Cosmic Joke

Every day I'm confronted with the horrific and yet humorous possibility that God will pull the curtain back and expose one of His great cosmic jokes... "Mark Arant and Jeff Thune planting a church!"

It's divine comedy at its best. Two blissfully ignorant shmos who happen to be standing under a torrential waterfall of God's favor.

I was meeting with a guy today who has one of those stories that could've been included in the Acts narrative. You know, the typical "guy gets randomly thrown in prison, detained for 6 months, finds a Bible and after reading gives his life to Jesus, then miraculously released and finds Veritas through a friend of a friend..."

So I had met this guy the previous year playing ball at the Rec. Apparently I had told him we were planting a church. He said at the time he thought, "This guy is crazy. How do you plant a church?!" Through the aforementioned ridiculous set of circumstances, he's been at church the last few weeks and sees Jeff and me preaching and recognizes us from ball. He sees that God is clearly at work among us, and asks me with astonishment, "How did you do it?!"

That's why I'm taking the time to process the answer to that question right now.

Truth is- I have no idea. 

But the formula for Veritas seems to be something like: Average (at best) people, a big God, some precious promises, and thick unmerited favor= Good News explosion in Iowa City. 

Here are some other highlights via pictures...

One of our guys on staff- Bryan Dermody- recently got a phone call from Rex Ryan, head coach of the NY Jets, asking him to come back and be the head strength coach for quarter of million dollars/year. He turned it down for the peanuts we are paying him to work as an intern on our college staff team. The dude barely fits in his little Corolla... (he could've been riding high in an Escalade...) I love this picture of the kingdom! Finding a field with a treasure and selling everything to get the field...

 This picture is of our men's group. These are all football players. It looks like I've been photoshopped in. The guys on all sides are freaks... Nephilim or something... (Bryan on far right)

 Cody (left) is an atheist friend who has been attending. He's rocking his Oxford Bible, Jackass T, and always has great questions. Dave is on the right... he's one of the pillars of Veritas who moved his family from Ames to stand under this waterfall.

 Here's a verse in the text I'm preaching on this week, "The Lord's hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord... God's message flourished and multiplied..." (Acts 11:21, 12:24)

Soli Deo Gloria.