Photos from our apartment...will take you to another site.

Here are a few photos I took the other day, in my attempts to:

1. Give people an idea of what our living space looks like
2. Capture the beauty of the mountains outside
3. Be artistic and take some evening shots.

Here are the results, they will take you to my photo gallery:


<-Inside apartment ||Mountain View ->

Nina...

Yes, this is our dog. We "adopted" her (read: rescued) from our previous neighbor who was poking hard at her, when the dog had the misfortune of walking into her yard. Julie rescued her, we gave her food/water, and left to a friends house. When we returned that night, the dog had left, but was roaming in the yard below (rebellious dog... *wink*)

The next morning was our day off. I got up, started to make some coffee and thought to myself, "I'll bet that dog is sitting right outside our door." I opened it up and sure enough, she was lying down on a 5 inch concrete ledge between the wall and stairs. It took a tremendous amount of coaxing (and fresh meat) to lure her from her refuge. She quickly warmed up to Julie and I and thus began our mutual arrangement. We provided house, home, food, shelter, and love for the dog, and in return she was her happy self and stayed loyal to us.

Nina adjusted to the move into our new apartment quite well. It's been amazing to see her transformed from a battered, scared little thing who would run tail-tucked every time someone new came into the house to a confident (well, not all the times but she's improving) upbeat puppy who likes to play with others!

Nina has this hilarious new habit. She will run back and forth outside, find a seemingly random spot in the sand (maybe it's purposeful for her, but it sure seems random) and proceed to dig down about 4 inches. Once that is finished she sticks her nose in it as far as she possibly can, and with all the breath she can muster, sniffs the hole. This is only made more humorous when, after checking the hole for strange smells, she sprawls out on the ground, lifts her head up and looks at you with this big smile, tongue dangling, and her nose/chin splotched with sand.

Sound intrigued?

Come visit us and see for yourself.

random thought for the day

What if people got as excited about Jesus as they did alcohol? Now I realize that the entire world isn't filled with boozehounds, and I'm not saying Christians are alcoholics. Just picture this scene:

Friday afternoon on a college campus. People are walking out of their last class, a buzz of excitement is in the air, two days of freedom! You hear people talking as the walk - face to face, on their phones, text messenging their plans.

Imagine thousands of people gearing up to spend a night talking about Jesus, praising him or hitting the streets to share him with others.

What if instead of bars, there were mini-churches or places for Christians to meet and spend the night talking about what God is doing in their lives?

It sounds hokey, but think about it. We expend so much energy into things that hurt us, gloss over insecurity, and only compound our problems, yet we don't want to have the full struggle of true faith and giving our lives over to Jesus.

It's like we're grasping onto razor wire with our bare hands, and we're resisting Jesus's outstretched arms. Our hands, our fingers get sliced up and we cry out in pain. We become angry for the scars and ask "Where is God?"

Sounds silly, but I can count many of the ways I have clung to the razor wire in my own life.

Be careful what you ask for...

...you just may get it.

Recently I was reading a book called "Prayer" by Richard Foster. It was all I could do to make it through the first two chapters, I got so convicted. One of the excerpts from the chapter on Simple Prayer was a cry to God to help me want what I need.

Lord, help me want what I need.

The ironic piece of this puzzle is that when we ask for things in good faith, we receive them - though not in the way or time we expect. I recall times when I would pray that God would make me more patient, or teach me to be a more patient person. Did God open the heavens, shine a warm light down into my heart, and presto! patience is mine? Unfortunately, no. He put me in situations where my patience would be tested. I was given the opportunity to choose to learn patience or practice impatience.

Lord, help me want what I need.

Know what happens the moment I ask this? All the things I think that I need surface. I am surrounded with a montage of thoughts, images, and experiences that I want. Do I necessarily need them? The obvious answer is no. I don't necessarily need a car. Having extra support money isn't a need, I could manage quite fine on my current budget.

