Missions Service

Dana gave me a call this morning. I was hoping to post earlier so the word could get out but I got bogged down. At 10:00 she was in Johanasburg. Apparently they were about an hour late to check in and weren't sure if they were making the flight. I have no idea if they made it. If they did they will be in Mobile at 11:30 tomorrow, Friday. At 5:00 Friday we are going to Outback. If you would like to join us you are mor ethan welcome! Just remember...its Dutch. Next Wednesday, June 18th Dana and B will be speaking about the trip. I hope you all can make it. It will begin at 6:30. Thank you all for your part in this mission. I can't wait to hear all the Lord has done!! Shalom.

Stress, Access, Excess

Tonight was our Student Camp Meeting. It is hard to believe its camp 08. I will never forget my first camp in 1993. I took a group of snotty nosed officers kids to a Camp in New Hampshire. They were all the offspring of Leutinant Colonels or above. I was a PV1 and they knew it. A big ripe age of 19, many of them just two years younger. Boy that was a hard group. The favorite t-shirt was volleyball naked, or softball naked. Most if not all the kids were lost. I am not sure what good came out of the experience. Tonigth I spoke briefly about Jesus feeding the five thousand in Matthew's account. I found it interesting that the thing that drove Jesus to the "wilderness" was the beheading of John the Baptist. Jesus needed a get away afraid John's death. I called it stress. While Jesus was at this beach He still gave access to Himself to all of those that were needy and sick. And lastly He performed a miracle with a hand full of fish and a few loaves of bread to the point their was excess food.

God undoubtebly uses all of the circumstances to bring us to a point for Him to get the most Glory through all of our life experiences. Even if we find ourselves stressed, hurt, rejected, whatever our story is, He will turn those negatives into positives. I hope that as we encounter Christ we are left with residue, or excess or whatever you want to call it, that is proof we have met with Jesus.

For me, this time away trusting Dana and Bryan to God, has been so helpful in my relationship to Deven and Nathan. I just had a great conversation with them before they went to bed. They both told me they got to see my insides. They got to hear my heart like they have never heard it or seen it before. Their father loves them more than they will ever know. My time with them has been so good. I know our Heavenly Father desires the same experience with us. Stress, Access and Excess.

Take a Pill

As many of you know, I am a sleep walker. A horrible sleep walker. I remember when I was 8 at a Boy Scout canoe trip. We were on the adventure of a life time, canoeing down the Yellow River. I believe it was a whole week in the woods. Incredible! I woke up one night terrified. Apparently while we were sleeping the water rose and quickly reached the edge of our tent. Before I could do anyhting about it, the current sucked us into the river. My only response was to grab my paddle and well, paddle screaming as our tent twisted around the river banks. I woke up after hours of paddling to 20 or more flashlights in my face awith my scout leader shaking me, "Kenny are you okay." Yep a big dream! I have 10,000 stories just like that. Just ask Dana how many times I have rescued her from spiders and snakes that hide under her pillow. I ran out of sleeping pills 7 nights ago, so the last few nights have been horrible. I took a pill Monday night and woke up this morning thinking I was born again. Of all the nights that I worry about Dana, tonight is the night. Dana and Bryan are tent camping off the road they have been traveling on the past 12 hours. Please pray for them. These last 4 days of travel are going to be very dificult. Nathan and Kerri Locklar ate dinner tonight with us. They brought Nachos, and they didn't know it was Taco Tuesday! The boys have been amazing! I just finished a biography on William Wilberforce, the movie "Amazing Grace" was about him. Incredible man. Tonight, well, I plan on doing some reading, a lot of praying and taking a pill! Shalom.

A Day Full Of Suprises!!

