Rouse House Happenings

Cancer Crushes-Generosity Brings Hope

2011-12-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

I walked into Piney Grove Elementary this morning to drop off some presents that a family had left Sa

turday at the Unexpected Christmas Store and was reminded what a difference Ridge Church is making in this community

. I was bombarded with hugs and 'thank you's from the principal and the administration as I walked into the office, because of the ripple effect the Unexpected Christmas Store and Ridge Church's partnership has already had on these families.

When I left there this morning I was reminded of one the most heart breaking stories that

has come from the 14 families that were able to come shop at the Unexpected Christmas Store. This family ca

me to the store Saturday morning with a life story that would break the

average person into and leave them with no hope. As this single mom came in I could again see the heaviness on her face but could have never imagined what she is going through. We began her shopping experience by piling bags upon bags on a table and all around the floor for her and her 4 childre

n. When I brought her into the room to look over everything and she was in absolute shock.

"This is ALL for us?!?!"
"Yes ma'am. We wanted to make sure we could take care of your wish list and give you a bunch of household items that you could possibly use."

Hugs and tears flowed but more than that smiles and joy began to appear. When she was done looking through all of it I told her that we still wanted her to go shop and pick out some cool toys and things her children would love to open from her on Christmas morning. But before she finished her shopping I told her that we had one more big item for her. I showed her a very nice dresser that The Blacklion had donated to the store for this family. She did not not

ice what a nice piece it was at first, she noticed that it had 4 drawers. "God must have known that I needed this since it has 4 drawers. Now we have one drawer for each child!"
This is when she began sharing her family's story with me. Her oldest son who is ten years old was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer last year. This crushed her and this journey was crushing the whole family. The only option for saving her son was to try and have another child. She did get pregnant and had a wonderful little baby boy, who was there with her at the store. The doctors saved the stem cells from the baby's umbilical cord to use for the older son's cancer treatments. So with the cost of having another child, having to pay for cancer treatments and becoming a single mother of 4 the family began to lose everything. They gave up their house, car, sold all they had even furniture, and now live in an extended stay hotel. The mother told me that this entire Christmas break they are spending their time at a cancer hospital in NYC. That was the extent of their Christmas until the Unexpected Christmas Store. This mom was so happy when she left that she went and got her children and came back. This time when she walked in her face was full of hope.
Most of us could never imagine having to go through what this family is faced with and most of us would never imagine being as generous as the small group was that took this family's wish list and went over and beyond. I truly believe that when we realize how blessed we are and with what responsibility comes with those blessings we can change the world and make a lasting impact...maybe one family at a time.

Thank you Father for allowing us to be apart of this family's transition from being crushed by life to a season of HOPE. We don't always see the effect of our generosity but thank you for allowing us to see just a glimpse of the reward this day and allowing us the opportunity to give!

The Gospel Coming to Life

2011-12-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

This week the staff of Ridge Church were sitting around sharing stories and talking about wins from the past weekend at the Unexpected Christmas Store (http://rousehousehappenings.blogspot.com/2011/12/unexpected-christmas-store.html) Patrick our Family Ministry Director was telling us about the lady that he was able to help host at the store Saturday. She is a mother of 2 elementary age children that attend Piney Grove school and she also volunteers there at the school. This mother was previously in the military for 10 years and she has some deep emotional and mental scares but not from what you would think. Anyone who serves our country probably has some degree of emotional damage from war and horrific combat situations but this lady's troubles while serving our country were brought on by her fellow soldiers. She was sexually abused for many years in the military.

Now being removed from that environment this mother of 2 still faces her past every day. When she walked through the doors of the Unexpected Christmas Store I saw hurt, defeat, sadness, and trouble on her face. Our host team quickly greeted her when she walked through the doors and took her on a 'red carpet' shopping spree through this store that was set up just for her and the families at Piney Grove Elementary. Our goal was to bless them with much needed household items items and gifts for Christmas but even more importantly we wanted to let these families know that Jesus loves them and has not forgotten them during these tough times they face.

While Patrick was helping pack her car full of wrapped presents and Christmas decorations this mother that is burden with her past shared this with him. "I often feel like I'm not loved, but today I know that you guys love me and my family. Today I'm loved." As Patrick said in this meeting, "this is the fullness of the Gospel." Taking people who don't feel loved, giving ourselves to them for the purpose of showing them that someone great loves them more than anything else, and then they see Christ in all of it. This is the Gospel coming to life!

"Little children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth." 1 John 3:18
"And the King will answer them and say, 'As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you did it to me.'" Matthew 25:40

Unexpected Christmas Store

2011-12-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

Saturday was one of the coolest day's that I have every been able to experience and be apart of! At Ridge church we signed the lease on our first 24/7 facility and less than 12 hours later we had created a Christmas store for 14 families from Piney Grove. This year we have chosen to serve and partner with the Piney Grove Elementary community to make a lasting difference and show Jesus' love. This Christmas store is just one of the ways Ridge Church wants to bless this community by providing Christmas for families. We received the wish list and list of needs from 14 families in this school that are facing tough times this year. With the Christmas store set up parents were able to come do their own shopping and this would allow them to be the heroes in their home not Ridge Church.

Saturday morning was the first day the store would be open for the parents to come enjoy this red carpet shopping experience. We had no way of knowing the impact this would have on these parents and we were left speechless and yes full of tears. We heard some heart breaking stories that will now be filled with hope this season. These were not just families that were struggling but families that are in desperate need! A mother that had be sexually abused, a single mom of 3 whose husband died a couple years ago, a teenage daughter who has to raise 2 elementary age children, and a grandma of 4 who received chemo moments before she came shopping and she just told the children that they were not going to be celebrating Christmas this year because they had no money for gifts or decorations. The one story that I can't get out of my mind is this one of a foster mom trying to help the real mom get established with her children.

I had the opportunity of hosting these two ladies on Saturday, the mom and foster mom. We had bought toys, shoes, coats, pi's, underwear, socks, blankets, sheets, and a lot more for this family. The foster mom shared with us on the families wish list that was sent home of her desire to help this mom since she has just moved into her own apartment, so we bought somethings for the mom too. When we brought out the multiple bags full of gifts they were in amazement and the tears rolled down their face. They could not believe all of this. The mothers thought that they were just going to get a few little toys for the kids not bags of gifts for the whole family. After they had time to look at all of the gifts I told them that I we had one more gift for them. I took them over to these boxes and said, "you told us that your kids needed a bed to sleep on so..." The foster mom said, "NOOO WAAYYYY! You did not get some beds?!?!" I said, " we actually got you brand new beds from Ikea with new mattresses, mattresses covers, and down comforters." ** And a side note, a family in our church felt like the Lord was telling them to go buy some beds when they heard about the store. How cool is it when people are obedient to His leading!** The two mom's began crying, hugging me and each other, and yelling over and over, "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" It was like an episode of Opera's Favorite things giveaway. The foster mom told me that this would definitely be the best Christmas that these 2 children will have ever had.

This day was about two things: blessing families that needed it and providing a way for the people of Ridge to be generous and serve together. Mission accomplished, no wait mission exceeded! We have one more day of the Unexpected Christmas Store this coming Saturday so please be praying for Ridge Church and the 9 families that will come shopping.

Proverbs 11:25, A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

Risk Takers

2011-12-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

I am reading and studying through the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan with our community group. Every week we go through a chapter, talk about it and see how we can apply it to our lives. It is making a difference in everyone of us. This week I am reading in chapter 8 and I came across this section called "Risk Takers". Interesting, intriguing, and gut checking for sure!

The author begins this section by asking a question, "Haven't we all prayed a prayer like this,". He then goes on to this prayer that sounds a bit shallow, spiritually immature but familiar. It is all about me being safe NO matter what. It's a prayer that many of us pray daily as we get in our car or before a vacation or mission trip. Does God care about our safety or protection? Yes. Of course. But is that His ultimate goal or desire? NO WAY!

God's ultimate goal, desire, and priority is not safety. It's His glory! And for Him to get maximum glory it sometimes means we will have to be in uncomfortable situations, pain, and even danger. But are we willing to allow any of those in our life or do we just simply want to play it safe? Would our life really look any different if God wasn't apart of it? Are we playing it safe? Do we give, serve, love, and live in a safe way?

If you do, and most of us do, it is probably because we need to refocus our eyes and hearts on the One. Nothing in this life can be more satisfying and really nothing could be more safe than to say God your will be done. The last sentence in chapter 7 says, "What matters is that we spend our lives", not how much we have, where we live, or accomplish. I am glad that God didn't play it safe and that Jesus spent all he had for this world and me.

Prayer
God bring me closer to you no matter what it takes, keep me from unnecessary harm, and help me to live my life in the way that gives You most glory.

Generosity

2011-11-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

Generosity: The habit of giving freely with out expecting anything in return.

At Ridge Church and in the RouseHouse we are teaching our children how to be generous. We want to create a culture of generosity because we are called to bless others and I truly believe that when we are generous with what God has graciously given us then we are blessed.

Mac, our 7 year old son, and I had this discussion the other night before we prayed and went to bed. It went something like this...

Me: Mac how was UpStreet today?(this is the environment that he goes to at Ridge Church on Sunday mornings)
Mac: Good. We are helping Eric, the boy that lives in Africa again. We are filling up jars with money so he can have what he needs. The boys and girls are racing to see who can fill their jar up first.
Me: Cool.
Mac: I gave my two dollars that I got from helping clean up at Nana's yesterday.
Me: Mac that is awesome that you gave what you had!
Mac: I remembered that I have a full piggy bank too so I am taking it to church next week and emptying it all out.
Me: Really? That would be great.
Mac: I think that he needs it more. You know he actually has to pay to go to school and only gets to go to the doctor a few times a year. My school is free, I have tons of toys and I can go to the doctor every time I'm sick.
Me: I think that would be great Mac. Let's pray and go to bed.
Mac: God please help Eric get all the money he needs for stuff and God I hope he can get more than he needs.........

WOW! I left that bed room full of excitement for the generosity that is growing in that little boys heart. The big kicker here is that Mac has been saving his money to buy an iPod touch but instead he is giving much of his money away. This reminds of the story in Mark 12 where the lady who had very little gave it all. God loves a cheerful, generous giver! How can we all be generous today with what we have? How different would our communities and world be if we all took this to heart today.

Mark 12:42-44
But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty(need), put in everything—all she had to live on.

