Typical Day in Huntsville, Texas

Well, Monday morning rolls around in Huntsville, Texas. Normal day of going through a generally predictable schedule. People going about their business. I go to the office, meet with my ministry leader, get on campus to be available for students. Then...wham...inmates escape, kill the guard, take the shot gun, steal a few cars, run around town avoiding the authorities, then get to a field I have run past a ton of times. Something huge you would think!!! Sure...if you live outside of Huntsville. I saw it on CNN and Houston News Stations. I know it was a big deal.

A crazy thing happened to me that showed me how sectioned off my life has become in regard to the prison system in Huntsville, Texas. Here is what happened.

I was on campus (like I said). I heard a college student run up to another student yelling about what was happening. I heard this student talk about inmates out, everyone on lock-down, shotgun, hostage, still happening, let's go find out more. The other student receiving the information said, "Hell yeah! Let's go!" as he grabbed his bag and they ran off together.

My first thought was, "Wow! I guess they have it under control so I don't need to worry about it too much." I looked around and briefly thought that it wasn't too serious because they haven't done anything on campus to get people to leave. The prisons have been on lock-down before, and nothing big happened. I heard the helicopter, continued to sit there reading my book, got up at the time I normally do, and went on with my day as I had planned it.

Why was my first thought not about calling Tanya to tell her to lock the doors and not go anywhere? Why did I not think about praying for the supposed hostages? I guess I did pray that these guys on the loose not hurt anyone else, but it was a passing prayer; I didn't dwell on it too long. Why was I not too concerned about the development of this crazy scare our city was experiencing? What is going on in my head!!??

There is a separation in my mind concerning the prison system in Huntsville, Texas. "It really doesn't effect the goings on of everyday life too much," I think to myself. "That is what 'they' do, but it doesn't penetrate 'my' world." "Stuff like this just happens; I can't control that." I'm a little concerned about what happened today in my head.

Lord, help me to understand how this city has affected the way I see what you are doing. Please use me to show others the way they section off their life in regard to the prison system. May we develop a sensitivity to the evil that presides in Huntsville, Texas and grow in our compassion for those you really miss the most.

Silence

I went to a Randy Harris class during the ACU lectures this year. It was entitled, "I'm not really all that humble." It was an intriguing class. He basically offered his comments on two old guys' thoughts on the subject. Jeremy Taylor and St. Benedict. Actually, those were the only two days I was in the class. On the third day he discussed how Jesus addressed the topic, but I wasn't in the class.

In Randy's discussion on humility during the second day he made a comment about silence. His phrase about practicing silence is, "Only speak what love requires." I think that is pretty cool advice. So, in some situations, I would need to speak because that is the loving thing to do. In other situations, I would need to refrain for the sake of love. These are some words that I am trying to put into practice recently.

Apples

I really want to convert to being a person I haven't been my whole life. I want to be a mac person; I want to own a mac. I stopped by the Apple store tonight and had a little conversation with the guru there. I'm still hesitant about it, but it might happen at the beginning of next year. We will see.

ACU Lectures

I just got into Dallas from Abilene. I spent the whole trip tonight trying to process some of the conversations I had at the lectures and implications for ministry. It was good that my mind was going ninety to nothing because everyone in the car was knocked out!

I am so encouraged that God is doing amazing things in his world. I pray that he show me what he is doing in Huntsville so I can be a part of it. I anticipate much discussion happening about God's mission.

Let's Start Talking Brasil Video

This was the video I showed last night at church as I reported about our Let's Start Talking trip to Rio de Janeiro last July. I hope you enjoy it.

Kayla's ABCs

I thought I would share this little video. It reminds me of how good spending time with my family really is. God has truly given us many good gifts. Enjoy.

