Finally going....well, sorta

Hello everyone. Here is a short bit of news. I'M GOING TO SCOTLAND!!!! Well not quite yet a permanent move though. It is a short trip. So here is the scoop, or the poop. Or the pooper scoop. Okay I have lost you all and I am sorry. Anyways here is the news.

As some of you may already know we have been a little short on the amount of monthly support we need to begin our visa process for some time now. Well that hasn't changed. But with the summer comes new hope and promise. We have lined up some speaking arraignments and are hoping to get under way in July. So to prepare for this as well as to prepare for what lies ahead I, Nate, am making a trip to Scotland this June for a week long trip to scout out the land so to speak. I will mainly be visiting the YWAM base where we will be moving to first but if time and money allows I will also head north to the town of Oban which is where we want to move to for the backpacking mission we plan to start. If I make it I plan to be looking at houses on the market there to see what is available and what is the cost like.

I would appreciate as many prayers as I can get as I will be traveling alone and working to try to get as much information as I can from the YWAM leadership. Thank you all for your prayers during this time. God Bless you all and please be watching for some more news soon in the future.

"Feelings...nothing more than feelings.."

If I were to ask you, "How you doing?", what would be your answer? More often than not my answer to such a question is a plain and simple "Doin good. How are you?" You want to know whats so funny about such a response, I truly don't care about his answer and more than likely he doesn't care about mine. Why is that? Conviction does not breed a habit. I have often been convicted of being shallow on such greetings and concern for my fellow man but has my flesh got its act together. HAHA, no.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. It seems as if this was written to show us not that God alone can look into the heart of a man, but rather that only God LOOKS on the heart of a man. How many of us wear masks every day trying to hide what is inside, and how many more of us would rather just look at the "outward appearance" rather than the heart of our friends or family? After all we have so much more important things to do than to show concern for another, and who really wants to get tied up in a deep heartfelt conversation with someone when our couch and TV are waiting for us at home. Some of us may have a bit better excuse like our children are running amok and must be leashed so I don't have time right now, but when our children are grown will they see the need to love and listen or will they mirror what they see?

Having said all this and knowing that we must start somewhere I want to share a bit of my heart with you. Read it or not is none of my concern, only that I have spoken it out. All masks must come off. After all what is the point of being in a family, the family of Christ, if we are never to know each other? I have shared some of my heart's pain with you all before in an earlier post titled, "Remembering...the pain." In that post I shared a number of things that have pained my heart for quite some time now, but this will be different, I hope. This I hope will shed some light on a life's desire. A life's goal to serve the Lord. It may be a bit long but such matters of the heart often are.

When I graduated from high school I was going to follow my dream of becoming a marine biologist and work with marine life maybe someplace like sea world. But God had other plans. Maybe if you have ever read stories of some of the famous missionaries of the past their calling would sound similar. They had a dream and then in a single instant God grabbed them and changed their life. This was me. I read a story about a boy in Sudan and knew that God was calling me to Sudan. After a long road of a few years of this and that I finally found myself on a plane bound for Africa. It was an adventure that lasted for six years and caused me to grow in unimaginable ways. It also cost me my carefree bachelor lifestyle. And I would not ask for that lifestyle back again. I married the most beautiful woman in the world and even grew by three more as I had three children, all crazy and wild boys. But the adventure came to an end with sickness and we as a family decided it was time to return home. It was not easy for us but we knew God had other plans for us and so we followed Him.

Backtracking a bit those plans God had for us He introduced a few years earlier and said He would increase this vision more in the future. That vision was to work with backpackers. Please see the post entry in the archives titled "Prodigal Son Project". There is a short video slide show there explaining our mission.

So coming home we knew God would take us to new places and new work. We were ready to follow Him. Now fast forward a bit and we get to what I am going to share about today. In sharing about this mission we have had very unexpected support in its goals and purpose, to reach backpackers with the gospel. We have been encouraged by the prayers and comments people have shared with us in our time at home in the states. Overall we were a bit surprised people took to the idea. But in one area we have seen much discouragement, financial support. While in Sudan we never lacked and through many faithful supporters God provided everything we ever needed. God is truly faithful! But this time it is a bit different. While our hope was to be moving by this summer it seems now as to not be the case. We have not yet reached the amount we need in monthly support to begin our visa applications so we will not be leaving when we planned.

