Jars of Clay

James 4:14 - "...What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."

Dad and I attended the ceremony for the inaugural NCSU Athletic Hall of Fame class.  It was really fun as a life long NCSU fan.  Of course David Thompson was inducted, along with some other familiar names and some not so familiar:

Roman Gabriel being inducted
into hall of fame

Genia Beasley, Women's Basketball, 1977-80
Ted Brown, Football, 1975-78
Everett Case, Men's Basketball (coach), 1946-64
Roman Gabriel, Football, 1958-61
Tab Ramos, Men's Soccer, 1984-87
Jim Ritcher, Football, 1976-79
Julie Shea, Women's Cross Country T&F, 1977-81
David Thompson, Men's Basketball, 1972-75
Jim Valvano ,Men's Basketball (coach), 1980-90
Kay Yow, Women's Basketball (coach), 1975-09

One common theme ran throughout every inductee:  They were well past their prime!  None stuck out more than Roman Gabriel.  In his prime he was the first ACC quarterback to ever pass for more than 1,000 yards in a single season (the game was obviously different back then).  He was 6-6 or 6-7 and a very strong and able 18-22 year old man.  He had a successful career in the NFL as well.  Now, he was barely able to stand up on his own and needed assistance to get on the stage.  He slowly climbed onto the stage and went no farther.  He did not make it to the middle of the stage or walk across to the other end like the other inductees.  He minimized his movement as much as possible.

What a stark contrast.  The whole night, as I watched video clips of these athletes from their glory days, the contrast continued to weigh heavy on my mind.  60 year olds with white hair, wrinkled skin, aching bones sitting in front of me while videos of active young 20 year olds in perfect health played on the big screen.  Mere shadows of what used to be, long faded into just memories of what once was.  Three of the inductees already having passed away (two prematurely from cancer).

If this life is what we hope in, what a sad night.  Staring at individuals who have little more to look forward to and their best of days well behind them.  What a scary night for me as I fear being in their shoes.  Instead, I know that this life is only a vapor while the next life is the one that consist of our 'glory days'.  The best of the best days I have here are but an echo, a dim light, compared to what will be when I stand before the King of kings and Lord of lords.

A perfectly clear picture that this life is a vapor and gone before we know it.  That we cannot hope in this body, in this life, in the things we accomplish or accumulate b/c they all shall pass.  But my relationship with the Father is something that is eternal.  If your hope is in anything that is temporal you can switch it to the eternal.  Then you will know joy.  You will know peace.

2  Corinthians 4: 7 "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

Day 3 - New Staff Training

Information... Wow!  Today we went through benefit structure (health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance), social security tax, 403(b) plans.  We went through how to get reimbursements for work related expenses and pay structure. It was a day full of technical information.  I probably left something out.  I enjoyed it, but it was definitely a very financial and technical day.

We were at Campus Crusade for Christ International Headquarters.  The facilities
were absolutely amazing.  We toured some offices including the current president's (Steve Douglas) and founder and past president (the late Bill Bright).

We also toured the Jesus Film.  I wish I remembered all the statistics, but they have translated the film into 1,148 languages so far.  According to the website several billion viewings of the film have occurred and over 200 million have accepted Christ!  It was an awesome tour.

I also was able to walk over to the financial hub of the entire organization and talk to a few guys in the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) office and get a big picture of what departments they have and what responsibilities they take care of.  It is pretty cool when everyone is so approachable and you can just walk up and talk to them.  I also met the VP - Steve Sellers.  The CFO was in a meeting, but the guys who showed me around were great!  It was a cool experience given my background and interests.  I think it would be cool for anyone though to be able to see the financial department that holds such a large worldwide ministry together.

It was a fun and informative day at our headquarters.  Eli did great today again in all of the sessions, getting a little talkative some, but pretty much happy throughout the day.  Zac had a great day playing putt putt and going to Sea World with Tiff's parents.

   



1: Inside headquarters the four walls in the lobby have the four spiritual laws painted on them.
2: A group of people watching the Jesus Film react to seeing a movie for the first time in their lives.
3: Tiffany and I in the massive courtyard between the two main buildings (which are identical inside and out).
4: One side of the courtyard.

