Engaged

Time for an update. One month later!

Dec. 14th Heidi and I flew out to Indiana to see her parents. We arrived in Indianapolis to see her sister, who then drove us up to her parents' house.

It was a good trip. I went knowing that we would probably get engaged, but first I had to ask her parents! Man, that is exciting, but something that is hard to do. I was really nervous about it, although I knew that they would say yes. There is just something about asking the parents of the one you love if you could marry their daughter! The first opportunity I had, I was so nervous about it, that I didn't ask.

Friday night, with my second opportunity to ask, I did it. I was able to ask her dad and mom if I could marry her, and they said yes as expected. Saturday morning, the 16th, we had Christmas with Heidi's parents and sister. We exchanged gifts and stockings, and just before going to eat breakfast, I stood up and said I had one more thing. With Heidi's mom, dad, and sister in the room, I got on one knee and asked the question. She said yes, surprised and excited!

It was a great Christmas break, although getting back home was rough. We were supposed to leave Dec. 21, the day after the big storm hit Denver. Our flight was cancelled, and we couldn't get another ticket until the 28th. We ended up getting a refund, and took the bus back thanks to my mom who helped us find a way to get home for Christmas.

We left Indiana Friday morning, running an hour behind schedule. We arrived in St. Louis to transfer, but the transfer bus was full. They brought in a new bus and we headed to Kansas City. We arrived their at 7:30pm, just on time to catch the next bus to Denver. Unfortunately, that bus was full and we ended up waiting until 2am for the next bus to arrive. We finally made it to Denver Saturday afternoon and made it to my mom's safely and on time for Christmas, after spending more than 30 hours on the road.

Christmas was good and it was good to be in Colorado with my family and newly engaged. I am now back at school finishing my last semester in college.

We are getting married on May 19th, and the link below will take you to our countdown clock!!! That's exciting to think about! I have been engaged for a month now....wow!

Wedding Countdown

I got an emial from a team member about this video posted on YouTube.com. It's a video of the team and I that I worked with while in New Orleans just over a year ago....check it out!

Chosen By God

Currently Listening
Merry Christmas With Love
By Clay Aiken
Mary Did you Know?
see related


[Broken Image]

Birth of the Virgin
Luis Juárez, 1610,
Oil on copper, 39in. x 32-1/2in.,



Recently we were talking about art in my theology class, such as the effects of art in theology.  After class, I was reminded of this painting, which can be seen in the Denver Art Museum.  It is a painting of Mary, when she was born.  Notice the cloud on the upper right hand corner.  It is essentially God looking down on her, and I wouldn't doubt that God told Mary something like what he told Jeremiah...

Jeremiah 29:11-12

11'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  12'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

God knows the plans he has for us, will you listen to Him?  This also reminds me of the song... "Mary Did You Know?"...



Lyrics:

Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will calm the storm with His hand?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?

Mary did you know.. Ooo Ooo Ooo

The blind will see.
The deaf will hear.
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap.
The dumb will speak
The praises of The Lamb.

Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I Am.

What if Mary did not listen to God's plan?  What if she did not want to obey?

God uses ordinary people to carry out his plan!  Will you listen?  Will you make yourself available?



God, thank you for sending your son to rescue us from our sin.  We thank you for your love and mercy.  Help me to walk uprightly and to seek after you.  Use me, O Lord, to do your works!  Amen.

Random

Well, things are going great here in Denver, Colorado.

Just got back from Thanksgiving break and got a number of presentations to give this week. One for Research Writing, one for Operation Systems (computer class), and one for Microeconomics.

Three weeks left in this semester and I will be going into my last semester of college, that is pretty exciting.

Well, so I have been doing some reading on Linus Torvald for my computer class and wanted to take notes and offer my two cents as a computer nerd, as well as a place for me to include some of my research.

Linus has developed an operating system (comparable to Windows), but offers it for free. It can be downloaded all over the internet, including linuxiso.org.

I currently run Fedora Core 6 on my computer with Windows XP, in an attempt to move away from Microsoft. Why pay for Microsoft products when you can legally get identical products for free, saving hundreds of dollars!!!? Not only is it free, but safer, more secure, and more stable than Windows.

