Encouragement from the Father of Modern Missions

I must admit that the days are getting harder here. School is busy, bills are coming, and a job seems further away than ever. I have spent this morning listening to Leviticus on audiobook (thankful to Dr. A for allowing our Bible reading to be a listening project as well), checking emails, and reading a biography on William Carey. The biography, Faithful Witness by Timothy George, has served as a great source of encouragement in the past days. Sometimes, we need to read of the strength of others to remind ourselves that we aren't the only ones dealing with hardships. I encourage each of you to read this biography. William Carey not only served as a great example for global mission work but also as an incredible example of a man living through struggles and glorifying God in everything. Here is a writing from Carey's journal following a hard time dealing with death, sickness, and isolation from his family and friends in India:

"This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me, except that my soul is much more insensible than John Bunyan's Pilgrim. O what would I give for a kind of sympathetic friend, such as I had in England, to whom I might open my heart! But I rejoice that I am here, notwithstanding; and God is here, who not only can have compassion, but is able to save to the uttermost." -Timothy George, Faithful Witness, 109

I pray that our hearts will be like Carey's: confident in our call to be in this place, confident in God's presence, and faith when fruit is unseen.

Blessings,
Steve

When Football is Unsatisfying, There's Always Baseball

Well, the Ole Miss football game just ended, so I thought I would do a post. After all, waking up at 9 AM to watch a loss to Vandy really leaves me in no mood to watch more football. Don't worry Ole Miss football, I will still wake up really early and stay up really late to watch you regardless of the season you are having. I just can't help it!

On higher notes, after a rather unsatisfying week of college and pro football, Laura and I had a great time this week at another sporting event!  Benefitting from an invitation by our neighbors, the Blackaby's, we went to our first SF Giants game last week as they took on the Dodgers. Unlike our favorite football teams, the Giants are wrapped in a vicious end-of-the-season stretch towards the playoffs. Needless to say, the crowd was energized and nervous as this was a must-win for the Giants (who are now ahead by 1 game in the division).

We arrived a few minutes before the game started with our free tickets (thanks to the many hook-ups that the Blackaby's seem to have) and begun to search for our section, in the 200's. Well, we found the first level then supposed it would be the next up so begun to walk up the stairs. The next level had closed doors so we climbed higher but the next level was 3. So we decided to ask the man at one of the closed doors and he told us to walk through the doors at the next level which happened to be the "Club Level". Yes, you guessed it, we had amazing seats to this intense game. As we arrived, Laura and I felt a little guilty as we haven't always been the biggest fans of MLB (with Laura not even knowing if the catcher was allowed to hit with the other batters....sorry, Laura, I told the world of your ignorance towards the game of baseball). We even had a little card to order food from our seats so that we wouldn't have to walk to the concession stand (and you BET we used the little card to get two chicken baskets and some Coke). We felt special! After 9 hard-fought innings, the Giants won and we had a great time at our first SF sporting experience. We will definitely have to find our way back to another game (if only we can find $140 laying around our apartment one day).

So, the lessons we learned from our Giants experience (because there is always a lesson to be learned):

1) Free tickets are ALWAYS worth taking.
2) While concessions stands cost about 100 times more than any other place, you can't resist buying their food.
3) Everyone wants to see a home run during their first game, and, most of the time, it comes from the other team.
4) Nothing else matters when you beat LA at any sport, especially baseball.
5) When football fails you, there is always another sport.

So, to all you Ole Miss fans out there, here are a few ways to find relief after another bad Saturday morning: pick yourself up, walk yourself home, and dust off your baseball mitt that you haven't used since you were in 5th grade. Baseball season is just around the corner!

Hanging in there,
Steve and Laura

La Casa

We have finally (sorry for being so late!) taken time to put up some pictures of the house. It's a small 500 square feet, but it's ours! And as Steve said before we got married "We can't help but to grow closer in such a tight space!"

Let us know what you think!

