rest for my soul....

So for the last couple of day's i have been enjoying the great Northwest. I led worship at our church sunday morning and had a great time. God really showed up and i had a great time worshipping him. Immediately after church we hopped in the car, grabbed some in n out and headed for San Jose. I got on a plane and flew to Portland. I got to spend Sunday and Monday with Tierney in Portland and going through all the YWAM stuff.Tuesday for lunch me and T had a delicious Lebanese lunch. It was really good. Some amazing lamb and chicken kabob's. Tuesday afternoon i headed to Salem.

I've had a great time here the last two days just relaxin and getting refreshed. I spent some time reflecting on the positive things God had done in the last year. Some of the things I came up

with were Lori, Liam and Eli, God's provision in our lives the last year, Growth personally and as a base, vision for the future, picking focus countries for the base. It's been a good time, connecting with God and friends.

....

This post didn't get posted the other night, but now i'm back in the central coast. It's good to be home with my amazing wife and super cute little boys. I really needed the last couple days. It was really restful for my body and my soul. And so now it's time to go enjoy some pancakes with my family, while listening to the once soundtrack.

Sabbath

Sabbath is generally a weekly day of rest and/or time of worship that is observed in any of several faiths. The term derives from the Hebrew shabbat (שבת), "to cease", which was first used in the Biblical account of the seventh day of Creation. Observation and remembrance of the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments (the fourth in the original Jewish, the Eastern Orthodox, and most Protestant traditions. Many viewpoints and definitions have arisen over

 the millennia. - wikipedia

I've been realizing lately that even though I'm an extravert, love being around people. I need to have some time to myself. 

Growing up in church, I know that it is biblical for me to take a break and call it a "Sabbath". Someone I know said that "Sabbath" is just about not doing anything, but is to take your soul and give it a break.

For me it is easy to get doing a million different things and become busy with a lot of different little things. I need to remember to set aside time for me. I set time aside for my wife, kids, work, but I need to remember to set time aside for me as well.

Jesus said, "man is not for the sabbath, but sabbath for man". I think this is what I have been doing lately. I have been going to church on sunday and being around people and calling this my "sabbath", but I think i need to find a place just to myself. A place where my soul can rest and recharge my soul. 

So hopefully I can move forward in this area, and start taking better care of my soul.

The Freedom Project

Our friends Troy and Alisa were here teaching in our Discipleship Training School this last week. They are apart of an organization called The Freedom Project.  I don't know very much about human trafficking but I want to become more aware. As I've started learning more about human trafficking, I'm starting to learn that it's right here in our cities. 

With an estimated 27 million people in the world living in some form of bondage, human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world. Slaves make bricks in India, they work on cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast, they are forced to beg on the streets of Europe, their organs are sold on the black market in Asia and they are tricked or forced into prostitution all over the world.

Human trafficking is slavery.

Slavery is not a new concept. Modern technology and communication has transformed the old idea of slavery into a dangerous and illusive force called human trafficking. Human trafficking involves the buying and selling of human beings into some kind of forced work for little or no pay.

Human traffickers:

• buy and sell people over the internet
• they pose as boyfriends or as business owners with quality jobs to offer
• they may personally know their victims or are a friend of a friend
• they might simply be a normal person who have been given an unethical opportunity to make a bit of money by selling someone

Trapped by the lies of their traffickers and by their seemingly hopeless circumstances, trafficking victims feel like they can’t escape. They bitterly resign themselves to do the work they are being forced to do.

Victims of human trafficking come from all over the world. In Eastern Europe, young women look to Western Europe and North America for job opportunities. Going to a new country makes them vulnerable, especially if they don’t speak the language or they don’t know the person who is getting them the job. Many Eastern European women end up as prostitutes in the international sex trade, stocking brothels in Amsterdam and New York or working in rundown massage parlors in the United Kingdom.

The fight against human trafficking is a fight for human freedom. It is a fight to give all people everywhere the freedom of choice, the freedom to not live in constant fear, the freedom to pursue their own dreams and live as the sole owner of their life. Everyone should have the freedom to not be bought and sold.

That is why we are the Freedom Project,
because we believe that freedom should exist for everyone.

So reading this you start to feel like what can I do. I'm only one person. I possibly can't bring change. Well luckily my friends over at The Freedom Project have come up with some answers.

If you only have

1 minute:
-PRAY for victims of human trafficking and for a generation to be mobilized to stand against injustice

1 hour:
-RESEARCH trafficking on the web and arm yourself with knowledge
-TALK to a friend about trafficking and challenge them to action
-WATCH a documentary on trafficking or if you have more time rent the movie Human Trafficking

1 day:
-VOLUNTEER your day to a local organization that helps stop human trafficking
-DONATE a day's wages to an anti-trafficking organization like International Justice Mission or The Freedom Project
-ATTEND a public awareness event that focuses on human trafficking.

1 month:
-ORGANIZE a fundraiser to benefit victims of trafficking. For idea's check out www.stopthetraffik.org
-TAKE a short-term trip overseas to actively prevent human trafficking or assist victims.
-PLAN a rally to raise awareness in your community, school, or work place.
-CHALLENGE lawmakers to prosecute traffickers and protect victims.

1 year:
-WORK full time with an anti-trafficking organizatioin.
-BECOME an activist against human trafficking in your city.
-EDUCATE yourself by taking a class on injustice.
-CREATIVELY use your gifts and talents to be a voice for trafficking victims.

1 lifetime:
HELP stop
-poverty
-poor education
-disease
-starvation
-economic hopelessness
-political corruption
-oppression

all of which contribute to the global epidemic of human trafficking.

my boys that love being in front of the camera

So one of our good friends and old dts students katie came out to visit us for a couple of days last week. Katie and her boyfriend Kyle have a photography business in Michigan. So when Katie came out she brought her camera and a bunch of their lens. She let me use her Canon 50mm 1.4 lens and i got some fun shots of the boys.

thanks katie

trust...

Proverbs 3:5-6 

(vs.5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

(vs.6) in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Matthew 6:25-34

(vs.25) "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

(vs.26) Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

(vs.27) Who of you by worrying can add as single hour to his life?

(vs.28) "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

(vs.29) Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

(vs.30) If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

(vs.31) So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

(vs.32) For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

(vs.33) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things wll be given to you as well.

(vs.34) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I've seen God be faithful so many times, and yet these are the hardest verses for me to live out. I am constantly worrying about situations in our life.

Lord help me to trust you with all of my heart, and to lean not on my understanding....

...

one thing i have asked of the Lord,

this is what i seek:

that i may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life;

to behold the beauty of the Lord

and to seek Him in His temple.

let me grasp the beauty of the Lord, and to seek him always....

enjoying life

I'm loving today. It's such a cool day with the rain falling. I love what i do (almost everyday), my kids are great. I have an awesome wife. I'm sitting here doing some graphic stuff for our church and one of our staff. Listening to the great online radio player pandora.com. I'll also love the noise of the rain on our roof, and the way it falls onto the concrete out the back door.  This was from a day we spent at the beach before we went to Colombia.