Here is the 5th and final part of my sermon series inspired by the book of the same name, "Messy Spirituality" by Mike Yaconelli. As always, I enjoy your feedback.
Check out part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. For this final sermon in the series, we are going to take a look at 3 different passages and see what they have to say about God's seemingly annoying love for us.
Matthew 20:1-16
-notice the master went himself
-he made multiple trips throughout the day
-the first workers were paid an “agreed term”
-the remaining workers got paid “whatever is right”
-at the end of the day, the last shall be first
-vs. 10: grace that can be calculated and “expected” is no longer grace
-the early ones were frustrated by the late ones being made “equal”
-the early ones received the agreed upon wage and yet…
-who are we to question God’s generous love?
Luke 26:26-43
-Jesus tears down the fences
-the perceived “unfairness” of God’s grace makes us uncomfortable, especially when we’re expected to extend it to others
-“All the persons of faith I know are sinners, doubters, uneven performers. We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us.” ~Eugene Peterson
Romans 8:37-39
-you cannot escape God’s love
-there is nothing you have done or will do that can keep God from loving you
-“He loves us when we don’t want him to love us. He loves us when we don’t act like Christians. He loves us when our lives are a mess. His love is sticky, resistant to rejection, aggressive, and persistent.” (Yaconelli 124)
March 8, 2011
Messy Spirituality || A Love That Won't Go Away
March 7, 2011
Messy Spirituality || The Inconsistent Disciple
Here is part 4 of my sermon series inspired by the book of the same name, "Messy Spirituality" by Mike Yaconelli. As always, I enjoy your feedback.
Check out part 1, part 2, and part 3.
Oh Peter, talk about an inconsistent disciple. You can read a few examples in Matthew 16:13-25; 26:31-35, 69-75. A couple things we might be able to take away from this.
Christianity is an equal opportunity faith.
-God chose us first, which creates a place for those who have no place
-I wonder how many of us have given up on being spiritual because we don’t seem to fit?
-There can be freedom in the inconsistency because we know it will come
-we encourage people to grow knowing they will fail
-Discipleship is a journey, which makes spiritual growth look different for each of us
Lessons from being stuck.
-Getting "stuck" reminds us of the need to slow down
-“Spiritual growth does not happen by running faster” (Yaconelli 96) or by “inviting Jesus to speed through life with us” (Yaconelli 97)
-Learn to rest means realizing how unnecessary we are
-Jesus came to give us rest (Matthew 11:28)
-Sometimes 70% is 100% of what we have to give
-“The spiritual life is not a life of success; it is a life of faithfulness” (Yaconelli 110)
-As long as we want to grow, Jesus will show up
Discipleship as imbalance?
-Redefining “balance” (Matthew 16:24-25)
-Do our attempts at seeming "all together" polish the life right out of the Church?
-Being a disciple means we should be a little odd; the world should notice we're a little different shouldn't it?
March 2, 2011
Messy Spirituality || What It Really Means To Be Spiritual
Here is part 3 of my sermon series inspired by the book of the same name, "Messy Spirituality" by Mike Yaconelli. As always, I enjoy your feedback.
Checking out part 1 and part 2 of the "Messy Spirituality" sermon series may help part 3 make more sense...or not.
A couple general thoughts:
*DISCLAIMER: any time I use the word "spirituality" I am using it in relationship to the person of Jesus Christ
-Anyone can be spiritual. (Luke 18:35-42)
-Spirituality begins now, in the mess of our lives. Don't wait until you're "fixed." (John 8:1-11)
-Jesus cares more about desire than competence.
-Spirituality requires authenticity.
-Spirituality requires trust.
Spirituality is not legalistic, but does require discipline
-“Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test. It is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection.” (Messy Spirituality pg 13)
-“We stumble into a party we weren’t invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in.” (Messy Spirituality pg 47)
-It takes work to grow spiritually and time spent in study, prayer, service, etc.
Spirituality isn’t about perfection, but pursuing it
-“Spirituality is anything but a straight line; it is mixed-up, topsy-turvy, helter-skelter godliness that turns our lives into an upside-down toboggan ride full of unexpected turns, surprise bumps, and bone-shattering crashes. In other words, messy spirituality is the delirious consequence of a life ruined by a Jesus who will love us right into his arms.” (Messy Spirituality pg 17)
-Don't get obsessed with perfection or depressed when you miss it, because you will. Keep pursuing it.
