Matthew ... Such A Hopeless Romantic

While he was here visiting, I got to see the romantic side of Matthew. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words:

(Click to enlarge comic strip.)

This picture really captures modern romance, as I have witnessed it. From sun-up until late at night, the chirping and clicking never stops.

Back From the Assembly

Well, I want to first give praise to God! He came through in a big way.

At first, it didn't look like I was going to get to go to the Assembly, but I was under too much conviction that it was what I was supposed to do, and I couldn't see myself not doing it.

The Lord really opened my eyes, as I studied and gave me more inspiration that I could have even hoped for. I spent weeks on the message that I was supposed to preach, studying, refining, and just getting it into my heart. At last, I was ready to go, and I had stepped out on faith to buy the ticket. Our latest baby, Tabitha Jeanne, was born right on time (actually, a couple of days ahead of schedule), so I at least got to be there to see her born and to help out for the next several days.

I left here on Sunday, after the morning service. I had to cover a couple of stories on the West Shore before I headed out. Then, I had to stop in Cor D'Alene, Idaho, in order to e-mail in all of my articles. THAT was a DISASTER.

I stopped at Star Bucks, thinking I could wi-fi there. They told me it would cost $10 to do so. I got on the cell phone and was going to call my boss to see if I could be an hour or two late in getting them to him, so that I could just wi-fi at the airport, but I left my briefcase sitting by the van while I was on the phone (I was in the van, and I thought that I put it inside with me). Anyway, to make a long story short, someone took the briefcase before I realized it was gone.

I lost all of my notes for the Assembly, my DELL Inspiron laptop, my DELL AXIM v51 (pock PC), a nice mp3 player, several memory cards and a bunch of computer peripherals. I also lost all my allergy medication and some non-replaceable personal items of sentimental value.

At first, I was devastated. I couldn't believe it was gone. I called everyone and asked them to pray. I asked all around, and noone had seen or heard anything. I even reported the theft to the local police. NOTHING.

Of course, I had to call my boss and tell him what had happened. There would be no articles for this issue of the West Shore News.

At last, I had to leave and get to the airport. I was still quite upset, but I kept telling myself that I didn't have time for this, since I had to concentrate on bringing the Word of God at the Assembly and ministering what the Lord had given to me.

I had already been preaching messages about how the Lord was leading us to step up and meet the challenges of evangelizing, and that there would be a cost associated for each one of us. The enemy would fight tooth and nail, because that's his job--to discourage us to the point that we are no longer effective in what the Lord is calling us to do.

I resolved not to think about it and to get back into the mind of Christ, seeking the Lord to give me the message again. He did so, and I rewrote the message while I was on the plane. I kept on praying that the Lord would prevent anything else from happening, before I got a chance to preach.

When I got to Cleveland, TN, I retyped the message on Isaiah's laptop and printed it the next day at the Assembly tabernacle, on the campus of Lee College. The Lord surely came through and the message went even better than expected. PRAISE THE LORD.

I later followed up on the theft. Still nothing. I had to drive back home empty handed.

Today, I will type up my articles for the next issue of the West Shore News on the desktop PC. I am not sure what I will do about replacing what I have lost, but I'll have to leave it in the Lord's hands.

It's good to be home. It's comforting to be with my wife and children again (and with a certain week-and-a-half-old little girl).

I still long for everyone's prayers, that the Lord will provide. I know that, in one way or another, He will. There are still many battles to fight, here in the Flathead Valley, and I don't want to let Him down.

God bless you all, and thank you for all of your prayers, as well as for your continued prayers that we will soon see the silver lining in all of this.

Good is good, even when circumstances are not, and we know that He works all things together for good, to them who are called according to His purpose.

My Beautiful Wife Getting Wet

Here are some pictures of Bekah under the waterfall, which is located between the Goat Lick and East Glacier, in Morias Pass. I really like these pictures. Doesn't she just glow?

Wednesday at Lone Pine

Elijah with Bro. & Sister Hart.

Josiah with Bro. & Sis. Hart.

The Harts taking in the view of Kalispell from Lone Pine.

Josiah getting ready to go exploring.

Josiah, just before I had to go chase him down.

Josiah with the Harts, looking out over Kalispell & Flathead Lake (in the background).

Our Visit with the Harts: Monday.

At the Visitor's Center in West Glacier. Bro. Hart is below, Rebekah above, to the right.

Bro. & Sis. Hart under the T-Rex.

Bro. & Sis. Hart await their gruesome demise in absolute terror. Rebekah looks on in disbelief.

Was Sis. Hart getting wet or getting blessed? I couldn't quite tell.

Bro. Hart, by the waterfall.

Bro. Hart, again.

A good shot of the waterfall with Bro. Hart below.

Bro. & Sis. Hart under the waterfall.

