Only a boy named david...

Thailand 2012 & Beyond...

2012-01-17T03:06:00.001-06:00

Sex Trafficking on Channel 3 News

2012-01-11T21:24:00.002-06:00

loving thailand. raising support.

2011-12-06T02:25:00.001-06:00

Estimated Budget:

Job Description:

Teaching English at the Life Training Center

Working with students and adults teaching conversational English as a bridge to share the gospel
Teaching in villages, temples, communities, and schools where Life Training has English projects going
5 days per week - avg 2 hours per day

Working with Thai College students doing campus and community outreach

Using testimonies, music
Also - skateboarding and other creative outreach events
With the focus of evangelism and outreach
5-10 hours per week

Work with the Tranzend Team in developing ministry strategy and outreach

Prayer for Isaan and Thailand
Team meetings and planning
4-6 hours per week

Work with Pastor Winai in the Church planting outreach

Visiting and encouraging the home groups
Working with home group leaders - training, discipleship, etc
5-10 hours per week

Church Planting Focus

The main vision of FCF is to see people firmly established in healthy and growing communities of faith where they are maturing in their love for Christ, where they are demonstrating that love by serving their community and sharing the gospel, and where communities are being transformed as every believer is actively engaged in Kingdom ministry and work.
In all the activities - teaching English, outreach ministry, etc - the main goal is to establish healthy, growing, and multiplying Churches!

burl factor 2.

2011-11-01T19:58:00.000-05:00

so, alot's been going on these last 5 days. got the opportunity to come out on a 2 week skateboard ministry trip up & down the west coast w/ King of Kings Skateboard ministry. I flew out to PHX last wednesday & then drove to Southern California on Thursday morning. We spent the afternoon & evening squaring away last minute details & then hit the road Friday morning. We've been making our way up thru California the last few days, so stopping in Fresno, San Jose & other cities along the way. The plan has been to go to the public parks in each of these cities we stop in, skate with everyone there, & bring glad tidings about the resurrected Hero, Jesus. Some of these stops have included one on one conversations, & others involved preaching to the crowd that gathered around. so, we're just feeling each park out & seeing how each one goes.
We're 5 days in, with somewhere between 10-12 days left. The trip's been going well so far, tiring, but it's been good. For me personally, I still feel like I'm in a pretty weird/somewhat out of it place, as I have been for awhile now. Closeness to the Lord & sweetness in fellowship with Him seem distant right now. But, by God's grace, He will see me thru. As I've said before, when the storm rages, God won't necessarily give you an umbrella, but he will most definitely stand with you in it. I'm banking on His faithfulness tonight, sure not banking on mine. Hold me Jesus....

rejoice always.

2011-10-24T22:51:00.001-05:00

bible study on rejoicing in Christ.

you raise me up.

2011-10-20T21:44:00.001-05:00

the homefront.

2011-10-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

A week ago today, by the grace of God, I rolled into the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Simply put, I made it back "home". (By the way, I put home in quotes because I'm not really sure what that term means anymore!) And so I'm settling in, getting back into a grove here in America. Got plans to head out to the West Coast for a skateboard ministry tour next week, & then hopefully Dallas, Texas for a few weeks after that. From there, hopefully spend Christmas & the New Year back here in Michigan before heading back out to Thailand in February. So my time back here will mainly be spent with friends/family, studying Thai, & raising support for Thailand.
I would appreciate your prayers in this time of transition as I step into a new season & try to make plans for the future. My desire is to get back out to Thailand, hopefully long term, & serve among unreached Thai people & try to put Jesus Christ on display through what pours from my mouth & life. I would also like to get married & have a family. So, we'll see what the Lord has for the future. I've got a small chunk of time in this world within the much larger timeline of God's story, & want to just play the part well that I've been given. Eternity is on the horizon for all of us. May we all gladly give ourselves away for our dying world & Risen Savior in the time we have left, before we're caught up in the beautiful, eternal celebration of our great & awesome God.

Memory Lane.

2011-10-04T06:04:00.000-05:00

Videos/Photos from my wild time here at Abba House over this past year. The Lord's been too good to me...

change of seasons.

2011-10-01T13:10:00.000-05:00

If all goes according to plan, a week from today I should be in transit on my trip back to my native country. Four & a half months worth of time back in the states is what I'm looking at before hopping on a return flight back to the Thai land. Right now, I feel like I'm at the beginning stages of a new chapter in my life. Between finishing up here at Abba House, getting into a relationship, heading back to America & embarking on a new journey once I return here, there's a lot that's changing. And I'm looking at all of it with anticipation. But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't fear mixed in there, among other things. As I step into new beginnings of sorts, I'm finding that with these come new responsibilities. What I'm finding out about myself in all of this is that I'm not naturally an "embracer" of responsibility. As we all know, taking on responsibility means you gotta grow up. Or in my case, man up. I think Proverbs sums up the reverse well when it says that, "Where there are no oxen the manger is clean". True Story. No responsibilities=no conflict/mess. No conflict/mess=ease/comfort. Simple equations.

But I know that The Lord hasn't called me into a life that's secluded from real life, as appealing as that may be at times. I was born into the line of Adam, but reborn into the line of Christ. The call for me now is to leave the Eden trail & follow in the footsteps of the One who showed what being a real Man really looks like. And I'll be honest, that scares me. I'm naturally, or sinfully, inclined to passivity. I don't like conflict. I don't like to fight. And I find withdrawing to be an easy way to solve those problems. At the risk of sounding cliche, it's as if I'd rather just watch the ball go by as I strike out, rather than actually trying to swing & risk missing the ball. Sounds kinda crazy doesn't it? Watch it go by & undoubtedly fail, or give it a shot & at least get an opportunity to hit the thing. What I need is a reformation. I want to be born again, again. There's so much in me that grieves me. At times, after much pleading, I feel like these things in me are never gonna budge. It can pretty disheartening. Very disheartening.
But through all the smoke & fog, there stands the message of God's free grace in Jesus Christ. The message that, even as I write this, almost sounds too good to be true. The message of a spotless lamb slain for a speckled sinner. I feel like my relationship to the gospel is similar to money in a vending machine that hasn't fallen all the way in. It's been deposited, but it got a bit stuck when it went thru the slot & needs a few good bumps for it to fully drop. The gospel is in me. It's so in me. But I need a few good nudges from The Lord. I need this gospel to drop. My receptivity to it is not as I believe it could be. With that being said, I plead & wait.
And so as I step into the seasons, I seek to to take those steps by faith & not by sight. I step into the unknown with both my arms outstretched to The One who gave me arms. He's all I have. And He tells me that "I will instruct you & teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." So taking on these new responsibilities doesn't mean more independence, but all the more dependance upon the grace of God. May every care be cast upon Him with a heart full of joy, not fear. With a heart full of peace, not anxiety. Because the one who's holding everything together by the word of his power says, "Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." Those words coming from those Lips are worth more than just a good night's sleep, that's for sure.

Christ is the cure.

2011-09-28T12:06:00.001-05:00

bible guy.

2011-09-11T07:47:00.000-05:00

There's a million & one excuses we could come up with to try & dismiss this, but the truth is, at the end of the day, The 66 books of the Bible are The Final Authority. They are the God-breathed, all-sufficient Authority. Not my desires, my thoughts, my preferences, my personality, my culture, etc. etc. etc. Just The Bible. Call it oldschool. Call it backwoods. Call it whatever. But the truth is, God's the only one who has any idea what He's taking about.
You'd think holding to this truth would be a pretty standard stance for anyone professing faith in Jesus Christ. But it's amazing how truly clinging to God's Word as That which has the final say can get you painted as an overzealous fanatic who's taken things too far. And sure, you can use The Bible to justify a crushing legalistic system, but simply being a man of the Word & being a pharisee are by no means synonymous.
If we're going to start off on the right foot, we need to plant ourselves in the Proverb that says "anyone who trusts in his own mind is a fool." Millions of problems could start to be solved if we took this verse seriously. I would argue that our disobedience to The Lord is a result of defaulting to what we think over what He has said. And it's pride in us that would stand our ground in our opinion over the truth that's plainly laid out in The Book. When it comes to anything & everything, the question is, "What does the Bible say about this?" We must filter all things thru the Scriptures. This isn't some hyper-spirtual overreaction, it's simply seeking to be submissive to The Creator. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so His ways are higher (& better) than our ways. The reason many of us rear up when we hear that we need to filter everything thru The Word is because in some way, shape, or form we still think we know better than God. And that takes us back to Proverbs & the reality that we're acting like fools if we're going to walk that way.
The reality of every single thing is found in how Christ designed it to be. Whatever label, title, or significance He's put on any particular thing is right. It's reality. No matter how abused that thing has been, whatever God says about it is indeed the actuality of that thing. Everything else is just fantasy. So really, we're the most sane when we're the most lined up with The Scriptures. The farther we move away from The Bible, the farther we move away from reality. Regardless of how weird that's perceived to be, simply put, His Word is truth. It's the only consistency in our inconsistent & ever-changing world. We must take our cues from Christ. The world will mock, but the world is blind, even though it thinks it's vision is fine. Sinners can't play doctor when it comes to diagnosing their own disease. We must look outside of our sin-tainted minds, & rest in every word that has rolled off the tongue of Almighty God.
And what's amazing is that God's "commands are not burdensome." They are for His glory & our joy, & only lead to deeper & sweeter life. The way of Jesus is the way to abundant life; life to the full. But sadly, many of us don't want to drink deeply from God's river of delights; we just want to hang out on easy street. But if you belong to God, He is more concerned about your comformity to Christ than your desire for instant gratification. Just think if a parent let their child parent himself. Train wreck. In the same way, God is a good Father, & to let you decide for you would be certain death. What He's aiming at is your eternal gratification in His Son, which is what's truly best for you & most honoring to Him.
The beautiful truth of the gospel is that Christ was slain for every one of your disobediences against Him. Not only that, but He's made His pristine obedience bleed through onto your account. So as you seek to daily trust in His mind & not your own, God is already well pleased with you before your wheels start spinning. Not only is this an overwhelming reason to rejoice, but it also guards against being the pharisee that no one wants to be around. By One Man's(& it's not you) obedience, you've been made righteous. So the holiness you wear isn't your own, it didn't come from you, it's a gift from Him. And even the obedience you strive to walk in is an outworking of God's grace that he has worked in you.
So seek to be a Bible guy, or girl. And don't fear the flack you'll get for not trusting yourself. Go after it with all your heart. Not for the Scriptures sake themselves, but because it is they that point us to Him. We are to embrace the word as beautiful because it came from The very Mouth of God. As we read The Bible, we inhale what God has exhaled onto it's pages. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. And how amazing it is that God's heart has overflowed, & from His Lips came the 66 books we call The Holy Bible. Enjoy.

plans in colored pencil.

2011-09-01T11:19:00.000-05:00

alright. I believe I'm getting a pretty good gauge on what the plans are for the next few months. They're not in pencil, 'cause it's more serious than that. And they're not in pen, 'cause I'm never totally sure what's going on. So, I figure having the plans in colored pencil is about right. (colored pencil isn't all that easy to erase, yet it's not impossible either.)
If all goes according to the current plan, I should be getting on a plane in just under two months from now to head back to The States for awhile. My hope is to work & save up/raise funds so that I can come back out to Thailand, sometime around early/mid 2012. As a foreigner, getting a job that pays is more difficult than you might think. The English teaching job I was looking into isn't a go right now, so hopefully I'll get a few months back in America to work instead. As I mentioned, coming back to Thailand is definitely my desire. So, I want to do what I need to do back in Michigan, and then try and get back here as soon as possible. And when I do, I should be going thru some language study and getting ready to head out to Northeast Thailand to the city of Galasin. There's a group of believers there who are passionate about evangelism & starting churches & I want to try & jump on that ship, and help that team however I can. I'd heard 1 out of every 1000 people believe in Christ with 1 million living in the area. You may not be able to feel the weight of that, but when you look into the eyes of some of the 99.9% that don't know Jesus, statistics become reality. And that reality is made up of people who are created in the image of God, but are without Him & without hope in this world. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the universal cure.
So, as of now, these are my colored pencil plans. I want to love Jesus, get married, have a family, & do ministry in Thailand. And we'll see how this all pans out. Man plans his ways, but it is The Lord who directs his steps. So we'll see where these feet go. And wherever they go, may they go gladly, for the glory of Christ & the sake of those who have yet to celebrate His glorious gospel.

heaven & earth.

leap for joy.

out.

bob the builder.

abba grounds.

