Build-a-bear

Before I was married I passed this store in the mail and thought: "Really? People do that?" Yes they do build their own bear and that is exactly what Sophie and I did (thanks for taking the pics wifey!)

So we got to the store and Sophie picked out the first bear she saw (I helped her choose)













Then after you choose your bear you get to fill it up: Sophie hated letting that bear go!













After that you pick out a heart to put in the bear: Sophie decided to throw it on the ground to make sure it was tough













Then we had a Teddy Bear













After that we named our bear; and Sophie wanted to call him "Teddy No No". Not to sure how that worked out but she stills looks for him when I call him "Teddy No No" and she loves that bear we made!

Not My Idol

Yahoo helps me out as my homepage because it shares with me some stories that I want to see; and some that I don't. Today a headline caught my attention so I decided to read some of the story. The story shares the girls side who is involved in the action so I thought I would add the video also; we all know a picture is worth a thousand words:



After watching the video I was shocked! I wanted to write the girl and tell her how horrible this is... but I waited... and thought... and remembered back to when I didn't know Christ. I used to play soccer and I got my team in some fights after our games. I am so competative and when I was growing up I had so much anger in my life; I would have done something like this in the heat of a game (not sure if I would have done it multiple times).

Lets fast-forward ten years now; I think of how different my life is right now but seriously I am not above doing this kind of action. I am just as susceptible to sin as the next person in the world. When Christ impacts your life things change; you don't do the same things you once did, your life transforms. I have had my share of fights and this clip reminds me how much I need Christ to help guide my actions and life.

Foolishness happens to us all

I'm taking a class on the writings of C.S. Lewis right now and looking at how that ties into Christian Appologetics. This week we read The Last Battle and this quote stuck out to me:

“He did not see at the moment how foolish it was for two of them to go on alone; nor did the King. They were too angry to think clearly. But much evil cam of their rashness in the end.”

I'm beginning to ponder how our foolish decisions can affect so much. About three weeks ago I spoke on James 3 and taming the tongue and that combined with this is really beginning to shape my heart and make me check my motives and how many of decisions are based/not based in prayer and the leading of The Holy Spirit.

Sophie feeding the ducks

Last weekend we took Sophie to Lake Mead to do one of my favorite things (yes it is one of my favorite things). We feed the carp and the ducks. The carp are nasty and the ducks are fun.
Sophie loved it!

C.S. Lewis talks about life

Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.
- Mere Christianity

When I said "Yes" to Seminary

When I said "Yes" to Seminary I didn't realize what that "Yes" would entail.

That "yes" meant I wasn't going to be able to spend as much time with my family. At the time I said yes to seminary, back in 2004, I was a single man who was engaged to be married. Back then I seemed to have all this extra time to: surf, work-out, sleep in, and things like that. I can't believe that I am still doing school! I am going to be 30 years old in December and I will still be in school. Actually I will be in school until summer 2011.

The truth about that is I started seminary in San Diego and then about 2 months later took our current position in Vegas. I figured I would get landed out here and then start back in about 6-9 months. I ended up getting a promotion and started back to seminary about about 16 months; so there was a break in there. There have been times I haven't taken classes but this last week really hit me on the impact seminary will have on my life.

I traveled to Olympia, WA and took a class called: "Christian Perspectives on Contemporary Culture. The class was on race, class and consumerism; all great topics to study. My yes means I am going to take time away from my family, miss out on TV shows that my wife will be able to watch, have to say no to riding dirtbikes with the guys (at times) and things like that.

But I believe that "yes" is going to impact the world. See I am an eternal optimist. My schooling is teaching me so much about the Bible and how to communicate the scriptures in a way that impacts others lives. I feel that I can handle scripture better than I was able to 5 years ago and knowing the Biblical Languages has been huge. Although saying "yes" means saying "no" to some immediate things I am glad that I said "yes" to going to seminary.

