New name!

I have a friend...I know that is surprising, but my friend felt like I needed my own domain name, so he bought me one! What a great guy! So now you are on the official "digdoug" blog. Now I just need a cool subtitle. Something like "digging into the realities of doug" or digging beneath the surface." If you think of something, let me know! For now I'm getting a kick at having my own domain.

A Thanksgiving to remember

In light of the message at Suncrest yesterday (complaining) I don't want to complain, but Thanksgiving was one we will remember for a long time. In the middle of the night before Thanksgiving 4 of the Gambles got horribly sick. I'm talking coming out both ends. It was not pretty in that little Oklahoma hotel room. We got up that morning and decided we didn't want to infect Sheila's family or my family so we headed home. We made it two hours to Joplin, MO and I decided I couldn't do it any longer. So we got a room and celebrated Thanksgiving in bed. On the bright side I was able to catch up on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Hanna Montana episodes that was playing in the background as I drifted in and out of consciousness.

On the other side of that viral episode I did recognize:
1) I really should have left a tip for the person who cleaned our hotel room;
2)Nothing feels as good as feeling good.

The week wasn't a total bust though. Because we got home early we were able to get our tree up and watch Elf to officially kick off the Gamble Christmas season.

Thankful

2 days until I stuff myself crazy...all in the name of "Thanksgiving." It's what our founding fathers would have wanted. It does seem rather funny when you think about the tradition of Thanksgiving. In the words of Jim Gaffigan, "It's like we didn't even try on this holiday. Let's overeat. We do that everyday!"

I am thankful...
...we made it to Oklahoma safely...
...for Starbucks on a nearby corner...
...for my church...
...for my kids...
...for my wife...
...for Jesus...
...for the ability to pay for food and a house.

So many things to be thankful for. Scripture says to count your blessings. I'm doing a bit more of that this year. The older I get the more things I even see as blessings.

I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Is there room for skepticism?

Doing a little reflection on this weekend's message...

The big idea of how true faith leaves room for questions and doubt has me thinking. One aspect that certainly plays into this is personality. Some of us are more prone to skepticism than others. Even very analytical thinkers can drive down the road of doubt often. I'm wondering how much personality plays into this. I believe for faith to develop there has to be some amount of restlessness and wrestling with issues of trust. They are not all intellectual questions but many times just matters of control.

I lean by nature to be more of a skeptic. I have friends who don't ever question and some who question everything. I am probably more in the middle. I so appreciate the child-like trust of my friends who just believe. And I appreciate the honesty and curiosity of my friends who question. Both approaches shape me.

There has to be room for both in faith. Skepticism definitely can play a part. It pushes us to search for more...more than we are experiencing...more faith...more trust...more honesty...more and better answers. I am thankful that a few who lean this way expressed that the message was helpful. Many times those who approach life from this angle suffer because they feel like they are a failure at faith. Far from it...I believe it is from God.

Child-like trust reminds us that faith is ultimately a decision to trust when we don't see clearly...to step out and trust that your father in heaven does want what's best. I admit I wanted to poke a little at those who fall into this camp. We can grow too comfortable with our faith and become too plastic in the way we approach the hard questions of faith.

There's room for both approaches in our faith. And there's room for both kinds of people...and everyone in between, in the Church.

Btw a great book for skeptics is Philip Yancey's Reaching for the Invisible God.

No easy answers

This Sunday I will be tackling a theme drawn from the song "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" by U2. The theme I will draw from this is that it is okay to doubt, struggle with unbelief and NOT have all the answers AND still following Jesus. It has me thinking about the questions I have in my life that I really don't have all figured out and what others' may be. So if you can, take a moment and share one of your BIG questions. Thanks.

National community church, D.C

Sitting in a coffee shop right now owned by National Community church in D.C. Southwest had a whopper of a deal on tickets, $30, so i grabbed the chance to come check out a church I have admired from a distance. They meet in Union Station in a theater. Great experience. Now to do a little sight seeing.

doug

First day of the beanie

Today marks the official beginning of "beanie" wearing season. It is now cold enough that I cannot walk around free and unhindered by anything on my bald scalp. With the temperatures dropping I face the cold, cruel reality that most heat escapes through my head. One positive in this is that guys who have hair (and care) try never to put anything on their head because it might mess up their carefully sculpted follicle creation. Not me! I wear away because no hair will be messed.

