So I was listening to a podcast a while ago with Leonard Sweet making the claim that the Church was still in a young phase. He listed out the past atrocities of the church and used these irresponsible acts as an argument for the Church still being in an in infant state. Fair enough. The Church has acted quite terribly over the past thousand-plus years. However, I don’t think this is because the Church has never grown up…I believe it is because the Church has digressed and is now beginning to regain some of the positive attributes of the 1st century…and is willing to bring to light the sins of pride, power, control, and idolatry that we have often battled with.
My friend Alan Hirsch has a blog and book coming out called The Forgotten Ways. On his blog he points out this fact:
100AD There are as little as 25,000 Christians
310AD There are as many as 20,000,000 Christians
A Church that could grow this exponentially in 210 years…with no paid laity, no buildings, under persecution, while meeting in homes…doesn’t seem like an immature Church. It seems that they knew/believed/lived something we won’t/can’t/wouldn’t. I often struggle with this reality. How have we muddled up our faith with so much stuff that Jesus didn’t teach while neglecting the basic things the He did teach? I believe that we, the Church, are taking steps to return to God as the prodigal son did in Luke 15…and I believe that God is running towards us as well. I appreciate Leonard’s optimism that the Church is maturing and growing, I agree. But I see what is happening, and what will continue to happen, is a re-emergence of a Jesus-only human-expression of God’s heart and work on earth.
A great book that has encouraged me is Christianity Rediscovered by Vincent J. Donovan. If you want to start a journey of finding faith without cultural hinderances I think that this book is a good starting point. I am looking forward to capitalizing on Alan’s research and study in the book. Hopefully it will lead in some good study of my own.
Some people have been curious how to say our little girls name…so I thought this would be phun.
THE REAL SPELLING IS: Maisie Rae Powell
How to pronounce Maisie in as many different phonetic spellings as I could think of…So here we go…And please feel free to comment with other phonetics I may have missed!
Maisie
Mai-zie
Mae-zie
May-z
Meigh-zee
Mé-zee
Mai-zee
Mey-zie
May-zie
Meigh-z
So it’s Maisie…with a ‘z’ sound.
Rae
Ray
Reigh
Rey
And just so you don’t forget what she looks like!
After going 13 days past her American due date and 6 days past her French due date Jen gave birth to a healthy, vibrant, and beautiful baby girl! Maisie Rae Powell was born at 2:30pm Paris time on December 3rd, 2006. She weighed 3.622 kilos = 7.98 pounds! She was awake and curious about the new world she had entered from the moment she was born! She doesn’t cry much, but lets us know when she is feeling alone…as soon as she’s picked up she stops crying…I think there is another extravert in the family.
Jen went into the hospital on Saturday morning the 2nd at 9:30 and was checked in to be monitored. After being given some stuff to help things along she began having contractions at 8:30pm. They continually got worse and she was getting more and more exhausted. Her stronger contractions began around 1:30am and by 6:00am (on Sunday now) she was pretty tired. The mid-wives advised giving her a local epidural to help her sleep so she could rest for the big push. She slept for about two and a half hours (me too) and then at 10:am they decided to break her water. By 2:pm she was ready to go and Maisie was born at around 2:30. The delivery was great (as far as deliveries going) and Jen did an amazing job. I am more and more proud of her with each day of our lives together. She’s amazing.
Thanks for your prayers and thoughts for us. Our little girl is the biggest of all the miracles that we’ve experienced in the past few months and we are thankful for your prayers. I am off to go back to the hospital (not a journey at all…about 100 steps to her room!)
Talk to you all soon!
Justin, Jen, and Maisie
PS. If you live in Paris we’d ask that you send any text messages to me (Justin) so that Maisie, Jen, and their roommate won’t be disturbed much. We’ll be letting you all know when we’re going to start having company too! We’re looking forward to sharing our joy w/ you all!
I am on a break from being at the hospital with Jen. It’s now 2:21pm and we’ve been there since about 9:30. They’ve monitored the baby…again. They’ve monitored contractions (or lack there of in our case!)…again. Now they’ve given Jen some stuff to help make contractions more possible and we’re waiting…again. She’s now 12 days past her American due date and 5 past the French date. I can’t blame the baby for wanting to stay in…I mean she gets to hang out with Jen all day and all night! I also think that she knows that the weather has taken a turn for the cold in the past few days and she, like her mom, doesn’t care for cold weather.
The good news is that we’re ready now…We have all the clothes we need. A new stroller (pousette in French and push-chair in Brittish). Her room is ready. Her mom and dad are as ready as they can be. Her aunt is in town and we have the internet at home for our family and friends who aren’t.
But for now it just more waiting! Hopefully my next post will be of pictures of the baby! Talk to you later
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