As I was driving to Washburn this morning, the digital temperature in the car read -15! (No, it didn't have the exclamation mark after the -15, I added that, but it does yell at us "ice" when it gets below freezing) Over the last couple days the high has not escaped negative numbers. My question is, if the "high" is a negative number, can it really still be consinder high? Suffice it to say, it has been cold and we've been staying in our heated house as much as possible. I guess this is our official welcome to North Dakota!
The JV basketball team had a tournament this weekend in which we went 1-1. In fact, we beat the same team on Saturday that we played (and beat) on Friday and we lost to a team that we had already lost to earlier in the season. This should fill you in to the fact that there are not very many schools in North Dakota and the rest are pretty spread out such that there are only about a dozen schools w/in a hour of Underwood...and that counts Bismarck! On varsity team hasn't been fairing as well lately. We lost on Friday night to a team we'd beaten and lost to already this season and got pummeled last night to a school from a town three-times our size...and their kids were nearly three-times our size! Our JV team also lost last night to Hazen who had three kids on their JV team 6'3" or taller! We have one kid on JV whose 6'. We have a few games left before the district tournament and should have a chance in those.
Saturday after the tournament, Harmony and I went up to Garrison (half-hour north-west) for dinner and a movie. They have a few restaurants including a 50's-style diner and a theatre that shows a recent release every Saturday and Sunday night (this week it was National Treasure: Book of Secrets).
On Sunday I preached on Ezra 5 and we saw that "Only God can Stop God's work." I was encouraged and challenged to continue persevering in obeying God's Word and trusting Him in spite of opposition and difficulty because He can and will use those who are faithful in His work. To listen to the sermon, click here.
Pray for the youth ministry that is in its fourth week now, my minstry through the basketball team, and wisdom for leading this church.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Freshman with a License to Drive
I have never lived in a place that allowed anyone under the age of 16 to obtain a driver's license. In fact, ever since obtaining my license after my sophmore year of high school, I have heard more and more talk about states trying to increase the age for this teenage rite of passage. That's all changed now. In North Dakota, you can get your permit upon turning 14 and your driver's license six months later. That's means that if you have a late birthday, you can show up for freshman orientation needing to acquire a parking pass along with your book list! As unbelievable (and frightening) as this may seem to those of us who've lived in big cities most our life, in farm based communities, the need to have kids being able to drive as early as possible is a necessity. A couple months ago I was driving back from visiting a family who lives on a farm a few miles west of town and saw a high school freshman from the church driving a hay-bailer down the road...and you thought the authorities needed to be alerted when your sixteen year old began driving!
As of Saturday I am only 800 wins behind Coach K (who as of the writing of this blog has 801 in his career). I coached the Frosh/Soph team in a tournament this Saturday to a one and one record. We got blown out by Buelah but then came back to beat Garrison in the second game. Now to cut myself some slack, Buelah is about three time the size of Underwood and was playing in division A (the higher of the two division in ND high school hoops) until a couple years ago. For those of you in the Chicago area, it would essentially be like Glencoe taking on Evanston Township (instead of teaming up with the other north shore communities to form the sports power that is New Trier). In LA, it would be similar to Harbor City taking on the combined powers of the four Torrance high schools. It was a great learning experience for me and the kids seemed to have fun (especially after winning the second game). However, I did feel the enormous pressure of being the head coach and am completly content to remain as an assistant coach and allow Coach K to build up an even bigger lead.
Harmony made the front page of the Underwood paper this week in her taking over the head librarian role with her current boss having retired at the end of December. Click on the following link to see a brief recap of the article http://www.nd-bhginc.com/underwood.htm.
This Sunday I preached through Ezra chapter 4 and we saw that "God's People should Expect Spiritual Attacks." I am continually amazed at the depth and riches of God's Word as I have been studying Ezra for this preaching series. I can easily quickly read through large sections of Scripture without having the foggiest idea of why God put them in the Bible or what they mean for Christians today. However, as I have been spending more time digging into the Word, it has been eye-opening to see the purpose behind and relevance today of the Bible. If you'd like to listen to this week's sermon, it should be posted here by tomorrow.
