By the Grace of God

NEW SITE FOR MY BLOG!

2007-01-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

I MOVED MY BLOG HERE PLEASE CLICK ON THIS AND UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS

Good Friends, Good Coffee, Bad Weather

2007-01-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

The past week or so has absolutely flown past. We have been so busy that I amazed we survived. At the same time, we also were battling a good old fashioned cold running through the house. I had it for most of last week and Kassidy came down with it over the weekend.

On this past Thursday evening, a member of the worship team from Door of Hope Church in Fairbanks came to stay with us for a few days. We had never gotten to know her while we lived there, but it took us no time connecting and chatting for hours around the ole fireplace. MAJOR kudos go to my favorite cornhusker family who provided us with some wood to burn while yours truly was under the weather.

Speaking of weather... well lets just say that KC is the DMZ of weather. We now live right on the line of where freezing/no freezing takes place. We had 4 days of sleet, freezing rain and snow. The sad part was that the snow didn't happen until the very end so it was just a dusting. We have about one and a half inches of accumulated sleet and freezing rain with a dusting of snow on top. What a mess!

Life for us is slowly but surely getting into a rhythm. It is nice to be able to have a schedule that isnt changing much for the foreseeable future. Of course, God could and probably will change all that, but for now, it is great.

We got to have our home bred rock star over for dinner on Saturday as well. Tim "Mr. Meekness" Reimherr and his roommate Chris came over for a taco feast with our guest from Alaska. I remember commenting how amazing it is to see the contingent from Alaska growing steadily. God is shaking things up and moving people around regularly and putting them where they belong. It is fun to watch!

So here is hoping that you and your family are recovered after the holidays, staying warm during the winter and staying healthy. We would LOVE to hear from you even if it just a quick email/comment saying hello. I would also love to see where people are at around the globe that read this blog. You two readers must be getting tired of traveling :) By the way Josh... thanks again for the coffee :)

Grumpy..

2007-01-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, so sue me if I am grumpy. Better yet, don't because I am and I would lose everything. After the Onething conference I have been sucking wind and trying hard to get caught up on sleep and work and everything else that has been left unattended since Christmas.

I am trying to give myself and others grace to get back in the swing of things but c'mon people. there is work to be done and I don't want to be the only one that is working on things. I know in reality I am not , but it sure seems like it some times. Especially those irritating little things that go unattended. Those little things add up to become big ones when they call on someone of their buddies to get together to ruin my day.

So tonight, it is Friday night. We get invited to go hang out with some great people. People that make me smile and feel appreciated and loved and part of a family. So what do I do? I stink up the joint with a cruddy attitude and grumpiness. What is my problem? I don't like being grumpy, tired, and procrastination. Right now I seem to be king at all three. Help me Lord!

To THE Cornhusker clan... my apologies. I love you all!

Onething WRAP

2007-01-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

What a tremendous 4 days of hard work, long hours and little sleep! Happy New Year everyone. Onething 2006 was a major success. Everyone I spoke with yesterday had been deeply impacted by the teachings and music. I am not sure what our official attendance was, but the auditorium seats 10,500 and it was near capacity morning noon and night with several thousand others at various locations throughout the complex at various seminars, booths, and refreshment stands.

A year ago, I was watching the webstream of Onething from Alaska. I had no clue who these people were that were talking about a Bridegroom King and Judge. I couldn't tell you the names of the people singing or the speakers teaching. A year later and I find myself living in Kansas City. Dwayne Roberts, the big cahuna of Onething Ministries is my direct boss, and I can name if not even know many of the players putting on such a wonderful event.

I was deeply touched each evening as I walked into the auditorium during the session, looking around at the full house listening to great teaching and music. I was moved because I realized that God had placed me and my family here in KC for such a time as this. While 10,000 people got their socks blessed off, several 100 of us were volunteering long hours. Realizing that the hard work was what enabled such a great blessing to so many to occur was awesome. to make it even sweeter, the conference was being web cast on IHOP for all the sessions, and on GodTV live 3 hours each day around the world. When I thought about this, it made my complaining about sore muscles and lack of sleep become insignificant. God placed us here for this. What an honor and what a great time!

A special mention goes out to Jon Hall and the Media Dept. These guys pulled off an incredible task that came together literally in the last hours before 2pm Thursday. There was may 6-10 people that worked nearly around the clock for the entire conference. It was wonderful to be part of this team, even if all I did was move some stuff and pull a cable here and there.

If I were you, I would make plans NOW to be here next year. You wont want to miss out.

OETHING

2006-12-29T04:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was AMAZING and FULL. The broadcast went smooth and after 15hrs work we were home.

Yesterdays. events will be re-aired on GodTV at 2PM EST TODAY (thats 11am for you Alaskans)
go to http://god.tv/US/watchnow

We are airing live again tonight from 8-11 Eastern.

Be praying!!

Mom..
Call my cell :)

ONETHING LIVE

2006-12-28T05:21:00.000-08:00

ONETHING STARTS TODAY

The biggest conference of the year and perhaps ever for IHOP-KC is beginning at 2pm Central time here in KC. This conference will be host to over 10,000 young adults from around the globe joining together in prayer and worship.

All evening sessions will be broadcast LIVE on GodTV. You can find them at GODTV.

The broadcasts will begin at 8pm Eastern time Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I am not 100% sure what time the conference will be on Sunday, but I will update you on that soon.

Yesterday we loaded in the auditorium with 2 semi truck loads of lighting and sound equipment. I am going to take a bunch of pictures today to show you the enormity of this event. Hopefully I will actually have some energy to post a few snaps tonight.

Please keep all of us volunteers, speakers, musicians, and attendees in your prayers. This is going to be fun!

Strange Weather

2006-12-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

Being from Alaska I am used to seeing temperatures ranging from 20 above 0 to 50 below 0 during the month of December.

It is supposed to be in the 60's here the next several days. Yes I said 60's. I might even break out the shorts again and have a BBQ.

I am supposed to be going to Christmas party tonight too. I find it horribly difficult to get into celebrating Christmas when there is no snow, no frosty noses, nothing even resembling Alaska. In KC you actually have to look for pine trees. Granted, in Bethlehem I don't suppose there was snow that wonderful night, so I suppose I should just get over it...I'm just saying...

Christmas Wrapping Paper

2006-12-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

We stumbled on a new trick this year for Christmas. We went shopping on a Wednesday about noon! We finished the shopping in about 3 hrs and a good hour of that was not even actually Christmas shopping.

We couldn't make ourselves spend money on wrapping paper so we are recycling the newspapers we got when we first moved here in March. The best part is that we have a fireplace that will burn up all the paper!!

Wednesdays are now officially our day off until further notice. With the commitments we have to the Prayer Ground and to Forerunner Media Group Wednesdays are the only day we can call our own to have time with our family. This means that if you are wanting to chat or get a hold of us, Wednesday is a great day to try!

And Now, Prayer Ground and ONETHING

2006-12-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day in many ways. Well in about 8 ways. 8 cords to be exact. You would think that by being in a place that gives itself to 24/7 worship and prayer that would be a referrence to music, but notice there is no "h" in cords. Today, three guys plus myself, yes the bald, fat, "old" man around here cut split and stacked about 8 cords of wood. It was about 50 degrees outside and very nice. I think I probably have about 1 1/2 cords now in my garage, and if the weather keeps up like it has been, I just may have enough to make it the rest of the winter.

Tomorrow is in many ways day 1 of the rest of our lives here at IHOP-KC. We are officially finished with Intro, and can now devote ourselves to effectively leading the Prayer Ground. Just like kids have soccer fields and baseball fields and football fields to practice in, we have the Prayer Ground to practice doing the things God would have us practice at. It is amazing how much ministry I recieve week to week by kids 1/7th my age (or close).

We have 3 Sundays left between now and Christmas. It is our goal to do a little mini-set on the Christmas story. These kids know this stuff, but I am really praying that God will give us some fresh insight into the story. Perhaps a perspective that is new. One thing about being around IHOP is that you can have ample time to spend meditating of passages of scripture.

I remember reading a story last year that was a cool rendition of the Nativity scene. It is by John Piper. Here are the words, but you can also hear it HERE (click on "listen" under The Innkeeper") May this story bless you!

Jake's wife would have been fifty-eight
The day that Jesus passed the gate
Of Bethlehem, and slowly walked
Toward Jacob's Inn. The people talked
With friends, and children played along
The paths, and Jesus hummed a song,
And smiled at every child he saw.
He paused with one small lass to draw
A camel in the dirt, then said,
"What's this?" The girl bent down her head
To study what the Lord had made,
Then smiled, "A camel, sir!" and laid
Her finger on the bulging back,
"It's got a hump." "Indeed it does,
And who do you believe it was
Who made this camel with his hump?"
Without a thought that this would stump
The rabbi guild and be reviled,
She said, "God did." And Jesus smiled,
"Good eyes, my child. And would that all
Jerusalem within that wall
Of yonder stone could see the signs
Of peace!" He left the lass with lines
Of simple wonder in her face,
And slowly went to find the place
Where he was born.
Folks said the inn
Had never been a place for sin,
For Jacob was a holy man.
And he and Rachel had a plan
To marry, have a child or two,
And serve the folk who traveled through,
Especially the poor who brought
Their meal and turtle-doves, and sought
A place to stay near Zion's gate.
They'd rise up early, stay up late,
To help the pilgrims go and come,
And when the place was full, to some
Especially the poorest, they would say,
"We're sorry there's no room, but stay
Now if you like out back. There's lots
Of hay and we have extra cots
That you can use. There'll be no charge.
The stable isn't very large
But Noah keeps it safe." He was
A wedding gift to Jake because
The shepherds knew he loved the dog.
"There's nothing in the decalogue,"
He used to joke, "that says a man
Can't love a dog!"
The children ran
Ahead of Jesus as he strode
Toward Jacob's Inn. The stony road
That led up to the inn was deep
With centuries of wear, and steep
At one point just before the door.
The Lord knocked once then twice before
He heard an old man's voice, "‘Round back!"
It called. So Jesus took the track
That led around the inn. The old
Man leaned back in his chair and told
The dog to never mind. "Ain't had
No one to tend the door, my lad,
For thirty years. I'm sorry for
The inconvenience to your sore
Feet. The road to Jerusalem
Is hard ain't it? Don't mind old Shem.
He's harmless like his dad. Won't bite
A Roman soldier in the night.
Sit down." And Jacob waved the stump
Of his right arm. "We're in a slump
Right now. Got lots of time to think
And talk. Come, sit and have a drink.
From Jacob's well!" he laughed. "You own
The inn?" The Lord inquired. "On loan,
You'd better say. God owns the inn."
At that the Lord knew they were kin,
And ventured on: "Do you recall
The tax when Caesar said to all
The world that each must be enrolled?"
Old Jacob winced, "Are north winds cold?
Are deserts dry? Do fishes swim
And ravens fly? I do. A grim
And awful year it was for me.
Why do you ask?" "I have a debt
To pay, and I must see how much.
Why do you say that it was such
A grim and awful year?" He raised
The stump of his right arm, "So dazed,
Young man, I didn't know I'd lost
My arm. Do you know what it cost
For me to house the Son of God?"
The old man took his cedar rod
And swept it ‘round the place: "Empty.
For thirty years alone, you see?
Old Jacob, poor old Jacob runs
It with one arm, a dog and no sons.
But I had sons . . . once. Joseph was
My firstborn. He was small because
His mother was so sick. When he
Turned three the Lord was good to me
And Rachel, and our baby Ben
Was born, the very fortnight when
The blessed family arrived.
And Rachel's gracious heart contrived
A way for them to stay—there in
That very stall. The man was thin
And tired. You look a lot like him."
But Jesus said, "Why was it grim?"
"We got a reputation here
That night. Nothing at all to fear
In that we thought. It was of God.
But in one year the slaughter squad
From Herod came. And where do you
Suppose they started? Not a clue!
We didn't have a clue what they
Had come to do. No time to pray,
No time to run, no time to get
Poor Joseph off the street and let
Him say good-bye to Ben or me
Or Rachel. Only time to see
A lifted spear smash through his spine
And chest. He stumbled to the sign
That welcomed strangers to the place,
And looked with panic at my face,
As if to ask what he had done.
Young man, you ever lost a son?"
The tears streamed down the Savior's cheek,
He shook his head, but couldn't speak.
"Before I found the breath to scream
I heard the words, a horrid dream:
‘Kill every child who's two or less.
Spare not for aught, nor make excess.
Let this one be the oldest here
And if you count your own life dear,
Let none escape.' I had no sword
No weapon in my house, but Lord,
I had my hands, and I would save
The son of my right hand . . . So brave,
O Rachel was so brave! Her hands
Were like a thousand iron bands
Around the boy. She wouldn't let
Him go and so her own back met
With every thrust and blow. I lost
My arm, my wife, my sons—the cost
For housing the Messiah here.
Why would he simply disappear
And never come to help?"
They sat
In silence. Jacob wondered at
The stranger's tears.
"I am the boy
That Herod wanted to destroy.
You gave my parents room to give
Me life, and then God let me live,
And took your wife. Ask me not why
The one should live, another die.
God's ways are high, and you will know
In time. But I have come to show
You what the Lord prepared the night
You made a place for heaven's light.
In two weeks they will crucify
My flesh. But mark this, Jacob, I
Will rise in three days from the dead,
And place my foot upon the head
Of him who has the power of death,
And I will raise with life and breath
Your wife and Ben and Joseph too
And give them, Jacob, back to you
With everything the world can store,
And you will reign for evermore."
This is the gift of candle three:
A Christ with tears in tragedy
And life for all eternity.

The End of the Beginning

2006-12-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

These are a few pics of the recent snow storm. Notice on the satellite picture how defined the line of snow was. Amazing!

Today marked and end of a chapter in our lives here in KC. We are officially finished with Intro to IHOP. We are sad and happy at the same time. I can see a ton of stuff that we left on the plate, but I also see a lot I want to do more slowly and thoroughly. Many people said today during our closing ceremonies that they had a lot more questions and the questions were good. It was the point of this 3 month period to get just enough to point us in the right direction, but to position ourselves for life-long pursuit of the knowledge of God.

So all this leads to the next best question of the day. What next? One word is the answer. Life. We settle in, settle down and live life. Nothing is changing regarding our positions at IHOP. We are still directing the Prayer Ground (1-5yr old rooms) and I am still with Onething doing financial management.

We have about 3 weeks before the big ONETHING event at the end of the month. We are launching in January Passion for Jesus TV. You will be able to find it on GODTV (dish network 365) or the web at http://god.tv. Please be praying for us! We need prayer covering. if you chose to pray for us, tell us so we can send you a thank you.

Free LIVE Prayer Room Out of IHOP KC This Week

2006-12-05T15:47:00.000-08:00

This week you can get the IHOP Prayer Room LIVE via the web at the following locations for FREE. Check it out.

LIVE VISUAL

LIVE Audio ONLY

We pray your week is going well.

Drop us an email and say hello!!

Last Week of the Intro Community

2006-12-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

The end of Intro to IHOP is upon us. There are mere hours left of what was a 3 month spiritual journey. I wrote on the evaluation form that I felt like I would score myself at 40-50%. Sounds bad huh? I don't think so. While there is no question that I could have given myself more fully to the program, I look at this time as literally "INTRO". Just like the statement, "today begins the rest of your life", those of us in Intro are setting out on a life-long journey of prayer, fasting and pursuing the knowledge of God and His will for our lives.

The picture above reminds me of what community is all about and to me what we all long for. Let me tell you the story behind the picture. Do you see the girl on the end closest to you, she is the sister of the other girl standing next to the fella holding his Bible. About a year and half ago, 7 Thunders with Kirk Bennett from the International House of Prayer in KC came to our church in Fairbanks, Alaska. 7 Thunders spoke at length about re-establishing a culture of LIFE in America and taking a stand against abortion by praying for a culture of LIFE. This started a tidal wave of events within our church and within my life personally.

During the 7 thunders event, the girls mom had a conversation with her family and disclosed to them that she had an abortion years ago that no one knew of and had been carrying the guilt and shame of this for years. The mother then got up in front of the church and told her story with her kids on either side of her and husband too. There was not a dry eye in the house as she told of how she felt about her own abortion and how she wanted to be able to share her whole heart with her daughters.

Even before the 7 Thunders event and the mom telling her story, all her kids were amazing people in our church. Their daughters I got to know a little later that summer, but every time you came in contact with this family it was as if you had been encountered by angels. It was because of the heart of this family and the call to stand against abortion that many of our church did a 21 day Silent Prayer Seige at the local Federal courthouse.

The church bonded together and stood as a community individually and with this family. You see that fella on the end holding the bible? That is my pastor, my spiritual father, my friend. Words do not express the integrity of this man. He has instilled deep within me the need FOR community and the need to ESTABLISH community. There is rarely a time that I cannot be the good samaritan. If someone is hurting physically or emotionally, I have to help. There were times in my life when this man gathered support around me in my darkest hour. Even when he would have likely been inclined to dig a hole, throw me in and cover it with cement, he didn't. He loved me uncondtionally and challenged others to do the same. What a great example!! I am grateful to know him

So as this "Intro" period ends, I dont look at it as finishing something, rather as the beginning. It is as though all the ingredients of my favorite cookies have been put together in the bowl and then placed on the cookie sheet. The only thing remaining now is the time to bake them to perfection via a Refiner's Fire

Tangles LOVING Ice

2006-11-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

Even though it looks like snow, this was ice. It is snowing hard right now. Pics of that tomorrow perhaps.

Pursuit

2006-11-29T18:07:00.000-08:00

I left off the other night with a bit on the "Pursuit of the Holy". This phrase is alive in me right now for the reasons I mentioned in the last post, but there is some behind the scenes stuff going on too. For starters, Pursuit of the Holy is the name of the ONETHING-KC even here at the end of December. I would LOVE to see young people I know come to his event. (sis, can my nephews come? Or even the one that looks like me? ) Take a look at THIS. The fella singing the song is named Tim Reimherr. He is a singer in Merchant Band and I have known him since we were kids.

