My Anniversary: Thirteen Years of Bliss

Today Christy and I celebrate thirteen years of being happily married.

Well... I celebrate 13 years of happiness. For Christy I'm sure it's been 13 years of reminding herself that murder is illegal and generally frowned upon in our society. Plus it would be hard to effectively hide a body as large as mine. Seriously... she spends a lot of time watching those true murder mystery shows where the spouse bumps off their partner. I've learned to sleep with one eye open and check my brake lines before leaving the garage.

We live in a world where over 50% of all marriages end in divorce. So how have we made it 1/8 of a century? Simple. We've learn that we can either battle each other, or battle together whatever we are facing. Your spouse can be your best ally or your worst enemy. It's usually one or the other though.

About a year before we were married, Christy had a discussion with Kim Baker, who is the wife of the Youth Pastor we were serving under at the time. She shared that love is not just a feeling that comes and goes, but a choice to made each day. So each day we choose to not be selfish and love the other, no matter what.

So to my wife: I love you and thank God for each and every day that we are together. I'll try my best to make the next 13 years even better than the first 13 years. You are an amazing woman and I am truly blessed to be able to call you mine.

And to my other readers (both of you...): If you are looking for some good teachings on marriage, I'd like to suggest some great messages from Newspring Church (click here...).

What Does The Bible Say About Money?

Almost everyone agrees that the Bible contains great advice about life, from improving your marriage to getting along with your boss at work.  But does the Bible really say much about money?  Does it really give us advice that we can apply to our own life in today's world?

The Good News is Yes!  Absolutely!  We believe the Bible is as relevant and helpful today as when it was written, and God has a lot to say about money.  Did you know money is mentioned in the Bible over 800 times?  God must be pretty serious about this subject to talk about it that much. 

In fact, Jesus says in Luke 16:11, "So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?"  It appears from this verse that God uses money as a test of our management and stewardship skills before entrusting us with spiritual things.  See more below.

Money in the Bible
1. Proverbs 13:22  "A good man leaves an inheritance to his childrens' children" indicating that God wants us to make a difference, financially, in our family tree.
2. Proverbs 21:20  "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."  This gives us an idea of how God wants us to save for a rainy day, to set something back for safekeeping.
3. Proverbs 22:7 states that "The rich rule over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender."  Really?  The Bible discourages debt?  Does God really want me to pay my debts off and avoid debt?
4. Luke 14:28  "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it."  Does Jesus really want me to save up and pay for the things I buy?
5. Matt. 6:24  "You cannot serve both God and money".

If money is this important to God, why are there so few Sunday school classes on this topic?  Why don't we see lots of small group studies on "Managing Your Finances" or "Getting Out of Debt"?  Why aren't there more sermons in this area?

There are many reasons, but the top reason is that most people don't realize how much of a problem managing money is for the average family.  Look at the statistics below:

Financial Statistics

1. Marital Problems - 37 percent (the highest rate) of marital problems derive from financial situations
2. Cash Flow - 70 percent of all consumers live paycheck to paycheck, meaning they run out of money before the end of the month
3. Savings - The average family would have to use a credit card to pay a $1,500 unexpected expense (ex: home or car repair).
4. Retirement - Nearly half of all Americans (46%) have less than $10,000 saved for their retirement.
It is a problem that affects everyone, inside and outside of the church.  In fact George Barna says that the fastest growing churches are teaching about marriage, child rearing, finances, and careers.  Money is a serious subject, and God is serious about money, which is why we should study closely what he has to tell us.

Finally, there is something to guide us!  A study to take God's wisdom about money and help us apply it to our own lives. It is called Financial Peace University.

700 Geocaches in 7 Years!!

Christy & I learned about Geocaching from Daren Lindley, who is a traveling minister that was speaking at our church. This was June 25th, 2005; seven years ago today. It was shortly after Google Maps introduced their satellite view. Daren was going to be speaking at a Saturday night service and beforehand a bunch of us were hanging out and checking out the satellite views of different places. Darren joined in and was looking up various places in his hometown in Oregon. He then had us go to Geocaching.com and was telling us a little bit about geocaching. We looked and saw that there was several caches in the area and Daren mentioned that he'd love to find one after the service. Service didn't get done until late and I figured he'd forget all about it. But Daren is a super enthusiastic, energetic guy and he was ready to go. So Christy, myself, Scott and Daren headed to the Crevasse Moraine trail system about 10 miles away. After a short walk, surrounded by clouds of veracious mosquitoes we reached ground zero and made the find.

