HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Dogs

Last night the Brewer Bible study turned into a little doggie show. There were also 2 big dogs, but I dont like them, they drool on my computer and smell bad.

Brrrr! It's.... cold?

A cold front came in this week and the temperature dropped, today the high is 68 degrees!!! lol I like it though, it feels a little more like November. Yesterday the town put up the Christmas decorations in the circle. They have taken tacky to a new level. See picture. This week in class we finished Romans and Nehemiah. On Tuesday we helped with another Habitat For Humanity house. We nailed in the plywood outer walls and got the roof trusses up. On Wednesday evening, Cross Connections, our new adult ministry at the church, we talked about raising children. We handled it differently than what you might expect. Katy, Bryan and I shared about our experiences growing up. We answered questions like "How are some ways your parents prepared you for life?" "What kind of punishment did you receive?" "How did your parents influence your faith?" and a few others. Several people told us that they appreciated us sharing from our different viewpoints. I enjoyed taking a look back on growing up and my parents. I really appreciate all that they have done for me and the sacrifices they have made and how they have raised me. I have to say that they did a pretty good job. ;-) This week we also helped Pastor Randy out by putting up some more fence around his pool (still going from our first job here) and Travis and I dug around a broken sewer line in his backyard. It was pretty tough. On Friday I went to Morgan and her sister Paige's rodeo. It was pretty cool, and a little cold, like late season night games in high school. Morgan participated in team roping (one ropes the head, one ropes the back legs), breakaway (roping a steer from your horse), goat tying (galloping up to the goat, jumping off, slamming it into the groud and tying 3 legs together), barrels (racing around 3 barrels without knocking them over), and poles (weaving in and out of 8 poles). I also saw some teen bull riding. I didn't get back till 3:30 in the morning, but I had a good time. Today I got mom's Amish postcard and cookies and the Kaylor's card :) Thank you very much. Both Mrs. Brewer and Christina said that they would make shoo-fly pie with the recipe mom sent me, so that is exciting. No one here has ever heard of a whoopie-pie though, I need a recipe for that next.
Well, for Thanksgiving I will eat at the Brewer's and then the Michaud's. They are some great families in the church. On Black Friday we are planning on going to the... hehehe... beach, but I will have to do some shopping that day too, I am hoping that there is a good mall or something wherever we go. Okay, how about some pictures.

Pictures

Habitat House

I hit my thumb with a hammer at the house. It really hurt. I got light-headed and nauseous and had to lie down. lol It gave me this blood blister. I popped it later and it is fine now.

There is a black widow in there, under my seat at the rodeo. I had never seen one before

Morgan going for her goat.


Yee Haw! I'm a rough ropen cowboy!


Morgan on Doc running barrels


Morgan and Paige as cold, crazy cowgirls


The Circle. Enough said.

Pictures- Mens Retreat

enough said

zoom zoom

The suite where we had our meals and sessions.

A view of the pool and what I guess you could call the courtyard.

A view of the ummm, maybe the ocean?

Another view of that big, wet thing. That is the lifeguard tower.

The ocean. We had beautiful weather.

The hotel. My room, which I shared with Steve Swan, a man from the church, is B1.

Pictures- Fall Festival

We had ALOT of candy left over so the teens got to take their fill. There was alot of yelling and pushing. :)

Food and tables were in the tent, mini moon bounces, big slide, construction fence.

Various games

Yeah, we had a balloon arch.

Bethany and Morgan manning (or is it womanning?) their game.

Daytona Beach

Here I am overlooking the beautiful Daytona Beach writing to all of you guys up in the cold (although not recently) and blustery north. The high is only 81 today, but I will have to get in the water just because I am here. I may try surfing on these little waves. Last night and this morning Pastor Randy spoke and this evening his brother is speaking. His brother is a phsyco doctor. (?!) I am having a great time and learning a lot of stuff! I will put some pictures up when I get back to the Institute. Have a great day!

