place of nathan.

This morning, our area was shook by an earthquake. A 5.4 earthquake in West Salem, Illinois, some 300 miles from my home.

My wife was exercising at the time of the quake, and didn’t feel a thing! I was in bed asleep, and didn’t feel a thing either (I’m a heavy sleeper–I probably would have sleep through a 8.5 earthquake).
But when we turned on the morning news, the quake was all they talked about. Apparently, one could feel it very easily in this area. Ryan and Mary from Indiana’s Newscenter were live on the air and stopped what they were doing and looked at each other while they were live (or so they told us).
If you’re in the area of this earthquake, did you feel it? If so, please share a story!

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Given what you know, which do you believe is the better-built Operating System, Windows Vista or Mac OSX (Leopard)?

Is there a particular reason you feel that way? (No bashing please, just honest opinions wanted).

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It’s been a while since I’ve given a weekend update, so I thought I would do so. (Plus I haven’t blogged in a while–it’s been a good break.)
This past weekend at New Hope, we had an attendance of 654, an 11% increase from the same weekend a year ago.
For the year (since January), our average attendance (592) is up 7.99% from the same 15-week period in 2007.

The numerical growth we’re seeing is exciting because we are seeing lives changed like never before!
All this growth, and we’ve even had a very hard, cold winter! God is faithful! We are thrilled to be an instrument He’s using to reach so many people!

Here’s a few stories of life change:
-A couple hit rock-bottom. They haven’t been inside a church building in about 20 years. In the past three months, they both have made decisions for Christ, and are faithful attenders! To God be the glory!
-A single guy was laid off and had nowhere to turn. He turned to New Hope about four months ago and soon after, made a decision to follow Jesus. God is good!

I look forward to celebrating more changed lives in the coming weeks and months!

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Today I share a story from my walk to work this morning.

For it to make sense, you have to understand my route. I walk 1 1/2 blocks on my road, then turn onto a road without any sidewalks for about 1/4 mile or so. This road is wide, with about a 3′ paved shoulder.

Note–people don’t normally walk on roads without sidewalks, right?

Well, today when I turned, there was a guy ahead of me by about 100 meters, and he was walking slower than I, so I knew I might catch him. I thought ‘What is he going to think when I pass him?’

I decided it was best to not pass, so I tried to stay back at least 20 meters. But as we approached my turn into work, this guy really slowed down–I think perhaps he was fiddling with an ipod or something. But I came up on him really quickly, and wasn’t really paying attention. As I prepared to turn and he was about two meters ahead of me, my shadow was in front of him. I wondered if he’d notice.
Sure enough, he did notice, and he turned around really, really quickly and had a look of horror on his face. I turned my corner, and smiled really big, and it made me laugh.

I think you had to be there to see this guy’s face when he realized someone was right behind him. It was so unexpected for him to encounter anyone on the road, he was so startled.

In our lives, it is in the times when we’re not paying attention to what’s going on around us that we seem to ‘forget’ about Jesus. Through my walk today, God was speaking to me–am I watching for God all the time? He’s right behind me, even when I’m not thinking about it…
And he’s right behind you, too.

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I recently upgraded my blog to WordPress 2.5. It’s been about six months since the previous release, 2.3, and 2.5 does not disappoint.

Although you likely don’t see any change on the front end (Actually, there is one change–the Popular Posts sidebar isn’t yet functioning with 2.5, so it’s gone at this point.), the back-end administration panel has gotten a major overhaul. The admin panel has been updated and streamlined. I LOVE IT! It is so much better, so much more simple and compact.

Want to know why I love it so much? Because they found a better way to do it. I love WordPress and the guys (and gals) at Automattic. Keep up the fantastic work. I look forward to the future of WordPress in version 2.6!

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Here’s a quick snapshot of New Hope’s new nursery pagers, which we’ll be rolling out in two or three weeks.
It’s the same technology as what they use at restaurants when you’re waiting for a table. But notice the cool little ‘paddles’ on the side of it? We can use it to advertise upcoming events at New Hope.
Pretty Sweet!

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