Amazing Grace!

Sept. 2 is Grace's "Gottcha Day" when we celebrate the day Grace came into our family 9 1/2 years ago. Here's some amazing stuff about Grace...
1. She should be an Olympic gymnast. She can pretty much turn herself into a pretzel whenever she wants. I wish I had her flexibility.
2. She loves staying up late and IM'ing her friends. Why in the world did I ever tell her about the whole IM'ing thing!
3. She loves being in third grade and is making straight A's at Providence Classical School.
4. She loves any dessert ever created. I am amazed at how much sweet stuff she can consume.
5. She is extremely adventurous. She once hiked with me up the side of Cunningham Falls in Maryland.
6. She just learned how to bass fish with a plastic worm and loves it.
7. Her smile lights up the room!
8. She has an amazing imagination.
9. She is in training for the Presidential Fitness Award...and making daddy work out with her daily.
10. Her love language is gifts. She loves to get a gift no matter how big or small.

We love you Grace...you are so amazing!

Me and my peeps!

This Labor Day Weekend Amy flew to Dallas to spend a few days with her mom. The girls and I planned a special week end that was a blast. We started Friday night with the "stay up at late as possible contest" followed by the "sleep in as long as you can contest". Faith won both contests hands down. I wimp out by 10:30pm.

I am getting ready for a three day Appalachian Trail hike so I took the girls to Rainbow Mountain on Saturday. They are now able to complete the entire Rainbow Mountain trail loop. It's taken a few years but they are now hooked on hiking. Faith and I are doing an overnighter to celebrate her 13th birthday. Can't wait!

Saturday night we grilled some salmon followed by roasting some marshmallows. I don't recommend that combo but the girls like it so it's cool! We topped off Saturday night by watching the Crimson Tide beat the stew out of Clemson. This may be my first year in a long time to truly savor Alabama football!

Sunday we attended The Brook. Grace and Joi were pumped about going to Big Church followed by Faith Factory. Faith enjoyed keeping track of my mispronounced and newly created words! I have no idea why I cannot say the word "statistics" anymore! We finished off Sunday night by going fishing. I found a primo fishing spot not too far from the house. I'm slowly teaching the girls to fish. On my second cast tonight I caught a large mouth bass. My girls were very impressed and they kept casting in the same spot all night. No more fish were caught but the girls didn't hook each other with their new and crazy casting skills so I considered that a victory!

An interview with the Conversation Club

We recently had our Conversation Club participants interview each other to get to know each better and to practice their writing skills. Check out the interviews below and enjoy. Also, if you know someone from a different country that is looking to gain confidence in speaking/writing in English or wanting to spend time with people from their native country, please invite them to the Conversation Club!


THE BROOK - CONVERSATION CLUB NEWS – Special Interviews Edition

Dateline August 18, 2008

INTERVIEW WITH BARBY
By Laura


Today I spoke to Barby.

She came from Colombia eight years ago. She lives here in Harvest, near The Brook.

Barby’s favorite athlete is Juan Pablo Montoya, who is a Formula 1 auto racer. He is from Colombia, too. Barby says Juan Pablo is a goal achiever.

I also asked Barby about her most memorable vacation. She remembers with joy traveling with her family when she was 12 years old from Bogota to Sta. Martha. With her parents, brothers and sisters, she greatly enjoyed going to the beach.

Barby’s dreams for the future include traveling to Paris, Italy and maybe China.

INTERVIEW WITH LAURA

By Barby

Today I interviewed Laura, a lady from Ecuador. She has been in the USA since 2006. We talked about her favorite Olympic athlete, her most memorable vacation, and her dreams for the future.

Laura admires Michael Phelps, a famous swimmier in the 2008 Olympics going on right now in Beijing. She believes he is an achiever, and he is a young man who is working hard to reach his dreams.

Laura’s dreams for the future is to be a missionary. She wants to preach and teach about the Bible in areas surrounding Ecuador.
The final topic we talked about was Laura’s most memorable vacation. She traveled to Niagara Falls with her sister, brother-in-law and niece. She was very happy, but at the same time she said she was sad because she was without her immediate family.

