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Group Hug

Last night I spent some time with a friend who happens to be an elder at my church and one of my coaching staff leaders. We were talking about changes at our church that have come and those that may come one way or another. Some things could be great while others would lead to times of hardship. As we talked and encouraged each other to totally depend on God for direction and provision in our lives. Our conversation took a turn, and we started to look at some of the impact that God has had over the years through our ministry together. He reminded me of something that happened a few weeks ago that was a moment of God speaking to my team and me.
Each Sunday morning my coaching team tries to gather for a time of prayer together. We pray for the day ahead and for each other we ask for Gods blessing to be upon our church and our children’s ministry this day and those to come. So this particular morning we had a late start to our prayer time and kids had stared to arrive mostly kids of our leaders who help in our ministry. As we were praying we could hear playing and some running past us. Just before we were half way done we could hear Marc hading our way.  Now I have to pause for a moment and tell you about my friend Marc.
Marc is one of our special needs kids who is in 6th or 7th grade but comes to worship in the elementary ministry. He fits in great! He’s one of those kids who love to touch your hands or arms when he’s talking to you. He likes to be a clown at times but never is out to hurt anyone.  Mark’s dream is to be the character from the Nintendo game Mario Bro’s. He wants to be Mario. What an imagination he has and he has such a big heart. Mark seems to love everyone but most he loves God.
Well, as I was saying we could here Marc coming he came up to our circle ducked under our hand clasped hands and made his way into the middle. There were only four of us this day. As he stood there in the middle, in his own way asked what were doing? Some one said in a whisper “were praying”. He stood quietly and watched and listened as we prayed for God’s blessing on our team and day. Just as one of us said in Jesus name Marc pointed to another person and said your turn. Then he stood and listen some more until that leader was wrapping up, then if my memory serves me he said I pray and he prayed a short prayer and then pointed and said you go. Then satisfied that we were doing well he ducked under our hands and off to play he went. We all stood there with smiles on our faces tears rolling down some cheeks. We wrapped up the prayer and knew that this day was good and God had blessed us.
My friend pointed this out to me saying “some times we just need a hug from God and other times we just need to jump up in the center of His lap and tell him that we love Him.” He continued to say this what he thought of  when Marc  jumped into our  circle he was jumping into the Lords lap as we were giving God a group hug. Marc wanted to be apart of it.  How cool is it when we see the fruit of our labor?
God showed us that day that we were making a difference in the lives of children and families. Marc would have never felt so comfortable getting in the middle of us if he didn’t know we loved him and God.
So when was the last time you jumped into the lap of our Lord and looked him in the face and a said “I love you.”? 
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

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Fountain Jerk

Back in the day a fountain jerk was someone who would take fountain soda orders and fill them. They were kind of like a bar tender for sodas. You could order all kinds of specially flavored drinks. Though they weren’t all that popular I do remember going to two places when I was little to have a fountain soda my favorite was Cherry Coke or a Vanilla Coke. I don’t remember much about it but I do remember it being a special treat.