Isaan!

2011-08-25T04:09:00.001-05:00

God's Country.

2011-08-22T11:40:00.000-05:00

this past weekend I got to take a trip out to Northeast Thailand (Isaan) w/ a Pastor friend of mine from Chiang Mai. He had some teaching/preaching lined up in a town called Galasin, & I got to go along for the ride. And more specifically, we've been talking about the possibility of me moving out there in 2 months; so I got to gauge a bit of what that might look like. Honestly, I think it's safe to say I'm sold & would love to labor down there for Christ & the people of Galasin. Heartbreakingly, only .01% of the 1,000,000 people in this area are said to be Christians. As one friend mentioned to me recently, it's "virtually unreached." That's all the motivation a Christian needs.
One open door of ministry down there (& and a means of supporting myself) would be thru teaching English (though I have no college degree) at one of the schools in the area. So right now, I'm looking into/praying about that, hoping God will fight that battle for me. Other than that, I know starting home churches would also be what I'd get to be apart of down there. Really, pretty much starting fresh in an area that Paul would be excited about. He said it was his "ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named." Galasin is just that. A foundation hasn't been laid, with many people never even having heard the name "Jesus" before, much less the gospel. What a beautiful opportunity! Laboring among a people who are nearly untouched with the gospel & watching God do God-sized things for His glory, as He "gather(s) into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."
your prayers are appreciated more than you know.
all for Jesus & thailand.

be careful!

the open road.

129 more steps to go.

worth the hike.

this is My Father's world.

sriracha.

2011-08-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

still alive.

2011-07-28T13:55:00.000-05:00

It's been too long since I've done one of these personal blog updates. I've been writing a little bit lately, but haven't been posting anything specific about what's going on out here. I apologize to those who are curious. Well...I've been back here in Chiang Mai for about 3 months since my trip back to America. That puts me at around 6 months of being here in Thailand. Staying pretty consistent in a rhythm here of teaching bible/english classes on weekdays & heading into town/taking trips on the weekends. I stated in one of my previous blog entries that my time here in Thailand, specifically during my second time back, has felt like the most difficult season of my life. While that is true, I in no way regret coming here. Thailand continues to be in desperate, desperate need of the good news of Jesus Christ. I feel like I've been going thru personal storms, but none as great as the storm that unbelieving Thai people are in, being separated from God. There is much gospel labor to be a part of here, for them, for Christ.
At this point, I'd like to I keep my feet planted here in this country. Trying to work away at the language & adapt to the culture, both of which are coming with much needed time. The plan right now is to transition out of Abba House, which is where I'm working currently, in about 3.5 months. There are some potential opportunities for the somewhat near future floating around in my mind & heart, but nothing set in stone right now. With that, I would appreciate your prayers. I constantly have no idea what I'm doing; just trying to follow the One who does. I know that God came down as a man & died on a tree for sinners, and that He climbed out the grave & is alive today. I consider my life as one that has been recreated for the enjoyment & proclamation of That Message. There is no greater news. There is no greater Savior. Christ is all. He is sweeter than all the sugar cane fields in this world put together. May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering...

"One thing have I asked of The Lord, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of The Lord all the days of my
life; to gaze upon the beauty of The Lord and to inquire in
his temple."-king david.

the lenses God wears.

2011-06-28T15:12:00.001-05:00

It's still beautiful.

2011-06-15T10:43:00.000-05:00

I feel like there's been some unfortunate mishandling of the God-crafted gift of sex in our day. I'm not speaking of what many people outside the body of Christ have done with it, I'm talking about what many inside the Church have done.
Although, not to say the two are unrelated, because I think possibly much of the Christian mishandling comes from a negative reaction to the way many have mismanaged the gift of sex. But I contend that the pendulum has swung too far. Sexual sin, which is absolutely to be avoided & fled from, is by no means synonymous with God's good creation of sex. One overflowed out of the creativity of God, & the other spilled over God-ordained lines into abuse/misuse. But as Christians, we cannot & must not, as with everything else, let those violations make us throw the baby of sex out with the bath-water of sexual immorality. As Josh Harris said, "Sex is not the problem, lust is."
Let's start from the beginning. In the Genesis account of creation, The Scriptures tell us that "..God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." In this making, He crafted the shape & structure of their bodies on purpose. (any amens?) And when He created them "..the man & his wife were both naked & were not ashamed." To state the obvious, God's forming of the man & woman without clothes on wasn't an accident. That was His idea. Earlier in the account, He tells them to "Be fruitful & multiply & fill the earth" & we all know this happens through the God-given, God-ordained gift of sex. It's not dirty, it's not gross, it's not wrong. It's beautiful. To encourage this gift of sex, God gave his creation sexual desire. So, simply put, He didn't have to give the command about being fruitful & multiplying twice. They got it.
We've all heard the analogy for sex about fire causing disastrous damage outside of the fireplace, but let's not forget the reverse; fire within the pit is a blessing. It's not perverted for God's married couples to appreciate & frequently enjoy the gift, or for God's singles to desire & anticipate the gift. In fact, in a God-breathed verse that may make some of us blush, the writer tells his son to stay far from the promiscuous woman, but to stay close to the wife of his youth & "let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love." I'm glad that verse is in the Bible. Did I mention it was God-breathed?
All we're talking about here is just being in line with the way God designed his creation to be. This is a place where some err, and apparently become "more spiritual" than The Lord, just like the pharisees with Jesus. We need to seek to be biblical over being cultural, rational, denominational, or any other -al of ours that is at odds with the Scriptures. When the Bible collides with anything we're on board with, we need to jump ship & surrender to God & His good ways.
Some might see sex as "unspiritual" & "fleshly", but I think the rebuke Peter received is fitting for us, to "no longer consider unholy" what God has made clean. Sex, engaged between two wedded lovers, is not something that's to be tolerated, it's to be celebrated. We must always remember it's origins, we must remember it's source. Sex isn't something God's people have ripped off from Satan & are now trying to spiritualize, It's one of the many "good & perfect" gifts that have come down from The Father of Lights. Sex is God's & it is good.
Many of us have been told while growing up, & wisely so, not to take our cues about sex from the culture around us. But sadly, on the flip side, many of us never got to hear follow-up about the bibical beauty of this gift. We knew in what contexts it was sinful, but we were largely in the dark about it's blessings. And hearing so little about it's goodness & so much about it's abuses can almost make you start to doubt it's goodness.
I know I'm not the only one who feels like he hardly heard a word from godly men around me about this sacred gift. And not to bitterly pass this off onto them, because maybe we're just part of a long line of men & women who were never really taught about the beauty of sex within the proper confines. Maybe we're among many who could tell you what was wrong about it, but didn't know what was right about it.
And so, my hope is that the taboo-ness of sex would dissolve within the christian community, and that it would be restored to it's proper, God-ordained place. That we wouldn't just beat the drum of it's sinful abuses, but beat the drum loudly of it's wonder & beauty. That it would cease to be seen as secular or worldly, & instead be engaged in as worship within marriage. It needs to be more than a bridge married couples ignorantly cross when they get there, having only tainted, cultural ideas in mind. It needs to be embraced as special, taught on from the Scriptures & talked about as kids grow up, so that they won't need to run to unredeemed sources to find answers to their legitimate questions. How beautiful it would be if kids grew up with God's good outlook on sex so that by the time they're exposed to all the wordly abuses of it, they would be unmoved by the rip-offs & hold out for the real thing.
Sin has done much to misrepresent the gift of sex, but sex itself remains untouched & undefiled.
It's still beautiful, really.

eggs & rice.

2011-06-14T04:41:00.000-05:00

sour patch kids.

2011-06-06T04:42:00.000-05:00

If we're being real, I think we would all agree that sometimes life just gets hard. I mean, really hard. Now the term "hard" is somewhat subjective, being that the definition of difficulty differs from person to person. But life gets hard for you, whoever you are. And life gets hard for me. And sometimes the struggle & strain become so wearisome that we feel as though we may not be able to endure another day. We have those points in our lives where our hearts feel ready to break & we, like king david, wish that we "had wings like a dove" so we could "fly away & be at rest". And those laments from the 55th psalm are in good company with many others that were uttered out of the mouth of the man who ferociously went after the heart of God. I think mourning is almost seen sometimes as unspiritual & to acknowledge pain/difficulty as being a sign of weakness. I would say it's more a sign of being alive & not living under a rock. Even Jesus, our Savior, was a "man of sorrows" who, even though he was fully divine, "offered up prayers & supplications with loud cries & tears".

So I'm not even speaking right now about those outside the body of Christ. I'm talking about blood-bought disciples. It's not as though when you become a christian you take up residence on a cloud high above this fractured world. What happened is that you were, by the grace of God, broken & contrite enough to fall at the feet of The Hero. Not being one yourself, rather, you're simply a recipient of His heroism. With that being true, it's only pride in us that would try to give off the notion that upon trading our sin for Jesus' righteousness, we gave him our tear ducts as well. The day will come when He will wipe away all our tears (and I imagine that when it does, the hands of God will be very pruney!) but we're not there yet. The temptation many times can be to act as though the weight of the world has not penetrated our souls. To put on a face & appear unaffected by it all seems to be the more mature, godly route to go. Some might even think the one crying the hardest at the funeral has the least amount of trust in God's good purposes.

But just because someone weeps doesn't mean that they're not trusting God. It's not that the children of God have dry eyes from the moment of conversion, we just don't "grieve as others do who have no hope." We're told in Acts that the early church "made great lamentation" over Stephen after his death. There is a way to mourn that is available to the family of God & even more so, encouraged when necessary as the Bible calls us to "weep with those who weep."

So we still feel pain and, I would argue, even more so now that everything has been infused with meaning for us, but the tears of the saints contain elements of hope that the unbeliever's tears don't possess. That's the difference. Our tears don't have the same make-up as they did before our adoption. Every tear that falls into God's bottle from the eyes of His elect are laced with His Romans 8:28 designs. This is what makes it possible to be "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing", even when the darkness will not lift.

The rainbow of God's providence is overarching every storm the christian goes through. And when the clouds are dark & pouring, that doesn't mean God will necessarily give you an umbrella, but He will most definitely stand with you in the rain. The rock solid assurance of His sovereignty & loyalty doesn't make pain painless by any means, but it does infuse our pain with meaning as God is, as John Piper says, "plotting the course & managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good & for the glory of Jesus Christ."

And The Lord, in his mercy, has given His people books like Revelation & Isaiah, giving us glimpses of how the story will end. It isn't with sorrow & sighing triumphing victoriously over us. It isn't in despair with weeping & death eternally permeating & plaguing our existence. Just the opposite is true, actually. The victory has been secured by the blood of Jesus & one day he will return with fire blazing in his eyes & tear away the "covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations." "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return & come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness & joy, and sorrow & sighing shall flee away."

march of the penguins.

2011-05-31T10:41:00.000-05:00

He & I have different reasons, but we both wish we could take flight.

“Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; yes, I would wander far away..."-king david.

Confessions.

