The Ice is upon us!

Today, it was cold... so cold in fact, we decided to take the day off. Yesterday held blizzard-like conditions making it somewhat dicey hanging from rafters, 15-20 feet up in the air with coveralls, snow boots, gloves and a ski mask on. The great thing about this weather is the fact that we are making ice! Ice fishing will be happening quite soon and for those of you who don't know, this is an activity that I look forward to year around!

It was nice to have a little break and have a day to stay warm and get a few things done. Hopefully, this evening will be just as relaxing and constructive as the day has been. Tomorrow, back to work and winter.

In other news, I started reading "The Power of Prayer," by E.M. Bounds. I have never read a book that is so convicting/challenging concerning prayer. It is fabulous!

Fighting Fire With Fire

What is it about fighting fire with fire?

Tonight, I went to a presentation done by a professor from Dordt College. The presentation was entitled, “How Christians Should Regard Islam.” This professor went through some of the history of Islam, through Muhammad’s life and some of his actions as well as some world history which occurred to promote the growth of Islam. The presentation was fascinating! He spoke about points of where Christians and Muslims differ and then, in turn, spoke on ways that Christians should look at and interact with Muslims. In the end, one of his main points was that only by showing the love of Christ and the justice of God the Father towards all of mankind can we begin to bring Muslims to Christ, which I felt, was a great point. No amount of arguing will ever bring anyone to Christianity. Of course, he said this more eloquently than I ever could.

Yet, there were some in the group of observers that were set on making Muslims look like complete evil enemies and that they are using guns to fight “us,” (which the professor also said how our government twists this) then we should fight back as well. They wanted to fight fire with fire. When do we ever fight fire with fire? Sure, sometimes firefighters will burn off a chunk of forest so that a forest fire cannot go past that point, but that is a little different than sending one fire towards another and hoping they go out. Every time I have seen it done, the two fires become one huge fire.

Don’t we fight fire with water? If my memory serves me correctly, firefighters still use water to extinguish fires. The love of Christ, that this professor was talking about, is water; soothing, life-giving water; water that washes away even the dirtiest stains and that cools even the hottest tempers.

How often don’t we fight fire with fire? Someone is shouting at us, so we shout back. They push us, so we push back. They hit us, so we hit back. The scorn us behind our backs, so we scorn them behind theirs. What does it look like to fight fire with water in each of these situations?

The Bible I read says to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and “when someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other as well.” Does this mean that we sit by and let evil happen? Absolutely not! But, what is the constructive, God honoring way to fight fire with water? Be creative and a great example to follow, Jesus the Christ.

More music!

Tonight was somewhat of a flip of yesterday. Yesterday, I commented on how awesome it can be with “messy” worship because when it happens, so often it is straight from the heart. After all, the Bible says to “make a joyful noise...” Not song. Noise.

Anyway, tonight, I went to see Avalon and Selah perform together and it was nothing less of outstanding! These are the type of people that make me want to be a better musician because of how good they are. All their notes, their harmonies and their cords are practiced to perfection where the timing just clicks and they are allowed to worship without worrying about the music. It just flows. Obviously that comes after hours of practice. It was the type of music that sends chills reverberating through your entire body because of how sweet and melodious the music is.

I cannot wait until the day we are in the new creation and there are musicians from Adam to today. I want to hear the harps, lyres, drums, flutes, horns, guitars, pianos and any other instrument all join together to worship the King! I want to hear jazz, classical, rock; music from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

The last two days, God has once again showed me two awesome kinds of worship. One of pure heart, but not so musically, shall I say, pure. The other, almost painfully crisp and filled with energy pointing back towards heaven. Both have equal weight and both glorify God and I pray, that I can continue to love both my whole life.

Great

This weekend has been great! Every other week, I go to a church service in the Sioux Falls State Penitentiary and this Friday was when I was going to head over there for some worship and fellowship. Well, on the way there, I was tired and kind of lazy, but once I stepped through those doors, God picked me up and instantly filled me with his joy. While there, God blessed us with great conversation, good worship, a sermon I needed to hear and some great fellowship with new friends. All in all, a great night.

Then, Saturday, I was finally able to take the last 2 tests for my pilot’s license. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shining and light winds. The whole process was quite time consuming but after several hours of an oral test and flight test, I can now say that I am a certified pilot! It feels great to finally get to this stage after wanting to fly my entire life.

