Righteousness’ Bad Wrap

If I were asked what true religion looks like, honestly, I might paraphrase half a scripture from James 1 about caring for orphans and widows.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress . . .”

“Right on!” many would say. As I took another look at James this morning I realized that this response is both half the scripture and half of James’ message.

He continues, “To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Sadly, a righteous life has gotten a bad wrap among many Christian circles. To guard yourself from spiritual pollution is to be ignorant, uncultured, and out of touch.

I pray that we all would value holiness more and more and that we might recognize that religion accepted by God is more than one dimensional.

San An Tone, here we come!

Sulphur Springs High School (my high school) is heading to the Texas Class 4A Division II state championship!

The Cats have had an incredible season and they are one win away from their first ever title. You might recall a post earlier this season regarding their spotlight game on ESPN 2.

Jump on the Blue and Gold bandwagon and let's cheer them on!

Read More


***Update***

Wildcats win! 69-49

How spiritual are you?

Recently I learned that a good test of your spirituality is whether or not you can read the various Bible genealogies and be touched. Boy do I have a long way to go!

Our First Christmas Tree

We now have our very own Christmas tree!





Last Christmas we were treeless, aside from the miniature decor tree that set a towering foot tall on an end table in the cozy space we started in. We are thankful to be able to celebrate this Christmas, our second married Christmas, in style.

I realized recently that if our plans and dreams continue to unfold as they have been, we have only two additional holiday seasons with our families before traveling south. It is kind of a gloomy thought but even more exciting as we realize that this long awaited moment is quickly approaching.

Maybe next year we can place presents below the tree without fear of the Blanconator.

For the Love of the Gain

There is a part of me that longs for wealth. Not just any small fraction of my being but a big part, too big a part. I want luxury, security, and pleasure. The thoughts of comforting insurance policies, smart financial investments, and higher salaries float around in my head too regularly.

I’m facing a very difficult tension. A Christian society that says most of these things are good and wise to pursue. In fact, this is often termed good stewardship, a godly trait. And the other side, a radical lifestyle of poverty, sacrifice, and selflessness that Christ’s own life portrayed.

I attempt to filter our culture’s espoused needs with the values of scripture and it exhausts me. Isn’t it a good thing to be concerned with retirement and children’s education funds? Was Christ not worried about such things only because he knew he would die at the age of 33 and that he would father no children and leave behind no wife?

I’ve been reading through the New Testament books that follow the Gospels and this morning concluded I Timothy. Here is the passage that continued my wrestling over this matter.

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

Why am I not content with just knowing that I will be clothed and fed till the end of my days? Oh, and does this assurance entail name brands, large wardrobes, and fun dates to our favorite restaurants?

Some seem content with their answers to these questions but for us it is an ongoing battle. We are striving to make wise decisions with the provisions we are given without falling in love with the safety and material possessions we can purchase with it, remembering that we take nothing with us.

It seems that my longing needs to shift to contentment.

Instal Me One

Maybe you've heard about the MSNBC host that dropped the "F-bomb", as it's called, on national television. Thanks for the aricle Yahooo! News.


After an F-bomb dropped on "Morning Joe," the MSNBC news-talk show has installed an early-warning system.

A seven-second delay was added with Tuesday's broadcast, to protect against future eruptions such as that of host Joe Scarborough, who seemed to surprise even himself with his verboten utterance.

Scarborough slipped Monday while attempting to describe the rawboned manner of Rahm Emanuel, incoming White House chief of staff for President-elect Barack Obama.

Amid his many on-air apologies, Scarborough said, "My wife is going to kill me when I get home" and spoke of washing out his mouth with soap.

The delay will not be on any other MSNBC programming, according to spokesman Jeremy Gaines. When asked whether it had been ordered up by network brass or requested by Scarborough, Gaines said, "It was a mutual decision."

Former MSNBC morning host Don Imus aired his show with a similar delay, Gaines noted.


Poor guy, I watched the clip and it was pure accident. I don't know him well but it seemed out of character for him to throw around such a crude word. It was a clear slipup.

So MSNBC is installing this new system that will provide a 7 second delay in order to censor any more slipups by Joe. I'm wondering if I could get one.

Wouldn't that be nice?

I mean, I wouldn't need it for crude language. That never happens to me. But for the less unusual moments when I am overly confrontational, insensitive, or just plain rude, then it would get some use.

How much do you think one of those costs? Maybe they have price breaks for ordering larger quantities. You know . . . group rates! Anyone else need one?

Missions Training, Part 2

Througout this semester our team has meet each Tuesday evening for a time of mentoring with Gary Green, the Latin America Missions Coordinator for Halbert Institute for Missions. Gary is a dear friend of ours and has been so encouraging and influential in our team's formation.

Our time together this semester has largely centered around genograms. Each individual on our team drew their genogram (similar to a family tree) and presented it to the team. There were times we laughed hysterically and times a box of kleenexes would have been handy. Our families, whether for good or bad, have been very formative in our lives. By learning more about each other's family of origin we are able to better understand each others personalities, values, and background.


Here's a shot of our most recent get together.


Also during our time together each Tuesday we have spent time in prayer, discussing pressing issues, and processing other training experiences. After each meeting it has practically become a tradition for us to go to dinner together. It has been a great semester so far in our team's development.

Green After All

Turns out I'm green after all.

Check how big your foot print is here.

4.55! Who wants some!?!

Missions Training, Part 1

Recently our team was approached by Halbert Institute for Missions at ACU, the organization training our team, about us planning and hosting an upcoming event. Each semester Halbert sponsors an event like this to inform the ACU community about the organization and missions opportunities.

Here are some pics from the Missional Learning Party that we threw. These are shot by DPS.

