still trying to write the script after arriving at our house. As the discussion continued on ideas of what to say we asked Isabella to help. I said "what kinds of things would you do if you were trying to get mommy or daddy's attention while we were focusing on something else"? Thus, all the props and the infamous scooter scenes. Isabella is really an awesome kid and there was some dramatic liberty added to the video by both of us... ha ha. God is so good. Just hanging out with her during that shoot was a memory we will talk about forever.

I've alyways loved "Carpe Diem". You 've seen that one, right? It's Latin for seize the day, some might say seize the moment. Some say it ties to Isaiah 22:13 But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “ Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” Take 30 minutes with one of your kids this week. Do something you rarely do. Sometime we (Isabella and I) just drive to Starbucks together and call it a coffee date. I don't mean "to-go". I mean sit at a table and talk for a little while. Take every moment in together. God wants us to enjoy those little miracles he gives us.

Thanks again for all the encouragement and support for Luke's health. We have received many phone calls, emails and people walking up at church. Katherine and I are blessed to know that you are our family and it means everything to us to have the prayer support. As of today Luke is doing great. Next Monday he gets his hearing aids. They arrived last Wednesday like the original plan. However, they sent the wrong units to the audiologist office. The correct ones will be there Monday. Blue with white swirls. Isabella helped pick the colors for her brother.

Seize the moments...

George

How's your Attitude?

What a blessing for me to spend the weekend with Ron Heagy. He is an amazing man of God that really inspired many of us to check the status of our attitudes. Ron's story is one of those that God's allows and uses to reach millions. Whether he was on the stage or back in the office prior to service, his demeanor is exactly to same. He has a terrific sense of humor but also very willing to speak truth to anyone who needs it.

We will be again blessed as he agreed to come speak at our monthly Unleashed this Wednesday night. Almost three months ago John asked me to take over the student ministries. While overseeing Life Development (infants to college) I try to consider what message and topic the students really need to hear. When Ron said he would speak this week, I knew that God decided what the students needed to hear.

If you have students that don't normally attend our Underground, House Church or Ecclesia ministries - this is one service I would not miss. Unleashed starts at 7:00 pm at the Brush Prairie campus. If you are dropping kids off, it's over by 9:00 pm.

Please invite someone that you think would benefit hearing Ron. We want to really fill every seat!

Love you guys,
George

No surgery for Luke !!!!

Today was our big test result day at the pediatric neurosurgeon office. (by the way 4 1/2 year-old Isabella loves saying that name) The doctor has cleared Luke now expects him NOT to need surgery for repairing his cranial bone development! Dr Wehby was really great. She reviewed the CT scan and showed us what was good and what was questionable. The areas that were a concern last month are now less of an issue. It appears that all the prayer has really helped little Luke. We praise God for helping us get through this process. And we can't tell you how much everyone's support has meant to our family.

Thank you all so much for your constant prayers. The power of prayer is amazing. Katherine and I are not the best 'receivers' in the world. We would rather be 'givers' to others. In this case we will just humbly say "thank you".

One of the things that has been on my heart since we left the appointment today was all the people who leave the office with a different result. We cannot forget those families and kids. I will pray for those kids more often after the experience we have been through. Please pray for those families too. We are blessed and should appreciate what we have every day.

Luke is scheduled to get his flashy new blue hearing aids next week sometime. After he gets them tested out, I'm sure he'll want to pose for a photo for you to show them off!

Thank you, friends. Thank you, Jesus.

George

Next stop: Pediatric Neurosurgeon

So, we saw the results from Luke's CatScan. The doctor that did the test spent time reviewing everything with us. He is now referring us to see a specialist, a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. When our appointment was over, we all went to the car. Katherine, Isabella and I all prayed together for Luke. We prayed for God's strength and help in equipping us as parents. We felt so must peace from God through these results. While it was not what we wanted to hear, it's what God allowed us to hear. Now we seek to rest in HIS sufficient love and comfort.