This past weekend I had another special treat. I was at a conference at Disney World, FL. The last day I was in Fl. my wife and I went to Downtown Disney. After having a nice afternoon we headed for the bus stop, but before we could leave we had to stop and get some gummy candy for Chrissy and a Mickey Premium Ice Cream bar for me.
 There is nothing like a Mickey bar! So we took our treats and headed to the bus stop before we reached the stop we took a rest on a bench in front of a dancing fountain. This in one of those fountains that water springs up from holes in the ground and each time you’re not sure where it will come from. It’s a fun surprise for everyone. So we sat and talked eating out goodies as kids challenged running through the fountain without being hit with a stream of water.
I watched as one boy about 10 or 11 who had been caught by surprise with the water. Stood in the middle daring the fountain to get him. Other kids ran through the fountain hopping and jumping giggling when they would get wet. This boy was no different he stood in the middle of the dancing water when all the holes sprang up water at the same time the kids ran and squealed with joyful delight.
 As the boy was standing on the outer rim of the fountain with a huge smile on his face waiting for the right moment to dodge the squirts of water. A hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him to the side. As I watched the man with his hand resting on the boys arm the smile ran away from his face the joy melted form his countenance. The man was obviously telling him that he needed to think about what he was doing and that he shouldn’t be fooling around getting wet.
The man obviously his father told him to sit on the bench away from the fountain and think about his actions. He slowly turned and walked with head hung in shame and embarrassment. The father watch until he was satisfied that the boy was going to follow though with his command and turned and went back in a store to finish his business. This guy was a real fountain Jerk spoiling his kid’s fun. Who was he hurting? He was just a little damp on his shirt and it the warm sun would dry in no time. I was a bit angry.
The boy sat there what seemed like hours to me and I’m sure to him too. His new friends looking around for him he gained his composure and looked up. Sadness filled is eyes and disappointment that ran deep. He watched the other still playing as their parents cheered them on laughing with excitement as the water dance by them.
I watched as joy slowly broke thought the embarrassment as he watched his friend’s skip and dance. It was all okay that he wasn’t able to play but just to watch brought joy to his eyes.
At that moment tears welled up in my eyes I was whisked away back to a month ago when I was that fountain Jerk. Stressed, tried, worried, hungry yelling at my youngest to stay out of the very same water. Right then it all melted way from me and I saw who I was when I let the world around me cut me off from my joy. In that split second I realized that I stole and fun experience a memories that could have should have been made and treasured for years to come. God clobbered me my heart went out not only to this child but my kids too. Then to the father of this boy and me as a father.
We need to be careful not to get so wrapped up in the things of this world that can steal our joy our love our happiness. We need to remember all theses things will pass to treasure each and every moment you are blessed with. I’m not saying to not discipline or train your children but I am saying is take a quick evaluation and step back before you become a fountain jerk.
My heart was turned towards the father by a child to see my sin and repent.
Malachi 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Be careful listen to your heart and to the father above remember James 1:19  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
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Perspective

Well for the last few days I have been trying to tie up all looses ends so I could attend CPC (Children’s Pastors Conference) this year. Up to November I had not planned on attending this year. It’s expensive. Once you add up the cost of airfare, hotel room, and the cost of conference it can be a good amount. We have gone in the past because it is a great place to be fed as a Christian leader to kids. You learn all kinds of cutting edge techniques and sharpen old skills that are always effective. This also has a massive vendor area that you can see what is new for reaching kids and families. After learning and seeing everything my team would bring it all back and pour it into all our volunteers through training meetings and one on one. So instead of just a few benefiting my whole ministry benefits.

It’s kind of like an infomercial. There’s More! My team and I have gone out to train other church leaders too. We can forget about the benefits that parents get from connecting with one of my team when they need resources or just encouragement. Then we have the important ones the kids. They benefit the most because they have a renewed core leadership looking to help them grow closer to God. CPC is like a week at the most energizing and refreshing thing you can think of.
So How in the world am I on a plane going to CPC? Well I was asked to help staff a booth for Standard Publishing. They are taking care of the whole trip in exchange for working their booth. Pretty sweet I think.
Last week I received a call from my representative from Standard. She wanted to find out if I could do them a big favor. They wanted me to take over a break out session. They had a speaker back out and need someone to fill in and I was suggested. I have done these sessions before but have had them planned out months in advance. So I accepted like a crazy man. I thought well this one must be Gods and if it is he will give me the things I need to make it come together. So not only have I been getting ready for an exciting transition in my children’s ministry (space change) and all the other things I normally do but I have had this too. If this is not enough, our water heater decided to stop heating the water on Saturday night. humm… and ton of other things that I’m not going mention happened. We do have hot water now thanks to Mr. Bob Mosel PTL for him and I pray many blessing on him and his family!
So I got to bed around 1:30am then back up at 4:40 am today and get ready to leave (Sleep is overrated!) and I look outside and its snowing and coming down good I said okay great what next?
My awesome family and beautiful wife (yes even at 5 am that’s amazing!!) get me to the airport on time. I get through security and go to McDonalds for some coffee and sandwich then to the gate. I sit and it starts to hit me I’m by myself eating the traditional CPC breakfast. I’m going to my ministry teams highlight of the year alone. I’m not carrying some else’s bag or asking Mickey if he has a power source for our mobile devices. I look out side at the snow and the dark gloom. I’m not in a very good frame of mind.
I board the plane alone. I put my bags in the overhead storage alone. I sit in my seat and look over at the rest of the row and think yep ALONE! As I sit the listing to the safety briefing I’m just thinking man how boring I’m all by myself and at the hotel room I will be yep that’s right alone. I hear the captain say we need to pull out and beginning the deicing process. I watch out my window as the trucks move around the plane seemed like I was watching an episode of “Bob The Builder”. As the fluid is being sprayed I asked God help me get out of this funk. We lined up to takeoff the plows clear the way making a safe way for the plane to take off then we go. Up, up and away into the gloom and doom. Ears popping with the steep climb and then we break though to the gorgeous sun filled blue skies and I realize. Dude come on it’s your outlook on what’s going on change it or be miserable.
This could be an awesome experience with adventure around every corner. It’s up to you to decide. It was like God painted this picture for me to get my head on straight. How cool is it that we can call on our creator and he hears our cries and helps us in our time of need. Psalm 17:6-7 I call on you, O God, for you will answer me: give ear to me and hear my prayer. Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.
Just like the airplane breaking through all the gloom to beautiful sunny skies. God will hear your prayers. It just might take some time or a change of perspective.
So…how’s you perspective today? I hope if its not in line with God’s will you will ask for Him to help you change it. I also hope it was better than mine.
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Left-Over

