On the old leather chair in my office is a stack of books either by or about C.S. Lewis. You see I am in the process of immersing myself in his writing before having the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Oxford, England to visit a friend who happens to be living at “The Kilns,” Lewis’s home for over thirty years.

While at this point I am somewhat overwhelmed by the thought of having such an opportunity, I look forward to being in a place where many influential Christian prose were were composed (pardon the rhyme). After all, the works of Lewis have helped many to understand the truths of the Bible and what it means to be a Christian.

My friend Ryan who is staying at The Kilns has a similar desire to express the truths of scripture in such a way that people can digest them, and allow them to transform their lives.

While most of us will never write a book, on theological topics or otherwise, I do believe that we all have the opportunity to express the truths of scripture through the way we live out or faith. That’s powerful.

The question we have to ask ourselves is are we accurately expressing the truths of scripture? Are we showing God’s love to those around us? Or are we doing just the opposite?

I believe those are questions we all need to wrestle with as we attempt to become more and more like Christ.

I can’t wait to share my adventure to “Jack’s” house with you when I return!

In fact, I have come to enjoy it so much that I hope to make it a regular practice as I read through scripture. I also thought that it would be fun to share them with you seeing as how we all face the same types of trials and tribulations, joys and celebrations and so perhaps a prayer from my heart would resonate with you where you are at in life. For that reason I am starting, “A Series Of Prayers.” This won’t be an every day post, but they will be interspersed throughout the blog in the weeks to come.

The prayer below is the first one I wrote and it deals with understanding God’s faithfulness to us as His creation and my desire to be faithful to Him.

Lord God,

Your will for my life is perfect and my plans are not. I resist and fight your leading and yet you continue to direct my steps. You remain faithful when I push away from you. My rebellion does not honor you, however you do not reject me. Lord your faithfulness is incomprehensible and it is my desire to grow in faithfulness to you. Continue to shepherd me and mold my heart into one that beats boldly and faithfully for you alone.

My Dear Ella,

On Saturday we celebrated your first birthday and it was a great party. Your mom made festive treats and decorated grandma and grandpa’s house, Aunt Elizabeth flew up from California and together with 50 of your closest friends and family you opened presents, ate cake and had a ball. It was truly a great day.

However as your dad, it’s hard to imagine that it has been a year since you entered the world. As cliche as it is to say, it seems like just yesterday that we met for the first time. In fact I can vividly recall that first night in the hospital as I stood over your crib watching you sleep, at times with my face just inches away from yours listening to the ever so soft sound of your breath.

And yet a year has passed and we have gotten to know each other quite well. I know the difference in your cries, your favorite books and the best places to tickle you in order to evoke the sweetest little laugh. And you know that saying “dada” and wrapping your arms tightly around my neck melts my heart.

The proverbial “they” always tell parents to cherish each moment and never take a day for granted and I can honestly say that I have done everything in my power over the last year to do just that. While there are grown-up obligations and responsibilities that take me away from you, you are on my mind and in my prayers constantly.

As you grow older, know that I will be your biggest advocate, supporter, coach, and protector. I will love you always, even in moments when we may not like each other.

You are a smart, funny, energetic and beautiful little girl and I love you with all of my heart and for that reason on Saturday we celebrated your birthday…and it was TRULY a great day.

Love,

Your “Dada”

Second I want to let you know about some of the upcoming 24/7 Life content. There are some fun posts in the works that I look forward to sharing with you over the next couple weeks.

To begin with I will be reviewing and giving away a copy of Blake Mycoskie’s book, Start Something That Matters. Blake is the founder of TOMS Shoes and I have had the privilege of being part of a blogger book review program for this books.

I also plan on sharing some thoughts and pictures from my daughter’s first birthday party this weekend. I can’t believe she’s almost one…Yikes!

In addition I am really looking forward to sharing some music recommendations. I blog for the church that I work at and this week posted some great albums to add to your playlist and I want to share those with all of you as well.

Finally, at some point in the next few weeks I look forward to introducing you to my new social media consulting business. While we are operational and currently taking business, the website is not up yet so I want to wait to fill you in on all of the juicy details until I can point you to my home page. Nevertheless, if your business or church is looking for some social media guidance, let me know and we can touch base!

That’s the kind of season that it is.

