I guess it is obligatory as a new grandfather to put some more photos on this site. Tough task, but I will oblige...All is well with everyone. Colette is now at home and getting used to life. And so is Emily, Steve and the rest of us.

As I think about the miracle of this time in Nancy and my life, I can not but marvel at the grace given us in the gift of time to be here and do what we are doing--helping in any way we can... And that gift has been mediated to us by the wonderful, generous and supportive communities of faith we have been honored to share with over the last 36 years. Without the love and opportunity to serve that the people of Calvin (and before that Clarkston) gave us we would not be at this place in our lives and would not be able to have the freedom we have now. Thank you

Having said that, it certainly does feel strange to have no deadlines, meetings, or the like to arrange our worlds around. Which brings up the major life-work for us at this stage--to discern what God is calling us to do and where to do it. When I have talked about stewardship in the past, I have said it includes administration of our time as well as our financial resources. Now that is the question for Nancy and me.

There are two main words for time in the Bible, one is chronos (chronology, chronometer) and its distinctive is the passing of seconds and minutes and hours. The chronos question is What time is it? And the answer is in numbers arranged around a clock, that is the placement of the hands of a watch. The answer is, It is seven o'clock or It is 4:30.
The second word is kairos, the distinctive of which is meaningful use of whatever chronos we have. The question of kairos is not, What time is it? rather it is, What is this time for? The answer is not, It is six o'clock, but, It is time to eat or to drink or to marry or whatever. The idea is not time passing but time filled with that unique activity God designed it to be fill with. Kairos time is at the heart of Ecclesiastes 3, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted... These words do not ask what time of day or night it is but what is the purpose of the present, of whatever time it is. In Ephesians 5 Paul exhorts us to make the most of the time... That is what life is about--discerning God's reason for each day we live, and each minute we breathe, and seeking to live according to that reason.

As Colette begins living whatever chronos God has for her to live, I pray she will live the kairos he has for those years... And the same for each of us.