The second thing going on is a book was released from Forerunner Media Group (where I work) today . Guess what the title is. Yup, Pursuit of the Holy. It is by Corey Russell. He is not well known, but I am telling you as sure as I am typing this, he is a great speaker. He is teaching our Eternal Glory of an intercessor class. THIS CLASS ROCKS! For those of you reading this that are thinking about coming to IHOP-KC and going through INTRO to IHOP, not discounting anything else, but this class makes the whole experience over the top. I heard several people say that the session yesterday was the best session of the past 3 month long journey. You would think that we planned for the title of the book to be the same as the big event of the year later in Dec. but I can assure you it didnt work that way, God is just too cool to let us make that happen. It is way more fun looking back at it and seeing how it "just" happened.

There are so many thoughts going through my head and heart right now that I hardly know where to begin. For starters though, there is so much more to life than big screen Tv's flashy cars, and big houses. To think that we are on this rock, floating through space for no reason at all, or that we came out of some sess pool of slime and billions of years later we became human are ideas I cant grasp. How could it be that we are here, right now, without a reason? How could it be that everything before this moment was meaningless? Could it be that we are here now and that everything before was for such a time as this? Taking it one step further, if we are here for such a time as this, then why? I propose that it is for the Pursuit of the Holy, or to say it another way, to attain the knowledge of God through an intimate relationship with God by praying and dare I say fasting! I leave this with a bit of scripture.

PROVERBS 2:1-8
1 My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD,
And find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He isa shield to those who walk uprightly;
8 He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints.

Defining Happiness

2006-11-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer - I don't believe in disclaimers, but in this post I am giving my observations and opinions. I am open to debate and comment, especially after you read the whole entry. I wrote this post this evening in my journal and thought it would be great for you two readers :-)

Oh what a sweet weekend topped off with a sweet day. Holiday extended weekends are flat out awesome. Being the 4th Sunday of the month, there is no class at church for our kids so our options are having them in the 4-5 yr. old room while we teach, or finding someone to teach for us and going to the service together. Today we were afforded the opportunity to attend the Forerunner Christian Fellowship (FCF) service as a family. This is extra special because we haven't been able to attend an FCF service since July.

As is the case with 99-100% of churches, the service began with worship led by Derek Loux. Derek did an excellent job. One great part of his leading is that his brother John Loux played electric guitar in the band. John looks happy when he plays. His head bobs, his foot taps, and his hips even shake. You can tell when John is in the groove of worship. He looks happy.

After the worship set, while the offering is being taken, there is what is known as a "special". The special consists of IHOP artists singing/playing a song while the buckets are being passed. Today was truly SPECIAL! Today's special was performed by Forerunner Music Academy. There was probably 100 choir members, an orchestra and the worship band. They performed a song by another IHOP worship leader, Justin Rizzo, "Glory Will Cover the Earth". They did an incredible job. The power of the song brought tears to my eyes.

Mike Bickle then took the stage and delivered a message on the 8 Beatitudes found in Matthew 5. The message was great. He challenged people to live a lifestyle chasing perfect obedience to the Beatitudes. One of the key points of the message was that living this way is the ONLY way to be truly happy. Even that statement sparks spiritual violence in the core of the soul. But is he right? Could it be that if we lived wholeheartedly pursuing this lifestyle that we would be happy?

After having only a few hours to ponder this, I was done with the evening chores and sat down to unwind with Sunday Night Football, however the game wasn't on yet. I came across 60 minutes and a story about a child prodigy composer. Not a child prodigy pianist, or painter, or something else...a composer. His professor at Julliard says to him, this is the rarest of prodigies because of the complexity of understanding a composer must have of music. This kid was amazing. At 2 years old he was drawing pictures of a chello before he even knew what one was and then when his mom took him to see a miniature version, he could play it! By 13 he had composed his 5th symphony, an accomplishment most composers only dream of. The 60 Minutes piece showed the boy with the London Symphony in the same studio that the Star Wars soundtrack and The Beattles albums were recorded in. Remember, this boy is 13!

The interviewer asked the boy what would make him happy. The boy responded non-chalantly, I don't know, there is no definition to happiness. I may not have the quote exact, I wish I did, but either way I was stunned by his empty response. This boy, prodigy or not, has a gift many people would give anything for, and he is on top of his game before life has really even gotten into full stride.

I remember as a boy, or even as a young man, singing lyrics to songs (look here for a quick interesting read on lyrics) with words like "gimme something to believe in". I admit freely I am no Bible scholar, but I am pursuing knowledge of God. A friend of mine once said that knowledge is the one thing you can take with you. Amazingly, this guy wasn't a "believer", yet he believed in some sort of life after death and somehow figured out that knowledge is what you get to keep in eternity.

I have come to the conclusion that it is as "simple" as this: My Bible, prayer and living a life that is wholly pleasing and acceptable to God. The pursuit of a lifestyle that strives to live out a Sermon On the Mount/Beattitude existence is NOT easy. What I do know is that by living this way, the "Pursuit of the Holy" and thus, being in God's will brings true and eternal happiness!

The Haircut -REVEALED

2006-11-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well folks it has been a great wekend here on the Pleasants' farm. We have done very little except eat and hang out. As promised I have taken pictures. Here is a before and after of the bird. And FINALLY.. the haircut.

My List of Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

Here is my list of things I am thankful for. I hope all 2 of you readers are taking the time to reflect on what you are thankful for.

God Without Him, I wonder how life would be. I am thankful that I am not searching for fulfillment in life. I amy not have earthly riches, but I have joy in my heart and a growing knowledge of why I am on earth at such a time as this.
Family My family brings great joy to my life. From my wife, to my kids, to my parents and in in-laws, to my sister and her family to all the cousins and aunts and uncles out there, they all bring joy to my life and I am proud to be aprt of this family tree.
Church Not just the one I am a part of here in KC, but Door of Hope in Fairbanks. I am thankful to be aprt of these congregations and to have relationships with people that will last a lifetime.
My "Job" Being the financial manager for Forerunner Media Group is an unbelievably satisfying place to work. In reality it is more of a ministry than a job and the team I work with are tremendous in what they do and as friends.

Now some fun ones:

Smoked Salmon We just finished our first course of Thanksgiving which was homemade rolls with Sockeye (Red) salmon that I caught in the Copper River, Alaska, then smoked myself and processed in jars.
It's Not -40F In Fairbanks, it is forecast to be near 40 below tonight. No wind, just temp, or lack thereof.
Chiggers Are Dormant Coming from Alaska, my family had never experienced these pesky critters. This summer the kids and I all got bit a bunch by them and I still have the scars to prove it.
Secada Locusts Are Dead If you dont know what these are, count yourself fortunate! Tey are so loud, it sounds like a alarm for several hours every afternoon. The only saving grace is that it is about 10,000 degrees outside so an Alaskan is not likely tot be out there having to endure them.
Sweet Potato Recipe From Ms. C The recipe is divine. The friendship that provided the delectible delights, is even better than the tasty treat.

So leave a comment and tell me a couple things you are thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Have a great weekend.

Travelling

2006-11-20T06:59:00.000-08:00

Today begins what some consider to be the busiest travel week of the year. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and families are gathering to enjoy the festivities and slumber under a triptophan enduced haze. Over the past couple weeks, I have been taking note of what I am most thankful for. Occasionally, I find it to be a great excercise to take stock of all the good stuff in life.

I'll save my list for later in the week, but I will give you a couple freebies:

I am thankful for these three guys, they inspire me, make me laugh, and two of them are great friends. Go check out their blogs, one of them is on a trip of a lifetime. You figure out which one I mean...in no particular order...

Randy Bohlender

Josh Motlong

Brian Zahnd

The Haircut

2006-11-18T20:55:00.000-08:00

For all of you grandparetn types, youa re going to have to wait for the big reveal. The little princess was too preoccupied playing in leaves and fighting off knights with shining sticks to be bothered with things like getting hair done and a picture taken. But never fear, her highness will be pictorally worthy for church tomorrow and yours truly will be ready with a camera. Until then, here is a great photo to hold you over:
This was our sleeping arrangements when we were stuck in the DFW airport for 20 hours after our flight was cancelled. Ah, to be face down in a teddy bear :-) God bless you all!

Changes in Attitude

2006-11-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of friends of ours returned last night from a trip to the mountains. For one of them, it was her first time ever seeing mountains. I was slightly amazed to hear this, but Iwas even more happy for her.

Yesterday I told a friend and co worker at IHOP that the weather reminded me of an early morning waking up in the high country of Alaska. Cool, crisp, clean, sunny. Almost frosting , but it would probably be abot 50 by the end of the day.

Today is starting out about the same. It is cool out now, mostly celar and promises to be a glorious afternoon. All this said, how often do we spoil starts like these? We immediately begin to think about all the pressures of the day, the issues at work, the chores to be done around the house, the shopping for the big meal meal next week.

Say this outloud to yourself, "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!" If you can say that, and not break out in the tune that goes with it, you are a strong willed person and need to go back to the beginning of the paragraph. TRULY, this is TGIF! Thank him for it, and have a great attitude and a great day!

Thoughts for Today

2006-11-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

This morning, I awoke to the alarm at 6:30. I am still batling this cold and not really feeling all that healthy at all, but I am beginning to think that I may make a go of it today. Rachel got up with me in order to take a couple friends of ours to the airport for their anniversary trip. As she left at abot 7:30, the kids got out of bed and we all had some snuggle time on the couch before breakfast. I love the fact that my kids still like to snuggle at 10, and almost 9.

We turned on the radio and found the All Christmas All The Time station. With a chance of snow and rain in the morning, it sorta puts us in the right mood. It has been a great morning with the family. We could use a few more mornings like this.

Pray that all goes wel and I make it back to work and class. I am missing everyone and tired of being sick.

On with the day!

Its SNOWING!!

2006-11-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

I was lying on my couch last nigt, fighting off a fever and head/chest cold when the kids came in from the Friday night church service screaming, ITS SNOWING! Sure enough, the first flakes of the year were falling. Granted, they weren't accumulating, but for kids (including Rachel and I) that come from Alaska, it was great to see.

I think I am actually on the mend from the cold. It came on fast on Wednesday afternoon. By Wed. night I was done for. Here I sit Saturday eve. upright for te first time since Wednesday. I have to give MAJOR props to by beautiful and wonderful wife who made a pot of homeade chicken soup. She even went out of her way to find barley "just like mom used to make". All you other husbands missed out. I have the best there is. :)

Tonight, at our church, Rick Joyner is speaking. I am interested to hear this fella. I read one of his books a while ago "The Call". It was a recount of a series of visions he had. I dont know how to take those sort of things, but I will say that even 'if' the book was fiction, it was a great read and provided an interesting persepective into all things of a spiritual battle nature.

Please continue praying for us. You can be praying for health as fall is in full swing, for financial breakthrough, and for wisdom and revelation. We appreciate all the prayers more than anything on the earth. While finance makes things happen in the natural, prayer and faith can move mountains!

Come Monday, It'll Be Alright!

2006-11-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

It's Monday and am I ever thankful. It has been a weekend of acticity around here. We attended a Leadership Summit, cared for a sick daughter, taught 30 4&5 year olds how "Love is not rude", and even squeezed in time to make a pot of chicken and dumplings, watch 2 football games, have a fire, do some laundry, and thankfully take a shower.

This is the pace of life these days. It is similar to the Nascar race I watched some of yesterday. We fly around the track of life at 180 MPH, let off the accelerator a tad and 'slow' down to say 165 in the corners, only to mash the pedal to the floor about 2 seconds later as we enter the next straight away.

When I was in Alaska, I thought I was busy. I now realize that I had no clue of the definition of busy. We are so busy in life these days. Not just Rachel and I here in KC, but western society as a whole. We live a drive-thru lifestyle. Drive up, place our order, drive to the window, get our order and drive off. Instant gratification at its finest, only with little nutritional value.

So lets stop and look at that a little more. sometimes it is great to be busy. Things can actually get done. However, all too often it seems that we get so caught up in being busy more work is created in our haste. Details get forgooten that have to be fixed later. Plans are made without the full consequences being considered. Big decisions are made in a snap instead of going thorugh the proper sequence of garnering the counsel of wise people, praying over the decision and examining the heart of everyone connected.

Then there are priorities? Do you even know THE or A correct priority structure? Here is mine:
GOD FAMILY CHURCH
Sounds simple huh? It's not. Throughout my marriage, even in the beginning when i was such a jerk it is a MIRACLE Mrs. Pleasants stuck by me, we made family first. I have left jobs paying great money, because the demand on my time crossed the line of time with the family. Family comes first. Time and time again I see business people and ministers giving themselves to her things than their family. Then they wander why their kids are getting into trouble, why they seem aimless, why their marriages are falling apart. If priorites are straight, things seem to work out. It wont be easy and the battle will rage for what sems like eternity as people attempt to impinge on your priorities. However, in the end, the reward is huge.

Here is my challenge to my WHOLE family, mom, dad, and sis, this means you (the rest of you join in too). Go find a bible. Then read Matthew 5, 6, 7. Do it right after you read this. IT wont take long, and I promise it wont hurt you. Then for the rest of the week, or longer if you can, try and live like those chapters talk about. This isn't about being a "holy roller". It is about living life well and treating others the same. Exactly the way my father raised me to be!

For Ms. Anonymous

2006-11-02T04:41:00.000-08:00

It is 6:30 AM and I am about to go have coffee with some fellas. We call it The Gun Club. It really is just fellas talking about life over a cup of coffee.

As for Intro, it is clicking right along. I really cannot recommend doing this enough. I have been a Christian pretty much my whole life, but I can promise you, this aint your run of the mill place. 24/7/365 live worship and corporate prayer is a reality I still am hard pressed to wrap my head around. As for the classes taught by Allen Hood, Dave Sliker, Correy Russel, Dale Anderson etc., they are amazing.

For anyone else out there, that can make the trip if even for 3 months to go back home, I can't say enough about Intro. It is life changing, intense and glorious. Not to mention just plain fun getting to know people from all over the world...of course no where near as cool as Alaska.

Bless you Ms. Anonymous. I hope to meet you and Mr. A soon. May God meet your needs and lead you on a journey you will never forget!!

Hello... Is There ANYBODY Out There?

2006-10-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

What a crazy several weeks this has been. Full of great stuff, full of not so great stuff and full of just plain ol' stuff. We have so many people over for dinners and meetings I am not entirely sure I could count them if I tried.

I have wanted to post many times with events that were unfolding or taking place, but time and sanity woudl not allow me. Right now we are just over 1/2 way through the Intro to IHOP program that our "bosses" wanted us to take. We would have taken this course ourselves only later, but because of our positions within IHOP, we needed to go through this course.

In brief, this course parallels the first semester of the school of ministry here at IHOP KC. Our first class was Excellencies of Christ taught by Allen Hood. We were looking forward to this class with so much anticipation you would have thought it was Christmas Eve. Then tragedy struck and we returned to Alaska for brief visit and memorial service. We basically missed the entire class. The next class we jsut finished today was Biblical Foundations of Eschatology taught by Davied Sliker. Eschatology is the study of End Times. We were pleasantly surprised by this class. While perhaps not agreeing with all of what was presented in the 3 week course, we definitely have mroe info to comb through, with scripture referrences to go with it than EVER before in our lives. We were challenged to search the scriptures and sort this stuff for our selves and we will... we are! We have one more 3 week course to go and then we gear up for ONETHING-KC and 15-20 thousand person event the last 3 days of the year.

WOW!!

But then here is my question. Is there anyone out there reading this that even cares (no not you mom or dad)? We sent out 100 letters to people we know through our church. We have emailed many people. We have left phone messages. It is like people were abducted by aliens or something. It is flat weird. Even if you just causally read this blog and I dont know you.. speak up! Interact! Say hi.

I like to think of myself as an encourager. Often times I am saying things to people that is to pick up their spirits or just to be nice and friendly. Sincere and fun. But here is the question, how long do you continue doing so with it being only a one way street? Weeks? Months? Years? I tell you it is challenging to say the least. Then, after you thinkyou have the answer, think about this. How long did Jesus continue being nice, dare I say LOVE you before you turned to Him and gave Him your heart? Weeks? Months? Years? If we are to truly "be like Jesus" what does that REALLY mean? Turning the other cheek, forgiving AND forgetting, wow! I tell you it is a challenge. I am challenged to love one anther as I would want to be loved. Are you? If you are, tell me about it. I want to know you are out there and what you think!!

Times, They Are a Changin

2006-10-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to my escapades over this past weekend. If you scroll down you can see pics.

It has been a fast and furious few days around IHOP and our house. Yesterday was my 34th birthday, and at one point, I told Rachel that it did feel a lot different turning 34 vs. 33. For some odd reason, when I turned 33 I felt like I was on the cusp of something. While it could be argued that this is the case right now in many ways, it doesnt have the same effect as a year ago. I suppose it is because a year ago we were without direction while right now, we clearly now the direction we are going, but could not tell you were the train ride (or should I say rollercoaster) ends.

The rollercoaster part brings up a good point. Not long ago, we heard the director of hte Forerunner Music Academy (Derek Loux) talk about living a life by faith. He compared that lifestyle to that of riding a rollercoaster. Some days you are going uphill and it feels like the weight of the world and all it's pressures and stresses are pulling you backwards. Other days, you are at the top of the hill and you can see for miles in all directions. Then there are those days that you are about to rocket down the other side. Similar to the Splash Mountain ride at Disney land, you can't see the bottom of the hill as you are plumetting at the speed of sound. It creates faith in God that he is going to take care of us. He has our best interest in mind.

This is where Rachel and I see ourselves right now. At the top of the hill. We have given ourselves to the leap of faith it takes for the next "phase" of life to occur, but this does not make it any easier for us. There are a ton of uncertainties. As a good friend of mine calls aprt of what we are looking at, "A big hairy gorilla". The best part though, is that God beat Goliath.

