Last night, my dad said something inspiring. He was helping me pick rocks out of our flower garden, and as he went to leave, I thanked him again. And he said, “You’re welcome. I just want to try and be helpful like my dad (my grandpa).” As most people in our church know, my grandpa never passes up an opportunity to help. He’s had a quadruple bypass surgery, and has every right to take it easy, and relax. He’s just not wired that way. God has given him a servant’s heart, and to sit idly by and watch others do the work just doesn’t do it for him. Our pastor is moving in a few days, and I mentioned to his brother that I would probably come and help load up. He said, “Don’t feel like you have to. If you don’t, your grandpa will.”

My dad is always helping me around the house, and it seems he enjoys helping me more than going home and doing his own yardwork sometimes. Even when it’s just picking rocks out of the garden. I want to be like my dad (and my grandpa): helpful.

As many of you might have noticed, I’ve been sick lately. Normally, that’s not blog-worthy, even if it is a rare occassion. However, this morning was the first time I had been to church in three weeks. I was up front playing guitar with the worship team and started to sing along with one of the songs (sometimes I’m concentrating on the guitar too much to sing), and that’s when it struck me. I missed this. Yes, I missed church, and yes, I missed playing guitar for worship, but the thing I missed the most was just singing to God. My throat had been so raw for the last two weeks, that I hadn’t been able to sing (I tried once, and it was a pathetic sound).

Then something else struck me. I wasn’t the only one. God missed it too. The ruler of the universe; the creator of everything; the omnipotent God who controls everything. He missed my worship. God wants, desires, even longs for the worship and adoration of his treasured creation, mankind. And yes, I know, worship is more than just singing and music, but for me, that’s the way I worship God best. When I lose that, I feel like a part of me has died. This morning, though, it was revived, and wow, did that feel amazing. Yes, it even drove me to tears as all these thoughts came rushing at once. I just had to share that with all of you.

It’s amazing to me that God can still show me new things in a story I’ve heard and read a hundred times or more. This morning, Pastor mentioned the host of angels that appeared to shepherds just outside of Bethlehem. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has had this misconception, but I’ve always had this mental picture of fifty or so angels appearing in the night sky. Of course, any shepherd (because shepherds were ‘nobodies’) would be amazed at seeing a group of angels.
Wait a second. The Bible said ‘host’. What is a host? A host is certainly more than fifty. Perhaps a host is several hundred? ‘Host’ is most often used to describe armies in the Bible. It always meant thousands of soldiers. Sometimes it was a hundred thousand or more. Wow! That would amaze more than humble shepherds. That would amaze even the mightiest king with the strongest army in history.
And God sent them to shepherds. Base, lowly, humble, filthy, rugged, worthless shepherds. Who, in their right mind, would send a host of angles to shepherds? Only God. Because he knew they would tell everybody. Because, outcasts that they were, shepherds were dependable. Because shepherds took care of their sheep.

Tomorrow, I embark on a new journey. I’ve been working at an office supply shop doing computer and network service for the last few months. It’s been fun, but there’s just been something missing. My coworkers are great (they’ll probably never read this). I’ll miss Tom, Jeremy, and even April too. Denny…not so much. Actually, I go to church with him, so it would be tough to miss him when I still see him.

My new job will be as Technology Coordinator at DCC, our local community college. I’d give you a link to their website, but I don’t want anyone to see it yet; at least not until after I’ve had a chance to clean it up a bit. I’m pretty excited, as there will be a lot more of what I like to do there, but most importantly, its where I believe God wants me to be right now. I can’t ask for anything more than that (and I won’t).

So, farewell, old job. Hello, new job!

That’s about how my brain feels right now. We’ve been looking for a job for some time now (since May of 2007). After Thanksgiving, we were starting to think perhaps I should finish my Computer Science degree somewhere. The likely suspects were Evangel University and NDSU. Now, there’s another piece of the puzzle thrown out there (I think that God is is just toying with me at this point). At any rate, there’s a job opening in my home town that seems quite promising. I’m applying for it, but it’s almost too good to be true. And you know what they say about things that seem too good to be true. Well, I don’t think ‘they’ (whoever ‘they’ are) are always right, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.
I’ve also been delving back into the area of Bible study software. My favorite has always been Bibleworks, but just recently, I gave gnomesword another try. I’m not sure it’s a replacement for BW, but it sure is pretty good. You can even download some freely available content from biblegateway.com and crosswalk.com into it if you’re clever enough (or find scripts written by someone else who is even more clever). At any rate, it’s a nice interface for browsing, but the greek and hebrew lexicon integration of Bibleworks makes it the ‘king of the hill’. Maybe someday I’ll join the gnome sword team, and help them integrate cool things like that…

This is by no means ‘news’. However, I just saw a special on TV about Dog the Bounty Hunter, and how Mexico is trying to hose him for bringing a serious criminal to justice. There’s a petition to help expedite the proceedings, and ‘Save the Dog‘. I’m number 16029.

March was a month of madness (no pun intended). So much has happened, that I don’t even remember it all. Early in the month, we had Spring Break (during which we were still working in the IT office). I ran lights for a play produced by the Historical Society in Ellendale. We found a house to buy, and are currently in the loan application process. I also preached for youth group a week ago, and for church last Sunday as well. It’s always incredible to see how God can take a good sermon, and make it really impact people’s lives in a way you never expected.

I’m now down to 20 fish. No, they aren’t dying on me. People are finally asking for them, and hopefully they are doing alright in their new homes. On Sunday, we are going to Forman, ND to ‘interview’ at the church there. Last night the youth group t-p’ed our house. It also rained last night, and so we have a soggy mess of toilet paper all over the yard. Oh well, we still feel loved.

I’ll be going through some (around 200) pictures and posting them online, so you can check that out later.

Something we talked about in our youth leader’s meeting last night was devotion. And commitment. Far too often, we settle for less with God. We ought to devote our whole lives to Him. We ought to be committed to God above everything. Nothing else will have eternal impact. Nothing else even brings us fulfillment in life. Last night, I finally started settings aside a specific time for God. It was awesome just to enjoy God’s presence. Why is it so hard for us to devote time to something that is so incredible? It makes my head spin to think of it.

God is amazing. Let me tell you why. Before Christmas, money was tight. We were planning on going home for Christmas, and I knew we didn’t have the money to do it. I said ‘God, you gotta do something.’ By the time we came home, we had received over $300 from different family members.
The other day, I was trying to figure out what to talk about for Sunday School. God gave me a theme, and then our pastor confirmed it with both messages on Sunday.
My wife and I have been trying to figure out if we should stay here for a few years, or if we should find a church elsewhere. For a while we prayed and sought God. He answered us both within minutes of each other. We made the decision, and now all the right doors are opening up.