Can you say...HIATUS!!

Man, it's been a long time since I wrote here. My life has been going crazy since the beginning of the year, and what were once common posts have become sporadic at best. I actually have another motivation for writing now, though. I have an aunt who is doing a 1 year mission to Maputo, Mozambique (I hope I didn't butcher that spelling too bad). We obviously can't talk on the phone often, so I figured this would be a great way to let her know how me and my family are doing. So Sharon, this is for you, we love you.
things are going well - a little hectic maybe, but pretty well. I recently signed-up (and paid money) to run my first organized half-marathon. I have run the distance in the past, but I have never done it as an event. It will be new ground, but I had to do something to whip myself back into shape. In fact, the guy that got me to run this with him is even talking about continuing our training after the half and running a full marathon sometime relatively soon.
Crystal is almost into her 8th month of pregnancy...yes, the baby girl is rapidly approaching. I can't believe we are going to have two. I post pictures as soon as she arrives...well, maybe give me a day or two.
The church is doing well. We are growing really well now that we are in the building full-time. We are exploring ways to cover the floors, and we got the nursery covered last weekend. So now we have the new nursery to use as well as the old one.
Let's see, what else. Oh, I have winter term finals next week - so pray for me. Not only that, but next week and the week after I am picking up 40 hours of work from Jay. I figured I can do 60 hour weeks for two weeks - it won't kill me. I will probably pick up more this summer. God is really opening some doors for me there, and who knows, maybe I will have walked through it before you get back here.

It's been over a week...

And I gotta say, not much has happened. Sorry that there is such a delay. I was sick most of last week. I missed work Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday - my poor wife had to have an Eggo waffle for dinner on Valentine's Day because she wasn't feeling too great either - so neither of us felt up to cooking. We did, however, celebrate the next night. My aunt took Levi for the night, and I took Crystal out to Deep - a modern Japanese/sushi restaurant in town. We had a great night. She got me a couple shirts and a pair of boots for Valentine's Day, and I got her a pearl set (necklace, bracelet, earrings) and a new outfit for work. She has to wear black every day to work, so I was trying to get her something she could wear to work, but still have fun in also - it worked out alright. Saturday we stayed in most of the day...we still weren't 100% healthy, and we had a party that night. That evening we went to LaPine to see my grandparents. My 84 year old grandpa finished his doctorate degree this year, and we all got together to celebrate it. I've been fairly skeptical about him spending so much time and money on this degree at his age, but I feel differently about it after this weekend. It wasn't hurting anyone, and if that's what makes him happy, then I guess I can't be upset about it. We also took the opportunity to say goodbye to my aunt, who is heading to Africa in just over a week now. We all got her stuff that is fairly easy to pack. My mom got her a locket with each of their pictures in it. My uncle - her brother - got her a journal, and my sister made her a bracelet with symbols to represent her, her husband, and their son. So, here I was Friday, not having anything for her, and not really knowing what I could give her that would pack easily, and be a reminder of me and my family. So, I wrote her a song. It was pretty simple - just one, four chord progression all the way through, with a slight variance every third time - but I think I got the point across. My wife types up the lyrics, and we printed them on a sheet of fancy paper, and sealed it with sealing wax, and a stamp with our last initial on it. It turned out great. She'll be able to pack it easily, and read it whenever she feels home sick, or questions her calling.

Well, I got smacked!!

Ok Phil, I'll come up with something to post here, though it may be short. School is going well a month into the winter term. I got a 94% on my midterm of my architectural class. Oh, ok...I got it.

I had a conversation with some people at my church Sunday night after the Super Bowl. We are going through the life of Paul on Sunday mornings, then re-hashing the sermon that evening. It was a little different with the Super Bowl that day, but out here on the west coast the game was over early enough to get it in anyhow. At any rate, God hit me with what may be my greatest weakness in life. It was definitely a hard moment, and hopefully will be turning point in my life. God smacked me in the face with one word: ENTITLEMENT. He brought to my rememberance a guy named Mark Williams who is a state oversser in my denomination. At any rate, he has the Bible memorized cover to cover - chapter and verse. God spoke to me that there is no way you can accomplish that AND feel entitled to anything. So many times I come home from work and crash in front of the television. I may only intend to sit there for a few minutes - maybe through a Sportscenter, but it rarely works out that way. I may see something else on that I want to watch, or I may go from the TV to the computer. At any rate, I never end up doing the things I should be doing. I have conditioned myself to believe that I am allowed to veg for a while because, after all, I have worked hard all day, and I deserve it. Entitlement never got anything - except in the way. Only God is truly entitled to anything. He deserves my praise, my worship, my time and my devotion. He is the only one worthy of any of it. I am praying that God takes those feelings of entitlement away, and that I will hand over the title to my soul more completely every day.

