Pure Joy

A couple of weeks ago we instituted a new favorite bedtime tradition at our house. Granted, this is not a nightly occurrence!

We want to encourage our kids to have fun and find joy in the small things of life. That is pretty easy to do as a kid, but can get much harder as we get older. So, we want to work at giving them opportunities to just enjoy being a kid!

If you want to see a picture of pure joy, check out these little 5 second videos!

We got our kids bathed, in their pajamas, and ready for story time and bed. Holly and I got into our pajamas too, and then we gave our kids 3 options. 1) Go to bed now. 2) Read books. 3) Go to the Donut Hole in our pajamas and have donuts and chocolate milk!

It is a pretty safe guess as to what they picked! Holly and I had a blast too! We got some pretty hilarious looks as a family, and we felt like kids too sitting around the restaurant table in our pajamas eating chocolate milk and donuts at bedtime! (The kids were both asleep by 8:45 that night!)

If you are a parent of little kids ... I dare you to break the routine every once in a while, jump in your pajamas, and have a childlike adventure on the town! You just might enjoy it more than your kids!

FYI - Bella enjoyed the trip as well, but she said "No Comment"!

Journey snapshot

So ... our adventure is about to begin.

Unfortunately ... that meant shots for me today!!! Me and needles don't get along well, but I'm sure it is better than contracting the actual diseases!

Several nights recently, I've laid awake a majority of the night with this nervous excitement propelling me to pray for our upcoming trip. It is hard to believe that in a matter of days we will leave behind life as we know it and enter into another world! I love the simplicity of life, beauty of the land, and the friendliness of the people. The unrest in Kenya over political issues earlier this year were a bit unsettling, but the tribal fighting has settled down and the opposing political parties were forced by the UN to come to an agreement. That helped set the stage for our arrival.

On July 4, our team of 18 will fly out from Houston to Chicago to London to Nairobi. We will spend the evening of July 5 in Nairobi and then travel cross country through the Rift Valley to the city of Kitale in western Kenya.

Beginning Monday, July 7, we will be on the ground in a small village outside of Kitale where our work will begin. Before we arrive, a pastor has gone through years of preparation, a church building and pastor's house has been built, and a team of interpreters (local dialect of Swahili) has been gathered to join our mission.

Monday through Saturday, our team will do basically the same thing. We will meet at the church in the morning, team up with our interpreters and head out down the red dirt trails in search for people to talk with. We will go mud hut to mud hut sharing the gospel with families. A handful of our members each morning will head out for schools where they will perform at assemblies ... singing songs, sharing their personal God stories, and the message about Jesus. Another few from our group will head out to prisons and do the same thing. Then in the evenings, there will be a stage setup in the local marketplace where we will have huge gatherings. Nationals will sing for a while, then members of our team will share their God stories, and one of our team members will preach.

I will be preaching at the first crusade on Monday night, and I'm already getting nervous. I did one three years ago and it was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. Unless you've seen something like that with your own two eyes, I don't think my words can't adequately paint for you the power of that experience. I'm definitely praying God does great things again.

My schedule for the week will look like this ...

Monday, 7th - hut to hut evangelism & preach at the crusade in the evening

Tuesday, 8th - hut to hut evangelism

Wednesday, 9th - lead a group doing school assemblies & preach at schools

Thursday, 10th - teach our team in the morning & hut to hut evangelism

Friday, 11th - hut to hut evangelism & share my God story at the crusade in the evening

Saturday, 12th - lead a team doing a youth conference for teens & preach much of the day

Sunday, 13th - preach for the men at the church dedication

On Monday, July 14, we will head for Nakuru where we will stay for the night and go on a jeep safari. We'll see some pretty amazing things, but I'm sure nothing will top what we saw the week in the field in Kitale!

On Tuesday, July 15, we fly out from Nairobi back to London to Chicago to Houston!

On Wednesday, July 16, I get to see my bride and kids again!!! On the 17th or 18th I will get to crash in my own bed again!

That is a snapshot of our journey. Thanks for praying with us that God does great things through us!

Central in Life

I was up most of the night last night, not really voluntarily but because my spirit was so stirred up. I had some really good God time last night thinking about the future and being reminded about how the Christ's Cross is really central to everything we are and everything we do.

Christ's Cross definitively communicated and demonstrated God's amazing, unconditional love for us. I can somewhat understand giving your life up for someone who has pledged their undying allegiance to you ... but to die for your enemies ... that is something wholly different. I would say this is unbelievable, and actually it is without the drawing of God's Spirit empowering you to believe.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Christ's Cross removes the penalty for our sins if we are willing to turn to Him and receive His forgiveness. The penalty for your sins, God's wrath (His intense anger and determination to execute justice), no longer falls on you. Instead, Jesus took it upon Himself!

You were dead because of your sins because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

Christ's Cross offers God's gift of salvation to us through His grace. Grace is a word that simply means you get something great that you don't deserve. Because of our words, our thoughts, and our deeds we could never earn salvation and God's favor.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Christ's Cross secures eternal life for us now and in heaven.

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)

Christ's Cross starts a new identity for us in Christ. As you begin to grow in your relationship with Christ, you will experience God's power bringing about Christlike changes in your thoughts, attitudes, and actions. You will also begin to experience a passion to now live to make God's name look great instead of your own.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Christ's Cross demands a decision of you. Embrace or Reject. An amazing offer with eternal consequence. What will it be?