Sophie and Dad

So lately, while I am doing homework, Sophie comes and sits on my lap. She looks at the computer and I know just what she wants! So here is some of our fun that I am sharing with the world.
I love that smile!!!













Going in to give dada a kiss













I think she likes to see herself in the camera

believe

Right now our HS ministry in the middle of a series called "believe". The point of this series is to help High School students better understand the truths of the Bible and help them articulate what they believe in; there are so many things battling for their attention in life and we want to teach them the truth.
The graphic for this series helps explain it; our life is so busy that it becomes hard to see what we really believe. Our students are bombarded with everything in this world that is trying to tell them what to believe and we want to point them to truth that they can share with their friends on their campus.

Here is how the series breaks down:
Week 1: Faith
Week 2: One God in Three Persons
Week 3: Is Jesus is the Only answer?
Week 4: Is Heaven Real? Is Hell Real?
Week 5: Did Jesus Really Have to Die for Me?
Week 6: Is the Bible True?
Week 7: Is There a Thing as Absolute Truth?
Week 8: Why Suffering?

"What Would Jesus Buy?"

Another movie review for you all: "What Would Jesus Buy?" is the last movie that we watched in our household and this one brought up some good subject matter. I am so compelled by the movie that I am putting the trailer into this post:



"What Would Jesus Buy?" started out pretty good. The narrator shared some amazing stats about how much money we, American's, spend yearly on Christmas. The main character, and He is a character, is Rev Billy and he runs "The Church of Life After Shopping". Before I go on, I must make it clear that Rev Billy is not a Reverend. I think (personal thought) that he is dressing up like a Reverend so that when he is outlandish in his actions that people may, key word "may", take him serious.

I think that this movie has great point: we waste SO much money on consumerism! I was very convicted by the facts about shopping the message that his team is sharing. There is so much waste in the world. I wish they would have directed people to share what they could save to help others in need; but that didn't happen.
I did take a few key points from this movie:

• America has taught me that by getting gifts at Christmas, that are expensive, it means I am loved
• America has become a consumer nation therefore; I want to look for products that are made in America when my family is shopping
• I want to use my credit card less (not that we have massive cc debt; we use our cc like a debt card and get airline miles)

If you get an extra 90 min in life and want some laughs and some scenes to make you smile then rent this flick; but be ready to be a bit convicted.

Plan of Life

One thing that I learned about myself this summer is that I need structure in my life. I am very prone to just going haphazardly about my life and I am thankful for Bill Randall and his impact on my life this summer. He helped me focus on some things in my spiritual life that were pretty close to getting out of whack.
One of my assignments was to write a Personal Rule of Life. This is what I am trying to do to stay fresh in my walk with Christ:

Daily Plan of Life:
• 15 minutes of focused Bible Reading
• 20 minutes of Lectio
• 25 minutes of Prayer
• A conscious effort of prayer throughout the day
• Follow, and apply, the teachings of Jesus in my workplace
• Practice the Fruit of the Spirit
• Pray for my daughter
• Pray, before bed, with my wife

Weekly Plan of Life:
• Take a day of rest; Sabbath
• Have a date night with my wife
• Go to the gym twice
• Sleep in once
• Tithe to our church
• Meet with accountability partner: confess sin and share wins

Monthly Plan of Life:
• Use the first Friday of the month to fast to connect with God
• Spend time with my daughter; just the two of us (Ice Cream or something)
• Slot in a Spiritual Day to reconnect with God and evaluate where I am
• Give sacrificially to missionaries and Compassion International
• Have a couple from church over for dinner

Quarterly Plan of Life:
• Get away for a weekend with my family
• Worship with a different congregation
• Be involved in a local service project or outreach

Yearly Plan of Life:
• Take a week long vacation where I am unavailable to the office (including email)
• Go on a mission trip to follow the Great Commission
• Read the entire Bible

I hope this helps you as you figure out what works for you in your relationship with Christ.