Sweet Release

2011-11-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

Started the day with an overwhelmed heart but looking forward to the Night of Worship at North Point Community Church. I got couple of the lines to one of the songs and was stopped by these two lines:

Running to You arms and Nothing compares to Your warm embrace

I found my self with arms raised reaching for God, tears flowing because I know that He is my only hope, and my heart is calling DAD! In that moment my mind and heart were taken to another place. I was picturing God, our Father(DAD), standing with His arms opened wide and saying, "Spanky, my son, I love you, things are going to be ok, Your mine and I am here for you."

My mind went to the passage Joshua 1:9, " Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Go my son, do what I have created you for! I have you and lifes situations under control. I have already taken care of everything for you. Don't focus on the needs, struggles, and problems in life. These don't matter, the mission I have you on is what really matters.

Exhale, laid down the burdens, surrendered and it was a sweet release. Awwwwwwww.

Date Day with Elly

2011-10-20T10:48:00.001-07:00

As most of you know Lara is super involved with our church's preschool environment, Waumba. Today she took a road trip with some other staff and volunteers to a conference that will teach them how to better partner with families. So, today it was a date day with my girl, just me and Elly. We don't spend to many days just me and her so this was a special time, for the both of us. We mainly ran errands, ate breakfast, laughed at each other, and cuddled. We had some really awesome conversations...well as good as they can be with a 10 month old baby. I thought they were pretty special talks.

I love spending one on one time with my children. I have to admit that sometime around mid-morning I did have the thought that I really need to get some work done, but by the grace of God I also had the thoughts of her growing up. Like when she is a teenager and other boys are the one she is smiling at, college years when she will leave me, and the day when someone else will be the love of her life. I quickly forgot about anything I thought needed to be done and enjoyed my time spent with my baby girl. I never knew that there would ever be another girl, other than her mommy, that could capture my heart with just a smile. I love my Ellyana!!!

Thank You from Piney Grove

2011-10-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty cool 'Thank You' card that I received from the school and the PTA after our last work day out at Piney Grove. I am so thankful that I am the one that gets to see all of their appreciation and excitement. We are not serving and giving to this school, these families, and community so that our church name can be made more famous, or to make us feel good about ourselves. We are not even trying to convert people to our belief each time we go out there. Our purpose is to give more fame to our Father, show this community and these people His love, and be about good works that He has prepared for us. I do believe that in our continuing support and service,His name will be more famous in that community and our hearts will be more satisfied.

Ephesians 2:10 (The Message) No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and the saving. He creates each of use by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Serving and Creating Community, Part 2

2011-09-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

serve·ice: noun /ˈsərvis/ services, plural / serving, verb
The action of helping, assisting, or doing for someone

When I think about the "church", God's people, I think that this should be one of the main pillars of who we are and what we are doing. Serving those around us, those in our world, country, city, and especially in our community. Doing for others, giving of our resources, spending our time investing, using who we are and what we have for the purpose of loving on those that are not in the church and those who are just in need! I think about that popular section of scripture in the beginning of the book of Acts where Jesus says,"...and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:7b

Let us get started right where we are, our Jerusalem, with the people in our community. I feel like for years and even the past generations we have been talking about what needs to be done and now is the time to do! Church, let us be bothered by the things that bother our heavenly Father and do something about it. Let us be the Gospel in action and take steps to make a difference ! This is where this passion for serving our community has come from in me and Ridge Church. We looked at the community around Piney Grove Elementary School and said something has to happen. We were bothered with the drugs, gangs, poverty, low test scores, challenges, and homelessness of families that is growing just 3 miles from our church. We got together and said that we were not ok that this and something has to change! This something we knew that was going to have to start with the "church". Ridge decided that we were going to take our time, energy, resources, and volunteers and try to make a difference among this community. As we began making plans and putting it into action we found that others had this same passion but just needed the opportunity to do "something". As a result we have partnered with 2 other churches in our community to make a lasting difference in the Piney Grove neighborhood. And so, we began by providing book bags and school supplies for the families that would not be able to do this for them self. This seems small but we believe that this first step has truly made a huge impact on families in this community. And the exciting part of is that this is only the beginning!

If we are not making an impact for Jesus in our community, city, and so forth are we really His Church? Are we fulfilling His purpose for our lives? Where can we start? What needs are there? What resources and opportunities has God given us to use to make a real difference?

We are created for good works (Ephesians 2:10) for His glory! Serving is fun,satisfying, and sometimes serving can even bring a sense of meaning to this life! Try it and see what can happen in your community.

Serving and Creating Community, Part 1

2011-08-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

Serving others in our community is one of he most valuable things in my life along with creating spiritual/relational community. With out community in our lives who is going to listen, love, and help lead us week after week, year after year, and season after season of life. I believe that we were created to be relational and if we don't have the relation aspect in life then we will ultimate feel less fulfilled. I want to share over the next few blogs about the latest opportunity my family and I had to "serve" our community and how that in its self built community in lives.

I have been working on putting a project together this summer and it just took flight this week. I have been working with Ridge Church, New Charlotte Church, and others to provide 600 bags full of school supplies for children at Piney Grove Elementary that are among some of the neediest in our area. This is one of the first steps we are taking this year to see a difference in this community. Simple and easy way to connect people.

I really wanted to take this first blog to share some of the responses and excitement from the families, teachers, and volunteers of that evening. It was an amazingly touching night. More details of the actual project to come later. It was a fun and exciting event that will produce life change over and over.

So, here is what we heard from parents, kids, teachers, and administration that evening when we passed out these book bags:

"FREE? Really!"

Brother, "I got a free back pack!" Sister: "Me too! and mine is BRAND new!" They then sat down on the sidewalk so they could see what was inside. It looked much like a Christmas morning. Sister: "Look everything in new, like never been used! Notebooks, paper, and even pencils!" Mom stands over them with a big smile.

Teacher, "Wow! this is amazing! How did you get so many book bags and why?"

Administration, " What a blessing, what a blessing, what a blessing. Thank you so much. You have no idea what this will mean."

Principal, "This is amazing! We appreciate your help! We love you Ridge Church."

Councilor, "A parent said to me after they got a book bag with supplies 'Did you know that they gave us a new book bags and school supplies...for FREE!' They are making a difference!"

"I love my backpack! It looks cool."

"I bought my daughters school supplies but I haven't been able to buy my boy's yet." Volunteer, "He can come get a book bag and school supplies here for free." Mom, "Really, thank you so much."

"Hot-dogs too!!"

Administration, "Speechless"

"I saw the kids faces and you don't know what this real means to these families...my family. I love Ridge Church"

Volunteer responses:

5th grade kid from Ridge, "This is so much fun! It just feels good too."

"Man, I love this kinda stuff!"

"If I could have a job doing this all day everyday...That would be great!"

"better than I thought!"

"How cool is this!"

"I have already teared up once and I just got here"

"What an awesome day!"

Teenager, "Can I go give that kid a hot-dog and book bag!?"

"This is the best way I could think of ending the summer!"

"I feel so blessed to be apart of this!"

Mac, my son, "I love serving and giving to others. This is fun!"

"What is the next project we can serve at here at Piney Grove?!?!"

Hearts were touched, and we were able to take one step closer to seeing real life change here in the Piney Grove community!

A story worth telling...

2011-07-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

We were all crammed in the back seat of an old 4 wheel drive Landcruiser when Joseph began telling us about his previous interaction with the Karamajong people. Joseph Nelson Elyanu is an older man with some white hair, big belly, and a huge smile. He brings joy to everyone that is around him. Joseph loves and truly lives for Jesus everyday. He was going with us to this new area called Karamoja to make relationships with the Karamajong people.

Ovre the past couple decades the Karamajong have been known for being violent and brutal. When someone would ask us where we were traveling to and we told them Karamoja, they would either laugh because they didn't believe us or get a look of fear on their face. For me this place and these people were just stories and pictures of a far reaching people group, until Joseph told his story.

In the back seat of the car Joseph began telling us his encounters with the Karamajong. He said that many years ago when he was in bible school they came and raided his village and eventually made their way to his house. Joseph and his family heard the guns so they ran and hid in the bush so when the warriors came to their house they could not find them. The Karamajong warriors yield for them but none of them came because they knew that they would kill them. A few years later the warriors came back to Joseph's village this time when they couldn't find Joseph, his wife and 4 boys they got mad and set fire to their house, books, clothes, and everything they had. Joseph and his family had to look on from a distance and watch everything they had be taken away from them. They then had to live in a refugee camp for many years until the government could take control. Joseph was finally able to finished school and rebuilt his home, but it took many years and was a hard struggle.

As Joseph is telling me this story I am felling anger build up in my own heart. I asked him, "how in the world could he ever think about going to this village even though it has been so many years. Do you not have any hate in your heart towards them for all that they have done to you and your family?" Joseph turns to look at me and with an intense face he says, "how can I hate these people after all that Jesus has done for me? If anything I praise God for giving me the opportunity to go with you and share the love and forgiveness of Jesus with them. God sure is writing a good story." This conversation and Joseph's commitment to the Gospel left me almost speechless for the next 4 hours. I keep thinking about the "story" that God is writing.

The time we spent with the Karamajong was so amazing. One of my high lights was to see how Joseph played with the children, talked to every person that came anywhere near him, and how he had the biggest smile on his face as though it was Christmas. Joseph's story is one that I will never forget. It's about love, forgiveness, and the difference that Christ can make when He is the author of your stories and life.

Mac Talks To God

2011-04-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago Mac told us that he talked to God one night and God talked back. We half hazardly listened to him because we pray at night as a family so talking to God was normal, so I thought. Then a few weeks later he told us one night after reading the bible that he let Jesus come in to his heart. This lead us to really questioned him about what he meant by this. Just so happened that at church we were having an event where the Gospel message is explained in the best way for a child to understand.

Well, I will let Mac tell you what happened next. Watch Mac tell his story at http://www.vimeo.com/22352477.

Passion

2011-03-10T07:23:00.001-08:00

I have noticed something about myself lately. I am passionate! If I believe in something or feel lead in a direction I can easily become very passionate about it. It doesn't even matter what it is, I can get passionate about simple, insignificant things and hugly important things. If it is a new food, I can tell you all about how to prepare that food. If it is a place, I can give you all of the best reasons for why you should visit there. If it is a musician, I can tell which songs would really speak to you. If it is an idea, I can help you understand why you should follow me in that way.

I think that this is a great attribute to have especially when I need to cast vision around a mission or a project that needs funds, man power, and prayer. But, I think that it could also be dangerous. I can find myself quickly getting off track or loosing heart when the passion fades away. So, how can we stay focused, and how can I(we) direct our zeal for the important things in life. We all have to think about this so that we can look back and know that we spent our time and energy the best way possible.

Obviously, I am directing this to Christian believers, therefore I believe that we need to first have the bible and time in prayer to be our guidelines to determine where we need to focus our passions.

