the barefoot sojourner

Interpretation: Christians can understand the Word of God

2009-10-04T14:32:00.002-05:00

"Spiritual understanding - that is, the discernment of the realit of God, His ways with humankind, His present will and one's own relationship to Him now and for the future- will not however reach us from the text until the veil is removed from our hearts and we are able to share the writer's own passion to knwo and please and honor God (2 Cor. 3:16; 1 Cor. 2:14). Prayer that God's Spirit may generate this passion in us and show us God in the text is needed here. (See Ps. 119:18-19, 26-27, 33-34, 73, 125, 144, 169; Eph. 1:17-19; 3:16-19.)

Each book proceeded from the same divine mind, so the teaching of the Bible's sixty-six books will be complementary and self-consistent. If we cannot yet see this, the fault is in us, not in Scripture. It is certain that Scripture nowhere contradicts Scripture; rather one passage explains another. this sound principle if interpreting Scripture by Scripture is sometimes called the analogy of Scripture or the analogy of faith."

Those two paragraphs stand out to me... 1) we need God to remove the veil in our hearts to have real spiritual understanding 2) if we can't see that Scripture is complementary adn self-consistent, it is not Scriptures fault, it is ours... How often have I blamed things on the Word instead of my lack of wisdom... Next: General Revelation

Revelation: Scripture is the Word of God

2009-09-22T21:15:00.002-05:00

Two paragraphs out of the first section, Revelation in Part I:God Revealed As Creator stood out to me.

"Christianity is the true worship and service of teh true God, humankind's Creator and Redeemer. It is a religion that rests on revelation: nobody would know the truth about God, or be able to relate to him in a personal way, had not God first acted to make himself known. But God has so acted, and the sixty-six books of the Bible, thirty-nine written before Christ came and twenty-seven after, are together the record, interpretation, expression, and embodiment of his self-disclosure. God and godliness are the Bible's uniting themes.

What Scripture says, God says; for, in a manner comparable only to the deeper mystery of the Incarnation, the Bible is both fully human and fully divine. So all its manifold contents - histories, prophecies, poems, songs, wisdom writings, sermons, statistics, letters, and whatever else - should be received as from God, and all that Bible writers teach should be revered as God's authoritative instruction. Christians should be grateful to God for the gift of his written Word, and conscientious in basing their faith and life entirely and exclusively upon it. Otherwise, we cannot even honor or please him as he calls us to do."

Blogging Break is Over

2009-08-25T20:49:00.002-05:00

so i've taken the summer off from blogging. some time of focus, some travel, some family, some house church, some growing, some running.

now it is time to buckle down.

i am going to be writing my thoughts on a book, chapter by chapter. j.i. packer's Concise Theology.

nothing spectacular, perhaps some big things. starting this week. it is more of a dialogue with myself on the blog. some posts will be longer than the others, but that is the beauty of that book. you can go incredibly deep. sometimes i will just reply with the Word.

So... let us begin...

the simplicity revolution

2009-04-10T20:53:00.002-05:00

I feel that there is a revolution coming up in my life. I almost said a 'little' revolution, but revolution in and of itself can't be little. By nature, revolutions tend to be pretty big things. Lots of things have come out of revolutions. America, for one. That didn't turn out to be something that was 'little'.

I feel like that is what is happening in my heart. A revolution. In the birth pangs of this a few months ago, I was noticing things that were changing, but I couldn't tell what direction they were going. The battles in my mind were intense. There is a line in my journal from YEARS ago that hits the nail on the head with what was going on... 'You keep telling me that it is done, that I have won, but it doesn't feel like the battle's over in my mind'. I could have gone either direction. I don't even really know what that means. But it was rough. Some days it still is.

Now it is a few months later and I am in the throes of this. And it has been difficult to really see where this is going but I do know this. It is about Jesus and it is about simplicity. How will it play out? I have no clue. But in the spirit of true revolution, it is big. And it is changing me.

the joy of fundraising

2009-01-04T21:47:00.002-05:00

This year, my wife and I have the incredible joy of serving the Lord in Kitwe, Zambia for a few weeks in January. Like most trips, we had a large amount of funds to raise. This can be difficult most of the time, but add in an economy that is tanking and people are even more hesitant to give. It is my personal opinion that people do NOT know how even a little bit (say, $10) adds up. We often hold on to our funds, saying that money is tight, yet still find it in our budget for designer coffee, eating out, renting movies and generally overspending. We are bad with this too. It has been a struggle to give when people ask. We are trying to be better. We are praying we are better in this new year. For this trip, we are not at our goal as of yet, with the trip leaving 16 January, but we are closer than some on our team. For those who still read these sporadic musings, thanks for reading. Please pray for the continued provision of the Lord, who is the one who ultimately provides.

Adventures in Serving

2008-12-16T20:59:00.003-05:00

Our house church has been serving in some different capacities as of late. We have volunteered at a retirement home and are going to be learning from our senior friends on a monthly basis.

More recently we have been taking food to some homeless people in Dayton who do not go in to the shelters when it is super cold. There is a park in town near some abandoned railroad tracks where a large population of Dayton's homeless live.

Our HC's first experience here was with our friend Will who took his youngest three kids out on Thanksgiving and passed out meals. That is a whole different story for another time, and especially appropriate if it came from Will's mouth.

Two weeks ago, Ryan, Jason, Megan and I went out in the bitter cold (it was about 17 and windy) and found our way to the park with some sandwiches, coffee, tea, string cheese and apples. We were met by 5 gentlemen, 3 of which remain outside all year round. The conversation was frigid. We were immediately welcomed to the fire, shared the food with the men, had conversation and watched as Megan, once again, was the tie that bound the group together. She has habit of doing that. It was a good experience. We got into the car frozen, but thankful none the less. God began to do something as we talked from our warm vehicle about poverty, Love, Christ and the next steps.

Last week it was warmer. Almost 20 degrees warmer. Same four people from house church. But this time there were about 20 people around the fire.

We were not prepared food-wise for that.

As we started to walk up, some of the folks started shouting at each other. We could already see the beer bottles. We decided to leave the food and clothes this week in the car and brought drinks up to the camp. This week, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. We met a lot of new folks, saw many of our friends from the previous week and it looked like the start of another good week.

Until the fight broke out.

A small group of people began fighting over who knows what. I looked at Jason and Ryan, who Amy and I consider great friends, almost like uncles to Megan, and we really had to figure out what we were going to do. Stay and serve? Or go?

Almost as soon as it started the fight was over. The trouble makers decided to leave the camp. A few of the men from the previous week made a point to come over and tell me that nothing would be allowed to happen to Megan. I didn't have to worry there, Ry and J are great uncles and would do anything to protect Meg, as would I. But we didn't have to worry about that. We decided to bring up the food and got to know the new folks. Many names, many faces, many stories. Everybody believes in Christ. Everyone is quick with a story and if they don't have a story, watch out! they may break into song!

Jason busted out the harmonica, Ryan beat-boxed, Megan and I played peek-a-boo with anyone who wanted. It was a good time.

We started week two in a hard way but ended up better than week one. Again, more conversations about the poor, about their richness, about community, about true Life... God has been stretching us as a house church and forcing us out of our comfort zone, but I think we are learning more about Him each week as we pour out.

Fred, Chet and the adventure at the retirement home

2008-10-30T06:16:00.004-05:00

Recently, our house church decided to start visiting folks at a retirement home. We had a connection with Jason's grandma who works at one and we went for the first time three weeks ago.

It was different. There were 5 of us (six if you count Megan walking around banging on the bird cage) and about 10 or so people from the retirement home. Just talked and shared for a bit. Some were responsive. Some were lucid. Others were just glad to follow Megan around the room with their eyes, not saying anything. That was week one.

We went back last night for our second visit. A new gentleman, Chet, was there. We had met his wife Dottie the week before and she was by his side. Chet was in and out of sleep, burst into spontaneous laughter a few times but when he looked at you, boy, it was piercing. Found out he was a former school superintendent. A football coach. Has a stadium named after him. Still has a firm handshake. Good sense of humor. He thinks Ryan is better looking than Jason. We know because he told Jason that. I had met Chet and Dottie forever ago at my parents church. Didn't know them then, but it was neat to reconnect. They won't even remember we were there. Dotties memory is going quickly. She literally will ask you where you went to school five times in a ten minute conversation. But they will thank you for coming, and mean it when they say it.

Fred was there the first week but didn't make it down this past week. He forgot. So we visited him. Fred is a Christian. It is evident in his speech, in the wisdom that flows out of his mouth. His constant desire to do 'what my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ WANTS me to do' is always on his lips. The four young guys and Fred fellowshipped last night for about thirty minutes. He shared, we shared and begged for more of his experience. "I am here to learn from your experience", he would say. The line that stuck out to me the most last night, "Quietly, diligently listen to what the Lord is calling you to do and do it." He advocated listening to the Lord, always asking Him how to do what we are doing and if God's way is different than your way, well... your way is trash. It was a sweet sweet time.

We will continue to pray and seek His direction for our involvement with this place, but so far it has been worth it. As I continue to reflect on the past few weeks both in House Church and the retirement home I intend to share more thoughts. Until that time...

Will Customs be enforced?

2008-08-18T18:48:00.001-05:00

I am wondering if Michael Phelps will have a hard time bringing all that gold back in through customs. I am pretty sure it is over the allowed amount...

2008-08-18T17:37:00.002-05:00

I find the arguments of this political cycle pretty comical. I haven't seen much from either camp that proves to me that they know much about economics, which is pretty apparent from their advertisements and speeches. I also find comical the understanding of Americans and the actual power that the President has, which is apparent from regurgitated talking points over water coolers... If we were really concerned about things like gas prices, we need to be jumping over our congressional representation. It is a tragedy that the current speaker of the house has BY HERSELF held up the process by not allowing a vote by blocking the legislation from reaching the floor for a vote. And in the name of fairness, where is the media coverage of the continued protest staged by the Republicans? Two to three days at best... And as for the fairness doctrine, at what point does the left acknowledge their iron grip on magazine, newspaper and television vs radio? Because that seems fair. Plus 'Air America' couldn't even keep their sponsorships going and their ratings stank. It seems FAIR that we don't subject the listeners to that. And to make it fair, just like listening to the radio, if you don't like what you hear, you can change the channel. If we are going to push the fairness doctrine, let us apply it across ALL forms of media and truly give it a chance, let's not silence one side of the debate. Taxes. We need to realize that there is only one group that pays taxes in this beautiful republic: the people. Not Businesses, not government offices, etc. Think 'windfall profit taxes' are going to stick it to the companies? Hardly. It will result in higher prices. Go to the library and check out a book on economics and read it for yourself. See what they say. If we are going to turn the economy around, we need to level the tax playing field (and NOT by raising the taxes on the rich... I posted about that earlier). AND WE MUST DEMAND FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CONTROLLED SPENDING IN WASHINGTON. Washington, it seems, has no limit to its spending. Let us rise up and demand some control. It worked on immigration. It can work here too. And if you live in Ohio, you have probably seen commercials about payday advance companies. The commercials state if you borrow $100 all you have to do is pay back $115 on payday. Truth. But the problem with these businesses are this: what happens if you can't pay it back on Friday? Check out the interest rates then. Some are upwards of 400%. THAT is the problem. And while you are thinking about this, where are the bulk of payday advance locations? In the 'good' neighborhoods? Think again. They tend to be in poor neighborhoods where financial hardship is more the rule vs. the exception like the commercials would like you to believe. Google them. Look at the locations. See where the bulk of them are located. And then tell me that the owners aren't taking advantage of the poor in order to make a profit. The law proposed is to put a cap on the amount of interest that can be charged in the 35% range (vs. 400%). Listen to the owners whine. But don't vote for it. This will end the rant for today...