Love,

Laura

One Month in the Bay

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will mark our one month anniversary of being in Mill Valley!  I thought it would be appropriate to give you the one-month analysis of our lives here followed by a few prayer requests:

-Our home is officially unpacked!  There are ZERO boxes on our bedroom floor (which is a big accomplishment if you know Laura and me) and the curtains are up.  After weeks of unpacking (by us unpacking I mean Laura unpacked and I placed things where she told me to put them), we can finally call this place a home.  It's tiny, but it's ours.  As one of our neighbors told me the other day, "It's fun to see how people decorate their box around here."

-We have finished three full weeks of school and things are just getting busier.  Laura and I are working on reading (which doesn't get any less if you were wondering), papers, and lecture notes.  While school is busy and demanding, we are blown away by how much God is expanding our knowledge and understanding of the world around us.  Nothing changes your mindset like reading about Polycarp and William Carey!  If you don't know about these two folks, you should look them up.

-Laura has a couple of jobs, and I "might" have a job.  Laura is enjoying her jobs with children at a playground and babysitting a couple times a week.  While we are still praying that I would find a job that suits me, we know God is faithful and praise Him for allowing Laura to work.

-We are beginning to search through wedding pictures!  They are great (thanks to Mike and Shannon L)

-Lastly, we are constantly making new friends and meeting new people.  We praise God for so many awesome people here at the seminary and in the Bay area!


Now that you are fairly updated, here are some prayer requests for those thinking of us back home:

-Pray that Laura and I will not grow tired and complacent in ministry.  This is a huge problem for seminary students, and we hope to remain fresh and involved while learning.  We don't want to to just have knowledge poured in, we want to pour out while we are here.

-Pray that Laura and I will learn to manage time between school, work, and marriage.  This is important as we don't want to neglect marriage while we are here.  Once again, this is a huge problem in ministry.  We also want to put enough time into school to feel that we are really learning and growing.

-Pray that we will find a loving, support, multiplying community in a local church.  We have visited a few and love them all.  Pray for the right choice to be made in where we minister.

-Pray for me a job and that I will trust the Spirit in leading me to a job.

-Most importantly, pray that Laura and I will continue to grow more in love with eachother as well as the Lord each day.


We love you all and praise God for your support! 

In Christ,
Steve (and Laura in spirit)

Lifes Little Lessons: Budgeting

As you can tell from the title of this blog Steve and I are learning how to budget. It sounds like a fairly easy math problem A-B=C (A make some money, B the budgeted amount, C Money left over after.) Unfortunately as most of you know I've never been very good at math (I sweet talked my way into a C in Algebra) when they stick in all of those "unseen variables".

As a result we are taking some advice from Dave Ramsey. Our first step to success was made just two days ago with a trip to the ATM, a few magnets, and a few envelopes. Our plan, pay for everything in cash. I guess you could say it's working so far... but again it's only been two days. We will keep you posted on our success.

If any of you are budgeting masters we would love any advice you want to give us!

Faith and Textbooks

Ok, so our first week of seminary has ended (well about 4 days ago.  Sorry for the late post!).  After a full week of classes, syllabi, and job-hunting, I think our seminary experience will mostly be summed up in two words (as shown in the title of this post):  Faith and Textbooks

Of course the "faith" part is usually implied, but I must admit that I had never thought life at seminary would require so much of this often-used word.  Before, I thought I knew what faith meant, but now I am beginning to grasp the concept in a much deeper way.  For the sake of the reader, I will list out the reasons:

1) I am a newly married man who has no idea what I'm doing (and I figure this out more each day).
2) I am new here.  As stated in the first post, there are many differences between California and Mississippi!
3) Seminary really is graduate-level learning!  Yes, this should have been known, but, let's be honest, most people (including myself before last week) think seminary is merely "Bible school" and picture it like VBS or Sunday School. 

Number 3 brings me to my next word which defines my life: textbooks.  Laura and I have developed a new hobby called "reading".  It is a new concept to both of us, but I think it will grow on us.  And, while we absolutely love learning and growing through the reading of textbooks, we are definitely in over our heads after one week of seminary and probably about 250-300 pages of reading after one week of class.  Thus, we must use our first concept, faith, to even believe we will ever pass classes! 