INTERVIEW WITH KAI
By Tomoko



Today I spoke to Kai of Madison, who is from China. She talked to me merrily about her most memorable vacation. This July, she went to the Grand Canyon with her family.

She saw nature, which God made. She felt the strength and the power from nature. She thought God is the strongest, and beyond our world.



INTERVIEW WITH TOMOKO
By Kai



Today I interviewed Tomoko of Huntsville, Alabama, who came here from Japan. We talked about her favorite Olympic player, a Japanese swimmer -- Kitajima.

Tomoko says that in this Beijing Olympics, Kitajima got two gold medals, and in the last Olympic games he also won two gold medals. That means he kept his record this year in the 100 meters and 200 meters breaststroke. Tomoko likes Kitajima because he can outdo himself and overcome pressure.


INTERVIEW WITH LI-PING

By Toshiko



Today I spoke to Li-Ping, who now lives in Madison, Alabama. She came to Madison 25 years ago from Taiwan.



Li-Ping’s favorite Olympic athlete is Michael Phelps, who had just won gold medal #8 in the Beijing Olympics.


Li-Ping admires Phelps because of the effort he put forth to reach his goal. (Go, USA!)





INTERVIEW WITH TOSHIKO

By Li-Ping


I spoke to Toshiko today, who came from Japan three and one-half years ago to live in Madison, Alabama.

Toshiko’s favorite Olympic athlete is Kosuke Kitajima, because he won the Beijing Olympics gold medal for the breaststroke. Kitajima was also the gold medalist in the Atlanta Olympic games.

(Editor’s note: Another fan of Kitajima is Toshiko’s friend Tomoko Takahashi, whose interview is printed above. Go Japan!)







INTERVIEW WITH MEGUMI
By Wei




Megumi is a nice, world-traveling Japanese girl, who lives in Madison, Alabama, USA. In her traveling history, Australia is Megumi’s most memorable country, because she likes nature and enjoys living with the animals.



It was summer when Megumi visited a big Australian zoo, which was a quiet and beautiful place. She saw many kinds of animals – for example, kangaroos, emus, and koalas – which she had never seen before. In her opinion, they are so nice and special.



Megumi especially liked the koalas, because they look warm and calm. She held a little gray koala and touched its fur, which was rough, warm and thick. The feeling was calm and close. At that time Megumi suddenly felt how great God is, and because of her strong feeling asked a person to take a picture for her.



Even today Megumi misses her time in Australia. She often brings out the photo of herself and the koala bear, and remembers the feelings of peace and closeness with nature.


INTERVIEW WITH WEI

By Megumi

Today I spoke to Wei of Madison, Alabama, who is originally from China.


Wei traveled to Quebec City, Canada, last winter, where she stayed at the Emperor Hotel.



In this hotel, Wei enjoyed seeing many paintings and sculpture, because she is interested in European art.


INTERVIEW WITH AUGUSTA

By Sue Ann


Today I had the privilege of interviewing August. We spent time talking about her most memorable vacation, when she and her family went to St. Petersburg, Russia.

The year was 2001, and Augusta was only ten years old. Her mother, who is originally from Russia, wanted to share with her family the country where their roots came from.

Augusta said the country was so beautiful! It was winter, so there was a lot of snow, and it was very cold.

Her most memorable memory of the trip was that the food was so different than food in her home country France, and that the people were very poor. She said that the Russian church was beautiful, as was the Hermitage Museum, where the Princess Anastasia lived in the early 20th century.

For Augusta, it was very interesting to see how her ancestors had lived in earlier days.

INTERVIEW WITH SUE ANN
By Augusta



Today I interviewed Miss Sue Ann about her most memorable vacation, which took place in Orlando, Florida, during the summer of 2000, with her family.



Her family was all together in Disney World for six days. It was very hot, but SueAnn was happy to spend time with her family, enjoying a new adventure together in fun places like the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, MGM, Epcot and others.



The only long and boring moment was the travel to go to Disney World, eleven hours of driving! But actually, SueAnn says, it was wonderful, too. They saw a lot of different landscapes and different states.

