Current Status

I have had a lot of stuff going on throughout the summer. I apologize to readers that were awaiting updates along the way. The most significant update would probably have to be with my relationship status. Rebecca and I had a very quick but rich summer of growth. God truly grew us in so many ways and the culmination of that was in our getting engaged on August 14th. As nothing is truly final until it happens, our plans are to get married shortly after my return from Macedonia. She is currently attending Greenville College in Illinois and will be there for two more years. Time frames work out amazingly. More recently though, I came down with Tonsillitis a little over two weeks ago, and in the course of treatment had bloodwork done to show me the root cause was that I have Mono! So I have been resting since I've found out. I believe God gives me strength to do what I need to do though and am thus in Morgan Hill to speak at a Missions Week service tonight, not only to work towards raising my support for my trip but also in an effort to motivate students to seek after God's calling on their life. So all in all, even though I have been sick and having a hard time being away from my fiance, I am still doing well.

Tough Issues

I've been dealing with a lot of issues in the past month. Everything from juggling work with speaking appointments and house sitting for a couple from my church to worrying about money in several ways (phone bills that are outrageous, finances for my trip, and food and gas for two instead of one). It's been a struggle. I've struggled over my devotional life, which is wonderful now. I'm finally back on to a regular devotional schedule where I read a few chapters a morning and spend serious time in prayer. I've struggled over time frames in my relationship with Rebecca, including whether or not to go to Macedonia first followed by marriage or the other way around. Then once I realized God's call on my life (again really) to got to Macedonia first, struggling through Rebecca's calling for that time with her. It's been rough. Ever heard of growing pains? I think there's such a thing 'cause growth really does hurt sometimes. It's straight up painful! In the end though it is rewarding. God has really pulled us closer to him through everything that we've been through. It's funny though 'cause it seems Rebecca and I change perspectives almost on a weekly basis and are stretched in a different area. I guess that happens when you have a short amount of time in your relationship to be physically with someone and learn about them (physically observing and getting to know them) before you have to revert back to a long distance thing on the phone and over the internet and snail mail or whatever other long distance communication option there is out there (I'm sure if we don't know about it and yet it exists, we'll find out about it soon!). Things get overwhelming so easily these days. Every thing said or done has potential to be a negative issue that we have to struggle with, so I thank God for the times of quiet. Especially those times when I get to just hang out with Maggie (a small border collie), Finneus (a schnauser), and of course my beautiful girlfriend down at the house I'm house sitting at.

Before I go to bed I thought a rundown of my next week's schedule should be included.

I am house sitting and will be for the rest of this week and only Lord knows how long into next week.

I will be travelling to Castroville, CA on Saturday (a 7.5- 8 hr drive) to speak in a church Sunday morning. After that service, I'll travel NW to Morgan Hill to speak at a church's small group sessions (3 to be exact). Then on Monday morning I'll be driving home.

Monday night, I'll be doing night security at a teen camp for a friend of mine's camp. I'll be doing that at around 8PM-2/3AM every night through Thursday. In the day time starting Tuesday, I'll be working either part or full time.

On Friday, Rebecca and I are going to try and go to Clearlake for the weekend with my aunt and uncle. We'll probably kayak on Saturday then come home.

On Sunday we'll be teaching the pre-teen class again that we started today at church, then on Monday I'll be at work again full time.


That's it for now, but I may end up scheduling something else in there. Yeah, I know... you're wondering how I might manage that, but you're not alone. I'm wondering the same thing already!

Rebecca and I

My beautiful girlfriend finally arrived last Tuesday. It's been over a week now, and it's been simply amazing. We have done a lot together and even though we've only been together here for about 10 days, I can already see so much growth in our relationship. Things will be difficult at times, but God's growing us together. We started a wonderful devotional for couples on Monday and it's challenged us and stretched how we think and perceive things. I am so excited for what's going to happen this summer.

Airplanes, Airports, and Heroes?