Random Blurbs

2008-07-29T21:12:00.003-05:00

i like brown rice, preferably cooked

of all the places i have been, i have enjoyed Madison, Wisconsin. not much reminds me of there and there doesn't remind me of much. but I enjoyed it.

one of my old phone numbers was 656-5222. that was years ago. i don't remember where.

romans one and ephesians two are frequently answers for questions in our house church.

megan has been cracking me up lately. can't wait until she can start talking!

there isn't much good on television. cable or not. we don't have cable.

hoping to buy a house soon.

zambia: can't get you out of my mind...

ice cream in the back room of an indian convenience store is very good.

VERY GOOD.

staring at a computer screen all day makes the numbers jump around.

they are washing the windows on the kroger building, downtown cinti, oh this week. such a strange sight.

haven't been to florida in a while. maybe christmas?

my daughter is pretty tough. beat up a two year old and took his snack at 8 months. and she eats grass.

ikea furniture is ok. not great. not terrible. just ok.

i have been getting great gas mileage with my toyota yaris.

i haven't read nearly enough of anything as of late. that needs to change.

enough for now...

back from the dead

2008-07-13T20:35:00.002-05:00

Lots going on lately, what is new... I'm not living in Russia like some and dealing with those adventures, but the international bug has struck again.

I still want to leave here.

I guess I have been thinking about this a lot more lately as we have been preparing to purchase a house... my second, amy and megan's first. Things happening in the world have been plucking at my heart so much lately.

Planning another trip to Zambia to visit the brothers there... someday I will write about the bus stop church that was started... I miss all those guys. Not to mention 1st and 2nd Timothy (can't wait to meet the 2nd!), Ken, Saukani, the boys they serve with, the dutchies... Can't wait to visit that beautiful country with my beautiful bride.

Still getting used to the whole husband/dad/missionary/business professional role. Learning to love more, argue less, serve more, play more, laugh more, follow through more, lead more. Trying to be the best I can. Saying no a lot. Trying to pour into guys as much as possible. Not playing guitar, writing or reading as much lately. That needs to change. I miss my guys. Saw Neil like 4 times in 4 days, which was more than we have seen each other in months. Still need to have some deep conversations. Just us and the Word. I pray for soon.

Megan is almost 1. Just a few more months... November is almost here! She is a TON of fun right now. She has about seven teeth, her hair holds little girl hair things now, she is crawling everywhere, becoming even more adventurous, standing a lot and starting to make more consonant sounds. She is getting the whole 'dada' thing down. That makes me smile.

Amy is doing lots of great photography things right now. I love it. I have even started shooting some. Another thing that I think I may really like. Doesn't help that I read longbrake frequently. Doesn't help that I have been noticing tons of different things. Maybe I am developing an eye. Maybe I am smoking some crack. Who knows. What I do know is that Amy has been doing great. I want to keep encouraging her to take her mom-to-be pics and the pics right after birth with the mom, baby and dad... She has a few under her belt and a few more on the way. I think she has an incredible gift and hope she will use it more.

Played frisbee golf this past weekend with a great guy from our house church, Ryan. Can't wait to do that more. He is a quality guy and I rather enjoy the time I get to spend with him. I hope he thinks the same. Can't wait for volleyball, frisbee golf, ultimate, etc.

Been a crazy time at work, lots of good things happening, lots of new things coming. I want to do that well.

Again, all that being said, my heart has been breaking for the world even more. I don't know what God has planned for that. The things that I clearly thought were what God had for me/us have not happened (yet). I am not impatient, for I believe that I need to do the same things where ever I am, so where ever we are we do them... But I can't help but think He has more planned. Oh that we would seek Him and bring pleasure His way...

That is enough for now. Will write more later.

irony observance

2008-04-12T20:46:00.003-05:00

I am on a deadline here. My wife says that I have between 12 and 24 hours to post this observance or she would blog about this, but you wouldn't believe her because there wasn't a picture to back it up.

Tonight we were eating dinner with two great friends at a local Mexican restaurant. The staff was predominantly Mexican.

Except the bus boy, who was white.

Go across the street to one of the many other restaurants and the situation probably would have been reversed, so it was strangely appropriate that this young white American was clearing tables at the Mexican restaurant.

In my nearly ten years in the restaurant business it was very common to have other ethnic groups represented in either the kitchen or to help bus tables. It was great ministry to the nations. Men and women from closed countries working with us, open to hear the Gospel. Almost every single employee was hard working, punctual and multi-lingual. I wonder if the same will be said about the young man at El Toro tonight.

Either way, it made me laugh out loud to see this kid working tonight...

random things

2008-03-15T22:35:00.002-05:00

In no particular order, here are things that I have been reading, places we have been eating and other random endorsements/observations.

We went to THE PUB for dinner on our anniversary. I of course had the fish and chips and a great half-and-half, my wife the shepherds pie and some girly drink. (I don't remember what it was) The atmosphere itself was very pub-like, which is strangely appropriate. The most REDEEMING QUALITY of THE PUB is this: If you are a fan of English Premier League soccer or enjoy watching rugby, this is where you want to go. (if you wear your team colors your fish and chips are half off!)

I have been reading a few books as of late. I like them all so far and will comment more as I make some progress. Two by Alan Hirsch and the new FairTax book. All three are great.

Even though I haven't seen him much lately, I have been challenged by Neil in a lot of things and can't WAIT to connect with my brother again.

Zambia is constantly on my mind. Can't get that place out of my mind...

God is way too good to us.

Went to NORTH CHINA RESTAURANT tonight. We were definitely impressed with everything. It all started with the 5 elderly people we met waiting for our table. Everyone was gushing over how cute Megan was, and let me tell you, she was WAY cute. Head to my wife's blog to catch her in her St. Patrick's Day gear... One of the gentlemen was an OR doc in WWII. Really cool to talk with him and hear some of his stories. So we got sat and they brought out water and some fantastic tea, ordered the dinner for two (soup, eggrolls, sweet & sour pork and mongolian beef) and just really were impressed with the service. Highly recommended. Great service, service was great, conversational but not too chatty, and there was a TON of food. We will have at least two more meals out of it. Great value if you have never been.

Having coffee today with my good friend Josh. Looking forward to that. Can't wait.

Oh, and tomorrow I get to go to the IKEA:West Chester with my beautiful bride.

That about does it for now.

well deserved praise

2008-03-15T22:29:00.002-05:00

I was gently reminded again of the goodness and the grace that is awarded to me daily by my wonderful wife, Amy. She grows on me daily and I fall more and more in love with her. We recently celebrated our second year together on March 11th and had a good discussion over dinner at THE PUB in the Greene concerning our past and our future, dreams, letdowns, goals. It has been great having her by my side. She is talented, beautiful and extends me much more grace than she ought. I love her. I promise to write about her and our daughter Megan more.

Barstool Economics

2008-02-28T16:15:00.003-05:00

I can't take credit for this, but it is good... strangely similar to the one circulating in the middle 90's about eating at a restaurant... Either way, this is a great picture of how economics works... do the arguments of the bottom people sound familiar?

and thanks Neil for forwarding this to me today...

Bar Stool Economics:

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.T
he tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until, one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. "Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before.
And the first four continued to drink for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

overheard

2008-02-27T16:05:00.002-05:00

"our government doesn't have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem."

that being said, what is a good government response? take more of our hard earned dollars. is it our problem that they can't control their spending? they seem to think so.

let's put this in perspective...

you have a bank account. you withdraw money to go spend on things. you spend on what ever pleases you and one day you notice that there isn't any money in the account. if you were the government your response would be to blame the people putting the money into your account since they clearly can't keep up with you, instead of yourself who has the control of what goes out.

what do they do then? do they stop their spending? of course not, silly! that doesn't make sense. they spend more and more and more and try to figure out ways to get more from us instead of controlling their own spending habits...

yet they complain to the public about the public's lack of ability to control their spending...

oh to be a politician/government official!

if i could have that checkcard for ONE day...

aarrgghhh...

2008-02-26T21:47:00.002-05:00

This has been an interesting time for me.

There has been so much going on that I don't even know where to begin. Work has been crazy busy as of late, lots going on, lots to do... I mean, it's work right? I did get a promotion and a couple of raises, but all in all, things are hectic there right now. And then there is the baby! Megan is growing like crazy and it is such a joy and blessing to see the miracle that she is. We have a GREAT baby girl and we love having her in our lives. We don't deserve her. God is way too good to us. (for a minute by minute picture book of our daughter growing up, check out my wife's site!) And time right now does not permit me to share about the exciting and hard things that have been going on with House Church. We share community (perhaps communitas at times...) and I have been both encouraged and challenged with the community of believers that is with us here on Lake Glen. And then there was Zambia... Ah, Kitwe, how I long to be back in your city with your people. Point blank: That country messed me up. My heart has forever been changed with the Zambian people and the work of the Holy Spirit in that place... God what is it that you have for us? What are the next steps? Where do we go from here? There is barely a moment that passes without me thinking about the time and the people and the LORD... There is so much going on in my head and my heart and my family and my schedule right now... There is a time coming for reducing, reflecting and refining... hopefully I will be sharing those thoughts here soon.

interesting article

2008-01-29T16:12:00.001-05:00

just back from Zambia (more on that later... let's just say God is GOOD) and this article was in my reader...

Feeding the Hungry in Greece

Thanks AF for posting about this!

2008-01-11T12:52:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of talk this election cycle about taxes and the burden that those taxes create on the American taxpayer, after all, it is an election year and what better way to create support for yourself than to say you are going to cut taxes? Better yet, point out that your opponent recklessly raised taxes in his/her other offices. Icing on the cake: be a politician and take every stance of everyone else and say they have raised taxes.

By now, if you are a living, breathing American you know two things.
1) The Government wants to take all your money.
2) The Government has little, if any, fiscal responsibility.

Some may say, ‘Well, my candidate is not going to raise MY taxes, they are going to raise them on CORPORATIONS!’ It is a sad day when we do not understand who pays taxes in this beautiful republic.

There is only ONE entity that pays taxes in the United States. ONE. It is not the government and it is NOT corporations. It is the hard working American citizen. Don’t believe me? Think about it… What happens if a tax is levied against a corporation? Do you think they say, “Well, we have another tax to pay, I guess we will cut into some of our profits to cover those taxes.” If you were a shareholder, would you allow that? Um… no.

So as a corporation you are faced with basically three choices:
1) Make an inferior product with components that cost less so that you can pay the tax, but you run the risk of losing your customer base.
2) Raise the cost of your goods to protect your bottom line and to keep the shareholders happy.
3) Decide that the tax burden is too much and seek to move your operations to a location where you can make the same thing the same way and have a lower tax burden, keeping the cost of your product down, your shareholder happy and keeping your corporate money in your corporate account and out of the government coffers.

That is basically it. The cost of the goods go up to help the corporation collect that tax for the government. We pay for the tax. The corporation just COLLECTS it for Uncle Sam and his spending habit. But let’s be careful to review the third item on that list: The real reason that American businesses move out of America is because of the TAX BURDEN, not because of anything else. It is cheaper to move and pay a one-time import tax on those goods than to make them in the United States.

It has little to do with American productivity or Corporate greed, but rather keeping those companies operating instead of closing due to inability to fulfill all the tax obligations that they are currently faced with. That should scare us. Our politicians complain that the business is leaving for Mexico, China, India and the like, and in the same breath provide us with relief by not raising taxes on us, but rather the corporation. We have been duped.

And the majority of us have little clue the amount of taxes that we are even paying! We are distracted by many things of little consequence while quietly the people that are supposed to be working for us are bilking us for huge chunks of our money. All with little accountability.

Greg posted this clip the other day which really captures the government spending situation for us. I thought it was brilliant. We must do something about our tax system. For the future of our country. It is killing us. The burden has been proven over and over that it will only get worse with really no ability to get better. Think Medicare, Social Security and the teenage girl at a clearance sale with daddy’s credit card mentality that our elected officials have when it concerns our money. We must inform our elected officials, those who work for us and represent us, that we do not like what they are doing with our money.

