A Chair Speaks

I'm sitting at a local restaurant-bar getting some stuff done on the computer, and right in front of me is this chair:

I thought it was a little strange for the chair to be facing to the side of the bar. In fact, all of the chairs at the bar are facing this way. Not toward the bar. Toward the front door - where the guests first appear. Inviting people to come in and be comfortable.

From a marketing perspective, this is clever. A simple thing that affects your immediate impression when you first step in. "I'm welcome here. In fact, they've been expecting me."

How are the chairs facing in our homes, in our churches, in our lives? Is the place where guests first appear oriented toward them or us? Not just the physical orientation of furniture, but also the atmosphere and the attitude? Do our "chairs" face away, making visitors feel like they're interrupting rather than being welcome to come in and be comfortable? Or are our "chairs" facing the visitor, guest, friend, or neighbor - attentive and ready? "You're welcome here in my home, my church, my life. In fact, I've been expecting you."

Thanks for an easy start

Moves are exciting, exhausting, stressful, and refreshing ... all at the same time. Our move to KC had all these attributes with far more intensity that any of our previous moves. And we're not exactly sure why.

But through all of the ups and downs of moving, one thing has been consistently positive about the whole ordeal. You.

You have welcomed us in, helped us to move, helped us get oriented, checked on us to make sure we're OK, invited us to share a meal, prayed for us, given us grace, allowed us to make novice mistakes (I hope to soon to be making veteran mistakes!), and listened to our crazy ideas with patience. You have given us verbal encouragement, written encouragement, and even the encouragement of just being able to laugh together. You have treated us more like people than like a pastor and a pastor's wife - we so much need to be more than my title with you.

So ... thank you.

We love being here. We're beginning to see the size of the task ahead, and we are anxious to be moving forward with you. We will have bumps and challenges and differences of opinions. We will have joys, hard work, and celebrations.

There are still some of you that we have not been able to connect with as personally as we would like. It's only been 10 weeks, but we feel a little behind on spending more individual time with each of you. We're working on it, but we invite you to not be shy. If you would like to get some more "face time" with us, too, then you should know that we love coffee!

In all seriousness, in the coming months, we would relish the opportunity to spend time with each family, somewhere, somehow. I don't know if it's even possible, but we're willing to fail trying!