I think that if we ask ourselves on a constant or routine basis what am I doing or where am I focused we, can realign ourselves. A wise person once told me that I need to keep asking myself if I am being faithful painting this door or have I gone on to painting windows. Let me explain. If I am hired to paint the front door of a house but as I begin painting I notice the many windows that need some work done to them too. If the one who hired me to paint the door comes home and sees the door not finished but sees me painting these windows, they are probably going to be frustrated with me. I was hired to paint the door, right.

We have to find the one thing in life that really excites us and is worth us spending our time, energy, and money on. STICK with that. Let that be your goal and vision in life. Don't stray from that goal. You may have to take different vehicles to get there but keep that goal in mind with every effort in life. It may even help to right it down just to bring it formally together.

Why do I feel like this is even worth talking about? I know that God has created us for a specific purpose. Each one of us He has a plan for. "The steps of a man are established by the LORD,when he delights in his way." Psalms 37:23 He has chosen each of us to carry out His plan but in a unique and specific way. Be encouraged in that you are special to God and He wants to use each of us and He wants us to live a life worth living. Don't get caught up in a boring and normal life!

What are you passionate about? What are you doing with that passion? How can you make much of Jesus and live a life pleasing to Him with what He has put in your heart? I would love for you to reply and share. I love hearing stories of passions. I will write about mine later.

Jesus or Braveheart?

2011-01-25T14:23:00.000-08:00

If you only read a paragraph please read the last one!!!

I'm reading through the life of Jesus and seeing new things that I have never seen in some very familiar passages. "Open my eyes that I may see the wondrous things in your law(word)."Psalms 119:18

Jesus was just baptized by John and now being filled with the Holy Spirit He is lead in to the wilderness. The Father "commissioned" Him and now He is going to prepare Jesus for ministry. Seems like so many times in life when I am on a spiritual high or filled with the Spirit that I am immediately lead into a wilderness or valley. Coincident? I think not. So Jesus had been in the wilderness for 40 days which probably felt more like 40 years and now at a weak time Satan comes to attack. He always knows the best time to attack, unfortunately.

Satan attacks Jesus' personal weakness first. He knew at the time what Jesus was thinking about,"FOOOOOOOOODDDDD!" Satan knows our weakness. Money problems, physical issues, relationship drama. Satan wants to take you out as quick as possible! Jesus combats his attack with scripture! Luke 4:4

Next Satan attacks/tempts Jesus with power and success. Why does Satan think that that would even be a temptation for Jesus or us, is God the Almighty not our Father? Satan knows that we have all thought of selling out at sometime or another to get ahead and that we all want to be a little more successful in life. Jesus again combated this with scripture. Luke 4:8

Satan was getting desperate in his attempts to pursued Jesus. He used scripture and twisted it up to see if he could get Jesus to question his trust in God. Luke 4:10-11 "Doesn't the word say that He will give all the angels to watch out for you, you want even get hurt, right? Jump let us see what happens Jesus." I can just see him saying this with a smirk and smart alick attitude. This sounds a lot like, "That's not to much money to spend, after all does God not want the best for you." or "We are living together to see if it's a right fit. After all God hates divorce and we would not want that to happen." Satan loves to twist God's word so that we are tempted to question our faith in the Father. Jesus combats it again with scripture again. Luke 4:12

I am sure you already know that I am trying to make it clear that the word of God is the absolute best weapon to counter attack the enemy. We are helpless with out it and so many of us barely pick up our bibles Monday through Saturday. Why? Because we don't realize the power and life that this book gives us. It is real, alive, all powerful, and at our disposal. Read it, study it, mediate on it, let it digest and take hold of your life. You will be amazed at the battles that you will be victorious in and the peace that it will deliver to your life. It is food for your soul. Take a bite and be satisfied.

I am picturing Jesus as Mel Gibson in Braveheart. Sitting on his horse with his head held high, war paint on, and sword in hand attacking and humiliating Satan in battle. Dude of all dude!

"Open my eyes that I may see the wondrous things from your Law(word)." Psalms 119:18

What a Name

2010-12-21T07:15:00.001-08:00

With the arrival of a new addition to the Rouse house we started many months ago thinking of great baby names. This is no easy or quick task. And when we thought we had it figured out we would decide to change it.

I believe that there is a lot in a persons name. While reading the Christmas story over and over this week I noticed that Elizabeth, John the Baptist mother also believed that a name was important. When he was born the community thought that he would be named after his father because that's just what you would do, right? Elizabeth said no way! He will be called John and he will go before the Christ to prepare the way. His father even prophesied this to be his future calling. Then in Luke 3 you see that this was exactly what John dedicated his life to. Making away for the Lord.

While in Panama last year God clearly showed me that when we have a little girl that she should be called Faith. I didn't even know that Lara was pregnant until I arrived home from this trip. We also wanted to honor a great friend of ours and name our baby girl after her. Her middle name is Faye and in Spanish Fe means "faith". So we believe that God put on our hearts the name Fe for her middle name.

Our prayer is that she will be one filled with an abundants of faith. That she will trust in her Heavenly Father fully and take huge steps of faith. We pray that God will use her in some awesome ways. The bible is clear that with faith you can be pleasing to the Father and nothing will be impossible. What a great name!

Isn't She Lovely

2010-12-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

The week before our sweet little girl came into the world I got a song in my head. I just could not stop singing it. So I looked up the words and they seemed so perfect for this gift that was about to come into our lives. I thought I would share the lyrics and a picture of my baby girl. Isn't She Lovely!

You can also listen to Zac Brown Bands remake of "Isn't She Lovely" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUDKeWJekN8

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one minute old
I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely made from love

Isn't she pretty
Truly the angel's best
Boy, I'm so happy
We have been heaven blessed
I can't believe what God has done
Through us he's given life to one
But isn't she lovely made from love

True Worshipers

2010-12-01T09:55:00.001-08:00

Over the past month at church our youth have been talking about the people who are invisible. People who feel like no one cares or sees them. People who aren't "important". And sometimes that is us. The last week we talked about how Jesus made a point to be with those people and make a difference in their lives and so should we. The story we looked at was the Samaritan lady at the well in John 4.

This story has many details and social issues that make it interesting. Like a Jew talking to a Samaritan, a man talking to a woman, a woman going to fetch water alone and in the heat of the day, a person that was shunned among a group of people that were in that day the lowest of lows, a Rabbi being with the town whore, etc. But all of these were not what stuck out to me the most when I read it this time.

Jesus tells this unworthy woman that the Almighty God is seeking out worshipers. True worshipers. Followers that are going to make His name famous in Jerusalem and around the world. He came to her! Jesus was seeking out this lady with a nasty past because He knew that she was someone that He could love and use for the furthering of His kingdom. She would one that was a true worshiper.

In verses 26-30 Jesus revealed who He was and she believed. She forgot all about her needs and task for the day and immediately ran to tell the entire city about Jesus. This reminds me of the woman in east Africa. When they get excited or as they say filled with the Holy Spirit they let out a loud cry that gets your attention. It is something that you will never forget when you hear it. They want everyone to know what God is doing.

When you have been with Jesus others will know! You may let out a cry. You may run to tell everyone about Him. But you will definitely find yourself surrendering to him daily. Let us be true worshipers!

Rodeo Viejo - Even the Frogs Praise!

2010-10-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

A few nights after we had been there in this village of Roedo Viejo we saw God doing great things. The second night at our cell group meetings the local christian men and woman broke up the crowd into small groups. We like to teach and demonstrate that small groups of people studying the bible, telling stories, and heartfelt questions being ask is the best type of ministry, church, and discipleship.

We had a small hand held generator that we hooked up a strain of 6 light bulbs or so. This gave us just enough light so that we were able to invite the village to the meetings at night after they got home from work. I was sitting back watching what God was doing with these people as they read the bible, some for the first time and while the local believers, some just baby Christians lead this discussion based bible study. It was so cool to see the faces light up with smiles of relief when they learned about grace and freedom in Christ!

I went off by myself to praise God for what He was doing in the lives and families of this village. As I sat there in the dark I realized that the bugs and frogs were making some of the loudest noise that I have ever heard. It was making it hard to pray but at that moment I thought, "what if they were praising the Creator?" I believe that creation can't help but to worship the God of Creation and it is going to be loud. I joined in with the frogs and worshipped my awesome God.

Psalms 134:3, "Praise the Lord for He is good. Sing praises to His name for it is pleasant."

Psalms 150: 6, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!"

Rodeo Viejo - Vision

2010-10-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

For the past few months I have been questioning life and ministry. I have frequently been asking the question “what am I doing and what is God’s plan?” Sometimes that can be a good way to realign ourselves with what His will is for our life and ministry but that was not where my heart was. My heart was thinking that I am not seeing the results or having the easy path so this can’t really be God’s will, right? Even with those thoughts crowding my mind and heart daily the wonderful, loving, and purposeful Father keep reminding me and confirming to me that He has called me to a life of ministry. He actually chose me and wants to use me for his kingdom work.
Just before my trip to Panama I was seriously considering taking a job and getting out of full time ministry. I have to take care of my family and pay bills right?

After the second day in Rodeo Viejo a very godly man named Victor that I had be privileged to get to know, came to me late one evening and told me about a dream that he had had a couple of nights prior. So this is what he told me as I stood there with my eyes opened wide, heart filling up, and mouth on the floor.

I had a dream the other night and after talking to God about it I believe that it was from Him. I was nervous about telling you about it since we just meet and I did not want you to think that I was one of those weird people that have crazy vision that they say are from God. But He keeps laying it on my heart so I have to tell you if I am going to be able to lie down and go to sleep. I saw a picture of you…you were overseeing many and many were following your lead. You were being a great influence for the Kingdom and your influence and power keep growing the more you lead. After the dream I asked the Lord what it means and He told me to tell you “do not give up! Don’t stop! Keep following me and serving! I am going to use you in great ways but you have to keep diligent in My work!”

Victor then asked me what I thought. After a few gulps I said that I believe that this was from God. I shared with Victor that just last week I was thinking about putting this work aside but I felt like God was telling me not to and the his dream was proof that the Almighty was telling me this. It was a great comfort to me to here Victor say with such confidence and passion, “Don’t give up! Don’t stop! Keep following me! I’m going to use you in great ways.”

God is not done with me, the road is not going to be easy, and my family and I will have to suffer some pain but God is going to use us in ways that we cannot even imagine today. He will be glorified in our lives, family, and ministry for many years to come. We praise Him for this privilege!

Rodeo Viejo - Over the River and Up the Mountain

2010-10-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

I am blogging a series of stories that comes from my experiences on my last trip to the mountains and jungles of Panama.

