Monday, June 23, 2008

The waiting game

In our fast food culture (piggy backing off the House's 30-day fast from fast-food)it's not just hard to eat healthy, it's hard to wait! We're finding that sometimes God puts momentum to a vision much slower than we might want or think. I'm learning the discipline of simply being. I guess what I mean is that sometimes we are so focused on the successes that we neglect other aspects that could be just as important. "Stopping to smell the roses". You know, who we become when we get focused on a goal and the tunnel-vision clouds anything else from mattering as much as it should. It's a human weakness. MAybe we should enjoy the wait and check out that drive-thu landscaping a little more closely next time we stop for a burger. Who knows what great lessons might be waiting in the McD's parking lot! Back to the fast-food mindset... to illustrate my own learnings:

Late last year we moved in temporarily with my parents in hopes of getting to Morgantown ASAP. Operation Cru at WVU was under way! But when our support was coming in slower than we hoped we had a tendency to complain. But thank God that He kept me patient enough to be a part of my mom's new journey with God (she told me I could write about mentoring her through her walk with Christ but I told her I would keep the details to a minimum). Operation Cru at WVU has changed direction a bit... it's more like Operation " Let God use me when and whereever He wants me. We are still "stoked" to be going to WVU to minister to students there but we love what God is doing with us in the in between. I'd have to say I'm beginning to understand that learning patience and perseverance aren't just methods of God's cruel torture--- they actually can teach us something. Huh! Who woulda thunk it. I'm learning to wait on God. I hope I've gotten better at living in the in-between.

Friday, June 20, 2008

House Hunting


Who woulda thought that trying to buy a house is as confusing and complicated as creating the atom bomb. Christina and I have been house-hunting for a while now and we have come to a couple of conclusions...

People want more for a home than they are worth.
"Spatious yard" means the yard is on a 45degree slant.
"Classic home" means old and falling down.
"Privacy" means overgrown bushes and a yard that no one want to walk into.
"Great starter home" means you can afford this because it is a piece of trash.
And most other "realtor terms" are designed to mislead and romaticise junky homes.

So alas, we have a couple that we befriended back in our college years and they called us out of the blue and told us they wanted to sell their home. We're excited about that. The price seems about right and the style is older but we like that. It's a neat place- and we're wrestling whether we should jump on it. Please be praying that we make the right decision and that we can raise enough monthly support for the bank to give us a mortgage in Sept. Honestly I didn't know if we would ever get a home-- since it seems like we've been without a place of our own for years! We're so excited to be moving into this new stage!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Blogging ends up being a quarterly thing for us!

It has been a dog's age since we last posted on this site. Sorry bout that to any loyal "blog-checkers"! We have been moving alla around as usual. We are soooo ready to have a place we call home!!!!!!!!! (could I put enough exclamation marks?) We are still raising our necessary montly support and at last we have broken 55%. It may seem like we've been doing this for a long time to many of you (as it does to us), but it is no easy task to raise all the necessary funds to fund years of ministry- where we can dedicate ourselves fully to reaching college students. It has been a time of seeing so many caring people show us grace by lending a hand or by investing in the awesome ministry God has put before us. We are praying that a miracle will get us to campus before that clutch 1st week of class. If we don't reach the students that 1st week we'll be playing catch-up for the next 4 years of their college life.