Christmas With The Triplets

Everyone should experience the holidays with two year old triplets. It's one I will never forget. My brother, David, and his wife, Dana, came to visit us from Florida with their 5 yr. old, Daelyn and their 2 yr. old triplets, Cameron, Carson, and Rachael. Christmas was rather quiet in comparison until the family showed up in their 30 ft. RV the day after Christmas. The next four days their never-ending instructions filling the air like: "stop that", "leave your sister alone", "come 'ere, come 'ere...", "don't grab the kitty", "get down from there", "give her that toy back", and "who's that smell coming from?" Our days were filled with trips to the National Zoo, Lincoln Memorial, and National Christmas Tree in Washington D.C., and Fun Land in Fredericksburg. At night when the kids finally went to bed we were all too tired to do much else but go to bed ourselves. But what fun it was and I'm so glad they came!

When I think about my little nieces and nephews I am reminded how much I sometimes act like a 2 years old in my walk with Christ. I sometimes have to be told the same thing over and over by the Lord before I finally obey. I'm not always friendly and I don't always like to share. When I've done wrong I'd rather go hide. I can be good at telling God about other's faults. I can really make a mess sometimes. But, unlike earthly parents, who, because of their humanity can become a little stressed and impatient sometimes with their children, my heavenly Father never looses patience with me His child. Father's grace is inexaustible. Father's mercy is unending. I feel undeserving when I make a mess of things, yet Father reminds me everyday that I am His.

"The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love...he does not treat us as our sins deserve...as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103: 8-10, 13-14

Duane

In Awe of God

I have a few reasons to be in awe of God today. Even though I don't understand everything He's doing (or what I may feel He's not doing), He still amazes me with His goodness to me and my family. He's good to me even when I'm not feeling or acting good towards Him. That's His grace...and it still amazes me. Here are a few of the ways God has been good to me: 1) Both my daughters are home for the holidays...Becca from Liberty University in Lynchburg and Aleese drove all night from YWAM Orlando with a friend she dropped off in Richmond. 2) Two ladies showed up at our house this week with about a dozen bags of groceries...they said the Lord had laid it on their hearts to give is the food...wow! 3) Another lady from the town of Orange (about 20 minutes from Culpeper) invited Mechelle to come to her consignment shop. She then let Mechelle pick out clothes for herself and Bryce and then gave them all to us free...wow! 4) Mechelle and I celebrated our 24th anniversary on the 20th...we celebrated with hot, juicy burgers at Five Guys. 5) Someone gave us a $100 gift card to Walmart...left it in a Gideon's New Testament in our mailbox. 6) PACE (our homeschool group) gave us a $50 gift card to Wallyworld (Walmart). 7) Gifts came in totalling $250 towards our Community Project. My family handed out over 400 roles of scotch tape this weekend in our community. 8) Our neighbors went to church with us and then we hung out together afterwards.

So, like David, I "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever" Psalm 136:1.

Duane

How Did I End Up Here?

Sitting in a 6th grade Agriculture class as a substitute teacher today, I found myself asking the question, "How did I end up here?" I asked myself that same question last week as I was putting up stock for the Sears that I'm working for part-time. Sometimes the path towards the vision that God gives is different than what you expect. But its the path that God lays out to take us to the exact place where He wants. And here's the cool thing...even though it may not be what you expected...God always suprises. Let me give you an example. Sunday afternoon I was working at Sears (I'm working there until Mosaic starts meeting) and the first guy who walks in buys a freezer from me for his house. We chatted and I commented about how I knew some people with his last name in Florida. I helped him load it into his truck and away he went. I thought I'd never see the guy again. This morning (Monday) I walked into F.T. Binns Middle School and I'm escorted to my classroom by one of the staff. She's fairly new to the school and has to search for my class and then she accidently unlocks the wrong door. My door was right next to the one she unlocked. As we went into my class a gentleman walks out of the class next door to see who unlocked his door. He looks at me and says, "You look really familiar, do you work anywhere else?" I said, "Yes, I work at Sears." He said, "I thought so, you sold me a freezer yesterday." What a suprise! Later on as we were walking down the hall I got to tell him why God had brought me to Culpeper. Is that amazing or what?!

So, how did I end up here? God wanted me here to meet that guy. Who knows what God will do with the seed I planted. So, be faithful wherever you are and wherever He's taking you. You'll end I right where you're supposed to be.

Duane

Around The Bend

"Lord I don't know where all this is going or how it all works out. Give me a peace that's past understanding. A peace that has no doubt." Those are the words to a song by the Newsboys that God used to speak to me. This journey of faith that we're on has twists and turns and bends that are impossible to see around. We're asked to trust. And that's not easy. Sometimes things don't turn out like we imagined or pictured it in our minds. That's when I have to remind myself that the journey is about God bringing me in line with His plans not Him into mine. I was informed today that we would not be able to lease the Culpeper 4 Theater as the place where we could meet for worship. That was a real let down. I really wanted that venue to be the place where we met as Mosaic Church. That, plus the struggle financially and the fact that our house hasn't sold yet in Florida, has really challenged my faith...my trust in God. Obviously God has different plans than I had for where Mosaic will meet...I'm content with that. His ways are always better, yet they're not always clear from the beginning. But, He knows where all this is going and how it all works out. I choose to trust.

Duane

The Substitute

Remember when you were in school and you walked into class and discovered you had a substitute? Remember the things you would try to get away with? Well, today those days came back to haunt me because today I was the substitute. Another way for me to get out into the community and to help us out financially right now is to substitute teach in the Cupeper County School System. So, today I got my first call...freshmen learning disabled English. It definitely was a challenge to work with the few who had disabilites, but most were just lazy and didn't want to do any work. The High School schedule is divided into 4, 1and1/2 hr. blocks. One of those blocks was a teacher planning period with no class. As I sat in one of the teacher's lounges with all that time on my hands I pulled out my Bible and began to read. Needless to say, I got some pretty strange looks, but everyone was friendly. During lunch I went into the lounge where there were seven teachers eating lunch around a table. I pulled up a chair and made small talk. They were friendly, for the most part, but by their conversations none of them seemed to be Christ-followers. Someone has said to me, "Why start another church when there are already so many?" Well, just go to the nearest school...sit in a class...sit in a teacher's lounge...then you'll understand why we need another church. There's a lot of friendly people here, but friendly people can still miss heaven and end up in hell. Pray for us as we try to make it hard to go to hell from Culpeper. Help us financially. We need your support!

Duane