 Yesterday, in Creekside my elementary area of my Children’s Ministry I taught on devotions and quiet times. Last week I was asked by Standard Publishing to present a break-out session on “Teaching Kids To Fall In Love With Devotions” So as I started to work on it. I wanted to put a few of my thoughts to the test and see how my kids would respond to the ideas I had on helping them fall in love with devotions.
As I wrote my lesson I kept thinking that its not that we want kids to fall in love with devotions but fall in love with spending time with God. Some may say that a Kindergartener would not understand or grasp the concept of spending time with an invisible God let alone stay focused enough to communicate with God.
I have to say that we are fools if this is what we think. Sometimes it’s easier for a small child to do this than a full grown adult. Kids already have imaginations that rock the socks of adults. Some say well they don’t understand who it is that their spending time with.
Well I can’t help but to think of when Jesus rebuked His disciples from keeping the children for coming to him. (Mark 10:14) Or when he said the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. (Matthew 19:14) I believe Jesus wanted those who follow Him to learn a few things from this. He knew that they had what it would take to make it thought this world. I could go on and on about this but the bottom line is this. A lot of times we shortchange the children, with only expecting them to be able to understand simple things.
As I progressed though this lesson showing the kids that we needed to spend time with God and that He wants to spend time with us. It occurred to me that this was not me telling the kids that He wants to commune with them on a daily basis, but it was straight from the word of God. This meant that it was God telling them He wanted a special time with them.
I approached it in the same way as having an appointment with God everyday.  How could they understand appointment? Well since most of them have grown up knowing the importance of appointments. Think about it since they were babies the have been told they have doctor appointments. This is an easy concept to grasp and with having doctor appointments the priority has been communicated as very important.  So how much more important is an appointment with the one who made the heavens and the earth, the one who created them? They understood this immediately.
That hard part for me was to try and communicate that God wants our best, first fruits. He wants to be number one. I wanted to do this in a way that they understand that sometimes we put God on the back burner and when we have time extra time we give it to Him. So I thought about something they could relate to food. Specifically left-overs.
I said when we have a good meal we look forward to the freshness on the meal and the great flavor it has. We may even look forward to having the same meal again for lunch the next day.  But if we continue to have the same meal at every sitting it gets old. It looses it’s flavor, it’s excitement, and eventually all left-overs need to be thrown away. The point is that God wants to have that first meal with us. He doesn’t want the scraps or what’s left over. He deserves much more that this.
The kids totally caught it and when I asked how often should we spend time with God the answer was given “all the time”. Why is it so hard for us to get this but not just get it but also do it?
 The sad part is that it’s due more time than not to our busy schedules. The killer is this while other beliefs are raising there kids to put their beliefs first, we are saying to our Christian families “were just to busy for God”. Instead of helping our kids were hurting them and keeping blessings from them. By filling there lives with things that will help them succeed in this wonderful world while we let their eternity fall to chance or unintentionally show them time with God has less importance than the things we stay busy with.
 I have to stop and ask where do I want my children to succeed? (Not just my family but also my ministry kids) Do I want them to succeed in this life or the one that will never end?
 I think about 1 Peter 2:2 “like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” what is our salvation worth and what are we saying to our kids about their salvation? Is it time to really crave God like he craves to be with us? Who are the adults? Who gets it? A 5 year old or me? Man, I need to get my act together.  How about you? 
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Princes and Princess