As for today, I got to sleep in, go to worship God at his house, take a nap, and ride motorcycle. There were several things that happened at church today, but one of them was fabulous! We had baptism and the younger kids are always invited up to witness the baptism. After that, they also sang a song for us. Well, they get lined up and about 3 or 4 of them were looking for mom and dad and upon finding them, their eyes lit up and started waving like crazy, saying, “Hey mom and dad, check this out! Look where I’m at!” As the song began, there were a couple of the kids that knew that song and they were going to sing it as loud as they could. Well, in doing so, they were off a little on the timing, but it was still awesome. It seems like we get so tied up in notes and rhythms and such sometimes, that we forget to worship and sing with all our hearts. I think we need a few more “messy” worship services.

For the rest of the day, we have Young People’s tonight and a meeting with Pastor Brown, so more good should be on the way.

Mornings

Lately, I have actually been enjoying my mornings. Sure, when that alarm goes off, all I want to do is role over and pull the covers tight over my face, especially now that the temperatures are dropping. It feels so good to stay in bed and feel the warmth and security.

Yet, lately, I have been enjoying my mornings a little more. When that alarm goes off and after pushing "snooze" a couple times, I sit up, say a little prayer to thank God for sleep and for a new day. The morning just feels like a new beginning. No matter what happened yesterday, it is in the past and now today, there are new things for God to use me to do and there are new tasks to be accomplished. There may have been sins and hard times the day before, but now, in the "new beginning," through God's grace, I am able to get up and join him once again in the war we are in.

I still love sleeping and don't like it too much when the alarm goes off, but the Lord definitely has pointed me more towards a positive outlook on the day; one of challenge and service.

Who knows? Maybe I'll start going to bed earlier so I can get to "tomorrow" faster.

Na... :)

I just got back from flying. Right now, I'm sitting outside, next to the grill as a few brats roast to perfection. The crickets are chirping as the light fades slowly with the falling sun. It is a beautiful evening!

Not a lot new has happened lately. At work, I finished putting trim and baseboard in one house and now I am moving to another one where the baseboard and trim will take much longer and probably be more frustrating, but it will look really nice when it's done. Hopefully.

Flying is going well. The end is near as I am within 5 hours and 3 tests from having my license. Stay tuned!

Here's a brief synopsis of what's going on...
Another church also approached me about doing a presentation on my trip last summer. It sounds like they would base their evening service around my talk, so we shall see what happens. Prison ministry continues to go well and one of the guys that I know is getting out next week. My church asked me to be a youth leader and I'm pretty sure I'll do that. Another church asked me to lead a young people's lesson. All in all, there are a lot of ways to serve and a lot of activities going on. Please pray for all those things.

That's about it. :)

Vacation

On Wednesday, I returned from a vacation with some friends. We left last week Saturday and went up to Lake Reno, near Alexandria. It was an amazing vacation and one that I needed greatly. Our time was spent by eating (way too much), sleeping, fishing, swimming, playing football, sitting around campfires under the stars and playing cards. It was perfect.

Computer

So, I decided to build a computer. It wasn't a spur of the moment type of thing because I was looking at buying something different, but after doing some reading about people saying how easy it was, I decided to give it a try. This is a picture of most of the parts pre-assembly and it was taken about a month ago probably.

Right now, the computer is complete and it is up and running marvelously.

Just a little project... fyi.

P.S. If you are impressed, don't be. It was incredibly easy and any one of you... I mean, any one of you, could do it. Seriously.

Flight, Military

F-22 Raptor

P-51 Mustang

F-15 and F-18

P-38 Lightening and F-22

The Blue Angels

This past weekend, my parents and I went to an Air Show which contained various stunt planes, a sailplane, an F-22 Raptor and the Navy Blue Angels. Being a lover of aviation, I was enthralled! It was an awesome show that made me want to fly even more.

Much of the show was very pro-America, which there is nothing wrong with because I believe every country should have national pride. National pride is a great thing and can bring about some awesome people and great events. Look at what the Olympics does.

