Closed this morning

This morning Robin and I closed on our home. So we officially own the home at 1319 Alexandria Street!

It almost didn't happen today. This morning I looked over our HUD report and they had my name as Andrew B. McCullough. I am Andrew S. Ironically Drew is Andrew B.

Turns out the title company got it wrong and no one had caught it. But we were able just to hand correct everything and initial the correction. Robin and I brought Jack and Drew to the closing just in case Drew needed to make his mark.

At the closing we met the selling real estate agent. Because it was a foreclosure it was bank owned. He said that several people will be sad to know our sale went through because they were waiting it make a much higher offer. Sort another confirmation that the Lord really provided for us. We were really blessed all around with a great realtor, a nice selling realtor who let us look before it was even listed, a great mortgage broker, a great insurance salesman who made sure our policy was less than our mortgage broker's estimate, and on and on. We feel really blessed by the Lord. I also wonder if my credit rating was so good because Glen ran Drew's name.

I spent the afternoon running back and forth to Lowe's buying a hot water heater (Ours was 20+ years old and wasn't working.) and other little stuff. We had the house cleaned professionally because just too much with little kids. Tomorrow we are having carpets cleaned and I will do a few more minor 'repairs'. We actually are waiting until Wednesday to official move in.

Oh one thing that was cool is that in the back yard we have a pear tree (I guess it's a pear tree?) and it is in bloom with white little flowers. Maybe I should ask my father-in-law how to prune it to see if we can get pears.

New post

I just posted my weekly devo over at STINT Leaders. I mention some of the thigns I was studying this past week in Revelation. It's a condensed version of a study of the passage about Our Lord: Who is, Who was, and Who is to Come.

Who Jesus is, what He has done and the truth that He will return and reign does give me perspective after a week where 32 students and faculty - including four students involved in CCC - are gunned down at Virgina Tech, where believers in Turkey working at Christian publishing house are killed and where numerous missionaries where detained in Uzbekistan.

Maybe today, He will return in the clouds!

Happy as Larry - Jimmy and Meagan

All the Blokes and Shelias in Geelong (west of Melbourne), Australia are “As Happy as Larry” that Jimmy and Meagan Williams are leading the STINT Team. Though since ‘leader’ or any authority title is a curse word to the Aussies, I guess we should say they are the Fair Dinkum STINT Coordinators for their team of eight working on threes unis (Deakin Uni: Waurn Ponds, Deakin Uni: Waterfront, and Ballarat Uni) in Geelong.

Jimmy and Meagan arrived down under in January. At two of these universities, no movement existed. They have led their team to launch in Geelong by trying several ways to reach out to the students: hosting a table at the Universities’ Welcome Week for new students, going on campus each day doing spiritual interest surveys, and engaging with students through various clubs and organizations.

Jimmy writes, “It has definitely been an adventure. At this very beginning stage of planting (movements) here. The Aussies have been very open to talking about spiritual things in general, and we’ve already had over 100 chances to share the gospel with students on campus. Dave and I have joined a rugby team called the Geelong Rams. Aussies really value relationships, so this has been a great way for us to make friends, share Christ, and have fun doing it! Dave even got to share with a guy from our Rugby team named Danny the first week of school and saw him place his faith in Christ the next week. The Lord is truly at work in Australia and it’s awesome to be a part of what He’s doing. In all we have seen 10 people trust Christ!!! Now we’re following up with these new believers and we ask for your prayers for them as they begin walking with God.”

Jimmy goes on to say “God is teaching me to truly seek an audience of One, to seek to please Him and not work for the approval of our team or Meagan. It’s a slow learning process for me, but one for which I know God has good reasons. Please keep praying that I will seek Him before all else each day and that I will drink deeply from His Word and in prayer.”

I have been studying recently in the Book of Revelation. Last week in the midst of tragic events at Virginia Tech, Turkey and another Muslim country, I was studying this passage in the first chapter:

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." (Rev 1:4b-8)

There are three main themes that jumped out to me that help me with perspective as we struggle together in this battle for the souls of men and women when the world has gone mad. It helps remind me when I, like Jimmy, find myself needing to remember that I have an audience of One and not try to seek approval from others.

