It’s a new year; lets try this again…

OMG!!! Look at that beard!!!

Haley, Rachel: I’m sorry I’ve not been supportive of the blog for so long.  I’m not trying to make excuses; it just had to be moved down on the priority list for a while.  Thanks for keeping it up, and posting a couple times.  I’ve decided to get back into it again, because, as you’ll read, Marissa and I are trying to be better stewards; again.

To the World at large, well, read through the pages and you should be able to understand where we’re at.  This post is all about short quick statuses to get everybody up to speed on what I’ve been up to.

Family:

1. We had family over for the holidays, tons of people.  We came and went to Florida for a few days.  The holiday’s were cool, but I’m glad they’ve come and gone.  I’m looking forward to normal life again.
2. The kids continue to get bigger and bigger.  God has blessed me with attractive kids… teenage and puberty are going to be great!!!
3. Marissa still loves me, praise the Lord!

Ben:

1. I’ve got a beard!!!!   It took a lot of getting used to, but I’ve got the hang of it now.
2. I’m 7.67% done with my latest attempt to read through the Bible cover to cover.  After trying and failing so many times to complete a 1 year plan, I’ve opted for a 90 day plan.  It’s about 12 to 15 chapters a day and it’s going well so far… 8 days in and I haven’t fallen behind yet.  Something about reading and seeing so much history in each sitting makes it seem more like a book and less compartmentalized then it does when I read just a little each day.
3. I’m trying to loose weight and get healthy.  My Wii avatar got fat after I did the Wii Fit Plus physical evaluation… that was humbling.  Evidently, I’m obese… I knew I was overweight, but obese just seems wrong.

Life Group:

1. We’re continuing to meet on Wednesday nights in our home.  We had 9 adults and 9 kids this week.  We’ve had as many as 15 adults, the holidays really threw a wrench to many of our meetings.
2. We’ve studied all the way through chapter 3 of James to date.  We get to get into chapter 4 next week.
3. We’ll be signing up to lead another group after we finish James.  I’m praying about what book to study next.

Family:

1. We’re doing better at “homeschooling” our kids now than we’ve ever done in the past.  It’s exciting.  I think the best thing is that I work normal hours, those combined with our semi-normal routines, makes the parenting thing so much cooler lately.  Our lives used to be so involved with either ourselves or church we had absolutely no free time. (This is because I wasn’t serving from pure motives, read James 4:1-4, that’s where I was at. The kids have a Dad again!!!)

Environment:

1. It was in the mid-fourty’s today, I was in a short sleave shirt again!!!!  We’ve still got snow that needs to melt.
2. It’s neat to have seasons, but almost claustrophobic to be stuck indoors so much.  I mean, you can go outside, it’s just not any fun…  I’m the palest I’ve ever been…   pasty
3. I’m excited about spring time coming, I miss the life.

Work:

1. It’s going well…  We’ve been here for just over 1 year now.  I’m finally feeling like I might start having a handle on what my job entails, or maybe better said, getting my job done each day.  My employees are great, and I really am blessed in all of the aspects.  God’s still got his hand on my career.

Holy Home:

1. I think I’m starting to get old…   or thinking like a grown up finally…  Anyway, we’re starting to see some of the things we’ve been “teaching” our kids through our choices and are finally trying to address them.
2. We’re not watching American Idol this season… Not that it’s evil…  I just couldn’t think of a single good reason to watch it.  Not a good one.  And with no good reason, we’re gonna sit this season out.  We’re trying to take the same approach with many of the things that take our time away from each other.

Youth Groupie stuff:

1. I’m at some type of crossroads in the ministry/mission/purpose God’s given me.  I’m not sure where it will turn next.  I’m just trying to be patient and attentive.
2. I’ve been saddened as of late by all of the failure I’m seeing in the teens out there.  My heart yearns for kids to keep themselves from all of the mistakes I made.  There are a couple young people who by all appearances look to be making it through life unscathed, but many have chosen the dark side, or are flirting with it.
3. I’ve started to see the hope that shines through brokenness in all of it, and am excited on where my mission with the teens might go next.  I’m honestly thinking about trying to secure some kind of counseling, or psychologist training…   who knows?

I can’t really think of anything else at the moment.

Haley and Ray, thanks again and sorry its been so long.  I’m looking forward to 2010, it’s like a new era, kinda weird almost.

P.S. If anybody’s got anything they’d like to talk about or would like commented on, please let me know and thanks for reading!!!!

I’m out,

Ben

An Awesome God

I can’t believe how long its been since I’ve blogged! This post is going to be me kind of rambling, but here I go!

I recently read Job 38, (which is a really awesome passage that you should read if you haven’t yet!) and it hit me that the God who tells the ocean where to stop, the sun when to rise, and the rain when to fall, is the same God who’s a part of my life and cares about my day-to-day stuff that seems so silly compared to His greatness. In school, I’m taking an apologetics class, and we’re studying religions that view God as an impersonal, distant, and aloof being. I know that the opposite to be true, and I think it’s so awesome that I can know the God in Job 38, and He cares about me and is involved in my seemingly insignificant life. But then I think how dumb it is for me to constantly think that “I can take care of this myself” and “I know what I’m doing”, when God’s resume way over-qualifies Him to take care of me, which is what He really wants to do. Sometimes I want to just “fix” situations and take care of them, instead of talking to God about it.