Prayer Sign

My sign reads, "Need Prayers? I will pray for you." I have been having all kinds of responses to my sign. Just yesterday a lady told me that she has seen me sitting here for a few weeks. She said last week she felt the Lord telling her to come ask me to pray for something going on in her life...she struggled with what to do, but she ended up not coming. Yesterday she finally came and we had a great conversation about God working in people's lives. She thanked me for doing this and said she would come by.

Two days ago a student came to me pointing to the sign. She said, "I need this." A really close friend was tragically killed in a car accident a week before coming to college. She was headed to the counseling center for this very reason. I told her that I will be here if she needs something. It was at this moment that I was positioned right in front of the counseling center on campus. More students will probably come.

I continually see students from our group on campus. Some of these students stop by regularly and we have great conversations. These are conversations that would not have ever happened had I been in the office.

I praise you God for giving me the courage to go out on campus and be available to students. Continue to bring students to you through my being available to them. You are such a good God.

Incarnational Ministry

The Lord is slowly opening my eyes to see him in the small things I do (I will talk about my holy pen in a later post). What may seem like an insignificant act or conversation becomes huge when I see the kingdom of God advancing in these small moments. These moments are not forced or contrived; they come and there they are for the taking.

This semester I am doing a couple of small things differently in an effort to put myself in situations to advance the kingdom of God. The first thing is to spend less time in the office and more time in an area where God can use me for his glory (I thank Dan Kimball for giving me this idea at NCMS a couple of weeks ago.) Monday and Tuesday are in the office. Wednesday and Thursday are somewhere else. Currently, I am sitting in Kaldis, writing this post. I hope to slowly get to know the workers, the regulars, and other people who come into these places. The Lord knows how he will use me here. I just wait for the small moments over the course of a few years. Lord, keep my eyes open to see these moments you want to use me. Don't let me be consumed with work here and lose sight of how you can use me to advance your kingdom.

The second thing I am doing will begin next week when school gets back in. I will sit on campus for a couple of hours (the busiest times of the day student-wise) with a sign next to me that reads something like, "I want to pray for you. I'm here to listen." I have no idea what will happen, but over a period of time this is what I imagine might happen. Someone's world comes crashing down one night and the thought occurs to them, "I wonder if that guy I see everyday is going to be there tomorrow. If he is, I will stop." Honestly, I don't know if that is going to happen or not. All I know is that I am compelled to be available to any student on campus and I am compelled to pray for our campus. Lord, again give me the courage to be available outside of the "office." You alone know who needs more of you. I want to be used for your glory. Please bring students to yourself.

All of these things are part of my idea of transforming my ministry into an incarnational one; I want to be Jesus to others.

Nasty Smell

I walk in the Student Center last week from being gone two weeks to Brasil. The smell is horrible! Courtney had already throne the trash out and started lighting candles, but nothing helps. We go through the whole building and can't figure out where in the world this smell is coming from!

The whole day passes...nothing. The next day...still nothing except more candles and some carpet freshener. That doesn't do the trick either. What is it!!!!????

Thursday, Courtney comes in and there is a note on the board from Cory: "I found the smell. It's in the refrigerator." She opens the door and almost lost everything in her stomach! The doors from the fridge had opened somehow! We had all kinds of meat, vegetables, cheese, and more in the freezer and fridge. All ruined! After gathering herself, she actually took it all out and threw it away. She couldn't do anything else because the smell was THAT bad.

I happened to be late that day. Courtney called and told me what it was. I said I would clean it. SO...for about an hour I cleaned up the fridge and freezer. The smell was bad!! I really haven't ever smelled anything that bad before in my life (at least I don't remember). All I remember thinking is that it has to get clean. It got all over my hands to where I smelt a hint of it the rest of the day. Bleach helped a ton. That sucker got so bleached that the black turned white! I got it how I wanted it for the time being and went on with my day; my work continued.

Coming back in to a Student Center that has no smell was great! It also got me to thinking about ministry. I have to get into the gunk of other people's lives (bad smell and everything) if I want them to begin smelling the aroma of Christ. I might get smelly myself, but the power of Jesus (and the power of the gospel) is to change bad to good. That is GOOD NEWS!!!