As I type this entry, KFNW is playing through my computer speakers. I love listening to familiar voices, radio format, and songs while away from my home. Stephen Curtis Chapman just got done singing "My Redeemer Is Faithful and True." A fair number of you have probably never heard it...the lyrics are something like this:

As I look back, on this road I travel, I see so many times he's carried me through. If there's one thing that I've learned in my life, is my Redeemer is faithful and true. My Redeemer is faithful and true, everything he has said, he will do.

There's more to it, a beautiful song with comforting message. Reminds me of my mother who first showed it to me so many years ago.

Throughout this pain and challenge, I have realized several things:

1. I am a selfish person.
2. There are many times I lack perseverance.
3. I become so consumed with my own desires! They take over my thought life and I am surrounded by fantasy of what things could be like that I lose track of what I ought to be doing.
4. Poor listening skills and selfishness interfere with me making a true heart connection with people.
5. I am very demanding of myself and of others, oftentimes in unreasonable ways.
6. My first impulse is to run to people for answers rather than God.
   

I had a real "jerk moment" this week. Another staff member in our department announced that she, her husband and their new daughter would be leaving in September to start a new ministry. My first thoughts - to be honest they were not of the family, but of myself. I began to think of myself in the husband's role here at NHYM, how I am fit for the job, etc. I began writing a note to my boss in my head asking her about the role.

Petty.
Selfish.

Fortunately for me I exhibited some self-control and did not send any message. I have been spending time in prayer about the subject, and asking forgiveness for being so selfish. My first thoughts should have been on the couple. They are entering into a new ministry, what an exciting and scary time!

If you are reading this, I want to extend my deepest and most sincere apologies. It is so awesome that you are following God's call in this way. It will be my prayer that your transition is showered with God's blessing and peace.

Lord, help me want what I need.

Malachi - More to Come

We've all heard of it, Malachi. Mah la CHI as some may say. It's that last little book in the Old Testament, just a few short pages and chapters, words of a prophet then -

SILENCE

nothing more for 400 years until the New Testament came along, brought Jesus with it, and our lives would never be the same again.

Malachi is a great chapter for me to be reading right now, because it strikes me at my greatest and most profound sin - mediocracy. Being settled, comfortable with where I'm at brings with it a certain amount of pain and some joy, too. It's not the easiest, nor the best, but hey- it's comfortable.

What then becomes of me is a sluggard, a spiritual couch potato. Picture fat middle aged man sitting on a couch, wearing the A-Frame (read: wife beater undershirt). He's unshaven, potato chip crumbs on his chest while he slouches, remote control in hand with his arm draped over the side of the couch. The man flips through the channels, time passes. Admittedly he does become bored at times. He knows he *could* go for a walk, call a friend, or perhaps take a trip out of town, the man chooses not to.

Spiritually, I am that man right now. I confess it, in all the ugliness it entails. I need to become more spiritually disciplined, and intend to do so through the following:

1. Regular quiet time: I intend to get up at (don't laugh) 5:00 a.m. each day to pray, read the Bible, and do devotions. I successfully did this for the first time, this morning!
2. Re-think prayer: I am reading the book "Prayer" by Richard Foster in order to grow in this area.
3. Bible Study: I will be meeting with several men to go through the book "The Complete Husband" by Lou Priolo to gain more understanding of how to love and honor my wife.
4. Scripture Memorization: I want to go through the scripture memorization list that our students go through, in order. I will start with 1 John 1:5-10 (NIV).

Anyways, back to Malachi. There are eight questions we ask of God, and he gives his response. As I learn more of them, I will outline them here in the blog. The eight questions are:

1. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' (1:2)
2. "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?' (1:6)
3. "But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' (1:7)
4. You ask, "Why?" (2:14)
5. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. (2:17)
6. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' (3:7)
7. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' (3:8)
8. "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?' (3:13)

More to come soon. Read the book of Malachi for more information until then. Leave comments if you would like!