Cambodia

On Monday May 9 I am once again leaving my city, family and community and flying to Cambodia. I will be leading a group of 29 college age students from Oakland, CA. On a prayer/ministry trip for 10 day's. I am very excited about this trip. We will be spending some time in Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh, and Sianookville. While there we will be spending time in intercession at Angkor Wat and also at The Killing Fields. My good friend P. Wade put together some pod-casts for our intercession times.

We will also be going to a coastal town called Sianookville. While there we will be working with an orphanage a hospital and running some kid's ministries. I am also excited to go back to the church that we worked with last year and see the pastor and the Sunday school program that run's in the room we built.

We are also going to be going to a village 2 hours away from Sianookville called Crocodile Village. Here is what Jonah, our host says about the village. "As for this village I would like to tell you that, this village has been established by former Khmer Rough soldiers, which is very much unexplored by the general mass, even Cambodia. God gave me the favor to bring the gospel to this village. There's a school in the village, and I will talk with the leaders if 3 days program for the kids and the villagers (One day mercy ministry including medical service, kids camp and setting up a mini park for the kids, and personal evangelism. The team can also organize a concert with dances and drama)"

I am also excited about my team. I am leading this with my good friend
P. Wade who works for YWAM in Vancouver and also makes great soap, plays in a Epiphanic, DJ's, VJ's and rodied for Nickleback, who I won't link you to because they are not worth your time.

My good friend Lars Rood from San Diego is also coming. Lars and I have worked together a number of times, but this is the first time we have been over seas hanging out. I am also pretty sure that Lars is going to be snacking on some dog with me.

So, Please pray for us as we embark on this journey together. I am sure there will be pictures and posts to come. Thanks for reading and for putting up with all my links. If you do want the Nickleback link just ask.

Later

Cinderella

Holy Smokes, My daughter Emma is as cute as they come. Why you ask? Well, tonight when it was time for bed we were talking, well she was talking. I told her that I was going to Cambodia in a couple of day's. She asked if that was why I had the bag of crafts by the door and I said yes. Then she said that she needed some of the glitter that I was bringing because she doesn't have enough. When I told her no she launched into a 15 minute monologue. Here is the cliff notes of it.

Emma told me that while I was gone to Cambodia she was going to move into a castle with Prince Charming and she was going to become a princess. She then told me that she was never going to see me again, because she would be in the castle. I asked her if there was a way we could see each other and then she said yes because I was going to be the king and Amy was going to be the queen. We were all going to live in the castle and she was going to sleep with prince charming. But, prince charming was going to get mad at Emma's fairy god mother and so Emma was going to have to tell him that it is not good to be mad at fairy god mother. She also informed me that princesses don't eat or drink. Especially pickles or chips, which are Emmas favorites. All that princesses do is wash and comb their hair. They also ride on their princess ponies.

Suddenly she launched into the story of Shreck. She told me that she was going to get swept up by a bad guy in the forrest and then she was going to take him out. Then, Shreck was going to get an arrow in his butt and she was going to pull it out while donkey went to get flowers. Then it was time for bed.

Wow, what a story teller. It was the cuteness that I needed. Thank you Jesus for my little girl.

Happy Mothers Day

On this May 14th Mothers day I want to take a moment to thank my mom Ann. She has been my mom for as long as I can remember, which is birth. This goes out to you mom.
Mom, thank you for loving me. Thank you for caring for me and raising me. Without you, well I would have died I guess. We have had some good times and some rough times. Do you remember the time you were out of town for a week and Brendan and I stayed home and totally destroyed the house by not washing dishes, having people over, not cleaning and just leaving a mess? The house never looked so bad. I remember coming home the day before you were supposed to come home and seeing a note from you and dad saying that you were home and went for coffee and when you returned the house better be clean. I thought it was a joke from Julie until you called. I remember Brendan and I calling Melanie Collins to come over and clean with us. You were mad.
I also remember the same summer when you came in and saw Brendan wearing a vest. You commented that it looked just like the pant suite that you had and loved so much. I am not sure what our faces looked like when we realized we cut up your nice pant suit jacket and made a vest out of it, but I am sure it was shocking.
I also remember the time Jeff slept over and you threw out his contact lenses cause you thought it was just a glass of water by the sink. He was blind for day's. Just kidding.
We have had some great times and also some hard times. I know that it has not been easy since dad left. In fact it has been the hardest time in our family's lives. There are a few times over the last 3 years that I remember connecting with you. I remember going for coffee with you at Second Cup on Corydon and talking about dad. It was very sad, but we connected and it meant a lot to me. I also remember when I was in Fiji and so worried about you and how you were doing as I could not call. I remember when I did call it was like I was your little boy. You did not talk about yourself once, you just cared for me and asked how I was, even through your hurt. Thank you for that.
Thank you for sticking with it. For being a good Mom and Nana. Thank you for moving on and working at the church and thrift store. Thank you for sticking with God and remaining faithful. I know that God will work this out for good. I love you and pray for you continually.
Happy Mothers Day.