Fellowship



Game Time



Discussion



This was a great opportunity for us to get some practical experience organizing and implementing a plan. It definitely served as a good preface for our weekend training retreat just a week later (Which we'll get to in the next post).

Rosa

Today at work I received a letter from Rosa who is serving a life sentence in prison. She has been in prison for more than ten years. She hasn’t seen or heard from her husband in nearly eight years; her mother for five years; her daughters and brother the whole time she’s been there.

Rosa wanted to know whether to quit writing them.

She went on to tell me that the sentence she is serving is unjust since she was erroneously convicted of the crime that brought her there. As I wrote Rosa back I wondered whether I had any wisdom or encouragement to share. I continued either way. Just before slipping the letter into the envelope I realized that maybe it didn’t matter what I wrote but that I was writing.

Near my signature I jotted, “Write to me. I’ll write back.”

I pray that she finds hope in Jesus and finds the strength to press on.

Champions League 08-09

As all of you know the Champions League got rolling a couple weeks ago.

Eight groups of four, the best club teams of the 07-08 season in Europe, are battling to take the trophy from Manchester United, last year's victor. This is the most prestigious tournament in club soccer.

Since I track Manchester United most closely I'll catch you up on their situation.

They have found themselves in a challenging but still optimistic situation within Group E.

Group E:
Manchester United (07-08 English champions and 07-08 Champions League champions), Villareal (07-08 Spanish runner-up), Aalborg Boldspilklub (07-08 Danish champions), and Celtic (07-08 Scottish champions).

Each team will play their group opponents twice, once at home and once away. Tomorrow's games start the second of 6 games played within the group stage. Manchester United will be traveling to Aalborg after their 0-0 draw with Villareal at home. Fortunately the other two teams within their group (Aalborg and Celtic) also ended in a scoreless draw so little ground was lost.

After the first round of matches a couple formidable teams to watch are Chelsea and Inter.

Check back in later this week to find out how Manchester faired against Aalborg.


Manchester United after winning the 07-08 tournament.

***UPDATE***


3-0 Manchester, thanks to Wayne Rooney (22') and Dimitar Berbatov (55' and 79')

The Youth of Chile

I've sat here for some time now trying to figure out how to introduce this article to you. I've been searching for words that would keep me from sounding "holier than thou" or as if I have confused our plans for working in Chile with some heroic or messiah-like mission.

Darkness like this, stealing the beautiful hearts and robbing the innocence of the young in Chile, it's one of the reasons we press on. It's surely one of the reasons we feel burdened to go.

A teammate passed this article to us today from the New York Times.

"In Tangle of Young Lips, a Sex Rebellion in Chile"

Being Cultural

I’ve been troubled by something lately and I’d like to hear your opinion on the subject. Ellen and I have chosen to limit our intake of certain media/entertainment (I didn't say eliminate all). Not because sitting around on the couch all day and night promotes obesity . . . which it does. Not because it eliminates the opportunities for quality conversations . . . which it does. We do this because much of the content of these sitcoms, blockbusters, and musical best hits are contradictory of what we value most.

I have had multiple conversations lately with people in a position of spiritual leadership who take a much different stance on this subject. I have heard a couple different arguments for why this is appropriate but the number one response is:

Christians need to be in touch with culture in order to effectively engage the world.

This is the response that has me staggering. For me it doesn’t add up how Christians who supposedly value holiness would consistently subject their spirits to things immoral. Now maybe a person can admit that they are entertained by these industries but aren’t cloaking this indulgence with a claim to such higher intentions. I can respect that. At least they are being true to themselves. Maybe some genuinely believe that these tendencies are actually praiseworthy and honorable since their intentions are to understand culture in order to reveal Christ in a relevant way.

Seriously?

So it’s not because the vulgar humor is absolutely hysterical? Or that the dramatic love triangles excite the romantic in you? And it’s surely not that the suspenseful violent combat leaves you on the edge of your seat? And you definitely don’t watch because the steamy sexual scenes make your heart pound?

I find these same things entertaining. I’m disappointed to say that sometimes we stretch and bend our stance on this issue since we too are in battle with our fleshly nature. Another reason we are tempted to compromise is that quality wholesome entertainment is few and far between. I’m just wondering if Christians are watering down their convictions and values so that we’ll have something entertaining to experience and then masking our reasoning behind a pursuit of being relevant for the world’s spiritual sake. Meanwhile our spirits are under attack.

Do I have to know the cast and current happenings of Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes and the like to be culturally relevant in our world?

What do you think? Are we watering down God’s call in our lives? Or is this a truly honorable attempt at eventually sharing Jesus more effectively?

Dancing Machines!

Turn your speakers on and hang on tight for a special surprise around 1:50.

Leader?

Brant Hansen put together this list contrasting LeaderMan and Servant Leader. LeaderMan leads. Servant Leader leads to Jesus.

Enjoy!

-----------
Servant Leader: Has something to say

LeaderMan: Wants a platform on which to say something
-----------
LeaderMan: You almost feel you know his family, because he's your Leader

Servant Leader: You allow him to influence you, because you know his family
-----------
LeaderMan: Wants you to know he's a Leader

Servant Leader: You're not sure he knows he's a leader
-----------
LeaderMan: Loves the idea of the Gospel, and the idea of The Church

Servant Leader: Loves God and the actual individual people God brings across his path
-----------
LeaderMan: A great speaker, but self-described as, "Not really a people person."