Yep, I've been on 3 flights today and I still have one left to go. I'm on my way to my Montana, but I have 3 hours left in Seattle before we will be heading there. I've been in four airports so far. Eureka/Arcata, Redding, Portland, and now Seattle. Now I am watching an episode of heroes on my computer sipping on an iced vanilla late from Starbucks. This is turning out to be some day! I can't wait 'till we're finally in Montana!

My foot is hanging in mid-air...

Take a moment and picture a giant...


Good, now picture him walking along a road. Imagine how long it takes for this giant to take each stride, how long it takes for him to lift his back foot off the ground and bring it out in front of his other foot and lower it to the ground. Now keep this picture in your mind and you'll understand quite easily the state I am and have been in for a while now. You see, I have taken my foot off the ground and began stepping into this wonderful new part of my life. This current step is the one that will land in my being in Macedonia for two amazing and life changing years. While my foot is off the ground, it hasn't quite landed yet, but some how I feel as if this step is somehow completed and my thoughts constantly go towards where my next foot fall will land. This next footfall is what will happen after my journey to Macedonia. Where will I go? What will I be doing? Who will be involved in it? Although some would warn against me looking so far ahead at this point, seemingly neglecting the 2 years I'll be in Macedonia, I feel somewhat content with it! I surprise myself with that point, and almost scare myself with that point. Then I remember, this trip began as something not my own. It was something that I was called into, something pre-determined for me. When I decided after nights of tears and struggling over a measly application to go ahead and do it, I had to decide to let go of it at the same time. I am the type of person who likes to have some say in how I do things. I like to organize priorities, even though I don't appear like I do at times, I do! I like to have some control. With this trip, I knew from the beginning, and for the better, that I had no control over it. I didn't know where I was going to go, who I was going to serve with, how I was going to get there, what I was going to do! I had no say in it from the beginning. Of course, yes, I did decide in a sense to go to Macedonia with this specific missionary but it was only because God led me to this point of security in it. So should I be thinking of the next giant stride of my life even though my foot hasn't even fallen to end the stride I'm on yet? I don't think so, but I do think I need to be focused more on this stride to be completely honest. I think that's the balance of walking...

This past week

I have been sick for the last few days. Because of it, I have been trying to medicate myself so that I can get better as rapidly as possible. I leave next Wednesday for Michael's wedding in Montana and am looking forward to it quite a bit. I like the idea of being able to support a friend by being one of his groomsmen. I've known Mike since about kindergarten so it's nice to be able to be a part of and see him starting the rest of his life. In the meantime, Rebecca made it safely home to Highland, Illinois. She'll be flying out here on May 22nd, only 2 days after I return from Mike's wedding in Montana. This next week will fly by so fast, and she'll be here before I know it!

In the meantime, I am still waiting for my financial update to come from Missouri for the last month's donations and pledges. I know a lot of people have contributed and I'm really excited to see how much people have given to my trip. I have also sent out all except about 8 of my newsletters so that's also exciting. I only have one more to write before I am scheduled to leave for Macedonia.

That's life for now.

A Cool Saturday Morning in Redway

I'm sitting in my living room on this beautiful cool Saturday morning in May. My living room is freezing and I'm sipping on a cup of Starbucks Sumatra roast to kick my day off right. I have a day of cleaning house and yard work ahead of me, but I thought I may just write a bit before I get it going. It was brought to my attention by my beautiful, loving girlfriend that I haven't written in a while so I have decided to do just that.

A little while ago, I went to the Nor Cal Nevada district of the Assemblies of God's district council. It's a set of meetings for all of the pastors in the district to come together and take care of the business issues that face the district, to worship together, fellowship, and share their ministry with eachother. They even have breakout sessions/seminars to encourage the pastors in different areas of their ministries. I went to see some old friends that are serving in full time ministry and also to possibly make new friends. I stayed with Scott Tuttle, who is the youth pastor at a church in Morgan Hill but he's a good friend. He helped me make a few contacts with pastor friends of his so I might be able to visit their churches and gain their support for my Macedonia trip. The trip turned out to be like a family reunion because I saw a lot of my dear friends from my life at Bethany and catch up with them a bit. I know that they are friends for life, and that's exciting as I sit here in Redway with fairly few friends close by.

