03/28/2009
Well, the time has come. I have taken care of Co all day before, but this will be the first time that we spend a couple days without mom. Kesha is heading up to Seattle to celebrate her mom’s birthday. They are going to have a blast. Cohen and I are left to fend for ourselves. There is guaranteed to be tons of playing, jumping on the bed, cookie eating, and cartoon watching. I am sure I will have a couple fun photos to document our adventures.
Wish me luck!
03/23/2009
I have barely used my camera at all since I was up in Canada visiting my Dad. Yesterday Quinn (my bro-in-law) and Katy asked me to take some pics for their invitations. I was excited to be able to actually take be behind my camera again! Here are a few shots.
03/20/2009
We came up with a perfect name for our next little girl: Isla Reese (pronounced Eye-La). I just love the name so much! And so does Cohen. Check it out…
03/20/2009
This is an amazing video that a friend from Texas sent me. Listen to what the man says at the end. You may have to turn your volume up to hear it. It’s unbelievable!
03/20/2009
A few months ago I bought a new guitar. It was a guitar that I had been eyeballing for about 2 years. Although since I have bought it I haven’t really had much time to play.I love playing, and that is something that I want to do more of.
I remember the days when Kesha and I had just been married that we would pack all the gear into the car and I would do a show almost every weekend. It has now been well over a year since I have played a show. I am rusty at the guitar, and I notice my vocals have slipped quite a bit.
I am glad to be playing on the worship team again. I am about to head to practice in about a half and hour. It is great because almost all the musicians on the team are better players than I am. That will stretch you!
I hope to get enrolled in lessons sometime when we can scrounge up the scratch — but for now I will just play my little heart out every chance I get.
And without further ado, her she is — the 2008 Taylor T5 LTD:
03/11/2009
I read an article from Rethink Monthly today called “Dirty Girls” that really shocked me. In the article Anne Jackson, a young author, talks about her struggle with pornography. It was shocking in many ways — not just becuase it was a woman talking about porn, but it shocked me to see how open she was about her sin.
I frequented erotic chat rooms, watched movies and browsed through hundreds and hundreds of pictures. Soon my porn binges started affecting my performance at work and my relationships.
Of course I never mentioned my struggle to anyone. Looking at porn was typical, even expected, for guys but a girl? A girl who likes porn? I often questioned my sexual orientation.
Why did I like looking at naked women? Was I gay? Bisexual? A pervert? I hated what I was doing so much. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop.
Kesha read the article earlier today too, and we talked a little bit about it this evening. Both of us were encouraged by the article to embrace the openness that Anne Jackson shared in her story. This kind of genuine life is what honors God after all. But it sure is easier to pretend we have it all together isn’t it?
What do you think of this kind of openness?
03/11/2009
Kesha and I were just about to go to bed last night when we saw something that touched us both on TV. It was a show called “What Would You Do?“. It is a hidden camera show that records how people respond to certain situations. In this episode they went through a few awkward situations like a teen getting birth-control and college students being hazed. But none hit as hard as a segment they call “Aiding the Fallen”.
In this clip, they show a well dressed woman who falls down in the street. Immediately people came to her aid. They bend down and make sure she ok. There was not one time it took longer than 6 seconds to have someone come to her help. But then they changed the well dressed woman to a scruffy homeless man. Eighty-eight people walked past this man who could have been dead without even a second thought. Eventually a crippled woman stopped to help him. All she could do was to ask others to call an ambulance.
I sat on the couch and cried my eyes out. I saw in that one crippled woman the heart of God. She was incredible. She sat with him for quite a while talking gently to him and even gave him a name — “Billy”. She was a shining and sharp example of Christ to me. Even though the man wasn’t really hurt, she demonstrated an incredible amount of love and compassion. That is the heart I want to have. That is the kind of person I want to be.
I really hope you will stop by the ABC website and watch the video entitled “Aiding the Fallen“.
How do you respond to the homeless?
03/10/2009
Wow! I was thinking back today about just a few short years ago. I was a single dude just about to move to Salem to go to school. And now look at me! I can’t believe how amazing the last 5 years have been. They have been tough in ways (especially this last year), but overall they have been incredible. I can look back and see all the marvelous growth in my life. Not only do I now have an incredible wife, 2 kids (1 still in the belly), and a house — but I can really see how I have grown up as a man. I have matured as a Christian, and have begun to see some wonderful growth in my understanding.
The title of this post is “The Long Haul” because I know that this journey is far from being over. And I know that I will continually be molded as I live and learn. But I am excited to see that I am growing up. I may only be 27, but for some reason retirement doesn’t seem so far off nowadays. Crazy!
03/10/2009
Kesha and I have made a huge change in our lives lately. We have started to write out a budget and live by it. It has been super hard! We are listening to a lot of Dave Ramsey and have enrolled in a financial class at our church. I think this will be really good for us. We aren’t even 5 years into our marriage, and we have managed to pile up a little debt. We are going to pay it all off, and we have already trashed most of our credit cards. It feels good to be paying down our debt and moving step by step toward financial freedom.
What are your thoughts on debt and credit cards?
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