Nathan Diehl

This year, Emily and I are doing what we can to be more ‘green’.

Here’s a few of the steps we have or are taking:

• We have replaced traditional incandescent light bulbs with high efficiency compact fluorescent bulbs.
• We are starting a compost pile. Did you know the average household produces 200 lb of compost-ready waste a year? This should provide us with several cubic feet of very fertile soil every year. (And no, it won’t stink if we do it right.)
• We are planting an organic vegetable garden this year. Yesterday Emily and I purchased some chicken wire and four three-foot poles, as we have a very active bunny population in Waterloo, and we would prefer to feed ourselves and not the cute little bunnies! When the ground dries some more, I’ll be out in the back yard working the ground and sinking the fence!
• I walk to work when it’s feasible and weather permitting. Today was my first walk to work of the year! It was foggy and wet, but I made it just fine. 🙂
• When Emily and I go grocery shopping, we take reusable non-woven polypropylene bags from Bags on the Run with us. We use these bags instead of the traditional Wal-Mart or Kroger plastic bags. About those disposable plastic bags–Did you know: The petroleum used to make 18 plastic bags could drive a car for 1 mile? Or that the EPA estimates that it takes a plastic bag over 500 years to decay in a landfill? (Thanks Amanda for the nod to the bags!)
• I’m following my buddy Todd’s new blog, TheGreenerChrsitian.com, and hoping to get some more Green Ideas from him! You should check it out, too!

I’m likely forgetting something, and this is not by any means meant to be a ‘We’ve arrived’ list. It’s just, we’re trying, and we’re slowly getting there. Hopefully you can join us as as we go green (at least, more green than we were three years ago!) and enjoy a healthier lifestyle as well!

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Mrs. Clinton has all but already lost the Democratic nomination (unless the Super Delegates decide to change the people’s vote), so why is she still fighting?

A recent poll showed Clinton and Obama’s continued fight is severing the Democratic Party. Is this good for the dems?

And here in NE Indiana, Clinton will be here sometime today and President Clinton was in Fort Wayne a week ago, and Obama has been nowhere to be seen. What’s up with that?

What’s your thoughts on the Democratic bout for the nomination?

Is it time for Clinton to just bow out gracefully, or should she go down fighting to show she’s one tough cookie?

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This is an interesting question, isn’t it? What does a mature local church look like?

Is a mature church full of senior citizens?

Is a mature church full of mature Christians?

My first thought was, just that–a mature church was full of all mature Christians, but then I thought about that, and if the local church is all mature Christians, they’ve turned into self-seeking Christians (“It’s all about ME“), which hardly qualifies as a mature Christian, right?

So the question remains, what does a mature local church look like?

Mark Beeson offered this answer to the question:

The ‘mature church’ is the church filled with immaturity.
…
Maturity desires reproduction.
Maturity tolerates juvenile behavior (from juveniles) while training its progeny for success in life.
Maturity means “little poults running all over the place.”
If you attend a mature church, be prepared for immaturity.

What do you think about Beeson’s answer?
How would you define what a mature local church looks like? Kinda a tough question, isn’t it? What are your thoughts?

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This afternoon I spent some time testing my MacBook Pro on the New Hope network. With the whole Vista thing (resource hog), I’ve been debating for months if I should:
1. Migrate to Vista
2. Stock up on XP and stick with XP until Vista SP3 comes out.
3. Switch to Ubuntu/Linux.
4. Slow (3-4 year) migration to Mac.

Option 3 is out, because our membership database, Roll Call, does not run on a Ubuntu version (yeah, I am well aware there are workarounds for this), and also a big lack of drivers and native software.
Option 2 is probably not the best, because this would require a significant investment in antiquated software technology. And I don’t believe investing in antiquated technology is a wise investment of our limited church funds.

Which leaves me with two viable options:
Migrate to Vista.
Migrate to Mac.

As I explore what I need to migrate to Mac, it seems to look more and more tempting all the time. The biggest issue I may likely face is buy-in. Literally 0% of my users here (myself excluded) use a mac on a regular basis, and I think it would generally scare the majority of my users–which is why I would do a slow migration.

Oh, what to do, what to do…

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This past Easter weekend we presented a 49-minute musical. We sang a couple songs at the start (acoustic guitar and djembe/shaker only)
We had I think a total of 29 people stand. That’s awesome!
We put a load of effort into this weekend, and we saw harvest!

