Going Places With God

I've been wanting to do this for quite a while, but it just hasn't happened. However, now is finally the time for (insert triumphant music here) my first book review on this blog. That's right, I've stuck my big toe into the vast ocean of online book reviews. You can find my review here at amazon.com (why? because it's kind of cool to see something from someone you know on a major website. that or I'm just really conceited.) or posted below. Please let me know what you think and please point out any mistakes or things I could work on as I plan on doing this on a more regular basis.

I love talking to people about international travel. Many people have been to places that I have never been to and it is always an enlightening, educational and entertaining experience to listen to the tales of their journeys. However, there is just something even more exciting and refreshing about reminiscing with someone - whether or a close friend or even a complete stranger - about a place in the world that you have both visited. These kinds of shared experiences provide for sharing fond memories, lessons learned, dangers averted (or not!), anecdotal stories, cultural faux pas and much more.

This is how I felt reading through Going Places With God. In the fall of 2004 I spent a semester studying in the Judean Hills of Israel, some 15 miles west of Jerusalem. So as I read one or two pages each morning in early 2007, I was taken from my apartment in Orange County, California and transported back to the Middle East, a place that I came to love and still am learning to love even more.

Wayne Stiles has a God-given ability to take - sometimes in just a sentence - a piece of biblical geography and fire an arrow of application directly at the reader's heart. For example, on Day 64, Stiles applies the idolatry that King Jeroboam set up in Dan in northern Israel to our easy, convenient and recreation-centered American lives. With four crisp and precise paragraphs, he gives a brief summary of Jereboam's sin and then transitions to how a wicked king of the northern kingdom 2900 years ago and his treacherous syncretism in Dan and Bethel can be relevant to today's reader: "Ease must never determine our spiritual priorities."

Stiles makes a typically boring subject to most evangelicals a way to relate God's truth to a generation desperately in need of it. The maps and pictures throughout are very helpful, but they could have been referenced a little better than the tiny font at the bottom. Most days, I forgot the references were even there. I also enjoyed the travelogue at the end of the book. It was very interesting and allowed Stiles to meander through a more specific and touching tribute to the land he has grown to love more after every visit.

For the experienced traveler and for the homebody in Somewhere, America, this devotional will allow you to see the "boring" details of the Bible in new and refreshing ways. You can see Stiles passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ in his attention to the meaning of inspired geography. It is a very different but very solid way to spend your quiet time with God. I highly recommend Going Places With God.

We're going to Mexico!!!!

Tomorrow morning at 5:30 am, we'll meet the group and head over to LAX for our 9:55 am flight to Mexico City. From there we'll take a slow bus to Bernal, which apparently is about 3 hours (by slow bus) north of Mexico City. I thought this would be a GREAT opportunity to share some prayer requests because I know many of you are praying for us as we serve the Lord alongside the Kulls (missionaries our church supports). These are in no particular order:

1. Pray for unity in the team. So far the Lord has greatly blessed us in knitting our group together, but there is still so much more we can do to grow in this area.

2. Pray for focus for the team. This is a HUGE one because it's so easy to get distracted with other things. And we all know the attention span of high school-aged boys, even though they are great guys! :-)

3. Pray for the team to be unaffected by the elevation (i.e. elevation sickness). This is, specifically, a concern of mine. Pray that even if anyone does experience it, they are still able to participate in the ministry with a good attitude.

4. Pray for the people we will meet.

5. Pray for clarity in sharing the gospel.

6. Pray for our interpreters. Some of them are a little rusty with their Spanish, but they are all working hard at it.

7. Pray for the Kulls and their on-going ministry.

8. Pray for the various aspects of our ministry. We may or may not be helping build their church and house, participate in sports ministries and children's programs, perform dramas (mimes) and who knows what else!

9. Pray for our leaders. They are doing an excellent job, but it's always easier to lead people who are willing to be led.

