Verse today

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."
Isaiah 26:3

New Thoughts

Of which, I have none. : )

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Trevor, here are the pics that you wanted. I forgot how we said I would get them to you, and up until now as I was thinking about something totally different, I forgot that I needed to get them to you. Nevertheless, here they are...

I don't know what exactly you wanted, but I figured you would at least like the last one. : )

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Currently reading Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Andrew Murray's Full Life in Christ, might continue to get into Lee Strobel's Case for a Creator. I am amazed each day as I have very little planned, and yet my days never cease to be filled with something. Funny how all that works.

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It has been a blessing watching the Lord work. It appears that the Lord has decided to put all this China stuff into the realm of reality within this last week. I have this interesting thought..about God.

I feel as though at one moment I know Him. As I walk with my creator, I will sometimes sneak a curious glance at Him. Not the kind birthed from suspicion or uneasiness, but more out of intrigue, I think. I am intrigued with Him, the Sovereign King!...I must smile to myself in those times, as I quickly revert my eyes to what is before me. I think to myself, "Could all this be real?" But the thought is only present for a moment before I correct it with a better question. Ah yes, I've got it, a better question. "Why not?". hmm. Yes, I do think this one to be more fitting. "Why not?" Smiling to myself, out of the corner of my eye I can see my creator is smiling as well. His smiles are always better than mine. I'm not sure why; it's not so simple I think. There's a certain confidence in it. The whole thing, not just His smile, but the way He looks at things, the way He looks at me; yes, there is a certain confidence in it. He is sure in each step. I can't recall a time there was some kind of worry in his face. And here, now with some of the path ahead appearing obstructed and detoured, a whole new route perhaps in store, I see it again. I cannot help but want to be like Him. With such a quiet confidence. But that can't be all it is. No, I suppose there must be more. Yes, certainly so; for He is the creator, and if there's one thing I have learned from walking with Him, it is that He is unlike any other. Yes, there will always be more, hidden behind those eyes. hmm. I feel like now I know Him, but I am almost apprehensive as I begin to think at how much there is that I must not know. What is it? Where does it come from, this confidence? This love that is sure...hmm. Yes, so much more, for there is so much that I do not understand. But. But, I suppose I will just have to keep walking. Continue along this path with my Maker...his walks are always the best. I get to see Him smile...and, yes, there it is...that look, again there I see it. He is sure. Each step is sure. Not hurried. Not paced or anxious; of course not. But certainly not aimless. Never have I seen Him wander. Just that quiet, confident and sure expression alighting upon His face as He walks along. hmm. Yes, I think I have resolved it. With a quiet look again, I can't help but now be resolved. Yes, it will be His side that I will not depart from; His path that I will walk. There are so many things I do not understand about my Maker. So many questions about this path that He is walking, this path that I have now determined to actually be the path that He is "taking me" on...to who else should I go? For He alone has the words of eternal life...

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It's funny how all this works. To Him I secretly smile again; though it is no secret, I see now He has known each smile that has come across this face. I do not know if that is why He smiles, but I am sure He has seen each one, and am warmed at the thought of it...hmm, yes.. Just me, walking with such a sovereign/redeemer/savior/friend...and why not?

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Why not? : )

A lot of pics. : )

Here's a random bunch of my favorite pictures from the last couple of weeks. There not really in any chronological order, I kind of just picked out a bunch. Some of them kind of go with each other, but they're all important in some way... : D
Fun stuff....Hope you enjoy

Flying away..

I'm leaving Okinawa...
Once more, time has got the best of me and the semester has flown by.
Crazy crazy...
It's been good. : )

Final's Week

This is the last week of the semester! Please keep the students in prayer as they cram everything into this last week of school and do their best to finish well. It's been such a blessing seeing everyone growing over the course of the semester; it's hard to believe that it's already over. Tonight we're having our banquet, so that's going to be nice. Thank you all for your prayers. : D Be sure to check Pastor Tom's blog for pictures of the banquet. I should be making a grand picture post soon enough, but until then, you have to get your picture fix from Tom's blog.