2011-05-21T03:14:00.000-05:00

  If I'm being honest, 2011 has felt like the most difficult year of my life so far. And more specifically, the past month or so since I've been back in Thailand. I've been finding it difficult to press into The Lord, hard to dig into the Scriptures, hard to pray. A few times that I tried to fast, I felt so tired/weary midday that I just gave up partway thru. Sin that I didn't know existed in me surfaces often. Unlove, greed, impatience; they all rear more than just their heads at opportune times. I've come to see how much of an unsanctified jerk I really am. There have been instances in my time here where I couldn't imagine feeling any duller, as if my heart forgot how to beat. Depression, loneliness & self-pity have been some responses to what's been taking place in me. Knowing what's true & what's real, but feeling like "darkness has become my only companion". At times it's caused me to wonder if I really am one of the blood-bought elect of Jesus Christ.
  Now, before this gets written off as a self-pitying rant, I want to set this down in something other than despair. I don't know when I will come out of this funk I'm in, but I do know that the answer, as it is for everything, is the gospel. Out of love, God gave The Son of Righteousness to die & rise with healing in his wings for disabled sinners of the world. For every one of them that believes, the record of rebellion they've accumulated gets substituted out for a robe of righteousness. A Shepherd has been slain for His sheep. God came down to be with us, to make a way for us to be with Him forever. There's no news like gospel news.
  What is becoming increasingly clear to me is that it hurts to be loved by God. Some may beg to differ, but I can't deny that His love really is a "reckless, raging fury". He will do whatever it takes in order to make us "conformed to the image of his Son." Whether it's being dragged thru the mud, being broken into a million pieces, or whatever else he sovereignly decides, God will most assuredly make his children look like Jesus.
  And so as one of his own, I know this is part of the process. I was counted righteous in a moment, but sanctification stops when my lungs do. And this "backward trail to the Father's Home" is lined with thorns & thistles, but the Promised Land will be flowing with milk & honey. So the tears will flow until we walk thru the gates of The New Jerusalem, but not one of them will enter, for they will all be wiped away. We will "go out in joy & be lead forth in peace; the mountains & the hills before you shall break forth into singing, & all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." Our eyes will unashamedly indulge themselves beholding the Lamb of God who was slain to take away the sin of the world. Praise Christ.

gustatory acquisition.

2011-05-17T04:48:00.000-05:00

When I was younger, I despised coffee. Well, from the time I knew what it was up until about a year & half ago, really. I wasn't even one of those people who "like the smell but just not the taste". I don't think I had the least bit of appreciation for either of them. And free coffee at churches, business, etc. never sounded like good news to me. In fact, I could see why they would give it away for free. Lets just say the best part of waking up wasn't Folgers in my cup.
But things have changed. I'm definitely not in the varsity league as one who knows the ins & outs of coffee, I just know that I like regular coffee, with cream & (lots of) sugar. It's something I appreciate & will take advantage of when it's available, whereas before I couldn't care less. Something changed, And it wasn't the coffee.
It was me.
It was my taste buds.
I think many of us see God thru the same lenses with which I used to view coffee. His flavor is regarded as bland, & dismissed as unpalatable. But if that's the way we view The King of Flavor, the fault is ours, not His. It's our taste buds that are misfiring. We just don't appreciate true delicacies when we taste them. The truth is, He's abounding in so much sweetness that if he were to fully unleash it in you're presence, you'd literally be blown away. Maybe one reason we'll receive new bodies upon arriving in heaven is because we'll need them in order to handle "see(ing) Him as He is." Otherwise, we would follow suit with the mountains & "melt like wax before The Lord."
So, far from being flavorless, all flavor is actually extracted from Him. "Every good gift & every perfect gift is from above." Every one of them descends from His artistic & creative Hands. Every hue & shade comes from our colorful Creator. Every breathtaking sunset is just a sample of his unfathomable beauty. We need the colorblindness in us to be altered so that instead of seeing dull greys in God, we would see the explosions of pink & purple that are emanating from Him. If we only knew what we were missing: "..he would feed you with the finest of wheat, & with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
Now, just as my taste buds were too dull to appreciate the rich taste of good coffee & needed adjusting, we too are in need of spiritual taste bud adaptation. And when He gives us the acquired taste we need to appreciate his flavor & beauty, then we will be able to truly "taste & see that the Lord is good." And the opportunity to do just that is made possible by The Son who "taste(d) death for everyone", that all who believe might "come, buy, & and eat...without money & without price" & gorge themselves on His Greatness and Glory forevermore, without being asked to leave...

land of ☺'s.

2011-05-07T05:43:00.000-05:00

Back into the swing of the groove here in Chiang Mai. Got those doctrine classes going with the older guys, lots of uno games with Laa, & attempting to do a bit of cookin' for the kids that are here(heavy emphasis on the attempting part). A few of the girls came back to Abba House already & the rest of them should be back within a week from now. And two new girls joined Abba House this past week as well. It's good to have some precious new faces around here.
Outside of Abba House, Moo, myself & a few others have been getting some opportunites to share the gospel in downtown Chiang Mai(15 minutes from here). Quite a few prostitutes down there, homeless people who are usually from hilltribes or myanmar, as well as many foreigners who come on tourism trips. There's a big draw for the prostitution(adult & child) & the bar scene as well. It is heartbreaking to see all that goes on down there, on top of knowing that 99% of this country still hasn't been covered by the death of Jesus. But in that, as I've mentioned before, plenty of need makes for plenty of opportunity. May the famous name of Jesus be made famous in this place. May God give us the strength, wherever we find ourselves, to not only desire to see him known & loved, but also to "go to Him outside the camp & bear the reproach he endured" in the hopes that he would take our gospel efforts & collide them w/ faith in the hearts of many, many people in our fallen world...
p.s. If you or someone you know has an interest in working for the gospel out here in Thailand, please feel free to get ahold of me, & we'll see what we can do.

roygbiv.

let your light shine.

He doesn't stop.

loke & tom.

sierra mist.

He 1st loved us.

jet-puffed.

sweet tarts.

"Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occured that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant."-Hebrews 9.

back in thailand.

2011-05-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

So, by the grace of God (as it always is), I made it back to Thailand. I've been here in Chiang Mai about a week & a half now. It's good to be back, I'd been itching for it my last few weeks in America. Now that I'm here, I've jumped into a routine of teaching bible classes to the older guys at Abba House for about an hour & a half every monday thru thursday. All the younger girls should be coming back in a few weeks, as their on summer break right now. Once they get here, I'll jump back into teaching them English each weekday.
I'll be honest, Thailand has been very revealing for me in the unsanctified-ness of my heart. The levels of my unlove become clearly visible to me when the right opportunities present themselves. When my "rights" are infringed upon & "my space" gets invaded. Makes me feel unredeemed at times when I think on such things as, "whoever does not love abides in death." My soul resonates with the missionary Henry Martyn when he says, "Alas my rebellious heart—what a tempest agitates me! I knew not that I had made so little progress in a spirit of resignation to the Divine will." And the means thru which the darkness in me is brought to the surface comes mainly in the form of my 11-year-old roomate, Laa. He's a sweet kid with a whole lot of energy/imagination, & we have alot of good times together. But I find myself often frustrated & mishandling situations with him other times as well. Sometimes He's out of line, but other times he's just being a kid. So regardless of how he acts, I know how I'm called to respond. All that to say, I came to Thailand to serve, & I'm finding Thailand to be serving me up quite nicely, & holding up a mirror to the face of my sin & imperfections. It's pretty grieving & heartbreaking. In that though, I want to repent truly, quickly & often, & let the Lover of lovers teach me how to love. I want those hideous places in me to be infected by the gospel, that I might not only talk the talk of love, but flesh it out. I want my life to paint a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ for the Thai people. And where I keep going back to is the same place I always want to go-The Gospel. "By this we know love, that He laid down his life for us..". Whether I'm running to it before a day starts, after I screwed one up, or any/all times in between the two, the gospel is the answer for everything. Jesus Christ is everything. May we run back to the "fountain filled with blood" again & again & again....

Here's some shots from the first week back.

two cuties.

lonely sparrow.

thanks jackie.

land of smiles.

beautiful feet.

supermayne.

daily view.

"Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"-The apostle paul.

Not it.

2011-04-24T22:00:00.001-05:00

Since sin's introduction into the world, there's a shift that's occurred that has placed every person in the center of their own universe. It has become natural to the fallen race of mankind to have "It's all about me" written on the banner over each of our lives. Most don't say this verbally, but it is spoken loudly through the actions of our lives. And maybe some of us go to the opposite end of the spectrum into self-pity. But self-pity, as I've heard it said, is just a wounded ego. So it all comes full circle into every man being "uppermost in his own affections." Now, that's the broken way of sin-fractured humanity. But when the Spirit of God grabs ahold of person & re-breaks the bone of pride & sets it in a splint of humility, they begin to grow in their proper place. And there is a long line of people who have been broken into a million pieces by The Creator & were/are being reshaped into a beautifully reflective piece of workmanship.
One out of the many "was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light." John had one assignment on his mission: point to Christ.
In the first chapter of the book of John, priests & Levites come to him inquiring about who he is. Elijah? The Prophet? Who? So John gets put on the spot, gets the microphone in his face & they ask, "What do you say about yourself?". He doesn't give them his name; he doesn't say, "I'm John, the son of Zechariah & Elizabeth." He tells them that he is "the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of The Lord,'". In response to their questions, it's almost as if he's saying, "It doesn't matter who I am, it's not important. You just need to know who HE is." Not only does he testify that he's not it, he says he's not even worthy to unlace the sandals of the one who is IT. John attempts to take their gaze & redirect it upwards toward Jesus The Messiah. He uses his fifteen minutes of fame to rep Someone else's cause. The name the priests & Levites heard about was not the one they anticipated receiving. The wanted to know who John the Baptist was, & instead they heard about who Jesus was. As John said himself, "for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." He went on to say that "(Christ) must increase, but I must decrease." John wanted to see The Son of God exalted & himself lowered. Jesus up. John down.
For the believer in Christ Jesus, this is the call for each one of us as well. We all still have residual effects of living in the "me-centered universe", but The Holy Spirit will be always maturing us into the kinds of people who are all about reppin' King Jesus instead of ourselves in word, deed, & motive. And where we all thought (or think) that living as our own greatest treasure would bring us the greatest satisfaction, John the Baptist begs to differ. He's happy to be a groomsman. He says, "The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands & hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete." You weren't made to fall in love looking in the mirror. You were made to hold the mirror, directing everyone's gaze, as well as your own, toward the bright morning star. Only He holds enough shine to keep your heart contented forever...

back to thailand.

2011-04-17T21:57:00.000-05:00

we call it gospel!

2011-04-03T00:48:00.000-05:00

weekend in the life 2.

2011-03-25T15:40:00.001-05:00

73.

2011-03-22T23:08:00.000-05:00

Thai'd up.

2011-03-16T23:36:00.001-05:00

Hey ya'll. Sorry It's been awhile since I updated this thing. I've been tryin', but the video uploader on this site has been on the fritz, forreal. I don't even remember where I left off, but for the last week & a half I've been in Dallas, Tx. Heading to Phoenix tommorow for a skate ministry event then back here early next week. Once I get back, the plan is to spend one more week in Dallas until I trek back up to Michigan. 3 weeks there then back to Thailand, hopefully.
My time back in the states has been refreshing. I hope those I met along the way have been encouraged; I know I've enjoyed it. When I first got back, I wasn't very anxious to get back to Thailand. But now, as time passes, the excitement to get back builds. The plan for this next go is to spend the rest of the year in Chiang Mai & then from there....?? First things first though.
In regards to heading back to Thailand-I want Paul's attitude to be mine in that "Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad & rejoice with you all." I want to gladly walk in the blood-stained steps of Christ along the Calvary road in Thailand. With God's Rescue on the horizon, whether in our death or his return, what could possibly be a worthier cause to pour ourselves out for? (crickets). Christ is all!

sin-tainted tangerine sky.

"And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new," Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.-rev. 21.

frosted flakes.

2011-02-22T01:00:00.000-06:00

"I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find my own way home. Oh sweet Jesus while I'm out there, keep me ever close to you, as I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', as I'm travelin' thru."

home of the badgers.

2011-02-20T14:46:00.000-06:00

"When Christ shall come, with shouts of acclamation. And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art!""

the sojourney begins.

2011-02-19T08:46:00.000-06:00

"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going."-Hebrews 11.

here today, gone tomorrow.

2011-02-17T22:26:00.000-06:00

It's been an interesting last few days. I started my trip Monday night (morning in U.S. time) & made it back to Michigan fairly late last night. So around 60 hours after the trip started, the last plane I flew on touched all four down. The trip included: bus from chaing mai to bangkok, then plane from bangkok to shainghai, china, then china to nyc, nyc to milwaukee, then finally milwaukee to grand rapids. It was probably the most extensive trip I've done of that kind so far...sure wiped me out. But, by God's grace I made it. "The Lord watches over the sojourners" & he sure did with me. It's good to be back here.
The road trip around the country starts early tommorow morning; I'm excited to get rollin'. I just want each moment of this trip to be made the most of for the renown of Jesus Christ. It continues to become increasingly clear to me that turning away from trusting in me & leaning every ounce of my weight on The Lord is all that makes sense. It's the way were designed to function. Everything other than doing all for Him, with Him, & by Him is a waste. Any distraction from Him is a distraction from Real Life. He's the reality, whether we recognize that our not. To the world His message is foolishness, but the world has blurry vision & can't diagnose it's situation properly. His voice is the only One worth heeding. He's the only One who can truly be trusted. And he makes His wings eternally available to abide under forever through a blood-covered cross...★

bussin'.

aeropuerto.

sojournin'.

preparation.

cutie pie.

outgoing.

switch.

incoming.

tucked in.