And there are people in my life right now who are sick, going through divorce, are struggling at school and with friends, etc., and I wish I could do something about it. I like immediate solutions, instant gratification, stuff like that, and sometimes its hard for me to just stop and pray for others and myself, when sometimes that’s all I can do. But in knowing that God is such a personal God, and seeing in Job 38 how incredibly huge and capable He is, I’ve been realizing how ignorant I am and that I really can trust Him with everything. I’m really glad about that, because if it were all up to me, I’d probably end up breaking even more the things I try to fix. I’m finding that there’s incredible freedom in handing things over to God and letting Him take care of me and my life. God is continuing to help me trust and give things over to Him; I’m in super-capable hands!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5&6

Hayley

I finally blogged again…

So it as been awhile since I last blogged.. I will use this post as a catch up post. Lets see so much as changed since I last blogged. My life progressed super fast in the last month.

First, I got a Job, I am now working at Oudom’s Thai and Sushi in downtown Mt.Dora, Im a  hostess and it is crazy. I am so blessed to get such a good job, I love it. All my coworkers are great,My boss is great. I am the baby and the only one who works their who is under 18, But it is a really good overall job I work alot, about 18 hours a week.So I have been SO busy.

Next, I am going to be driving soon! Which I am super excited about, now that I work and make money I will hopefully be getting a car and driving.

And last I am also going to start dual enrolling at Lake Sumter, working towards my AA. Everything is happening so fast, and It’s crazy for me to think I will be 17 in a few months, and only have 1 more year of highschool left, it’s bittersweet.

But so many choices are ahead of me, and it is so overwelming. Please pray I make the right decisons. And can stay focused because as you can see I have alot on my plate!

Well, that’s my catch up post. I FINALLY blogged! woo hoo!

Ray

‘Wrong’ Way on a One Way Street

I’ve been finding that the road the world wants to take me down and the path that God has for me are clashing more and more. It seems like I’m faced with “forks in the road” everyday, where I have the choice of taking the path that leads to destruction (but that can look pretty nice sometimes) and the more difficult (but more fulfilling and rewarding) path of righteousness.

God has been making clear for me the line between the world’s ways and His ways that the devil makes so blurry. I really cannot be on the fence, where it appears to just be comfortable and cushy.

Right now God is showing me decisions I have to make regarding relationships, caring/not caring what the world says about me, and what I’m willing to do for him. But every time I choose to follow God, it seems like I’m immediately faced with opposition.

But I know that God is not leaving me alone in these decisions. He has been putting some really wise and encouraging people in my life and has been lifting me up through those people and through his Word. Rachel has been one of those encouragers and has set an awesome example for me of following Jesus even when it’s not the ‘cool’ thing to do or when you face opposition. My high school small group leader said that we will face a lot of difficulty and conflict when we mess with Satan’s plans and try to ‘swim up-stream’, but that all of the hardships that force us to depend on God for strength can bring us so much closer to him in the end. I believe her, even though the ways of the world seem so much easier at times. I know I was never promised that following Jesus would be a piece of cake, and sometimes it’s really hard for me to stick with him. But I was also promised that he will never leave me, and that when things get hard, he will guide me through it. I hope that during all this, God will teach me how to fall on him and trust him completely. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and swayed by the sin and deception in the world, but fortunately, God is so much bigger than all of that.

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

Hayley

Who Are You???

I been given the opportunity to work with the 11th and 12th grade youth members.

What an awesome blessing.

I often feel like I’ve been gifted by God to work with the Youth, then I volunteer to do something, then I get nervous and feel like I was presumptious, and am not really gifted after all.  I spend time in doubt and worry, then finally get to a point of no return and am crossed between excited and hopeless.  But, without fail, after I commit to the path, and give it my best effort, God always works it out for good.  Tonight was one of those nights.

I had a message to share:  Teens need to have a good self identity.  Not a good self esteem, but identity.  One based upon God, and who they are through Him.  We looked at David, and how God chose him, and how David really knew who he was.  We looked at 1 Sam 13:7 and saw that God doesn’t judge based upon outward appearances.  We looked at Psalm 139 and saw that David gave God credit for who he was even from his mother’s womb.  We looked at Jeremiah and saw that God has plans for us.  God created us, God defines what is actually valuable, God has a plan for us.  From the begining we are who we are because what God has done and will do for us.

It went great.  They nodded and got it.  I was prepared for the 1 question that came up.  It was fun.

What’s coolest is that the Pastor said that one/some of the kids said they had fun and I did good.  I had another teen comment on my facebook page that she had fun.

It’s just awesome when you get to look back and see God using you, even when you don’t feel quite adequate.

God is Good!!!