Mapping out the course.

I've been training for my 1st half marathon and tomorrow just happens to be the big day. 13 miles of worship and adventure! It will be the most I've ever ran at one time so I'm a bit nervouse. I plan on running straight through the South Mills River trail, in Pisgah Forrest, from the west starting point to the east side trail head (Turkey pen). The trail is 12 miles so I'll have to ad a mile of dirt road in the beginning. It's been a 4 month build up of training, praying for support and raising awareness for a Russion orphan girl named Zhanna. I'm thrilled to say that God has shown compassion on her and He's given more than the $4,000 goal. The money will go to furthering her education. For more info about her or Childrens Hope Chest cleck out Run For One. Momma and I have grown to consider her our own and plan to visit her in 2008. I'll post more info tomorrow in regards to Zhanna and the run. Thankfully I won't be running alone. Our "son", Eric's got my back. He'll be following along on his bike.

Red Letters.

There's a new book, due out Sept 1st, that we've pre-ordered by Tom Davis. We read Tom's other book, Fields of the Fatherless more than a year ago and enjoyed it tremendousely. From the looks of it, "Red Letters" is going to inspire and encourage us to help the least in living out Christ's Gospel.

Here's a video:


Here's the 1st Chapter sampler.

A great discipleship weekeend.

Our trip to Boone, NC to visit our college youth turned out to be a great time for fellowship, discipleship and ministering.
On our way up on Friday we stoped by the Presbyterian Home for Childrenwhere we used to work as House Parents. The staff and kids were so welcoming and friendly we ended up talking and hanging out for more than 4 hrs! We didn't arrive to Boone until nearly 9PM.
Saturday, Momma hung out w/ the college girls and was able to really enjoy lots of God filled discussions. I mountainboarded Sugar Mt. Ski resort w/ some other riders and one of our college kids. I was able share w/ one of the guys about what God was currently doing in our lives and invited him to the Hollers Evangelistic Mountainboarding camp Sept 21st - 23rd.
That night we took the kids out to dinner and had a good time hanging out afterwards and examining Gods Word.
Sunday we went to the Church Eric attends while at school. This was the 1st time I've ever been a part of a church that was so full, people were sitting on the floor, down the isles, on the stage, out the door etc... It was so good to experience such a healthy and exploding church. It was a small building, but construction was under way. No doubt they actually needed the extra building! There was nothing showy or particularly entertaining about the service, you just knew God was there based on the draw of His people.

Here's a video of the church and some mountainboarding:

7 days of prayer and Boone, NC.

Yesterday ended the 7 days of prayer for Holler. Thanks to anyone who gave a shout out during that time. Please continue to pray. There was no meraculous vision or dream from God, just a steady and continual push forward. Practical application of God given wisdom is as follows:
1. Rebekah and I are to live as missionaries here in the Holler. We are to remember that everyday life is to be mission minded and driven.
2. We will step out in faith through support and begin working on the ministry as much as possible. We will maintain part time work to offset living expenses.
3. Rebekah and I will kick off the ministry w/ our baptisms. She and I where both baptized as children, but it didn't mean a thing. We want to complete our call to salvation through a genuine baptism experience. Plus, I can't think of a better way to kick off a ministry than baptism (it's how Jesus started). Time and date will depend on my discipler, Brody Holloways schedule (hopefully early fall).
4. We will hold our 1st official board meeting this fall around the same time of the baptism.
5. I will create a proposed weekly/quarterly schedule and a job description for ourselves for board approval.

Again thanks for your prayers. Keep em coming.

On another note, Momma and I are heading for Boone this weekend to visit all our youth who are now in College at Appalachian. We want to make it a habbit to visit every semester to hang out and treat them to dinner. We have at least 4 kids up there now! We'll be staying Fri and Sat night in our Aunts cabin. Saturday I'll be mountainboarding the lifts of Sugar mountain. I have invited other mountainboarders and there's always a good amount of people who want to talk. Pray for hearts to be opened to the truth as I share Jesus. Sunday we'll visit our "sons" church in the morning and head back.

