Then, we even got to sleep at our house without our kids there…and slept in till 8am!  Pretty amazing.

Here are some songs that really spoke to us:

“Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations…”  Yet you cannot make disciples unless you a disciple yourself.”

“The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus.  Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.”

“The challenge of the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference.  No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ—“Do you believe that I am able to do this? (Mt. 9:28).”    Oswald Chambers

“The Jewish law begins with worship, with the love of God, because if it’s true that we’re made in God’s image we will find our fullest meaning, our true selves, the more we learn to love and worship the one we are designed to reflect.  No half measures: heart, soul, mind and strength—that is, every aspect of human life—is to be poured out in worship of the one true God.  Whatever we do, we are to for him.  If we truly lived like that for a single day, God’s kingdom would have come on earth as it is in heaven.  And—this is the point—Jesus seems to think that through his kingdom—work this commandment is now within our reach.” (NT Wright, from Mark, 170)

Proverbs 28:1:  “The wicked flees when no one pursues, the righteous are as bold as a lion.”

Proverbs 28:23: “He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.”

Here are a few ups and downs of the last few weeks:

• Fall in Roanoke.  God can paint a gorgeous canvas.
• Going to Layman farm with all my girls.    That place is beautiful.
• Not watching TV one night and just talking with my wife for 2 hours.
• Hearing crazy God stories in youth’ lives.  (Thanks Allie!)
• Leading a comeback hail-mary winning drive on my 30th birthday!  (in an adult football league)
• Throwing out my arm the next week.  (is this what is means to get old?)
• Seeking Christ’s presence and His mission in people’s lives rather than focusing on distractions.
• Seeing youth ministries and leaders come together to seek Christ’s kingdom advance rather than seeking to build their own empires (great working with you Angela, Andy, Josh, and Jake).
• Feeling like I was going to punch my counselor (don’t tell him that), and then realizing he was probably right about me.
• Hearing Josh Dowdy give a club talk that included his hiding place in our neighborhood growing up.
• Getting to preach a sermon at a church in my neighborhood.  Thanks Tom Oster.
• Norah not sleeping through the night.  Norah crying through the night.
• Watching a highlight of my new favorite NFL player do this:

I’m not sure if I like the part where he ran over the guy or screamed like a wild animal better.

Here are a few Scriptures that encouraged and inspired me today that I am trying to put in my heart:

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.”  I Peter 1:24/ Isaiah 40:6-8

“The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”  I John 1:17

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverance and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12:28-29

“Therefore, since the promise of entering the rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.  For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”  Hebrews 4:1-2

“As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says,’In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” II Corinthians 6:1-2

“For Christs love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”  II Corinthians 5:14-15

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“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”    Mother Teresa

“The prince of this world will not allow the pope and his priests, and their laws to be observed in liberty, but his design is to entangle and bind consciences. This, the true God will not bear. Therefore, the Word of God and the traditions of me are opposed to each other with implacable discord; no less so, than God Himself and Satan, who each destroy the works and overthrow the doctrines of the other, as regal kings each destroying the kingdom of the other.    Martin Luther

We do not fail in obedience through lack of love, but have lost love because we have not attempted obedience ~ C.S. Lewis