Spirituality isn’t about self, but community
-There is an important distinction to make between spirituality and self-help. In my opinion, the biggest distinction comes with the idea that spirituality is not about self, whereas self-help is all about self.
-To be truly spiritual means to look outside yourself and into the community. It may be a community of believers or neighbors down the block, regardless, it is about serving others.
-Being spiritual necessarily means thinking of others first and through that recognizing one's own spirituality.
February 28, 2011
3 Months of Fatherhood
My son turned 12 weeks old last week, which I think is the same as saying 3 months?? (I'm still learning the whole weeks vs. months age thing) So, I thought I would share a couple things I have learned after 3 months of fatherhood.
One of them deals with love. It is unexplainable why I love this little boy so much. He has not done a single thing to earn, let alone deserve the amount of love I have for him and yet, I would do anything for him. This got me thinking...I have read, studied and talked about the love of God for years but it has not been until recently that I have gained a better understanding of what it means to be loved as a child of God. When I think about it like this, it seems to make a lot of sense; God loves us as His children despite the fact that we have not and cannot earn His love. He just simply loves us a lot!
Another one deals with patience. I’ve realized how important it is to have patience. In those moments when he is upset and seemingly inconsolable, somehow, someway, patience shows up. I know we can all think of times when we failed to show someone patience; maybe it was a child, a friend or a co-worker, but for whatever reason, we missed the opportunity. I am thankful for the many times that others have been patient with me, especially the patience God shows me on a daily basis.
The last one I'll share right now has to do with saying 'no.' I am quickly realizing the need to say 'no' to things that keep me away from home. Meetings, events, working late...NO! It has already happened too often that I have come home to have my son already down for the night. Getting home late combined with leaving before he gets up in the morning makes for an entire day without me seeing him or him me. I am not ok with this as a "normal" thing. I can tell it's a slippery slope and am determined not to fall down it.
I didn't even get into things like taking a ton of pictures, starting to use cloth diapers or skyping with grandparents. I'll save those for another time.
February 25, 2011
Messy Spirituality || When Jesus Meets Our Mess
Sorry it's been so long. Here is part 2 of my sermon series inspired by the book of the same name, "Messy Spirituality" by Mike Yaconelli. As always, I enjoy your feedback.
Remember from part 1 that life is messy and sometimes we make the mess and other times we don't. We try desperately to clean-up the mess but it just doesn't seem to work. We can't get it figured out on our own despite the fact that we're all a bit messy (Romans 3:10, 23).
Our messiness causes us to play all sorts of different games with ourselves and each other. I'm going to highlight three:
The Games We Play
Pretend
-At some point we have to say enough with the pretending
-Authenticity is synonymous with spirituality
Comparison
-We compare what we know about ourselves with what we don’t know about others
-So often we think no one else is struggling like we are or that there isn't anyone as messy as us. We must realize that Messy Spirituality is for the rest of us who thought there wasn’t a “rest of us"
Denial
-We deny the presence and power of God’s unconditional love & grace in our lives
-We end up paralyzed by feelings of inadequacy, unworthiness, insecurity, self-doubt, insignificance and guilt
-When we play the denial game, we miss the rest of the passage…Romans 3:24
-2 Corinthians 12:9a
Working through some of the different games we play leads us to wonder what happens When Jesus Meets Our Mess:
He shows up!
-The mess does not disqualify you from knowing Jesus
-“Jesus is not repelled by us, no matter how messy we are, regardless of how incomplete we are. When we recognize that Jesus is not discouraged by our humanity, is not turned off by our messiness, and simply pursues us in the face of it all, what else can we do but give in to his outrageous, indiscriminate love?” (Messy Spirituality pg 17)
It isn’t about being “finished,” it’s about trusting God in our "unfinishedness"
It’s not as if Jesus is waiting for you to get your stuff in order, He wants to help put it back together
We must admit we're messy…that each of us is a “work in progress” as we try to follow Jesus
February 8, 2011
Wesleyan Perspective on Justification
My twitter friend Jay Miklovic (@jmiklovic) is doing a 4-part series on justification from 4 different perspectives: Confessional Lutheran, Reformed, Wesleyan, and "Outlaw Preacher" on his blog. He asked me to write the Wesleyan perspective, which I invite you to check out and the 3 other perspectives and share your thoughts, either here or there. Let us know what you think.