So, to sum up, SueAnn would say that vacationing in Disney World is a good idea, to spend time with family, when you have young children.


EDITOR’S NOTE:

The ladies of Conversation Club at The Brook Church in Madison are a diverse, interesting and talented group, with many fascinating stories to tell and ideas to share. It is a privilege to be part of that group, and to get to know these dear people from all parts of the world.

I am sure that each of them would extend a warm and cordial welcome to anyone seeking good friendship, delicious lunches, challenging conversation, and lots of laughs, as we practice English language skills, learn about each other’s lives and cultures, and use the Bible to improve our vocabularies and enrich our lives.

COME AND JOIN US!

Bibles Unbound

Tonight we watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics in China and afterward we had an incredible family moment. We pray for and support persecuted Christians in places like China through an Oklahoma based ministry called Voices of the Martyrs. VOM has a ministry that sends Bibles to Christians in places were it is illegal to have a Bible.

We sent 10 Chinese language Bibles for $90 (including postage) and also received the specific names of people who will be receiving the Bibles.

Check out www.biblesunbound.com for more info on this incredible ministry. Our girls were so excited to take part in this mission project!

Wii-retreat: the video

We bought our kids a Wii for Christmas but I must admit I enjoy it just as much as the girls. Our staff enjoyed Wii tennis last night after a day of intense staff planning. Good team building stuff! I'm getting better...no ceiling fans were taken out during this match!

wii-treat 2008

Staff Retreat 2008 at Henry Horton State Park in TN. Very good sessions to start the day followed by awesome BBQ ribs. We have also found a great stress reliever in playing Wii to end the day. Thinking about making wii-treats mandatory!

Working on uploading the video. It's hilarious...stay tuned!

Go with me Daddy!

I love Saturdays! It's our family day where we rest, unwind, and make some memories. Today we went to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. We've been there before but our children we all preschoolers. There is so much more to do when they get a little older. We loved the rockets and the rides.

What I love about our girls is that they are willing to be adventurous as long as Amy or I are there to cheer them on. Grace was pretty nervous about climbing the rock wall today and had talked herself out of it. All I had to do was say "let's to it together" and she strapped on the harness and away we went. With me by her side she was strong and courageous. We talked the whole way up the wall and had a blast repelling back down. The look on her face afterwards was priceless. It reminded me of the time she and I climbed up the side of Cunningham Falls in Maryland. As long as I was there, she was willing to go places she would never go by herself.

What a great picture of how God goes with us. He gives us strength and courage for the journey and He allows us to have victory in areas where we would be fearful without Him. Deut. 31:6 says "Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid of them! The LORD your God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you."

Hopefully Grace will remember more than a fun climb today. My prayer is that every time she remembers today she will be be filled with courage to be the adventurous Christian God has called her to be and that He is right there with her encouraging her on the journey. I hope she knows that with the Lord's strength she can climb the El Capitan of challenges and stand on top of every challenge knowing God's ability to continually take her to new heights!

15 Facinating things about Faith

This past week we celebrated Faith's Spiritual Birthday by going to her favorite restaurant, Nothing but Noodles. She is about to turn 13 but she is 7 years old in the Lord. To be honest I was somewhat surprised when she started asking so many spiritual questions at the age of 4 1/2. Not just simple questions but deep stuff. Every evening at bedtime was like a systematic theology quiz for me. I knew early on that God had given her a tremendous appetite for the things of the Lord. I remember how intently she would listen to Christian radio and ask what the lyrics meant and how she loved to act out the story of David and Goliath every night. I must have been nailed in the forehead a million times with whatever she wanted to use as a rock. While I hurt myself a few times falling off the bed, I must admit it was worth it because she learned "the battle is the Lord's" at an early age! To celebrate Faith's Spiritual Bday, here's a few of my favorite things about her...

