YUGO, I Go, Some of Us Go to YUGO

Hello faithful readers of this not-often-updated-anymore blog!

I'm writing to let you know that today I'm leaving on a week-long mission trip with several adults and a bunch of high schoolers and college students for Mexicali, Mexico. We are going with a mission organization called YUGO (Youth Unlimited Gospel Outreach). Our church has been to Mexico with this mission a bunch of times over the last two decades, so we have many veterans going on the trip. Amy won't be able to come, because of work, so as you pray for our team, please pray for Amy back here at home.

I'll come home with an update and hopefully some pictures. Hasta luego!

Quote of the Day

I'm reading Unfinished Business: Return the Ministry to the People of God by Greg Ogden. It's required reading in my Theology IV class (Church and Last Things). Here's the quote:

The analogy has often been drawn between the way we play church and a football game. Bud Wilkinson, legendary former head coach at the University of Oklahoma, was asked, when he became head of the President's Council on Physical Fitness, "What contribution does professional football make to the fitness of Americans?" He answered, "A professional football game is a happening when 50,000 people desperately needing exercise sit in the stands watching 22 people desperately needing rest."

How true that is, especially in America. What can we do to change this?

Amy's Hair Cut and Other Stories

This is for you, Lisa. And if you want a few more pictures, they are on the second Web Album in the sidebar. Wow, I've posted twice in one month!

Tonight we're having dinner at the home of a family at our church. The husband/dad has a personality very similar to Happy's and, we've been told, makes some really good meat. I'm looking forward to the evening, which I'm sure will be filled with laughter and really, really great jokes :-)

Tomorrow morning we'll be helping some friends move to an apartment just down the street from their current abode. I think we have a free Saturday night after the move.... whoa.... more than likely it will be filled with homework. Some times I think back on college and wonder why I thought life after college would include more free time. Does life ever slow down? My co-worker told me yesterday that she thinks we are always busy. I sort of just stared blankly at her. Some days I need a reminder of why I do all the things I do, but most days I don't even think about it. What a blessing to be a part of a church where we can stretch ourselves and serve others with joy!

As a youth group, Happy challenged us to read through the Bible in a year. Right now we're in Proverbs and Titus. It's been a little while since I've read Proverbs, but it's pretty much killing me every time I read it--mostly in the wisdom area. How much I have to learn! I'm thankful for all the examples of wise people the Lord has put in my life (one of them being my husband!), but I look forward to heaven even more when I see these glimpses of how far off I really am. Praise the Lord that His mercies are new every morning!

New Apartment!!!

Here is a very exciting tour of our new apartment. There are new pictures on the web album too, if you'd prefer to get some still ones... or if the video doesn't work :-) And yes, I'm crazy and unpacked in less than a week. I don't like living in chaos. My commute is a tiny bit longer but Happy's is much shorter, and we're a 3 or 4 minute drive to church--what a blessing! We've already taken advantage of the short drive several times.

In other news, the 30 Hour Famine went very well and we appreciate all those who partnered with us through prayer and financially. Fasting is a wonderful way for me to see the sinfulness of my heart, but I'm so thankful that the sin is already paid for!

I'm still working at the same company in the accounting department, running payroll each week. We've had many layoffs of the guys on the field and there will be many more to come. I've heard we're letting go of 100+ guys within a month! Makes me a little nervous, but I'm trusting in the Lord's provision--whether that's here or through another means. So, I try to remind myself to be thankful for my job, especially on the third day in a row that I've worked on ONE audit all day long.... I can say for sure that I'm thankful that my work day is only 8 hours long :-)

Also, please pray for Happy in Greek. I'm not sure he'll like me advertising this on the blog, but it's not an easy language! Pray that the Lord would grant him clarity and understanding as he studies. And pray for the upcoming YUGO trip to Mexico! There are many details involved in leading a mission trip, and it's that much harder since he's never been there.

That's all for now. I know it's been a long time since I've updated the blog, but my mom-in-law did request photos of the new apartment :-) You'll have to come visit soon!!