"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."-psalm 16.

goodbye for now...

2011-02-14T02:52:00.000-06:00

Thailand. God willin', we'll see each-other again soon...
I'm excited for this upcoming two months back in the States, been praying about it these last few weeks. Lookin'
forward to seeing friends/family & tryin' to point anybody/everybody I can to The True King. All in for Jesus is the only life worth takin' part in. We'll be standing in His presence before we know it.
So, I'll be headin' to the bus stop in a few short hours, & the journey begins....

"And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”-Acts 26.

sojourner truth.

2011-02-04T16:52:00.000-06:00

The redeemed saint finds himself in an interesting place.
He stands somewhere between the already & the
longed-for not yet. The world he once belonged to no longer owns Him. Once a citizen, now a sojourner. Once
a friend, now a stranger. The place he once called home now makes him feel homesick. The place where he used to find "rest"
has now dealt him restlessness. He's heard the tune of heaven & it makes everything else sound off key. Not to say he doesn't
experience sweet samples from his Creator in this world, he surely does. But this wanderer salivates for the fullness there of what he's caught glimpses of here.
The soul in love, away from Home, groans. The dimmed colors of this world, beautiful as they are, pale in comparison to the rainbows of the next. He desires to touch with his hands what he now touches with his heart. He dreams of being swept up & taken away like Enoch & Elijah, & often imagines stepping foot inside the perimeters of Paradise. This pilgrim though, detached as he feels from this world, doesn't keep His Treasure from those He dwells among in it. He wants to go marching into the presence of God with an army, not as a one-man band. So his time on this earth is spent calling others to bend the knee to The One Who's Kingdom is not of this world. He invites others to join Him in turning from the fleeting pleasures of sin & instead to look ahead to a lasting reward. His pilgrimage takes him into, not away from, the front lines. His courageous heart & passion in battles reveals that, like a soldier at war with a distant lover, Someone somewhere else has captured his allegiance. He will fight the fight as long as is called for & then will relievingly retreat to the place where he belongs, to be with The One he loves in unending bliss.
So, it's not the streets of gold that this exile's soul aches for. He wants Home because he wants His God. Home would not be Home if God were not there. Wherever God is, that's where this wanderer wants to put roots down forever. And Heaven is that place. Only there will he lose the names that have attached themselves to him in this world. Wanderer, drifter, alien, exile, stranger, pilgrim. These terms will all fade away in the city that is to come. They will become obsolete in that place of permanent residence. Wanderer will become home-body. Drifter, alien & exile will become resident. Stranger will become friend. And pilgrim will become native in the heavenly country. The inward groans of the former world will be forgotten & replaced with outward explosions of ecstasy. The teasing sips he took in the old world will have soul-nourishing waterfalls to take their place. His God will pour out as much as of Himself on him as he can handle. And His inexhaustible Fountain will never run dry as this saint ungluttonously gorges on His infinite perfections.
He will do then, what he longs to do now. What he squints to see now will become sharper to his focus then he ever thought possible. And dreams wilder than he's ever dreamed about God will become unbelievable realities when he plants new feet on eternity's everlasting shores....

It's a wonderful life.

2011-01-29T00:40:00.000-06:00

"God has a wonderful plan for your life" is a statement that has visited my ears quite frequently. I don't disagree with the statement...as long the term "wonderful plan" is correctly clarified. My problem is that when people usually say this, they mean something along the lines of the American Dream-with little to no suffering. This belief has caught wind & sailed overseas from the west & made it to countries out east, like Thailand. I've caught a pretty good-sized whiff of this prosperity preaching at two different churches I've been to here in Chiang Mai. It really breaks/angers my heart when I hear these things preached because God ends up sounding pretty useful, but not very beautiful. He comes across as a giver of treasure, but not as Treasure Himself. The kingdom, instead of being like treasure hiddden in a field, sounds more like a magic lamp hidden in a field-God being the genie & you being Aladdin.
I don't want to sound naive/immature & say that the call from Christ to the rich young ruler to "sell all that you have & give to the poor" is to be carried out by everyone....but I wouldn't say that's no one's calling either. And we may not be called to give away everything we possess, but we are definitely called to give, and to do so generously. I affirm the facts that God "gives good things to those who ask Him" & takes care of his children. He surely does. But I think many times people look at God's plans/provision with an American understanding rather than a Biblical one, & in so doing his generosity & goodness are attempted to be presumed upon. Prayer takes on a type of slot machine-like quality, with "faith" being the knob you pull to get the jackpot of material blessings poured out upon yourself.
What it all really comes down to is this: What does the Bible say?(in context). Gods thoughts on the subject are the only ones that really hold any weight. And that may sound very obvious, but with what we're hearing from certain preachers mouths nowadays, it seems this question has largely been neglected to be asked/answered by many.
One teaching in particular that boggles my mind is the one about how those who have enough faith will be able to avoid the trial, difficulty & suffering that others with lesser faith will encounter. Now, I want to affirm that in the Scriptures Jesus said with enough faith, mountains can be thrown into the ocean. But in the same Bible, The Holy Spirit thru Paul says that "it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake." So suffering for Jesus & faith aren't at odds with one another, they actually hold hands. Having reckless faith in Christ doesn't manufacture for you a breezy life.
And going back to God having a "wonderful plan for your life." I think people should start adding things like this to the end of that phrase, "...and it may include getting your head chopped off like John the Baptist," or "...& it may just get you sawn in half like those mentioned in the book of Hebrews." These things are realities. God doesn't promise, like many preachers, to make all of your Americanized dreams come true. But He is committed to conforming you to the image of Christ no matter the cost. He will do whatever it takes to make you completely His, & that's the greatest blessing anyone could ask for.
When I hear all the prosperity jargon, it makes me feel like the world revolves around me, & that God exists to make sure nothing changes that. This is what we would call "blasphemy." I think the "prosperity gospel" would be better suited in being called the "idolatry gospel", since it fleshes out Romans 1 well, as men worship & serve created things rather than the Creator.
I don't know what God has for you. And I don't know what God has for me. But I do know that "all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." I know we are to live differently from "men of the world whose portion is in this life" and do so in such a way that our Home is clearly revealed as being Heaven, from the way that our lives operate. And I know that we are to "share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God" while holding onto the hope that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Rescue/restoration are coming, but they're not here in the fullness just yet. Because "our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body".
So please, my friend, don't believe the hype. Don't follow blind guides who sound very convincing, but do so "without understanding what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions." Don't live foolishly like those in James 5 who "lived on the earth in luxury & self-indulgence." Jesus calls you to a better way. He calls you to the Calvary road. It really is a wonderful life. A difficult, painful, wonderful life. So "let us go to Him outside the camp & bear the reproach he endured."
And when it's all said & done, we'll limp up to the gates of heaven, scarred & bleeding. He will open for us & we will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. "He will wipe away every tear from (our) eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall their be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things (will) have passed away." Everlasting joy will be upon our heads as we celebrate forever & ever The beautiful Lamb that was slain....

Muy Thai.

2011-01-26T00:47:00.000-06:00

So, it's coming up on 2.5 months since I first arrived here in Thailand. The days seem to be passing by so quickly here. Now that the YWAM teams are gone, I'm getting back into a rhythm with teaching the guys & girls every weekday('cept Monday-day off). And then aside from English, starting soon we're gonna be doing a Bible class for the guys each weekday. And then outside of the Abba House grounds, every upcoming Friday morning from here on out, we're gonna be getting to preach at the Chiang Mai Men's Prison. Also, def. lots of gospel opp. down in the city-on the streets, at the bars, etc. Not a shortage of things to do here, that's for sure. Just want to stay diligent in taking advantage of those opportunities outside of these walls, & stay on top of studying the Thai language. Got the Thai dictionary & I feel like it's coming along...slowly, but surely! On another note, I'm excited for my upcoming trip back the U.S. for a few months (see previous blog post below) before I come back out to Thailand for the rest of the year.
Personally, it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me spiritually/physically out here. But it is sanctifying....or, more acurately, I feel alot of my sin is being exposed. And with that, I so want to see God take those things that are coming to the surface, & sanctify them out of me. Crush them to pieces. I really don't like alot of what I see in me. Sick of sinning against my Lord. Romans 7 is one of those passages I'm really glad is in The Bible. Verses like, "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." and "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" really speak volumes to my soul. One day soon, this soul that feels the push & pull of the waves of life will be at perfect peace forever & uninterruptedly calm in His satisfying presence. "Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me..."

Here's some unused, oldies but goodies from the archives...

rubik's.

our dwelling.

giddy.

not all Thai food is spicy.

die hard.

all natural. ('cept all those buildings)

don't mess with Thailand.

"sorrowful, yet always rejoicing."

"As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness."-A hopeful king david.

gospel road(trip).

2011-01-17T23:24:00.000-06:00

So, the girls(& Laa) at Abba House have their summer break from school around the end of February to the end of April. So I was praying about a ticket back to the U.S. for the break, & ended up finding a pretty good deal on one. And so the plan right now is to road trip around the U.S. for the first month, & then spend the second month in Michigan, before heading back out to Thailand. My hope for this trip is gospel opportunity with people that haven't yet been intoxicated with the gospel of Christ, & the encouragement of my brothers & sisters who already have. If I'm coming thru your area & haven't set something up with you, please feel free to contact me, I'd love to see you. Here's the schedule for the trip, God willin', as of now....

Feb 18-Mar 18

Friday,Feb 18-Chicago/Madison, WI.

Saturday,Feb 19-Minneapolis, MN.

Sunday,Feb 20th-Omaha, NE.

Monday,Feb 21st-Denver, CO.

Tuesday,Feb 22-Boise,ID.

Wednesday,Feb 23-25-Centralia,WA.

Saturday,Feb 26-Seattle,WA.

Sunday,Feb 27-Portland,OR.

Monday,Feb 28-Mar 1-San Luis Opisbo,CA.

Wednesday, March 2-Orange County,CA.

Thursday, March 3-4-Phoenix,AZ (pit stop in SD on the way to PHX)

Saturday, March 5-16-Dallas,TX.

Thursday, March 17-Chicago,IL.

Friday, March 18-Apr 18-Grand Rapids, MI.

"Angels beckon me from Heaven's open door & I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

Karen.

2011-01-09T10:07:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, we got the opportunity to visit the tribe of the Karen(Kuh-rin) people in the hills of Northern Thailand. We spent the weekend doing VBS-type activities (games, skits, bible stories) with the kids, and serving at the worship services Friday/Saturday night & Sunday morning. I so appreciate the time we got to spend with these precious people tucked deep in the heart of these hills. Another unforgettable experience to mark down in the books...
I hope the Karens were encouraged by us, but I know we were by them. What blew me away, as I observed the people who hosted us, was the way that they served us. One of the nights we were there I had trouble sleeping, so I decided to get my day started just after 4 a.m. Less than an hour after I'd been awake, I heard people out back behind the house, shuffling around. It was a group of girls who were getting fires started & food cut to prepare breakfast for us. And they served us every meal we ate. Only after we had eaten would they help themselves to a meal. So generous & selfless was their charity/service towards us, that it almost makes you feel like more of a pampered tourist than a missionary.
In many ways, this tribe is very similar to the Lahu tribe I wrote about last month. Living conditions are pretty much the same(cold water bucket showers, many bamboo huts, few possessions, although a well built church.) And yet, worship service time rolls around, & people are jumping around, dancing, praising Christ. It just makes me wonder, if all the prosperity that many of us chase in America isn't just adding to the noise. And maybe were fooled into thinking that the thing which could do us major damage will actually medicate us. These people have Jesus & not much else. Not to overstate, they do have the basic, necessary provisions of life, to be sure. But they live simple, humble lives deep back in these hills, & their hope is in the living God. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Please pray for the body of Christ in the hill tribes of Northern Thailand, & also for the many other Karens in those same hills who don't yet know The Savior who gives these believers reasons to dance.

road in.

tigers.

pre-game warm up.

leapfroggers.

inside game.

shaka!

church.

real talk.

