Updated Pages

In case you haven't checked in a while, I wanted to let you know that some of our blog pages on the right have been updated with a bit more information and some new photos from our recent trip to the Woodland Park Zoo. Be sure to browse - and thanks for reading!

Instruments

Instruments make beautiful music - but only in the hands of talented musicians.

We own several musical instruments - keyboard, acoustic guitars, electric guitar, harmonica, recorders. They are all willing to be played and are capable of making wonderful sounds. But not in my hands. You see, I do not possess an ounce of musical talent. That's right - not even an ounce. I can appreciate other people's skill but I have had to come to terms with the fact that I will never play the fiddle or the banjo. While I sit here thinking about my lost career as a bluegrass band member I am thankfully aware that as we prepare for short term mission trips - or for serving the King in any way - we do not need to put pressure on ourselves to perform. We do not need to be worried about what to say or do - we simply need to willingly submit ourselves to God and allow Him to work through us. Thelma Wells put it this way, "We are the instruments, but God is the one who must make the music through us."

May we continually place ourselves in the hands of the Master Musician and allow Him to use our lives to make beautiful music.

Thank you

Thanks to all of you who prayed for the 30 hour famine event we participated in. It was amazing and we are so thankful to have been able to be a part of it. The youth learned first hand about world hunger and they raised $842 for World Vision. Thanks, again, for your prayers - and please continue to pray for those who are hungry - because 12 million people die every year because they don't have access to clean water and because every 4 seconds a child dies from hunger related issues. And because there is power in prayer.

Class of 2011

Congratulations to the graduating class of 2011! Especially to Hayley Ann! On Saturday, June 11, 2011, Hayley officially graduated from high school - with honors. We are so proud of her! We spent the day at the Woodland Park Zoo where she was presented with her diploma and honor cords and we had a great time celebrating her achievements. She has four more classes at Whatcom Community College until she earns her AA transfer degree and then the plan is to go to university and study biological anthropology or wildlife ecology or....

Graduation is a time for reflection and anticipation. It is a time of change. And as we walk the path of change I would like to share some lyrics with you to a song that has come to mean a great deal to me.

Pray For Me - by Plumb

Here is where the road divides

Here is where we realize

The sculpting of the father's great design

Thru' time you've been a friend to me

But time is now the enemy

I wish we didn't have to say goodbye

But I know the road He chose for me

Is not the road he chose for you

So as we chase the dreams we're after

[Chorus]

Pray for me and I'll pray for you

Pray that we will keep the common ground

Won't you pray for me and I'll pray for you

And one day love will bring us back around again

Painted on our tapestryAll lyrics www.allthelyrics.com

We see the way it has to be

Weaving thru' the laughter and the tears

But love will be the tie that binds us

To the time we leave behind us

Memories will be our souvenirs

And I know that thru' it all

The hardest part of love is letting go

But there's a greater love that holds us

[Chorus x2]

Pray for me and I'll pray for you

Pray that we will keep the common ground

Won't you pray for me and I'll pray for you

And one day love will bring us back around again

Here is where the road divides...

Now You See It - Now You Don't

Riley had long hair up until last summer when he got it cut in preparation to go to Zambia. Upon returning he decided to grow it out again. It has been almost a year and a couple of weeks ago he decided to get a haircut. Not a trim, mind you, a cut. As his long, thick, wavy hair fell to the floor he didn't even cringe. Riley's hair grows pretty fast so it he wants it long again he will just grow it out. No big deal. However, it was a very big deal to some of the people who know him. The first church service after the cut was filled with pointing fingers, whispers, comments and one young man so shocked he went right up during the service, gaping mouth and all, and petted Riley's head. It was too funny!

Riley's hair was here one minute and gone the next. And that is what temptation should be. You see, temptation is all around us all the time. Being tempted is not sin but what we do with that temptation could be. We must flee from temptation. God promises that we will not be tempted beyond what we can handle and that there will always be a way out - a way not to sin when confronted with temptation. There are many strategies to avoid sinning while being tempted. One is to not put yourself in a compromising situation to begin with. Another is to bounce your eyes when tempted with lust. Or when tempted to say something mean about the driver who just pulled out in front of you how about changing that thought to being thankful you even have a car to drive - a luxury most of the world does not have. When you are on the internet checking your email and you are tempted to visit a site you know is inappropriate or to search for images that are wrong to look at, fight it and turn the computer off. Yes, that is right, turn the computer off. That may sound drastic but it is no more drastic than cutting off your right hand if it causes you to sin. The point is - fight!

We are in a battle! But we are not fighting alone. Every day we have the armour of God to protect us and we have the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Acts chapter one tells us that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us - when we give our lives to Jesus Christ. And that power is the same power Christ used to raise the dead. Now that is true, amazing, awesome power! But during times of temptation it seems as though we forget just how much power we can access. May we remember to tap into the mighty power of the Holy Spirit within us and flee temptation. Prepare for battle - don't be a wimpy warrior!

Potential

Potential: existing in possibility - powerful - anything that may be possible. These are a few of the definitions found in Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language for the word potential. You know I take joy in potential - the potential found in a jar of buttons, a skein of yarn, a yard of fabric, an apple and our property. I see things not simply as they are but also as they could be. As we contemplate putting our home on the market and moving to town I am saddened by a possible loss of potential. You see, we own acreage that has such enormous potential and the thought of moving to a city lot distresses me. Even though we are not currently utilizing the potential, it is still there waiting to be tapped into. And yet, every piece of land, no matter how small, has potential - I just might have to look a little harder, but it is there.
That is how we should see people - all people - full of potential. Each person has in them the powerful possibility to impact the world for God's glory. Jesus saw the potential in fishermen, a Samaritan woman, a short tax collector, demon possessed women and us. I am so thankful He is able to see past our sin - to not only look at who we are but who we could be and, by His grace, will be.
The man standing on the street corner holding a sign is plum full of potential. The child throwing a fit in the toy section of the store has potential. The poor family living in the trailer is brimming with potential. The teenage boy with finger sized holes in his lobes and a bad attitude has potential. The person sitting next to you in the pew on Sunday morning also has potential. As does the young girl forced to work in the brothel overseas and the illiterate man breaking rocks in Zambia and the woman dying of AIDS in Malawi.
How would life be different if we did not make our own judgements as to who was worthy or capable of potential - if we truly believed each and every person has the powerful possibility to further the kingdom of God and bring glory and honor to Him? If we saw people as Jesus does?

Please Pray

Please pray - yes, right now - for the 30 hour famine event that is coming up this weekend. Students from several schools and churches will be coming together to fast for 30 hours in order to raise awareness for the problem of world hunger and funds for World Vision's project to help end world hunger. As I prepare to speak at this event, please join me in praying that the youth will be impacted, that their hearts and minds will be open to whatever God wants to show them, that I will be able to clearly communicate and that lives will be changed.