Day THIRTEEN of Daniel Fast 2014

I've been reading, praying and studying the John's Revelation in the New Testament during this fast as well as trying to absorb the writings and prayers of Thomas A Kempis.  Here is a passage that really hits home today for me:  "Behold, meat, drink, raiment, and all the other necessaries for the maintenance of the body, are burdensome unto a fervent spirit.  Grant me to use such refreshments moderately, and not to be entangled with an over-great desire of them.  To cast away all the things is not lawful, because nature is to be sustained; but to require superfluities, and those things that give the more delight, the holy Law forbiddeth; for then the flesh would wax wanton against the Spirit.  Herein, I beseech Thee, let Thy hand govern me and teach me, that there may be no excess."

Day 13.  almost to the 2 week mark.  I've lost weight and feel much more focused and healthy.  I wish my sleep would return to a more sustainable level though.

Day ELEVEN of Daniel Fast 2014

Saturday mornings at the Bauman house usually has me making a big old fashioned breakfast with bacon, eggs, has browns and often pancakes or cinnamon rolls...none of which are the fast...oh, bacon!  However, we had a shepherd/elder meeting this morning and it was a good time of prayer, thinking, and visioning.  I'm blessed to have some great shepherd/elders in the trenches with me!

After that I worked several hours assisting with a local funeral.  I felt groggy most of the day however but it can't be from caffeine - that withdrawal was over several days ago.  The last 3 nights have been difficult sleeping so I'm hoping that I can figure out what that's all about.

Seeing the Seahawks win against the Saints made up for no coffee though!

Day TWELVE of Daniel Fast 2014

Sunday morning came early yesterday as I still struggle with a 2-3 hour waking up each evening to hit the restroom.  I definitely think I'm 'cleansed' out!  I didn't get any promptings from the Lord the last few nights but I'm open to that as I wake in the night.  God, please speak, You're servant is all ears!  I was excited to preach at Dallas Church on how we got started in 2007 and how God moved in big ways to make the vision come to life.  Talking about mission gets me pumped up.  There are a lot of good things a church family can do, but, the BEST is to introduce as many people to the way of life in Jesus Christ.  God, help us as a church family stay the course!

Later in the day I had a 2 hour nap before the shepherd/elder in training meeting at 7pm...I'm getting old!

Day TEN of Daniel Fast 2014

Its Friday, my usual day off but I'm feeling anxious.  Had to deal with 3-4 hours of office work and that sort of took over the time.  I was able to finish a book series I've been reading though with a crazy ending...won't spoil it for anyone.

The food choices are getting old.  Jackie has been doing a great job coming up with weird new concoctions but all of it tastes fairly bland without my trusty hot sauce.  I still miss coffee greatly and the headaches are pretty regular still.

God, may I continue to make You the focus not my own petty issues during this time.

Day NINE of Daniel Fast 2014

Once again I am glad for soy fruit smoothies and date honey!  Since I've been drinking only water I definitely feel fully hydrated, however, there is a tendency between smoothies and large volumes of water, to feel a bit bloated.  Lord, may this cleanse truly work on my health and allow for further renewed energy and vitality and may I be able to serve You better and better in the days and months ahead.

Day EIGHT of Daniel Fast 2014

Ok, well, getting a little tired of the menu choices now.  I am glad for Trader Joe's and some of the cereals offered by the Ezekiel company however AND date honey.  Spending extra time in prayer and meditation has been extremely helpful and I am feeling more clarity through the Holy Spirit than I have in a long time.  God has a plan for each season of our lives and each situation that comes our way - of that, I am sure.

Yesterday I also checked in with my doctor on some blood work and we made a plan to reduce my bad cholesterol in the next 6 months.  God, help me maintain the courage and discipline to stay on this healthier path.

Day SEVEN of Daniel Fast 2014

So I hit the one week mark yesterday and I have to admit one lapse...I drank a decaf Americano at Starbucks for a guys group.  I thought I should purchase something while using the coffee shop's hospitality.  For the record, it wasn't very good.  Decaf just isn't the same.

