I'm back!!!

WOWZERS!!! I find myself searching for words to describe the time that accounts for my absence from this blog but it's really hard to find just one. I'll take a shot at some. Incredible, amazing, scary, adventurous, soul searching, invigorating, crazy, draining, captivating, tough, joyful, hopeful, and of course full of LOVE. You had to know that I couldn't forget Love.

I'm still in the process of processing my time in Kenya and everything that came with it and I'm sure that there will be plenty to come after this in regards to what I got from my time there. I have to say that I'm glad that I went alone and that it was for more than just a few weeks. I still had hardly anything figured out after just a few weeks. I'm in Cornville Az. right now at my Dads house and have had time to unwind and get used to being back here in the states but I still haven't digested what the last 3 months have brought me. Did you know that Senator McCain lives here? I didn't!

What I can tell you is that I saw some beautiful things and God allowed me to be a part of a beautiful piece of His kingdom and I am truly thankful for it. I look forward to spending time with all of you sharing life and the adventures that we've been able to be a part of in our time apart. I missed you!

I do want to leave you one of the most important messages that I got from my time in Kenya. I've heard this a hundred times and thought that I lived it out but I really did a poor job at it. The most important mission field isn't in Kenya or Mexico or Turkey it's right here right now. Every moment of your should be approached as the mission field. There's more glamor in going to some far off place and being Jesus to them and they really do need our help but the mission field is with your best friend, your spouse, sister, pastor, enemy, people at the beach, rich lawyer in Yaks, or the homeless guy that you just drove by. A friend of mine wrote to me while I was in Kenya and told me this story about a homeless mentally ill lady that she helped out one night against the advice of police and neighbors. She was just on her way home and saw someone that she could be Jesus to and did it. I have no clue if that lady even remembers her but I can tell you that at that moment she felt loved and those neighbors, police, fire and ambulance people got to see Jesus alive here. You and I are in the mission field right now!

I look forward to getting all of this going again and getting together with as many of you as possible. I wonder what's next?

LOVE, the Phenomenon!!!

If any of you have spent much time around me and we got into any kind of deep discussion then there is a good chance that the word love was used. I love Love!!! Seriously I Love it!!! I can’t explain it but I sure am fond of it. It’s like the holy spirit, wind, or the way a womans mind works. I can’t explain it but it sure does lead to an adventure. Today I was at this Baptist church in Karen Kenya and the pastor asked what Jesus is single gift to us and he said that it was salvation, I don’t agree with this. The pastor had a great point and is much more educated than me but still I think that salvation is not standing alone on that podium.

So I asked God, “Father what is Jesus greatest gift to us?”

I think he said “Celine Dion”. Just kidding I got “Salvation, guidance, Love, grace and faith.”

“ I think your right Father.” I said and then I realized that He realized that I meant “Your right!” and just blew off the “I think” part because He know that wasn’t what I meant.

Maybe it’s just because I’m so fresh in this walking with Jesus thing but I always come back to Love being from God and Fear being from Satan. It’s very simple to me.

Poddles and Dobermans

I was at this great conference the last couple of days called When God Dreams. At the beginning of the conference I was asking God a number of questions during worship. I was watching the worship team play and the worship leader was smiling as she played but the rest of them looked like they were playing poker. Please keep in mind that the worship was PHENOMENAL and the team was passionate about what they were playing and you could feel it in the music. Nevertheless they looked pretty serious. So I asked God "Father, how seriously should we be taking this life with you?" His response was "Poodles and Dobermans".

I immediately understood! My friends have this little poodle that is such a great reminder that God has a wonderful sense of humor and that lil' dog popped into my mind immediately. On my way to work I drive by a used car lot that has a two doberman pincers that keep watch after hours. That is a dog that I couldn't imagine doing anything but taking seriously. "Good point God. Thanks."

The quiet one

This morning I was thinking (this can sometimes be a painful experience but not this time) about people in my life and the differences in them. I feel that there has to be balance in almost everything in life. There are always opposites. Good to evil. Powerful to weak. Hot to cold. I see those in people to. I know people who come storming into your life with such a strong presence that draws everything around them to them. The power of their personality is like a magnet. Then you have the quiet one.

The quiet one is the one off to the side while everybody is surrounding the powerful one. I've known a lot of quiet ones and they have never ceased to amaze me. They are so powerful and they rarely realize it. I have this great friend that everybody knows, respects and loves but he is never the center of attention. He is possibly the most Christ like man that I have ever met in my life but once again he is not the one standing out in the crowd. He'll give you the shirt off of his back before you even have the chance to ask for it. He'll also lovingly point out that there is a chance that you could have dealt with something in a better way. He's the type of guy that you would never want to be disappointed in you because it would wreck you. I don't think that I would have ever really got to know him as well as I do had we not ended up spending a lot of time working together. I always liked him and always saw wisdom and love in him but I never realized how deep it went.