New Settlers Scenarios

Over the weekend, Rebekah and I tried out some new Settler of Catan scenarios from the University of Catan (Mayfairer) website. Dave and Melissa Hendricks even tried one out with us. We all LOVED the Pirate's Isle scenario, which adds some cool variants, including a volcano.

I have now decided that this is the greatest game ever made. There are so many different ways that you can play it/change it that it never gets old, and each way adds some fun variables to the gameplay. If anyone plays Settlers and wants to know the rules for Pirate's Isle, I can send them to you.

Mayfairer has a contest for the best new scenario created by gamers so I am now working on my own scenario, which is a variant of Pirate's Isle but more of a challenge. So far, it's only a two-player scenario and each player controls a raider (robber) that they get to place on their opponent when they roll a seven. The raider then collects for that player whatever his opponent would have produced off of that hex. The raider can only be moved by playing a soldier card and banishing him to the desert isle. There are two pirate islands and each player must build on one before landing on his opponents island. The pirate ship is activated when two sevens are rolled in a row. The person who rolled the second seven is then attacked by the pirate. One die is rolled to determine how many cards the pirate will steal. Lots more ocean to sail in this scenario, too.

On our pilot run, Rebekah sunk me bad. I would no sooner get the raider off of me than it would be back again. *groan* Beaten at my own scenario.

Here is a pic of the gameboard for a small two-player setup, using the volcano and jungle.



I also bought two new rivers to use in the Prospectors scenarios.

A Day With The Pigs (take that how you will)

Ok, everyone. We went and got pigs on Saturday. Bro. Ted took us out to eastern Montana and south from Browning to a place called Rockport Colony (middle of nowhere). That's where we got our pigs, which Bro. Ted will raise until fall and then have butchered for us. It's been a couple of years since we did it, but it is some of the best pork you'll ever eat. Here are some pics of Elijah and Bro. Ted's children with the pigs.

Elijah and Gabe. (These are day-old piglets, not the ones we bought.)

Bro. Ted overseeing the pigs. T.J. in the back, Elijah setting in front of Gabe.

Elijah and Gabe, again.

Here's Gabe, Elijah and Megan after unloading the pigs.

Our pigs, getting settled in the back of the truck.

Here's a picture of our pig. His name is Corky. Sis. Loren gave him a black eye (j/k).

Elijah giving Megan a ride. Can you believe it, Elijah's already picking up girls.

Victory, Sweet Victory!

Last night, we played Settlers, while we waited for Bro. Adams and Bro. Barker. They missed their turn and ended up driving to Missoula before they headed back our direction. Anyway, I challenged Rebekah to a game of Settlers, and the outcome is clear by looking at the board (I was blue). It was a really good game, but I prevailed and built my trade route across the entire board. It felt good. REAL good. (Especially since I got tromped so royally when Micah and Megan were here. lol)

Rebekah, admitting her defeat.

A close-up of the board.

Trip to the National Bison Range

On Saturday, we took a trip out to the National Bison Range, between Moiese and St. Ignatius. I was covering a story there and figured it would be a great opportunity to take Bek and the children for a family outing, afterward. The range had a 19 mile loop of ascending and descending road that wound through the hills and eventually came back to the visitor's center. Along that whole drive we only saw three or four bison, out of a herd of 300-350. Finally, near the end of the loop, we came across a group that must have contained the vast majority of the herd. Here are some pictures:

At the visitor's center, with a stack of elk horns behind me. Moriah has her usual "I'm too cute for pictures" look. I must have been rolling my eyes. Josiah went off exploring, as usual.

Artwork From Elijah & Alana

Tonight, Rebekah and I started painting the new walls on the outside of the house. Grandpa will probably come over tomorrow and start on the trim. After we came back inside, we ate dinner and put the two little ones to bed. Then, it was art time for Elijah, Alana and myself.

I told Elijah that we could make a picture and post it for Uncle Micah. Of course, Alana wanted to make one for Megan. So, we all colored together.

Elijah wanted to make Ninja Turtles. He wasn't sure how to do so, though, so he kept asking me to help. Daddy got to help with the Ninja Turtles and Elijah made the bad guys by himself. Elijah did help some with the turtles, too.

Alana just wanted to make a pink flower for Megan, so we did. She made a lot of other things, too. Rebekah wrote what they are so that you can identify each part.

Enjoy:

Oliver North

Guess what! I got to see Lt.Col. Oliver North, today.

I can't believe this guy is 63 years old and still embedding with troops in Iraq. He's pretty amazing. In fact, the whole reason that he came out here was to speak at a fundraiser for Stillwater Christian School.

He is a strong advocate of preserving moral absolutes in America and the rights of both individuals and institutions to teach the uncensored Word of God.