ONE WHO IS – He is King. He is the faithful witness who came for the very reason as King to testify truth to all peoples. (Jn 18:37; Is 55:4). He as King conquered death giving Him authority that has no bounds since death reigns over all people. (Col 1:18; Acts 26:23.) He is the Ruler of all the kings of the earth and will win. (Rev 17:14; 19:16 )

ONE WHO WAS – He has redeemed us. He loved us completely and not because of what we did but in spite of who we were. (Present tense too of course.) He set us free. He has made us a kingdom and priests to serve Him forever. (1 Jn 4:10; Heb 9:12-14; Rev 5:9-10)

ONE WHO IS TO COME – He is coming with the clouds* - representing His glory, His justice, His awesome power, and His splendor. Every eye will see Him who was pierced for our transgressions. The nations will mourn. (Is 53:5; Zech 12:10; Matt 24:30; Acts 1:8-11)

… and yet not all will mourn. (Rev 7:9-12) Because if Jesus is your King, you’re ‘As Happy as Larry’ and ‘Bob’s your uncle’!



* For an exhaustive list of verses on clouds, you can click here. Not all are applicable but it’s an interesting study of what happens when God shows up in a cloud and why.

Living in a Van Down by the River

Well we are officially homeless. WE closed yesterday on the sale of our house. The good news is that we learned we can close on our purchase on Monday April 30th.

We are staying with some friends for a few days and then will take a vacation to live in our van down by the river... the Gunnison River. Actually we will not stay in our van but a lodge owned by some friends. They give a great missionary rate.

Our anniversary is Sunday the 29th, so we will celebrate down there and come back north to close on new home.

Doing as David did - Lauren and Dan

No, this is not Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck on the scooter, it’s Lauren Roeper and Dan Weller living out the adage: “when in Rome…” This year however has been anything but a Roman Holiday for Dan, Lauren and their team.

Forced to leave Italy after only 90 days due to visa issues, they each went to their hometowns as they awaited word from the Italian consulate. Then after their month long ‘living-back-with-parents’ visas ran out, Dan, Lauren and their team were dispersed over 3 different states to serve at their respective alma maters. Their weekly STINT Team Meetings were tough though! On March 4th, they finally were able to return to Rome though still without the proper visas. This means they have only 50 more days or so that they’re allowed to stay in Italy.

Back in Rome,their team have been reminded of the Sovereign hand of God. “It’s been amazing to see the things that God is doing on campus as there’s a completely different atmosphere both in conversations with students and in the awareness of our organization on campus. In our first 15 days back in-country, we saw 7 students profess faith in Christ!” Dan writes.

“Though we had been gone for 3 months, God had been actively preparing the hearts of these and other students to respond to the gospel with faith. We’ve also even recently seen one of our students lead their friend to Christ - the first time ever in our ministry! God is definitely moving here in Rome and we’re excited to see what else the Lord has in store for our last 50 days here.”

Though not as overjoyed as we are to be reminded that God is still calling the shots even as the Roman government again tries to thwart His efforts and not as excited as we are to hear of students crossing from death to life, you no doubt will be overjoyed and excited to learn that our guest devotion writer this week is Krista Mikalatos. For her seminary class, Krista recently wrote a paper on leadership based out of the books of Chronicles. The following are her insights into leading spiritually from the life of David and other kings:

I was so struck by the assessment of each king’s life, particularly in 2 Chronicles. David totally gets what life and leadership are about when he gives his charge to Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28. He said, “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. Be careful now. For the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”

Here is King David’s emphasis: a whole heart and a willing mind. Why? Because God searches our hearts and understands everything that we do. If you go on to read all of 2 Chronicles you will see king after king evaluated in these terms.

