This was about photo #897 in trying to get the kids to look at the camera this week. It’s been tough to get much digital work done as we’ve had a lot of computer upgrades & burnouts over the last few weeks. Soon, we’ll be up and running at full speed and more around the house and ministry.
Reilly
Our Sunday lunch table is a place for some serious laughs. Sandy taught Reilly’s class for children’s church this last week. So, as always, we decided to review the Bible account with him. “What did Mary do that honored Jesus? She washed Jesus’ toes. Good, she washed His feet Reilly. What did she wash them with? uuuh… snow cones!” After that one… the story was over.
Reilly’s Italian is coming along splendidly. He has the local accent down. He just learned how to swing his first golf club yesterday too. And, in turn, he learned what blisters were all about.
Jessi
Our music lover. She too loves snow cones and Play-dough. Her best friend is our dog Java. She’s coming up with a new word every hour and is days away from completing her law degree and taking her bar exam. Ok, we’re just kidding about the play-dough.
Website Notice: we’re in the process of upgrading the engine to this blog. This means that some of the features of the blog will be down until we can get them back up and working again. The new upgrade will help us knock down the level of spam and open the door for more user-friendly features for our 3 faithful readers (Hi Mom).
Springtime is just starting to round the corner as some of the first blossoms are appearing on the trees. Soon, everything will be in bloom. Northeast Italy is rich with various types of flora & fauna. It’s also rich with viruses and bacteria. One of our doctors in our Church told me that he had never seen so many strains of colds, fevers, & cruds than he had here. And sure enough, every winter we come down with something that lays us out for days or weeks at a time.
However, this year, as I noticed winter’s slipping grip, I praised the Lord for health. For this first time in years, I was protected from virulent violence throughout the winter. Oh, how I appreciated that. I had worked my third winter in an office with no heat. And, being from Arizona, heat is native to my nature. I much prefer the warm to the cold. So what was the secret you might ask? We got a new coffee machine in our worship center this winter. It’s Italian coffee. Beans are ground as you make your selection and a shot of chocolate is available with the cappuccino. I’m an addict now and I think my health & immune system has improved as a result.
So What’ve We Been Doing over the last 9 days?
Our close friends and church members (Aaron & Leila Hudson) had a house fire 9 days ago. The Hudsons have been in our Church for around 5 years now. Leila is 7 months pregnant. They lost most of their stuff and their 3 animals in the fire. They’ve had to inventory, clean what was salvageable, and move to a new home (2 doors down from us — Sandy’s doing). Many truckloads went to their new home and an equal amount went to the dump. It was a disastrous mess. So, we all have soot-stained hands and happy hearts as this couple gets back up on their feet again. It was a great “snake-story” of life to teach Reilly (who was completely fascinated with the whole ordeal). It was also neat to see how our folks in our Church came around this couple from morning to midnight every day.
Special Kudos
My close friend and colleague, Pastor Mike Bellamy, celebrates his 24th wedding anniversary with his wife Kim today. Congrats!! They’re almost silver. They also have double the matrimonial years we have. I just want him to know that even though I have more white hair than he does. I know you’re reading this Mike — just before you hit the gym again.
For the last few months, I’ve been chipping-ever-so-slowly-away at a project with my friend Mike. The idea was hatched some time ago and has now come to fruition. We started a new blog-forum. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “But Rob, this blog here is fantastic; awesome even.” Yes, I can feel the digital praise (what I like to refer to as e-adulation) coming from my three regular readers as I type this very sentence. Ok, I’ll be honest, I don’t have 3 regular readers — it’s my mom only. She’s really proud of me — I think.
Moving Along.
I will continue this blog with the frequency and fervency that I’ve always contributed to it (you’re gettin’ about a post a week if you’re lucky). But I will remain steadfast with my ever-so-almost-interesting ramblings so as not to disappoint Mom.
But the new blog-forum is a different venture altogether. On that blog, a number of guys will join me writing about themes that pertain to the Church. I’ve had the joy of training or discipling a number of the guys that will write for the VG. These fellows are close friends because I like them and pay them well to be able to say that. Actually, we have some things in common that we want to write about. We love the Church, small groups, discipleship, the Hebrew worldview, and the power & promises God gives His Bride to impact her surrounding cities. You can read all about it on the “About Vision Glorious” page on the site.
It’s a little more teaching & application by nature to help Christian ministers and workers catch fresh principles for their Church. What we’re doing is spending a couple months on a targeted theme and writing insights on each theme. For example, our first theme is called True Christian Community and we’ll publish something every 5-8 days on that subject for a number of weeks. Then, we’ll be moving ahead to another theme. Over time, you’ll be able to have a repository of insights from guys who have well-tasted each of these principles and subjects. When you want to read or gather material on the subject of Community, all you have to do is click on the “tag” and all the articles on that subject will come up instantly. Also, you’re able to comment very easily on each article and discuss it with us if you’d like.
If you’re interested, add our new blog-forum to your bookmarks or subscription list and stop on by the Vision Glorious site. Leave us a “shout-out” in the Shoutbox if you make it by — Mom!
In Northeast Italy, we reside on the fence. Surrounded to our backs and sides by Romanism, we look eastward to the seemingly unstoppable waves of Muslim thought, culture, and practice headed this way. Brace yourselves for what happens to spaghetti-spine Europe in the coming years.
A Fantastic Article
Nathan Casebolt is a blogger that I read pretty regularly. He’s a young guy… HA! He weighs in five years younger than myself. I haven’t met Nathan or corresponded with him, but I have come to appreciate his writing, creativity, and intellect. Well, Nathan recently wrote an article about Europe entitled Muslim Soup that I think is a must read. You can find the article here. I wish I had his email address to thank him for it. He greatly encouraged us out here.
More EU Fanfare
Along the same lines, if you’re interested at all in the forces that shape continents, the European Union has by-passed Israel & side-stepped the US to help support the PLO now run by the terror group Hamas. They’re doing this by sending an aid package of around 165 million bucks after Israel froze their border taxation revenues. I wonder if the EU will send them some more teenagers and semtex when they run out of those too?
