-- Doubt Night --

Doubt Night is an evening hosted by Kaleo Nashville for anyone to come and share their thoughts and doubts about certain issues that may normally be "taboo" or not socially accepted or addressed.

This will be done anonymously and addressed by a panel made up of a few different pastors of local churches and professors.

The goal isn't to come and 'get answers', but to first understand that it is okay to have doubts. Doubting is part of being human and we all have them. For too long, unfortunately, the church hasn't been the safest place to voice these kinds of thoughts. This is something that should change.

As Kaleo we hope that this Doubt Night is simply the beginning of many discussions to come as we are all journeying through life together.

Doubt Night

Tuesday, April 19th 2011 - 6:30pm

Coleman Community Center

384 Thompson Ln. 37211

For the Green-Thumb in you...

Saturday, April 16th from 8:00am until...

Come out to the WoodyCrest Community Garden site (Across the street from 2015 Hutton Dr. 37210) to get your hands a little dirty! We'll be planting most of the Spring vegetables, working on a compost, and will be doing a few other projects there that day. So we could use your thumbs no matter what color that happen to be...

Hope to see you there!

We Cry

This week as we enter the discussion of the Psalmist's Cry in our small groups we keep in heart, mind, and prayer all the hurt and pain currently taking place in Japan.

So we cry.

LORD, you are the God who saves me; day and night I cry out to you.

May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.
I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like one without strength.
I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.
You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.

Your wrath lies heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you.
Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction?
Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

But I cry to you for help, LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Why, LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me?
From my youth I have suffered and been close to death; I have borne your terrors and am in despair.

Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me.

All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me.
You have taken from me friend and neighbor— darkness is my closest friend.

- Psalm 88

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Who is this about anyways?

At one point some of the disciples come to Jesus and ask Him who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven... Then Jesus tells them that we must welcome little children as if we were welcoming God and that the least will be the greatest. (See Luke 9:46-48)

I love the phrase, "It's not about you." It's so simple, yet deeply prophetic in the culture we live in today. Our world is constantly creating, moving, and implementing more ways to revolve the universe around us. To have everything point back to us and say, "Yes, it is about you."

The moment we begin asking Jesus questions like "who is the greatest?" ..

We have already missed it. The kingdom of heaven is always about Jesus! And Jesus is always about the Father. And the Father is always about His children. And well, those who are really His children, are always about Him.

It seems like we often get so lost in asking questions about Why this happens... Why that happens... Who will be the greatest... Who will be where... Why is there so much hurt...

But it's not about us. It's all about Him.

So, can we know these things? Yes there are things God does reveal to us and teach us... But even if He doesn't, it's okay ... Because it's not about us.

That's the best part about Impact... you go somewhere, you clean, fix, and do things that are absolutely not about you but about God and about others. We worship God when we can get our minds off of ourselves and onto Him and His purposes in the world. Whether that's mopping a floor or whether thats feeding a starving child in His name.

It's not about you.

ENCM Event!

Snow: God's little reminder...

So Punxsutawny Phil, the master forecaster told us that we're supposed to have an early Spring this year, and i'm super pumped about it because it has been a cold winter in Nashville. Even this very evening we are expected to recieve 1 to 5 inches of snow across middle Tennessee. Whether that happens or not... we shall see :) In any case, I'm hoping this will be one of the last humps to get over for this Winter.

It literally is funny though to see how everyone reacts to the snow. I'm not sure whether it’s just the people I seem to come into contact with on a regular basis, or everyone... But everywhere I go I hear about how all Nashvillians can't drive in this weather and how everyone else is freaking out. The other day it literally made me laugh as I over heard this particular lady who was recently from way down somewhere in South America expressing how all the drivers in Nashville can't handle the snow... (just think about it :)

In our mind we are always the "good ones" ... it's never us, it's never our faults, because we can handle the weather... We aren't' like the people who raid Kroger’s right before it snows... "it's those darn Nashvillians... ya know, the ones who can't drive in the snow!"