Some of you have asked what Luke has. What they are determining is if he has Craniosynostosis. Here is what I pulled from a medical article to best describes what is going on:
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This involves a premature fusion or closure of the cranial sutures in children. Craniosynostosis can occur along a single suture line or several suture lines. The primary feature of craniosynostosis is that of a misshapen head. When children have craniosynostosis, pressure on the brain can occur and can be harmful to its growth and development.

Craniosynostosis should be repaired before damage to the brain occurs in the young children afflicted with the condition. A CT scan is performed to prove the exact nature of the craniosynostosis. After the completed evaluation, the doctor will talk to the parents about the sutures involved in craniosynostosis and about the recommended treatment for the craniosynostosis the child has.
**********************************************************************************

We are now awaiting the combination of specialist availability and approval from insurance provider to use the selected specialist. Once we have a date for the next appointment I will let you know. We will not let insurance problems or money be a restriction in our drive to help Luke. We know all we have is God's. HE gives and HE takes away. God has carried us this far into ministry and I truly believe he will hold us in his arms all the way through this.

Keep praying and we'll keep you all updated on Luke's progress.

George

Keep Going...Don't Quit !!!

What an incredible weekend at Living Hope. It was so cool to see the depth of our pastoral team all within about 48 hours. My heart was touched by all the pastors that shared their stories and preached their hearts out. I feel totally blessed to be part of such a team.

Hey Sunday nighters~ thank you all for coming out and supporting pastor Matt for his sermon. I know a few of you were surprised to see Matt instead of me. Surprise what not our intention. I hope his realness and authenticity came through. As I prayed with him before he went on stage his words were everything I wanted to hear that night. He said "I just hope I don't get in the way of God because I want to be able to help whoever HE brought here tonight". Matt's heart is so amazingly focused on what God wants. He is unselfish and truly inspired to reach people for Christ. Great Job, Matt. I am so proud of you!

Hey Sunday 11 am service ~ Thank you all for allowing me to share part of my current story and my ministry race. Katherine and I were overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayer and encouraging words. We appreciated all the hugs, the talks and the smiles after the service. While the race I shared was very focused on me, I hope the message and points still came through. We need to Eliminate things that are weighing us down. We need to Concentrate on Jesus. We need to Anticipate the end when start to feel down.

One of things that I think is so critical is that when we don't Eliminate things, but we try to Concentrate on Jesus instead, often it is so hard to do we give up. Another way of looking at it is that we need to eliminate distractions from what the real focus needs to be. Take driving a car for example. You go on a road trip and you're driving through a beautiful countryside at 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon. It sunny and 70 degrees. As you are driving you see the wheat fields, the flowers, the animals, the blue skies with clouds, the distant mountains, etc. I mean we all see things when we are driving, right? Take that exact same trip when it's 11:00 pm and it is so dark you cannot see your hand in front of your face without a flashlight. You can drive the same road with your car headlights on. Now think about it. About all you can see is the road and the painted yellow lines. You are totally focused. And, your knuckles are probably more white too. Anyway, don't you think you spend a higher percentage of time focused on the road at night? I mean think about all the things you see during the day drive. Every time you saw something was that much more time taken from focusing on the road ahead. When the sun goes down it Eliminates the distractions that can take away your focus. Once Elimination occurs you can Concentrate on the what really matters, especially if you are driving speeds like my sister-n-law! (love you Michelle)

As for my secret to Eliminating, whether it's your family or team at work: Consider what you need to stop doing instead of investing time in what you need to start doing.

Hopefully you heard me share that my current race is heavily in Concentrate and Anticipate modes. While the trials continue I will keep fighting the good fight for Jesus. It won't be easy - I know that. But I will think of Jesus as my coach from that film clip Facing the Giants; "Keep going. Don't quit. Give me your best. I want your best. If your muscles hurt, you're going to need to renegotiate that with your mind. Keep Going. Don't Quit. KEEP GOING! DON'T QUIT."

As you consider your life this week, think of areas you may be quitting in that are critical to what God's plan is for your life. If you know you have not made your spouse the #1 priority after your relationship with Jesus, you may be quitting on them to some extent. I know that might sound harsh. But really, are you giving it your best for her or for him? I know I fail at this regularly. But after sharing with all of you, it has energized my heart to make Katherine an even higher priority than she had been. She deserves it. Write your spouse a letter. Tell them how important they are. Remember words matter a lot.

