I know that most of you will see the title of this blog and the one thing that you will think is "A BABY!!"...Well...there is no baby news as of now. Sorry. But we do have other fun news about our lives.
Over the last six or so months, Colin and I have been preparing ourselves to move to Africa and drill water wells. We feel like this is how we are suppose to spend our lives - helping those less fortunate than us. And this is exactly what we will be doing in a few short months!
We are getting ready to head to Bolivia for six weeks to get even more training with Terry Waller of Water for All International. We leave for that trip on the 11th of July!! When we started praying and thinking about doing this it seemed like we had all the time in the world, but before we knew it, almost half the year was already over.
God has really guided us through all of this. For months we've known that we are supposed to move to Africa and serve. Along the way God has done so many things that confirm our choice to follow Him to wherever He calls us to go. For one, within a couple of months of knowing we were supposed to go, Colin's job was cut to half time. This was by no means the reason for our leaving, but was further confirmation that we were doing what we were supposed to be. All of the pieces from the what to do, to the where to do it, to the how, and the where, have all divinely fallen in place.
Once we get back from Bolivia we are going to be leaving the experiment station, a bittersweet reality, and moving to Paint Rock to further our well drilling training.
We will start raising support as soon as we can because we would like to be in Africa as early as January of 2012. We are sure that we will be in east Africa, but as to which country we are not yet sure. We are trying to be as open as we can to all of the possibilities and go wherever we are most needed.
I know that this may seem very vague, but some of the details are still unclear even now. Once we are closer to leaving we will update ya.
The last thing that I would like to say is more of a request. If you would like, please keep us in your prayers. God is really doing great things in our lives and we want to remain open to Him and His purpose. Also pray for our family and friends that we will be leaving. Watching us go may be one of the hardest things for some of them to do.
Again we are super excited about this new direction we are heading, and what better adventure to go on than one for the Most High!
~Ronnie~
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Some of my favorite books
This is a list of some of my (Colin) favorite books of all time and the books that have the most impact on my life in one way or another. These aren’t in any particular order. Some of these books are books that opened my eyes to conditions beyond my very limited scope, some of these books I really enjoy reading for pure entertainment, and some of these books altered the way I live life. All of these have become favorites for one reason or another.
-The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton
This book ought to be mandatory reading for anyone growing up in West Texas. West Texas is not a soft, green, lush environment. West Texas is a place where drought is common and rainy periods few and sometimes very far between. This book is about a rancher in West Texas who is very strong-willed and independent, and I dig him! He is my kind of guy. I fancy myself a younger version of Charlie Flagg, and if I was an old rancher I’d like to think I would be a lot like him - except I don’t know if I could raise Angora goats. The book is sad at times, but this is a book about life and sometime life is sad. This is one book that I really could read every few years.
-Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
I like pretty much everything by C.S. Lewis, but this is my favorite of his stuff. I like him because he says things the way I wish I could say it. Actually, he writes about stuff I haven’t even pondered, but if I had thought about it, I would have wanted to say it as simply and eloquently as he does. I think he reduces everything down to the least common denominator and says things in such a simple way that anyone can understand. I feel anyone who spends time reading Mere Christianity will enjoy what Lewis has to say.
-Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Brashears
As someone who was raised in a Christian home and went to church and attempted (most of the time very poorly) to be a good-church-going-religious guy, I had a lot of beliefs that I couldn’t back up. I knew what I was supposed to believe, but didn’t know why. I was pretty wishy-washy on what I believed and was poorly equipped to explain or talk with someone else about why I believed what I did. I read Doctrine because if I am going to call myself a Christian I ought to know what God says about being a follower of Christ. I also wanted to investigate what it is that a Christian should believe and what areas are open for discussion. I needed to study up on the doctrine of Christianity and this book helped compile the basic Christian doctrine for me in a way that was easy to read and understand.
-The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus
To me this book is all about obedience to what God asks us to do. It is also about how obeying God is not safe. We say things like “the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will,” when all actuality the Bible says that if we are following Christ we are going to be persecuted and people are going to oppose us. So this book is about how we ought to desire to be obedient to God more than we fear all the stuff that might happen to us or our families because we are doing what God has asked to do. It would be horrible to miss out on more of God because we were worried about the health risks associated with working with AIDS infected children in Africa, or for people to die of sickness and starvation because I was scared to take my family to a war-torn country to serve them, or for lost people in China to never hear about God because I was more worried about my 401K than giving money. When you really think about it, the safest place to be really is in the center of God’s will, even though it might cost you everything in this life.
-Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
I think maybe this book is where the inspiration for the movie 300 came from..? This book really is nothing at all like the 300 movie it just deals with the same event(s). I am not generally one of those people that claim “the book was so much better than the movie,” because I’m all for watching a movie in 2 hours as opposed to reading a book over 3 weeks. I like movies! Can you imagine what the book Titanic is like? The movie was bad enough and it took a whole day to watch. How much more painful would reading that book over the period of a year be? So yeah, I go for the movie over the book almost every time, but this is one book that I recommend over the movie.
-Radical by David Platt
For me this book eliminates a lot of the stuff I was using as an excuse to continue along in my peaceful happy life waiting for God to call me to do something incredible, rather than doing what He told all Christians to do a long time ago. At the beginning of this book you need to go ahead and have a conversation with God and figure out if you are really ready to do whatever it is He wants you to do. If you are willing to answer “yes” to His question then keep reading. As I read through the book, what at first appeared to be really radical seemed more and more like normal plain old obedience. As I read through Radical and began looking in the Bible, what we would call radical today seemed the norm during the time of the first church. My behavior today would appear radical to the first church because to call myself a Christian and then to live a safe, wealthy, self-centered life just wouldn’t make sense to them.
-For Men Only by Shaunti Feldman
I did not understand women at all before I got married. I’ve been married for a couple of years now, and I still don’t understand women. However, this book has helped me to better understand the way my wife thinks and has helped our communication. The author has written numerous other books but this one and For Women Only were incredibly helpful to me and my wife in helping to understand how each other operates and is wired. I feel that our marriage is stronger because of what I learned in this book and others like For Women Only, Captivating, and Wild at Heart.
-The Man Who Rode Midnight by Elmer Kelton
The old man in this book reminds me of my granddad. I pretty much like every book Elmer Kelton has written. This just happens to be one of my favorites.
-The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
This book is about Grace. I read this book at a point in my life when I really didn’t understand grace. I didn’t understand grace or feel I was deserving of it. This book was life-changing for me. I read this book, read about what grace is, the price that was paid for me, and how for me not to accept and embrace grace was to dishonor the huge cost that was paid on my behalf. If your life has not turned out the way you thought it would and no matter what you do, there is still something missing – read this book. I felt like the prodigal son who had lived a completely self-centered life and had made a mess of things doing it my way. I felt ashamed and undeserving, but God’s grace and kindness led me to repentance. I think anyone that reads this book will be changed. I don’t see how you cannot be overcome when you come face to face with God’s grace.
-The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonheoffer
Grace is freely given, but isn’t free. The grace we have the opportunty to freely accept, costs more than we can ever give or earn. Grace cannot be earned and no one is worthy of grace, but to all who will accept it, it is freely given. The author of this book lived a life that evidenced the high cost of grace and he desired to live in such a way that he didn’t cheapen grace. He died for what he believed. This was not a book that I could sit down and read through and understand. I had to spend some time reading and thinking
-The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
The best book on money and stewardship I have read. This book is super-short and you can read it in just a little while, but the principles in this book drastically changes the way we do our finances. When you see your money and possessions as items on loan to you from the creator of the universe, you start handling your things a little more carefully, and you start asking God where He wants His money to go rather than where do I think I should spend it. For me it was revolutionary to realize I own nothing, God owns everything. And then I was like, I better start taking care of His stuff!
-Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald Sider
Not the most entertaining or uplifting book I’ve read, but very impactful. I don’t think the purpose of this book is to try and guilt people into giving all their money away or to make us feel bad about all we have here in the United States, but it does make you aware of the extreme wealth we all have compared to the poverty of the rest of the world. After you are aware of just how affluent we are and how nice we have it, maybe you will feel the need to give of yourself to better the lives of others. It is a good thing to be aware of the world that exists outside of our little bubble. When it comes to money I don’t think we should fear giving too much away, but rather not investing enough in the lives of others.
-The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton
This book ought to be mandatory reading for anyone growing up in West Texas. West Texas is not a soft, green, lush environment. West Texas is a place where drought is common and rainy periods few and sometimes very far between. This book is about a rancher in West Texas who is very strong-willed and independent, and I dig him! He is my kind of guy. I fancy myself a younger version of Charlie Flagg, and if I was an old rancher I’d like to think I would be a lot like him - except I don’t know if I could raise Angora goats. The book is sad at times, but this is a book about life and sometime life is sad. This is one book that I really could read every few years.
-Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
I like pretty much everything by C.S. Lewis, but this is my favorite of his stuff. I like him because he says things the way I wish I could say it. Actually, he writes about stuff I haven’t even pondered, but if I had thought about it, I would have wanted to say it as simply and eloquently as he does. I think he reduces everything down to the least common denominator and says things in such a simple way that anyone can understand. I feel anyone who spends time reading Mere Christianity will enjoy what Lewis has to say.
-Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Brashears
As someone who was raised in a Christian home and went to church and attempted (most of the time very poorly) to be a good-church-going-religious guy, I had a lot of beliefs that I couldn’t back up. I knew what I was supposed to believe, but didn’t know why. I was pretty wishy-washy on what I believed and was poorly equipped to explain or talk with someone else about why I believed what I did. I read Doctrine because if I am going to call myself a Christian I ought to know what God says about being a follower of Christ. I also wanted to investigate what it is that a Christian should believe and what areas are open for discussion. I needed to study up on the doctrine of Christianity and this book helped compile the basic Christian doctrine for me in a way that was easy to read and understand.
-The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus
To me this book is all about obedience to what God asks us to do. It is also about how obeying God is not safe. We say things like “the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will,” when all actuality the Bible says that if we are following Christ we are going to be persecuted and people are going to oppose us. So this book is about how we ought to desire to be obedient to God more than we fear all the stuff that might happen to us or our families because we are doing what God has asked to do. It would be horrible to miss out on more of God because we were worried about the health risks associated with working with AIDS infected children in Africa, or for people to die of sickness and starvation because I was scared to take my family to a war-torn country to serve them, or for lost people in China to never hear about God because I was more worried about my 401K than giving money. When you really think about it, the safest place to be really is in the center of God’s will, even though it might cost you everything in this life.
-Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
I think maybe this book is where the inspiration for the movie 300 came from..? This book really is nothing at all like the 300 movie it just deals with the same event(s). I am not generally one of those people that claim “the book was so much better than the movie,” because I’m all for watching a movie in 2 hours as opposed to reading a book over 3 weeks. I like movies! Can you imagine what the book Titanic is like? The movie was bad enough and it took a whole day to watch. How much more painful would reading that book over the period of a year be? So yeah, I go for the movie over the book almost every time, but this is one book that I recommend over the movie.
-Radical by David Platt
For me this book eliminates a lot of the stuff I was using as an excuse to continue along in my peaceful happy life waiting for God to call me to do something incredible, rather than doing what He told all Christians to do a long time ago. At the beginning of this book you need to go ahead and have a conversation with God and figure out if you are really ready to do whatever it is He wants you to do. If you are willing to answer “yes” to His question then keep reading. As I read through the book, what at first appeared to be really radical seemed more and more like normal plain old obedience. As I read through Radical and began looking in the Bible, what we would call radical today seemed the norm during the time of the first church. My behavior today would appear radical to the first church because to call myself a Christian and then to live a safe, wealthy, self-centered life just wouldn’t make sense to them.
-For Men Only by Shaunti Feldman
I did not understand women at all before I got married. I’ve been married for a couple of years now, and I still don’t understand women. However, this book has helped me to better understand the way my wife thinks and has helped our communication. The author has written numerous other books but this one and For Women Only were incredibly helpful to me and my wife in helping to understand how each other operates and is wired. I feel that our marriage is stronger because of what I learned in this book and others like For Women Only, Captivating, and Wild at Heart.
-The Man Who Rode Midnight by Elmer Kelton
The old man in this book reminds me of my granddad. I pretty much like every book Elmer Kelton has written. This just happens to be one of my favorites.
-The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
This book is about Grace. I read this book at a point in my life when I really didn’t understand grace. I didn’t understand grace or feel I was deserving of it. This book was life-changing for me. I read this book, read about what grace is, the price that was paid for me, and how for me not to accept and embrace grace was to dishonor the huge cost that was paid on my behalf. If your life has not turned out the way you thought it would and no matter what you do, there is still something missing – read this book. I felt like the prodigal son who had lived a completely self-centered life and had made a mess of things doing it my way. I felt ashamed and undeserving, but God’s grace and kindness led me to repentance. I think anyone that reads this book will be changed. I don’t see how you cannot be overcome when you come face to face with God’s grace.
