when did we stop telling people that God has big plans for them?

when did we stop believing it for ourselves?

why do we think that God's plans are always future oriented and not now-oriented?

i want to be the type of person who realizes God's goodness now and encourages others to live in God's plan now.

the last month in pics

our good friends ross and rachel got married! woohoo and flowers to them!
my college buddy and friend, Nate, stopped by and we took a road trip to DC. this is us at the washington monument.

I'm so in love with my wife!

and she's great with child! can't wait until december 17 (or before, as is being predicted).

Quote from Life After God

"For so many years I lived a life of solitude and I thought life was fine. But I knew that unless I explored intimacy and shared intimacy with someone else then life would never progress beyond a certain point. I remember thinking that unless I knew what was going on inside someone else's head other than my own I was going to explode."

143, Life after God, Douglas Coupland

some interesting thoughts on the need for community and intimacy that all people have...

Every moment is sacred.

It is sacred because God shows up.

But time is not sacred in itself.

What is sacred is that every person matters to God.

What would happen if we saw every encounter with another person as an encounter with God?

Creation Rushed or Unrushed?

I wondered this morning as I was rushing around trying to get stuff ready for the week.

I wondered if God was rushed when he created the universe. Like, did he wake up one morning, look at his schedule and say, "Oh my me! I have to make light and darkness today. And tomorrow I need to separate the waters. And the day after that I gotta make dry land and from that land I have to make sure that stuff grows from it. And that's not it. The day after that I'll be required to make stars and the sun and moon. Whew, that's going to be a lot of work. But I won't be done then either. The next day I have to make flying things and swimming things. I'm not quite sure what those will look like yet, even. Oh my. And when I want to be done, I have to get up the next day and make animals that walk on the earth. And I'll probably need to make one of the animals rule over all the others, just so that there can be some semblance of order. And after that day, I'll get some rest. Man, I can't wait for Saturday."

Or was there peace in all that he made?

coming home...

well, i just turned in my final assignment due this week. so that means i am done for the week.

it's been good, but i can't wait to be home...

i am going home tomorrow morning. super early.

can't wait to see aubrey. less than 12 hours.

Relaxing Weekend (save for absence of aubrey)

So, this past weekend was relaxing, after feeling completely wiped from a full week of late nights and early mornings. I'm thankful for the Hulls. Here's some fun pics...for some reason I don't have one of Carol...who is quite the excellent cook. The only thing missing this weekend was Aubrey. It would be complete if she was here.

here's the box car kids. they're crazy.
and here's the cutest face ever...
And of course, hanging Brian himself has been quite dandy. He's a good friend. A good one. I think I'm lucky.

Also you should check out this cool conversation on his blog. Click on his picture and get sent to it.

Also, I hung out with an old friend from VA, Jeff Edmonson today. It was quite fun. He took me on a tour of the Nazarene Publishing House, showing me the printing presses and the massive folders. It was amazing!

adventures on the plaza 2

this is for aubrey

this was quite reminiscent of fountains in rome...

this is a guy i met. quite friendly, but slightly cold.

this is a waterway. hm. water.and this is another mosaic. lots of the around. not sure what a knight is doing chasing foxes in the plains of america...

adventures on the plaza 3

So, if you want a chronological turn of these pages, go to the first adventures and then the second adventures.

can't resist the gelato. too much like our time in rome.

unfortunately this gelati had a hole in the bottom of the cone, which left me leaking all the way around the plaza. so much leakage that i threw it away. it made my hands too messy to be sociable.

and another cool tile painting. i felt like stealing this one, i liked it so much.
i thought this was cute, and as aubs and i are preparing for the maternal and paternal roles, these things stand out to me more and more.
Ah. Nothing like finding Neptune hard at work among the traffic of an American city.
A store completely dedicated to cheese! What could be better? (beside having Aubs here)
dancing penquins. cute.
and aubrey likes doors, so i thought this was cool.
and more tile work. this kind of stuff is everywhere down here.

While all this stuff was great, it was not quite the same alone.

I can't wait to be back with Aubrey and the baby next week.

adventures on the plaza

So brian was kind enough to show me to the plaza in KC yesterday. after a sweet lunch at PF Changs (a chinese bistro, interesting combo) with dave and brian, brian turned me loose on the plaza, which i explored for a bit. below you will find some pictures of my adventures.

this is the original four faced fountain in KC, which started the fountain revolution.

KC is known as "city of fountains" and is also known for it's unique artwork.