On the flip side, the national pride being pushed that day was all military might, which I have a huge problem with. The F-22 and the Blue Angels were awesome to see and I would absolutely love to fly them, but they are machines built for a single purpose: to win wars by killing people, or in other terms, “destroy a target.” That is the single reason I am not at the Navy now, trying to be a Naval Aviator, because no matter what the purpose, to win World War II or to defend ones country, killing is killing and as a Christ-follower, I can’t and won’t do it.

Throughout the afternoon, the announcer kept making the comment, “These machines are what keep our freedom alive and what makes peace around the world.”

Gag me.

When did a machine built for destruction ever make true peace? Not just a “you are stronger than we are so we surrender” type of peace, which really isn’t peace at all if you really think about it. Having a total and complete military advantage over someone doesn’t bring peace. It may stop the bullets from flying for a short while but that’s about it. What it does bring is a cease-fire because they know they can’t compete and that breads hate and resentment.

The Jesus I know didn’t come into the world, strong and powerful as the world sees power. He did not amass the largest army in the world so that he could overthrow Caesar and then the entire globe. He didn’t ride around on his horse and chariot yelling war cries of peace and prosperity through military might. Jesus knew exactly what true peace is. True peace is a place where bombs aren’t stockpiled everywhere. True peace is a place where people are filled up and not cut to the heart by words of others. It is a place where we build each other up and carry each other’s burdens. It is a place where guns aren’t needed. It is a place where kings kneel and wash the toilets of their subjects and where CEO’s work longer hours to give their secretaries an extra day off and where senators paint the fences of those they represent and where... we are all servants of each other and submissive to each other, even to death.

“If we want to be great in God’s kingdom, let us be the servants of all! If we want to be great in God’s kingdom, let us be the servants of all!”

That is why I love Christianity and why it is the only way: it is a way of life that goes against almost everything inside me, but in living that life, the more fulfilled and more edified I am. By denying myself, I meet Christ and in so doing, I live a happier, more fulfilling life.

To come full circle, I still love flying and would absolutely love to fly the F-22 Raptor or the F-18 Hornet or the F-14 Tomcat, but I think I will wait until the New Creation when Jesus is offering rides and where fireworks are shot from under the wings and where bombs are filled with flower petals. Oh, what a glorious day that will be! True peace, not a lie of what peace is.

Baptism

Here are a few pictures from flying.I am getting dangerously close to being able to take my test (and hopefully pass), which means, I need to hit the books hard because I have been neglecting that more than I should. We will see how long it takes, but hopefully in the next month or so, I'll have my private pilot's license.

On a different note, in the past month, our church has baptized several little children. I kind of like it when the baby cries. :) I don't say that to be mean or anything of that sort, but isn't that what been washed by the blood of Christ is? Pain. In the Heidelberg Catechism, which is a great tool, it says that, "as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his Spirit wash away my soul's impurity," and then goes on to describe the washing of Christ's blood as atonement and to be washed by Christ's Spirit means that "the Holy Spirit has renewed me and set me apart to be a member of Christ so that more and more I become dead to sin and increasingly live a holy and blameless life." (Heidelberg Catechism, Q.A. 69-70).

Both of those describe pain. Christ suffered and died to give us atonement and send his Spirit. Now, we are dying to the sins in our lives, which is much more than scrubbing ourselves in the shower. It is a daily act of asking God to cut a piece of flesh from my sinful heart.

I love the description C.S. Lewis gives in "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." In the story, Eustace finds a treasure and his heart desires to hoard it all for himself. Well, he falls asleep and when he wakes up, he has become a dragon. "Sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself." To keep the long story short, Aslan comes to him and takes him to this pool to ease his pain but Aslan points out that he must undress Eustace before he could enter the pool. So, Eustace started scratching at his flesh and scales would come off until he could crawl out of his dragon skin, only to find, he was still covered by scales. He did this three times, but still was a dragon. Aslan said, "You will have to let me undress you."

Here, C.S. Lewis describes baptism of the Spirit, or sanctification, marvelously...

"I (Eustace) was afraid of his claws, but I was pretty hearly desperate now. So, I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure ofeeling the stuff peeel off...Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off and there is was, lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch...Then he caught hold of me...and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment...I turned into a boy again."

