excuse #12

It's actually pretty hard for me to think that someone would actually think of this as a valid excuse for not going to the mission field at all. but given that keith green wrote this "why you should go to the mission field" article in the 70's, i guess it helps a bit. check out excuse #12:

"I'd go to the mission field, but..."

"But how could I commit myself for years and years to go to the field without having a chance to see what it would be like?"

here's what keith had to say about it (remember, this is a 1970-something perspective):

It is true that in past generations a foreign missionary had to make almost a lifetime commitment before he could go to the field. Then in most cases, he had to go to college for at least four years, and then seminary for two to four years before he could even begin his missions training and service. But today there are missionary organizations that have short-term programs for people who want to receive training and find out what serving God in other countries is like. These programs last from a few weeks to a few years in length. So now there is an opportunity to "take a look" before making a much longer commitment.

my thoughts:

i keep going back to the thought that it's not about what i want or how i want it to work that matters. sure, it's true that in today's world, it's fairly easy to get a try-before-you-buy missionary assignment. but that's really not how it works i don't think. i think if you're checking out what you know God has already told you to do, then it's not really an option. you just need to do it. but i have seen some tremendous benefit gained by some who have gone on a preliminary trip to see how they should prepare, what to learn, etc. before going for the full-on assignment. that's just plain smart.

going to the mission field isn't a question of whether to do it, but "when" and "where" and "for how long" - when God says "jump" we should say "how high?" - not question about whether to jump or not. we all ought to go. it might be for a week to bermuda, or for a lifetime to sri lanka. or it could even be for a weekend to donaldsonville or chalmette (new orleans). but it is a definite thing that we all need to do -- GO.

freakin' out - wow, this is funny

i guess if it was me, i wouldn't think it's so funny, but since it's not me, i'm laughing tonight.

check out this video clip i saw on pete's blog and on bryon mondok's blog as well.

thanks for the laugh, pete and bryon. that's an awesome clip.

excuse #11

continuing the excuse list from keith green's "why you should go to the mission field" article - #12 says, "I'd go to the mission field, but...."

"But I don't have any special talents or abilities that would qualify me to be a missionary."

here's keith's reaction to that:

"Then you're just the person God is looking for! Sure God can use nurses, teachers, accountants, and mechanics on the field, but it always blesses God to greatly use the one who seemingly has nothing to offer. It is this person who has the opportunity of purely representing Jesus in the endless "common" tasks that are part of the daily life of a missionary. "When I am weak, then I am strong." (II Cor. 12:10; also see I Cor. 1:26-31)"

my thoughts: yet again, it still all gets down to obedience. it's not your place to tell God "you don't know what you're doing telling someone like me to go to the mission field." qualified or not - that's not the question. the question to me is more in the order of, "ok, i'll go, Lord. when and where do you want me to go and what do you want me to do while i'm there?" there's almost a swing the other way for some of us, too. like we're so ready to go on a missions trip we can't stand it and we aren't really listening to hear what God is saying about the "when" part of the question. doing the right thing at the wrong time is often just as bad as not doing the right thing at all - sometimes worse.

it's all completely, totally, 100% a matter of obedience. obey His command to go. obey Him about when and where. don't worry about the rest. just obey. you might find that He holds you back for 20 years and then opens the door for you to go and do something great for Him in downtown london. or you might hear him say to go and give the rest of your life to serve some obscure village in the himalayas. leave that to Him to decide and you just obey.

that's our job. OBEY.

aaron broussard's got him a blog going

this is a guy who is spending a few weeks in swaziland with the children's cup team there. he's from jay miller's church (the family church) in lafayette louisiana - great church, great pastor, and aaron's doing great, too.

anyway - he's got a blog now - check him out at aaronbrousbroussard.blogspot.com and add him to your prayer list.

open letter to supporters of children's cup

my dad just wrote this letter to supporters of children's cup. i think it's worth sharing here, too.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.

My friend, Pastor Dino Rizzo of Healing Place Church (HPC), and I had breakfast together this morning. I can’t even remember tasting the food.

We talked about relationships—individuals and organizations—focusing together and combining resources to fulfill the Great Commission to “Go everywhere, tell everybody.” I’ve never known anybody more gifted at bringing people and groups together to impact the world with the Gospel. We have talked often about these “strategic alliances.” Pastor Dino has unselfishly brought his wide network of relationships to the table to help Children’s Cup.

