Meet Kerwin

Our new white's tree frog was the highlight for the boys (and for Scott). When we were choosing a name, Isaac decided to combine the last names of our favorite biologists: Jim Kern and Steve Irwin => Kerwin. This kind of frog is considered "tameable" and a great frog for beginners. She is bright green during the day and muddy brown at night. Since she is so big, we enjoy holding her and watching her climb around in her terrarium. Occasionally, we take her out to feed her some crickets. She eats 4-6 of them a week. She's pretty low maintenance and we think it is really cool to have a live amphibian in the house! It's also nice to bring more balance to the girl/boy ratio in our home :)

Christmas Morning

Our Thirty Gallon Aqarium and stand was covered in Christmas paper and bows. The boys woke up on Christmas morning, came into our room dejected because there were no gifts under the tree. "Are you sure," I asked. "Well there weren't any last night," Isaac responded. When we walked out to the living room together and that huge package was there along with the gifts from grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and church family, all they could say was WOW! They wanted to open the big one first - and we let them. They guessed it was a big candy cane. When they opened it and it was a pet frog - it became the "best Christmas ever" according to Isaac.

Book Review: Let's Get Together

My best friend from high school has authored his first book, and it's a good one. In the first five chapters of this quick read, Gabe Lett has articulated well the problem with community in the church. The final five chapters are principled solutions to the problem of why we don't live together as God has called us to. While the book is grounded in scripture and ideas, Lett offers practical solutions as well. When I was leading a small group in Kansas City, we read Life Together by Bonhoeffer. Some friends in the group found it difficult to wade through. Here is an alternative (in modern language with up to date ideas) that seriously adresses similar issues (but in the American Church context). In my opinion, this is a GREAT read for any person in the church who wonders why "connecting" and "belonging" have been elusive in their quest for Christ. More importantly, this book offers hope that it is still possible.

Little Madeline

I know many of you would love to see Madeline too. Here is her first film debut.

Sabbatical Sunbathing

We wanted to let everyone know how we were doing on our sabbatical, so we made this little clip down at my parent's farm. Enjoy.

Book Review: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

This classic by Stephen Covey is a wothwile read. It makes practical "mission and purpose" books meaningful. Covey takes the time to walk the reader through the individual and corporate implications of determining your approach to life. My favorite quote is, "When we examine ourselves, we find there are ineffective scripts that are unworthy of us. Habits and patterns that are not who we want to be." One more reason to be on sabbatical. To discover and deal with ineffective scripts and habits that are less than what God wants for me. This book is a must read for anyone desiring to to move to the next self-leadership level.

Book Review: How Good is Good Enough

Preacher Andy Stanley wrote a short book to help people interested in eternal life evaluate the theories of, "good people go to heaven." He presents that everyone kind of thinks they are good enough and that others aren't (a relative point of view) and that a good God would give some standard to determine what was good enough, if that was the method he would use to allow people into heaven. Both arguments fall apart logically and Stanley offers a third alternative, "God isn't fair, he's merciful and gracious." If God were fair, we'd go to hell. Thanks be to God he does forgive.

Throwin' to the Fish

I will remember to take my camera for our adventure tomorrow. I wish I had had it again today. I took the kids to the Neosho National Fish Hatchery. It's the oldest federal hatchery in the nation. And the boys loved it. There were rainbow trout everywhere. We were given some food to feed to the fish. Everytime the boys threw in a few pellets, the fish went wild. Silas got the idea from his older brother to throw half of his cup in at one fell swoop. The fish went crazy and the boys squeeled with glee. What a day!

We're surrounded!!

Sarah has been working with my father to finish up her hours for nursing this year. So, I do school with Isaac in the morning while Silas entertains Madeline and then we go on an adventure. Missouri has developed some amazing parks. One of them is Prarie State Park, home of harriers, 200 Plains Bison, Rocky Mt. Elk, a saddly dwindling flock of Prarie Chickens (from 67 down to 6 in 15 years), and many other wonderful plants and animals. I have often loved visiting this place.
On this particular trip, the ranger said the buffalo were on the road just north of the center and I should take the kids to see them, "stay in the car though." No worries there. As we neared the animals who were on both sides of the road, we saw calves nursing their mothers. I was keeping my eyes out for the bull, when just as we were passing through the herd (about 25 animals in this herd) he stepped out onto the road, walked halfway across and stopped. He turned his head and looked at me. At that moment, a cow came up out of the ditch where she had been drinking and walked behind us. A cow, about five feet from my window looked into our car. The band of nursing mothers were on the right. We were surrounded.
After the bull got his full gaze, he sauntered into the prarie and we continued on our way. What an amazing gift from God to see these good friends so close and with such majesty.
NOTE: I didn't have our camera, the picture above looks an awful lot like the bull we saw.

