Just to do...

The people do not think I can post this so here it is!

-jn

Summer is Here and We are Getting No Break!

Here we are passing another week and working another post! As usual, things are busy. We are, however, blessed beyond measure. God is good and takes care of His own!

Jeremy is busy like nobody's business! He found out less than two weeks ago that he will be teaching two classes on an adjunct basis starting tomorrow! The classes will continue eight weeks. He will have to miss one week due to being out of country. That is another point of having a busy summer! 

On Thursday, Jeremy and JT will be flying out early in the morning to join a mission team in another country. They will be gone about eight days. 

Jeremy has been directing the summer series for the congregation which began about two weeks ago and is off to a great start. 

The first week in July,  the kids and Jeremy will be attending the camp they generally attend. Then, Jeremy has two marriage seminars in July!

Shawna plans to go check on family. Her mom has been recovering from surgery, Jeremy's mom will be at home alone a lot, and Shawna's sister is getting married in another state in October. This will mean Shawna will likely be making more planning trips to her sister's to get things in order as she is a bridesmaid and Kaylee is the guest book attendant. Shawna is still working on a paper which she hopes to have done by the end of the summer.

JT just got back from preachers camp and had a great time. He, as mentioned, is going on a mission trip with Jeremy, has two more camps this summer, plans to attend one of the classes Jeremy is teaching, and has an active preaching schedule! He is busy!

Kaylee plans to babysit, go to a camp one week, attend band camp for two weeks, travel with Shawna, and, possibly, relax!

God keeps us busy but we stay out of trouble and work for Him!

-j&k

Summer Break, Baby!

You can assuredly tell who came up with the title of this post! Only teachers and students would be so excited. Some of the rest of us still have to work! Okay. I am just kidding. Teachers work also. Students? Well, that is another story for another time!

We have a very, very busy summer lined up. JT is going to preacher's camp today and will be gone for a week. Both kids have Horizons the first week in July. Kaylee has band camp for two weeks in late July. JT has one more camp in late July. Jeremy just found out he is teaching two classes on an adjunct basis in June and July. Jeremy and JT are going on a mission trip for a week. Jeremy and his father have two marriage seminars lined up in July. Shawna has a paper to finish and work for her job (as well as running the rest of the family around, apparently!).

We are hoping things will slow down a bit and we can get into some type of routine! Wow! That might be a high call!

-j&k

It's Has Been a Very, Very, Very Long Time

To say that we are blessed is a gross understatement! We are blessed beyond imagination. And, the blessings keep coming! We serve an awesome God Who does, indeed, take care of His own.

Jeremy has had a lot of speaking engagements lately and is glad to be attending at the home congregation today. Recently, we went to another state to see family which included the recent addition of two precious little ones. We had a really good time and it was nice to see family. We have some pictures to come! More recently, we went to see family as a member recently had some back surgery. She is doing well, but very sore, which is to be expected. Both trips went very well. 

The school year is winding down which means a lot of stress for Shawna and the kids. Shawna has a lot of grading and the kids are studying to end the year out well. It is hard to believe we will have two in high school in August! Time continues to march on. Shawna is still diligently working to complete her paper and is making progress. The job and the home responsibilities keep getting in the way but it is coming along.

The kids had some significant events recently. JT participated in the school play and found he really enjoyed it. Kaylee had a band concert and did a really good job. She had made the decision to make this her last year in band. The high school tends to eat, sleep, and breath band and her life does not accomodate such high volumes of one activity. Both kids are still active in church activities and JT still participates in tae kwon do. He plans to test for his next level tomorrow but is unsure if he will make it due to participating in the play over the past several weeks which kept him away from other activities. We will see!

That's all for now, folks!

-j&k

Sheep Need a Shepherd; Humanity Needs the Good Shepherd

Last published in 2007, W. Phillip Keller wrote A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. Mr. Keller came to write the book with a very interesting and diverse background. He was, himself, a shepherd for many years of his adult life. Being a well-educated man, he spent the last several years of his professional life working as a scientist. This placed him in an interesting position when he wrote A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. He was able to provide insight from a practical standpoint because he was a shepherd and he was able to write from a technical standpoint because he understood the science behind why shepherds do the things they do.

In the book, Mr. Keller tells of how he would often lead a flock of sheep to a luscious, green pasture. The pasture was often fenced in and would have good water available and nutritious plants for the sheep to eat. He relayed how there would always be one, and maybe a few more, lambs who would walk along the fence looking for a way out. There were always sheep that wanted to escape. The sheep would often escape to pasture that was dangerous for them and even to pasture that was much worse for them. They were just looking for a way out.

Mr. Keller then relayed how the sheep would develop an intimate relationship with their shepherd and would do anything they were directed to do. He told how he could lead a sheep to the slaughtering block and they would blindly follow him, not being cognitively aware they were being led to their death. And, in the pasture at large, the sheep would be headed for their own death or demise without the shepherd’s direction.

