The start of a chruch?? A miracle?

This past Wednesday at 6 am, 700 men arrived at a church to learn what the Bible says about being a man. The Pastor shared about the wounds many men have from the absence or abuse of thier fathers. One of the results he stated is embracing a homosexual lifestyle.

Immediatly after the talk, I ran into a young man who was visibly upset. I approached him and asked if I could help him and he began to share how angry he was with God.

He shared that he was gay, and yet beleived in Jesus. He asked how God could make him in the image of God and then put these laws in the Bible that he could not follow. He expressed how judged he felt by the pastor's comments and how he never wanted to come back.

I said that God had made me in His image also, and put laws in the Bible that I cannot follow. I saw his face change as he processed what I was saying, it was almost as if I could see his walls of resistance coming down. He began to see that he and I were both guilty and condemned.

I told him that the purpose of the law was not that we would actually follow it, but rather to show us we need Jesus. We opened up Romans 7 and looked at Paul's struggle, then at Romans 8:1-4. He listened to the words, "There is therefore now no condemnation..." We read about God giving His own Son in our place, and this young man cried as he realized God had condemned all our sin in the flesh of Jesus! It was awesome! The truth sank deep into his heart. Thank God for the Good News!

After our conversation, he asked if he could join our church plant. I told him he was exactly the kind of person we needed in our church plant. I told him that because he had put his trust in Christ, I knew that God would use him to impact thousands of people with the truth of Jesus. I told him that from now on his life was a living testimony of the greatness and grace of Jesus!

Could that be the start of a new church? What would happen if all of his friends who are far from Christ saw a change in his life? What more amazing things does God want to do among us all?

the comcast cancellation....

After a long week of struggle wondering if we were doing the right thing by taking my family to Austin, God used a call to comcast to remind me. You see I had to cancel our internet service, so I called up comcast to do so and Sharon answered. After completing the cancellation Sharon asked me the "why question" why cancel? We are moving to Austin as missionaries to plant a church to make Christ known! I thought that would be a conversation stopper, but no, she instead exclaimed... That is Awesome! I surely did not expect to hear that. She was so excited! We talked more and I shared with her my anxiety about the move and she simply said "if God is calling you, you have to go and that I can trust in Him"! I don't know about you but that was a God thing!

God uses craigslist...

Planning to go to Austin we needed to start getting rid of stuff we didn't need and that someone else could use. Craigslist was the obvious choice. As soon as we posted people started buying, awesome right? On the contrary, I remember a feeling of "oh crap" this is really happening, we are moving. The more we sold the more that feeling grew. Well God know what we need and he is faithful! A guy from Gilroy called and wanted to buy our nightstands. I thought to myself... oh boy another sale. I even asked Yuki to handle this sale but God had different plans. For some reason that I can't remember Yuki couldn't handle it so I went out to meet him. The dude, that I will call Brandon, showed up and we made some small talk and then he asked me why we were selling our stuff and I shared with him our mission to reach people for Christ in Austin and that we were going to plant a church. His response... That's Awesome! which caught me by surprise. He shared with me that he was a follower of Christ and the next that happened blew me away, he asked me a complete stranger if he could pray for me my family and the whole missional group going to plant the church! I remember thinking in my head, God thank you for sending Brandon to remind me to take up my cross and follow Him! Brandon prayed for a good 5-10min for everyone and especailly that Christ would be made know and that God would get all the glory. It was awesome, just what I needed and God provided yet again!

Praise in the rain....

The ETD (estimated time of departure) is swiftly approaching, 16 days from this posting to be exact. As a family we have been preparing for the move by donating and selling stuff to lighten our load. As our physical load becomes lighter our spiritual load increases. As we get closer to moving it seems that satan is trying everything to break our faith. That is where the "joy of the trial" enters! You see as a family we can take great joy in knowing that Christ is at work in our lives and is transforming us! That is the JOY! It is tough and will only get tougher but we know that God is faithful to those who follow after Him! Just take Moses for example, from the day he was born God was with him and his family. Just imagine someone was going around killing all the sons in your neighborhood and you have just given birth to a baby boy. The only way to save him from that fate would be to put him in a creek full of many things that could harm and even kill him. Well that is what Moses' mom did and she did it by faith knowing that God had promised to bless them. I don't know about you but if in that situation I am not sure I could have done the same. You see Jochebed (Moses' mom) trusted that God was in control and that He was faithful! She as far as I can tell had know idea what was going to happen to her son. I am sure the last thing on her mind is that she would get the chance to raise her son with the blessing of the ruler of egypt (the same ruler that was killing all the baby boys in egypt) and not only that she was paid to do it. That is exactly what happened according to the bible Exodus 2:1-10. As followers of Christ we do not know how God is going to work but we can have complete faith that He will! Now as we get ready to head off to Austin not knowing where we are going to stay or when I will get a job offer, as difficult as that is, we can trust that God will provide according to His way and His timing. God is awesome! "Praise in the rain"

God's calling...

Careful... if you tell God "her I am" He will send you!  Just like Abraham.  That is what He has asked us (Taylors', Clarks', Nelsons' and more stay tuned) to do, to go and share and live out the good news of what Jesus Christ has done for us all!  It has been a crazy ride and we haven't even left California!  I will share more detail later, I just wanted to share this with you... That offering your life to God, willing to say... "HERE I AM" and mean it is the most awesome thing!  What other response can we have for the One who came down and humbled Himself as a man, lived a perfect life and then gave His life in place of ours.  He took our place on the cross that we so deserve.  We can't think of anything else but to give our lives to Him so that He would receive all the glory and praise and that we would be used by Him to share the truth of what He did for us all... "even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give His life as a ransom for many" Matt 20:28

Derik and Melinda

Derik and Melinda are thinking of going to Austin to work in a family buisness. We met for lunch and I heard their story. They are incredible people and I loved hearing how God has been working in their lives. They have a little girl and want to raise her to know Jesus...so we sent them a "Jesus Bible Story' book and they sent back a wonderful thank you card. 

God used them to encourage us along the way. Thank you God for walking with me every step.

God is faithful

You know God is always there to forgive if you want to ask and turn away from sin. Man I keep messin' up just Like Paul but He is still there waiting!