We left base camp heading to peoples homes to share the Gospel this morning. I found myself in knee deep mud with in 20 minutes. The rain is really making many of these roads impassable by car, horse or foot. I made one wrong step and I began to sink. With my back back on I began to crawl, literally, out of this swampy mess. When i reached the other side of the village I was covered from head to toe in mud. I was not looking forward to the rest of the day since it was only 10am.

After visiting a few homes we found a man who owns the local store in the village so we stopped to have a cold drink with him. After he stopped laughing at me for being covered in the mud he offered to show us where there was a nice clean river to wash off in. That sounded like music to my ears! It was a about a 20min hike but completely worth it.

The store owner then told us of two families that were close that he thought they would like for us to visit them. So we hiked to the top of this mountain and found the farthest home was an elderly couple. The man was 81 years old he thinks. They were both full of energy and very welcoming. After talking about everything from chickens to my red mud boots we began to share the story of Jesus with them. Being catholic they knew a lot about Jesus and the bible but you could tell that it was mostly in there head and not in their hearts. Me, my translator, and a team of 3 other local believers spent about an hour there sharing all about the love of God, the bible, and God's plan for them before they asked, "how can we start a relationship with God?" So we lead them in a simple, short prayer and then worship and fellowship broke out in that small bamboo hunt on the top of the mountain in the middle of no where. The Spirit was there moving!

It has been a couple of days and we are going to re visited the elderly couple over the river and up the mountain. They wanted us to come read the bible to them and teach them more about Christ. They are soaking it up like a sponge and are so thrilled. They can't read so our store owner who also came to know the Lord last night said that he would visit this area every week and bring the supplies from the store that they had ordered and help teach them the bible using our discipleship materials. He is helping them go through the first worksheet now and it is cool to see that it is basic enough that a baby christian can understand.

New believers gathering for bible reading and studying in homes in the middle of the jungles with a local man of influence leading it...that sounds like the book of Acts coming to life!!! That is so exciting! God has had his hand upon us.

Rodeo Viejo - Aaron

2010-10-13T08:03:00.001-07:00

I am going to tell a few of the stories that I had a chance to journal on my last trip to Panama. They are stories where I was privileged to see the hand of God and I believe that they can be encouraging to you too.

Today was our first day in the village and it was low key due to the massive amounts of rain that has fallen for the past 12 hours or so. We were not able to be a mobile as we wanted to be because the roads and paths are literally rivers. About mid morning we decided that we came here to do a work so went got dressed in all the rain gear that we could and headed out. Rain gear, for the locals that means a large trash bad at best.

I started walking with my translator Aaron and 4 other believers down this muddy trail while our mud boots began filling up with water. Aaron and I were getting to know each other since we had never meet nor worked together. I wanted to make a relationship with him before we reached the first home where we were planning to share the gospel. After about 30 minutes and being totally soak i found out that Aaron was born into a Catholic family, goes to a local University, has never been on a camping trip like this, and he had know idea that a person could have a personal relationship with Jesus(God). He said that he knew that is what he needed and has known that for a while but he had no idea how to do that. I began to ask him some questions, really I was trying to talk him out of this right now because I didn't want it to seem as though I talked him into salvation or praying a prayer during our first conversation. I couldn't! He was almost begging me to share with him how you start a real relationship with God. So, we stopped right there in the rain and mud and I shared with him how he can talk to God, and God can actually start working in his life. His eyes lit up and I asked him if he wanted to talk to God right there. He said, "Here? You can talk to God here? and He will come in to my life and forgive me, here?" I told him that he could do this anywhere and anytime but he said he wanted to right there and right now. I stopped the other men that were with us and shared with them our conversation. We lead Aaron in a simple prayer and a huge smile took over.

I hope that this is going to be a great week of disciplining for the guy and a great start to his personal relationship with God. I could go home happy right now!

Sufficient

2010-08-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

This one comes from one of my recent journal entries.

I have been struggling a lot lately and I feel like many others around me are fighting the same battle. Life as a Christ follower is not always easy and who ever has taught that it is, should be beat! Not really but I feel like I could do the job if someone said that to me today.

It has been one of those times in life when I feel like I suck at being or doing anything! Providing for my family, being excellent in ministry and making a difference, fathering, loving my wife effectively, planning for the future, not worrying and trusting God, taking the right steps, really I feel like I fail at everything some days. The bigger problem is that I find my self in these time trying to fix it or figure it out on my own. That is probably the last thing that I need to do! "Trust in the Lord...lean not on my own understanding(prov.3:5-6)" keeps ringing in my head. I know that it is no accident that that is the first bible verse that my mom taught me as a child.

Today Father, you allowed me to land on 2 Cor. 3:4-6 and I am so thankful!!!

vs.4, I CAN trust you Father because you have already proven your love and faithfulness to me through Jesus. There is no reason for me to not trust You, that is actually the only logical and rational thing to do.

vs. 5, This one hit me hard 3 days ago and I can't get away from it. "I'm not sufficient for anything! But you are sufficient for everything and through you I can be sufficient no matter what comes my way. No matter what You are able and are the best answer to the equation.

vs. 6, Not only are you sufficient in my life but You chose to make me sufficient in ministry. Through you I am able, adequate, competent to be a minister of the Gospel(new covenant) that brings life. Now that is encouraging!

Father, help me to trust in and rely on You. You can, You are able, You are the best for me! I'm Yours and Your mine.

Child like Faith

2010-07-21T15:38:00.001-07:00

I was riding down the road the other night with Mac and he completely amazed me with his wisdom! I thought that I would share our conversation. I promise this is worth writing about and it is so worth reading. Mac is amazing!

Mac started the conversation with, "Daddy you know that God always gives us what we need...and He even gives us what we want sometimes too, but not always."

Me: Mac that is really smart. Some adults like mommies and daddies don't understand that.

Mac: yeah some mommies and daddies don't know Jesus either. That's really sad. It's a good thing that we do.

Me: your right Mac!

Mac: what should we call the new baby?

Me: I don't know Mac, maybe we should pray about it.

Mac: Lets pray now! God put in our hearts and minds the best name for our baby. Amen
^{Mark 10:15}I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

Having faith in our God like Mac does seems simple but Jesus says that it is the only way to believe and live. Try it today. Simple Trust in Him.

Moments

2010-07-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had those moments when you can not help but to recognize that God is real and alive? I am so glad that He blesses us with those moments ever now and then to remind us that He is here and near. I think of times when I have been blessed to see the sun rise on a roar river in the jungles or over the African plan. Amazing and astonishing moments in life always raises awareness of this awesome and beautiful God but what about those simple but powerful times in life.

I have had two moments recently that were simple but I could not help but to see God. One of them was a few weeks ago while we were enjoying one of our favorite things to do on Sunday evenings. Sitting on the front porch while the sun sets. The sounds of the guitar, laughter, and summer noises accompanied with small talk and a beautiful sky. What a moment! That is the picture of God's people enjoying Him and community. Beautiful!

Another simple but powerful moment was one morning after family prayer time. Lara, Mac, Grey, and me were praying for good weather so we could go outside and enjoy the day at the beach because it looked like rain was coming. When we opened the door a few minutes later the sun was shinning bright and Mac walked out side and said something that I will never forget. With confidence he said, "Gloria a Dios!". Which means "Glory to God!" He smiled and said,"Was that right daddy?" With a huge smile and joy bursting inside of me I told him that that was absolutely perfect!

Look for Him in the simple but amazing moments in today.

Gabriela

2010-04-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today about a very special lady that I meet in the mountains of Veraguas in the central part of Panama. Her name is Gabriela and she is so full of life and joy that everyone that is near her quickly become full of laughter. I meet her one day while we were out visiting families in their homes for discipleship, relationship building and evangelism. It was about lunch time and we had been hiking from hut to hut for the past 3 hours when me, my translator, and a local christian came up to this store in the middle of no where. There was a young boy that was running the store but he said his mom was just behind the store at home. We walked around back to talk to her but the only house that I saw was at the bottom of this mountain and I could barely see it through the thickness of the jungle. My translator looked at me with a look like, "seriously are we going to do this?" and I am sure I had the same look on my face. I said you ready let's do this.

We started down this ridiculously steep mountain thinking the whole way, we still have to come back up this thing today. We get to this house and a lady that looks like she is in her late 30's is running around washing clothes and cleaning up around the house says come on in and sit down. So we do but she keeps up her sprinting and working like a crazy person all at the same time she is laughing and talking a mile a minute. After being there for only 10 minutes she says she wants us to go back up the mountain to the store to spend some time talking with her. After resting for a few minutes we started back up this mountain. The locals were even sweating and breathing hard so you know that I was about to die.

We make it back and she comes running up after us. She wanted to know all about my family, life back in the US, and why I was here in her village. We talked for about an hour about everything. I found out that she was actually in her 60's, she has 11 children, she cooks for all of the children in the village at the school, and that she is a big influence in the community. This is the kind of person that can make a huge difference so we were excited to share the good news of Jesus with her and teacher her how to use a bible. Gabriela did not openly received Christ at that moment but she said that she knew that this was truth and that she needed to share this with her family especially her husband.

I believe that Gabriela is going to be a great influencer in her community with the good news. i know that I think about my time with her often and it influences me to have a spirit and attitude of joy. She doesn't know how much of an impact her time of talking, laughing, and listening was on me and the others there. I pray that I will bless others today with laughter, smiles, time spent listening, and relationship building. Gabriela taught me that relationships are what is important today not how much I can get done.

It's Personal, part 2

2010-04-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

I see how the Gospel, what Jesus did for all of us is deeply personal in Mark 15:6-15. He is the righteous one that was given for the unrighteous, us. This short but powerful scene of the gospel story, Jesus was still standing before Pilate. Pilate knew in his heart that Jesus was innocent and deserved to be released but he couldn't follow his heart because he wanted to please the people. How many times do I do what others want me to do because I want to please them. Even when I know in my heart what the Father is telling me is the opposite.

Pilate thought that if he could show the people the difference between good and bad, righteous and unrighteous, or deserving and undeserving that they could truly see the truth. They couldn't they were blinded by the enemy. Sound familiar to today's society and even the American church today. We are so blinded by the stuff of life and wrong teachings, like the American dream, that we drowned out the truths of God. Pilate brought the worst of the worst and put him beside Jesus and told them to pick one man to release. The one who truly deserved to be set free and put to death the real criminal. To the amazement of Pilate they chose wrong and not just a little but drastically wrong. "Crucify Jesus!!!" Pilate said out loud and I guess confused and disgusted, "Why?! what evil has he done" But the people keep screaming "Crucify!" So, they let Barabbas, the bad guy go free and Jesus the innocent was killed in a brutal manner.