King David is the almost perfect king and all kings after him are in some manner compared to him. David led the people spiritually (1 Chron. 16:4), he was humble (17:16), administered justice and equality (18:14), and maybe most importantly, he faced punishment for the wrong that he committed. Yes, you are immediately thinking of Bathsheba, but what the author of Chronicles notes is that David broke one of the commandments to the king. He was not to take a census of the people and he did. David threw himself upon God’s wrath and mercy. The location of this event is where David chose to build the temple. Many kings acted wrongly, but few humbled themselves, accepted punishment and grace, and continued to follow God.

This book caused me to think about my heart. The people the kings led always followed them to life or destruction. Where is my heart and where am I leading people? I hope life, but if there’s one lesson that I learn from these kings it’s that they suffered from sin. How quickly they turned to God after their sin determined how great of a king they were. My whole heart must be examined and the sin that resides there must be confessed. Here are good questions that I often want to put off: do I consider myself better than others? Am I selfish with my time and resources? Do I trust God when bleak situations surround me (i.e. lack of support)? The kings were supposed to read the Torah, the first books of the Bible, on a daily basis and to obey them. Am I filled with God’s word so that he can direct my heart?

If you undertake reading the Chronicles, I will warn you that entire consecutive chapters are filled with names and more names. But read through and find how these people are meant to be remembered. What are the spiritual highlights of their lives? What caused even the kings with notable whole hearts to screw up?

Being a leader with a wholly devoted heart is a process. Take some time to examine your heart and ask God to direct you. Let the Holy Spirit show you your sin, and emerge full of grace and truth. Your teams need spiritual leadership, not just a leader going through the motions.

Thanks Krista! Powerful stuff. Hope you each have a great week where ever your scooter takes you!

Tragedy at Virgina Tech

Like most of you, Robin and I were shocked by events at VT and our prayers go out to the families and friends left behind. I can't imagine how they slept last night and the future they face having to bury loved ones.

I learned through the grapevine that two of the students at VTech who were killed attended Campus Crusade. One of them (a girl) was going to be a leader next year. There also is another of their Crusade students was still missing so they are worried about that person.

It's a terrible tragedy. Please pray for our staff there as well as students involved will be able to minister to the students and staff at Virgina Tech.

New Pics

Here is a link to our latest Picasa web album:

April 2007. Some are actually videos.

Inspecting, Packing, Moving and Closing

This is a crazy week. Today we had an inspection of our new home. (I am including some pics I thought I had deleted. One is a view of mts from the dining area.)

Sometime tomorrow we have a POD being delivered. I will start filling it up that night as a neighbor volunteered to help me move the washer and dryer.

Wednesday, I am hoping I have some more help with moving. I am rewarding (tempting) folks with a free KT's lunch. Who can turn down BBQ?

We need to be out by Friday as we close early afternoon. The buyer is doing a final walk-through that am. So Robin and I will move into the basement of some friends Wednesday night and come back and clean, paint, etc that night and Thursday if needed.

If I need another POD (very likely) it will arrive on the 19th so I can fill it up on my own. PODs will be then delivering it to our new address to be stored there until we unload. Only we don't know for sure when we will get to move in. Closing on that could be as late as May 25th and as early as April 30th.

So all this to say, I will not be blogging much this week...

Luke's Major Award

Luke won a major award. He guessed the amount of candy in a jar and won the jar. It was this Easter festival last Saturday that I alluded to in this post. He guessed 50 and there were 49! The boy knows his candy!! (Okay, he also guessed 50 for the jar of jelly beans too which had like 500 in it.)

Robin didn't think we should let him know he won. Speaking for the prosecution: "He doesn't need that much candy."

Speaking for the defense, I said, "Are you kidding me? He won a major award! In 43 years of life, I have never guessed the right amount of candy in a jar! He will remember this the rest of his life. It may set the course of his future: being the one who predicts elections, knows how many showed up at an evangelistic event, works at Six Flags guessing people's weight and age, guesses the correct number of attendees at a sporting event on the jumbotron contests, etc. We have to let him get his prize!"

Robin's rebuttal: "We are talking about a boy who doesn't eat properly and is not in the habit of brushing his teeth daily."