Thanks from Emmanuel

We received a nice E-Card from Mommy, Poppy and Orphanage Emmanuel for the DVD production that we did for them. I don't want to hord this thank you to myself as it would not have been possible w/o all our generous donors. As you may know, God provided more than we needed for our 3 month mission trip to Orphanage Emmanuel earlier this year. With the excess $ we filmed, edited and produced 500 DVD's for the orphanage to enjoy and share w/ volunteers that come through. Our hope is that the volunteers will use these DVD's to encourage others to give of themselves for the sake of Emmanuel. Please check out the E-Card and appreciate what God is doing w/ your prayers and money you've contributed to the cause. For a sample of our video work see the 2 videos on the right side of this blog.

I will be successful.

Yesterday morning I didn’t have to run, so I took the old rugged (the Bible I use) on a walk to the lake. I purposely spent 30 minutes in prayer and Bible reading. As I began reading, God revealed some truth beginning in Gen 39 v2, “The Lord was w/ Joseph, so he became a successful man”. I realized that the Lord is w/ me, so I will become a successful man. Did you get that? I will be successful. It’s a simple bit of logic. I could take it even further and say that if the Lord is w/ you, you too will be successful. However, we must read on to get a true idea of what Gods road to success may look like. In v3-6 we find Joseph moving up the Potiphar ladder. Potiphar sees that God is w/ Joseph and he promotes him to head of the captain of the bodyguard for Pharoh. I wonder, if at this point, Joseph thinks he has arrived. If I was Joseph, I would expect to keep on moving successfully up this ladder since God was on my side. The plot thickens w/ v9 when a harlequin novel breaks into the story. Joseph rejects a sexual advance from Potiphars wife, not on the basis of the weirdness, or the trouble he’d be in, or the pain it would cause Potiphar or the sin it would be against himself or Potiphars wife. Joseph says, “How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?”. It’s Gods interest that are on the top of his priorities. It’s not just a sin against himself, Potipher or the wife, but a sin against God Alimighty! My lying, lust, worry, etc.. is not a sin against myself or you, but against God Himself. Do I have to be reminded that sin breaks the heart of God? Not only that, it’s an offense to Him. It’s anti God, Anti Christ. When I sin, I become the antonym of Him. I hate Him. Oh, if you sin you might get caught, a STD, or put in jail, or get an ulcer and the list goes on. Be assured of this, when you and I sin, we sin against God. Anyway, back to the story. Joseph goes on to be imprisoned b/c of a lie. He did the right thing and left temptation and ends up in jail. I thought God was w/ Joseph and that he would be successful? I know I would be saying to God, “I thought you were w/ me? Why am I in jail?”. Well, God grants Joseph success in prison! It's not the ideal road to success you and I might think of, but you can call it success. In v21 we're reminded that the Lord is w/ Joseph and extends kindness and made him choice in the site of the chief jailer. Now Joseph might be thinking he’s gonna go down the road of success in prison management, but we all know the rest of the story. Through a circuit of events Joseph becomes second to Pharoh himself and saves the the nation from a deadly draught. God’s plans are not our plans. God is w/ me and will prosper me, but not necessarily as I see fit. I will go through “prison”. On top of that, I will be successful in prison. Please note that I believe success is fulfilling Gods purpose in my life. The lesson learned here is that I must believe that God is w/ me and that He will prosper me in order to fulfill His plan.

5 for 50

Do it now.

Give 5 minutes a day to pray for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Give 5 hours a week to fast for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Give 5 dollars a month to the Five for 50 Fund and support worthy causes.
Give 5 days a year to travel overseas and help alleviate poverty and suffering.
Give 5 people an opportunity to join you on your journey.

Heres' the 5 for 50 website. Check out the video and sign up.

This is through the same people I'm running the marathon through, the Childrens Hope Chest.

This time I will praise the Lord.