Enemy-occupied territory

Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful kind has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery. I know someone will ask me, ‘Do you really mean, at this time of day, to re-introduce our old friend the devil—hoofs and horns and all?’ Well what the time of day has to do with it I do not know. And I am not particular about the hoofs and horns. But in other respects my answer is ‘Yes, I do’. I do not claim to know anything about his personal appearance. If anybody really wants to know him better I would say to that person, ‘Don’t worry. If you really want to, you will. Whether you’ll like it when you do is another question.’

Mere Christianity. Page 46

Trade- Movie Review

I recently watched another movie for my Christian Perspectives class and this one rocked me more than Crash did. I watched Trade on Saturday night and about 10 min into the movie Charity got up and walked into our bedroom where she stayed the rest of the night.

The point of the movie (I think) that my professor wants me to get from this movie is the injustice that happens in this world right before our eyes. I am shocked watching this at how naive I am about child trafficing and the slave trade that goes on in the world and America.

The final quote of this move will stick with me for a while. It was in white letters with a black background:
"We don't see much child trafficing in America because we have chosen not to look for it".
This movie made me appreciate the ministry of International Justice Mission and what they are doing so much more!

Crash

Last night I watched Crash for one of my seminary classes this semester. I have to say that I am not really writing this post for anyone but myself: I want to remember this movie. Also, I feel it necessary to say, that I normally do not watch "R" rated movies. They are rated "R" for a reason and I am not watching them for that reason.

If you get a chance to watch this movie (and you can handle the language and racism) it is a good movie. I hope that it will help you understand the way you view the world and how that worldview impacts those around you. This movie really opened my eyes to the type of racism that we face on a daily basis. The racism that we see now does not involve physical slavery, but emotional and verbal slavery.

The impact that racism has on our society, and the fact that it is unaddressed on many levels, hurts my heart. About two years, maybe three now, we did a night on racism in our High School Ministry; I am starting to think that would not be a bad idea to talk about again. This movie has confronted my worldview and the way I live out my faith in Christ. I hope the impact this video has had on me (I cannot completely explain it yet) will not pass soon.

Fantasy Football 2009

So last year I posted something about fantasy football and how I wasn't planning on playing. Last season I won our fantasy football league (and it felt good) but there was something about playing again. I have a very competitive personality and its hard for me to do something without putting my everything in it.

This year I made a decision that I would not play fantasy football and not becasue of anyone in my league, honestly I really love those guys. But this year I realized that I have more important things to do than think all week how I will win and then take the day on Sunday to make sure that I win. In short; fantasy football consumed me last year.

This year when it came time to start back up I gracefully bowed out and let someone else take my spot. Here are the three main reasons that I am not playing fantasy football this year:

1. I want to put more into my marriage
My marriage is going super good right now! Charity and I were talking about marriage the other day and the need to invest into it. I realized that if I said "yes" to fantasy football that meant I would be saying "no" to other things in life. Charity and I are getting ready to hit five years of marriage (by the way we are planning an Elvis re-wedding for Jan!) and that is more important to me than winning fantasy football again.

2. I want to spend more time with my daughter
Sophie is at the best age right now! Yesterday I was laying on the ground playing with her and she climbed on my chest and just started cuddling with me; I loved it! I want to invest in her and if I said "yes" to fantasy football that would mean I would have had to say "no" to some of these great moments with her; I'm not willing to miss out on her growing up.

3. I need to focus on school and finishing that up
Right now I am on track (taking two courses a semester and one course in the spring; when BB2 is due) to graduate Seminary in Summer 2011. I need to make that happen and I think that fantasy football would take away from that. I want to get school done before Sophie is too old; I want to have it done so that I can spend more time with my family and less time at the kitchen table (we don't have a home office) doing homework.

So that is why I'm not playing fantasy football this year; I just don't have time for it.