1. She loves to listen to Rick and Bubba with me on the way to school. We have upcoming tickets to sit in the golden ticket seats but that is a whole other blog!
2. She has a dry sense of humor just like me.
3. She likes hiking with me and is pumped about a new rite of passage for our daughters. When they turn 13 they will each get to go on an overnight backpacking adventure in a special place. I'm thinking she will like the waterfalls at Sypsey Wilderness.
4. She loves to listen to Wally on Total Axxess every night.
5. She has already taught our 5 month old labradoodle how to sit, shake, stay, high five, and lay down.
6. She is like her "Robo Rev" dad in that she loves anything to do with technology.
7. Her favorite subjects in school are math, latin, and science. She wants to be a librarian/teacher some day but I'm wondering if she's got some engineer in her?
8. She has totally got me hooked on watching Hannah Montana. I'm sure I'll need counseling for this, but it's worth it.
9. She makes really crazy faces when we make her eat veggies. She claims she is allergic to all veggies but we aren't buying it.
10. She has amazing dreams every night and is able to tell us in great detail the most hilarious dreams every morning. It's always a great way to start our day!
11. She loves a good mystery and is all about puzzles.
12. She gives the world's greatest back rubs.
13. She never grows tired of hearing me tell her "growing up" stories.
14. She likes practicing Jujitsu with me. Sometimes it gets pretty rough but I try not to cry.
15. She is turning into a young woman way too fast for me but I'm pumped that she still likes to sit on my lap and snuggle.

Happy 7th Faith! I love you lots!

Humility

I've been reading James in my QT and James 3:13 really spoke to me this morning...

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom
James 3:13 (NIV)

I desperately need God's wisdom and understanding. If I ignore what He is trying to say to me if impacts my life and those around me. It also shows that I am self-sufficient vs. dependent on Him.

Tony Morgan had a great post on our need for HUMILITY recently. It really spoke to me and to the root of so many unresolved issues in families and churches. Get ready to be toe-stomped!

http://tonymorganlive.com/2008/08/07/humility/

Can you imagine how different things would be if we were all truly as humble as we should be!

Out of nowhere

When I work out I typically require two things: an element of risk/adventure and my ipod blaring my favorite tunes. I've had lots of great adventures lately learning about some pretty amazing bike trails around our house. So far I've learned most country roads have a mean dog as a security system and they will chase you and try to bite you. I've also learned what gear to put it in when you accidentally ride through a bumble bee swarm and what to do when you come face to face with a rattle snake on the bike trail.


This morning I attempted to have a "normal person" work out. I rode my bike through a new neighborhood and was enjoying looking at houses in various stages of construction. I was even listening to mellow music on my nano. I was thinking through some things God spoke to me this morning and worshipping on this "normal person" work out.



All the sudden, everything changed. As I was minding my own business I saw two construction workers in the distance. As soon as they saw me, they dropped their tools and started running. Being the observant person I am, I thought "This cannot be good!" I could hear them yelling something but I knew they weren't yelling at me. I had my tunes cranked so I couldn't hear their exact words but I can read lips pretty good and I recognized some verbage I used to use. Again, I thought this cannot be good!



Then I saw what all the commotion was about. One of the guys took his dog to work. Both these guys were yelling at the dog telling it to stay still and not attack me. At first the dog stayed in the yard but the thought of biting me was just too tempting. So the dog bolted straight for me and he was all teeth.



In a fleeting moment I considered my options. I could:

1. Peddle faster to try to get away. I knew that wouldn't work because he was huge and already biting my shoe.
2. Kick him or mace him. Probably not the best idea since construction workers don't take kindly to people messing with their dogs!
3. Start humming a new song I learned from my friend Phil. I really wasn't into humming at the moment though.

So I did what seemed extremely counter intuitive and slowed down and talked gently to the dog. It took a couple of phrases and some direct eye contact but it worked. He totally backed off and walked away.

As I was riding home to change my shorts, I was reminded that that "out of nowhere" experience is alot like our most intense exchanges with people. That dog was simply trying to protect his turf. He felt threatened and did what came naturally.

People do the same thing. We all have go into protection mode at times. In certain situations we tend to feel threatened or scared and we start baring our teeth. It can get pretty ugly at times, but I am reminded that just like this morning, the Word says "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Prov 15:1 (NIV)

A gentle answer this morning spared me the pain of being bitten. A gentle answer in my next volatile discussion with someone will not only spare the pain but will go a long ways towards helping someone see that words are either weapons of destruction or encouragement. The choice is ours.