Gen 29
V31-35 We find Leah, Jacobs’s unloved wife, bearing Jacob his 1st born son. She gets excited, hoping that now Jacob would love her. He doesn’t. She has another son and then another and each time she hopes Jacob will love her for it, but he doesn’t. Finally, for the 4th try she has another boy and something has changed. Now she says, “This time I will praise the Lord”. So, this time she got her praise priorities straight. She has begun to work unto the Lord and not for man. This makes me think that the other times she was not praising the Lord, but rather pity partying b/c Jacob still didn’t love her.
Chapter 30 v18 Leah has bore a 5th son for Jacob and praises God, “God has given me my wages b/c I gave my maid to my husband”. She has recognized this gift as being from the Lord. We hear nothing about Jacob. In v20 Leah has bore a 6th son and now she says, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell w/ me, b/c I have bore him six sons”. The story doesn’t go on to say whether or not Jacob begins to love her, but Leah has certainly begun to refocus her attention on gaining Jacobs love. This time she praises God for the gifts and then wonders about Jacob. Is she backsliding back to pleasing man? Maybe, but she’s still praising the Lord. When I think about how I’ll get anything practical out of this I think back to Leah’s statement in Gen 29:35, “This time I will praise the Lord”. That’s a statement worthy of ink on skin. I’m writing it out on my arm to remember to get my praise on. We're now going through our 2nd time saying good bye to a possible adoption . The 1st time we lost child I pity partied and claimed martyr. This time I will praise the Lord. Yesterday I complained, this day I will praise the Lord. My prayers have been full of requests, this time I will praise the Lord. Today I tried to impress you; tomorrow I will praise the Lord. I’ve done good works in order to be loved by others, this time I will praise the Lord. I’ve achieved great things and hoped to please others by it, this time I will praise the Lord. I don't praise him enough!
This makes me think of an interesting experience that I had when I worked at the group home. It was J's last day. He and I once had a good relationship but it fell through. Emotional walls were raised and he eventually got moved to another house. That situation didn't work out either so the social worker came to get him. Just before he left, he came to see me. In my mind I thought he was comin to hug me, say good bye, make amends and thank me for spending so much time with him. I opened the door for him and he asked, "Can I get my allowance?". I didn't get my Hollywood ending, or even a descent human being ending, but rather something very brash. But isn't that how you and I treat God most of the time? Give me this or that. Help me, Help them, show me, teach me, heal me, give me, give me, give me, give me.... Give me my allowance, God! What's He want to hear? I'm sorry. Thank you. Praise you etc... The same things we want to hear from our children. Can we ever hear thank you enough?

On a couple of other notes the 7 days of prayer is going great. God has revealed alot just in this 1st day.
A dear friend of ours hooked Momma and I up with a week long time share near the Great Smokey Mt's. We're going to get away to rest and enjoy each other b/f the baby comes. He also scoped out the Holler for a possible work day w/ our church.

7 days of prayer.

I'm calling for 7 days of prayer in regards to the Holler and the direction God might have us go with it. From August 15th to the 22nd I will be praying for specific directions from the Lord for this ministry. We're still waiting non profit status (should be any day according to my rep), but I don't want that to stop us. I've felt led to concentrate in prayer, Bible reading and journaling in regards to the Holler for several weeks now. I kept putting it off for various reasons, but I can't put it off any longer. Tomorrow is as good as any other day, so to all you Holler fans, please join me in prayer during these next 7 days. Pray that I'll have Godly wisdom and willingness to obey however He may lead.

Join us this saturdy for Holler days! We begin at 12:30PM helping an elderly widow clean out her house. Afterwards we'll hang out at the Holler for outdoor rec, mommas cooking and evening worship.

Another Chapter, over.

Today was our last day with C and B, our two foster children. The kids and ourselves felt mixed emotions. It's a sad, scary and exciting time. Just about every time we tell someone we do foster care, their #1 excuse for not doing it is that they're afraid they're gonna get too attached. That was one of our fears as we 1st set out to do this nearly 3 years ago. When I hear that, all I can do is tell people the truth: God will equip you. Sometimes your sad and sometimes your happy to see kids go. In either case God has always helped us through. I can't really tell you how, b/c every case is different. In many cases kids are going to a better situation and, b/c you've grown to love them, you want the best for them. Other times God will help you move on by replacing your territory or expanding it.
C and B were w/ us for 6 months. Looking back I can't believe it was that long. That's over 1000 meals, 180 baths, 180 devotions and more than 5,000 hugs. Pray with us that God will use the time they had here to set a foundation for repentance. Momma and I are by no means perfect and we ask God to use us despite ourselves. In fact, we've found that raising kids can sometimes bring out the worst in us. Sometimes they got the best of us and we really discovered who we were.
We said good bye to C and B, but we haven't said good bye to foster care. Moving forward we plan on adopting through foster care. Our hearts our for the kids who don't have parents and desperately need them.

God can.

Genesis 18:14

I can't

Genesis 18:11-13