Thursday, January 19, 2006

End Of the Spear

I wanted to do my part to get the word out about End Of the Spear. This movie opens in theatres tomorrow January 20th. The movie is the story about 5 missionaries who were martyred in the jungles of Ecuador, attempting to share the Gospel with the Waorani Indian tribe. I am really excited to learn more about this event that has inspired so many to be involved in missions around the world and here in the United States.
 
Will post my thoughts on here when I've seen the movie. Let me know what you think when you have seen it.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Coffee quiz link

Here is a link if you want to do the Coffee quiz below. For some reason, the link wasn't included when I posted it here. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

What Kind Of Coffee Are You?

You Are an Espresso
At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic
At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung
You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping
Your caffeine addiction level: high

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

What Does Your Sneeze Reveal About You

I actually could not believe I heard this phrase on the radio this morning. However since reading the article about it, I thought this was too funny not to pass along.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Being good isn't good enough...

The following is an email I received from a missionary friend in Thailand.
 
I just sat down to check my e-mail... I didn't have anything. My eyes caught one of the older guys who is working for us building the water tank and future garage. These people live just down the road from us in make shift homes made out of tin and bamboo. They are construction workers and live like this all their lives. He was taking a break; a well deserved break, and just staring at the tree or something in that direction. I noticed as he was staring, that he has a large tumor on his neck. My guess is that he probably has cancer because he smokes tribal cigarettes and chews who knows what. Unfortunately that is common around here. Anyway, he has those kind of eyes that are soft and tender looking, non-judgmental, and non-condemning. As he stared at whatever he was staring at, the thought ran through my mind of how hard it is sometimes to be here in Thailand among people who have been blinded by our adversary and do not want to hear about the gospel. Yes, they are good people, honest, caring, and quite generous even though they have very little... but that isn't good enough is it. The road is straight and narrow. It demands only one thing. That we confess that we are sinners and by faith we accept the finished work of Jesus Christ... his death, burial and resurrection. This is the only acceptable payment for our sin. It is so simple and yet for the most part Thai people will have nothing to do with it. Not all of them of course. Christ is building His church in Thailand, but the blinders have been put on and most of them don't even know it.  It is hard and yet I know that it is through our lives and the life that we live in Christ that many will be drawn to Him. One of the people (a lady) that was working for us for these past 3 days mentioned to Dave that she would have liked to not work at the other job that they had off from for the New Year celebration, and would like to continue to work for us. "We were so kind", she said. "We were different", she said. Just pray with us that they would one day understand the story of Salvation... the life that WILL set them free.
 
God is doing a work around the world and in Thailand. Matthew 16:18 says "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" (NIV). This promise of God toward Peter applies to all of us who have called upon His name and accept Him as Saviour. Please pray for this family that God will encourage them as they serve Him.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Happy 2006!

Well this is the long overdue blog entry from the Holidays! Becca and I were with her family on Christmas Day. Wonderful time had by all. On 26 December we went to Ann Arbor to spend time with my family. Ann Arbor was the pre-determined "mid-way" point between Grand Rapids and Cleveland. We ate at a wonderful restaurant called Paesano's. If you are ever in the area, I highly encourage you to check it out and do not forget to bring your credit card with you.
 
The week between Christmas and New Years is a pretty dead week at work so I took as much time off as I could...2 days :( The other bad thing is that I was in the office on both days that I was supposed to take off. I need to reconcile that this week and take another afternoon off I think. We were closed on 2 January which was nice. Becca's work was also closed so we spent the day together. Let me back up to the weekend before New Years.
 
Before we moved into our condo we knew that we would need to replace the toilet seal in the 1/2 bathroom downstairs. This project has gotten away from us, but in light of leaking onto the washer downstairs, this project became an urgent priority. Becca and I went to Home Depot and got a toilet seal (this was a story in and of itself...will post more about it later). On Saturday morning, Becca's mom came over and she and Becca took care of this. I am not the handiest person with house work so I defer to the experts and help out in any way that I can. This policy works very well with Becca and her mom. A few months ago Becca and I purchased a cabinet that sits on top of the toilet for the 1/2 bathroom. Becca and her mom also put this together. In addition to all of this, Becca (with some help from me) painted the 1/2 bathroom so the really horrible pink color is gone. I will post pictures of the bathroom with the new gray color soon.
 
For Christmas, Becca and I bought ourselves a stereo from Target for the living room. After Becca put away the Christmas decorations we put up the stereo. It is certainly very nice to have a stereo in there.
 
We spent New Years Eve night with a family from our church and some other couples. We played some very fun, but interesting games. Got home close to 2am and was at church later that morning at 9:30. Needless to say we both took a nap Sunday afternoon. New Years Day night we were invited to dinner at the Keizers. Spent a lot of time reflecting on the Thailand trip this past June. I really enjoy times like this because it reconnects me to the trip. It feels like it was so long ago that we were in Thailand. We started talking about when the next trip would be and where we might go. Exciting discussions!

Well I'm back at work now. Back to the grind I guess. How was your Christmas and New Years? Does your family have any traditions you do each year?