Faith is a great thing to ponder. This past weekend we taught our 4-5 year old class about the armor of God found in Ephesians 6. As we went 1 by 1 through all the pieces there were a couple really interesting points that hit home to me. I love when as I teach the little guys I get ministered to as well. the first point was this, the shield of faith. It is our faith that provides a shield around us as we pray. We believe that God is going to answer our prayers according to His will. It is almost as if there were an invisible force field like a Star Trek cloaking device around us. Our faith in God protects us from the lies of the enemy. It even combats the lies and strengthens us.

Second point was that all but one part of the armor is defensive. I suppose that it could be argued that the boots to spread the gospel are offensive because it is forwarding the kingdom of God. However, one part that is for sure an offensive weapon is the Sword. The sword refers to the Word of God. The Bible. Every word of it is true and can cotradict the best of the enemies lies. Recently, I ws provoked by someone that compared what muslims extremists teach their kids with guns and terror tacticts while we teach kids with coloring pages and puppets. He then went on to add we should be teaching the Bible. So that we can fire back at them love, intercession (prayer), and quote the prophecies(promises) of the Bible. Just take a moment and pnder that. See how provoked you get.

Here is my last thought. The Day of the Lord is both terrible and great, who can endure it? That question was posed to the believers of God 1000's of years ago. I am asking myself as i ask you, are you in a place right now to say yes to that question? If not, what are you going to do about it?

Fall Brings Change and a Time to Reflect

2006-10-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

What Made Us Come to KC Part I

Part 2A

Part 2 B See the post "Closing Day"

The Wrap Up

Because people have been coming to the site that do not know our story, I thought I would put up the story of how we got here. There is much more to tell, but this is the beginning and from there, both of you readers can browse around.

Rachel and I are putting the call out to everyone to please be praying earnestly for us and the Children's Equipping Center Leadership Team. Great things are happening and we can see the spiritual battles intensifying. We need extra prayer covering. We are also wanting to hear specifically how we can pray for you!

Be watching over the next couple days for big announcements. Speaking of BIG announcements, go check out my buddy Randy's blog too. Talk about a testimony!

Is it Fall?

2006-10-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

The past 3 days have been record breaking hot here in KC. 95 degrees hot. The trees are turning yellow, and leaves are accumulating on the ground, but you would not know it by this past heat wave. When I check the weather in Fairbanks, it says that it is cool, about 30 at night and approaching 50 during the day. Now that sounds more like fall.

Fall brings about the thought of change. Not only is it a change of the season, but there is a lot of change in the air. I will post more on that as time allows, but suffice it to say that life is getting exciting ways I would have never thought imaginable even a year ago.

A year ago, I was cutting up a moose that I had taken with my bow only days earlier. Now I am in KC working at the Internation House of Prayer. I am part of the ONETHING/Forerunner Media team as well as part of the Childrens Equipping Center Leadership team. How God has orchestrated all of this is not only amazing but humbling. I look at all of the things Rachel and I are doing and shake my head in wonderment. How is it that we landed here and got involved in the areas we are? What is it God is bringing about in our lives? What is God doing in the lives of our children?

So change is in the air, it is all good and nothing earth shattering, but the excitement and pace of life is greatly increasing. Please be praying for us. We appreciate any extra prayer covering we can muster.

For Your Downloading Pleasure

2006-09-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Message from Kelsey B last weekend on why you should teach End Times to kids

If you click the link above the download should start. When it finishes, BEFORE you press play, remove your shoes and socks lest they be blown clean off your feet.

Raise Your Hand if You are Sure!

2006-09-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

This post is likely to provoke. I woudl encourage you two readers to skip down a few posts and read up from there to sort of set the stage a tad before diving in the deep end unless you are an accomplished swimmer.

Here at IHOP-KC we are in the middle of our National Children's Equipping Center (CEC) Conference. It wraps up tomorrow night after a day full of Daphne Kirke and her family. This will come after a very intense day of messages by Allen Hood to start to the day, Folks like Randy And Kelsey Bohlender in the middle and wrapping up with home grown Dana Candler. It really has been a day for the ages in KC.

I have been fortunate to be the head (or is it only) usher for the conference. I hand out the notes, greet people as the y arrive, tell the parents that really, truly, everything is OK and yes, we do this 24/7 365, that is we pray and worshp. Today I was blessed with a another task, the chore of being the recorder extrodinaire for one of the breakout sessions hosted by the Bohlenders on Teaching End Times to Kids.

Did you hear the sound of metal crashing in your head as you read that?! Yes, I said teaching end times to kids. This isnt the "repent, for the end is near" speech you hear from the whacko on the street corner. Granted there is a touch of validity to said whacko, but this is more intimate, more meat and potatoes (perfect for an Alaskan) and could not have been more timely.

Here is a question that the better session leader (Mrs B. :) posted.

"How many of you were saved because you knew it would keep you from going to hell?"
99 % of the room raised their hands. Here is the problem. That isnt a sustaining motivation. In fact, I challenge both of you readers to show me in the Bible where Jesus used it as motivation for His disciples.

Did Jesus say, "I will save you from hell, because that is the goal in the end of the age"? Or was He calling us to reign with Him in eternity, forever? I tell you, there is a lot more to this stuff than I ever knew. It doesnt matter WHEN Jesus comes back. The point is that He is, and what are you going to do abot it right now. Nothing you say? You say it isnt important to ponder what is going to take to be the pure spotless bride he is longing for?! What if half of what the Bohlenders said today is right? Then what?

Long Time, No Post!

2006-09-16T06:54:00.000-07:00

As stated in my last post, life has been dealing this family a series of left and right hooks lately. Through it all, we are saying, "Praise God!" because we know that God is doing something good. Whenver we have setbacks or trials in life, we find that it is a moment of breakthrough into something bigger and better in our life.

A piece of our family passed away 2 weeks ago yesterday. Skylar Gettinger, 14 went home to be with Daddy. It was sad to see a mother lose a child, but we all know Skylar is much happier! He was severly disabled and is now free, not trapped by this mortal body. We flew up to Alaska to attend the memorial and be with the family.

While this trip could have been full of sadness, instead, there were many high points. THe first was a fmaily get together for dinner with Rachel's sister and family. We had a great time chatting, eating and me teaching them all to play pool again :). The best part however, was as we left at nearly midnigt, we saw the Northern Lights. They were dancing brilliantly. One of the kids commented how it made them think of Skylar dancing with Jesus! Precious.

Another high point was the kids getting to see thier friends at Chinook Montessori School. To us, this school is the best in the nation. It not only teaches these children well, but the family atmosphere is incredible, they require the parents to be involved and the success of this shows in the children. Kenny and Kassidy both thoroughly enjoyed seeing their friends and old teachers.

Next came two nights of feast and fellowship with friends. We were so blessed to reconnect with friends that we havent seen in 6 months. We were able to share with them what we are doing here in KC and spend sweet time together. It is difficult to put into words what they all mean to us, but one thing is certain, we would have never made it this far without them! We love all dearly and long to be living among them again.

One last high point was our forrays into he wilds of Alaska. The picture above is from Creamers Field Migratory Wildlife Refuge. This place holds a special place in our heart. It is so beautiful, and it is right inside Fairbanks. The geese, cranes, ducks and other birds come through there by the 1000's both in spring and summer. It is amazing to see and hear. During the fall, when the sun is shining through golden birch leaves and the air soaked with cranberries and roasehips it resonates deep in the soul. It was god to be... home.

God, thank you for kiss from You to be able to see Alaska at its prime. Bless those up there that we love so dearly, keep them safe and healthy and continue bringing us all into the better things of life that You have for us!

Thank you to everyone for your hospitality. It was a tremendous blessing.

Storms!

2006-08-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Storms often scare. A child looking at a thunderstorm is unsettled and looks for its parent. Many nations on the earth have faced massive storms in the past couple years. Storms like Katrina have wrecked havoc on countless 1000's of lives.

How many other individuals have been battling personal storms? High velocity winds gusting through their lives blowing apart all that was once held dear? Torrential rains drowning out everything that was built up as a facade to the world around them? Perhaps heavy snows fell on their lives, cold and wet suffocating the life and vitality of their meager existence on earth.

But let's look at this another way. What if the storms were actually something beautiful? What if when the winds were blowing, the rains were pounding, or the snow was flying, that in reality the unnecessary parts of our life were being eradicated? How many times is it said of people that had near death experiences that afterwards they were going to live their lives differently? Now they would pay less attention to the mundane and trivial and more attention to the smell of the roses and the taste of the air standing beside the sea.

Rachel and I are seeing our fair share of storms. Right now, my beautiful bride is in Alaska helping a family member with 3 disabled children. One is in ICU with pneumonia and Rachel is at home caring for the other two. This is only the latest of a series of storms. None have been life threatening, but all have been god attempts at knocking the Good Ship Pleasants off course.

But then there is that familiar refrain in our heads and hearts. PRAISE GOD! Our ship might be thrown around on the seas of life and change, but we know God is up to something good. We see relationships blooming. We see battles being undertaken in our friends personal lives. We see a lot of people praying. Seriously praying. Praying like their life depends on it. It does.

The cliche', "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" comes to mind. When the storms and the attacks come, it is more than a signal to pray. It is a signal of the good to come afterwards. God does not let us go through struggles without a reason. He does so to get our attention and to call us into the next phase of our life. This is why when we look at the horizon and we see the ominous clouds approaching in our lives, we should not tremble out of fear, but of anticipation, trusting in God for what is going to come after the rains.

I encourage both of you readers to take this to heart. Pray about it. Ask God to help the attitudes of your heart to be trusting in Him and to quiet the fear. If the worse thing that happens is we pass away on this journey, we still win in the end. And if you read this and you don't believe that, read the Bible and pray!

Introduction to IHOP -Day 1

2006-08-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

Today was the beginning of the Intro to IHOP program that the entire Family is attending. It is the basics of the International House of Prayer all rolled up into one 3 1/2 month internship. The session tracks along with the first semester of the Forerunner School of Ministry as well as a host of other tid bits and loads of time in the Prayer Room.

To Rachel and I, day 1 was a lot of information that we already know. We were watching the faces of those around us, many of whom just arrived in the past few days, and we could see on their faces they were in overload mode. The fact of the matter is though it will not let up until it is over. In reality, it will only get more intense, more powerful and more special day by day.

The group of interns going through the Intro program is the largest yet. We number right at 140 adults. Counting the children and family members that aren't actually attending, it is close to 200 fresh faces. I commented to someone that 140 people is larger than most churches and we are only a sliver of al that is going on here at IHOP-KC.

As we set out on this journey called Intro, we are anticipating a lot happening in the lives of these 140 including ours. There is no question that there is something bigger going on, and only One knows what it is.

A Week To Remeber

2006-08-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

This past week my family and I were treated to a 2 night 3 day stay at Big Cedar Wilderness Club. Friends of our here in KC called us up and asked if we could go and they were treating. All we had to do was pack our bags, bring some food (or eat out) and show up. The resort is about 3 1/2 hours south of KC very near Branson, MO.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The first night we took a sunset catamaran cruise. The second night we left our kids in the room late at night for a couple hours while we went and hung out with our friends and had some desert. There was also a ton of swimming to be had. The lodge pictured above is actually the indoor swim house. It is encircled by a lazy river that is for floating inner tubes around. There is also another outdoor pool, miniature golf, horseback riding, a full blown marina with paddle boats and canoes for free, and boat rentals.

The grounds were beautiful. This waterfall you have to drive thru on your way into the lodge. It has several steps from the top of the hill all the way down to Table Rock Lake below. There are also many different types of trees and flowers. There is hardly a place that your eyes can land that doesnt have a beautiful touch of fauna. It seemed like every color of the rainbow was represented.

This resort was the first place we have been that as soon as we entered the rooms, we instantly felt relaxed and at home. The rooms are equipped with a full blown kitchen to include a dishwasher and all the dishes. pots and pans and cutlery a person could ever need. It was amazing. Here are two more pictures to show the room, and the sunset.

Praise God Through it All!

2006-08-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

When Rachel and I were working our way out of Alaska, we came up against struggle after struggle. Things like a furnace cracking the heat exchanger, having to repaint the entire interior of our house AFTER we had already signed with a realtor to sell it, having my arm in a sling after tearing the rotator cuff and hyper extending the elbow and wrist, not being able to help pack the uhaul and do anything in the house before we left. The key to all of this was that through it all we were practically giddy saying, "Praise God". We knew that we must be on to something good in our lives if we were encountering so much interference.

This past week the cycle began again. On Wednesday, as Rachel and the kids were going to the post office, they managed to lock themselves out of the Durango. It was 100 degrees outside and they were about 4 miles from home. They walked about 1/2 mile before someone saw that one of the kids was having a meltdown emotionally and offered to help. In the end, everything worked out OK. Thursday, we pulled a most delicious lasagne that we had prepped out of the freezer so that we could eat off it during the conference here at IHOP. Problem was that when my boy pulled the pan out of the freezer, no one knew that he didn't get the door closed. The week prior, my dad had dropped off a lot of moose, halibut and salmon from Alaska. Luckily, the freezer wasn't unplugged so everything was at least 'cool', but it had thawed completely. But the story doesn't end here. Friday morning, Rachel went to wash clothes, problem was, the washing machine broke. It wouldn't do anything other than pump water IN. NO spin cycle, no churn mode, nada. This made us purchase a new washing machine because we literally had no clean clothes. Off I went to the bank, withdrew the funds necessary to reopen my account in Sam's Club, and buy the machine. (side note- SAMS NEEDS TO ACCEPT VISA). I get home, drop off the machine, go to the conference that night, we wake up and go to church Sunday morning, and practically pass out Sunday night. We wake up Monday morning and discover that we are missing $100. Oh happy day! But through it all, we were saying praise God! None of these things were life threatening or really even all that bad. Granted it was a good chunk of cash that is missing, and all the other stuff sucked to varying degrees, but in the end, no big deal.

We knew that we knew God was up to something good. Then the phone rang. A friend of ours here in KC left a message for us. Upon returning the call they ask us what we are doing Wednesday-Friday of this week. I tell them that really other than work, nothing. They ask if would like 3 free nights at BIG CEDAR. I could not believe my ears, and then I looked at the web page and could not believe my eyes. What a gift. Our hearts are longing so much for a real piece of nature.

The last night of the conference. Lenny asked me to be talking to the department heads of the CEC at our meeting today about small groups and the lack here of community. How together we can make a difference but if we are not a true team we will accomplish nothing. It is funny to me how when I asked my pastor in Fairbanks for a good scripture to share with them regarding cell groups/small groups he gave me Acts 2:42-47. This is the same scripture that I got to bring us here in the first place.

God is moving not only in our life, but in the life of so many people that we know. Through it all we praise God. Thanks to Lyle G. in Alaska for giving us a great example to follow and an infectious smile to remember to this day.

New Baseball Fan Born!

2006-08-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

Last night my son and I were able to go see the Kansas City Royals play the Boston Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium here in KC. The picture above is of him yelling CHARGE!

When we first entered the stadium, as Kenny first saw the field he exhaled "WHOA!". I dont think he realized just how big the place was. The game had almost 27,000 people attending. Kenny was able to see his first Home Runs. One was hit by David "Big Papi" Ortiz. THe game was won by KC 6-4.

We ate a great hot dog, and you can see in the picture above the hat that he got as a treat. I was thrilled to be able to take him to the game and a HUGE thanks to Lenny and Tracy. These memories will last a lifetime.

A Great Alaskan Dies

2006-08-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

Susan Butcher passed away yesterday. She was the first woman to win the Iditarod Sled Dog Race 4 times, three of which were in a row. She embodied everything that is Alaska.

I remember watching her compete in races when I was a child and the presence she had. She looked like she could kill a grizzly bear with her bare hands. It wasn't that she was big, it was the look in her eye, her tenacity. She was tough and unrelenting.

The past couple years my kids went to a Montessori school that Susan's kids went to as well. To know Susan's family is to know truly what Alaska is all about. Hard work, long play and lots of love. Eery time I ever spoke with Susan, she exuded strength, wisdom and tenacity. She would always stand her gorund and never give up.

When the leukemia returned a few weeks ago after a bone marrow transplant, the doctors told her she had two options, go home and spend time with friends, or start all over. Those who knew Susan also knew she would take the challenge, not the easy way.

As you sit around, enjoying your coffee and your Sunday afternoon BBQ's, say a prayer for the butcher family and all their friends. Say a special prayer for Tekla and Chisana and thier father Dave. An icon of Alaska has passed away and with her, a very large piece of what Alaska is to many residents no longer remains.

Mountain of Myrrh

2006-08-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

I have been pondering over the past few days what to post on here. In some senses I feel like I have a ton to say, in others I feel I should just keep quiet. There is a lot going on around the Pleasants family. We have a guest with us from Alaska for another 2 weeks, my dad and stepmom should arrive this weekend after spending the summer in Alaska (yes it is over up there), and work for Rachel and I grows more intense by the day.

All of this together makes for long days and little to no weekend. Is that bad? Not really. We like to be busy. If we weren't working so hard, we would be missing Alaska all the more. I spoke yesterday with a great friend here and he told me about when his family first landed in KC how they mourned for their previous home and all the connections. It really hit home with me to hear him say this. I told another friend last night, that I think what is especially getting to me is almost every calendar I look at now, shows the first week or two of September, which for this Alaskan, is the start of hunting season.

Hunting season, is significant in many ways. While it is a chance for God to provide my family with an abundant supply of meat, it is also a very spiritual time. It is a time where I would sit in the woods or walk along trails and reflect over the past year and spend some great time talking to God about what was coming ahead. Last year alone I calculated that I walked over 50 miles looking for a moose to harvest. It was on the 2nd to last day of the season that God gave me the moose. Funny thing was, we barely ate any of it before we left Alaska to come here to KC. The rest of the meat went to a couple families that needed it. I couldnt be happier about that.