In a few weeks I'll be making my way up to Montana to be in another friend's wedding. I look forward to my time away from Redway. It will be a sort of vacation from the repetition that seems to consume my days this spring. Only two days after I return from Montana, Rebecca will be arriving and I can't wait to see her. I want so much to get to know her in person instead of over the phone. We can talk until we're both blue in the face but it doesn't allow us to truly know eacother until we can experience each other in person. I look forward to those times so much.

This summer is shaping up to be a busy and exciting one. With Rebecca, ministry, visiting churches around the state, and of course work on the side, my summer is not going to be lacking much excitement!

Things you could pray for me about:
That I continue to be diligent about my time with God,
That I would continue seeking God's guidance with my relationship with Rebecca,
That God would keep me safe in travels
That God would provide what I'll need for my trip.

Projects of Late

I have writer's block so bare with me as I work through the thoughts I have just to get at the ones I need to get down on paper. I've been busy and I am a little overwhelmed. I'm sure that I'll be feeling this way a lot in the near future, probably until about a year into my Macedonia trip. That's life I guess. I have been trying so hard to finish writing my second newsletter. I have one or two paragraphs left before it can be sent out or at least proofread. In the meantime, I'm working full time and that's exhausting me, not so much the work as opposed to what goes on in that environment. Other people exhaust you without much effort. Sometimes it's just their personalities, other times it's the baggage they carry with them. Sometimes it's a combination of both colliding together to create an amazingly beautiful piece of chaos (think on that for a while!). Besides work, I've had my missionary visit me, I've spent my first Easter Sunday at my Redway church, and just this weekend I visited a church in Shelter Cove that decided on the spot to give me a one time gift of 500 dollars and pray about pledging a monthly commitment. I praise God for small bodies of believers like that one because that's what is going to keep me alive in Macedonia for my two year term. I know they'll be praying for me and that's exciting! I mean, for a little while I felt like I was in a small house church in some other country or something. I think I can see the faithfulness of those small groups of believers that gather against much opposition and minister in ways that seem impossible because of their size. I had a glimpse of another part of the body of Christ and it was beautiful. I also had a glimpse of a beautiful day at the cove, of which I took a few pictures in attempts to be artistic. I hope they're good. Last night though, I got a call from David saying that he had to go visit some people today and that "Tag!" I am "it" for tonight's Bible study. Gosh, I know I need to be prepared in and out of season, but that's short notice if I've ever seen it! I couldn't even fall asleep and get up early like I wanted to in order that I could work on it. Here I am with a direction to talk about Characteristics of God from Psalm 18. Mostly from the first part, but I may have someone read the depiction of how God rescued the psalmist from the raging torrents to illustrate how this person saw God in their circumstances. I hope it'll work and be a good discussion topic. I am stressed about it though. I almost feel sick and I'm sure it's because of that or something that I ate at the gourmet kitchen of True Value. Well, pray for me as I continue to strive towards raising my funds for Macedonia. Soon I'll be going to the Nor - Cal Nevada District of the AG's District Council in Sacramento. I'll get to participate in the Missionary parade for the Tuesday night cultural dinner. I'll be trying to arrange dates that I may be able to go visit other churches that I have connections at too. Pray that I might get a few dates and a few pledges even through this. I'm exhausted but now I think my writer's block is gone. Even if it's not, I need to work it out elsewhere any ways.

