Preaching

When we preach we put into words the deep silence of God. The best preachers are those who venture deeply into God's silence and try fervently to verbalize the great silence that creates, sustains, saves, and redeems. 

Pray that I am able to do that on wednesday. 

Grand Prairie

This last week was rewarding but very tiring. Our mission trip to grand Prairie went well. The VBS we helped Sunrise with grew from about 30 kids to 95 by wednesday, our last night. The theme was Bee Jesus, and we showed clips from the Bee Movie every night during our bible lesson. Originally our T-shirts featured a Bee and font that "borrowed heavily" from the actual movie. This upset a few of Dreamwork's lawyers who gave us a cease and desist warrant the friday before we left. We scrambled to get the shirts changed and finally came up with something that looked pretty good. This was the beginning of a busy week. I got to stay with my parents this week in Irving which was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I got to be home and see my family for a little bit each day, I have missed them this summer. The downside to this was since we stayed in Irving and all of our work took place in Grand Prairie we didn't have any where to go in the afternoons while everyone else was resting at their host families homes. This made for a tiring week of waking up at 7 or so, doing our morning activity (passing out flyers, playing at a waterpark, helping Pat Everroad with her house), eating lunch, doing our afternoon activity (going to the mall), trying to find something to do with the rest of the afternoon (7-11 double gulps and hotdogs, Snacking at Sam's, upgrading phone plans at AT&T, hanging out at Target), VBS, then a late dinner. We'd get home about 10 each night and fall asleep shortly after a few rounds of NHL Hitz on the x-box. The trip was very rewarding, I enjoyed seeing the youth serve and use their gifts on this mission trip. I also enjoyed getting to spend time with Jason, Micah, Scott Haile, and Ryan Binkley. All of these guys came out of Southmac and are now doing what I plan to be doing in a few years, it was a blessing to spend time with them and learn. 

I'm Fired

I've noticed that my blogs have gotten increasingly less in depth. I apologize to my readers (all 3 of you) but I have felt less of a need to record and evaluate my time here. I have been content to just experience it. 

Good news: Jason and I annihilated Dusty and Lindsey in our basketball game!

Bad news: My thigh also annihilated Dusty's finger. Dusty was guarding me and as I passed the ball to Jason he apparently jammed his finger into my thigh and dislocated it. I was fired a few hours later after he returned from the emergency room. 

This upcoming week is our trip to Grand Prairie. I am kind of apathetic about it right now, although I am excited about getting to go home and getting to know the kids a lot better. There is nothing like a mission trip for creating deep roots with people. I am little nervous about the actual vbs though, I am not sure what to expect. I trust that God will be there though. 

I am very sad that I'll have to be leaving Conway in two weeks. In many ways I feel like I am home here. I look forward so much to going into the office to work with Jason and Dusty everyday, I am learning so much from them yet I feel like I am making lifelong friendships as well, I feel as if we all speak the same language. 

Long time, No post

Man it has been a long time since I posted! Things have been going well but I have been busy. I think I have pretty much recovered from my surgery and I am feeling good! This week coming up will be a busy one, we have to prepare for our Grand Prairie VBS trip, participate in the VBS here in Conway, and I need to write a sermon for the wednesday after I get back from our trip. I have a feeling this will be a long week. 

My parents came up to visit me this weekend. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with them and showing them around Conway. They did my laundry for me and payed for all my meals, it's great having parents in town! We also got to eat a couple of meals with Jason which was good because my parents have not spent very much time with him at all and they need to get to know my future brother-in-law. They also got to meet Noah which I think they both enjoyed, I think Noah really liked being around the "old lady." 

It is less than a month till Kristen and I get married. I continue to get more and more excited!