February 5, 2011
Messy Spirituality || The Messiness of Life
This is part 1 of my sermon series from the month of January inspired by the book of the same name, "Messy Spirituality" by Mike Yaconelli. As always, I enjoy your feedback.
Regardless of what anyone says, life is messy and we all have messes in our lives. Anyone that tells you otherwise is in denial and/or a liar. Sometimes the mess is one of our own making through something we did or didn't do, said or didn't say. Other times we are thrust into the mess by the actions or inaction of someone else. Either way we find ourselves faced with the messiness of life and how to deal with it.
More often than not we try to manage the mess ourselves and at times fail miserably, making it even worse. We attempt to pickup pieces that have been scattered on the floor and put them back together but can't seem to make them fit. Many of us struggle with being too busy. We lose our focus on the things that matter by allowing ourselves to be distracted by things that matter less and the next thing we know, we find ourselves with a mess. Broken relationships, failures at work, a spiritual life that seems non-existent...just a few of the messes we might be experiencing.
The good news is the messiness of life does not disqualify you from being spiritual. It's not as much about perfection as it is about connection. Jesus gives us the example of perfection knowing that we fall short of it on a daily basis and still invites us into relationship with Him. Think for a second about the people Jesus hung out with, it seems as though the implications of Jesus' ministry is that anyone can be spiritual, regardless of their mess.
Is it possible the first step to an authentic spiritual life is admitting the mess? What if the messiness of life is the place where this authentic spirituality is shaped and practiced? Could it be that following Jesus is messy?
January 20, 2011
Your Year for Social Media?
Have you started "tweeting" yet? What are you waiting for? Perhaps 2011 will be the year you look to engage the wonderful world of social media. A couple thoughts on that...
Social Media (aka "SM", might include sites like: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Myspace, YouTube, Digg, blogs, etc.) is everywhere and used in lots of different ways. Whether you're a grandparent or a '20 something', use it for business or personal, these are 3 tips I suggest keeping in mind when engaging social media.
1. Be Yourself
a. Don't try to be someone or something you're not.
b. Strive for authenticity & genuineness.
c. If you're not an expert, don't feel like you have to be one (or worse yet, claim to be one).
2. Be Social
a. The point of social media is connection so don't be afraid to engage the content of others, you get out of it when you put into it (my dad use to tell me that when I would whine about church growing up).
b. Try to avoid being a "lurker" (one who follows or reads other people's tweets, blogs, facebooks, etc but never interacts).
c. Remember, quality over quantity. Don't sweat it if you only have a few Twitter followers or a handful of LinkedIn connections. Having quality people interact with your content is key and in turn can create quality social networks.
d. Provide content that others will find interesting or want to engage with...but don't force it!
e. Depending on what you are looking to get out of social media, try to be disciplined in providing content on a regular basis...but remember, (c.) quality over quantity.
3. Be Smart
a. This should be a "no-brainer" but NEVER post things like social security numbers, passwords, etc etc.
b. Avoid engaging the content of others that you in turn do not wish to engage your content.
c. Social media can, at times, be somewhat addictive. Establish boundaries to keep it from replacing face-to-face relationships.
d. Some people are very open and vulnerable in their interaction with social media, which in itself is fine. However, don't ever post anything, whether personal or business, that you do not want to be read by your boss, parents, friends, co-workers, church, etc. Social media can be personal but it is not private. For example: 1 time I had a post from my twitter account (@mattlipan) that was published in the magazine "Family Circle" (8/09 issue) that I was not aware of until one of my co-workers pointed it out after reading it. Post and engage content with the mindset that it will be read by the world, because it's better to be safe than sorry.
What tips do you have or use for engaging social media?
December 31, 2010
2011
What things are you looking forward to in 2011?