YWAM serenade.

You woke the morning up.

better than Chili's.

zacchaeus.

preach.

joyful noise.

"Your ears were attentive to my cries, though I knew it not. And when in silence I earnestly sought an answer, the secret sufferings of my soul were loud cries for Your mercy.".Augustine.

2010 has lifted.

2011-01-03T08:27:00.000-06:00

Like Christmas day last week, New Year's Eve this year was pretty eventful. We had another YWAM team come in from Australia, so there was quite a few of us packed into the worship center for the New Year festivities. We had alot of music playing, a dance party, skits, food, games, Bible study, etc. Never dull on nights like this. After the countdown, we ended the night by lightin' up & lettin' go some big, rice paper lanterns into the sky. Another unforgettable holiday with brothers & sisters in Christ.
I've never really been into New Year's resolutions. Maybe because I'm too undisciplined. Not sure. But, if I were to say what my hope is for 2011, ultimately, I just want to want God. To love God. Pretty simple sounding, but I know if that's going to occur in me to the degree that I was made for, it's going to be sheer grace gifted to me from Him. I've been reading The confessions of st. augustine lately, and I so envy his passion for Jesus; & other guys like him with that same desire. Guys like king david & the apostle paul. I know I don't want God like they did, but I want to want Him like they did. I know though, that it wasn't something in them that stirred up a deep hunger for Jesus. It was The Lord Himself, putting a bad taste in their mouths for sin, & giving them corrected lenses that could look at God's beauty & find it beautiful. Taste buds that were given an acquiring ability to "taste & see that The Lord is good." And souls that were given the capacity to contently end their search & come to a complete stop after they met Him. Lord, have mercy.

2011 is here.

drama.

YWAM Marisa & Ning.

m&m elevator.

Si & B2.

pineapple & ham.

YWAM Catherine/Ivy & Beow.

b-boy Tom.

lightin' err up.

countdown.

she's gone.

Happy New Year.

"Woe to my foolhardy soul that vainly hoped to find something better after it had departed from You. It turned & turned itself again upon it's back & sides & belly, but all positions were hard & uncomfortable, for You alone are it's rest.".Augustine.

Mini Maejo.

2010-12-31T03:23:00.002-06:00

Earlier this week, The YWAM Team & I got an opportunity to visit the Elementary/Middle School that many of the Abba House girls (& Laa) go to. We got to spend a few hours in the courtyard area with about a hundred students. We did some music, played games, & they even let us act out/narrate the Christmas Story & Noah's Arc. Another door God sovereignly opened in a country that is 99% unreached with the gospel. As far as I know, the staff that brought us in aren't believers in Jesus, & yet we were welcomed in and got the privilege of sharing about The Savior with the students. The kids also got little Bible booklets to take home with them as well. May The Lord breathe on the seeds that were planted in these children thru what was said/done this past week & make their young hearts beat for his glory.

dek dek.

Laa's homeys.

introductions.

Nativity Story.

sing-a-long.

Noah's Ark.

duck. duck. goose.

dance. dance.

wolverine.

"..You were the more merciful to me, the less You permitted anything to be sweet to me that was not Yourself.".Augustine.

Suksan Wan Christmas.

2010-12-28T08:48:00.001-06:00

I've been away from "home" quite a bit these past few years, but this year was the 1st time I was for Christmas. Never imagined I'd spend a Christmas in Thailand, but this year's was a unique blast. Christmas eve night, we spent a few hours caroling around town at different homes of believers. (And a cultural bonus out here is you get invited in for food after you sing!) Then Christmas day was pretty much packed out with a full schedule. We had field day games, a worship service, bbq cookout, pinata (fists only!), bible jeopardy, skits, gift exchange, & then ended the night with a dance party. Wasn't my typical Christmas experience, thats for sure :)
The phrase that just seemed to continue to stir in my head during this Christmas season was "God with us." Christmas is all about God becoming a man to rescue captive sinners. He came to be with us, so that we could be with Him forever. All made possible thru the ransoming blood of The Lamb that was slain. What sweet news for such a weary world! Merry Christmas...

the choir.

after-carol-party.

warm up.

reindeer games.

luke 2.

snow substitute.

bbq.

cookout.

YWAM Jackie & Laa.

skit rehearsal.

gift exchange.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)."-Matthew 1.

Mae Jo Christmas Party.

2010-12-23T12:20:00.000-06:00

So, there's a University just down the road here from Abba House called Mae Jo. Last week me & Moo started going over there after dinnertime, when a lot of the students are hanging out in the courtyard area. We just wanted to try & be intentional about meeting people & sharing the gospel on campus over at Mae Jo. There was a specific group of students that we connected with well, & so each time we go back we've been hanging out with them. And tonight, we had a little "Christmas party" with this group of friends. I put Christmas party in quotes because the party pretty much consisted of some Thai sweets, Fanta, & "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" on the guitar. So, it wasn't much of a "Christmas Party," but it was one of what will hopefully be many get-togethers with our new friends. My hope over at Mae Jo is that Christ would use us to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere around that campus & that He might captivate many with the "sober intoxication" of his love.

the party animals.

love. love. love.

hello carol.

the damage.

converse.

rippin'.

piece.

"You have made us for Yourself, & our hearts are restless until they rest in You."-Augustine.

The lenses God wears.

2010-12-17T15:03:00.000-06:00

When Jesus died on the cross, God put new lenses on. Scarlet-tinted lenses. The way in which he now sees those who have waved the white flag of surrender to Jesus Christ is drastically different than before. The implications of the gospel go miles & miles deeper than many of us realize. Only the good news could make true the sweetness of a statement such as, "You are altogether beautiful my love; there is no flaw in you," Or, words that speak of the incalculable distance of God's removal of sin from sinners; "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Or, phrases like one that speaks of God's choosing deliberate memory loss because of his Son's blood; "I will remember their sins no more."
For the beloved, those in Christ, God will never remove these glasses as He gazes their direction. The position from which the believer stands daily is one of righteousness. They don't start in the negative, or even from zero. In Christ, the figure "100" has stamped their record. Those who have been caught by the Lion of Judah now have the pleasure of God constantly shining down on them. It's not a switch that flips on/off according to how one measures up on a given day. They don't fall in & out of his arms with every wise/foolish move they make. Everyday, the pronouncement over Jesus-as the dearly loved Son with whom God is well pleased, is whispered into the ears of God's redeemed. And our heart may condemn us in this matter, but "God is greater than our heart" & his declaration of pardon & pleasure in us overrides the relentless barrage of wearisome condemnation. The screams of his grace drown out the accusations of judgment against us. Wrath/anger are no longer stored up towards those who have taken refuge under the wings of Jesus. Each day the christian wakes up, God's approval is given before their feet hit the floor. (Not to say that rebuke & discipline aren't dealt to us; they are, to be sure. But even these are an act of divine love toward the children of God.) His heart has been "captivated...with one jewel of your necklace." And each and every gem of holiness we wear was purchased for us by the slain Lamb. The air we give off is the very fragrance of Jesus, for "we are the aroma of Christ to God..." And the garments of salvation we're clothed in are forever stained with the scent of our dear Savior.
In a land of drought, this promise of the never-ending pleasure/acceptance of God is ice cold water to a thirsty soul. The fact that He really would look at us through these lenses with love, and shower ten thousand blessings of mercy down upon the heads of his people everyday almost sounds too good to be true. But with a ring, a robe & a kiss, those who embrace Jesus are ushered to the banqueting table of God where they are invited to feast on his beauty for all of eternity. "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; & he who has no money, come, buy & eat! Come buy wine & milk without money & without price."

Narnia & beyond.

2010-12-13T07:54:00.000-06:00

The girls got a day off from school last week, & so we all shot over to the Chiang Mai Mall for the new Narnia movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Love these kids. I remember thinking awhile back about how I wanted my life to shine brighter for Christ when it comes to how I act & not just be limited to words. Being out here in Thailand has definitely pushed the opportunity open to do that, being that I'm not too far beyond only saying "hello" & "thank-you" in Thai. I definitely hope to learn the language, as I've mentioned before, but I also hope that the time I spend as more of a mime can still be useful, productive, & serve everyone well. I don't want to take away from speaking about Jesus at all, faith comes by hearing to be sure. But I have to wonder if some of my desire in the past to quickly share the gospel with people is mixed with a lack of desire to actually invest into their lives. Desiring to speak of the gospel, but not wanting to have to put in the time/effort it takes to display the effects of it to those around me.
Being here in Thailand w/o speaking Thai puts me in a place right now where I have lots of opportunity to love on these kids everyday without words, and let the fruit of light be on display primarily thru action. Jesus told his disciples that the evidence of all people being aware that they belong to Him is thru the way they love one another. May God breathe on us & make the dry bones rise with love in our lives...in my life.

ready for #3.

laa's ready too!

showtime.

sawadee khap.

global artist.

learnin' chess.

good news.

abba house neighborhood.

crusin'.

good times.

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”-The Lover of Lovers.

A Husband's Love.

2010-12-10T09:34:00.000-06:00

"Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church & gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing."-Ephesians 5.
It's amazing to me. Jesus didn't choose a gorgeous & faithful bride; He chose a filthy one, cleaned her himself & made her beautiful with his own blood. In the Ephesians 5 passage, Christ is seen as playing the active agent the whole way thru. He's sanctifying, cleansing, washing, & presenting her. She's the passive agent. She's being sanctified, cleansed, washed & presented by Him. Such humble, tender, sacrificial love.
We live with the idea that love is to be given when love is deserved. The exact opposite takes place between Jesus & His Church. Jesus makes one His bride who has whored herself out to other lovers, and does everything necessary to set her apart, take away her filth, and make her spotless. Jesus, like Hosea, pays to redeem His disloyal bride, and gladly showers love upon her. His motivation for loving for her doesn't come from her, but from Himself. He loves her because he loves her. She didn't do anything to make herself sparkle for Him. He put the sparkle on her himself. He presented her with a blood-washed wedding dress & calls her beautiful. Christ takes one unlovely, and makes her lovely. He looks at her and says, "You are altogether beautiful, my love; and there is no flaw in you."
He loves her like she's been faithful (though she hasn't), He loves her like she deserves it (though she doesn't) and He doesn't even need her love (yet, amazingly, He desires it). This love was not, and could never be, merited by her. His love toward her is sheer, pure, grace. Altogether unmerited & undeserved to say the least.
It's as if Christ didn't even need to know how messy his bride was before he would love her, because when he came to love her, he came with resolve. The matter was settled beforehand that he would love her, and love her forever. This is unconditional love. Loving without conditions. Resolved love. Love, in this sense, is blind. His love says to His wife, "I love you. And I will continue to love you without end."
Many of us come at relationships with an "I'll love those who love me" mentality. We want to see how people perform before we start handing out free love. But this isn't how Jesus loves His girl. There are no records of wrong in this marriage. Not in this kingdom. That record went to the grave with the The Son & it didn't come back with Him when he rose again. The counting of wrongs says, "the more strikes you get against you, the less inclined I am to love You." It lets performance dictate favor/lack thereof, instead of love. The records of wrong & grace are on different teams. This husband's love isn't counting. His wife's debts were settled at Calvary once and for all. Every outgoing tide of his love carries away her iniquities, while every incoming tide ushers in fresh mercy. His love doesn't waver with inconsistent behavior. It keeps on loving. And loving. And loving some more.
How can it be, that The Christ would stoop so low as to make a whore his own? That he would marry a dirty peasant & make her His cherished princess?....This Husband's love goes places where words fail....

First loved.

