It's a girl!!

We just got back from the doctor where we finally had our ultrasound, and once again it's a girl! It was so cool to be able to watch her move around. At one point she was sucking on her thumb and it was so stinking cute. Hannah got to be there with us and see her sister for the first time. She thought it was pretty neat, especially when the baby tried to suck on her toes. She asked me again when the baby was coming out - I think she thought it was time. But she's excited. We called the grandmas and some other people and let Hannah tell everyone that she was having a sister. She keeps telling people that her name will be "Hello Kitty Thumbelina"....

Read More

Good one God

I've been reading the Thomas a Kempis classic The Imitation of Christ. I think God must laugh sometimes at how clever he is. He will often put things in my path to read, to watch, to hear that speak directly into a situation that I am currently dealing with. Chapter XVI of this book is entitled "Dealing with the Faults of Others." I have been recently involved in a conflict between two parties, where one of those parties seems to be unwilling to seek reconciliation. They simply want to attack and destroy. And I'll be honest, that makes me want to say "screw it" and to just respond in like kind. At any rate, I read this chapter this morning: "Until God ordains otherwise, a man ought to bear patiently whatever he cannot correct in himself and in others. Consider it better thus - perhaps to try...

Read More

Senior Supper

So last night was our first Senior Supper of the new school year. It's a time for us to hang out with our seniors and talk to them about leadership and to help create a vision for our group that they can have some ownership over. It was a good time. It's exciting for me that we have so many committed seniors this year. Their love for God is amazing, even challenging for me. They are hungry for knowledge. We sat around afterwards and talked about prayer, how we hear God's voice, why we pray in groups sometimes, and stuff like that. It was just a great time. This Wednesday we will be talking about that whole concept - hearing God's voice. The experience I had where my 3 year old daughter asked me why she never hears God's voice will be a great starting point for that conversation. My friend...

Read More

Sunday

Yesterday was a busy day. We had a fairly normal morning, but I was doing a ministry spotlight of the high school group. I told the church about last week's car wash for Pastor Idelfonso (San Felipe), and about how we were able to raise $2000 for a car for he and his family. We also showed a video from our trip to South Africa. It's always fun to be able to show off our ministry to the church. I am thankful that our church allows us to do the things we do. I went to lunch with the usual gang of high school guys - they keep me laughing all the time.I spent a couple of hours during the afternoon preparing for Sunday night's service - where we got...

Read More

A Dream

My dreams are usually nonsense. They have little to do with reality. At the time they seem rational, but when I wake up and think about them I often laugh at how silly they really are. There are some dreams that feel like dreams, and some dreams that feel very real. On some occasions I have woken up from dreams and had to think about whether or not what just happened was real or not. I had one of those dreams this week. It was a terrible dream.There wasn't much to the dream, no real plot or story that happened. In real time, I suppose the events that happened in my dream would have all happened in about 30 seconds. But I was riding my bike up a trail with someone else (who I can't remember), and my daughter was riding behind me. I remember thinking I needed to stay between her and the edge...

Read More

Prayer

My 3 year old daughter and I are home alone for the weekend - mom went away with the ladies of the family to the Women of Faith conference. So we were driving to pick up dinner (I said mom was away right?) and out of the blue she asks me "Dad, how come when I pray I don't hear God's voice?" Are you kidding me? This girl is 3 years old! It's funny how God places these moments in my life. I'm currently reading Kyle Lake's [re]Understanding Prayer. All summer long I've been learning and thinking about prayer. We've started a new prayer gathering that meets weekly. I'm in the middle of a teaching series on prayer based on James 5:16. I've been answering a lot of questions about prayer, and yet none as tough as the one that came from the mouth of a 3 year old.Yet isn't that a question we all ask...

Read More