By God's Grace, Jeff
As of Saturday I am only 800 wins behind Coach K (who as of the writing of this blog has 801 in his career). I coached the Frosh/Soph team in a tournament this Saturday to a one and one record. We got blown out by Buelah but then came back to beat Garrison in the second game. Now to cut myself some slack, Buelah is about three time the size of Underwood and was playing in division A (the higher of the two division in ND high school hoops) until a couple years ago. For those of you in the Chicago area, it would essentially be like Glencoe taking on Evanston Township (instead of teaming up with the other north shore communities to form the sports power that is New Trier). In LA, it would be similar to Harbor City taking on the combined powers of the four Torrance high schools. It was a great learning experience for me and the kids seemed to have fun (especially after winning the second game). However, I did feel the enormous pressure of being the head coach and am completly content to remain as an assistant coach and allow Coach K to build up an even bigger lead.
Harmony made the front page of the Underwood paper this week in her taking over the head librarian role with her current boss having retired at the end of December. Click on the following link to see a brief recap of the article http://www.nd-bhginc.com/underwood.htm.
This Sunday I preached through Ezra chapter 4 and we saw that "God's People should Expect Spiritual Attacks." I am continually amazed at the depth and riches of God's Word as I have been studying Ezra for this preaching series. I can easily quickly read through large sections of Scripture without having the foggiest idea of why God put them in the Bible or what they mean for Christians today. However, as I have been spending more time digging into the Word, it has been eye-opening to see the purpose behind and relevance today of the Bible. If you'd like to listen to this week's sermon, it should be posted here by tomorrow.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Monday, January 14, 2008
There's a New Youth Group in Town
This past Wednesday we started up a junior and senior high youth ministry at the church. The kids really enjoyed our first event and I think are excited about inviting their friends. We're starting off by using a series called "Christianity Explored" that basically goes through the Gospel of Mark adressing such questions as, who is Jesus, why did he come and what does it mean to follow him? Harmony and I are team teaching the group with two other couples from the church. Please pray for us as we seek to lead these kids well, for them to grow in their faith and to desire to invite their friends.
Sunday was the third week in our series through the book of Ezra and we exmained chapter three, learning that worship is the priority for God's people. It's amazing that almost immediately upon returning to the Promised Land, the people begin rebuilding the altar and temple so that they can properly worship the Lord. I believe we have a lot to learn from them about the importance of prioritizing worship in our own lives and in the Church today. If you'd like to listen to the sermon on Ezra 3:1-13 entitled "Worship is the Priority for God's people" click here.
I realized I haven't mentioned any books I've been reading lately so I thought I should do that. I recently finished a book by Pastor Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist in DC entitled "The Gospel and Personal Evangelism." It was a great encouragement and challenge in sharing my faith. I am also currently reading a book by C.J. Mahaney entitled "Humility: True Greatness". He makes a passionate plea for Christians to actively seek to pursue humility in their daily lives. Finally, Harmony and I are reading a marriage book by Dave Harvey with an interesting title, "When Sinner's Say I do". It has been very refreshing for us to read advice about marriage that is rooted in the Gospel, rather than in pop psycology or ones that focuse on the symptoms rather than the problem (i.e. lack of communication instead of our sin nature).
The basketball team had two games this week and went one and one. We beat a team we'd already defeated earlier this season on Thursday and then lost to probably the best team in our district on Friday. The JV team won both of their games including scoring a basket with 1.6 seconds left to win by two on Friday.
Please pray that I would continue to grow in love for our church and our community and pray for Harmony and she continues adjusting to her new responsibilities at the library.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Sunday was the third week in our series through the book of Ezra and we exmained chapter three, learning that worship is the priority for God's people. It's amazing that almost immediately upon returning to the Promised Land, the people begin rebuilding the altar and temple so that they can properly worship the Lord. I believe we have a lot to learn from them about the importance of prioritizing worship in our own lives and in the Church today. If you'd like to listen to the sermon on Ezra 3:1-13 entitled "Worship is the Priority for God's people" click here.
I realized I haven't mentioned any books I've been reading lately so I thought I should do that. I recently finished a book by Pastor Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist in DC entitled "The Gospel and Personal Evangelism." It was a great encouragement and challenge in sharing my faith. I am also currently reading a book by C.J. Mahaney entitled "Humility: True Greatness". He makes a passionate plea for Christians to actively seek to pursue humility in their daily lives. Finally, Harmony and I are reading a marriage book by Dave Harvey with an interesting title, "When Sinner's Say I do". It has been very refreshing for us to read advice about marriage that is rooted in the Gospel, rather than in pop psycology or ones that focuse on the symptoms rather than the problem (i.e. lack of communication instead of our sin nature).
