DINING WITH SINNERS
WITH (prep) function word to indicate manner of action
A thank you and a personal update
First of all I would like to say thank you to all who gave Saturday to make our Nashville Flood Relief benefit show a success. Some names worth mentioning:
Nicholas Ferrell and Zack Ferrell
- these are the two guys for originally came to me with the idea and do music for Matthew’s Table during our Sunday gathering. We are grateful that they are doing life with us.
Thomas Rose and Jameson Elder
- both are friends from Mosaic Nashville. Thank you for coming down and lending your time. We are glad that we have such a great sponsoring church.
Another shout out to my friend Abbi Siler who took the time to write this excellent post: Local Coffee House Gives Back to the Community.
We delivered a van load of collected items yesterday. Thanks to Dwayne Reed for lending the Smile Mommy van and driving downtown.
The items we collected will be used in an underserved, hard-hit Hispanic community.
And last but not least . . . thanks to Rodney Calfee who traveled up from Birmingham with Shawn to help with some of the recovery efforts.
A personal update: On May 4th I posted this tweet:
The response to my call for prayer was immediate. Even prompting a post from The SkyBridge Community. Their prayers from various parts of the world have been comforting and very encouraging.
The transition that we are being forced into is that my adoptive father, Randy Carpenter, is making us move out of the house he has been letting us live in (he has never allowed us to make his house our home). We have never gotten along and I will spare you the details, but Randy purchased what used to be his mother’s home after she passed away with a portion of his inheritance from her estate and gave it to us to live in. We originally were given 60 days to move, but I have since been able to talk Randy into letting us stay until September because our second child is due in July.
So what’s the big deal? A family has to move. That happens everyday.
We, however, have an unique situation. Everything we have is tied up in Java Joe’s/Matthew’s Table. We do not make any money from either other than what is needed for our immediate needs. We intentionally live very simply and our lifestyle is easy to maintain with a free house to live in. But, with being forced to move, this makes operating Java Joe’s difficult. So right now . . .
We need our loyal customers, friends, and relationships that we have formed over the past year and a half more than ever.
We need our church family more than ever.
We need our community of prayer-ers more than ever.
And by God’s grace we will continue to make it because it is only by his grace that we have made it this far. We have been thrust into this liminal space which is where all transformation happens. It is where we are by definition “not in control.” Nothing new happens as long as we are inside our self-constructed comfort zone. Richard Rohr comments that,
“Nothing good or creative emerges from business as usual. This is why much of the work of God is to get people into liminal space, and to keep them there long enough so they can learn something essential. It is the ultimate teachable space.. maybe the only one. Most spiritual giants try to live lives of “chronic liminality” in some sense. They know it is the only position that insures ongoing wisdom, broader perspective and ever-deeper compassion. The Jewish prophets… St. Francis, Gandhi, and John the Baptist come to mind.”
Much of our day to day effort to this point has been directed toward maintaining our personal little world. So my prayer is that something new and beautiful emerges out of this liminal space because nothing new or creative happens from business as usual.
Michael Carpenter
Michael is an urban church planter in the Argenta Arts District of North Little Rock. He and his wife Amanda have been married since 2003 and have two children – Austin and Max. Michael is an entrepreneur, missiologist, and chef.
Michael, reading this broke my heart. It also challenged me. I am always encouraged by you. You are definitely a man of great faith and someone I hope to be more like – faithful. I am praying for you guys and I am excited to see God’s plans continually unfold to you.
Thanks Wes. That is some high praise from a man I also have a great deal of respect for. Peace be with you.
Am joining you guys in prayer. Keep us posted!
Thanks M!
your Aussie mates are praying for you guys!
Thanks Cliff. We can still make room for you in our new home . . . . wherever that is.
we are praying for you in Colorado. Always enjoy your perspective.
Thanks Michael. It is comforting to know we have people praying for us all over the place.
Why is your father making you move? What a blessing for him to let you live there, but why the sudden change?
You will have to ask him that.