Third...and on a roll...

I don't want to wear myself out of topics lest you find another 3 months between blogging a bit dull...however...

On to the book I have been reading in light of our pending mission trip to Amsterdam. If you are reading this, please pray for us July 27th-Aug 3 as we interact with the Kurdish refugees in Amsterdam. We are going through our church...more specifically, the wonderfully passionate young married's pastor, David Upchurch. He is taking a group of just 5 of us to The Netherlands. Michael was keen on the trip because he values David and Chad (half of the other couple who are going) and desires to serve the Lord alongside of them. Chad and Dena were in our old Sunday school class...Cynthia, whom I have only met once, will round out our trip to 6 of us, including David. I am excited to be going on this trip because we will be spending almost all our time working directly alongside the missionaries already in place in Amsterdam. We will be prayer walking and "narrative mapping" the area. (this is a form of interviewing folks on the streets, in the common areas etc... with an eye to determine what makes them tick, why they meet together, where they live, etc...and possibly open doors to share the gospel with them.) This trip seems to be more actual mission work than all of the other trips I have taken in the past. Perhaps God will be setting the stage for future mission work for Michael and I?

OK, back to the book. It is called Just Walk Across the Room, by Bill Hybels, the pastor of WillowCreek in Chicago. The website: http://www.justwalkacrosstheroom.com/. It is not a new concept to me, but it has been very challenging!

I have been thinking about this very thing for a while. I grew up in a family where sharing the gospel with anyone and everyone or at least sharing God's love is second nature. Truly, thank the Lord! However, I was convicted again about my lack of intention in doing this when our Sunday school teacher, Cindy, mentioned her intentional effort to meet, greet, smile, and begin conversation with people in the grocery store, post office, department store or wherever. I was still mulling this over when my mom moved in with us for the summer. She immediately did just that! I wandering after her at many a location heard her greet every checkout person with a smile and a somewhat unexpected comment like "Lovely cross you are wearing. Is there anything special about it?" or "Are you from India? What part? Do you like it here in the United States?" or "You must be tired from standing all day."

Meanwhile back at the ranch, my mom (who stole a copy from Michael) and I began to read the book above after David gave us a copy to read before heading to Amsterdam. The book is under the same premise that merely starting a conversation with a stranger is opening the door to God's love to be passed on to others through a spiritual conversation. Bill discusses how it is the prompting of the Holy Spirit that leads the conversations and that there are times to keep it merely on an unspiritual level, but that God can use even those conversations at a later date as others (or even yourself) might reap and sow the harvest that God prepared long ago.

He challenges that we should so actually believe that others would be better off if they knew the Father that we live like it.

"The key is this: my objective is not to contrive ways to "get someone save"; rather, my objective is to walk when he prompts me to walk, talk when he says to talk, fall silent when I'm at rish of saying too much, and stay put when he leads me to stay put." Discover people's stories.

All this has put a new desire in my heart to seize every opportunity to ask questions to hear other people as they might or might not open up to simple questions. God can do what He wishes through those conversations.

Frankly, I was not sure I was expected much from the book, but it is on my recommended reading lists. I think it is a wonderfully challenging book. One that requires application.

Second...

Aren't I doing well to get two blogs posted in a day?!!!

As I mentioned last blog, things have been busy here...and a bit stressful too. After about a month of searching, praying and bartering, we purchased a car!

Michael and I had come to agree over the last several months on the model of car we would purchase. Michael, ever the hot rod, sportscar enthusiast, was eager to get a luxury car that had all the bells and whistles. I, ever the practical, unknowledgable car person, was eager to purchase an inexpensive but dependable Toyota, having had them in the past and knowing their dependability. We finally agreed on a Toyota Avalon! Michael got his leather seats, luxury car, while I got the dependability of the Toyota without the price tag of a Lexus or someother such.

Now to find one...

We found this more difficult than you might think, especially seeing how popular the Toyotas are. All the newer cars with the right mileage were higher than what we had set out to spend. The older, higher mileage cars might be within our price range, but many had far too many miles for what we wanted, even given Toyota's reputation to last 200,000 miles. When narrowing down our search, I had only one tiny stipulation. I wanted a sunroof. I have always wanted one and decided if we were going to buy a new-to-us car (far from new), I should be able to stipulate that at least. This narrowed the field even further. Despite ploughing through Autotrader, Craigslist, Ebay, Houston Chronicle and local ads, we found only about a dozen within a 100 mile range.