This is personal for each of us because we are the evil, guilty, and unrighteous sinners of all sinners and the Righteous One died for us. It's personal because Jesus could have said, "no way I am not doing this I don't deserve to have my "creation" treat me this unfairly! How about you try and pay for your own evil and wrong doings." But He didn't do that. He died unjustly because He loves Spanky, and you so much that He could not have thought of separation from us for all eternity. He was going to do whatever it took to love me and allow me to know Him in a real and personal way. The Gospel, the story of Jesus' love is personal for you today!

It's Personal, part 1

2010-03-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

I was reading the story of Jesus' crucifixion the other day to see the different details of each writer. Before starting I asked God to let me see His word anew and fresh like never before. To my amazement He answered(sarcasm). I was excited that I was able to pull out a few verses and people in the crucifixion story that I don't know I have every seen. I am going to write out some of my notes on these new revelations as I am trying to learn and apply them to my life. I am calling this "It's Personal" because Christ is making it personal for each set of verses or people I have seen in my reading. Not because of Andy Stanley's series called "Its Personal", I promise!

I started in the book of Matthew, not for any intellectual reasoning but just because it came first in the gospels order. I saw a character the I never knew was even in the bible. Pilate's wife. She isn't mentioned anywhere else in the gospels but God thought that just for this one verse her personal interaction with Jesus was important enough to be in Matthew 27:19. The scene takes place when Jesus is brought before Pilate so he can decide if Jesus is guilty of any wrong doings. Pilate knows in his own heart that Jesus is undeserving but he can also hear the people outside cheering for Jesus' death and I picture him debating in his mind what to do. At that moment Pilate's wife leans over and whispers in his ear, "leave this man alone!"

Pilate's wife actually says that she has had a dream about this innocent man today and it was really like torture. Maybe the Lord was allowing her to see a piece of what was to come if this Jesus was condemned or maybe it was conviction of sin. I believe that a God that is big enough to create men out of dust is able to give us dreams to see the future. Actually in the history of Israel this had happened numerous times. (example, Joseph, Gen 37) The other thought I had was that the Lord was allowing her to be under conviction. You may have heard people say that when they are not living right or before they gave their life to Jesus they felt a guilt or weight, that can be a great feeling of torture. So we will never know what kind of torture she went through in her dreams but we know that it was because of Jesus.

Why would Jesus of all people allow torture? I think it was for her own good. I really don't think that Jesus thought that by her telling Pilate anything that it was going to change what was to take place the next day. I mean, God had already ordained this time for Christ from the moment of Adam and Eve's sin and no one was able to change that. So when I say that it was for her own good I mean that Jesus was trying to reach out to her in a real and personal way. Jesus wanted her to see him as the Savior and King. He will do whatever it takes to reach out to the spiritually blinded and needy even if it is in some crazy supernatural way. He is always pursuing us for our good and He will make it personal.

Going to Prison

2010-03-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

I had a good friend invite me to go with him and some other men to a local prison for a church service. Honestly, I put on my self righteous attitude and thought that I might be able to go a minister to these poor men. Man did God have something in store for me. It was one of the most up lifting times that I have had and it was one of the most moving church services that I have been apart of. The music and singers were amazing! You would never think that these guys would have been in a church choir but I am sure glad they are. The inmate that I was sitting with said that he was going to try to get relocated closer to where he is from but after coming to this facility and finding this church he decide that this would be the best place for him during this time in his life. God is using some of the most unusable and unqualified people according to the worlds standards to minister to inside this prison. That is he power of God!

God knew that I was in a funk. He also knew that being in that prison with those men worshiping the Father was the best place for me to be on that Tuesday night. The service started by a couple of men giving testimonies of how wonderful our God is and what he was teaching them in the Word. One of the men actually said, " Men we need to thank God tonight for allowing us to be right where we are. He is so good to us." I sat there thinking, do you not understand that you are locked up in this prison or what! Others stood up and gave testimonies of His faithfulness and power, His goodness in their life, His blessings, and the hope and joy that they have. I could not believe the praise and worship that was coming out of these mens mouths. I had been thinking for the past two days about how "hard" my life is and these men are talking about worshiping the Father even in their situation. The Spirit of the Lord quickly broke my heart and allowed me to lay it all at His feet. James 1:2 came to mind, Count it joy when you face the trials of life. It is a privilege to be where I am no matter how hard because God is using this time to produce His character in me.

The Great Date Experiment, 1

2010-02-15T13:12:00.001-08:00

Our church is doing this really cool thing for the next 6 months to help spice up the romance in your marriage. It is called the Great Date Experiment. Each month they will give out an envelope with instructions for you and your spouse to take on a date. Lara and I went on our first of six dates last Friday night. It was fun!

After dropping the boys of we got in the car and began reading step 1 of 6 to start the date. Yes I cheated and read step one earlier in the week before Lara caught me, so I was already prepared. In step 1 husbands are suppose to use 4 pet names for their wife during the date while the ladies are suppose to touch their husbands backsides twice. I chose a few names that they suggested that I wouldn't normally use like magic princess, gangster girl, and cowgirl. I don't think these helped our romance level due to the fact that I laughed every time I called her these pet names.

Step 2, Go for appetizer at a favorite restaurant. We chose to have guacamole live at On the Border. There we answered fun questions and laughed. Step 3, The appetizer was so good and the snow was falling so hard that we decided to stay for dinner. The questions got a little more intimate as the night went on. After dinner we went out side in the snow and took a wonderful picture that we made our wallpaper on our phones and profile picture on facebook. It was a little corny but fun too. Step 4, We walked in the snow to CVS so we could buy a $2 gift for each other. This was hilarious! When we got back to the car and we gave each other our gifts and explained why we bought these specific gifts. Lara had bought me post-it notes so she could write me love notes and I bought her nail polish so I could paint her toe nails when we got home. This was a fun and sweet part of our date and almost felt like we were on a date back in high school. Step 5, You are suppose to either go for dessert or sit in the car and make out. Well we debated the skipping dessert but because dessert is the part of the date that my wife had been looking forward to all night we saved the making out for later. We drove slow in a snowy wonderland to Chile's where we ate dessert and finished answering the questions for this step. This part of the evening was my most enjoyable part too but not because of the dessert. The questions lead our conversation to an intimate time of verbally encouraging each other. I realized that we don't do this for each other enough and it felt good to share how special to me she was.Step 6, is not up for conversation but it is a time when the experiment becomes chemistry!

I think that Lara and I have a pretty good marriage and I thought that this wouldn't really be that needful for us but this date night will be a night that we will not forget. It was fun, exciting, relaxing, intimate, uplifting, and satisfying. The thermostat of romance in our relationship was definitely turned up a few notches. We can't wait until Great Date Experiment 2!

Try it out http://www.marriedlifeonline.com/greatdate_np.jsp

Real Love

2010-02-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

Do you know what "Real Love" is? I think that real love is something that you don't just have or get but rather it is apart of God that He develops with in us. We are selfish and disgusting creatures that care only for ourselves so if there be any kind of love with in you it has to be the image of God coming out. The bible says that even my best is still in the likeness of filthy, dirty rags so how could I ever really love someone. I can only love through the love that my Heavenly Father has given me. Before I was apart of God's family, while I was still at my worst, Jesus stepped out of Heaven in all of its glory and willingly died for me. He did what I could not do but what I should have to do all because He loves me more than anything else. That is "Real Love".

This love should change the way we live and act. Every relationship and situation would be effected if we truly walked in this love. Beginning with our family. I have to put them first and become a servant if I want to love them with "Real Love". As we have been learning at Ridge Church the past few weeks, love is a verb so put it into action.

This love should also cause us to take action for the people in this world that are in need physically, emotionally, and especially spiritually. How can we, followers of Christ not step up to the plate and stand in the gap for those all over this world that are in need. The least we could do is give but we should be going to help too. We, who live in America that say,"What can I do" should be ashamed! We live in the top 5% of the most wealthy people in the whole world and we wonder what we can do. There are children, widows, and families all over this world that are homeless, hungry, dying of sicknesses that are easily curable, crippled and crawling, dehydrated, hopeless, joyless, and empty and we seem to be ok with that. What can you do? You can start right where you are. Acts 1:8 Go serve, give $20 a month, step up to the plate and help, and at least be praying for those in need. 1 John 3:16 " By Jesus we know love, and now we ought to lay down our lives for others."

The gospel, what Jesus has done and is still doing for you, should put love into action in your life! 1 John 4:11 "If God so loved us, then we ought to love one another." It's not what I can achieve in life that matters it is who I can affect for the glory of God that matters.

Watch this 3 minute video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXh_tgjnYJw

Update from Uganda

2010-02-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

Hello family, friends, and partners,

Wow! God is so awesome! He truly amazed me moment after moment on this trip. We talk regularly about what is a "win" so we will recognize the hand of God moving and it seemed as though we saw win after win. Our team was made up of 29 people from the US, 3 from the UK, and many Ugandans. We worked in the area of Kaberamaido, Uganda planting 5 Ugandan lead churches by evangelizing, disciplining, sports evangelism, HIV/Aids education, and Medical ministry. Some conditions were tough and circumstances difficult to work through but God was there and at work. I know that each one of us returned back home changed forever and filled up more with a zealousness and fire in our spirit for the Lord and to serve! That is what it is all about for Lara and I!

Everyday I would wake up and say, "Father can today really be any better than yesterday?" and everyday He would amaze me. Close to 400 people received Christ into their heart for the first time, 340 of them were revisited for a time of discipleship, and over 275 of the new believers were coming for cell group meetings where there was a time of worship and bible study. We had over 750 medical patients and close to 400 eye glasses patients come through our medical clinics. The newest part of our ministry, sports evangelism was a huge success too. Each day the soccer fields were filled with people of all ages ready to play and hear the gospel. I know that success is not measured in numbers but in the lives that are changed when we are dealing with ministry. I saw success this week. In the eye of a little child that has cancer and has lost one eye already. In the words of a pastor that said the he is giving his life to disciple, nurture, and teach these new believers in his village. In the voice of a lady who had giving her heart to Jesus and then said,"I feel like I have hope and joy now". On the smiling face of a boy with no arms. And in the voice of an American team member that said as we returned home,"Now what am I suppose to do since my life has been changed?"

This was a life changing week for all of us, American, British, and Ugandan. I am left asking the Father this morning,"Can today be any better than that?" Lara and I are so excited to see what He has in store for us next! We know that this is only the beginning.