Servant Leader: Makes himself a people person
-----------
LeaderMan: Helps you find where God is leading you in his organization

Servant Leader: Helps you find where God is leading you
-----------
LeaderMan: Gets together with you to talk about his vision

Servant Leader: Just gets together with you
-----------
LeaderMan: Resents "sheep stealing"

Servant Leader: Doesn't get the "stealing" part, since he doesn't own anyone to begin with
-----------
LeaderMan: Wants the right people on the bus

Servant Leader: Wants to find the right bus for you, and sit next to you on it
-----------
Servant Leader: Shows you his whole heart

LeaderMan: Shows you a flow chart
-----------
LeaderMan: A visionary who knows what the future looks like

Servant Leader: Knows what your kitchen looks like
-----------
LeaderMan: If it's worth doing, it worth doing with excellence

Servant Leader: Not exactly sure how to even calculate "worth doing"
-----------
LeaderMan: Talks about confronting one another in love

Servant Leader: Actually confronts you in love
-----------
LeaderMan: Impressed by success and successful people

Servant Leader: Impressed by faithfulness
-----------
LeaderMan: Invests time in you, if you are "key people"

Servant Leader: Wastes time with you
-----------
LeaderMan: Reveals sins of his past

Servant Leader: Reveals sins of his present
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LeaderMan: Gives you things to do

Servant Leader: Gives you freedom
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LeaderMan: Leads because of official position

Servant Leader: Leads in spite of position
-----------
LeaderMan: Deep down, threatened by other Leaders

Servant Leader: Has nothing to lose

Sweet Home Sulphur Springs

Thursday night ESPN2 will be spotlighting my hometown's high school football team as they take on recently number two ranked, Texas, Class 4A, Wichita Falls Rider (see here).

Not sure if I'll get the chance to watch but all 14,551 Sulphur Springsinians will be.

Go Wildcats!

***Update***

Sulphur Springs pulled it off! After being down in the first half they battled back to upset WF Rider 22-16.

The Intruder

"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.”

-Jesus

This weekend we had an intruder in our home. Before you become too frightened for us I’ll spoil the story by admitting it was only a tiny mouse. If you knew the terror that surges through Ellen at the smallest evidence of such a creature you might better understand this reality. Animal activists beware!

Recently we noticed that some creature had taken shelter within the walls of our home.

I laid out snares in hopes of capturing and disposing of our unwanted guest. After the sticky pad method fell through the cracks I resorted to more extreme measures. Last Christmas my brother gifted me with a very nice pellet gun outfitted with a scope. On Sunday morning I entered full-blown sniper role. I suspected the tiny rodent had evaded the sticky pads, garnished with dog food and a pinch of cheddar cheese, to hide itself under our china cabinet or possibly inside it. So I waited, positioned at the foot of the staircase, taking aim. At last the fur-ball peeked out. In a hurry I tried to center the cross hairs but was spotted before squeezing the trigger. It raced back underneath its shelter.

For another 10 minutes I waited, reciting the line from The Patriot silently within my head, “Aim small, miss small”. Indeed, my target was small. Only an expert marksman could take down such a beast from nearly fifteen feet. Again the fuzzy critter reared its head and inched out cautiously from underneath the cabinet. With fingers crossed I squeezed the trigger and watched my prey scurry in a small circle before darting back under its hideaway.

I could hear it rummaging around underneath. I felt certain I had missed and that it had lodged itself somewhere within our cabinet. So I dug through each drawer, armed with cooking tongs in one hand to open drawers and shuffle there contents and a three foot piece of quarter round trim in the other, ready to wallop any sign of life. After successfully clearing each possible compartment with no sign still of the enemy, I decided to pull the cabinet from the wall in order to take a better look. In full man-mode I didn’t even consider simply grabbing a flashlight to shine underneath or maybe I did and I was too concerned that in my absence it would evade my pursuit.

When I pulled the cabinet from the wall I noticed a tiny tail lingering at the edge of the cabinet’s new position. Concerned that it might only be in freeze-mode, hoping that if it didn’t budge it would go unnoticed, I poked around with the stick of quarter round hoping to thaw its freeze. The little tail didn’t shift a bit. My heart leaped at the realization that I had successfully defended our home and put to rest Ellen’s discomfort. As I pulled out the trespasser with the quarter round by its still stagnant tail, I took noticed that I had actually struck it with my earlier shot. The man in men stood proud.

I trotted back to the bedroom to boast to my wife that I successfully guared our house.

Out of Africa

I've just returned from a two week trip to Africa. It was a great experience, but I am so thankful to be back home. Here are a couple of snapshots from my trip.



Me and my bed.



Speaking at the Leadership Seminar.



Boy inside the Malawian church.



Me on the bus preparing for the 15 hour ride into Mozambique.



A view from the bus ride. Mt. Mulanje, the tallest mountain in Malawi. In the foreground, a field of tea crops.



A view from the Malawi-Mozambique border.



A Mozambican boy.



A crowd that gathered to listen.



Me.

Greatest American Dog!

We've Got a Lot to Learn

We had the chance to unload some of our faith questions and spiritual journey status with some good friends of ours recently. It was definitely motivating for each of us. One of the things we realized is how much more we need to immerse ourselves in God’s word. An idea that was suggested was to explore the Word in search of some guidance for being a disciple. That’s what we are right, disciples?

Disciple essentially means “learner of Christ”. Sometimes we get into slumps and we stop learning. Together we decided that it would be good for us to reenter the role of being a student of Christ. So we are examining God’s word to find out what Jesus taught his disciples, what mistakes they made, what they got right, etc.

I’ll tell you what has gotten me so excited about learning more. We’ve realized this is a mutual need and desire and we are going to “hit the books” or “The Book” together, sharing what is revealed to us about being a disciple, a learner of Christ. It’s such a blessing to share transparently where you are in your faith and then to link up and pursue God more intensely.

Please pray for us because while this is a step of faithfulness our faith has been weak lately. Thankfully God is steadfast and he rejoices in our decision to press on.

