Him We Proclaim

Last week we got to take a day off and go have some fun outside! Here are a few pictures!  That's right--sliding down a waterfall! Miami Baby! Photos taken by Jean-Marc Dinghin

I recently had a conversation with a friend that brought to light one of the biggest dilemmas we're facing in preparation for Costa Rica: humanitarian aid vs. spiritual support Honestly when you think about it, our ministry has got to be one of the most non-humanitarian fields to raise support: - We're going to a second world country (not third) that is known for its beaches, tourism, and adventurous activities -We're going to work with missionary kids. Yes, kids who's parents love the Lord, teach His Word, and are in full-time ministry. -We're not specifically working with Costa Ricans-- though an increasing number of Costa Ricans attend the youth group because it's a great place to work on their English -We're not going with the intention of training a Costa Rican to do the ministry-- we're working with mostly TCKs, who want someone who can relate to the cultural tension they face. (side note: we have an incredible Costa Rican adult ...

On Labor Day weekend, Jonathan and I were finally  able to celebrate our anniversaries-- yes that was supposed to be plural and with the emphasis on finally! Our first anniversary was celebrated in the hospital with a 2 day old, and our second anniversary had a dinosaur theme (Patrick's 1st B-day party)... so we finally set aside time to celebrate and do something fun together: We took white water kayaking lessons! It was such a blast to learn this new sport and to now be able to go out and do it ourselves. We spent one day learning how to roll (or I spent it trying to learn) and the second day we went out on the Tuckaseegee River in North Carolina. Our coach/guide, Roger Huff, did an excellent job. We learned so much and had a blast playing in the rapids. They were a fun 2 days! Our 2 1/2 years of marriage have been the farthest thing from easy. We started our first 2 months of marriage living in Ecuador. Two months later, pregnancy hormones kicke...

Everything has been going well here down South. Yesterday I had my first day at my new job: A barista at Starbucks! We don't receive any type of salary yet from the gifts you send, so the main purpose of getting a job is to be able to eat and to continue in our giving. It is also an excellent way to connect with lost people. So far I enjoy my co-workers and supervisors, and the work is fun. Tonight I'm helping with a ropes course at Perimeter church here in Duluth, and I'm pretty excited about that as well. Patrick started potty training this week (some of you readers will be interested to know), and has an Elmo starting potty. As Elmo is one of Patrick's favorite things, he always gets super excited to go.  At the end of this week Maggie and I will be celebrating our 1st and 2nd anniversaries. We were in the hospital for the first one, and the second one was squeezed out by Patrick's 1st birthday celebration, and our move out of our apartment.  So we're pret...

In accordance with the Deuteronomy 6 commands and exhortations to keep the Word on my mind at all times, I try and listen to a lot of sermons during the week, where a Bible passage is exegeted and applied. My favorites remain John Piper , Alistair Begg , and James MacDonald  (although I'm going to start listening more to Tim Keller as well). But I hadn't listened to a lot of worship music. Part of this is because of when doing my internship at a camp back in '09, worship music was played as background music during meals, and pretty much during any part of the day. I'm against this, as I've found that it became easy to "tune out", and inevitably even "zone out" even during church while people are worshiping God. What a tragedy! Recently, however, decided that I needed new music with which to express my worship for God. I bought, and recommd the Passion 2012 White Flag album. It's reviving to worship with sing new songs. It's so important ...

Are you in transition of any sort? Is the Spirit leading you to a new place, in or out of a relationship, starting or leaving a job, starting of finishing school, having a child or losing a loved one? If you followed our blog over the last year and a half, you know that we are well versed in transition. To sum it up, it looks something like this: 12/09 Finish School 1/10 Jonathan to Ecuador for 6 wks 2/10 We got married 3/10 Back to Ecuador for Maggie's internship 5/10 Back to the US, start temporary jobs 6/10 Move to GA for a month, work on my father-in-laws campaign, Find out we're pregnant 7/10 Back to Ohio, start training for new job w. University 2/11 Patrick born, my grandmother has a stroke, my mom comes back to the US 3/11 Sense that God is leading us out, start application with the mission 5/11 Move out of duplex, not sure how long missions application will take--live with friends 8/11 Travel to Costa Rica--accepted as youth leaders by AMCA 9/11 Move into...

I haven't watched much of the Olympics this year. But I was recently able to watch Track and Field's 100m race. The speed of these Olympians amazes me. What baffles me is that they spend 4+ years training for a race that only last 10 seconds. In a fraction of a minute, they either won gold or lost. They don't have a chance to do it again. All have to wait 4 more years to get the opportunity to prove themselves as worthy of the gold. It made me think of this temporal life in light of eternity. I know Jonathan shared a video on the blog a while back about  this , but I was reminded of this again. Olympians have one purpose, to win the gold, and they push themselves towards it. They spend hours at the gym and restrict their diets. As Christians, we have one purpose: to glorify God. You either love Christ or you don't. You either glorify God with your life or you don't. It isn't just 4 years, it's a whole lifetime that we strive for just this...