Book Review: The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family

Patrick Lencioni has written an incredibly interesting and practical guide for every family. This is my top read so far. It's a quick, fascinating story about a woman on the search for some sanity in her family's busy lifestyle. If you're going to buy a book this year, wether you're single, have kids, or retired, buy this book!

Surprise!

We went out on our first date without our baby on Monday night to celebrate our anniversary (10 years!). Ever since I've known Sarah, she has said she would like to see River Dance Live. The next best thing would be Lord of the Dance - and on my first morning at the gym, I saw an advertisement for Lord of the Dance. So, I asked my mom to watch the kids and at supper Monday evening, I shocked Sarah with tickets to Lord of the Dance. What an amazing show! 40+ young men and women from around the world put on the performance of a lifetime. We loved it! They're performing in Eugene in November - it would be worth your time and money to see it.

Lord of the Dance

Maple Leaf Parade

Carthage is the Maple Leaf City. We made it here just in time for their annual parade and festivities AND to see the full trasition from green to vibrant shades of orange, red, and yellow (then eventually brown and bare). It has been raining since we got to Missouri (only 2 days when it didn't rain) but it has stayed in the upper 60's the whole time too. Warm rain, what a novel idea. There were some great horses, school bands, and CHURCHES in the parade.

Meetings in October

Here is a quick review of the meetings with other ministry leaders that I have had so far and the highlight of that meeting.

JEFF TACKEBERRY - Jeff is the pastor of a newstart church in North Liberty (just north of Iowa City). He pastors Heartland Church and they are currently in a series called "Soul Revolution." Jeff is a man with a vision. He loves the Big 10 college towns and has had a heart to reach the campuses of the Big 10 conference for Christ. As the church he pastors continues to grow spiritually, numerically, and now into its first building project, he has a vision for expanding that influence and leadership. Inovation and creativity are commonplace at Heartland, not to mention a warm and welcoming community.

DUSTIN LEDFORD - When I was a senior in High School, Dustin was my youth pastor. Now he is the lead pastor of Carthage First Nazarene and is leading the church to grow and to health. Dusting reminded me not to whine or complain, but to be Christ to others and meet their needs. He encouraged me not to forget the current members of the church and take special time for the people who weren't my age. He gave me some good methods and reminders for pastoral ministry. We also had a chance to discuss the Master's Plan (a discipleship method common in Nazarene churches in South America) and how to work with strong leaders in volunteer organizaitons.

JIM DILLOW - Dr. Dillow is the DS for Joplin District and has been a model pastor to me since Jr. High. I wanted to find out what God is doing on this district and hear who and how people are involved. As he shared about the health and disease of different churches, I was reminded of several truths: We are Christ centered, Spirit lead, and positive that God is for us so we can be for others. Dr. Dillow's sabbatical was last summer and we compared notes about how ours is going and he said he hoped we would learn just one good thing from the Lord while we're taking this time.

GABE LETT - Most of my spiritual adventures in Jr. High and High School include this man. We were best friends in Jr. High and started a Bible Study together. Now, Gabe is a Christian Counselor, Life Coach, Author, and HR person at a local business. My family worshipped with the Letts at Christ's Church in Joplin (where our friends Amanda and Dennis Reed worshipped while living here). We experienced an authentic and fresh Spirit lead worship and the most Biblical expression of the charasmatic church I've ever witnessed. Praise the Lord! After the service, the Gabe, Jamie, and their three girls came over for lunch and stayed till after 5:00. We caught up on people, professions, and the processes of life.

Rudolph's Coming!

We woke up this morning to the boys screaming, "It's snowing, it's snowing!" Isaac wanted to know if Christmas had come early. Silas was convinced that Rudolph was on his way. We went outside and had snow ball fights and play in the very wet fluffy stuff until it had all melted away. Snow this early in Iowa is uncommon (the 10th of October) but it was a great gift from God for my boys who were very grateful!

White Tails

Sarah grew up on a quaint farm in the hills of Iowa. We went there yesterday and walked around looking for any kind of wild animals. On the north side of the farm, her brother, Troy, and the boys and I found a small scrape and couple rubs. Then we took the boys in (because walking through tall wet grass in the woods is tough) and searched in the pines on the south side of the farm. We scared up a beautiful big buck. As it was running off, we think it's a 4 point (8 point according to Iowans) and a big one at that. We immediately set to work putting a stand in an elm right at the crossroads of three trails and several rubs at the edge of the pines. I'm very excited to learn how to bow hunt. My shot's not bad, I have a great place to hunt, and I have the time to do it. I'm hoping for some venison and mount in my office!

Madeline

God has blessed us with our third baby, my beautiful princess. She's not a princess like Ariel from Little Mermaid, but like Cinderella. She's six weeks old now and becoming more beautiful every day. Her beauty increases as her mother nourishes her, her father protects and provides for her, and her brothers snuggle her with loves. Her beauty increases not because of what we do though, it is because of the Father's love flowing through us. Our goal is that the Father's love would become more and more evident in her life as we refine the gifts and beauty that God has already put there.

