september update

I have to say, when posts come so infrequently, it can be a challenge to boil a blog post down into just a few points.  There are so many things I'd like to be able to touch on, but this post won't try to hit everything. Read on to hear more about hosting a tech team, the broadening impact of RedProCom, and the recent trip to Michigan.  Prayer items can be found at the end of the post.

animated, back in the capital

Sometimes, when you're learning a new language, words you've been using your whole life begin to take on a new richness.  The obvious translation for the word "animado" in Spanish is "animated" in English.  When we hear the English version, we often think first of animated films.  Then, if we think a bit further, we might imagine an animated person--someone who is lively and energetic.  In

Spanish, we think of something slightly different, someone who is is in good spirits, encouraged, or excited.  More than a personal characteristic, it's an emotional state, and is often used as a verb (animar) to indicate the giving of encouragement.  Yet the two words have a similar root and when you take each of them together, the the meaning is richer and more powerful.  In the same way that cartoons are animated when they are moved into action by an artist, we as people are moved into action and encouraged by something in our lives.  I suppose you could say that God is the ultimate animator.  He's the one that breathes life into us, encourages us, moves us, and makes us alive.  But he's also created us in such a way that because of our individual giftedness we also feel that movement, that excitement, that life when we experience different things in the world around us.

These ideas have been circulating in my head because right now I'm feeling "animado".  And what is it that has been "animating" me?  I think it's the sense of being caught up in a greater story.  God is doing some really neat things here, and has brought a lot of talented people around.  Sometimes I get to thinking that I'm not prepared enough, or smart enough, or dedicated enough to be able to do what he's called me to here.  But despite that, he is using me and encouraging me.  I'm excited to share about it here.  Read on for more details!