What a day! Today is Deven's Birthday. BIG 11! It is hard to believe time has flown by this fast. I hope the next 11 are a little slower. I knew it was going to be a little akward with Dana not being here. We had a moment but recovered quickly. After my walk this morning I came home and prepared to get the kids ready for an early morning swim. I grabbed Ayden and began taking his pajamas off when I noticed he obviously had a blow out. Let's just say it looked like he took a bath in poo. It was everywhere! I rinsed him off in the yard with hose and we swam for a while. I took him inside and told him to go lay down so I could get a diaper on him. He ran inside and grabbed the leg of his high chair and peed on it. Unfortunately it was on the carpet! Ladarius came over, swam and ate hamburgers and ice cream with us. Sharon and Chris came over to celebrate with us. Sharon made some incredible brownies! We had a great time. The best suprise of the day was Dana called. ALl seems to be well. Over 3,000 came to the Jesus film. She said, time will tell as to what happened. Apparently the crowd got a little out of hand but they are safe. No troubles. Tonight we are eating at Miguel and Nancy's house...pot roast, mmm-mmm. Hopefully, no more suprises unless its Dana. calling

The Finish Line

I haven't ran in two days. It is killing me! I hope to get a good long run in tomorrow. There is a tendency on my part to set unrealistic goals for myself. It didn't help reading "Ultra Marathon Man" after the recommendation of Chris (thanks alot). No, it was a great book. I just had no idea really what the human body was capable of. My goal would be a marathon a week for the rest of my life. Sounds like an unattainable goal, but there are people that run a marathon a day, for 50 days straight and longer. That is insane!

Philippians 1:6 says, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

God has a plan for me. He started it and He will finish it. My plan for my life pails in comparison to His thoughts and plans. I can have confidence in Him, His work and the final product.

Eat your peas

If you haven't read Dana's blog thoroughly, you need to!! Here at home we have Breakfast for Dinner on Mondays and Taco Tuesday. It works for us. Friday in Africa..how about fish eye Friday or Monkey foot Friday. Making Bryan eat his peas is hopefully going to pay off! I would pay big money to have a video of Bryan's face as the main course comes out! He is stressing big time as we speak!!

We had a great student service tonight. I get Deven, Nate and Ayden back from Grandma Kaye tomorrow night. I can't wait! The house has been way to quiet and clean!

Clean up your mess

Bryan will love this. I hesitate to admit it but...like Bryan I fell up the stairs yesterday. I know, I know you have a hard time believing it but its true. Bryan is slowly growing into his rather large size 11 feet. I am not sure what my problem was yesterday but the day was littered with incidents and accidents. In completing a few of my "honey do" items I was running around the house fixing things like, the uneven toilet in our bathroom (your welcome Dana). I felt like I was on a roller coaster every time I...you know, sat down. Later, I was making a fresh pot of coffee, turned to the frigerator grabbed a half gallon of milk, squeezing the side and you bet, it slipped out of my hand. A quart or so of milk went everywhere. I think B did this just before he left on his termite eating endeavor. I laughed so loud my neighbors I am sure heard. It was like I was trapped in time and couldn't move. I was standing in a puddle of spilled milk . I have watched my boys do the same thing countless times! I waded through the milk toward the towels and began to clean up my mess. I even used cleaning supplies, amazing! I tossed the towel in the washing machine and headed off to work. Remember, a quart of milk was spilled. When I got home last night, the house smelled horrible! I walked through the house looking for Jo Jo (our dog) that had obviously died. I wasn't so lucky, just kidding. I found it! The towels were soured so I started the washing machine.

The book of Numbers has been a great read preparing for Wednesday. Reading the first few chapters I ended in chapter 5:1-10. God is really big on Holiness and us us dealing treacherously with sin in our lives. It is amazing how quick we dismiss our error by saying we are sorry never really dealing with the mess. The Lord tells Moses to instruct his people that when they sin they are to 1) Confess it. Own up to it. Admit that the sin was committed in "unfaithfulness to the Lord". 2) Make restitution. Because you have sinned, you have taken something away from someone. You have to make that right. Dealing with sin can be a public matter. Its messy.

This morning while I was running, I thought about a situation I need to make right. I will do that by the end of the week.