2010-12-09T05:29:00.000-06:00

For quite some time now, I've found that I seem to have a real difficulty with full-on embracing the love that God has for me. It seems alot easier for me to talk about His Holiness, or His Power. And "Jesus loves you" isn't a phrase that has been effortless for my soul to digest these past few years. I guess you could say I'm a bit of a skeptic when it comes to God's love. It's a bit ironic too, being that my name, david, means "beloved," or "dearly loved." Not only do I find myself slow to accept God's love for me, I also can be slow to give love to others when they "don't deserve it."
In the Scriptures, Jesus commands us to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength" and "love your neighbor as yourself." If this is ever to happen the way that God desires it to with us, we must first come to grab onto "the great love with which he loved us" with both hands. Or really, let it grab ahold of us. I think some of the problems that I/we face in our difficulty to love God & others well comes from a blurry understanding of God's amazing love for us. And that's where we need to start first.
The heart of the gospel is all about Jesus taking upon Himself what we deserve & giving us what we don't deserve. We turned away from God, everyone of us to our own way & he initiated reconciliation. He wasn't in the wrong, but he comes to us offering terms of peace thru a blood covenant. The only One with stones to throw let those stones be thrown at Himself to cancel out the record that stood against us. Jesus was "trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend." The only One with the right to condemn was condemned Himself. He got wrath, we get mercy. It's like Jesus is saying to all who will come to Him, "Look, I'm gonna take all your trash to the cross with me & die for it myself. I'll take care of all of it. I've got it covered." This is love! God doing for us in Christ what we were hopelessly incapable of accomplishing on our own. And we must let this Love that is like no other drench us like pouring rain. It has to bleed into our hearts and minds & saturate the depths of us. It has to. We need God's love to choke the life out of the un-love in us, that we may in turn begin to love God & others the way He created us to. So, before we start lovin', it's essential that we realize that we are loved.
There's a beautiful pattern that runs thru the New Testament where a number of different commands are given along with motivation for obeying each specific command. Which is, that the Lord has done the same for us. God calls us to be imitators of Him & do like he has done. For you. For me.
To name a few:
"Be kind & tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other, as God in Christ forgave you."
"...walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us."
"If I then your Lord & Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."
"...love one another, as I have loved you."
"..he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."
"Beloved(dearly loved), let us love one another"
"Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.."
"...if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
"We love because he first loved us."
Each of these commands directs us to find our impulses for obedience in what our Servant King has extended, and continues to extend, to us. We are to fix our eyes on He who has loved, served, forgiven, & welcomed us already with the gospel.
So may we dwell there, under the wings of Jesus, holding fast to His wild love for us. And may the Holy Spirit refashion us into the kinds of people who don't solely speak of Christ, but also increasingly live & love the way He did. May we tread in the sacrificial steps of The Lover of Lovers. May we be like Jesus....

shallow water.

2010-12-07T21:52:00.000-06:00

When I was younger, I always had this fear of being out on a body of water at the point where the shore starts to get blurry. I still have that fear. I don't like going too far out on the water away from land. I would rather just be right on shore or in shallow water, where I feel like I have control. The unpredictability of being so far out scares me. The unknown of the deep water is a frightening thing to me; and frankly, I don't have an interest to plumb it's depths. I'm content with the consistency of where the sea meets the land.
Tragically, I think many of us are like this spiritually. Our contentedness with the shoreline keeps us from swimming in deep waters with God. We're satisfied with predictable, and playing in the kiddy pool is fine with us, because, it's safe there. It's easy there. Not many demands when your standing in water that only comes up to your ankles. It's where we started out, and it's where we want to end. Shallow water casts out fears.
Though that is where many of us land, I do know a few people who aren't content with kiddy pool spirituality. Some I know personally, and some I know thru their writings; they're not shallow water swimmers. They choose to leave behind the easy, predictable, cookie cutter spirituality & instead venture out into what is unknown territory to the masses. The thing they all have in common is this: They want intimacy with God.
They value the triune God over ease, comfort, predictability, and safety. They're not content with just getting by, these people are thirsty for God. Their not content with simply having a head full of verses, they want to get close to the One who breathed on those Scriptures too. They're enslaved to the hypnotizing love of Jesus, & must do whatever it takes to be consumed by Him. Swimming in deep waters with God isn't natural for any of us. It's birthed by the Spirit of God & is where our flaws & failures are confronted head on as He drowns the old us & newness of life is brought to the surface. Idols can't float in the deep waters, which is why many of us choose to stay where we don't have to open our hands on things we're holding onto tighter than Jesus. They don't survive in the deeps, but they do stand nicely near the shore, which is what makes it such a popular spot to be. We fear what God might ask of us if we did swim out to where the shore gets blurry, so we play it safe in the kiddy pool.
We must be willing to get off shore, away from land, and leave the artificial, easy, undemanding "pursuit" of God behind. If we're ever to step into why we really exist, we must be willing to let the Author of life define for us what life with Him is to look like.
May we forfeit the comforts of the kiddy pool and start swimming out past the warning signs into the deep waters in pursuit of The Lord. May we be unsatisfied with ankle deep water, and instead have an insatiable desire to, not just know about, but intimately know the God who made us for Himself. May we realize that our hearts deepest longings will not be & cannot be satisfied on shore; that it's only in treading in water out toward the horizon that we will ever find authentic intimacy with our Heavenly Father.

Lahu.

2010-12-06T07:27:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we packed into 3 vehicles & made our way a few hours out from Chiang Mai, into the hill tribe of the Lahu people. Our time there consisted of loving on the many village kids that live there & conducting services at the local church. I was pretty blown away, haven't stayed overnight in a setting like that before. They did have a well-built church & storage barn, but other than that, it wasn't what you'd call typical. Most of the houses/huts were made of bamboo, many of the kids didn't have sandals, cold water showers out of buckets, by hand. It's amazing that what I, as an american, would call "roughin' it," the Lahu people call normal life. The little kids even got all excited when we pulled out some soccer-type balls to play with.
It was a beautiful experience out there. At any given time, you could have 5-10 kids followin' you around or jumping on your back :) Just tryed to pray that Jesus would bless them & keep them as I got to to touch these precious, little children. Made me wonder when those kids last got the kind of physical affection we got to give them; if ever. I got an opportunity to speak at one of the 5 church services we got to do on Sunday, and it was 1st translated into Thai, then into Lahu! The younger ones in the village speak Thai, but most of the older ones don't. This made the service go 3x longer than usual :)
All in all, It was an eye-opening experience that I'm glad to have been part of. And the message I wanted to bring to the Lahu people is the same one I want to bring in America: Jesus came to ransom sinners for God thru his bloodstained cross & resurrection.

baggage claim.

thumb wars!

boogeyin'

crazy kids :)

church.

YWAM Matt & his lil' fren.

piece of cake.

Lahu dance party.

the girls kept sayin' "suaay"-means "beautiful" in Thai.

rollin' deep.

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."-Jesus' brother, James.

Bieber in Thailand.

2010-12-02T07:37:00.000-06:00

They like Justin Bieber in Thailand. (turn up the volume for this)

Orient Express.

2010-11-29T07:19:00.000-06:00

Startin' to get into a more consistent schedule here lately in Thailand. We just moved to a new location, so there's still a bit of work to be done here that's been keepin' us busy. Teaching English to the kids here about 3 hours each day too. I'm overwhelmed at the opportunity to be here in Thailand. I'm glad that love is a language, otherwise I wouldn't have much communication with the kids yet! The little girls here are so precious, and hearing them sing songs about Jesus (Pah Yesu) reminds me that it doesn't take much for me to tear up.
I feel like learning the language is a must to be as effective as possible out here. New language, new culture...it's gonna take some time to become like a Thai to the Thai people(1 Cor. 9:19-23). But I think that's all just part of serving out here, and I'm glad to do it & look forward to the journey. So that's the latest out here in a nutshell, thank-you for your prayers!

city life.

skit rehersal.

American-style Thanksgiving.

Hallelujah is pronounced: Hallelujah.

roommate buddy: Laa.

Huay Kaew Falls.

Isaiah 52v7.

dok mai.

pray for chiang mai.

give yourself away.

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”-Christ.

In the Thailand.

2010-11-21T22:17:00.000-06:00

So, after a couple day detour in NYC, by the grace of God, I made it to Thailand! This is my 3rd full day here in Chiang Mai, & there's so much running thru my mind it's hard to know what to write. In short, I'm excited to be here, & my hope is that I would be poured out for the Thai people, for Jesus. Most of the people in Thailand (around 99%) don't know/trust Christ. I want to give my life here for the rescue of many who don't know Him, & the encouragement of those who already do. There's nothing else worth giving our lives for. May all of us be, what Oswald Chambers calls, "broken bread & poured out wine" for the Lamb who was slain.

outskirts of Chiang Mai.

vehicle of choice here. (saw a family of 4 riding one!)

dam outside of Chiang Mai.

not very camera friendly.

coconut tree.

buddhist temple entrance. (over 700 in Chiang Mai)

yee ping festival parade.

more parade.

flip flops. almost essential in Thailand. (custom to always remove shoes/sandals before entering houses)

cruisin.

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."-1st John.

Headin' to Thailand.

2010-11-17T13:44:00.000-06:00

Movin to Thailand...

2010-11-07T21:38:00.000-06:00

grace amazin'...

2010-10-18T03:36:00.000-05:00

I think one reason we have a hard time accepting God's grace is because we're not doing anything to earn possession of it. In fact, it's our failure that has created our deep need for it.
Say you're at Walmart & accidently knock some Smucker's Jelly off of the shelf. Glass shatters everywhere & strawberry debris spreads across the floor. The employees quickly come, assure you it's taken care of & encourage you to continue shopping. Each one of us walks away from that situation feeling bad, a bit guilty. Reason being, we didn't have to pay for or clean up the mess we've just made. I think that's similar to how some of us feel when it comes to the gospel of grace.
We spit in the face of God Almighty. We boycott The Lord of Glory. For this, God says we deserve to die. And rightly so. There are serious, eternal consequences for turning your back on the Creator & Sustainer of all things. But God, with His piles of riches of grace higher than Scrooge Mcduck, doesn't just sit back & let mankind go to our deserved damnation. Instead, The God-man willingly comes down from His Throne to clean up the mess we've made, with his own blood. So Jesus comes & switches places with criminals condemned to die, taking their death sentence on his own head. He puts their name tag on & stands in their spot. As the Spirit-led prophet beautifully lays out in Isaiah 53; "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all." And this breath-taking offer of reconciliation comes free of charge to any/all who will come back to their Creator thru Christ.
But the thing is, we think that since He's the one paying for our crimes & not us, God can't possibly be pleased with us. Reason being, we're guilty, but have been declared not guilty. So, we think there must be some beef lingering between us & God & that He's just waiting for a moment of weakness/disobedience so He can smash us. Jesus holds out his nail-pierced hands, inviting us to the throne of grace in our time of need, but we hesitantly respond with, "Are you sure?" What we're forgetting though is that Jesus' life was given, not taken. He assures his disciples of this by saying, "No one takes me life from me, I lay it down of my own accord." And "It is finished" implies that there's no longer any fee to be paid. Nothing more we could add to the sufficient work of the Savior. Every last drop of God's wrath toward all who believe was swallowed up by Christ. The call of justice was answered at the cross. You can't pick up a bill that's already been picked up. God's love & acceptance flows freely forever to all who bank on The Son of God. The cross was God's idea, & he wasn't coerced into it. It was "the will of the Lord to crush (Jesus)" Why? Because, in the breath-taking words of John 3:16, "God so loved the world." Or as Paul puts it more pointedly, "He loved me & gave himself for me." The Father in the parable of the Prodigal Son runs out to his homeward bound son not to crush him, but to embrace Him. The Father of lights does the same to all sinners who make their way home thru the cross.
And in setting up the gospel in a way that makes it available free of charge, God gets all the credit, all the glory, all the praise. It's a gospel that fills the mouths of the redeemed with thanksgiving, not bragging. It fills hearts not with pride, but lowliness. We must learn to be okay with not being the hero of the story. We must forsake any claim to superiority/sufficiency in ourselves, & gladly receive the hand-out of God's goodness in Jesus Christ. So, instead of running to the unbiblical extremes of pride in our "successes" or despair in our failures; may we open our dirty hands & receive the undeserved, free gift of God's cleansing grace that he gladly gives to ill-deserving sinners; like me....

Parade on the Battlefield.