Thanks for letting me share my story with you. We will keep enduring together. Pray for each other.

George

I love you Luke

Dear Luke:

Daddy and Mommy are so sorry you have to go through this process. We love you so much and wish you knew that if we could make all this go away we would. We are praying for you and will be there the whole time. We love you, son. No matter what the results, no matter what happens we will love you the same - all the way to the moon and back, as sister always puts it. If I could trade places with you I would. I dream of the days we can talk about this when you are older. I look forward to playing ball with you or golfing during the summers ahead. I look forward to our hunting and fishing trips together. Maybe we could even go with Papa some day. He would really like that. I look forward to seeing you grow into a Jesus-loving young man. I see your eyes and already know that you have a light that shines brightly. You have already enriched our lives beyond what anyone could have prepared us for. I look forward to the days ahead. However, I don't look forward to tomorrow's tests. It scares me a little about seeing you get put under for the test. My brain thinks of all the "what if..." questions. Then God rests my heart to know that HE will take care of you. Luke Isaac James Gomes- I am proud of you, son. You will make it through all this and we will tell people about it later.

I love you, Luke.

Love,
Daddy

Words of Encouragement & Prayer

First, I want to thank so many of you who responded to the last blog and the ones who read it and spoke with me at services this weekend. I am not kidding - there were people at every single service this weekend that came up and said they read the blog and wanted to let me know they were praying for us. I praise God for setting people in my life path to fill me with encouragement right when it is needed.

Last week was one of the hardest on our marriage that I can remember. We have been together for 16 years and married almost 10 years now. As I shared last time so many changes in our recent years have tested not only our faith in God but our unity as couple. Financial strains will always rank as a highly common ground for marital stress. When you combine that with the unknowns of your baby child's health it starts to compound the tension. Not to mention all the other "stuff" that we are going through. Katherine had what many would call a 'meltdown' on Thursday near lunchtime. Of course I was in our weekly staff meeting and she tried calling me like 8 times. Funny thing was I really needed that worship time at staff as I sat on the floor against the back wall of the auditorium and just starting crying uncontrollably. I read and sang the words "he gives and he takes away". (Thank you Chris for being there for me; I really appreciate your friendship and your encouragement really lifted my spirit.)

So as I began to gather myself I happen to reach for my phone to turn it off 'silent' mode. I see that Katherine is calling in and she sounds terrible. It's only the 3rd time she's ever called me at work in 16 years and said please come home now because I really need you (the other 2 times were when she went into labor). I immediately spoke to John and told him I needed to go. He was so supportive.

When I got home Luke was fussy, Isabella was sad and Katherine looked really torn up. She was on the phone with her mom so I left her alone and hung out with the kids. Isabella tells me that Mommy has been sad all day and crying lots. It is all so emotionally draining. So Isabella and I comforted Luke and he went to sleep. Then we went into the living room and kneeled on the floor together. I said to her, " Isabella, what do you think we should do for Mommy?" She replied, "let's pray to Jesus to help her, Dad." So we prayed there together. She said things that amazed me. I knew God was working through her. Her words encouraged me. As much as I love my son, my wife and daughter mean everything to me. Isabella is Daddy's little girl for sure. When Katherine got off the phone we all prayed together. That was a turning point.



Again, her day was filled with phone call after phone call with insurance companies and scheduling doctor appointments. The best thing that happened was we were able to get Luke's Cat Scan scheduled sooner. It is now on Wed May 16th around 10:30 at Doernbecker's Children's Hospital. The teams of people serving patients there are amazing. So, please be praying for Luke's CT Scan on Wednesday. They will need to sedate him for the Scan. That scares me since we don't know how he will react to the medication.

As for what we will find out, we will get 2 things out of the test: 1) we will get to see the cochlea area within the inner ear; this will help doctor's with learning more about what is causing his hearing loss. 2) they will determine if he has synostosis and what it would take to repair.