This past weekend in the Children's Equipping Center, the kids heard a message out of Hosea 2 and Song of Songs 4. Talking about going up the Mountain of Myrrh and how we are all on a journey. Myrrh, in this sense is actually referring to death, and the journey we are on is one of dying to ourselves and our desires and living out what God would have us do. Letting go of all the things we chase after and following God's will in our life. This is where I am at personally. Dying to all the things I know and are and have become, and living toward all that God would make of me. What a journey!

Life in a nutty shell

2006-07-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

We made the trip back from Chicago with no hassles. Unless you call a severe thunderstorm a hassle. We returned via a route that was different than on the way up and I wish we had been able to see more of it during the daylight. It really was pretty, for farmland.
This is more like what I would call pretty. The picture is of a place called Tangles Lakes, Alaska. This is barren country. Tundra and mountains abound. Every mountain within eyesight of where this picture was taken, I have been to the top of in search of caribou and or moose or just out picking blueberries with my family, or hiking back to fishing streams.

This is the same lake that when I was a kid learning how to hunt, I rode a skateboard (sitting down) down a 4 mile long hill.. only to realize afterwards that I had to hike back up. The hill ended where the lake pictured above begins. When I turned around to begin the trek back up the hill, I noticed that the road had curved. Surely it would be shorter to hike across the tundra in a straight line. I lived to tell you that this was probably the dumbest thing I ever tried to accomplish in the wilds of Alaska. The tundra, while looking innocent and flat, is anything but. There are valleys where you cant see them, there are holes that could break the strongest of ankles and willows that could hold the best escape artist firm.

Tangles Lakes is hat I named the dog I have now after. We had a dog previously that we took on one of the fishing trips back at the base of the mountain pictured above. We hiked about 2 miles to some of the best Arctic Grayling fishing on earth. On the way out, the dog chased ground squirrels in a fashion similar to the kids game whack-a-mole. The squirrel would pop up in a hole, the dog would run to catch it, the squirrel would duck down the hole only to pop up several yards away in another hole. This continued all the way to the creek. I am sure the dog ran 10 miles vs. the two we hiked. When we finally crawled in the tent that night, the dog fell asleep sitting up. When I pushed on his shoulder, he fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes and barely moved all night. This is why after we had to put him down a few years ago, when we got another dog that acted so much like him, we had to name him Tangles.

Tangles Lakes is also where I took my wife not long after we were married to go fishing. It was the same trip mentioned above that my wife learned to fly fish. She got herself all ready to fish, including hip waders and got out into the stream. A few casts later, SPLASH. I thought for sure the rip and any chance of her ever enjoying the outdoors were over. Instead, she worked her way back to the bank, slipped off the waders, emptied the water, put them back on and kept fishing. I knew then this was a match made in heaven.

Tangles Lakes holds a special place in my heart for a lot more reasons than just these stories. This was where I spent the first two weeks of every September from 9 years old to about 18. It is where my dad taught me to hunt. It is where I killed my first big game animal. It is where I had my first beer. I miss it. I pray I see it again....SOON!

Chicago - My Kind of Town

2006-07-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

Our family is in Chicago right now after having driven almost 600 miles yesterday. We left KC about noon and were in Chicago at 8pm. The drive was pretty uneventful other than the toll booths. I despise tolls. I suppose if I really try I can understand their need, but really, they ruin the flow of the trip. The only cool part of the ride was that we rented a Dodge Stratus. While it doesnt exactly fit someone 6 feet tall, it was a nice smooth ride.

We are here to pick up the daughter of our pastor form Fairbanks. She comes into O'Hare Intl. this afternoon around dinner time and then we are driving back to KC. We plan to take in a couple sights today too. Hopefully the Sears Tower is worth a ride to the top, although there are thunderstorms around so we may not do it. Also, there is the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier, all of which hold promise, but with the cruddy weather who knows.

Please say a prayer for our dog back in KC. He scared the life out of the person watching him and is now residning in our abode by himself without having been let out now for over 24 hours. On the bright side, he does know to go in to the unfinished part of the basement to do his business, but still he cant be happy. A friend of ours is going to check on hojm late this afternoon, so hopefully it will, uh... all work out :)

Clarity or Trust?

2006-07-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

First, a warm (or should I say cool because it is 90 degrees at 11pm and 65% humidity) hearted thanks to Shari G for sending us the DVD of a session Jason Upton held in Wasilla this past May. We wanted to be there, but God had us here in KC too fast.

Rachel and I just finished watching the message. There is so much about the style Jason has when speaking, but bottom line (thats the accountant in me) is the fact that Jason does not hold back, sugar coat, beat around the bush or make us where chest waders to wade through the crap dished out from the pulpit. and I for one LOVE IT.

In this message he said A LOT of great things, but one particular bit jumped out at me. I knew right away why I havent been blogging and what I have been searching for in my prayers. It is the issue of clarity vs. trust. Sorta like walking up from the riverbank with your stringer full of salmon. You need both clarity and trust. Clarity to understand you may have an unwelcomed lunch guest, and the trust that God will keep you safe.

Jason told of a story that is found in a book called Ruthless Trust (my apologies to the author whom I dont remember the name). The author goes to see Mother Theresa and asks her to pray for clarity in his life. She declines. The fella is aggrivated by this because surely of all people, Mother Theresa had clarity in her life and what is the harm in praying that over someone else. The catch was, as she told the gentleman, that in fact, she had no clarity. God never told her what she would be doing at any given time or next month etc. I have been saying this in my own life for a couple years now. I have told people that when I try to lock some big thing into my schedule I can promise that God will not allow it. The kids will get sick, or I will, or some superceding event will take place to shatter the schedule.

The longing for clarity comes from the striving from within our hearts and spirits to know what is coming down the pipe for us in our lives. Trust is letting go of that struggle and letting God meet our needs and see our destiny fulfilled. Trust is also eternal when talking about God. We can always trust God.

The Bible is full of stories of kings who went to great lengths to build up their kingdoms. Over and over again the Bible tells us that these same kings also lost it all because they were trying to fulfill their will and not God's. We have to trust in God to meet our needs. It is amazing to me how inense the struggle to let go is. I know that when we tithe, God promises to meet our needs. God is not a God that lies, so why then is it so hard to quit striving and let him do his work? I think there are about 100 sermons that come out of this paragraph, but for now, I let it go :0)

Rachel and I are at this point. We have been there for many months now. We have been trusting in God in increasing levels since well before our leaving Fairbanks. Now as we settle into our positions at IHOP we have no choice but to trust in God to meet our needs. We wouldnt have it any other way.

The Battle to End RFDM's

2006-07-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

What are RFDM's you ask? A good friend (that I haven't spoken or received email from in months now) told me about these. Red Flags of Disorganization and Miscommunication. They happen to the best of people and businesses, church groups and organizations.

These usually appear at the most unwanted time such as the most busy point of an event. The flags represent where the weaknesses are in systems. Many people never even notice the flags. They continue day to day as if all is normal. As if by some strange reason, things should be done this way.

I seem to spot them a mile away and it challenges me to stay calm and slow to anger. Over and over I am tested in this. If there is one thing I have noticed in KC it is that people largely do things , whatever it is by the seat of their pants. The funny part is that they do it repeatedly this way. Instead of taking the time jot down a few key points to remember the next time the chore appears to make it go easier, they struggle through the same issues again, expending the same amount of energy to find the answer as it took the first time.

As much as I point fun at the military and some of their ridiculous systems, I will give them credit for a book most people in uniform are familiar with. A continuity book. The idea is that should a person suddenly fall off the face of the earth, another person could sit down in their sit, grab the continuity book and be able to do the job.

For everyone reading this, I present this challenge to you. Take a few moments each day over the next week to write some of the procedures you do day to day. My dad, who is probably sitting in his boat in Valdez right now is excluded, I don't want to hear about THAT :). Begin building your own Continuity book and join the battle to end RFDM's.

Perpetual Transition? I Hope Not!

2006-07-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

The new vista I was referring to is a new position within IHOP. As of Monday, I am officially a part of the ONETHING Ministries team. For those of you reading along on this journey, you will remember that I mentioned having two dreams on 10/31/05. In these dreams, I got two scripture referrencs, Acts 2:42 and Luke 18:16.

One of these dreams was about ONETHING. I dreamt that I was being escorted into an aircraft hangar by a fellow employee. As we approaced the hangar and then stepped inside, I could see a huge airplane being constructed. It was as big or bigger than the AIRBUS. It ws still rough looking, sparks were flying from grinders, wires from inside the fusalage could be seen hanging. There were no winows installed so the holes could be seen where they would go.

The gentleman escorting me said, "I want to introduce you to the project manager", and we ascended the stairs into the aircraft. Right inside the doorway stood Dwayne Roberts, director of ONETHING ministries. I sorta chuckled in my sleep because I recognized him from real life. He said he was glad to have me aboard.

My escort then walked me through the airplane toward the tail. As we walked, again you could see the enormity and unfinished state of the plane. At one point, where the interior was nearing completion, I saw a veneer of wood that was to become the interior panelling. It was made of Tiger Maple Thie picture makes the wood look lighter than in the dream, but you get the idea.
It was magnificient. Any rich person would be jealous of this plane and its beauty.

We continued through the plane and out the tail section back into the hangar and my escort said, "I want to show you your station". We walked over to the back corner of the hangar and he showed me what appeared to be a solvent cleaning station, a place that washes grease and grime off of parts. The pieces on the tabale to be cleaned were very small, most only the size of a finger tip. My escort then told me, "It is VERY important to set the machine to 242. Very important!" I turned the dials on the machine to 242 and woke up.

Once awake, I wrote the dream in my journal and later looked up all the scriptures in the Bible having a 242 referrence. Acts 2:42 spoke loudly. "They continually devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to the beaking of bread, and to times of prayer." This scripture was one half of why we came here and the verse came to me through a dream of ONETHING.

We recently had a friend over (Tim for those in Alaska who know him) and he provided some great insight into this dream. He said he thought it was awesome how God allowed me to see what He was working on. How even in the small things, it added to the whole picture of a magnificient creation. I was even allowed to see some of what the finished product would become, and that in some ways, the creation was closer to being completed than the beginning stages.

So Rachel and I are focused on two vistas right now and both are incredible. We pray continually that God will equip us and that we will be able to bring this all back to Alaska so that the children and young adults in Alaska can wake up from their sleep and realize the full potential of God in their lives. The days of coloring page Sunday school and pizza gathering youth movements are over. Just because it is dark in Alaska more than it is light is no excuse not to have light burning from within. With the power of prayer and a great battle of spiritual warfare, transformation will truly take place in Alaska.

Vistas

2006-06-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

vis·ta ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vst)n.

A distant view or prospect, especially one seen through an opening, as between rows of buildings or trees.
Have you ever seen a beautiful vista? Have you ever felt like you were stuck in a rut and longed for a new vista? Have you ever sat and talked with a Pastor only to have them pray over you and then say, “I feel like you are going to have many vistas to choose from.” To the all of the above I say yes, and I am not too sure what my reaction should be.

In less than a year life has so dramatically changed that I can’t even begin to explain. A year ago, I would have been up to my knees in processing fresh sockeye salmon. Today I am in what is referred to as “The Armpit of America”. A year ago, I was fresh off the Midnight Sun Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska and my first endeavor into the Special Events Management side of life for a non profit. Today, I work for the International House of Prayer, another non-profit. A year ago, we were gearing up for a new cell group that comprised of young married couples and new Christians. Today, we are longing for the community we held so dear.

The pastor mentioned above is a great man of God. He once told me that his goal once was to be like Jesus. He told me that he gave up on that goal to be replaced by some other. I neglected then to tell him that to me, he was very much like Jesus. When I was at my worst, he didn’t guilt me, he loved me. When I hurt his feelings, he didn’t hold a grudge, he loved me. When I answered the door right after exhaling marijuana and he was on the other side, he asked how I was and loved on me.

So how then, is a person to take it when the pastor says, “you are going to have many vistas to choose from”. It is like a mom cutting the apron strings holding a child close. The vistas have been coming continually. At one point, we thought we were on to something with the Children’s Equipping Center, we actually still do. But it has felt like only half of the puzzle was complete. We have been praying for revelation and clarity. We even called our former and much beloved cell group to fasting and praying for us.

And then it happened another vista appeared. Thanks Pastor. I guess I should be careful what I ask for.

Fasting and Praying

2006-06-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Rachel and I had a discussion with our pastor in Fairbanks. We were discussing with him a lot of topics all related to where we were feeling God was taking us.

We come from a cell based church. We miss the people that were in our cell greatly. If there is one thing that IHOP-KC is not expert in, it is community. That is, unless you go through one of the programs that they have here.

After about an hour on the phone, our pastor said he was going to call a two week period of fasting and praying for breakthrough and revelation for Rachel and I. We told him how great that was of him, but I thought that there were many of the group that aren't even really sure what fasting is all about. After all, it was only this past January that I tried my first fast. In my search of what it is to fast, and how to do it I came upon a message by Misty Edwards from the House of Prayer. It takes about 45 minutes to listen to but LISTEN TO IT. HERE
You will have to scroll down just a bit to were you see "The Fasted Lifestyle" then click on the head phones and it will start automatically. I am pleading with you to listen to this message it will change your life!

As for our cell group in Fairbanks, we miss you and thank you for taking this matter to heart and joining with us.

Signs and Wonders Camp '06 WRAPS

2006-06-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

Signs and Wonders Camp is officially over as of 15 minutes ago. Here are a few highlights of the last 24 hours:

Mrs. Sanitize finally had enough and nearly served one young man for breakfast. While the fella was joking, I believe it was God's impartation of wisdom to him to not mess with a woman who is tired.
Officially, Tracy LaGuardia is the funniest person at IHOP-KC. We told her she should put her 'bits' together in a show of some sort. She is tremendously gifted in working with kids.
God performed Signs and Wonders last night as large thunderstorm split in half right over KC and prevented us having to evacuate the camp in the middle of the night.
Even though all the workers were/are tired, emotions and tempers were kept in check and everyone is going home tonight knowing the job was well done.

This camp really is amazing. There is so much in society for kids to do that is similar to ingesting garbage. Like the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. This conference was like eating at a fine Sunday brunch only better. The basic model for children to seek God on their own in order to establish an intimate relationship with Him was presented. The leaders then reinforced this and helped lead the kids deeper into the Word. What a difference a few days can make. If at the end of this camp, all we did was help one kid connect to God permanently, then this was a success.

My hats off to all the leaders, the work crews, to those who covered the camp continuously in prayer, and Lenny and Tracy LaGuardia. It was a pleasure for me to be a part of camp and with such a great team.

Signs and Wonders Camp '06 III

2006-06-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

We are entering the home stretch of the camp. The kids go home Thursday afternoon. I cannot express my gratitude enough to the staff that has put this whole camp on. This is truly an amazing accomplishment.

Last night was the Healing Service. The kids were praying for people from all over the KC Metro area with illness, pain and any other things in that category. As the folks filed out after the service there was a buzz among them. I heard one elderly gentleman say, "As soon as she put her hands on my back I could feel heat pulsing through my back, then all the pain vanished." Another lady said to her friend, "This is awesome, it is what it is all about, having the kids pray was so cool".

My daughter was fried before the service. The lack of sleep, the chaos of all the kids, and lack of a routine was pushing her to her limit. She said she would hang on through the Healing Service. Kassidy is full of faith in God. We have prayed over and over again for God to protect her child heart and build up a solid foundation of faith in Him. We are thankful she has the heart she has.

Last night, at the service, Kassidy prayed for someone. This alone, is a bit outside her comfort zone, but she wanted to. She told me later, "Daddy, all I did was say, in Jesus' name be healed! Then I almost got squished as the lady fell to the floor. She was asleep for about 45 minutes!" Kassidy hasnt even heard terms like slain in the Spirit, or being zapped by God. It was the faith of a child, believing in her God that saw her Maker restore a woman's health right before her very eyes. I say it again folks, HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD?

Continue to pray for these little warriors. This last 24 hours of camp are so crucial in sealing thier hearts and ensuring the seeds planting in their hearts find fertile soil. Also, please continue praying for the leaders of the camp, there hasn't been much sleep or rest for that matter, but they are doing an INCREDIBLE job!

Signs and Wonders Camp '06 II

2006-06-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Oh to be a kid again! After breakfast yesterday, the kids were gearing up for a vicious game of Capture the Flag. My understanding is the outcome was after three games, 2-1 girls!

Monday was a pretty warm day of 95. Thankfully the kids were at the IHOP Mission Base and the pool. The groups were taken care of very well with sessions led by CEC staff, and swimming fun for all. My super big thanks goes to the kitchen staff whom performed admirably under pressure. I was there to witness the very last green beans served much to the amazement of the kitchen crew led by Mrs. Sanitize herself. They all thought the green beans would last until next year. As it turned out, all 250 people were served and finished in just about an hour! WAY TO GO!

The evening progressed into the main session led by the head macho honcho himself, Lenny LaGuardia. They closed the doors, allowed no visitors and pressed deeply into the Word. The comment I got from one of the group leaders was "man, kids were seriously touched tonight. Kids that were having bad attitude had 180 degree turn around and were committed to living a better life". How cool is that, and how Great is our God?

I was shuttle driver extrodinaire after the session. We had planned to be using a big 60 passenger bus and two 'peanut' shuttles, but the big bus just couldn't handle life with all these kids and gave up the fight. With two 15 passengers shuttles, we got all the kids delivered to camp by 11pm. This was just in time for Smores ('cause ya always some more) for the kids and then it was off to bed. I heard this morning that a snipe hunt took place too. No word on the success of this escapade.