Day 2 - New Staff Training

Today was a pretty cool day.  We started out this morning with some praise and worship and then a session on living a spirit filled life.  I thought this session was absolutely awesome and really a good session for me personally.  It is so important for followers of Christ to be full, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Tiffany and I also read Forgotten God by Frances Chan within the last year and the Holy Spirit is such an overlooked part of our walk with Christ.  But, as mentioned today, it is such a vital part of our walk, if not the most vital.

Without being filled, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit we become joy-less, legalistic Christians.  A great exercise, first explained by Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade), is spiritual breathing.  To exhale is to confess our sin.  To call sin what it is and acknowledge it as sin.  And then to inhale, which is asking God to fill us with His Holy Spirit.

You may have heard the difference in grace and mercy described before: grace is receiving what we do not deserve and mercy is not receiving what we do deserve.  Well today I heard another great explenation of some biblical terms.  To grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) is to do something that we ought not to do.  And to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) is to not do something that He wants us to do.

Another really awesome point is that when we ask the Holy Spirit to fill and empower us we then move forward by faith in the power of God.  It does not matter if we feel like the Holy Spirit filled and empowered us.  What mater is that God says that if we ask, He will fill us.  So we can confidently move forward knowing God has honored His word.
(a cool illustration of the Christian life is a train: Truth is the engine, faith is the coal car and emotion is the caboose)

Sorry for the length... we then had a session on sharing our faith and using the four spiritual laws tool in order to do so.  And then we went out and did it.  I met a guy named Jason at the Fudge Factory who is a believer and I asked him if I could remember anything in my prayers for him.  He is just getting started on his own in life and knows God has bigger plans for his talents, but he needs some direction and discernment.  He also mentioned living paycheck to paycheck.  I told him I would pray for him and that I would also send him some info and materials on some budgeting stuff (since this is my passion after all).  It was cool how the Lord led me to someone with a financial type prayer request and to be able to get his e-mail and encourage him.  (I did actually get a free 1/2 lb of fudge out of the conversation too!)  Jason was an awesome guy and I really enjoyed my conversation with him.

Tomorrow we are heading to the world headquarters for Campus Crusade for Christ International.  It will be filled with some benefits and financial type information, but also we get to tour the facilities of our headquarters.  I hear it's one of the best days (but that seems to be a trend...)

Day 1 - New Staff Training

Today was our first day of sessions at Cru's Mid-Career New Staff Training.  We weren't sure, but turns out we are fairly young compared to the rest of the mid-career new staff (around 40 total people I think).  We sat down at a table with the only other couple who has kids here with them (At least I think they were the only other couple to raise their hands).  They are from Chattanooga, TN (they will be with Family Life) and the other couple at the table is from Williamsburg, VA (and they will be with the military ministry).  Kind of cool considering no one else here is as close to us geographically.  Other new staff here are going to work with Athletes in Action, The Jesus Film, Here's Life Inner City, and Student Venture, as well as the campus ministry like us.

Steve Douglass (President of Cru) spoke to us about Cru and the vision and mission of the ministry.  We also shared our testimonies with one another of how God called us to join Cru staff.  There were several other great sessions throughout the day as well.  It was a greatly encouraging day!  The bonds that are formed at things like these are awesome and only possible with God's moving.

We also met an awesome engaged couple (Matt and Holly) who are/will be staff in the regional office with us in California.

We are excited to continue tomorrow and to see the Father continue to encourage us and grow us and strengthen us for what He has called us to do within this amazing organization.

Timeline to California

We're packin' boxes and packin' suitcases all at the same time.  The due diligence date on our house sale is this Friday Sept. 7th.  Friday morning is also the morning we fly out of New Bern at 7am to Orlando, Florida by way of Charlotte.  We're super excited about our time coming up in Florida.  We will be led and poured into for 8 days.  We're praying for the Father to refresh us, excite us (even more), encourage us and grow us while in Orlando.  With the leadership at Cru, we don't expect to be disappointed.  Also while down there we will be able to catch up with a friend from San Diego from 2005.  Jeremy was my roommate in San Diego, lived in Missouri at the time and now is in law school in Florida.  We also are planning to catch up with the Kollars, who staffed summer project in 2006 in San Diego, and recently moved from Nebraska to Orlando to work at Cru headquarters.