Recently I had someone cut in front of my vehicle on my way to work. I'm not sure if the person saw me or not, or if he just thought he was going fast enough to make it... even though he didn't. I slammed into his driver's side door making a pretty good dent in both our vehicles.. Then before I could think clearly enough to write down his tag numbers... he drove off.

At first I was like, "you've got to be kidding me!" I waited in vain thinking "surely he is just going to make a block and come back." Never came back...

What that person's actual situation was, I don't know. There are plenty of reasons why he would just drive off. The fact is he hit me and ran. He didn’t want to face the consequences, whatever those were for him. You don’t often run when it’s not your fault. People don’t often say “I’m guilty.” Or “Yeah, I’m a horrible driver in this kind of weather!” Or “Yeah I freak out a little when it’s going to snow, I bought five loafs of bread!” We never want to be the one the finger is pointed at… no matter how big or small the issue is.

Just a few days ago I was talking with a friend who was telling me how he was always available if I needed him for anything. He went on to tell me how he is pretty much always working and moving and how his work is pretty much his second marriage.

I believe this is one of the saddest things to witness. We live in a culture that promotes and pushes 24/7 efficiency. So much so that we praise the person who never stops and then we end up feeling guilty ourselves when we do finally sit and do nothing. But then on days like today its great! Everyone starts flaking out of work early in “caution” of the inch of inclement weather we are supposed to get. “It’s a safety issue!” That means we get to take a rest, guilt free! Bring on the snow!

Perhaps in all this then God gives us the gift of this white powder to remind us of how dirty we can get sometimes… to remind us that He is the only one who makes us clean, pure, and white. And to remind us of a season that screams at us to “Stop and Rest.” Stop; look in the mirror; and remember who you are. Remember the God who loves you… even amidst all your false efforts to be “good” without Him.

And so if Punxsutawny Phil is right…

May you take advantage of these last few moments of this gift of Winter you have.

- Caleb

Its Snowing, And You Better Hope You're Not Alone

What is it about snow that we love? We will sit as one and admire it. We appreciate it for some odd reason and the hope that it brings. It is cold and wet, things we do not typically like. But for most of us, it means anticipation of snow days and different schedules. It is the talk of snow that really causes a buzz. "Did you hear it was suppose to snow even more?" we exclaim. We look forward to playing in snow, staying inside away from the snow, sledding and having snow-ball fights.

There must be something in us that sees snow as something different than just cold rain. The insecurity that snow causes about driving conditions and scheduled meetings just rings though us. We, well at least I, hope secretly and earnestly that everything will be cancelled for "safety's sake".

Two things, frozen rain, and snow; they are the same and yet so different; which reminds me of something that happened the other day. At work, a man became upset and started to yell through a crowd of 200 people at a woman he was angry at. All you could hear above the crowd was, "I'm gonna find you! And you better hope you're not alone!" Later that day, I was doing some data entry while listening to Pandora, when a song by Jack Johnson came on. I am not sure what the rest of the lyrics were; but one caught me. In a soothing, comforting tone he hummed, "you better hope you're not alone." I don't know the rest of the song, but I had a very distinct feeling that Jack was saying something completely different than the angry man.

Back to what I was saying about snow though. Could it be that we revel in snow so much because it is a heavenly force that interrupts us and reminds us that there is something bigger than us in the world? Could it be that we are reminded that something greater is happening? Could it be God uses snow every once in a while to enact sabbath in an overworked city? Could it be that we are anticipating not just rest and fun, but ultimately, the good news of the kingdom?

Do you know any angry men? You know the kind that are actually upset when it snows because it ruins their schedule? The ones that see it as cold rain and a pain.

Later, at the elevator, I stepped in. Number two was already lit and a commonly wearied man stood across from me. As the elevator started to move we sighed in unison. Though we were different in every way, in age, gender, race, and status. We were one in that moment. I just know we both had the same feeling that somethings are wrong with the world, somethings we can change, and somethings we just got to do. Thank goodness it was snowing.

-Emily Haynes