HEALING PLACE CHURCH

Pastor Dino has led HPC to generously support Children’s Cup with finances, short-term missionary work teams, and even helped support HPC members to move to Swaziland to work with us.

JOYCE MEYER MINISTRIES

Dino connected me with Chad Daniel, a missionary friend who worked for Joyce Meyer Ministries. Dino encouraged Chad to introduce us to David Meyer, who directs the World Missions Outreach for David and Joyce Meyer. David started supporting Children’s Cup and then he and his wife Shelly, daughter Stephanie and son David spent a week with Jean and me in Zimbabwe. Our hearts knit and another layer of strategic alliance formed. JMM started helping us in Swaziland. I remember David saying, “Let’s think big and impact this country for Jesus.” Under David’s direction, JMM has put hundreds of thousands of dollars into creating OVC CarePoints in Swaziland—eleven are now up and running, caring for 3000 OVC (the UN acronym for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children) on a daily basis.

For every dollar ‘Cup has raised for Swaziland, JMM has matched that dollar and often doubled it. This is not a formal matching agreement—that’s just how generous their support has been.

MISSION OF MERCY

Pastor Dino introduced me to Kevin Donaldson, then director of Mission of Mercy, a child-sponsorship program. Dino, Kevin and Ron Barefield (my long-time friend that worked with Kevin) decided to do Mercy Cup Golf Tournament fundraisers to fund the building of more CarePoints (theirs are called Mercy Centers) in Swaziland and Mozambique.

Kevin’s successor director of Mission of Mercy, Dr. Wayde Goodall, has carried forward this great alliance with Children’s Cup, JMM and HPC. Mission of Mercy’s medical director, Dr. David Beyda, has visited Swaziland and has raised funding to build and operate a new clinic to help care for our 3000 kids. Dr. Beyda, the top pediatric doctor for a major institution in Phoenix, gives weeks of his life to come to Swaziland and train local doctors and nurses to deal with the challenges of AIDS and other diseases killing our children.

ASSOCIATION OF RELATED CHURCHES

Add another layer, ARC.

HPC is a member of this high-impact organization that has launched more than 30 new churches across the USA. Young ministers with the same pastoral DNA as Dino—some were his Bible College classmates—have started churches that grew from zero to several thousand members in just a few years. Dino has brought these pastors into shared planning for missions, including Children’s Cup. Some of the churches have already sent work teams to Africa to help us out.

AND YOU, CHILDREN’S CUP’S DONORS

We call you CupBearers and partners. You are individuals and churches—even some businesses. You are the financial foundation that provides the funds for us to keep up our end of the strategic alliances and implement the projects.

As your support widens Children’s Cup’s base, we are able to enter into more alliances with like-minded individuals and groups. These strategic alliances effectively multiply every dollar you send.

Surely Jesus, who prayed that we “might be one,” is delighted to see all this happen!

dinorizzo.com gets ranked #9

check out the post at the church communications pro website by cory miller about dino rizzo's blog. here's an excerpt:

"Seriously ... Pastor Dino Rizzo's Web site REALLY rocks. You need to click on that link and see some great potential for a pastor's blog. Or even what a church Web site could look like or do.

This site may get the top award of the year for Rockin' It!"

read the whole post here.

i think i feel a song coming on...

update from lebanon pastor

just got this update from my friend who is a pastor of a church in lebanon. amazing stuff going on there. please keep praying for them.

Greetings, well first thank you for all your love, support and prayers, we are all at Abundant Life Church grateful for friends like you. well until now i haven't recieve any letter from pastor dino or anyone from HPC, yet i did recieve some support form them , please do thank them for it, it is really great to have HPC as a friend, it is such a beautiful church that i am proud to be a friend too. also i would love really to come to the united states some time and spend some time of rest around your beautiful home, i pray and hope i will be able to do so some time soon.

Yesterday Sunday the 10th of September more then 65 people were baptized in our church and the meeting was a great celebration of God's goodness and love and protection to us all. Among those who were baptized 6 Muslims took a bold step to be baptized publicly and confess Jesus before the whole church where more then 350 people were present, Glory to God , may the lord God protect these bold and courageous new born brothers and sisters, some of them were seriously threatened to death if they took this step yet they didn't really care , they just trusted God and they are ready even to die for the lord, one of them Mohamed he told me pastor it was easy for me to die for a wrong religion and faith, how much more now for the real God who already died for me and gave me eternal life, Glory to God. Some others I will be baptize secretly some time this week as they are in a very dangerous places and it is very risky for them, so please pray also for those.

