Hello everyone, I just got my mom's page up so it's functional now.  If you would like to give her a hello I'd appreciate it.  Here's the link to her page Mom's Space.

I am a fan of some good hard edged music.  Demon Hunter has been a band that caught my attention the minute I first listened to them.  Recently I bought their latest album "Storm the Gates of Hell".  I've always enjoyed how they can go from very intense music to a really sensitive and powerful ballad.  I ran across this video of one such ballad and really enjoyed it.  Please feel free to check it out if you get the chance: carry me down.  If you've got any trouble just right click and select open link.  Let me know what you think.

Well, this is about as close as I can cut an Easter greetings to everybody but here it is none the less.  I don't think at this point it's a surprise to anyone that I'm a firm believer in Jesus Christ and the full Gospel.  I am completely convinced that He came to this earth, died and was raised again from the dead.  I believe that all that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  I believe utterly in the power of Christ's righteousness which makes ours in comparison look like filthy rags.  We can never be good enough to earn our way into heaven.  I believe that as God looks at us as Christians that believe in Jesus Christ He sees not our failings but Christ's complete victory and as such we are His children.  I don't know exactly when Jesus was crucified...wether it really was a Friday and then He was risen on Sunday but I do believe that he really did do all that has been written of him in the bible.  I think it's wonderful to celebrate on this day and to remember what He's done for us.  Unlike some who don't believe that we should have Easter eggs etc.  I do let my kids do this....it may be something offensive to some but for us it's nothing more than a pretty color on what will soon be egg salad.  We explain very carefully what Easter is really about and they know well that it's not the Easter bunny who died for us.  Tomorrow we will try to have our egg hunt not for some religious or sacrilegious statement but simply for:  fun.  Hopefully it won't snow through this.  We've been pretty busy trying to get some spring cleaning done at the church today as well and I've even managed to squeeze in some pictures of what it looks like around town here.  I love sky pictures and nature shots so I've got some of those that I'm adding to SkyDrive.  I will likely add some more tomorrow but I wanted to have something on there today before we actually go into Easter and I'm too busy to do anything.  I know this might sound weird but my least favorite times to teach in our church are holidays like this one.  I hate having an expected sermon with the expected verses.  It's like people know it all so well that they don't hear it anymore.  I always like to find ways to keep the age old stories alive to me.  The bible is accurately described as the Living Word of God.  The beauty of this can only be found by not letting religion always dictate to you what it means.  One of the teachers at the bible school that I graduated from used to say that if you think you've heard it too much you haven't heard it enough...I tend to agree!  Reading the bible while allowing God to speak to you in a whole new way fills the word with such life!  I never get tired of reading it!  This Easter I pray that all of us find the Lord in a new and fresh measure.  I pray that we find our first love with Christ in a brilliant and fresh way.  God bless you all.  I hope you get a kick out of the pictures.  I am downloading them even as I type this..... 

Last night we received the call that we've been dreading for some time.  Sometimes it's worse to know something is coming that to just get hit by surprise.  Our family friend Steve called from the airport where he was getting ready to fly over to Kuwait where he'll be for a month to acclimatize and get some final training from the unit they are replacing.  Once they complete their time in Kuwait they begin their tour in Iraq.  This is Steve's second tour in Iraq.  He was with the first Stryker brigades that went to Iraq last time.  This time he's with a National Guard unit.  I have to admit this is being harder on me than it was last time somehow.  I just pray for Steve and his unit and I pray for his family that they would all be strengthened and be able to stand during this time.  It looks like he could easily be there 400 days if nothing else comes up but with the elections who can say what will really happen?  I'm grateful that beyond it all our men and women who serve are in the hands of God and I say God bless them all!  They've been showing "Reverend" Jeremiah Wright's statements lately and the one that hit me the hardest was where he was shouting:  "God d*mn America" from the pulpit.  All of this in the face of Steve leaving just about more than I can take.  I just do not believe God is going to curse America nor do I believe it will ever be a minister's place to declare a curse on any nation or people.  I also truly believe that racism is racism no matter what your color.  I also am a minister and I declare: God Bless America and God bless our troops!  One of the things that sticks out to me from Washington (I know I keep mentioning it) was something written at the front of the Korean War Memorial:  Our Nation Honors Her Sons and Daughters Who Answered the Call to Defend a Country They Never Knew and a People They Never Met .  Our troops weren't just heroes in wars past, they're heroes right now and God absolutely is blessing them and our country!