Notes to self: don't ride down that same street until the houses are done. Check into this "Dog Whispering" thing. It might make for some good reality TV!

What a mess

My brother in law and I decided we would go mountain biking the other day. I have a couple of routes close to home that take me through some incredibly beautiful places. While they aren't really bike paths these places provide an intense workout.

Everything was cool until we hit an area that was really muddy from all the rain. We were too far into this muddy adventure to turn around and mud was getting caked into our gears and brakes. It didn't help that Billy had brand new white tennis shoes on! We finally made our way back to a road and when we hit the pavement all that mud on our tires started flying up on us. By the time we got home we looked like we had been mud wrestling.

As I was washing my bike off and pulling hunks of mud from my brakes it hit me that our muddy adventure is alot like ministry. God has called us to minister to people that are in some pretty messy places. Ministry often takes some unexpected turns and we get immersed in all kinds of "stuff".

Solomon said it well in Proverbs 14:4 Ministry is messy stuff. but God has a way of blessing the mess. He has called us to come alongside all types of people who have all kinds of hurts. It's impossible to keep things nice and tidy. But just like our muddy bike ride, the adventure is well worth it. Investing time, effort, and energy in people's lives means we pretty much get covered with stuff (painful experiences, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, conflict, etc). Ministry isn't a smooth ride with perfect conditions, but God's promise is that in the end those who live a Gal. 6:9 life will know the joy of an abundant harvest that only God can bring.

Daddy Daughter Dates

We have a long standing tradition in our house called "Daddy Daughter Dates". It's a pretty simple deal. One of my daughters gets to choose where we go eat and then we take it from there. This week end Joi and I had our date and she brought up the idea of going to Dreamland. I know you think I coaxed her into it but really...she loves BBQ. She and I are the carnivores of the family and we threw down on a half slab of ribs and some nana puddin'. It was good stuff. Joi really got into making shish-kabobs with the meat, bread, sauce, lots of salt and toothpicks. It was hilarious watching her eat ribs with five teeth missing.

As we enjoyed our date I realized I have a full out tomboy on my hands. She wears her Dallas Cowboys hat backwards with her cowboy boots, loves transformers, just had to have a batman birthday cake, and she uses the word dude ALOT...plus she likes to wrap knuckles and wrestle. She even gave her missions money to the boys in VBS this year! The real kicker is that she insists on putting her own worm on her hook when we go fishing...much to the dismay of her older sisters!

We finished our date my going to a favorite sporting goods store where she tried on every helmet in the store. She even tried on shoulder pads. Talk about some great pics!

We had a blast but more importantly we made some great memories that will last forever. It's hard to believe they are growing up so fast and I want to treasure every moment with them. Hopefully I can set an example of how a godly man should treat them in the future.

I'm thinking our next date might be to a tractor pull followed by some practice skipping rocks across the pond and how to properly spit sunflower seeds!

The Purpose of the Journey

4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself
Ex 19:4 (NIV)

I've been reading through Romans in my quiet time but recently the Lord drew me back to a key verse (Exodus 19:4). I love divine detours because they are God's way of refocusing me on His priorities over my own selfish desires. What a great reminder to know that our journey here on earth is not just about the next destination or project or even what we consider successful. It's all about being drawn to Him. While the Israelites focused on getting to the Promised Land, God focused on getting to their hearts. While the Israelites whined at times about their circumstances, God used those circumstances to draw them to Himself. I have been reminded in a fresh way this past week that no matter what the situation, if we are looking for God in the journey He will reveal how He is bringing us to Himself.

• My times of greatest joy are a reminder that He is bringing me to Himself
• My times of confusion require me to seek His face not just for an answer but to be drawn to Him
• My times of disappointment reveal that He is bigger than my circumstances and even in the midst of hardship He is building character, He wants to draw me to Himself.
• My journey takes unexpected turns, but that is alright. He has taught me to embrace the journey because He is drawing me to Himself.

I will make it to the Promised Land, but in the meantime the most important part of the journey is being drawn to Him.