The basketball team had two games this week and went one and one. We beat a team we'd already defeated earlier this season on Thursday and then lost to probably the best team in our district on Friday. The JV team won both of their games including scoring a basket with 1.6 seconds left to win by two on Friday.
Please pray that I would continue to grow in love for our church and our community and pray for Harmony and she continues adjusting to her new responsibilities at the library.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Monday, January 7, 2008
Blogging Around the House
Well we've finally done it. We've given in. We tried to make it work for so long but alas we gave up. We bit the bullet and got home Internet! Now I can blog from home (as I am doing this very minute). You may think it's strange that I would bother mentioning getting broadband Internet but we've always worked at places that had Internet and so figured it was one expense we could do without. However, for various reasons we recently reconsidered. And so here I am trying away at the kitchen table while dinner is in the oven.
The basketball team was in a local tournament this weekend and didn't play so hot. We lost our first two games but did come back to win the third. In the first game we lost to a team we'd already played and lost to previously this season. In the second game we lost to a team that we'd already played and beat this season! It was disappointing to say the least. However, I am continually reminding myself that my main goal in working with these kids is not to win but to build realtionships with them, their families and to serve the community in a way that will best enable God to use me for His good purposes.
Sunday was my wife's birthday and we celebrated with Taco Bell. Now, you may think that's either a strange birthday meal request or I'm incredibly cheap. However, you have to remember that for us, going out to eat locally on a Sunday is NOT an option. Both of the cafes in town are closed one Sundays. Furthermore, the nearest fast food chain is an hour away (pretty much in any direction). So, we drove down to Bismarck after church and had Taco Bell before trying to go see a regional curling qualifier (the real reason we went to Bismarck for her birthday). Unfortunately, Sundays "rinks" (or matches) were only needed if there was a tie...which there was not. So we settled for seeing a movie before going out for dinner at an Italian restuarant.
The movie we saw was called "Juno" and was about a teenage girl who becomes pregnant and and goes through the process of trying to figure out what to do in the midst of normal ongoing teenage drama. I thought it was not only well done but also brought up a number of good issues for discussion. I am convinced that the Christian community needs to be willing to come alongside teenage or single mothers who decide not to get abortions instead of just dropping them after getting them to choose life and moving on to the next moral crusade.
This was the second week in our preaching series through Ezra. I tackled Ezra chapter two which is basically a long list of those who returned from exile. It was neat to see how a passage of Scripture that we often skip right over actually has a lot to speak to us today if we would just stop and listen. Remember, "all Scripture is God-breathed..."
By His Grace, Jeff
The basketball team was in a local tournament this weekend and didn't play so hot. We lost our first two games but did come back to win the third. In the first game we lost to a team we'd already played and lost to previously this season. In the second game we lost to a team that we'd already played and beat this season! It was disappointing to say the least. However, I am continually reminding myself that my main goal in working with these kids is not to win but to build realtionships with them, their families and to serve the community in a way that will best enable God to use me for His good purposes.
Sunday was my wife's birthday and we celebrated with Taco Bell. Now, you may think that's either a strange birthday meal request or I'm incredibly cheap. However, you have to remember that for us, going out to eat locally on a Sunday is NOT an option. Both of the cafes in town are closed one Sundays. Furthermore, the nearest fast food chain is an hour away (pretty much in any direction). So, we drove down to Bismarck after church and had Taco Bell before trying to go see a regional curling qualifier (the real reason we went to Bismarck for her birthday). Unfortunately, Sundays "rinks" (or matches) were only needed if there was a tie...which there was not. So we settled for seeing a movie before going out for dinner at an Italian restuarant.
The movie we saw was called "Juno" and was about a teenage girl who becomes pregnant and and goes through the process of trying to figure out what to do in the midst of normal ongoing teenage drama. I thought it was not only well done but also brought up a number of good issues for discussion. I am convinced that the Christian community needs to be willing to come alongside teenage or single mothers who decide not to get abortions instead of just dropping them after getting them to choose life and moving on to the next moral crusade.
This was the second week in our preaching series through Ezra. I tackled Ezra chapter two which is basically a long list of those who returned from exile. It was neat to see how a passage of Scripture that we often skip right over actually has a lot to speak to us today if we would just stop and listen. Remember, "all Scripture is God-breathed..."