10. Pray for flexibility! If you haven't figured this out yet, we need to be ready and willing to serve in any way. That's why Mexico's nickname is Flexico.


Now that it's been approximately two hours since I started this post, I'll leave the prayer requests at ten. We will be back pretty late Saturday night (I believe our flight lands around 7 pm). Thank you so much for all your prayers! Have a wonderful week!

Paul Potts

This certainly is unlike me, but someone at work pointed this out to me because we both like Andrea Bocelli. If you know who Andrea Bocelli is (and like his voice) then you should DEFINITELY watch this video. If you don't know who Andrea Bocelli is, you should still watch this video. This is Paul Potts. It's seriously amazing!

Some guy at Disneyland :-)

As promised, here is the video of Kobe Bryant at Disneyland. You can see his wife walking ahead of him once they turn the corner. She's pushing a stroller. I didn't notice her until I watched the video later. Then again, I didn't even know that Kobe was married.... I'm so on top of things like that.



I've also added pictures to our web albums from our day at Disneyland and our afternoon at the beach on Sunday with some of the couples from our young married Sunday school class. Oh, and there will be more videos on the sidebar as Happy tried to get out of the hole he was buried in. Quite hilarious.

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!

Discerning Reader

This is a site I highly recommend for good book reviews from a Christian perspective. Most of them are on Christian biographies, Christian living or theology. However, other books are also reviewed. You can find the link to Discerning Reader on the sidebar now. So go and read!

MacArthur Awarded Runner-Up

Last Friday, the bastion of truth on television, Keith Olbermann, declared Dr. John MacArthur the runner-up for "worst person in the world." That's right. Dr. MacArthur is now only "worsted" by the "worstest" person in the world, Bill O'Reilly. Give me a break.

Here's the actual transcript if anyone's interested.

Disneyland and Kobe!

Saturday was the Third Annual Safety Picnic held by the company where Amy works at Disneyland. Basically, all employees get to go to Disneyland for free and enjoy a buffet-style lunch at the Festival Arena, which is a fenced off location for special occasions in Frontierland behind Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Amy and I wanted to be able to see and do more of Disneyland than we did a couple of months ago, so we got up a little bit earlier than usual for a Saturday morning - 6:20 am. Preparation for the day took a tad longer than expected, but we got going a little after 8:20, parked our car in the Target parking lot at the intersection of Harbor and Chapman, jumped on the bus for about five minutes, and got off right across the street from the entrance to Disneyland/California Adventure.

Our tickets were scanned, our maps were in hand, and we headed down Main Street U.S.A. to rent a locker for a ridiculous $7 fee. After that, it was straight to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain, the best ride at Disneyland. The wait was posted as only 15 or 20 minutes (I can't remember which), which was quite a bit better than 110 minute wait last time we were there! Man, I really love Space Mountain. The darkness is great because you can't tell where you are going or where the track is going to turn. I suspect if the ride was outside, it probably wouldn't be as enjoyable. Next was Star Tours, a must for any Disneyland visit!

Then, Amy convinced me that it would be fun to go out to the large courtyard in between Disneyland and California Adventure and get a picture taken in front of the last "A" in the huge "CALIFORNIA" that stands in front of California Adventure. I didn't think it was wise to leave the park and miss out on getting in short lines for popular rides. I wanted to make it to Pirates of the Caribbean before the famous ride's line got ridiculous. Amy said it would be quick and that she really wanted to do it, so I acquiesced.

We left the park, got our hands stamped and started across the courtyard. I was busy talking (no big surprise) and asking which side of the "A" we wanted to take the picture when I noticed my mom and dad and my two brothers standing up ahead of us! At first, I thought, "Why is my family here?" Smart, I know. Then it dawned on me. It was a surprise! Ah yes, I get it now.

So Amy had worked it out that my family could come down and spend the rest of the day with us at Disneyland. It was fun. We went on Pirates and Space Mountain (again), Star Tours (again), watched the Jedi Training Academy (which was hysterical again), went on the Matterhorn, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad and probably some other things that I'm forgetting right now.

