Could be a revelation.

Sometimes I walk into the kitchen and I see something that has been left out. I get really irritated at stuff like this, and I say to myself, "gosh, how careless of someone, now I have to put it away."

Then, later, I realize it was me who left it out.

Henry's favorite things for the month of August.

1-Pulling on the electrical socket wall plates
2-Throwing balls, blocks, and sippy cups "over the wall" (baby gates)
3-Saying "baby!" and carrying around a doll a friend of ours got him. Today he gave the baby kisses
4-Laughing at the mere fact that he is alive
5-Kicking his legs and crying during EVERY diaper change
6-Putting blocks and other similar items into any available container, then dumping them out. This process is repeated as necessary, or until otherwise distracted

Today he was wearing my hat and it fell over his eyes. As he was walking in a straight line towards the wall, I thought to myself, 'aw, he's gonna run into the wall, and it will be so cute!' However, tragedy struck when a shelf interrupted his delicate state of balance, then added insult to injury by colliding with his head as it was on its way to meet the wall before landing on the floor. A bloody lip is pretty disastrous for a one year old, but, after some good consoling, Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks from A to Z, and giving the doll a hug, life went on.

The last seven weeks have been a roller coaster

Seven weeks ago today was a busy day. Several weeks of job hunting yielded my second interview, and I left for camp that same day. A few days after coming back from camp would be my last day and I had no job lined up. Needless to say, I was nervous.

"Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him."
-Psalm 126

Those words have been a promise I’ve held to the past few months as I’ve been working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Things weren’t fun. Money wasn’t just tight, more of it was going out than coming in, which makes life stressful in every regard.

At the same time, it was like God was speaking to me, saying two things: “Josh, I really do want to bless you, the hard things about your life right now I am using to change your heart. Josh, I am your sufficiency, not your job at a Christian organization or the people in that organization who like you."

Finally, it became apparent that the current course could not go on, and God said that my time with YFC had to end - not that I couldn’t earn a good living working at YFC, but the path laid out for me ended up taking a different turn.

I love YFC. For nearly a week after making the decision and the announcement I was depressed, unable to motivate myself to do much of anything - and scared at the daunting task of hunting for a job, which is a humbling experience indeed.

The amazing thing is, after pursuing about a dozen jobs, I got the job I wanted the most, working in the Global Security Operations Center at Microsoft. The timing has been perfect, and the job meets the needs of our growing family. The job is a job, meaning, its not like I get up every day and say, “today what I really want to do, above all else, is protect Microsoft assets!” But I really like my job - it uses my personality strengths in many ways, and I love the people I get to work with.

So, while Psalm 126 started out as something I was clinging to in hope, it has been brought to reality in my life. I went out sowing seeds while weeping, and am coming home with shouts of joy because God is meeting my every need.

So, what does the future hold? Latisha and I are becoming more involved in what is happening in Hilltop, where we live, and I am a very present voice in how Soma is shepherding youth in Tacoma. It is so very clear to me that I am in the right place, and I'm excited for what's in store for my family.

josh

Why I'm Not Boycotting the Beijing Olympics:

I just saw this group on facebook for people boycotting the Beijing Olympics. Up until a couple of weeks ago I was on this bandwagon as well.

However, a coworker of mine showed me two important facts that changed my mind:
1-The Olympics is about the athletes, not politics. The moment we make it about politics we disrespect the lifetime of training of many athletes.
2-If we as a nation had boycotted the Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany, Jesse Owens would have never been able to whoop on Hitler's aryan BS propaganda (in case you forget, Owens was the black dude that took the germans to school in their own land to win four gold medals).

Let me be straight though - China is a horrible country that in no way deserves our money, trade, or help. I lump China's leaders in with characters like Charles Taylor, anyone with a gun and power in Sudan, Stalin, Milosevic, and Nestle(¡Viva a Subcomandante Marcos!). Does that sound harsh? Yes.

But let's not punish the athletes and miss a chance to whoop commie @#&%!! in China with a senseless boycott.

Overall, I'm underwhelmed.

