And There Was Light

So, as much as I love our new apartment there are a few things about it that I'm not a fan of. One of those things is that there are no overhead lights in any of the rooms except the kitchen, dining room, and bathrooms. Which leaves the two bedrooms and living room with a necessity for light producing objects. We got the bedrooms taken care of with lamps we already owned, but we were unsure about what we wanted to do for the living room. So for the last month and a half the lights from the dinning room and kitchen have been the lights we've had on at night to try and illuminate the living room. Which has left the living room fairly dim.

But thankfully I have a new friend here, Beth Randall, and she has some creative juices flowing through her veins. So over the last few weeks we have been brain storming some lamp ideas and we finally came up with one we liked. We spent a Sunday afternoon with my other new friend, Gracie McGeehon (Beth's sister), and retrieved all of our parts and built our creation.

It began with 6 Dollar Store frames.

We added fabric. 

Attached them to a wooden embroidery hoop. 

And the shade was complete! 

Then we simply used twine and attached it to our awesome looking rope which held the light fixture. 

 And then we hung it up!

Here's our victory picture! 

And here is Eddie mesmerized by the awesomeness of the lamp.

I think this may very well be one of the coolest things I have ever worked on. Thanks Beth and Gracie for your help in bringing some light into our lives!

Safely Home

I just got done reading a book called "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn and I think I would say that it is probably one of the most influential books I have ever read. I know, that's some high praise for a book. But let me explain.

For me, I resonate with books that tell stories, either fiction or non-fiction. Not that I don't like or am not affected by theological or instructive books, I just find myself more convicted and changed by stories. For example, I am more convicted by my lack of faith when I read about Hudson Taylor than I am when I read a book about faith, how to have it, and what it does in my life. When I see faith, grace, love, etc lived out in other people, fictional or not, I am affected more than if I just read books that talk about faith, grace, love, etc. And because of that, I tend to read more biographies and Christian fiction.

"Safely Home" is a fictional story based on some real life events and people. Here is a short synopsis:

Executive Ben Fielding hits upon a perfect plan: he will make his company millions of dollars by using Chinese labor to manufacture its electronic components. To kickstart his plan, he visits China, where he stays with college roommate Li Quan, whom he hasn't seen in over 20 years. From Li, Ben learns that his initial impressions of China from his research and from visits over the years are false, but Ben doesn't believe Li's stories of the persecution of Christians until Li is taken to jail. As Ben rediscovers Jesus through Li's faith, he discovers the truth that God does not promise an easy life on Earth, only eternal happiness after death.

I don't want to give away too much of the story, so I won't give specifics. But I was convicted of a lack of reliance on and love for Jesus Christ, a lack of love for the lost, too much love for the comforts of the world, and not setting my eyes and my heart on eternity and eternal things.

If you enjoy reading a good book and want your faith and your heart stirred and refreshed for Jesus, I recommend reading this book. And if you do read I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Jehovah Jireh

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

The truth that the Lord will provide for me is probably the one truth my heart has the hardest time believing in. When circumstances arise in my life where I think I won't have what I need, my heart goes immediately into panic and manipulation mode. And it's taken me to evil places in the past.

Thankfully, the Lord is gracious and wants me to have a solid faith in his provision and so he keep pushing that tender place in my heart. Here's the most recent example of that.

Last Friday I took our car into Breaks Plus for an check-up and oil change because we got a coupon in the mail for $25. They first came out to tell me that the breaks were almost at a critical point, that they needed to be changed and that it would cost about $500. I called Eddie and he said that he could take care of the breaks and to just have them do the oil change. And so that's what they did. But then as they were ready to pull the car out of the garage and give it back to me, it wouldn't start and "made a clanking noise" according to the mechanic.

Long story short, after being there for 3.5 hours they determine that the timing chain probably broke and that it was going to be about $600 to fix. After calling Eddie (in tears) he told me to leave the car there for the night and that he would deal with it tomorrow. Eddie and several others were quite suspicious that our car just up and broke while at the mechanic and so he wanted to go in and get the story from them directly.

So on Saturday, Eddie and I went back to Breaks Plus and ended up having the most weird conversation with a guy that worked there who is also a youth pastor at a local church. He was clearly very excited about the Lord and even wanted him and his girlfriend to hang out with us sometime. So though we walked suspicious in ready take our car somewhere else, we left in faith trusting that this guy was genuine and really wanted to take care of us like he said he did.

And the Lord is faithful and does provide. It turns out that they weren't trying to pull a fast one over on us. There really was a problem with our timing chain and it's the Lord's good plan that it broke there. If we had been driving the car while it broke, it could have done serious damage to our engine and we might have been in an accident. Our car was fixed by Monday and they even gave us a huge discount. We are very thankful for our new friend Kevin who was a tool for God's provision in our lives. Our car runs great and is even more safe now than it was before.

Thank you, Jesus, for taking care of us. And thank you for refining my faith.