Outside the Pigeon Holes

Below are some pics from the last few days! The sidewalk Tuesday night (ice) The sidewalk Wednesday morning (ice covered with inches of snow) Interstate 71 on Wednesday morning (I stole the pic from Cincinnati.com ). Thankfully our power lines held up! Time to scrape the car! Ding dong the witch is dead! Why just scrape ice and snow when you can be a play baby too? All clean (but she's still stuck in the driveway!).. My backyard... Dinah and Cala enjoying a lazy snow day...They also enjoy lazy rainy days and lazy sunny days...I guess pretty much any day is a lazy day for them...Hm. A perfect night for Chipotle with friends! And a spontaneous outreach courtesy of Panera! For the whole story and more pics visit REMEDY

I love that God is totally renewing my life. I am blessed beyond belief with friends and family. I love them all and each mean something priceless to me. I meet every weekend with a group of wild and crazy girls who are passionate for God and do all things from a place of relationship with him. Yesterday we ventured out on a field trip. Come along with us! Rather than re-write what my friends have so eloquently described in their blogs, I refer you to their linkage. Kelly: http://drowninginhisgrace.blogspot.com/2009/01/never-say-never.html Fran: http://praisebethepizzasdone.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-am-sooo-not-tattoo-person.html

Tonight feels like Christmas Eve! Tomorrow me and my girlfriends are going on a little field trip to a place in Erlanger and having a girl day! That's all I can say...Only a few people know this secrety secret...It's a fun secret. We'll tell soon...Til then....Hurry Christmas, hurry fast!

Last Wednesday I attended another evening at church called ENCOUNTER...It is specifically designed to invite and expect God to "show up" (he's always there but sometimes we humans need that tangibility) and reveal his blessings to people. This last one was the best one so far. There are a whole slew of stories coming in. I had sensed that I might need to "receive" during this one as much as I needed to serve as a prayer team member. This proved to be an accurate sense. To read some of the encounters you can go to: www.mostlygodstuff.blogspot. com Below is my experience. In recent years, God has made a lot of headway with me in my weak areas which are fear and doubt. Seems odd since one of my spiritual gifts is Faith, but maybe it makes sense since the enemy likes to steal. Anyway, I still had lingering "voices" that continued to plague me in stuff that I have settled with God and pretty much gotten His say on. Somehow they keep coming back around...Whe...

Now, that's what I'm talkin' bout! I wanna meet him, give him a high 5 and say "The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior!"

The same day I saw the sign up for Refuge I received the news that one of my favorite places to meet up with people for chatting and fun is closing its doors on January 17th. This is the Front Porch Coffee House (affectionately known as Fro Po Co Ho). I have spent hours and hours here. Denny, Lori and I performed here one night under the name "Esther's Den" and we (if I may brag a bit!) packed the place out - not because we were necessarily polished and perfect but because we have so many wonderful, supportive friends and family. We performed right there in front of that window. And see the little table there on the right - the 2 seater? That is where my friend Jack and I sat to talk about the screenplay that I wrote. He is an awesome writer and he agreed to give me feedback. I couldn't have thought of a better place than Fro Po to meet. The table back there on the far left is where I met with a bunch of high-school friends just this Christmas. And that couch is comfy...

Years ago I had a vision of a coffee house where people could come to meet God in a non-threatening, safe environment with no other agenda except to extend the reality of God's grace and mercy. Somewhere people could hang out, read, listen to music, see some improv, drink great coffee....Be loved as is. This same vision, it turned out had been planted into the minds and hearts of a number of other people...Many of those who "just happened" to wind up together at Vineyard Westside. We started planning and dreaming and asking God to lead the way. It has been a struggle and a fight to jump through all the hoops and gather the people to make it happen. There have been set backs and times of stagnation. But God is faithful. This afternoon I drove past the old bar that we are rehabbing (as I do twice a day everyday on my commute for work). I saw something that wasn't there this morning... A literal sign that we're getting close to the dream... It really is coming true.....

So much of our physical sickness is caused by emotional/spiritual issues. Sometimes it is generational "bondage" that has come down through either the bloodline or the spiritual line...Whatever the issue, where modern medicine has failed (and I am thankful to God for modern medicine - I just think God is the first physician we should seek since he knows best what ails us), God is always willing to show up if we will receive. Here is an excerpt from an e-mail I received yesterday from a young lady that we ministered to a few weeks back: Hi Helen!...After seeing you this morning and hearing Tim preach I rememered something very important that I wanted to share with you. After my sozo I had more testing done to see if the medication I had been on worked. My doctor was shocked when all of my tests came back negative to things I previously tested positive for and with great excitement she informed me that I can now conceive my own children...I get to be a mommy and feel my own chi...