Their rampant spending must stop. Something must be done. Think I am crazy? Look at your paystub and see how much your gross pay is and look at the deductions that come out before we even get our money. Do you know where that goes? And they still need more? Then look at the sales tax that we pay, the taxes on gas, interest, gambling earnings, the double dipping death tax (we can’t even give away our already taxed money to our family after we die without the government taking even MORE of that!), and not last nor least the Alternative Minimum Tax that everyone has been talking about for the last few months.

Don’t be fooled! Your tax return is nothing! It is a pacifier! We have been duped into thinking that return that we get early in the year is a reward from the government when it REALLY is pennies compared to how much the government is stealing from us.

Look at your check. Look at our government spending. Listen to what the candidates are saying. Something drastic has to happen. Radical. Revolutionary.

The government doesn’t need more money, they need more people to call them and share the outrage over their inability to budget and spend. If that was you or me or even a business that operated in this way, the business would not be in existence and we would be in jail for defaulting on everything, yet we accept the double standard and let our government do the very thing that is criminal for us to do.

We need something big to happen. From what I have seen, this is the best thing out there. Don’t believe what you hear about it from political candidates! Do your research. Read the books, read the articles, find out about the special interest groups that are lobbying against it, why they are against it and what they have to lose…

What do we have to gain? So much! But for starters, how about 100% of our paychecks?

We need fair representation. We need a system that works, and we need a government that is accountable for its spending.

defunct posts 1,2 and 3

2007-12-16T19:16:00.000-05:00

1) the joy that comes with new life...

with the birth of our daughter Megan, i can safely say that God has been teaching me a lot more about JOY...

2) two verses that I have been chewing on:

isaiah 51:16 1 john 4:17

3) Charles Spurgeon

think on this, from JOY IN CHRIST'S PRESENCE:

"It is a pity that we know so much about Christ and yet enjoy Him so little"

So those were the three blurbs that I tried to post earlier but was unsuccessful...

A little frustrated...

2007-12-16T19:09:00.000-05:00

with the Blogger remote posting feature as of late.

You have an option of sending an e-mail that will take the e-mail and automatically post it onto the blog for you. This can be a really handy feature for posting to the blog from random places that can sometimes block blog activity (public WiFi at like Panera, McDonalds, some coffee shops) or if one wants to be discreet while at work. (I don't do this, it is just a 'what if').

So my last three posts, sent this way, did not post. Fantastic. Not that they were anything of worth, but still, this *SHOULD* work... So note the three posts after this. They are still relevant to what is going on here, but dang... they are old.

And what's the deal with Cleveland having the same record as the Steelers? I mean, banner year for Cleveland, but again, DANG.

Recent Frustration

2007-09-13T18:26:00.000-05:00

I have been quite frustrated lately on my drive to work. Twice a day, five days a week I drive by a semi-local 'attraction'. Touchdown Jesus. Many have parodied this particular church's structure on the web. Many have probably been inspired. If you know of the structure that I speak, you probably also know that people stop to take pictures of the larger-than-life Jesus, cross and reflection pool.

However that is not what has REALLY been bothering me. My increasing frustration comes from the marquee sign that repeats church news and other statements of hope to the thousands that pass by the church on the highway.

I don't know anything about the doctrine of this particular church, I have never been to that church and I only know one person who attends regularly (after all, it is a decent distance from our current location). I do not intend to offend anyone who goes to that church.

I just want you to change the messages you are putting on your signs. You have such an opportunity to REALLY share Good News to a traveling audience, many of us who commute and are exposed to your sign.

When I read the Word, Jesus seems to be about a lot more than slogan-y phrases and cute Christian-ese cliches. Jesus takes much bolder stances than the blips that have been on your sign as of late. Jesus talks more about the poor than about guardian angels flying with your cars. He talks about our lives following His words, not our lives following our words...

I wish that this church would use their position next to the highway to capitalize on a chance to really share the Words of Christ, instead of an artist's rendition of what Christ might look like and a sign that could, but doesn't (often) share His words with us.

Please! Share with us the Words of life...

Perspective

2007-08-03T08:46:00.001-05:00

Last night I went to see my friends Joel and Krista update an intimate group about what God was doing in their life. The following quote from a Cuban pastor sat me down…

“Our church is not the one we have but the one we are about to reach.”

That is something that I need to be thinking about right now.

the search continues

2007-06-24T20:50:00.000-05:00

I see more and more people struggling with belonging.

Now belonging itself isn't something that is necessarily a bad thing, but it could be.

The real question is what are they wanting to belong to and why?

Not to be all cliche or anything, but we often think that the right church or club or clothes or car or anything else is what is going to make us happy and make us feel

loved
respected

or like we belong.

We spend so much time and energy and money to look a certain way, to have the right things, to make sure we are seen at the right places by the right people,

yet we tend to walk away spent, empty, in debt, tired and late for the next thing that we have to run off to...

and when anything makes us think of Jesus then, well, we can't be a part of that, because we don't want to be seen there.

He isn't for me.

but He is good for you.

Truth be told, He is good for all. He is GOD.

And when you belong to Him and He is directing your steps and your life, directing your everything, well...

then the clothes don't seem to matter as much.
everyday is filled with opportunities to be obedient to Him.
every person is someone we can share with.
the right things aren't always the cool things, but He provides. (And sometimes He provides the cool things!)

and we still walk away tired, but not that tired because we were hiding ourselves behind masks, but tired because we spent what He gave us to use to spread His Name where ever He has taken us.

And instead of worrying about 'belonging' here all the time, well, let's be honest.

we DON'T belong here. This isn't home. But we still belong. But not here.

We belong to Him.

And He is worth all our everything.

I know this was a random post, but I have been thinking about all of this. (and I was rather distracted when I was typing this... Sorry if it is jumbled!)

House Church and Geoff Moore

2007-06-19T21:00:00.001-05:00

I vaguely recall a song once by Geoff Moore and the Distance (yes, I listened to them) that had a line that went something like...

That's when it hit me,
That's when it started,
I let go and God got a hold on me (or was it of me?)

Either way, just hearing what has been happening in the lives of a few in our House Church as of late reminded me of that.

Watching God move people is priceless.
Watching people respond is priceless.

God truly has been doing some amazing things and is worthy of our praise...

Great visual lesson and article.

2007-06-13T14:03:00.001-05:00

Check THIS out. And listen to the whole piece. Some of the best 2-3 minutes you can spend in a day. (The article isn't bad either...)

See? I am keeping my promise!

Hodge Podge of Thoughts

2007-06-13T13:23:00.000-05:00

Here are a stream of thoughts from the past month or so, mostly dealing with the Immigration Reform Bill...

Issues to be dealt with:

Secure the Border (build a fence, use surveillance, more men at the border)
Enforce the laws currently on the books, concerning illegal immigration. Illegal is exactly it sounds, NOT legal. (Check out Mexico's policy on illegal immigration... Interesting.)
Amnesty for those who have already entered the country should not be considered. You do not reward those who break the law. Same system for all. Everyone should play by the same rules.
Deportation for law breaking citizens should be considered. If you come in illegally AND you break the law (all laws? any laws? felony vs. misdemeanor?) it should be no question. Don't take up jail space, ship them home.
Harsh penalties for those who employ & house illegals should be considered. If you are going to venture into this arena, we should make it difficult for you to keep operating. Rapidly escalating fines are a good idea here.

A Government of the people, by the people and for the people should listen to the people, ESPECIALLY those they represent (if not only those they represent). If they don't, then we the people should find people who do.

Our government currently is not able to issue passports for legal American citizens in a timely manner. (Multiple week delay) Do we think that they can adequately do background checks for people from other countries in 24 hours, like some congressmen seem to think they can do?

Voting is a right of American citizens. I am not aware if that right is extended to legal resident aliens or not. But voter fraud has been a hot button political topic for quite some time. What is wrong with requiring EVERYONE who votes to provide documentation proving their legal status? (be it drivers license, birth certificate, a voter ID card, etc). Shouldn't all of our elected officials want to know that they were elected in a legal manner (that upholds American laws?)

Current congressional terminology like 'undocumented Americans' is a joke. Remind your congressmen and women what the words mean. And challenge them to uphold the laws that we have already passed. While you are at it, go ahead and e-mail the White House your thoughts at

comments@whitehouse.gov

Let them know where you stand. Call your congressional representatives. And e-mail them. Fax them, if you have a fax machine (does anybody use these things any more?) Let your voice be heard. When our representatives think they know where we stand, then they vote accordingly. Know who represents you. Check out their record. Contact them. Stay informed.

And while you are talking with them, tell them you support the Fair Tax and you want to keep all the money you earn. Consumption based tax vs. Earning based tax is the way to go.

Sorry about all the politics lately. Just been on my mind. There is a lot at stake here and if we want America to be the same for generations to come, we have to stand up now. (Not saying that we don't want Mexicans here. Just saying that there is a system for those who want to come permanently, or even semi-permanently, to this country. That system, which probably needs some work, is the law and we should enforce that.)

I promise that the next few posts will be about better things. Like the Word of God...

Medical Scenario

2007-06-07T14:41:00.000-05:00

A man gets injured, where a foreign object (some piece of metal) punctured his arm and remained there. Of course with a wound like that, there was a lot of blood. The man had punctured an artery.

Here are the basic responses of the three medical professionals who responded, those who were trained to keep him healthy and whole, as they attended this man.

The medical staff arrived and assessed the situation.

One said that they needed to remove the piece of metal (because it didn't belong) and suture up the wound as quickly as possible, to prevent infection (or death), to aid in the man's physical recovery from the wound and return the man to his initial health. If the man wanted to put a different piece, a clean piece, into his body, then he would help him do it. But not without following a set medical procedure that would ensure the health of the man and that the metal wouldn't react negatively with his body.

One said that they should give the man sugar pills (which he will THINK will help him but really will do nothing) to help fight off infection while they determined the best course of action, either removing the object or allowing it to remain, and wasn't sure if they should suture the wound or not. He'd have to check with the supervisor first. He wasn't sure if the man should either be allowed or not allowed to keep other pieces of metal in his body, but he should already keep this piece in, regardless of how it got there or of the harm it was doing. He wouldn't even check on the type of metal to see if it would be good or bad for the man. After all, it was already in there.

The third said that the best course of action would be to leave the wound open and allow the piece to remain and if the man died because of infection, then so be it. The metal had a right to be in his body, whether the man wanted it there or not and there was nothing the man could do about it. He didn't think there should be a system of determining whether or not the metal was harming the body, because the metal fulfilled a role in the body that other body parts naturally wouldn't take part in. Plus that metal had a right (not as a part of the body, but as a piece of metal once whole and now in pieces) to be connected with the rest of it's original piece, but not outside of the body. It should be placed back together INSIDE the body. After all, the metal has the body given rights to be connected to the rest of the body, even though it isn't a part of the body. Even the metal should have a voice in the body and in the body's total health.

***

One of the problems I see with all three sides is that no one asks the man what he would like to do with the piece of metal or how he would like to see the piece dealt with. In any case, the metal didn't belong. But the man could always allow it to remain. Minus the wound, the metal wouldn't necessarily change the man but might actually help him to be a better man. He would just have to determine HOW the piece of metal would be allowed in/implanted and on what terms.

All three medical professionals feel that they are acting in the best interest of the man, based on their experience with men in general, but they have still failed to ask the man what he would like.

Which of the three would he respond with? If I were the man I know how I would respond. You probably do to. But the medical professionals here have disregarded the man in their decision process.

They have taken an oath to represent the man's best interest and in the name of his best interest have forgotten the man.

And to add some salt to the wound, some of the medical professionals believe in one diagnosis but prescribe another, just to get help on other patient care issues that they have on their dockets.