Count the cost...

I wonder how many times we think about what Jesus said in Luke 14:28. Do we truly count the costs before we begin something new, or do we tend to jump in saying "it's God's will so He'll provide." Of course, if it is God's will, He will be faithful to provide for your needs. However, there is a cost. A cost for getting saved, a cost for winning the lost, and a cost for living righteously. Do we count those costs?? Furthermore, do we ever actually pay those prices?? In our physical world we are conditioned to find the cheapest, easiest way from point A to point B, but I don't see that as being God's plan. Look at the very means by which we have salvation. Jesus came, lived a PERFECT life, died on a cross, rose again, and lives today at the right hand of the Father. That was not cheap or easy...in fact, nothing has ever cost more, or been more difficult. He lived a perfect life - how incredible is that alone?? Then, He willingly died on a cross so that you and I could spend eternity with Him. The thing that we forget so much is that in His death, He had to go get the keys to death - and we are worried about what our co-workers may think of us if we share the gospel with them...that's embarrassing.
I wonder, too, if we allow others to count the costs. When we witness to people, are we so eager to put that notch on our belt that we discount the need to count those costs for themselves. I had a good friend a few years ago, who I have fallen out of communication with, who wanted to count the costs. As far as I know he has yet to turn his life over to God, but he knows. He knows what it means when he does - and I am fully confident that he will. You see, when people get the full picture, it may look daunting at first, but they've got the full picture. sooner or later the costs seem to dim, and the prize grows. Take for example a teenager who starts taking marijuana. In that time the cost of giving up drugs is too great for him. When he gets older, however, the cost may be giving up joblessness, hopelessness, and despair - to gain eternal life. Once the luster of the sin wears off, then Jesus looks that much brighter. Encourage your unsaved loved ones to count the cost. Weigh out what they will be giving up to follow Christ, and decide if it is worth it. As long as we as Christians are doing what we are instructed to do, I am confident that they will see that the cost is minute compared to the gain.

Desolate days

This past Sunday we talked about Paul again, and some times he faced through the early years of his ministry. It was particularly applicable to me because I feel like I am going through some desolate days right now. The things that desperate days may bring are: isolation, humiliation, subordination, rejection, and demotion.
It is amazing how impatient I can be with my desolate days. Looking at Paul, he spent 3 years in isolation in Arabia...3 years. Looking further back, it was 13 years from the time Joseph was sold into slavery and the time when he became second in command of the known educated world. How long was the time between David's anointing as king, and when he actually took the throne. Moses spent 40 years after leaving Egypt before he went back...and another 40 wondering in the wilderness. I have been dealing with some of this stuff for about 1 year...1 stinkin' measly year of my probably 70+ year life. Even in that one year I am not going through what any of those examples endured. I didn't even really think about it until Sunday morning. As my dad was speaking and hitting his points I just kept thinking "wow, I am dealing with that one too...". Isolation can be a difficult one today...especially because Father's House is such a relational church. I have found that I can be surrounded by my best friends, and still feel like nobody really gets me...that they don't understand, and most likely never will understand. As far as humiliation is concerned, I have experienced the humbling side of that term, more than the embarrassing part. I have been embarrassed, but even that led to being humbled. Completely broken down in front of God and some of my peers. Of course, there will always be those who reject us. That one may be the least of those for me. Either I don't feel like anyone has rejected me, or I am just so used to it, it doesn't faze me anymore. As far as subordination and demotion go, those are another topic for another post. By the grace of God, and the love of my family and friends, I have been able to be more open about the way I am feeling. I have dealt with these feelings like I have so much to offer a church in the facet of my calling, but here I am, with a secular job, not living up to what I thought I would be doing by this time in my life. Sometimes I want so badly to be on staff at a church that I think I would move anywhere, and work for anyone. Other times, I think that I won't ever be a full-time minister, and I basically give up on what I KNOW God as called me to. I guess it truly is all in God's time...after all, God didn't part the Red Sea to leave His children out of the Promised Land.