We are planning on putting some pictures together to send out to you also. Thank you for your prayers and support!!! We know that we can't do this with out you and we are sure that in Heaven many will tell you thank you. God bless you!

Looking back at 2009

2009-12-17T08:15:00.000-08:00

This time of the year I normally start reflecting on the past year and start dreaming for the year to come. When replaying 2009 I am left speechless at the awesomeness and sovereignty of what the Lord has done for us and in our lives. He has shown us that he really is the "I am". No matter what day, circumstance or situation our Heavenly Father has been the I am. I am...your Provider, Sustainer, Help, Strength, Blessing, Hope, Peace, Protector, Joy, Life, Able One, Teacher, Care Taker, Director, All in All!

This has been our first full year of ministry and it has been exciting! We have been in the far reaches of Africa ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of the people in Uganda, in jungles and mountains of Panama teaching about the love and goodness of the Almighty Creator, in cities of Costa Rica being prepared to be used more for the Lord's work, and at Ridge Church in Charlotte, NC serving the Lord with our gifts and talents. My heart and mind is over taken by the memories of many people and places we have seen the Hand of God move. We could not have imagined the opportunities the Lord has put in front of us or the ways He has proven Himself over this year. We have realized and are understanding more everyday that He is in total control and is worthy of praise! Habakkuk 1:5 "“Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed and astounded. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."

This year has been the hardest year for us too. We feel like we have been in a fight and have barley come out the other side but are reminded in the scriptures to keep our eyes looking toward the Cross. Romans 15:13 says that abundant joy and peace comes from walking in faith. When we feel empty He seems to fill us up and satisfy us once again. We praise God for allowing us to serve in His ministry of seeing lives change. How great is our God!!!

We know that 2010 will be a year of God's direction too. We don't know all that He has in store for us or all of the places He will send us and use us this year. We as a family and partners together in ministry have decide to follow the Lords path where ever He leads. There will probably be valleys and struggles so we continue to ask that you join us in prayer. Pray for the glory of the Lord to be displayed in our lives and ministry and of course pray for what ever else He lays on your heart for us. We are also waiting in expectation because we know that there is going to be great victories and miracles in this new year. He is faithful and mighty! "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mt. Zion, which can not be shaken, but endure forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people, from now to forever!" Psalm 125:1-2

Mac's First Mission Trip

2009-12-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity to take Mac with us on our last trip to Panama. It was one of the coolest experiences that we have had as a family. The couple of weeks before the trip you could tell that he was getting nervous. He would ask a lot of questions about the people, food, what was he going to be doing, etc. It is not unusual for Mac to ask a lot of questions but when most of his questions are centered on one topic you know that things are stirring around in his head. I think that one of his biggest concerns was what he was going to eat. Half of his backpack was filled up with food and snacks just to be safe.

Mac did very well with the traveling. No matter how long or bumpy the flight he just keeps talking. Long bus rides were no problem either. He just fell asleep on who ever was beside him. The first night we slept in a hotel in Panama city. I got a little worried for Mac and the rest of the week when he looked at his bed and said with a cracky voice,"there are bugs on my bed".

When we arrived in the small village of Alto de Jesus Mac quickly became the focus of attention with the children. He quickly made friends and fit right in when he brought out his bag of Legos. I remember him sitting on the dirty ground playing along with the kids and then turning to me and saying,"Dad, I don't know what they are saying!" It was pretty cool for me to sit down with him and his new friends and help them talk to each other. These new friends would become his partners in ministry and entertainment for the rest of the week. Two of his best friends were a brother and sister named Arnon and Rose. By the end of the week you would have thought that they had known each other forever.

Some of Mac's favorite things about Panama were sleeping in a tent, playing all day with his new friends, feeding chickens, riding in the back of a truck, and telling other children about Jesus with his Evangecube. He ate great, loved the extreme part of the trip(except all of the hiking up hill), and hardly ever complained. He is filled with a sweet spirit and built for ministry. Mac is one of the best trip participants that we have ever had and the three of us are so glad that we have this experience of serving the Lord together to remember forever. Praise the Lord! Serving the Lord alongside of your family is one of the coolest things you could ever do.

Week 4 of Spanish Class

2009-11-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Estoy en morada! I am Home!!! I finally made it home on Saturday night at 10pm. I was so good to see Lara and the boys. I have had a couple of good days getting reacclimated to life in the US, family, and cold weather. After waking up sick and cold the past few mornings I realized that I have to move back south, way south.

This last week of school was great! I learned a lot and found that I had made some great friends. We finished a entire semester in just four weeks. The regular 4 month(semester) students said that we were crazy and after doing it I think they are right. My brain really did hurt at the end everyday. I am nowhere near being fluent but I feel that I am much further along than where I began. I feel like I at least have the basics now. In my grammar class I finished with a 90(A) and in conversation I finished with a 98. I think that they grade on a giant curve.

I still believe that this month was more than just a time for me to learn Spanish. It was time for the Lord to speak and move in our lives and ministry. The word became more clear and faith was strengthened daily. After living in the culture and with the people for this time I have to admit that I feel stronger than ever about the Lord leading us to move to Panama. It was like I felt at home. It was comfortable and natural to me. Maybe the Lord wanted to give me a taste of what life might be like for us to help me keep my eyes on the goal or to give me a little more peace about leading my family there. Either way I enjoyed ever bit. I can't wait tho see what the Father has in store for us next!

¡Gracias a todos ustedes por sus oraciones y apoyo para hacer esto posible para mí! Yo alabo a Dios todos los días para usted! Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support in making this happen for me! I praise God every day for you!

Week 3 of Class in Costa Rica

2009-10-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

I am finishing am finishing up my 3 week in Costa Rica with a cup of coffee and a good meal made by my Mamá Tica. I have to say I thought that I may loose a few pounds here in Costa Rica but if anything I will probably return home bigger. Good food and a lot of it. This week has been great. I have learned a lot and I believe that everyday I become more familiar with this language. I went to a Catholic mass last night with my Tico family a I think I understood more this week than I have ever. Praise the Lord! Believe me I still have a lot to learn. One month of learning Spanish goes by so fast but I thank God for letting me be here and learning the things that I am learning. I believe that I can get around with no problem, read the majority of a newspaper, and understand the main points in a conversation but I fell that I am still behind in speech. I keep praying daily that God will allow me to have the gift of Spanish in my mind, ears, mouth, and heart and I believe that He will grant it to me over time. Hopefully He will grant me opportunities in my everyday as I return to the States for the next few months before we follow Him to the great place of Panamá.

I was going to say, on the spiritual side of this trip but the Lord stopped me because I believe that the trip in its entirety has been a spiritual journey. The Lord is at work in my heart and life and He is teaching me about Himself, the gospel, and who He wants me to be. I have been reading a book called "The Gospel Primer", that my best friend gave me earlier this year. It has sparked a fire in me for the gospel and a passion for Christ. God is amazingly big, unimaginably perfect, righteous, holy, just in His ways, merciful, forgiven, gracious, and supremely worthy. All that I have in life, every blessing, He put there when I deserve the total opposite. My cup, my life, is overflowing when there should not even be a drop in it. Actually there should not even be a cup. That is what I should get from God but He gives me the privilege to come before Him with confidence and ask anything. ¡Cuán gran es El que sirve! How great is the One that I serve.! That's another point, He calls me and allows me to serve in His work! Hallelujah

I have enjoyed my time and have grown in my walk with the Father but man I miss my family! I was not made to be apart from them for a long period of time. This trip has also made me realize how blessed I am to have a wonderful wife like Lara and two amazing boys like Mac and Grey. I dream of the day that I get to huge and kiss each of them. They have been doing great, because God has had His hand on them and because Lara is an awesome woman. Things have not been easy or smooth sailing but God has been gracious and Lara has been strong. In this month of not being able to actively pursue more funding and support for our ministry needs like I want to or need to be doing, God has provided some new financial partners. How great is He! I am sure that they are ready for me to come home as I am ready to be there. Please keep praying for them and Gods mercy and blessings to cover them over this next week. And please keep praying for me as I learn Spanish for His glory and future Kingdom work. We know that Christ is preparing us to be used in some mighty ways and we are so excited! Dios te bendiga! God bless you!

Week 2 of Spanish in Costa Rica

2009-10-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

¡Dios te bendiga! This past week has been great! I have felt a little less stressed with the learning and work load even though it has been greater. I have had 2 different exams and I felt like I did good on both. One was for conversation and even though I was more scared about it I think it went the best. The second one was for grammar. The problem here is that I am not good in English grammar so I am already behind in learning Spanish grammar rules. One cool opportunity the Lord has given me is someone that I can practice with everyday. He is the guard for our road where I live. He loves trying to learn English and he helps me in correcting me as I try to conversate with him. I believe that I have already learned more Spanish in the past 2 weeks than I have learned in the past 5 years. Praise God for the opportunity!

I believe that the missing my family part of this experience has been magnified this week. I believe that I know the meaning behind the saying, time apart brings you closer. I can't believe that I only have 2 more weeks here but I also can't believe that I still have 2 more weeks apart from my beautiful wife and amazing boys! Speaking of my great wife, she is such a blessing to me and gift from God! She has taken the boys to the beach, camping in the mountains, taken care of the house, and managed to keep up with her work and most of my work load too. On top of all of that she had to deal with everything in our lives falling apart like our heating system breaking. As I sit here many, many miles and hours away she tells me on the phone not to worry about it because God is just preparing us fore bigger and better things and He is the one who is holding our hands today. What a gift from heaven and Christ centered heart and mind. "Set your minds and hearts on the things above and not on the things of the earth." Col. 3:2

I believe that I am here in Costa Rica not just for the purpose of learning Spanish. God has bigger things to teach and show me. He has elected and chose me for the purpose of bringing Him glory and doing His work! The Lord is teaching me new and exciting things about the gospel. He has saved me to do good works for His name sake and so that others may know the glories power and love of our Abba Father! Phil. 2:13 "...for God is at work in you, both to will and work for His good pleasure." My satisfaction comes from doing His will and following Him in the paths that He has set before me today. John 4:34 " My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work." I praise God for calling me, choosing me, using me, and providing for me and my family. Glory a Dios!

Primero Semana de Clase de Espanol

2009-10-11T10:49:00.001-07:00

¡Glory A Dios! The first week of class is over and I feel completely overwhelmed. I have enjoyed the class and living amongst the Latin culture. I am living with a traditional Tico(Costa Rican) family in a small neighborhood out side of San Jose. I have nothing but Spanish spoken to me and some how I have figured out how to get by. It is suprising how much I have been able to understand after only a week of living here. It really helps that I spend all of my free time conversating with my Tica Mama.