Today I had the privilege to take some of my ministry kids out for lunch and movie. It was a actually a prize they choose from scoring huge amounts of points at this years Vacation Bible School.
Yes, I know that was a long time ago. In my defense there was not a good kid movie in theaters that I felt would be appropriate for me to take my kids to. But finally there has been a few that had good possibilities. I chose Tangled.
So like any good Children’s minister I took them out to Mc Donald’s for happy meals and chocolate chip cookies. Oh yea it was a hit. They all loved their happy meals and were amazingly appreciative to me and church for holding up our part of the prize and not forgetting.
After filling their bellies with french fries. We made our way to the theater to see Disney’s “Tangled”. Of course we had to get kid popcorns and slushies yum! We entered the theater one of the girls said “awesome were the only ones here this cool!”. Eventually few others came in. But to them it was a private showing with friends and SNACKS!
The movie was great we laughed we cried and ate popcorn. Could it get better than this? When the movie was over all the kids thanked me numerous times for everything. It was obvious to me that this would be a day they remembered for years to come.
As I reflect on the day it’s neat to think that I was able to make the kids feel special almost like Princes and Princesses. You know the really cool thing is that some times the simplest things in life can make people happy.(usually easer with kids than adults. There’s a lesson there too.) What I did was just small in comparison to the things that God can do for us.
I know that I forget a lot of times that I am a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords. I get so tangled in all of life’s pressures and challenges that I loose site of what is really important… our relationship to God.
He is our provider for everything. In John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. With God our lives can be greater than we ever imagined. We need to remember when life gets hairy and we get all tangled up that God is there for us with His wonderful haling powers. He hears our cries and will answer because we are Princes and Princess of the true King!

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Just thinking

This past week I needed to have my Children’s Ministry resource room moved. Let me describe one of the three rooms we occupied. In this room we had 4 bakers carts filled (overflowing actually) then 2 other shelving units just as big and full. Not so bad?  Not so… we also have a small clothing rack for costumes that was not holding up due to the abundance of costumes. Did I mention the 6 trashcans full of props?  And any other useable space filled with props. This room was full but not horribly messy just what I would say manageably disorganized.  I’m not the greatest organizer but this needed done and I decided that with this move would come new fresh organization.
After some convincing (me being convince that they could handle the move) one of our families that supports my ministry a ton took on the initial move. They move everything to one room across the church to be sorted. This room was close to where the new resource room would be. Everything was moved in one night. But if I thought I had a mess before WOW! It was an understatement now. No fault of anyone person. The realization that we had more than we needed was in my face. This was so cluttered that I was not even able to make the piles to sort. After moving some things around and quick purging and a trip to Wal-Mart for storage containers. I was able to start. It seemed to take hours but with encouragement from staff and leaders I moved forward. I made a toss pile, a keep pile, and a long-term storage pile. The next day I had tons of help packing, sorting, organizing, and labeling. You got to love the Dymo labeler!
With in one week we moved and condensed 3 areas that we considered to be all our resources down to 2 rooms the size of the one original room. Everything is labeled and easily attainable to those who need it for their ministry on the weekend.
Going forward we will have a request sheet and supply boxes that will be filled with the supplies requested. Ready to be pick up by the date needed. Then after the services are over the boxes will be due back to the room for clean up and redistribution and inventory.  Hopefully this will minimize the supply scatter and disorganization.
But wow what a task! Thanks to everyone who but their time and sweat and tears into this project!
I was thinking sometimes this is just like our lives. We collect and hold on to things over the years. It could be it possessions or habits or even priorities. Whatever it is we need to take time to step back and clean out the resources room of our lives. Some we need to just trash, others we need to hand over to another person to handle. Then you have some you want to keep ready to use at any moment. Yet, those hard ones we so want to cling to we need to turn over to God, to help us put them into the right area. I can’t help but think of the prayer of Jonah 2:7-8: “Those who cling to worthless idols 
 turn away from God’s love for them.”
We need to organize our lives and reprioritize. So the things that God has given us to use to give Him glory we can tap into quickly and easily with out being tripped up but junk clogging up our lives. So don’t wait start to clean out the clutter!

