Amazing Visitor at Church

Posted on May 3, 2009 by David

First NazToday we shared our journey so far with Wycliffe at the First Church of the Nazarene in Warrensburg. Part of our story includes an assignment I accepted five years ago related to the Parable of the Talents, I was given $50 and 3 months to multiply the money and advance the Kingdom of God.

There was a group of Bible Translators in Sierra Leone that needed two new laptop computers to finish the translation of the Kona language, God provided the $850 needed to get the laptops to the translators. Almost four years later and two weeks before we left for our initial training with Wycliffe we received a letter that Kona translation had been completed and they were celebrating the dedication of the New Testament in that language.

Today after we shared a visitor to that church who came with her friend shared with us that she was born in Sierra Leone and the Kona language was her tribal language and although she came to the United States as a young child she is now a college student and can still read the Kona language!

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. Revelation 7:9 (NIV)

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Miniature Golf

Posted on May 2, 2009 by David

Joshua running and JonahIt was a great afternoon and the boys had some excess energy that we needed to drain before nap time so we decided to take them miniature golfing. After reviewing some of the basics on how to hold the club and that you don’t swing it like a baseball bat the boys did very well. The only hole-in-one was achieved by Jonah. And we only had to hide behind the bushes once to take care of something that you can only take care of when you are outside on a golf course when you hide behind something like a tree or bush, if you’re not sure what that is don’t worry about it.

Now my concern is what happened to the free game you would get when you were able to do something impossible on the 19th hole. This particular course no longer has a special 19th hole to win a  free game but they do have a special ball return that reminded me of Plinko from the Price is Right.jonah

All the boys were able to sink their balls into the little cup and as we waited for a special prize we received a coupon for a buy-one round of golf get-one round of golf free, while this is nice the coupons are only good for 43 days.

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Jonah Singing Jesus Loves Me

Posted on May 1, 2009 by David

I was working at the computer and Jonah was sitting beside me just singing his little heart out. He loves to make a joyful noise! Sometimes he makes up his own songs but I can never seem to capture those on video. He is wearing his signature “soft blue tape” and relaxing in the bean bad chair as he sings Jesus Loves Me. This is the most well known song Christian song in the world – Time to start learning it in French so I can upload that video also.

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Public Restrooms

Posted on April 29, 2009 by David

Now that Jonah is a big boy, see the Bendaroos post in case you missed this journey into the next level of childhood, he is now one of the elite who is privileged to stand in public restrooms to find relief at the special invention called a urinal. I’m not sure why this seemed so special to him because he has been in many public restrooms over the years but today’s visit was special. As he stood there staring down at the plastic guard over the blue urinal cake, this is a special invention that makes tinkle smell good, he spotted something special.

Urinal with Cake

Urinal with Cake

It was a piece of gum.

He continued to ask the following questions, as he reached for it.

Is that gum? Can I have it? Why is it there? Does it go down with the tinkle? Whose gum is it? How did it get there? Why can’t I touch it? Can I tinkle on it?

You never know when you are going to learn another lesson in life, but one thing is for sure if it’s in the urinal it is always fair game to tinkle on.

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Dandelions, lawn mowers and God’s amazing blessings

Posted on April 28, 2009 by David

Dandelion Stomp FestJoshua and Jonah love running around attacking the ever consuming dandelion field that is growing in our backyard. I was going to make a joke about how the riding lawn mower has lost the battle in the landlord’s backyard (he lives next door) to the ever attacking grass. But something else has trumped both of these.Lawn Mower

After our family walk around the neighborhood we were playing outside, trying not to get lost in the field of 12 inch tall dandelions. Out of the corner of our eyes we saw the man who lives across the street mowing our front lawn; we had not formally met prior to this. After he finished mowing the entire yard I thanked him and offered to pay him and he told me not to worry about it with both have the same Father. Michael without a doubt was who God used to bless my socks off tonight.

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Story about God’s amazing love

Posted on April 27, 2009 by David

Today was the Wycliffe Spring Scripture Celebration and they celebrated the dedication of 10 Bibles in 9 countries that represent over 1 million people that speak those languages. They had a live web stream and I watched this live and it was awesome.

I’m always in awe when I hear the stories of how God uses so many to get His Word out for everyone and in so many different ways.

One translation was started when a man fell out of a tree and broke his leg and as he sat in the hospital the only thing he had to read was a Bible in a language that he didn’t understand. God moved his heart to get a translation started.