Pastel de Choclo

This past weekend Ellen and I were in definite need of a quiet evening to our selves. I did some checking around trying to find a fun recipe for the two of us to cook together. Cooking has always been something we enjoy doing together. I decided to look into some Chilean dishes that I had read were popular.

That's when I discovered Pastel de Choclo. Ellen and I shopped for the fixings and on Saturday evening we enjoyed this authentic Chilean cuisine.

Choclo is Spanish for clog but Mapuche for corn. I guess the latter is a better translation since it is a Mapuche dish. So a good English translation might be Corn Cake. It's basically a corn and chicken casserole, but it has lots of other interesting additions that make it very unique, like raisins and boiled eggs.

The Mapuche are Indians that still inhabit parts of southern Chile. Similar to the history of many other Latin American countries and the United States for that matter, native Americans (or native South Americans) have played a significant role in the development of national culture.

We proudly present to you our very first homemade authentic Chilean dish . . .







Here's the recipe.

The Farm

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July weekend. We were able to spend it with three of our teammates, Chad, Sara, and Deanna. It was a blast! It was really awesome to share with them my family, my hometown, and the farm.

Chile and Global Peace

As reported recently by our fellow teammate, Deanna, our team recently decided to shoot for next June for our next journey into the beautiful country of Chile. This will only be a "survey trip", research gathering in preparation for our move that will begin just a year and a half later.

It is exciting to have made this unified decision about the timing of this important trip. Together we will be surveying more extensively the physical and spiritual characteristics of Concepcion and the nearby cities. Hopefully with the research we will gather then we can strategize more intelligently, leaning heavily on the Spirit for lots of guidance along the way.

The other day I stumbled on these interesting findings. I thought some of you readers would take special interest in this since you are either, currently living abroad, wanting to eventually, or do/will have children living abroad (neither Ellen or I currently have children living abroad).

Thanks Vision of Humanity for composing this very interesting list ranking the worlds' countries by their peacefulness.

#1 Iceland
#5 Japan
#12 Switzerland
#19 Chile
#34 Costa Rica
#56 Argentina
#90 Brasil
#97 United States
#100 Ecuador
#113 Philippines
#140 Iraq

I am proud of our dear Chile for coming in 19th as the most peaceful of all the Central and South American countries. Mom and Dad, I am terrified by the fact that you are even considering the thought of continuing to live in the United States.

You can see the full list here.

Authentic?

Recently I attended a class on spiritual warfare. One of the messages the teacher was hitting on was immoral sensual indulgences. Sounds like a topic that could really stir up a good sized crowd, doesn’t it? The illustration used by the teacher was incredibly disappointing. [Side note: I have taught and it’s not as easy as it looks, but I am going to go off about this anyways.]

The teacher confessed that sometimes he struggles with eating too many sugar free cookies. I wanted to stand up and scream, “ARE YOU SERIOUS?” That’s your immoral indulgence?

Now it would be different if this person was chronically obese and he was chowing down on Twinkies and cupcakes 10 at a time. Not the case here though. I also realize that not everyone has to have an “immoral sensual indulgence” to confess at any given moment of their life. However, I can guarendainteeyou that someone in that class of 100 sure did, and that person swallowed theirs for another day.

How do confessions like this one help the church’s authenticity problems?

I’m not petitioning for some erotic or pornographic struggle to be confessed to this crowd of 100 on Sunday morning but surely there’s something a bit more concerning going on in our lives than the skinny person’s eating of a handful too many sugarless cookies?

The real admission should have been: “I get daily cravings for disgustingly tasteless cookies.”

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Is maintaining a blog vain? If a blog is for journaling or self reflection, aren't there notebooks for that which can be hidden under your mattress or something?

Maybe a blog is for maintaining relationships. That might be a less vain usage of the technology. Technologies like this one, texting, email, skype, etc., have aided to our over extendedness. Yeah, we can keep up with more old friends but friendships of any depth seem to be less common. Maintaining relationships or friendship building via blogs sounds good, but I suspect their truer application is a manner to spy on each other's inner thoughts or life happenings. How often do you blog hop without leaving a word behind? And if you did leave a word or thought, how long would it take before you wore yourself out?

I mean, what are these counters for but to measure how popular your blog is? Seems vain to me. The biggest reason I haven't included one here is because it likely wouldn't budge. You see, I'm concerned about popularity too.

The usage of blogs, and the like, which seems least vain might be to chronicle experiences for those from far away who are invested in you, whether, emotionally, spiritually, financially, or otherwise. This is typically a way to satisfy a need for connectedness to those supporters of you or whatever you are doing.

I guess some people just like to write and for their writings to be read and appreciated. It sounds dumb to even say, but if people weren’t doing it, putting there thought to “paper”, we would have a lot less to read out there. So I’m glad some do.

So, I guess I’m not advocating that folks shouldn’t write. Rather, I’m asking, what leads you to write?

Is this something that you, fellow bloggers, have asked? What keeps you blogging?

Our New Place

Here are some pictures of our new place. This is proof that we do own our own camera and are capable of not pirating pictures from the world wide web.



Blanco keeping a watch out.



Angel, the Shutt family's dog, visited Abilene a few weeks ago. This is a sweet moment she shared with Blanco. It's pretty much the only sweet moment that the two shared. Blanco was quite a nuisance to Angel so she was glad to finally get home.

Euro 2008

Another soccer tournament has started. It's a tournament between the top 16 international teams in Europe. It happens every four years and last year's victor was Greece. Out of the eight games played so far I have called all but one right.

I'm a bit sour that I still have to go to work. Tournaments like this should really be coupled with some holiday time.

***********

We are in our new house now and have settled in quite nicely. We lack finishing some decorating projects and assembling our dining table. We are so grateful to be in a larger place where our passion for hosting can thrive without so much limitation.

