Another late Sunday night and early Monday morning. I'm just sitting here studying for my World Missions Midterm (yes, it's past mid-term, but that's another story). While I was studying I came across the following, which I had seen before, and thought I would share it here. Perhaps it will find a new place in the forefront of my brain:

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

(Said to be written by a young African pastor and tacked to the wall ofhis house; discovered by those who entered his house after he was martyred)

"I am part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.
I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line.
The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still."My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future secure.
I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning,smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions,
mundane talking, chintzy giving and dwarfed goals.
"I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity.
I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean on His presence, love by patience, lift by prayer and labor by power."My face is set, my gait fast, my goal heaven, my road narrow, my way rough,
my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice; hesitate in the presence of adversity,
negotiate at the table of the enemy; ponder at the pool of popularity
or meander in the maze of mediocrity."I won't give up, back up, let up or shut up
until I have preached up, paid up, stayed up, stored up, and prayed up for the cause of Christ.
I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I must go until He comes, give until I drop,
preach until all know Him and work until He stops me.
And when He comes to get His own,
He will have no problem recognizing me – my banner will be clear."

So, it's Sunday night. I'm lying here in bed thinking about what tomorrow holds.

Did I mention that Amber is going to be on the worship team at church? This is huge for her. The worship team is very high quality and she feels honored to be a part. It'll be great for her to have a ministry out side of the home.

I have been tossing in my mind the thoughts of Oswald Chambers since yesterday. Though I have read this devotional several times, yesterday's entry hit me right where I am now....

"Vision:

I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Acts 26:19.

If we lose the vision, we alone are responsible, and the way we lose the vision is by spiritual leakage. If we do not run our belief about God into practical issues, it is all up with the vision God has given. The only way to be obedient to the heavenly vision is to give our utmost for God's highest, and this can only be done by continually and resolutely recalling the vision. The test is the sixty seconds of every minute, and the sixty minutes of every hour, not our times of prayer and devotional meetings.

Though it tarry, wait for it. We cannot attain to a vision, we must live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself. We get so practical that we forget the vision. At the beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it; we rushed off into practical work, and when the vision was fulfilled, we did not see it. Waiting for the vision that tarries is the test of our loyalty to God. It is at the peril of our soul's welfare that we get caught up in practical work and miss fulfillmentment of the vision.

Watch God's cyclones. The only way God sows His saints is by His whirlwind. Are you going to prove an empty pod? It will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of what you have seen. Let God fling you out, and do not go until He does. If you select your own spot, you will prove an empty pod. If God sows you, you will bring forth fruit.
It is essentiapracticectise the walk of the feet in the light of the vision."*

I have been tossing the following questions around in my own life; "What is my passion, am I truly connected to the vision God has for my life, is there spiritual leakage?"

What a great term--Spiritual Leakage. How easy it is to get caught up in the practical, or for that matter philosophical, issues in life that we begin to loose touch with the vision God has for each of us. What are you passionate about? What is the vision God has called you to? Is there spiritual leakage in your life? I trust that we can learn together in this journey God has usDrop drop me a line or feel free to leave your comments about where God has you right now.

*Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year, March 11. Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935.

USAF

So here's the deal... I think (James 4: 13-15). As you may know, the plan has been to apply for the USAF Chaplain Candidacy Program while in Seminary. Wtih the move to VA beinga as crazy as it was I had decided to postpone this a year or until I felt the timing was a bit better. Well, with next week being spring break I have decided to go for it. I think that Monday afternoon I am going to take a trip to the local USAF recruiter. Nervous? Duh.

This past Friday I took the day off from work to go to Seminary Ignite, a special seminary chapel service in which Col. Rick Hum, Executive Director of the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Board was to speak. Though I ended up not being able to make it to the service (A long story that I might share later) I was able to make it to the lunch afterwards. This was a great opportunity.

There were about seven of us who stayed to have lunch with Col. Hum. He shared with us about some of the daily duties and details of being a military chaplain. I also had the opportunity to ask his wife about her thoughts on the life of a Chaplain's wife and family. They were both very pleasant and inspiring. Though there was not any one thing I felt as a driving force behind what was said I simply felt God gently pressing me to start the application process.

At this point I covet your prayers in this area of our lives. We are still seeking God's wisdom though there seems to be a sense of peace. My desire is to serve God while taking care of my family and honoring Him in both. Lord willing His plan is to graduate from Liberty and continue this great journey in the Air Force wherever that may lead...

Me and Kyla tubing for the first time.

So as it seems, once again I have been inspired by someone (Thanks Tim) to try journaling (in this case a blog) once again. I'm sure this will be my usual journal fair... write for a few days and forget about while becomming busy with life. We'll see.

So where am I now? As you may know, Amber, Kyla, and I have moved to Lynchburg, VA. After spending slightly over two years in Madison, WI. We have made the leap to an even smaller city here in central Virginia.

I am attending Liberty Theological Seminary, working at InService America, and attending/serving Blue Ridge Comunity Church. Amber is enjoying being a full-time mom and caretaker of me (well, maybe she's not really enjoying the later). This has been her dream career and with Kyla, it's deffinately a full-time job!