-The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonheoffer
Grace is freely given, but isn’t free. The grace we have the opportunty to freely accept, costs more than we can ever give or earn. Grace cannot be earned and no one is worthy of grace, but to all who will accept it, it is freely given. The author of this book lived a life that evidenced the high cost of grace and he desired to live in such a way that he didn’t cheapen grace. He died for what he believed. This was not a book that I could sit down and read through and understand. I had to spend some time reading and thinking
-The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
The best book on money and stewardship I have read. This book is super-short and you can read it in just a little while, but the principles in this book drastically changes the way we do our finances. When you see your money and possessions as items on loan to you from the creator of the universe, you start handling your things a little more carefully, and you start asking God where He wants His money to go rather than where do I think I should spend it. For me it was revolutionary to realize I own nothing, God owns everything. And then I was like, I better start taking care of His stuff!
-Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald Sider
Not the most entertaining or uplifting book I’ve read, but very impactful. I don’t think the purpose of this book is to try and guilt people into giving all their money away or to make us feel bad about all we have here in the United States, but it does make you aware of the extreme wealth we all have compared to the poverty of the rest of the world. After you are aware of just how affluent we are and how nice we have it, maybe you will feel the need to give of yourself to better the lives of others. It is a good thing to be aware of the world that exists outside of our little bubble. When it comes to money I don’t think we should fear giving too much away, but rather not investing enough in the lives of others.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
in light of the recent wildfires in Texas
http://westinstenv.org/sosf/2009/03/22/underwood-on-australias-fires/
The link above will take you to an article written by an Australian fire fighter who witnessed the devastating 2009 wildfire season in Australia and had concerns about how those fires were mismanaged and how they seemingly caught everyone off-guard. He has some warnings for the U.S. and how we manage volatile fuels and manage wildfire when it occurs. It would be wise for us to read this man's comments and heed his warnings. We do not live in a soft green environment but rather an environment that has burned for as long as there has been fuel, and it will continue to burn. Knowing that this environment we live in is prone to burning what can we do to properly manage our environment and what are the best practices we can take to manage wildfires? Every few years we go through a period where the fuel loads are high, the conditions are dry, and the winds blow - and everything comes together for a big wildfire season. It is unfortunate that when these events occur we are not better prepared. It is sad that many lose homes and some even lose lives. I believe that we can better manage the resources we have to mitigate the damaging effects of these wildfire seasons. The amount of tax dollars that are spent on fighting wildfires and the number of acres burned don't seem to jive. If we were accomplishing our goal would more acres burn every year and would we not eventually see a decline in the number of devastating wildfires? Why do we continue to spend more and more money every year to fight fire instead of being proactive and spending only a fraction of that money on fuel management? We need to be good stewards of the land because what we do on our own land can affect those around us.
I hope you will take the time to read this article.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
still whittling away at our debt!
We have been able to put another $3000 towards our student loan debt since the beginning of March! We are very excited about this and hope to continue paying this thing down as quickly as possible. I think we've been able to put $7200 towards the loan since the beginning of this year. At the start of this year the student loan debt was at $36,105. As of today, the grand total we owe on this loan is $29,133. Like I said in an earlier blog, we are putting all of our extra money towards the loan while continuing to be being faithful with our giving and tithing. I think the most important thing anyone can take away from watching us pay off our debt through giving more of our money away, is that by putting our faith in God to meet all of our needs, all of our needs are being met and we are being richly blessed through our giving. It's not - the more you give, the more God gives you in return - kind of rewards system. It is a - rely solely on God to meet ALL of your needs, and then you get more of God. That is the rewards system we are working on. With this system, whether by God's grace we are debt free by the end of the year or not, we will still praise Him for graciously providing for us and allowing us to be less in debt. I am confident that we will pay this debt off by the end of this year and then a large portion of our finances will be free to give even more to those who have less than we do. We hope to completely pay off all of our financial debt by the end of the year while simultaneously giving more of the money we receive from our jobs to the church, to people in need, to missions, etc.. I must say that our faith has grown tremendously through this period and it truly has been more fun and exciting to give rather than receive. Feel free to ask us about paying off our debt and how God is working in our lives. We would love to tell you all about it!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Water For All Training
Two weeks ago we attended a training course to learn how to drill water wells. The course is put on by Agua Para Todos Water For All International (WFA).
