Playing with my camera and loving Jesus

I made Ethan take this one of me earlier in the day

then I switched to an up-do for the beach (my friend Malissa snapped this one)

And my eyes are green, not brown (like I always thought they were.)

Can you tell I'm happy to have a camera again? Well, I am.

And I got a $50 iTunes gift card for speaking last week. *yay!
So I bought Dara Maclean's whole album. and I'm listening to it now. And it makes me happy.


A fellow named Chad has been speaking to all the DTS's this week (Topic: evangelism). And it has been AH-mazing. He is sharing crazy stories about traveling to Indonesia (because God told him to go once) and traveling to over 40 islands while there because God introduced him to a minister who had several ministry schools there.

While traveling to one island for ministry meetings, the boat sprang a leak and the crew panicked because only 3 out of the 12 crew knew how to swim. They found enough floatables to keep everyone up, but one of the men began crying because they were in shark infested waters. (yikes!) They tread water for 8 hours until another boat came along and offered to give them a ride if they would pay a hefty sum. They did pay, but then the man took them to the wrong island!! Chad was upset until a village elder approached him with tears in his eyes. "We have been waiting 40 years for someone to come and tell us what is in this book. Do you know what it says?"

Forty years before, a Bible had washed onto their shores and they had kept it, hoping someone would come and tell them what it said.


Chad and his translator began in Genesis 1 and taught for 2 1/2 hours until weariness overtook them and they asked to rest. He slept a couple hours, then the villagers woke him and asked him to share more. They fed him and then he spoke for another 2 1/2 hours before going to sleep again. Again, he was awakened by the villagers and asked to continue speaking. He did so, but was unable to fall asleep afterward. So after tossing around a bit, he stepped out of his tent to discover the entire island of 250 people were sitting outside, waiting for him to share again. He then roused his translator, "Come look at these people. I can't sleep when they are so hungry."

He then continued to share until he reached the story of the crucifixion. When the villagers heard of Jesus' death, they went crazy with grief. One man began ripping his hut apart and yelling, "How could they do this to Jesus?!" and others screamed "How can we live in a world where people would kill someone like Jesus?! Noooooo!" He nearly had to shake them to stop the chaos - "That's not the end of the story! That wasn't the end!"

And oh how my heart was gripped to hear how the Gospel was received by a people whose ears had never heard the story. I wept at the beauty of Word bowing to dress in flesh, and I wept that I have lost the wonder of the Story. I grew up in the Bible belt of America, and sometimes I think Sundays serve as inoculations to awe. Why has it become so humdrum, so dull? Maybe the Word it is sharp as it has ever been, and my ears have become dull. Change my heart God!