My suggestion: "Let's let him have it but encourage him to share with his friends... and maybe his mom and dad."

So last night at Awana's, Luke got his prize and when we got home he decided which ones to keep for himself and which ones to give to friends. "Danya can have this one because I already have one like it." He also decided to save some for the future learning the principle of savings. "I will keep these until I am 6. (He turns 5 in late June.)"

So Luke got his candy. He learned the principle of giving and saving. As well as 'being blessed in order to bless others.' Well maybe not fully learned but he applied it nonetheless.

Now if we can get him to brush his teeth without a fight.

Thinking Blogger Award

My second cousin, Jane Ann (she goes by Jane but I have known her all my life as Jane Ann so its hard for me to change) nominated me for a Thinking Blogger award.



I am honored. Though I wonder if it some ways its like how one time I was nominated for "Outstanding Young Man in America". I think it might be just a pyramid thing to get me to buy a paperweight. But since there is nothing to buy here, I will fulfill the condition of my nomination and nominate 5 other blogs as "Thinking Blog". Their condition will be the same to link back to this post and nominate 5 other people.

1. On the Global Road - "Conversation, information, and random trivia about the reality of Jesus among the students of the world." Okay this may seem like total brown-nosing but this is my boss' blog. Keith Bubalo is the National Director for the Worldwide Student Network. (I am on the National Team as his SHERPA.) He is new to blogging as he just started last month but I have been on WSN team with him since 1999. Few people make me laugh harder and challenge me more. He is by far the most encouraging leader I have ever worked under too.

2. On Leading Well - Ken Cochrum who is now one of the VPs for Campus Crusade was my regional director for a year when I was in Asia. I got kicked out of the country and he got promoted to National Campus Director. I wonder if there was a correlation? Like Keith, Ken is new to the blogsphere but he just has some really cool thoughts on leading well... hence the name.

3. Eric Swanson - Okay there is a running theme here. Eric was my director for the 5 years prior to Ken. I was a Campus Director and he was my regional director. Actually Eric is the reason I am in Colorado. Back in 1990, I was on summer missions project with him and I learned more in that one summer about leading than I ever had. I wanted to learn more at his feet which I get to continue to do through his blogs. Like Keith, Eric is extremely funny and you see his humor throughout his blog. But then he writes some profound things that will knock your socks off.

4. On Movements - Jay Lorenzen who authors this blog is a retired Air Force Colonel who taught at the Air Force Academy. He too is on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ and is a guru on leadership. I could sit under Jay's teaching every day and twice on Sundays. He just joined forces with another of my bosses, Chip Scivicque, to help lead a charge to combine the compassionate words and deeds of Christ. Jay's blog is deep and like taking a class on spiritual movements and leadership. I wish I could get seminary credit!

5. The Burning Hearts Revolution - Matt Mikalatos is the WSN Director in the Greater Northwest Region. (I am Associate Director in Great Plains.. so he is two steps above me... No Associate and Greater as opposed to Great.) Matt's skills run from translating Jonah from Hebrew to publishing science-fiction novels to figuring out "LOST" to being a daddy to two little cute girls. We have worked together on the last two summer training venues for those preparing to lead one-year (STINT) mission teams. Matt has a very deep walk with God and could hold his own with Eric and Keith in the humor department. You get a wide range on his blog which he posts almost every day.

Congrats guys! The paperweight will be in mail. Don't forget to link back here and nominate 5 others.

Honorable mention:
There are also a ton of others I could nominate and sure I have left off some good ones that make me think. Among those are World Changers, MovementsEverywhere , Craig Johring, Joe Cross Blog, Blah Blah Blog, GPI Gravel Road, Inspirvival, Coram Deo , Lil Mookie's Messed Up Mind and pretty much all ones from other cousins and my great aunt. I need more paperweights!

On the Road to Emmaus - Monica and Baird

Monica and J. Baird Smith are pictured here with adorable little Isaac are in Moscow, Russia. Actually there are four Smiths in this picture as Monica is due in October.

