Powerful truth from a little heart

"'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'  'Where, O death, is your victory?  

Where, O death is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  

But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"  I Cor. 15:54-56.

Another Season

The kids are all ready for their first day of soccer games for the season.  This year all three will be traveling to other counties for games.  So delightful when they all need to go different directions at the same time.  I guess we'll figure it out.

A True Masterpiece

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  Ps 139:14

           When I mention the word masterpiece what image comes to mind?  Is it a gallery of paintings by Monet?  Is it a sunset that majestically fades from brilliant yellow to flaming orange, to dashing pink?  Is it a waterfall, a house, a person?  Is it your very own, God created body?

           I’m guessing not many of us have our bodies pop into our minds when masterpiece is the topic of conversation. Typically our words and thoughts about our body are negative. We criticize our shape, our weight, our hair, our eyes, our smile, our voice, our skin.

           Have you ever called your body a masterpiece?  Me either,  but I believe that’s how God wants us to think of our bodies. We are not to worship them, but we are to say with confidence, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

          What does that really mean?

           Fearfully (yare) means to revere (1).  Wonderfully (palah) means to distinguish, show difference, set apart (2).  Any thoughts?

           I had a few.  I think God wants us to revere how intricately and differently He made each one of us.  None of us are the same because we weren’t meant to be the same.  Ever wonder why God didn’t make more Adams?   After all, Adam did work.  He functioned just like God made him to function.  But, God didn’t just want function; He wanted differences, uniqueness, individuals.  God created you, in the real sense of the word, to look different than others, to be distinguished from others and to be set apart from others.  

          Be honest, it is pretty “masterpiece” like to never create an identical piece of work.  Stop trying to be someone else.  Stop wishing you had her hair or her legs or her career.   Start revering who you are because, my sister, God made you a masterpiece!

1. Strong, James.  Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.  Hendrickson Publishers., 52.

2. Strong, James.  Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.  Hendrickson Publishers., 95.

3.  Vine, W.E.  Vine’s complete Expository Dictionary of Old       and New Testament Words.  Thomas Nelson Publishers  149.

ECHO

This beginning of August I rode my motorcycle down to south Florida for a Tropical Agriculture and Development class at ECHO (Environmental Concerns and Hunger Organization).

One of the days we had to pick all of our food from the farm and prepare it for lunch.  My group picked some greens and we cooked them using bio gas.  Basically it is a mixture of manure and water which creates methane which is captured and used in a slightly modified gas burner.

The manure mixture is in the blue barrels and then the gas is collected under the white barrel and piped to the burner.

The group that was assigned to make the salad took on the challenge and made it with 34 ingredients from the garden.

Eye catching

So, after an unknown person snagged our "House for Sale Sign" a month ago, we decided in this case, bigger means better.

You can't miss it.

Schedule Update

As many of you know, our goal has been to get to Paraguay by the beginning of September to begin Guarani language school.  At this point in time we have crossed the line where it is no longer feasible for us to make that goal.  We currently have 1,100 in monthly support remaining to raise before we can depart.

So where does this leave us?  Because we will not be able to go to Guarani language school until September of 2015, we are currently working on the details to go to Spanish language school.  While being able to speak Guarani is vital to engaging in ministry in rural Paraguay, Spanish will allow us to communicate with most people.  Holly and I both have a good foundation in Spanish, but we can't live on a foundation alone.  We both need a lot of review and additional training in order to be effective in our communication skills.  It is also important to us that the kids receive training in Spanish as well to help them with the transition to Paraguay.

The next date in front of us when we will be able to depart is January of 2014.  This will be helpful for us because the cost of Spanish school is significantly more than Guarani school, so we will need to raise more up-front money before we can go.

So what do we need in order to leave for Spanish language school in January???????  We do not know yet what the exact cost of the language school will be, but we need $1,100 in additional monthly pledges or we will not be able to to depart in January.

Going forward, we are introducing THE 22/50 CAMPAIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!  What this means is simply we need 22 additional 50 dollar monthly partners.  We would like to invite you to be one of those 22 people who fill in the gap in order for us to go and take the gospel to Paraguay.  You can donate by clicking the SIM logo on the right side of your screen and you will have the option to make it monthly and get us one more step closer to departure.

Favorites at the Museum

In my last post I shared about our trip to the Creation Museum.  Now I'd like to share our favorite parts of the day.

Darin enjoyed...the garden.  With all the moisture we've had this year, there were beautiful flowers, healthy green banana leaves, and playful lily pads.

Rebekah and Gabby enjoyed...the petting zoo. 

Samuel enjoyed...the laid back atmosphere.

 

I enjoyed...the company.

These are my mom friends who inspire and encourage me to pursue God and teach my children to do the same.  Thanks friends for your faithfulness in your walk with the Lord.  You are a blessing to me.