Shootin' some pool.
Jumping into the pool.
Another fight breaks out. This time I win.
May 29, 2008
Rest and Relaxation
Shootin' some pool.
Jumping into the pool.
Another fight breaks out. This time I win.
Wyoming
So we are here now in the wee town of Riverton est. close to 10,000 people. Superb!
We are really enjoying it here. Just resting and tomorrow we plan a visit to the Teton's and Yellowstone National Park. Yay! We are pretty stoked!
Our last stop was in Castle Rock Colorado. It was phenomenal. We stayed with some friends in the area and had a killer time. Sat - 5/23 we traveled down to Canon City(past Colorado Springs) and did a bit of white water rafting. We went through this place called Royal Gorge Rapids. Wowee it was sweet and cold (they gave us wet-suites thankfully:). I have included a picture here that is pretty sketchy and you can really only see me, but it's the only pic we have been able to get a hold of thanks to my incredible Aunty Sara!
Castle Rock actually has a rock elevated in the middle of the city which you climb to really work out your lung capacity... we made it to the top (pics of Ben and Stephen flying) and flew our sweet Spiderman kite which we received in NY (thanks Lori-the Lord is the best postMaster)
I also attended my first ever MLB game... it was sweet.. even from the rockpile - thanks Parkers!
Our stop in Chicago was fantastic. We had some of that famous "deep dish" and kicked a soccer ball around Millennium Park-Wahoo! Thanks to Stephen our "night-time" driver we safely left Chicago and pulled into Kansas City, Missouri 8 hours later -GO STEVE!.
We stopped at the International House of Prayer (a place of 24/7 prayer and worship) in KC, Missouri. It was a peaceful and restful stop in the middle of our 18 hour trek to CO. Ben's friend Jonathan treated us to breakfast at the other IHOP(International House of Pancakes:) down the street... Stellar dude(Jonathan)
So the Lord continues to amaze me as He teaches me importance of His perfect rest and how to enjoy the waiting process. It's brilliant; as I must a-test that He is as well.
The fellowship I have been privileged to enjoy with all the friends and family we have met and visited continues to leave me with my mouth gaping in awe. Thank you to everyone who has housed us, for all of your superb comments and such...
So onward we trek -
Sacramento is our next stop. :)
P.S. Thank Felicity for the comments... missing some of that Bonefish big time! Saving my Bang Bang Shrimp card for a rainy day:)
We are really enjoying it here. Just resting and tomorrow we plan a visit to the Teton's and Yellowstone National Park. Yay! We are pretty stoked!
Our last stop was in Castle Rock Colorado. It was phenomenal. We stayed with some friends in the area and had a killer time. Sat - 5/23 we traveled down to Canon City(past Colorado Springs) and did a bit of white water rafting. We went through this place called Royal Gorge Rapids. Wowee it was sweet and cold (they gave us wet-suites thankfully:). I have included a picture here that is pretty sketchy and you can really only see me, but it's the only pic we have been able to get a hold of thanks to my incredible Aunty Sara!
Castle Rock actually has a rock elevated in the middle of the city which you climb to really work out your lung capacity... we made it to the top (pics of Ben and Stephen flying) and flew our sweet Spiderman kite which we received in NY (thanks Lori-the Lord is the best postMaster)
I also attended my first ever MLB game... it was sweet.. even from the rockpile - thanks Parkers!
Our stop in Chicago was fantastic. We had some of that famous "deep dish" and kicked a soccer ball around Millennium Park-Wahoo! Thanks to Stephen our "night-time" driver we safely left Chicago and pulled into Kansas City, Missouri 8 hours later -GO STEVE!.
We stopped at the International House of Prayer (a place of 24/7 prayer and worship) in KC, Missouri. It was a peaceful and restful stop in the middle of our 18 hour trek to CO. Ben's friend Jonathan treated us to breakfast at the other IHOP(International House of Pancakes:) down the street... Stellar dude(Jonathan)
So the Lord continues to amaze me as He teaches me importance of His perfect rest and how to enjoy the waiting process. It's brilliant; as I must a-test that He is as well.
The fellowship I have been privileged to enjoy with all the friends and family we have met and visited continues to leave me with my mouth gaping in awe. Thank you to everyone who has housed us, for all of your superb comments and such...
