Saturday, March 29, 2008

130,000 Miles


There it is...130,000 miles on the Beetle!
(Would that be 130,000 miles young?)

What I Should Be Doing

It's about 10 minutes before 2AM and I am sitting here at my computer...wide awake! I should be doing this...

My Dad snapped this shot last October, while I was home on vacation. We had gotten home from Saturday evening prayer meeting, had a great "mom-cooked" meal, and I decided to grab a few minutes of shut-eye before we began the evening's festivities.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Where Are These Christians?

Consider these:

"We do not have revival because we are willing to live without it" - Leonard Ravenhill

From an early age, William C. Burns heart was broken for a lost and dying world. The story is told that when he was seventeen he was brought by his mother from the quiet town of KiIsyth to the bustling city of Glasgow. His mother was separated from her son while she was shopping. After retracing her steps she discovered him in an alley with tears streaming down his face. She could see he was suffering great agony and said, "Willie my boy, what ails you? Are you ill?" With broken cries he replied, "Oh, mother, mother - the thud of these Christless feet on the way to hell breaks my heart" - (Awake and Go!)

Why do these words sound foreign and alien to our own personal experience with Christ? Why do we not weep and groan over the things that daily offend God? Why do we not know what it means to travail in prayer? What has happened to us as God's people?

Tonight's Question

I find myself drawn once again tonight, as I have just finished listening to a message by Duncan Campbell, to consider our appetite for the things of God.

Why is my appetite for the things of the world seemingly endless (ie. movies, entertainment, vacations, time with friends, hobbies, activities) and yet I can be so satisfied with so little of God Himself?

Is this not utter foolishness? It makes no sense at all.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A Few New Pics...

I had to finish off the spinach and strawberries, so here's the plateful of it...
I helped my operations manager Nick on Saturday morning, so he invited me over for dinner on Saturday evening...
Nick's daughter Erica poses with an Easter egg
Nick Jr. cooks up some carne asada on the grill while talking with a friend
Erica made me an Easter basket
...and poses with it!
On Sunday I went to have lunch at the Schallenberger's. Joey dressed up in his soccer uniform and posed for the camera.
Falicia got in her soccer uniform as well and agreed to pose.

Friday, March 21, 2008

The Message After Next...

Well, I had said that I would try to summarize a little of what I had learned from my two days with Leonard Ravenhill.

The main point he seemed to bring out time and again, whether in an interview or while teaching, is that a Christian must KNOW GOD...not simply know ABOUT Him!!! The Sunday School response we often give when asked why we go to church is: to learn about God. No, that is not it. Knowing about God does not change a person's life...knowing God personally does.

I fear that we have such little appetites for God, for His presence, for His word, for time in prayer with Him. Perhaps this is because our appetites are spoiled as the child who eats cookies before dinner. Why are we so quickly satiated or satisfied? Why does it take so little to "get us by"?

Do we want "to want" to know Him? Paul's ambition was stated as this in Philippians 3:10 "That I might know Him..." Not only this, but consider what Jesus clearly defines as eternal life..."And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

Where do our passions lie? For what or whom are we zealous and does our zeal burn? Are we intense Christians? Why can we sit in front of the TV for three hours without a problem, yet dread the thought of three hours in prayer?

This is my summation of Brother Leonard's general drift throughout his speaking. It has definitely challenged me!

To Aspiring Pastors...

Leonard Ravenhill said this in a message to pastors:

"How many of you want to be pastors? Then eat as little as possible. Sleep as little as possible. And study the Word [Bible] as much as possible." (paraphrased)

Thursday, March 20, 2008

A Couple of Days with Leonard Ravenhill

Yesterday was my day off. Since I am generally on the schedule for Saturdays, I chose Wednesday as my "other" day off, apart from Sunday. Yesterday, I spent the day with Leonard Ravenhill. But, you may protest, didn't he go home to be with the Lord? Well, yes he did...but his messages live on both in print and in some video clips on the 'net.

