Awesome Message by Rob Bell from Mars Hill Bible Church

Wow! So...as I was posting earlier about this, I have been listening to sermons from Mars Hill Bible Church. Today I listened to a message call Leaving Control for Faith it was so awesome. It was like it was preached just for me right now where I am at with our decision about full time missions work, what the next step is....and all of that stuff. He was preaching about the Israelites time in the were in the wilderness and God only gave them provision for that day, nothing more. How God gave them direction for that moment. If the cloud moved, they moved, if the cloud stayed they stayed. So God was not laying out a 6 month plan for them, they were just following him. Oh...before I get too far here is the link to the teachings page, you can download it. http://www.marshill.org/teaching/ Anyhow...he also talked about Moses journey with God in his own life and how life can really throw us some incredibly confusing, hard, unbelievable circumstances. Just like Isreal did not know when the cloud would move, and had to only collect provisions for one day....we don't know what will come next. There are no guarantees. He pointed out the Moses after leading the people of Israel all of those years...God took him to the top of the mountain and said I am showing you the promised land, but you will not enter into it. All that we in our human minds think that Moses had worked for never came to be, Moses died on the mountain. Rob spoke about the lies that we believe based on hearing that story. We think that if we just do the right things or do a b and then c that God will have to or surely will respond with d and then and then and then and we make our plans about how we can "control" our lives and how we can control our relationships. How if we just love the Lord life will go easy, our relationsips will be great. So Rob said, the only guarantee is that we have not guarantee, but that God will be with us through it all. He also talked about the verse that basically says there was a much quicker/direct way to the promised land, but that is not the way God wanted to lead them. They went around and around and around...it was part of their journey with God and their journey of becoming who God wanted them to be. So...in my life I want to go the direct route, not hardships, trials, just from a to b. Well doesn't seem like that will be how it is. It certainly has not been that way so far. But I am excited that He who began a good work in me will continue it until the day of Christ Jesus.

So....if you are still reading that is awesome...because I said a lot and rambled a lot. Isn't life with God such and adventure. To think that a man I have never met, preaching in a city I have never been in could be used by God to speak to my heart. Awesome.

OK, now for the random Philippines trip picture.....

Video Landing in the Philippines

So here is a video of our landing at a tribal location. Yes, it was my brother-in-law piloting the plane to this sweet landing.

Pensive

Tonight we watched a movie called "Though None Go With Me" I am not sure if it was based on a book, or if it was just a movie written by Jerry B. Jenkins. Anyhow, it was really thought provoking. Basically it is a grandma sharing her life story with her granddaughter. Her life was a life full of loss, she decided at some point shortly after college to follow God no matter what. She was engaged to a preacher who went off to war, she got word he had died, her father died. After loosing her fiance in the war she married another man...later she found that her fiance had not really died, it was an erroneous report. She had one son and he was married and had a daughter, they were out on a winter night and both of their Granddaughter's parents were killed in a car wreck. Then her husband got Alzheimer's and slowly died of that. Anyhow, it just made me think a lot about loss and all of the things in life that are SOOOO hard to go through.

Here we are as a family thinking about full-time missions work. One day I am excited...the next not so much....the next day I am doubting...the next day I am sure. The next day I am ready to follow God and worry about the details as they come up. The next day I am gripped with fear of what might happen. One day I trust God completely with our plans and future, the next day I am not so sure anymore.

Oh...something cool....I have been listening to the podcast's from Mar's Hill Bible Church...thanks Curtis for the link from your Blog. Sooo.... coool. They are talking about meeting the needs of the poor and oppressed. Not sure what God is up to with me and the messages, but they have been hitting me pretty hard. I am sure he has a plan for how he will use all of it....for now I feel like I am at a God theme park enjoying the ride with Him.

I am going to post a random picture from our photos...maybe something from the Philippines trip....maybe not.

SO THIS IS JET LAG AT IT'S WORST. TRYING TO EAT DINNER....BUT I AM SOO TIRED.

First Post to our Blog

So, I would say this is my first ever post to a blog...but not true. This is my second attempt at blogging. I actually have a Xanga blog somewhere out there that I started and never really got anywhere with. I am actually rather embarrassed that it has taken me this long, considering I am in the Information Technology field. I can't believe it is after midnight and I am making my first post to our family's blog.

We got back from our trip to the Philippines two weeks ago. We had such an awesome time there as a family. We had the awesome opportunity to hang out with my sister and her family and to visit 3 tribal locations. It was great. I will put a few pictures up as well.

We took a trip to the market to check things out there. Talk about overwhelmed by the sites and smells.