Today

Twenty four years ago today I asked my girlfriend to marry me. She said yes and became my permanent girlfriend. I am blessed.

Also this same day twenty four years ago we found out that my cousin and his wife lost their little boy Ryan. Feel free to pray for my cousin Andy and his wife Jeanne on this day as they remember their son.

This morning we awoke to an email from my parents letting us know that a friend of ours, LeDon, died last night from a heart attack. Please pray for his wife, Nita, and ask that she be able to feel God's peace and comfort in this terrible time.

A few hours after we read the email I got a call from my dad letting me know that my cousin, Vicki, had also died last night. Please pray for her family as they deal with this loss.

We had our first Disciple Making Movement meeting today with a small group in our house. We had a study and taught our brothers and sisters how easy it can be to reach out to our friends. We feel this is the best, most exciting thing that God has asked us to be a part of since we moved here almost 10 years ago.

Our brothers and sisters shared from their hearts today. Sharing requests, pains and blessings. Tears were shed. It wasn't always easy. We were family.

During our worship time, we got a phone call from a sister about a brother in Christ, a recovering drug addict, who had a moment of weakness last night. Another brother and myself went to his house this afternoon to remind him of the love that we have for him, to listen to his heart, and to remind him that we, as his family, are here to hold him accountable. It was a good, tough first step. Lots of mentoring and prayer to follow. Please pray for this man and his family and pray that he allows God to crush his addictions.

My girlfriend, Freitas and Auristela had a skype call with our new sponsoring church this afternoon during their worship time. I missed out on the call because of our visit mentioned above. It's the Monrovia church family in Huntsville, Alabama. We are encouraged by this body of believers who want to wrap their hands around this ministry and get their hands dirty with us. First visitors from this body of believers will be with us in May. We are blessed.

We got calls from Bronwyn, who thinks she broke her finger, and Ansley, who isn't feeling well.

It just turned 8:00 and I'm just sitting on the couch hanging out with Giovanni watching Veggie Tales. I don't have much energy to anything else.

God definitely did not make me to be a daily counselor. Days like today, spending the 1+ hour at our brother's house, wear me out mentally, and surprisingly physically, more so than any marathon I've run in. I don't know why but deep, heavy talks just wear me out. It's been that way since we moved here and I really don't ever see it changing.

God has given us strength to deal with everything today and that is exactly what He's promised right?

We'll let Him take care of our tomorrow.

We are part of God's family, warts and all. Sometimes it's pretty. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it just flows. Sometimes it feels like we only paddle upstream. Sometimes it's full of great joy. Other times it's full of great sadness. Sometimes we suffer and sometimes all we can do is praise and it feels like suffering is far away. We are learning to do all of it together. We are learning to be family.

I'm tired but it's what we call a "good tired" and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world right now or change my tiredness for anything.