When talking about this we know God works in everything to better us and help us grow. He has people wait on His timing for a reason. To everything there is a time and a season. We know this and we are desperately praying for God's direction as we are at a loss. God is clear, Satan is blurry. If there is confusion then it is the works of the enemy. And this time of uncertainty is a bit frightening for us. We have no where to go and nothing that we can do. The mission field is all we know. Our heart is to move forward and reach these backpackers with the gospel but we can not do it without the funds to even go to the country to which God has called us. Every day we are here our hearts yearn more for a place we can not reach for reasons we can not understand. I know I am not speaking a foreign language here. Many of you reading this have had dreams before to do something with your lives. Some may still be dreaming while others have achieved their goal. And I am not talking about a private island where you can retire at 25. Yes that is a dream, one that I have had many times. But you know what dreams I am talking about. You wanted to go on to school and become a doctor, or a teacher, or a fill in the blank. A wife or husband and kids with a house. These things are not bad as God uses them all for His purpose and glory.

For me the dream became one of serving God with my life on distant fields of battle striking at the strongholds of the enemy and taking back what he has stolen. I have lived that dream for six years in Sudan. But now I am stuck. A teacher who has her degree and ends up working at Wal-Mart would probably understand what I am talking about. Does this mean there is defeat? Never!! Our God is the Creator of the world and everything in it. He has won the day and there is no defeat for those who put there trust in Him. But in this world there are times of waiting and longing. The promises of God will never be thwarted or defeated. But the times of waiting can be hard. The ways of the heart are hard to explain as they are feelings, impressions, pictures. Does that mean that we shouldn't try to explain them to each other? Please understand that the sole purpose of this post is to shed some light on the musings and prayers of a longing heart. Triumphant soon, but longing now. And if you have something to say then let us know what is in your heart. I do really care what is in your heart. It is a habit I am trying to grow.

God Bless you and keep you.

He is risen, just as he needed to be.

Happy Easter to all. Its time to get out the decorated eggs and the plastic, candy filled eggs and have an Easter egg hunt. But is this what Easter is all about? For some this may be the extent of their Easter celebration. Then for others it may be the only time a year, except for maybe Christmas, where they go to church. Then there are those die-hards who decide to get up with the rooster and go to a sunrise service at their church. But are these "traditions", or Easter eggs from wal-mart all there is to Easter or is it something deeper, something more real?

Well let's first take a look at our reason for the Easter celebration. Now I'm not talking about the pagan roots for it is early morning for me right now and I don't want to take the time, what I'm talking of is our traditions of today that says we celebrate Easter as the time when Christ rose from the dead to take away the sin of the world and destroy the power of death. This is the tradition I am talking of.

Now is this a loose tradition based on some story from antiquity, or maybe a mythical story, or maybe even a lie put forward by the followers of some man who lived 2000 years ago? We must first ask ourselves if a tradition would really last for 2000 years if the man it was based on died and did not rise from the dead. Many men have died since the creation of the world, a few were brought back to life but died again later, and two never died, but have traditions sprung up from these people that have lasted through the ages? No. So what is so special of the Christ that would bring a tradition lasting 2000 years? Perhaps it has something to do with the reality of the event and its purpose.

A man raising himself from the dead and walking about for several days being seen by many and doing amazing things like walking through locked doors would certainly leave a lasting impression on the lives of those who saw him. To see such a thing would almost certainly leave a "tradition" lasting many centuries. A lie of a stolen body would die off with the first martyr. Who would willingly die for a lie? No, the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour could only have been a real historical event. It really did happen, and all other theories hold no water. A man beaten as badly as Jesus was and crucified by those who know the art like the back of their hands most certainly was dead, not fainted. And I would like to see even a healthy man bound in cloths like a mummy get up and push a several thousand pound stone away from the door of his tomb from the inside and then somehow get passed an armed guard of elite soldiers. If a healthy man could not do this then I am sure a severely beaten man could not. Even in scripture God made it clear that Jesus was dead. Pilate asked in Mark 15:44-45 if Jesus was in fact dead and it was confirmed. The bible leaves no doubt.

So why would Jesus die? He had to die. Without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins. This was not some back-up plan God had devised from Adam's mistake in Eden. To suggest such a thing would be to imply that God did not know the future choice of Adam. No, God knew and yet He chose to create us and love us still even through all our mistakes and rebellion. But He had to have a way of restoration. Being Holy He could not have sin in His presence so He devised His plan of salvation from before time ready to redeem His creation upon its corruption. Wow, God you are awesome!