My dad mentioned that we were going to try and go to the ESPNZone at Downtown Disney (which is a slew of shops, restaurants, a theater, etc., open to the public outside of Disneyland) for dinner. As we made our way (oh yeah, we went on the Indiana Jones Ride!) from Adventureland to Main Street U.S.A. on our way out, my brother Scott grabbed me pretty hard to turn me toward the street and half-whispered "Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, ANDREW!"

I didn't appreciate this, so I let out an annoyed "What?!" I stopped, looked: "Oh."

A young, tall black man was towering above a Disneyland security guard and a Frontierland worker. He was holding his little daughter's hand. It was Kobe Bryant, number 24, shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers! He has been my favorite player for years on my favorite team and he was walking down the street in Disneyland no less than 3o feet from me! Scott and I both freaked out, ran ahead to my parents where Scott got mom's camera. Amy handed me our (her) camera, and like any level-headed, intelligent, white, middle-class, college educated young men would do, we followed after Kobe.

I never realized it until Scott told me, but Kobe's wife was in front of him, pushing a stroller. I took a video (which we'll post here soon), took some pictures and then circled around almost to Pirates of the Caribbean. I took a pretty good picture of Kobe and then began walking toward him. No one else was "tracking" (I refuse to say stalking) him so I didn't really want to be a jerk and announce to all of Disneyland that Kobe and his family were here, so I said as I got close, "I love you Kobe!" Now, I'm convinced that I said "We love . . ." but Amy says I said "I." Anyway, Kobe said, "Thanks man."

So there you have it. My brush with greatness. I have a feeling that because of this, Kobe will stay a Laker and the Lakers will win it all next year.

On a more serious note, I think it's hysterical what celebrities do to us. I mean, one minute I'm headed for the exit of Disneyland, the next I'm trying to catch up to a 6'6" guy that makes millions and millions of dollars playing a game and doing commercials. I wonder if at any other point and place in history if this kind of celebrity-obsession existed. See, I don't think I've ever written a post this long, but Kobe says two words to me and suddenly I'm inspired to write a long post explaining how great it was and how privileged I am, etc., etc. Anyway, before I begin to wax eloquent on any number of bunny trails, I'm going to sign off and get back to real life.

Go Lakers!

My Birthday Celebration Extraordinaire!

My wonderful husband did an excellent job on my 24th birthday! I've added the pictures to our web albums, for those who are interested. I was told I couldn't come in the apartment until 5:15 so I sat in the car for a few minutes when I got home. When I came upstairs there was a sign on the door that said "Wecome to Amy's 24th Birthday Celebration Extraordinaire! Please come on in!" So, I did.

There was Happy, in the kitchen, dressed as my waiter and cooking our spaghetti dinner as "I Will Be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman played in the background. He had emailed his mom to get her recipe for meat sauce and had that simmering as he was cooking the spaghetti. However, when I walked in, he had a large pot nearly filled with water on a small burner with the noodles already in the water (which had not yet boiled). I asked if the water had boiled yet and he said, "No, that's not what the instructions said to do." Perplexed, I pulled out the instructions which read "Bring 4 quarts of water to a rapid boil" as the first step. I read it out loud and he explained that he thought that meant it wouldn't take that long for it to come to a boil... Like.... it would boil in hardly any time at all. After a long, hard laugh, we removed the noodles, moved the water to a larger burner and covered the pot. From then on, things went pretty smoothly.

As we waited for the water to boil, I opened my present--a craft organizer! I had mentioned that I wanted to get one of these a while back and Happy remembered this. There is a compartment for paper which Happy filled with some Hawaiian-designed papers and stickers for me to use for our Hawaii anniversary trip in July! It was wrapped in some lovely sports-themed wrapping paper (from Happy's birthday in August), and placed on our coffee table.