What do you plan on doing differently than 2010?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!~2 Corinthians 5:17
December 23, 2010
December 21, 2010
The Example of the Magi
"They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route."
|| Could it be that the birth of Christ might be a way to break through the barriers of class, race and religion and bring the outsider in? ||
Having seen the light from the star the magi had no choice but to respond to the divine initiative. Compelled to act, they gathered supplies for a potentially lengthy journey bringing with them gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Their response was one of generosity, humility and honor.
|| Does the birth of Christ compel you to respond? How? ||
|| What might become of Advent if we were to give ourselves as gifts of worship to the newborn king? ||
*I am humbled to have been asked to write this post as part of the 2010 Advent Blog Tour featuring the Common English Bible (read here to win a free copy). 25 bloggers over 25 days highlighting 25 passages from the CEB. This post is day 22.
December 18, 2010
Jesus: the man
I had put together an Advent sermon series that was going to talk about 5 different aspects of the person of Jesus...and then our son Theo decided to begin his arrival on the 1st weekend of Advent which forced me to rework by series a little as I missed the first 2 weeks of Advent. Over the next week or so you will see a condensed version highlighting 3 aspects of Jesus: his humanity, his divinity and him as a baby. Right now we'll focus on the humanity of Jesus.
You might recall a story from back in the day about a group of people called the Israelites who spent about 40yrs camping in the wilderness? It was during this time that God really wanted them to know that they were His people, He was their God and that His presence would be with them. So He told this guy named Moses to get the people to build a place where He could dwell among them and so they built Him a tabernacle. Fast forward hundreds of years later...
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us (John 1:14)In "church" language we call this the Incarnation, the union of humanity with divinity in the person of Jesus. About this Carlo Carretto (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors) writes
The Incarnation brings the world his presence. It is a presence so complete that it overshadows every presence before it.
God is made human in Christ. God makes himself present to us with such a special presence, such an obvious presence, as to overthrow all the complicated calculations made about him in the past.
“The invisible, intangible God has made himself visible and tangible in Christ."~From The God Who Comes by Carlo Carretto
I find it meaningful that Jesus as a human...
...faced temptation. (40 days of fasting in the wilderness being tempted by the devil himself and still not giving in, as a human being)
...suffered. (The events surrounding His crucifixion are enough to turn anyone's stomach, all of which He endured and experienced as a human being. Can you even begin to imagine that pain?)
...experienced death. (He died as a human in order to conquer death as a human so that all of humanity might live. Hebrews 2:5-18)
...has empathy. (This is the Christmas story of hope, joy, peace, love because we know we serve a God who can empathize with us, who has been there and done that. Hebrews 4:14-16)
...understands. (I am reminded of how upset Jesus was at the death of His friend Lazarus. He understands what it is like to feel pain and hurt, to suffer loss as a human being. John 11:17-36)
...connects humanity with the Divine. (If Jesus was not truly human than this whole thing is pointless but as a human He gives humanity a chance. Romans 8:3)
December 17, 2010
CEB Giveaway
Right now, as you read this, there is an Advent Blog Tour taking place for the Common English Bible, which I have been asked to be a part of. Not only do I have the opportunity to write one of the 25 blog posts during Advent but the great people at Abingdon Press have given me 3 brand new copies of the Common English translation of the New Testament to give away FREE.
Here's how you can enter to win a copy:
1. Follow me on Twitter (@mattlipan) and link to this post. Be sure to mention me so I can keep track of your entry. This counts as 1 entry.
2. Comment on this post by talking about what the Christmas story means to you. This counts as 1 entry.
*the max # of entries is 2 if you do both of these.
**the winners will be selected at random.
December 2, 2010
A New Look at Advent
ad·vent: a coming into being
Advent is a season of anticipation, excitement and wonder. A time of year when patience is truly a virtue and waiting is something to be expected. I enjoy the season of Advent because it reminds us of our need to slow down as we hope for things to come. I believe hope is one of the key aspects of this season, all of which stems from the birth of a baby a long time ago named Jesus, who changed everything.I gained a new perspective on this season we call Advent with the birth of my son just 2 days ago. Never have I waited for so long with so much anticipation, excitement and anxiety. After 2 years of trying, 9 months of growing and 21 hours of labor, it is hard to believe he has finally arrived. Now having a better understanding of how Mary & Joseph must have felt at the coming of Jesus has provided me with a new way of looking at Advent, not only as a parent but as a world that waits for hope to come into being. Much like a little baby.