And Jesus had to rise to life for the only way to defeat death is to break its hold by rising to life. Jesus showed His power by raising Himself from the grave. Death must be defeated because it is an intruder. God does not die and He is the giver of life. Death was not part of God's design but instead is a punishment and result of our sin. It must be defeated. God alone has the power to defeat death as He is the giver of life. He brought man from the dust of the ground. Dust does not breathe, or have life, so life could only come from God. And He breathed into the man the breath of life and man became a living soul.

So God gave life, man removed ourselves from God by rebellion, so God restored our life by sending His son Jesus Christ to save us from our sins by dying for us and then defeating death by rising to life. Only God could do this, and it has been done. The cross is empty and rotting somewhere. The tomb is empty. He is not here, He is risen, just as He said, Matthew 28:6. Happy Resurrection Day.

"And whose side are you on" asked the young hobbit?

"I am on no body's side because nobody is on my side," replied Treebeard. Actually this scene has nothing to do with my post but I liked it for the title. But there is a good point to take from this. Pippin naturally asked because there was a war on and as far as he could tell there was only two sides. I know that in modern day warfare there can be the two opposing sides as well as different views and so on but when you boil it all down is there still not only two sides?

So what then is my post about? Well it is quite simply about sides. Sides in a battle that I know will tread on a few, or more than a few, toes. Which battle is that? Specifically the battle between evolution and creation, more broad it is the battle between God and man. It is an age old conflict and this is why I know it will step on a few toes because for anyone who reads it there will most certainly be those who disagree with me. Oh well, such is life, at least in this world.

I am sitting at work right now and I just read an article about a science teacher in Chicago who was recently reprimanded for mentioning creationism in his science class. The case was brought up by an atheist who said that it is wrong to teach creation in the science classroom as well as against the law. Now I will not get into specifics I will just say he was told not to do it again and it was dropped. But why even the issue? First of all it is not illegal to teach creation in the classroom but is often brought up as a quick easy out because many people do not know that it is not illegal and most people do not want to be guilty of breaking the law.

My point is this. In this battle there are only two sides. For God, or for man. Right now is when some will say "what do you mean, either we must accept creation or evolution?" First of all I did not say it. I have heard it said. Secondly I would first ask that one carefully searches his beliefs and see just what path they will lead him on, or what would the conclusion be. For example, if one subscribes to special creation by God in six literal days as it records in Genesis where does it force one to either re-interpret scripture, contradict scripture, or change scripture from say a historical account to a metaphorical one? Theologically it is sound as this is just a literal reading of the Genesis account of creation.

Now if one were to subscribe to evolution then one must decide first of all to be either a humanist and accept evolutionary theory in its entirety which says there was no God and it all happened by chance random processes, or one must make some kind of compromise to try to harmonize the bible with the theory. For example, to say that millions of years were used by God to come to a complete creation over all that time one must accept that death was a natural part of all that time and therefore death was around before sin as this was before Adam but even Adam must be seen as not an actual person but rather a representation of man in general. If that is true then one must also accept that when the scriptures tell us that Jesus died to conquer death one must ask why if death was a natural part of God's original design for life from the beginning of the ages.

You see I am a creationist. I believe that there is supporting evidence for it and that it makes the most sense theologically with the very foundational beliefs of our scriptures as Christians. Evolution however, in its very basics, is trying to explain the world without God. To say God did it does not give credibility to God's character. To say he allowed death before sin, went on to say it was good, and then came to save us from death just makes no sense. No, evolution is not compatible with the bible.

But here is where I would draw attention to the opposing side of creationism. In this battle of the school teacher who was the one who brought it up? Was it a christian parent upset that his kid's teacher was teaching creation? No, it was an atheist! Here is how I look at it. If I was to hold that some form of evolution was possible and that God used it and that if I interpret the scriptures a certain way to make it harmonize so that everything fits so I can have my faith and my science then is everything okay?