This short passage is chucked full of great stuff to bring out, but I wanted to emphasize the pain Eustace felt when Aslan was cleansing him. He clawed and tore at his very flesh until there wasn't a scale left on him and this is what we all need to allow Christ to do to us every day until we are clean. This is living a sanctified life. Sure, the baptism of Christ's blood instantly removes sin, but the baptism of the Christ's Spirit is a battle cry coming from the lungs of a crying child.

Story

Here is a little story in one of our church newsletters a while back... I liked it.

This is a little story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

a whirlwind journey: in more ways than one!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I just had about a page written out and decided against it. So, you are getting the condensed version of a good weekend. A friend and I traveled to Chicago to visit some great friends. We spent the weekend talking, watching movies, going to garage sales and Bass Pro Shop, playing guitar hero, dominating in bags, playing volleyball, eating and through the baseball around. It was a great weekend of fellowship and I thank you for it and can’t wait until we do it again!

Also, on Friday, I traveled to Michigan to visit a mission aviation school and also Calvin Seminary. If you want to know more, ask or email me. I ask for your prayers in my decisions about the future and where God’s kingdom needs me more. Actually, I would very much like to hear your thoughts as well, so feel free to email me.

On the way home Sunday, we enjoyed great times of conversation and listening to sermons by John Piper, but when we got west of Albert Lea, we came across something. We could see ahead that some very heavy rain was falling and sure enough, in a matter of minutes, rain pummeled the Blazer. With the windshield wipers on high, water flew everywhere as we exited the interstate and found a place to park. The monsoon continued. In 2 or 3 minutes, an all to familiar sound was heard: the high pitch wine of tornado sirens and also with that, the rain stopped.

I decided not to sit and wait for the storm and we left and only a few miles down the road, we saw the culprit. There, on the left side of the interstate, a funnel cloud slowly descended towards the earth, rotating as it went. Pulling over, we watched it come all the way to the ground and rotate in a leaning spiral out into the fields and within a few minutes, the tornado dissipated as quickly as it had come down. All in all, a sweet sight.

Here are a few pictures!

Wish you were there...

No words or descriptions except sunset at the tail end of a thunderstorm. Enjoy.









A picture is worth a thousand words.

Yet, it is nothing like being there... thunder rumbling, colors changing second by second revealing a new painting at every glance.

I wish you could have been there.

Rebuilding

God truly is the great craftsman. With the warming temperatures, I decided it is time to get the Goldwing fully fixed up. So, I have been hacking away at it taking bolts and screws out and sanding down the parts in order to get them repainted.

Above is a picture of the Goldwing with various parts and pieces scattered on the floor of the garage. It's amazing how big the pile gets and what a mess it makes when you start taking things apart. The statement is true that things get worse before they get better.

This Goldwing used to be a complete, well working machine. The paint matched and all the pieces were in the right place. Then, there was an accident, causing much damage to the vehicle. Fiberglass shattered, metal bent and paint chipped. Now, as the owner, I have the task of pulling off the bad parts and replacing them with new; taking a hammer and beating bars back into place; sanding and grinding pieces until they are ready to be painted and put back where they belong. One day, the Goldwing will look the way it did before, but it can be a long process.

While working on this project with my dad the past few days, I thought about humans and I think I understand Jeremiah's picture of the potter and the clay a little bit better, except in a different concept.

We (as a human race) were at one time right with God, created good and full of beauty. Then, there was an "accident" and we are now damaged and broken, yet God saw us as valuable enough to take us and work on us as a craftsman fixing, say, a motorcycle. Throughout our lives, God takes the broken pieces of us and rips them off. A few screws loose here; brackets to bend back in place there; sanding, scraping, bending. It, this thing we call life, can be a painful process where, during years of our lives, God may be bending us back into shape. He may be scraping dirt out of our flesh or he may be sanding scrapes and gouges off our hearts. It hurts, but the end product will be so much better. Each day, each year, piece by piece, we will be shined up more and more as God removes our bad parts and replaces them with shining beautiful pieces. In the end, we will all be full and complete again, the way God wants us to be; shining as we stand in the glory of the Son.

The best part is, we are all works in progress and we will all hit the "paint shop" at the same time. On that last day, when the trumpet sounds, and the sky rolls back and the Son of Man descends from the heavenly throne room, I picture him holding a paint gun, smiling and saying, "are you ready for your final clear coat?"

Holiday

Moon over the lake- 5:15 a.m.






