Have you ever noticed the way that
some people can just quote Scripture? In
fact there are some people that seem not able
even to speak a paragraph or sentence without
having some form of Scripture in it. These
people have always been an encouragement to me.
They encourage and challenge me to do a better
job memorizing Scripture. I admittedly so
do not do a good job memorizing Scripture and
would like to do better. It takes time and
commitment, but I believe that they are living
their lives much more fulfilled than I am.
Recently I have met up with a fellow who has a
lot of Scripture memorized. He is one of
those guys who does a good job of speaking with
Scripture flowing out of his mouth. He
challenges me to memorize more Scripture and let
it rule more of my life. The Word of God
is nothing to be taken lightly and when taken
seriously it changes lives. I have lots of
changing to do and pray for such a thing.
12/02/07
Today is election day in Russia for
Parliament. It is about a choice. We
have a choice in life to follow what is in front
of us and what we think we know or what is
beyond us and what we do not always understand.
It is a choice of belief. What do we
believe in? What do you believe in?
Those who believe in more than what life
presents live lives beyond the here. Those
who believe in only what is in front of them
live lives that end where they can see.
The choice really is up to you. There are
many different people saying many different
things, but what is it that you hear? What
is it that you want to hear? You can get
advice from all kinds of people as to what you
should decide. However, no one will make
the choice for you. There are lots of
things in life that influence decisions.
Some make life harder and some make life easier.
But what is easier and what is a harder life?
The point is that you have to decide and no one
will decide for you. When you live on
earth and no more, your decisions are what will
be remembered. What will your decisions
remind people of?
08/04/07
Russia is not all that different from
some of the places that we have been before.
In fact it reminds me in a lot of ways about my
short visit to Ukraine. It reminds
Jennifer of some things in Ecuador.
However, the biggest challenge is not figuring
out how to buy food, or buy a mop for our home.
The biggest challenge is learning the language
to be able to communicate with people. You
do not realize what you have till you don't have
it sometimes. The ability to be able to
talk with people on a simple basis is much
desired as we can't even understand sometimes
when the cashier asks for exact change. We
are not even close to be able to understanding
someone's heartfelt needs and desires in life.
We look forward to learning language and being
able to understand people. Being able to
connect with people on a personal heartfelt
level is what we desire most and will be
something we will not be able to do for quite
some time.
06/01/07
Traveling around with family isn't
always the easiest thing to do. While we
are preparing to leave in July, we are doing a
lot of traveling. We enjoy being able to
spend time with family and friends before we go,
but we are often tired. We return home
exhausted ready to rest only being able to pack
or tie up more lose ends. As I am
reminded, this too shall pass. I just hope
that when it passes our family will still be
able to bond together. The time on the
road doesn't always allow us to spend time
together as our little family. We spend
time together, yes, but we don't always get to
bond together. Well time will tell what
will happen. I know that God is good and
can work with this. I have to trust Him,
ask Him, and let Him.
04/01/07
Have you ever seen the daylight
from another world? Have you ever seen the moon rise
on another land? The world as we know it changes all
the time. Yet, whether we are here or there, some
things remain constant. The sun and moon seem to never
change. Ground and water are always there. There is a peace from God that never changes
as well. In fact our God never changes. He is
the same all the time. He remains constant in His love
for us. He never wavers in His character. Our God is a rock
or ages. Unlike relationships here on earth where we are
constantly trying to stay up with the changes another person goes
through, God never changes. Our relationship is always changing
because we find out the depth of vastness of His existence everyday.
Remember God doesn't change, just how we look at Him does.