Please use me, Lord, to spread your aroma to the craziest places. Give me the courage to walk where others dare not walk! You are my strength and encouragement. This is the same path you took...even to accept the stench of death on a cross.

Reading from Luke

As we get ready to come back to the States we are working on helping the missionaries know more about our readers. It is incredibly important that there is follow-up to the work that we have been doing. God will continue to work in the hearts of our readers. We praise God for this opportunity that we have had for a couple weeks in our life and trust him as we leave.

Tomorrow is our last day of reading. God is still using us. Our conversations are still important. In fact, this afternoon I have a new reader I have never read with before! We are here to plant seeds so new readers coming two days before we leave is still a good thing! Tomorrow night we have our farewell Churrasco where we will give our readers a certificate and a little bookmark to remember us. We will get many pictures so others can see.

The Lord is Faithful

The work continues in Rio. I continue to make more and more friends here and, in the process, get to share Jesus. Last Sunday our Texas party was a hit! There were a total of 80 people present, 17 of which were our readers. We ate Texas chili, played Texas Bingo, learned some Texas slang, acted out a Texas story, and had great fun the whole time. It was really good to see the readers and church members interacting with each other and getting to know each other. The Lord is faithful in his bringing people together to spread his word to fertile soil.

The Lord's Strength

Yesterday I only had one no-show! Awesome! It is a good thing to get to the end of the day, collapse on the bed, and say, "Thank you, Lord, for spending me for your glory!" I praise God that I must rely on his strength to read with 6 to 8 readers a day, plan for our parties, help cook meals, clean up, update the reader sheets, and other things that just need to get done. You are an amazing God. We continue to praise you, O God.

Reading Sessions

The last two days have been full of reading sessions. I have had a few no-shows, but they have rescheduled. We are gearing up for our Texas Party on Sunday after services. We will have Texas chili, Texas Bingo, Texas slang, Texas stories, and Texas songs. Some of these things we will not have time for, but it is going to be fun for all involved. All my readers are very excited about the party. Our main goal is to get the readers connected and interacting with the members of the congregation here. We are planning for about 100 people at the party. Please pray that God bring glory to his name during this time.

This is one of my readers named Wagner. He is a really cool guy. He says it is encouraging to have discussions with someone in another part of the world that has the same beliefs.

The work continues

Lee Ann and I are in our second day of reading. We are working hard. There is a wide variety in our readers' level of English. Some have more difficulty than others. Even some of the one's who can't speak well, however, are receiving the seed of God's word in their hearts. We can only praise God for this. Here I am reading with one of my readers, Felipe. Our conversations normally last about one hour. We read with up to eight people per day.

We have arrived in Rio

We arrived safe and sound in Rio. Sunday evening we experienced worship at this church for the first time. It was a great! God really works in neat ways when you don't understand all the words in worship. The meaning of Romans 8:26 became new: "...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." The Spirit was interceding yesterday.

Tomorrow is our first reading day. I have four readers scheduled right now, but I will be working to get some of my other readers scheduled once I get a small break. Please pray for my readers hearts. May our conversation be full of grace.

It is such a blessing to be in this country. God is working amazing ways. Hopefully I will be able to let you know about this as I report on the project here. May God continue to guide our conversations.

Packing for Rio

As you can see, tonight I am packing for my two-week trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We leave tomorrow! Trying to get everything into one suitcase is going to be a chore; I don't know how I am going to do it. I do have one little bad that I can check if need be, but I don't want to carry this one around too.

I am going to miss my family tremendously! This will be the longest time that I have been away from everyone since Tanya and I have been married. Wow! God will give us strength though. He has also provided Skype...a cool way to keep in touch with them with video calls...yes!!