If the man dies, will the medical professionals be held responsible? Or will they all say they supported a different diagnosis, even though they signed off on the one proposed?

And while the friendly discussion/debate continued, the man sat in front of them, still bleeding from his open wound and with the metal in his arm.

Sometimes, lack of a decision or even a delayed decision can greatly alter the condition of the man. If we are going to choose our medical professionals, we need to choose the ones who will react to the wounds and treat the men first, being concerned with the man and his health. Not those who are concerned with the other patient care issues on their personal dockets.

Choose your medical professionals wisely. Research. Ask hard questions. And if they don't do their job, choose new ones.

Men are bleeding before our very eyes. What will your medical professional do? Will the man survive? Will he be crippled because of a failure to react in an appropriate, timely manner? Or will he die?

We may know sooner than we think.

Immigration Reform?

2007-06-04T21:08:00.000-05:00

With all the talk in the political sphere concerning the illegal immigration issue that is currently plaguing the United States, I can't help but wonder what we hope will be accomplished with the current reform bill on the table.

Many people think that this is a form of amnesty, even though all the political folks are trying hard to convince us that it isn't. Is it amnesty or not? I don't know. I haven't scoured the bill like some of the political pundits, since it is quite lengthy. I have read different parts, but part of the reason that the bill is so long, I believe, is so we, the American people, WON'T read it and just believe whatever is 'told' to us by the evening news and our newspapers.

Amnesty or not, we have a pretty serious situation and one that is rather large. How does the Government begin to start ANY kind of process of integrating these illegals with some form of a legal process without securing the border first? It seems like a good starting point. Secure the boarder and then figure out what we can do.

Some have proposed harsher penalties for companies hiring illegals, and penalties that would escalate with each infraction, potentially leading to shutting down the company. I like that. If the businesses knew that they would be held responsible, then they might think twice about hiring illegals.

Some have proposed an ID card to identify immigrants that are complying with the process of becoming legal. I like this idea, but what I like more is not allowing some services for illegals NOT willing to be part of the process. School, medicare (not emergency services), work, etc.

Some have proposed allowing illegals to vote, which as I understood the issue was something that was reserved for American citizens. Now I know my understanding on these things is not the best, but still, Americans should vote for American things, not others.

I don't think we should reward people who are willingly breaking the law and have no intention of ever becoming an American citizen. But I do think that the time constraints that are currently involved with becoming a citizen could be revisited and possibly revamped.

No matter what side of the issue you land on, I believe that now we need to review this issue in a way that will be more than just political year rhetoric. We owe it to America the now, not to mention, America of the future. Comprehensive reform on the immigration issue is a great place to secure the America of the future, and a great place to start is with our border.

Random Required Reading

2007-05-21T14:44:00.000-05:00

My reading has taken me across the board as of late. Lots going on politically here in the states, much news abroad, even more random things that have popped up. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

On the Immigration Reform bills that are on the table:

The Actual Bill (I've breezed through it and am not very impressed.)

A decent article from John Fund & The Wall Street Journal

and from Newt Gingrich

don't forget Mark Steyn and a review of Amnesty and the HUGE desire by any member of Congress to NOT use that word.

Some thoughts from the White House on the whole deal. (as reported by the British paper, the Guardian)

And what would required reading be without something about Iran and nuclear capabilities?

My own thoughts on the legal/illegal immigration debate coming soon.

Zimbabwe in Crisis

2007-05-21T14:02:00.000-05:00

Zimbabwe is in a huge state of flux and I dare say that not many of us are truly aware of the situation... Links to come.

Pray for the Church in Zimbabwe and around the world to rise up in this time.

chaos in the streets- Lebanon

2007-05-21T13:55:00.000-05:00

being 'missional' is not for the faint of heart

2007-05-16T17:26:00.000-05:00

Nick Melazzo from here wrote this:

For some reason, we want to liken God to certainty. But faith is so much more a calculated risk. It's not knowing how things will turn out; it's knowing that Jesus is worth whatever you might risk. The only certainty we're give is in the person of God Himself, because if we were given the details of our life, we wouldn't need faith. And if we knew exactly what was going to happen, we would not need to dream. But God calls us to dream with Him, and to love Him enough to believe that those dreams are worth the risk. Dreams of beauty and justice and newness, dreams of the future kingdom of God come into the here and now.

Tired of the American Tax System?

2007-05-14T20:11:00.000-05:00

Do you value the American workforce and want American jobs to stay within our borders?

Are you tired of Government taking that huge chunk of your paycheck and want to take home 100% OF YOUR PAY EVERY WEEK?

Are you frustrated with illegal aliens 'freeloading' in the United States and receiving goods and services that everyday Americans work hard to provide for other legal US Citizens?

Do you want to see MORE ECONOMIC GROWTH for American businesses?

Would you like taxes to only be assessed on the purchase of NEW ITEMS (including houses?)

Do you feel like BIG GOVERNMENT is taking TOO much of YOUR hard earned money with little to no accountability or fiscal responsibility?

Would you like TOURISTS, ILLEGAL ALIENS and those involved with the BLACK MARKET to help pay into the economy?

Do you think America would be better with TRUE competition in the free market, free from embedded taxes passed on to us? Level the playing field from the little guy to big corporate America!

Would you like to make APRIL 15th like ANY OTHER ORDINARY DAY?

Would you like 100% of ALL of your earnings? (Think stocks, bonds, gambling, savings interest... all tax free!)

YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE TO KEEP TAX RECORDS OR RECEIPTS

Would you like to do away with:
the Estate Tax, the Death tax and other similar taxes that the government uses to take more of our own money?

Would you like to not pay taxes on the SALE OF YOUR HOME?

then YOU SHOULD CONSIDER THE FAIRTAX!

If any of the preceding statements about taxes or situations frustrate you, check out the FAIR TAX, especially the book written by Neal Boortz and John Linder (details on the Fair Tax Website).

ESPECIALLY THIS LINK about the current support for H.R. 25 (60 co-sponsors! the Flat Tax (other tax reform legislation) has only 4)

It is time for change in the US Tax Code. Check out the Fair Tax... Be part of the change!

Friends Don't Let Friends See Spiderman 3

2007-05-12T15:51:00.000-05:00

Well, the summer blockbuster schedule is gearing up and getting ready to gouge us every time we step into the movie houses in America. As a public service I thought I would share some thoughts on the worst movie I have seen in quite some time.

Spiderman 3

Hearlded as the best of the three, my wife and I strongly disagree. We were warned by others to wait to see it at either the cheap theatre or on video, IF WE HAD TO SEE IT AT ALL.

So one afternoon we were both free and opted to catch the show before nighttime prices kicked in. I am not kidding you, PEOPLE LEFT THE THEATRE.

It was that bad.

The story was not well written, the acting was not the best, everytime you turned around it was as if the directors said, "Hey, let's introduce another evil character... we have 20 more minutes, don't we?"

The movie was LONG.

The action sequences were pretty good, but to get to them you had to go through VERY SLOW AND SLOPPY writing and acting.

It was NOT the best of the three.

If it was the first, there wouldn't have been a number 2 or 3 to even talk about.

So, take our advice.

WAIT IF YOU MUST SEE IT! RENT IT OR GO TO THE CHEAP THEATRE!

There are too many other good movies coming out this summer to worry about this movie right now. Save yourselves some cash and some precious time!

Jimmy D's Secret Double Life

2007-04-30T11:20:00.000-05:00

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin...

Waiting Room Questions

2007-04-26T18:56:00.000-05:00

if it is fair or acceptable for a doctors office to charge you if you are late for an appointment, would it be equally fair to charge them when they are late for their appointments? we are equally inconvenienced when they are running behind. is their time more important than ours? the answer is no. if they can request a phone call if you are running late, why not them call us when they know THEY are running late? after all, if you follow some of the doctor's protocol and arrive 15-20 minutes BEFORE your appointment time, your wait can sometimes be INCREDIBLY long.

case in point, this past week we had an OB/GYN appointment. Arrived 15 minutes early (because we received a lecture the visit before about 'appropriate arrival time'), then waited thirty more minutes because they were behind. 45 minute wait time. our friends, who had an appointment after us, arrived 15 minutes early, waited 45 minutes for a 60 minute wait time.

i think it should be required of them that if the are running behind more than 15 minutes (which is really 30-40 minutes if you are early) then they should call you, letting you know and waive your co-pay. it would reduce over scheduling, probably increase efficiency and greatly diminish waiting room frustration. it would help keep them honest.

the attitude is that the doctor's time (and the office's) is much more important than ours, which may or may not be the case. but they don't know what we have to do the rest of that day. they don't know how they are inconveniencing us because of their offices delay. i am a believer in the system if it is good for the goose, then it is good for the gander. if they can require of us the phone call, we should receive it as well. if they can charge us, they should at least waive the co-pay if not discount the visit.

let's make this fair for everyone involved!

Possible Corporate Sponsor???

2007-04-23T19:52:00.000-05:00

Not necessarily thinking at first about it, Ron, Jenny, Amy and I all wore our Keen sandals while on our mission trip to Mexico...

so after it was noticed, I asked for a catalog shot of all four of us (with Pastor Ramone's Church sign behind us) and then our feet in the shoes.
We have had them now in India and in Mexico. Now maybe we should try for a corporate sponsor? What do you think?

thoughts from Matthew

2007-04-06T14:03:00.000-05:00

a friendly discussion was held this past week about Matthew 5, in various parts and the following question was posed:

What does it mean to have a righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees and the teachers of the law?

Matthew 5:20 "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

What does that mean?

Because if you continue on through the next few verses/chapters of Matthew Jesus starts comparing thoughts on murder, adultery, oaths, etc.

As I come to the end of this post tonight, I've been thinking about the heart, what it means to have a deeper/surpassing righteousness, what it means to live my life all out... Big things to chew on...

Post Mexico Update

2007-04-04T23:26:00.000-05:00

Mexico was a whirlwind trip, but one that was much needed. My bride and I were only in country two days, one and a half actually... but we were very excited to see our friends and bless them with the two buses that we drove down.

For those of you that have been before, we saw Jim and Faye Tucker, Ramone, Raquel and their kids, Javier, Ester and their kids and Connie and the boys. We were in San Louis and Morelos.

Not to mention that Joel and Swag Thomas came down on Tuesday night, staying at the Tucker's pad in Yuma, AZ and joined us on Wednesday.

We left Wednesday, with no complications (no matter what you might here about my potential trouble at the border) and drove with the Thomasi up to their place in Tempe, AZ. They took us to this great place (Pita Jungle) for dinner (think Flavors Eatery x 400) and now we are crashing here for the next few days. We are truly blessed by the friendship and genuine love that the Thomasi show us on a encounter by encounter basis. They are fantastic.

Especially when they share words with you like MEXISTASH.

Don't act like you don't know what one is... The mental image is most likely one and the same.

So the next few days will be spent checking out the city and seeing some of the ministry that happens here.

Some more quiet time thoughts will be archived in the next day or two, depending on the time that I have access to the 'puter!

Mexico, here we come!

2007-03-30T21:22:00.000-05:00

So it is about 10:30 tonight and we are supposed to be shipping off for Mexico in like, oh, less than eight hours. Kind of fun. I have been doing laundry all day and have been straightening the house. It has been a fun day.

Tonight we had an impromptu dinner party. It started with Kendall asking us to go to Flavors (highly recommended, by the way...). We had some fresh vegetables in the fridge that we wanted to eat, so we talked her into joining us. Then, while we were running some errands for the trip Jason called. After we got home, Ben and Dana were outside, so we invited them over too. Rick showed up for some dessert. Amy's brother Dan stopped by with a six pack of my favorite beer, Castle and proceeded to drop in on the kitchen floor. (Really, the case broke!) And after we got rolling, Lisa J stopped in too.