Rachel and I left camp at 1230am and were in bed about a half hour later. I was back in the captian's chair of shuttle number 2 (big bus still down) at 7am hauling people tot he much needed showers. Funny part about this, as I took the last load of girls back to camp, their leader told them how good the bus smelled. I laughed and told her that I had noticed how aromatic the bus was after the girls got on, but when I was transporting the boys, I was pretty sure I had somehow picked up a wet dog. Oh well, I guess thats what the pool is for :)

So far, today has gone well, lunch has just completed and Rachel aka Mrs. Sanitize is still standing along with the rest of the kitchen crew. It should be a great night. Please continue to pray for the camp as a whole. Great things are happening!

Signs and Wonders Camp '06

2006-06-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday several people involved with the CEC and many of the counselors for camp all assembled in a large field near Terrace Lakes. The mission of the day was to set-up camp. We put up 20+ 10 man tents as well as a couple gazebos. It was a gorgeous day and the work went relatively smooth. The only damage done happened to be by a particular Alaskan female who didn't realize her own brute strength and snapped a pole used for one of the tents. She says that it was previously damaged, but there is no proof of this.

Sunday was not only Fathers Day, but Opening Day for camp. My own father called me at one point, which was good because I had no idea how to reach him. Once we talked however, I son realized I was going to be challenged to wish him Happy Father's Day as he was sitting in Valdez, Alaska preparing his boat for a voyage to sea for several days. I am as green as the sea with envy, but I digress.

We began our day with my son buying his dad a cup of coffee at the IHOP coffee shop then off to camp. We showed up at 1030 and from then on, it was a steady stream of people. I have not heard the official number of kids this year, but suffice it to say it is very close to 250. This is over a 100% increase from last year. The registration of the children went well and only one parent found it necessary to go to the local one-stop-shop to buy their children a "luggage tent". Seriously folks, you are camping for 4 days in 95 degree heat, what do you need to have with you that requires a pull behind suitcase?

About 1 pm we had to shuttle these children from the camp to the CEC about 2 miles away. Yours truly got to drive a shuttle and had great fun. I will put back on my chauffeurs hat the next three mornings to take the children to the showers. This should provide excitement as there are 7 shower heads and about an hour for all the kids to go through. Can you say military style? RINSE! LATHER! RINSE! GET OUT! Oh I can hardly wait to see how this goes.

The evening finally came to an end about 1130 and the children one by one passed out, I mean went to sleep. I heard this morning from some of the counselors that many kids were up today at 5:30. This provided for some grumpy counselors who stayed up too late.

Rachel is doing a great job being Rachel. She has everybody on the kitchen staff under her sanitizing thumb. So much so, the kids even made a little cheer about her. By the time this is all over she will have a whole new reputation. Seriously though, I am proud of her and the kitchen team. Feeding this many children ANYTHING much less real food is impressive.

One last note. My daughter, Kassidy turns 10 today. I can't believe that she is officially closer to 18 than birth. We are very proud of her and how well she has adapted to KC and growing into her personality. She is a beautiful girl, especially on the inside. Kassidy, may not only today be joyous, but the remainder of you childhood. Keep pressing into what God has for you and keep praying!

Where 2 or More...

2006-06-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

OK, Bible Sword Drill. Where in the Bible does it say where two or more are gathered together you are having church (paraphrased).

Today I have been 'having' church from 7am pretty much non-stop. Friday normally begins with a Gun Club mtg. I cannot give out details due to club rules, but suffice it to say it does have talk of God and other spiritual matters. A founding member's wife says "it involves strong drink and no women. There is some truth to this.

I continue my Fridays by working 8 hours at IHOP. This by itself does not give to 'having' church, but when you couple it with myself and a coworker webstreaming the Prayer Room (which is about 40 steps to my east), I call that church. Today the power of God flowed through speakers everywhere which simply does not happen ALL the time. During the 2-4pm CST set, Misty Edwards led and it was really good. She sang these lyrics at one point:

I dont want to waste my life, living on the outside.
I'm gonna live my life, from the inside out.

I set forth another challenge to you all (all 2 of you), take those words to heart! As you pray for the Signs and Wonders Camp over the next few days, ask God to assist you in living from the inside out.

What a Week, TO COME!

2006-06-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

I can't hardly believe that I last posted on Sunday. This week has gone by so fast! Work has been a blur of reconciliations and new acquaintances. Day by day though I am beginning to get settled in the new job.

Last night we enjoyed dinner with some new friends that have a new breed of dog. They are called Escaping Labradors. These dogs are famous for their ability to make Houdini shake his head in shame. They can leap through windows better than any convict. Their ability to smash boards makes even the best martial artist blush. There is no doubt these dogs are priceless!

This weekend we prepare for the Signs and Wonders Camp here in KC. Over 200 kids aged 7-12 are invading the House of Prayer for a week of intense time with God. This week Rachel and I are going to be helping quite a bit with all that goes on there. I will be working 9-5 in the business office and then going to the camp to fill in as needed and tie up children... I mean loose ends ;) Rachel will be... get this... assisting in the kitchen with Tracy LaGuardia. Frankly, I am jealous of both of them. Whenever we around Tracy we laugh so hard and feel so refreshed afterwards. This will also be our kids first camp. With the thunderstorms that are predicted and Kennys poison ivy rash, it has all the makings of a very memorable experience for everyone.

Please be praying for the camp, the staff and our family as we work our way through the next ten days or so. We could use all the prayer we can get.

Burn!

2006-06-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Rachel and I are soon to be the leaders of the Prayer Ground for the Children's Equipping Center. Now don't let the title fool you, or then again perhaps you should. The Prayer Ground is what other churches call the nursery. It is the 1-5 year olds. The idea behind calling it the Prayer Ground is this; just like a baseball team has a field to practice on and get better, children need a field of their own to practice prayer on. Thus, the Prayer Ground.

As my last post mentioned, we were working at our first conference this past weekend. It was really our first submersion into what we will be doing in the future. The conference began on Thursday. While I was at work I received a phone call from Rachel. She went to make breakfast for her and the kids and turned the burner on. Soon after, while gathering the eggs and the frying pan, she noticed the burner was not sitting properly and pushed on it with her hand to put it in place. She forgot it was already on and fully heated up. Sizzle.

So when I got the call, we rushed her to the doctor and they bandaged up her 2nd degree burned hand. It looked really charred and blistery. I figured it would be a couple weeks before she would be close to normal again. This was also on Thursday afternoon with our first session at the conference to be that evening.

When we arrived to work, Rachel was bandaged up, but all in all , in good spirit. The problem was that most of the kids were really concerned/interested in what happened to "Miss Rachel". Tracy Laguardia explained the injury and then led prayer for Rachel's hand with a couple of the children adding their prayers too, after all, this is the "prayer ground" where they can 'practice'.

Friday morning, Rachel unbandaged her hand and could not believe what she saw. The burn was all but gone. The pain, gone! The only thing that remained was the dead skin that had already turned while from being fully cooked. We joke that it is her reminder to not do it again.

This experience serves as our introduction into the Prayer Ground. God moves through the "least of these". For any of you out there with kids, read this:
Luke 18:16 "Jesus, however, called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away. For the kingdom of God belongs to people like these".

If you have kids, or a younger relative, don't be shy, tell them about God. If you are here in KC, and you are a dad with your child in the Prayer Ground, be forewarned, they're practicing!

Slow to Anger

2006-06-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

Last night we attended/worked at the Forerunner and End Times Conference here in KC. I could write for days on my thoughts about the end times and how unschooled and lethargic society is about the End of Days. I am astounded that the majority of people asked could care less about the end than where their next beer is coming from.

Justin Rizzo, led the worship last night and I particularly like his sets. He began with a song with these lyrics:
Lord., you are gracious
You are slow to anger,
Abounding in love,
You are, good to all!

Those words have been echoing in my mind all night and all day today. Allen Hood spoke last night, and I cannot recommend him enough. Every time I hear him preach I am provoked, challenged, inspired and moved. He began his teaching as sweetly as I have ever witnessed. He called his wife to the stage and asked her to pray over him before he started. As she was walking up, he says, "Isn't she so cute?" After she prayed and was returning to her seat, he repeated that about 3 more times saying, "I know I am dead, so I a have to make sure I get it all in". Now, the audience thought it was funny, and it was, but I was actually touched. I was thrilled to see a husband, loving his wife so much that he wanted her to pray over him, and then gush over her. You just don't see this everyday, let alone once a year.

Allen went on to talk about not letting anger get a foothold in your life. Don't we all need to hear that! He said there is a key difference between being undisturbed and holy. You can be left alone and think you are being holy, but what are the thoughts in your spirit? What do you do when you get walked on or bumped by some person? Surely, there is a bit of truth in their accusations, but what do you do about it? Do you fire back according to how much truth there was in the insult? Or do you truly forgive the person and even pray a blessing on them, maybe even go as far as to do something nice for them? I tell you folks, that message last night could have, and probably should have been a several week series.

And then I blew it. We left the church, and had to run to our local grocery store for a few items. It was late, everyone was tired. I was grumpy and the kids were bouncing off the walls like they usually do right before they collapse. As we were leaving the store and my patience was all used up, my son was skipping around in circles and trying to do tricks as if he were riding a skateboard. He jumped, twisted, and twirled and crashed to the ground losing a flip-flop. I yell, "What are you doing? Get up!" He no sooner gets to his feet, and around the corner comes Allen Hood's wife and their three sons. Surely they heard every word I barked at my child. Bad, Ken! Nothing like a big 'ole slice of humble pie for dessert.

I challenge everyone, be slow to anger. Forgive those that hurt you and bless them. Life is much more enjoyable that way.

2006-06-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

Kid Left Behind
I believe that there is a certain family here at IHOP that narrowly avoided an embarrasing moment. Thank God that the mom was devoted to the Global Bridegroom Fast or who knows what would have happened!

Aint They Cute!

2006-06-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago while Rachel and I were wrapping up the household chores, our kids disappeared. Shortly afterward, they came back dressed to the nine. They began dancing around the great room and we couldn't resist taking a few snaps. We wont mention how they later acted like they were going out on a date complete with flowers.

We are so thankful that the kids are friends and love playing together. In a couple weeks they will be attending their first ever camp. Granted, we will be working there too but it should make for some great stories.

Rachel and Kassidy recently went on a walk in the area the camp is going to be and discovered a wild grapevine. We have noticed that many people have grapevines around here and found out that they are Concord grapes. Yum.

Slowly but surely we are learning different ways to stretch our income. Where wild salmon and moose used to fill our freezers (we always accept charity you Alaskans :), we are trying to grow extra veggies and not eat so much meat. We have been looking at our budget and realize that we are living now on less income than we have had in many many years. We have faith that God will provide. He always has.

Malachi 3:10 says "...Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the flodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it."

We have been faithful even when we have had very little and God has always made sure we were taken care of. It is what I refer to as a safety net for us. Because we tithe, God provides.

Last Day of Vacation

2006-06-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

Today ends the transfer from Fairbanks to Kansas City for us. Tomorrow, I begin my new job with IHOP in the business office doing accounting. I am very excited by this opportunity as I will be working with CPA's who know what they are doing and have fun doing it. Also, over the next few weeks we will be heavily involved with the Signs & Wonders Camp that the Children's Equipping Center holds every June. They are expecting over 200 kids from around the world! We are going to busy, and are blessed to be able to help and particiapte.

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Here is a before and after of the painting we did. We wanted an accent wall and do we ever have it! We wanted an accent wall and do we ever have it. This picture makes it look brighter than it really is. The color is actually roasted red pepper. We used a dual sponge roller with our boston cream pie yellow and the red pepper to to do an undercoat, then sponged on the red pepper to darken it a bit.

We also repainted the kitchen from a dark navy blue to the yeloow we chose and painted the hallway the same color. THe living room changed from NEON lime green to a softer sage/seafoam green. All together it looks really nice.

We hung the clothes line yesterday so that we might be able to do laundry again. The umbrella for the patio set is now securely fastened for future deck dinners. The umbrella we bought didnt fit in the table we chose so we had to fasten it to he deck railing, but hey, it works.

All in all, today and this weekend will be the end of the transition and the beginning of the new life in Kansas City in earnest. Please keep praying for us as we are for you.

2006-05-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Rest of the Story Part 2

I have been wanting to finish the story of how/why we came to Kansas City, but with moving into the new house and everything else going on, it has taken a lot longer than I had hoped. However, here I go to try to wrap it up.

I last left off with Dec. '05 and Rachel and I having listened online to the Children's Equipping Center do the Christmas presentation for the church here in KC. We were shocked and moved by the way these kids were full of the power of God and we wanted desperately for our kids to experience this too.

We were determined to move to KC, but we had no idea how or when. I remember one night laying in bed with Rachel and we put a 30,60, and 90 day plan together. We had a 1000 thoughts and concerns of what all had to take place in order for this move to happen not the least of which was that our house had to sell. Understand that nothing sells in Fairbanks in January or winter for that matter.

We began preparing for the move by cleaning up the house and getting things sorted and widdled down. The previous summer we had painted the house and redone the floors so really, it should've been a slam dunk. Silly us. Right about the time we signed the paperwork with a realtor to list our house, our forced air oil fired furnace cracked the heat exchager. When this happens, the nasty, sooty exhaust does not vent up the chimney like it is supposed to, it 'chimneys' into the house. This was also during weather that was -40F (no wind). We were in panic mode. We stayed at a hotel the first night and came home to a house that had become soot covered. You could tell where all the nails were used on the drywall because the soot gathered particularly well on the nail heads making them look dotted.

For almost a week we had to live in a hotel while we battled the bad furnace. The Saturday before the Super Bowl, the guys came to install the new one. They were there early and said it should be no big deal and that they would be out in a few hours. Silly us. They got the new one installed, fired up and went around to check the vents to make sure the forced air part was functioning properly. Nope. After I pointed out to them that the air was blowing the wrong way out of the furnace, they scratched their heads, muttered a few unmentionables and admitted they had installed the wrong furnace. The following Tuesday, they were back with the right one and we were finally all set. Only thing was that we had to repaint the entire house beginning with an oil based Kilz (super stinky). The house was a mess.

It was during the whole furnace dibacle, that we were still looking for answers as to the how and when of moving to KC. We had thought that we would like to move down after the school year in June. There were so many unanswered questions. After talking to many people and not really nailing anything down, I decided to do my first ever fast.

A fast is basically denying yourself (usually eating) so that you can press into God for clarity. I had never done a fast before, so I asked around how to do one and even looked online. I found a great line going something like this, "A fast is not something you choose, it chooses you when you can find no other breakthrough". When I read that I thought, "this is it!". But I was chicken. I wanted a sign that I was supposed to fast. I prayed, "God, if you want me to do a fast, then it needs to be -45F (no wind) in the morning so that my work is closed, if so, then I will do it." Next morning, sure enough, work was closed.

I chose to do a fruit and veggie fast meaning that is what I would eat. I read a bit out of my Bible and then I was sitting there wondering what else to do. I saw my journal. I began flipping through the pages and came to the month of Oct. holloween night to be exact when I had two dreams. For the sake of space, I wont type them out, but the point of them were that I got two sets of numbers. 1816 & 242. When I had the dreams I wrote them in my journal and wrote, I should look up scriptures with those referrences. I didnt then, but now that I was fasting and had nothing else to do, I figured this was as good as time as any.

I went book by book through the whole Bible.
For 1816 I landed on Luke 18:16 "Jesus, however, called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away. For the kingdom of God belongs to people like these."
For 242 it was
Act 2:42 "They continually devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to times of prayer."

I was so excited when I read those scriptures. Not only because I got the referrences from a dream, but becasue they were speaking so pointedly about the journey was family was about to go on. it was as if there were a huge bell hanging over my head and these two verses were the sides and the bell was claning side to side while God said "Do you hear it now?"

While this was pretty cool, I wanted more. I wanted to know for sure that God wanted us to do this move. a few nights later, I ahd another dream. I dreamed that i was sitting in a conference room. My grandmother who passed away years ago was sitting next to me and we were catching up on everything. It was so good to see her again. we were having a great time talking to each other, but at the front of the room there was a man standing and speaking that just would not be quiet. He was huge. He seemed like he was 8 feet tall and about that wide. I kept loking at him through the corner of my eye wheil talking to my grandma wondering who he was. He was wering a robe that looked like burlap and it had a redish brown sash across the chest. I kept ignoring him, wishing he woudl be quiet, all the while talking to my grandma. Fianlly after getting thoroughly annoyed, I turned and looked straight at him and thought, "who is this guy?" I no sooner thought that, and he was stading directly in front of me. His finger was pointing at me, actually pressing into my eye, I could feel the pressure. He said, "I am John the Baptist, and your ministry is going to be more!" I woke up, looked at my watch and it was 3:16am. I was so stunned I did not know what to do. It was by far the most real and intense dream of my life.

A few days Rachel and I were laying in bed and I told her, wouldnt it be a miracle if our house actually sold before we left. The very next day, while were repaintign after the furnace experience and our house was a disater area, a guy and his wife came in, and made us an offer. A few more days later, our realator bought our boat and drove it away in the middle of a blizzard. God had prepared the way and all we could do was obey and keep moving forward. There were tons of other experiences and confirmations tht played out over the days and weeks before we left Fairbanks. Throughout the whole ordeal, God instilled such a huge portion of faith in us that we are so thankful to have. Now that we are here in KC and things are falling into place, it is nice to be able to have the faith to say that God will provide.

Line of The Day

2006-05-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Daughter - "Mommy, what's for dessert?"
Mom - 'Toothpaste"

This was spoken while playing Monopoly with our friend Brenna from Alaska. We had a great time with her today helping us finish up the planting we had to do. She did such a good job we even grilled hamburgers and fed her. All the fun ended when I hit "Free Parking" on Monopoly and won the pot, thus making everybody envious wheil I hooted an hollered and danced around the living room making sure that everyone saw that I was a terrible winner :)

Painting Round Three and Other Household Duties

2006-05-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

I had a brief moment of feeling like Leonardo Dicaprio in Titanic today. I was king of the world. Why, you ask? Because I changed the bathroom fan. This was no easy task. It involved demolition, risk of electrocution, and reassembly with no parts left over (my dad, the expert mechanic knows all about extra parts). All of this was accomplished with a tiny bit of help from my blushing (or is that sunburned) bride. We also have put our neighbors minds at rest and have begun to plant all the plants that have been sitting outside the front of our house for about a week. We are planting a variety of bell peppers and tomatoes, as well as a plethora of other veggies and flowes too numerous to mention. The trees we stuck in the ground last wekend seem to be alive still, but it is anyones guess if they will survive. Worst case scenario is that they are covered under a warranty for up to two years.

