The situation couldn’t have been any more tragic — a car accident in the middle of the nigh leading to a young and vibrant college student’s funeral visitation, and the pain of a family close to ours. After many tears and much pain, this was the news that propelled Tracy and I to the decision to fly back to Georgia for a day only.
Description of the Trip
This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to participate on an ‘urban trip exegesis’ exercise in Hollywood, CA. This trip was part of a class in which we, the students, are encouraged and educated to see the environments around us with a different set of eyes. We were expected to see past the obvious urban complexion with its complexities, structures and traffic and to focus on the stories those neighborhoods tell through its peoples, signs, smells, rhythms, sounds and the built environment as a whole.
Welcome to our October Video Newsletter! First of all thank you SO much for your comments on our last Vlog and your involvement in our mission towards walking God’s call in our lives.
Speaking of this last Vlog, the September one, a few of you had some issues opening the password-protected video embedded in the post, and asked me to put in writing the contents of future videos. While I’ll do my best to fulfill this request, the truth is that I’m much better with visuals than letters, but I’ll do my best. This month’s Vlog is probably my favorite… ever! For this one we have included our five daughters and have asked them to respond three questions only: Name, Age and Why Do You Want to Go to Italy.
August was gone before we knew it, and with the end of September moments away we didn’t want to miss another month without sharing what’s happening with us. In our last update we shared how God has confirmed His call upon us to move to Italy. As we continue to trust in God, and yield to the Holy Spirit’s guidance we are becoming more aware of how this time is one of preparation.
The leader was looking for volunteers across the room. As I try to avoid making eye-contact with this person, this other one looks right at me and says: “And you’ll be blind for the next hour. You’ll be blind through this meeting, through lunch and until we meet again.” Just like that he handed me a funny blind thingy in order for me to wear.
For some odd reason my thinking seems to be b r o k e n down in s e n t e n c e s. This afternoon I’ll be flying out. To North Carolina to serve as a Short-Term Missionary at a Joni and Friends Bonclarken Retreat. Joni and Friends is a Christian organization that ministers to people with disabilities and their families. I am SUPER nervous.
Hello partners, friends, fbookers, and curious reader!
After seeking the Lord’s direction, praying, fasting, journaling, a good dose of Luke 4/5, John 5 and James 1 (NLT), and three pages from Mark Batterson’s Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God, God has confirmed our passion and our responsibility to follow Him to Italy!
This is a quick follow up to our YL June Newsletter. I usually do one newsletter per month, but given the nature of this particular Summer and the options we have in front of us, we might jump in and throw a couple of freebies in between (like this one)
This is probably our most vulnerable YL newsletter yet. In a few days we will be celebrating ONE year of support raising, and up until this point this has been our timeline:
I’ve had the joy of knowing Maggie for a couple of years now. When I first met her, I was serving as a youth pastor at a local church in Dublin, GA. I always remember Maggie as a joyful, committed, smart, athletic and always-willing-to-help kind of a girl. Words such as laugh, loud, giggle, volleyball, basketball, missions, Spanish, friend, singer, and discipline, are some of those words that you can use to begin to describe her.
As we find ourselves in the middle of our Italy scouting trip, I find myself in the back of a car heading to see some places to live. Since it will take us about an hour to get to our destination, I feel like jotting down some thoughts on my iPad before we get too busy.
Where are we staying? This scouting trip couldn’t be possible without the generosity of Peppo and Jane Biscarini. They are the field directors for Greater European Union mission here in Italy, and graciously have opened up their home for us to stay with them.
As some of you know, our family is in the process to love, mentor and serve teenagers in Italy and grow local Young Life leaders. This has been a long process that started more than a year ago and slowly but shortly is coming together. As I write this post I sit at a friends’ computer desk, in Rome Italy, we an incredible jet lag and only a few hours after the plane landed. This is our first, and perhaps only, scouting trip that my beautiful wife Tracy and I will take before moving our family by the end of this year.
It was Friday afternoon and we had just hit I-16 E from Savannah, GA. Crazy car ride, wet highway, kids screaming, music blaring, and all along I was thinking of the few days ahead of us in Dublin, GA.
This was our first time back to Dublin since my last day at Dublin First United Methodist Church. Dublin was the first city in our Young Life support-raising itinerary for Georgia. As we were driving by Statesboro, my mind started racing with thoughts of how our time in Dublin would go. How would we be received? Would people like to meet with us about Young Life fundraising? Would the students be cool with me since I’m no longer serving them? All of a sudden I started feeling a bit insecure, vulnerable and anxious.
As some of you know I’m doing my masters of arts in Global Leadership at Fuller, and currently I’m taking a “Mentoring” class. Part of this class requirement is to look back and reflect on the mentors God has placed in one’s life and lift up a prayer for them. Well, I thought, what if I do a little more than a prayer and give’em a little love here on my blog? So, that’s what this post is… a thank you note to my mentors.