Be a Rebel

If you can't catch the captions on the pictures, it says this ...

Apathy ... Kills ... The ... Soul

Is there a tougher fight out there?

I was listening to a friend, Rob Morris, quote Bono of U2 who said this ...

"If you are going to rebel, rebel against your own apathy!"

Where has apathy crept into your life & stolen vitality and passion from you?

BTW, if you haven't checked out Love146.org ... go there now and check out this quick video that will both break your heart and inspire your soul (http://www.love146.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=21772).

The Story of Love146 is Rob sharing the brief story of how they were inspired to give their lives to this cause.

Imagine is what Love146 is doing about the issue. It is not visually graphic, but it does put you in the mindset of the children they work to rescue.

Some pictures from my 2005 Kenya Trip

Going to Kenya!!!

In about a month I will be heading to Kenya again for my third church planting trip. I want to let you know how God hooked me into this.

Looking back, I can see God began working on me a long time ago. When I was eight years old (by my closest estimation), I can distinctly remember standing in a pew in the back of Calvary Baptist Church in Rosenberg, Texas during an alter call with my family. At that time, I do not believe I was a Christian, though I had been in and around the church all my life. I can remember, as best I know how to describe it, God compelling or urging to go down to the front of the church to talk with the pastor about Jesus. Fear paralyzed me. Not fear of the pastor or of what people would think, but fear that God would make me a pastor or missionary. I wanted NO part of that, so I stubbornly refused and stayed put.

Fast forward to my college years. I am now a believer in Jesus Christ. Through divine appointment, God connected me with some radically passionate believers and I begin to experience the realities of the things I’ve learned about in the scriptures. The only way I know how to describe it is that Jesus came alive to me. The scriptures jumped of the pages like 3-D. I could really sense God began talking to me at that time and I felt like a bubble that would burst at any moment. I couldn’t keep all the cool stuff God was showing me in. I had to let it out! God really began giving me a passion for sharing both Jesus and His word with other people. This was a dramatic shift in my life beginning to take place.

If I wasn’t a believer, I’d preface this statement with “I don’t know why, but …”; however, I do know why. Since I was a little kid, I’ve always felt compassion for the people of Africa. Now, God has united that compassion for people with a passion for Jesus along with an opportunity to go to Africa for the third time.

On July 4-16, I will be joining a team of people headed for a small village outside of Kitale, Kenya to plant a church. A church building has already been built. A pastor has been trained. People are praying, both stateside and in Kenya for this church that is about to be birthed. We will go mud hut to mud hut, alongside interpreters, to share the great news about Jesus – that we can be made right with God by believing that Jesus took our guilt and punishment upon Himself by dying in our stead. We will also go to schools, prisons, and marketplaces sharing testimonies of how God has impacted our lives. There will be large open-air crusades in marketplaces. They will setup a stage and PA system. Some Kenyans will sing and play music for a long time, gathering a large crowd. Then, several from our team will share testimonies and one of us will get to share the gospel.

I had an opportunity to do this in 2005 and it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. For the first time in my life, I could literally hear God speaking to me as I was talking to people. I was looking out at a sea of faces of over a thousand people and was just filled with God’s compassion for people. At the end, we saw both young and old people come to know Jesus.

God is absolutely amazing and can use anyone to accomplish His work … even a person like me that stubbornly vowed to never ever be a missionary!!!

Turning the Corner!!!

Man, this has been a long process!

I know God has provided strength, hope and healing through the last month and my bride, family and friends have been absolutely fantastic. However, I would be lying if I told you I didn't have a lot of long, dark nights laying awake wondering if things were really going to get better.

I had expectations, based on my previous surgery experience 11 months ago, of how this thing was supposed to work. I really believe God allows things to happen that disappoint our expectations to cause us to really seek Him out and trust Him.

About 10 days ago, God really began to talk with me and reveal Himself through His word. I was reading in Isaiah (again) and discovered this ...

I have put My words in your mouth, and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, 'You are my people.' (51.16)

That just renewed my confidence that God is going to heal me ... both for His fame and glory ... and to allow me to walk out the plans that He has for me. One of those plans, at the forefront of my mind, is the looming church planting trip to Kenya.

I've never doubted that I would be on the plane going to Kenya in a month, despite all the complications, I just wondered what kind of shape I'd be in!

About 5 days ago, I believe God very distinctly and miraculously gave me a breakthrough in my recovery!

How do I know?

First, I've been praying with a whole team of people for God to heal me.

Second, the physical therapy process has been pretty brutal for me, normally resulting in me going directly home, icing down, and laying low in bed for 24-36 hours. Late last week after a physical therapy session, I felt stronger. The crippling pain was no longer there. I did not have to retreat to bed. I was able to begin to really engage my kids!

At church on Sunday, I was able to energetically engage people. That is a huge change, because all of my energy has been focused toward pain management and I haven't really had anything left to interact with people.

I had physical therapy on Monday, and instead of going home, icing down and going to bed ... I was able to go to work for the remainder of the day!

I'm excited that I can know focus on taking care of my family, investing Christ into students' lives, and get ready to take the awesome news about Jesus to Kenya!