Boy Gets Baptized

On July 12th, I had the privilege of baptizing my son Aidan. He came to faith in Christ a few months ago and expressed sincere interest in getting dunked. The weather was picture perfect, the water quite cold and tons of witnesses at Boulder Creek watching. Aidan did a great job, too.


Bringing him out of the water and knowing the incredible symbolism of the event made me thrilled inside. God is so good!

I also got to baptize my dear friend Greg. He and I met a year ago and instantly knew we were long lost brothers. Greg is a very special friend to me and having the honor to baptize him will remain with me forever.

Overall, it was a great event with young and old getting wet, people sharing about their faith in Jesus and opportunities to share with locals afterwards over a meal.

Well, it's a little bit past the date, but my blogging has been suspect at best. On June 29, Jan and I celebrated 12 years of marriage. Now, I know all the jokes about being married and some, although quite humorous, just don't apply here. God has literally gifted me with an incredible woman. Jan is first and foremost my best friend on this journey of life. We share our lives together as one, as we should. She is also my lover (yeah, I said it). God made us to love one another and he gave us marriage as a gift. As a married couple, we get to enjoy the physical relationship which is a blessing. She is also my sister in faith. She is wise in counsel, and gentle in correction. And Jan is an inspiration in her faithfulness to the needy. She works with those who are unloved and forgotten, and she loves them dearly. I only wish I could do the same with equal compassion. Jan is tender-hearted, although most don't get to see that in her. I do...and it's real.

I guess I could simply say I've got the best. Thanks, Jan, for being more than I could ever hope for in a wife and friend. I love you!

Where Do I Start?

It's been so longed since my last blog, I forgot how to do it! So where can I begin to catch up on our happenings? Well, much has happened in the past few months, but here are some highlights...

In mid April, God blessed me with a great full-time job at Door to Door Organics located just 4 miles from our house in Louisville. I am a route manager and also do some relations work for them. I am very thankful for this provision of work and it's been a fantastic place to be the past 3 months. I am still employed with Rampart Fire and was actually recently dispatched to the CA fires, but turned down the assignment to baptize my son Aidan. I think that was a legitimate reason. Speaking of which...

This Saturday, I will have the honor to baptize my son, my best friend Greg Hoffman, and Greg's son, Keegan. I think I will be overwhelmed with emotion that day...can't wait.



A few months ago, I was able to connect with Kate Hurley over coffee in Louisville. I've been listening to her music for years through Enter the Worship Circle. She lives just a few miles away, so I said "why don't you come do a concert in my house?" She surprisingly said yes and it was a huge success. Great time of worship and listening to her jam in my living room (she even stole my guitar and did the whole concert with it which was cool). Thanks Kate for a great night!



The kiddos are growing way too fast these days. Aidan tried biking without training wheels and off he went. No instruction, no struggles. Just hopped on and blew our minds. I've already taken him to a BMX trail where he ate dirt several times, cried his guts out, brushed himself off and said, "Dad, this is awesome!" Jonatha is now a 2nd grader and is killing it in Tae-Kwon Do. While Aidan takes a break from the rigorous training, Jonatha has been eating it all up and loving it. She will become a yellow belt in September.





Jan and I do have a prayer request. For the past year, we have been leading a house church in Broomfield through the Emmaus Road Community and have been blessed through this process. I have in no way sought after anything other than continued volunteer ministry since being out here, but the leadership of Emmaus has asked me to consider becoming a part-time paid staff member with the fellowship to allow more time to devote to the work God is doing in our community. I struggle a bit with becoming vocational once again, as I truly love serving as a non-vocational pastor with the Broomfield house church. However, I've been asked to pray about it and feel I should be obedient to this request. The fellowship would like Jan and I to attend a church planting conference in Wisconsin in January, so it appears that will be on the plate (who goes to Wisconsin in January??). Anyway, please pray for wisdom for us. God has been working in our midst, despite limited hours of commitment. He has also been confirming through a large number of people that leading house church is a good fit for us. Who knows what he might have in store for our group if someone could devote more time? We'll see..

Salvation

I'm glad God makes it easy for us to have eternal security. He says it is by grace you are saved through faith and that it does not come from your own works. It is a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9). I'm also glad we don't have to have everything figured out before choosing to believe in Jesus. My son, Aidan, made a decision last week (April 6) to pray and tell God he believes. We talked it over, prayed about it and he leans over and says, "Dad...I prayed. I believe." Done deal. You're saved and the angels rejoice, son!

I am so thankful that both my children have made decisions to give their life over to Jesus. Do they have it all figured out? No. But neither do I. And neither do you. But God is faithful. He gives us his Spirit (Acts 1:8, Ephesians 1:13) and promises that we will know him - personally. Religion accomplishes nothing. Faith can move mountains. I'm proud of you, Aidan. I hope I can lead you by example in faith to walk close to your Savior.

Mullet Madness

A few weeks ago, I had the unique and distinguished honor to participate in "Frozen Dead Guy Days" in Nederland. For those not aware, this is an annual event in the small mountain town of Nederland (where I work), where a family who has preserved their loved one cryogenically presents the body for public viewing. Creepy? Very much so. Interesting? Indeed!

The event brings over 15,000 people to the town of 1,800 population each year. One event is the coffin race, which takes place immediately following the parade of coffins. It is nothing short of a violent obstacle course of 30 teams racing to beat the clock, carrying a coffin made by the team with a live person inside and show a little style while at it. Our team theme was "Dumb Hicks" and we officially represented West Virginia (my boss leads whitewater trips there in the summer).



I must say the mullet is very stylish and I wore it proudly. Our team decided right before the race that, if we were losing at the point of the woops course (shear ice rollers), that we would put our coffin down and dance. Th strategy paid off with a 1st place for style by the crowd of 2,000 and I walked away with a free blue-grass CD from Telluride Bluegrass Festival. It rocks.

I had fun and was thoroughly entertained by all the teams and their costumes, attitudes and competitiveness. Good times.