Good times, Good friends

We've had an eventful weekend with Daniel and Shannon Parris coming to visit, as well as my good man Caleb Brown proposing to Ashley Sears.



Daniel and I went to highschool together and were in each others' weddings. He went to college at Stanford and is the source of me finding and moving to Bend. They now live in the S.F. Bay area and he is finding success with his chemical engineering degree as Shannon will begin teaching this fall. They are also very involved with their local church and seem to love it.


Caleb was supposed to be in our wedding (flight issues). He's a good guy who is always biting off more than he can chew (in a good way). As is obvious from the picture, his choice in a wife is no exception. Fortunately, Caleb hears from and is blessed by God, which made chasing Ashley not only the desire of his heart, but an act of obedience to God's will. Way to go dude! Welcome to the "We're not worthy" club.

Our new little nephew

Here's the new addition to the Jeremy & Tricia Collins family. Zion Michael Collins, 7 lb. 14 oz.

I hear they are doing great and the delivery was nice and speedy....we'll be praying for fast recovery as well. You can visit their blog for more details and pictures at-

www.thezionfile.blogspot.com

book review for Dawn and friends

(Found in comment section

warning-it's a little lengthy)

Ahh, conviction

So I am almost finished reading "Blue Like Jazz"- an overly popular book that is filled with bad theology, but painted so well with skilled writing and a few splashes of one-liner truths that the masses of the church have it on their list of favorites.

Amidst the disappointment, I was intrigued by one of those few splashes which reads, "If I live what I believe, then I don't believe very many noble things. My life testifies that the first thing I believe is that I am the most important person in the world. My life testifies to this because I care more about my food and shelter and happiness than about anybody else." (p.111)

It only encourages the recent question I've been throwing at myself-"Does every material possession I choose to consume that is not necessary for survival reveal my inadequacies of selfless love? I mean honestly, when I buy the $2 coffee or the $200 jacket or...whatever, aren't I saying somewhere deeper than I choose to look that I'm more concerned with self pleasure than I am the child whose life I could literally flip right side up with that money. No "yeah, but's", my actions, fair or unfair, truly are speaking those words."

I know that's an annoying question. But it's the hard truth to the trendy wwjd bracelet. Maybe that's why the fad died- people started figuring out the answer and threw the thing away.

Thankfully, amidst my week of pondering, I am confronted with this scripture this morning at the end of Jonah (J.D.C. translation)-
"But the Lord said, "Have you more concern for a stupid material possession that could be gone tomorrow than the 120,000 lost souls of your city?"

Christianity was so much easier when I wasn't listening...

San Diego explained

I promise this is as short as I could make it:

Sandy and I began feeling that our season in Bend was coming to a close back in May. With no indoor track facilities, we agreed that I could not afford another winter of training without pole vault, high jump, javelin, discus, etc. After praying about various indoor track facility options throughout the country for over a month, we were becoming confused (skipping details). We felt God was saying that our time in Bend was ending, but He was also saying no to every option we were coming up with.

Then, in mid june, I had a dream that I believe to be God inspired. In it I was completely dissatisfied with the indoor track Sandy and I had chosen for the winter's training. My coach, in the dream, presented the thought that we should go look at the facility outside, saying we would be pleasantly surprised. I argued the fact that I needed INDOOR facilities for the winter and he pointed out that "it doesn't get cold here." Enlightened, I went out and saw Point Loma's track: end of dream (skipping details). I had completely forgotten that their track was my dream track when shopping for colleges in high school.

Up to this point, our lack of faith had kept us from allowing southern california to be an option, financially speaking. So Sandy and I discussed the dream and had our antennas perked (skipping details). I prayed that if this was God, I needed p.l.u.'s coach to be open to me training there and I wanted God to cross my path with someone from southern cal each day for the next five days. Five days later, we not only had the open invitation from their coach, but I had my fifth random encounter with a southern cal person. (I never know if those weird prayers are answered because I prayed them, or if God birthed the thought to pray it because He knew the following five days worth of encounters. hmm.) Anyway, this man happened to be on vacation and went to the wrong track at the wrong time, as did I. We met and small talked until I said something about the Gospel being the ultimate purpose of my athletic endeavors. He happened to be a christian with decades of ministerial experience. He tossed out an email to over twenty of his friends in s. cal. asking for help from anybody in regards to Sandy and I's desires.

One week after the dream Sandy and I were given an offer by a single woman, whose son is away at college, to live in her house for free as long as we need. She is in central S.D. and only 15 min. from the track. After more prayer and reading the Word, Sandy and I were 100% on board with what God is doing and believe that we are to move down there on Aug. 8th (skipping details).

Job, you ask? Let's just say He's a clever God who knows how to force faith out of reserves you don't think you have.

so there ya have it... kinda...

calibound

Well, after 14 months of life in Bend, Oregon (5 months single, 9 married) the packing begins for California. Sandy and I will be heading to San Diego in a few weeks. More to come on that later, but for now I'll leave you with this:
http://www.ptloma.edu/athletics/AthFacility.htm

Initiation

all right, we're in