Can it really be the end of February already? This month has flown by for me. I am feeling a bit more settled in and am getting the hang of my schedule a little more every week. I have been spending a lot of time at home. This is nice for the most part but it tends to leave me feeling isolated and alone. That is not good. Feeling alone and isolated can drive us to seek connections that are unhealthy and often dangerous to our relationship with God. Knowing this is true I have been trying to find places with people to connect with.

I was blessed with some wonderful and fun human interaction this past week. On Friday I got to go bowling with some awesome people from our church! I don’t go bowling often so I didn’t have high expectations of a great score (which was fair, I don’t think I broke 100) and just went hoping for a fun time. It was great! I met the couples and a few of their kids and we bowled like no one was watching (hopefully no one was, cause man do I stink!). One of the greatest blessings was getting to know these people better and interact with their kids.

The other blessing I received was on Sunday. Drew Krupp (one of our amazing youth leaders) and I have been meaning to go play some disc golf and finally took the chance to go up to Grants Pass and play at a beautiful course there.  Our first round after not playing together was more about breaking the rust off, and boy was I rusty! While we were playing we met a guy who was playing by himself and asked if he could join us. We said yes and went on to play a couple holes with Shane before his friend Bill came and joined us too. What started as a simple game to get our throws back for Drew and I turned into an afternoon of walking with these two strangers for a little while and chatting back and forth about life and the best disc to throw for a particular shot. It was one of the best days I have had since moving to Oregon!

These two stories remind me of how important it is to be out and engaged with people where they are at. Finding safe spaces to interact with others can be a challenge nowadays. One way we can do this is join people where they are at and walk with them for a bit. Get to know them, have a relationship with them, and open the door for deeper interaction by letting them know they are safe with us.

As we go into March be thinking about what you like to do. Consider places or spaces where people are doing that thing and see if you can join them.  Recognize that your hobbies and activities are important to God’s kingdom. He created you with those gifts and abilities to further His plan of redemption wherever you are.

FROM THE DESK OF JESSE DAVIS  January. It is a month of new beginnings. We make resolutions to start the New Year right. We decide that we are going to live differently this year! As a church we have made that decision to live differently. We have a new pastor and are going to be doing things a little differently in the coming years. Who we are does not change, we are still going to be the Body of Christ. What we do does not change, we are still going to love people and honor God in all we do. How we do things is going to change, a little bit to start with and maybe more than we are all comfortable with in the end.

We do not have to be afraid of the coming year. God is at work today and we are going to be a part of that work. He wants us to take part in the redemption of this city. How can we say no to that? The opportunity that God is giving us in the coming year is to seek out new ways of connecting with people and building relationships which will impact lives for the Kingdom. As we build on the foundation that we have here we have a major advantage. We know this city. We know its people and its culture. We can use what we know to further the Gospel in this place if only we will offer our days to Jesus.

Over the coming months we are going to be looking at the Gospel of Matthew and who Jesus is. We are going to study this because there is no better way to see how a group of people can impact their surroundings by learning from Jesus than reading about the disciples and their Teacher. Please continue to be involved with this process of learning and growing with us here on Sunday’s and throughout the week so that we can impact this community for Christ.

The year is 2015. Back in 1989, in the movie “Back to the Future II,” the main characters, Doc Brown and Marty McFly, traveled forward in time from the year 1985 to 30 years in the future, 2015. The movie version of 2015 had among other things, hover boards, flying cars, shoes that affixed at the push of a button, and 3-D billboards. In 1989, 2015 seemed like a long way off and yet, here we are.

Most of what the writers and director of the movie envisioned for 2015 hasn’t yet happened but that doesn’t mean that the world hasn’t changed since 1989. We don’t have to look too far to see smart phones and watches, laptop computers and cars filled with technology that we never dreamed of in 1989. But even so, life isn’t really so much different than it was in 1989.

One way I hope that our lives aren’t the same as they were in previous years is in our relationship with Jesus. Jesus never intended for our relationship with Him to be static, stagnant or unchanging. From scripture we see that our faith and relationship with Jesus are to grow, mature and produce fruit for God’s kingdom. What that looks like is different for each one of us, but the one thing that is common for all of us is continued growth in our knowledge of Jesus and in our relationship with Him.

As 2015 unfolds, may we find ourselves growing in  our understanding of who Jesus is, growing in our faith in Him in every area of our lives and growing in the joy we have as we live in the love and power of Jesus. The year 2015 may not be like the movies, but as we grow with Jesus it will be much greater than anyone ever guessed.

                                         God’s Grace and Peace,

                                                      Mark

It has been a blessing to watch as God has moved among us to lead us to the person that He has prepared to be the next pastor of Medford Friends Church. In the days to come, please continue praying for God’s blessing and work in the transition process and for His touch and blessing upon Jesse Davis as he looks forward to moving to Medford to serve as pastor.

Moving toward the completion of this process as I transition into retirement has forced me to get serious about cleaning out my office. Through the last 24 years I’ve given my office a thorough cleaning on several occasions, but it’s been nothing like I need to do now. 

As I’ve gone through drawers and shelves, more than once I’ve found myself scratching my head and saying, “Why did I ever keep that?” I’m amazed at how many garbage bags of “important” stuff I’ve carted off to the dumpster without missing a single thing that I’ve thrown out.

This experience got me to thinking about the “important” stuff we allow to clutter our lives; stuff we allow to hang around, even store, even though it no longer has any use or relevance in our lives.

This can happen in our spiritual lives too. We allow our lives to become cluttered with stuff like sins and regrets from the past, worries in the present and fear of the future. We hold on to old dreams that God has not chosen to fulfill in our lives, anger over past hurts and the pain of past failures. If we aren’t careful we can clutter our lives with so much useless stuff that Jesus has no room to work in us or through us.

This month, take some time to take an inventory of the things that you have been hanging onto in your heart and life. As you examine each thing, invite the Lord to tell you what you can get rid of. As you find stuff that needs to be thrown out, take time to confess, forgive, learn the lessons, make the changes, receive healing and let go. I think that you will find that you are both blessed and relieved as the old clutter is cleaned out, making room for even more of what God wants to do in and through you.

                                  God’s Grace and Peace,

                                                  Mark