By His Grace, Jeff
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
"I can play Settlers All Night Long"
Our church had a games night on New Years Eve that Harmony and I attended. It was a great combination of fellowship and competition. Some of you know that we love the board game "Settlers of Catan". However, since we arrived in ND we'd yet to find anyone to play it with...until Monday night that is. I taught a dad and son from another family in the church and they thoroughly enojoyed it, so we ended up playing it the whole time! Now, maybe we'll be able to get in some practice before visting Evanston in the spring (which we're planning on doing by the way) and taking on some of our Settlers-loving-friends there (you know who you are!).
On Sunday I started a series through the OT historical book of Ezra. In the first chapter we saw that God works in history to fulfill His will including using Christians and non-Christians alike and making His promises a reality. I'm excited to study through this book with the church as I believe it has a lot to speak to our context here in small town ND. Unfortunately, I am having problems uploading my sermons online so that I can link them on my posts. Hopefully I will get this resolved and when I do I'll link them here.
The basketball team hasn't had any games in awhile (over Christmas break) but we've had some 9-11am practices. We're looking forward to a tournament this weekend. I'll try to remember to let you know how it went in my post next week.
If anyone subscribes to the magazine "Christianity Today", there were some especially good articles in it this month inlcuding one on widows and one on Turkey (the country not holiday meal). There was also an article on "Church Shopping" that I believe missed the point. The author seemed to be defending those who don't stick with one particular denomination but get plugged into churches that God leads them to or that meet their needs. However, I believe the bigger problem in evangelical Christianity is not denominational loyalty but people's unwillingness to plug into a church, pursue memebership, use their spiritual gifts to serve and allow others to be used by God in their lives as well. The author did not seem to address this aspect of Christian consumerism. If I could give one piece of advice to Christians moving to a new town or students going off to college it would be to find a solid church and get involved immediately. This may mean spending a few weeks checking out churches but once you've identified a good one, get plugged in.
By God's Grace, Jeff.
On Sunday I started a series through the OT historical book of Ezra. In the first chapter we saw that God works in history to fulfill His will including using Christians and non-Christians alike and making His promises a reality. I'm excited to study through this book with the church as I believe it has a lot to speak to our context here in small town ND. Unfortunately, I am having problems uploading my sermons online so that I can link them on my posts. Hopefully I will get this resolved and when I do I'll link them here.
The basketball team hasn't had any games in awhile (over Christmas break) but we've had some 9-11am practices. We're looking forward to a tournament this weekend. I'll try to remember to let you know how it went in my post next week.
If anyone subscribes to the magazine "Christianity Today", there were some especially good articles in it this month inlcuding one on widows and one on Turkey (the country not holiday meal). There was also an article on "Church Shopping" that I believe missed the point. The author seemed to be defending those who don't stick with one particular denomination but get plugged into churches that God leads them to or that meet their needs. However, I believe the bigger problem in evangelical Christianity is not denominational loyalty but people's unwillingness to plug into a church, pursue memebership, use their spiritual gifts to serve and allow others to be used by God in their lives as well. The author did not seem to address this aspect of Christian consumerism. If I could give one piece of advice to Christians moving to a new town or students going off to college it would be to find a solid church and get involved immediately. This may mean spending a few weeks checking out churches but once you've identified a good one, get plugged in.
By God's Grace, Jeff.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Christmas Traditions
My family has a number of traditions and my wife and I are adding to them. For about as long as I can remember, my family has always had waffles and bacon on Christmas Eve. Since we weren't home over Christmas this year, we celebrated this tradition during our visit a couple weeks ago. I am a big fan of having breakfast for dinner and all I have to say is, don't knock it til you've tried it!
In my sermon this week I talked about another family tradition. Ever since I became a Christian in sixth grade and understood the truth and significance behind the Christmas narratives, I have insisted that the Magi (or wisemen) do not appear near the nativity scene in our house because it wasn't until some two years later that they finally reached Bethlehem. So, for example, our nativity scene is in the living room but the wisemen are in the kitchen. By the way, the title for the sermon was "Wisemen still Worship Him." Think about it.
I enjoy pizza and so whenever and however I can get my wife to allow us to have pizza, I do. One of the ways I've found to do this is to ask to have that for dinner whenever we have to decorate for the holidays (e.g. carving pumpkins, decorating the Christmas tree...). This year was my wife and my first for having a real Christmas tree at our place because in the past we've always gone to visit out families over Christmas. So our parents shipped us all of our Christmas decorations, we got literally the third to last tree on the lot on the Tuesday before Christmas, and ate pizza after decorating the tree on Friday night.
