It's All Grace

Refreshed

Thanks to my roommate from college who invited us and the graciousness of his in-laws who watched our kids, Bethany and I had the unexpected blessing of attending the Shane & Shane Christmas Tour with Phil Wickham concert right here in our own town. We’ve been blessed by the music of Shane & Shane and Phil Wickham for a long time and seeing them live was a double blessing. The concert was Christ-centered and worshipful as we sang Christmas hymns and worship songs as loud as we could. I was brought to tears a few times during the show mainly because the music was beautiful and it was refreshing to have a focused time of singing with a thousand other people.

One of the blessings of being a Christian is that we sing. We sing in our homes, in our churches, and when we gather together. We are commanded to sing (Ephesians 5:19) and we do this as an expression of worship of our great and merciful God. God has given us the gift of music to a blessing to our souls and that’s exactly what it was for us last night. The final words we sang last night were perfect. To the melody of “O Come Let Us Adore Him” our hearts and voices sang loud:

We’ll give You all the glory
We’ll give You all the glory
We’ll give You all the glory
Christ the Lord

December 14, 2012
JOY

If there’s one thing that permeates our house around Christmas it’s music. Sure, we enjoy our egg nog and peppermint bark as much as the next person, but there’s just something fun about turning up some new or classic Christmas songs. Each year Bethany and I spend a couple bucks on one or two new albums and this year the favorite has to be Steven Curtis Chapman’s new Christmas album JOY.

It’s full of the classics like “Joy to the World”, “Do You Hear What I Hear,” and “What Child is This?” And he’s thrown in some fun ones like “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” which has a cool jazzy vibe to it. But what I think I appreciate most about Steven Curtis Chapman in general, and which comes out strong on this record is honesty. His song “Christmas Card” is written like a message to those who may be without the hope of Christ this year. In a season where we celebrate the birth of our Savior there are still many who don’t know Him. It’s an honest song with a clear message to Christians: people are broken, they need Jesus, and Steven reminds us why we’re celebrating: “So every lost and lonely broken heart would get found.”

Thank you Steven Curtis Chapman for reminding me that there’s still work to do. Let’s celebrate our Savior and then let’s tell everyone about why He came.

December 13, 2012
Support Letters And Marriage Building

For the past two weeks we have been putting together our support letters and sending them out to friends and family. Since it’s impossible to do with the kids awake, our process always starts a little after 8pm and we do as many as we can before our hands can’t fold anymore. Though it might seem boring to some, we actually find it a great time to talk and dream about ministry and life in Czech Republic. Who ever thought that sending out support letters could strengthen a marriage?!

Here’s Bethany getting that perfect fold

A few folded letters before they get put in an envelope.

December 10, 2012
Newsletter: Bethany’s Favorite Month

We just sent out our monthly newsletter for December. If you’re not on our email list, you can subscribe by clicking and signing up here.

If you would like to see December’s update, you can view it h ere or click the image above.

December 7, 2012
Christmas Tree 2012

Every year for the past 4 years we have put together a video of our family decorating our Christmas tree. It’s been a fun little tradition that we’ve enjoyed doing together. This year’s video is up and you can watch it below. For past years, you view them here: 2009, 2010, and 2011.

December 5, 2012