My Wife is enough proof that God is good.

Though God needs no proof that He is good- because HE IS WHO HE IS- I know that it's true because of my wife- the way that He made her, shaped her personality, painted her smile, produced her laughter, sprinkled beauty into her eyes, changed her heart, saved her life through Christ, gave her an incredible family, illuminated her mind, strengthened her fingers to praise Him on the piano, gave her breath to pray to Him and speak of Him, and gave her a beautiful voice to sing praises to Him.

My wife just turned 28. I am so thankful for the 5 years of marriage and 6 years of life that God has given me to get to know her better, to love her more, and to experience more of the love of Christ through her. I love to hear her pray. And sometimes she cries when she prays- I think it's because she is blown away by how incredible it is that a holy, good, God is listening to her. My love for her has grown- so much so that I get this sense that my heart has literally grown larger and expanded! I now have more room for joy- joy that God fills my heart with every day- many times through the smile, laugh, voice, and touch of my wife. I love her. If God took me today, or her for that matter, I would still consider myself blessed beyond measure. She is beautiful. I praise God for her.

An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:10-12

kinda funny...

This morning on our commute to Jessica's school (we carpool), we saw something that was kind of funny. We saw a man walking his dog. And at the man's expense, we laughed pretty hard. It was unfortunate that the man was on a motorized scooter and his dog was in a cage on the front of his scooter. That just goes to show that walking a dog is never about the exercise. I have sketched a picture for you to give you an idea of what it was like- it's not to scale, but it's pretty close. I don't know if this is kind of rude, but I know for sure that it was kind of funny. That dog was terrified...

Rude blog or funny?

Okay, one more

Lanny Donoho is one of my heros. It's hard to describe him. As a matter of fact, I think his job title at Northpoint Community Church in Atlanta is "Lanny Donoho." Check this video out and see why I like him- I think this is kind of the norm for him...

My Pastors...

I have had a blast being a pastor over the last month. One of the things that I am learning is that unless I have a pastor I will become short-sighted and stale. Currently, I have 4 pastors that I like to stay connected to. Here is the list of pastors and why I love them:

JOHN PIPER
God uses John Piper to challenge my faith, my earnestness, my authenticity, my love for God. From the first time I heard him preach at a Passion conference 10 years ago until now, he has always seemed to bring something challenging, inspiring, fresh, and centered upon God's Word. He is currently the Teaching Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

JOHN ORTBERG
John Ortberg, Pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, consistently keeps me real and practical. He is a funny guy- really really dry humor- hilarious. I try to stay read-up on his books. Much of my sermon from this past Sunday came from his book, The Life You've Always Wanted. I had the book with me on Sunday because I wanted to really plug the book and try to get some of our members reading it- I just forgot to mention it. I have included it on my Shelfari to the right.

FRANCIS CHAN
Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Semi Valley California, is one of my favs to listen to. Francis has taught me to vocalize my love for the church- sometimes tough love and sometimes not. I love his book Crazy Love.

DAVID PLATT
David Platt, Senior Pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, is a young buck of 29 years who happens to have 2 Bachelor's Degrees, 2 Master's Degrees, and 1 Doctorate. He has a brilliant mind and he boldly proclaims God's Word. He keeps me close to the text and challenges me to stay away from entertaining the flock on Sunday mornings.

These are my pastors that keep me fresh. I am curious. Who do you listen to? Who do you read? And why?

Mission Trip Snapshot

I had a blast on our mission trip to Monterrey, Mexico last week. Sweat, tears, joy, sadness, faith, love, food, coca-breaks, friends, brothers and sisters, Christ exalting, Spirit-led, precious times of prayer, Psalm 146 & 1 John 2:6. Here is a taste of what the week had in store for us...

Mission Monterrey

Okay, peeps- I left my computer in Tejas and have tried to stay away from the computer as long as I can- but I have noticed that some of my new friends have been updating their blog each day while we are here in Monterrey, Mexico. So, to avoid hanging out too much on the computadora I will just give you the links to their blogs. Their blogs include pictures of the trip. You will probably recognize some of the Rockway Crew in the pics. J.D. is a Cowboys fan who lives in Philly (please pray for protection for him and his wife!). Matt is an incredible youth pastor in New Jersey. I have found J.D. and Matt to be Godly men, and I am sure their blogs are well worth reading as well. Here are the blogs- and I hope to get back on the blog-horse someday soon. (I may even have one of our students update my blog regarding our work this week).

Click here for J.D. Cope's blog.
Click here for Matt Magee's blog.