God is so good at humbling me with men like him. It would have been so easy for this amazing man to have been a passing friend in my life. I would have never known how amazing he is because he is the quiet one. People always listen when he talks but he still manages to slip by so easily. We should always remember that in the crowd there is someone in the back with an amazing gift for us. We can't get near sighted we have to stay aware of everybody and everything to really experience this life and the gifts that we have been given.

Father I thank you for the men and women of God that stand up and make your voice heard to the crowds. I thank you for the ones who have that powerful presence that is always out there in the open for everybody to feed off of and grow in. Father I also thank you for men like Jim who's quiet presence is so very powerful as well. Father I pray that you open our eyes to see more of these men and women and that we learn everything that we can from them. Father help us to open our hearts to relationships with these amazing people. Father thank you for gifting us with them. Thank you for loving us so very much. AMEN!

I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've dropped in here and dropped you, my dear friends, a few lines about my blessed life in Gods presence. I have no good excuse so please just forgive me. Here is an update on the going ons of my life these days.

As most of you know I am working on a trip to Kenya to help in the construction of an orphanage and a Youth Camp for Pastor Jerry Daniels. Pastor Jerry planted a church in Nanyuki Kenya 35 years ago and has given his life to that community. It amazes me that a man can do that. He picked up everything and moved from the states to Kenya to serve God and his fellow mankind. I plan on leaving in late May after my good friend Kirsten gets married to my soon to be good friend James.

I'm very excited about the wedding and watching the two of them grow together over the years to come. What a blessing it is to be a part of a day that will change the rest of their lives. IT just continues to be a blessing as I get to watch the two of them go through life together. I hope that the three of us will have many adventures together over the years.

I am getting a crash course on raising money for mission trips. I feel like I'm trying to squeeze water out of a rock. The current economy has impacted so many people that would have been more than happy to be a part of sponsoring me in this journey but are unable to at this point. It is testing my faith and I am ashamed to say that I am found lacking and have to continuously put myself in check with my lack of faith. Please pray for me in this area.

In this journey I have learned about kids who have so much experience raising funds for mission trips because that has always been a part of their life. If I ever have children of my own I hope to have plenty of advice to give them as they go out on Journeys of their own.

I think about all of you often and pray for Gods will in all of your lives. Thanks for your support and please check out my Kenya blog at calebinkenya.blogspot.com as well as this one. Lets pray.

Father thank you for the blessed grace filled life that you have given us. Thank you for letting us be in a country where we can worship you publicly without the worry of punishment for it. Father I pray that you work in the lives of everybody who reads this and that you guide them to a life centered on you and your will. Father thank you for your patience and faith in me when I am such a poor example of both. Please forgive me for my lack of faith and patience. Father thank you for LIFE!!! AMEN!!!

I love you guys!!!

YOU SHOULD CHECKOUT MY FRIENDS BLOGS!!!!
I just spent some time catching up on my friends blogs and am so amazed at what an amazing group of people I find God surrounding me with. I love you guys and I thank you for sharing YOU with all of us.

Healing hearts

"This is the message: we should love one another" 1John 3:11 NIV

This seems so simple but being the humans that we are we have such a knack for making it so complicated. I wanted to share with you a brief story of the Love that God has put in me.

I was engaged to a woman a couple of years ago. We had bought a house, had two dogs, wedding plans, a hot tub, and so many other things that we are told that we should have. Most of those were my fault. I thought that we had to have "stuff". You know, keeping up with the Jones's. We didn't have God. I take responsibility for this because I had put so much effort into convincing her that there was no such thing. Now that I think of it she was the start of me searching for Him. Dave was the catalyst but that's another story.

As relationships some times go we split apart. That can be such an ugly thing for anybody involved. There was so much pain, damage, venom, and mistrust that came from that. We both hurt each other and threw up huge walls against feeling that pain again. Our break up wasn't even a very bad one. Neither of us hit the other one or cheated on the other one, it just wasn't Gods will for us to be together. This was a little less than 2 and half years ago or so. A little less than a year ago I called her up to see if she would talk to me. I bet she was stoked to get that call! She was gracious enough to meet with me with out knowing what the meeting was about. God wanted me to ask for forgiveness from her and to repent for not being the man of God that His daughter deserved. It went well and through that God started healing in us.

Tonight I had pizza with her, the new man in her life and his two daughters and I have to tell you I really enjoyed it. The man that is now in her life is a friend and someone that I really care for. Both of his daughters are very dear to me and it was so good to be able to see them again and just share life with them for an hour and a half. We talked and laughed together. It was a little hard to get started but it started to feel more and more natural and was so good.