Sleeping by the fire


Sunrise


The biggest holiday in Minnesota happened today: The Walleye Opener. It is a day where every angler of any age heads out to a local lake to try their hand at catching Minnesota's most prized fish. There are many fanatics who will be out on the water at midnight hoping to catch the first fish of the season. Well, we didn't get out that early because of some other details.

Last night, some friends and I helped chaperon the high school after-prom party here in town. It was a lot of fun to hang out with friends, talk with people I hadn't seen for a long time and meet some new people. At the after-prom, there are a bunch of different games for the students to play and we were in charge of running those games and the party lasted from about midnight until 3 in the morning. Since we were up at that time, we decided to go and fish. So, at 4 a.m., we piled in the pickup and headed for the lake.

Above are some pictures from the day. It was a long, but fun day. After all was said and done, we were up all night, with a few naps around the fire.

The worst part: no fish. I did catch a clam though.

Nature amazes me.

Yesterday, I watched as a Robin bounced across the lawn, taking a break here and there to cock his head and listen. He stood as still as a statue and then one more bounce... listen. With a quick jab into the grass, his beak came out with a nice, juicy earthworm. This process was repeated several times.

On the Discovery Channel, I watched part of a show telling about animals and spring time. Two bear cubs rolled around in the grass, wrestling as brothers. One pushed the other over and ran off into the brush, quickly persued by his brother. Two bears so innocent and cuddly eventually will grow up to be one of the most feared beasts in the U.S.; and best fishermen.

Driving home from Bible study, lightening lit up the night sky. All would be dark, then a flash and the texture of height of the clouds would be illuminated for a split second, only to be lost again. More energy is stored up in those clouds than an atomic bomb.

Along with this, the fresh smell of rain. In my opinion, one of the best smells on the face of the earth. I'm convinced that fresh rain smell, is what God smells like.

I long for the day to hear the robins secret, to wrestle those bears, to understand lightening and to smell the fresh rain in the clothes of God Almighty.

Oh what a day that will be!

Update and Silence

An interesting 24 hours. That's all I have to say.

Okay, maybe not. Actually, it wasn't that interesting, just a lot of good things.

Yesterday, on Friday, I went to do some more flying. The last 3 times I have gone, all we have done is takeoffs and landings, which is great because those two things are kind of important. Anyway, last night, we did 3 takeoffs and landings. After the third one, my instructor told me to taxi back to the hanger. I knew what was coming... and I was excited.

Well, we got back there and he opened the door.
"All right, now go and fly 3 touch and gos by yourself."

With that, I taxied back to the runway, took off and flew alone for the first time. It was great! I flew the Cessna 150 around the traffic pattern, lined up with the runway and made a perfect landing... 4 times. It truly was a blessed night!

As for today, I slept in, made a table, started another project until the belt sander broke with no parts to fix it, switched my fishing rods back for summer fishing and then went out and used them. All in all, a good day.

I've been thinking about many things, as usual. One of them has been silence. We live in a world of noise. Even as I sit by the computer, the dryer is tumbling upstairs, the fan in the computer hums softly and my fingers press the keys down, but besides that, I hear no sound. Even that, to most people, is too quiet. How often do we have music on or the tv? Honestly, when was the last time you sat in a place where no sound could be heard?

"Is there such a place?" I can hear many people say.

We are conditioned, in our culture, to hate silence. If the silent prayer goes too long before the organ plays "Lord, Listen to you children praying" people start rustling around and a choir of coughs comense. If we are home alone, the radio is always on or the tv, even though we may not be listening or watching. We are conditioned to hate silence.

Silence is a scary place. In this place, our own minds speak louder than we ever could imagine. We visit every conversation and every thought from the day. We think about our problems and are forced to interact with our emotions. In silence, we truly see or hear who we are.

I have been thinking how a lack of silence affects our Christian walk with each other and God Almighty. Some wonder why we don't feel God and why we don't hear his voice and why we don't see people do mighty things in the name of Jesus. I think, much of it comes down to silence. We don't take the time to quiet our minds and our hearts to hear God's voice. We are too scared to enter that space for fear of what my own mind might convict me of and also what God might say to me.

The story of Elijah on Mt. Sinai is the most striking example. There was wind, an earthquake and fire but the Lord was in none of them. "And after the fire came a gentle whisper...Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:12-13).