Madeline's name sake (Mary Magdalen from the Gospels) was a business woman whose life was made beautiful when Jesus refined the demons from her. Our baby is a reminder that God has created beautiful gifts in each person, we get to articulate and watch them blossom. Another Madeline who experienced "blossoming" is a baby that was Rich Mullin's pastor's daughter. She wasn't suppose to be born because of congenital birth defects-she was. And the doctors said she wouldn't live a day, she lived a week. She wasn't suppose to live a month and she lived a year and half. Then she went to be with the Father. Rich said she was his prayer partner and wrote a song about the beauty of the Father in a baby who couldn't hear, couldn't make a noise, but could pray with the angels. The only complete public recording of the song is on Rich Mullins: Live from Lufkin, TX. It was taken off youtube so you'll have to buy the DVD or come over to my house to see it.

Silas

My second son is Silas. He is my tiger. They say that two brothers can have different personalities - these two do. Silas has very little fear of anything and he wants to do whatever his brother does. His bravery takes him into the rain to play in the sand, into the river to pick up a newt, and into the living room to tackle his daddy.

I know that Silas's bravery may get him into mischief, but in this video from Ray Boltz, another Silas's bravery lands him in jail for sharing the gospel. My Silas dances around the room in praise to God and shouts out "Behold He jumps, riding on the towels" when we sing "Days of Elijah." As he grows in his passion for God, I believe I will often here him singing, "I will praise the Lord," no matter where he finds himself.

Isaac

Each of my wonderful children are a blessing from God. My firstborn, Isaac, is a sensative and compassionate little boy. Recently, a lady at church wore a new outfit and no one noticed until the Sunday night service. Then, the only one was Isaac. He walked up and said, "That's a nice dress." Touching the silky material with sparkles in the fabric he exclaimed, "Ooh, it feels nice." It made the lady's day.

His sensitivity means he is easily crushed. I work hard to keep others from hurting his gentle spirit and am broken to realize that I'm the one who does it most often. So as I watch this video from Andrew Peterson, I'm broken to realize that I cannot sacrifice him on my own selfish altars. Isaac is only mine to raise, he really belongs to God. That is where I choose to place him, in the hands of a Holy God.

Book Review: The Prodigal God

"Hello old friend, there's nothing really new to say. But the old, old story bears repeating, and the plain old truth grows dearer everyday," Rich Mullins sang about the gospel. Few books capture the essence of the gospel as well as The Prodigal God. The Ragamuffin Gospel by Manning and The Beloved by Nouwen are the only other ones that come to mind at the moment. In this volume by Timothy Keller, he unpacks the parable of "the prodigal son" to demonstrate that there were actually two lost sons, the real prodigal [having spent everything, extavegant] is the father, and Jesus is the true elder brother whom is missing from the story. Then Keller invites us to redefine hope and join the Father's Feast.

For the first time, I finally understand what Manning and Mullins have said about repenting of our righteousness. While we often see the waywardness of the younger son and recognize his repentance, rarely do we realize the elder son didn't go into the party. Both were trying to control their father, one through rebellion, one through good deeds. Often, this parable has defended cheap grace. But, Jesus' audience and his followership would indicate that this isn't about cheap grace at all, but about religious moralism that keeps "younger brothers" from coming to the Father.

It is the father who has spent everything, the first third to a rebellious son and the final portion to a son who is unwilling to give anything away. Keller points out that the father loses the older son by inviting the younger home again. Jesus is our true older brother who willingly gave up his inheritance so that we might be able to join our Father's party. He is the one who left home to find his wayward brothers and sisters by loving us first, by dying on the cross for us while we were still in the pigsty.

Hope is usually tied up in our sense of "home": a place when you have to go there, they don't turn you away. And home is fleeting for humans. But when we accept that Christ has found us, he gives us a home, a feast at the Father's. Curl up in your easy chair to read this one, but be prepared to move to the table for a feast!

A Sabbath Rest

In just two weeks, we'll be flying to Iowa and Missouri for an 8 week sabbatical. Scott celebrated seven years of pastoring in Coquille, OR on June 14, 2009. The Oregon-Pacific District recommends a 6-12 week sabbatical in the seventh year of ministry and the church board was gracious to grant us an 8 week leave.

When we accepted the invitation to leave the Midwest and head to the coast to pastor, we knew that leaving our families of origin would be difficult. But we believe that God called us out here to be missionaries into this wonderful and beautiful place and people. Our 8 weeks will give us the chance to rekindle our family ties, renew old friendships, and releave our hearts from the pressure of ministry back at our homes where we find great support and comfort.

This blog will be a place for us to share our spiritual journey over the next few months and we're glad that you've taken the time to find out about us.