We did get Luke's hearing aids fitted on Friday. Soon you will see the coolest 6 month old with blue hearing aids!

I will keep you all posted after Wednesday's CT Scan. I really want to thank a few people who just helped lift Katherine and me this past weekend. Some were via personal email, some in face to face conversation, some in prayer. Anyway - thank you for your words of encouragement and prayer: Eric D, Mahoneys, 2nd "G" Gene, Chris and Don, Amelia, Mark, Kathy, Jolene, Jimi, Chris and Heather, Teri and Jim, Marge, Cheryl and Mark, John and Natalie, Steve and Shellie, our entire Lifegroup, Chuck and Rhonda, so many from Sunday evening service and Matt. I am sure there are many other, just a few that hit my head as I was typing.

As I prepare my sermon for next Sunday I found God's humor in that John asked that is be on "Endurance". God allows us to walk through the experience so we can share our stories. I look forward to sharing next weekend. In the meantime my focus is on Katherine, Isabella and Luke.

Thank you Sunday nighters for all your support. I will rest in HIS embrace everyday this week.

George

He's so Big, yet sometimes I can't find him

I watched the weekend services with amazement. All the statistical data on God's size and power. Yet often I catch myself trying to find him without success. I get swallowed up by my problems and lose focus on God. Perhaps others can do it more easily than I. We have been so blessed with 2 children. Our second child, Luke, has been going through stuff lately than really has me saying "God, where are you in this?"

We found out Luke has a mile to moderate hearing loss. We are fitting him this week for hearing aids. So he will have them before he turns 6 months old. My pride says I don't want kids to make fun of him. I think about all the sports I planned on playing with him. It' goes through my mind that he will need to have great hearing to do certain sports, so you can communicate on the field. Of course he has to because that's the way I did it. Then, the moments go to thinking will hear my voice say "I love you son""? God, where are you in this one?

Then we find out his cranium may be fusing together too quickly. We have a CT scan scheduled for May 23rd to see what the result are. The worst case scenario he would need to
have surgical repair to allow for the brain to grow. We pray that is not necessary. Again, looking to find God in this. God you are so Big but I can't find you in this. We look at all the medical bills not covered and realize 'we' can't afford it on what we make. That's when God shows up in my heart and says 'I got it all covered'. But the faith journey is hard. So, we wait. And, we wait.

In the meantime we think about our finances and try to figure out how to make it. We found out that by selling our farm and business to get into ministry full time, now we face major capital gain tax hit. We have some money set aside. The accounting firm says it will take 4 times the amount we have saved to pay the government. God, I don't understand. We did what you asked. We gave up the big 6-digit salary, we sold our beautiful home in Portland, we sold our farm and business... now we are in full time ministry do your work. Yes, I know it's all about you. But I also know you want to honor the desires of our heart. We gave it all up, I thought. Maybe we didn't. So Big and I can't find him in the middle of it all.

We pray regularly. We have others who pray for us. Where I use to spend my every moment trying to figure out how to make another dollar for me or someone else, now I spend it thinking about where the next lost soul is for eternity. I try to find people I can lead to Christ, invite to church or just show love like Jesus. Then when I am all alone the reality of how big God is and that I can't find him in my own problems really hits me. I know he has my back, I just know it. I am not willing to give up on that belief. It is a non-negotiable.

God is Bigger than all my problems and babble. I will be stronger, have more endurance and build character. (James 1 2:4)

George

Graceful weekend

What a weekend service! It was great to see many people come up on stage and rest in the chair of grace for a moment. It was even better to see other people get up and come prayer for them. Confessing to one another and interceding for each other- isn't that how Jesus designed it for us to begin with?

I still have a hard time accepting that grace from Jesus. Often I find myself trying to resolve something on my own without prayer and without asking for guidance from HIM.

The first person that came up to the chair was a really nice, but hurting young woman. She prayed to ask Jesus into her heart and make yesterday a new start. That was so awesome. I prayed for her then and I just took a moment to pray for her now.