Here is a very simplistic and rough timeline for the next 12 months:

Sept 7: Due diligence date for the sale of our home.
Sept 7-16: Orlando, Florida for training and orientation with Campus Crusade for Christ.
Sept 16: Begin building our team as Cru staff members.
Sept 20: Moving a load of our life from River Bend to Craeberne where we've signed a one year lease.
Sept 27: Closing on our house.
October: Hopefully sneak in some vacation somewhere to relax.
October 27: 6th straight win for NCSU against UNC in football! ;)
January-April: 5th tax season in New Bern/continuing to build our team.
Fall/Winter 2013: Goal: Move to California.


So that is our timeline.  These are some of the big things on our prayer list as well and things we are trusting the Father to accomplish.

Also, here is a cool video from some of the team in California about the PSW(Pacific Southwest) Region:

Wisdom from a 2 year old

The other night I was sharing the gospel with Zac, our 2 year old... So the first point is: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.  And he looks at me and says - “Well... I have a plan for HIS life.”  This is definitely one of my favorite responses he has given me.  The more I thought about it though, the more I realized a lot of us have this same mindset.

We have a plan for who God is to us.  We have a plan for who He is going to be in our lives.  We have a plan for how He is going to act in a certain situation.  We have a plan for God.  We can get to a point where we rarely stop to think about His plan for us.

It has become so apparent to Tiffany and me that we are born sinful just as the bible states.  You can see it in a toddler before they talk and before they walk.  It’s a very cute response from Zac, that I think is hilarious.  But it’s also a heart issue of sin.  He wants to be his own god, just like we all do.  No one is going to tell him what he should do.  Zac does this all the time too-- “Zac, please come brush your teeth.” “Well, I don’t want to brush my teeth.” -- “Zac, please don’t poke your brother.” “Well, I have to poke him”.

God is who He is.  We don’t have a plan for Him.  And if we do, it doesn’t really matter much in the grand scheme of reality.  But He does have a plan for our lives.  Our hard hearts resist this idea b/c we think it violates our freedom-- That He has some plan we are required to painfully surrender to in order to be in His good graces.  But that is so far from the truth.  In reality, we are always in His good graces b/c of the free gift of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross (if we call on His name).  And He has a wonderful plan for our lives that we joyfully submit to.  His plans for us are always in our best interest and for our greatest joy (Jeremiah 29: 11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”).

And so we pray that our Father would soften our hearts to live a life that is always open to submitting to His plan for us (Ezekial 36: 26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh”).  Because we know that His plans are always better than our own plans; better for us AND for His glory (Isaiah 55: 8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”).

Please Pray With Us

Something that has been on my mind concerning prayer was a small point that was made during a recent sermon I heard.  Of course, I don't remember where in the Bible this is, somewhere in the old testament (maybe one of you Bible whiz's could let me know?).  And I surely don't remember details, but someone committed to fasting and prayer for three weeks.  At the end of the three weeks, he had heard nothing in answer to what he was praying for.  Then, God came to him to tell him why.  God explained that there were spiritual battles going on regarding that situation and that He had set out to answer his prayers on day one of the three weeks, but it took that long for God to fight the battle and then, only after He had called an angel to help Him was he able to send an answer.  I was so encouraged to pray.  In a way that I never had been before.  And I can see now why it is of great benefit to keep praying for the same things.  Over and over.  For, we do not know what may be going on behind the scenes.

For that reason, could we ask you to pray for and with us?  For those of you who practice the discipline of prayer, here are some current things in which we are praying over:

- Sept. 7-16 we will be in Orlando for New Staff Training.  I am excited, terrified, and nervous to name just a few of the current emotions I'm experiencing about this.  In my mind, it means the beginning of our transition into the next season of our life.  I have no idea what to expect and since I'm a natural born skeptic, my expectations scare me.  Thankfully my parents will be meeting us there to watch the boys, but I haven't left them for longer than a few hours at a time ever.  I know that I have great flexibility to be available to them when they need, especially since Eli is exclusively nursing, but I also want to be able to soak in as much of the training as I can.  So, I'm expecting a pretty sizable balancing act that will be taking place.  Add on top of that the fact that all four of us will be in a one room hotel room in which one of us (ahem, 6 month old), wakes up screaming an ear piercing scream several times a night, a toddler who isn't the most adaptable in new environments, and a tired mom on a special diet (more on that in a minute), and you can see my apprehension for that coming week.  So, if you would, please pray that my expectations would be blown out of the water.  It's probably more my attitude that needs adjusting more than anything else.  And I know that God is already pouring out His grace in how uncharacteristically well I'm handling the stress already.  But, I need more.  More and more grace and mercy.

