Road Trip

Here are some pictures from our recent road trip to Pennsylvania via Oklahoma, Ohio, and then back again. Hope you enjoy them.

Where we're at now

Hello friends. Well we just wanted to let everyone of you know that we have received our official welcome from YWAM in Scotland. So we have begun our fundraising in earnest now. It is an exciting thing knowing we need such a huge amount by next year and just trusting in God to come through. Our faith after all is in the Awesome, Almighty Creator of this world and everything belongs to Him. So please keep us in your prayers now as we try to prepare for such a big move. Thank you all for reading our updates and God Bless you all.

Chunky Monkey News

How is everyone out there. We are fine and we thought it was time to let you all know where we are at with the backpacking plans. So lets take a look.

As some of you know the original idea was that we would be opening a hostel in Amsterdam to use as a tool to attract backpackers to come and stay with us and while there we would share the Gospel with them. Well through much prayer and thought and process that plan has changed a little, although the actual backbone of the vision is still the same.

Amsterdam became an out as we were looking at the different visa options open to us and started to realize there really weren't any that fit what we wanted to do. Through searching we found the UK might be a better option. So after different phone calls to friends and internet searches we came to talk with the National Leaders of YWAM Scotland. Through YWAM we hope to have the covering of an orginization to be in Scotland long term to minister to backpackers from our home instead of a hostel. A hostel was looking to be a big bite for a growing family to chew on all at once. So the plan changed a bit to buy a house and instead have backpackers stay in our home for free or donation basis and while there we still share the gospel with them. The specific details of how this will take place is still under planning and prayer.

We are also in the process of trying to set up an account through a christian orginization called ACI to handle our support checks and finances while on the field. Our application is in but, like YWAM, still waiting approval.

Now I know it sounds still a bit up in the air and some of you may think we are making plans with out having approval from these orginizations. Yes we are, but it is only because we are confident that this is where the Lord is leading. I'm not saying that we can see the future, because as we have seen in our year at home some plans that we thought were sure God has changed on us. The thing is that it was only through steps done in faith that one contact was made which then led to another, and then another, which has led us to where we are now. Through it all we learned to really and totally keep the Lord at the center of every prayer and plan. It is His dream to see these "prodigal sons and daughters" be brought back to His Father, and we are just the tool He chose to use. We are honored and humbled, and must therefore keep Him at the heart of the vision.

So if the plans make another change, well as Bilbo use to say.. "the road goes ever on and on...." We are after all one chapter in a much larger story. God Bless you all and we will keep you updated as things progress.

Disneyland, The Happiest Place on Earth

Well we had one amazing vacation. We rode on Dumbo, saw the Wicked Witch of Snow White, played with lightsabers and Mickey Mouse, and had some really great fun as a family. It was a dream come true quite literally for all of us. We had wanted to go to Disneyland since we were still in Africa and with all the stuff we have been mulling over in our minds and working two jobs to have one week with absolutly nothing on our plates but Bubba Gump Shrimp and Carmeled Micky Mouse apples it was a small taste of Heaven. We had fun under the sun and it was a great trip. Hope you all like some of these pictures.

Cracked and Condemned

"Please, come inside and pull up a chair," said the man. However, as you walk through the door you see the floor is cracked and crumbling everywhere. It is so bad in fact that the walls are even showing signs of collapsing. Then you look up and see a very nice roof.

"Why," you ask, "is the roof so nice and clean and in good repair but your floor is all cracked?"

"Oh," he says, "pay no attention to that. I didn't think it was necessary to have a good floor. After all it isn't as important as having a roof over your head. You see, now if it rains or storms, I'm covered." He then goes about as if there was never any problem at all. Just then you see a corner of the house shake a bit and the roof sag. In no time you are out the door. Weeks later you drive by and see much of the roof has fallen in and the man just can't figure out why.

What does this story mean? Well it's like this. I(Nate) have been doing a lot of study over the last four months or so into a creationist worldview. Through my studies i have come to see a few things. One is just the very large holes in an evolutionary worldview, but two is just how much bigger those holes seem to appear when the person holding this worldview is a believer in Jesus Christ, the very Creator of the world.

