exciting.
we got a call today saying that we've been cleared to visit the prison that we're supposed to visit tomorrow. it's awesome. i'm excited. i've never been to prison. :)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
a new book
Our New Book with a Really Long Title
:) very insightful.
google has this great thing now, where you can find the book at a local library to borrow, instead of buying it. (a tip for living simply) right hand side of the book's page. the closest library for this book is boston... but you may have better luck with other books.
-steve
:) very insightful.
google has this great thing now, where you can find the book at a local library to borrow, instead of buying it. (a tip for living simply) right hand side of the book's page. the closest library for this book is boston... but you may have better luck with other books.
-steve
"when my dad gets out of prison..."
those are shocking words to hear.
i'd never heard them before yesterday.
i don't know anyone who's is in prison. or maybe i do. and they just don't talk about it.
i have a camper whose father is in prison. i don't know what for. i do know that he says he will buy his son a bike when he gets out. please pray for him and their family.
his son is nine years old. he has difficulty spelling and reading even simple things. we have reading at camp every day. we have craft every day. he shrinks back into himself any time he has to read or write. he becomes a different person. he is afraid of what people will think.
however, he's the most fun kid at camp. he's fast. boy, can this guy run. he loves being at camp. he loves being encouraged. he asks me to tell him if he's doing a good job. he's the most positive person on the basketball court, and even though neither of us can shoot, we can pass.
he understands the value of other people and seeks to make friends with kids who are positive. pray that God will continue this in him. pray that he will continue to seek people who will love him like Jesus does.
thanks.
-steve
i'd never heard them before yesterday.
i don't know anyone who's is in prison. or maybe i do. and they just don't talk about it.
i have a camper whose father is in prison. i don't know what for. i do know that he says he will buy his son a bike when he gets out. please pray for him and their family.
his son is nine years old. he has difficulty spelling and reading even simple things. we have reading at camp every day. we have craft every day. he shrinks back into himself any time he has to read or write. he becomes a different person. he is afraid of what people will think.
however, he's the most fun kid at camp. he's fast. boy, can this guy run. he loves being at camp. he loves being encouraged. he asks me to tell him if he's doing a good job. he's the most positive person on the basketball court, and even though neither of us can shoot, we can pass.
he understands the value of other people and seeks to make friends with kids who are positive. pray that God will continue this in him. pray that he will continue to seek people who will love him like Jesus does.
thanks.
-steve
jammin'
so i'm just sitting here, listening to some blasting tunes... ask chris bannon what they are... he'll know. but i won't do my shameless plug here. oh no, i won't.
anyways, this past weekend was beautiful.
we went up to new hampshire to spend some time decompressing, getting closer as a team and community, and reflecting on the ways God has worked this summer and continues to work in us and each other.
we all woke up at 7am-ish on saturday when we were there to go kayaking. it was awesome to bask in the morning sunlight, and bathe in the presence of God that morning. we all came back together at about 11 to start our reflection time.
we went over the section in mark, where Jesus is healing the sick and casting out demons in capernaum. we talked about a lot about calling, and about compassion fatigue. and all sorts of other things. find the passage and read it. draw your own conclusions, we probably talked about them and prayed through them.
Jesus at the end of the section retreats to a quiet place, then when his disciples found him, decides to keep on moving to another town. they could have built a megachurch, but Jesus had prayed, and knew it was best to keep moving. so they did.
we then began a four hour time of silent retreat and solitude. we were even told by Jim to ignore people we came in contact with. it wasn't rude, we were just focusing on God. nice :). So i started the time off with a 45 minute nap. i know... i know. but really, i started it off just by taking everything i had on my mind and heart, and giving it to God, completely. and it was so freeing that i fell asleep. once i was empty of everything, God could fill me up much easier.
and he did.
on sunday we wrote down things to encourage and challenge the the people we are living in community with. through that process, God convicted me in a lot of ways that i need to improve relationally with people, and although i welcome with open arms at first, to be intentional at maintaining that welcoming spirit towards people i already know. this among other things is something i'll continue to work on.
thank you all who are praying for me, our team, our community, and hartford. God is here. keep praying. :)
anyways, this past weekend was beautiful.
we went up to new hampshire to spend some time decompressing, getting closer as a team and community, and reflecting on the ways God has worked this summer and continues to work in us and each other.
we all woke up at 7am-ish on saturday when we were there to go kayaking. it was awesome to bask in the morning sunlight, and bathe in the presence of God that morning. we all came back together at about 11 to start our reflection time.
we went over the section in mark, where Jesus is healing the sick and casting out demons in capernaum. we talked about a lot about calling, and about compassion fatigue. and all sorts of other things. find the passage and read it. draw your own conclusions, we probably talked about them and prayed through them.
Jesus at the end of the section retreats to a quiet place, then when his disciples found him, decides to keep on moving to another town. they could have built a megachurch, but Jesus had prayed, and knew it was best to keep moving. so they did.
we then began a four hour time of silent retreat and solitude. we were even told by Jim to ignore people we came in contact with. it wasn't rude, we were just focusing on God. nice :). So i started the time off with a 45 minute nap. i know... i know. but really, i started it off just by taking everything i had on my mind and heart, and giving it to God, completely. and it was so freeing that i fell asleep. once i was empty of everything, God could fill me up much easier.
and he did.
on sunday we wrote down things to encourage and challenge the the people we are living in community with. through that process, God convicted me in a lot of ways that i need to improve relationally with people, and although i welcome with open arms at first, to be intentional at maintaining that welcoming spirit towards people i already know. this among other things is something i'll continue to work on.
thank you all who are praying for me, our team, our community, and hartford. God is here. keep praying. :)
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
wheeeee!
this weekend we're taking a trip to new hampshire to get a break from the city. today we're going swimming in the pool. we saw fireworks on saturday. i've had a good amount of time to play guitar and had some good talks with people from school as well. not much time to post a blog though.