2010-07-16T15:21:00.001-05:00

Just in case we think the Parade involves simply just kickin’ back in complacency and ease while the world around us bleeds, I want to try and paint a picture that deconstructs that unbiblical idea. The victory we have in Christ and our celebration of the gospel is to overflow out of us in fanatical Christian sacrifice. As John Piper put it, “God is calling us to be conduits (pipes/tunnels) of his grace, not cul-de-sacs.” We’re off the tracks when we dam up the mercy of Christ instead of pouring ourselves out for the glory of God in this world, as a response to what He’s done for us.
In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul informs the believers in Corinth about the churches in Macedonia, saying that “in a severe test of affliction their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty has overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” Their joy in Christ spilled over into a heap of giving. Even in severe affliction and poverty! The good news of Jesus took root in these believers’ hearts. They saw Christ as greater gold than all the world. And they were willing to give themselves up and suffer because he was worth it to them. What they were giving up didn’t compare to the diamond of God. Moses too “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” So for those of us who have been declared stainless by the blood of Jesus-what will we do now in response to what He’s done? How hard will we go for God? When we look through the Scriptures, we see people who not only gave thanks to God with their mouths, but were willing to give up everything out of the overflow of joy in Jesus. The same must be true for those of us who trust in Christ. The cross of Christ set a never-ending parade in motion, but in this world, the parade will be on the battlefield. And in this war “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” As 2 Timothy says, the devil has taken unbelievers “captive to do his will.”
So, not everyone’s a part of this celebration. Many are still under the wrath of God and enslaved to sin. And that means we must go to them. Billions of people in our world aren’t living for the One who created them. And it’s our job as His representatives to tell them about the Savior who can smash their sin to pieces and bring them back to God. The sad reality is that for so many us, we’ve let American culture dictate the way we live more than Jesus Christ. Just because we live in America doesn’t mean we need to live the easy life. Instead of falling into the norm of comfortable living, Christ calls us onto the Calvary road. Christians in America are not exempt from this calling. Pouring ourselves out to get the world drinking water and Living water should not be a rarity among us. Filling physical stomachs with food and spiritual stomachs with the gospel should constantly be continuing after we get back from missions trips. If our existence isn’t characterized by Christ and His Mission, we’re wasting our lives. Wasting – throwing them away like unfinished food. We were made for Him.
Heaven’s coming, but it’s not here yet… the building is still on fire. We must engage; it’s Christ or nothing! To be an ambassador for the God who offers terms of peace through the good news is a beautiful privilege. And to get involved in civilian affairs, wasting our lives on us, is a sad substitute for that privilege.
It’s a scary world out there, but what Jesus told His disciples is true for believers today as well – “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Christ isn’t gonna bail on us. Through the mockery, rejection and persecution, He’ll be there.
So may we, empowered by The Holy Spirit, “go to (Jesus) outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” And when we get Home, we will fully partake in the eternal celebration of God, with no tears, pain or death. But until then, we’re at war and we celebrate Jesus while marching on the battlefield. Not while locked in hideaways ignoring the cry of the poor, but instead rushing into all the world with the good news that Christ came into the world to rescue sinners. Don’t miss this! Urgently engage! Join the parade on the battlefield!

....the Parade's still goin'....

2010-05-25T21:44:00.000-05:00

“..thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.”-2 cor. 2:14.
I’ve been stuck on this Parade metaphor for awhile now. I think it’s such a beautiful picture of what Jesus got started because of his cross.
Victory has been given to losers through the perfect performance of God in the flesh.
He’s done for sinners what they’re incapable of accomplishing themselves. I’m marching in Parade that I don’t deserve to be a part of. But this is the beauty of the gospel…that Jesus took the blame for wrong he didn’t commit & paid the debt He didn’t owe. He made a way for us to glorify forever the God we don’t deserve. So the robes of righteousness that believers are clothed in came wrapped, we didn’t fork over the payment ourselves. I’m the all-year benchwarmer, & Jesus is the one-man team who won the Super Bowl. I won
‘cause He won for me. He took care of everything. Christ paid it all.
I love how this is painted in Romans 7 when Paul goes into a lengthy description of the flesh that he’s so tired of. Right near the end of the passage, in discouraged frustration, Paul cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Then in an ecstatic turn, Paul replies to himself, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” This Reality shines brighter than that reality.
He had a reason to celebrate. And that reason for celebration definitely didn’t come from inside of him. He had just lamented how much of a wreck He was-this sure isn’t the type of guy who would call himself a “good person.” So the reason for Paul’s celebration wasn’t Paul, & it also wasn’t Paul’s circumstances. In 2 Cor. 4 He says, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” So he looked at himself, & had no motivation for celebration. He looked at his circumstances, & that wasn’t a rock he could stand on either. But then He looked at Jesus..…& that made him leap for joy! That was a Parade Paul wanted to get in on. So the believer’s boast is not a claim to be something special in them self, but a celebration of the One who casts “all our sins into the depths of the sea” so that we could enjoy Him for eternity. That’s the goal in all of this. That’s what makes the trumpets worth blowin’ & the tambourines worth bangin’. Christ doesn’t simply open the cell doors of the prisons; “the righteous (suffered) for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God."
It’s not the streets of gold that will make Heaven so heavenly, it’s that we will get to be with God, always. We get Him-forever. For eternities to come we will gaze upon the face of The One who was, and is, & will always be. The King of Kings will be what we adore. The Lord of Lords will be our prize. That’s what makes the Parade worth marching in.

Join the Parade.

2010-03-30T15:55:00.001-05:00

“...thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession…”-2 cor.2:14.
Sometimes I feel like the good news is almost too good to be true.
I struggle with thoughts of condemnation & depression. I see my sin, and it bothers me. I hate it. There are those things in my life that, after much prayer, I still can’t seem to shake. I tend to look at the love that God has for me as having conditions, not unconditional. I find in my heart other things, competing for the devotion of my allegiance. And I find myself, more often that I would like to admit, giving into these little-g gods. Crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s in my life for the Lord is something I find myself striving for but failing at. I feel overly-critical of others at times & spiritually prideful about "my own accomplishments.” I battle clinging to religion & legalism, and struggle fighting against the Pharisee in me.
My prognosis from the outside looking in is probably pretty grim. But, hard as it for me to believe at times, there is a truth that has superseded & overshadowed the ugliness of my sin. The verdict would appear to be that of certain defeat. But the cross of Christ set a never-ending parade in motion! There’s a perfection that’s beyond me that has covered me. There’s a righteousness not my own that has been plastered to my account. There’s now a rejoicing that can occur not because of what I’ve done, but because of what’s been done for me. There’s a parade going on to take part in, not as a deserving victor, but as a redeemed one. There’s an epic celebration to be caught up in for those who by grace are more than conquerors. It’s not because of us, it’s all because of Him, Jesus, who loves us & has freed us from our sins by his cross.
The gospel means good news for a reason. Paul & the apostles with him understood this, which is how they were able to be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” In Christ, the celebration never stops. The party’s poppin’ 24/7 because of Jesus. He secured the victory with His broken body & shed blood. I refuse to embrace the thought that this news is too good to actually be true. There’s a parade going on that I don’t want to miss out on.
I don’t want you to either. Join the parade.

got questions?

2010-03-24T15:06:00.000-05:00

I'll do my best.
Click Me!

call me crazy.

2010-03-09T20:08:00.001-06:00

There’s a lot at stake.
I don’t typically feel like there is when I’m just going thru my day to day, driving down 35, but when I open up the Scriptures; I feel gravity.
Jesus said, “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
Does this verse bother you at all? What bothers me is that this verse does bother me more. Jesus said His coming will be like the flood’s coming in Noah’s day that swept away all who weren’t in the ark. Everybody was carrying on with the normal routine of life until the rain started pouring, then everything changed. I feel that so often we’re doing the same thing that people in Noah’s day were doing. We’re carrying on with the daily routine of life like everyone else around us, neglecting the weightiest matters in the universe. We don’t feel the weight of what’s on the line. This cannot be for the body of Christ.
There are roughly 6.8 billion people in the world, with 1/3 of that number claimed to be Christians. Even if that number is true, that still means 2/3 of the world doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ. And roughly 250,000 people are dying every day. There’s a lot at stake. But I think what we want to do when we hear things like this is pass off our responsibility to the sovereignty of God. But our sovereign God is the One who tells us to go everywhere & make disciples.
I have these thoughts of what it might look like to go hard for The Lord, and then have thoughts of what people might say if I actually did that. Crazy. But with verses like the one I shared above from Matthew 24, how can we not feel a burden to live crazy for God? And really, what we call crazy, Jesus simply calls obedient. If you really lived as if Christ’s coming will be like Round 2 of Noah’s Ark, people would most definitely call you crazy. Even Christians will think you’re nuts. But the One we follow tells us to deny ourselves, take up our instruments of execution, and follow Him. That’s not fluffy, that’s not light. It’s weighty, there’s a lot at stake. But it makes total sense in light of what the Bible has revealed in regards to the cross of Christ & eternity. If there were no cross & no eternity, we might have an excuse to live like everyone else. But that isn’t the case.
Revelation says, “The kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” We can live as though verses like this one aren’t in the bible and carry on with our daily routine; or we can live like it’s true & sprint in this race ‘till our lungs collapse. We must give everything to His cause. We must lose our lives for the gospel & live recklessly for the sake of Christ. We must. There’s so much at stake. Call me crazy.

The Necessary Obligation.

2010-01-30T22:34:00.000-06:00

This is a term I’ve been using to refer to what I see as a very popular view of God in our day. I don’t think what I’m seeing for the most part is predominately unbelief, but apathy. We just don’t care. We’re unmoved. What happens as a result of this is The Lord ends up being seen as “the necessary obligation.” We’ll go to church because we have to, pray cause it’s good to, read our bibles ‘cause we should. But Christ is not our everything. He’s not what we long for. He’s not what we’re desperate for. He’s seen as a distraction from real life. So we rush through “paying our dues” to Him to get on to “the good stuff,” when in reality, He is the good stuff!
I look at someone like the apostle Paul and can’t help but think what a freak that guy was for Christ. He shows us his passion for Christ in the book of Philippians when he says, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” So Paul is saying this of the same Lord – the same Christ – that so many of us see as stale and unexciting. It’s not that he served a different Jesus; he just had a different view of Jesus than many of us possess. The problem is not with God, the problem is with us. Our view of Him is distorted, our vision is off. We’re not seeing Him as He is. We’d rather feast on lesser things than taste and see that The Lord is good. Other things in this world seem appealing to us, whereas God just seems….boring.
Paul would go so far as to say that even the best stuff in his life wasn’t just second to the Savior, but a loss compared to Him. Paul had an enormous view of God that rocked his world and changed everything. He realized that this savior who died for him wasn’t a ladder to something greater, Christ himself was the greatest. In the same way, we need is a deflated view of things, and a massively enlarged view of Christ. There are a million things everyday that compete for our allegiance – created things that we gladly allow to sit enthroned in our lives. But what we need is to see visible things as temporary, and the invisible God as glorious. C.S. Lewis would tell us that God finds “our desires not too strong, but too weak.” And listen to the fanatic in Psalm 73 who just couldn’t get enough: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Over and over in the scriptures you see believers who could not function properly without more of God. They didn’t just scratch the surface with The Lord; they couldn’t breathe without Him. They didn’t see Him as a distraction from what they really wanted; He himself was everything they wanted. He wasn’t “the necessary obligation,” He was their glorious treasure, their all-in-all, their “portion forever.” May He be that for us as well.

End of the road.

2009-10-14T19:18:00.000-05:00

sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. Let's just say my comp. has been on the fritz. Doesn't seem to be much life left in this thing. Anyways....I have about 4 sets of updates sittin' around....but I'll just leave you with a few from the end of the tour. We're officially done for the year and looks like I'm going to be living in southern california for a bit. It's been a good trip these past few months....the good news about jesus got out there to many people; and I just hope God carries the effects far beyond today, into eternity.

sky fire.

ax.

beat.

come.

God's mural.

saloon.

"The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."-Revelation 22:17

this is an em-urgency.

