a chosen race..

today i was reading from the word and i happened to run across a passage that i highlighted a few years ago from psalm 139. i caught a note in 1 peter that brought my attention to the passage, and it hit me again so i wanted to share it with you.
1 peter 2:9-10
but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possesion, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not recieved mercy, but now you have recieved mercy.
what a blessing!! look at the first part of that verse- God has chosen us.. he chose me, a sinner, to be part of His chosen race, a royal priestood, a holy nation. how many times have i fallen short of that title.. how many times have i been unworthy to be part of His holy nation.. but He still loves me. He still calls me to do what? to proclaim the excellencies of Him, because He called me out of the darkness into His marvelous light. such beautiful words for a beautiful meaning. His light IS marvelous! and His works ARE excellent!
now psalm 139 vs. 3-4; 17-18
You scrutinize my path and my lying down, you are intimately aquainted with all my ways. even before there is a word on my tongue, behold o Lord, you know it all..
how precious also are Your thoughts to me o God! how vast is the sum of them! if i should count them, they would outnumber the sand..
God has not only called us to be part of His nation, He is intimately aquainted with all our ways. His thoughts for us are constant! it is hard for me to even fathom having the capability to have a constant thought about one person, but God is thinking of us all, constantly.. how amazing.. God doesnt take days off. He doesnt go on vacation to get away from it all. He always knows my heart, He always knows my ways. and He loves me without conditions. can you think for a second about knowing what another person is thinking, or even knowing what they will say or do before they act? it would be difficult to look past some things.. it would be difficult to know those secrets, and still love that person unconditionally. wouldnt it? what an incredible God we have!

Father, i'm grateful for Your love. i am grateful that You do not look at me through the world's eyes. i'm grateful that You have chosen me to be a part of your holy nation. You have chosen me to be in Your royal priesthood. I'm grateful for the loving High Priest that came to earth, willingly, to take the burden of my sins, so that i can be with You forever. Father thank you for showing me mercy. thank you for knowing me inside and out, and for always thinking of me. i deserve nothing, but you give me everything.. i praise you God for being marvelous, for your excellencies! where would i be without You? Father, please lead me to be the man that you call me to be. show me the opportunities that You have planned for me. open my eyes to see Your glory, to see Your face.
i will give thanks to You, for i am fearfully and wonderfully made. wonderful are your works

NCR

KFC for linda's birthday party.. hangin with colonel sanders on the bench 

catch up a little

it's been a while i know.. i've been hearing it from the complaints department, i aplogize for not keeping up, but i assure you, very much has been going on, and i want you all to know about it.
first, i'll catch you up since it has been so long. IRC has been busy working on a piece of property outside the city. plans are running wild on this land, opportunities abound there. first, Lord willing, we are going to build 23 concrete houses that IRC is in charge of. this will be something that TORCH and IRC has never done, literally start a new community. next marc tindell's group from mississippi is going to plant a church there, and i have no doubt that God is going to bless this. also on the drawing board are a children's home, a clinic, and a site to run the mi eperanza program full blast. so many things, please keep this in your prayers.
last week joe threw a birthday party for linda. linda goes to los pinos and she stole joe's heart last year. joe invited linda, and her brothers and sisters and cousins, her mom and her aunt. 9 total and we went to KFC. they happen to have the biggest playground in tegucigalpa, so needless to say, the kids were thrilled. it was such a joy to watch them, i doubt they have ever been on a playground, especially one like this. between the chicken and the free refill fountain drinks and the playground, they didnt know what to do with themselves! a birthday i'm sure linda will never forget, and it was a reminder to me how much joy these children have to give.
yesterday we built a house with challenge club, a club from dalton and dylan's school los pinares. there were about 25 5th and 6th graders and a few teachers. so... the house didnt go quite as quickly as normal, but we finished the floor this afternoon and joe and i will put some finishing touches on it tomorrow. it was fun to work with the kids, few of which knew how to operate a hammer, but they were all excited to help.
full blast is about to hit for the summer.. we are getting ready for the first trip, coming in less than a month! after that it will be nonstop for TORCH this summer. i'm really excited about this summer, and i can't believe it's almost here.
sun burned and loving it.. NCR

a week with the man..

my dad, that is.. some of you who know him, might find it odd that he would vacation to the place that he probably works the most. well, it is a little odd, but when a guy wants to visit his son, he wants to visit his son. so he came, and believe it or not, he actually didnt work himself to death, we barely let him do any kind of work at all. he did a lot of thinking and planning for this summer, that is something that we can't stop him from doing.. it was a great week. not only was he here, but also mark tindell, and 2 ladies from melbourne, ute and denise came to visit.
it was really nice to get some time with my dad, away from home, and especially in a place that we both love so much. we got to brainstorm a lot and more importantly we just spent time together. not that i would ever need reinforcement, but this past week made me realize how blessed i am to have the parents that i do. i pray that my children will look at me the way i look at my parents. i give so much credit to them for who i am and where i am. they raised me to be a man of God, and to follow after His will, and they have been behind me through my journey. always supportive of me, especially now in my ministry here.
we had to say our goodbye's, but it was not so hard knowing that he will be back again in a little over a month with a group to start off our summer.
thanks dad for a great week
NCR

what a week..

jen wright's group left today, and it was a great week. 33 out of 34 of them had never been here before, and it was only jen's second trip. i have to brag on her.. she led a group of 34 people down to honduras, and they shared in the joy that we've all shared because she went home and told them how God changed her heart here. now if you ask her, she will give all of the glory to God, which is the truth, but she was the vessel, and she did a wonderful job as a first time leader, on her SECOND trip! i'm very proud of her.
this team built 5 houses, and a playground for casitas kennedy, a state run orphanage. the playground was a really good project for this team. they went all out on it, and it showed. it turned out to be a hit, and the kids loved it. this orphanage was in great need of something like this to give it a boost, and i think it will make a big difference there.
they gave out close to 300 bags of food, and ministered to the people here in so many different ways. they were a great encouragement to me, and a great blessing to the people that God led them to.
it is very refreshing to watch new TORCHERS fall in love with this place and the people. to watch God mold their hearts, and show them a passion that they never knew they had. at night we would listen to where they saw Jesus that day, and it was beautiful to hear them talk about what had not only made an impact in their day, but had changed their lives.
it made me start thinking of how God pursues us. why were these people here, at this particular time? i talked to a few of them about how they were feeling, and about how God was moving in their hearts. they were here at the right time, when they were ready for God to break their hearts, so that they can see things more clearly, and so that they can be a different person in the states, shining Jesus' light. God pursues all of us. it's not that He just pursues us... He CHASES us. He wants us to walk with Him, and He will pursue us constantly, no matter where we are. i don't always understand why He pursues me, but i always feel Him, whispering in my ear that His way wil give me the peace that i am looking for. His way will make me into the man that i want to be. so.. how is God pursuing you? what is He whispering in your ear? where has he brought you from, to make you who you are?
NCR