There is much I could say about this man, even from such a short acquaintance. He loved the Lord. He had a passion and a zeal to know Christ. He desired to be much in prayer and in the Bible. These things are evidenced throughout much of his conversation, and probably, through much of his writing as well.

I have, in previous posts, included some quotes from his writings. Here are a few more that I came across yesterday:

Some women will spend thirty minutes to an hour preparing for church externally (putting on special clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all spent the same amount of time preparing internally for church, with prayer and meditation?

You can’t develop character by reading books. You develop it from conflict.

When there’s something in the Bible that churches don’t like, they call it ‘legalism.’

You can have all of your doctrines right, yet still not have the presence of God.

One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed.

We Christians are debtors to all men at all times in all places, but we are so smug to the lostness of men. We've been "living in Laodicea", lax, loose, lustful, and lazy. Why is there this criminal indifference to the lostness of men? Our condemnation is that we know how to live better than we are living. The Bible parable says that while men slept, the enemy sowed tares among the wheat. A boy who rises at 4:30 to deliver papers is considered a go-getter, but to urge our young people to rise at 5:30 to pray is considered fanaticism. We must once again wear the harness of discipline. There is no other way.

No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shop window to display one's talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off.

A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.

To be much for God, we must be much with God. Jesus, that lone figure in the wilderness, knew strong crying, along with tears. Can one be moved with compassion and not know tears? Jeremiah was a sobbing saint. Jesus wept! So did Paul. So did John...Though there are some tearful intercessors behind the scenes, I grant you that to our modern Christianity, praying is foreign.

No man - I don't care how colossal his intellect - No man is greater than his prayer life.

The question isn't were you challenged. The question is were you changed?

In my next post, I will try to elaborate a little on Brother Ravenhill's message, at least the points I took from it, and explain a little about how I believe it relates to us today. I'll conclude this post with a poem that Brother Ravenhill quoted in one of his messages.

My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace;
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.
'Tis His to lead me there, not mine but His...
At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.

So faith bounds forward to its goal in God,
and love can trust her Lord to lead her there.
Upheld by Him, my soul is foll'wing hard,
Till God hath full fulfilled my deepest prayer.

No matter if the way be sometimes dark,
No matter though the cost be oft-times great,
He knoweth how I best shall reach the mark,
The way that leads to Him must needs be straight.

One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay;
One thing I do, I press on towards my Lord.
My God, my Glory here from day to day,
And in the glory there, my Great Reward.

By Frederick Brook

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Hit the Road, Jack



Well, it is that time of year again. The ice and snow are mostly melted and the temperatures at night are staying above freezing. The winter bulge around the beltline has become annoying....so you know what time it is...

...RUNNING TIME!

Yup, on St. Patrick's Day, I dusted off the old sneakers and hit the road. My first run was rather short, probably around 2 - 2.5 miles, but still it was good to be out and about again. After getting into a little better shape, I am looking forward to trying out the new running shoes that my sister and brother-in-law got me for Christmas.

In a few minutes I'll be heading outside to brave the coolness of a late winter rain squall, and putting a couple of miles on before I hit the hay.

230 miles per gallon!


A couple of nights ago, I stopped by Yahoo! to check the latest news updates. On their front page was a photo similar to the one above. My interest was immediately piqued, so I started doing a little research...

Apparently the vehicle is called the Aptera Type 1, and is a hybrid prototype that is supposed to be put into production sometime in October 2008. It also will be available in an "electric-only" configuration, which would have a range of around 120 miles between charges.

While the guy in this picture has more hair than I do...I could definitely see myself driving one of these little cars. Sure, it only has 2 1/2 seats, but for a daily commuter, this thing would be great.

As you can see, it is hardly conventional. In fact, the Type 1 is technically considered a motorcycle, because it doesn't have four wheels. Power is supplied to the rear wheel, and steering is provided via the two front wheels. Video clips of the vehicle show an extremely stable and "ground-hugging" platform that seems to be as roadworthy as any other small car.