Moscow is a city of a million college students and countless universities and colleges. Baird and Monica are continually watching God do great things this year through their team as they embrace the scope of this mega city. They have seen over twenty Russian students come to faith since August! Baird writes, “The past three weeks have been a particularly exciting time. Not only did we see five people place their trust in Christ, but we are helping Russian students themselves actively share their faith at their own universities.”

Masha is one of those believers. She has been thinking how to reach the students at her campus even planning and promoting an event on the Russian equivalent of Valentine’s Day where she gave her personal testimony about how God has changed her life. At that event Masha met Irina and over the course of several conversations, Irina prayed to receive Christ. Masha and Irina are now meeting regularly to talk about what it looks like to walk with Jesus. So awesome! Praise God!

Speaking of walking with Jesus, one of my favorite Easter stories is found in Luke 24 when Jesus happens upon two disciples carrying on a debate along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The fact that out of His great compassionate love Our Lord appears to seemingly random followers in a time of despondency, walks with them for seven miles, explains the whole enchilada to them from the word, breaks bread with them and reveals His glory to them is just so cool. The ‘Road to Emmaus’ becomes synonymous with a discovery of who Jesus really is. They even recall later they had a 'Burning Hearts Revolution' and wrote a blog about it.

The phrase that stands out to me as to why they were downcast is in verse 23, “we had hoped…” Cleopas and his debate team buddy had hoped Jesus was the One. Hope for them though was still buried in the tomb.

I imagine for all of us, whether we have been seeing God do great things in our midst like Baird and Monica or not, this year we could fill in the blank of “we had hoped…”

We had hoped for a Masha or two. We had hoped we didn’t have to go home because of visas or sickness. We had hoped we didn’t have major team issues. We had hoped to thrive this year. We had hoped our leadership role would have been greater than it is. We had hoped…

I think there are several roads you can take when hope is gone or deferred. You can pack it in and just choose not to ever hope again. Maybe this was the debate Jesus happened upon. Was it time to hang up the sandals for these two disciples?

You can lower your expectations. Just aim lower! But if we truly serve someone who can do exceedingly abundant beyond what we can ask or imagine, it seems foolish to say any expectation is unrealistic. Of course on the flip-side it’s foolish to expect anything we can do apart from Him.

I think the better ‘Road to Emmaus’ is found here in this passage:
~ Remember that He promised to walk with us always. He hasn’t left no matter what the circumstance.

~ Rejoice that He is risen indeed. He has conquered something far greater than what we are facing.

~ Rest in the reality that God has a plan to build His Kingdom and He has got it all under control. (v. 26)
If our plans fail, His won’t. If others fail us, He won’t.

~ Request Him to dine with us and reveal his persona to us. We can’t lose if we are in sweet fellowship with Him and we just might be in for the surprise of our lives.

Great News... Contracts pending

Well the bank accepted our offer . They accepted the price but they are countering with a later closing date of May 24th. So we will need to find a place to live for a month. But we will take that!!!!

Turns out no one else made an offer over the weekend and the realtor just decided since we offered the bank's listing price that he didn't even put it on the MLS.

Technically we still have to finalize the contracts. Its not a done deal in Colorado until the contracts are signed. I guess the worse thing that could happen is our buyer backs out and we have to as well. But Friday was the deadline for him to pull out without losing his earnest money so if he pulls out now its unlikely. That would really be sad!!!

So God gave us this house for $20, 000 less than it was listed at 2 months ago! God is so cool.

Egg Hunts in Colorado

Okay I have to say that I don't get Easter Egg hunts in Colorado. Not much hunting is involved at all. It's just one mad free-for-all! Like future little Christmas shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving.

Instead of hiding them, they just rope off a section of a lawn and place them out in the open and let the kids go hog wild and they are all gone in less than a minute.
A couple of Saturdays ago we went to one at one in Waneka Park at Lafayette. It was a madhouse! We got there right as the hunt was about to start so I dropped off Robin and the boys and went to find a place to park the van. By the time I parked and walked back, it was over. Robin said she barely made it to the 3-4 year old section for Luke. Jack and Drew never got out of their strollers. I didn't even know Boulder County had that many kids.