My days consist of getting up early, getting ready and eating breakfast with Mama. I then start my homework of studying words and verbs before I walk to school in the afternoon. It almost feels as though I am reliving my elementry years over. I have a mom that makes all of my meals, washes my clothes, packs my lunch, and makes me snacks(coffee) while I study. I go to school, talk with friends, and have to clean my room daily. The simple life but wierd. When I am finished with my studies if that is possible, I walk around the neighborhood meeting new friends and hanging out until dark. I have made a friend with the local neighborhood gaurd that sits in front of my house daily and with a Greengo from Virginia that lives across the street. Yes he is a Hokie!!!! One of God's gifts to me. :)

I have two classes. One is for grammer and yes I am just as bad in Spanish grammer class as I am in English grammer class. My other class is Conversation. We have to write stories about our families, houses, and life here in Costa Rica and then talk to the class about them. Whats tough about that class is that we have to ask and answer questions about our presentations. Also, none of my teachers speak English. I was shock on the first day when the teachers announced that they "no hablo ingles" but it really is not that bad.

Life is simple, quient, relaxing at times, and fun. I could definitly see my family and I living somewhere like here and enjoying it. "God is using the circumstances in your life to prepare you to accomplish His plan for your life." Andy Stanley, Visioneering. If you could keep praying for Lara and the boys!!! I miss them so much as I know they miss me too! Keep me in your prayers as well as I am learning Spanish for the glory of the Lord and for his Kingdom. Pray for my mind and ears to understand, my mouth to speak it, andmy heart to fill it. Ephesians 6:19 "Pray for me that the utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the goespel."

Begining Spanish

2009-10-06T20:44:00.001-07:00

God is so good to us! Upon returning a week and a half ago from Panama the Lord laid on my heart for me to have more trainning in the Spanish language so that I can be more effective in ministry. If we are going to live some where that speaks Spanish then I thought that it might do me some good to have a better handle on the language. Lara and I started praying about what to do. We knew that I did not have much time and that we were going to be traveling a lot over the next 6 months. After googling the internet for an hour I found a Spanish language school in Costa Rica that is tailored for missionaries and it has many short intensive coarses available. It looked like the right fit for me.

After looking at our schedule and money we realized that we had to leave it in the Fathers hand because we were short on both. October was the only month that I could have done this very short intensive coarse so we prayed, Father if it is your will and time then make it clear and provide the resourses." That seems to be the one of many common prayers in this stage of our life. After only telling a very small group of friends about this with no intentions or expectations it all came together.

We needed $1000 for the school, $350 for room and board, and about $300 in other fees and misc. God provided almost all of it in a matter of 2 days!!! Even after that amazing answer to prayer I still was not sure if this was suppose to go or not. I know I can be a bit hard headed. Lara being the most amazing, God fearing, wonderful wife and partner in ministry told me that I had to go because God has provided and that was that. Inspite of us being apart for a month and the sacrifice that was going to have to happen on so many levels for our whole family I left one day before classes started for Costa Rica.

I have only been hear for 2 days but it has been so great! It maybe one of the hardest things that I have ever had to go through mentally but it also one of the most effective things that we have done for our ministry. Praise God for the opportunities and for the people in our lives that believe in us and our ministry! Glory a Dios!/Glory to God!

I Lift My Eyes!

2009-08-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

Wow I haven't blogged all summer. Life just overwhelms and concurs you some days or even months.

Psalms 121:1-2 "I lift my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?!?! My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth!" We believe that we are in one of those seasons of life where the Father is refining us in our faith, devotion, and finances. It is one of those times that you don't really look forward to it but just about half way through you start to understand why and can appreciate it. I don't know that a valley in life is ever welcomed or enjoyable but I do know and say with confidence that it is needed!

"Why would a loving and caring God let this happen to me,!" I am sure that you have heard that a time or two and probably even from a believer. I am sure that I have even been the one to say that a time or two. The more I learn about the purpose my life has in the kingdom I ask why wouldn't He allow these hard times to take place in our lives.(James 1:2-4) Anyone who has ever been through a valley can look back and see how the Father help you in His hand the entire time.

This is the place where God teaches you the lessons that you wouldn't have normally learned. This is the place where God reveals Him self to you like you have never seen Him.(Glory and Power Psalms 63:2)This is the place where God molds you and shapes you into the person that He wants you to be. This is the place where God prepares you for the task that He has for you. This is the place where God directs your paths and life.

Lets not worry and be anxious (Phil.4:4-7)but rejoice. Lets praise Him and give Him all the Glory! He will uphold and rescue his children. Psalms 23:3-4, "He restores my soul, He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for you are my rod and staff that comforts me."

What a cool guy!

2009-06-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

If you have ever meet Henry you would love him too. Henry is a good friend of mine from Venezuela. I actually like to call him my brother. He has a Christ like heart. He loves to serve, encourage, teach the word, lead others to the Lord, and eat peanut butter.

I had the privilege of spending a week with Henry in the Jungles of Panama this past spring. I know I said that he was Venezuelan but he goes where the Lord leads him. He came to visit and work for a week with our wonderful friends in Panama ,the Vegas, and then realized that God had more for him to do there. We just briefly knew of each other before this week but quickly recognized how much alike we are. It was like I had found a long lost brother. I was able to sit a listen to him teach and disciple some new Christians and leaders for a couple of days and I was amazed. Then I saw Henry give it his all when it came time for us to teach and play with the children. He is a real missionary at heart and Christ follower in life!

Another reason I am so fond on Henry is because he saved my life. I thought I was going to die climbing this mountain but he keep encouraging me. He also gave me some power food, as he called it. We call it Fruit Loops here in the US. It must have some kind of power because I made it to the top. Love you Henry!

Please be praying for Henry!

Sun kissed by His Glory

2009-06-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard the phrase "sun kissed"? Sun kissed is when you have been out in the sun all day and feel the effects of the hot glowing sun all over your body. We tell our little boys that they look sun kissed when they come in from the pool or beach and their cheeks are rosy pink.

I heard a wise and godly man says something so that really got me thinking. He said that his daughter and wife were glimpses of the Glory of God to come. That stuck with me. It made me see my family in a little different light. They are precious and wonderful gifts sent by God to me. He gave me them so that I can know Him better and know of His Glory to come. WOW! How differently will we talk to and treat our families when we see them as a glimpse of God's glory.

My wife and two wonderful boys are to me like being sun kissed by God's presence, power, beauty, and love. How good it feels to be sun kissed by His glory!

What are your Motives

2009-06-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

God has blessed me with the opportunity to be apart of a mens bible study for the summer. We have been meeting for two weeks and already we have seen God work. In them and in me. We are reading through the book "In the company of Jesus" by Bill Donahue. One of the sections in chapter one that we read was titled "The Teacher who exposes our motives". I really thought that this study was more for them than me until this section.

What are our motives for doing the things that we do? I began to think why do we help others, why do we give money, time, efforts, energy, why are we in ministry, why do we "sacrifice"? What are my motives: money, pride, ego, love, compassion, fear? What I think the book talks about is getting honest with God and yourself and asking these tough questions. Be open before Him and let him shine His light of truth on the secret places of your heart. I have to say I don't know if my motives are always in the right place. The thing that sucks about this is that whatever praise or earthly gratification I get now is all that I will get. But if my motives are pure then my Father in Heaven sees my good deeds and will reward my justly. Men praising or God rewarding? I think that I will choose God. Matthew 6:3-4

A Day at the Beach

2009-05-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

I could not have asked for a better day with the family. We were going down to the beach to celebrate our anniversary but decided to go one day earlier so we could spend it with the boys. Lara’s grandmother was keeping them at the beach anyways so who wouldn’t want just one more day at the beach. It was absolutely perfect!

The skies inland looked dark and rainy but on the beach we had nothing but warm air and sun. The weather and water were perfect.Grey slept for the first part of our trip in his stroller under the pier while Mac and I played in the waves. Mac is the absolutely coolest boogie border that I have ever seen with his Scooby-Doo board. Once Grey awoke and realized that there was “wadoo” he was in. (wadoo means water in the language that Greyson speaks) He was a little hesitant at first but quickly got use to the waves. Every time I tried to sit down and take a break I either had Grey pointing at the ocean saying, “no wadoo, wadoo”, or Mac pouring buckets of sand and water on me so I would chase after him. He thought it was so funny. I quickly learned that it would be years before I just sat on the beach and relaxed with my wife.

Between her frequent trips to the water with Grey and laughing at me, Lara lounged in the sun with her grandmother and aunt. They enjoy talking about everyone that walks by and who am I kidding I enjoy that too. We could not have had a better day at the beach. There is nothing that could have made this day any better. Well if everyone wasn’t so pink it might be a little better. Praise God for his creation: the beach, family, His mercy and love, and all of those things combined into one day.

p.s. Pictures will come later!

My Boys

2009-05-12T12:41:00.001-07:00

I have come to realize that God makes each of us special and unique. Lara and I have two wonderful little boys, if you do not know already. These boys, Mac and Grey, are something special. If you have spent anytime at all with either of them you will know what we are talking about. If you have spent anytime with them you will also know just how different these boys are from each other. Mac is sweet, tender hearted, blond hair, and blue eyes while Grey is tough, strong willed, dark hair, and brown eyes. These two could not be any more different unless they weren't brothers. I even wonder if they are brothers some days.

Yesterday we were riding down the road talking about how different they are when the Lord revealed something great about both of them to us. While Mac is sweet and continent always he is not a great leader, yet. It frustrates me when I see him following others and not standing up for himself. Not even to his little brother. I want to say,"be strong and of great courage!" with a God size voice so he will listen. It makes me wonder if it is a coincidence that we named him Joshua? I think not! Grey is the one that I seem to butt heads with and seemed to get frustrated with since it is "his way" or no way. No comments! We named Grey, Jeremiah with the hope that God would touch his mouth and let His holiness come flowing out and not his Rouseness. Just kidding.

But with their weaknesses we can also see the potential in them to be great men for God. That is our hearts desire. That there will be nothing more important in their lives than Him and that God will do great and wonderful things through them for His glory. Mac is going to be such a servant for the Kingdom like his mother. He will give you anything even if it is his last one and you never hear him complain. What a blessing he is! Grey is going to accomplish what ever task God puts before him and he will not let anything get in his way. If he is determined and if his energy and focus is towards Christ the world and Satan better watch out. What a blessing he is!

My prayer is that they will have a face to face intimacy with Christ that they will hear, see, and be touched by Him as Joshua and Jeremiah were. I also pray that they will have the strength and courage as Joshua had through out his life to follow God and accomplish His task. Lastly, I pray that they will be obedient in following the plans that the Lord lays out for them as He enables as He did for the young Jeremiah in the first chapter. What a blessing these boys are and I know will be!

