My Adventure

I am leaving this Friday for three trips is one. I fly out to Denver (first class I might add - its a long story, but please save your "what are they paying you at DBBC" comments) to go backpacking with my Pops in the high country for five days. I can't wait. We are going to be camping at a couple of alpine lakes at the border of the timber line and at the feet of the continental divide. It is looking like the backpacking trip will be more like a snow-shoeing trip, so that should be interesting. If you see my dad don't tell him about the snow-shoeing part. That is a surprise. He is going to be SO excited.

Once I get out of the backcountry, I hook up with Bill(some) for a short baseball roadie: Cinc @ Denver; St. Louis @ Houston; NYY @ Texas. Surprisingly, it is over 1100 miles from Denver to Houston, which we will have 21 hours to do it in (which of course includes sleeping and eating). Pray that we can stay awake for the baseball game. It is not much fun when you drive for 20 hours straight for a ballgame, just to fall asleep in the 4th.

Then I drop Bill off at the Dallas and head up to Ada, OK to meet up with Legs, and the kids who will be at Lanny's house (Leg's dad). We will spend a couple days there (while will I take a very thorough shower and get some sleep). I imagine we will see all the sight of OK - which of course will take 10 minutes. The best part of this trip is that Lanny is having an elderly Indian lady make Allegra some time of tribal gown for her to wear to a Pow Pow. I can't wait! Be sure to check back for pictures. Then back home on Monday May 8th.

Not bad for 11 days. Should be great. Pray that I don't miss the kids too much (I am already kind of sad about leaving them). Pray for Legs while I am away, especially for her flight with Ana and Josiah out to OK. Pray that I don't get buried in an Avalanche or get in a fight with a big horn sheep. Pray that my Marathoning 62 year old Father does not hike circles around me. Pray that this would be a time of wonder fellowship with my family, friend and my God.

April's Newsletter

I know that most of you probably are more interested in what is going on in our lives than in my devotional thoughts; nevertheless, I though I would post my monthly letters to my congergation.

April 1, 2006

To the saints in Christ Jesus at Drakes Branch Baptist Church,

You are a cause of great joy in my life, and I therefore thank our God for you. I still stand amazed that you have invited me to come and be your pastor and teacher, for I have so much to learn from you. Thank you for being used by God to bring me and my family here. Thank you for your loving patience as you overlook my manifold shortcomings. Thank you for “being eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace,” as you evaluate God’s church not by what best ministers to “you,” but by what ministers to “us” and glorifies God.

I have very much enjoyed our time in the closing events of the Gospel of John. My awareness of the majesty of God displayed in Christ is abounding as we labor through these texts. I trust that God will continue to serve our faith and satisfy our souls’ hunger as we study the climax of history and the cornerstone of our faith: the death and resurrection of our Lord. We will approach many of these great truths during our Maundy Thursday service (4/13, 7:00PM), our Good Friday service (4/14, 7:00PM) and our Easter Sunday service (4/16). I hope and trust that these three services will be a highlight of our year and a foundation upon which God will continue to build us up “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

As I have been meditating and studying these Scriptures I have come to realize that we can look at the death of our Lord from many different perspectives. First, we can see his death as natural. This was the real death of a real man. His body was broken and his blood was shed. Second, we can see his death as unnatural; for “the wages of sin is death,” and yet he “knew no sin.” Death had no claim on him, and so it is quite unnatural for the Holy One of God to die. Third, we can see his death is preternatural. That is to say it was marked out before time, for he is the “lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.” Prior to creation, God predetermined the death of his beloved Son that he might proclaim his glory as “the just and the justifier.” Last, we can see his death as supernatural. As his birth was unlike any other and as his life was unlike any other, so his death was unlike any other death ever died. He would, at the end of his redeeming work when the propitiation was paid, voluntarily “bow his head” and deliberately “commit [his] Spirit” to the hands of his Father. No one took his life from him, but “he laid it down on [his] own accord.” Such a death so shook the foundations of creation that the temple veil was torn asunder, the earth quaked and the graves were opened: all bearing their witness that “truly this was the Son of God.” As the puritan John Owen would write, death has died in the death of Christ! Oh, that God would continue to stir our affection and adoration of his most Blessed Son!

Pray for me that I may pastor you with grace and wisdom. And may God grant to us that we may we treasure Jesus together, that we may we search his Word together, and that we may we care for one another and our community together.

Your Brother in Christ,

Steven

All I need is a single wide.

No, I have not become a Jeff Foxworthy fan. Yes, that antenna is how I access my high speed internet. Yes, the post that the antenna is affixed to is my handiwork. Yes, your whole body tingles when you touch the antenna. And yes that is a wireless router hanging out my window. It turns out getting internet service in Charlotte county IS NOT as simple as calling your phone or cable company. I guess a county w/ no stop lights and eight total restaurants is not up on the latest internet technology.

What we do have is a local company that has hooked up an antenna on our town water tower. If you are within four miles of that tower and have a line of site you can get a receiving antenna for your internet service. The problem was that they did not have any antennas available for a while by which to access their service. The couple times I stopped by their shop both tech's were passed out on their desks (Note to self: Do not stop by at the internet provider after 4:15).

So I say all this to let you know why I have note posted for 3 months. I hope to have weekly updates now that I am up and running (I have the only internet hot spot in Drakes Branch!). Everything is going wonderful. We love it up here, but miss many of you. Pray that God would be glorified through us and our ministry.

Your brother in Christ.

steven