The next day, after speaking in our Sunday morning service, Daren was itchin' to find some more caches. Christy and I had enjoyed ourselves the night before and so we headed out again, finding 3 more caches. The follow Wednesday Christy & I bought our own GPS and became regular geocachers. Since June 25, 2005 we have 700 geocaches. We've cached in 12 states and two countries. We've cached in hip deep snow and through swamps. We've cached in -40 degree weather along the banks of the Chena River and in 100 degree heat in Dallas. We've cache in hurricane force winds and in a torrential thunderstorm along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. We driven & hiked miles in search of caches, chewed on by mosquitoes,  encountering moose & bears.

Some of our best times together have been while caching. And, some of our worse fights have been while caching. We've seen some incredible sights and explored places we would've never been to otherwise. It's been a great form of exercise and gotten us up off the couch. For Christy, geocaching is the only time she can disconnect from the stress of her job.

Geocaching was born May 2nd, 2000 when the US government switched off Selective Availability, meaning GPS signals could be received by civilian owned handheld models with much greater accuracy. A man named Dave Ulmer hid a five gallon bucket near Beavercreek, Oregon and posted the coordinates on a Usernet group, challenging others to find what he had hidden and sign the log book within.

Others began to do the same and soon Jeremy Irish created a website where these "stashes" could be listed for others to find. To avoid any negative connotations that might come with the word "stash" it was agreed to call the hidden objects "caches".

Since then 1.5 million caches have been place in over 200 countries. Almost 5 million people enjoy geocaching, making 4 million finds last month. A geocache could be as small as a chapstick container or as large as a suitcase. Ammo cans make a good hiding container and would be considered a "regular" size container. Smaller caches simply contain a log book or sheet to be signed. Larger caches might contain "swag" to be traded. Swag can be almost anything not dangerous or illegal. A deck of cards, local souvenirs, small toys and fishing lures all make for good swag.

To participate in geocaching all you need is a handheld GPS, a free registration at www.GeoCaching.com and access to the internet. You can search for caches in your area, plug the coordinates in your GPS and you are good to go. Your GPS will get you within 10 feet or so of the hide and then its up to you find the cache. Some caches are large & obvious. Some very carefully hidden & camouflaged and can be hard to find.

You can read a little more about geocaching at it's Wikipedia entry or by watching the video below. And if you'd like to get started geoaching yourself, visit www.Geocaching.com and sign up for your free basic membership. You can also read more about geocaching here in the Mat-Su Valley by checking out the article I wrote for the MatSu Visitor's & Convention Bureau.

Seasons....

It's a beautiful day here in South Central Alaska... The sun is shining, it's warm and everything is green and lovely. We have almost 24 hours of sunlight to illuminate our gardening, fishing, and playing. These are the type of days when they take the pictures for the brochures and websites promoting Alaska travel.

But... the other day was the Summer Solstice. Which means we are now losing  a little bit of daylight each. Technically we are sliding towards winter. I took this picture this morning in our yard... Well, in the dirt patch I call our yard. It's fireweed. Those little flowers you see mark the countdown to the end of summer. They will soon start to bloom from the top to the bottom and then release their pollen, which looks like snow. It's usually within a few weeks to a month of that, we get the real thing.

The moral of the story: life is full of change. The bad news is that if you are in a great season of your life, it can change. The bad news is that if you are in a bad season of your life, it can change. In the seasons of good, enjoy it to it's fullest. In the seasons of bad, just hang on. You'll get through it. There's better days ahead.

And the lessons you learn in the rough times can't be learned any other way... So it's worth it. And it makes the good times that much sweeter.

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
    wisdom and power are his. 

 He changes times and seasons;
    he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to the discerning.  He reveals deep and hidden things;
    he knows what lies in darkness,
    and light dwells with him."

~Daniel 2:20-22

The Charlie Brown Song

Here's another one from the Piano Guys... The song is fun, but what is really neat is seeing the people's reaction.

And to quote one of the best movies of all time: "Hey, I guess they're right. Senior citizens, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose. I'll be right back. Don't you go dying on me!" Bonus points for those who know what movie that's from...

Pachelbel Meets U2

There's no video with this one, but it's too great of a song to not include here...

This music is by Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson. You can visit their website here... 

Another Great Song

Yet another great song from the Piano Guys. You can check out their stuff at www.ThePianoGuys.com.