Find the Rock Animal

Remember when you were a kid, and you would look at the clouds and see different pictures? This is kind of like that game, but with rocks. Yeah. Do you see what I see?




Leave a comment with your best guesses!

Encountering the Creator: A Desert Experience

We're back! (Did you even know we were away?) That's right, the hubbo and I just returned from a week-long Utah camping trip, where we celebrated eight wonderful years of marriage (my how the time flies)! We had a great time, packing as many hikes into one week as humanly possible.

First stop: Arches National Park

Far, far away, in the midst of an enormous desert, a collection of rock formations unexpectedly burst forth from the ground. Jagged rock fins create above-ground canyons. Eroded sandstone develops into beautifully shaped arches. Red rock glows against the sapphire blue sky. Waves of sand reflect different hues of green, brown, orange, violet. Though not traditionally beautiful, the landscape is spectacular.


In the midst of such wonder, one cannot help but stop to admire the work of the creator and acknowledge that

"The Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land." (Psalm 95:3-5)

As I marvel at His creation, I pray through this Psalm and thank Him for bringing me to this spectacular place, to see His creativity and majesty on full display. My heart feels full, and I cannot help but to spontaneously worship.

The next part of the Psalm declares

"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our God our Maker; for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care." (Ps. 95:6-7)

Wow... if I could only wrap my mind around this. I am so amazed by something as simple as a rock, yet the crown of God's creation are His children. People. You. Me. Why do I wonder at the majesty of a mountain, yet take for granted the complexity and character of a human being, made in God's very image?


I believe that God created natural wonders to show us something. About Himself; about us. That He delights in beauty; that He wants us to delight in Him. If God cares enough to give us an amazing Earth to explore, how much more does He care about our lives, our passions, hurts, and dreams?

The glory of His creation is no accident; but a whisper, a testimony to His eternal power and divine nature, a beckoning to each of His children...

Bible Trivia

Just for fun, let's see if anybody knows...

Who said to God,

"You have curdled me like cheese..."

Leave a comment with your best guess.

Join us TONIGHT!!!!

Hi guys! Our friend Jeremy Wilson is playing in concert at 7:30 this evening, along with other local Christian artists! We'll definitely be there to support Jeremy and enjoy the incredible music! The concert will be at JCM Warehouse in Pleasant Hill. If you'd like to join us, message me and I'll get you directions.

Hope to see you there!

You can check out Jeremy's music by clicking here.

Captivating, Part Two

I am happy to report that the first meeting of the new Captivating study went extremely well! Though we are definitely in the 'getting to know each other' stage, we had a good time relating our stories to one another without the typical awkwardness of new relationships (especially for me, as I've always clicked more with 'the guys' than other chicks).

The group consists of myself and three other women, all within a year of each other in age. I am the only married one in the group, but I didn't feel as if that would keep us from relating to one another. We didn't get very far through our chapter, but that's ok. We'll tackle section 2 next week. Our biggest goals of the study are primarily to develop friendships, and secondly to explore what it means to be a woman, a Christian woman.

The invitation to this group has been a perfectly timed answer to prayer, as up to this point, most of the people I've gotten to know at Fair Oaks have been teenagers and their parents. Awesome people, all of them, but I've definitely had that sense that something was missing. I'll continue to pray that God will bless these relationships, and that they will grow into the deep friendships I am hungering for.

I'll close with a quote from our study that I found particularly beautiful:

"Then the time came when the risk it took
To remain tight in a bud was more painful
Than the risk it took to blossom"

-Anais Nin

Captivating, Part One

I'm just headed out for my first meeting with a young women's fellowship group. We're going to be going through the book "Captivating" by Staci Eldredge. I'm excited about the potential for new friendships with Christian women my age, yet a little apprehensive about the depth and quantity of self-reflection involved in the book. There's always a risk when discussing your most inner feelings with people you've only met once or twice. Hopefully, this risk will be worth it. I'll let you know how it goes...

Are You a Disciple?

This is the question that we have been studying with our Sunday night HS small group, over the past month or so. But, before one can began to answer that question, we must first ask, what is a disciple?

We came up with a list of attributes that might describe a disciple:

-loving, selfless, others-centered, caring, serving, bold, willing, consistent, focused on Christ.