What's more, he told the students that fully half of a person's life is determined by the people they choose to associate with. Most young people today waste the majority of their lives because they choose to hang out and associate intimately with those who influence them to live for them moment but never help them to strive for anything eternal or significant in life. Consequently, young people spend their whole lives searching for fulfillment but never find it. They get to the end of their lives and look back with a deep sense of emptiness, feeling wasted and unfulfilled. They have neither experienced or achieved anything truly meaningful.

"I'm a firm believer in the fellowship of believers," he says. He again pointed to the Word of God and examples like Timothy and the Apostle Paul, whose influence shaped Timothy's life and ministry to others, inspiring him to be a truly great and effective man of God. He added that the importance and positive effects of surrounding oneself with mature Christians could not be understated.

Proverbs 13:20 says, "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."

Here are a couple of pics from a cameo appearance at a Bible study in Bigfork, immediately before he flew out to another speaking engagement:





For more info, check out www.olivernorth.com or on War Stories With Oliver North on the Fox New Station.

Bullrun Pictures

Last year, I covered a story for the newspaper about the race/reality TV show, "Bullrun," which filmed the first episode in Whitefish. I took a ton of pictures, got to talk to the drivers and also interviewed Bill Goldberg and his wife.

The start of the race.

Goldberg checking out the cars.

Goldberg reviewing the script.

Goldberg during filming, hosts the show.

Goldberg getting wired with a mic.

One of the cars (my favorite).

The official Pace Car (above) and another shot of the race's start (below).

Being a reporter has its perks, like meeting all the drivers and checking out their cars.

Stepping Up

About a month ago, I started a live journal account, which I will probably still use for lengthier posts, but I wanted to have something that was more easily accessible for the general blogging community--something that would allow me to link to others and post pictures along with my thoughts. Hopefully, this will accomplish that purpose.

I guess I would start out by saying that a lot has been going on in my life, over the past month. I've seen some exciting things take place in myself and in my children.

God has dealt with me in a very special way, helping me to focus my energy and sharpen my vision of what He has purposed me to be. In the process, a lot of things that I have wrestled with for years have begun to make perfect sense. Things that I was unclear about seem so very obvious. I have a sense of direction and purpose that was not there one month ago.

I have felt, for some time like I needed to pray about and develop a mission statement for my life. Recently, I actually followed through on that.

I can tell you, having done so, that it feels incredible. It is so liberating.

I used a simple formula that follows the acronym SHAPE. The letters stand for "Spiritual gifts, Heart (passion, rather than mere emotion), Abilities, Personality and Experiences.

These five aspects of our personal life show us the things that characterize us--the properties that God has built into who we are, which provide insight into His purpose for us. Just as an archaeologist examines the physical properties and attributes that characterize ancient artifact and, thereby, determines the purpose or function of the object, we too can determine much about God's intentions for us--how He has purposed to use us--by examining and taking inventory of the attributes that He has integrated into our personal lives.

Consequently, I compiled a list or inventory of the spiritual gifts that God has placed in me since my conversion, the inner passions that give me the greatest sense of purpose and make me feel the most alive (these are not merely things that we enjoy), special abilities that I seem to have been born with or have possessed throughout me life, characteristics of my personality (both real and stereotypical), and the experiences that have shaped my life or brought me to the place where I am today.

Then, seeking God to glean His insight into what these things reveal about His purpose for my life, I wrote a mission statement, outlining the roles (both biblical and those evident through an examination of the previously mentioned attributes) that I believe God has called me to serve Him in, as well as the manner in which I would so serve Him.

With that mission statement in hand, I have an incredible sense of direction that did not exist prior to searching out and writing one. Questions about whether or not I am where God wants me to be and doing what God intended me to do no longer exist. Now that I see clearly what He has obviously suited me for and, through my experiences, prepared me for, I am able to accept those roles and embrace them with a definite sense of purpose.

I have to say that it feels sooo good. I know that it is just the beginning of all that is to come, for in keeping that mission statement before me, more and more becomes clear to me every day. I want to have the same sense of direction for my whole family and for our local church.

I'll write more about some of the roles outlined in my mission statement, in future posts. For now, I'll simply conclude by saying that I have already established a series of goals for myself and for my ministry that will take me through the remainder of this year and on into the next.

I am excited about them, because I know that as I yield myself to God's strength and purpose these things will be accomplished in my life during that time.

That said, I will bring this to a close. I had to drop Micah and Megan off at the airport early this morning and have not gone back to bed yet, so I think I will take a short nap before the kids get up. Even though I had to write part of the time, I enjoyed visiting with them. I can understand Elijah's reluctance to let them go so soon, as it seems that there was so much more we should have done together before parting ways. I hope that they will stop in again on their return trip.

Bye for now.