I am going to do my best to get some pictures of our place up soon.

How Bush Celebrated Memorial Day . . .

Thanks AP for the pic.

A Scary Confession

I cringe at the thought of church. That’s a scary confession for me to make. Scary because of what some of you might think of me even though I was honest enough to admit it. Many of these feelings are new to me. I just started unreservedly evaluating “church” in the last two years or so.

I have always found myself smack dab in the middle of a church that boasts of its unique friendliness, but I am felling far less than friendly towards church lately . . . and it hurts. The problem is that most any church I attend would in all likelihood fall short of my standard.

In reality a good portion of the things that set me off are things that I need to get over. However there is an even larger portion of things that can’t or more accurately shouldn’t be overlooked any longer.

This isn’t a tangent to devalue or even affirm your perspective of your church or church in general but to share my own. Not that I’m uninterested in your perspective but that this for me isn’t a soap box or a manner to persuade.

Another Angle

Let me give you some hope. Hope in me and hope in the church.

I am learning that church is Christ’s body and Christ’s body is his followers. In that sense of the word I am falling more deeply in love than ever with the church.

Special relationships are flourishing because of the common core we share which is Christ. We have begun to dream together about how we can take part in God’s kingdom. We spend time talking, laughing, eating, playing and praying.

I am learning that this too is church . . . and it feels great.

The Root of My Problem

To no one’s surprise I blame Satan. Is this a copout to you? Not to me. I think Satan expends a lot of energy trying to distort, dilute, and destroy the church.

He does so by challenging the good in us and highlighting the bad. We have let him get away with it to easily.

How I Can Fight Back

Dry it up! Quit my belly aching and be joyful, constructive, and optimistic.

Pray! Pray for the unity of believers that we might see the good in each other and strive for our full potential.

Get Out of the Rut! Pry off the shackles of traditions and paganism and live more fully. We've gotten lazy, uncreative, and boring. It’s time for this “body” to get in better shape. Get out of the Lazy Boy and go for a jog. Heck, even a road trip! Live a little!

Bucket List

From Wes:

On Wednesday I caught the Champions League final with my brother. Manchester United won by the way (It’s a big deal to the rest of the world). We were talking about our futures, and I mentioned to him that the 2014 World Cup is to be held in Brasil while we are living and working in Chile and that if he can he should visit. He got so pumped and was all like, “I’m there!” He said, “No, seriously, it’s on my bucket list”, which is when I asked him if he had seen the movie. He hasn’t.

He was so excited about the possibility of catching a World Cup game together that he immediately whipped out his cell phone calculator and started estimating what it might cost to pull it off. I loved it.

All this got me thinking. “Do I have a bucket list?” Not that it matters a whole lot because Jesus can come or God take me home whenever he wants and I won’t feel like I got gypped. Nevertheless, here are some of the biggies on my still growing Bucket List, all of which shall be done or accomplished with Ellen at my side.


Wesley’s Bucket List

1. Live in another country.
2. Become fluent in Spanish.
3. Attend a World Cup match in person.
4. Tour Europe.
5. Be a faithful follower of Christ.

So how about you? What do you want to do before you kick the bucket?

Off Center

From Wes:

Tomorrow is Ellen’s graduation. She is finishing her master’s degree in Speech Pathology. I am very proud of her for her academic accomplishments and maybe more so her perseverance.

This is just one of the many life changes that we have been on the brink of or have already undergone recently, each of which are exciting and have long been anticipated. You might be anticipating a “but” fast approaching, and I suspect in this post I can’t entirely avoid its use. Between changing positions at work, applying and beginning graduate school myself, Ellen’s graduation, her job hunt, a new season in our missions training, moving, etc., I am running out of steam and maybe even thankfulness.

At least life isn’t dull for us right now, right?

Would you pray that we would do better with maintaining our center? It’s easy to loose sight and faith in life when so many distractions are bombarding us. Pray that ours, our sight and faith, well be renewed in Christ Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit.

Speed Demons

From Wes:

Within the span of two weeks Ellen and I both have received our first ever speeding tickets. Can you believe this!? Now that I ask I recognize that many of you are actually likely surprised that this hasn’t happened before or even more regularly.

When Bo, the gentleman who served me my first ticket, pulled me over and leaned down outside the front passenger window, and said, “License and registration, please.” I knew I was hopeless. Things got even more hopeless when he said that he had clocked me at 80 mph, and I responded in disbelief, “80!” The surprised and contradictory tone that continued didn’t help either, “I had my cruise control set on 76!” I recognize that this shameless response only affirmed my guilt since the speed limit is 70.

Then this morning, Ellen called to tell me that she too had been handed hers while traveling back from Ft. Worth. Interestingly enough she was also cruising at 76 (I won’t include here that this was a 60 mph zone).

So . . . we will be scheduling a special date to celebrate this momentous occasion together by attending Defensive Driving.

Table for two!

Scholes' Scintillating Strike

This amazing strike from Manchester United's veteran midfielder, Paul Scholes, added the only aggregate that mattered to the teams tally and helped them progress to the final of club soccer's most highly esteemed tournament, the Champions League.

They will face fellow English club, Chelsea, in Moscow. It is the first all English championship in the tournaments history.

Interesting thing is, these two teams are also battling it out in the English Premier League which concludes soon. What a dream come true it would be for Manchester to walk away from this 2007-2008 season with both trophies.

Go Reds!

*My apologies if you have little interest in my futbol team*

**Yes, I do know what the word scintillating means**

-Wes

Keeping My Gut in Check

From Wes:

Today during my daily perusing of Latin American news I stumbled upon this embittering article on Yahoo News.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - One of South America's smallest countries proved on Sunday it can hold the biggest barbecue in the world.