Articles about Linus:

Linus with CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/05/18/global.office.linustorvalds/index.html

Tanenbaum-Torvald Debate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanenbaum-Torvalds_debate

Linus with Time: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994026,00.html

Linus with Time (Europe): http://www.time.com/time/europe/hero2006/torvalds.html

Anyway, so there's my quick nerd entry. Things with Heidi are going great, I've been greatly blessed by our relationship.

Yesterday, while eating a Panda Express, a lady came up and thanked us for wearing our sweatshirt (on the front it reads, "How can you worship a homelessman on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?" or something like that, and then a verse on the back). The lady went on to say that she has seen a homeless guy standing at a corner the past couple of days but ignored him, and after seeing our sweatshirts, felt convicted by the Holy Spirit and is now on her way to give him a meal. How awesome is that?

Well, off to more work. Hope your thanksgiving was amazing...and remember,

JESUS IS THE REASON WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS!!!

One Year Later - Still Rebuilding

Aug. 27th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit land, and broke a levee in New Orleans. A year later and New Orleans is hardly coming back to life. The economy as a whole in Louisianna is barely running at 50% the usual, and many suburbs/parishes have yet to rebuild.

Much help is needed still, and I long for the day to return to New Orleans to help rebuild. I want to be down there so bad right now, helping and working. When can I return, O Lord?

The Sunday Denver Post, anybody read it? Article after article talked about Katrina, and the rebuilding that still has to take place.

Priority Mail - Check it out. There were a number of articles about St. Bernard parish - where we served!! Still a sad time for New Orleans and the people.

It is a current event, a process that will still take years to get New Orleans a place it used to be. Yes, there was evil and sin in the city, but it was also the home to thousands of people, who now have nowhere to live. I said it before and I will say it again, God was not judging the city, it was simply a natural disaster. Tourism is down, income is down, production is down, the economy is down.

Check out the articles in the Denver post at www.denverpost.com , search for Katrina, or start with this article http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4244065

Please continue to pray for the evacuees, many of which are still away from home, some have returned to try and start over again. Colorado is still a host something like 14,000 evacuees, while other states are hosting a lot more. Many evacuees are have a hard time surviving, they can't find jobs, they can't work, they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and culture shock.

Feeding the Homeless

In some major cities, such as Las Vegas, Nevada, it is now ILLEGAL to feed homeless people...the cities claim that it attracts more homeless and creates a bigger "problem"...

What is our nation coming to? Okay, I can see their point, but here's the problem:

The "problem" of homelessness will not go away if you stop feeding them, or make panhandling illegal!!!! All you are doing is making it difficult for the homeless to survive...and now they will have to dig our leftover food out of tash cans and dumpsters, but the "problem" will not go away: why? Because panhandling and feeding is not the source of the issue.

Before cities enact such laws, they should, and in my opinion must, first develop and implement a plan to end homelessness, and hopefully a successful plan at that...this will cut down on the issue, allow the homeless a way out of their current lifestyle, which is what many of them are looking for, a second chance. This does not mean, however, give them a job and expect them to succeed at it, many of them first need counseling before anything else (and help with some of their addictions they picked up while trying to survive on the streets).

Panhandling and feeding of the homeless is not the issue! The issue is a lack of needed and helpful services to get these men and women (even children) off the streets! Our city needs to quick avoiding the problem and start acting, but not issuing these laws to end panhandling and feeding. The homeless survive off of these (and barely at that), until they can get a second chance!!!! Law or no law...I will be a good samaritan and help a man in need...many of them are our brothers and sisters in Christ, on their hands and knees begging for help...

Check this video out:

• Windows Media Player: undertheoverpass_20050930.wmv

• RealPlayer: undertheoverpass_20050930.rm

You can download it: www.undertheoverpass.com

Read this book: Under the Overpass, by Mike Yankoski

You'll understand my frustrations, or begin to, after reading the book and seeing the video! The homeless are humans...we want to end world poverty, not put laws into place to allow people to starve...our goverment has it backwards...