Q Crashing

Here is second edition of folks that were so impactful in my life that I don't get to see much. 1.  Matt Brooks Other than my brother I've never argued with anyone more.  But it was the best example I've ever experienced of iron sharpening iron.  I miss dreaming as we threw frisbees into homemade baskets.  I wish we could compete on the bball court and compliment each other on the battle field again. 2.  Jason McCullars The only high school friend I was able to stay really close with.  I miss our closeness and our humor.  I miss hanging out the house and our family going on dates and trips together.  I wish we could eat tonight and laugh about the old days and know that the time we've known each other creates an environment where no mask is needed. 3.  Nick and Brandi I've never fallen into friendship so drastically as I did with you two.  I was a skeptic.  But through our time together I became a believer in y...

Everything in life seems to always be in flux.  For us this has  been a tough year.  The addition of our third (unplanned or expected) child.  Big changes in the job.  New church growth taking place.  Stress abounds.  And in those  times I turn into super analytical man.  Questioning everything and figuring out nothing. My wife brings peace in the storm.  Her heart is always so pure.  She loves God and our family and worries not about much else.  I love that she is reminding me of the value of sitting at the table as a family and taking our kids to the park.  I'm so grateful that she initiates conversation on parenting, vacation, and family adventures while my mind is trying to solve organizational issues and work crisis.  It reminds me to slow down and remember things that are important. God can replace me in any of the capacities I hold on this Earth except as my wife's husband and my kids' father. ...

1.  Wade and Kerrie Two of the most amazing people I've ever met.  Missionaries and pioneers in the richest sense of the word.  The live without fear and full of passion and many days I wish we could sit around and get on each others nerves and dream together. 2. Dad Greatest role model and the constant voice in my head.  I miss talking about life and gaining wisdom.  I wish we could walk together in the pasture or do some work on a fence and just be.  3. Mom She is joy personified and I laugh when she laughs.  I miss eating and laughing over silliness and innocent mistakes.  I wish we could cook something together and talk about senseless worries and future adventures.   I want to do this from time to time. Just remember some important people in my life that chasing after God has put some miles between us. These are people who shape me and whom I love.

So if we are followers of Christ we know that we are to surrender our whole will and life to God and his direction and calling.  We've heard that in the church forever.  The problem is that many of us don't know what that looks like in our daily life.  We understand the big things, like move to this country, serve this community, or plant this church.  But the truth is our whole life is to be surrendered.  Every aspect to be used for the Gospel.  In that vein of thought one of the ways some of our friends have figured out to do that is in gardening.  We are making a more concise effort to garden together and to garden for the Gospel.  Hence, The Woodward Community Garden.  We are planting for food to eat, but also to give away so we can share the love of God with those around us.  It's great fun and I can't wait to see how it all goes.  Plus, it teaches our kids that giving is important and sometimes you work so you can give. J...

I could just sit I could just sit and wait for all your goodness But what if our story is more.   Check out this video. Here's the song. Don't sell God short on what he can do with your life.   He is the author and he writes incredible stories. Let him write. Our story is going awesome. The Crash is revving up amazingly. The Eugene Mission is morphing beautifully. The Beautiful Mess is growing sweetly. My family is loving more deeply. Our prayer is to watch and be apart of some of the amazing stories God has for you. We love you and are praying.

Yesterday my middle daughter starting throwing up.  This led me to take half a day off from work in an attempt to separate my oldest daughter from her so we didn't have another epidemic breakout like we had last year.  So I decided to take December out to see a movie.  We picked "Escape From Planet Earth".  It was fun, but it made me miss my brother. Nutshell, two brothers fight, then one has to save the other, then they realize how important they are to each other. I love the fact that for part of my ministry I got to walk through it with my brother.  Today I really miss that we are not side by side.  I know we are still serving our king and living our lives out for the Gospel, but I just miss being in close proximity.  One of my prayers is that one day God would allow us to work together again. It makes me take a moment today and think about all the folks that I really love ministering with that are on different paths right now.  I ho...