So onward we trek -
Sacramento is our next stop. :)
P.S. Thank Felicity for the comments... missing some of that Bonefish big time! Saving my Bang Bang Shrimp card for a rainy day:)
Wyoming
A whole lotta incredible brilliance and well...mountains covered my monstrous, looming, ominous, unavoidable, puffy, dark and light, menacing, vast, smashing,....okay clouds ?!:)
May 24, 2008
May 21, 2008
Working for the Garty Family
Ben shoveling mulch
Stephen painting the porch
Joseph painting the shed
The Garty Family
Buddy the dog
Pictures from the Train Station
The main hall
Walking through the station.
Trying not to fall off the roof.
A view from the roof of the 15 or so story building.
Video: Exploring the Train Station
Yes, we found a very old gun. No, we didn't have to shoot anyone.
May 18, 2008
Some thoughts and other things...
It's funny, this trip it seems, from the beginning, has been a little different than what I would have expected. But isn't that the way when it comes to traveling with the Lord. The Lord of late has been really teaching me how it is that he wants to Master me. That has been my prayer - "Lord, I want to be mastered by the Master." I say it with joy and enthusiasm not realizing the danger of such a prayer. But I keep learning that the Lord never promised to be safe...but He is always good; He is always faithful; He has never left of forsaken me and never will. So why not pray the dangerous prayers...what's stopping me? It seems fear would like to creep in...but I am determined to fear God more than a maybe overzealous prayer...and trust in Him.
...It was cool that the Lord took us to Philidelphia first to see that Liberty Bell. I proclaimed to the Lord - "LET FREEDOM RING"...Free my heart to worship you for who you are!
...In New York while visiting with my Uncle and Aunt I saw and learned from them (in just a short time) once again about the importance of the fear of the Lord. It was powerful, but opened my heart in full to trust in the Lord...
...Niagara Falls - I saw the tremendous work of His hand...I was in awe of who He is - POWERFUL! it seems his love is that great and greater, so overwhelming, crushing, loud, beautiful, raging, outrageous. The Lord I have come to love and know is outrageous. So I am in love.
...Here in Dearborn, MI the Lord has taken the opportunity to lay bare the desires and motives of my heart. While in my stupor at His complete Majesty, he has penetrated to my heart and shown me what I am without Him...dasterdly. So I am seeing the first part of His Mastery of my life... the Mastering of the heart and its desires. O' that the Holy One of heaven would create a clean heart withint me and give me his heart - one of flesh and complete surrender to His will...
(Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26)
Also for an intense kick in the pants read - John 5:39-47
So we are getting ready to take part in the Metro fellowship here in Detroit, MI. After that we are heading to Middlebury, Indiana. I am stoked beyond all measures as I continue to wait upon Him!
************************************************************************************
A little on Dearborn, MI
This has been a great stop! Stephens Uncle Art, Aunt Sherrie(sp?), cousin Paul and friend Adam, have made this stop incredible. Dearborn, about ten minutes from the heart of Detroit, is a community with a high Arabic population. It has been very intersting to see about as many Arabic run stores as American. Uncle Art and Aunt Sherrie took us out one afternoon for some authentic Arabic food which was incredible. On top of that Stephen's friend Adam was swell enough to treat us to Mongolian Barbeque. So flippin awesome.
Apart from the regular hang out times and soccer in the park, we did get an opportunity to paint a wee bit. Friday we spent most of our morning painting the Markz family's kitchen. It was a nice red color and we did a pretty good job of staying out of the paint and getting most of it on the walls...Saturday we explored some different parts of Detroit and checked a sweet train station nearby... it was great.
So onward we go - Next stop David Garty - Middlebury, IN
May 17, 2008
An unfortunate occurrence...
My computer broke down today, and as of now I am unable to fix it. We may be out a computer until we finish, so our posts may become slightly more difficult. We will try to post at our various stops via other people's computers. Hopefully I can get this problem fixed somehow.
May 16, 2008
My feelings about Detroit
It has been said that a picture says a thousand words. Well I say this: Ben says a thousand words too in this post.
We are here in Detroit and today we painted Pastor Patti's kitchen. We also got solicited to buy prescription drugs on the street. I feel calmly excited about our trip. Probably because I drank two cups of bold African coffee. Otherwise I would just feel mellow mushroom. When we're in a group I don't feel obligated to speak because I feel others will do it for me and my voice can be rather monotone.
We visited two churches. I will now elaborate on the social differences and implications of the socio-economic discrepancies. Metro-something-or-other-good-news-gang meets in an old Polish dance hall down in the seedier parts of town. We skipped the service to play soccer and came after just to talk to people. It was fellowship of course. i really can't talk about the intricacies of each church because hey I don't know. We just got here. But the people everywhere have been ultra nice. This section may be a little scatterbrained because I typed everything else and then came back to this. hmmm.