What will you spend your time praying for?

2009-05-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

About 4 weeks ago our lead pastor at Ridge Church, Chris Brown, encouraged us to really get serious about praying for the spiritually blind. For all of you old school folks that means the "lost". I thought to my self while he was talking that he is not speaking to me. I'm a missionary. If anyone has a passion for the lost it would be me. What an idiot I can be. About that time the Lord laid a huge dose of conviction on my heart.

Chris then asked us what is the biggest thing that we spend time praying for. He confessed that he had been spending more time praying for his staff's paycheck than those in his life and church that are spiritually blind. I knew immediately what I have been praying for the most and it was not non-Christians. I knew that I had been spending the majority of my prayer time praying about other unimportant things. Money! Some missionary huh.

I had let support raising, money and budgets become my first priority. Even though those things are needed in life that can not be what is most important. I know that He wants me to pray about other things but I also know that He will provide my daily bread. I quickly knew those people that God was wanting me to be passionately pleading for on a daily basis. I could see them in my mind. I started making those people and their need for the Lord's salvation the focus in prayer. I had not even been praying for the countries and people groups that I feel God has so strongly called me to as much as I had been praying about this other stuff. After a little rearranging my time in prayer and calling out these people by name in prayer multiple times a day I actually began seeing God change their lives. Like I should be surprised.

This reminded me of a story Lara and I were reading in Deuteronomy 9 during our devotions. Moses is retelling the story of when he went on top of the mountain for 40 days and nights to plead to God for His mercy on the tribes. Moses went to ask God to please spare his people and even bless them. They did not deserve it and I am sure that there were other things that Moses would have loved to have spent time talking to God about. He was in the presence of the Almighty and he did not ask for anything for himself. Wow, I think I would have at least ask for something. Maybe a good meal, new sandals or something. Moses knew what was important. The relationship between God and His people. As a friend and ministry partner said to me the other day while we were eating lunch and talking about life and the economy, "What is more important than telling others today the good news and seeing them come in to a new and exciting relationship with Christ. NOTHING!"

I want to encourage you believers to ask God to show you 5 spiritually blind people that He wants you to be praying for. This could be the turning point in their spiritual journey and God could actually use you to be apart of it. What will you spend your time praying for?

Mercy

2009-05-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have just come to some what realize what God's mercy is all about. I am not saying that I have got it completely figured out. I have learned that all of life's blessings come by the way of God showing me His mercy. I deserve the worst of the worst but God chooses to bless me beyond my wildest dream because He is that merciful. So now I am praying that He would continuously pour out His mercy and be glorified in my life. Try asking for mercy. It is pretty cool!

"...never truly experienced until now."

2009-04-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

I was blown away this week when I received the newsletter of a missions trip participant that went with us to Uganda in February. It left me crying on my computer and praising God for allowing me to be apart of His work even in the smallest ways. Lara and I have always known that one of the biggest reasons we wanted to be apart of e3 Partners ministry is the joy of taking people to the mission field. We have the privilege of engaging the local church in missions. It doesn't matter where one is in the journey or even if they have started down the path with Christ. We know that when they go and see the glory of God displayed on a mission trip and they are personally used for an eternal difference. Lives will be for ever changed! I am reminded ever time too that God can and wants to use this non qualified knucklehead to be His hands and feet. How cool and powerful that is when we realize that truth.

What is even better than being used by God is knowing what we have in Jesus and who we really are in Him. This tripper participant had no idea of what was to come. Not just for the next 12 days but for the rest of her life. I have know her for about 10 years and have been diligently praying for God to work in her life. I was never sure about where she stood on church, Jesus, and salvation but I knew that she didn't go or didn't talk about it very much. If I had to guess I would have had to say that there was no relationship with Christ.

When we began planning our last trip to Uganda we had no idea how life changing this trip would be for us. This lady said that she was interested and that in it self was exciting for us. Then when she went with us we were in shock to see how God used her and how Christ drew her near. I don't think that I could tell you all of the ways we saw her grow in a relationship with Christ on a daily basis. Even today we still see God answering our prayer by working in her life.

People ask us all the time "when will you move over seas and be real missionaries?" If God wants us to we will go tomorrow but for now we are apart of one of the greatest mission opportunities here today. This lady's story is why we do what we do. We love seeing God's church in America go to the missions field and then come back home with a renewed fire for worshiping Him. "...I never truly experienced Him until now." This was one of her closing statements in her newsletter, and that is a HUGE win for us and for the Kingdom. That makes it all worthy especially when she is my mother in law, Lara's mom!

I think that you would really enjoy reading her news letter. It is powerful, so please take the time to read! Copy and paste this link. Then click download. http://drop.io/momsnewsletter

A Week Worthy of Praise

2009-04-10T12:34:00.001-07:00

This is a week worthy of our praise. During this Holy week we find ourselves worshiping our savior for all that he has done for us. We know that we are not worthy of His love and compassion but we are reminded of what He went through for us. The coolest part of it all is that Jesus had "Spanky" on His mind the entire time. He really loves and values me? That in it self is amazing.

Then He not only died for me but super naturally came back to life and arose out of the tomb for me. WOW!!! I don't know if you have actually thought of this other than in the sweet little Sunday school way but that is crazy, awesome, and amazing! Jesus, the one that carries us as His children (Deut. 1:31) is all powerful and able to concur everything in our lives. He concurred it all including death! How cool is it that we get to call Him Father and we have the privilege to serve Him.

This Easter weekend I encourage you to worship the risen king who is able and all powerful in your life. How worthy is He!!! We have victory all ready because of Jesus. Psalm 47:1-2

He is already at work!

2009-04-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

Talk about the pressure being on! Our first time in Africa Lara and I worked in an all Muslim city. We were a little nerves the first day of evangelism but our morning devotion was from Acts 10. It gave us a little more hope for the day. God went before Peter to prepare hearts and so I prayed but not fully believed that God would go before us.

Later that day a lady walked up to me on the streets and she looked right in my eyes. She did not look to friendly and she began to speak loudly and I knew she was talking about me. My translator said that she had a dream about a big, white man coming to her city and he was coming to tell her something that was going to save her life. She believed that this dream the night before was from Allah and she said I had better tell her this story that I was telling everyone else on the street. I looked around and realized that I was the only big, white guy in this city so I pulled out my EvangeCube and shared the story of Jesus with her. She asked accepted Christ right there and went away smiling. I know now that it is His work and He is just letting me be apart of it. God is at work in hearts all around this world and He gives us the privilege to introduce the spiritually blind to Him so they can too have sight.

Praying for Spider Man PJ's

2009-03-27T10:36:00.001-07:00

We have been talking a lot about prayer with Mac and Grey and I think that Mac is actually starting to get it. He normally prays that God will bless all of his friends, family and all of the people at Ridge church and on special occasions he will throw in all the people of the world. But, the other day at Target it became a little more personal. He saw some Spider Man PJ's and he asked if he could have them but his mommy said not today. When she turned back to see where he was he had his head buried in the PJ's. Lara fully thought that he was pouting because he was not getting his way and said "Come on". Little did she know, he was being more spiritual than that. Mac picks his head up and proceeds to break his mothers heart while he says,"but mommy I was praying for these Spider Man PJ's".

While it wasn't the most spiritual or selfless prayer it was still a blessing to us. He is at least understanding that when he has a need the best options is to ask Jesus. My prayer is that when I am in need I would have the immediate, child like faith that my son had when he was praying for those Spider Man PJ's. When we don't hold back and we get just as honest as we can with God in prayer I think that He is most pleased.

Traveling the River

2009-03-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

I just returned home from a 9 day trip in the Panama jungle. You will probably hear a lot form the Rouse House regarding Panama because this country has a special place in our heart. I often look at life and compare it to our time spent in the jungles. There are many similarities and lessons that can be learned from life and the jungles.
This past time in Panama was the most extreme time that I have ever had. After a 12 hour drive from one end of the country to the other end near the Costa Rican border we finally reached the city of Changuinola. We continued our journey up the Teribe River for almost 2 hours. This area of Panama just received what they call the 50 year flood so passing through this area of the jungle was difficult to say the least. Hundred year old trees were uprooted and washed down stream while entire villages were demolished. The power of this unusual and unpredictable amount of water was almost unbelievable. The worst part of the flood is that it is suppose to be the dry season therefore it really is unexpected.
I remember that the only thing that I could think of as we went farther up river was how content and satisfied I felt. Talk about the peace of God! Philippians 4:6-7 talks about no matter what we face or go through we can always count on God to give us the peace to make it. That kind of peace that He gives is really indescribable. It is one of those things that you have to experience first hand. In life there are so many unexpected and unplanned for "floods" that can really destroy us and wipe us out in just a moment. But we don't have to live in fear of those things that are to come. Praise God! Nothing is ever unexpected or unplanned for the Almighty!
I have to say that most people including me probably wouldn't think of contentment when seeing the banks of this river bed. Then I began to think about where I really was and any fear that might have been there vanished. I saw that I was looking at the finger print of God the Creator. I looked up and saw the sun setting behind a mountain and at that moment I believe that the Holy Spirit brought to my mind Psalms 63:3-8. I had just read it before I left home and how cool it was to see God put His word in to practice. I really felt like He had answered my hearts prayer and satisfied my soul abundantly and lead me to praise Him with my lips and hands. I knew that He was absolutely better than life. I knew that I was in the shadow of His wings, His hand was holding me, and that my soul was following close behind Him. That is a great place to be!!!
When Jesus is the focus, priority, and desire of your heart and life then you will always be abundantly satisfied! John Piper says in the book "Stand", "When we are so satisfied in Christ that we are enabled to willingly die for Him, we are freed to love the lost like never before and Christ becomes our great Treasure" I was not about to die at that moment by any means but with the spirit and mind that He gave me, that of Him being what I live and die for, I was able to love the Nasso people so much more.

To begin

2009-03-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Rouse House Happenings is going to be compiled stories and pictures updating you on our life and ministry. We hope to bring some comical stories along with some heart warming events. We are the Rouses. Spanky, Lara, Mac, and Grey. We often have some hilarious times and we believe that you will find these times funny too.
We are currently church planting missionaries with e3 Partners ministry. We love what we do more than anything else and when we are asked what would be your dream job we gladly say that we are doing it. We get to see God uses us to help indigenous people start new churches through evangelizing and discipleship. God is working in mighty ways and we have the privilege to be apart it. We have been apart of some amazing stories that will bless your heart so we want to start sharing them with you.
Stay tuned for many laughs and exciting stories.