The Eye of the Storm

Life is crazy. God's in control. I thought I'd post something so that February wasn't a total wash. So . . . here's my paltry reading list from 2008. For those of you that don't know (of course, no one reads this blog anymore anyway, except for my mom probably), my yearly goal is to finish 50 books. I failed in 2007 as well. I almost just typed something like, "But 2009's off to a great start!" before I realized that I did the same thing in early 2008. But it's true; I've already read nine books this year! Anyway, here's the list. Oh yeah, we're moving in a week, too. More on that soon. Maybe.

1. Apologetics to the Glory of God by John M. Frame
2. Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches ed. By Robert Webber
3. Minor Prophets by H.A. Ironside
4. Culture Shift by R. Albert Mohler
5. No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
6. The Gospel & Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever
7. Auralia’s Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet
8. The French & Indian War by Walter Borneman
9. Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
10. A Theology of Christian Counseling: More Than Redemption by Jay Adams
11. Taliesen by Stephen Lawhead
12. The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper
13. Merlin by Stephen Lawhead
14. Chosen For Life: The Case for Divine Election by Sam Storms
15. Arthur by Stephen Lawhead
16. The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies
17. Young, Restless, Reformed by Collin Hansen
18. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland Bainton
19. A Godward Life by John Piper
20. Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
21. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
22. Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn
23. The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen
24. Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris
25. The Gospel of John by F.F. Bruce
26. Baptism and Fullness by John Stott
27. A Promise Kept by Robertson McQuilkin
28. Addictions by Edward T. Welch
29. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by Klein, Blomberg and Hubbard, Jr.
30. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

USS Boxer

You may or may not have noticed that I added a link to the sidebar for the USS Boxer. This is the ship that my younger brother, Tom, is currently on. He was deployed on Jan. 9th and today marks the 10th day of him officially being out at sea. The blog linked on the side is run by my older brother, Mike, and he's apparently been researching the USS Boxer and other related news as much as I've been thinking about Tom. Please pray for Tom as he's deployed. I think he's scheduled to return in August, and, Lord-willing, won't see much combat. Here's Tom and me this past summer when we went down for a visit...

My office!

This was on my office door when I got to church this morning. Pretty cool! I'll have pictures of my office when it looks more presentable, so probably in 2009!

Just One Of Those Days

[Disclaimer: To most who know me, this post will not shock anyone. However, in order to keep up the drama, I will explain things as though they are completely unbelievable!]

Yesterday was just a weird day, the kind you have every once in a while and hope you don't have another like it for a long time.

It started out normally. I woke up, read my Bible and prayed. Then, I got my running clothes on went jogging. Ate breakfast, showered and got dressed. I found my to-do list for the day that I had crafted the night before and reviewed all 12 things to make sure I knew what I needed to do first.

One of those errands involved stopping in at church. On Mondays, our church is locked up and usually no one's there. The same was true yesterday, so I hopped the locked gate blocking people from parking in our lot. Then I unlocked the outer gate that protects the entrance to the gym, the sanctuary and the offices. I did what I needed to do inside and locked everything up inside. As I went to close the outer gate, I walked through and yanked on the gate handle . . . which promptly came off in my hand!

"Fantastic," I thought. I spent the next five or six minutes trying to fix the thing, but given my obvious mechanical prowess (wink, wink for the uninformed), that failed. So I called Pastor Ron and asked him what to do. He told me to put the handle in his dad's box (his dad is the maintenance guy) and it would get dealt with today. So I did and then I left to do some more errands.

Finishing those, I headed home to do the dishes, laundry and the massive amount of homework that I had/have. Now, usually when I'm in my car, I have my IPod plugged into the car's stereo system to listen to some of the 14 days of songs, Bible or sermons that I have on there. Because our car was broken into in October 2007, I now take the radio/CD/IPod faceplate out every time I park the car. Since I had my arms full of groceries and books, I figured I'd come back down and do that after I'd dropped things off in the apartment.

When I got to our door, I put my stuff down on our little balcony table so I could get the keys out of my pocket. Only the keys weren't there. I went back down to the car knowing what I was going to see.

"Yep, there's my keys in the ignition."

I hadn't left the engine running, but the key was turned so that the radio/CD/IPod could still play. And yes, the doors were all locked. I thought about calling AAA to come open it, but I decided to head back up to the apartment. Once there, I figured I could get the screen off of our bedroom window and climb in there. The only problem with that is that we live on the second story and our bedroom window opens to about a twelve foot drop to the ground. Of course, that just made it all the more fun to try to break into my own apartment!

