Well we have some news on David and he would like to tell it to you himself.
(If you get the email you are going to have to click on the blog to watch it.)
If you want to see the longer interview with David you can watch it here
As far as Julie goes, her post-delivery issues have not been noticed for many weeks and the Stratus which was stolen around Memorial Day is up and running for less than what we were initially told, $600 instead of $1,000.
Tonight, the Zilkies sleep in peace. Thanks for you prayers and especially for David. This has been huge for him and his spiritual journey.
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The Narrow Path
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
100 Days Update - Day 76
It has been over a week since I posted. Things got busy here over the holiday. We will have an update on David's hip and well being in the next couple days as well.
After 76 Days how are things going?
After 76 Days how are things going?
- We are still looking for a permanent home, but enjoying our time on Gresham and our neighbors. David, Jonathan, and Caroline all are making friends and engaging the neighbors on our side of the road and even across the street. (I am not sure how that is happening).
- Things at Rooftop are going well. I am meeting with the ministry team leaders and small group leaders and starting to get in a groove. I have spoken twice at the weekend service so far and will be back up again in August.
- I am enjoying getting to know Jason and Matt, my coworkers here at Rooftop. They both have neat families and we are planning a staff family day next week which will be a ton of fun.
- I am doing well spiritually as well and have found several kindred spirits to meet with and pray together on a regular basis. This is so important for so many reasons and is something I did not have at my last church.
- I am really enjoying seeing God at work in the lives of my Rooftop family. Hearing about God's working in their lives and hearts on various levels, challenging them to a more fervent pursuit of God on a narrower path, energizes me every single time.
- Update on David and the family and our previous struggles later this week...
Thank you to all of you who read, follow along, and pray for us here in St. Louis.
Here is a little reminder of God's love for you and for me...enjoy and peace of Chist to you...
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
"The Light Shines in the Darkness"
I taught this past Sunday, July 5th; the 3rd message in a 13 week series on 1 John called "Summer of Love". The passage I taught from is 1 John 1:8 - 2:2 (5 verses). Click the title to listen: "A Light Shines in the Darkness"
You can check out www.rooftop.org for the previous 2 messages...
You can check out www.rooftop.org for the previous 2 messages...
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Facebook, Irony, and the Brink Family
I don't know if I am different than most people, but I remember incredible details from my childhood and very specific events and thoughts I had during that time. Facebook, for those of you who are on it, has opened up a new door to reconnecting with all kinds of people from our past. Many people find this exercise a waste of time and energy. I find it somewhat nostalgic and also enjoy reflecting on who I was as a child and what I thought about people and the world. This is especially significant as I am now grown and have five children of my own who look at people and the world much differently than I do at 34, and yet I see how significant and formative the childhood thoughts they are having today can and will be.
One example of this is my reconnecting with a bunch of people whose families attended the church I went to when I was young. Growing up, my church was most of my life and I viewed all of my church family very highly, even if I didn't know them. Many of the people I am connecting with were older than me by 3 to 6 years and knew of me, but more likely knew me through my sister Heather who is almost 5 years older than me. What they don't know is that as a child I looked up to the older kids very much and held them in a very high regard. Even today as I connect with them through Facebook, I feel an affinity with them that they don't necessarily feel with me. I am the brat kid brother of Heather ...which sadly was true on many accounts. Yet, this connection from my youth is still important to me and I appreciate the opportunity to interact with them, feeble and shallow as it might seem.
Then there are the important people from my youth, one of whom I just connected with yesterday through Facebook. Growing up I did not spend much time in my home unless I was watching TV or playing video games. Mostly, I was wandering about my hometown of Romeo, Michigan on my bike, filling my days with whatever. During the summers especially, I was always looking for things to fill my time. Somewhere along the way I met the Brink family who lived just three blocks away. Their dad was a minister in the Southern Baptist Church, and had been assigned to the church in our town. They were a "large" family with five kids from somewhere down south, had accents we made fun of from time to time, and they didn't have a TV. No doubt about it...they were weird...or so I thought.
Mr. and Mrs. Brink were very stable and solid people. Mrs. Brink was very generous and kind and who knows how many meals I mooched off of them and her over the years. Eric, who was in my grade, and his brothers would join me in all kinds of imaginative games and make-believe...you know, stuff kids should do more of these days. We formed clubs of various kinds that met in the back of our crazy garage/barn which used to be a "chicken coop". We played football, baseball, kickball, and many other sports games together. Some mornings, I would be over to their house before they had breakfast. They were a great family and their home was a good place for me to dwell as a child. God definitely placed them in my adolescent life for a purpose I would not see until all these years later.