It is interesting how children of God will study His word and often attempt to look for a way out of the directives given by God. Isaiah described humanity: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one, to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Often times, Christians look for a way out of God’s directives and it is ultimately to their own demise. Sheep need a shepherd and humanity needs the Good Shepherd.

It is also easy to imagine a lamb following shepherds to their own death. The lambs were, of course, led to their own death by the priests of the old law and did not have any awareness they were to be slaughtered. It was not that way with the Lamb of God. Christ was led to His own death completely aware He was to die on Calvary’s tree. “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

-j

Blessed, Blessed Beyond Measure

This photo describes how we have felt lately. We have been busy and it has been crazy. But, as we stop and reflect on what has been going on, we are still blessed. God has been good to us. And, now, we will share with you, our blog friends, what has been going on.

The weather around us has been unusual. We have not seen any snow this winter, until now. Last weekend, we saw a little bit of snow. But, around here, there has been enough to stop the world. Shawna was out for a total of three days this past week. This was unprecedented for her place of employment. Jeremy was out for three and a half days. The kids were out of school all week but it was not planned. We have had a lot of time together as a family. In fact, we have had so much time together  that we became sick of each other! We have played a lot of spades, pegs and jokers, and worked on our memorization for the year. We got out of the house today even though it was raining rather hard. We all just wanted away. We got it and had a good time doing it.

Shawna has started teaching after the new year and has been enjoying it. She continues to take new responsibilities and seems to stay busy. Yet, she loves to be busy. She also continues to keep things together around the house. She is moving along on writing the big paper she has been working on it and hopes to have it completed in the next six months. She has been actively involved in planning for the next ladies day at our congregation.

JT has been out preaching. This puts the father of the house in a rather unusual position. He has now been on both sides of this as he used to leave the house on Sundays to go out and preach. Now, he gets to send his son away on the preaching engagements. He has been actively working on Bible bowl which will take place over Easter weekend. He likes video games, school, and seems to be more and more social these days. He has ventured out on a new walk of life in that he plans to be part of the school play this year. With these responsibilities and tae kwon do, he is not seen around the house very much. Kaylee kind of misses him.

Kaylee started to get sick but we seem to have caught it early and she is doing well now. She is tired of being in the home as she has been in the home for a week and got out for the first time today. She matures quite nicely when she wants. Then, when she does not want to, she can be a holy terror! She has been more and more involved in the youth group and doing well at school. She has a huge, huge circle of friends because she is the social one of the family. She is looking forward a banquet coming up so her time right now is composed of finding a dress (and Dad will go broke) that is decent but still girly.

Jeremy is ready to go back to work! He has enjoyed his time off and has done some things around the house. He installed a television on a wall in JT's room and ran the wires through the wall. He has installed two permanent non-tension rods in the showers. He had one of the tubs repaired. He has been working on wiring the house for internet. He painted a bathroom. He started working to get the summer schedule together for the congregation. He is also involved in an internet radio program but more will be posted on that later.

All in all, we are blessed, blessed beyond measure.

-jsjt&k

Ninety Generations

The dating of the book of Isaiah is placed during the seventh and eighth centuries before the time of Christ, which makes it approximately 2700 years ago. It is hard for me to comprehend 2700 years. I am not sure any of us can completely understand the time that has passed and all that has happened. A bit of reflection on generations might be helpful.

It is not uncommon (in fact, it is extremely common) for us to know our parents. Most of us spend over half of lives knowing our parents and having a significant relationship with them. Still not uncommon, but a little less common, is to know our grandparents. I was blessed to know all four of my grandparents and had a significant relationship with all of them. Two of my grandparents still live and I get to spend time with them. Perhaps, you have been blessed to know your great-grandparents. I remember three of my great-grandmothers. Two of the three passed away around the time I became a teenager. The third lived until I was in my 20s. She was a godly lady who passed with hope. We called her ‘Gramsie.’ She often told of our family’s association with the church.

While spending time with Gramsie, I remember her telling about times she grew up in Hewins, Kansas and would walk or even ride a horse and carriage to worship on Sunday. She would tell how she would walk into the auditorium on Sundays and see both of her grandfathers (my great-great-great-grandfathers) on each side of the auditorium. They were both elders in the church.

Several years ago, my father conducted genealogical studies of the family and was able to trace the family back over ten generations. Yet, after we searched back two (maybe three or four) generations, the people just become a name and a date. Time marches on. In Genesis 5, there is a record of family generations beyond Adam and Eve. Yet, so many of them are just names and length of years they lived. 

As I have written about my family here, I went back five generations, even as far back as the 1800s. Yet, to get to the time of Isaiah, if the average generation is 30 years, we would have to go back 90 generations.

Ninety generations ago, Isaiah told of the coming of Christ. 2700 years ago, Isaiah told how Jesus would be born into the world and He would bring hope to a world filled with hopelessness. He told how He would be born into the world like everyone else, be rejected, and ultimately killed. And all of it was in the plan of God. Isaiah more than any other prophet provided predictions of the coming King (i.e. Isaiah 52:13-53:12) – Ninety generations ago.

-j