Red Letters.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you... Col 3:16

Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ...Rom 10:17

I got two words. Red Letters.

Much Better.

I have recovered from the Staph Infection and have been cleared to go back to work. Praise God and thanks to everyone for your prayers. Shows how quick life could be.

Growing.

Our kids are growing. Our 2 foster children are growing in so many aspects. C is now saying, "1, 2, 3" just before we race. It used to be "3,4,3". He's beginning to put more and more sentences together and just yesterday he put a shirt on by himself for the 1st time. B is writing her name and singing songs of Gods love. Both children are growing physically as they're gobbling food down all the time. Both children will state godly principles anywhere from "It's not yours, It's Gods" to "God loves my heart". They're sitting on the couch "reading" to each other as I write. The baby in Mamas' belly is growing unseen but Rebekah can feel it. We can keep up with the growth in a book. It's great to see a child grow isn't it? Imagine Gods joy when we grow in front of His eyes. How frustrating would it be to have a child who never grew. Things that stop growing die or become stagnant. Lord, show me where I need to grow and strengthen me to be more pleasing to you.

...If You are willing...

Yesterday evening when we unwrapped my bandage from the Staph Infection it was only getting worse. The reddness had spread from wrist to elbow and now it was swollen. Rebekah called the urgent care and they told us to come in right away because it could be serious. Once the doctor saw me he said, "This doesn't look good". That's not what you want to hear from the specialist. They gave me a shot in the butt and subscribed the strongest antibiotic hoping to save me from IVs and hand surgeons at the hospital. Afterwards we went back to our dinner with Brubet and the Buchanans (Happy Birthday Rick). I had them pray over me. I was sick and they were my elders (see James 5:14). As for the money situation the doctor offices made the $301 bill $150! The antibiotics were $51 this time. Now the grand total spent is over $450, and that's with the discounts. The good news is that we're likely able to get our money back through Samaritans Ministries (a Christian Insurance ministry) we've been a part of for years. As I was thumbing through my Bible last night I came across Luke 5, the healing of the Leper. Here we find a man covered with Leprosy. When he saw Jesus he fell on his face and implored him saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." This lead me to my face on our living room floor, praying the exact same prayer. I made it through the night without any problems. 10:30 AM today we visited the doctor for a check up and ALL is good and on its way to proper healing.

Everybody can post.

We've set this blog up now so anybody and their brother can post without signing in.

Staph Infection.

Tuesday I saw a zit on my forearm so I scratched it off. Wednesday I had redness an inch in circumference in the same spot. It only got worse as the week progressed. Saturday we concluded it was a spider bite and hoped it would soon get better. Sunday the redness was 4 inches or more in circumference, burning, itchy and sore. A friend, without even having to think, said it was staff infection. We go to the urgent care and sure enough. They stick a shot in it to numb it and then dig it out. The Doc gave me two antibiotics, I said "do you have to". This crazy "bug" has become immune to the single antibiotic. 10 yrs ago 1 antibiotic would do. I asked him what would they do 100 yrs ago and he replied, "They would die". I thought I was gonna die when they told me today's charge was $465! Rebekah about cried right then and there. I asked em if they could lower it as we don't have any insurance. Praise be to God they lowered it to $250! I just so happened to have a $250 check in my pocket from last weeks work. Before I left the ladies asked me, "Why do you have a cross on the back of your head?". I said, "because I love Jesus". They told me that's what they wanted to hear and we had a great conversation that lead to much encouragement and future prayer. It's nice getting a deal AND prayer.

The Earth is the Lord's

The kids have been saying the word "mine" alot lately. I'm sure anyone who's taken care of kids for any period of time has ran across the sharing problem. "That's mine" is a common term that often leads to fighting and screaming. So we've been trying to teach them that the Earth is the Lords and ALL that is in it. These toys are not yours, they're the Lords. Since addressing this with the kids, I've tried to apply it my life. I've found this to be difficult, Even more more so than taking the word "home" (see previous posts) out of my vocabulary. Try taking mine, ours, yours etc.. out of your everyday talk, let me know how that goes. Nothing is ours! Everything is His. Truly understanding that will lead to better stewardship and self denial. If nothing is ours than we have no rights to anything. Sharing, giving and even forgiving for damage becomes a lot easier. I saw a beautiful painting the other day of a nature scene: Big mountains, waterfalls, deers, flowers, clouds etc... Underneath this phenomenal picture was the Bible verse, "the Earth is the Lord's and all that is in it." Duh. Looking at that picture it's a no brainer. It's not hard for us to attribute things like mountains and clouds to the Lord. But what about our cell phones, houses, cars, tv's, computers etc...? If the Earth is the Lords and all that is in it this includes EVERYTHING. Yes, even your precious underwear. In Malachi we find the people giving God poor offerings and we see an upset God. Sometimes we fail to give God our best. Realizing that we own absolutely nothing, including our own bodies, is a crutial step in serving the Lord better.