The fluid lines of the vehicle were adopted to minimize drag. As an example, the windshield wipers on a normal vehicle create as much drag as the whole front end of the Aptera. This results in amazing gas mileage. Between 40 and 60 miles, the small gas engine will hardly be used. Up to about 120 miles, the gas mileage will be phenomenal, around 230 miles per gallon. For longer trips, the Type 1 will sip fuel at a miserly 120 mpg, and do so all day long, until you recharge the vehicle's batteries.

Could this replace my Beetle?

Monday, March 17, 2008

Missions Conference

This past week we had our mission's conference with a Fijian national, Save Sikele and his family. We had meetings on Wednesday through Friday nights, and then all three services on Sunday. Every message was spot on. On Sunday morning after Save spoke, we had a couple of baptisms. Micaiah, Duane and Annette's oldest boy was baptized as was Jason, a guy in the church who was saved this last year. After the evening service, several of us went down to Chili's for a bite to eat.

Micaiah gets baptized...
...as does Jason!
From left to right: Yours truly, Aaron Sikele, Veronica, Amanda Sikele, Kaitie and Robin (aka "Madame")

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Looking Ahead

There are some things that I am looking forward to in this coming spring and summer...

I am going to be a "soccer mom"! LOL, well, let me explain. Several of the Schallenberger kids have signed up for soccer this year, and I was asked if I would like to help out in getting them to their practices and games. I am actually looking forward to helping out and watching the kids play. Maybe I'll have to practice with them and kick the ball around a little bit.

Road trip - this is still up in the air. I had been planning on taking an extended road trip this summer or fall, but I am not sure if that will pan out this year or not. Of course I'd love to get back behind the wheel of my car and hit the freeways of America again, but with the different things going on I may be resigned to a more local vacation. We'll see how the Lord directs and provides in this matter.

Air Show - the bi-annual airshow at Hill AFB should be happening this June. I am planning on going down and spending some quality airplane-looking time. (And I'll probably drag my camera along as well!)

Revival Meetings - Our spring meetings at church are scheduled for next month. Gary Gilmore and his wife will be traveling in to do the nightly meetings. I have really enjoyed the times that we have special meetings and the more intense corporate focus on God and His word. Brother Gilmore was here last year and I really enjoyed the meetings with him.

Running - Well, the snow is almost completely gone off the sidewalks, and it is time for me to get out and start running again. I actually had my annual fitness test during this last weekend down at the base, and I can definitely see how a winter of not running has affected me. I still passed just fine, but not with the numbers I'd like to see.

Narrative

I was sitting here at the computer, trying to think of anything that has been going on lately that might be of interest to you all. I guess there are some things going on that are "blogworthy" but on the whole life continues on as normal.

One of the things that may end up being a major change for me is my job at Staples. I have been with the company for over three years, and have definitely enjoyed my time. Retail was(is) a whole new world for me, and I find that working with people can be challenging, yet very rewarding.

Though I haven't written this down, I had set this spring as a make-or-break time with Staples. I've been eligible for promotion into the Manager in Training program for some time, and as of yet, nothing has happened. (Well, I was trained to open the store by myself...but that was it). I've begun praying about the future, whether or not it is time to move on to something else, and, if so, what that would be.

A matter that has been on my mind recently is my GI Bill which I still have from my time on active duty. I have ten years from the time that I left active duty in which to make use of it...four years are already done with, which leaves only six left (hey, I still can do some math!). I do not want to waste it, as it is a great tool to use towards further education. Not only do I have the GI Bill, but I also have a small monthly kicker bonus that I would be eligible for due to the fact I am in the career field that I am in. So, the potential of some college is looming large in my future.

That being said, however, I do not have any direction as to what types of classes to take. If left to my own devices, I probably would CLEP out of as many classes as possible, and focus my studies on those necessary classes which I could not CLEP out of. But, I am still left with no real idea as to what I would study or major in if I went to school.