So, I've been reading news about the economy, the mortgage "crisis," war in the middle east, globalization, and all this. People seem pretty alarmed about the future of the environment, money, a world government, and missiles in Iran.


Frankly, I'm not really that concerned.


So what if the economy collapses? What if Iran fires on Israel? What if a one world government begins to form? What if it is the end of the world?!?!


Listen, I'm only 28, but I've been around long enough to know that for thousands of years people have been blowing each other up and committing random acts of violence and anarchy. And people always freak out when things go south anywhere that is published on the news. Shoot, I remember during the first gulf war when people stood up in churches all over the place and said it could be the end times. Yep, the world may be coming to end, but things have been, and could still, get a lot worse.


I'm not afraid because I have a big family and a secure future. What I mean is, if America falls apart, me and my 200+ family, well, we'll stick together. I'll sell my last guitar or work to the bone before I let one of the family go hungry - and I know they'd do the same for me.


So bring it. My trust is not is not in the economy, Barack Obama's audacious hope, peace in the middle east, or which country own Budweiser.

Is there really too much to do?

Lately, I've been pretty sure there is too much to do - which, of course, stresses me out. I used to think that I don't handle stress well because when I get stressed I want to do what I want to do. I get bossy, insensitive to my wife, and I want to relax how I want to relax - no matter what anyone else wants.

But I've come to a revelation. I actually deal with stress really well because I serve a God who is all powerful. What I mean is, I don't easily stress out when I'm serving God - even if things get crazy all around me because He is a good father who is in control. However, when I take control of some part of my life (serve myself), I find that I don't have what it takes to be in control, which stresses me out. Then, I end up taking control of my whole life, which leads to being bossy, insensitive, and selfish with my time. If I am trying to control my life I end up looking to my own solutions to deal with my negative feelings, instead of looking to God's sufficient provision.

The really crazy thing is that I have this revelation on a regular basis - it just seems to come quicker each time around.

Truckin' Along

Every day, people ask me how I'm doing. Lately, I've been saying, "oh, i'm just truckin' along."

Today in the backyard, while making coffee between job applications, I saw a cat that looked just like my old cat. But this cat was all raggedy and beat up. I felt really sad for a minute until I realized the cat was probably looking for a place in my yard to take a dump. That should have made me angry, but I still felt sad.

Maybe cause I'm just truckin' along.

Keep on truckin.'

Murphy's Law, or, maybe I should be playing Sudoku instead of thinking about this.

Is there some kind of mystical switch or intensity dial for Murphy's Law? Because sometimes ole' Murph is really in the zone. Sometimes things just move through progressively difficult yet different situations. Things are changing, but not exactly getting better.

During a very emotionally difficult time in my life a really insensitive person said "well, there's always something, you know, if it's not one thing, it's another." Really, is life really about jumping from one seemingly horrible situation to another while we just throw up our hands and say, we'll that's the way it goes!

I think some things are just really hard. Sometimes you feel like Job and other times you feel like life is an ongoing celebration. Sometimes you want to cry because you can't take it, and sometimes you want to cry because you can't believe it.

Doctor Rogland said that the light at the end of the tunnel was really just an oncoming train. He was right, because I got that high school diploma and things changed way different than how I thought they would. But he never said anything about all the other trains. He also failed to mention the really nice scenery.

josh

All wheel drive - just what I need!

Plumb Sauce

So when I was in community college this guy wrote a short story about donating blood - and he referred to the blood as "plumb sauce." The teacher was impressed out of his mind, but I guess you have to take what you can get when you're teaching English 101 in the afternoon at community college.

I tried to give some plumb sauce today. I tried to be a hero. You know that guy who is nervously laughing and making stupid jokes while in line for the really big roller coaster? That was me. I was a complete idiot, but I was trying to take my mind off the fact that shots make me pass out and needles make my stomach turn. I passed out in less than three minutes.

I like to call it passing out because saying that I fainted sounds really pansy. Brave, macho men do not faint because they are weak and frail, they pass out because they thrust themselves into incredible danger to rescue many helpless bystanders from certain doom. But it was cool cause they gave me extra cookies.