BLOG #100...The Perfect Storm

Post # 100
Wow has life been fast, full and furious lately. This last weekend, Friday through Sunday, we held an all day, all night 24/7 house of prayer at the old pink house next door to our's. All I can say is AWESOME! Our community, the Lisboa Matrix, joined up with Christian Surfer's Portugal, and Young Life Portugal to host the event. It was an amazingly powerful weekend. The Spirit of the Living God filled the house to over flowing and the people were packed into the living room area during our three different community worship times. It was really incredable. In between the nights of worship music, there were cool quiet times where people were able to connect on the heart level, flop on the pillows and cushions in the living room and chill. There was also plenty of praying going on in the 24/7 prayer room up stairs. With paints, chalk, crayons, hearts and tears poured out on the walls that were covered with paper. I would post some pictures, but my computer can't handle all the digital information right now. (Every time I try to down load them my machine crashes) Anyhow there were a number of people from all three communites there that felt we need to pursue this house as an actual ministry center. It's very much the heart of the 'Blue House' idea, if you've heard me talk about the 'Blue House', except this one is pink. I was poured out, but filled up by the end of the weekend. So you can pray with us as we move towards how this will develop.
We have also been hosting the Graf family at our house as they search for a house/ministry center here in the Lisbon area. It's been a crazy, wild, fun time having their 6, plus our 4, plus a small cat and a large black lab all living under the same roof. We are benefiting from the wonderful cooking of lovly Laina. And the visiting with them has been wonderful. Yesterday their kids visited the Corner Stone Academy and spent the day going to school there, checking out their new school. They intergrated into the student community great. It felt as if they had been their all along. The Graf kids will make a beautiful additon to CSA.
Also we have been really enjoying the sun again. We can actually dry laundry out on the line again, instead of putting it Noah's room with a dehumidifier to dry it out. We took the Graf boys to the beach the other day and Noah and Kelton spent the afternoon jumping off the pier into the ocean. Oh thank you Jesus for friends for Noah. He is having a great time.
Next week we've got a million Christian Associates International staff flying into the Lisbon area for the annual leadership summit and on the 3rd of March Dave Hall our missions pastor from EFCC in California will be coming into town and staying for a few days. And then...who knows. If there is anything else going on that I should be telling you about, right now I just can't remember it. Stay tuned to this Bat channel for more Bat information, and Be Blessed 24/7

The Pink House Next Door

This picture is two years old and doesn't really show the pink house next door very well, but it's the only picture have in my file right now. The reason I wanted to show you this house is because this house is where we are going to have our weekend of prayer this weekend. Instead of a 24/7 prayer room we are going to have a 24/7 House of Prayer. The house will have a prayer room, a worship living room, art rooms, and be open all weekend to anyone who wants to check it out.
So I have a request, will you please pray for this house and our community this weekend? We are not only going to be doing this House of Prayer, but we are also having a ton of leadership from our mission coming into town, plus we will have a couple from the USA coming to look at our community and the school to see if they might want to come teach and be a part of our team. Oh and did I mention that we have all the normal school, house, church planting stuff to do in the midst of all of this? AHHHHHH!
But let me say this, even with the big AHHHHHH!, I am expectant of what God will do in the midst of all this. There is something bubbling here and it is filled with the Holy Spirit. There is movement and I believe I am blessed to be a part of it. So please pray for us and with us, and Be Blessed

My Strength has been Faithened

I know, where the heck have I been. Well I have been here, but I've barely been keeping my nose above water for the last month. It seems like this life is never going to just stabilize. In a way I'm really glad about that because something in me hates the same old same old. But on the other hand it would be nice to figure out how thing are going to function so I could get a little rhythm going. I am hoping that we have hit a period of smoother sailing for a period of time.

This last month has been a time of being in the refiners fire. And baby did He have that thing kicked up to full blast. There were a couple of times I was sure I was just going to be completely melted away. It was intense. Having come out of the other side of it I can say my strength has been faithened. (That was a type-o but I'm gonna keep it like that because I like it.)

Here's a few thoughts I had after I cooled down:
1. I'm a mess. (I thought by 40 I would have it together.)
2. So I'm a mess, I like me.
3. Other people like too.
4. Other people don't have to like me. (But it's OK if they do.)
5. I am stronger than that stupid lying little voice in my head.
6. God is better at being faithful that I am. (Thank God)
7. Why am I amazed when prayer works?
8. Cooking's an artistic outlet and can be fun. (Does that seem random in this list? It's not for me)
9. It's one thing to know there will be trials and another to live them out.
10. Life is the whole pie, not just a slice.

