Under The Grace
Surviving the heat... done with school. For now.
37 years old
Burlington, WA
Male
About
Jeff from Under The Grace .com...
I consider myself your basic church kid... The hero's of my youth were Christians. I wanted to be like them and did what I could to live up to the their expectations. Vocational ministry appeared to be the best way to stock up on God points so that's what I pursued.
I was in some form of vocational pastoral ministry from 1995 to 2007. Since moving from Alaska in 2004 I have been discovering who I am in Christ. I think boils down to this: "I belong to my Father in Heaven through the finished work of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. I am a well-loved son in the household of faith."
While that may not sound too different than the past, the difference isn't lost on me. I'm measuring more of my life by grace over law. All the effort, sweat, worry, and fuss isn't necessary because Christ has already given me what I need. He gets the credit for the good things that come from my life.
My wife and I have recently made some radical changes in our vocation so that we can participate in building God's kingdom. Funny... leaving vocational ministry to build God's kingdom.
Text(4)
Jun 20, 2007
UTG Live
Under The Grace is live. Virb will continue to serve as a social network (although currently empty) and about page. Cya over there.
May 21, 2007
Everything is a cinch...
My dad reminded me frequently in my college days that, "Every thing's a cinch if you take it inch by inch." I'm trying to take that one day at a time/one moment at a time philosophy seriously. Christ spoke to that when he said, "Don't worry about tomorrow because today …
May 16, 2007
Decisions
As I said in my "About" section we are trying to navigate a change here. I can't see myself staying in vocational ministry for two much longer. I am so burned out. In just about every way.
Our services don't make much sense to me anymore. The teaching is good but I …
Movies
Band of Brothers, Lord of the Rings, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, Happy Gilmore, So I Married an Axe Murderer
Music
Phil Keaggy, Bob Bennett, James Taylor, Nickel Creek, Allison Krauss and Union Station, Randy Stonehill, Larry Norman, Ed Cash, Peter Mayer, Mark Heard, Russ Taff, Barry Bynum
Television
Books
No Little People (Schaeffer), The Complete Book of Discipleship (Hull), Organic Church (Cole), Houses That Change the World (Simson), The Forgotten Ways (Hirsch), The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse (Johnson and VanVonderen), Deliver Us From Evil (Zacharias), The Nature and Character of God (Pratney), The Bible (God), The Call (Guinness)
Activities
Playing with my kids, talking with my wife, golf, reading, barbecue, sipping freshly ground hot black coffee, smoking a pipe, pulling weeds, listening, thinking
Interests
Simple church, spiritual abuse, discipleship, Biblical church, music, guitar, saxophone, humor