God's at work here in more ways than i can count... more on that later.
-steve
God's at work here in more ways than i can count... more on that later.
-steve
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
another day. another post.
i love this city.
usually the city makes people talk faster. usually the city makes people speak more. usually the city makes people say less.
i've had instances today where i've really wanted to expound in many ways on the things that are going on inside my head and in my heart, but i haven't been able to.
when i was talking with adrienne a few calls back, she said that every time she talked to me on the phone i was talking a little bit slower, and with a little more deliberation in my words. she said my pauses were longer inbetween phrases. that it was delightful to hear it in my voice that God has made me at peace here.
which is amazing... because as at peace as i am, i feel completely the opposite so much of the time. but i feel at peace at the same time.
love.
joy.
peace.
patience.
kindness.
goodness.
faithfulness.
gentleness.
self control.
the israelites were people chosen by God to be set apart from other nations. God gave them a new way of living that was supposed to show the rest of the world what God was like.
the israelites were under the rule of a foreign king... a few hundred years after king solomon disobeyed God. their new king was nebuchadnezzar. the dude was ruthless. he would cut people into pieces, or even throw them into a fire if they disobeyed him.
so king nebuchadnezzar told his officials to find a bunch of handsom men from among the israelites who were smart and had their wits about them. they would serve in the king's palace. after three years of learning the culture of king nebuchadnezzar's people... they would enter into the king's service.
among the israelites chosen to learn the culture of the babylonians were daniel, hananiah, mishael, and azariah. the king gave them new names... names that would classify them as babylonian instead of israelites. names that were intended to strip them of their identities and reform them into new ones. so they became shadrach, meshach, and abednego. and daniel was renamed belteshazzar. but unfortunately for the babylonians, only God had the right to rename people and have them become different people because of it.
the renaming of daniel and his three friends, and the stripping of their culture in order to have them relearn something new didn't work. they still remained faithful to their God. they still knew that they were set apart. the israelites had all sorts of food requirements they needed to keep. king nebuchadnezzar demanded that they eat food that broke these requirements.
daniel understood the complexity of these requirements. daniel had an official who was tending to him and his friends. God caused the official to show favor to daniel. instead of him going into a dissertation of all the foods they were allowed to eat, and the foods they were not allowed to eat, daniel just tells the guard, "feed us nothing but vegetables and water for ten days, then make your own judgement" God had made daniel wise.
at the end of the ten days, it was easy to tell that daniel and his friends looked better than anyone else in the kingdom. everyone was then put on the same diet. God blessed daniel and his friends with all sorts of wisdom and understand. they rose to the top of their class and were noticed by the king. they were given high positions in babylonian society.
love.
joy.
peace.
patience.
kindness.
goodness.
faithfulness.
gentleness.
self control.
usually the city makes people talk faster. usually the city makes people speak more. usually the city makes people say less.
i've had instances today where i've really wanted to expound in many ways on the things that are going on inside my head and in my heart, but i haven't been able to.
when i was talking with adrienne a few calls back, she said that every time she talked to me on the phone i was talking a little bit slower, and with a little more deliberation in my words. she said my pauses were longer inbetween phrases. that it was delightful to hear it in my voice that God has made me at peace here.
which is amazing... because as at peace as i am, i feel completely the opposite so much of the time. but i feel at peace at the same time.
love.
joy.
peace.
patience.
kindness.
goodness.
faithfulness.
gentleness.
self control.
the israelites were people chosen by God to be set apart from other nations. God gave them a new way of living that was supposed to show the rest of the world what God was like.
the israelites were under the rule of a foreign king... a few hundred years after king solomon disobeyed God. their new king was nebuchadnezzar. the dude was ruthless. he would cut people into pieces, or even throw them into a fire if they disobeyed him.
so king nebuchadnezzar told his officials to find a bunch of handsom men from among the israelites who were smart and had their wits about them. they would serve in the king's palace. after three years of learning the culture of king nebuchadnezzar's people... they would enter into the king's service.
among the israelites chosen to learn the culture of the babylonians were daniel, hananiah, mishael, and azariah. the king gave them new names... names that would classify them as babylonian instead of israelites. names that were intended to strip them of their identities and reform them into new ones. so they became shadrach, meshach, and abednego. and daniel was renamed belteshazzar. but unfortunately for the babylonians, only God had the right to rename people and have them become different people because of it.
the renaming of daniel and his three friends, and the stripping of their culture in order to have them relearn something new didn't work. they still remained faithful to their God. they still knew that they were set apart. the israelites had all sorts of food requirements they needed to keep. king nebuchadnezzar demanded that they eat food that broke these requirements.
daniel understood the complexity of these requirements. daniel had an official who was tending to him and his friends. God caused the official to show favor to daniel. instead of him going into a dissertation of all the foods they were allowed to eat, and the foods they were not allowed to eat, daniel just tells the guard, "feed us nothing but vegetables and water for ten days, then make your own judgement" God had made daniel wise.
at the end of the ten days, it was easy to tell that daniel and his friends looked better than anyone else in the kingdom. everyone was then put on the same diet. God blessed daniel and his friends with all sorts of wisdom and understand. they rose to the top of their class and were noticed by the king. they were given high positions in babylonian society.
love.
joy.
peace.
patience.
kindness.
goodness.
faithfulness.
gentleness.
self control.
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