Mark316.com

Hey there. Chris here. I’ve hax0red Mark’s website for a moment to tell you to update your RSS feeds (the thing where you subscribe to updates on iGoogle, Yahoo, etc).

• Here’s the link for just the entries/posts on the blog
• Here’s the link for following along with the comments posted to the blog.

Alright. Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging by Markio…

Cirque Du Soleil - Saltimbanco

Originally uploaded by Mulde®

Susana is a ninja. It is official.

Susana is a Kijiji ninja. Susana woke up from a nap on Wednesday, our 3 year anniversary, and she saw that there were free tickets for Cirque for the first one over. I heard the yell calling me upstairs, I drove, I had the tickets.

It was an awesome present that we received like a present from God. So so very cool.

Hutch @ CansFestival - London

Originally uploaded by _Kriebel_

I’m pretty much only writing a blog post because I have a moment to spare. Happy mothers day Susana, mom and other moms out there! El Salvador’s is tomorrow and Canada’s is Sunday. More presents I guess.

Wasted money

Originally uploaded by kastner

We have returned all of our Avent stuff due to the recent recall in Canada. Apparently some plastics, especially ultra clear ones, contain a BPA. Don’t ask me to explain it but essentially when the plastic is heated up it gives off an estrogen type thing. Scientists are claiming that it might cause premature menstruation in girls. Who knows what it does to boys? I’m just guessing that we probably don’t actually need more estrogen in our diet, regardless of what Homer says.

If you need to return your stuff, Zellers, Walmart, Toys R Us and London Drugs are taking back stuff for sure. Sears requires packaging and receipt where some of the others do not. This is apparently strictly a Canadian thing so far and other countries are not doing this yet. Health Canada made a decision and the stores are taking responsibility. Zellers has simply removed all plastics from their shelves that this point.

I hope this is somewhat helpful to the 6 people that check this truly neglected blog.

Iglesia

Originally uploaded by markio

I know that all 2 of you that will be reading this will be more curious about Javier than house church so I will just pass on the news that he is doing great and was smiling lots for me this morning.

House church has been a wonderful thing for me. I went into it pretty skeptical and didn’t have huge expectations. So far it has far exceeded even my deepest hopes, the ones that I didn’t let myself entertain. I feel at home, I feel comfortable, I feel challenged, I feel like I have bitten into a meaty morsel of faith every time that I go. We spend more time laughing than I ever would have expected to and I feel like the people around me are people that I’m getting to know on multiple levels. It has been good.

We have a meal together, we sing sometimes, we pray for each other, we study together. The thing that gets me most excited is that everyone participates. There is no spectatorship but there is also no push. People feel comfortable sharing and even disagreeing.

When I tell people that LT and I want to plant house churches, people ask what is the difference between house churches and conventional church small groups. I think that small groups could run like a house church but there with Small groups there is the feeling that the larger gatherings are equal or greater to the small group. On paper a congregation could be a “church of small groups” but it is fairly difficult to do. When the Lord blesses us with more house churches, we will have large group meetings 3 or 4 times a year for large group worship. A lot of the difference is simply in priority. Although, we also don’t owe anything in terms of debt apart from our mortgages.

So, I am thoroughly enjoying where we are at. I hope more will come who see this as a way that they can grow closer to God as well as those who want to plant churches themselves. For the moment we are just pleased with how God has been working up until now.