Dessert was strawberry shortcake (YUM)! Happy pulled out the shortcakes (bought pre-made from the grocery store) and the container of whole strawberries and the Cool Whip. Holding up the strawberries, he said "I'm probably supposed to do something with these, huh?" So he held up the strawberry and pointed the knife at it in a position that inspired me to offer to cut up the strawberries for our shortcakes. They were delicious and I even got to blow out a candle. Below is the video of that.

After dinner, Happy cleaned up and we got ready for Bible study where they sang Happy Birthday to me (for the fourth time yesterday), had cupcakes (made by Emily) and gave several cards with kind words and a gift card to Olive Garden! Emily also gave me a scrapbook with a palm tree on it for our trip to Hawaii :-) Apparently she and Happy had been conspiring for a couple weeks! Oh, and of course my sister sent me some beautiful yellow flowers at work :-) I got phone calls and e-cards and cards in the mail and even a letter from my brother in boot camp! I had a great birthday! Thank you to everyone for making me feel so loved!

Happy Birthday - a day late!

It was Amy's birthday on Wednesday. She's 24! Happy birthday!

We have some good pictures, videos and stories coming soon.

Last thing, I promise!

I'm sure you've heard enough from me today, but I wanted to point out the new item in the sidebar--Home Videos! Click on any link and it'll take you directly to the video. At least, that's what it's supposed to do. From now on I'll periodically be adding videos over there instead of putting them in a post... unless it's a REALLY good one :-)

p.s. Can you tell I don't have a lot to do at work today?

Mini-golf with Raphaelle

Mike got a little more exercise than the rest of us as he often was the one retrieving Raphaelle's ball. Like she said, it's been around 22 years since she's played.

More mini-golf

This was actually one of Happy's worst holes. Fortunately, I was able to record it!



Mike, on the other hand, didn't have as much of a problem with it. But, Mike did only win by two shots. It was a close game!

My mini-golf skills--LIVE!

It may be important to note that Happy was unaware that the video feature on my camera doesn't switch the view if you record it, as he did, holding the camera on it's side. Don't worry, the video is very short so it won't hurt your neck for long.

I didn't notice...

This picture in our web albums from our honeymoon isn't actually a picture. It's a video. Now I'm curious why none of my other videos worked but this one did. Weird. Does it work for everyone else too?

p.s. Do you ever watch yourself on video and think "I am so strange!" I thought that when I watched this short video. I guess it's sort of like listening to yourself on an answering machine and thinking "Do I really sound like that?" I do that ALL the time! Anyway, there's my random thought for the day.

p.p.s. My random thought for yesterday came when Jack T. came back from a quick (about 20 minutes) trip to a job site. He always "checks in" with me, but yesterday asked "Did anything exciting happen?" This, as I told him "Not much," is what ran through my head: "Well, I was just sitting at my desk when this woman, who was walking by outside on the sidewalk, fainted. I ran out and found her still unconscious so I called 911 and started CPR. Meanwhile, some guy went into the office and started beating anyone he came into contact with for no apparent reason! It was crazy!" But, that didn't actually happen and I didn't say any of that to Jack T. So, everything is just fine here in the office.

Miniature Golf

Yesterday afternoon Mike & Raphaelle came over and we all went mini-golfing! It was really fun, even though I think we all realized that we weren't as "good" as we may have thought. I took some videos which will hopefully cooperate with me soon so I can share them on here. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures in our web album!

 

There are also pictures of Happy's first softball game which turned out to be a practice since the other team didn't show up. Bummer. Anyway, we still had a lot of fans come to cheer the team on and it was good for the guys to get together and practice hitting slow-pitch. More pictures will be coming now that summer is here! Have a wonderful Monday :-)

AMAZING!!!!

Our blog has been upgraded! First, we now have a video feature, as you have (hopefully) already figured out. This video is quite old as it's our first apartment. Since many were unable to see this wonderful video, I figured it'd be the best one to start with. Second, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for our new "Today in History" box. It's quite interesting! Enjoy!