April already

So Ania and I are having a little girl!

Wow... I'm going to be a daddy. It's still hard to believe.
It has been a busy busy year. Obviously since i haven't updated since February a lot has happened. Ania and I had an appointment with the sonogram place to find out about our little baby. We found out her due date is August 25th, but chances are it will be a little bit earlier than that. Our little girl is so far very healthy and very active. During our last check-up she even kicked the ultrasound monitor pressed up against mommy because it was too loud! She's already got Ania's feisty attitude.
Spring break was a pretty good time. We went to see Ania's family in New Jersey and I got to spend a few hours in New York City one evening. I got to go to the Nintendo world store and wow... Talk about amazing!
The picture sucks, but the guy taking it couldn't figure out how to make the flash go.... so whatever. That's me in the store. It was a lot of fun! I ended up buying a onesy(or however you spell it) for our baby and an awesome turtwig doll for the baby (and me but mostly the baby).

April is here now and it's just one thing after the other! The youth room is coming along quite nicely and I am hoping it will be done within the next couple weeks. Wishful thinking on my part, but I really do hope it happens.

Tonight's lesson is going to deal with Kenosis. Basically do you believe that Jesus emptied himself of any of his deity-ness or that he willingly gave up certain attributes to become human, or did he just veil his being a deity?

Few and Far Between

Well, I'm not very good at keeping a "consistent" blog, but at least I will be making posts! It's Friday February 12, 2010 and it's 2 days before Valentines Day. I've come to a few revelations recently that I have shared with my wife. Let's just say God is still good even when I'm not. And He always comes through even when I don't deserve it. God is patient and for that I am very grateful. God will always be patient and He will always be waiting for us to turn to Him for everything we face. Sometimes it takes me longer to turn to Him than it should but I'm slowly realizing that I need to be turning a lot sooner.

There is a youth I need everybody who reads this to pray for. She is dealing with a lot of issues and also doesn't know what she believes about God or Jesus or Christianity. So just keep this young girl in your prayers as God works in her life.

Hump Day

It's the middle of the week... "Hump day." Like a mountain that you are on top of... tomorrow you will be going downhill towards the weekend and the end of one week and the beginning of another. An endless cycle until God calls you home.

What are you doing during this endless cycle?

A New Year

Hello all and Happy New Year!!! I know this is a bit late, but today is my birthday so I am allowed to be late ;)

We have started NTX (New Testament Experience) at Birchwood this week and we will be reading through the New Testament by Easter. I am pretty excited about it actually and cannot wait to see what God shows Ania and myself.

The first day of reading, yesterday, we read Matthew chapters 1-4. I am always amazed at chapter 4, the temptation of Jesus. After spending 40 days and 40 nights fasting the Bible says Jesus was hungry. Let me just say... that has to be one of the biggest understatements of all time. After 40 days I am going to speculate, quite accurately I think ;), that Jesus was FAMISHED. I'm pretty sure that none of us can last that long, I know I sure can't. I start freaking out if I miss a meal. Well, let's just say my body starts getting angry at me if I don't eat something during "meal time".

After that long without food the body starts to shut down. Fatigue, dizziness, light-headedness, stress, extreme hunger, possible hallucinations, etc. begin to ravage the body after not having anything for that long. Let's just say it is not a pretty sight.

Why would Jesus do that to himself? Let me hear your answers on that question...

Then after he finished with that Satan decided to step in and start tempting him. Now the funny thing about his tempting is that he's tempting Jesus with things that Jesus already has. Power to turn stones to bread... check, power to call the angels to His side, check, power to own all the nations of the world, check. Jesus has absolutely all that within His power. However, God doesn't work that way. Even thought He can force all of those things He chooses not to. God wants us to come to Him and be saved. Also, as Jesus quoted scripture quite impressively since he is the scripture incarnate... Man lives on more than bread alone, don't tempt God, don't worship other Gods... Satan was trying but Jesus was too strong even after being weakened by fasting...

How can I show that same kind of strength.... how can you?

Post Number 3

I really am not all that good at thinking up titles for my blog posts. But when I start blogging on certain topics I'll start using relevant titles...

Technically at this point I doubt any youth are reading my blog. Once our website gets up however, I'm hoping that you all will read these posts as I do hope they will eventually be a help to you.

But for kicks and giggles I'm going to write stuff down anyway.

I have a new whiteboard in my office and I've got quite a schedule written up on it. For January we have a parent/student lunch on Jan 10th, We're going to go to the crown center in KC to go ice skating, and we're going to start a high school study. In February we have the Super Bowl Party, True Love Waits study, and hopefully another hockey game. We'll see how that goes.

Well that's it for today. My brain isn't really working all that well as I'm still busy cramming it full of information for my finals this week.

So I leave you with a Bible verse. "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." - 1 Timothy 4:12

Thanksgiving

It is that time of year again. Time to give thanks for everything that God has blessed us with.
After listening to the sermon on Sunday which covered 1 Thess. 5:18 which says, "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

It seems to me that giving thanks should not be just for one day only. Giving thanks is a year round, continuous thing. There are so many things we as Christians can and should be thankful for. For instance, Christ gave his life for us. That is the greatest thing gift we have ever and will ever receive. Everyday we should be thanking God for his mercy and grace.

My family just left to go back to Oklahoma this evening. It was very good to see them. I am thankful for my upbringing and the fact that I have a family who loves me as much now as they did 25 years ago. It is this blessing that God has provided me with that is so unheard of in today's society. Not many kids can say they have a loving home, or even parents who are still together. I am very thankful for what God has given me.

Ania's family is leaving tomorrow. It was also very good to see them. My wife is another person who had an amazing upbringing in a good Christian home. The love that they extend to me is just as much as my family and I am very blessed to be accepted into a family, a culture, and a way of life.

God is good. I have so much more to be thankful for. A nice apartment, nice furniture, food in my refrigerator, electricity, running water, heat, a car, nice electronics and appliances. So much that we take for granted that we just don't think about...

So... Happy Thanksgiving one and all!!!

First Entry

So I'm sitting here ruminating...

And I'm thinking to myself....

Why is it so hard to live a Christian life? Why can't it be easy?

As many of you know I just got married 4 months ago this Thursday and let me tell you marriage is a great thing! However, it's not an easy thing. My wife and I are devout Christians who love the Lord with everything we are. So theoretically two Christians who are married to each other should have an easier time being married than say... two non-Christians.

It's amazing how we think sometimes. That was definitely my thought going into marriage. However, I have come to realize that I cause a lot of problems!!! I'm not a perfect Christian... granted nobody is, but it seems that my personality is not super compatible with anybody else on this planet, which makes living with me very difficult for my wonderful wife.

So what makes it so hard to be married?

The same thing that makes it hard to be a Christian.

Sin


Satan has this knack of sneaking into our lives when we are at our happiest or best. When we are really on fire for God, or we are really trying to live a better Christian life. He comes in whenever we're down and out too. Satan is just always trying to trip us up. This makes life really hard. It reminds me of a Relient K song called "Softer to Me" Basically the song is a question to God... "God, could you please make my life just a little bit easier?"

The truth is we will never be able to get away from sin. We will never be able to get away from Satan's temptations. He will always tempt us and try to make us stumble or fall, but it's how we deal with that temptation that really matters.

Seek God's face in everything that you do. Nothing is too trivial or too small for God. Cast all your cares, worries, and troubles on Him, because He can take it!!! He will help if you just ask. When we are at our weakest... when we are at our worst... never think that God can't take you back. God will always take us back if we sincerely want to return.