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To God be all the glory.

When we found out the costs involved in getting us established and sustained in the Philippines, we did one of those big gulps that means, "Wow, that's a lot." Just to get ourselves there and get established, we need just under $24,000.  Our monthly costs of living and ministry are going to be just under $3,000.  Gulp.

To God be all the glory.

To date, God has provided a little over $15,000 of our one-time costs!  He is so good!  We have no trouble having faith that the rest will come in.  But those monthly costs.... gulp.

To God be all the glory.

To date, people have pledged (or started already!) to give about $350 of the near $3,000 we need a month... and our goal is to be there by January.  Gulp.  It's a lot harder to have faith that God will pull that together in such a short amount of time.  Please consider giving monthly towards our ministry in the Philippines.  We DO have faith that God will get us there.  We have faith that He will provide through his saints- you.  

If you know of any churches that are looking for missionaries, or would allow us to speak there, please let us know.  We'd love to get the vision of KIM out to the masses.  Thanks!

Book Review - City on Our Knees by TobyMac

I have to say going into this review that I was biased against Toby Mac before reading this book.  I've always found his music to be cheesy, and for him to be a bit of a narcissist.  That bias carried over into my reading.  I normally would never read a book authored by Toby Mac, but a description I read before going in told me this book isn't about him; it's a collection of stories about other people.  True as that may be, I was annoyed right off the bat by his shameless uplifting of the song he wrote which gave the book its title.  

Once I got past the beginning pages, which might I add are splattered with pictures of Toby Mac looking pretty fly for a white guy, I found that I actually enjoyed the stories he has recorded.  While his writing style isn't exactly on par with the professionals that do this kind of thing for a living, the stories were very encouraging and inspiring.  Fortunately, the stories are the bulk of the book.  Unfortunately, they're really the only thing I liked about the book.  There are four sections of them, and in between Toby Mac filled pages with his own blog posts, quotes, and other unnecessary filler.

To a Toby Mac fan, I would definitely recommend this book; it's a win-win situation when you enjoy seeing his face all over the pages and getting fed great inspirational stories.  For those of you going in with a bias like my own, borrow a copy and just read the stories; they're worth a read and they're really short, so you can read for a few minutes at a time and not feel disconnected from the book.

I should say that I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House publishers for the purpose of writing a review.  Obviously, I wasn't required to write a positive one- they want complete objectivity.

Micaiah's Good Morning

Every morning, Micaiah is so happy and alert. We love talking to her and seeing her react. We decided to catch a little bit on camera so you can enjoy it too!

Micaiah at 5 Months Old

Our sweet little daughter at 5 months. We thought some of you who are far away would like to see her now :)

Book Review - Outlive Your Live by Max Lucado

You only get one, and yours is the only one like it.  At the end of your life, what will you have to show for it?  In Outlive Your Life, Lucado challenges us to step out from our comfortable shell of a life and live a lifestyle that will impact our world beyond what we could ever imagine.  He takes us through a tour of the book of Acts, giving examples in each chapter of another one of God’s faithful who lived in a way that changed the course of history, and calling us to do the same.

The overall message of the book is one that American Christians need to hear.  It resonated strongly in my heart, and challenged me to my core. Can I recognize the needs of others?  Do I act on them?  Do I have biases against certain groups of people?  At the same time, I felt both convicted and encouraged by the examples Max gives of real people who are making a difference.  My only criticism is that while Max’s story telling style works great for modern stories, it seemed to detract from the biblical accounts he recreated.  

I should received a copy of this book for free from Thomas Nelson through Booksneeze, and in no way was I asked or required to write a positive review.  It's all my opinion.

If you want to find out more about this book click here.

Book Reviews

Ladies and Gents,

   Thanks for reading our blog.  Thanks for taking the time to get to know us and for being interested in our lives.  I just want you to know that starting now, from time to time, I'm going to post some book reviews.  See, we found this really cool thing called Booksneeze that sends us a free copy of a book, and then I read it and write a short 200 word review for them (then we get to keep the book).  It's a cool deal, and they're not looking for fluffed reviews, but objectivity- so all of what I write in them is my own opinion, not pressure to write a great review.  Just so you know, I'll post the words "Book Review" in my title with the title of the book and the author's name, just in case you don't feel like reading a book review, then you can just skip it if you want to.   Again, thanks for reading.  - Russell

Visit to the Diary - Part 6

"Wed. Jan. 15, 2003

Satan was tempting me with sleep in class today.  I fought it hard, but it still managed to steal my train of thought every once in a while.  I did manage to lean something very important!
[LUKE 12:48: "...from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."]
-In application to life:
   The more knowledge I am given about God and His will for me, the more I am responsible to obey it.  And the more I learn about how to be more like Christ, the more I am responsible to BE like Christ.  Also when I learn new things, the way I think about things changes.  My point of reference is different with my variance of "light" that God has shed on me.  I never had really thought about that before.  All these revelations are coming at me so fast.  It's amazing!  God speaks so well through our speakers!

P.S. This side of the journal is hard to write on because of the little spiraly metal thinger- that's why your writing is messy.  Hey, I just talked to my future self- weird."