Yesterday was June 24th, my mom and dad's 20th wedding anniversary. We were able to watch their whole wedding tape from the ceremony to the reception. It was beautiful. It wasn't just a lovey lovey kind of thing. It was "such an exciting day" (is what my dad said). The whole day was just a celebration. The thing was, they were so very sober because they were vowing before God. Through these years they still live with the constant awareness of how wonderful and awesome it was of the Lord to give them one another. They live their married life in front of us to show, this is what it looks like. I'm so so very thankful to God for giving me the most outstanding parents, I love them so much! I took some pictures of pictures from thier wedding, it is so sweet! 

"How does Paul make Christ look great? Answer: by experiencing Christ as such a treasure so that everything in his LIFE is as NOTHING by comparision. 'I count everything', money as loss, food as loss, looks as loss, friends as loss, family as loss, job and success as loss, graduation as loss, in comparission with the treasure that Christ has become for me. How do you make Christ look great in your life, and thus not waste it? Money is given to you, so that you may use money in a way that shows money is not your treasure, Christ is! Food is given to you so that you so that you may eat it in such a way that it will be plain that food is not your treasure, Christ is! Friends, family are given to you so that you may live with them in such a way that will be plain to the world that they are not your treasure, Christ is! Computers, toys, houses, land, cars, are given to them so that you may use them in such a way that it will be plain to the world these are not your treasure, Christ is! Talk about life style implications. The way we display the surpreme worth of Jesus is by treasuring Him above all things, and then making choices which make the joy we have in His surpreme worth manifest. Get it. If He is not that treasure for you, pray ALL NIGHT if you have to, that your heart would be so changed that you would now treasure Jesus above everything in your life." 

People. People live here, people go to heaven, people have feelings, people have relationships, and people have souls. But really I believe that we need to bring people down on the totem pole. I am not saying that they are unimportant or we need not worry about them. I'm talking about the way we priorize people here on earth, we make them our treasure. We put all of our energy and time and money into them. So many times I find myself putting all of me into people, instead of into Christ. It then becomes idolitrous, and I am, in that sin of priorizing anything except Jesus, attempting to strip Him off of His throne and make Him anything less of eternally worth EVERYTHING. You guys, this is important. This is BIG. I am speaking for myself here, I need to be at continual war at that thing in me that priorizes people. It may be something that is a problem for you, and it may not. I am just saying what the Lord has been speaking to me lately.  
I beg of you, please keep me accountable for this, my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

There are two major things that are happening in my life at the moment: Caleb and Dad are gone in Honduras and I am reading "Don't waste your life" by John Piper.

For the first. I really don't know much about what is going on over there, but I'm pretty possitive that they're in Honduras. :)  Caleb could tell you more about it. His blog is: lethondurasbeglad.wordpress.com , it is WELL worth it to check it out. With him, what you see is what you get, so if you read anything that is completely his heart.

I'm sure most of you have read the book Don't waste your life. It is one of John Piper's most popular books, but yet, I hadn't read it. Lately I have realized how very little I know of the things that I put my whole hope and trust in. God (completely Him) has put in me a desire to just soak it all in. To learn as much as I can. I decided to start with John Piper. He is one of the most brilliant teachers that lives today (He got all of his stuff from the great dead guys) . What could be more devistating than a completely and totally pointless and wasted life? Listen to what he says about the "wasted life".

"I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader's Digest: A couple 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells'  At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. Aspoof on the American Dream. But it wasn't. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life--your one and only precious, God-given life--and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: 'Look Lord. See my shells.' That is a tragedy."

And on the flip side:

"In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby's side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly. I asked my congregation: Was that a tragedy? Two lives, driven by one great passion, namely, to be spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ--even two decades after most of their American counterparts had retired to throw away their lives on trifles. No, that is not a tragedy. That is a glory. These lives were not wasted. And these lives were not lost."



For those who have not read this book, it's fantastic, and I completely recommend it.

"Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it" Mark 8:35

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork."
                                                        Psalm 19:1

The story of Rachel Barkey is just outstanding. If you have 55 minutes, this is worth the time!http://deathisnotdying.com/fullvideo/