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I’m Home Sick

How is it that you can be home sick for a place that is not your home? Its’ been 5 days now that I have been back in the states and I’m feeling like I have lost a part of myself. It’s a very confusing feeling to have. Everything around you is moving at its normal pace and nothing has really changed. Inside in my heart or spirit I feel unrest like I have left something behind that completes my being. Its almost like I’m watching a movie play out in front of my eyes. It’s weird. I have been on 4 mission trips now and never before have I felt like this. It’s the usually the disappointment of the way I have not managed God resource as well as I should have. It’s not even the “oh I can’t wait to go and help more people with their physical needs”. It’s deeper than all these things. This is not even a longing to be in Honduras. (Though I would like that) This is a deeper thirst I think it is a deeper level of being with God .
This past year on this trip I struggled through out the week feeling like I didn’t have a place. I didn’t fit in with the team and if I did I didn’t really see it.
Before we came on the trip I had been battling with a feeling that of being anxious. I thought it was about the money that we needed to raise for the trip. I knew we needed to pay the Ministry that we were going with before we came. We still owed less than half the money. Our mission ministry at our church heard of the struggle and floated a loan that we need to pay back. This made the trip possible. Still I had this feeling. I thought it must still be the debt. I told myself when we get to Honduras it will go away I will be focused at the task at hand. Well it didn’t.
Then the confirmation that I needed to preach on Sunday night came. I thought wow I’m really going to preach here. How cool is that! It never occurred to me that the anxious feeling might be something trying to distract me from the message I was to deliver. After I preached it was really cool the feeling had left me. Why? Well, I know why and some of you do too.
I thought okay, that is over but then this feeling of not belonging hit me. So I did what I thought was best. I know when God tells you to do something you need to do it so that was the attitude I had all week. I was doing whatever I could to bring God glory. Weather its moving boxes, crowd control or twisting balloons.
Late in the week it really was made clear this week was not about me serving the needy of feeding hungry. This was about time I needed to spend with God. He took me out of the country to a place where he could have my undivided attention to spend time with me.
Looking back I see that God made sure that I was not alone in this walk but really gave me a brother to sit with me and share with me in this time of growing closer to Him. You see my friend Johnny that I have talked about was with me most of the week. Yes I had my wife and kids too. But this was different and even Chrissy recognized this. Johnny speaks a few words of English and I only a few Spanish words. So when we were together the conversation was not deep to the normal on looker perhaps it was comical to watch us. But we would sit in the hotel lobby or on the bus silent. Once in while I would hear John say thank you Jesus or I love you Jesus. Johnny knew how to live a life that God was in every second of his day. In this time God was teaching me how to be still and know that he is God. It seems whacked to me but to God I know its not 1Corinthians 1:27. Johnny knew how to do this.
So now that I have had time to process some of what I experience. I can confidently say that this home sick feeling is not for Honduras but that of being with my God. So there is only one remedy for that and that is to make more time for God in my life a lesson that is not easily to put into practice. This is more than a devotion time it’s more of a way of life. Yielding my will to His.
As a minister I may know how to do ministry but it’s another thing for God to use you to minister.
I have my pics from Honduras now linked to this blog.

I hope you will be home sick too!

