If you want to check out my new blog you can head over to http://yliapu.typepad.com/ayb/

     My head is starting to hurt a little bit.  I'm speaking this weekend on Colossians 1:15-20, and will be tackling the idea of empire and the Kingdom of God.  Much of it will be based on the book Colossians Remixed by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmat, but I'm also chewing through a bunch of books by N.T. Wright as well as The Message and The Kingdom by Richard Horsley.  I think I'm going to have to turn this teaching into at least a two-part teaching or it's going to blow a few gaskets I think.

I am really enjoying the perspective of these authors as they point out the brashness and the boldness with which Jesus and Paul both announced the "good news" of the Kingdom of God as it broke on the world.  I am especially enjoying the discussion of captivated imagination by Walsh and Kessmat.  Just yesterday I was having a discussion with someone about the Kingdom and they commented, that it was nice to talk about, but it could never happen.  Isn't it sad that our imaginations have been so imprisoned that we can no longer even imagine a world lived according to the teachings of Jesus? 

Perhaps today, you're feeling that things are beyond hope; that our world is beyond reconciling. Perhaps today Paul's words maybe as encouraging to you as they were to the believers in Colosse.

He is the image

  Of the invisible God

The firstborn of all creation

  For in him were created all things

  In heaven and earth

  Things visible and invisible

  Whether thrones or dominions

  Whether rulers or powers

  All things have been created through him and for him

 

And he is before all things

  And in him all things hold together

And he is the head

  Of the body, the church

 

He is the beginning

  The firstborn from the dead

  So that he might come to have first place in everything

    For in him all the fullness

    Was pleased to dwell

    And through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself

    All things

    Whether on earth or in heaven

    By making peace through the blood of his cross.

                                                                        Colossians 1:15-20

So I've managed to make it back to Thunder Bay after my jaunt down to L.A. for the Team Conference, and I find I'm coming back to almost warmer temperatures than the place I left.  I didn't fall asleep until 2:00 AM last night.  Apparently I have a hard time sleeping in the furnace that is now my bedroom; my favorite part is the little fan we've got going to pretend it's cooling the room down.  Yikes!!

It is really good to be home though.  This morning was fun when my two boys came running into my room to wake me up.  There's nothing like a good morning slobber from Caleb to make my day.  I enjoy being a part of the things God has blessed me with, like T.E.A.M., but it is getting harder and harder to leave my family behind, so today was a good day of just hanging out with the family at home.  Carrie and I are going out for some good grub tonight, so I'd better get ready.

  Well, I've managed to do it again.  For some reason every time I end up in sunny California I find myself going home with so much more than I came with that I need to buy another bag.  It's not that I come down here to become some consumeristic monster, it's just that I tend to drift into stores that are like kryptonite to me.  I went to a bookstore - bad idea!  And I went to Marshall's - again bad idea!  Oh well, I managed to get a nice cheap one at Wal-Mart for $15 so we're all good.

Now this is a sexy beast!!  One of the other pastors at Redwood got one for his 30th birthday, so now I've just got to convince my wife to let me get one for my 30th birthday -- it'll just have to be a retroactive birthday present, that's all.

What do you think Carrie?