Some 1,250 Uruguayan grillmeisters sizzled up 26,400 pounds (12,000 kilograms) of beef Sunday, beating a 2006 record set in Mexico.

"It's all so beautiful. It's a record," Guinness World Records judge Danny Girton said after the chefs, in white hats and aprons, smoked and barbecued their way into the record book with help of 6 tons of charcoal and 1,500 metal barbecue stands.

The barbecue was so big that firefighters were called in to light the grills and make sure the flames did not get out of hand. It beat the previous record of 17,600 pounds (8,000 kilograms) of beef, Girton said.

Uruguay, a ranching and farming nation, last year exported more than US$1 billion (euro630 million) in beef — its chief export.

The load of meat cooked Sunday set off swirling clouds of aromatic smoke, as 20,000 spectators devoured the cuts quickly.



Why would an article on the world’s largest barbecue embitter someone? Well it’s not because I am an animal rights activist (nor do I believe in animal cruelty) or because I have been debating on whether or not to become a vegetarian (nor is this a knock on you Dee, only coincidental).

Well, truth be told, I’m dieting. It’s no easy confession since during my younger days I held this notion that my high metabolism and regular activity would be enough to maintain this handsome physique forever. Well the metabolism is evidently slowing and the activity is becoming less regular, but my appetite is as steady as ever.

So yesterday I kicked of this diet that begins itself with a nine day first phase which allows only fruits and vegetables to be ingested. It was the imagining of the succulent aroma of that massive barbecue, the wafting scent of the mouth watering grilled beef . . . and mounds of it, that’s what made me a bit bitter.

Considering it is day two of nine I might need your prayers in the coming days.

Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Aston Villa

Check out this masterful goal by Cristiano as he flicks this bouncing deflected cross off the heel and through the legs of the Villa defender and into the back of the net.

The last angle shows most clearly what took place.

Enjoy.

-Wes

Faith and Medicine

The following story appeared in Yahoo News.

Police are investigating an 11-year-old girl's death from an undiagnosed, treatable form of diabetes after her parents chose to pray for her rather than take her to a doctor.

An autopsy showed Madeline Neumann died Sunday of diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that left too little insulin in her body, Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said.

She had probably been ill for about a month, suffering symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness, the chief said Wednesday, noting that he expects to complete the investigation by Friday and forward the results to the district attorney.

The girl's mother, Leilani Neumann, said that she and her family believe in the Bible and that healing comes from God, but that they do not belong to an organized religion or faith, are not fanatics and have nothing against doctors.

She insisted her youngest child, a wiry girl known to wear her straight brown hair in a ponytail, was in good health until recently.

"We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks," she said Wednesday. "And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering."

Her daughter — who hadn't seen a doctor since she got some shots as a 3-year-old, according to Vergin — had no fever and there was warmth in her body, she said.

The girl's father, Dale Neumann, a former police officer, said he started CPR "as soon as the breath of life left" his daughter's body.

Family members elsewhere called authorities to seek help for the girl.

"My sister-in-law, she's very religious, she believes in faith instead of doctors ...," the girl's aunt told a sheriff's dispatcher Sunday afternoon in a call from California. "And she called my mother-in-law today ... and she explained to us that she believes her daughter's in a coma now and she's relying on faith."

The dispatcher got more information from the caller and asked whether an ambulance should be sent.

"Please," the woman replied. "I mean, she's refusing. She's going to fight it. ... We've been trying to get her to take her to the hospital for a week, a few days now."

The aunt called back with more information on the family's location, emergency logs show. Family friends also made a 911 call from the home. Police and paramedics arrived within minutes and immediately called for an ambulance that took her to a hospital.

But less than an hour after authorities reached the home, Madeline — a bright student who left public school for home schooling this semester — was declared dead.

She is survived by her parents and three older siblings.

"We are remaining strong for our children," Leilani Neumann said. "Only our faith in God is giving us strength at this time."

The Neumanns said they moved from California to a modern, middle-class home in woodsy Weston, just outside Wassau in central Wisconsin, about two years ago to open a coffee shop and be closer to other relatives. A basketball hoop is set up in the driveway.

Leilani Neumann said she and her husband are not worried about the investigation because "our lives are in God's hands. We know we did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do."


I am sadened by this tragic story. My heart is burdened for the families and loved ones that knew this sweet child.

The story leaves me wondering some tough questions about faith and medicine.

Are they enemies? Which do we put our trust in? And can they work together?

What are your sentiments on this story, the parent's decision, and the relationship between faith and medicine?

David Beckham

A couple of weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of watching David Beckham play. Some friends and I had the opportunity to catch the game in Frisco as FC Dallas faced off against the LA Galaxy (Beckham's team) in a charity game.

This was more than just a preseason game for Beckham though. As some of you may know he has faced a lot of adversity in the sport in recent years. Last season when he joined the Galaxy he played very little due to injuries. As international friendlies, World Cup qualifies, and Euro 2008 picked up it appeared that Beckham's time with England's national team might have expired.

Frank Capello, England's new coach, who is very familiar with Beckham's abilities after their time together at Real Madrid, was hesitant to call him up since he has been in offseason with the Galaxy while most of the leagues elsewhere in the world are in full swing.

With preseason games like the charity event in Frisco picking up it was time for Capello to see just exactly what kind of form Beckham was in.

Capello must have been as pleased as we were with Beckham's abilities and fitness because last night in France, Beckham started for his 100th Cap with England.

It's More Than Just a Good Idea

My father-in-law gave me this book for my birthday and it is really hitting home. I am realizing that I am more of a visionary than I thought. I am only six chapters in but already it is worth the read.

Here’s a few simple things that have made a big impact in me:

*Most if not all biblical visionaries experienced a “desert” period in pursuit of their vision. We are in Abilene!