I climbed over the railing, easily detached the screen, opened the window all the way, awkwardly shoved the vertical blinds out of the way, got a good toe hold and jumped onto the sill and then jumped over our nightstand into our bedroom. Well, at least now I had the apartment opened. I decided to forego AAA and just call Amy. It was almost lunch time so it worked out great that she could come home immediately. After I hung up with Amy I opened one of our windows that opens. However, I opened it too high and it came crashing down! A piece of plastic flew off from the side of the window. It was a piece of the larger contraption that involves a metal cable and and spring to keep the window at whatever height we want it at.

Of course, now I had broken the window dealie-thingie. So I called the office and asked if they could send a maintenance man to fix the window. They said they would but I was curious and using a pair of pliers I rigged it so that the window would still work.

Amy came home, unlocked the car and then we got to spend lunch together. After that, my day went fairly normal, as I did laundry, dishes and a lot of reading and Greek work.

Wow, what a crazy day.

Tolerance?

I know, I know what you're thinking: "Two posts in one day?! What's happened?!"

Well, what's happened is that I read this article that Dr. Mohler published this morning. Interestingly, my dad told me last night about the cited article from the Los Angeles Times. It's incredible to me that these Hollywood people who were crying for "equal rights" and calling Prop. 8 "wrong" can turn around and begin a witch hunt for supporters of Prop. 8. Where did the tolerance go?

Also, how come we as a culture can't settle for a simple yes or no after the people have voted? I think this shows a worrying discontent with the democratic process.

Here's a paragraph if you don't want to read the whole article:

Now, as these developments in California unfold, it is clear that where efforts to legalize same-sex marriage fail, proponents will hunt down opponents of gay marriage for sanction and opposition. Note carefully the fact that Hollywood insiders and gay rights activists are scrutinizing the list of those who contributed to Proposition 8 support, looking for individuals, organizations, and corporations to isolate and punish. At least some are out to get people fired.

Wow.

What's Going On?

Once again, it's been a while. Here's some food for thought and some updates.

Congratulations to our President-Elect, Barack Obama. Clearly, the country believes in you and backed you in a decisive victory over John McCain. We support you when we can, oppose you when necessary and always pray for you. We respect you and your family, but we cannot respect some of your views, such as your stand for the murder of unborn babies and your support of human embryonic stem cell research. God himself has placed you in this position and so we plead with God that you would change your mind on the issues pertaining to the sanctity of human life. God help you Mr. Obama.

I've settled into my new position as Youth Director at Village Bible Church and have hit the ground running. I am learning my way around the office and figuring our procedures. One thing that I have much to learn about is how to handle the paper work and financial processes. I am also trying to learn how to balance my 20-hour-a-week job, my full-time schooling and having time to spend with Amy. It's been challenging to find a happy medium, because Amy is busy working hard to support us and is also trying to keep up with her Financial Accounting class. Pray for us.

My book reading this year has been abysmal, and I'll end 2008 with by far the lowest count since I started keeping track in 2005. As it stands right now, I've read 27 books on the year. Now, with the semester ending in December, I will add some of the books that I've been assigned for classes. However, I doubt there's any chance that I'll rise above 35 books. I know, I'm a failure. But there's always next year!

Speaking of being off the pace, you'll notice on the sidebar that this is only the thirty-second post of the year on this blog. To match last year's pace, we'd have to post 71 more times before January! All I can say is that we'll just have to try harder to post more regularly.

Also, click on the Web Album 2 link on the sidebar to see some new pictures from some of the things we've been doing.

In two days, we'll be heading up to Santa Clarita for Thanksgiving with my family and we'll have Amy's brother Tom with us! It will be a fairly small group, so we're glad to add to that number with Tom. Other than my mom and dad and my two brothers, my grandpa will also be joining us. It looks like there's some rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, but our annual football game on Thanksgiving Day should be rain-free. Amy and I are looking forward to some long walks (to work off all the calories!) in the colder Santa Clarita air. It should be good! There is so much to be thankful for!