December 1, 2010
24hrs of Fatherhood
Some of you might be aware that my son, Theodore James Lipan, was born yesterday (11/30) at exactly 5:56pm. He weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 19 3/4" long. He has been "out and about" for over 24hrs now and here's a couple things I've learned so far...
-A clean, dry diaper can make all the difference
-Eating, sleeping, and getting cleaned is not a bad way to spend 24hrs
-Sleep is a hot commodity
-The birthing process is truly a miracle
-The level of sensitivity to sounds increases 100 fold
-Breasts are well designed and quite utilitarian
-Swaddling a newborn is truly an art
-Despite their size, newborns can EAT A LOT
I'm looking forward to much more that Theo is going to teach me in the many days to come. What things have you learned from parenthood?
November 24, 2010
Thanks A Lot!
This time of year we hear a lot about all of the things we have to be thankful for but sometimes life has us saying, "Thanks for NOTHING!" We find ourselves in situations we never asked for or dealing with circumstances (sometimes through our own choices and sometimes not) that leave us feeling scared, anxious and doubtful. Is it possible to be thankful even when life doesn't make sense? I think it just might be.
Let's take a look at 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and see if we can break it down into manageable parts.
Rejoice always…
-The idea of being joyful always sounds like a fantasy world
-It's important to recognize there is a difference between joy and happiness
-Happiness is fleeting; joy is deep
-True joy comes from a consistent relationship with Christ which helps us maintain consistency despite life's crushing lows or deceptive highs
-Psalm 31:7
-These ups and downs are meant to be shared within a community (1 Corinthians 12:25-27), if you don't have one, find one
Pray without ceasing…
-For some of us, we think of praying as the thing that happens when our heads are bowed, eyes are closed and hands are folded and only then
-Prayer is attitude over posture
-What if prayer is simply keeping God in mind?
-The early disciples were devoted to prayer
-Do not underestimate the power of prayer (James 5:14-16)
-We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties. When a man is at his wits' end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get in touch with Reality. ~Oswald Chambers
-I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. ~Abraham Lincoln
Give thanks in all circumstances…
-You're kidding right Paul?? This seems absolutely impossible
-Everyone knows hard times will come
-We have the hope that God can create something out of nothing; turn dead ends into open doors
-In my opinion this is easily one of the most difficult aspects of discipleship, giving thanks when it doesn’t make sense or even when it hurts
-I think this is part of the reason Jesus said the gate is small and the road narrow
-The ability to give thanks despite the circumstances comes down to a trust issue, believing that God is truly in control
...this is God's will for you through Christ.
-This is God's desire for you and you don't have to do it alone...because you can't.
November 23, 2010
A Thankful Perspective
When I present you with a spiritual gift, remember that it still belongs to Me. When I take something away from you, I take nothing that really belongs to you, because I own every good and perfect gift. If I send you suffering, if I send you any kind of a cross at all, refuse to complain, refuse to lose courage. I can come quickly to your rescue; I can translate your heavy heart to a light heart. Remember this when I deal with you like this.
November 15, 2010
Something Different
The holidays are right around the corner and if we’re not careful we’ll find ourselves buried beneath all of the hustle and bustle before too long. If you’re anything like me, whenever this time of year rolls around you begin to wonder if this year could be something different. Between the lists, parties, traffic, bills, exchanges…we end up spending so much of our time doing things we’d really rather not do. Then our holidays become nothing more than a frenzied attempt of managing an already stressful and busy work, family and social schedule.
What happened to the whole peace, love, and joy thing? Since when did the Christmas season become a season of stress, debt and exhaustion? As I think about the Christmas story as told in the Gospels, I realize that for many of us, the holiday season needs to become something different. I’m not suggesting we throw out our family traditions or stop buy gifts altogether but perhaps one less gift or maybe think about how and where we spend our time.
So the following are just a few suggestions I’m throwing out there, take what you want and send the others right back…
1. Consider how others (and yourself) deal with change.
-Some people thrive on change, while others avoid it like the plague. Be sensitive to each when suggesting a change in your or your family’s holiday routine.