The other day as I was driving with Lia and telling her about my most recent reading I had finished I came up with this picture of a christian witnessing to a non christian. He is telling him of Jesus and how Christ is the savior and how He died and rose again to save him from his sin. But then when the man asks the christian about some views on evolution the christian says that it isn't really important what you hold to and that he himself holds to an old earth that God just used evolution. The man from that point on didn't understand how the christian could talk about a kind God who would use death to come to a "good" creation, or why would Jesus need to save us from death if death was natural, etc, etc, etc.

Now, people can come to know Christ through the message of his death and resurrection, but what is the foundation. In the new testament we see the combination of Christ's death with his creative acts in Genesis, Revelation 14:6-7, Colossians 1:15-20. There are more but the point is this, if the new testament writers felt it necessary to combine the two in order to show who Jesus is then why do we think we can take the very word of God and believe in the inaccurate worldviews of man, and still hope to give a non-believer a solid foundation. If evolutionists don't compromise their beliefs why do we think we as Christians can. Paul spoke to the Athenians by way of declaring to them a Creator God in Acts 17. He used it as a foundation for the message of Christ's death and resurrection.

What is our choice. Literal creation at the hands of our Creator, or misinterpretation at the hands of man?

Visas, Houses, and Moving

Hello all. We wanted to tell you all of our progress so far. There really isn't much to say but to ask for your continued prayers as we follow God down this rather difficult path. But nothing is to difficult for our God. If He can make all that we see around us and the stars and the heavens then He can take us from one side of this planet to the other.

So here is what we have so far. Both the UK and Holland have rather strict rules for immigration, surprise surprise. Like I said, my God is bigger than borders. We have emailed both countries immigration offices and are just now waiting to hear back from them as to cost, possibility, length of process time and so on. We have seen for the UK anyways that certain visa application processes take around three weeks to three months. One option looks hopefull and that is a long term visit visa however it has us leaving the UK every six months for about six month periods, but they can be got for 10 years. So we'll see.

On the house option we have a very beautiful option in my favorite little scottish town of Oban on the west coast. The town is called the Gateway to the Isles as many of the ferry trips to the western scottish islands depart out of the harbor there. So it sees alot of traffic which is ideal for backpackers. and the house is great. Eight bedrooms, use to be run as a bed and breakfast. Wonderful location in the town, situated between two hostels so great for attracting attention from backpackers. The price, a mere 430,000 dollars. Our God is bigger right? Well He made the sun and the stars that are bigger than our sun, and He made the gold and silver backing those dollars and pounds so yes, He is bigger.

As you can see we are facing a very daunting task, but we have a very big God on our side. Please be praying for us as we face these giants, 1 that we would keep God at the center of all this, 2 that we would remember how Big He really is, and 3 that all this would come together in His time. Thank you all for reading up on us and God Bless you all.

Death and suffering

Those of you who know me (nate) well know that I have a dog named Mish. I got her as a christmas present 14 years ago when we moved down here to New Mexico. Well my good friend Mish died just a few days ago. It was a very hard time for me because for years while I was in africa no matter what I always asked how she was doing when I called home. She had always been there. When I went over to put her in for the night after I got off work that is when I found her. She had got so old that she was no longer able to walk on her own so you had to pick her up just to move her. The day before she gave me a sign. She bit me on the arm and on the ear when i tried to pick her up. Then the next morning I put her out for the day. Later that day is when i found her. I am happy because I was praying that God would take her home so that I would not need to make the decision to put her down, but all the same it hurts.

Why does it hurt? Because in this fallen world death is our enemy. Everything is affected because of our sin against God. Romans 8:20 makes it clear that the creation was unwillingly subjected to death becuase of one man's sin. There was no death before, and praise God that through Jesus there will be no death again. Death hurts, the loss of a friend hurts, but there will come a day when all our tears are wiped away. I don't know if I will see Mish again. While animals have a soul scripture does not say if they have an eternal spirit like us. But I thank God that I was blessed with her for a little while.