God will use anything that will bring him glory and he is always faithful.

Feel free to watch the celebration and enjoy. (It’s about an hour long)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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Why did the turkey cross the road?

Posted on April 26, 2009 by David

We were driving down Hwy 13 towards Clinton MO and I saw a huge turkey out in the field and as we got closer the turkey started running towards the road. Before the turkey was about to run into the road it attempted to fly, he was at least 8 inches off the ground when he hit the center of the minivan head on. I was able to assist him a little higher into the air but I don’t think knocking all his feathers off helped with the flight or the turkey’s overall health. After the feathers settled to the road and into the radiator most of the turkey was on the other side of the road and we managed to keep driving down the road as he hobbled off into the field.

We had the discussion if we should stop but we decided if he wasn’t dead how much help would it be for us to bludgeon it with a tire iron vs the coyote that had a tenderized turkey breast for dinner.

Below is a picture of the damage the turkey did. Most of the turkey blood is gone but Jonah is still telling people that we have turkey blood all over the minivan.

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If the turkey was just trying to get to the other side he will need to fly higher next time, or at least that would be my recommendation.

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Moth vs the Light

Posted on April 24, 2009 by David

I know that spring is here when you open the door in the evening, and the big moths fly in and circle the ceiling fan.  Tonight this really intrigued the boys and as they cheered for me to kill it, they put their hands over their mouth whenever the enemy swopped down from the ceiling. I figured Joshua was still sensitive about his teeth [See the Emergency Room Visit] but I’m not really sure why Jonah was doing it; I guess he thought it would fly in his mouth.

After a few minutes of striking out I lost sight of the flying nemesis but my sons informed me that it was stuck on top of the ceiling fan. So I moved the chair over and swapped the now crispy critter to the floor. The boys examined it and informed me that it was dead.

I guess this little light of mine was just too much heat for this creature.

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Town Hall for Hope

Posted on April 23, 2009 by David

In July 2006 DeAnna introduced me to Dave Ramsey on the way to the airport and after buying The Total Money Makeover and applying those principles with gazelle like intensity we were able to get out of debt in 15 months and be prepared for what God had planned for us in our lives. It was October 2007 that we first starting looking at Wycliffe and one of the first questions they asked us was, if there was any debt in our lives? We were able to share with the recruiter what we had done to pay off the $38,000.

Tonight was the Town Hall for Hope event with Dave Ramsey and I was able to attend a live simulcast with over 1,000,000 others who wanted to hear what Dave had to say about the economy and I just wanted to share his 3 main points for those who were unable to attend.

Get up and Take ActionYou are the cure, America. No one else is going to solve your problems for you-that’s your job! Find out how you can take control of your money, turn back the fear in your community, and hold your representatives accountable for the decisions they’re making on your behalf.

Stop Listening To Loser Talk We’re sick and tired of the “loser talk” that has permeated the media, the water cooler and the internet. Stop listening to the garbage, and start speaking a word of hope!

Start Giving

Learning how to give-whether it’s money, time or support-changes your whole mindset. Dave says it pretty clearly: “We can’t win if we can’t give.” If you want to win with money and change the nation, you’ve got to learn how to give again.

 

But above all the most important thing that he said tonight was that Hope comes from God alone, and the only way to truly have hope is to Place your hope in the nail scarred hands of Jesus Christ.

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Emergency Room Visit

Posted on April 22, 2009 by David

emergency1

As we were walking into Awana tonight and Joshua was practicing his Bible verse “God created the heavens and the earth,” and then man created the sidewalk with neatly edged grass. [Italics were not part of his verse but were part of the accident] Somehow he got his arm tangled in his Sparks vest as he was sucking his fingers and looking around behind him. Before we knew what happened he had dove head first into the sidewalk.

Upon first examination it looked like he had knocked out his two front teeth and had bitten down to the bone of his finger since he was sucking on them when he hit the sidewalk.  Thankfully we were less than 200 yards from the nearest emergency room and a screaming child seems to get you moved to the front of the line when they are bleeding from the mouth. After a few minutes the doctor had pulled his tooth back inline (or at least a little bit more inline) and he had stopped crying. But since he bit so hard on his finger he gets to have a dose of penicillin to make sure he doesn’t give himself cooties.

We are blessed that he is doing OK and he is looking forward to a diet of ice cream and ice cream. He doesn’t really eat soup and we couldn’t think of any other soft food that he would like.

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