LTS - I'm taking a full-time load having finished my first semester in December and now about half way through this one. I shoudl be able to finish my MAR (Master of Arts in Religion) by December '06. After that I'm planning to possibly work towards a MRE (Master of Religious Education) while heading ultimately towards the MDIV (Master of Divinity).

Liberty has been a great experience so far and I am very happy we have made the move here. 15 credits down, 12 this semester and 18 more to go to finish the first degree. It's been challenging for me as I've never been a great student, but I'm getting the best grades of my life now while supporting my family and trying to serve God all at the same time. It's a busy life, but I'm so glad it's the one God has given me.

ISA - InService America is a call center. We are a company that provides telecommunications for various clients. Yes, in other words... the dreaded telemarketer. The big difference with this company is that it is owned and operated by Christians. about 80% of our business is what is know as Inbound. Most of the Inbound work is for various national ministries in which we take orders, process donations, provide prayer and even lead callers through salvation prayers as needed. It's a really different work environment. Many of our clients are national ministries you may have heard of or even supported.

My experience there began when Amber's cousin Phil suggested I look into applying. Though I had a job with the Home Depot, I was travelling all the way to Roanoke (1.25 Hr one-way) for work. I had gotten a demotion because they didnt have the same job I had in Madison available. with that demotion was a huge cut in pay. Also, being that I was going to take class they wouldnt give me full-time hours. Anyhow... I went and applied and was hirde to work as an Inbound communicator. Shortly after being hired I was selected to be on a test team in which we would be dedicated to one client taking minimal calls but providing a higher quality of service because we would be specialized. This was pretty cool because the client represented 5 ministries I could personally support.

Although this was going well I was frustrated by the lack of organization of the company. Frustrated with this, I told the new Operations Manger that I didn't want to come into his office and simply complain about what was going on because I knew he quickly become the complaint dept. Rather, I was willing to become part of seeing change. I handed him my resume and told him I would be happy to continue doing what I was doing or take on a new challenge. A week late he offered me a position as Supervisor. This was only about a month into my employment with ISA.

The plan was to crosstrain me, having me learn how the Outbound side of the business worked and then come back to Inbound. I started training for Outbound and shortly after the Outbound manager didn't want to let me leave. So, here I stay, an Outbound Supervisor. But it's really been pretty cool. I was given a 50% raise and a LOT of hours. It's been challenging to balance work, life, family, ministry, and school.

BRCC - Every church has an acrostic, right? Ours is BRCC - Blue Ridge Community Church. It's a great place to call home. Amber found this church while I was still working at the Home Depot. It's a great place with realy people who genuinely care about what God wants them to be doing/being. Very down to earth and unpretentious as well. Incredible worship teams and the quality of preaching is almost always very very good (every preacher's got an off day). I've been serving as a High School Guys Small Group Co-leader. Brad (the other co-leader) and I meet with the guys every wednesday night for small group and you almost never know what to expect. It's a really awesome group of guys.

Amber - Awesome, as usual. I don't think I'd even be alive if it weren't for her. She's constantly picking up after me, cleaning everything I dirty, cooks and somehow manages to raise Kyla while doing all that. She's also been attending a Ladies Bible study at Thomas Road Baptist Church (Jerry Fallwell's church). She started the beginning of last semester after I had ben told they it was a Bible study for seminary wives. Turns out the seminary wives are a section of the ladies ministry at TRBC. It's been great for her. She hates to miss it and has built a few close relationships as a result. Kyla loves to attend as well.

Also, as a result of the Ladies Bible study is Amber's friend Julie. Julie is from Korea and her husband, James, is working on his Doctorate at the seminary. Amber has Julie over on Friday mornings to help her with learning English.

Kyla - Wow, 2 years old. She's talking like crazy and getting big. She's got her parents build. Not so tall, not so thin. Amber just took her to the Doctor and she was in the 25% for height and 75% for weight. I could go on and on about her. She loves to attend Tuesday morning Bible study, Sunday School, and the Library. Those are the regular highlights of her week. A couple of weeks ago we got a breif snow shower and I was able to take her tubing for the first time as well as build her first snowman. The snowtube was on the back porch for a week or so and about every time she saw it she'd say, "snowtube, daddy's fun." or something like that. She had a blast.

If you're interested, let me know and I'll send you a link to our photo pages. There's a ton of cute pictures of her.

The Animals - Ginger, yep he's still around. But, he's now being challenged by his younger brother Cooper. Cooper's our new puppy. Getting him was a saga that I won't bore you with. But as Russ (our nextdoor neighbor in Madison) used to say... to make along story short... After picking Cooper out at the local animal shelter we found out the reaon he was so docile was because he was battling worms and parvo. A week at the Vet and a bunch of $$ later he's doing well and having a blast chasing Ginger al around our little house.

The House - speaking of the house. God has blesed us with a cute little house. It was a tough move but we have seen God at every turn.

The Neighbors - We're south of the Mason Dixon... need I say more? No offense to those of our friends who are from here or even further south, but if you've met our neighbors you'd understand. Give us a call and we'll tell you some stories.

I guess that's about all for now. I thought I'd start this with an update as to where we've been over the past few months. I trust all is well with you as you read this. Please drop me a line and let me know how I can be praying for you.