This will be the ‘101′ version of the class ladies and gentlemen, as I (the professor, jeff) am sure there will be future discussions/installments of this blog down the road that is my life.

 First, live your life.

Second, don’t write about it.

 Lastly, if you do get encouraged by some transpirings of the day(s) (or weeks) since you’ve last blogged, forget to do it.

That’s it. Oh, repeat.

So here’s Paul’s final remarks and greetings at the end of the book of Romans. I think it’s just dandy the way he closes his letters… He urges his brothers and sisters in the Lord to join him in his struggle by praying to God for him…doesn’t this look a lot like us and our current burden of asking for partners? both prayer and financial…? I think we can all learn a lot from Paul and the bold attitude he displays….along with the confidence he has in the body of Christ to respond.

He then starts the last chapter of this book with: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe…” and goes on to tell/ask the church at Rome to care for her and “give her any help she may need from you…” and I just love the way he KNOWS they will do what he asks. How can we get the church there? Back there….With deception, dishonesty, and selfishness that flood the poeple of the world today, can we as a church avoid the “red tape” of church-hood and do what Paul and what I believe Jesus Himself sees to be the CORRECT action/behavior of the body of Christ!?! I feel like there will be many opportunities in Seattle, and there are opportunities now to do just that. While giving without frugality is not necessarily what I am suggesting, there has to be a way (with the discernment of the Holy Spirit) to love and give and BE who we are supposed to be. I think of Kristine’s emotion and desire to LOVE LOVE LOVE people in Seattle….and it pains me to think of the churches of today that have to vote, pray, wait, stall, and not just act on the groans of the Spirit….I am unsure what any of this looks like for us, but the groceries we have received, the meals we have prepared and fed even some of you, and the TIME that we spend praying for/with eachother is going to build us into whom I see us needing to be….(rambling, so I am done…)

So, here we are. Yep. Here we are. Our job, our apartment, our vehicles, the cold. Here we are. I have been aching for these months now, not just like discontent, but ACHING over the amount of poopoo we (kari and i) put ourselves through at that infamous place [work]. It’s not like we don’t have Jesus in our hearts and can’t find joy even in suffering, is it?

My responsibilities as a husband leader in a Christian marriage have been actually turned into weapons against me by the enemy. I hate the way there is the slightest little bit of truth in every lie satan throws at us. It’s always just enough to make us take his accusations seriously…or at least consider them….which is all the time he needs. Pathetic. Here I am, moaning and groaning about an enemy I should be MORE THAN CONQUEROR of. It is confession time.

So, we’ve started a Crown Financial small group at PV, and I am fearful about that. Driving, staying up a little later than usual…etc. It’s an extracurricular commitment that we’ve been waiting for, and I need some prayer support bros and sisses (anyone reading) becuase not only is that new commitment on our plate, but the upcoming two-phone-calls-a-night routine as we attempt to call everyone we have sent letters to. Not only those, but I have been in and out of sin and need, need, NEEEEED to start being consistently victorious for my wife’s sake. It is unfair to her to continue sucking. [why am i posting all this where the world can read it....why?-submit yourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ. that's why-anyone reading this blog should know i am a regular guy. just like everyone else. not righteous. not even a little bit sure of myself. all i have is in Christ. ALLL i have is from Christ. ALLL I HAVE IS CHRIST.]

chew on that.

  and if you would, pray for kari and i to be quick to forgive, slow to anger, and incapable of keeping a record of wrongs as we learn about this thing called marriage.

Just a quickie…Today at work I learned of a co-worker who had knowledge of an adulterous relationship. He was plagued with grief after the husband discovered news of his wife’s affair. However, his guilt was not from the affair, it was from being the one who delivered the news to the unsuspecting husband.  I don’t know how you are all feeling right now, or if you are confident of the measure of growth you have been experiencing in your walk with the Lord; let me say though, if you have a heart capable of conviction, knowledge of good and evil (I mean TRUE, Godly knowledge) and a desire to see the Lord glorified-you are GOOD. You’re good. He IS Lord of your life, you LOVE Him who first loved you, and you ARE growing into a more mature Christ follower than you were yesterday. [period]

(I was encouraged to learn of my own non-suckiness, because I have not felt all that growth-filled or inspired lately, but maybe you feel the same. He reigns!)  

So, I am reading the book of Romans right now. This is my THIRD attempt at digging into what I believe to be one of the most theologically important books of The New Testament. I remember being a 3 month old baby Christian, reading 6 chapters, having underlines, question marks and scribbles all over my Bible margins. Well, the scribbles are still there, to remind me of what once was my lack of understanding/intimidation…and now, out has come the highlighter to show some newfound enthusiasm. This morning’s reading was Chapter 8, where we are told by Paul that we are “more than conquerors in Christ Jesus,” and “if [God] is with us, who can be against us?” I would like to add that I read this chapter aloud this morning to my wife, playfully, Baptistfully, and with vigor. Not at all trying to make fun of any teacher of the Word of God, but to seek to share the same enthusiasm found in a black Southern Baptist preacher from the Deep South…It actually was AMAZING! The intonation shifts, the pauses necessary for reflection, and the repetition of certain phrases (as done similar to the preaching style of some of the aforementioned men) truly had a deeper and more exciting effect than EVER on my 4:30AM daily chapter! I will share more of what I have actually learned from Romans in the future-but for now, I would like to suggest that you (anyone with an imagination, love for the Word, and time to kill) TRY IT! Just read like a Baptist sometime, aloud, to yourself if you have to…You will be envigorated, whether Romans or Revelation is your subject matter.

This is the beginning of a beautiful, inspired, yet mildly confusing compilation of my thoughts…