I love impromptu dinner parties. But what I love even more is being ready for trips, even if they are only for a week.

And I am not.

So, what am I doing? Posting. For no good reason.

As I prepare to leave this post and drive some busses across country (Stops in Kansas City, Albequrque and then Yuma, Az. before Mexico) I am excited about the upcoming visit with the brothers and sisters in Arizona and Mexico, not to mention our friends in Phoenix, Joel, Ryah, Robin and Jon.

Much to do, more to see and many miles to go before the end of this journey...

Christian persecution in India

2007-03-28T21:37:00.000-05:00

I was sent this article tonight from Neil about Christian persecution in India. We have many dear friends that we consider as family in India. This article just grieved our hearts.

Please pray for the Church in India...

Some news to share

2007-03-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

It has been about a month, so that means that it is about time for me to post. Last week, Wednesday the 14th, we found out that my bride Amy is about six weeks pregnant. So if you do the math from that, we will be parents around November 8th!

Needless to say we are pretty excited, and every day that excitement grows. There is so much to do, so much to learn, so much change going on, so many things we feel inadequate in...

But like we have been talking about here, God is the one who opens and closes the womb, to quote our friends Todd & Erin who just were blessed with their first daughter a few weeks ago in Namibia. We trust God more than our lack of experience and our insecurities.

So join us as we journey to the McSwegin Family Reunion: Together Again, for the First Time Ever (date to be determined...)

Post 3/4

2007-02-14T00:02:00.000-05:00

This will be short. I started memorizing Ephesians 5 with my friend Neil this week and have really been chewing on the first four words...

Be imitators of God

Two things come to mind.
1) I fail horribly with this on an almost moment by moment basis
2) I am completely blown away by what this implies and would love to not fail at this.

So, my thoughts now?

If that is the first four words, I can't wait for the rest of the chapter.

Thoughts on 2 Corinthians

2007-02-10T13:30:00.000-05:00

I had been chewing on what it means to take every thought captive to Christ some this week. Surprisingly enough, it was something that Neil and I talked about as we met this week. How do we do this? Man, what a hard thought... The text we were looking at this week was this:

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete." NIV

A few things that I had been thinking about with this: This process is not just part of a checklist mentality. This is war! We are talking about weapons & strongholds! This isn't a passive thing. Our thoughts are part of the front line battle.

Not to mention that we are to take action... "the weapons we FIGHT with". We need to take part in the planning and in the being ready to engage the enemy here. What is the filter or criteria? Anything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. So, we need to spend time getting to know God so that we can easily discern what is something that is against Him. (Sometimes easier said than done, no?)

The third thing that popped out to me was this: ...we will be ready... Just a small statement, but in our discussion today it showed the PROACTIVE vs. REACTIVE attitude. Oftentimes I respond to things AFTER they have happened instead of having things in place BEFORE so that possibly there wouldn't be anything to respond to. And if something does happen to get through, then there is already a process to deal with it.

I often don't consider my thinking as being a part of the war and then get surprised when I lose battle after battle. I pray that my continued chewing on this passage will help me to understand this whole topic better.

Holy Spirit Thoughts from LGHC

2007-02-09T14:39:00.000-05:00

Some thoughts about the Holy Spirit inspired from this weeks Lake Glen House Church discussion on Romans 8. This counts as one post for those of you checking up on my quiet times! More to come later...

The Role of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is NOT enthusiasm, a force or an ‘it’.

The Holy Spirit is a person.

The Holy Spirit is not the least important/weakest part of the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit is not the most important/strongest part of the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit does “not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13)

The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ.

(John 16:14) “He will glorify me (Jesus), for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

The Holy Spirit speaks

Acts 13:2 “While they were worshipping the lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”"(for the purpose of commissioning Barnabas and Saul to ministry)

Acts 8: 26-40 (v 29) “And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘go over and join this chariot’” (for the purpose of explaining Christ to the Ethiopian Eunuch.)

The Holy Spirit teaches

John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my (Jesus’) name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (He teaches us and reminds us of what Christ has said to us.)

The Holy Spirit determines

1 Corinthians 12:11”All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” (in response to the gifts of the Spirit, 1 Cor. 12:1-13)

The Holy Spirit prays

Romans 8:26-27 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because (or that) the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (the Spirit

The Holy Spirit convicts

John 16:8-11 “And when he (the Spirit) comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I (Jesus) go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.” (the Spirit convicts unbelievers in their sin, convicts the righteousness b/c Jesus isn’t here to do it anymore, convicts regarding judgment because Satan is already judged.)

The Holy Spirit gives birth

John 3:5-8 “Jesus answered,’ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit*. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘you must be born again.’ The wind* blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’” *the word for spirit and wind is the same Greek word here.

Titus 3:4-6 “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Showing that you care...

2007-02-07T12:53:00.000-05:00

While driving a few weeks ago I found myself behind a truck from Aurora, Indiana. The motto of the company was "because you care". The company? The Aurora Casket Company.

Now I don't know about you, but I think that flowers or a card, maybe some chocolate or a dinner out, a romantic walk anywhere are great ways to show you care.

A casket? Doesn't really scream caring to me.

When was the last time that you were driving home and wanted to surprise that special someone and thought to yourself: Hey! I'm going to bring home a casket! Boy will my sweetie be so happy!

Just adorable, isn't it? You are having a romantic dinner. The flowers are on the table, the wine is chilling and the dinner is almost done... You get your lovers attention and at just the right moment...

You wheel in a casket.

I don't care if you specialize it, customize it, get matching ones, it just isn't a sign of caring!

Seeing as I was behind this truck for about 40 miles on a two lane road, I mulled over their slogan for about 40 miles. I thought of one that is definitely more accurate, but most likely MUCH less politically correct. I submit it for your approval...

What was once:

The Aurora Casket Company: Because You Care...

I think this would be better:

The Aurora Casket Company: Because You're Dead.

Is this even a word?

2006-11-19T21:29:00.000-05:00

this word has been used in my presence frequently this week.

sorry if it is spelled wrong!

but is this even a word?

FLUSTRATED

Things overheard in the past few weeks...

2006-11-09T17:49:00.000-05:00

Vitamins aren't yucky... they're tasty... like CORN - from a 3 year old boy

I was like a duck painted red. - co-worker

washeteria. (what they call laundrymats in Texas.) - co-worker

person #1: i'd help you but we don't think on Tuesdays...
person #2: apparently not. Today is Wednesday.

MAN LIFTS WIFE TO WINNER'S CIRCLE OF BEER AND BUCKS

2006-10-15T14:35:00.000-05:00

Newry, Maine

John Farra, a former Olympic cross-country skier, won the seventh annual North American Wife Carrying Championship on Saturday.

He hoisted his 110-pound wife, Tess, along a 278 yard course that featured a water trough and log hurdles in 1 minute, 4 seconds. They won her weight in beer plus US$550, five times her weight in cash.

They are eligible for a US$1,000 reimbursement toward a trip in July to the world championships in Finland.

Farra, who competed in cross-country ski races at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, trained by running uphill with 80 pounds of mortar mix in a backpack.

Daniel Brown and Janel Worcester followed, about 10 seconds behind, in the field of 27 couples.

Other prizes included the wife's weight in soda and granola bars.

(article in the Dayton Daily News, September 8th, 2006)

Culture of Discipline

2006-08-28T14:39:00.000-05:00

There is this theory running around in Christianity that emasculates the Holy Spirit by our very own desire to be in control. We tend to think that we are the ones that, for what ever reason, who are the most capable to determine when someone is 'ready' for the next step.

Think about it: it happens with leadership trainings all the time, with discipleship, with other responsibilities...

Don't get me wrong, there are things that people need to be trained with, discipled in and have responsibility given to,

but...

We have often times limited training to instances (or disaster control) instead of to character assessment and equipping the leader.

We have discipled people into a 12 week program with a certificate and a dinner, saying they have now been discipled instead of creating a culture of discipleship that is on-going and includes much more than just topics listed in Foster's book on discipline.

And instead of giving responsibility we guard our people, taking opportunity away instead of pushing them out of the fold, under the guise that 'they just aren't ready yet...'

We ourselves have taken the role of the Holy Spirit and changed the expectation that is in Scripture all generally for the purpose of making things run more smoothly at our churches, instead of equipping people to be sent away from our churches into the lost and dying world.

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great sums this up nicely by distinguishing the difference between a culture of discipline and one of control.

"When you have disciplined people, you don't need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don't need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don't need excessive controls. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance."

In the west we have a culture of control in our churches and we are really struggling to break out in the 'performance' department of obedience, discipleship, and, and, and...

What would happen if we poured ourselves out on the front end, training people with a culture of discipline and teaching them to obey the Spirit instead of listening to us and going to our programs?

We would have to give up control.
We would have to trust God more ourselves.
We would have to let go.

Do we think we are more equipped to teach others than the Holy Spirit?
How about to teach them?
How about to convict of sin, point people to Jesus and transform lives?

I have to let go, lose control and be disciplined myself into learning more to be obedient to Him and stop wanting to be the one to determine when others are ready to do the work that He has called them to.

Congratulations!

2006-08-27T20:52:00.000-05:00

Congrats goes out to the newly married Phil and Carrie Chamberlin who were married today out in wonderful Colorado. May God bless you both as you seek to serve Him!

Studying in Romans

2006-08-27T20:44:00.000-05:00

A friend and I have begun studying through Romans together once a week and let me tell you, what an adventure it has been. As we are walking through chapter one (1-17 have been completed) we have really seen a lot of neat things about the nature of God, the power of the Gospel and understanding Paul's commitment to not only building up the church but also to constantly preach the Gospel to the rest of the world. Challenging stuff. Look for updates coming soon (now that we have wireless at the house!)

The Best Candy Bar Ever!

2006-06-28T14:42:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share my thoughts about the best candy bar ever: TAKE 5

It is candy genius! Finally, someone who combined chocolate, pretzels, peanut butter, and, and, and…

And you come in two neatly separated bars! One for now and one for later, which is usually right after the now…

I won’t even go on to talk about all the other variations that you have recently taken… Some of which are more noble than others.

Thank you, TAKE 5, for frequently making me smile and enjoy candy bars once again.

Romans 15

2006-04-25T13:49:00.000-05:00

So this has just been kicking my butt this afternoon as I mull over jobs, interviews, conversations with great friends in Namibia and God's plan for our future.

Specifically, Romans 15:20 "and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation..."

As Christ continues to draw us closer to Him and as we continue to be obedient with our lives, verses like this propel us along. The place may not yet be known. It may be across the street. It may be around the world. But regardless, it is for His Name, His Passion and His Glory.

We are excited what our lives of obedience will bring.

Things I'm thinking about...

2006-04-25T11:33:00.000-05:00

being over qualified and unemployeed
the last passage i've read in the Word (Luke 3)
will my truck continue to leak over the passenger seat
how will God continue to provide
is India a reality for us right now
is Namibia a reality for us right now
can i find a great job for a few months
which Jesus story will we be talking about this week at house church
what new event will happen at house church this weenek
which big thing is God going to work on me next
can i find my capo
can i find some guys to dig into the Word with this week

just some things i'm thinking about

a little update

2006-03-17T18:26:00.000-05:00

well, since I posted last, let me just share some of the things that have happened:

I 'officiated' my first Namibian funeral
I returned to the United States
I had to start wearing shoes (sometimes)
I gained back some of the 30 pounds that I lost
I got married
I spent my honeymoon in Florida (as I write this, we are about half way through)

Just a few things different for you! As soon as I figure it out, I will post some pics here.

2006-01-30T08:06:00.000-05:00

Proverbs 27:5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love

Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy

Thank God for the wounds of friends and their open rebuke.