Stories of silence are everywhere in scripture, but the ones that strike me most are the ones involving Jesus. How many times do the gospels tell us that Jesus went to a place of solitude to pray, or, he got up before the sunrise to go out and pray. My favorite example of this is in Luke 6:12. Read it sometime. Jesus, the Son of God Most High, goes out by himself, and prays all night... not a 5 minutes or 1 minute... but all night! This entire night of prayer is focused on who he should choose as apostles. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, stayed up all night praying about a decision he had to make! He spent hours in silence and meditation seeking the guidance of God, his Father.

What am I missing out on by cheating myself of the time of silence? What is God waiting to say to me, if only I take the time and listen?

With warm weather, melting snow and a short drizzle of rain yesterday, the grass is gaining a green-ish tint to it. Signs of spring are in the air and it is wonderful. At work, we have been shingling or on the roof for almost 2 weeks. This has it's pros and cons. The pros are we are getting the shingling done before it is 90 degrees. The cons are, well, we are on the roof. Waking up this morning, my body definitely told me what we have been doing.

This past weekend we celebrated Easter and quite often, when reading the stories of the Bible, my eyes fly through them and I don't stop and visualize what is going on. Other books use language to describe the look on someone's face or to describe the scene around them, but the Bible is a story book that doesn't give all those details. We are given the basics. This almost creates, in me, a sense of disconnectedness. It doesn't seem real. Yet, at other times, the story becomes more real than I ever could have imagined.

I've included the lyrics of a song our choir sang recently. It is one of my favorite songs and it helped me visualize the story of Jesus this Easter.

Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day.
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
torn and beaten then,
nailed to a cross of wood.

This the power of cross.
Christ became sin for us.
He took the blame, bore the wrath.
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain written on your face.
Bearing the awesome weight of all my sins.
Every bitter thought. Every evil deed.
Crowning your blood stained brow.

This the power of cross!
Christ became sin for us!
He took the blame and bore the wrath.
We stand forgiven at the cross!

Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath,
quakes as it's maker bows his head.
Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life.
Finished! The victory cry!

This the power of the cross!
Christ became sin for us!
He took the blame and bore the wrath!
We stand forgiven at the cross!

Oh to see my name written in the wounds.
For through your suffering, I am free!
Death is crushed to death!
Life is my to live!
Born through your selfless love!

This the power of the cross!
Son of God, slain for us!
What a plan, what a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross!

I'm finding that I don't have a lot to write about. Usually I am thinking about stuff all day, but when I get home, I don't think about sharing my thoughts. They stay in my head. As for events going on in my life, well, there really isn't a whole lot happening. I am doing carpentry 5 days a week and flying as much as possible.

Actually, right now, I have been looking at and thinking about going to flight school this fall. My whole life, I had been enthralled with flying but have never pursued it until a couple months ago. Mission Aviation is something I'm looking at and so, I'm exploring my options with how to pursue that better. Moody Bible Institute in Spokane, WA is an option, but there are a few others around the country.

Who knows what will happen.

The moon

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Friday night, I went out to look at the stars. I needed some time to reflect and take in some of God's beauty and what better way to do it than to look to the heavens. The night was calm and warm, still cooling off from the days heat (it reached about 50 degrees). Orion and The Big Dog still rode high in the sky and constellations like Cassiopia and the Big Dipper continued on their northern circuit. With my binoculars, I could see the stars clearer and closer. There were nebula to see along with star clusters. Truly, the heavens are amazing to behold if we actually take the time to look.

After I was there a little while, I glanced to the east and noticed an orange line on the horizon. "What is that?" In about a minute, I figured out it was the moon. It's huge arch continued to break out of the earth's crust and rise behind the windmills, into the heavens. The moons size (or apparent size) was huge and orange. Looking through my binoculars, I could see clearly the craters and mountains of the moon. Warm are flowed between me and the moon causing its edges to move like waves on a lake. Slowly, the moon climbed higher and higher. It was a great time of praise. God truly has made an awesome creation!