It would seem that perhaps this will be a year of change, though of what or to what I cannot say at this time. I am very confident that the Lord will reveal His plan as I continue to press on, but I do believe change is in the air.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Schallenberger Adoption Anniversary

One of the fun things that happened a couple of weeks back was the annual Schallenberger Adoption Anniversary. Each year (that explains the "annual" part! ;) the Schallenbergers let each of the kids invite a friend, and the whole group goes to a restaurant to enjoy some food and fellowship.

This year I was one of the honored guests, and we all went down to Ogden to have dinner at the Prairie Schooner. Each of the tables at the Prairie Schooner was done up like a covered wagon. Inside of the facility itself were walkways and around the walkways were various displays of desert life (ie plants, shrubs, a wolverine, a grouse, etc, etc...)

I took a few pictures that night, and thought I'd share these with you all...


Juan hasn't gotten his rabies shot yet!


Felicia oversees the proceedings...


Robin, Scott and Kaitie smile for the camera...(or maybe because I just told a really corny joke!)


Levi and I

The group!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

My "Own-Cooked" Meal

Being a bachelor, I have, up until this point, succumbed to the typical bachelor "eat-what-and-when-you-can" mentality. This involves some rather poor choices in cuisine sometimes, but hey, it works.

Well, today I broke that cycle and made my very own homecooked meal. Now I've cooked up eggs before and made grilled cheese sandwiches, but I've never made an actual meal for myself. I decided that the KISS principle was probably a good rule of thumb (Keep It Simple Stupid!) so I chose to go with steak, salad and bread.

I won't drag you through the fun experiences of finding things at the grocery store...in places I'd never been before... (Hey, they have a meat section??!!) or (Wow...spinach comes like that??!!)...though I could have easily told you where the cold cereal and the milk were located.

Anyway, I arrived home, groceries in hand, to start my adventure. First of all, I decided to cut up part of the steak into small strips, because I wasn't sure how my "frying pan method" would (sorry...pun intended)...pan out. This was a great starting experience, because the fan over my stovetop doesn't have an outside vent...it merely re-circulates the grease and smoke. I didn't mind it so much, but my smoke alarm did. (Thankfully it was within arms' reach, so a quick removal of the cover and a 9V batteryectomy later, the little bugger remained quiet).

Now that my first meat samples were completed, I placed them on a separate plate and blessed them with a little salt and pepper. These were to be the snack cache while I assembled the rest of my meal.

My plan was to make a spinach salad (and no...I don't mean just chewing on spinach leaves!!!) with some diced strawberries and crushed dry ramen noodles. Here I ran into my first problem. I don't have a salad bowl...or anything large enough to mix a salad in. (Well, that is not entirely true, I do have a couple of cooking pots, compliments of my folks, but they didn't seem like the kind of thing to make salad in.)

Now I resorted to typical unashamed bachelor "brain-stuff". My old coffee maker has been sitting unused since I acquired my newer one, and the empty carafe was about the right size...so...

After crushing some ramen noodles to sprinkle on the salad, tearing up some spinach leaves, and dicing up a couple of strawberries, my salad was basically complete. I now turned my attention to cooking up the main portion of the steak. I cut the steak into two smaller pieces, and, after warming up the pan...and putting in a dab of butter as a lubricant (sorry, I'm using my aircraft mechanic terminology) I slapped those two wonderful pieces of meat on the hot pan.

I will admit to being a bit unsure as to how long to cook the steak. I also acknowledge that frying a steak is hardly the preferred method. However, with no grill and no knowledge of broiling, I decided that frying was better than the alternative. To make a long story short, I was pleased with the end result. I suppose they were a bit over-cooked than I normally like, but they didn't dry out and actually had a nice flavor...but I am skipping ahead in the story.

After arranging some salad on a plate, I pulled out the Wishbone raspberry vinaigrette (yes, I had to go over to the fridge just now to see how to spell that!) and drizzled some on my salad. After garnishing it with a couple of "decorative" strawberry slices, the salad was finished. I pulled the sizzling (and they were...I'm not just using cooking jargon) steaks out of the pan and placed them next to my salad. A couple of pieces of English toasting bread and a glass of milk rounded out my very first meal.

So that's the story...how did I do?