The pursuit is on...

We spent one long Saturday and pursued all the sensible options we had found in Houston. It took us all over Houston beginning quite close to home (in fact, 2 minutes away) to distant Katy. As for the search: too old, a squeaky a/c, bad used car dealerships where I wouldn't buy my cat, possible flood damage, accident on record, previous lease car, and the winner of them all--a car that had a "minor" rear-end collision but in reality had been painted all along the side, had a broken front light, missing rear end pieces and was a hideous shade of gold! With all these seemingly unsuitable cars, we did narrow it down to 1 car. This car was thankfully, the car that was parked 2 minutes from our house.

The offers...

We had the 2000 pearl colored Avalon inspected and discovered some minor issues but ones which added up to about 1K+ of work; it was already over Kelly Blue Book value. We made an offer. While the fellow had been trying to sell the car for 2+ months, he was not willing to budge much if any. We waited to hear his response after he was to take it to a mechanic. Next, we discovered another car-not previously posted...a recent trade-in, also pearl colored. We examined it once in the dark; the second time in the light and decided to make an offer. The car was very low mileage, but had a few cosmetic issues and was above our agreed on limit. We bargained for half an hour and could not come to an agreement with the sales manager.

THE CAR...

Michael had meanwhile been following cars on Ebay. I regularly nixed cars because I was not desirous of buying a car sight-unseen, and it would have to be a special car to be willing to travel and look at it. Michael agreed. This time though, Michael found a car at a Houston Lexus dealership. It was the right age, the right mileage, and the right price (oh, and the sunroof! :) ). We decided to check it out. It was, you guessed it, the pearl color...must be an affinity for the color (well, maybe not...it is, however, a pleasing color) The car was listed on the lot for 5K more than the Ebay buy-it-now. Michael and I had researched; it was below the KBB value and had been through the lecus inspection; Michael even looked at it under the lift. It had been a trade-in by an older gentleman for a brand-new Lexus. What an ideal position! and Michael and I were not only in complete agreement on the price we were willing to offer (that had been issues in the past), but the salesman came down another $800 from his asking price! We were thanking God for his provision as we drove the car home from what was to be merely another informative car shopping experience.

I am very thankful for the car, and even more so that God brought unanimity (our prayer) and peace to the decision so that both Michael and I were pleased to purchase this car.

Anyone want to buy a Hyundai?

OK FIRST...

If any of you are still checking this, Congratulations! Your patience and persistence has been awarded with another glimpse into the very busy life of M&M!

Since last I wrote, I have finished school...bittersweet. For all my desire to be done and never come back, cffff(thanks to my cat), I felt a few moments of sorrow that these lives that I invested in I would not see come to fulfillment.

I gave each of them, as a parting gift, a white stone (really a river rock spray painted white which could serve as a paper weight later) with a new name written on it (see Rev. 2:17)--One side contained their name, but the other the meaning of their name and the potential they could live up to since according to Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I consecrated you" There names were not accidents! I reminded them that "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches; and loving favor rather than silver or gold." (Proverbs 22:1) It was touching to see several of the kids walk around proudly showing their name/meaning to others and bragging about their potential. What a wonderful experience! I know leaving that school that 90% of the kids are not Christians and so what a fertile ground to share the Good News. I prayed to be able to do that everyday and may never know the results. I was just the seed sower, not the reaper, but...just as importantly used.

Many had severe emotional issues, many were challenging middle schoolers, but as I know Jesus loves and died on each of their behalfs, so I came to love each one in a unique way. So, I say that while I am so busy I have not noticed that I am in school no longer, and very thankful for oh so many reasons that I do not have to go back next year, it was a bit bittersweet at the end.

7th Grade Bunch

8th Grade Bunch (plus my four advanced 7th graders)

(Oh, and my mentor, boss, friend and strong campaigner who took all the brunt for me this past year is the fellow with the grinning face and blue shirt in each picture, Coach Len Shelby.)