The First Snow of the Season

Well as the title shows we (meaning those of us that live in my area of Michigan) had the first official snow of the season last night. It was quite beautiful to watch and relaxing. I was going to take a picture of all the snow on the ground (it just covered the grass) but by the time I got around to it most of it had melted. Sorry, I really wanted you guys to see how pretty it was but oh well.

From Half Way Around The World

My cousin, Mike, who's in the Air Force and stationed in Iraq recently sent my parents and I a letter with a 250 Dinar bill. (Unfortunately I don't know how much that is in dollars; if you know let me know.) Needless to say, I thought this was really cool. But it also caused me to think that Mike and the rest of the men and women who serve in our military are really in a different country, different culture, and it's one that's is still very dangerous. These men and women need our prayer, because although things are getting better we are still are at war. So, hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of Iraqi culture. :)

P.S. I had a friend e-mail that this bill equals approx. 22 cents in US dollars.

To Chicago, Ohio, and home

I guess I’m really not staying very regular with this blog. Lord willing I’ll manage my time a bit better and update this more often. A couple of weeks ago Tom, Kathleen, and I went to the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to do some PR work for TEP. We set up our display in one of the main buildings, hung out with students, went to some classes, and also went and preached in the open air with Student Outreach. Student Outreach goes out twice a week, Wed. and Fri., and they do some sort of evangelism in downtown Chicago. On Wednesday, the team that I was with did more of one-on-one personal evangelism, something that I’ve done a bit of but still need of lot of work in. The Lord blessed me with a good partner, Adam, and we got into some good conversations. Friday, we did more the traditional open air preaching with the paintboard. Both Tom and I preached along with one of the leaders of Student Outreach, Robert. I really enjoyed getting to know the students there and hopefully building on the relationships that I’ve made. The plan is, Lord willing, to go there once a month and do more of what we did this last trip.

Also this past weekend my parents and I went down to Ohio to visit some family and my dad was preaching on Sunday down there. I have to say I am really glad I went. I was able to spend time with almost all of my cousins, including my cousin who’s going to school in GA and made a surprise visit up for the weekend. I would’ve been really upset if I didn’t go and found out that she was there. Please continue to pray for my Grandma who just had surgery for cancer and is recovery. The doctors say that the surgery went well and that they got all of the cancer out, praise God. But please pray for the continuing recovery.

Right now I'm just trying to get stuff done. It seems that I've had a lot of work creep up on me. So, now I'm just hunkering down and getting it done; that's the plan anyways. :) If you could also pray for my preparations for CTU (our chapel's youth group) and I'm speaking Nov. 2nd and am not sure what to preach on yet. So, please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom.

The Time in Between

Well a lot of things have happened since my last post. Since then I’ve preached twice, added new things to The Ezekiel Project’s website, Awana and CTU have started, and we’ve been going out in the open air twice a week.

Regarding TEP’s website, we’ve added our very own blog, with which we hope to keep people informed more regularly on what is going on with the ministry. tepse.org/tepnews We also added a sign up page for the weekly evangelistic devotional that we send out. We use to send them out once a week but we had some technical difficulties and were not able to do it for several months. But we got that all fixed now and the devotionals are being sent out regularly now. tepse.org/devo So, I’m pretty excited about that and there are also some other things that we want to do with the website, I’ll let you know when that happens.

Like I said earlier Awana and CTU started this past Wednesday. My parents and I are the leaders of CTU (Calvary Truth Unit) our chapel’s youth group, which has about 11 people in it now. After some singing, prayer and a short devotion about what we were going to be talking about this semester we took the kids out to get some ice cream. I tell you, it was a blast just getting out and spending some time with everyone. I think it was the first time we were all together since the spring, at least for me who as you know travels a lot in the summer. Needless to say it was a great time had by all.

Also keep us in prayer as we go out preaching at the local collage campuses and in Royal Oak. Next time I’ll see if I can get a hold of someone’s camera to post some pictures for you guys to see. Well that’s all I’ve got to say for now, God bless.
JC

Listen to the Crickets

If you've ever been to the country, a camp or perhaps just a quiet section of the city, you've most likely heard a group of crickets making music. This is a rhythmic reminder to us of God's faithfulness. The holy Scriptures uses the image of the flower of the field.

"Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
Matt. 6:30

If God cares so much for a plant then how MUCH more would he care for a cricket and how MUCH more for His child that He sent His Son to die for. So, the next time you hear the cricket's melody remember that God is faithful and cares for you.
JC

The Beginnings

Well, I've finally taken the time to set up my own blog, for all my friends, family, and whoever else. I once had a friend tell me that my Facebook status update always shows me being in some different location i.e. New York, Georgia, California. So, since I'm on the move so much I thought it prudent to have a way for everyone to stay updated on what was going on in my life. Thus the blog. Hope it is helpful, informative, and a blessing.
Until next time...
JC