Current progress

I am doing well. I preached for the second time this Sunday. Yes it was on Joshua 1:1-9 again, but it was a totally different congregation and a slightly different sermon so it's okay, I promise! A lot of missionaries tend to preach the same message tons of times when they come back to the states because they're typically in so many different congregations that they all need to hear the same message. Any way, Brian Thomas, the missionary I'll be serving with in Macedonia is flying in from Michigan this weekend to meet me and speak at my 2 home churches. I'll admit that I'm a little nervous to meet him. He'll be the authority over me for the next 2 years and that should put a little righteous fear in any man I think. After this weekend, I'll be at my church for Easter Sunday (more than likely at least), but the following Sunday I am scheduled to go visit a church in Shelter Cove. I won't be preaching per se, but I will be assisting the pastor with his sermon illustration. He's preaching through Acts and he will be at the part where Paul gets his call to Macedonia. I don't really know what I'll be doing, but I know I'll be allright. I'm really looking forward to it. After that, I don't have anything scheduled until the 29th where I'll be teaching Sunday school for 2 Sundays. Then I have another bye week, and then I'll be in Montana for a wedding. The following Sunday, my girlfriend will be arriving (a few days before of course). This takes me through May with only 2 weekends off. It's exciting to be doing this kinda stuff. I haven't even called the pastoral friends that I have in Fresno, Stockton, Castroville, and Morgan Hill. Wow, I'm going to be busy! But hey, that's how God is working and raising up support for my trip and I'm very grateful!

So much happenning!

If I were to write about everything that I want to, we would be here a while. To sum it all up, God is amazing. Psalm 139 says:

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in - behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only ou would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent' your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

I don't want to go into details yet, perhaps over the next few days I can make notes about all that is going on with me. Know that I am growing in Christ. I have done many new things and will do many more things on the horizon. I am busy, and as such have found that each minute thing has a purpose and I am striving to be purposefully loving in each place. It is hard, but God knows me. I love this psalm. I think I may try to memorize it...

Until tomorrow perhaps....

I Will Be Busy!

With the current events taken into account, I have rescheduled my preaching time at my parent's church. I will be preaching there next Sunday. The following Sunday, I will be in Missouri. After that, I believe I will be preaching at the night time service at my Redway church. After that, Brian Thomas, the missionary I will be serving with while in Macedonia, will be preaching at my parent's church Sunday morning (April 1st) and my Redway church on Sunday night. I still have to call Rohnerville Assembly and schedule a time to go up there and speak. Oh, and I need to send out a second newsletter in the end of March! Needless to say, I will be busy!

Trial By Fire

When you preach for the first time, it is hard enough. You are responsible for bringing the word of God to the ears of the congregation and for challenging them with God's truth. A daunting task and responsibility indeed. Tomorrow, I will be doing this. I will be speaking the truth to the congregation. It gets harder though. I'm not just being put through this trial, but I am going to be doing it to a congregation that has just last night, lost their shepherd. He passed away after a heart attack. This is God's will, but that doesn't mean that it won't be hard. I've shed my tears. It hurts, but these people still need to be shown God's love through His word.

Pray for grace and God's guidance in my words. Pray that I can speak with compassion and use wisdom in how I would best approach the situation. I am not sure what will happen at service tomorrow, but given the pulpit, I will be ready to preach. It is my trial by fire. Everyone goes through one and this is mine.

God, take my mouth and anoint my words that they may bring comfort and love to this hurting congregation. Help me to be able to point them back to you if I am indeed called on to do so.



***Update***
I won't be preaching tomorrow. I got a phone call and they have other things they want to take care of. I will be rescheduled, but I know it still won't be easy going back there any time soon. It will still be a tough place to preach for me. I still think it will be a trial by fire.....

God's provision

God is providing!

I sent out my newsletters to many many friends and family. There are more names than I can remember on that mailing list! God is faithful though and people have been seeking him about giving to my help support my trip. In the last week, I've recieved promises for a one time donation of $250 and $50 a month in pledges towards my monthly budget. I also recieved a donation today for $200! I'm amazed at people's generosity and at the encouragement that the Lord is giving me through them. I wasn't even expecting the people to give that gave today! Praise God for his provisions and for being constantly faithful... When He leads, be sure that He will provide as well!

