20/20 hindsight, today (updated)

[UPDATE: i had forgotten to include the "today i'm thankful for" section, it's now included]
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there's those moments in your life that you look back on with 20/20 hindsight and think, "that was a defining moment in my life."

most of the time you don't even know that those moments will change your life, behavior, or world-view at the moment that they occur.

let me give an example. "once upon a time . . ." i was a substitute teacher in west valley and i was called to sub for an agriculture class ('01 or '02). prior to this i had heard that eating pork wasn't good 'because their dirty animals.' i mean, i wasn't eating their skin. but i didn't really believe it until that day.

that day i saw with my own eyes a pig eating it's own feces. this immediately made me nauseous and i quit all pork consumption immediately. (for about 2-3 weeks) for some reason that image burned in my head wasn't enough to rid me of "Pizza Hut's Meat Lovers Pan Pizza". a few weeks later i slowly started to start eating pork again. but every once in a while i saw in my mind THAT pig chowing down.

it wasn't until years later that deb and i read a book called "The Maker's Diet". (actually deb read all of it, i only read part of it) anywhoo . . . one of things the book mentioned was specific reasons why eating pork was bad for your health, the digestive system of a pig compared to say a cow, and other foods to stay away from. (shellfish - or "cockroaches of the sea" as they called them. bye, bye lobster, shrimp, clams, ect.) and it was in that moment that the vision of the 'poop eating pig' came back to my memory. and since then (feb '06) that i have not knowingly eaten any pork, or shellfish.

so for me it was the "knowledge" (reading the book) and the "experience" (subbing in west valley) that created that "defining moment" for me. i can look back now and realize that was the turning point for me. i didn't know it then, but i do know it now.

>>>>> fast forward to today (march '07) >>>>>

anyways, i feel like i'm in the middle of 'one of those moments'. this time it has to do with our church, and it's not really a moment but more of a season. and as i said it's happening right now, not in 20/20 hindsight. i "know" that our church is in a state of transition/change because of my involvement in leadership and as a staff member. but to me it seems like more than that.

over the last few years we've read books, listen to podcasts, and watched videos of people describing the change that took place in their own church/organization in 'the early days'. and now those organizations are thriving and have a working model to continue that success in the future. they describe the difficulties, struggles, and the 'staff differences' that need to be worked through. and that's where i feel we are right now.

over the past 6 - 12 months our 'core' staff has worked through a lot of issues individually and as a team. and we're still have a long way to go to complete our transition, but i have the sense that it's something more significant than what we know or even what we're actually planning. years from now when our ministry looks dramatically different than it currently does and we are trying to explain our success to others via books, videos, podcasts, or workshops; THIS is the time (Q3 '06 thru ?? '07 or '08) that we'll look back on as being the 'defining moments'. THIS will be our 20/20 hindsight. and the 'action' we take during THESE DAYS will be our character and fulfilled (or failed) dreams of tomorrow.


today i'm thankful for //
1. rachel's smiles
2. 'half days' at school
3. garlic bread
4. neighbor kids
5. comfy couches
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