1. A house for rent at the same price as a seminary house
2. A Realtor that got another seminary student out of his house fast.

Because the first point is pointless without the second I got in contact with the realtor.  I soon found that he had an investor and that after the paperwork was done the investor would make an offer on the house for a short sale.  After some prayer and needed research I attempted to reach the owners of the home for rent.  I soon found that they were a family that I’ve known in the past.

In God’s timing I spent about two days trying to get a phone number to call them.  At 6PM one night I finally was able to make contact.  Not only did I get details but I also was invited to come and look at it as they were still in town for the evening.  We did, and loved it.  Compared to a seminary unit it’s bigger and has its own backyard and deck.  Its bigger then our home and the seminary house as well.  Most of all it’s less than a 10 minute drive from seminary as opposed to the 45-50 minutes without traffic from our current home.

I am excited to say that we have the offer sent to the bank on the house already.  So we just have to wait for a response (average 2 to 4 month’s response time).  Paula and I discussed how great it would be if we could sell and move in before school so we wouldn’t have to move in the middle of classes and schoolwork.  However, we couldn’t afford our mortgage and rent.  Then today when I was visiting with the family, they offered to let us move in as soon as we want, rent free until our house sells!  Praise God! PRAISE HIM!

It’s amazing how he provides.  When we couldn’t sell our house this summer, it felt like defeat.  Yet in the eye’s of God it was victory, as He knew that there was something better waiting for us.  So now we are beginning to plan the move!  In the next two weeks we will live in a beautiful home, with a backyard, deck, the ability to park in the garage (yes with Big Red even) and a savings of 6 hours per week of driving!

Thank you all for your prayers!

Thank you Dean and Linda Nelson, for allowing us to move in early!

Thank you heavenly Father!

UPDATE: With the beginning of the semester coming near and no offer on the home yet we will be giving up our seminary unit come July 1st or 18th depending on the amount of showings.  Time is short, please pray for us.

For more details visit the page “Our Home is for Sale”

In the evening Paula thought we should head into the hospital to make sure everything was alright with the contractions not getting stronger.  It was great timing because by the time we got there, they were getting stronger.  Sure enough Aaron Thomas was born at 12:21AM the next morning! (thus Aaron was born on the 12th)

Facts: 8 lbs 10.5 oz 20.5 inch completely healthy!  Praise God!

Last spring a clear calling was made in my life to peruse new employment. This led to a time of very purposeful and focused prayer on the next chapter in our lives. The result was a direct answer with a new position with Geek Squad @ the Children’s Hospital. Not surprisingly, the opening became available the very last day after a planned week of prayer. Still that wasn’t the only answer that came from this time. I began to question again the call that has been stirring in my heart for many years. In a very clear way God answered, which is another story for another day. So, to get to my point finally, I am now seeking the training and recognition of the church as a Pastor. In March of 2010, the board of deacons at AFLTS approved us for seminary. We Praise God! Now here’s where we need prayer.

Seminary limits me to part time work, for more focus on the study of God’s word. Part time work equals less money. If we sell our house we 1) live on campus and get to enjoy being with the family of God on campus 2) save about half of the cost of our mortgage. However, with the market as bad as it is we will have to pay thousands of dollars to sell the house… but I’ll get back to that in a minute.

In the meantime, I’m taking 8 credits online to finish my BA degree, working full time with Geek Squad, part time at Solid Rock. Paula (my wife) is now 7 months pregnant, homeschooling three of our five children and attempting to pack/clean the house to get it on the market at the same time. Needless to say, we’re busy.

Again to my point: Today when getting the mail I heard two women looking for addresses on houses and talking. It’s a little odd looking back now, but I just assumed they were looking at houses for sale, so I invited them to look at ours (though it’s not clean or on the market yet). They were looking, and our house fit what they are looking for. Praise the Lord! Still there is the issue of cost. We owe too much to come down to the low cost of the foreclosures in our area… about $30,000 to much. So please pray… God knows, has a plan and will make whatever work.  Yet we still don’t know just what that is, so please pray for us.

I am overly excited to have the opportunity to preach God’s word, and can’t wait to get past the gitters, so my sermons I preach in the car (to myself and anyone who happens to be driving next to me) are equal to the one I preach around people.

Again, thanks for your prayer. I’ll update soon.
P.S. The baby and Mom are doing great, all to God’s glory!

Christ was born, God in flesh, God coming down to live among us. Coming to achieve the single most important thing of all time, the single thing that all time truly points at and is focused on. God, coming down from His perfect, majestic, and holy throne in heaven to be born in a nasty, dirty and lowly barn. It’s not even a modest hospital, not even compared to a home birth, its where animals live, sleep, eat and drop their waste. The Creator of the universe being born into a human body in the absolute most humble environment. This was just the beginning of the example given of this baby, the example of His love for us. His love for us is truly the “why” behind the birth. His never ending pursuit of our hearts and lives begins with a baby in a feeding basin in a barn.

So why does his humility show us His love? Because a God who reigns over His people and has lived on their level, understands and has compassion on their lives. The contrast would be a ruler who orders his people’s allegiance, demands their obedience and has no love for them.

But He saw us as being worth it, being worth leaving His place in heaven in the midst of all perfection and coming down to live among us, so that He might show His extreme passion and love for us.

Romans 8:38 and 39 reminded me of this even further today.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Merry Christmas everyone!  I pray you remember and know His never ending, truly non-conditional, love for you today and always!

I realized this year how funny it is when you make it’s not that hard to get the design down, mix the frostings, and place everything just right. The hard part really is trying to keep you kids from eating it while you are encouraging them to help you put it together.