I actually forgot the name of this fountain, but i loved it. it's to the left of the four faced fountain. Below you'll find individual pics of the horseback riders.


each of the riders was in great detail and portrayed a heated struggle with some type of beast.

this is one of the main streets of the plaza. the buildings have very unique architecture, playing off of italian and spanish themes.

prayer

why is it easier to tell others about times when i've prayed and been frustrated with God's response than about times where God has touched my life?

Chechen Brutality

Can you say middle ages?

This account is humiliating. A story that makes you wonder how humanity can get to this level and makes you hope for redemption and grace.

In reading Romans, I think I finally get chapter 5. Evil can never increase to the amount that grace will not be able to surmount it. Grace always goes beyond evil. From the beginning, love created the world and remakes the world, while evil can only destroy. As Rob Bell says, "love wins."

Let's pray for that in this story...

Again, you may need a NYTimes free account to view the article and video.

ah the joy of a camera and grandpa glasses

some pics from the KC

it's the academic building!
it's the frontside of the academic building!

it's my bed!

well, i've enjoyed the experience already. of course i love staying with the hulls. their hospitality blows me away. and i've already met some people who are of like mind and heart here. and i've met a dude who can give me a ride all the way back to Olathe.

it's odd, b/c i remember being here with my dad...20 years ago...

seminary begins...

and so it begins...

today marks the first day of seminary learning and shaping for me.

the first class: Evangelism Through the Local Church with Lyle Pointer

the texts:

Reaching Generation Next by Lewis Drummond
Building a Contagious Church by Mark Mittelberg
Evangelism in Everyday Life by Lyle Pointer and Jim Dorsey
Better than Imagined by Lyle Pointer

stated objectives:

1. to possess a working knowledge of a Gospel presentation
2. to grasp the NT principles of evangelism
3. to articulate the relationship of the church to the world
4. to grasp the sociological aspects of church growth
5. to attempt to lead someone to Jesus Christ and to nurture that convert
6. to think critically and prayerfully about one's personal philosophy and practice of evangelism

i'm very interested to see what's going to happen through this course and to see how i will be shaped, especially in light of our conversations on Christianity Rediscovered...

Child Labor Story: Alone

This is a well-done portrait of the awful child labor saga happening in Africa.

Listen to the commentary on the pictures. You might need a free membership to view them, but it's worth it.

It's a story about a 9 year old boy named Alone who lives with his grandma and crushes stones to make sure he and his grandma can live. It takes him about 3 weeks to make $3.00 from crushing stones into powder.

He has one toy: an aluminum cover of an auto air filter.

Only the Royals...

How could this happen?

another friend giving some brilliance...

so check out my friend's blog.

i like him.

I tried to convert an axe murderer last night...

So it started with a group of us going to a horror movie. Oddly enough, the movie was playing in a trailer. One of those trailers that litter the grounds of overpacked high schools. While we were watching the movie we felt the trailer start to rise from the ground. We looked out the window and we were looking through teeth into the throat of a ginormous T-rex.

It was at this moment that I realized I needed to get these people out of the trailer and to safety. So I proceeded to tell everybody to "Get OOOUUUT!!!" And we all stumble and fall out of the trailer, which the T-rex finishes off with loud crunches.

As we run, we see men coming at us with all sorts of yard maintenance tools. We thought they were coming for us, but then they went past us to the T-rex. Thank God for men with lawn maintenance experience.

But before we got away we realized that some of the men had begun to chase us. I quickly told all the people to run and went another direction, pulling apart the group of lawn maintenance murderers.

After outrunning most of the men, I turned and saw that there was still one fast on my heels. And he was weilding an axe. Angrily. Angrily holding and waving the axe. At me.

Then I remembered something my wife had told me. "Whenever you are being attacked by an uknown person, ask them their name. That way you will throw them off and make it personal."

So I did that. As I ran.

"What's your name?"

Footsteps. No words.

"What's your name?" I ask again.

"Luke," I hear through the heavy breathing.

"Oh Luke. I love that name. Have you ever heard of Luke Skywalker or the Luke guy in the Bible?"

I hear the axe swinging at me and turn and dodge it. He's too close to turn and run again.

I look him in the eye as he swings the axe again. I grab the axe. Looking into his eyes I say, "Both of those men, the other Luke's, had experiences where they had to choose good over bad. Both of those men chose to become better men. What are you choosing, Luke? You can be so much more than this."

I wrestle a little more and yank the axe from him.

I wake up. I wish I had finished my dream...but I didn't.

Off to camp this week

I'm off at camp this week, so I'll leave you a picture of my dearest roadside companion, who I see every day on my way to work. Enjoy.