Holler Ministries is now online!

I just started a site for Holler Ministries. Check it out for more info on how to get involved. Holler days will kick off May 19th. This is an all day worship experience. Mornings ministering to the homeless, afternoons hangin out and outdoor rec., and evening Barn Church.

A third kid around the Holler!

Rebekah is pregnant! Holler house is fillin up fast (2 kids with one on the way). 6 weeks along and due in December.

Our current foster children are doing great. It's been particularly difficult on Rebekah to adjust but I can see a wonderful adjustment in her and the kids. We're having a blast teaching, playin and workin with em. Thanks Rachel for buying Rebekah and the kids lunch today. We continually experience support from friends family. Eric Warren (youth college student) parents came out to play with the kids the other day. The Abbots, Allens and Buchannans have hooked us up with clothes and/or toys. Some have asked if they can do anything. Come hang out and love on the kids. We could always use gas or grocery cards. Now that our family is growing we're saving for another room and bathroom to our house. Pray for us.

Today I got to share the gospel with a guy on the job site. In his own words, he's a hellian. Spent some time in a group home, Eckerd camp, Jamaica and jail. However he was all ears and was very respectful while I laid the gospel out. He was bent out of shape in regards to someone telling him that people who have never heard the message will fry in hell. I told him about Christs teachings in John 9. He acted really interested and said he would read it. whether someones burning because they've never heard the message you have is besides the point. I just wanted him to think about Scripture and hopeful search it. He's not turned off on God, just religion. Aren't we all. He's interested in livin fast and hard. Pray God will pierce his heart.

Lonely Trail

As I was running and praying in the woods today I began to think about the straight and narrow road that we as disciples are called to walk. I imagine a Pilgrims progress style path that's long, narrow, straight, difficult and lonely. We've been feeling the loneliness lately. The further down this path of Godly righteousness someone goes, the lonelier they might become. People you love and/or admire drop out of the faith, persecution increases, doubt plays a bigger role and life gets harder. Wade from Honduras always told me, "My life isn't getting any easier". He was talking about God expanding his territory. As a fleshly individual begins to lay down their life for the Lord and the people of this earth he experiences discomfort. The closer one gets to Godliness the farther down the narrow road he travels. This concept so far was nothing new to me. As my thoughts progressed God reminded me of Himself. If God never leaves us or forsakes us, then He's always with us. As we travel down this road we might experience loneliness in regards to the loss of friends, family, work, material etc... but we gain in concentrated relationship with God Himself. We become less distracted by the people and things of this world and we're able to focus more on the Being that adopts us. It's like a husband and wife who, over the years, have traveled alot pursuing a dream. Naturally they find themselves alone, so they grow closer together. Our relationship with the Father and his chosen path is like that. We may find ourselves in a spot of unbearable loneliness before we realize that God is there waiting for a more intimate fellowship with Him.

$1

I told B that if she could find my misplaced Bible I would give her a dollar. I asked her what she would do with a dollar and without thinking she said that she would give it away! This blew me away as she has $0 to her name. So to give away the only dollar she had amazed me. I wish I had that child like sense of giving. In Honduras we learned of a guy who gave away everything he had. At the time it was $10 or something. He then grew rich and someone asked him to give away everything he had again, but he couldn't do it. It seems the more we have the harder it is to give it all.

Reckless church!

We had a great time last night with Be Reckless. Check em out, they meet on the last Saturday night of each month to offer God their pure worship. We hope to get them involved in Holler days and see how our two ministries can work together to make this world a better place.

Preacher Larry

Friday I had the opportunity to chip brush with a guy from labor ready (temporary labor) who quickly let me know where he stood with the Lord. He talked passionately about Gods character and involvement in his life. He admitted he didn't like where God had him right now, but he seemed to be working to accept it. He's a preacher who has fallen on hard times and has found himself among the lowest of the low in the American working world. He's working among criminals and druggies. These are people who will work hard labor for $6.50 an hr because they can't get jobs elsewhere. I can't think of a better place for a preacher. It's likely where Christ would work if he was living in Asheville. It's not an easy calling to be like Jesus though. Nobody wants to work with thieves, liars, druggies, bad mouths, criminals etc... It's not pretty, it doesn't feel right and almost no one is doing it. Let's pray for Larry right now as he's found himself in a humbling and difficult mission field. Let's rejoice with him because of his humbling circumstances. He's an excited preacher. When he preaches, he preaches hard. I could tell that just from the passion he showed during our talks. He's under attack, just like the rest of us so lift him up right now.