Beautiful Day

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today was a day of strange weather. The day started off cool, some might say cold. The gray clouds hung low and the weather man had predicted snow. Sure enough, during church some snow did fall, but upon walking home, the temperature was very comfortable. Actually, within and hour, most the snow had melted and in a couple more hours, clear blue skies roamed overhead and the temperature soared. Seeing the weather warm rejuvinated a desire to ride motorcycle. So, I had to.

A couple weeks ago, I tore most of the busted parts off the Goldwing and am now getting more serious about fixing it up before the warm weather is here to stay. As of right now, it is "ridable," and today, I took advantage of the weather to fire up the engine and burn out the winter cold. As the engine rumbled the street called my name. I had to go for a ride. I popped the Wing in gear and took off down the street. Now, I didn't go very far because it is highly illegal at this point.

1. no license plate
2. if it did have a license plate, the tags are expired
3. no tail light
4. no blinkers
5. I had no eye protection

With all this said, I only rode a couple of blocks, but even in those blocks, I yearned to hit the highway, get up to speed and go somewhere. The Goldwing has not been ridden anywhere since that day in Colorado and I am waiting for the day to ride comes again.

Below are a few pictures of what it looks like now. I took it apart and cleaned up the chrome, so actually, it looks pretty good right now.

Changing Seasons

Lately, we have been having un-seasonably warm days. It has been above freezing and pushing 40 degrees most of this past week. Now, I love the changing of the seasons just as much as anyone else, it's just that I don't like getting my hopes up when it is still February. Remember last year? Yeah.

Seeing all the snow melt, made me remember how much I hate this part of "spring." A few days ago, it got to the point where all the snow was brown and crusty and the melting snow revealed mud along with the dead plants. Truly, it is depressing to look at such a muddy, filthy spectacle. And, as with everything else, it got me thinking.

In our lives, we tend to get caught up in the ways of life and habitual sins. We try to make things look good outside, but underneath, no life exists. White snow covers everything. We lose focus on the things that matter and things get colder and colder. This to me is kind of like winter about a month after New Years. The snow and cold is still there, but there isn't much to look forward to. It's dead and no rhythm to life.

Then, something happens and we pray to God to bring us back to a new life with him. Yet, at this point, it seems like things get worse and worse, like the nice white snow, melting and showing the true death underneath it. Now, the "badness" is out and we are confronted by the filth that has infiltrated our lives: a stinking, brown mess that looks impossible to clean up. This seems to be a breaking point of whether to press on or whether to fall back into "winter." In the movie, "The Dark Knight," there is a line that states, "The night is always darkest before the dawn." The context is that someone said things were worse at that point than ever before and they wanted to quit. Well, the leader stepped up and said the above line, pushing people to press on because the dawn is coming. To me, this "early spring" is that point.

If we press on, God continues to call and pull us though and as refreshing rains come, slowly, the filth is washed away and the dead plants underneath come to life. Out of the garbage, green plants begin to sprout, trees bud and flowers form. A new life is in the air and creatures come out of their slumber. A resurrection occurs.

I haven't thought about how fall fits in with this. I think this is where the comparisons stop. :)

wedding and flight

My flight training began a few weeks ago and the above airplane is the same model as the one I am training in. It is a Cessna 150. Flying is something I absolutely love! This past Friday morning, I was able to go and fly for about an hour. We took off and flew around doing different turns, climbs, decents and even stalls. It was a great time and really made me want to get flying even more often!

In other, and much more exciting news, my sister got married this weekend! It was a great time setting up, taking pictures and seeing the service. We, as a family, had a great time together; at time that was greatly blessed.

Communion

Today we partook of communion in our church. When I was younger, I always thought of communion as a solemn act of reflection about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It seemed dark and gloomy; not many people smiled or even looked up from the bread and "wine" (grape juice). The focus seemed to be on the first "Lord's Supper" on the night of Jesus betrayal and death. That night was very solemn and dark. It does need to be reflected on because we need to remember what agony Jesus went through for us on that night, but I don't think we can stay there.

A couple years ago, I read a book by Henri Nouwen, which the title escapes me at this point. I think it was, "Can you drink the cup I drink?" Anyway, at one point in the book, he talks about the cup, symbolizing Jesus' blood, as the cup of victory. Ater that night, Jesus blood was shed for the salvation of all of creation and it is a solemn, sobering act. Yet, look to his last breath. It is one of victory, "It is finished!" In this act, Jesus had won the war with Satan. In a few days, he would conquer death as the last enemy. The victory of Christ was so complete that it's sound has repercussions that blast through all time and all space: a shock wave the covers all of creation, now and forevermore, in a chance of sanctification. THAT Victory is what we celebrate at the Lord's Supper.

