jeremiah 33:3 - ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ this would have to be the one thought of a 21 day discovery.

a couple of random thoughts:

1. i never fasted this long. it was God-sustained, wife-supported and a total learning experience about the recesses of dino’s heart.

2. i believe it was widely supported by the precious people of hpc. 7 locations were on the journey. that was cool - so many people sincerely seeking.

3. the fresh touch of the Holy Spirit in and on our services and outreaches - way cool was His touch on all the “love.”

4. we finished strong - vision night 2006 - this night, tonight - was a 5-star night. all of the campus’ leaders - volunteers, new people - a year-in-review video, which is the best thing our creative team has ever crafted. (i’ll get a link to it set up after we show the video in service this coming weekend.) (here’s a link to some pics from the event tonight.)

finally, all for Him. need i say more?

next thing: another day of discovery.

tonight at healing place church’s highland campus, rick renner was with us. he’s a missionary to russia who i got to meet the last time i was at hillsong in australia.

i found it totally amazing that he chose to speak on the subject of the Holy Spirit. we’ve just spent a month on wednesday nights in life university studying the Holy Spirit - and it has been incredible. what he brought tonight was an great message about how the Holy Spirit is there to be our guide - like a tour guide - to take us, lead us, steer us, encourage us through abundant life. he brought out stuff that i’ve never seen before in 23 years of being a student of the Bible. if you can’t come tomorrow to either the highland campus or the annex campus, you oughtta log in to the live webcast at 10:30 (central) tomorrow morning. or in a few days you’ll be able to check it out in our online sermons section of the hpc website.

it was a slamming way to wrap up the 21 days of discovery. God has been so good to us. one more day remains of our 21 days of discovery, but ahead there is a lifetime of letting the Holy Spirit continue to guide.

we have had a touch of God’s love at our staff retreat. we got away for about 36 hours. we so needed it. our prayers, our fasting, our caring, our service - have brought us in one direction and discovery but last night and today have brought us into one move story. how much God loves us was affirmed to each heart last night. today we will learn together, grow together, then go out on the LSU campus and reach out together with gum evangelism. servant style. the best kind of style. and later on some b-ball, walks, naps, long talks, fun. this evening a night of lance and marc comedy. got to end on a hilarious note. life is too short not to laugh so hard that you cry and hurt over it. we all with our families do so much life together, and very few view it as a job. this is just who we are. we are doing life together. that has to be the DNA of a healing place. then we are off to an amazing set of weekend services at the hpc campuses.

started our staff retreat tonight with a time of prayer. well, a couple hours of prayer, really. God was so real to us. he spoke to each of us - through communion, through a message in tongues and interpretation, through a time kneeling at the cross, through singing and worship…. and God showed me something in ezekiel 37 i’d never seen before. maybe i’ll share it in a future post here. i’ll definitely write more about the retreat tomorrow. God is moving and the Holy Spirit is pouring out.

well, i decided to combo these two days. yesterday was spent travelling back from nyc, a little shopping, a little flying and a little parenting. today is full of all kinds of adventure: bible study, friends, meeting, friends, wakes, work, life university, Holy Spirit, friends, and home.

do you ever feel as if you are actually a living representation of eccelsiastes 3:1-11? a time for every purpose under heaven… be born - die - pluck - plant - kill - heal etc…. with God it is such a variety. i believe that’s one of the things i love most about living and serving His body in 2006. it is the opportunity to blend. i could not imagine living and serving in a faith community where everyone was pretty much like everyone else. that’s my one challenge to church planters - why not reach beyond your own clone - reach to the poor, the sick the less fortunate, the non-trendy….

oh well, my soap box moment. thank God it was short.

hey - let’s enjoy the gumbo of the day. God loves difference and diversity. i mean, He created well over 300,000 different types of beetles (not counting the singing ones, just the crawling, digging, flying ones).

so live the custom life and enjoy it all around you. this will be a great day!

day 15 - feeling strong.

i’m spending the day in new york with kevin mawae after coming up and totally surprising him for his birthday.

God is good in new york. i’ve been dwelling on psalm 112 a lot lately - i highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know what God’s standard is for being a man. check it out when you get a chance.