My truck and My Spirititual Life

So I hope the title confuses you some, or just catches your attention, because this is reality for me! I once heard Doug Fields mention this topic and it has always stuck with me.
The premise is that my truck can be, and for me mostly is, a direct representation of my Spiritual life. Let me elaberate on that a bit more. When my life gets crazy; my truck starts to get messy. I dont wash it, I leave the gas tank empty (the picture should speak for that), I have trash all over the floor and currently there are graham crackers crumbled on the backseat from my daughter.

When my truck looks like that I know that I need to clean up my life; its like a warning light for me. I know that I need some extended time with Jesus to get refreshed. I can often look at my calender and see how busy I have allowed myself to become without leaving margin in my life to get refueled by Jesus. When I filled up my truck on Tuesday morning I did it right after I had filled up my spirit.

The Bible talks about our spirit longing for Jesus and that is where I was Tuesday morning. I am thankful that I obeyed the logic in my life and looked at my truck. It may seem like a silly, and somewhat childish, analogy but its very true for me.

C.S. Lewis Quote #2

This is from "God in the Dock" by C.S. Lewis:

"A sense of sin is almost totally lacking. Our situation is thus very different from that of the Apostles. The Pagans to whom they preached were haunted by a sense of guilt and to them the Gospel was, therefore, ‘good news’. We address people who have been trained to believe that whatever goes wrong in the world is someone else’s fault—the Capitalists’, the Government’s, the Nazis’, the Generals’ etc. They approach God Himself as His judges. They want to know, not whether they can be acquitted for sin, but whether He can be acquitted for creating such a world."

Sounds like something I struggle with. I often want to blame others for my faults. I need to look in the mirror and handle the growth that needs to occur in my life.

What they dont teach in Bible College Part #1

Bible College was amazing for me! Seminary is going great right now! But yesterday, while I as at church, I realized that Bible College taught me a lot and helped me learn how to handle God's word but there were some things that Bible College didn't teach me. I'm writing this to help anyone in ministry, lay-leader or paid, with some stuff that I have had to learn on my own:

Counseling Someone in Need
I feel like people, in general, are very good at consoling their friends. It is easy to empathize with your friend who is in need or feels they have been slighted. But the Bible tells us there is a time to console and a time to counsel. I find that I am getting better at counseling but by no means will I be the best counseling in the world.
While in Bible College I was able to take a counseling class and it helped me out but now that I am actually counseling people; I don't think I remember anything that I read in that book seven years ago. Here is my advice for Biblical Counseling:

• Allow the person to share their story
• Listen to the person and be engaged while they share
• Have tissue handy for when they begin to cry
• Know the Bible so you can share scripture that is applicable to the situation
• If you are counseling with a person of the opposite sex do it in a well-lit open area, preferably where others are close (leave no room for question)
• If it is a person of opposite sex do your best to refer to them to someone you trust who is the same gender as they are
  
• Come up with tangible solutions to the problem
• Give the person no more than three things to work on
• End the time in prayer

I'm sure that in five years this list will change and my method will change but wanted to share this so that it may help someone. Finally I have to add that you need to be prayed up, connected with God and Spiritually ready for these situations. When you are all three I believe that God will use you to do amazing things in peoples lives.

Santa Maria Vacation

So this week the family took a trip to Santa Maria to see Charity's parents. We flew in on Thursday on Allegiant Air for a great deal! Thursday was Charity's dad's birthday so we just hung out with the family, ate some steak and then watched football.













Friday morning we just hung out as a family. In the morning we ate some food and then went to the park to feed the ducks.













Then at night we went up to Pismo Beach to walk on the beach and just have some family fun! We ate dinner at Splash Cafe (and had the best Clam Chowder!). Sophie hated the sand, but loved chasing the birds.
















Finally when we were shopping I saw this sign and it made me laugh so hard!!!

Burkina Faso Flooding 2009

Please pray for the country of Burkina Faso and the recent flooding that took place last week

What do I know of Holy?

There is song out right now by Addison Road. I have to be honest that I am not the most knowledgeable music type person. But there is one thing that I know right now: "This song is rocking me". There is something about the lyrics that I cant get over. It makes me feel very insignificant and I probably need that.