Well ask yourself this. When it comes down to it who are those pushing to make creationism illegal in the classroom? Who are the loudest proponents for evolution? What do die hard evolutionists say about creationism? "Some sky fairy said poof and then everything magically appeared." Quoted from discussion boards on the very same news feed of the teacher being reprimanded. If my belief is just a combination of faith with the world's science am I on the right side? If some one would have called the God of the universe a sky fairy I am sure David would have said to us the same thing he said to the Israelites, "who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

We may not have all the answers to give for everything we see around us, although neither do the evolutionists, but does that mean the answers are not there? On the same discussion board an atheist gave an example as to why there isn't a God. If your house is your world and you are looking in your house for your keys and do not find them then they don't exist. That is the abridged version of his statement but the general idea. He adds more in where you look and so on but his conclusion is the same. He then says that if you look for God and he cannot be found then he therefore does not exist. Well let me ask him a question. Does your house have a window? Could you have dropped your keys out the window and therefore they exist but outside of your world? Could God exist outside of your world? Or maybe as Indiana Jones and his friend Sala says of the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark. "They're digging in the wrong place!" Maybe they are looking for a god of they're own imaginings and since they cannot find him then he doesn't exist. God says quite clearly in the bible that the invisible attributes of Him are clearly seen ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:20.

Does all this mean I am right and others are wrong? As I do not know all ends I can not say yes and I can not judge others motives behind their beliefs, all I can do is look at the world around me and use scripture to interpret it. I believe that I am right. I know God exists else my faith would be a blind faith. And if I know God exists then is it possible that he created the world in six very literal days, well why not? If He is an all powerful God could He not have done it all in an instant? Six days has a meaning and a purpose for us, our work week. Ages of time has no meaning or purpose, it is only necessary for evolution to be plausible. Take a serious look at more than just the so called "scientific evidence" to see where you stand. Is more being compromised than just the start of a book? If the interpretation of the evidence disagrees with the foundation of scripture then which should be thrown out, scripture, or the interpretation of the evidence? And is there another possible interpretation of the same evidence that agrees with scripture?

God Bless you in your journey.

Walking with my God

What does it mean to follow someone? When driving if you are following someone you make every turn they make so as not to get lost. Or when playing follow the leader you do all that they do so as not to loose the game. But what does this mean when paired with following our God?

I have been a christian for many years now. That does not make me any better or any worse than any other just stating a fact. In those years I have grown in considerable ways as every christian is called to do. I have learned much, seen much, and worshiped many different ways, meaning taken part in different denominational worship services. In this journey I have learned much of what it means to walk with my God.

Does this again mean I know more than others? Please understand the point of this post. I am talking of myself, not comparing. I have a saying that I can't remember now if I made it up or if I heard it somewhere but it goes like this, Lord, help me to be better than I was yesterday but worse than I will be tomorrow. The meaning is quite clear, it is just to say that I want to be better every day. I want to achieve a greater heart, greater attitude, greater likeness of my Lord everyday. After all, we are called to be transformed into his likeness.

A journey can take many paths. A journey is not like a vacation, or a trip. The very idea of the word trip seems like a short trip to the store or a trip to grandmas house, but the word journey brings with it the idea of a lengthy travel, a trip if you will of some long duration. To follow Christ is just such a journey.

In my travels I have learned many things. Some of those things I have learned opened my eyes to errors I had in my way of thinking. A fun example is that I could never understand why Peter was warming himself by the fire when they took Jesus but upon spending time in Israel and having a whole day where it did nothing but snow in the heart of Jerusalem I now understand why Peter was warming himself. To change the way you see things or the way you understand things comes with learning. To never change means you know all and are therefore perfect and have no need of God. Yeah, like that will ever happen!

So in such a journey with Christ we are in essence playing follow the leader. We must do all that He does so as to not loose the game. We must run the race with all diligence so as to win the prize. How can we expect that over time we will make right choices apart from following His guiding? We are trying to become more like Him and He consulted with His Father everyday for guidance. He was our example and so we should follow suit.

Raising three very wild boys in this ungodly world I can see the value of living consistently with scripture as my foundation. everyday must be based on scripture. Sadly this is not always the case, but I am trying to be better than I was yesterday right?

I recently learned two new words, Exegesis and Eisegesis. Now exegesis means to read the bible and bring truth from the scriptures, and eisegesis means to read the bible and interpret it based on human experience. Now I may seem naive and I have in fact been called that recently in an Internet discussion board for standing up for young earth creationism but I have always thought that if I approach God's word ready to hear what He has for me to hear then the word of God speaks for itself. I know there are many who will most certainly disagree with me on this line but that is as it is.

