College Campout

It was great fun teaching my former youth grouper's this past weekend. We camped out at South Whidbey State Park and enjoyed amazing weather, great talks around the campfire and a fun afternoon at Double Bluff beach. The talks went well as we discussed the Holy Spirit, answering the question, "What would happen if the Holy Spirit removed himself from the earth? Would we even notice?" We discussed what the Holy Spirit is, how he should work and what a life would look like that was filled with the Holy Spirit. What made it even sweeter is that many of these same students will be the counselors at the Crossroad's middle school retreat called Summer Safari where I am teaching in three weeks!

Angels in Africa

Here is a letter from our good friends, the Whitfields, who are missionaries in Zambia. Wow is all I can say! Praise God for his angels that protect us...

Dear Friends

Do you remember the Amy Grant song: “Angels Watching Over Me”? Tonight we can testify that indeed God has His angels watching over us everywhere we go. Around 5:45 PM our time I received a phone call from Elise letting me know that she was in a head on collision with a box truck near our home here in Lusaka. She assured me that no one was injured, she was in the vehicle with our four children, but that the vehicle was totaled. As I arrived on the scene I was even more amazed at her report as the damage was much worse than I had imagined. Apparently this individual, who we believe was drunk, driving the box truck swerved and came over the median separating the four lane highway and became airborne as he made contact with our vehicle. The amazing thing is that instead of t-boning our vehicle, which he should have given his trajectory, his vehicle simple grazed and slid down the side of ours. Elise and Emma where seated on the side directly impacted by the truck and logically should be critically injured or dead. Thank God that he is not a God that functions in the logical but rather in the supernatural as He showed us so faithfully again tonight. Elise, Macie, Emma, Payton and Tazi walked away without a scratch or cut on their bodies (glory be to God). In fact I received the worst injuries, slight cuts on my hands, as I climbed in and out of the driver side window. I have included some pics that do not do justice in showing how bad the accident should have been. Rejoice with us as we marvel at Jehovah’s protection of our family yet once again (He is always faithful). We would like to ask you to pray that we might use this opportunity to share our faith with those God will put in our path. Thanks for your prayers and mediate with us on the great promise found in Psalms 91:11,12, For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone (Amen Amen Amen). We love you all very much.

Resting In His Peace And Grace

The Whitfields <><

An update of our baby of a day...

We survived a long day down to Bellingham and back with good news in store... The baby is active and is "normal" in heartbeat and activity. We are very pleased. It looks like we will be delivering on August 7, 2008 if all goes well. We were tempted to do see if we could do a 08/08/08 birthday, but I think 08/07/08 will be more than cool! We found out a few minor medical conditions that Stephanie has that would have gone unnoticed which require a lot of medical jargon to understand. I'll post an email Stephanie sent out to a friend to help explain it:

Last week when I was there they took 6 vials of blood to run a thrombosis panel (I passed out when she was done). He felt it was necessary based on the possible fetal maternal hemmorage with Julia and the fact that my dad had had a DVT. Anyway, turns out my protein S numbers are low (but these can be skewed during preg., so he will test again 12 weeks. after delivery.) Also, I am homozygous. The way I understand that is that I have two genes which predispose me to blood clots.....and also can lead to neuro tube defects and congenital heart issues. He said it's nothing to stress out about, just want me to be taking a baby aspirin a day, and will give me a shot of heparin after delivery. He also said I need to be on folic acid for the rest of my life. His terms were all very medical and that's really the best I can understand."

It is a blessing to be home to be able to have the doctor care to help us forsee these events which could have led to further issues... Thanks for your prayers and support!

Oh, Baby...

My baby with our baby sang today in church. It was so good to hear her singing again... We got lots of stuff of the past week to update, but we are waiting for the pictures to be emailed. So, as you have to wait for that, I just wanted to let you know that we are going down for a battery of tests on the baby and the mommy. We would appreciate your prayers and we will keep you updated!

Do Hard Things

So, I just finished the book "Do Hard Things" written by Alex and Brett Harris. I can't recommend this book enough. (But before I go there: Alex and Brett are brothers of Josh Harris - "I kissed dating goodbye" and their website therebelution.com has over 15 million hits). Do Hard Things is written by teenagers for teenagers and it is well-written, funny, biblical, insightful and challenging (even for non-teenagers!) If you have a teenager in your life, whether a son or daughter, nephew or niece, neighbor or friend, run, don't walk, to buy this book! I really think this book will be a catalyst for the next generation, or at least I hope it will. I feel like it is my message to the teens told in a better way that I could ever say it. But, before they read it, I encourage you to read it. Then, let it be a sparking point for conversation. And if you want to hear the behind the scenes story from their dad, Gregg Harris, you can check it out here on my asermonaday.com website. The last 15 minutes, especially, of this talk helped me understand what makes kids that think and write and live the way they are living.

Shoes, blogs, money and known realities

We have been asked countless times how it is being back. I use the same word pretty much every time: surreal. It is interesting how living missionarily has a way of shaping you in ways you don't expect. And I am finding that it is conflicting to live here now that I have lived there. It affects how you spend your money and your time and your days. And, it is hard to live here the same when there still exists the same. Though time has a way of dulling a bit of the experiences and emotions and feelings especially when it is only 3 weeks or a month, it is hard to stuff away nine months of experiences. As I have said once, I will say again, that I feel like in some ways, I have been born again by my experiences. I just am shocked at how easily I spend my money as part of the culture. I have been challenged to think literally about this idea of loving my neighbor as myself. If I spend $25 dollars on a dinner, shouldn't I give $25 dollars a way so someone else can have a dinner, too? What if everything we spent on our money on, we gave the same amount a way as well. What if we just even did that on the wants of our lives instead of the needs? Would that curb our spending? Would it make us more generous? Would we catch the true joy that comes when we give instead of just receive? What does it mean to live like the third world exists? What does it really mean to bear the burdens of those who we would want bore if they were us? How do we live like Heaven is real? Welcome to my world. Really, welcome, for those who want to continually allow your comfort zone to be continually reduced under the fire of injustice, inequality, suffering and reality.

I say welcome because I confess, I have done it again. I have started another blog. Well, sort of. I mean it is a blog, but I am not really writing. Just copying and pasting articles of suffering that is existing in the world and maybe a few thoughts here and there with how we should think about it... If we want to bear the burdens, we need to know them. And, whereas they all may not be causes for which you will act and give money, perhaps one will... If nothing else, will you allow your heart to be broken for the things that breaks God's heart...? Check it out and send me your articles as well... Let's learn to live like the third world and our neighbors really exist. www.walkintheirshoes.net

Happy fourth of July!

From our family to yours...