The Stranger on Emerging Churches

The Stranger is a city paper in Seattle that puts out weekly articles, classifieds, movie listings and concert info. It is a free publication. In the May 4th edition there was an article written on Emerging Churches in Seattle. It was a very interesting view of a couple of Churches in the city, one of which is Mars Hill, which I personally attend. I am putting the link here if you would like a read.

Emerging Church

King of the Hill on Church

I was checking out Mark Driscoll's blog this afternoon and came across this clip that was shown on King of the Hill about church. I hope you find it as humorous as I did. Have a great Sunday.

Taking Steps Into The Future

I just recently returned from a 10 day outreach to Thailand. It was a great time for me, yet a very different experience than I am used to. There were two things that were different.
1. I am used to taking a group of Jr. High or High Schoolers, but this time I went with a groups of adults, the youngest being 22 and the oldest being in his mid 70's.
2. Usually the groups that we take on trips contact us and have set leaders and an existing group dynamic. This time, I contacted individuals who had no specific connection and asked them if they wanted to do a trip with me.

I have been in YWAM for 12 years now and have been working inside of a mold that was already in existence when I joined. I never started anything new, out side of helping to pioneer YWAM Seattle. But as far as programatic things that I have been involved in, they have already been running. I feel that God is changing this for me and also for those around me. I feel that God is calling us to step into something new, to pioneer new programs and new way's of doing things. Basically to step out.

I truly believe that this is one of the significant ways that we can bring change to the world. The reason that we have all these great existing programs, ideal, and organizations is because someone stepped out in faith and passion, and started something new that has never been before. We can either continue to work inside those existing structures or step out in faith like those before us and start new programs, ideas or organizations that will bring change.
I think for me, the reason that I have not done this before is out of fear. Fear that I will not know what I am doing. Fear of failure. Fear that no one will follow me. There is no risk in working inside an existing structure and trying to restructure it, but to start a totally different thing is a little different. I feel like this changed for me when I saw the success of the Thailand trip.

I saw that there are many adults who are good people, hard workers and Christ followers who have never had the opportunity to go on a Mission Trip and see change. People that are missional in their own culture, but have never had the chance to go and be missional in a foreign culture. The more I saw this the more I wanted to see that change. It was a risk for me to plan this trip, but a risk I was willing to take and a risk that payed off for those who went and those we went to see.

I feel that this is going to open up more doors to do similar things in the future. I also feel that this is going to push me to step out and start things that are not existing programs and hopefully bring change. I don't want fear or apathy to stop me from following God's plan for me. I also don't want to miss God's plan or have Him use someone else to see it get accomplished because I am to fearful to take up the call. I am excited about where this will take me.

Blogging

One of the web sites I like to brows through each day is Relevant On-Line. There is lots of great worthless entertainment info, as well as some interesting articles like the one I read today on Blogging by Andrew Odem. I really enjoy blogging, but I could see how it could be used for Evil instead of good. Anyway, I am on the way to Canada to pick up my beautiful wife and daughter so I am putting the link here for you to enjoy. Later.
The Blogging Church.

Welcome Home

Well, even thought it was great to be in Thailand, it is wonderful to be back home in the beautiful North West. My time in Thailand was great. I just want to take a few minutes to thank those of you who made it so wonderful.

I just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that I arrived home safely from Thailand on Sunday. It is good to be home, but it was great to be in Thailand. Permit me to take this time to thank some people who played a part in my life while I was gone.

Thank you to my team.
Mario: You did great. Thanks for bringing so many with you and being committed to Mission
Anthony: Thanks for letting the kids crawl all over you 24/7
Sonia: Thanks for putting up with all us boys, it was good to have you
Paul: You were hard core bro. You are in your 70's yet you were with us all the way
Matt: Thanks so much for committing to coming and making it happen. You came a long way and lost your bag and remained cool.
Damien: Thanks for being committed to Mission and working so hard
Rusty: Thanks for hosting us, you ,made it so much better for all of us.
Brad: Thank you for coming in the midst of difficulty. I pray that God changed your life forever
Dog: Thank you for a good meal. You tasted great.


Thank you guy's for being so flexible. For sleeping on the floor, for putting up with a million bug bites (Mario), for putting up with 7 men who sometimes act like boy's (Sonia), for coming all the way from Canada (Matt), for trying new and exciting foods (dog), for hosting us (Rusty) and for loving and serving the Akha people will all your hearts.

Thank you to Dave Stone who is helping with out computer. Thank you to Stephen and Boon Soon and Joe for offering to help. Thank you to my dear wife Amy and my daughter Emma for being alright with me going and supporting me. Thank you all of you who prayed for us during this trip and who continually support us as a family financially so that we can continue doing the Lords work that He has called us to.

Finally and most of all thank you Jesus. Thank you for calling us to you and sending us out. Thank you that the call of Christ is worth our lives. Thank you for your truth, your love and your grace. I love you.

Have a great week.