Now what?

The Alanta Journal Constitution had a great piece today about other fantasy books to fill the post-Potter void.

Farwell Harry Potter

I am not attempting to spoil the ending for anyone who may stumble upon this blog, so if you are concerned about a potential spoiler, than please don’t read.

I finished the last book last night and…

Before I delved into how I felt. I have been a fan of these books for a relatively short time. I have seen the movies, but last year I really launched into reading these books. I had read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and loved them. I had read The Chronicles of Narnia, and loved them as well. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy reading the Harry Potter books. I was wrong. I dove in and have been hooked ever since. What a great tale. I have seen some of the reviews out now, about a lack of moral struggle, and some other things about this or that related to Ms. Rowling’s writing. I give the series two thumbs up and am looking forward to seeing movies 6 and seven.

So, there are lots of illustrations from the series that I have used in classes already, and certainly no doubt this last installment will prove to be a great teaching tool as well.

Enough said!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Only two more days until we will know how it ends. I can’t wait!! In the meantime, I re-reading book 6, I needed to be reaquainted with some key details in preparation for the final chapter in the Harry Potter legacy.

JK Rowling said two key characters die in book 7, who do you think they will be? I am guessing, that one will Neville Longbottom, and the other will be Voldemort? I guess I don’t want Harry to die. He is afterall the “boy-who-lived.”

Cinderella on my mind

Stephen Curtis Chapman was on K-Love this morning and told a story about his two youngest children and how the words for a new song of his, called “Cinderella,” was written. It is about your daughter growing up and the bond between a father and his daughter. I thought the song was a powerful song.

One of the points that he made this morning on the radio that floored me was about how we get caught up going from appointment to appointment and here are our little one’s without a care in the world just caught up in our presence. They need us to be present and we need them to remind us of our need to be present. So, I got to thinking about my own life and my little one’s. I am guilty of hurrying through life at times, even trying to rush my kids from one venue to the next. They are like the little girls in the song, wanting to dance with daddy. I sat there in the church van this morning and balled like a baby.

“Jesus my prayer this day is to be more present in the lives of my little girl’s. Let me not use the “I’m to busy,” excuse to slow down and dance with my girls. Forgive me for focusing on what’s next, and not focusing on the now. In Jesus name, amen.”

Back from the frontera, VBS, and some prayer thoughts

I don’t know how you are supposed to define success on a short term mission trip. I brought back all our kids safe and there was no serious injuries to report. We completed all our assigned tasks, shared our lives with one’s we were sent to serve and our selves were ministered too by one humble servant of our King Jesus (Kevin, thanks for a great week brother!). How do you measure a successful trip? I think for some of our kids, any noticeable change will be immediate, some of our group came back extra hyped up about being and living the missional call. Other’s showed no noticeable change, but for all of our kids I am confident that our Savior planted seeds and that these seeds will bear fruit. So again, what is a successful trip?

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This week is also our church’s VBS. We are camping out in the book of Acts. Our kids have had a healthy dose of ACTS this year. Bible Bowl, LTC, Camp the year before, and now VBS. Anyway, we had about 113 kids. I know there are tons of different ways to do VBS, and lots of great material. We sort of do our own thing. We have a building with learning centers and a drama/story time each evening. It takes a lot of people to pull off all of our plans, but has been fun watching our members gel together and have fun while impacting children.

This is sort of a special year for us. My oldest is actually getting to go through the learning centers and watch the drama. I am playing the apostle Peter, so it was cool last night, when I walked out on stage, and Rachel said,
hey, there’s my daddy.”

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On Sunday nights our church has moved to a class format. Kind of like a small group, sort of, but not fully. Anyway, we are looking at the “one another” passages in the NT. There are several different teachers, and we are rotating around to other classes, so we all get to teach the same lesson like four different times. I have never been one to love teaching adults, but I will say, that it is not as bad as I had thought. My topic over the next few weeks, is “praying for one another.” Truthfully, this is probably the hardest topic for me, for I have struggled for years with prayer, let alone praying for others. I am learning from my time preparing for class, and have been challenged to beging praying more for my brothers and sisters here at church.

Recently, I have prayed for some very serious things. Five times the answer now has come back to me very clear. Why does it take us so long sometimes to get it, when God answers? Do we doubt his goodness? I was  reading today in James 1, there is that familar opening about our blessed our you when you face trials…it seems that the text is indicating as we keep reading here in chapter one that instead of asking God to change our situations that maybe we should be asking God to be changing us through these situations, or what if we prayed to be effective in a situation that God would be glorified or that it would lead to the Gospel being proclaimed? Usually we ask to God to remove the situation or to remove us from the situation. But, instead we need to be hunkering down and letting God work out his plan in us.

El Paso: Day 3

Dear Church,

Our day started like the day yesterday, wake up call, breakfast, quiet time and off we went sort of. This morning was more a sight seeing morning. We went to downtown El Paso, and went up on a mountain with a tremendous view into Ciudad Juarez. As we drove along the mountain the homes on the mountain were large, wealthy homes. From there went to the border, to an old mill that is now a restaurant. This site is also the place where the first Spainard crossed into what is now the United States. Along the border there is a long fence with a barbed wire top. The Rio Grande River is the natural border between Mexico and the U.S. In Juarez there are homes along the mountains in Mexico as well. Only the homes are run down shacks. It is shocking that a fence could make such a difference in the way people live. Prosperity on one side and sever poverty on the other. I want the image of the homes on the Mexican side of the fence to live forever in the minds and hearts of our kids. Here in the U.S. We make up roughly 5% of the world’s population and consume 95% of the world’s population. It was an eye opening experience to see third world right across our own back yard.