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the day I will never forget

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Okay day 6 in Honduras. The final day I said yesterday was the best day in 3 years. Well God has a way of just messing with me because yesterday was great but today was just amazing!
Last night I was up late packing everything and making sure we had everything ready for our visit with our Compassion girls. We had to make sure we were packed so we could load the bus quickly when we got back from our visits so we could go eat supper at the camp and then go to church then to the airport. At least that was our plan.
So I ended up in bed around 1:30AM but the good thing was I didn’t need to get up until 6:45 this was good! We needed to pray at 7:45 then eat and meet the girls at 9. So, that all went to plan. Until prayer when Dick got a call from our Compassion representative we were now meeting at 9:30. This was still good. As we waited I felt like I we were when we were having our kids. I didn’t know what to expect or what I would say when I met the girls. I have prayed for them for so long and this was so big! Finally a van pulled up and a man go out and walked over to us he said Hi I’m Alexis with compassion are you the Hunters? I said yes he said are you ready to go? We asked what we would be doing so we could have everything we needed. So he went over the itinerary with us and it sounded good. We would close the day with giving our gifts to the girls that we brought.
He said you ready to meet the nina’s? We said yes! So we went around to the side of the van and he pulled back the door and out jumped Ismarial (Alex). She ran to me and gave me such a big hug and said I am your compassion child! I could not hold it together the tears started to flow and I looked at Alejandra and she smile a shy smile and gave me a hug then before I knew it I was surrounded by flashing cameras. I had so many questions for them but we needed to go. We were traveling to San Pedro Sulu to spend the day at a huge mall. It was going to take about 45 minuets to get there. So we were off in the van. Our translator was the driver so it was a quite ride there but when we arrive. We located a food court and all sat down to talk. Alex’s caseworker had a huge file on her. It had all the info on her accident, our letters, and medical records. It had pictures of her recovery and surgeries. She showed us pictures of the project she was involved in. It was just so amazing. We then learned about Alejandra and her family. She was 11 she was just so pretty and had the most wonderful smile. She loves to play ball and her favorite food is chicken and pizza. She was very shy. Her mom just graduated to become a nurse. She got a call today saying she god a job and was to start tomorrow. What praise! Her dad is a truck diver. He texted her Mother to say how thankful he was that we wanted to meet his daughter and all we do for her and the family. That was very cool!
  Alex was so full of joy and full of life! She loved to take pictures with the digital camera and look at them. She would giggle at the pictures she took. She showed us pictures in the projects scrapbook of children’s day and pointed out al the events that took place on that day.
We then took time to take tons of pictures with the girls. We decided to take them to the arcade to play a few games. The girls ran into the area laughing and excited this was the first time they have been to a mall. This was a big deal! We all agreed it was time to get something to eat so the girls decided on Pizza Hut. Something is different about the pizza there I’m not sure what but man it was good. Maybe it was just the company we had with us. Each of the girls were given a balloon sword like the ones I made all week they loved the balloons. During lunch we asked if the girls or the families needed anything clothes, shoes, food. They said shoes so we said no problem so we said after lunch we would take care of it. So we went to a shoe store close by but there was nothing suitable for the girls so we went to another store and found shoes for then it was like we gave the girls the best present ever! Alex danced around in her new shoes she just had to were them out of the store. Her mother wanted to know if I liked them? She then showed me where she had surgeries to help straighten her leg again. This is when I found out that she is going to have surgery again September 7th one month from today. This is to help again with her leg and Walking she walks well now but needs to have the leg straightened so she can have better mobility. I asked if there was anything else that they needed Alejandra’s mom said a blouse would be nice so I told then to get one. They couldn’t find anything there so we went to another store. I don’t like shopping but this was a blast! We moved to the next store this was cool kids store that had a lot of current clothing for kids. The girls each picked out pants and a shirt then Chrissy made sure they had underwear the girls put the clothes on to make sure they fit and then we a had a little fashion show in the store the girls walked up the aisle and spun around like models. They were so beautiful not because of the clothes but because of the joy and love they had it just poured out of them. When everyone else was looking at the underwear I called Alejandra over to a rack of hats I saw her looking at them earlier and cold tell she wanted one but did not want to ask. So I asked her do you like these in my best Spanish then asked her to choose one. I asked do you want it? A huge smile appeared and she jumped up and down she put it on and ran and showed her mom. I had Alex pick one too. This was so much fun! We ended the mall trip with Chrissy buying heart necklaces for each of the girls with their names inscribed on the front and ours on the back she also had one to mach for us. They thanked us and gave big hugs and kisses. It was time to go back to the hotel. We needed to be back by 4 so we could stay on schedule. So we started back 25 minuets into our trip we had a flat. Alexis and I got the tools out and then discovered the wheel cover was wire tied on and we had no knifes or scissors to cut it we found some metal (God provided) and got it off then the lug nuts w on so tight I think the tire had never been changed. Alexis tried no go then Ben. I thought these guys are both big and strong. What can I do? So I remembered Rick telling me a story of asking God to give him the strength of Samson. So I asked and took the wrench and placed it on and one squeak and the came off with hardly any effort it seemed to me. I remember hearing a gasp and wow. And off they came. God is so awesome (God Provided). Then the jack was missing a piece so we couldn’t use it I thought if only we had a floor jack. Just then a cabby stopped and asked if we needed help we said we needed a jack and went to his trunk and pulled out a floor jack. (God provided again). This was amazing! We made it back in time we were able to give our gifts do a video interview and say our good byes. It was such a good day.
We went to supper then to church and off to the airport. After we took a team picture we the Illinois team said there good byes and we went to the ticket counter. We were standing in line when I turned around and there was Johnny standing in our circle. I don’t know where he came from but he stayed with us until we had to go through security we prayed for him and went through security. Time to go home.
I have pictures coming to facebook very soon and some video too