*The wait refines the vision and the visionary. I guess that’s why it hurts sometimes.

*To focus on the “how” (how things will come together) of the vision instead of the “giver” of the vision would be counterproductive.

-Wes

DIRTy Hair

You would think that the weather 20 minutes WEST of Abilene would not be that different...that assumption is highly incorrect.

On Tuesday and Thursday I have a speech pathology internship in Merkel and you would not believe the horrific weather changes that occur just 20 minutes away. Everyday the wind feels like a tornado is about to sweep you away. Merkel doesn't ever need a weather man because all he would say is, "It's going to be another windy day. Hang on to what you got."

I used to be kinda okay with the forceful wind - now I'm just annoyed. My hair feels like dirt...which is the only thing that can be blown around in Merkel.

Just felt compelled to share this information with those who read our blog.

~ Ellen

Reflection

Today I needed to remember days like this one.

-Wes

Down South

I've been following the news of Latin America as closely as possible (limited because of language barrier) over the past couple years. Earlier this week tensions between Colombia and Ecuador, Venezuela, and most recently Nicaragua have grown unstable. Colombia has long struggled against its own people (rebels). The guerrilla group that has given Colombia all this trouble is known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or FARC). They have been responsible for many murders, kidnappings, bombings, drug trades, weapon trafficking, and other high crimes.

Recently Colombia has become increasingly frustrated with its neighbors, Ecuador and Venezuela, for their allowance of the FARC to take refuge just their side of the Colombian border. On Saturday, the Colombian military attacked a group of around 25 rebels that were encamped about a mile inside the borders of Ecuador, killing more than twenty on foreign soil.

Venezuela and Colombia's relationship has been strained in the past few months due to complications in a prisoner exchange between Colombia and the rebel group, FARC. Venezuela has played the mediator during the exchanges and crossed some line along the way in the eyes of Colombia.

They said some words, yanked diplomats back home, threatened trade, etc. Now this.

Venezuela stepped in quickly to make clear to Colombia that if the same thing happened inside of their borders, there would be war.

Colombia claims that hey have uncovered rebel laptops which yield evidence that Venezuala can be linked to supporting the rebels financially (300 million dollars worth).

With already uncomfortable relations in this region, things have thickened quickly following the attack.

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Chavez, Venezuela's president, has been itching for war or at least paranoid of a possible attack for months now. He has been buying Russian fighter planes, submarines, and machine guns left and right.

Correa, Ecuador's president, is recently elected but has been snuggling often with other socialist/dictators like Castro and Chavez.

Uribe, Colombia's president, has been getting cozy with the United States as they try to tighten down the screws on the drug trade that is rampant in this region. Colombia's army is U.S. backed. With this warm and fuzzy relationship between U.S. and Colombia, Colombias' neighbors have become nauseous to say the least.

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I pray that things cool down soon. Join me.

If you want to keep up with this story, yahoo news does a pretty good job of keeping me up to date.

Champions League

I love futbol. Futbol is the sport of my childhood. I
have some soccer loving friends but nothing compares to the soccer culture that exists almost everywhere else in our world. I think that is one of the bigger reasons I am in love with Latin America.

This week is the first leg in the round of 16 knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League. Each year, 32 of Europes finest clubs compete to decide who the top club in Europe is.

Today my team, Manchester United, will play against the French great, Lyon.

I must confess days like today make me want to call in sick.

Confession

I just became giddy thinking about my evening planned with my bride. I am a very blessed man.

Love is a wonderful gift. It should be celebrated.

Grumpy Old Woman

I (Ellen) am currently at a nursing home for a speech pathology internship. I had a memorable experience this week.

A lady was brought to me to begin speech therapy. Instantly, I could tell she was in a bad mood, and trust me, when an elderly woman is in a bad mood the last thing she wants to do is speech therapy. Upon arriving to my table she screams, "Take me back to bed! I'm about to DIE!" I am far from an expert in working with the elderly, but I know that many of the people are not too far from death. This lady in particular didn't look to good. I couldn't figure out if she was being serious or if she was just mad. As I sat there stunned and scared, she yells to me again, "Take me back to bed. I'm about to DIE!"

Thankfully, the physical therapist came over and bluntly responded, "Honey, you're gonna have to hang on for at least 30 more minutes 'cause that's how long Ellen needs to see you." She responded, "I'm about to DIE! Get me back to bed."

I distracted her with some apple juice (very strange, but it worked!). I was able to get in my 30 minutes, but it was tedious. About every 3 minutes she would drop her head on the table and scream, "I'm about to die. Take me back to bed!"

I was back at the nursing home today and she was alive, participating well in therapy. Morale of the story: if possible, stay away from old women in bad moods, they really exaggerate.

A Walk in the Dark

Last night I went for a walk with a friend around our neighborhood. We spent our time talking and praying about wanting to share the news of Jesus. We also spent our time confessing how unequipped, inexperienced, and inadequate we feel.

I think that is right where Satan wants us.

He wants us to forget that we have been greatly empowered by the Holy Spirit. Far more than any book on evangelism could ever empower, far more than any sermon could ever motivate, and far more than any formalized training experience could ever equip, the spirit of God wants to empower us.

If the evil one can keep us from ever opening our lips and confessing Jesus as lord of our lives and potential savior to all than we will never have the experience we long for. Even if the message we share isn’t polished, at least we would be sharing it.

I feel like that darn pot of clay, beat up and cracked, wondering if there is really anything special inside of me. Isn’t that what he would have us think? Questioning the truth of scripture and doubting that we would have such a high calling.

I’m ready to start sharing Jesus.

How about you? Can you identify with these barriers?