I'm getting old...

Well, yesterday I turned 29...yes, only one year left until 30. Birthdays have never really bothered me before, and I am doing my best to not let this one bother me either. However, when I graduated high school I set some goals for myself, and some of the biggest were goals I wanted to have complete by the time I was 30. This is either going to be a VERY busy year, or I'm just going to have to re-evaluate my goal timeline. My biggest goal was to become efficient (if not proficient) at 5 instruments by the time I am 30. I've got the guitar, bass, trumpet, and african hand drums (congas, bongos, djembe, etc.). That would be 4, but I only count the bass and guitar as 1/2 to 3/4 each since they go so well together. So, this year I would really like to focus on piano more than anything. If I can get a decent handle on that with some time left, I will focus some time on the violin also. Piano is my top priority, though, for sure. I would love to learn to play a regular trap set drums, but getting both hands and both feet going at the same time it super tricky for me.
let's see, what else has been going on?? Well, the new year is going pretty well still. I have taken up drinking a glass of V-8 every morning. That has got to be the biggest glass I have ever seen...V-8 tastes horrible, but it's just so stinkin' good for you.
I had a thought that I wanted to share. At church we are going through a sermon series on the life of Paul. WOW, what a dynamic transformation of a man. God really turned his life upside down. At any rate, before the church became 'the church' it was known as 'the Way'. Something I REALLy liked when I stopped to think about that, was that 'the Way' symbolizes a journey for me, whereas 'the church' symbolizes a place. I know that the church is not a place, but the people, but in my mind's eye, I see a place. As the church we need to be on our way - as in a journey. We haven't arrived, and we will certainly kno when we have...we won't be in our earthly bodies anymore for starters. Not to mention, we'll be at a feast that makes any Thanksgiving look trivial. So, lets not sit back, or settle down. Let us always be moving forward, taking ground that isn't ours right now, but is ours through Christ. A few years ago the prayer of Jabez was a trendy thing in the church - especially with the publication of a book about it. It has come and gone now, like so many other fads, but one thing that should not pass away is us praying that God expands our boundries of influence.
I've got more about Paul to share, but I'll save that so I have something to post next time.

Second Sunday...

Well, we had our second week in the new sanctuary yesterday, and this week I made sure I ad battery for my camera so I could show off the new building here. Here are the pictures in the order you might see them if you were walking into the building.

I have several more pictures, but these are the basics. We are so stinkin' excited to be in this building. For those that don't know the back story, 3 1/2 years ago we decided to seel our building that the church had been in since 1927, but we had outgrown. We sold it within 6 months, but rented it back for 1 year while we got our new place built, well, that year came and went without anything tangible getting done. So, we moved out congregation of about 100 into a tiny room that would uncomfortably seat 55 people. Instead of having the kids with us through worship - as was our tradition - we released them to their classes at the beginning of service. We did that from March of 2006 through July of 2006. Then, in August a local Baptist church loaned us a canopy type tent (no walls) to use, but they needed it back for Labor Day weekend. By the time Labor Day rolled around we had secured another tent from a friend of my dad's that had two walls, but we only had that one through the first week of October. At that point, we were faced with moving back into the tiny room, and risking losing all the growth we had experience in our tents. So, dad had settled on renting a school, but at about $1000 a week, hat was going to be tough. the finance committee, however, had other plans. They decided to buy a tent. Even if we only needed the school for 6 months, that 26 weeks, and $26,000 - we could get a decent used tent for that. At the same time in Washington, a man who had held tent revivals was retiring, and he knew my grandparents. We were able to buy a tent, roughly 150 nice folding chairs, a great heater, stage, and projection screen all for well under our budget for just the tent. We were in that tent for 14 months - almost to the day. the fire department informed us that it had to come down, and at that point, we were forced to have services in the tiny room for 3 weeks, then we got into our new building on January 6, 2008 with a 60 day temporary permit. It's been a long, someimtes rough, road, but through Christ, we made it through.