Multi-site practicum at Community Christian

Sitting at Community Christian in Naperville at their Multi-site Practicum. 1 church in multiple locations is the concept behind the multi-site movement that is taking place across the country. What an amazing tool that most of just stumbled upon to help reach people for Christ. I've mentioned before that Faith Church in Dyer recently opened a campus in Cedar Lake. I'm learning so much from them as well. Surprising to me is that the leadership team from Granger Community Church is here. They are a huge church outside of South Bend that is going to implement this model.

Jon Ferguson is leading a session on "5 Lessons to save you 5 years" so I had better listen.

Can't wait to see how God can use Suncrest in more than one location.

The Villiage Christian Church

Had the privilege of attending the management team meeting last night for The Village Christian Church in Minooka, IL. This church is about 3 years old and Suncrest helped start it. They are beginning the process of transitioning from outside leadership support to internal leadership support and looking at their first year without outside support. These are no small matters. It's like a child learning to walk for the first time and a teenager graduating and moving out. I don't have the stats in front of me but I know that a ton of new churches don't make it to their 2nd anniversary, so to see a church hit year 3 is a huge success. Nate Ferguson, lead pastor, is doing a great job. I'm so impressed with his mindset that he's doing it all for the mission.

What a great thing to see God working and moving through new churches!

Welcome back, Dan Thompson

I wanted to take some space to welcome back to the area, Dan Thompson. Dan is the associate minister for Arundel Christian Church, former Suncrester, blogger, fellow coffee aficionado and good friend. Dan and his wife, Lara, were one of the first persons to make Sheila and I feel welcome at Suncrest. We were in fact a apart of his community group and traveled to Israel together. We had a great late night discussion after group last night. Coffee in hand we talked in depth about ministry things that would bore most people to tears yet spurred great discussion with us. Check out Dan's blog when you get a chance.

Ollie Horne

It was great to have Ollie with us on Sunday. I love what God is doing through him and his family. Ollie is brother in law to Suzy Black of Suncrest. They are here in the states until December preparing to go back to Ukraine and establish a new church in February. You can check him out at www.lifepointkiev.com. You can also read a little bit more about Ollie in Starving Jesus by Craig Gross and J.R. Mahon. Ollie wrote me after he got back to tell me the following story about his trip to O'hare. How real this is:

I decided that for my trip back to O’Hare, I would take the Metra train from University Park and the blue line of the subway to O’Hare because it should cost about $7 instead $23 for the bus…plus I’d get a little walk through downtown Chicago…

When I went to the subway, I couldn’t find a cashier—just the “vending machine” deal. From what I could understand, the cost was $1.75 and I only had a couple $10 bill…so I put the $10 in to the machine and it gave me the little card with the magnetic strip…and NO CHANGE! I couldn’t believe I had just spent $10 for a subway ride to O’Hare!!

I went through the turnstile pulling my rolling carry-on behind me. I wasn’t paying attention and the bar of the turnstile got caught between the upright bars of the handle. I couldn’t get it loose, so I had to slide the magnetic card again to move the turnstile!!! (I’m SO glad no one was around!!!)

So I get on the subway with my card and its $6.50 balance. I start thinking about the fact that GOD knew I was going to spend the $10 bucks…he knew I was going to get my carry-on stuck in the turnstile and he’d provide a way for me to get it UNstuck…

I was wearing short sleeves and looked down at my “Starving Jesus” tattoo… I decided I HAD to give the $6.50 card to someone on the train who could use it…I was thinking about Jesus saying “I needed a ride on the subway, and you didn’t provide for my ride.”

So I was trying to think of how I could give the ticket to someone…without freaking them out for talking to them on the subway. Also everyone around me was wearing an ipod so I would literally have to tap them on the shoulder to get their attention, which I thought would add to the “freaking-out factor.”

I thought about leaving the ticket on the seat next to me, in hopes someone would find it and use it, but I was afraid it would just get thrown away…

A couple stops before O’Hare, this guy, who was obviously a construction worker, got on the subway and sat across the aisle from me. He was the only person besides me not wearing an ipod. As we approached O’Hare I started getting really nervous about speaking to him. We weren’t of the same race and I didn’t know how he’d react to me talking to him.

I finally leaned over and asked if he lived in Chicago and he did. I told him the card had a credit of $6.50 and I would probably not be able to use it before it expired…and offered it to him.

He got this huge smile and said, “Really? Wow! Thanks man.” He took the card and put it in his pocket.

A couple seconds later he looked at me and said, “Ya know, I wasn’t going to be able to buy lunch today, because I had to have money to get back home…you just paid for my lunch!”

Way to go Ollie! Please pray for Ollie and his family as they share God's love in Ukraine. I'm so blessed to rub shoulders (okay not shoulders because he is so stinkin' tall) with those stepping out in risky faith.