So what is walking with my God? Quite simply it is following His every move to the best of my ability to become more like His Son. Looking for His guiding word everyday of my life in order to stay within His will for my life. And talking with Him as a friend to learn more of His life and ways. That is walking with my Lord.

A wee bit of news

Hello one and all who check our blog. I must say it is a bit fascinating to look at the statistics on here and see where some of the page views are coming from. Like for example, I just noticed that there was one page view from Iran?! How weird is that? People all around the world that i may not even know are reading my family's news. If I know you who checked in Iran and I just don't remember I am sorry.



Anyways I have a bit of news I would like to share with you all. I would like to share with you about our mission The Prodigal Son Project. Now by now if you check this blog regularly you know all about our mission and its goals. To reach the young travelers of the world with the gospel of Christ. To do this you may also remember that we need to have a house of our own in order to invite the travelers in for a clean and welcoming place to stay where they can feel free to ask about Jesus, or at least experience a nice clean bed and hospitality.



If you remember I put an update on here a while back telling everyone of what we needed to raise in monthly support in order to begin our visa process so we could move over to Scotland by July of this year. I would like to thank all those who have been helping us in this and partnering with us in prayer to see this vision become a reality. But here is the draw back. We have not yet reached our goal of 2,000 dollars of monthly support and that means we are no where near our goal of around 5,000 dollars in regular monthly support.



I have been a missionary on the field for over 6 years. I know the pains of trying to raise support. It goes against anyone who works hard to basically ask people for money to help support them, especially if it is to support not only them but their family as well. Some of you may know of missionary stories where the missionary just prayed and God put it on someones heart to support him or her. Other missionaries however would hold nothing back in letting people know of their needs. Neither is wrong and both are good ways. Sometimes it is a matter of humility to go to someone with your needs and then leave it up to God to move that person's heart.



What am I saying through all of this? Simply this, we need your help. We cannot begin to stress how deeply we believe that God has put this vision in our hearts and we know that the path we are on is where God wants us to be. We ache to share the gospel with these young travelers as well as to be on the mission field again discipleing new believers. But we cannot do this without help. We know that God can move mountains and we are trusting on Him to move in this area of our support. But we are also calling on everyone who is following us to seriously pray and seek God in this. Ask Him what is His will. We thank you all for reading this post and hope that you are well. May God Bless you.

Thoughts on, or after, Valentine's Day

I read this recently and thought it was fitting for Valentine's Day, albeit a day late. Please enjoy and tell me what you think. Nate


God loves us, and it is plain as the nose on our face. So what is love? Is it a feeling? An emotion, little butterflies in our tummies? Or is it a choice? A choice maybe to love in the hardest times, or even unto death. Jesus Himself told us that there is no greater love than a man laying down his life for his friends.

Is love really love when it must be forced? Think about it. Who has ever loved green beans just because they were told to eat them when they were kids? In fact, unless you always loved green beans, most children I’m sure found it even harder to swallow because they were being forced to like them. See, love is not love unless it is given a choice. God could not create us to automatically love Him and have a perfect love. He would have had little robots to love Him and do what they were programmed but that would not have been the relationship that He created us for. So love must by its very nature have a choice. A choice to either love or not to love. It is this reason that God created us with this choice and it is this reason that we had the choice to make. The sad truth is that Adam chose to rebel and man has chose to disobey our Creator ever since. Look at any 4 year old or teenager for that matter. They are a perfect picture of how we try to rebel against our Father every day. We think we know better when in truth we know nothing.

You see, the story of the bible is a love story. It is God’s love story about His pursuit of His people and their turning from Him. Many say that the God we read of in the Old Testament is a violent, murderous God who wipes out entire people groups on a whim, not a loving God. But is this really an accurate picture? I have seen this argument brought up often on the Internet but always from those who already disbelieve the bible and the God who inspired it. So how should we look at it? The best way is to start at the beginning. When you go to see a new movie you wouldn’t wait till it is half over and then go in to see the rest, you would see it from the beginning. The same is true of a good book. You wouldn’t pick up a mystery novel and start in the middle and read on from there. You would know nothing of the characters and the end would not make sense, so you start with chapter one.

Happy Valentine's Day and God Bless You All.