Saturday Morning

Things are melting out after an amazing amount of snow. I got up early, made coffee, took Alicia to work at her espresso stand, did my devo's, studies, went for a run, made German Pancakes, and am now enjoing some more coffee while Band of Brothers plays in the background.

During the past two weeks we had close to two feet just about everywhere. Levi and I build an awesome sled jump and didn’t break anything in the process.

It has been an unusual couple of weeks. I’ve enjoyed having the past two days off. This hasn’t happened in a few weeks since I started teaching in Federal Way on Saturday mornings (8 a.m. – noon – Biblical Interpretation). Now even my Mondays are occupied by grading papers (this week I have to grade 45 essays). This has been a welcome break!

Christmas Eve:
The snow continued to pour down, putting a damper on our candlelight services. People in Seattle don’t like driving in the snow, so our attendance was down. We worked until 1 p.m. trying to plow our parking lot. Our kids joined us at the 2 p.m. service (we had four services). Heidi played the part of Mary in a drama. Attendance ended up being all right. Around 11 at night we each opened a gift. Heidi and I then stayed up really late wrapping presents.

Christmas Day:
This year we were missing Heidi’s mom, Linda, who passed away just a couple of weeks ago. Plus, it was our first Christmas in years without our friend Happy who now lives in Hong Kong. She lived with us for a couple of years and has spent every Christmas with us since. My parents have also moved from Oregon to Minnesota, so we are missing them as well.
We had our first white Christmas in years – with a fresh few inches on top of an already deep snow. I drove to Roberta’s to pick her up at 8 a.m. She came over and fixed us a terrific breakfast. The kids were up around 9. We told the Christmas story around our advent wreath and we finally started opening presents around 10:15.
Clothes were the dominant gift item this year. Levi is trying to get enough money for a mission trip to Thailand – so that was most of what he received. I got a few CDs that I’m enjoying (Death Cab, The Killers and MGM)…Our XBox 360 stopped working exactly one year after we started using it. It doubles as our DVD player so we were forced to be more social (not a bad thing).

Day after Christmas:
We made it to the mall (that took forever) and watched the movie Valkyrie. This movie really interested me because it is based on the plot (to assassinate Hitler) that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was caught in. Bonhoeffer is one of the most famous pastors of the past century and authored The Cost of Discipleship. Last night we enjoyed dinner with some friends playing a board game.

Tonight after church we are watching UFC 92. It looks like a great “card” and should be a lot of fun. (If you know me, you know this is one of my interests. I blame it on my background as a wrestler from a family of wrestlers).

Tomorrow morning Heidi and the kids leave early for Canada for a three day hockey tournament. Levi’s team is doing really well this year. Hopefully the roads are clear. I will join them late on Sunday night. It's in Ridge Meadows.

After this we head to Oakland, Oregon. This is where Heidi’s dad lives. We will be there Wednesday through Saturday. Oakland is a tiny historic town near Roseburg.

I’m keeping busy working on my class and preparing for a lot of teaching in January. I will be speaking on two of the weekends, beginning a series on “God’s Top Ten List”. Also, I’ll kick off our Wednesday night series on the Gospels. I have two more classes for Life Pacific College at the Federal Way extension, and I will be teaching Perspectives on the World Christian Movement in Anacortes and Mt. Vernon. Pray for me! It will be a busy month.

On the last week of January I leave for Manila, Philippines with John and Sonja Decker, for a week long training. Levi leaves a week later for Thailand (oh yeah...his band is also playing at Studio Seven on the 13th, and at the Lyon's Den on January 24th).

Lots going on! That's what's up in our house.

The First Day of Winter - No joke!

Today was the first day of winter. That could be an understatement. Even as I write the snow continues to fall. This afternoon Levi and I went across the street and built a big jump for the little kids to fly off. It worked pretty well.
Church was fun this morning -- we stayed open in spite of the deep snow. Turns out that it was a good decision as we were one of the few churches "open" today. We ended up with quite a few visitors. Its been a week of this white stuff. I just hope it clears up for Christmas Eve. We have four services scheduled (2, 4, 6, and 8) and they typically are our biggest services of the year.

EFC Outtakes 2008

Is your job this fun? I hope so.

Tribute to Linda

• This morning I awoke to the sad news that Heidi’s mom, Linda, had passed away.
  Linda was in a hospital in Germany and appears to have died peacefully during her sleep. We had been hopefully that she would be home for Christmas – but not in this way. Heidi’s brother, Eric, was with her during the past two weeks.
  