On Saturday the 9th of September, the meeting with our workers and staff went great as we spent the whole day together more then 140 brothers and sisters came and our time went great in strategizing, thinking, preparing and praying and moreover have a good time of eating and fellowshipping together. We are all excited for the days to come and we are so proud of each worker for the way the lord used all of us in unity to fulfill his purposes recently and we are all ready for the new seasons the lord is preparing for us especially that we can be sure that the Middle East is about to see the greatest move of God, especially if the churches wake up toward the spiritual warfare and take a stand for God, amen.

Yes many churches will be plant In addition to all those that we already started or helped to start in the name of Jesus, Hallelujah. Even thought recognizing the difference of this part of the world and also the great challenges ahead, yet we are all keen not to surrender or retreat, however to move forward trusting the Holy Spirit for directions and for more doors to be opened in all over the Arab world. Please do pray for all these men and women especially those working in very dangerous situations and they have there life on there hands daily, and also please pray for more doors to be opened.

My self I will be visiting some of our workers outside Lebanon and I will be sharing in a conference for all the missionaries working in the Arab world in Bahrain from the 30th of October till the 4th of November please pray for that time as I know this is a great opportunity to share about the strategy the lord gave us to become an influential church. Also we are planning with some other ministries in Lebanon as well as some others international partners for 2 weeks of outreach were we will be reaching out with food and medicines from the 24th of November till the 4th of December we are expecting thousands to come and have a life changing experience and get introduced to our Lord and Savior and experiencing the new birth amen, please pray for that.

I haven't get any vacation yet, I don't know when I will have the time for it, yet I would love to have sometime somewhere with my Bible or any were I can have peace of mind and some physical rest, as for me I want also to be ready for the new seasons the lord is preparing for us. And I know myself I don't like to go away especially when I am so excited for the days to come as I can see wonderful future is waiting for us regardless of all the bad media and bad news going on all over the Middle East. Yet I think I need some time of refreshing and rest, as everybody around me is telling I need to do so. Well the Lord reigns over our zone amen and amen.

Be blessed and stay in touch do continue to visit our website for all
the news: www.abundantlifelebanon.com

Until all have heard

Pastor Chady El Aouad

children's cup in outreach magazine

lindy lowry and her team at outreach has done it again - they've put out an issue of their magazine that strikes a lot of chords in me. "It's a Smaller World After All" is about AIDS and the response of the church to the AIDS crisis. check out this quote from the article:

"Compassion and justice are the platforms that our churches will stand on to share the love of Christ in our local communities. No issue in the history of the world has given the Church a greater opportunity to exhibit that justice and compassion than AIDS."

in this article, they also spotlight a whole lot of great things churches and ministries are doing to combat the crisis, including a few paragraphs about children's cup and the new carepoint we're putting together with the family church (pastor jay miller), healing place church (pastor dino rizzo), mission of mercy and a lot of support from joyce meyer ministries.

it's something that i wish every pastor would read and ask God what He'd have them do about it. it's a huge issue we cannot afford to ignore. but like lynne marian and mary elizabeth hopkins wrote in the article, it is also possibly the greatest opportunity the church has ever had to exhibit justice and compassion. what a wide-open door to give Hope to hurting people.

thanks, outreach magazine, for doing this story and for including children's cup in it.

what i love about sunday

here it is - fresh from hpc's vision night - lance leblanc's new "hit" video, "what i love about sunday" - click HERE to watch it on his blog.

what i love about lance.

caught on tape - vocal blowout

timmy straight - my boy at vision night last sunday night.... give it a listen.

click here to hear timmy's vocal blowout

(thanks brian edwards for yet another hilarious clip.)

PhD - Personal Holiness Development

here's my notes i took in the men's breakfast bible study this morning. dino rizzo spoke part 1 on "personal holiness development."

Personal holiness development – not three words we use every day in conversation. “what did you do this morning?” “oh, some personal holiness development…” “ooh, did it hurt?”

We don’t always think of this topic as something “for me.” it’s good for someone else, but we don’t normally match it our own lives. we gave up on it a long time ago. It was there for a season in the past one time, but it’s just too out there.