Some Kendall Griffieth Quotes

2006-01-13T14:51:00.000-05:00

Prostate cancer is more prevalent among men

I’m a memory champion… the only way I win is when I play in the dark

The Bungee Jump

2006-01-03T17:13:00.000-05:00

I have good news and bad news. The good news is we rafted the mighty Zambezi River between the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe on Friday, December 30^th. THAT WAS REALLY COOL! Talk about a wild rafting trip! It is rated as the hardest river to raft in the world and had the best one day trip… 23 major rapids, with 10 class fives and one impassable class six with 9-10 minor rapids… Two flips, one monster rain storm over lunch and one shoulder dislocation on rapid #13, “The Mother”. That was our guide, PC, with the shoulder dislocation.

After I got to put his shoulder back into place while on the bottom of our flipped raft while the kayakers were yelling at others to get back into the rafts because they spotted a crocodile, we finished the last 10 major rafts and then started our climb out of the gorge.

That is where the problem started. It had rained, the makeshift steps out of the gorge were basically rocks covered in mud with a ‘ladder’ of sorts on the edge, and my shoes were destroyed on the river so I was barefoot, like I ironically prefer to be.

At one particular stretch toward the beginning of the 120 meter climb the path goes nearly vertical. I was carrying my paddle, like everyone else when I put my right foot on the ‘rung’ of the ‘ladder’. My right hand had grabbed the next rung up. My foot slipped, took out my left leg and instead of falling the 5 meters down the embankment onto the rocks, I grabbed onto the rung with everything that I had and I then dislocated MY shoulder.

Josh was a few meters away and saw me hanging onto the ladder. He asked me if I was ok, which I was not. PC saw me catch myself and was hurrying up the trail to help me put my shoulder back into place.

After a few minutes of super-intense pain (if you have had a complete dislocation, you know what I am talking about!) and some finagling to get my shoulder back into place, the pain subsided to just regular intense pain and I was evacuated out of the gorge by the guides, who then took me to the David Livingstone Memorial Hospital in Livingstone, Zambia where I negotiated with a Doctor for a few minutes about whether or not my shoulder was back in the socket.

I won’t tell you what it is like to reach for your shoulder and then just have your skin go limp because the shoulder is like 3 inches away from where it should be. I won’t tell you how little you can see because of the intensity of the pain. I won’t tell you how many stupid questions I was asked about my shoulder and it’s pain on the way out of the gorge by the guides.

I will tell you that the next day, Saturday, when we went to the bridge to jump I was pretty stoked. The rest of the team still had mixed emotions about the jump, but I was ready to go. They had me go check in at the beginning of the bridge when I saw the following sign in the office:

YOU CAN NOT JUMP IF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS APPLY.

Item #5 was previous shoulder or knee dislocations, but there was an asterisk. So I asked about the asterisk. The registrar said that if you had a partial dislocation/separation in the past three months the jump captain could let you go. She then said if you had a complete dislocation anytime they could refuse you.

She asked me when my last dislocation was and how bad it was.

My reply: Yesterday and complete dislocation.

Her reply: you will not be allowed to jump.

Talk about let down! Talk about frustration! I was seriously bummed. Ask anyone there. We watched about 10 people jump and I was seriously pouting. But God is still good…

He let me raft the river, which will still be good for the game ‘Two Truths and a Lie’, even if I can’t say I bungeed off that bridge…

Ah, Zambia…

More to come…

My Self Portrait

2005-11-26T06:50:00.000-05:00

This by no means is exhaustive but is a good close look at me and my life. I’m an idolater: I place too much value on things other than God, I am an adulterer and a fornicator with my thoughts and actions, I am a pornographer: always longing to see more, I am sexually immoral, I am proud of my ability, I am worthy, I am a liar, I do things for God, I am arrogant, I honor the wrong things, I am boastful, I am cocky, I am tempted and I fail or fall continually, my view of shame is wrong, I don’t understand it as I should, I am always right, I am important, I deserve things, I am worth it, I am a glory monger always hoarding it for myself and not giving it to who I should, the world revolves around me, my plan/schedule is important, my pride keeps me going, I am angry, I am quick to pass judgment, I am quick to correct, I don’t listen, I am a murderer by thought, I don’t operate in love, I am selfish, I put people down, I am prone to violence, I am negative, I use people for my purposes, I have not valued women, I argue way to much, I gossip, I am an expert on everything, I don’t give God priority, I am a loner and prize my self sufficiency, I don’t need you or God, I don’t pray like I should, my way is the right way, my eyes linger where they shouldn’t, I ignore the Holy Spirit, God is not big to me, I am not that bad, people should love me because I am good, my temper flares with challenges, my sin is not offensive, I don’t need to spend time with God, I love myself, I am not pure, I am offensive, I am rude, I am sarcastic, I choose death, I rebel, I hate change I am consumed with lust, I hold grudges, I don’t want to share, He SHOULD HAVE died for me because I deserve it. I like my sin and take pleasure in it, I disapprove of challenges, I resent people, I don’t care, I don’t want to be involved, I hate, I despise, I run from God, I am jealous, I am dishonest, I am zealous for things not of God, I am lazy, I am slothful, I love to over-indulge, I am not wrong, I am hungry for more of the wrong things, I love my stuff, I think I am clean, I lust, I like to fight, God needs me because He is not able to do it with out me.

And on what basis do I think that God should let ME into heaven?

I certainly have not earned it because of MY life

If God is good, would He let me into heaven based on who I am?

Step two to come

Steps to Rediscovering Joy

2005-11-25T04:50:00.000-05:00

I have decided to do the following three things to help me find my joy.

1) take a sin inventory.

2) take a Scriptural grace inventory.

3) study Joy in the Word and practice delighting in Him, desiring Him

By understanding how bad my sin is, how big grace is and by understanding what it means to desire Him, to DELIGHT in Him and by practicing delighting in Him I think that I will be on the right track.

Feel free to walk with me on this. Study it for yourselves, let me know your thoughts! Stay tuned for the public confession of my sin as I publish the inventory over the next few days.

Feel free to also encourage with the Word as you stumble across it yourselves.

2005-11-22T12:54:00.001-05:00

The team at S. Von Bach Dam at our day of prayer and fasting

the time between postings

2005-11-22T12:54:00.000-05:00

It seems to be that SOME of you are wanting me to post more frequently than I am.

It also seems that the one who made the suggestion has also been spending lots of her time not posting…

Not pointing any fingers, Schmanda, but…

It starts with this…

Reclaiming Joy

2005-11-22T12:53:00.000-05:00

It didn’t start out like this.

I didn’t mean for this to ever happen.

I intended for this to NOT happen.

However, somewhere along the line over the past few months I have moved from living and loving to doing and checking off.

The small changes in my life have gradually given way to my apathy and discontentment. And not just in actions…

It is with the who I am, the where I am, the what I am and the how I am.

The focus has been shifted from who? I AM. From where? I AM. From what? I AM. How?

Well, the I AM has not wanted the shift to happen.

Now I begin the journey of reclaiming the Joy that is found in HIM and in LIVING once again…

Let these dry bones dance once again.

The animal count thus far

2005-10-28T12:27:00.000-05:00

The list of animals that we have seen on our adventures so far.

Giraffe, Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, Impala, Wildebeest, Hartebeest, Rhinoceros, warthogs, dogs, cats, baboon, Meer cat, leopard, mice and a crocodile (at a game park)

The list of animals that have been killed by Kendall driving a Condor back from Swakopmund:

Bird – 1

Just thought it might be fun to share.

44=110

2005-10-25T02:50:00.000-05:00

That’s the math that is important.

Yesterday it was 44, and the day before.

That’s 110 F.

Just in case you were wondering how hot it is here!

Vehicular Homicide

2005-10-22T16:04:00.000-05:00

I don’t mean to be hard or rude or anything.

I just want to call a spade a spade.

Tonight, on the way home from Swakopmund, my good friend Kendall killed an innocent bird while driving the car.

Poor thing never had a chance!

He flew into the windshield and got stuck in the wiper blade.

Stayed there, too, for about 10 km before we were able to stop and get it out.

I think a moment of silence is in order…

Don’t worry. Pictures will come!

Conqured

2005-10-14T00:51:00.000-05:00

The mountain that was conquered:

Conquering the Mountain!

2005-10-11T16:11:00.000-05:00

Well, we did it.

Last Friday, Josh, Kendall, Sylvia and 53 of our closest Choose To Wait friends from Five Rand Camp climbed the highest mountain in the Okahandja area. I know, I know. We are amazing.

As one of the Choose To Wait (CTW) club outings, Sylvia organized a mountain climb of the biggest mountain in town. It is a climb that has been done before, many times by her groups over the years, and was with, I believe, near record turn out this time around.

We were asked if we would like to accompany the group. “Of course!” we said.

So it is quite possibly the hottest day in the history of the world (which was really only about 36 C) and we climbed the mountain. What a view! It was fantastic. But everyone made it up the mountain and we only lost 6 kids. But they eventually found their way back home…

Just kidding. We lost 4.

If I ever figure out an easy way to post pictures on the site from where I am at, I will post some of the pics from the top. They were really breathtaking.

It is so hard to ignore God when you stand on top of one of His mountains and see all that He has made.

God is so good and we were reminded of that again last Friday on top of the mountain.

Matt Redman comes to mind here, from the Facedown CD. I leave you with the words of his song.

Lead us up the mountain, lead us to the place Your glory dwells God, lead us up the mountain…

the construction site, revisited

2005-09-28T14:32:00.000-05:00

So it’s a week later than the first Bible study. (that was on a Saturday, this was the following Friday).

Kendall, Gert, Gerjanna and I arrived at the site and began to assess the situation. It was about 10:00 again.

We assembled the guys again for study. They all arrived, Bibles in hand, had some cooldrink and began where we left off. Last week we taught out of Genesis 1 and John 5. We asked them to recap the prior weeks’ study.

One of the men, Trogar, recapped for us the prior weeks study. Then we asked them about any questions that they had.

After some basic questions and making sure that everyone understood the earlier lessons, we dove into Genesis 2 & 3. We talked about sin, how it is our choice and not only that it is our choice but that we are sinful by nature.

Gert and I asked questions like “Is God a liar? Then why didn’t Adam and Eve die?” Boy did THAT open up a can of worms! One man said that we were trying to trick them into saying God was a liar. It was funny, at least to me.

We, being Gert and Gerjanna, addressed Genesis 2’s “and they became one flesh” and talked about marriage a little bit. Gert is great. If you muster your best Dutch accent and say the following, you will know what this is like here:

“the Bible says one flesh, not eight or nine fleshes. One man, one woman, one flesh.”

We continued to dive into the Word, using word pictures, leaves off of trees, waiting for the translators, you know, the usual. Gert and I were whispering that we felt that we should present the Gospel, using Romans, since we have been talking so much about sin and the nature of man and the condition of all men.

So we presented the Gospel over the next hour or so, explaining it about five times. We then decided to offer a time of invitation. Thirteen men were at the study today. We said, have some more cooldrink and if you want to begin a relationship with Christ today and honor God the Father (going back to lesson one), then after your drink, meet us over in the foyer area.

We didn’t actually say foyer area, but that is where we pointed and since you aren’t here I thought I would just type foyer area. It just sounds funny to me…

So we go and wait, the men drink and all thirteen men arrive. At first we are like, WHOA! God is really doing something great here. Then we think, maybe the men don’t understand.

Gert goes into the Gospel again (#6) and about this being THEIR DECISION to follow Christ and how it is going to be hard but worth it, how we will have to stand up to our cultures, our traditions and live for Christ. Then Gert says something priceless, at least in my book:

Go back and get some more to drink. If you want to start a relationship with Jesus Christ, then come back. Otherwise we don’t want you here now.

The men leave again. Three stay back. One is the foreman, Martin. Another says that everyone came over because Martin did and that they were just doing what he did.

