We had a great time last night at the Freeman's house. Chris, who lives and works in downtown West Palm with inner city teenagers, brought Andy, a friend and coworker. A little background - Chris has been hanging out with us for a few months. He's definitely a 'man of peace' kind of guy. We've been asking him how we can serve and bless what he's already doing and possibly open our eyes up to what God is up to in downtown West Palm. He suggested we might start by cooking dinner for a small Bible study he's starting with the kids, and we agreed. Last night Andy said he had to meet these people who actually offered to come and cook dinner for their ministry. He couldn't believe people from a 'church' would actually do such a thing.

Anyway, for the last two weeks we've been trying to rediscover what it means to pray and be a 'pray-er'. I quoted some stuff from Peterson in the past and have been using his book "Working the Angles" as kind of a guide. He proposes that the Psalms are the starting place for learning how to pray. I think many others would concur with that assumption. However, there are no shortcuts to building a Psalm-laden prayer foundation, and a few weeks of talking and experimentation are only going to scratch the surface. Regardless, we're moving forward in this, and I'll be posting notes from our journey in the gymnasium. Here's this week.

So I think it's a good thing we're learning how to pray, because I'm really wondering what God is up to. Andy, Chris, and another friend Lori are all in "ministry" but all three have had a brutal time trying to connect with a community of believers. I'm starting to see that there is a network (possibly a very large network) of people down here who are faithful Christ-followers but absolutely have given up on the church. (Sound familiar?) Most of them still go somewhere, but they're dying a thousand deaths. Now if only I could convince these people to start informally gathering in their homes or at a coffee shop or somewhere and begin to ask a few simple questions...

Just a thought.