Water For All International is a public nonprofit corporation whose mission is to “empower poor rural families to solve basic food, water, and income problems with their own resources, celebrate life and share God's goodness through the Good News of Jesus.” WFA accomplished this by “training poor families to drill their own family water wells and make and maintain their own low cost pumps, using WFA developed low cost drilling and pump technology.” We feel the beauty of the WFA model is that you teach and empower the local rural poor families to drill their own low cost wells. To start a well drilling club, about 10 families get together and decide they will assist one another in drilling their water wells. The families purchase the materials and under the supervision of WFA personnel, they drill the wells. WFA teaches them and oversees the process while the families are involved every step of the way. By buying the needed materials and personally drilling the wells, the families are invested in the well. When someone has invested time, money, and sweat into a water well they are more likely to maintain that well. The families are then the owners of their very own water well. Many water wells are drilled FOR the poor by outside agencies or NGOs, but many times those wells break and the local people are either incapable of repairing the well, are unable to get the parts required to replace broken parts, or simply do not know how to fix the well. It is very important that the local people are involved in the drilling process and are trained to repair anything that breaks or troubleshoot any problems that arise. This system works best when the properly trained WFA personnel lives long-term with the rural poor, learns the economy, develops relationships with the local people, helps form the family well-drilling clubs, trains the locals, and teaches them to build and maintain their own well and pumps. With WFA the families are not having something done for them, but are actually empowered to drill their own wells and provide water for their loved ones. During our training, we were able to get some hands on experience in drilling one of these wells while at the week long course held in Paint Rock, TX. We worked with a group of people from all over the US and other countries. It was thrilling to see people showing up and give of their time and of themselves in order to learn something that can save lives and help people uphold a healthy lifestyle. The week of training was so informative and Terry Waller and Kim Edlund, the course instructors, are incredibly knowledgeable. We were in awe of their love for mankind and their God-given knowledge of drilling and agriculture. One of the main reasons that we were drawn to WFA is that as a WFA missionary you live with or within a close proximity to the folks you are training and assisting. We feel living with and being actively involved in the lives of those people you are trying to minister to is very important in the establishment of creditability and the creation of relationships. This is true in any culture I believe. It is to be expected that getting advice or working out issues is easy after a relationship has been formed. For me to put my faith and trust in another person, I have to know that person well and see them living out what they preach- they must have established some credibility, and credibility/trust is established over many years. This is why the aim of WFA is to live with and invest their lives into the people they are trying to minister to. WFA not only wants to empower the poor and provide water, but also to minister to and disciple the very people they are training to drill wells. Water is one of the most basic needs of all life, and when people are dying from lack of water most other humanitarian aid efforts take a backseat. 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies, which is approximately one in eight people according to UNICEF/WHO 2008. When you lack water the majority of your day is spent acquiring and/or transporting water. It is hard to have the time or energy to care for children, work, provide for your family, spent time with neighbors, have fun, fall in love, relax, eat, etc. when your day is filled with the task of survival. And their survival depends on finding clean water to drink. However, much of the water that is consumned is from polluted sources which then leads to sickness. According to UNDHR in 2006, every 15 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease. It is a tragedy that anyone dies from lack of basic human needs like water or food. The areas of the world where many of these people are dying everyday from lack of water are also areas where the Gospel of Jesus is not well known. The greatest tragedy is that while so many die, someone like me lives a comfortable life and has never taken the time to help them get water, never told them about the love of Jesus, and never lived out the Great Commission which says for ALL Christians to go and make disciples. We feel a great sense of urgency when we think about water well drilling because the need is so great and so many are without. We also feel incredibly blessed to have lived our entire lives with clean readily-available drinking water, an abundance of fresh refrigerated food not more than a few feet away, easy access to medicines and health care providers. As a people who have been blessed with so much it is our responsibility to pass those blessings on to those less fortunate by every means available. Please take a little time to look at the WFA website that is posted above. You too can help change the lives of people who are suffering without water. Investing in saving lives is a sound investment!
Pulling on the rope!
Kim Edlund and Terry Waller
Drilling
The whole team with our completed well Saturday, March 5, 2011
Paying off the student loan
I wanted to update you on our progress towards paying off our student loan debt and becoming debt free. By God's grace we have been able to pay off $4200.00 of the student loan from January through February. We still have quite a ways to go to get the whole loan paid off ($31,419 remaining balance), but we are going to continue to be deligent in paying off the loan, continue to be faithful with our tithing and giving, and rejoice every time we are blessed enough to be able to pay more towards the loan. Maybe we'll have a more interesting blog post soon...
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