As my friend was explaining his situation to me all I could feel was helplessness. I desperately wanted to have a brilliant piece of advice, an antidote for his pain and yet I had nothing. All I could do was sit there and listen.

And while I’m sure my friend appreciated having someone to vent to, I wish there was more for me to do. Something tangible.  Something course correcting. Something that would get things back on track. But there really wasn’t.

However, as we left I had the opportunity to pray for him and I realized that even when there is nothing you can do, there is always prayer.

And truthfully that’s the besting course of action anyway.

Nevertheless, because my meeting over the weekend involves several incredible bloggers I felt it only appropriate to jump back to 24/7 Life for a quick post about these wonderful people. So without further ado, my Saturday meet-up with the West Coast Ninja’s…

Several months ago when blogging was still high on my list of many priorities, I had the privilege of getting to know some great bloggers, many of whom I live near in the Pacific Northwest. Throughout the week we would read each other’s blogs, comment on a post that would hit close to home and tweet blog links to our respective blog followings.

A few months ago the term “west coast ninja” was used to differentiate those bloggers in the group who were located on the west coast from those on the east. This distinction lead to some good natured teasing, but also the organization of a blogger meet up.

Now you can imagine how difficult it would be to organize a meeting of busy people who live in various cities and states. Nevertheless that is EXACTLY what happened. Although not all of the “Ninjas” were able to make it, a group of six bloggers from Washington and Oregon convened at the home of Cindy Holman, one of the bloggers (by the end of the meeting on Saturday  we had dubbed Cindy’s home “The Pink Palace” due to Cindy’s love for pink and it’s incorporation into her decor).

I have to say this was an incredible meeting. There was great food, wonderful conversation and more laughs than you can imagine. What stood out to me about this event was that prior to this meet up there were only a few personal connections. However we all had come together via social media and the blogosphere.

I find that it is not uncommon for people to bad mouth social media because “it could never create the same type of relationships that face to face interaction can.” However, from my several years of both personal and professional social media experience, the community and relationships formed through these various mediums have the potential to be legitimate. While I had only met a couple of the bloggers in person before, I felt as though I had been friends with the others for years, because I had gotten to know their personality, situation in life, and beliefs via their blogs, Twitter, etc.

There is no doubt in my mind that face to face interactions are vital, but social media has the power to help develop and sustain relationships that would never have been formed if in person handshakes and greetings were required.

I encourage you to check out the blogs of this awesome group of people. They are caring, genuine people who have a lot of great things to say.

Simply click on the name of each blogger to transported to their West Coast Ninja site.

Chris Goforth

Cindy Holman

Deanna Morauski

KC Proctor

Keri Welch

]]> http://davidnmiles.com/2011/11/07/when-ninjas-convene/feed/ 4 http://davidnmiles.com/2011/08/02/from-marion-indiana-with-love/ http://davidnmiles.com/2011/08/02/from-marion-indiana-with-love/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:22:08 +0000 David http://davidnmiles.com/?p=2305 You probably all hate me and I can understand why. I haven’t posted in weeks. It’s a tough battle raging in my life right now for my time and attention. I have a wife and 6 month old daughter, a job, a second job, grad school, a blog, etc., etc., etc.

Is there too much on my plate…sure one could argue that. Heck, I’ve been arguing with myself about that and that’s why I haven’t been posting much the last month or two.

Right now, I’m in Marion, Indiana taking a couple classes for my masters degree and as a result, my wife is at home sick with our daughter…who is also sick apparently. My work email inbox is inevitably filling up, and I think I’m working on putting on the freshman grad school 15 by eating in the cafeteria for two weeks. Life is crazy and yet I feel so blessed.

I have such a supportive and amazing wife who is willing to let me pursue my dreams, a job with the flexibility to let me take off for a couple weeks…a second job that is flexible enough to let me take off for two weeks,…and a metabolism that is strong enough to still keep my weight barely in check even though I’ve had chocolate milk and soft serve ice cream the last two days.

Life is good and crazy all at the same time and I thought I’d let you know that since there are many of you who have been regulars to 24/7 Life and have probably been wondering what’s up.

I do plan on getting back to posting more regularly but for a season the blog will be spontaneously updated and I hope you still watch for those random posts that will pop up every now and then.

So with that, I send my virtual love from Marion, Indiana.

Goodnight!