We are charging ahead to FINISH the painting in our house tonight. The kitchen and hallway are going to look like the color of Boston Cream Pie. Which frankly, right now, even I would like a slice that is about 35 degrees.

So I am off to finish the painting and the rest of the projects. It is our goal to be able to sit and do 'nothing' this weekend but remember those who have fallen to keep our country free. To my own Veteran, my Dad, I say thank you, now go catch me some fish to drop off on your way back south :-)

Settling In Nicely Thank You

2006-05-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, for the record, should I ever move again (and I do plan to butwho knows what God really wants) I vow to not volunteer to man a booth at some obscure public event until I am completely settled in to the house.

Today we went to what is affectionately known as Truman Days in Grandview, MO. Now I have nothing against Grandview, Truman or MO., but this street fair was weak even to Fairbanks, Alaska standards. Counting the IHOP booth(s), there were maybe 20 other booths more than 1/2 of which were BBQ or something similar. We were also a bit perplexed as to how we got roped in this thing to begin with since we barely even know what we are doing when it come to IHOP. Oh well, it was intersting to see how they do things here when it comes to this sort of stuff.
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Today we also planted 3 trees. An apple that is actually 4 different varieties on one tree, a bing cherry, and a peach. We are really looking forward to harvesting some fruit. We are also going to be working very soon on our garden. We have sweet peppers, herbs, tomatoes and a few other things as well, and those are the ones we bought as starters. It doesnt even begin to count all the seeds we have.

We have our new furniture. We love it too. In one of the pictures you can even see the terra cotta wall we are doing as an accent too. I am also posting a pic of my family, my dad and step-mom. KP#1, 2, &3 all in one picture. Also someone talked about my WIFI antenna above the fireplace so I thouhgt I should you all that too :)

Staining, and Burning

2006-05-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure that the past couple days I have worked harder than I have since last year at Chitina. For you non-Alaskans, Chitina is a place that Alaskans go to dipnet Copper River Red(sockeye) salmon. A family can get 30 salmon per year. I have been there at times when the fishing was so good that we got our family limit in about an hour, I have been there other times when I stayed up for nearly 3 days straight fishing non stop. It is back breaking work regardless of speed, but te rewards of sockeye salmon are great!

I have climbed ladders over and over again cleaning gutters, stooped and bent like a catcher playing baseball abot 200 times while I stained a deck, porch and other outside wood. Today though, I topped it all off with the assault on the critter living in the bathroom fan.

We had been hearing some disturbing noise coming from the region of our non-functional bathroom fan, ad then today, we even saw something sort of reach through the vent with what appeared to be a foot of some sort. Now I ask you readers, what on earth would possibly scare someone that goes out hunting where bears potentionally hunt you? Creepy, crawly, crtitters that I dont see coming, that's what. As it turned out, it was a HUGE roach of some sort that freaked out the ladies of my house. I have to admit, I was rather proud of my exterminator accomplishments.

All in all life is good and getting on a more permanent routine. Please send up rayers taht Rachel and I are able to nail down jobs. There are a lot available, but we want the 'perfect' one that He wants us to have.

Gutter Cleaning and Other Chores

2006-05-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

Coming from Alaska, I had not experienced the joy of cleaning gutters until yesterday and today. I am here to tell you, it is not easy. all sorts of things are found in gutters, among them were a spiderman toy, a sock, and a snake skin. Not only did I clean the gutters on our new house, but did the ones at the place we were renting too. They needed it BAD. Maple trees have a seed that falls in the summer that I used to call 'helicopters' when I lived in Omaha as a boy. They make a mess. I bet I could have filled a wheelbarrow with what I took out of te gutters.

Some of the other chores have consisted of cleaning up the mess the movers made when they packed up the previous owner, arranging furniture over and over again, unpacking boxes like a mad man, and BBQing. Our neighborhood is having a garage sale for the whole neighborhood this weekend and anyone that wants to participate can. We are hoping to have gone throguh our stuff enough by then to get rid of a few odds and ends.. and perhaps one particular waterbed.

Yesterday was my sweeties birthday and we did our traditional thing of visiting nursieries (for plans not humans). Thing is, that in KC, they dont mess around. The one we visited has golf carts for you to drive around on because the acreage of fauna is so vast! We were looking for fruit trees and came home with 2. One is a 4 in 1 Apple tree it has Fuji, Gala, and 2 other types on the same tree. The other tree is a Bing cherry. I love bing cherries, and I love cherry pie :-) I am not sure if it is going to prodice this year, but it will be fun in time. We also bought a week or so ago, a peach tree. So, we should have some fruit to pick and we plan to plant the garden over the next week. A little late for here, but hey, at least we get to play in the dirt.

I have to run along now and go grocery shopping. Rachel is battling a migrane and I am batling the kids. :-)

Massage Please!

2006-05-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

We are officially in our new house. I am typing this at 11pm or so, sitting in the Great Room as we call it (because it is so great). I am super tired and sore. Rachel is already passed out and the kids are headed to bed (really late after celbratory pizza and the SpyKids movie via our laptop entertainment ceter).

We worked really hard from 930 this morning and dropped off the UHaul trailer at 630pm. This included 2 stops at people's homes that we had purchased items from over the past couple weeks. This brings up a good point. We bought a washing machine and a gas dryer for 100. They appear to be in great shape, the owners told us that they had used them regularly. Point I am making is that A. They are not new, and B. the washing machine must have a weight over 400lbs. I am pretty sure the bucket the clothes goes in is cast iron. After Rachel and I busted a gut moving it out of the basement of the previous owner, we proceeded to go back to Uhaul and rent the appliance dolly to put the machine in our basement. We are so glad we did. All that said, does anybody out there have a clue how to hook up a gas dryer? We thought the one that was here previously was gas, but ... NOPE. Looks like handyman (right) Ken is going to have figure this beast out too.

We also spent about 6 hours last night painting in our room. We are doing a sponging technique with terra cotta and yellow. It is looking great. I think we are spending Mothers Day in the yard and on the deck, but we still have more painting to do.

Happy Mothers Day to my mom.
She was not just the lady that gave birth to me, but was there through the life threatening injuries as a child.
She counseled me through the dark days of my youth and helped mold me into a young man that she was willing to let live in her house at least 1 more day.
She held my hand through some of my darkest days and never once gave up praying or believing.
She has been able to see her first and only grand-daughter born, and her 4th grandson.
She has been able to see her son grow into all she believed and perhaps even beyond expectations.
My mom, can look at herself in the mirror and know she did a great job. Happy Mother's Day mom.

Closing Day

2006-05-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we signed all the documents to close on our new house. We are really excited to see this as our new home. We have begun picking out paint, some furniture, and other tid bits. We will be moving in over this weekend. Please be praying for us that all goes well and we are able to be settled so that we feel we can finally be ...home.

Today is closing day for the "The Rest of The Story" too. I left off last time in October...

October '05 saw Rachel and I go to KC to attend the ONETHING Leadership Summit. We were really touched by what all we saw and encountered. We really had no idea what to expect, but what happened was 5 days of refreshment. We heard messages from people like Dwayne Roberts, Mike Bickle, and Allen Hood. They challenged us, provoked us and made us think. They presented this thing called Christianity in a light that we had never heard/seen before. We loved it, the IHOP Prayer Room was/is tremendous. We were completely blown away by the music, the messages and the people we met.

All my life I have felt like I was called to preach. Not necessarily from a pulpit, but usually in small groups and over coffee. I have known this since I was a child of 5 years old or so. However, all those years I put that notion in my pocket. Until October while we were in KC. During the summit, we attended one of the regular church services. Like alot of churches, they have informational tables set up around the perimeter of the sanctuary and one of those tables said "Forerunner School of Ministry". When I went to that table, I saw a card that said "Apostolic Preaching School: Redefining Theologic Education Through Night and Day Prayer". When my eyes landed on that, it was like a beam of light hit those words. I have nothing against theology, but a true ministry, in my opinion begins and ends with an intimate relationship with God. I thought, "THIS IS IT". While we returned from KC to Fairbanks, we thought for sure that we were going to move to KC. But, it wasnt that easy.

We got back to Fairbanks, and we saw relationships growing deeper, some starting fresh, and ministry happening left and right. We were intern leaders for a cell(home) group, and for the first time in our marriage we were having guests over regularly. This all made us take pause and really pray abot what God was trying to tell us. We got to a place that had us believing that we couldnt just uproot the family from a life in Fairbanks and move to KC just for me to go to school. There had to be a better reason.

Fast forward a couple months to December and the answer came. In mid Decemeber, we listened to a service performed by the Childrens Equipping Center online. The kids ages 5-12 gave testimonies and sang songs and shared about what the CEC has done in their lives. Rachel and I sat on the couch and were stunned. We couldn't breathe, we had tears from the power and authority these little ones had in their hearts. When that service finished, we knew that we had to move to KC to raise our kids in the CEC. We were tired of the kids being babysat while at church. We dont want to see coloring pages and puppet school, we want to see them praying with authority and power to see God answer. For an example (sorry Jackson) go take a look at this young man of god's site. His name is Jackson Bohlender, he is 13 and has a heart for God that is incredible, and yet, he is still all boy and full of life and fun.

I will stop here and write another post next wek to detail the confirmation we got to make this move, how it all came to pass, and what the near future holds for us. For now, I leave you to go move to our new house, and maybe hit a garage sale or two. God is GREAT!

Seven Years and Going Strong

2006-05-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today marked the 7 year anniversary of the house of prayer. September 19th marks the start of them going 24 hours. However, 7 years ago, on May 7th, at 6pm, this whole thing began. The story of how this all came to be is laid out in impressive fashion here (the 12 messages under Encountering Jesus.

Tonight the service was a brief worship set and then testimonyfrom people that have been with IHOP from the very first hour. These are people like Allen Hood, Misty Edwards, Stuart Greaves and Matt and Dana Candler to name a few. What they shared was moving and there were not many dry eyes in the house. If there were any, it was soon to change.

After the celebratory testimonies, they held a baptismal session. This wasnt just any 'ole baptism that you may have encountered. While the first part of the service was going on, the 60+, (yes I said 60+) people were getting prayed over by folks in the congregation. this continued through the whole service. It wasnt distracting, it wasnt loud, it was sweet. After the main service ended they transitioned into the baptisms.

The ages of the people getting baptised went from I would guess 6 to 60. It started with a handful of kids. The neat part at least to Rachel and I, was that they had set up a line of people to pray over the folks after they were baptised. They were to pray over them and speak words of encouragement to them. What a sweet way to finish up the whole experience.

Over this next week we are going to be moving into our new house. I will undoubtedly be busy, but I do have a plan to post "the Rest of the Story" that I started long ago. Go read it and catch up. You will be glad you did.

One other note. My Dad and Step Mom are coming to town tomorrow!!! That will be fun.

Stupider and Stupider

2006-05-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

This past February, we sold off 90% of our belongings so that we could begin the trek to IHOP-KC. It was our prayer that the stuff we were getting rid of would bless the people that we sold items to. We sold things like our car to friends in our cell group, our couch to a lady whose husband was in IRAQ and had very little money or furniture. Our bed and most of the remaining furniture went to a pastor that recently relocated to Fairbanks from Kansas. In the process, he mentioned that he had a king sized, mahoganny, 4-post water bed that he would sell for $200. All we had to do was pick it up. All we had to do... haha

We had been trying week after week since arriving here in KC to make this happen. My pneumonia slowed us down, and looking for a home did too. Finally, yesteday morning at 7AM, we headed to the Uhaul place to get a trailer and drag it 350 miles to the place that the waterbed awaited us. No offense to Kansas, but to a guy that just moved from Alaska, I can't see why anyone would live there. We drove I-70 to a place called Hill City. Mind you, there wasnt really a hill that I could see, unless you want to call rolling prarie a hill. Either way, this drive was one of the most unappealing I have ever embarked on. There is nothing to look at. Hardly a tree to be seen, an animal to see besides some very lonely cattle and an occasional hawk. The worst part was, we had to drive back!

I told the fella we were meeting for the waterbed that I would call upon arrival and he could meet me. We did this and quickly found out that his baby (or was it grandson) was sick and he was 45 minutes away in a different city and it would be at least 2 hours before he was able to meet up. Thankfully, there was a Pizza Hut nearby.

We killed the time, and true to his word the gentleman was there on time. We commenced upon loading the waterbed into our trailer only to find that a 5x10 trailer was a tiny bit too small where the doors are to accomodate this bed. This meant we had to do some deconstructive remodeling to the bed to fit it into the Uhaul trailer. About an hour later, we were loaded and headed back to KC. All in all it was 14 hours and 700 miles.

Sad part of the story....we dont like the bed. At least not what we have seen of it so far. We both have been kicking ourselves for getting into this mess all day. We are out the 200 for the bed, the 250 for gas, food and trailer to pick it up, and now we have a big bed that we are going to have to do something with. At least the new house has a fireplace, and THAT puts a smile on my face.

So Valette, it aint all that bad :-)

April Showers and May Flowers

2006-04-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

We have been really busy this past week. For starters, we are rapidly moving ahead on the purchase of our house. We can hardly wait to get in the place and begin to make it our home. We feel like we have been on a very long vacation and are eager to settle in to life.

As you can tell I have updated the site a bit. The picture at the top was one of the first ones I took here in KC. Now that I know how to change it, I will probably do so every few weeks. I am by no means a web expert, but the template html is pretty straight forward.

Two days ago we went to this place. We were told by Winnie that it is Disneyland for household goods. She was not kidding. We spent 5+ hours browsing through 80 acres of items for houses. They have everything! Extreme Makeover Home Edition could easily get everything they need for a house in this place. It was really fun to look around and imagine what our new house is going to look like. For starters take a look at this:

We found this rug at a local store and fell in love with it. The great room as we call it in the house (the one with a fireplace) is rather plain and this rug will have a lot of the colors that we are going to bring into the house. If you click on it you can see a bigger image. I especially like the medieval look to it.

Yesterday we bought a chair, but not just any chair, this one is made out of bamboo and is shaped sorta like a bowl. It sits on a bamboo stand and has a circular cusion inside of it. Here is a picture:

Ours doesnt look like this, but the style of chair is the same. The kids absolutely love it. It is hard to get them out of the chair and do anything now. Understand too that we havent had any furniture in our house since we got here except for one very old and smelly recliner that is not all that comfortable and 4 wood chairs for a table that came with the place.

So there ya go, an update that should at least give you a sense of what we are up to. The weather is finally drying up a little bit and I am told I must say goodbye to by blogger peeps and lend a hand claening the house. We have a fellow Alaskan and her roomie coming to play games and chat for a while. Keep in touch everyone and KEEP PRAYING!

Inspection Day!

2006-04-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

Today we had inspections on our soon to be new house. For those of you that dont already know, we have found a great home within walking distance of IHOP-KC. It has a 20'X20' room built on to the normal ranch style house and has 3 bedrooms. The basement is half finished and is ready to be used as a homeschooling room and an office.

The inspections went very well with only a few minor glitches found. If all goes well from here foreward, we will be in the house by Rachel's birthday May 15th!.

I am keeping this post short, but I encourage you to take a few minutes to read this guy's post, http://www.brianzahnd.com/ . He is the pastor of a big church just north of KC. His posts the past few days have been on the book of Acts and I like what it says. The best part is that Jason Upton will be at his church in June!! I can't wait to see that! For you folks in Alaska, dont forget Jason will be in Wasilla in May.

Saturday Night Life

2006-04-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day. We have been attending the Releasing Children in Power and Worship conference here at IHOP this weekend, and our kids had a blast. They danced, sang and prayed their hearts out to God. We didn't force them to do anything, they wanted to participate.

I cannot tell you what it does to my heart to see my kids pressing into God. Praying prayers with expectancy and faith that is way more than a mustard seed. My son prayed on the microphone today in front of over 100 people and prayed that God would heal his daddy from whatever he had (pneumonia), and that he believed God would do it inside of 2 weeks. WOW!

Our daughter loves to sing, but is really shy. Imagine our surprise when the kids were asked if they wanted to sing on the microphone and our her hand shot up in the air. She sang great, on key and everything and LOVED it!

Folks, this is why we are here. We want our kids being equipped with the reality of God. Not the cushy stories and the flamboyant puppets and pretty coloring pages. We want them equipped with an intimate knowledge relationship with their Heavenly Father. They are on the right track.

Thanks to Lenny LaGuardia, Joy Maas, and Derek Loux for a great, fun, weekend. This first of many more to come I am sure.

One other note, I am not sure the comments are working on here, if you read this, can you please just leave a comment so that I know it is working? People have been saying they have been commenting but they have not been posted. Weird! Blasted Blogger! Or is it Blogger Operator error....nah :-)

What a Week and Today is Tuesday!

2006-04-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

As I sit here writing this at about 9:30pm, it is still in the 60's outside after what turned out to be a record breaking hot day of 91. It was only forecast to be about 75 or so.

Today, we had a meeting with Winnie to continue the search for homes. This has turned out to be quite the experience on a couple different fronts. First, and foremost, Winnie is flat out incredible. She has a knack for realty and an even bigger knack for people. She took us under her wing right away and made us feel special. She even gave our kids a really cool flip chart of just about evey tree you can think of that has a picture of the tree and facts about the species. We were given this because we kept asking what kind of tree we were looking at.