Sadly, as I grew older and succumbed to the peer pressures of junior high and trying to be cool (which I wasn't), I began to scorn Eric and their family. Because they were different, and by different I mean kind, unified as a family, respectful to their parents, and less affluent, I decided I was better than they were at some level. Ironically enough, my junior high years were very lonely and sad years in my life, as I felt disconnected from family, friends, God, just about everyone. Adolescence can be such a hard time, and especially if a child has no trustworthy source to talk with and help guide them through, and even then it is still filled with challenges. I reconnected with Eric a little through morning basketball in high school but never really reengaged him nor his family again. We graduated from high school, their family moved away to a new assignment out west and I never saw them again, but thought of them from time to time over the years.
Then Eric shows up on Facebook this week and my mind wanders back to all the memories and childhood events that involved him and his family in my life. What was "weird" to me back then is now my life...five kids, a TV that is rarely used in our home, a choice to live less affluently, and my serving as a pastor...just like his father did. Even as I write this, I am amazed at what has transpired and how we are the Brink family, except that our accent is more nasally than theirs was. I will forward this link on to Eric and his siblings and ask that he forward it on to his parents as well. They should know of the impact their home and ministry had, albeit abstract and unknown to me at the time. I am so thankful for the "different" family that lived on the corner of Benjamin and Main Street next to the old white church in town. I hope that we Zilkies might be a refuge to a young "Jeremy" out there, who needs a safe and loving place to rest and receive the unconditional love of Jesus, even as their world is filled with challenges and dangers they aren't quite sure how to navigate.
One example of this is my reconnecting with a bunch of people whose families attended the church I went to when I was young. Growing up, my church was most of my life and I viewed all of my church family very highly, even if I didn't know them. Many of the people I am connecting with were older than me by 3 to 6 years and knew of me, but more likely knew me through my sister Heather who is almost 5 years older than me. What they don't know is that as a child I looked up to the older kids very much and held them in a very high regard. Even today as I connect with them through Facebook, I feel an affinity with them that they don't necessarily feel with me. I am the brat kid brother of Heather ...which sadly was true on many accounts. Yet, this connection from my youth is still important to me and I appreciate the opportunity to interact with them, feeble and shallow as it might seem.
Then there are the important people from my youth, one of whom I just connected with yesterday through Facebook. Growing up I did not spend much time in my home unless I was watching TV or playing video games. Mostly, I was wandering about my hometown of Romeo, Michigan on my bike, filling my days with whatever. During the summers especially, I was always looking for things to fill my time. Somewhere along the way I met the Brink family who lived just three blocks away. Their dad was a minister in the Southern Baptist Church, and had been assigned to the church in our town. They were a "large" family with five kids from somewhere down south, had accents we made fun of from time to time, and they didn't have a TV. No doubt about it...they were weird...or so I thought.
Mr. and Mrs. Brink were very stable and solid people. Mrs. Brink was very generous and kind and who knows how many meals I mooched off of them and her over the years. Eric, who was in my grade, and his brothers would join me in all kinds of imaginative games and make-believe...you know, stuff kids should do more of these days. We formed clubs of various kinds that met in the back of our crazy garage/barn which used to be a "chicken coop". We played football, baseball, kickball, and many other sports games together. Some mornings, I would be over to their house before they had breakfast. They were a great family and their home was a good place for me to dwell as a child. God definitely placed them in my adolescent life for a purpose I would not see until all these years later.
Sadly, as I grew older and succumbed to the peer pressures of junior high and trying to be cool (which I wasn't), I began to scorn Eric and their family. Because they were different, and by different I mean kind, unified as a family, respectful to their parents, and less affluent, I decided I was better than they were at some level. Ironically enough, my junior high years were very lonely and sad years in my life, as I felt disconnected from family, friends, God, just about everyone. Adolescence can be such a hard time, and especially if a child has no trustworthy source to talk with and help guide them through, and even then it is still filled with challenges. I reconnected with Eric a little through morning basketball in high school but never really reengaged him nor his family again. We graduated from high school, their family moved away to a new assignment out west and I never saw them again, but thought of them from time to time over the years.
Then Eric shows up on Facebook this week and my mind wanders back to all the memories and childhood events that involved him and his family in my life. What was "weird" to me back then is now my life...five kids, a TV that is rarely used in our home, a choice to live less affluently, and my serving as a pastor...just like his father did. Even as I write this, I am amazed at what has transpired and how we are the Brink family, except that our accent is more nasally than theirs was. I will forward this link on to Eric and his siblings and ask that he forward it on to his parents as well. They should know of the impact their home and ministry had, albeit abstract and unknown to me at the time. I am so thankful for the "different" family that lived on the corner of Benjamin and Main Street next to the old white church in town. I hope that we Zilkies might be a refuge to a young "Jeremy" out there, who needs a safe and loving place to rest and receive the unconditional love of Jesus, even as their world is filled with challenges and dangers they aren't quite sure how to navigate.
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