Grace is so hard to explain, so hard to make tangible. We have a tough time giving grace to others because we have not fully accepted it ourselves. God's grace is so sufficient for our lives and yet we pass it by each day.

Try to rest in the chair of grace this week...for you. Then it will be easier and less daunting to give grace to someone else. Pray for clear thoughts and focus.

Love you guys!

George

Water bottle mania!!!

What an amazing day today handing out water bottles in Portland. We passed out nearly 5000 bottles and invitations to our Easter service. Thanks to everyone for making the effort. I hope you felt blessed like I did by just doing what Jesus asked us to do.

We met great people. Some hurting. Some sad. Some so excited we invited them. Some questioning why we were so happy and positive!

It really makes a difference in people's lives and hearts.

I can't wait to see what God will do on Sunday.... Countdown is on.

George

Time to step it up (5 more days)

I know everyone is doing their part with the promotion of Easter at the Rose Garden. Really, we are in the home stretch and the outreach is contagious. There are purple cards flying everywhere, signs being posted, water bottles going out and most importantly personal invites.

God has a huge plan and I am so excited to be a part of it. We put our sign along the street in our yard. Water bottles will go throughout our street tomorrow. We have received many "yes, we are coming" responses from the 150 emails sent out to people we know in Portland.

Everyday, we catch more fever to invest & invite...

Counting down the days...ONLY GOD.

Friday, 8 more days until Easter

Today was such a refreshing day for me. Usually Fridays are very busy at the church. However, today was like none I remember. There were so many people working together at a feverish pace it was amazing. It did not matter who was a staff member or volunteer. Everyone working together in unity for the same cause - reaching lost people for Christ.

There was such a buzz in the building that you had to feel like something really great is about to happen. The best part is we all know that when our best effort comes out and we aren't focused on ourselves that God uses that formula to result in an incredible output! Let's all be real honest here, spontaneous baptisms are something that makes Living Hope a special place for God. We all get so energized to share moments with people giving their lives to Christ and providing that first step in obedience by getting baptized. We know that "normal" baptism weekends are so emotionally inspiring when we see 30 or 40 people in one service get baptized. But, now we are talking about 10,000 or more people. Four swimming pools! Will it be 200 people or 400 people? Could it be 1000? I really have no idea, but God does. And, HE will reveal it all to us on his huge day of Easter. Jesus beat death rising from the tomb. What an awesome God we serve.

I simply cannot wait to be a part of this celebration for Jesus.

You wearing your Jesus lenses today?

Years ago Katherine and I were driving on I-5 together and she says to me that I just missed the exit. Of course like any man would do I said the roads weren't marked very well and the lighting was horrible. In addition, the directions were not really that good and were missing good landmarks to use. Furthermore, I told her that she could have been helping by giving me a little help "before" we passed the exit. She replied by saying that it is the same exit we have used for years to get our house.

Yes, I needed my eyes checked. Went to the doctor. He said the eyes needed some help. Got my glasses and contacts. It was so amazing how much I could see. It was like everywhere I drove I saw new signs that had never been there only for Katherine to softly state they had been there for years. What struck me then was how clearly we can see when our eyes are focused.

Regardless of whether you wear glasses or not, most all Christians often face the daily problem of getting their focus on the world around them. As I have spiritually matured in my faith journey it becomes more clear to me that it is a conscious choice every minute of our lives. We choose to see the world through our own eyes. But aren't these the eyes Jesus made for us? Don't we have Christ in us now?

Think about it, wouldn't it be cool if we could wake up each day and put on our Jesus lenses? You know, like so when we open our eyes we would look at everything in this world like Jesus sees? Can you imagine if looked at yourself in the mirror and saw Jesus? We could really make a difference I think.

Tomorrow wake up and the first time you see yourself in the mirror think this:

"Hello you, my masterpiece. I made you in my image. Go be kind to people today. Don't be so critical of yourself or others you love. Represent Jesus today. You are all he's got. Have a nice day. Love, Jesus"


~George

What's your week like?

So I was asked "what do you during the week when you are not the Sunday Night campus pastor?"

