Well, today is my birthday! I would have never guessed a few years ago that when I turned 41:
1. I would been married
2. I would have a baby boy on the way
3. I would be in Seminary
4. I would be processing a call for Ukraine service
I am amazingly grateful for the gifts of the past year and look forward to the next year!
About a year ago I was on my way to meet Dawn at General Assembly where she was working for MTW at their booth. When I was going through the airport I picked up a book titled “The Alchemist.” Its story, as it turns out, is a fable where a young boy is told to “fulfill his Personal Legend”. I found it a very fun read because of the turns and ideas it had. You can read more about the book on Wikipedia or you could purchase a copy on Amazon.com
The question in my mind at the time was how we were going to process some of our personal calling decisions and what the future would hold for Dawn and me. It was a timely read for me and I am sure not an accident that I picked it up rather than the techno thriller I had in my hand as the other option to read on the plane.
Recently Pastor Jerry Rahm from my home church, CrossPointe Church in Austin Texas, has been doing a series of sermons on hope. These have been very good and very timely.
I thought I would share the links to the recording I made of these the last 2 sundays.
- Hope: Sunshine for Our Souls 07/12/2009 This morning we start a new series, “Living with Hope in a Hopeless World”. Throughout history there have been ups and downs in terms of hope. There are times when it appears that all is right with the world, and people have great hope in the future. There are times when things seem to be spiraling downward and people have little hope in the future. This same cycle is true of our lives. Some days we have great hope and optimism; some days are dark. What do Christians do when their life seems hopeless? We will explore that question over the next few weeks. We begin today by recognizing how very important hope is.
- Hope Lost 07/19/2009 Last week we begin a discussion about how important it is for us to have hope. Yet when we look around we see lots of people living their lives without hope. And even God’s people sometimes seem to lose hope! Where does hope go? Why does it go away? Why is it so hard to hold on to? This week we look at the things that would steal away our hope, and more importantly, how we can take hope back.
- Who’s In Charge Here? 07/26/2009 One of the reasons we lose hope is that we often hold on to and trust in the things we can see. As we learned last week we live our lives as if we can control them. We try to manufacture outcomes through our own strength and wisdom, and yet we know in our hearts that the idea that we are in control is just a myth. The truth is that when we forget that God is in control it is easy for us to lose hope. And we can really lose hope when we forget that the God who is in control loves us more than we can imagine.
This morning we start a new series, “Living with Hope in a Hopeless World”. Throughout history there have been ups and downs in terms of hope. There are times when it appears that all is right with the world, and people have great hope in the future. There are times when things seem to be spiraling downward and people have little hope in the future. This same cycle is true of our lives. Some days we have great hope and optimism; some days are dark. What do Christians do when their life seems hopeless? We will explore that question over the next few weeks. We begin today by recognizing how very important hope is.
Hope Lost 07/19/2009
Last week we begin a discussion about how important it is for us to have hope. Yet when we look around we see lots of people living their lives without hope. And even God’s people sometimes seem to lose hope! Where does hope go? Why does it go away? Why is it so hard to hold on to? This week we look at the things that would steal away our hope, and more importantly, how we can take hope back.
Who’s In Charge Here? 07/26/2009
One of the reasons we lose hope is that we often hold on to and trust in the things we can see. As we learned last week we live our lives as if we can control them. We try to manufacture outcomes through our own strength and wisdom, and yet we know in our hearts that the idea that we are in control is just a myth. The truth is that when we forget that God is in control it is easy for us to lose hope. And we can really lose hope when we forget that the God who is in control loves us more than we can imagin
I am not sure if this was very obvious when I posted it under the title “Covenant Theological Seminary” a few weeks ago. I wrote the words to a hymn and a friend helped me put the words to music. It’s Larry singing. If you have a change take a listen. If you use it in a service please let me know!! The details of the song are located under the link at the top of the site titled “From This Day On”
The Job! - Pending additional discussion this is the general idea.
Wow! What a past month and what an amazing trip to the Ukraine. During our trip in June we had a great time connecting with friends and meeting with leadership. The end result is that Dawn and I have been officially invited to join the Kyiv, Team and I have been invited to join the Staff of the Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine.
We are very excited about the Vision!
We are excited about the invitation and I am honored to be invited to work with ERSU. The vision is to grow and expand the ways ERSU can reach Central Asia with Reformed Teaching! Through the training of many pastors your support will be touching many!
Some details about Dawn and Steve
We are in process of working out all the details with Mission to the World and will working over the next many months with you to move the process forward and raise the needed support.
Please pray with us as we work through the process and all the details
We had a really good trip to Ukraine last week. Thanks for your prayers – we had some close calls in boarding some flights and had a few lost items that were miraculously recovered so God showed us His presence in many small ways!
We enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and are excited to consider a possibility for Steve to be involved with ERSU (Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine). Please continue to pray for us over the next few weeks as we process this opportunity and make some decisions about our future direction.
