…until vacation……….YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…if you’re not sure, read this review of a newly published book to find out. I hope you’re as disgusted as I am.

I’ve thought a lot about God’s will. It’s a topic you hear a lot about when you’re living in the Bible belt. It’s a topic you don’t hear a lot about outside that geographic area. I remember a time when I was so concerned with knowing and following “God’s will” that I was scared to take a step in case I was stepping in the wrong direction. The more I study it, though, and the more I listen to others teach about it I’m becoming convinced that we’ve often times become to much like the mystics in our overinfatuation with the concept of “God’s will.” Now, hear me out on this one. I’m not saying that we should not desire to understand what God wants for our lives and then to do that. I am saying, however, that maybe God isn’t so nitpicky as many of us maybe have thought. I really am beginning to get the idea that God wants us to simply be as close to Him as possible, i.e., spiritual intimacy, and then to simply live our lives and trust that He is in control. Now obviously this doesn’t allow for ridiculous decision making. (I love God and the pot looked really good so I smoked it) Obviously there are guidelines for living biblically. However, if we are living biblically and we are walking close to God, His desires become our desires and I believe we don’t have to live so “mystically” but rather, just live.

…or at least it did on the test that Tracy took today. Come the middle of January I’ll be a Daddy again! Yeah!!!!!!!

It wasn’t exctly planned by us but we know that it was planned by God and we can’t wait for he/she to arrive!

Psalm 67
For the choir director:
A psalm, to be accompanied by stringed instruments. A song.

1 May God be merciful and bless us.
May his face shine with favor upon us.

Interlude

2 May your ways be known throughout the earth,
your saving power among people everywhere.

3 May the nations praise you, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise you.

4 How glad the nations will be, singing for joy,
because you govern them with justice
and direct the actions of the whole world.

Interlude

5 May the nations praise you, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise you.

7 Yes, God will bless us,
and people all over the world will fear him.

It’s good isn’t it…….

My job has deemed it worthy to send a group of us from the hotel to a conference in KC next week called, “Get Motivated.” Now there are a series of speakers on the bill that I’m not too excited about, i.e., Zig Ziglar, Robert Schuller, etc., but there are also a couple of guys who excite me as well, i.e., Dick Vermeil, Rudy Guiliani and Gen. Tommy Franks. So, all in all it’s somewhat of a mixed bag. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Tracy and I had a great weekend. We went and heard Steve Saint speak Sunday night. Steve is the son of Nate Saint who was one of the missionaries killed in South America in the 50’s along with Jim Elliott and 3 other men. He grew up among the people who killed his dad and was eventually baptized by one of the men who killed his dad in the river where his dad’s body was thrown. It was a fantastic service!

Anyway, as a result Tracy and I have really struggled with our call to be involved in missions. We know God is calling us to return overseas at some point and when we go for periods of time without being saturated with missions info it can become a little easier on us. But when we are confronted with God’s movement overseas it becomes very difficult to be patient as far as finishing school is concerned. I know that God’s timing is perfect but unforunately my patience is not perfect.

The struggle is that I love my church and am very thankful for the work that God is doing there. I love being a part of that and if it weren’t for my call to be back overseas I could be happy there for a long time. I do have a call to go overseas though and so I’ll continue to deal with this internal struggle until the time that we head back. Oh well, such is a life that God directs!