On Sunday I had the chance to preach and I was excited to unpack Psalm 27 as a part of our “Summer of Psalms” series. However, as I mentioned I don’t do this regularly anymore so I spent a good couple of weeks meditating on this scripture, researching, writing, etc. I wanted to make sure I was prepared.

Needless to say I was excited for Sunday to roll around and and I felt ready to share the message that God had placed on my heart.

As is always the case when it comes to public speaking, I get a little amped up and nervous before hand. It’s like the excitement before the big game. In general I don’t think this is a bad thing, but I learned on Sunday that this “excitement” mixed with a lack of breakfast can have serious consequences.

As I made my way up onto the stage to speak I began to feel a little weak and this only continued to get worse as I started introducing the subject and passage for the morning.

I went from simply feeling shaky, to feeling a little lightheaded to breaking out into a cold sweat.

Not good.

As I did my best to calmly continue with the message my mind was flooded with distracting thoughts…

…”Am I going to faint”…”If I do faint, who is going to take over for me”…”I don’t think anyone else is prepared to get up and speak”…”Should I just go for it and see if I can pull this off”…”should I mention to everyone that I don’t feel well”…Am I going to be able to preach again if I pass out up here”…”Can everyone see me sweating up here”… etc., etc. etc.

After just asking everyone to stand while I read the scripture passage, I myself had to take a seat on a nearby stool to avoid a dramatic fall. From there I continued the reading and upon completion explained that I was feeling faint and asked for a glass of water.

Fortunately everyone was incredibly gracious and after a couple of moments sitting down, getting a sip of water and regrouping I was able to continue.

…But what If I couldn’t have continued?

What if I had passed out in front of several hundred people…?

That would have been incredibly embarrassing and would undoubtedly leave me with a good amount of emotional scar tissue.

Fortunately, I was able to avoid a grandiose meltdown, but it was close my friends, much too close.

In between services I had several people come up to me offering food and I took them up on it. There was no way I was getting back up on that stage without some food in my stomach and a boosted blood sugar level.

That did the trick and second service went off without a hitch. But it could have been bad and would have without a doubt been my most embarrassing moment.

If you don’t mind sharing, what is your most embarrassing moment?

I enjoy yard work for the most part (weeding excluded). That probably sounds crazy to most, but I find it to be somewhat therapeutic and the ability to create a beautiful landscape within which to live is exciting to me. Although I don’t have any real landscaping skills, I get a great deal of satisfaction from watching plants come into their own as they establish strong roots and grow season after season.

A couple years ago I purchased two small lilacs to plant with the hope that they would grow into nice, big, fragrant additions to the yard. When Monika and I moved into our house four and half years ago there was very little done in the way of landscaping and so I took it upon myself to change that. Since then I have planted, and transplanted dozens of plants, loaded and unloaded yards upon yards of bark and added new garden space.

I have also pruned like crazy.

Sunday night I was out working in the yard, mowing the lawn, and pruning these two lilacs as they have grown quite significantly over the last two years and I was struck by how counter-intuitive it seemed to be pruning them.  Both plants had beautiful deep green foliage and looked incredibly healthy. Moreover, I was pruning them because they had grown to be quite tall, just like I wanted.

With each cut I made I had to keep reminding myself  that this is in the best interest of the plant and that new growth will be fuller and even more lush. This may sounds ridiculous, but it wasn’t easy to do.

As I was part of the way through pruning the second plant I was reminded of John 15:2 where Jesus says. “[2] Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (ESV).

How often in life do find ourselves sitting complacently by, thinking that we have arrived, rather than taking a close look at areas that need to be pruned either because they actually aren’t producing fruit or because with a little time and effort they could produce so much more.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, it’s easy to look at Sunday morning church attendance, mealtime prayers and Bible study involvement as signs of a growing Christian. And they might be. But how much more growth could take place, if  instead of staying home to watch our favorite show on TV we got out of our house to engage in community service? What if instead of taking that big extravagant vacation we went on a mission trip? What if instead of X we did Y?

Pruning areas of our lives is even more difficult than pruning what appears to be a perfectly healthy and growing plant, but the end result is also so much more significant.

When was the last time you pruned your life? Are you willing to make the cuts necessary to spur on even more growth?

image via http://www.thedigitallobe.com/

Enjoy!