I know a lot of people like to watch movies such as "A Christmas Story" and "Miracle on 34th Street" this time of year. However, my Christmas movie watching tradition includes "Home Alone" and "The Santa Clause" (Tim Allen), which as of last night I was able to catch both of.
We had a Christmas Eve service at the church which I thought went very well and was well attended because of so many families who were in town visiting members of our congregation. That's one of the nice things about having an older congregation...kids and grandkids are expected to visit them over the holidays. During the service we had a series of readings through the Advent passages in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke along with singing traditional Christmas Carols and some special music by members of the church. We didn't have a special Christmas day service but instead Harmony and I were invited over to the house of a family from church for dinner (the noon meal).
The basketball team had a couple of tough games last week (jv went 1-1 and varsity went 0-2). This week I start a series through the OT historical book of Ezra which I'm very excited about, having been studying it now for the last few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.
By God's Grace, Jeff
In my sermon this week I talked about another family tradition. Ever since I became a Christian in sixth grade and understood the truth and significance behind the Christmas narratives, I have insisted that the Magi (or wisemen) do not appear near the nativity scene in our house because it wasn't until some two years later that they finally reached Bethlehem. So, for example, our nativity scene is in the living room but the wisemen are in the kitchen. By the way, the title for the sermon was "Wisemen still Worship Him." Think about it.
I enjoy pizza and so whenever and however I can get my wife to allow us to have pizza, I do. One of the ways I've found to do this is to ask to have that for dinner whenever we have to decorate for the holidays (e.g. carving pumpkins, decorating the Christmas tree...). This year was my wife and my first for having a real Christmas tree at our place because in the past we've always gone to visit out families over Christmas. So our parents shipped us all of our Christmas decorations, we got literally the third to last tree on the lot on the Tuesday before Christmas, and ate pizza after decorating the tree on Friday night.
I know a lot of people like to watch movies such as "A Christmas Story" and "Miracle on 34th Street" this time of year. However, my Christmas movie watching tradition includes "Home Alone" and "The Santa Clause" (Tim Allen), which as of last night I was able to catch both of.
We had a Christmas Eve service at the church which I thought went very well and was well attended because of so many families who were in town visiting members of our congregation. That's one of the nice things about having an older congregation...kids and grandkids are expected to visit them over the holidays. During the service we had a series of readings through the Advent passages in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke along with singing traditional Christmas Carols and some special music by members of the church. We didn't have a special Christmas day service but instead Harmony and I were invited over to the house of a family from church for dinner (the noon meal).
The basketball team had a couple of tough games last week (jv went 1-1 and varsity went 0-2). This week I start a series through the OT historical book of Ezra which I'm very excited about, having been studying it now for the last few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
It's warmer but I get sick...go figure!
Harmony and I traveled to LA this past week for a wedding, to see family and friends and to escape the cold! The high in ND was in the teens the week before we left. People asked me what the temprature was going to be in So Cal and I would just replied "at least 50 degrees warmer than here!" I always seem to get sick whenever I travel from cold weather to warm weather and this time was no different. My Mom had the stomach flu just before I got out there and so I somehow caught it a few days later. Other than being laid up for one of the days, the trip was really nice. Harmony's best friend got married this past Saturday. We got to spend some good time with family and friends and got to eat at most of our favorite spots (i.e. In-&-Out, Carl's Jr., the Loft and Busy Bee).
I had a busy week leading up to us going out of town. In addition to basketball practices everyday after school, I had to get Harmony to the airport on Thursday (she flew out early to help with wedding preparations), had basketball games on Friday and Saturday, spent quite a bit of time on the phone trying to fix our Tivo (which I ended up having to send in to get a new one...hopefully it'll come soon!), getting ready myself to leave Sunday afternoon, not to mention preparing for church on Sunday! God provided and everything got done. He is good!
I finished 1 Peter two Sundays ago and next week will start a series through Ezra. A friend asked if I had any insights into 1 Peter after preaching through it the past few months and the one issue that resurfaces is suffering and specifically how to suffer in a way that pleases God.
The JV team is 5-1 and varsity is 2-3 (both lost last night). I am enjoying getting to know the players, coaches and parents. I have always enjoyed basketball and for some time have wanted to coach youth so this is a great opportunity. It certainly keeps me busy. For our game a week ago Saturday, we left before 11am and didn't get back until 9pm! At least both squads won.
I'm sure there's a lot I'm leaving out from the past couple weeks but I think that's enough for now anyway. Pray for us getting back into the swing of things after our week off.
By God's Grace, Jeff
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