jonathan bow

Stations of the Cross

Tonight we created an artistic, meditative environment for our church to engage with in honor of Good Friday. Our prayer is that everyone who participated tonight discovered some sacred space to reflect upon the amazing love and grace of Christ.

It was built around the traditional version of the 14 Stations of the Cross. The art we used was from local artist, David Myers (who lives in Morrisville). Here's a glance at some of his artwork that we used this evening. I spoke to David tonight as he and his wife went through the experience and he was deeply moved and honored at how God used his art to minister to our community. He said his art had never been displayed in a church before. I'm grateful we could be the first. If you were able to participate, take a moment to leave a comment on his blog and offer your gratitude.

Back at it

Well, a couple reasons the blog has gone silent recently...

The main one being that for the last few weeks it has been locked up because of a billing issue. In the transition to a new expiration date on the credit card of record, it locked me out and whenever I tried to enter the new one, it kept insisting there was an error.

Secondly, I've been crazy busy and somehow updating two sentences on Facebook is much easier than posting a blog. 

So, rather than trying to catch up on a month...here's some things I'm excited about today--

1. Really was proud of our latest teaching series on 'Money.' At the end of the day, I felt like it was extremely helpful across the board on many levels and in our current economic times--when we talk about money...it should reflect a spirit of helpfulness. Plus, I thought Steve did a particularly awesome job this morning. Good work, bro.

2. Really proud of the 'What. Now?' event held this evening. We probably had close to 150 adults and I heard lots of positive comments from people as they were leaving. It was a rather last minute idea for us and so many people rallied together to make it happen.

3. I took down the butcher paper from around the wall this evening with everyone's prayers, work needs, and offers of help. It's a sacred, moving moment every time I read all that's written there. We'll be logging all the work needs and offers of help in the next several days and finding an appropriate way to make them accessible to the Crosspointe family.

4. Excited about the new series next week, Only Human. 

5. Adrianne was out of town at the beach this weekend with the girls from our lifegroup. She had a wonderful time and we, at home, made the most of boys' weekend. Papa Johns pizza, double digit hours of playing tennis, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer....not to mention watching Duke win the ACC tourney, Louisville win the Big East, and USA baseball tackle the second round of the WBC. 

6. Stoked that Duke was placed in Greensboro. Debating whether or not to expose my sports crazed boys to the craziness of the tourney in person for the first time....not to mention the art of trying to get tickets from a scalper. 

7. Regardless....college basketball doesn't get any better than this upcoming Thursday-Sunday.

8. Next Monday, I start my 5th season of coaching. We held the draft this past Wednesday night (7-9 year olds) and since I didn't know anyone besides Caden and my assistant coaches' kids....success was met when I didn't have any kids with the same first name. It's a big jump this year from t-ball to kid pitch....so we'll see how it goes. Coaching is a challenge with my schedule, but I love pouring into kids and families I otherwise would never meet

9. I'm close to being finished with taxes. Whoever invented Turbo Tax....thank you. 

10. Now, I need to go to bed because I've got to make it to the gym EARLY if it's going to happen tomorrow and I promised Caden I'd help him fill out a bracket before I left for work. 

I am Second

If you haven't seen this site yet, it is WELL worth your time to check out. You'll know a lot of the people on there and you might be surprised by their stories. Brian Welch's story, formerly of Korn, was the one that first caught my attention and they've continued to add some amazing stories since then. Definitely check it out.

Don't Do It

Here's the video from Sunday morning. Enjoy.

Let Sawyer show you some love

If you like LOST, and ever wondered what nickname Sawyer might come up with for you....here's your chance. If you're bold enough, leave your nickname in the comments.

Big Ideas

"A big idea will change you. Your friends may love you, but they don't want you to change. If you change, then their dynamic with you also changes. They like things the way they are; that's how they love you - the way you are, not the way you become... Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships. That is why good ideas are always initially resisted. --Hugh Macleod

true for all relationships....including churches.

Haileigh is home

Thanks once again from the West family and myself for all your prayers and concern. In true girl form, as soon as Haileigh got home last night she declared her hair was disgusting and wanted a shower. Since then she has been eating well and the entire family enjoyed a great night of sleep. The doctor advised her to stay home from school for another week and rest and then she'll have a follow up appointment next Monday. She didn't have to go home with any tubes or monitors, she'll simply need to check back in every 3-6 months for the next couple years to see if the tumor grows at all. If after 2 years it hasn't, she can proceed with life as normal and simply have the tumor checked as part of a yearly physical.

Once again, you can send notes to: wests3@ymail.com

Haileigh on Monday

Haileigh had a great night. The doctors are going to do a CT scan this morning and if everything looks good, they'll discharge her today!

Sunday morning update

Great morning at Crosspointe. I'm very excited about this new series. Plus, I thought the music was amazing this morning....always nice to end with a little Coldplay.

As for Haileigh...she had a decent night. Her pressure levels are still fluctuating, but the good news is when they went down, they went down to their lowest levels since the surgery. So, that's encouraging. Chris and Shelley were both able to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep in the room as well...so that was huge.

If you'd like to send Haileigh and the West's a note...you can email them at: wests3@ymail.com. Their other email isn't working...so this would be the one to use right now.

Saturday evening update

I know most of you don't follow my blog for Haileigh updates...but with so many people interested in how she's doing, including her own family across the country, the Wests asked if they could simply point people to my blog to stay informed rather than trying to create one on their own with everything else going on. So, together, this is a way we can serve their family...so thanks for coming along for the ride.

Here's the Saturday evening update:

Haileigh is in the hospital for another night. She had an encouraging day but the doctors still want to keep her under observation. The pediatric neurosurgeon now in charge of her case came in and sat down with the family for a long time today, explained everything thoroughly, answered all their questions, and walked through all the next steps. This was incredibly helpful and a source of relief for Chris and Shelley. Often the unknown is the hardest to deal with.

The doctor said, even though they didn’t biopsy the tumor, he doesn’t see any sign of cancer at this time. Her tumor is 8mm, and usually they only get concerned, in terms of cancer, when the tumor is 1.5-2cm.

She has continued to have a build up of pressure on her brain at different times. When the pressure reaches a certain number, monitors go off (which make it impossible to rest), and a machine automatically drains the excess fluid. This has been happening off and on. However, the doctor tonight wants to remove the number cap that trips the automatic drain (this is standard procedure) because it’s basically not forcing her brain to learn the new route that they’ve designed for it go. Hopefully that makes sense. As long as she’s not showing any signs of vomiting or nausea, the doctor wants to give the brain some motivation to learn the new route. When she can stay off the automatic drain for 24 hours with no physical side effects, they’ll send her home. If the pressure continues for 2 more days without relief...then they’ll approach next steps (a shunt which will require at least another week in the hospital).

The doctors say this surgery works 80% of the time, so obviously we’re all praying Haileigh falls in that 80%.

The family had a much needed low-key day. Haileigh was eating some grilled cheese and chips and was in good spirits.

Chris and Shelley are going to try one more all nighter in the hospital room together and then consider taking shifts tomorrow, pending news, to get some much needed rest themselves.

There you go. Just keeping you in the loop.