Laura and I are enjoying marriage, California life, and school more than we can ever imagine, but let us please remember that we can NEVER accomplish anything in these three areas outside the marvelous hand of our King.  For that, I am thankful to know that my strength is inadequate.  I have learned that it is in the most physically and spiritually demanding times that I learn and grow the most.  As I have heard quoted many times, it is in the valley where the fruit grows and not on the mountain top.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  He has brought us here, and he will sustain us here.

In Christ,
Steve

Moving to the Bay

Life as we know it has officially been turned upside down and we are loving every minute of it!

We wanted to make sure to keep you all updated on what God is doing here and in our lives so we decided the best way to do that was start a blog. We will be sure to include everything from the funny and exciting moments to the confusing and thought provoking moments of our lives here. Make sure to check back often and let us know if we are slacking!

We decided to pick a few of our favorite memories from the bay since we've been here...

When we first arrived we did not have Internet at our apartment, so we were forced to go to Starbucks. It was interesting to "people-watch" while we were there. Our company ranged from business men to mom's with wild children and other Internet junkies like ourselves. The most interesting of characters, however, came halfway through our visit. He was dressed much like a hippy wearing cropped pants and an untucked button down shirt with a matching footlong beard and shoulder-length hair. He looked to be about 50 years old and was carrying 2 walmart bags of grocery's with him. His drink of choice was a small cup of water with about 7 sugar packets mixed in. Soon after he sat down another friend of his whom we cannot describe to you joined him. We can not describe him because he was invisible. Yes our hippy friend started talking to himself. It was fascinating to watch. He would talk and then give ample time for his friend to respond. Most of the time it was hard to hear what he was mumbling but a few of our favorite quotes we could make out include "What do you mean the sun isn't hot?!! You can look at it and tell it's not hot!" and "You can't do that!! You'll get sued!" If only we could have heard the other half of that conversation...

(Enter Steve with his comments)

Yes, life here in the Bay is definitely different from anything we have ever known.  We escaped the land of 4x4 trucks and Walmart to find ourselves in the land of hybrid cars and Starbucks. 

My favorite moment must have been our first church experience in San Francisco.  Laura and I had decided that we wanted to check out church in the city, so we drove across the bridge (which actually costs money....since when does it cost $6 to cross a bridge?!?) and parked ourselves in downtown.  After entering the church and passing their coffee bar (so far every church we have visited has one of these) we found a lovely couple from the seminary to introduce us to the church. We talked for a few minutes then the service began.  While the church building is similar to everything we had ever known (complete with hanging lights, choir loft, and those stained-glass windows with pictures of Jesus petting sheep), we quickly noticed that the congregation was different from anything we had ever experienced.  Much like our Starbucks experience, we saw people of various cultures and upbringings.  Attire ranged from your traditional khakis and buttoned shirt to shorts and tee-shirts.  If any of you know me, you know that this excited me!  Laura and I knew that this would be a worship experience like no other.


As we sat down and the choir began to enter the choir loft, I noticed a few things.  First, the choir was small with a grand total of 5 members.  Secondly, the choir matched the multi-cultural make-up of the congregation to the extreme.  Of these five members, there was an elderly lady of Asian descent, two middle-aged ladies of Asian descent, and two males (one African American, and one Hispanic gentleman).  Laura and I were amazed and excited!  As we joined in worship, the passion in the choir and congregation was like no other.

While this story isn't quite a funny story in itself, you must imagine how Laura and I felt as we have spent our entire lives surrounded by middle-classed, Caucasion congregations.  This was definitely a culture clash for Laura and me.  I am not ashamed to admit that, for a moment, we didn't know what to do or think.  And, while it was not really funny, I couldn't help but to laugh.  And, for some reason, through all the weird thoughts and confusion, it just felt right.  Now we know that this church, like all others, has its problems because it involves humans, but we can't help but to think that for all the money and stained-glass glamour that is typical to our "church" life, this experience seemed to be a more biblical view of every tongue, tribe, and nation crying out to the One True God.  Yet it still isn't perfect.  There are literally thousands of ethnicities in San Francisco alone which aren't apart of this worship.  We are excited to be here and serve in a place where the nations are at our doorstep.  Welcome to the Bay!