That’s because we look at it as so much an external matter. But it is an internal matter that while it will affect the external, it is a matter of focus on the internal.

So over the next 10 weeks…. “I’m gonna force myself to be holy…. I’ll look in the mirror every morning and tell myself BE HOLY.” it CAN'T work that way.

I’m telling you it is the same grace that saved you and called you that will develop you in holiness.

I Peter 1
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

So we see that it is not just an old school bible word – “holiness” is relevant today. It is internal. And it is real. Jesus didn’t have to walk into a room and announce that he was holy. It was his words and his actions, but those came from him being full of grace and truth. It was on the inside.

It all boils down to seeing Jesus and imitating him. that’s the dino “simple” definition of holiness.

Holiness is a matter of obeying God – not a list of rules or traditions, but obeying God.

Story of group in Canada – like Amish, but they do electricity and all. they are known for being “holy,” but someone told us that when they do get to go into town, they are known for getting slap drunk, etc. I thought “what is it for then?” why bother living like that – and then not have it be a total life picture? Seeing Jesus and imitating Jesus in your total life. It’s ALL the time that counts. It’s not like, okay now I’m doing a Christian thing – these are my Christian friends, oh, wait- my wife is watching.

HOLINESS: Totally devoted and dedicated to God, set aside, set apart for a special use. The “use” is where God chooses to put you. It’s not about working at the church. holiness in your home, at the office, at the plant, on the field… it is using you for special use wherever God has you.

Also means walking free from the world’s pull. You can’t become holy on your own. And you can’t become holy to elevate yourself.

Those who compare their “holy status” with others – be careful. That’s not what it is about. It’s not a badge. Those who pursue holiness often get this aura around them that made them look down on others who weren’t like them.

Holiness is devotion and dedication to do all God has intended for you… and the more you have of that, the more humility and the more honest appraisal of yourself you’ll do. you’ll realize that you are a desperate sinner and God’s grace is the ONLY way you’ve gotten where you are.

Holiness means to be led by the Spirit.

PHD and me – it can happen.

We want to understand the “beauty of holiness” – there’s a term from the bible we need to discover the meaning of.

It’s not about me getting more of Him… it’s about Him waiting on me to yield more of my life to Him. in the way I live, speak, do what I do everyday – I must yield more of my life to Him.

I can’t and won’t try to give you a list of 5 steps to holiness and then your wife will start calling you “your holiness.” But I can help us see that we must surrender more.

“Lord, help us to learn to be yielded, surrendered and dedicated to You.”

this is gonna be a great series....

excuse #10

here is the next excuse in the ongoing series i've pulled from keith green's "why you should go to the mission field" - excuses people give for not going.

"I'd go to the mission field, but...."

"Although in the past most countries freely allowed foreign missionaries to come, most people in other lands now resent them. Why should I go where I'm not welcomed?"

keith's response....

Did you welcome the Gospel before you were saved? The Word says that we should save some, "snatching them out of the fire," (Jude 23) Some people just don't want to be saved! That's exactly why we need to go to them. The more unwelcome, the better. If they resent Americans, then you have an opportunity to show them that Christian Americans can be humble with the love of Jesus in their hearts. For the Word says, "He who is wise wins souls." (Proverbs 11:30)

my thought:

nobody ever said it was gonna be easy. matthew 28:18 doesn't say to "go into the easy places where you're welcomed and make disciples...." when it says "all the world" it means what it says - ALL the world. that's why i'm glad children's cup and healing place church are so drawn to the places that aren't so easy.

it still all gets down to obedience. we've gotta obey the call whether it's to go to an easy place or a hard place. God's job is to decide where to send us. our job is just to obey and go and make disciples. easy or hard is irrelevant.

this is why....

here's another reminder why we do what we do.

this was emailed to the church this weekend:

I've been working on Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in Baton Rouge w/the Coast Guard since mid-August. I found HPC on the internet during my search for a temporary church home. I have been incredibly impressed with your church & its ministries. I went to visit my mother who is battling lymphoma in Arkansas last weekend and told her how wonderful HPC is, and she went to your website, watched a couple sermons, and sent in a prayer request. She received a very personal and inspirational response from a member of your prayer team.