On another note, I'm praying for an 'abnormal' cholesterol report from the doctor.  One of my goals I've prayed about this last week has been celebrating my future 50th wedding anniversary with Jackie.  To do that, I need to be healthy!  God, help me be healthy to serve You and love my family for a long, long time.  Amen.

Day FIVE of Daniel Fast 2014

Woke up bright and early this morning ready for the Dallas Church worship gathering.  I'm generally sleeping better now and my digestive system is starting to even out.  The headaches are still present but I had more energy today than the last several.  Spent time thinking about worship with Revelation 5 and how we're designed to worship Jesus Christ as the only worthy recipient.  I also started thinking about how I could walk the perimeter of Dallas's city limits and circle the city in prayer?  Hmmm...

Day FOUR of Daniel Fast 2014

Energy is not back to normal (maybe due to no sugar) and the headache from lack of caffeine but great time spent with the Lord and finishing the book by Mark Batterson The Circle Maker.  I was challenged to surround big dreams in prayer!

Day THREE of Daniel Fast 2014

This year I'm focused on prayer.  With that I'm reading and meditating on prayer ideas from the past and present.  Prayers like the Jesus Prayer, Hesychastic prayer, prayer circling (thanks to Mark Batterson and his book The Circle Maker) and even the ideas I picked up in Bible College like the A.C.T.S. format.  No matter what the 'technique', for me it takes an intentional pulling away from busy activity and allowing the time to be still and focused on God Almighty.  There's my challenge.  During the fast (and beyond for the year), this will be my aim.  The early church was devoted to prayer, and, more specifically 'the prayers' (set daily prayer times) and they encountered amazing God only miracles.  Maybe God has come miracles in store for me and for the church family I'm honored to lead?  May God provide new vision, guidance, confidence and even a taste of the miraculous this season!

Day TWO of Daniel Fast 2014

Woke up with what I believe is a caffeine withdrawal headache.  After a late night for New Years (say 3:30am), and a family reunion/party at 2pm where we couldn't eat anything, we headed home for a quiet night and now, heading to work with a bit of a head thing.  God, I still give You this day to mold and shape me into the likeness of Your Son Jesus.  Amen.

Day ONE of Daniel Fast 2014

So, first day of the new year and my wife Jackie and I begin a 21 day journey of special fasting like Daniel did with his friends as exiles in ancient Babylon.  Nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink for 3 weeks.  May God's blessing, wisdom and insight flow from this special start to the new year.

Drawing Near to God's Heart

Something I've been really hearing from God about lately is simply this...time. My personality type seems to drift easily toward a 'check-mark' Spiritual life...so, read those 4 chapters a day (check), pray a little (check), watch my life (check), but, maybe God would have me, just me, rather than so much focus on the 'do' part. Lord, help me simply spend TIME with You. I know when I do, its the best place I could be!

Sampling the local night life

A good friend and I went out last night in our small town of Dallas and tried to sample some of the local night life. What we found was quite interesting. We first checked out the papers and craigslist to see what was being advertised. After that we struck out in my old '51 chev pickup. First stop...a long-running local musician jam at Guthrie Park Community Center. There were over a dozen musicians sitting in the round playing songs together. A lot of the material was older - maybe like the soundtrack of 'O Brother Where Art Thou' with a few other various tunes. Some interesting moments included a woman playing a saw (no joke) and steel bucket bass player! After about an hour, and a donation, we headed out for a younger crowd. That took us to a local bar called Blondies. As soon as we drove up, we heard some pounding, current sounding music and, upon entry, we found our younger crowd. The room was smoky and packed with 20 somethings. Not much dancing going on, but, every pool table was taken by young guys. We wanted to check out some of the other local haunts, however, my old chev's 6 volt battery wasn't going to hack it, so, we headed home early (11pm). All in all there are certainly some things to do on Friday nights even in a small town!

Plan away....but, God has the final say...