Sermon Preparation

I am currently working, rather diligently too, at building the first sermon I will be preaching to an actual congregation. I have struggled for a while on how I should go about it and how it will be an effective, exogetical sermon. I have been certain on the passage I should use. In fact, I lead a devotion with a basic 3 points from the same passage just over a month ago. I have been feeling that what I said there wouldn't be enough. It doesn't have enough meat to it, it isn't solid enough to build a full 20-40 minute sermon on. After reading the passage over and over, practicing some of my hermeneutic techniques on it, I still wasn't satisfied. This morning, I pulled out my Biblical Preaching book from one of my classes at Bethany U, and just started skimming the pages again. I soon realized that I had missed what many people consider the most important step, seeking the "Big Idea" of the passages as a whole. I've been thinking since this morning on what the big idea is for my passages, Joshua 1:1-9, and have weighed the "Be Strong & Courageous" theme, I've weighed the "Joshua stepped out and filled humongous shoes" theme, and every other thing I could think of. Unfortunately, I just didn't think any of them fit the entire passage. God has finally shown me something. The common thread is on the Lord's presence amongst his people. I finally have something that my sermon can be built on. Constantly, the book of Joshua comes back to the point of the Lord's presence, not only in 1:1-9, but in the entire book! From the beginning, it shows that the Lord is stepping in to move his people. I'm comforted and I know that this message will be one that is easily preached!

Encountering A Memory

As I still have many things stored in many places from my 4 years at Bethany, I have been slowly putting things away that I would like to keep. Today I was going through my art box where, in the rushes of packing up after finals week, I threw a bunch of random things in with my painting supplies. As I was putting stuff away in my current bedroom, I found a couple pieces of paper folded together almost as if they were sent to me in the mail. Naturally I wanted to see if indeed they were a letter from someone from my past and I found that yes they were, but the best part about them is that they were written by me.
In my sophomore year at Bethany U, I went on a missions trip to England. During the trip every team member lead a devotional before we left to do whatever we were going to do for the day. The letter was two fold. It contained my notes for the devotional that I lead, and a journal entry that I wrote beforehand. As I read through both pages, a flood of memories came back to me. I was challenged by my own writing too. The devotional challenged our team to be focused on what Christ did for us and what it meant to us. It challenged us to do everything with a greater passion so as to illustrate to the kids we were teaching how much Jesus means to us.
As I read my journal entry, I remembered the England team and what that trip meant to the rag-tag group of us that went. I'm amazed to this day by the bond that most of us still have and take to heart. We all went through a lot before the trip and this trip was a renewing experience for all of us. Sure we went to London and Paris, and yes we saw Canterburry and a bunch of other south-eastern English towns. The most impacting memories are still the ones of Christ changing us and illustrating his love for us even through our own dramas and lessons that we taught the kids. I want to go to England again, but not for the same reason as most people. I want to go see the people that impacted me while I was there to impact them. I want to tell them how much the experience that they were willing to host has changed my life. I want them to know that they are valued. They wouldn't believe that I'll be going to Macedonia soon to serve as a missionary. I feel as if they're part of my family, distant, but still part. Still important. I sure hope I'll never forget times like those that I had in England. I sure can't wait to be able to look back and enjoy memories from other experiences like them too!

The beginning of a blogsite

Since most of my readers will be those that know me, I am beginning a brand new blogsite that they can come to. The main reason is that I won't be too interested in logging into myspace when I start serving in Macedonia as a Missionary Associate come September. In fact, I wouldn't mind not having it now if I could avoid it, but for now it's a valid way of communicating to those around the states that I know and love. When I am in Macedonia however, I don't plan on taking a lot of time on the internet to check emails, post on myspace and wade through all the posts, messages and comments that will eat up my internet time! I do desire to give my friends and family a way to keep up to date on what I'm doing while I'm there. I will reflect here on many things. Things I encounter or go through that are physical, spiritual, or just plain interesting to me. I may take the time to converse with God through this blog, or I may just rant. Then again, I may just express my loneliness as I am sure there will be some of that for me to go through. I hope this can be both informal, informative, and interesting to all who come by and read my new blog. This is the beginning of my telling of The Story Of My Life.