I hope she was watching the webcast of today's service, as I couldn't help but think about how her life's plans that have been put on hold during her battle w/cancer paralleled Joseph's time in prison. Her faith is strong, but I know that she faces doubts at times and is scared about what the future holds. I wanted to thank you for the support you have provided her from a distance. I can only imagine how many other people have benefited from the loving caring support that you provide, both in Baton Rouge and around the world. I only have a few more weeks in Louisiana before I go back to my home in Virginia, but will look forward to every Sunday and Wednesday while I'm here.

God bless you and your church.

it's SO worth it to put messages online, so worth it to have a good website, so worth it to pray with people online, and so worth it to just do things to make it easy for people to connect. i'm just thankful God lets me be a part of this team we call healing place church. and thanks lance, kari, robert, brad, david, mollie, sarah, chris, adam, jared, ty, toby, todd, emily, rob, josh and whoever else is over there in the hpc creative brains dept. y'all are the best.

brad duplechain... a tribute

as my friend and co-worker brad duplechain turns 30, i wanted to share this little tribute:

in the same year we joined this staff
and many times you've made me laugh.

one thing to know about this, brad
having you here - it makes me glad.

and now you're passing thirty years
i know you're not shedding any tears.

cause you're too cool to worry about aging
and now the 'canes are finally raging.

a great husband and as good a dad
i'm proud to say that i know brad.

memories of miami by the orange bowl
haunt me now from that eyeful.

thank you brad for excellence in what you do
and a happy thirtieth birthday to you.

(i've got a gift for you, brad, but it's a little hard to fit it in this post so i'll have to give it to you later.)

excuse #9

ok, brace yourself for this one.... it's hitting closer to home now.

excuse #9 from keith green's "why you should go to the mission field" article.

"i'd go to the mission field, but..."

"But the mission field is dangerous. God would not have me put myself or my family in danger of disease or native hostilities, would he?"

"Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?" (Numbers 14:3)

here's what keith had to say about it:

It is all a matter of our priorities - do we look at the temporary or the eternal in making our choices? It's true that you will probably be in more physical danger on the mission field than you would be in the suburbs of America, but that is part of the cost that we need to count when it comes to serving God.

The question should not be, "Will I be kept safe wherever I go?" but rather, "What is on the Lord's heart for me to do?"

If Jesus decided to go the way of least pain, He would have never gone to the cross.

There is no place of greater blessing for you than in the center of God's will.

You must stop to count the cost, but remember one thing - the privilege of serving God always outweighs the price! "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel's shall save it." (Mark 8:34-35)

my thoughts:

this life is not about me. it's about what He wants. i'll "get mine" when i get to heaven. until then, this is all about Him. and even then, i suppose heaven will be such a liberation from self-centeredness that i won't even want "mine" anymore except to cast a crown at His feet.

it is so much easier to say it than to do it. i believe it - for sure. but to believe it so totally that it becomes automatic, that's still a few steps away for me. i still make God have to nudge me or push me - sometimes shove me - the direction he wants me to go. help me, Lord, to just obey - plain old "andrew murray" type of absolute surrender.

bashing joel

i get so sick of hearing people trashing preachers - whether in blogs or on tv or wherever. i've been there and done that. i've seen probably some of the worst, and the best of preachers in my lifetime. and you know what? i've figured out that it gets really old really quick to hear someone shredding a preacher.

case and point: i recently heard a new wave of people whining about joel osteen - you know, the pastor of the biggest church in the USA. the people who talk tend to be either punks who sit at their computers and base their entire opinion off of what they read on other punks' blogs or threads, or other church people who sadly aren't willing to see the good that is being done from the old compaq center. everyone's got their opinion and i guess i'm just sick of hearing people whine about what they don't like.

so this brings me to my thought here. seems like a lot of us are quoting stuff from perry noble's blog lately - and that's a cool thing - perry's awesome.

he's got a post up about his meeting with joel osteen, bill hybels, john maxwell and a few other pastors. it was VERY refreshing to read his take on joel osteen. i've been to lakewood myself, met a bunch of the tv staff and i agree - joel's the real deal.

so thanks, perry, for unbashing a man who is doing more than anyone else i know to make it hard for people to go to hell.

excuse #8

continuing with the keith green "why you should go to the mission field" article - here's excuse #8 he lists:

"I'd go to the mission field, but...."

"But I have a family to support. God doesn't want me to neglect them, does He?"

Keith's answer...