I have yet so much to learn...This life seems only to get stranger and more complicated and more confusing with the coming of each new day. And yet, I am beginning to learn, I couldn't have it any other way.... I really couldn't.
Hugging tightly to the face of this small cliff, feeling my hands begin to lose their grip on the small rocks they're tightly squeezing, a funny thought runs through my head; "Why am I doing this?" Not exactly having time to sit and meditate for a while on the matter, I reach back up with my one hand and regain my grip, able now to reposition myself against the rock face and try again at pulling myself up onto the next ledge. In position now for the "hop" up, I take a quick gasp of air. "Hop". With hand clenching tightly as my forearms show the strain they're enduring, I pull myself to safety. Getting back up to my feet now, I look down at what I just chanced falling to. Rocks. Hard, sharp, rocks looming below. Exhaling with a great sense of satisfaction, a grin sneaks across my face. Looking at what I just climbed, I have found my answer. As I look around at the sprawling Ocean that has just run away with my eyes, I smile now and say under my heavy breath, "Freedom". "hmm", I think to myself, "Yea, that's the answer..." I look to my right and see how much more I need to climb around and over to get to my destination. With almost a sense of giddiness I begin to move quickly over and around rocks and boulders. My hands now are almost unable to make a solid fist because my forearms are beginning to feel the burn of lactic acid creaping into them, and yet they prove once again to be faithful comrades in yet another adventure, pushing and pulling and gripping with all their strength. Having now only to jump around and over certain boulders, I find myself moving quicker. I waste no time! With each step I find myself moving as if my body should weigh nothing more than the air that I'm moving through. With deep breaths I am inhaling life. Now in my mind this is no longer about getting to my beach destination. I find myself compelled; pushed on by an appetite for adrenaline. As I reach the end of this climbing adventure, I let out a small laugh thinking about my why...And how couldn't I laugh? I could have fallen, and died, and nobody would have been there to see. Well, God, angels, me; ofcourse... Freedom....Freedom, yes, I think that's it..
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And now, I move on. The cliffs were not easy. They never are. I don't know that they ever will be. Injury is always a risk. Ofcourse, sometimes more serious of a risk...Sometimes much is put on the line. Sometimes my hands plot mutany against their captain. Sometimes my mind checks my adrenaline filled heart. Not a bad thing! But, I have learned this; I cannot live, and really live, without these cliffs. Should the architect and author and affection of my life have seen it fit to make me so, how can I help but not do that which I have been created and molded and called to do? Shall I refuse that which gives me greatest joy to pursue? I cannot. I pray I shall not. For in this life there is not any obstacle to which Him who calls me shall not prepare me for and sustain me through. Though I should dangle half-helplessly in the last bit of my strength, yet I shall be made to know of the strength and enabling of Him who calls me. Thus there shall be left to me no other life than this...Than that I should come to abide in such a place of "half-helplessness", only to know and to learn of Him who is called Faithful. As He becomes my enabling I find a life that is, with each breath, that worth living. I find the greatest freedom in binding myself to the will of this God I love, for it He who has made me so; I cannot love another...
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Life continues to be difficult at times. It continues to be tiring. I cannot help but ask at times, "why am I doing this?". But yet, in it all, I cannot help but smile. I will yet smile because there is within me such a joy in this pursual. There is yet more joy to be had. More challenges and adventures await him who has been designed for them. And, likewise, the grace and empowering of the sovereign one has already been supplied for each step of the way. I do not know where I will go. I do not know what I will do. As I am coming over the top of this challenge, I see now the next step that awaits me. It will not be easy. Much of the way I will doubt and complain and bicker. But yet, I know, that just as He who has called me has been faithful, so now I trust He shall continue to be. China is a big place. Who should know what my God cannot do?