-When it comes to traditions, change can be a tricky thing so be careful.
2. Start small.
-Don’t stop buying gifts altogether but instead maybe buy/spend less.
-Take some time to think about which gifts you are going to ask for and why. Could you do with 1 (…or 2, 3, 8, 12…) less gift?
-Come up with creative ways to stay small because remember it’s not about the amount of money the gifts cost.
3. Think about the way you spend.
-This is more than just about spending $, but asking ourselves how we spend our time. Time is such a precious thing isn’t it? And it seems like we have less and less of it during the Christmas season. Is that how it should be?
-What if you spent more time with loved ones and less time in traffic? What if you spent more time with family and less $ on gifts for them?
Christmas gives us a beautiful story to tell, one that talks about things like peace, joy and hope…NOT stress, credit card bills or being exhausted. Perhaps this Christmas season could be something different. The way we “celebrate” the holidays tells a story, we just have to decide which one we’ll choose to tell.
October 13, 2010
False Alarms
The past couple nights have been perfect weather for sleeping with the windows open. In with the cool breeze comes the sounds of the neighborhood, which is typically quite quiet. Shortly after 6am this morning I was awakened by the sound of a car alarm going off a few blocks away. Like most of us, I'm guessing, I rolled over and ignored it waiting for my "real" alarm to start the day.
This got me thinking on my drive into the office...
How many times a day do we hear a car alarm going off somewhere? How many times have we gone to check on that alarm? I'll be honest, I have never gone to investigate the reason for a car alarm going off. I have always made the assumption that someone accidentally set it off or simply couldn't remember where he or she parked. This is somewhat odd isn't it? It seems as though the point of an alarm is to draw attention to itself, hence the reason we are told to hit the 'panic' button when we find ourselves in a scary situation so we might receive help.
I wonder how often we miss (or maybe just ignore) the "alarms" going off in people's lives around us. Do we see or hear the warning signs but choose to look the other way or assume it's nothing more than a false alarm? I pray that you and I might become more aware of the cries for help all around us.
October 12, 2010
Up To Speed
Obviously you have noticed by now that I have been a little slow in updating my blog on a regular basis, sorry about that. I wanted to catch you up to speed on what's been happening in my life recently...
-This Thursday will be the beginning of week 33 of our pregnancy. We have been fortunate (and I understand we both have been) that my wife has been feeling quite well throughout. As we get closer to the Dec. 2nd due date, her back and feet are starting to get sore but we hear that comes with the territory. We are currently working on names for our son, feel free to offer suggestions but don't be hurt if we think they're lame...j/k...no, but seriously.
-I am continuing to chip away at my 96 credit hour Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary. This semester is particularly brutal as I am taking a Greek class and an inductive Bible study class through the Minor Prophets. Perhaps needless to say, the workload is decent.
-I continue to be involved with the launching of our Saturday Evening Contemporary service called Renovate. You can read about some of the history of this service here. If you have come by to check it out, we would love to hear your feedback. You can visit Renovate's Facebook page and click the feedback tab to share your thoughts. If you haven't stopped by on Saturday nights @6pm in the Castleton UMC sanctuary, maybe you should?
-Over the past month and a half I have been serving as the lead pastor for our Sunrise Campus located at 75th & Oaklandon. This congregation truly has the feel of family and is excited to continue to look for ways to reach into its surrounding community. With a few changes we have in the works and the support of the Sunrise congregation I am excited with them to see how God might use us in the Geist and Oaklandon areas of Indianapolis. We currently run 2 services on Sunday mornings on this campus, a 9am traditional and 10:30 contemporary. We have a combined service at 10am planned for Nov. 7th to celebrate Communion with a pitch-in meal to follow the service. No doubt it will be a good time with some good food.
Of course, there are other things going on but these will bring you up to speed. My goal is to get back to blogging fairly regularly but to be honest, that has been my goal all along so we'll see how that goes. I would enjoy the chance to connect with you if we haven't already, Facebook or Twitter will probably be the best bet to start. Thanks for being here, for reading and for supporting this blog. Look for more to come.
