"Different, not wrong"

After living in the midwest for seven years, I thought I was safe. I lost much of my Long Island accent, started to like Krispee Kreme, sometimes even more than DunkinDoughnuts and I even think that the corn fields in June is a beautiful sight. But I never dreamed that I would one day become a stock car racing fan - it happened. Last week, while on vacation with Amy's family, Biggie and I went to the I-44 Speedway in Lebannon Missouri with Amy's dad and brothers and loved every second of it. I liked it so much that I went back to Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, Illinois, this Sunday night where "The Real Deal Don O'Neal" won $10,000 in prize money.

All of this reinforced a valuable missions lesson. As people who are going to serve cross culturally, we always need to remember that just because something is different (take stock car racing, for example) from what I would consider normal and good, it does not mean that said thing (take stock car racing, for example) is wrong. How eye opening it is, indeed, to find that I have been so prejudiced against such a terrific cultural experience in my own nation!

Altitude

We have been feeling it. Altitude. Me, Amy, Nate, Whitney, and Notorious were at 14,110 Feet Above Sea Level this week at Pike's Peak National Forest in Colorado. As we drove in my very classy 1997 Volvo 850 T-5, we could see several changes. It was about 80 degrees when we started up the mountain and below freezing on the top. The vegetation changed and the snow piled up. But one cannot help noticing hypoxia (altitude sickness) when one is at 14,110 feet above sea level. The major difference for me is the dizziness that accomponies these great heights.

Our world has been changing so much over the last few weeks. Sometimes it feels as if we are experiencing hypoxia.We have left a home, dog and ministry that we loved. At the same time we are learning so much about ourselves, ministry, New Zealand, and others. In the last few weeks we have had hard times and great times.

Some great things recently; We were able to see our dear friends, Matt & Bethany Harris, who we went to college with. They are now the campus ministers at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. We also heard from North Side Christian Church in New Albany, Indianna, where several of our friends serve on staff. They have decided to partner with us in the ministry in New Zealand and we are excited about forming a lasting relationship with them. Thank God for this church and what they are doing in thier community and in the world and please pray that God will continue to form partnerships with the ministry in New Zealand and churches in the US.

We have gotten alot of altitude in the last couple of weeks and we are reminded of Psalm 121, where the song writer asks, "I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." As we look at the mountains that surround this place, we are reminded that God is taking care of us every step of the way.

Colorado

This is our friend, Christopher Wallace, AKA Frank White, AKA Notorious B.I.G. Biggie is pictured here at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, when the Rockies beat the Reds on June 2. Look for Biggie in the future as he travels around the world.

At MTI we have weekends off, so we took the opportunity to visit Denver, Boulder (home of the Celestial Seasonings Tea company, of which we had a tour), and Pueblo. In Pueblo we had a chance to visit a new church plant, called The Oasis Christian Church. The Kirkhams are some new friends who are involved in ministry at this church and we were able to eat lunch with them after service. Allen (LCC alum) and Jill Kirkham serve in the worship ministry and their daughters will both be enrolled at Lincoln next semester.

The experience out here has been great so far. WE have been learning alot about cross-cultural missions, hung out with E. Richard Crabtree, met several missionaries in training and have loved the mountains.

We look forward to sharing more Biggie pics with you soon, and more about MTI. See you soon.

Paradox

We are in paradox. We are excited to be starting something new, but we miss the life that we just said goodbye to. We are learning to trust in God more and more, but it is still difficult to know that we don't have regular jobs. We know that this world is not our home, but right now our '97 Volvo 850 T5 is the closest thing we have to a home.

We are living in paradox. Right now we are at Mission Training International (MTI) near Colorado Springs, Colorado. At MTI, our teachers (Robin Allen, Dr. Steve Sweatman), are giving us a framework in which to live in a life of paradox. As cross-cultural ministers, we are going to be stuck in a life of continual paradox, push and pull, joy and hardship. We are finding that missionary life is a life of transition, and we haven't even gotten on a plane yet.

In this paradox, we are so thankful that the God we serve is in control. He knows all of the pressures that we are living in, he is the author of all the joy that we experience, and he sees what the future holds for us. But above that we know that he has good planned for us, so no matter what happens, we believe that His plan is better than our best ideas, after all, "the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man." And we are thankful for those of you who have been praying for us. Thanks.