Saturday I was driving Luke to a friend's house and we passed another 'hunt' in a field near a school. Same thing, they roped off sections and the eggs were right in the open. Then we went to an Easter festival put on by this local church where he goes to AWANAs on Thursday nights. Same thing. Except we showed up and just saw empty eggs on that school lawn. Sort of sad, we just walked by without saying a word.... Maybe they were left that way to respresent the empty tomb.

Why even call it an "Easter Egg Hunt"? Robin said maybe they do in a field here because there are no trees. Makes sense I guess. But unless they are hunting the green eggs in the grass, its not a hunt. I n my day, they hid them under bushes and hollows of trees. Finding the prize egg was something special. Now its just the most agressive bully wins.

A Crazy Story

On Feb 22nd, I wrote about how I saw this house I liked. It was the same day we had listed our townhouse. Robin didn't get to look at that house. (from here on, I will call it the Alexandria house.) And we headed out of town for 10 days. Our only thought was maybe when we get back if we have an offer on ours and if Alexandria's still on the market we could make an offer. It was listed at $249K and we were really looking at $240 as our max.

Well the day we got an offer on our house (march 13th) Alexandria went off the market. We had thought it was in foreclosure but it was in transition and the time passed for the owner to sell it. We were told it could takes months for it to reappear.

Our realtor worked behind the scenes to see if his investor friend could buy Alexandria from bank and turn around and sell it to us at $240K but the bank's lawyers were not interested.

So we moved on and looked at this other house last weekend. It was two blocks from Alexandria and almost the exact same layout. it just didn't back up to open space, have a few of mountains, wasn't on a cul-de-sac, didn't have a/c, newer furnace, newer roof, etc. But had moved on. (I deleted all the pics I took of it for Robin, too.) We thought Alexandria was a lost cause and we were closing soon and needed a home. We still liked this other one as it was far better than most of what we had seen. We made an offer of $227K but they didn't take it and wouldn't come down much.

We were considering whether to offer another amount when our realtor Jesse said that he learned Alexandria was coming back on the market and the realtor may let us see it before it goes on MLS. They didn't know how much but that realtor was suggesting $234K to the bank.

So today Jesse called and it was going to be listed at $229.9K! The catch was that two other people were given same option to see it this weekend. So we may be in for a bidding war.

I drove from work, Robin piled the kids in the van and we met Jesse at Alexandria and looked again. I already had seen it of course but Robin had only peeked in the windows. Then we drove back to Jesse's house and signed official papers to make an offer of $229.9K for Alexandria. We made it before the bank closed for Easter weekend.

So I guess this will either be a really cool story of how the Lord provided this house for us and for about $20K less and even $10K less than another price we were gonna pay. And less than were we stand for a house that's similar but not quite as nice.

We should know something by Monday. Pray that the Lord's will be done and if we need to counter offer in a bidding war that we will know clearly how much to go up.

Another STINT Leader post

Yesterday I did my weekly STINT Leader blog post. It is about something I had been mulling over and then our pastor spoke on last Sunday. Kind of cool when that happens.

The Catch

In honor of the starting baseball season... the greatest catch by an outfielder.

Believing God for ONE - B and K

B and K are in the East Asia. This is the 2nd year for both leading their team. They have been very encouraged lately because four of their key leaders went to a regional conference a little over a month ago and came back with a passion and understanding of the vision to launch movements everywhere. B writes, “One of the most significant things that these students have come to understand is the importance of coming together as a community of believers in Christ. (They) began to realize God’s heart is for His children to be united as a body. This is an answer to our prayers!”

For the year and half, B and K have been there, their efforts to build community have not been as fruitful as they have hoped. Most of their ministry comprises of appointments with individual students. B writes again, “In order to see ‘every student know some one who truly follows Christ’ and to ‘turn lost students into Christ-centered lifetime laborers and leaders,’ we believe that the fellowship of Christian students is essential! We have yet to see this community develop, but we are continuing to trust the Lord that He will build a body of Christian believers on our campus.”