Shalom

Church Discipline

I teach the 6th and 7th grade guys here at Dayspring. What a great group! There is no greater pocket of incredible leadership and potential. These young men have matured so much the last few months evidenced in the topic we discussed Sunday. We looked at I Corinthians 5:1-13. The issue at hand is "someone in the church is taking their Mom to the Prom". That's how Mark Driscoll describes it anway. It was amazing to see the guys get the importance of establishing a firm foundation and implementing church discipline when needed...for the sake of the fellowship. At the beginning of every small group, if the guys don't have their Bibles, they do push ups. For the most part, they assume the position if they don't have it when we begin. I ended our group telling them why it is so important to know God's word and read and study God's word. In that group there no doubt are pastor's and church leaders. If they don't hold with a tight fist the non negotiables, the"little leaven" over time will consume the lump and the church will no longer be effective.

While You Were Out

I got a call from Dana this morning! I couldn't believe it. Deven had cut one of Bryan's yards before Wednesday Service and I had to do the trim work early this morning, Thursday, before work. Deven ran outside with the phone screaming, "It's Mom!". Dana is no doubt, the luckiest woman alive. She brought her phone to text me in the Atlanta airport, coming and going. On the way to the Missionary house in Zambia, a two day trek, she decides to see if AT&T really does have more bars, and they do! Now, it may cost us a good truck payment for that brief 30 secong conversation but so worth it. All is well, again she wants everyone to know she thanks all of you for your part in seeing this come to fruition.

Over the last few days I have learned a few things that I think you need to know (Dana). So I want to just list a few things that have happened while you were out...

1. I have discovered food doesn't mysteriously appear on the dinner table. Someone literally has to cook it.
2. There is a strong possibility that I am color blind. I am horrible at picking the kids clothes out. We showed up to Miguel's house looking like we just left a refugee camp.
3. Deven and Nathan are extremely good, trustworthy and hardworking young men.
4. Ayden is an artist, possibly water colors or finger painting is where his gifting is bent. Apparenlty at Mrs. Sharon's while playing on the floor with Dustin, Dillan, Nate and D, the remnant of a marker was all over the floor. Dustin touch it and ran it through his fingers saying, "This doesn't feel like marker." You are probably visualizing what happened. Ayden did the ol' reach behind diaper check and painted the living room floor with as Nate calls it, "handy, dandy, butt candy". Not sure who taught him that one.

Marriage Is For Making Children... Followers of Jesus

I came across a message series from John Piper a few months ago entitled "Marriage is for making children...Followers of Jesus". At first glance you think its about having lots and lots of children, for which I am an advocate, and then it gets you.

Raising children is the greatest responsibility there is. Whether they are your own or you have influence over a niece or nephew or a neighbor. Its such a risky undertaking!

As parents we have a responsibility to not just raise good moral citizens but as Erwin McManus calls "Revolutionaries for the cause of Christ". That doesn't happen overnight, but its a life long endeavor. What we call the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20 begins at home, making disciples to reach the nations. The end result is more people declaring the worth and fame and praise of and to God. Habakkuk 2:14 says, "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." God wants the Nations! He wants us!

Keep the faith! Push to the end. Lets teach our children about the Glory of God and lead them to reach the Nations! Lets go to the dark places of the world that have never heard the name of Jesus. Lets start at home and cover the globe.

On the way to Dakar

They are off and on their way! I recieved a call at 3:00 from Dana as she arrived in Atlanta. The next flight is the long one, 18 hours to Dakar. Nathan Locklar loaned Dana his high speed ear phones to drown out the noise. Dana told me the Plane is packed, every seat is taken. I won't hear back from her until Friday night. Sharon is watching the boys, "Thank You Sharon"! Miguel and Nancy are having us over for dinner. An early THANKS! We would be eating hotdogs, to which I am not a big fan!

They're outta here :(

How many 14 year old boys have the opportunity to go to Africa for 3 weeks on an adventure to Zambia and share the Gospel with people that have never heard of Jesus? You guys are amazing!!