We waited again. Four more men join the first three. This time I explain the Gospel again (#7) and ask the men if they understood what it was that they were there to do. Two more thought that they didn’t want to be involved yet and walked away.

Then it was the four of us (Kendall, Gerjanna, Gert and I) and the five men. Kendal and Gerjanna went back to the center for Choose To Wait club, leaving Gert and I to pray with the men. We talked for a few more minutes, reiterated the Gospel for the 8^th time and then just stood there looking at everyone.

We decided (by we I mean Gert) that I would lead the men in prayer and that Trogar would translate for Martin, who doesn’t know English. Gert was there for Dutch moral support.

We prayed, in the fashion of the Bible study. One line at a time, waiting for the translator. Little did I know that the Translator was working there…

Half way through the prayer, Martin (the foreman who doesn’t know English) begins translating the ends of the sentences for Trogar. Gert is there praying with one eye open, thinking, “Is Martin really translating for Trogar?”

In another minute or so, Martin is pretty much translating everything for Trogar. Now I am astonished. We finish praying and something like a fog was lifted from the air. It could have been that it was dusty when we started praying and then it had cleared or settled while we were praying. After all, I basically live in a desert, and deserts are dusty.

But there was something different in the men, and that is for certain. You could just feel it. You could see it in their eyes. You could see it in their faces and countenance.

We were faithful to present the message and God was faithful to make sure that our message got through.

Now it’s Wednesday evening. I have been at the site two more times since Friday. The men are different. Last night Josh and I arrived at the site after dark where Trogar was sitting by the fire with his Bible, finishing some time in the Word. These men are hungry, these men are thirsty, but what is more exciting is that these men are _different_ now. It is apparent.

God, who is faithful, has moved yet again and we have five new brothers to disciple.

Please remember to pray for: Martin, Elliot, Guenther, Matthew and Trogar. They range from 58 years old (Martin) to a Grade 10 dropout (Trogar, as of last year). Pray that we are still able to teach them the truth of the Word.

Until next time…

First house church and the fire...

2005-09-22T15:44:00.000-05:00

Friends, it is 10:30 here and we just got back from the first successful house church and our first attempt at volunteer fire fighting. You heard me right, successful house church and volunteer fire fighting.

14 adults and two children joined us at ERF 244 tonight starting at about 6:30 American Standard time, which meant that no one arrived until shortly after 7:00. We spent some time just fellowshipping together first, sharing carrots, cucumbers and ranch dressing, some finger sandwiches and some coffee, tea or cooldrink. Then I led a few songs, interspersed with some scripture and then Josh taught (and very well, I might add) on Acts 2: 42-47. Some prayer followed, then a small fire in the fire pit at the house and more conversation, coffee and just your basic fellowship.

Oh, did I mention that we had church in our front yard? Well, we did. People in the community were very aware that something was going on and a few stopped in for just a minute.

Then everyone left and it was just Christiaan, Josh and I sitting around the fire pit when Hein decided to come back by.

You see, sometime today by the Pretorius family abode somebody decided to light an old tree on fire. It had been going since like 11:00 in the morning, smoldering, flaring up, smoldering again. When Hein, Nadine and the girls got back home, it had really started to spread some.

The problem was that the center of the tree had turned to ember and that it was just slowly burning, all near brush and trash and other trees.

Hein graciously asked some really strong burly men to come to the aid of his family, but they said no, so Josh and I went in their place.

We arrived, not even seeing the fire until we walked up this hill. Then there it was. The main fire was between 35-80 feet long, depending on who you ask (more realistically 40 feet) and consisted of a rather large tree trunk that had fallen over. Then a few other pockets of embers and burning trash were all over the area as well.

We shoveled, we drug water from the house, we axed down trees, we inhaled too much smoke, we prayed, we shoveled some more, finally containing the coals to one area about 25 feet long. Since the wind was pretty much non-existent, we decided to leave it there.

We then joined the Pretorius family for some cool water at their house, checked on the fire before we left, added some more sand/dirt, and came home.

And just something else for you to picture, Kendall dousing water on the fire in a long skirt. Yup. That’s right… Our little hairdresser dumping water all over the place all gussied-up. (think the I Love Lucy grape mashing episode… That’s literally pretty accurate.)

So all in all, we are tired, we are pleased, we are blistered, we are weary, and we are going to rest well tonight knowing that God has started something good with the house church and hopefully keeps the fire down all night.

Michael

a brick, a rope and the lives of men

2005-09-22T07:54:00.000-05:00

It was last Saturday, around 10:00 in the morning.

I had just arrived to the Multi-Purpose Center (MPC) to begin a series of Bible studies with the men working at the site.

Gert and Gerjanna arrived just prior to me and were walking around, surveying the work that was going on.

I quickly greeted my Dutch friends and then started looking around the site myself.

Martin, the foreman, asked Gert if he was ready to teach, which he said yes, and Martin said that he would gather the men for the study. So the men began to gather inside the main room, sitting on whatever was available. Anticipation ran high for both groups.

I didn’t know what to expect. I guess I never do when I preach the Gospel. But assembled before me were 14 men, all tired & hot, looking at the three of us. I wouldn’t qualify the feeling as ‘tense’ but the air was thick.

Gert and Gerjanna had spent the better part of the week prior collecting Bibles in their languages for them and had asked everyone to read Genesis 1 for the study. They figured, why not start at the beginning?

So there I was, an American that most of the men hadn’t seen before, standing before this ragamuffin group with dusty jeans, beat up boots and a Bible that has seen many better days. We began dissecting Genesis 1.

If you have ever spoken with a translator, you will be able to relate to the struggle that I had. Because of the different languages spoken by the men, the words that I spoke had to be translated not once, not twice, not three times, but four times so that everyone could hear the words.

That is a lot of time between the translations. I have never had to rely on prayer so much, nor not been able to put together full thoughts like I had wanted it to. “Lord,” I asked, “let these words be true, the translation accurate, and the understanding level very high.”

I must have prayed that over and over and over.

Thirty minutes pass. Then an hour. Then another. Finally one of the men asks a question: what if my sin is less than the sin of someone else? What happens then?

Gert looks at me, helpless. Gerjanna, the same. I pray quickly… “Lord, how can I explain sin to these men in a way that is clear and easy that won’t rely on all this translation…”

An idea pops into my head…

I ask for a rope and Gerjanna finds one on the scaffolding that the men use to hoist tools and supplies up to the higher levels of the building. I was thinking that I needed a rope that I could tie a bunch of knots in. This one already had knots at regular intervals.

I grab one of the many bricks that are just strewn around the whole site and tie the brick to the end of the rope. I jump up onto the stack of boards that I have just been using as a makeshift seat. I raised my voice, “EVERYONE LOOK AT ME!”

The whole group just got really quiet, all eyes focused on me. I told them very sternly (yes, with some anger in my voice) that the brick represents us. Not us as a group but us individually. I then pulled out my pocket knife and said that the rope represents our life and the knots represent our sin. We had already told repeatedly in the little over 2 hours that EVERY MAN HAS SINNED AND HAS FALLEN SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. I wasn’t sure if they understood that God viewed all sin as equal and that is man that qualifies some sin as better or worse than others.

I told them that the knot at the bottom was lying. The next, stealing. I asked them to think of other things that were sin. Rape, murder, dishonesty and abuse were mentioned. We classified those as different knots on the rope. I asked them the following:

If GOD is the one that is holding the rope, at what point, after which sin, could I cut the rope and still have the rope be connected to God. At what point would the brick remain attached to the rope? I move the knife to the bottom. If I cut it here, after lying, what happens to the brick? What about if I lie, steal, cheat, rape, murder, abuse, etc. What happens if I cut the rope at the top?

What happens to the brick? What happens to us, no matter how much or how little sin we have? What happens to those who aren’t in Christ?

The men started thinking, started questioning. I knew that we had gotten through. One said that all men would be condemned because everyone has a cut in their rope.

I asked if it mattered where the cut was. Everyone said no. I asked why not. They responded that no matter where the rope was cut, the brick was separated from God. I asked them how that tied in with us. They said that we were all separated from God because of our sin.

Ah, the breakthrough! Gert, Gerjanna and I then broke into different parts of the Gospel with the men as we were led to, mostly because of the language that was spoken.

We are praying that our study on 23 September, Friday will result in salvation as we study Genesis 3, reminding the men of sin, its origin, our natural desire to chose sin, and talk about culture. (The men have asked some culture questions that we will be addressing tomorrow.)

Please pray for the men, the translation, the appropriateness of the Gospel in all cultures, at all times, for our presentation, and for our ability to preach, teach and model truth to these men…

Another good day for flowers

2005-09-01T15:46:00.000-05:00

Well friends, I know that I haven’t been as diligent as I could have been in keeping up with my postings. I always say I will try to be better. This time I will REALLY try.

Honest.

I promise.

Plus I have some stories about me nearly getting beaten up and this time they don’t involve my friend Amanda or the world revolving around me!

Anyway…

On August 31, 2005 I asked Amy Forsthoefel if she was doing anything for the rest of her life and would be interested in getting married, to which she said yes. That is a lot of ‘long story short’ right there.

I will tell the story from my side later, but to see pics or to hear her side go to

www.xanga.com/jcsonflower

More to come!

My Afrikaans is going well

2005-08-13T18:26:00.000-05:00

Apparently, according to my drunk neighbor Pete, my Afrikaans is going well…

Let me set the stage.

We had just had our first dinner party at ERF 244 (that’s our palace in Nau-Aib) with our friends Hein, Nadine, Nikka & Mikayla Pretorius, Kendall, and the girls from the Ark (Rochelle from California, Anke and Dorothy from Germany and Mari from Japan). The Pretorius clan had just left to go home, since the girls were getting tired and people were going back inside from Josh’s great new braai pit (according to him it is the world’s greatest braai pit… EVER. Just like the potholder.)

I was shutting the gate when Pete walked up, hailing me from a distance.

“Hey, brother… I talked with you the other day” was how the conversation started. Pete (who also goes by Vince, but that is another story for another time) and I talked about being black and white in Namibia, talked about his job woes, shook hands about 15 times, talked about his life… By the way, when I say talked, I mean Pete talked. I was just getting drunk on his fumes. He was pretty lit up!

Towards the end he complimented me on my Afrikaans…

It was then that I had to tell him that we were speaking English.

This, to me, is stinking hilarious.

I just wanted to share that with you all.

Please pray for Pete and his neighbors that hailed us on Friday as we prayer walked Nau-Aib. They were drunk then, they are drunk now, and they will probably be drunk when we see them next. They all live about 6 houses away. Pray for our witness to them and that we would be able to share with them the Good News of Jesus Christ.

And the next time you see me you can congratulate me on my Afrikaans.

truly a sad, sad day

2005-08-04T17:34:00.000-05:00

Friends…

Wednesday was a very sad day in my world…

Almost tragic…

I would appreciate a moment of silence, if you would indulge me here…

My beloved flip-flops that I have had for three years finally broke.

It was the right one, in case you wondered.

They served me well!

If I could ever find another pair of those, I would be happy, but we have looked…

To no avail…

Don’t worry, I have a pair of backups, but they aren’t the same…

I will make it through.

On other news, for those of you in the know (with the whole world-not-revolving-around-who saga), this should keep you from whining. I am sorry that you have been stuck on the legalistic side of this, but you know I forgive you… SO,

It starts with this…

Moves to this…

And ends with this…

Happy?

(Pray for my bro Ron and his crew who are driving to Mexico, my second home!)

nothing like a little update

2005-08-02T00:35:00.000-05:00

Well, another week is underway here in Okahandja. Tonight Josh finished painting his cabinet at the new house in Nau-aib. The color closely resembles a frosty from Wendy's. Thus we call it "frosty color".

Hey, there's not much to do in the evening, the simple things make you smile.