Well, the work ahead is going to be hard, but rewarding at the same time. Lee Ann and I have been preparing for this trip since way back last fall. The journey has been amazing and I look forward to seeing the people God will touch through us. We are focused on Sharing Jesus and Sharing Ourselves. I can't wait to read the story of Jesus with people!

Lord, protect us as we travel. Let our hearts be prompted by your Spirit to move us where you need us to accomplish your will...whether we are aware of it or not. Give us the words to say, the energy to love, the compassion to listen, and the guidance to grow. Please continue to prepare the hearts of our readers. Let them encounter you as they interact with us. Grow them to be your disciples telling others about who you are. Keep us in your arms. Amen.

Heat Exhaustion

Monday I got heat exhaustion. I pushed myself a little too much with too few breaks. I drank plenty of water while mowing lawns, something I always do. But Monday did me in like I had never experienced before.

It was the last yard we had to do that did it. I needed to get home quickly to take a shower and run off to college devo. Tardiness was already calling, so I got after it. I went way too fast! I didn't want to be late! I knew I was pushing myself in that last yard, but I knew it would be over soon. Even on the way home I knew I was tired, but I didn't know that things were pretty bad.

When I walked in the door I told Tanya I was really tired and a little dizzy. I rushed off the get my body temp down in the shower (something normal after a hard afternoon of mowing lawns). As I got out of the shower, I just wanted to lay there. I was still hot, still dizzy, and my muscles were give out (a good Texas description for ya), and my heart was still beating pretty fast. Tanya asked if I should be going to devo like this; I thought I would be okay.

I bent down to hug and kiss Kayla bye and then I had to run to the bathroom. All the water in my stomach came up. Uncle Ralph and I had a good conversation...twice in thirty minutes. Tanya helped me the rest of the night as I tried to keep fluids down me. It was not fun. Even the next day I stayed at home trying to recover...doctor Tanya's orders. No mowing lawns...no double-header softball games. That stinks dude!

Spiritual lesson: moderation is the key. Don't overdo it. Spiritual accomplishments will not happen overnight. Take on one vice at a time. Otherwise, Satan may overwhelm you making you worse off than before. It is okay AND NECESSARY to take breaks to re-connect with God who will sustain you through all things. Know also that God will not give you anything (temptation or otherwise) beyond what you can bear. You can stand with God's help (1 Cor 10:13).

Watermelon

Last night after a short devotional at church, we went outside to eat watermelon. Kayla was with Tanya when everything got started. I had some watermelon in my hand and after giving Kayla a small bite, she made a b-line outside. Rarely am I able to get her motivated to do things, but I am sure she would have washed my car if she knew she was going to get watermelon. It was pretty funny to watch.

Thinking about this I find myself compelled to give people a taste of Jesus so that they will make a b-line to have more of him. I give people a taste of Jesus whenever I do something "for one of the least of these brothers of mine." (Matthew 25:40)

What do people taste when they are around you?

Freedom

“The blood of American soldiers was great for American freedom…how much greater is the blood of Jesus for the world’s freedom…from sin and death”

“Having inalienable rights that cannot be surrendered is great…how much greater is having these rights and surrendering them regularly and without hesitation because of Jesus’ name”

“Being considered by many countries a Christian nation is great…how much greater is it when many countries encounter real Christians living out their faith just like Jesus”

“The freedom Americans have is great for America…how much greater is the freedom Jesus gave the entire world”

New Boots

I got new work boots on Monday. Necessity called! Mowing lawns in tennis shoes is not good on the tennis shoes. I have totally destroyed two pair already! So...I went to Wally World and got me a pair-a workin' boots.

Yesterday, my feet were comfortable as I mowed away! No problems. Get this...after mowing lawns for a few hours, I came home, took off my new shoes and was amazed at the cleanliness of my socks! Wow! No grass. I tell you what! I have got some really cool boots.

It is amazing what happens when you actually start working with the right equipment for the job! What equipment do you need to start using for the job God has given you to do?