First of all things, I am a husband to an amazing wife, Katherine, that God blessed me with. Second, I am a father to 2 incredible kids, Isabella (4 1/2) and Luke (4 months). I try to get as much time with them as possible on Mondays and in the evenings. Katherine and I do a "date night" 1 night every week. Sometimes she plans it, sometimes I do. We will do dinner, or a movie or just hang out at a Starbucks and talk about life. This also sends a message to our daughter that mommy & daddy need their own time together. We have been doing this for over 4 years now. It is one of the things I look most forward to every week. I am in love with her more now than I was when we first met 16 years ago.

Recently I have changed roles at Living Hope. During the week I lead the Youth ministry (Middle School, High School, College). We are making many great improvements to that minstry. I am so excited to work with young people dedicated to serving our youth and focusing on life change. There is quite a buzz lately in Youth and we are so excited about our new direction.

When it comes to the weekends, I am dedicated to Brush Prairie for all 6 services. On occasion, people will see me doing announcements prior to John's message. When a need arises I try to help at one of out other campuses on Sunday morning.

Tonight I am listening to Luke cough (he's sick). Katherine is at the women's retreat this weekend. She really needed the getaway and fellowship. Katherine's mom flew into town today to help with the kids when I am at church this weekend. We get along great and the kids love her.

Enough for tonight. Talk with you later,
George

God has an Easter Plan for 2007

It never ceases to amaze me the things that God does at Living Hope. Katherine and I have been part of the church for nearly 2 years now. You see things happen during a service or you hear a person's story during the week. It makes you say "wow". However, right when you think the peak has finally arrived God reveals himself in a bigger way. Last weekend's service was one of those times for me. I watched service after service and saw God move through people's hearts. They came forward and personally delivered their offering to God for Easter. After the final service on Tuesday night (Living Free) there was in excess of $140,000 offered by the church body. That was in just 3 days! The best part is all that money will used to reach as many people for Christ as possible on Easter. God has a plan

Last year Living Hope made national news because we did something so audacious that it was beyond what man could do alone. It was Only God. And, HE did. We launched 5 campuses on 1 day and baptized oer 400 people. That was truly amazing and the memories are etched in my mind.

God has been working on a plan for 2007 and He revealed a small part of HIS plan to our staff this week. John will share with everyone this weekend what we are doing this Easter 2007. At first take you will think it is really cool and amazing. But take a deeper look into what it will take to make this happen and I am totally sure than man cannot do this one alone in the time line we have remaining. It will be another ONLY GOD Easter and so many people will be saved and spend eternity in heaven that Jesus awaits.

See you this weekend at Sunday night 6:00 pm !!!!

We are adding more things to the environment and hope that you all feel like this Sunday evening service is uniquely comfortable. Our God is so good to us. I look forward to seeing our all this weekend.

George

Sunday night service

So, I officially have a blog now! Watch out Living Hope.

We are heading into our 4th week of the Sunday night service at the Brush Prairie campus. I'm not sure how you are all feeling, but I really love the atmosphere of this new service. Sorta feels laid back combined with a spiritual intimacy that is totally cool. Bobby's worship is so heartfelt and it just moves people. We are so excited to be teaming together. God has been bringing people together to make this service work. We still need help with volunteers in all areas. So, I hope you listen to what God calls on your heart.

Thanks for being such a cool group of people. There have been lots of Living Hope staff members going to this service with their spouses, families and friends. It seems like this gives them a chance to take in God's word after all the weekend services they work at. I love being able to share this time with them. Last week it just felt like people were worshipping with so much heart - I loved that. John's message and the tile thing was really cool.

Must go help Katherine with our little guy, Luke. He was 3 months old today and it's diaper time. Yes, pastors do the diaper change thing. There's probably a sermon in that. What a night... Isabella and I were running through the house and she slid around a corner and hit the door jamb. Oh, that was loud. After all the tears and an ice bag, she insisted it would feel better if she watched a little television before bedtime. Always milking it! She is fine, but I am sure a shiner photo will make her scrapbook, like last years cast on her ankle after jumping of the bed!

Well, I must sign off from my first official blog.

George