The Word of God says, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." (Matt.6:33) If you can trust God for your needs, you can certainly trust Him for your family's needs. You would never be foolishly "neglecting" your family's needs by obeying God's call to go. God will show you the way. I know of so many families - some with many children - who are on the field right now, trusting God for their needs while they minister in His name. I have never heard of ONE occurrence where God didn't meet the needs of one of His servants and their families. As King David said...

"I have been young, and now I am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his descendants begging bread. All day long he is gracious and lends; and his descendants are a blessing." (Psalm 37:25-26)

my thoughts:

i can testify from first-hand experience growing up in a missionary's home that i never once was short-changed by God by being raised like i was. i've talked about it before, but the perspecitve my parents gave me had a lot to do with it, but they made sure i never saw it as a "poor me, poor us - we suffer so much and miss out on so much because we're sacrificing to serve overseas..."

quite the contrary. i felt very special growing up. i got to live where napoleon lost the battle at waterloo. i saw where macarthur told the filipino people "i shall return" and i got to go to 20 countries before i was 20 years old. sure, i didn't have a neighborhood i grew up in for 18 years then went to college with the same kids i went to elementary school, junior high and high school with and all.... and i had to wait to drive until i was 18 because of the laws of the country we lived in, but you know what? i'd trade it all away 100 times over to be able to grow up how i did.

thanks dad and mom for not buying into excuse #8, and for never letting us kids feel cheated for being missionary kids. we aren't kids without a home - we are kids who grew up feeling at home anywhere we went in the world.

frankly, i think i got the better end of the stick by being an MK. those of you who aren't MK's - i'm sorry.

way cool pics from mozambique

ty van rensburg is THE man. he's over in africa right now with his family and the children's cup team shooting pics like crazy and i just found a bunch he's uploaded on his parazz album... check 'em out here:

http://www.parazz.com/albums/tyzimbo/76960

Forty Days of Prayer for the Children

to all of you who have participated in the children's cup FORTY DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE CHILDREN, thank you.

as we head into this final weekend, i want to make a special invitation to anyone reading this to participate in the last two days of the online prayer gathering – on saturday, we’ll be praying for HEALING FROM AIDS (DAY #39) - Dad will be leading in prayer for this one and i know you’ll want to be a part of that one.

then on sunday (DAY #40), we'll be praying for your needs. as our 'cupbearers, your needs are our needs - your concerns are our concerns, your loved ones are our loved ones.

so, between now and sunday, be sure to let us know your prayer needs by sending us an email at info@childrenscup.org and let us know how we can pray for you.

thanks for standing with us during these days of prayer. i’ll be heading to swaziland and mozambique soon and i’ll be sure to bring back a report of some of the things your prayers have helped make happen. stay tuned right here and to the forty days of prayer online prayer gathering for updates on my trip. and as always, please feel welcome to visit the children’s cup website any time.

thank you again!

prayer for jada

9/7/06 1:56am UPDATE: check out the comments here for an update from Gered about Jada!



got this email this morning from tommy and aimee poche, who lead the adoption ministry at healing place church. gered and brandi are some really cool friends of ours who are legit and they're in the process of adopting a little chinese girl:

"We just got word that Jada, Gered and Brandi Lambert's daughter, is in the hospital with fever in China. Please pray for Jada during this time for healing and for Brandi and Gered. They are still in China finishing the adoption process."

please pray with me for jada and pray that gered and brandi will be guided through this process to make right decisions and that all their needs will be provided for.

"God, You aren't at all surprised by this turn of events. You are also well able to take care of it in such a way that You are glorified. that's what this is all about, i'm sure of that. so i ask that You'd give gered and brandi anointed wisdom, total provision and inexplicable peace. touch little jada and heal her just as You did so many times as You walked this earth. and do it in such a way that Your name is exalted and Your extravagant love is demonstrated to all who see it. thank You, Jesus."

about ugly babies

at the risk of overdoing my "i'm a fan of seacoast bloggers" thing, one of my favorite blogs to read when i need a good laugh, lori fitzgerald has a great post about how you can tell if your babies are ugly (cuz they all are).

it wasn't true for my 5 kids, but for the rest of you out there, you need to read this and learn.

ah, geoff....

my friend geoff surratt (from seacoast) posted his reaction to my posts about keith green's "why you should go to the mission field" - check it out when you get a chance. he's clearly a keith green music buff (note the baManna bread reference) and his take on it all is great.

plus he has quoted some of the best lyrics ever written at the end of his post.

go ahead - click here to go read it - it's worth your time.