Despite it being Spring Break weekend (which typically lowers attendance due to Spring Break trips), we had our second-highest attendance ever, at 822 (Highest was 834, Easter in 2002).
We had a ton of first-time guests with us, which is awesome, too!
There were also several people who haven’t attended in a while–notably some of my friends! It was good to see them, although I didn’t get to talk much.

It was a great weekend. I’m excited about the coming series, Growing Pains, and I am believing God is going to do a work in people’s lives through this series!

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Last week, I installed a battery backup sump pump. This pump will go off only when the power is off (meaning, the normal sump pump won’t be pumping).
In doing this, I noticed my other sump pump pit (ejecting washer machine water) isn’t working, and it is overflowing (via an overflow pipe)into the sump pump. So I need to replace the other pump, too.

We got zoeller m53 sump pump as it was the first step to finishing our basement. We weren’t going to invest in finishing if there was a chance of a basement flood (I’ve had two basement floods since I’ve been there–both due to electrical outage (and of course, I have NIPSCO power, so not only do I have really frequent outages, but it takes forever to fix–and on top of it all, I also pay incredibly high rates–about twice that of Auburn Electric.)

Next project up: washing machine sump pump. Then, either stair treads or windows, not sure which we’ll do first.

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Last weekend, Emily and I went to Fort Wayne to see Ryan Frisinger in concert. Frisinger is a local musician and worship leader from the Angola area (I think perhaps Fremont?), and the experience was wonderful.

I enjoyed his worshipful attitude and his willingness to just sit there and play worship music.

Perhaps most enjoyable of all, Frisinger used his influence to encourage people (peers) who were perhaps not following Jesus very closely to renew their commitment and get back in line with his will for their lives.

I appreciate Frisinger’s willingness to speak the truth, to say it like it is, and to follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings in a general direction of the concert.

This was my first Frisinger concert, although I am pretty sure it will not be my last. If you ever hear of Frisinger playing in your area, I encourage you to check him out. (I heard a rumor he’ll be appearing on Carson Daly soon, too!)

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This morning my wife left on a three-day business trip. I dropped her off at Fort Wayne International at 5 a.m. this morning and will be without my beautiful wife until I get to pick her up Friday afternoon.

Today she is in Saint Louis, and then tonight she’ll fly to Tempe, where she’ll spend all day Thursday.
She will head back on early Friday morning.

Until then, I’ll be missing her. It’s lonely…Maybe I’ll alleviate my boredom by playing Runescape…

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This Friday at (Quest), New Hope’s informal gathering of 18-29 year olds on a journey to encounter God, we talk about Today.

I just finished watching a clip we’re using as an illustration, and I’m really excited. It spoke to me about Today. God’s speaking to me about Today–I choose this clip randomly, and BAM! it was what I needed! I’m really looking forward to this night. This Friday, 7:47 p.m. at Dave & Pam Cleverly’s–0747 CR 39, north of Waterloo.

If you need directions, please leave a comment and I’ll be sure to shoot you an Email back very shortly.

Seriously…Don’t miss Today.

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My brother-in-law, Josh Doyle, (former front-man for Dum Dums), has released an EP (kinda like a mini-album) for free download.

In classic Seth Godin fashion, Doyle releases these viral beats for free. You don’t want to miss out on downloading this free music. Keep an eye on him as he releases a new album soon…

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God’s been really messing with me lately.

Love, security, finding our purpose–it’s all kinda weird.

Last night Emily and I watched an online church service from this past weekend. Man–it was like the pastor was talking directly to us. It was flipping crazy. Seriously, the whole big idea and the whole message was dealing with what we had just discussed like 30 minutes prior.

This morning, I read a blog post from a pastor who talks about something else God’s been messing with me about. This guy is several months ahead of where we are in the issue, but poignant questions, simply trusting in God when you know he gave you a vision.

Later this morning, I read a friend’s blog that made me think about loving….man, I’ve been dealing with what loving a non-Christian looks like. It’s sometimes hard, but God’s working on me to love. Love, love, love.

It’s crazy…God is using the Internet to confirm his speaking to me. Note I’m not getting vision from God from the Internet, but He is certainly confirming the vision He’s given me through the Internet.

All this stuff is really messing with me…God’s growing me a lot lately.
Not sure where all I’m going, what God’s direction is, but I do know He is not nearly done using me yet. I’ve been called to achieve more than where I’m at. I’m not done. I’m just following the Holy Spirit’s every leading in my life.

How is God messing with you?

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