It is this oneness, this togetherness, this community, this koinea was the focal point of Jesus’ highly priestly prayer the night before he went to the cross. Jesus asked the Father to protect His remaining 11 disciples from the evil one so that they would be ONE. Then He prays for those who would believe in Him through their message that we are would all be ONE.

Jesus is not praying that we would show up to a weekly meeting, a covered dish supper or a country two-step social. Who uses 'social' except old ladies in a quilting circle and Crusade? It’s not that these things are wrong, though clearly ‘White Christian America’ and one reason we need to learn a new world.

Our Lord was praying for something far greater than dinner on the grounds. Our oneness, our unity, our living in community lets the world know that He came to declare the Father’s love and usher this eternal life of knowing the Only True God and His Son who He sent. It is for this reason the evil one wants to do everything he can to create divisiveness, isolation and a pseudo unity of side hugs, fist bumps and air kisses. Division and Isolation strikes at the core of everything God is about. He is ONE and not alone. We, His offspring, were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. We are to be ONE!

This drama, this God-life, this full measure of His joy, this revelation of His glory is played out in a community of believers with whom we live and labor. But as you know difficulties arise. Sooner or later those of us who follow Jesus find ourselves in the company of men and women that while in the same body, we are not sure that we really like. Does that sound like your team? Division erupts as we venture down paths that separate us – personalities, problems, preferences, perspectives on predestination, paper or plastic, et.al. The battle wages to become ONE and remain ONE.

My pastor spoke on John 17 this past Sunday. (I also had studied it a few weeks ago so I am not totally stealing from him.) One thing that struck me was when Pastor Gene asked us how many Christians were in the world and how many churches in Boulder. A variety of guesses were tossed out. But the answer Gene said was ‘ONE’. We are to be ONE.

What if someone asked us: “How many people are on your team?” or “How many students are involved in your movements?” or “How many STINT teams are there?” or “How many movements are you trusting God to launch in your city/country?” And the answer we gave for every question was “ONE.”

We are ONE and we are believing God for ONE.

"Little Christ"

My friend Craig Johring in Mexico City lives in a neighborhood where he is the only Anglo. The family next door has adopted him. The grandmother (the mother of the mom here and grandmother of the teenager) calls Craig a phrase in Spanish that literally means "little God". Which sounds a little sacreligious except when you consider the word Christian has the root meaning "little Christ".

It also helps to know the context. Craig writes in his blog about how he prayed for this grandmother and how she was miraculously healed. That's why she calls him this. Don't worry, Craig defers the glory to God.

I saw firsthand Craig's Christ-like love for this family. He loves on the kids. He is patient. He breaks bread with them. He takes time for them. The dad loves him. The mom loves him. The kids love him. And the Grandmother adores him.

The grandmother's healing and how Craig has lived as a 'little Christ' among them has opened the door for this family to know Jesus personally. Maybe he is just being like those believers in Antoich who were the first to be called Christians.

A Hoarder

Drew - with eyes closed in both pics - has become a hoarder of late. When he gets up from nap or in the morning, he wants to carry every possible thing. His little arms will be full of his bear, his blanket, and random toys. Then when he can't carry them he whines until you come help him. He collects toy cars and keeps them in piles and gets upset if Jack takes one.

I had to tell him yesterday that if Jack takes a toy you are holding or playing with that's one thing but if he is just taking a toy next to you in your pile, that's another.

Man I hope he is not a pack rat with junk in the garage and basement.... like me.

Clean-Shaven

Saturday morning I shaved off my van dyke.

And yes, it is called a van dyke. People mistakenly called it a goatee but a goatee is just a beard without a moustache like Uncle Sam or Scooby Do fame.

Luke had told me Thursday or Friday that he wanted me to shave it off. But when I came down Saturday am, he run upstairs to his room in fright. Jack and Drew cried. And Robin kept doing a double-take.

I guess I will grow it back.