A Tentmaker's Journey

Is Barack Obama a Christian or not?

So, as we all know, the elections for President are very important and very close. I've been trying to educate myself as best I can on both candidates, their politics, and their beliefs. Beliefs are especially important in my voting desicion. Some people would scoff at me basing my decision upon a candidate's personal faith, I honestly don't care. Faith is important - after all, this individual will be the leader of the free world. I have to know he relies on wisdom higher than his own.

So, to help, I recently scored a free copy of this book. As a token of gratitude for said free book, I've agreed to blog my thoughts, feelings, criticisms, and ideas about the book. With that said, be looking for my posts. I'm going to post my thoughts as I read each chapter.

How important is a candidate's faith to you as far as your vote is concerned?

If they could see us now.....

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Acts 2:42

In a couple of weeks I'll be leading a Bible study prep session for our campus' Life Group leaders. To prepare, I've been reading about the very first church. Yesterday, it hit me all anew - these were real people. They truly lived, breathed, and died. Because of them, you and I share a common faith. They made it possible for the story of Jesus to be shared throughout the world and the generations. We owe them a lot of thanks!

So, I began to wonder, if they could see us (the Church) now....

...would they be impressed with our growth or disappointed that our influence isn't larger?
...what would they think about all our denominations?
...would they be grieved or pleased with how we treat one another?
...would they consider us equally devoted or numbingly entertained?
...would they see themselves in us or a diluted shell of what they once were?
...would they say we give generously or hoard selfishly?

What do you think?

If for anything, this is why...

Check out this story I just read on the interweb. I realize there are a lot of critics of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, however, if for anything this is why we need to continue our efforts to free those countries....religious freedom.

Check it out here.

Tentmaker Redux

Since I'm a winner now and S-Dub from the N-Dub is pimping my blog for a week, I figured I might get a few new readers. With that in mind, I'd like to re-post my first post to introduce my passion and purpose to all of you. Hope you find some commonality and inspiration.

From Nov. 7, 2007:

First off, welcome to my blog. I'm truly honored you have shared a few moments of your time with me.

So, what exactly is a "tentmaker?"

Acts 18:3 reveals a little snippet about the Apostle Paul's life that I find extremely fascinating. The Message says it like this:

"Paul moved in with them (Aquilla & Priscilla) and they worked together at their common trade of tentmaking." (emphasis mine)

Yep. Paul, at one point in his life, had a day job. A regular 9 to 5'er. However, he didn't merely toil at making tents for no reason. Rather, he leveraged his profession to advance the Gospel.

So, to answer the question, a "tentmaker" is someone who has a career and a passion to let God use them in their career to further the Gospel. Like Paul, God may call them to vocational ministry, or not. The point is, a "tentmaker" uses their career as a propellant for ministry.

What about you? What is your career, and how do you see God using you as a "tentmaker?"

One thing to do while you are watching the Olympics

I am looking forward to watching the Olympics over the next several days. I love everything about the Olympics. However, I was challenged earlier today to look at the Games with a differenct perspective. Rather than watching the Olympics and getting all caught up in nationalistic pride and competition, why not use this opportunity to pray for the countries represented at the Games?

Here's my plan:

Since they are the host country, everytime the word "Beijing" or "China" is mentioned in the broadcast I'm going to pray for that country.
To help, I signed-up to receive one of these. You can too!
Whenever watching medal ceremonies, pray for all the countries on the podium.

There it is. Simply and sweet. I'd love to hear any of your ideas too!

Go USA! (and JESUS!)

I'm a Winner!

So, my buddy Scott Williams had a contest on his blog last week - he invited his followers to come up with a new name for his blog for Fridays. Why? Because every Friday he is going to be giving away FREE STUFF! That's right! FREE STUFF! All you have to do is go to his blog, leave a comment on FRIDAY of every week until Jesus returns*, and you will be entered into a random drawing for FREE STUFF!

So, as I said, I won his contest with my idea of renaming his blog "Free is the New Friday." I took inspiration from the current name of his blog "Big is the New Small." So, every Friday, his blog's name will change to "Free is the New Friday." Pretty neat idea (his, that is).

Thanks, Scott for picking me and I'm looking forward to my new book!

*Scott may not do this every week until Jesus returns...I just put that part in there for laughs. Then again....?

Ummmm, I Think I May Have Some Trouble Ahead!

OK. This was too funny not to post. I know we are all born sinners, but REALLY? THIS EARLY? Pray for me! Hahaha!

It's My 100th Blog Post!

I've been intentionally waiting to blog this post so I could include pictures of my baby girl! Her name is Kari Lynn Marie, and she is just amazing. She is doing well and her mom and I feel incredibly blessed to be her parents. God truly is amazing!

So, if you want, you can see her pics here and also here. It's taken me a little while to figure out Flickr and to upload all the pics - what with having to peform feedings and changing diapers I haven't had a lot of free time! But, I'm looking forward to blogging consistently again. God has been stirring a lot of thoughts lately - I'm even mulling over a book idea!

Thanks again to all who have emailed, called, commented with encouraging words and well-wishes. You can not know how much they mean to us! Also, we started a family blog so all our friends and family can keep up with us. You can see it here.

God is good!

Overwhelmed by Generosity

This a blog about generosity. Michele and I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our family and friends these past few weeks. Whether it's the random phone calls just to tell us we are being held up in prayer, a funny, encouraging card, the unexpected checks to go towards our adoption costs, or the unbelievable outpouring of diapers, clothes and various gifts....words can not describe how much all of this has touched our hearts. Deeply.

If there was a guage that measures just how much a person is being loved by others, our guage would be pegged right now. Check that, it would have broken the peg and be spinning like mad! It's been truly amazing to see God's love through His Church - all of you! You have certainly represented the lavish love our Savior has poured out upon the world.

So, from Michele and I, thank you so very much for your love for us and our baby girl. We are honored to share this journey with all of you!

Close to the End...or really, the Beginning!

Sorry for the long time between posts. We are nearing the finish line on our adoption! Our baby girl will be born sometime around July 22nd or so.

Please keep a few things in prayer for us between now and then:

Pray for Michele's and my health. The past 6 weeks have been nothing but run-and-gun for us. The stress and nonstop go-go-go is starting to wear us down. We'd really like to have our batteries fully recharged once this little girl arrives. I know we'll need them to be!
Pray for a smooth delivery for our birthmother (whom we adore!) and that our baby girl will be born pink and healthy.
Pray for our birthmother. She is such an amazing young lady, and I know she's going to be grieving the "loss" of this little one. Pray for God's peace and comfort upon her after the birth.
Finally, pray for our adoption to go through - the only snag in this whole process is the birthfather. He could choose to contest, which would cause us to lose the baby. Please pray for God to move him to either not get involved or at least to give his consent. We are believing God is working on our behalf!

Thanks again, to all of you who take the time to read this blog. Once she gets here, there will be more consistent posts. I hope and pray God is bigger to you today than He was yesterday!