- We close on our house about a week and a half after we return from NST.  Please pray that we will stay organized and on top of all the packing that needs to be done.  So far, I'm on schedule with the packing, but there is still a lot to do!

- About two months ago, I had some routine blood work done and discovered that my thyroid is way out of whack.  The numbers were so far off, I'm surprised the Dr. didn't order a thyroidectomy.  It is severely under active.  I will be seeing a specialist later this week to develop a more natural treatment plan rather than hormone replacement therapy.  This will require some diet and lifestyle changes.  I have already started a (mostly) gluten-free diet, which seems to help some.  But, I can't even begin to describe how difficult this has been.  I live in a constant fog (think, mommy-brain times 20), have zero energy and just generally do not feel like myself.  In the last 6 weeks, with only changing my diet I have seen the numbers improve, but there is a ways to go before I reach the normal zone.  Please pray that it will bounce back soon and that I will have the necessary resolve and discipline to stick to the diet and life-style changes, especially while we are in Fl.  Also pray that the specialist will be able to properly diagnose what is causing my thyroid issues and that the treatment plan will solve it.  All of this adds another layer to my stress about the training.  It's extremely difficult for me to take in new information and to function well under added stress.  The two things that will be happening during the training.  So, I don't know exactly how to pray for that, but if you would, please just lay it before God.

Thank you in advance for partnering with us!  It means so much to us to have such a great team of people willing to pray with us.

re·la·tion·ship - noun

re·la·tion·ship
noun
1. a connection, association, or involvement.
2. an emotional or other connection between people

synonyms: dependence, alliance, kinship


The gospel is about relationship. Jesus came and died for our sins that our fellowship with the Father would be restored. Adam and Eve had perfect community with the Father before the original sin. As you search the old and new testaments, it becomes apparent that the law, the ‘rules’, are of little consequence compared to the relationship between God and His people. And between us, the gospel is about relationship too. Our interactions with each other are to mirror the relationship we have with the Father. We are to love one another and to extend grace to one another and forgiveness as He has forgiven us.

Why are we so excited about joining Cru? Cru is about relationships. Whether it is evangelism, training, discipleship... it’s all about relationship building. As Cru staff, our job will be to build and pour into relationships, mainly with college students, in order to spread the gospel throughout the world and magnify God’s name.

But even before that part begins and hopefully continuing into that and for the rest of our lives, there are relationships with others in our life as well. I have a friend (who will definitely read this if he sees it) that emails me every Monday from Iowa. For 5 years now! I know him better than many friends in my own town. Our hope is to build more relationships of that caliber. To be the ones who intentionally pour into others and facilitate the building of such deep connections.

This begins with developing our ministry partners. We have sent letters out to many of you, probably all of you who will read this. We need prayer support for this step of faith. We also need financial support. We are extending the opportunity to you to join us in whatever capacity the Father leads you. To be a part of Kingdom work through the college ministry of Cru. Our prayer is that as we reach out to you, it would not just be about committing to pray or provide financial support, but that we could begin to develop close friendships that will last a lifetime.

This is why we are excited about the upcoming season of reaching out to you and sharing with you what we will be doing with Cru. It is giving us the motivation to do something we have desired to do for a long time: Restore old friendships, deepen current ones and invest in new ones!

So please, feel free to contact us. We would love to share with you what we are doing. We would love for you to share with us what is going on in your life. I pray that in the future I will have MANY more emails to send out each Monday morning.

Feels like a pregnancy announcement...

But I promise, I'm NOT with child.

Life has been full lately.  Overflowing, actually.  You probably noticed my long absence from blogging.  It's difficult for me to write in this vague world of blogland when real life is swirling all around me.

But I digress.  You probably came here for some big, shocking news about this overflowing life that we live.

Through much prayer, consideration, wise counsel, and yes, tears and bickering.  Brad and I will be joining CRU staff.  So, what does that mean?

It means a change in careers.
It means a move across the country.
It means stepping out in faith in ways that we have never done before.
It means continuing to love God with all our hearts.
It means exciting new things as well as some difficult roads ahead.

But above all it means continuing on our journeys as followers of Christ.

It is my hope to write a few more posts about how all this came about.  If only for our own assurance that God is here.

For now, if you're not familiar with CRU, here is a helpful place to start.

And here is our profile page.