Last week on Friday we made an offer on a house. The house was really special and lots of custom stuff through out. There was instant equity too because the family was eager to move and dropped the price to ensure a sale. Long story short, we got outbid by a God thing. We had prayed that if God wanted us to have the house that it would work out, and if not, He would close the door. The next morning, after making the offer, we were out shopping and never even thinking about the house. Another family swooped in and made a high pressure bid that the sellers had to sign by noon. We never even got the messages until almost 1. We made a backup offer just in case the other one fell through, but really, that house is awesome, I would be very surprised if anyone backed out.

This all brought us to today. We met again with Winnie after being seriously disappointed this weekend. We werent even sure what we wanted to do. We managed to scrape up a few different homes to look at so by about noon, we were off and looking. There was a house that we couldnt get an appointment for until the very end of the tour. As it turned out, we ended up making an offer on that house. It is in the neighborhood close to IHOP, and from what we have seen, it is one of the best. It even has a fireplace which in this neighborhood is a rarity. Time will tell if this one goes through OK. Everyone that reads this please shoot up an extra prayer for us.

As for everything else, we are doing great. My pneumonia is getting better day by day. Te kids are doing great and getting more and more tan by the hour. We mowed the yard today for the first time of the season. Life is good. There is something about waking up to the sound of birds chirpping outside.

I Love the Number 13

2006-04-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

All my life, whether on sports teams, or just painting a number on the Soap Box Derby car, I have loved the number 13. Some people say that it is the unlucky number, to me, I view the number as the underdog. The number that everyone picks on and kicks around. And I love underdogs.

April 15th, I love the number 13 for 13 reasons.

1. 13 years of marriage to a lady that gives Mother Theresa a run for her money.

2. A mother for my kids that men could only dream about; caring, compassionate, fiercly protective.

3. Where vows talk about "for better or worse" and worse was who I was, she never falted, never doubted, just kept LIVING 2 Peter, and praying for me. Thank God she did!

4. A true friend. This lady loves everything I do. She even shot/field dressed/packed out a moose!

5. I love her stubborness! Maybe it is her Irish heritage, (thanks to her dad) but my lady has backbone and will tackle problems head on with a tenacity of a piranha.

6. I love that she makes frugal people rethink how frugal they really are.

7. My wife is original, she isnt trendy, she cares a less what people think of her and she is not afraid to give her opinion.

8. I love the memory of one of our first campouts flyfishing, she fell in the creek right away, got drenched, stood back up and kept fishing...priceless.

9. My bride makes me feel like a king; I know I take it for granted!

10. My lady has a heart the size of Alaska and she shares it with anyone, but especially the poor, needy and helpless.

11. She is an intecessor; without all her prayers over all these years, I tremble thinking about how life would be right now.

12. I love 13 because after all our elementary and high school years of marriage together, we now start the college years, and begin the adulthood of our marriage.

13. 13 is my favorite number because I look back over these years and I KNOW that we are more in love today, than at any point on the journey, and I know just as well, we we will say the same thing tomorrow!

Happy Anniversary Rachel. God gave me a Queen! I love you!

Pneumonia!

2006-04-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

After a week of fever and a cough, that was getting worse by the day, I went to the doctor yestrday. Thanks Winnie, for the advice on a place to go. We went to College Park Medical Center. This place is mostly, if not all Christian. While we waited in the lobby for the appointment, an instrumental of "As the Deer Panteth for the Water" played. I hadn't heard that song in years, but has always been one of my favorites.

Dr. Talbert wasted no time diagnosing the crackle in my chest. He knew we didn't have insurance so he gave me a ten day supply of sample antibiotics and prescribed a cough medicine with codiene in hopes I might sleep at night. The whole appointment w/meds was $50. A blessing for sure!

I sit here a little more than 24hrs later and I am felling better. Maybe not a lot better, but better none the less.

Today has been a bit of a strange day. we had a meeting this morning with Lenny and Tracy Laguardia. Lenny is the Director of the Childrens Equipping Center here at IHOP. We felt stronlgy that we should talk to them to see where their hearts are. The time was refreshing. Lenny and Tracy offered themselves to be available on an ongoing basis to help us find our niche, answer questions and just be friends. They just met us!

Through the course of the converstaion we told them about our heart for our kids and that they really are the reason we are here, anything else that takes place is bonus. We want to see the things of God firmly instilled in our Children so that as they enter adulthood, they will be equipped to make sound decisions for thier lives. Lenny and Tracy apparently liked what they heard and even invited us to their once a month CEC (Childrens Equipping Center) leaders meeting at their house later. It wasa really an amazing day watching things happen right before our eyes.

This weekend, Easter weekend, the CEC gets thier own building. For all the years IHOP has been doing the Prayer Room and the School of Ministry and other things, the CEC has never had their own space. As of Sunday however, they get a building of thier own. To hear the story of meager beginnings years ago to what there is now is incredible. Being faithful in the small things (and small rooms) for all these years has paid off with the CEC being blessed with a place that can house thier ministry. We saw the floor plan today and I am excited! This building will be equipping kids for a long time to come.

So things are starting to heat up here in many ways. It is even supposed to be near 90 on Thursday. On one hand I love the heat, on the other, I miss the Alaskan breakup. The sight of the first bits of ground that were covered for months with snow. I miss the increase of blood flow with the onset of bear hunting and fishing season. Most of all, I miss the friends up there that we would be inviting over for cookouts. Keep P R A Y I N G (did I speel it right Shari?).

Sick!

2006-04-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

Yeah that's right. I am sick. It started a week ago now. At first, it was a fever, low grade and barely noticable. Then one night I woke up shivering and could hardly stop. The next day my fever spiked to 102. Since then I have had a fever every day and have since developed a cough. If the fever doesn't disappear by Monday, I am going to the doc. This is why I havent posted anything lately.

We are getting settled here. The house we are in is roomy, but then again, that could be because we dont have any furniture to speak of. We sleep on air mattresses, and luckily, the landlords left us a dining room table and 4 chairs. I think I mentioned before that we bought another dining table for $20. That one is currently our Information Technology Department.

There are two bright spots to my being sick. One, I am enjoying a good book by Frank Peretti, Monster. The other being that this is The Masters weekend. I love golf, and it doesnt get any better than Augusta National Golf Club. As of the end of the day today, the top 5 players in the world are all within a few strokes of the lead. Sunday should be a final round for the ages! Hopefully the fever holds off enough for me to enjoy it.

Rachel and the kids are doing great. The kids began homeschooling this week and are really into it. I am so thankful that Rachel has the drive and the discipline to ensure they are actually taught instead of neglected. We are excited by all that is around us and we are only beginning to discover the potential. In the days to come the kids are taking part in a fair at the local library and are doing a research project on the United States. They have some great ideas and I cant wait to see what they come up with.

Down and Out..and Back Again

2006-04-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

This picture is of the 2 Kennys and Kassidy. Click on it for a good look at their expressions. The ride was at the mall in Edmonton. I have been promising Kassidy that I would put the picture up, but keep forgetting.

The past few days have been trying. I came down with a fever that just does not seem to quit. I dont have any other symptoms of anything, but a long lasting low-grade fever. Yesterday it did manage to go to about 102, but I stayed in bed and finally took some medicine and it went back down. Today I was feeling pretty good and thought I had kicked it, but as I type this, it is back around 99.5 and I am feeling achey again. What a drag.

There is a silver lining to this cloud. We went looking at some houses today. We may have even found one. We really like it, but we are still in the 'looking' phase. Also, we are told that the house in Fairbanks is closed and we should be recieving the paperwork and all that good stuff really soon. Almost a full month ahead of schedule!! God is good!

Keep paying everyone and dont be bashful about emailing us. Especially you frozen north types. I know the sun has been getting warm enough to thaw your fingers!

For the record, it is supposed to hit 80 here tomorrow for the first time since Nov 8th.

Little House on the Prarie

2006-04-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures complete with flowers getting ready to bloom in our yard. It was about 75 today and gorgeous. We found a nice kitchen table, recliner, 2 dressers, and a standup freezer all for $120 today. It was about a 30 second drive from our house. God is so good.

I am actually sitting in church waiting for the sevice to begin so I will write more later. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

Its a Good Day

2006-03-30T10:50:00.000-08:00

I know I need to take some pictures of the area to show you, but so far, we havent had much time. We have been really busy trying to get a house to rent and getting things set up for us. We now officially have a phone, electric, gas, and water accounts in our name. For those of you that want to call us, email us and we will give you the phone number. It wont be active until Friday sometime betwen 9-5 CST.

Today we are waiting on 'severe' thunderstorms. Our kids have no clue what those are like after living in Alaska for all of their lives. It will undoubtedly be an experience for them to encounter. The weather here changes often. Yesterday was bright, sunny, a bit windy and probably 70. Today is cloudy, windy and still warm with thunderstorms lurking.

We are looking very forward to tomorrow when we will finally be in house again. We are all excited to be able to do the things you take for granted such as cooking. We are so tired of eating out. I am surprised that it came so quick. Granted, there are lots of places we havent eaten, but we are also trying not to spend. We have found that the local Wal-Mart is a grocery store and we can eat in the hotel pretty cheap from there. Also, for all you folks in Alaska, a 10pc 2 side dinner from KFC goeas for 15$ it feeds us nicely. Maybe not as healthy as we wanted, but it is cheaper than McDonalds believ it or not.

Tomorrow will be pretty busy, but I promise to take and post a couple pictures of our new home. Have a great day everyone.

In the Prayer Room

2006-03-27T19:23:00.000-08:00

We finally made it to the prayer room for one of Misty Edwards sets. Dont get me wrong, all the musicians are tremendous, but we have some of her CD's and listened to them for abot 3000 of the 3600 mile trip to KC.

Kassidy was studying scripture on the laptop, Galatians 5 to be exact. Kenny is praying for a friend of ours, Marci. For some reason he has been burdened to pray for her and who are we to stop him.

Right now as we sit here at 930pm, I am thrilled that this environment even exists to sit in 24 hours a day. There is so much ick out there to get caught up in, at least here we can sit in a safe place and worship, pray, meditate...just be.

Today we tried to get a PO Box and a new drivers license only to find out we are nobodys without a proof of residency. We are really wanting to get our roots planted a bit deeper, but for whatever reason, it is taking a bit longer than we had hoped. Tomorrow we hope to make more progress.

On a high note, we tlaked to our realator in Fairbanks and she informed us we could likely be closing next week. We werent expecting to do so until the end of April so this is really great news.

One other tidbit of news..or at least news to us, we were awakened at 1:18 last night with what was to us a powerful thunderstorm. We heard what sounded like an explosion and then an alarm went off in the hotel. We were told it was normal that it happens, but it sure wasnt normal to us. I am sure we will see more powerful storms, but that was a rough way to be awakened.

Oh yeah, another cool note, we found a place here in KC that allows for what is called shared branching. This is when you can go to a bank here in KC and for all inents and purposes it is like we are walking in our credit union in Fairbanks. What a blessing. The manager of the branch is friendly and the credit union is pretty close as well.

All of this said, day by day we are growing more accustomed to the area, the lifestyle and what is to be our future. Our kids are settling in well and we ALL are looking very forward to having a REAL house... thanks Rachel and Marcus!!

What a week

2006-03-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

It is Sunday night, abot 10PM and I finally have a few minutes to reflect on the week that just transpired. One week ago today we were in Edmonton, Alberta weathering out the worst snow storm of the season and waiting for our replacement credit card.

We finally got out of there and headed south for KC. The week went fast dricing lots and takiing in what sights we could along the way. The Battlefield of Little Bighorn left a big impression on me. Here are a couple more pictures from there. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

we left the battlefield and headed south. We went to see Mt. Rushmore, but as our son said, The Presidents had thier heads in the clouds. Instead we got to see some sheep along te road and we took a picture to prove that we made an attempt. Hours later, we stopped at a rest area and i got a foux picture of the monuments.

KC - Dust Settling

2006-03-24T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today was a day totally unlike what we expected. We were thinking that we would do errands. Instead, we were shown around the local area. I am shocked by the way te area has rolling hils and lots of different types of trees. Around IHOP there isa park with lots of trails and other parks connected. It is a really cool area and tere are several subdivisions that are nearby with We even saw some budding leaves, green grass and all sors of birds. We spent te majority of the day touring, and then we were able to drop off our Uhaul so that I am not having to pull it around anymore. Praise God!

Tomorow will be more errands, loking for a bank, a post office, that sort of stuff. We hope that by mid to late next week we are al but settled. On the 31st we are able to get into the hosue we are going to rent until June or so.

Kansas City, Here We Are!

2006-03-23T22:04:00.000-08:00

Ok so we are in Kansas city. We had a great day today. It all started here:

Cabelas in Mitchell, S.D. I told a friend of mine it was like Disneyland for me. A very hard place to leave. We did good though and only browsed...well except for a few tid bits. Then as we were leaving the register person said that there was a store in KC that is 2x the size. How great is our God :)?

We left Mitchell for the trek to KC. It didn't take long at all before we had turned south onto I-29 and blew through Soiux City. Shortly after, we were passing through Council Bluffs, Iowa. This is right across the river from where I spent 3 years, Omaha Nebraska. I am very glad I am not there anymore.

As the sun was setting we saw a truly magnificent sight. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of migratory waterfowl flying north up the valley as we entered Missouri. The sky was actually darkened by the birds. I have never seen that many birds in one place. It was wonderful to see.

We are settling in to the hotel we are staying at and going to be taking the next few days to get acquainted with the surrounding a bit. I am also going to posting some more pics that I didnt ahve time to post before and finish the story of what got us here to begin with. Keep praying everyone. Oh for those of you who get up early, or read this often to keep up with us.. leave a comment :) We like getting to know people.

Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota All In A Day

2006-03-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we left Hardin Montana headed for our first stop, the Battlefield of Little Bighorn. This place was facinating. I cannot wait to rent a movie of this event and watch the story unfold. A great line I read while there was, "Custer didn't lose this battle, the courage and bravery of the warriors won it." We had the entire monument to ourselves making the place that much more sacred. Here are some pictures.

I will post more abot yesterday later tonight or tomorrow. The internet connection here in South Dakota is very slow and loading pictures and stuff takes a long time. If all goes well, we will be in KC tonight. Keep praying everyone!

Battlefield of Little Bighorn

2006-03-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning, 15 miles after we leave our hotel, we are going to be taking in the battlefield of Little Bighorn. Today's drive was a beautiful trek from Shelby, Montana down Hwy. 87. I would highly suggest this route to anyone going either north to Canada/Alaska or like us, south.

As we drove we saw a lot of antelope and deer. We even caugth ourselves singing Home On the Range. If anyone out there wondered where Black Angus Beef come from, I can tell you that a lot of it is right here in Montana off Hwy. 87.

This is no doubt Old West country. As we drove down the highway through Great Falls, and Billings you could tell that the buildings were old and likely had been there since the towns were founded. This is the land that Lewis and Clark explored, the land that General Custer made his last stand, you can easily imagine what it must have been like not long ago.

Those who know me well, know that I have a huge heart for Native peoples, especially those in Interior Alaska where I grew up. I am loking forward to paying my respect at the battlefield tomorrow. If only they knew then what we know now....

God Bless America!

2006-03-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

We made it back to the United States of America today. We arrived in Shelby, Montana about 15 minutes ago. Time for a bit of rest, some breakfast and another 400 miles or so. We should be in Billings or some place further east on I-90 come sundown.

The truck, my wife, kids and dog are all doing fine. I am doing pretty well too. I am VERY thankful to be back in America. Canada treated us well, but growing up in America, even simple things like road signs make me feel much more at ease. Rachel and I both laughed at ourselves as we passed the sign saying MMMMOOOONNTTTTAAAANNNAAA WOOHOO!

Goodnight everyone, keep praying as we are for you!

Unbelievable and Abominable

2006-03-19T22:54:00.000-08:00

First is the unbelievable, I shaved off my beard. This only occured after discovering the beard trimmer was lost in the depths of the Uhaul trailer and my not wanting to scare the locals when we arrive in KC by looking worse than Grizzly Adams.
This was the headline of the newspaper at our hotel this morning. It is one soupy mess! We walked abot 2 blocks to Denny's for brunch today and were surprised by the slop. It looks like the weather should hold for a few days. Now if we just get our package from the credit card company we can actually resume our trip. I do have to say though, anyone coming to Edmonton should seriously give thought to staying at the Comfort Inn on 100th Ave. When you do, say hi to our favorite Desk atendant Deanna. She has made the stay very nice and even likes our dog :)

Edmonton STILL

2006-03-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

For those you reading along at home, I thouhgt I would post an update to let you all know that we are still in Edmonton. As I stated before, we lost our credit card and had to cancel it, then have the company send us a new one. We were told that it would be here on Saturday. That was false information. Now we ave to wait until Monday at the earliest as DHL does not run on Sunday.

We have also had a record snow storm hit that I am thankful I was not driving through. I would guess it dropped somewhere betwen 8 and 10 inches.

Really we are doing well all things considered, but we do want to get going on the rest of our journey.

Edmonton - The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

2006-03-16T23:52:00.000-08:00

Today we spent the majority of the day at the largest indoor waterpark in the world, located in the largest mall in the world.

The GOOD:
The slides were a blast. The whole family thoroughly enjoyed them. The wave pool that you see pictured was a hit as well.

Another good thing was that by arriving early, the whole family got in for $40, equallying about 1/2 of what we thought we were goig to have to pay.

The BAD:
On one particular slide, one that is not that fast or anything, yours truly, managed the impossible on the same run. I broke my watch and lost my credit card. This meant us having to spend abot an hour of our day calling the card company, trying to close the account and arrange another sent to us before we continue our descent toward KC. This means that instead of hitting the road agin in the morning, we will be waiting until most likely Sunday morning.

The UGLY:
I slipped and landed flay on my back scraping my back and elbow and feet. All of which have the appearance of road rash. Not too much longer, I slipped again, this time catching a toe in a drain grate and tearing off a nice portion of meat off a toe. This set of injuries to go along with those received while emptying our house in Fairbanks, (the separated rotator cup, the sprained/strained elbow, the sprained strained wrist), all make me one walking clutz. My parents would say they knew it all along.