Sounds like kind of a tongue twister doesn't it?  This is a phrase in The Philippines from the Visayan dialect that means simply:  The Spice of Life.  I used this phrase when I was courting my wife and since then have given the phrase a lot of thought.  I suppose that most know that we returned from a trip to Washington DC and North Carolina.  I found this trip really ministered to me personally on many levels.  Just seeing the capital building on TV seems different to me now having actually been inside that building.  Our senator sent us a flag that they flew in our honor over the capital during our visit.  It's a beautiful and huge flag of the United States of America.  It touched us all to receive such a gift.  During the course of this trip I thought a lot about diversity.  Differences to don't have to make things impossible in fact it can bring out the best of things and truly end up being the spice that makes life worth living.  Lovely and I are very different yet she completes me on so many levels.  I deeply respect her view of things and take that into account whenever I make decisions.  I saw this on a national level while in Washington.  It always struck me how for the most part all of our great national treasures are there on display for everyone to see.  Many things are touchable.  I loved being able to touch the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.  Being able to get within inches of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.  It's an incredible feeling but not everyone that was there viewing these treasures reacts the same way.  The Constitution filled me with a feeling that I can hardly describe.  I felt weak at the knees and filled with electricity.  I felt strong and weak at the same time.  Honored and small all at once.  All they asked was that we refrain from using flash because this damages these precious documents.  There were many that ignored this one obligation.  Many that treated those things as mere novelties.  There were foreigners that were really quite rude.  I know that if I had done many of these things in the countries which I've visited before I'd have been arrested at best and beaten publicly at worst.  This really bothered me at first.  I remember going into the Lincoln Memorial and being stunned at the awesomeness of that sight.  I felt unworthy to have a picture of myself taken at this great place.  Inside I felt God really speak to me that it's people like you and me that this great monument was made for...we are all worthy as Americans to walk in these tremendous freedoms.  Outside there was an anti-war demonstration forming...in this very area where the Vietnam War Memorial is, the Korean War Memorial and the WWII War Memorial is.  I realized something in this moment:  though I do not always agree with my fellow American, my fellow human beings...heck even my own family sometimes it doesn't change the great principles for which these men stood and died for.  The beauty of these things rivaled any I've seen anywhere bar none in the entire world yet unlike many other treasures I've viewed these things were open to the public in a manner which at first glance would seem fool hardy until you think about it.  All the sacrifices made by the great people of this country were for you and me...it's a precious, precious gift.  It is vital that we don't hoard these treasured freedoms but rather have faith in them.  It's something that can't be shaken by one more politician or one more mistake by a citizen that abuses these right.  It's not something that can be shattered by mistakes of the past, present or future.  Much like our economy which is based on the trust of the people for our currency our great freedoms require or dedicated faith to succeed.  The bible says faith without works is dead meaning it isn't just sitting around saying I believe while not doing anything.  I know that we need to vote, have respect for our fellow Americans etc. etc. but some times we need to remember the basis upon which our freedoms rest.  Washington brought this to my family in a most powerful way.  My wife and I openly wept at the war memorials.  Seeing the great sacrifice America has made.  Asia itself has had a high price paid for it by this country and my wife's Asian heritage made this sacrifice all the more precious.  She's one of the ones for whom American lives has been spent and she wept seeing these memorials.  I wept seeing this realization dawn on her...I wept seeing the beautiful truths honored as they were...I wept as a grateful American.  I don't have all the answers for our countries problems...I don't even have all the answers for my own problems as a human being but I chose faith over doubt for all these things.  Faith requires a belief in something you can't see.  The definition of faith is the evidence of things hoped for the substance of things not seen.  How else can I describe what I feel about this country and for you who read this?  Maybe you're not an American as you read this but none the less these principles are the basis for that which makes us better people.  I have new found faith in this country and for humanity wether they agree with me or not and for whatever it's worth dear reader, I have faith in you!

There's so much to tell of this trip that I will not be able to do it justice with the space I have here to blog.  Some things I will likely type a note about later but I find it important to get something down now while it's as fresh as it is.  First and foremost I'd like to extend a huge note of thanks to those that have prayed for my family and I and for those that went with us on this trip.  I can't think of any prayer that went unanswered nor can I think of one thing that I could have asked for that we didn't get to see and do and far beyond.  God has blessed and then blessed again and again.  I would like to express my deep and enduring thanks to Eagle Ministries without which we would never have gone on such a wonderful trip and met such fantastic people and seen such marvelous things!  I also want to extend my thanks to Anne and Bill Logan without whom this trip could not have happened.  My God richly bless you all for what you've done for us!  We left this city not knowing what to expect really.  We've all dreamed of visiting Washington DC but it's one thing to dream it and often another to see it all.  We hit the ground running from day one and didn't stop for nine days.  We're exhausted but blessed.  How can I describe the feeling of visiting this place with my wife who is now a United States citizen?  How can I describe the wonder in the eyes of my children as they see with their own eyes what we've studied together in American History?  What can I say about the joy I feel when even the secret service in the White House can't help but smile at my little girl?  We had favor and we had pretty much perfect weather.  It's a powerful experience to see the Smithsonian Institute and to view the Holocaust Memorial.  It brings you to your knees to see the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with your own eyes let me tell you.  I've seen many countries and their different monuments and things but you know what touched me as much as anything was the fact that these monuments are touchable and available to all.  There were a few exceptions though such as the White House and the Capital which took the help of our senator to get to...thanks to Senator Baucus and his staff for that.  His interns did a great job of showing us around.  The White House is a place where you can bring pretty much only the clothing on your back and pictures are forbidden.  It felt like and honor beyond words to see these things and realize what it means to us as Americans.  Other countries would never allow such things to be so available to the common man.  There were foreigners and citizens alike in these places and that seemed just as it should be.  Our meetings in North Carolina left me so honored to be a part of our ministry.  Every one did just as they should and I believe that we brought honor to God.  I salute my children who remain the youngest ministers I've ever been blessed to serve with.  They behaved wonderfully and this includes Gabby...now that is a real answer to prayer...she's two after all!  I intend to have pictures up as soon as I can.  I close this with thanks to the One who is never last nor least:  God.  Thanks be to God from whom all blessings flow.  Who is never stingy with His goodness nor does He ever look down on any of us or consider us anything less than His beloved children.  To Him I offer all thanks!