We had a great weekend of ministry. The Community Bring and Braai was a success, the time at Victory Camp on Saturday was hard but good (we are going back Tuesday after Bible study at JG) and Sunday we went in to Windhoek to see the Okahandja Beauties Football Club play a match and then we got to talk with them about Christ. Their coach, Jackie from OSS, has asked us to pour into them. It was a good first meeting. Awkward, but good. Oh yeah, they won 3-0 and Josh nearly died when I kicked a soccer ball towards his head, accidentally.

Some of you have asked me via e-mail what a normal week looks like and asked me if I could post that on the site...

Well, to be honest there are no normal weeks, but I will try to post that in the next day or so.

And since you can't see me now I am sure that you would like to know that Josh and I have access (and regular access at that!) to our e-mail and the web via our new phone line at our little house. Ah, the luxuries of home...

We don't have a shower or any way to cook food for ourselves here, but we can use the internet...

We are so American.

And for the record, we are currently surviving a Dutch team that has swarmed the compound.

Another random fact: I have yet to see a giraffe, but I have seen a ton of meercats, a few warthogs, a large group of baboons about 8 times (they like to camp out by the road on the way to Windhoek) and a small handful of springbok.

Things are well, you all are missed and I will write more later, now that I can actually get to a line!

The Bluecoats are leaving, the Bluecoats are leaving!

2005-07-26T15:37:00.000-05:00

That’s right… the Bluecoat team from the UK has now officially landed back home in jolly ole England. We were blessed to be able to spend time with them over the past three weeks. It was sad to see them leave, for we mad some good friends in their group and wish them all the best.

Bluecoat team: if you ever need anything, know that you can e-mail us!

Otherwise things here are going ok.

Josh and I are moving to Nau-Aib in the next few days and will be living in the community that the Multi-Purpose Center and Okahandja Secondary School is located in. We are excited and nervous, but ready to begin ministry in a new part of town.

We are painting tomorrow at the house and will be moving in! It should be an exciting time.

Bible studies are going ok. The material is good, the groups are really responsive, but we just wish that we had more students to be involved with.

Our Wednesday evening Men’s group is also going well. It is really exciting to see people grasp the truth about God’s Word and character and watch THEM get excited… It is really amazing.

We are praying about finding out the best way to reach more students and adults here in town. Pray that the walls are broken down and that we can continue to learn Afrikaans here… The language really is a barrier that we are kind of muddling through now. (I am up to like 7 different phrases, I know my colors and can count to about 30 with ease, but don’t ask me to write anything or read anything yet!)

More will come, you all are missed!

(If anyone ever asks, you CAN survive a crash with a warthog going about 90 km/h in a VW microbus. Just ask Chris from the UK team.)

Alive, but barely... at least some of us... =)

2005-07-20T09:19:00.000-05:00

There is a pretty big illness hitting the town here this week, and we have not been spared from it. Pretty much everyone here in town has a really rough dry cough and some form of congestion in their chests. It is not nice. Our attendance at the schools has gone down, partly due to illness and partly due to a round of exams that are happening now. Josh has it the worst of the three of us and is bed ridden at the moment. His illness is really giving us an opportunity to serve him in a way that we have not before, but regardless, you hate to see one of your friends sick.

There has been a substantial amount of things happening here and we are having to once again revisit our strategy to make the most of every opportunity and to discern which things we need to be doing and which things would detract from what we are to be doing. But to give you a highlight:

Our Bible studies at both schools and our Men’s Wednesday evening study are coming together for the first local service project on Saturday, July 30^th. We will be working at Victory Camp distributing fruits and fresh water. That will be preceded by a Bible study at the Multi-Purpose Center, which by the way is looking GREAT! Victory Camp is a name that was given to the town dump over in Nau-aib (sounds like know-ab) which is where the MPC is located, as well as Okahandja Secondary School. There are a good number of people who live there and get everything for their food, housing & clothing from the dump itself. The reason that we are distributing fruit may seem smart enough, for nutritional value, but it is also because fruit is considered a delicacy with the lower class citizens here. We want to be able to give them something that says that we care, but more than just day old bread, which they get from some bakeries in town. Fruit affirms their worth, gives them nutrients and is easy to give out.

The Victory Camp outreach is something that the church here will be involved with on a regular basis as we instill the values of serving the community into our first round of people here in Okahandja. We are excited to see what God will do with this outreach.

Speaking of the MPC the sub-flooring on the second floor will be going down in the next few days and the supports for the third floor are almost ready to be put in, even if it HAS been an afterthought! The exterior plaster has also been started and the place really is looking great. We will be involved with some work at the site on Fridays, little things like breaking large rocks out of the ground so that we can place some exterior sidewalks in and helping to pave the outside of the building, just to name a few things.

Our team has been meeting a lot of students, which is hard to do, and have been teaching out of Genesis at the moment, giving them a solid understanding of sin. It has been going slowly, but the students are really asking good questions and seem to be more than just telling us that they understand. They are able to articulate the thoughts and concepts back to us, even from weeks before. It is fun!

But we do need you to pray that we are able to meet more adults and are able to impact the whole community in a better manner. We have some big decisions on our plate and like I mentioned earlier, we have to really figure out the best way for us to do that as we respond to the many different ideas that have been presented in the last two weeks.

But for now I need to hang up some laundry and walk over to the school for Bible study. More will come hopefully sooner than this update has come! We miss you, but wouldn’t trade this for the world.

Because of His grace...

The Trans-Kalahari Highway 11 July 2005

2005-07-14T00:02:00.000-05:00

It was early this morning, before first light when we loaded up the car and began our way west to Swakopmund, the oasis on the coast of Namibia. There wasn’t much conversation the first number of kilometers. Everyone was still half asleep in the car and the towns we were passing through were slowly beginning to awake themselves.

I couldn’t begin to tell you how many different people we passed who were walking on the roads today. People in work clothes, women with packages on their heads, stray dogs running aimlessly along the fence line and all the children in their school uniforms. There were so many children.

Nadine spoke up first, asking us if we understood the news report that cackled in the background, mostly to keep Hein awake as he drove. I mentioned that I heard the Mandela Cup score from this weekends rugby match between South Africa and Australia. But otherwise we were clueless. We were then told that along the Trans-Kalahari highway we might see some giraffe or some springbok as we lumbered down the highway, but we shouldn’t hold our breath.

It was probably about 40 km before the sun really started to come up and out. Even though I was tired and crammed (we had seven of us in a small four door car) I must say that I was literally awestruck this morning.

There is NOTHING like seeing the sunrise on the not-so-distant mountains in Africa.

The color that just erupts as the sun races over the horizon, giving life and breath and depth to the creation, as if the Creator Himself were there just to take my breath away.

It worked.

For the next 70 or so kilometers I was just in awe of His creation. Watching the terrain change slowly as we neared more mountains and the trees gave way to more brush and two story tall termite mounds, I marveled at the detail that the landscape held.

To know that we serve a God of such great detail, to see His handiwork up close, even if we were speeding along, was so much better than any National Geographic magazine.

This morning I was in AFRICA and loving every minute of it.

To see what the next few days and weeks brings, that is only for God to determine, but for now I will rest in the fact that, at least from my confined car seat, I have seen more of Him this morning, and for that I am thankful…

The week as we know it

2005-07-07T05:56:00.000-05:00

WOW!

That is pretty much all that I can say right now. God has really taken us through a lot this week already. We (TEAM C) are in Windhoek this morning running some errands with Hein and just stopped in to this internet cafe.

Sorry that it's taken so long to post, we haven't had the time.

We have been running Bible studies, pouring into the CHI teams here, figuring out the lay of the land, spending time in contact work with the two schools, memorizing kids faces and names, let alone fighting illness and lack of sleep.

God has allowed us to meet some really cool people, from Tom (from upstate NY) and Ashleigh (from Zimbabwe) in the Frankfurt airport, to Catharine (from Germany) and Rochelle (from California) here in the center where we are staying.

We also have spent some evenings with our friends Sammy and Jenny playing Uno. Sammy thinks that he can't be beat and Jenny likes to cheat, so we have a good time.

My time in the Word has been good. We, as Team C, are walking through 1 Timothy, as a CHI Volunteer team we are going through 1 Peter, with a group from the UK that is here over the next few weeks we are walking through a whole bunch of different topics, and soon our D-ship groups will be starting a chronological advance through scripture to give them a good solid foundation in the Word.

It is both hard and fun, tiring and energizing...

Tonight is Youth Club, where I am not sure what I am teaching on yet.

We as a team are adjusting well and are looking forward to our time on the coast Mon-Wed of next week. I will try to get back on sometime soon, but for now I must go...

there's a biltong shop around here that smells just great!

T-minus 23 hours

2005-06-25T16:58:00.000-05:00

Well, the wedding is finished and we are getting ready to have a little family dinner with everyone here at the house. It was a great day! A little bit of stress mixed with excitement and a nervous anticipation as I get ready for the going away party tonight.

Then the big day.

On to the rest of the day!

(we can always rest when we're dead, no?)

Have you heard? We're LEAVING!!!

2005-06-22T13:33:00.000-05:00

Just some basic information here...

A little update on our adventure in Africa...

Two weeks ago we didn't know when we were leaving to go to Namibia. Let's just say that has changed. We will be leaving Dayton, OH on SUNDAY 26 JUNE and arriving in Windhoek, Namibia on TUESDAY 28 JUNE.

Kind of quick, eh?

When God moves, God moves. Largely. Soonly. ;) Put any word ending in 'ly' here.

Please continue to pray that we would be flexible and willing to go where and when God tells us.

P.S. don't wash your passport.

journal revisited

2005-06-15T00:16:00.000-05:00

Can I really understand Your Glory?

Just trying to think for a few minutes about it makes my mind reach farther than I am capable and I am left with the dull throb of realization that I cannot even THINK about You without You to help me even remotely understand You.

I go back and cannot even BE without You.

I am reminded that you are bigger than I will ever know, this side of heaven. All I know is I am constantly neatly confining YOU, the unconfineable, into little shoebox corners.

I am grateful that You continue to bust out larger than my thinking...

So that being said, I'm struggling to understand Your Glory. Over and over You say that it covers the earth.

Not in pockets or corners, but it COVERS the earth.

And it's me who struggles to even begin to see you in my day to day.

You make Yourself available (after all, isn't that Your nature?)

And I miss You.

With a compelling consistency.

God, I don't want to miss You. Teach me to see you in everything: what I see as mundane or trivial, in how I view my routine (which is something else I need a great deal of attention devoted to...) You get the idea...

Free me from the confines of my very self.

God, You must increase, I must decrease... Burn it all away, until only You remain, until there is only You...

Journal entry April 28, 2005

2005-06-08T02:06:00.000-05:00

So today begins the question that everyone asks themselves at one point or another:

What is it that I am here for?

I have been slowly allowing God to reveal Himself (and thus myself) to me as I continue to have that question answered in my own life.

God has been drawing me out. Out of myself, out of my comfort, out of my people even, so it seems, as He is placing a desire in my heart for His Name and His Renown to RESOUND throughout all the nations and peoples of the world.

So how does that look?

What does that mean?

I know that I am to live for His Glory, which Isaiah 6:3 says is all over the whole earth.

I have purposed to go and God is making the way. But does the next place mean home? Will there BE a next place?

I think of the song by Caedmon’s simply titled “Home”, especially the line “So You asked, so I’m going. There I am never knowing where this horizon ends and the next one begins or where I’ll find You.”

God, I never wish to be content to just be in a place because it seems like a nice place to keep my stuff.

I want to be where YOU are moving!

I want to help bring people (Habakkuk 2:14) into the knowledge of Your Glory.

I am willing.

To not hold on to anything other than God and thus see Him high above and lifted up.

He is my passion: His name is my cause: His Glory, my life

In the beginning...

2005-06-06T22:01:00.000-05:00

This is the beginning. The journey has begun. There is no looking back.