All this said, we really did have a good day. We are enjoying our time together as a family. We are doing things we may not have otherwise done, and after it is all said and done, we can thank God.

St. Patty's Day will see us taking in some of the other attractions around town such as The Space and Science Center, the museum, the zoo, and the botanical gardens. It should be a great day. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

West Edmonton Mall Amusement Park

2006-03-15T21:28:00.000-08:00

Today we took in the amuzement park. It was a blast. We also just happened to be here on Wednesday, or whacky wednesday as they call it. We were able to ride all the rides we wanted all day for 40$ Canadian. That is little Kenny standing on the star in front of the Mindbender, triple loop roller coaster.
We let the kids run around in the playgrund a bit. On one picture you can see the train that goes around the whole park (which I recorded a video of while we rode). The pther picture is of the kids and Rachel siting in the yellow bubble you can see on the playground.

My nephew will get a kick out of this one

So we had a blast again today, my feet are sore and my hips hurt from walking so much. My stomach hurts thanks to Tony Romas. I am going to sleep happy. Rachel and the kids are already in Neverland. We pray everyone is doing well and we miss you.

Keep praying and keep emailing us. We love to type :) For those trying to reach Kassidy, please go to my profile, shoot me an email through there, and I will then give you her email address...this means you Kaylea :-)

Edmonton - DAY 2

2006-03-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

Today was a bit of relaxation and relocation. We stayed last night at the West Edmonton Travelodge and I can assure you that is a place a will not stay at again. We relocated to the Comfort Inn and comfort is appropriate. We feel quite at home.

We finally made it to the West Edmonton Mall for a survey of the Worlds Largest Mall. See the pics below. All we did was walk around for abot 4 hours and eat at one place. Tomorrow we are actually going to take in the amuzement park to include he worlds largest indoor 3 loop roller coaster!

In Fairbanks he is not! In Edmonton he is!

ALCAN Chapter 3 - EDMONTON

2006-03-14T00:15:00.000-08:00

We made it to Edmonton tonight. This marks the 1/2 way point of our trip. We plan to spen a at least 2 days, perhaps 3 here taking in the West Edmonton Mall and other sights.

The trip from Fort Nelson to here was pretty uneventful. We did see a couple white tail deer and some eagles. The roads were good for the southern 2/3 of this leg. The weather was windy and snowy.

I am beat. I will talk to you all tomorrow. Keep praying!

ALCAN Chapter 2 -Mostly pictures

2006-03-12T23:31:00.000-08:00

These two pictures are from day one on the Alaskan/Canadian border.

These pictures were on this lake, I think it is called Lake Bruwash. It is in Kluane National Park. There were sheep on the road at one of the most curvy and narrow parts. It was right at sunset too. What a beautiful sight.

We had been driving for a LONG time and I was praying that we would see something interesting. We came around a corner and we saw this herd of buffalo. None of my family had ever seen wild buffalo before. What a treat!

About 5 minutes after we saw the first herd of buffalo, we saw a second herd. It is where the picture of the cow buffao and her calf were. Then just a few more miles ahead we saw this deer. I think it is an elk. It is interesting to note that it is radio collared. There was another one with it too.

We also saw a coyote, a black wolf, and a wolverine. What a day on the road!!

We made it to Ft. Nelson. We are now 1200 miles into our trip in two LONG days of driving. We plan to make it to Edmonton tomorow, but we may just find a place closer and call it a day. Only time and my patience for driving will tell. Today the roads were through the Northern Rockies. Very beautiful, but very twisty and icy. There wasn't much high speed low drag action to be had.

Keep praying everyone. We know you all are!

ALCAN Chapter 1

2006-03-11T23:49:00.000-08:00

We drove over 600 miles today. We left Fairbanks at abot 7:45am and headed for Whitehorse. The drive was pretty uneventful. We had beautiful weather. We saw 7 mountain sheep on the road by a very large lake on the highway. I will post a picture of that tomorrow. We took some awesome shots.

So far, everyone is doing great. We are settling into our hotel for the nights rest and then another 600 miles tomorrow hopefully ending in Ft. Nelson, British Columbia.

Up, Up, and Away

2006-03-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

I thougt I would title this today in honor of Mr. and Mrs Reeve. The latter having departed earth today.

Today is also the departure of Ken, Rachel, Kassidy and Kenny. Officially, we are leaving town Thursday morning with one last stop at Mocha Dan's Espresso for a latte made by the lady that I dont even have to tell my order to. I will miss the coffee and the two way chats and blessings alot.

Fairbanks holds a special place in the hearts of Rachel and I. Having both been raised and Rachel born here, we have lots of memories and friends here. This past Saturday and Sunday our church prayed over us and 'sent' us out on this journey. We were very touched by the prayers, support and the entire service. We have known the people in this church all our lives. Their excitement about what God is calling us to do, and our desire to come back and 'sow' it back into the church was overwhelming. Sowing and reaping, its a good thing. The folks in our church have sowed into us for decades. We are thrilled to be able to call ourselves, and to be called some good fruit from the seeds they planted all those years ago.

Unless I am able to find a vacant computer enroute to Kansas City, this is likely my last post for a couple weeks. Please be praying for us for a safe and fun journey, for an easy time of settling in to our new lives, and for the people that are remaining in Fairbanks to continue pressing in to all God is doing in their lives. Until later........

Oops...OUCH

2006-03-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

I havent been posting due to an accident that occurred last Sunday. We were delivering the furniture that we sold in preparation for our move to KC. In the process, we dropped the couch. The problem was that I tried to play hero and catch it. Our couch was a double reclining sofa so it was heavy. When I caught it with my fingertips, I did damage to the rotator cup, the tendons and ligaments in the elbow, and the tendons in my wrist. I am now getting to wear a sling and a brace for the next several weeks and take motrin until it comes out my ears.

To try and top me, my wife had her lower wisdom teeth removed 2 days ago, surgically. She is all bruised and sore and I feel horrible for her. All of this has slowed our plans a little. We were planning on driving out of Alaska at first light Monday morning. We are now looking at Wednesday.

All the while, God is working in and around us and we are literally praising God for all He is doing. We have gotten to spend some great time with the best man at our wedding and his new WONDERFUL wife. They even came to cell group last night ans we all got to gush over their newlywedness.

Even though I am sore, stiff, and genrally uncomfortable, I can asee God moving in ways that are nearly miraculous. I am going to try and post another time or two before we head out, but if not, LOOK OUT KC.. a whirlwind from the north is approaching.

The Rest of the Story - Part II

2006-02-27T09:29:00.000-08:00

I decided I needed to talk to my pastor about the recurring dreams. He is also the president of the board for Love INC -Fairbanks. I told my wife I was not going to mention the dreams unless he spoke of the organization first. I had other issues to discuss with him about the job I was holding at the time.

A funny thing happened next. As we began our meeting, my pastor said, "you know, I was having breakfast with someone today that was asking about you." Come to find out, it was the executive director of Love INC. I left the pastors office and went straight to the ED's office.

Talking with the ED it seemed a no brainer for me to return to work for Love INC. I was being invited into a new position as Special Projects Manager which covered everything from special events, fundraising, grant writing, and a host of other stuff.

In the 20 years of Love INC being existent in Fairbanks, they had done very little in the public eye. When I came on, I was determined for this to change. The first public event was the Golden Days Parade, held annually to celebrate the founding of Fairbanks. There is also a Street Fair following the parade. We participated in both and received a tremendous response from the public. The next event was the Tanana Valley Fair.

We as Love INC decided very late in the process to have a booth at the fair in August. So late in fact, we were placed on a waiting list and told our chances for aquiring a spot were slim to none. Two days before the fair was to start, they called us and offered us booth space. My boss and I both went to see where we would be located and pick up the necessary paperwork.

While we were being shown our place and being told all the particulars, my boss asked who our neighbors would be. We were surprised to hear that one of them was to be Planned Parenthood. We both looked at each other in disbelief and and proceeded to complete our introduction to the fair.

Back at our office we started discussing things like "what should we do with our booth having P.P. as our neighbor." One idea was to buy every box of LIFE cereal and hand them out to the crowd. Before long we remembered about the newly established 'unofficial' Bound4Life team here in Fairbanks. We contacted them and offered them an opportunity to share our booth.

The first several days of the fair everything went fine. We did have one surprise. P.P was at a completely different locatoin. This did not stop us. Our booth looked great. 1/2 was all about Love INC and the services we provide. the other was all about Bound4Life. They had recently done a 21 day stand at the local Federal Courthouse and had some great pictures (you can see in the pic above) that caught the eye. Some of the group sat at the booth and wore the LIFE tape.

The fact that the LIFE tape was being worn became an issue with Love INC staff, the board and some of the churches Love INC represents. The board ended up having a discussion about all of this and how to appease the masses. I went to bat for the youth that were involved in the movement and sitting with me in the booth. Years ago, I too was a teenager with passion for Jesus in my heart only to have a pastor, elder, or person in authority come along and dump a bucket of cold water on my zeal. I was not going to let that happen here. As it turned out, by the time the 'official' word on the decision about Bound4Life came down, the fair was all but over. I was proud of the youth being bold enough to stand their ground. I was also very thankful that God provided a way for there to be a stand for LIFE in a place that is littered with immorality.

Next Up - October thru December :) Stay Tuned Folks

The Rest of the Story - Part I

2006-02-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken on the way home from Wasilla in April '05. This is the Nenana River looking south just north of Cantwell if memory serves.

In early 2005, my wife and I attended a conference in Wasilla, Alaska with Jason Upton, Randy Clark and Shawn Bolz, hosted by Northwind Ministries. I was attending the conference not to draw closer to God, but to get a break from work and my kids. It had been a long time since my wife and I had any type of date and out 12 year anniversary was only a couple weeks away. We figured this would be a great pre-celebration.

As it turned out, the conference was awesome. Jason Upton and his band were amazing, and the messages by the speakers were profound. Looking back, there were two key parts of the weekend. First, my wife and I talked more about God than perhaps we ever had, and second, I was reminded and touched again by something that was said over me many years ago, "When you bow, you'll see wow."

Those words came to mind again during one of the sessions of the conference. That phrase had been given to me many years ago and kept rolling through my mind over the weeks, months and years as I put God in my back pocket as I like to call it.

As I was standing there watching and listening to the conference this past April those words kept coming to mind. Finally, I got on my knees, bowed and prayed. When I got up, I felt like I had been hooked up to an electrical circuit. God was there, no doubt.

Two weeks later, our home church, Door of Hope, held the "Worship, Prophetic, and Intersession" conference with 7 Thunders from the International House of Prayer. This was the first time that I had ever heard of "IHOP" as it is affectionately reffered to. Kirk Bennet was the leader of the group and they also brought up Tim Reimherr of Merchant Band. Tim went to IHOP from our church. My mom used to be his teacher at our local Christian school and I even taught him P.E. back in the day. It was incredible to see what God was doing in Tim's life.

This conference was also incredible. The passion and love for God these people showed was exhilarating. Rachel and I were deeply touched by what was being said particularly when it comes to abortion. The group Bound4Life was a part of there message. The statisics of abortion are shocking. We were blown away with some people that go to our church had to say on this issue. This particular movement/group would begin to point us in a direction later in the summer of '05.

I had been working for a year as the 'Director of Finance' at a local fast food chain. I was working long hours and often wondered where my job was headed. I thoroughly enjoyed the job, the owner, and all of the people that I worked with, but was it the will of God? How do we know what is His will anyhow? The good part of this job is that the Admin team were all Christians, and we were all experiencing fresh encounters with God via different directions.

In May of '05 something unsettling occurred. I had a dream. Twice. I dream a lot, but rarely do I have a repetative dream, especially only days apart. The dream was that I was waling in the door of Love INC for their morning devotions everyone was happy to see me, shaking my hand and asking me to stay awhile. I was stunned by having a dream twice in a week. I wanted to talk to my pastor.....

Selling and Sorting

2006-02-23T15:27:00.000-08:00

What a diffence a week makes. A week ago today was my last day at work. My wife and I then decided to sell off stuff and head for KC with our children. We had no idea we would be successful at selling our stuff or that it would be pretty much sold in a matter of 24 hours. Her car sold really without it being listed, almost of our furniture has sold within 1 day of it being listed in the newspaper. On one hand that is great, on the other, that means my phone is going to continue ringing all weekend with nothing to sell.

The sorting of our stuff is a fun task. We were talking last night and we thanked God for preparing us to do this chore. About this time last year, we had our house listed for sale. We sorted and packed up everything except essentials only to decide a few months later that we were going to stay here for a while longer. That process eliminated literally truckloads of 'stuff'. Now we look at what we have left and it really isnt that much. In fact, we decided to take a 5x10 Uhaul trailer and our Durango with us. We are packing he majority of our precious belongings in 18gal. Rubbermaid containers. We figure we can get 36 in the trailer. We may throw an ActionPacker or similar on the roof of the SUV and some road stuff inside. All in all, we are going with very little.

I cannot tell you how excited I am at the possibility of being in a place with next to nothing. It is sort of a whole new start for us. We have looked at a few homes online and scopped out some apartments as well. This is going to be a huge adventure for us that is for sure.

We went by AAA earlier this week and plotted our course for the trip. It is going to be a blast. Probably the highlight being the West Edmonton Mall you all should go there and look at it. It is going to be a blast, and a great 1/2 way point of our trip.

I am still wanting to tell you all "The Rest of the Story", but I havent finished writing it out yet and I have been so busy that I havent even been watching TV or surfing the net. I have to say, I am missing my nightly online golf matches via Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, not to mention all my blog reading.

Gotta get back to the painting and fixing of the house. Only 10 days to go!

We have a date!

2006-02-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

After much deliberation and prayer this weekend, we have decided to be headed south by or even on March 6th. We are furiously packing and selling off stuff, repainting the interior of our house so that it is pretty for buyers, and tying up loose ends.

I hope to be able to lay out how all of this came together later tonight. If for no other reason than for it to be recorded somewhere other than my sketchy hard drive.

Resigned, Rejoicing!

2006-02-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my last day at Love INC. This was my second stint working there and I cannot thank the staff there enough for all they did and who they are to me.

For the first time in my working career, the job ended with everyone's head held high, prayers and blessings over me and them and even a last day lunch. What a blessing!

God is calling my family on to greener pastures. I mean that as a pun. We are moving to Kansas City within the next 3 months. Very likely sooner rather than later. We are going to become a part of the International House of Prayer and their school of ministry.

To some reading this, it may come as a shock or a surprise, to to others, they saw the writing on the wall long ago. I can tell you that God has moved and continues to this very instant to be moving in ways truly unimaginable. We have sought out counsel on this decsion, talked at great length to friends and family and we know this is the direction to go.

We do not plan to be gone from Fairbanks forever. Our family is Alaskan and there is no getting around this fact. Our heart is to see our children emerced in the Children's Equipping Center at the House of Prayer, for myself to attend the Apostolic Preaching School and to be used by God as a place for restoration, comfort and re-energizing people that may come from Alaska to be at IHOP for awhile. In the end, returning to our home church and sowing back in to our congregation all that God places in our hearts.

God is good and together my family is pressing in to all that He has for us. Please be praying and reading this often for updates as the story unfolds.

2006-02-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is probably my favorite picture of my family. During this day we hiked all over this glacier and had a great time.

Today is the landing of one journey and the takeoff of another. Look for more on this later today and in the days to come. Stay tuned.

Lift Up Your Heads, Oh Ye Gates!

2006-02-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

On January 28th I attended a Men's Dinner at our church. You had to be a man to attend this function. Not because of the rules, but because it was -40 F outside with no wind. About 25 people showed up and we had a great time. I wanted to take the time to share with anyone reading what Pastor Al (yeah you can call him Al) had to say. He spoke out of Psalm 24.

For several months now I have really enjoyed Jason Upton's song Psalm 23. On this particular Friday night I got "the rest of the story". I suggest you go here and read Psalm 24 for yourself before proceeding. Leave the window open to refer back to it as I continue.

Pastor Al titled the brief message Lifting up the Gates of Our Life

Verses 7-10 in Psalm 24 is a picture of an approach of royalty. Imagine the ancient castles and the massive iron gates, it is interesting to note that one man, using a system of ropes and pulleys could lift the gates...or not. If the gatekeeper chose to lift the gate for the herald, then the king would soon follow along with his army.

The lifting up of the gates of our life allows for an entrance for the King of Glory. We discussed 6 different gates.

1 - The Head The place of annointing of oil and encouragement. The head bears the resposibility of leadership. By lifting up the head we are encouraging ourselves and our Maker to come in. What is the first sign of discouragement? The head drops and the chin touches the chest.

2- The Heart This is the gate of emotions and resolve. There are many times that we need to feel the emotions of God's presence. Women aren't overly emotional, men are under emotional.

3- The Voice We need to use our voice in expression to God. God can hear silent prayers, but a voice was given to us for a reason. Use it to pray and sing to God, edify one another.

4- The Hands Clean hands need to be lifted up to God. A posture of prayer is taken by lifting up the hands. This is an expression of blessing to God. Clean hands speak of integrity and character formed by Godly discipline.

5- The Eyes We gather the beauty of God with our sight. There is plenty to behold that God has created that is beautiful. Be careful to guard what we take in this gate so as to not poison the soul.

6- The Soul This is the gate of strength, life and willful choice. By lifting up this gate for the King of Glory, we are inviting the Holy Spirit to come and help guide us along the path of life.

This message was delivered in about 20 minutes and I believe that Pastor Al could have sepnt an entire sermon on each point. We were also challenged to search the scriptures for each one of these gates and to do a study of the gates surrounding Jerusalem during the times of Jesus. I have not found the time to follow up with those challenges yet, but I am excited to start. I pray that these thoughts help you too.