So I'm back blogging (Thanks Mo and Wit) and maybe your there, or maybe not, but what ever the case, I'm going to keep on keeping on. I am going to stick my face in the pie of life and continue to be some kind of mess until He perfect me. (And you can shut-up little nasty voice that's trying to keep me from sticking my whole face in!)
Enjoy the journey, Be Blessed and get some Key Lime up your nose.

A Christmas Feasting Thought

This morning I was thinking about what we had talked about and shared at our Matrix Christmas Feast last night. Scott encouraged us all to keep Jesus in the center of our Christmas season. A great reminder. We had a fun Christmas feast of eating and drinking that many believers have partaken of, in some fashion, for most of our lives. During the reading of the Christmas story I was reminded that our savior was born into a lower status household. That He was not a person of wealth, or power. And that He truly was an alien in a foriegn land. So this morning when I was reading through Zechariah chapter 7 and I came across this, it struck me pretty powerfully;

Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: "Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?' And when you were eating and drinking were you not feasting for yourselves?"

And further down,

"This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'

I looked at this and I thought about the African men living here as aliens, selling their nic-nacks down by the beach. I thought about the orphans with HIV living at Casa Sol. I thought about the fragile little old ladies that I see walking down the cobblestone streets with their groceries. I thought of the homeless I see around Cascais and I wondered, do I remember Jesus when I see the least of these? Is my Christmas about feasting for me, or truly feasting for Jesus? Have I lived out the gospel during this Christmas season or did I go into auto-pilot and just start doing what I have always done for so many seasons? Yes, I have remembered that it is the birth time of Jesus. But I have to ask myself, 'Have I heard the words of the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets?' Zech 7:7

I know that there is no condemnation in Jesus, but I also know that as I wander along the narrow path ahead of me there are people that I can either become involved with or I can step over. So as we approach the season of Christmas may we as followers of the Christ truly make Christmas a time of feasting that is for Jesus. May they know us by our Love. And May You Be Blessed in Doing This.

The Remains of the Day or (Fire in the Attic)

Well here is our story. Last night Eden had a girl friend stay the night. They wanted to go up to the attic and hang out, so we let them. Noah went up with them and they talked him into getting the space heater from his room.
Flash to this morning. After getting up and starting coffee, I took Patches the dog for a walk to go to the bathroom. As we returned and entered the building I thoght I smelled a burnt plastic smell. When I got up to our flat I was sure I smelled something. It wasn't coming from any of the other flats. Right then I remembered that the kids were in the attic last night. I ran up there to check if the smell was coming from there. When I opened the door a wall of heat and thick smoke was in the air. We had a fire somewhere! I couldn't see a thing because the smoke was to thick, so I ran down stairs to grab a flash light. Running into the house I yelled "Paula, theres a fire! Where's the flash light? We have a fire up stairs!" Then I ran back up with the flash light.
As I rounded the corner to the attic again the smoke was heavier than before. I could hardly see a thing in there. I took a deep breath and plunged in to see what was burning. As I entered I could see that the area where the bed was was glowing orange through the smoke. We had a fire about three feet by three feet burning in it. My heart exploded and my mind whirled. We were going to burn to the ground was my first thought, then I thought I've got to put this out. There were people in the building. We had to call the Bombieros, the Fire Dept. I turned to run back down stairs and remembered that opening a door can feed a fire. So I shut the door.
When I got back down to the flat Paula, Eden, Noah, Deni, the cat and the two dogs were headed out. I grabbed my phone and tried to call the Bombieros but the number didn't work. I figured out later that I had dialed the wrong number. The emergency number here in Portugal is 112 not 911 and I think I dialed 211. Anyhow lucky for me that our friends down stairs at the photo copy shop called.
I ran down stairs to see if Antonio, the owner of the photo shop, had a fire extinguisher and he did. I ran back up to the attic trying to pull the pin from the extinguisher. It was not so easy. I stopped and banged the thing out and then took a breath to head in and hit the bed with a blast from the extinguisher.I was probably pretty careless, because I just threw the door open and rushed in. The smoke was so thick I couldn't see my hand infront of my face. I couldn't even see the fire. But I knew where the bed was and I hit it with the chemical fire extiguisher. The heat rushed up and the smoke burned my eye, but I knew that I had blasted the fire from the hissing sound.
Now however my chest felt like it was going to explode becuase I had been running up and down stairs and my heart was pumping adrinalie into my system in huge doses. I needed air. I had to get out of there. I turned to go and it was almost as black behind me as in front. Just a slight yellow glow from the light coming through the door. I need clean air, not this putrid plastic smelling smoke. I bolted for the door and the smoke poured out with me. I could barely see from all the smoke. Even the stairs were heavy with smoke to the point where it was hard to see. But there was a small window where I could stick my face out. I jammed my face to the opening and blew the stale air from my lungs sucking back mostly clean air. And then I cried out to Jesus for help with this. I was scared and all I could imagine was the whole building consumed in an inferno.
From the window I could see the Bombieros pulling up infront of the house. I headed down and found my self standing in the rain as swarms of voulunteer fire fighters buzzed up and down the stairs to save the day. It was cold. My neighbors were kind. I was lucky and so blessed that we were all safe. My wife, the little girl staying the night, our kids, and the pets. All safe. No matter what was lost, the important things were safe.
In the end the attic was messed up really badly. The bed was gone. The walls were covered in soot. The hall and attic stink like burnt plastic. Our landlords couch was ruined and proably most of the stuff up there will need to be gotten rid of. But on the other had we were so protected. Our house is completely smoke free and liveable. You would never know that there was a fire right above us. And there was very little up in the attic that was a great value, so thank you Jesus.
I've put some picture below for you viewing pleasure. Be Blessed
This is the view towards the door way. That's Terri, Zephne' and Paula looking at the damage. We have a great community of belivers who showed up to see if there was anything they could do for us.

