Another Year Is Drawing To A Close

I'm sitting here thinking about the mercies of God over the last year. I'm surveying the battlefields of 2009, pondering its victories and defeats, it's lessons learned, things to be thankful for, and I'm starting to think about goals for 2010. And I wanted to share some of the high points in a quasi-Christmas newsletter. Merry Christmas!

It was fantastic starting the year by returning close to home after being away for three years, and I can't believe how quickly my siblings are growing up! It's amazing watching Rose learning to read, seeing the talents God has given Jacob and Ruth, watching Jon and Rebecca focusing in on their life callings, and observing Rachel and Joshua taking ground with theirs. And I can't forget to mention my wonderful mom and dad, and my grandparents, who have invested so much in my life. My family is such a joy!

Leaving my full time job in Texas, I was able to transition from the turtle paced progress I was making on my Bachelors degree and focus on completing the last few courses. It's such an amazing feeling to finally finish something you've been working on for years. =D

With a degree and a couple of years of experience, I wasn't exactly sure what was next. After much prayer, I decided to try on my business hat with a computer repair business. Looking back on the year, it's amazing how God worked out the timing with that. I knew, after listening to the speakers at the Entrepreneurial Bootcamp, that God was calling me to be an entrepreneur to the extent that I was able, but didn't know the timing or what it would look like.

Wade Myers held a fantastic Venture Academy in Tennessee. It was literally the week after I finished my last college course. The content provided by the speakers was exactly what I needed to start developing the plans I needed and to get me started. It was also great to see all "the guys" again.

Since then I've been intensely focused on getting things off and running. God has been so kind to me by providing so much sound wisdom and counsel from many sources. I know for a fact that things would have flopped long ago apart from the wisdom of many counselors.

I'm soo thankful for all of you, for the ways you've impacted me and exhorted me on. I'd have to say I've been blessed with some of the best friends a man could ask for.

After some initial challenges in finding work and bringing in income, recently, God has been really blessing things, and business and profits are increasing all the time. =D I have no idea what things may look like next year, but I'm glad to have learned some of the basics of running a small business, and it's really enjoyable.

I'm really excited about the opportunities I've had for sharing the Gospel with customers, and I look forward to growing more in opening my mouth at the right moments with the right words. Earlier this year, I was praying about the possibility of seminary, but I've come to realize that my call is to speak the Gospel though my business.

These are exciting times, friends, the darkness of the day must be confronted and illumined. Who knows how much time we have, for life is but a vapor. Let's eagerly press forward to the glory of Christ in 2010!

I think it's time for a blog update

As I look at the world
and its troubles today,
its lines are drawn curled,
and colored so grey.

And like Humpty Dumpty,
when he fell from his wall,
the strength of the mighty
comes up in shortfall.

But vict'ry is sure, and
I know this dark hour
is designed by Your hand
-kept by Your power.

A *real* blog update soon to follow. =D

If by Rudyard Kipling

This is one of my favorite poems of all time! I need to memorize it at some point.

I've also gotten around to adding a playlist at the bottom of my blog. =D

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If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Denali National Park

I just paid a visit to Denali National Park, about two hours south of Fairbanks, AK. Definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been!



Here's a mama Grizzly bear with her cub.


This is the view after driving on a three and a half hour bus ride to the Toklat station, and ninety minute hike. You can see the tent where I started my hike in the bottom left.

Amazing Grace!

Tonight I finished watching the movie, Amazing Grace for the first time. What an inspiring film! I was blown away by Wilberforce's example of passion, faithfulness and perseverance! This scripture passage and poem came to mind. Hope you're all having a blessed day!

So run, that ye may obtain...I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection. (1 Corinthians 9:24+27)

God, Give Us Men by Josiah Gilbert Holland
GOD, give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True Man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.

O Savior, Child of Mary, who felt our human woe,
O Savior, King of glory, who dost our weakness know;
Bring us at length we pray, to the bright courts of Heaven,
And to the endless day!

Just wanted to share one of my favorite hymns. =D
Singing the harmony on this is really fun (if you haven't heard it acapela, watch this), but most of all I just like the beautiful description of Christ it vividly paints, our precious Rose of Sharon.

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. (Song of Solomon 2:1-2)

I looked up this verse because I was wanting to find the verse that refers to Christ as a Rose of Sharon, and got sidetracked with verse two- just wanted to briefly share what I noticed.

We, as the bride of Christ are described as being His beloved and "as the lily among the thorns" immediately after He says that He is the Lilly of the Valleys. How great is His love for us! And may He transform us more into His image for His glory!

Quotes from the puritan, Richard Steele

"It is a most irrational thing to converse with God without an heart...he delights more in the chirping of birds than in the singing of psalms without understanding; for these do what they can and so are accepted; but brutish service from a reasonable creature is intolerable.

Is it reasonable that you should cry out for the Spirit, and think on the flesh? To be hearing about another world and ruminating on this? Your eyes directed to heaven, and your heart in the ends of the earth? The tongue busy, and the soul idle? The knee devout and the thoughts loose? There is no coherence, no reason in this.

Consider, that else thou art a madman before God, and God hath no need of madmen; if one should come to thee about business of life and death, and after a word or two therein should run from one impertinent thing to another, would you not think him mad? If thy thy thoughts were put into words and mingled with thy prayers, what strange mad prayers would they be?"

Quotes from pgs. 36-38 of
A Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in Worship
by Richard Steele
(From Sprinkle Publications, one of my favorite publishers)