-Wes

Our Guilty Pleasure

Tomorrow night the fourth season of LOST premiers. We are anxious to see where this season goes. One thing we know, this season will be cut short thanks to the greedy writers in Holywood. Only eight episodes so we hear.

This is our one Television indulgence, outside of the occasional "Big Game". We will be gathering with other avid fans for LOST and supper tomorrow night.

Where will you be?

Pre What?

This weekend our training begins. Our missions team will be retreating to Leuders, Texas for our first training module. This is a monumental moment for us because our team has been in a stage typically known as "formation" for the past two and a half years. The formation will undoubtedly continue as things turn to a more mental and spiritual focus.

Most of us are oblivious to what the weekend will hold. This particular stage of our training is known as the PreMAC weekend. Which means Preliminary Missionary Assessment Conference, I think?

Over the Christmas break we each filled out this huge application called the MBIF. Another Halbert acronym meaning Missionary Biographical Information Form. In addition to this 18 page form there were three essays. It should come as no surprise to Halbert that we are a bit jittery as to what awaits us this weekend.

Some of us are envisioning some sort of spiritual gauntlet. Or maybe the missionary version of American Gladiator.



Starring . . .

Gary the Green Mean Machine and company, including Sonny Tsunami Guild, Steve Alligator Allison, and Kent the Comanche Smith.

Each will be a part of the grueling weekend. Bible trivia, relational evangelism simulators, restoration history jeopardy, who knows? As the saying goes, hope for the best but expect the worst. If we are fairing well they might turn it up a notch. Encounters with the demon possessed, the lame beggars of the Big Country, or even one of Abilene's modern Pharisees, all of which could enter into the picture.

Check back next week to find out what all went down at our PreMAC weekend.

-Wes

For the Box Heads

"There's not any thinking inside the box."

-Pop

The Great Architect

"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I (Jesus) will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Matthew 18:18

A book that I am reading (recommended to me by Guy Muse) lead me to this verse. I have been thinking a lot lately about how church should be done, and how I can contribute. I have been plagued recently by some of the things in church that I am currently frustrated by. It should be noted that I mean the church as an institution. It should also be noted that the things pestering me seem to be built by man instead of by my Jesus.

This verse comes to me as a reminder that I am not supposed to be the builder of the church. Jesus is. Jesus is to be the mastermind behind this beautiful and historic architecture. So what does that make me? A foreman, a surveyor, a contractor, or just some regular construction worker?

Because Jesus is the builder it doesn't take much off my shoulders, but the load does look different.

Trusting Jesus to build the church is something that I am not very experienced at. So I am beginning to ponder what I should be doing in the meanwhile.

Here's my start . . .

Pray- Pray more. A lot more. Even when I'm sleepy and especially when I'm tired. Whether it seems pointless or powerful; futile or instrumental; draining or inspiring; I must keep on praying.

What else can we do that will allow Jesus to build the church instead of us?

Your thoughts are welcome and appreciated.

-Wes

There's something I think you should see . . .

1000 Better Things

Today at lunch Ellen and I went to a nearby park. I really enjoyed our time together especially with the way my day started off (I’ll get to that shortly). We sat on the park bench eating our sandwich, chips, and fruit. It is kind of chilly out today, so the bright sun on our backs felt especially good.

While we sat there a homeless man walked up with his cart full of belongings and settled in at a bench nearby. I looked over and waved at him, wanting him to know that we appreciated his presence. He walked over and was grumbling about the way some people in our city had treated him, saying, “You sure do have a bunch of faggots here . . .” He is new to Abilene from Hollywood. Very curious who and what he might be talking about and a bit nervous because he was clearly disgruntled, I peered up at him from our bench. He explained that he was not going to “stress these rich folk” that are trying to push him around; instead he would just push back. After getting that off his chest he moseyed back over to his bench for a cigarette. Short of words, I just listened and looked at him sympathetically. As he walked away I thought of all the things I wished I would have been prepared to share with him. Moments later he left the park. With a wave from his cigarette hand, he signaled goodbye to us.

After he left I recognized how similar our day must have begun. I was rattled this morning by some discouraging words from someone I am acquainted with. I will say no more than that because I do not wish to bring any further discouragement upon myself, so let your imagination go. I can however say that there were a 1000 better things my acquaintance could have shared with me today.

As my friend in the park walked away this afternoon, I wished I would have had the presence of mind to share with him this one thing, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).

It was what I needed to hear this morning.

Januvery Busy!

We had a wonderful Christmas break spent with our families. Ten full days away from our daily routines and schedules was definitely refreshing for us.

There are a few things that transpired over the break that we would like to update you on . . .

*The Lukkasons called on Christmas Eve to share with us that they desire to join our team, bringing our total team members to seven people (five family units).

*Our team will begin training with Halbert Institute of Missions (ACU) this semester. Towards the end of this month we will attend the first of several retreats centered on preparing us for our endeavors. These retreats are referred to as “Modules” and are spaced out over the next two years or so. During the semester we will have routine mentoring meetings with Gary Green, Latin American Missions Coordinator for Halbert. These times will be spent expounding on the principles encountered during the Module.

*Blanco, our puppy, recently suffered a strained knee but seems to have fully recovered.

*We celebrated our first anniversary last weekend (December 30th) while on a mini vacation with my Dad, Kelly, and baby Sadie. We enjoyed the scrumptious cuisine at P. F. Chang’s together. It was the first time for both of us and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

*Wes’ grandfather, Pop, was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday for an early morning surgery the next day. Recently a growth was discovered on one of his lungs, so Wednesday’s surgery entailed a biopsy and the growth’s removal. Early tests show that it was an airborne infection that attached itself on his lung and decided to stay a while. He is now recovering and is expected to be released in a few days. Please pray for his recovery.

*Ellen begins her final semester of graduate school next week!

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas and New Years!