We recognized that the life of a disciple may be:

-rewarding, costly, an ongoing process, dangerous, uncomfortable, humbling, exciting.

The relationship between a disciple and God could be described as:

-master/servant, trust, dying to self, pursuing God, obedience, rabbi/student, imitation.

But (and this was my favorite part) can a person be a disciple and not have attained these attributes? What is the basic requirement for disciple-dom? After much discussion, this is what we came up with:

"A person who has chosen to pursue Jesus, to submit to His will, and to develop a Christlike character."

That's pretty good. And challenging.

I realized that though I grew up in a Christian home as a "good kid" who believed in God and liked going to church, I don't think I was truly a disciple until about the age of 22 or 23. It took me that long to realize that I held responsibility for my own growth in the faith. I couldn't rely on a pastor to feed me - I had to pursue Jesus myself. I chose to submit to God's will as a standard response - not on a case by case basis (what freedom this choice brings!).

A large reason for this turning point in my life was the fact that I began to disciple others - and I realized that I wasn't living out myself what was expected of the youth being discipled. I could have given up, but I decided to rise to the challenge, and that's when my faith truly became my own, a living, growing, exciting, vibrant faith.

It's kind of sad to me that in our culture, we have these different 'levels'. So many people believe they are Christians simply because they believe in God. The really 'good' people go to church every Sunday, right? But to pursue a relationship with Jesus, a Christlike character, to submit to His authority, that's Jesus Freak territory reserved for those unfortunate souls called into ministry and missions! Yikes!

The thing is, I don't think God ever intended it to be that way. He wants a relationship with us. I don't think He expects us to be perfect. But He does want us to pursue Him... an adventurous pursuit that will lead us to a life we never believed possible!

So I'll ask you again... are you a disciple?

Evangelism 101

I just received this update from one of my former world race teammates, Stefan from South Africa. He is currently leading a team around the world in a program called Global Challenge, and he sent out this story about an amazing experience on one of his last days in China. I never cease to be amazed by the power of the gospel!

Dear Friends

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of God.

A few days ago myself and ten others found ourselves waiting for a bus on a busy side walk in the heart of Beijing.

Sitting next to our bags on the pavement we started to sing Worship songs to the glory of Christ. After a few minutes we drew quite a crowd and Jones took out their team’s old aluminium cooking pot and placed it on the pavement! We were blessed with 395 Yuan (55US$) in total for almost an hour of Praise and Worship...

This was the third last day of our month in China and all of us were kind of thinking the best has already happened...

I was singing along with the group when a young Chinese man approached me and he sat down next to me on the cold concrete side walk. We immediately introduced ourselves and then talked a few words... After a few minutes of silence I thought the conversation was over and I continued singing. Yu was just sitting in silence next to me. Then out of the blue I ask him: Do you believe that there is a Living God? Yu replied that he has a knowing inside of him that there must be a God, but that he has never truly believed in any faith. On the question what he knew about Christianity he just answered: “nothing...”

Hearing Jones and Ivan praying for us in the background I shared with Yu the gospel as simple as I knew it. "Yu, Jesus Christ is the Son of the Almighty God, who was willing to die for your sins and defeated death, so that whoever believed in Him will have eternal life and will never perish..."

Yu looked at me with eyes widely opened... As I was sharing this I saw how he grew all the more excited. Talking for another 2 or 3 minutes Yu shared on how surprised he was that he met us and that he only came to buy a book, but that he believes God has an appointment with him... In myself I felt an urgency for Yu to be saved and so I asked Him if he believed what I just told him. His reply: “Yes, I believe everything you said, teach me what to pray...”

My heart leaped and there on the cold and dusty pavement, with police watching us from across the street, Yu prayed out loud and received Christ as his saviour!!

For me this was the highlight of my Christian walk! Never have I before seen a person going from: Knowing nothing - hearing and understanding the fullness of the Gospel to acceptance and faith… within a few minutes! I want to give glory and honour to the living and true Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ!!

The simplicity of the gospel is the power of it and through faith in Christ comes the power of God for those who are saved!!

Please pray with me for Yu as he is taking his first steps in a life surrendered to God! May He be blessed by your prayers!!

Glory to God!!

Stefan