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Best day of all my trips to Honduras! Blog day 5 Honduras 2010

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Day 5 in Honduras. Today was home visit day this when we go to a family of the church that we are serving at to see what everyday life is like. For the last three trips this has been an eye opening experience and usually the highlight of the week. So I could not wait today for us to get to the church and get the food out to the people so we could go and spend time with our host family. So much for what I thought God had other plans.
Well after waking the kids I came back over to our room and Chrissy was not feeling well but she said that she was not going to miss today. So she took some Imodium and just after she did that it hit me we weren’t really sick we just had to go a lot if you get my drift. So I did the same as Chrissy and hoped for the best. I thought I will drink so much water that it will not effect me that badly. I ate some breakfast then we were off to load food boxed and to the church. I rested on the way there laying over some of the worn cardboard clothes boxes looking out the window. I was thinking how blessed I was to be able to make a trip like this with our whole family two times.
As we pulled up to the church I recognized it right away we were here on my first trip. I looked a Donna and said do you remember this place she said yea. I said this is where I met Carla. Carla was a little girl about 10 yrs old. She sat in the back of the church crying by her self so I went to her and prayed with her. Afterwards she stayed close by to me. I have prayed that God would be with her and bless her over the years.  I said to Donna I wonder if she will be here? So once we got the bus parked I found the restroom and took care of all the water I had drank. Then I went in to get ready for service. I looked around at all the faces but didn’t see any one I recognized. We did our songs and Puppets. Oh yea Silas and Trent and Michel had a dance off of sorts too. Silas’s water sprinkler was funny but Trent’s John Travolta Saturday Night Fear move was hilarious.
Donna shared her testimonial and I thought Estella would never have a chance to translate because there was only one mic and once Donna got stared she just kept going and forgot about the translators. Honesty I think she thought she was speaking in tongues. I’m just kidding. But afterwards we gathered around the kids to pray for them I was feeling spent last day not 100%. So I decided to just give it al to God. So after the prayer the pastor wanted us to come up ad be prayed for then they changed their minds. We went out in among the people and prayed I had two kids by me a boy on the left and girl on the right we started to pray and I felt God just totally refresh my energy and renew my mind it was a great feeling. The stomach thing just left. After the prayer I looked to my left at the girl and saw that she was still praying a crying as she prayed I stood close to her and started to pray with her the more I prayed the more she clung to me burring her face in to me. When I finished I looked up at Dick he smiled and understood what I was feeling. This was a cool experience to have a child like this just hold on to you. I looked down and gently picked up her face and looked her in the eyes. I asked what is your name but before she could say I knew. This was Carla. I was very excited I asked if she remembered me praying for her she said she thought so. And Gave me a big hug and hung on to me. I introduced her to my family because I had talked about her before. I told her I had been praying for her. The biggest smile came across her face. She asked if she could stay with me while I was there and I said sure. She then introduced me to her mother and sister. We got our picture taken and I gave it to her she was showing everyone. She stayed really close the rest of the time I was there. When we had to say good-bye I told her that I would pray for her. She said she would do the same for me. This was an awesome day better that I expected.