This afternoon, after lunch at a Chinese restaurant and after trying to eat kalimari (lomg story) we went to the Cielo Vista Mall and then went to dinner at another elderly couple’s home from the Montana Vista Iglesia de Christa. We were treated to an amazing home cooked meal of tacos, rice and beans. After a filling meal we worked in this couple’s back yard. We cut down mesquite trees, and pulled up tons of weeds. We started work at about 7pm and worked till well after dark. It was a good day, and a fulfilling day.

God is so good and loves people from all walks of life. We are so blessed to be called his children. May we live daily with the awareness of his amazing love!

Blessings from El Paso,

Jason

El Paso: Day 2

Good early morning,

I wasn’t planning on writing this late, but I am awake and well it was a good day. Our day started fairly early with breakfast a our daily quiet times. I have our kids using their “SOAP,” (Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer) each day. We met our trip contact around 9am and went immediately to a widow named Ameila’s house. We were to work/serve at her home and serve we did. We cleaned her yard, painted a deck in the front of her home and picked up trash. Ameila made for us an authentic Mexican meal of Enchildas, beans and rice. Hands down, this was the best Mexican food I have ever eaten.

One of the first things I noticed about Ameila and something that our kids picked up on was how joyous she was. Ameila oozed gratefulness not just for us being there to work for her, but a gratefulness for what has and who she is. She spoke several times about how good God is, and the blessings in life. I think beyond the Mexican food, Ameila was the best blessing of the morning.

In the afternoon, we got ready for a Family Fun Night at the Montana Vista Iglesia de Christa. It is a very small building with three rooms and a bathroom. It is certainly different than anything I or most of our kids had ever seen. Not once did any of the folks we met or got to know this evening complained about the size of their building or the lack of space. Again there was a sense of gratitude for what is there and how God uses what is present. When we take our eyes off of our Savior and we begin to look at what we don’t have or what we think we deserve we really miss out on what God is already doing in and around us. At the Family Fun Night we hung out with a few of the kids in their youth group. These kids all go to different schools and were excited about playing games with some new kids. Our kids and Montana Vista kids hit it off well, and we played Mafia, Shuffle your buns and Take a Hike while we were there. It was a good evening.

After our time at the building we drove back to our hotel which is only about 2 miles from the Mexican border. We are in a city where the dominant population is about 90 percent Hispanic. Everyone we meet has been more than nice to us. One of the things I want for our kids this trip is a sense of how big the kingdom of God is. God’s kingdom is the sovereign rule and reign of God. God’s kingdom is a kingdom with our borders, a place where people from all races and cultures that are in Christ are one humanity. God’s kingdom is a place where his people are continually help to push the kingdom further into our world. I write this idea of border because just a few miles from where we are for the week, poverty rules and just a few miles from this poverty stricken area, affluence and prosperity reign. I want our kids to have a sense of how different most of the world lives compared to how we live. I want them to have a respect for other cultures, and an appreciation for thier own and an understanding that neither culture is necessarily right, just different. So, pray for our kids to have open eyes to what they see around them. My prayer is that God will embolden them to be more missional in their lives when we they come home. This idea of missional, is that they would have a sense of the mission that God has called us to and how that call to mission is to affect every area of their lives. Another aspect of this trip and part of the reason for is to help our youth group gel.

The best part of waking up…

If you are a coffee drinker or a commercial watcher you are aware of the line that is supposed to come next. Well, I would like to add my rendition…

“the best part of waking up is foldgers in your (lap).” Yeah, that’s right. This morning at about 8am, I was wiping the sleep from my eyes, changing the channel and then dumped my freshly poured hot cup of joe in my lap. Friends let me tell you, there is a better pick me up in the morning, better than caffeine. “Oh,” you ask inquistevley. For the best morning wake up, a hot cup of coffee in the lap is a sure bet. Thankfully, I have only sustained minor burns, and McDonald’s don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault!

the kingdom of God is like…walmart?

Tonight, Jen and I went to Walmart again. It is home away from home away from church. Anyway, we were walking with Miley and there was a mentally handicapped young man that walked into the store and saw the baby and went to say hello. He had Miley laughing and he himself was laughing. It was a moment that speaks to me what it means to become a little child to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Here you have two innocent ones sharing in each other’s presence. It was a special moment, and he even tried to kiss her.

my oldest is turning four

Tomorrow, our little fire cracker will be four. It seems like only yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Rachel, it may be a long time before you ever read these words, but you have brought so much joy into your mother and mine’s life. Your smile, your energy and laugh are worth are contagious. I love you for who you are, for who God created you to be. I love that you love going to Bible class and to sing and to dance, to pray, and play. You are such a good big sister for Kenzie and Miley. And know that they both look up to you. I love when you ask me to wresltle or play “Wendy Wu.” I have learned more about God and His ways with His children from you, than I have from all the books I have read. You are my biggest fan, and I pray that I don’t lose the hero status I have in your eyes. It has been awesome watching you grow up and even though you are only four, I am looking forward to seeing you grow further and looking forward to the future lessons you will teach me. Here pretty soon, you will begin pre-K, and well what a milestone for a big girl. I am proud of you, and hope that your special day is a big a blessing to you as it is to your mother and I.

Love,

your lovestruck daddy