  A lot more will be said about her in the future, but for now I wanted to express the following highlights of her remarkable
  
  She loved God and people as much as any person I have ever met.
  She courageously served on the mission field with Open Doors Ministries and Operation Mobilization during the Cold War while raising three small children (Heidi has a passport from when she was six and it is stamped with the nations all over Europe, the Middle East, and Asia). Much of this time was spent smuggling Bibles into “closed” countries.
  She and her husband pioneered Northwest Faith Center in Eugene, Oregon.
  She travelled the world as a missionary.
  She shared Jesus freely and boldly wherever she went.
  Her three children are all serving the Lord as leaders in the Church (Eric, Shaun and Heidi)
  She lived in Israel for a majority of the last couple years of her life.
  
  It is true of her: “And they admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth…longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:13-16

Thank-you for your prayers. A memorial will be planned sometime down the road.

Hello all -

Thank you for your prayers and concerns over the past few weeks. One of my mother's closest friends passed away within hours of her death and I think they are probably dancing and singing together in the streets of gold. The following gives a little information on her final days.

LINDA WILSON June 16, 1949 -- Dec. 15, 2008 Linda Wilson was a a faithful servant of the Lord, and a traveler to over one hundred countries. She is survived by her three children - Eric, Heidi and Shaun; along with their spouses - Carolyn, Matt and Jade; grandchildren - Alicia, Cassie, Kelsey, Levi, Jackie and River. Linda Wilson had struggled with some health issues over the past few years. This week, after a heart attack in late November, she passed away quietly and peacefully, telling her son, Eric, that she was tired, ready to go to sleep, and she wanted to be with Jesus. She was visiting friends in Germany when the heart attack happened. These friends, Henk and Irene Wolthaus, had known her for over three decades and were incredibly supportive in the whole process. Linda was revived three times ("I have resurrection life!" she said a few days later). But the heart was still weak. After coming out of this experience with mind and personality intact, she spent many hours talking to her son and even sharing a few phone calls with family. She was full of joy and making jokes to the end. She was laid to rest with a pink rose in her hands. With all the details to take care of, and the complications of international law, the date for a memorial service is not yet set. The family is actually considering a service for her in the months to come so that many will be able to share in the joy, sorrow, and overall celebration of all God has done through her. We will keep you updated. May the Lord be with you all in this time of celebrating His birth and sharing with loved ones.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone who knew her. I apologize for all of us for any lack of communications over the past month. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support.

Blessings,Eric Wilson, Shaun Wilson, and Heidi S. Messner

What's Been Going On?

It's been over a week since I've last blogged, and honestly I've been bogged down a bit. On Saturdays I am teaching a class from 8 a.m. - noon in Federal Way. It is part of the Life Pacific College degree completion program. I am teaching Biblical Interpretation and have a great group of students.

Additionally, we have been working hard at the church with Christmas events including Cup of Christmas Cheer (our children's musical), a jazz concert, weekend services and our usual holiday busyness. This has all been going really well -- we have seen excellent attendance, changed lives and new families getting connected here.

The rough part of the past week has been working on the 2009 budget and the necessary reductions we are having to make in the light of our economic realities. We want to be proactive and realistic about what can do, and we realize we must make some adjustments.

"Adjustments" and "necessary reductions" are soft ways of saying we have had to let some people go (lay some people off). In the business world this might be simple math. In the Church I cannot see it that way. It has to do with family, friends and people who are called by God. How do you do that? For me, it has been done after sleepless nights of prayer, a lot of emotion, deep empathy and great difficulty. My assurance comes in knowing that God is bigger than this church and He will take care of these people. At the same time, I continue to struggle with feelings of responsibility and sorrow. As I look forward I must keep those relationships strong, trust in God, walk humbly, and remember our mission.

Silver Peak - Is this really December?

This morning I was craving the mountains after spending two weeks in the Philippines. Silver Peak seemed like a good destination – another “new summit” for me to add to my list for 2008. It seemed like a nice day but they said it was going to rain after 10 a.m.

I’m glad I didn’t wear my gators and I’m glad I left the snowshoes in my car! Today was a fall day, for sure – with a warm southerly wind (though it was pretty strong at the top), and a dry mountain – all the way up to the summit! (5605 feet) I couldn’t believe it – even with a forecast for rain – today was a December day unlike any I have had before at these heights! No one is going skiing at Snoqualmie anytime soon. I didn’t see anyone else on the trail. I enjoyed the cross country aspect of going from Lake Annette trail to the summit.

The scree was miserable but the summit ridge really surprised me. It was longer and much nicer than I expected.

9 miles…3800 feet of elevation gain. Left at 9 a.m. and was back at my car at 2 p.m. Found 4 geocaches along the way.

You can see all my photos on my Flickr account.