We did our home visits and it was very cool. The guy that was at the house we went to had baby toucans one decides to fly into Ben he freaked! But we have it all on video. I will be posting it to youtube very soon. I very tired and need to get rest. Tomorrow we meet our Compassion International children and spend the day with them shod be Great! Can’t believe the week is almost over though it went way to fast. Check our the pics more will be coming soon. 

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Check Out What God Can Do With Small Things! blog day 4 In Honduras

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Day 4 in Honduras. I was surprised today when we were leaving to go out to the distribution site Johnny and his son Benjamin came as well as José Won Ramón son. These kids have become very important to our family so it was great to spend time with them.
Today our team did something that no other team has done in the history of  F2F. At least that was what I was told we did a mountain distribution like other years but this one we had to cross a river! Bid deal right? Well we did this not by going over a bridge in the bus or walking in. I have done both before. No not going through the water with the bus either. We took 35 food boxes with approximately 16 boxes and suitcases and stereo, generator and puppets and stage all across with us. All by a boat. Okay not a big deal did I mention all the rain lately and the river was swift and swollen. Still not bad for a big boat right? We our boat was a 15-20 foot rescue pontoon raft. It carried about 8 people at a time. Still not bad. But this raft was missing one thing a motor. It had a wire going from one side of the river to the other with a rope on a pulley to hold the boat in place. The boat went from heading straight across the river to fighting the current with quite a wave some times curling over the bow of the boat. We would load the boat and send it then it would come back for more the first of us to cross was Rick and Archy. It was so cool to see the Honduran people come down and move everything up a path to a fresh cleared spot for us to do the distribution. Once were all were safely over we started. The speaker today was none other than my Silas my 11-year-old son. He was nervous but he did a great job he presented the gospel message to over 80 kids and adults. He told how God created everything perfect and it was good until we disobeyed God. He said that’s called sin. As he was explaining it all he used water to represent God and man and then Iodine for sin. Explained sin makes us not pure any more we were no longer like God. So he added iodine for each sin he mentioned which made the water very dark. He than explained the plan God had with Jesus to save us form being separated from God forever. He used bleach as Jesus and made the iodine disappear the kids gasped when it just was instantly gone. He continued to tell them that this is how is with us and we could have Jesus save us to if we made him Lord of our life and turn from our sinful life. And obey all his commands. He did a great Job! My friend Clark then followed him. Clark did great but was almost overshadowed by the amazement of a kid giving a witness to the Lord. Here in Honduras Kids are to be seen and not heard. So this was a huge deal for Si and the children to have someone like Silas do this.
The after noon we had 90 boxes to distribute and the church was very small no fans and very very Hot. It was surprising that we didn’t loose anyone in there to the heat. I met so great kids and had some fun with twisting balloons.
Another high light was with my friend Archy. Three years ago I gave him a balloon pump and a bag of balloons. I showed him how to make a dog, sword, heart and a hat. Today he wanted to show me what he could make. He was so proud and he should be. He can now make snails Octopus’s, fish and hammers. It was very cool. To see someone take what you have given them with no expectations and make huge impact for God with it. He is also doing puppets too. I gave him one small puppet I brought that year too. Now he has a stage and 5 puppets. He is using all this to do children’s ministry. God is so Awesome! I never would have imagined. Just think of the lives changed forever just because he was blessed with the tools he needed to do God work. Crazy! Check out the balloon creations on my facebook. They are really amazing! Thanks for the prayers!