UrbanMinistry Bloggers's blog

Sarah: We should take our trash out...No, I guess we can do it tomorrow morning. Evan: Yea, we regularly take our trash out tomorrow morning. Sarah: Every tomorrow morning we take our trash out? Evan: I guess that's an abuse of language. What would Wittgenstein say?...

Yesterday I had a web conference meeting get postponed until today and decided to use my afternoon free time to take my three kids to see Toy Story 3 (our local movie theater has movies for $5 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays!).

Obviously, I don’t want to spoil it for those of you that haven’t seen it, yet, but I think we all know Andy is getting older. In this movie he’s going off to college – surely he can’t play with his toys forever and thus the movie tells the rest.

I don’t know if it was the fact that I was surrounded by my precious children while I was watching the movie and deeply resonating with the theme of kids growing up and not interested in the stuff they used to be interested in, but I was moved – very moved. I found myself crying and wanting to stop time.

Originally from - Hawaii Day 9 (No not day 8 like I have in the video)

God has been so faithful in my attempts to raise support and funds. My mom was kind enough to put together a garage sale. The skeptics said, "you will never raise a lot of money doing that." To them, I responded, "you don't know my mother." I hope they are now eating their words as my church community, in a two day yard sale raised almost $4,000!!!!!!! There were tables of items (or trash dependant upon your vantage point) as far as the eye could see. The entire church

Today I saw the the World Race Relief squad off at the airport. The past two days we had been debriefing at a great location in Port-au-Prince. Here are the pictures:On the way to our debrief spot, we passed this guy. Great shot of Haiti culture here.http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=179201270&v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=539344933063Two i-squad alum - Heather (left) and Tiffany. Heather was one of the leaders.Matt's team reflecting o

I woke up planning on going to church with Tony and Michelle this Sunday morning.  I did not wake up expecting what would happen once we got to church.  About an hour before we left, Tony told me Pastor Emmerson from the Bible study, may ask me to come up and share a few things in front of the church."Is that okay with you?" Tony asked me."Oh yeah that's cool,"  I replied with no emphasis.What I didn't tell Tony was that speaking in front of people is one of my biggest fears.

Yes. It is true. I am back on US soil! It is awesome and weird at the same time. I want to see people, but I don't want to see people. I want to do a whole lot of nothing.   My friend, who has lived overseas, assures me that this is all normal. The process has begun.   Here is a "snippet" of our end-of-the-year video that Ashley put together for our final debrief!

Please choose me to win the free October Race!! I know that God is calling me to world missions, specifically to the World Race in October, and I need your help to get there!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ_AZFiuMWg

The first group of children left the camp Saturday, followed Sunday by a larger and better organized group of about 35 kids (ages 10-15ish) and 5 or so staff members. We have been told that these children are from a very poor area in the Ukraine and from families that most likely deal with alcohol abuse and other struggles at home....  Judging by their clothes and spirit I wouldn't have guessed this to be true. These kids love talking with Americans and at this minute I actually have

Nostalgia is setting in.  I am sitting in my room (or what is left of it) on a nice, cozy,  pile of blankets, pillows and sheets sitting up a bare wall free of all pictures, frames and nails that were stuck in it only hours ago.  I  feel like a little kid, wanting to take a nap on what I have left.   Do you remember moving as a  child?  It's always so exciting, the thought of sleeping somewhere else besides your own bed, your own room?  It becomes a b

Its June 30, 2010 and I am back living with my family in Clifton for my final days here in the United States of America. After months of speculation, I finally learned that I will depart Fort Lauderdale International Airport at approximately 4AM on July 4th for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where my adventure will begin. I am ready to leaveI think.

The past month since training camp has been an absolute blast. Here are some highlights:

One of the great parts about The World Race so far has been learning about the sports that people are fanatical about in each country along the way. I love sports, and it's awesome to see which ones have captured each nation and join in whenever I can. In New Zealand it was netball. Basketball in the Philippines. Here in Kenya, and likely in all of Africa, it's football (no, not that kind of football...soccer!!). It's just about the only sport I ever see being playe

Today was the day.  Today was the reason I started this whole trip in the first place (Or so I thought). I woke up at 4am and was as nervous as I've ever been.  Tony drove me down to the starting line at 5am.  At 6:45am I got in the ocean and tried to calm myself.  It was no use.  My stomach was churning and my hands were shaking uncontrollably.  I was not able to calm my nerves until about 5 minutes before the start.  It wasn't until the Na

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 (TNIV)

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All su

June 24, 2010.

Only a few days left in Mpeketoni and things are good.  There is one small problem though.  We have to pay for our food and our stay here, and the only ATM in town is broken.  Luckily there is another bank on Lamu, an island that's only about an hour and a half away...by car...on a good day.  Normally Kathryn, being in charge of our finances would have gone, but she wasn't feeling good.  I had gotten up early to say goodbye to Bill's