I've been in 'crunch' mode for the past month or so getting ready to start a new church (with a great team I might add) here in Dallas, Oregon. This morning, as I was praying and reading through Scripture, a new insight from God really sunk in. Me, the staff, and our Launch Team have been planning and working hard, and, we've been staying in constant prayer. Even with all this momentum, I've been anxious and worried about whether or not this church plant will work. I confess that I've stressed over no one showing up on Sunday...oh me of little faith right? Well, in reading Proverbs 16 today, I had a 'divine moment' if you will. Three times in that chapter, it says, in effect, plan away, but, God has the final say. The whole chapter starts and ends that way. This gives me a bit of peace...all our plans will succeed with God's hand. Our job is to be faithful, diligent in planning and working, and then rely on God to do His part - the BIG part...whew! I feel better already...

MCC sealed the deal!

After we met the staff of Monmouth Christian, we were pretty impressed! The talents and Spiritual maturity we encountered made quite an impact on us. With a group of committed followers of Jesus ready to help us and even mentor us in the process, we sensed God's involvement in a powerful way. Having a 'mother church' so close and willing to make this mission happen helped us begin to see church planting in Dallas as pretty doable. We returned home with a lot of excitement, and yet a lot of fear for the road ahead. In fact, our next fear was informing our church family in Maple Valley about our decision. That was really, really tough...more on that soon!

Asked for a NO, but God said...

That's right, after we prayed for a simple 'no' from God, friends, family, coworkers, etc. all of them overwhelmingly came back with "YES"! So, the sense of calling was growing and, even though we were sensing a strong leading, we wanted more clarity about Dallas. We wanted to know if it was the right fit for our family. As a kid, I spent a lot of years in Dallas, but now I wasn't sure if our next church planting adventure should be there. To help us, the staff from Monmouth Christian Church, led by Stan Peterson, invited us down to meet the staff and get a better feel of the community. We journeyed down from the Seattle suburbs to check it all out. At this point, you might be thinking that we had a bit of a 'Jonah' complex...meaning that God was clearly calling us and yet we were looking for a different message. We really wanted to be sure, though, so, we made the trip down to Oregon. You might guess what we discovered...(to be continued)

Asking for NO!

Ok, so, I promised to keep writing about my experiences with starting a new church, and, I'm behind (like so many other projects these days). Any-who, my wife Jackie and I began to dream about the possibilities, but, we were also asking God for a clear NO. In fact, we agreed to go to a church planter assessment in February 2007 thinking that they'd see how imperfect we were and help us with God's NO. As it turned out, they put us threw the ringer with questions, interviews, social interactions and other tests and instead of NO, they said, YES, green-light go! So, the plot thickened for us...is God really needing us to step out in faith again and this time lead a church plant? Surely not, right? Thats when we decided to go to friends, family, business associates and others in our lives who could shoot straight. We asked them to pray, fast, and consider this decision with us...you'll never guess what they came back to us with...(to be continued, heh, heh)

No fear of God...from Psalm 36

Last night at our prayer walk for the Dallas community, many sensed the weight of people who don't have any fear of God. So many in the city don't even consider God at all in their life decisions and are blinded by this neglect. The Psalm talks about people who, when they don't fear God, become arrogant in their confidence and live confused about evil and good, unable to know which is which...wow, God, help me and the launch team reach people like this...Amen.

Starting a new church...the journey begins...

Ok - over the past several months, I've been thinking I should document this journey of starting a new church, and, this morning, well, I think its time to begin. Since last night was one of the first official meetings we conducted with some of the 'launch team', I thought this documentation was well past due! You see, last night we met (over 20 of us) to pray around the town and seek God's wisdom in planting this church here...it was really cool! Back to what I started here...anyway, I was in Spokane in January helping a friend of mine lead worship for a men's purity conference (Pure Warriors) and I got a call from Jim Penhollow of East 91st Street Christian Church who lives in Portland and works to recruite church planters for the Northwest. Since he was instrumental in 2003 in getting me to leave a wonderful life in Tennessee for the unknown world of helping to plant a church in the Seattle suburbs, we had a bit of a track record. Anyway, after a quick no, but a promise to pray, I returned to the Seattle area to begin praying, dreaming and thinking about the possibilities...(to be continued...)