When life falls apart you can do one of two things. You can waste some of the little energy you have left keeping up the pretense that everything is okay, or you can save it for what really matters and stop putting on a mask. And after all, who do you think you're kidding, anyway?

Part One: "I don't get it." What I don’t get is why people--other people of course-- don’t get it. Think about it. It’s as if each of us lives inside a box. A big box for sure; some bigger, I suppose, some smaller, some taller and some shorter, but a box with a lid, and thus a limited amount of air. And so we only have so many breaths.

Circumstances change from time to time. In fact, our situation and circumstances seem to change all the time. Some changes are big, some more modest. Your toothpaste, your address, your insurance company, your hairstyle, your last name, your favorite tv show, your surprising job assignment, your child’s least favorite school subject, your newest passion, your latest disappointment. The list goes on and on because life goes on and on.

Dear Friends at New Covenant, Sometimes a song says it all, sometimes not. I was recently listening to Dionne Warwick sing the 1966 hit, “What’s it all about Alfie?”

Be careful, then, how you live-- not as unwise but as wise... Ephesians 5:15 Earlier, in the verses from Sunday’s epistle, St. Paul gives us some advice on how to live: “… put off falsehood and speak truthfully … Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice … Be kind and compassionate, forgiving each other…Be imitators of God, … and live a life of love …” Does it matter? Does it really make a difference how we live? And if so, to what does it matter? I mean, what’s at stake? And what about when we miss the mark? What then?

Should that title have a question mark after it, or will you allow me to assume that sometimes God will intentionally allow us to fail in order for us to realize our dependence on Him, to show us we are creatures and He is creator? This week, several of the glass balls that I try to keep spinning have dropped to the floor.

This year's Mission Team in pictures with a brief description of daily events provided by Andy and Marcia Butcher.

A strange thing happened: On the way to the close of the vestry meeting last Sunday, right before we anointed and prayed for our Senior Warden, Bill Stone, the treasurer, Rick Moss, reported, among other things, that we were not in the red. It’s the end of June and summer is upon us, a time when I usually write to you all asking for more support. This is wonderful! What am I to do?

I was tuning into my umpteenth movie on the long ride back from Africa when I heard the Beach Boys singing “Wouldn’t it be nice.” (By the way, you can hear and see the original recording of it on YouTube.) My mind drifted from the movie and before sleep caught me I began to fill in my own lyrics. (By the way -- Sara tells us to sort of do that with our praise on Sunday mornings, not so much fill in lyrics, but in the open moments to fill in our own words to the Lord, or listen for his words for us.) Wouldn’t it be nice to sing a new song to the Lord and hear him whisper your name?

People change, grow and develop into new people. And though family and close community can be wonderful, they can also stifle us or tempt us to stay where we are instead of stepping out on the path that Jesus has set. If you spoke to people from my hometown, they would likely paint a completely different picture of who I was as a Christian in years past than who I am now. I always viewed foreign missions as a distraction from the work we need to do here. Mind you, I did very little work here, but in my mind, it was always local work or foreign work, us or them. My entire view was predicated on human understanding, not God’s economy. In the past several months, God has been showing me just what John Wesley meant when he called for “both/and” not “either/or”.