Tsk Tsk Tsk

Don't tell anyone, but I'm in church right now! shhhhhh

Busy Weekend

This past weekend has been a busy one! Or maybe it was just tiring so it felt busy. On Saturday I got up at 6:30, something that I am not used to doing anymore, and went to the church to help with the "Rip the Roof Off" day. We got half of the roof replaced that day. Saturday night was the YFC 3 on 3 basketball tournament. That got a little boring to tell you the truth. There were 1 or 2 hundred kids there to play basketball. It went pretty smoothly, no fights or injuries. I just pushed a slider up and down a few times on the sound board all night. But I also got to shoot around, throw Frisbee and play ultimate football (like ultimate frisbee but with a football). On Sunday we went to church for both services and then set up for communion that evening. During the quick afternoon we got ready to take care of the kids that evening, which we did. Travis and I, along with Shea and Bryan, did 2 puppet songs and Travis and I inproved the whole story of Jonah to the kids. They were wild kids though, loud and disobedient. And then we went back to the joint and I ended up staying up till 2 watching CSI reruns. Today I don't have much to do, except the Bible study tonight at the Brewers. This weekend, Thursday to Saturday, is the men's retreat down at Daytona Beach in a sweet resort/conference center. That should be cool. I am still praying about Israel, if anyone has any thoughts of how I could obtain $2,800 legally, I am all ears. Well, I hope that all of you who read this are having a wonderful day. Let me a comment so I know who is keeping up to date!

Mustard Seed??

Well I guess it is high time I posted something!!
Life here in mostly sunny FL is going alright. Another week of classes blurred by and I can hardly believe that we are into November already!! It doesn't seem natural to not have the leaves change or the temperature drop or the winds pick up or to have to with sleep pants on under my comforter. I actually just sleep under a sheet every night, and I have only woken up chilly once (when there was a "cold" front and the temp got down to the 60s!). But I sleep like a rock. Anyway. I got facebook so I could keep in contact with friends from school and there are so many on there! It is cool, but sorta annoying because I feel like I need to keep checking to see if anyone left me a comment or updated something. Hopefully that will fade away. This morning I got up at 6:30 to go to the nearby middle school to play basketball with some kids with the YFC guy who comes to Randy's class. It was neat, but I am not used to getting up that early anymore! Back when I was throwing trash I was up at 4 or 5 every morning and working by 5 or 6, respectively.
The Title, it has a purpose. Pastor Randy told us the other day about the mustard seed (it was a rabbit trial, we're in Romans). I want to warn you now, what I am about to say may BLOW YOUR MIND!! (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18-19)
So when Jesus talks about a "mustard seed" he isn't talking about a mustard seed. He is actually referring to the seed for a weed in Israel. It is a large weed with yellow flowers. When the Bible was being translated into English, there were none of these weeds in England so the translators decided to use a mustard seed. The reason Jesus refers to these weeds and not a mustard seed is because...
Houses in Israel will most often have a small garden not much more than a few dozen square feet inside a small wall attached to the house. In this garden they would grow their spices and mint, etc. so that they wouldn't have to walk the whole way out to the field to get a few spices for cooking. What Jesus is saying is that the "kingdom of God" is like a man who plants this weed in his garden and allows it to grow up and cut off all the light to the other plants. This seems like a stupid idea, which it is, except that the man isn't caring as much about the other plants as much as he is about the birds who can now rest in the weeds branches. God's ways may not always seem to make a lot of sense to us, but just like the man was actually watching out for the the birds, God has a purpose behind what He is doing and it will be good. Isn't that crazy!! We have all heard or read that parable before, but even today we didn't understand what God was trying to tell His disciples. "He who has ears let him hear."
Some time I will need to explain to you the parable of the sower. When you know what an Israeli field looks like, it will make so much sense to you that you will be amazed. Or maybe that is just me.

So, how about some pictures?

This is Sebring Grace Brethren Church

This is the sanctuary

This is Summer's tiny dog compared to the Brewer's dog

I pressure washed this huge picnic table. The whole thing was the darker color. It looks nicer now.

This is the Living Room at Grace Bible Church, down the road. This is the young adult singles ministry that we attend Wednesday evenings after our service at our church (now Cross Connections) is over. We hang out, worship, and Aaron usually teaches.