That was a bed. We've had a number of guest stay the night there. The feathers were a blanket.

More bed, blankets, and burned up furniture.

I look like a coal miner because of running in and out of the attic trying to put out the fire.

Oh What a Night (Live Blog)

Ok so it's not a great picture, but this is my kitchen right this moment. Those are "Greek Gods" you're looking at. Guess what the high schoolers are studying right now at Corner Stone Academy?
So right now we've got the "Squirl Nut Zippers" blasting their Christmas CD on the surround sound and there is a whole bunch of groovin and waltzing going on in the living room. There is the heavenly smells of garlic and onions floating through the house from the kitchen and my neighbors are peeking up at my flat wondering what kind of craziness is going on up here. Earlier we all walked down to my local grociers and butchers, in "Greek God' to buy the fixins for some simi-greekish food. I'll see how they all treat me next time i'm there. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.
I have been so waiting for a night like tonight. A house full of young people in costumes, having fun, laughing and living in community together. What a great way to start the Christmas season. May you Be Blessed this Christmas Season

So Much Thanks

BUYING FRUITS AND NUT FROM A NAZARE STREET VENDER

You know it easy to be full of thanks on those warm sunny days when you have nothing to do but enjoy life. It's easy to say thank you when things are going my way. It's easy to count it all joy when time are good. But that is not the case a lot of the time. In fact it might be the case less than half the time in my life.
Every year this day of Thanksgiving comes around for America. And every year I have to stop and take a look at my life and think about being Thankful. I can imagine that with the economic situation in America this year there were a lot of people that were thinking about what they had to be thankful for this year. I hope that even if this has been a difficult season for you or your family, that you found something to be thankful for.
Our family had one of those hard life moments the day before Thanksgiving. While at the Corner Stone Academy, putting on an event called "Africa Day", we recieved a phone call from the states. A phone call from the states at 10:00 am is not good news most of the time. It was not good news. Paula's 102 year old grand father had pass away. And so we went into the Thanksgiving holiday under a dark cloud. We knew this would probably happen while we were over here, but it's harder to live it than imagine it. Roy lived a good life and at 102 he was probably ready to go hang out with Jesus. So that part was sad but not the hardest part. I think what was hardest for Paula was that she wasn't going to get to be with her family during this time. At the holidays, right after her grand daddy had passed away. And so we are left with that thought again. What do you do with thanksgiving when your not feeling all so thankful. Well here's a few things we are thankful for.

Thank you for keeping us afloat and supporting us even when the economy isn't doing great.
Thank you 5th grade 9:30 class for the care package that we recieved before Thanksgiving.
Thank you for the e-mails of encouragement.
Thank you that my friend Suz has gotten a clean bill of health and the cancer is in remission.
Thank you for the Hardy family who came over and shared Thanksgiving with us.
Thank you that we have a church community that really shares all things in common.
Thank you for my family and their health.
Thank you that the weather has been so nice for so long.
Thank you that Grand Daddy is hanging out with Jesus.
Thank you for the euro/dollar being closer in exchange rate.
Thank you for this crazy life.

I could go on and on, but I won't. Please keep praying for us and know that we are Thankful for you and will miss you this holiday season. Be Thankful and Be Blessed