Today, as the Pastor said the words, "Take. Drink. Remember and believe that the precious blood of Christ was shed for the complete forgiveness of all our sins," I did as Nouwen suggested and lifted my glass a little higher in a toast and said, "Here is to Christ, the victorious Lamb, bottom's up!" A toast of humiliation, of confession, of forgiveness and of victory!

Some day, I picture the great banquet. When all the followers of Jesus Christ are gathered in the city of God at a great banquet. Food will line the tables and bread and wine will be present. The Lamb that was Slain will walk in and every voice will shout with a roar and every glass will be held at arms length, high, "to the Lamb that was Slain! Victory!"

Victory.

Porches

Tonight was a beautiful night. It was about 25 degrees and no wind. Now, that is an extremely uncommon thing in Minnesota and I thought I would take advantage and go for a walk. At college, I went for a lot of walks, praying and thinking, but for whatever reason, I don't do that here.

Anyway, as I was walking, many thoughts and many prayers passed through my lips and I started looking at houses. Almost all the houses were dark except for a glow from the t.v. No lights on outside and not many on inside. I also looked at how houses were made. In about a mile and half of walking, there were two houses with front porches on them.

You say, "So what?" and I would too, except for that fact that I have talked about this with a few people. It used to be that people had front porches and would sit out in the evening, greeting people as they walked past. Now, I know, this isn't logical in winter, but bear with me. There was a sense of community. Guitars being played, conversations had and people laughing with each other.

Now, front porches have retreated to back patios, inviting lights have morphed to dull, dark windows. Only a slight glow from the t.v. shines through. Why? Because it's easy. It is easy to sit down in the recliner, push the power button and not have to worry about entertaining people.

Is t.v. in it of itself, bad? No. Can T.V. and movies be social times? Absolutely. But, honestly, why do most people sit in front of the tv on a week night?

Just a few thoughts and some things I am asking myself.

Return

This weekend, a group of us went ice fishing. It is a trip that I look forward to all year and it always goes way too fast: this year was no different. We leave on a Wednesday evening and fish all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday; driving home on Sunday. The evenings are filled with relaxation, joking around and sleep.

This year, the weather was somewhat better than other years. Thursday held a high temp of about -11 and Friday morning was -38, but warmed up to 9 and Saturday was warmer, but it blew really hard.

A few more pictures. Sorry, no fish pictures, even though we did very well fishing.

Ice Fishing

Some call me crazy, others say only one person does it and others say, "You do what?!" Wednesday, I embark on a journey to the northern confines of Minnesota, aka, "The Holy Land." Here, the water is clear, trees roam free and darkness reveals the true majesty of a crystal layer of snow and starry night combination. In this wonderland, ice fishing will commence.

This is a trip that I look forward to every year. Truly, I wish every one of you had the opportunity to ice fish and really partake in the beautiful aspects of it. A lot of times, (depending on who you are with) catching fish isn't necessarily the point. Great conversations can flow freely or authentic prayer times where the only sound around is the light flapping of the tarp on the ice house. If a person stays until after dark on a clear night, some of the best starry sky's can be seen from the ice, arising a moment of awe.

I hope all of you get an opportunity to go sometime and if you want to go, feel free to get a hold of me.

Local Poverty

I did a young people's lesson this week and for part of a it, I looked up some stats on poverty in this area...

Poverty line for the United States of America, which basically means that if a person makes this much or less per year, they are considered impoverished...
single person- $10,787
Family of 4- $21,027

Poverty rate in Edgerton- 5% or 49 people
Luverne- 8.8% or 392 people
Pipestone- 9.7% or 397 people
Sioux Falls- 10.4% or 15,757 people

Also, numbers on people living on less than half the poverty line in our area...

Luverne- 3.3% or 147 people
Pipestone- 2.2% or 90 people
Sioux Falls- 4.2% or 6,363 people

That means that in Sioux Falls, there are over 6,000 people living on less than $5,000 a year.

Food for thought. Motivation for action. Because thought without action is pointless.