Father, thank you for your grace and healing. Thank you for breaking our hearts open and letting moments like this happen in places where I never thought it possible. I now realize that it isn't possible with out you Father. Thank you for sharing your love with us Father and for letting us forgive each other and ourselves so that we can share the love that You have for us. Father I pray that you work in their hearts in a mighty way so that they can be passionate for You Father. Father please continue to break my heart and keep on filling me with your love and passion for my brothers and sisters, no matter the circumstances. Father please forgive me for letting me get in the way of your will so much. Thank you for being so patient and loving with me Father. AMEN!!!

Kenya

Hi there friends, I've added a new blog that will be used just for my Kenya updates and hopefully my Kenya adventures. So please check it out at http://calebinkenya.blogspot.com/

I look forward to hearing from you on both blogs. Be blessed my friends.

Blogging

To the left is my dear friend Kirsten who flew down to San Francisco to go kilt shopping with me. Seriously, who flies from Seattle to San Francisco to go looking for kilts with a friend. Well, Kirsten does! We didn't even make it to the kilt shop.....we did cover a lot of ground over those four days though. So I thought that I would share a little bit about how we got connected.

It all started because my friend Jessica couldn't use myspace that well at Simpson University so I started to blog so that we could have some good conversations about God, spirituality, and life....I guess it's all the same in a way. So I started blogging. One of the things that I had to do was list my interests and one of them was Frank Peretti books. One day this other man of God by the name of Dean, who lived in South Africa at the time, was looking for other people with similar interests and ran across me by the Frank Peretti interest. Dean and I started writing back and forth and he turned out to be a stand up guy so I started checking out people that he regularly corresponded with and ran across the talented writings of Kirsten (http://lattesandrainydays.blogspot.com/). I remember the first post of hers that I read was about waking up in the morning. It was so descriptive and so beautifully written. I was captivated and I just kept reading the posts. She had another one about a dream that she had recently and it made something click in one of the dreams that I had that wasn't making sense so I started to write her. Much to my surprise she wrote back and we became instant friends. It was one of those friendships that just seemed to come together just right. So here's to blogging and Gods will in our life. It's just to bizarre to not be of God. So blog!!! Reach out!!! Build relationships!!!

Father thank you for giving me Friends like Dean and Kirsten. It has been such a wild ride meeting and getting to know them and I am so grateful for it. Thank you for all of the friendships that have come from those two and just keep growing. Father I pray that our time writing, talking and hanging out together is of you and is fruitful. I pray that we never forget that we get to share in relationship because of you father. Father thank you for blessing us with a country where we can worship you freely and write about you with out fear of persecution. Thank you for loving us Father and showing us how to love each other. AMEN!!!

Kenya

My friend Chris just got back from Kenya not to long ago and while he was there he was talking with a friend of his who needs someone to act as a foreman for the construction of a childrens camp.  This camp is totally funded and the supplies are already rolling in.  Chris brought me up as a possible candidate to go out there and help build this camp.  It would probably be a 2 year commitment with something like a month off in between years.  I'll be meeting with the pastor who is heading this up next month to see if this is something where I can help him out or not.  If it is then I'm moving to Kenya.  I've been praying and fasting over this and I think that if this works out then that is where God wants me.  It's odd because I've wanted to do a kids camp for years and just gave up on the idea due to a lack of $$$$ and then this possible opportunity lands in my lap.  Please throw a bit of prayer my way.  I just want His will to be done in my life and for me to not get in the way of His dreams for me.  Thank you friends.

Father I pray that you guide me in this possible new adventure and chapter in my life.  I pray that you open the doors that need to be opened in my life to lead me towards the path that you have for me.  Father I pray that I stay out of the was of your will and that I just open myself and completely surrender myself to your will.  Your will be done Father.  AMEN!

Movies that Move You.....

As we've all been experiencing these difficult economic times I decided to rent Cinderella Man to put it all into perspective. This movie shows such an important time in history and how an amazing man handled it. What we are going through is NOTHING!!! I know that jobs are hard to come by but they are not impossible to find. We have so many options and opportunities in this amazing country of ours. We have our issues just like any where else but what a fantastic country this is.

This movie moves me in many different ways. It shows me how to be a better man. It shows me the power of faith and the hope that it can bring. It shows me the power of Love, humility, honor, respect, devotion, and strength. Do you remember the part where he goes to the old boxing club house and asks for money? How about the part where he goes back to the welfare office and gives the money BACK? How many of you would do that? I doubt that I would.

What movies move you and why do they move you? Bear you soul here Brothers and Sisters.