I found a pretty cool blog the other day by Doug TenNapel.
If you remember the video game “Earthworm Jim,” he is the artist that did the art work. He’s done album covers for a few Christian musicians (Terry Taylor, Five Iron Frenzy), comic books and tv shows.
He’s a little rough around the edges but writes some entertaining posts that ususally make a point and make you think.
I found some excellent New Testament study guides here:
New Testament: Introductions and Outlines
There is one for each book of the New Testament, giving notes on authorship, dates of writing, purpose and theme. And each includes an outline of the book.
In a discussion one evening Mike told me he had not had peace or joy the entire time we have been here! gasp gasp what?! I told Mike whatever decision he made I support him. The final decision was made on August 27, a Sunday night. About an hour after we verbalized our decision Mike says, “I have no idea where I am going to work, where we will live, or what we are going to do, but I have peace about it.” Monday afternoon Mike put his resume online. Tuesday, he received a phone call and on Friday he had a job offer, without an interview! Once again, we saw God’s fingerprints all over us. They wanted to know if he could start the next week. Mike reassured he needed to give a two week notice. The time has flown by!
What is awesome is to see what God has taught me (us) along this 5 year journey.
We have learned about stewardship. Not just of finances..but, time, relationships, our family, our gifts.
We have learned that He is the Provider. We have had to trust Him through some very thin times. He has always provided above and beyond my expectations: financially, emotionally, physically……………
He is the Sustainer! He has carried us through the birth and brief life of our daughter, Emma, death of my dad, Mike’s grandma, 3 moves, a career change, health issues with our children, and countless other circumstances. He is sustaining me right now with Mike being in IN. (I don’t see how single parents do it!)
Our time here has been equipping. We have a love for the ministry of FamilyLife. We are not severing our ties. We are excited about going back to Columbus to tell (more) people about the ministry and encourage them to attend conferences. We look forward to leading a HomeBuilders Couples study. We also want to volunteer at the Indianapolis conference.
Some of the programming skills Mike learned are very handy for his new position.
I can honestly say that for the first time in my life I truly understand Grace. There is freedom in God’s Grace!
We have made many mature friendships. The Christian maturity of most of the people we have met blows my socks off!
We can take the resources we have learned and share them.
We don’t have to be part of a ministry to be missionaries. As long as we are fulfilling the Great Commission, we are in God’s Will!!!! We are excited about what the LORD has in store for us and who we get to minister to.
We are absolutely thrilled that we will now be able to financially support others! We have lived on the other side and know what the real needs are and are blessed to be able to give.
The Monday after the job offer I get into the van. It doesn’t want to start…….the starter is going out. I called Mike to let him know. We knew we would need a newer vehicle very soon. I would especially need reliable transportation with 4 kids when he leaves for Indiana.
Once again, the LORD provided above my expectation. We were able to get a 2005 Honda Odyssey EX-L with 34,000 miles. It has CD player, rear DVD, everything. I tell you this not to boast but to explain how God cares about the details. Honda “just happen” to be offering 4.9% financing on Certified used. First payment……due one week after Mike’s first paycheck.
I have probably shared too many details. I just get so excited when I see the LORD moving in so many ways. He truly cares about the details of our life.
Part 3 to come
Something I meant to blog on a few weeks ago…
Back in August FamilyLife had a two day staff conference. One of the big surprises during the conference was we all got to see a pre-screening of a Toronto Film Festival move, Bella. They also had the director, executive producer (a guy that worked with Mel Gibson on The Passion and Braveheart) and the star of the movie, Eduardo who is apparently “hot,” just ask Karen next time you see her.
These guys are all Christians that have been in the entertainment industry in one way or another and want to create art that has a message but is also not beating people over the head. They succeeded with Bella.
This movie was literally sprung on me, I had no idea what it was about or who was in it. I wish I could see more movies under those circumstances, I think it made it that much more enjoyable. I don’t want to say too much about the story because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone that might see it. It is a story of sacrifice and redemption, is very well acted with real characters that have depth. And just like real life, things are not tied up in a neat little bow at the end.
Like I said, it was shown at the Toronto Film Festival in the same slot as Brokeback Mountain last year. Bella was well received and won the People’s Choice Award. Apparently several past winners have gone on to win Oscars.
I like seeing this return of Christians to the arts. If you get a chance, see the movie.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
We have closed another chapter of our life and have opened a new one. Last Friday was Mike’s last official day at FamilyLife. When we moved here it was with the intention of being here long term. We were open to God’s leading and said we would be here until we were “lead” elsewhere. I never dreamed we would only be in Little Rock for a year and a half.
There is not really one reason why we left staff. There are many. God used support (lack of) to get our focus back on Him. We worked hard on our MPD (ministry partner development) the entire time we were on staff. We did everything we were supposed to: mailed monthly prayer letters, sent thank you’s, sent thinking of you cards, received, called and followed up on referrals and countless other things, MPD related.
Mike had made 3 support trips, yet only a minute amount of support was cultivated. Since spring of this year, especially, we had worked extra hard on increasing current and appealing to new. We were not seeing any fruit from all of our hard work. When we had two short paychecks ($200 and $700) this forced us to step back and look at the whole picture.
It wasn’t so much about the support, it was about trusting God for His provision, in His way. We were praying for our Crusade account balance to increase. The LORD had other plans for us. We began praying for wisdom and discernment in how to provide for our family. Our church in Indiana paid our mortgage and our church here paid our groceries.
We sought counsel with a couple from church who once served with FamilyLife. We spoke to our senior staff MPD coach. We prayed. We prayed more. We read a book, Decision Making and The Will of God by Garry Friesen. This is an excellant book. I can honestly say that after reading this book I experienced God’s grace for real, for the first time. I have felt a freedom that I have never had before. After reading this book, many of our questions were answered: would we be turning our back on God or His plan or will for our life? Would we be turning our back on our “calling?” Are we missionaries if we are not part of a “ministry?” We have answers to all of these questions now! We prayed even more.
part 2 later
So it was kind of cool that the NFL set up a game like this but it was way over hyped. It will only be outshined by Super Manning Bowl at the end of the season. 
NY:
Tiki and Plaxico made Eli look good. He made some good plays on his own but those guys make him look better.
They killed themselves on penalties.
Colts:
The running game is weak. They showed signs of life here and there but it won’t get them through the season. Rhoads has a cool spin move. But, he got stopped on the goal line where he went outside his blocker instead of cutting back in. Addai can catch the ball, has speed and strength. I hope he can come into it as he gets some carries under his belt.
Defense had a real problem stopping the run, even more so than last year. Granted, Simon is out so there was not fat man to block the middle.
And who knew Peyton could scramble? He must have been working on that in the offseason since he knew James wouldn’t be there to pick up blocks.
Fantasy Football:
I’m losing in both my leagues but I still have several players left on Monday night. I have Santana Moss on both my teams, hope he comes up big tomorrow night.
The kids and I were looking through videos on YouTube this evening. They got real excited about all the fan made lightsaber duels and wanted to make their own so I got out the digital camera and recorded this:
Next, they want me to figure out how to add the special effects…
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