2009-10-01T22:20:00.000-05:00

Most of us do whatever it takes to avoid the subject of death.
we block it out, ignore it, do whatever it takes not to face the inescapable reality. maybe sooner, maybe later, but inescapable nonetheless.
It may be a subject we don't like to think about....but death puts everything into perspective.
Death is really good at resizing things in our lives. It makes the big issues not seem so big and the little issues microscopic.
The truth is that sin has entered this world and brought it's friend, death, with it. Death spread to everyone because everyone sinned. This package came as a result of our rejection of & rebellion against our creator. We thought we knew better than He did, and where we find ourselves now is the result of that "knowing better."
But the story doesn't end there....that same God who created us to enjoy him forever entered into human history on a rescue mission as the God-man, Jesus Christ. He lived perfectly, died painfully, on a cross, taking the wrath of God & punishment of all those who would turn from sin, to Him & believe. He died....in our place...for our sin. The innocent One dies in the place of the guilty ones. The punishment that was upon him brings us peace with God. Getting up out of the grave 3 days later he put death to death. He killed the thing that's killing us. He died the death we should've died for our rebellion and extends the eternal life with Him that we don't deserve. The only thing we deserve is judgement, but through the cross, what we get is grace. He offers rescue from the Hell we deserve to be a part of his family forever
This is urgent. We're all dying. Christ invites you to be ransomed back to God by his blood shed on the cross. Nothing else will do. No religion. No philosophy. No bargain. No good work. Just Christ crucified. In your place...for your rebellion. Run to Him while you still have breath in your lungs.

oh my (at)lanta.

2009-09-19T18:52:00.000-05:00

so.....my computer & camera have been freaking out a bit...so I haven't been updating this thing. It's a mini-miracle that i'm even using this comp. right now :) Anyways...after the last update we hit dallas, ohio, maryland, virginia, ATLANTA, virginia again....and now we're in louisville. 2 more weeks left 'till the tours over for the year. I thank God for what's being done out here & for being able to be a part of it. I'm a little road weary but it's such a privilege to be able to serve the servant king.
This is ATL.

bo brock.

nollie hard.

dazed.

fazed.

ready to roll.

land or slam.

gnomies.

buenos noches.

"he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."-2 cor. 5.

mich again & beyond.

2009-09-03T02:53:00.000-05:00

I've been slackin'...sorry! I can't remember everything, but I know we were in....michigan, minnesota, kentucky...and those 3 are compiled in this entry. After we did traveled through those parts we hit Ohio and then down into Houston,Tx, which is where we are now. Maybe dallas tommorow. confused yet? I sure am :) but hey, God seems to be movin'. good news is gettin' loose.

sky dynamite.

eggy joy.

reunion.

makin' hits.

deez-a-tron.

fh4c frens.

colorful people.

scurred.

hungry. why wait?

nature walk.

earthy.

goodnight...err..day.

"christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."-galatians.

truckin' fer jesus.

2009-08-15T22:39:00.000-05:00

been drivin' alot lately. keepin' busy. after eggy's house we did a demo in southern ill. then arkansas. then oklahoma. now were in georgia. pray for us & them if you could. thnx.

st. louie.

He did!

forecast:cloudy.

staring contest.

glad tidings.

tulsa.

eggy joy.

rock the boat.

homies.

droppin'.

the gang.

psalm 19v1.

......."Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."-luke 10.

make some illinoise.

2009-08-09T23:13:00.000-05:00

our week-or-so "adventure" @ eggy boy's house in springfield, IL. upward and onward.

thanks.

felix.

tubbin'.

holds everything together.

blur.

gameboyz.

ramp jam.

makin' hits.

alice in eggy land.

........"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."-Colossians 1.

let's get err started.

2009-08-07T01:01:00.000-05:00

silhouette.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"-Romans 5:1

Reconciliation Tour '09.

2009-08-06T04:16:00.000-05:00

Reliance/Siren skateboards tour this month. If were coming near you, come near us! I'm callin' it the reconciliation tour. (2 cor. 5:17-21) The lineup for the tour is eggy boy, chris weigele, casey wells, mike matzuka, and neckbeard doin' merch. Come hang!
Here's the dates:
Aug 8 - Collinsville, IL

Aug 9 - Fayetteville, AR

Aug 11 - Ponca City, OK

Aug 15 - Marietta, GA

Aug 16 - Acworth, GA

Aug 19 - New Braunfels, TX

Aug 21 - Jeffersonville, IN

Aug 22 - Madison, IN

Aug 23 - Salem, IN

Aug 27 - Wadena, MN

Aug 28 - Woodbury, MN

Aug 29 - Toledo, OH

......"Angels surrounding His throne and Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. The whole earth is full of His glory, All nations bow to His name. His majesty fills the Heavens, Our hearts give thunderous praise. Declare the Lord is forever, Make a joyful noise in this place!"-Joyful Noise by Flame.

I'm in love.

2009-08-05T04:04:00.001-05:00

with a higher love. (were still in illinois...hangin' at eggy's. demo this saturday...pray for us & them if you can. thnx. christ is king mayne!)

I want ya back.

2009-08-02T01:58:00.001-05:00

voetberg rendition. enjoy.

liljah & annie.

2009-07-30T18:56:00.000-05:00

potato country to lincoln land.

2009-07-30T18:36:00.000-05:00

spent a few days in boise. drove twenty somethin hours yesterday and arrived @ eggy's house...just outside springfield, illinois.

backside.

frankles.

yootaw.

never gets old.

1 cor. 10:31

pushin' it.

omahaha.

secret penguin.

mural.

atheist?

"jesus wept."

creation west.

2009-07-27T23:11:00.000-05:00

left portland. did 3 days of demos @ creation in washington. in boise 'till tommorow. then eggy's house in illinois for a few. God help us. always.

simper.

waterfallin'.

passin' by.

never dull.

dimness.

116 clique.

jam sesh.

back smif.

group 1.

the gorge.

1 john 3:1.

beautyful.

fam.

pray hard.

........"he who began a good work in you WILL carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."-philippians 1:6.
thank-you Lord.

eggy verse.

2009-07-27T19:56:00.000-05:00

portland, oregon trail.

2009-07-22T14:32:00.000-05:00

spent a few days here......upward & onward to creation.

mozart.

lacin' up.

neckbeard.

secret window.

matzookie.

snoozin'.

wide-eyed.

........"The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."-Revelation.

I-5 N.

2009-07-21T01:38:00.014-05:00

North on I-5. O.C. to OR. Met up with D.Wells, Casey, Neckbeard & Zac Archuletta here in Portland.

chief weigele.

many miles.

arrgh.

bob dylan.

cali hills.

chrissy drummin'.

jelly belly.

yonder.

pit stop.

chrissy strummin'.

93 million miles away.

......"They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath."-1st Thessalonians 1.

on the road againagain.

2009-07-19T14:07:00.009-05:00

Flight: detroit-->chicago-->phoenix-->orange county. Lots of flyin' yesterday. Met up with Eggy boy, Chris, Mike Matzuka, Jacey & Chief. Right now were in southern california headin' for portland,oregon; stayin' there for a few days before goin' on to creation festival in washington.

good to go.

motor city.

above the clouds.

in transit.

chi town & lake mich.

the mountains melt like wax 'fore the Lord.

.........."And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so... God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day."-Genesis 1.

ludington, once more.

2009-07-17T14:33:00.013-05:00

Went to ludington again for the day with a car full of guys. Flyin' out tommorow from Detroit over to Orange County. From there, drivin' the motorhome to George, Washington for the Creation West Festival.

jack the ripper.

layers.

cronies.

din-din.

chow down.

beefed it.

roast beefed it.

........."This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."-1 John.

another day, another holler.

2009-07-15T12:51:00.012-05:00

another day in the mitten.

futbol.

happy-go-lucky.

tre bomb.

bag-a-day.

ripped slips.

cloud 9.

byron boys.

shreddin' 4 jesus.

jump.

no hands.

homeward bound.

........"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."-Revelation 21.

jamboree!

2009-07-14T03:24:00.002-05:00

only a few find it.

2009-07-13T01:16:00.022-05:00

Have you ever really seriously looked at the claims & statements of Christ?
They're insane. Not insane in the ridiculous, silly, foolish sense.....but insane in the weighty, shocking, stunning sense. Jaw-dropping. Breath-taking. Make your palms sweat a little-ing.
In the book of Matthew, chapter seven, Jesus says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. That last part especially...."only a few find it".......just let that sink in.
Now, I've run into some who seem to think the road is more narrow than even jesus did. When he says narrow, i don't think he means "20 people in a church somewhere in Texas" narrow. I think he's talking, in relation to the majority of the world, only a few, a minority of the human race, will find life.
In our world today, were hard pressed to even conceive that there could only be one way to God. This is usually referred to as, "narrow-minded." We don't want to think it possible that only Christ has the power to bring people back to God. But contrary to popular belief, in light of world religions, you have only one road that leads to life; and that's Christ. Narrow.
But....even within what's called "christianity" nowadays, you have false gospels, heresy, works based salvation.....so even within those who have some claim to Jesus...there are many sideroads that lead away from the narrow one. So many straying from the gospel that's "by grace through faith" in Christ alone. You have the prosperity gospel, this gospel, that gospel, so many different gospels, but when it comes to THE GOSPEL, only a few find this one.
Not to mention a million different things everyday that compete for our allegience. Things we, with our lives, bow down to. Money, fame, man's approval, pride.....a million broken cisterns that cannot hold water, and we constantly run to these gods, who cannot save. Narrow.
I think the questions we need to ask ourselves are...."do I truly believe that Jesus is the only thing in the universe that could ever make me right with God? do I really believe that Jesus is my gain? Do I really believe that he's better....do I really believe that getting God is what my heart longs for most? And if so...am I willing to bank everything on these beliefs? Am I willing to act on them?"
Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate....even his own life-he cannot be my disciple." Men love darkness rather than light, and most of us would rather hold tightly onto rags, then let them go and embrace the King. We shudder at the thought of having to lay our precious lives down for Christ, rather than flinging them away for love of Him and buying the field.
the road is narrow...and only a few find it.
We must be reckless. We must be fearless. We must live dangerously. We must be...what Jesus calls...disciples. The wide road where all these other things lead, takes us only to destruction. We're clinging to sinking ships until we cry out to Jesus. It's Christ or nothin'. He's our only hope, there is none other. He is the only one with the power to save from death, the only one who can give us peace with God, forever. The only one who can fill the stomach of the hungry. The only one who can rescue sinners from themselves. The only one who can give, what he himself is.......Life.
Lose your life.....that's the only way, jesus says, that you'll "find it." God help us.
-dave

ludington.

2009-07-12T11:27:00.023-05:00

Went out to Ludington,MI for the day with robbie, g rod, and cayl.... met up with deezle & the kzoo gang.

reckless robbie.

skateperk.

deezy breakin' boards.

never dull.

God paints.

make one.

get one.

for here.

to go.

think outside the bun.

......"any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."-jesus christ, king of kings & author of all creation.

video blog?

2009-07-09T22:57:00.003-05:00

it's true.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."-John Piper.

cuarto de julio.

2009-07-06T14:31:00.007-05:00

Independence dayy in the mitten.

God woke the morning up...

and put the day down.

hues.

fire.

works.

hiya.

............."Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king."-1 Peter 2.

comin' home.

2009-07-03T17:13:00.015-05:00

flight: phoenix-->denver-->dallas.
drive: dallas-->grand rapids.
mission complete. thank-you, Lord.

a.m. in az.

ready for takeoff.

all set.

cumulus.

denver.

flight #2.

on the road again.

arkansas cirrus.

mississippi riv.

welcome.

darn antenna.

sun down.

still on it.

......"I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."-Acts 20:24

coast to coast.

2009-07-01T02:09:00.000-05:00

we made the drive from virginia to arizona over the span of the last 3 days. long. got a month till the next demo. Tommorow I'm off to dallas, then driving back to grand rapids for the break. Help me jesus :)

go.

pit stop.

drowsy.

compadres.

sunless.

awkward.

crooked.

lovin' it.

..........."And when I turned I saw.......someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."-Revelation.

creation.

2009-06-28T01:28:00.013-05:00

creation east, 3 day festival in pennslyvania. good time. Christ was lifted up. I can hardly type this with my exhausted arms.......

I made it mom.

before.

after.

neckpiece.

beans & the boys.

lecrae & the 116 clique.

jesus peace.

aaron back 5err.

group one crew.

fam.

......."for as by the one man's (adam's) disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's (jesus') obedience the many will be made righteous."-romans 5.

back to VA.

2009-06-22T23:09:00.014-05:00

drivin' back to virginia. creation festival in two days.

red all over.

sunday sunrise.

my view.

sierra mist.

see the crosses?

.........."this is how we know what love is: jesus christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay our lives down for our brothers. If anyone has material possesions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."-1st John.