Detroit World Outreach is a very large church and their facilities are quite nice. I am not familiar completely with all the ministries conducted there but I honestly feel slightly conflicted internally when faced with a church or ministry that has expensive equipment or facilities. Of course the wealth in the world won't be distributed according to merit this side of eternity but it still seems like more could be done. I don't know anything really about DWO so I'm not judging them at all but it just got me thinking. What if we had a way of finding out who needed help and sending it where it was needed most?
That's an aspect of my deepest convictions that I will continue to work out throughout my life, I suppose. It's been amplified since reading The Irresistible Revolution. The author, Shane Claiborne, expresses a vision of not preaching at the rich and engendering guilt and condemnation, but a certain sadness and call to encourage the cheerful giving to the poor.
There's something that needs to happen in a person's heart that will cause them to be ready to give at any time. God blesses that and someone who is more focused on relationships and the preciousness of people who are created in God's image than on their own stuff is hard to come by. Of course, it's a tall order when Jesus tells us to "give to anyone who asks of you" and all that stuff that sounds nice but causes such turmoil and brings excuses to our minds when the actual moment comes around.
I say this because I'm sure I often miss chances to serve Jesus through serving the "least of these" when I think "What if this guy robs me when I decide to give him a couple bucks?" or "I need that money to eat." Those excuses probably aren't from God, but I'm sure you aren't supposed to give the same amount of cash to every person who asks you for money. Some people need your prayer, some people may need a lot of money, some people just need a sandwich. That's why we should be attuned to God's voice and work in his will. That's another thing that sounds nice, but I fail to do it every day. Which leads to keeping my eyes on God rather than on myself because otherwise I would want to end my life. Or at least my spiritual life. A lot to think about, no doubt. Reconciliation of one's desires with those of Jesus. Not easy. But worth it, I hear.
We are here in Detroit and today we painted Pastor Patti's kitchen. We also got solicited to buy prescription drugs on the street. I feel calmly excited about our trip. Probably because I drank two cups of bold African coffee. Otherwise I would just feel mellow mushroom. When we're in a group I don't feel obligated to speak because I feel others will do it for me and my voice can be rather monotone.
We visited two churches. I will now elaborate on the social differences and implications of the socio-economic discrepancies. Metro-something-or-other-good-news-gang meets in an old Polish dance hall down in the seedier parts of town. We skipped the service to play soccer and came after just to talk to people. It was fellowship of course. i really can't talk about the intricacies of each church because hey I don't know. We just got here. But the people everywhere have been ultra nice. This section may be a little scatterbrained because I typed everything else and then came back to this. hmmm.
Detroit World Outreach is a very large church and their facilities are quite nice. I am not familiar completely with all the ministries conducted there but I honestly feel slightly conflicted internally when faced with a church or ministry that has expensive equipment or facilities. Of course the wealth in the world won't be distributed according to merit this side of eternity but it still seems like more could be done. I don't know anything really about DWO so I'm not judging them at all but it just got me thinking. What if we had a way of finding out who needed help and sending it where it was needed most?
That's an aspect of my deepest convictions that I will continue to work out throughout my life, I suppose. It's been amplified since reading The Irresistible Revolution. The author, Shane Claiborne, expresses a vision of not preaching at the rich and engendering guilt and condemnation, but a certain sadness and call to encourage the cheerful giving to the poor.
There's something that needs to happen in a person's heart that will cause them to be ready to give at any time. God blesses that and someone who is more focused on relationships and the preciousness of people who are created in God's image than on their own stuff is hard to come by. Of course, it's a tall order when Jesus tells us to "give to anyone who asks of you" and all that stuff that sounds nice but causes such turmoil and brings excuses to our minds when the actual moment comes around.
I say this because I'm sure I often miss chances to serve Jesus through serving the "least of these" when I think "What if this guy robs me when I decide to give him a couple bucks?" or "I need that money to eat." Those excuses probably aren't from God, but I'm sure you aren't supposed to give the same amount of cash to every person who asks you for money. Some people need your prayer, some people may need a lot of money, some people just need a sandwich. That's why we should be attuned to God's voice and work in his will. That's another thing that sounds nice, but I fail to do it every day. Which leads to keeping my eyes on God rather than on myself because otherwise I would want to end my life. Or at least my spiritual life. A lot to think about, no doubt. Reconciliation of one's desires with those of Jesus. Not easy. But worth it, I hear.
May 15, 2008
Walking to Niagara Falls
By the time we reached Niagara, it was about seven-thirty in the morning, and almost no one was there.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)