Here we go!

If you've ever been on a roller coaster before, especially one of those that goes crazy fast (for me, Wild Thing at Valleyfair in Minneapolis), at some point in the ride there comes apart where you slowly climb this HUGE hill, up and up to the peak where you pause for two eternal seconds, then *BOOM* you get over the peak and plunge down the other side at a million MPH.

The anticipation before the plunge is exciting and maddening.

This might describe how we're feeling right now.  We're slowly settling in in a new house and community.  We're trying to find a church.  We've had some family vacation.

In the past months, I've done quite a bit of initial planning and networking in preparation for a new season of ministry this fall.  But the time to make final decisions has always been "later...in July and August."

Suddenly, it is July!  And getting quite close to August!

Here we go!

We find ourselves now having to make decisions about a ministry and campus we're largely unfamiliar with, and a small group of students we don't know very well yet.  It's both maddening and exciting.  Each day I find myself at each of these two poles.

Whew.  I have to stop and breathe and remember that our God is in charge.  Not me.  That's a comforting thought most of the time.  And it's perspective that is essential for me to have.

• We'd covet your prayers in this season.  Pray for spiritual wisdom and discernment for us.  Just pray Colossians 1:9-12!
  

• Pray also for Nick, who will be joining us on EDGE Corps staff.  He's been working super hard on raising the funds needed to be here, and we hope, Lord willing, he'll be at 100% and able to join us here in just a few weeks.  Pray that this will happen.  If you'd like to get to know him a bit, you can follow his blog at nickatnavs.wordpress.com.
  
• Lastly, if you know of any students starting at UW-Whitewater this fall who might be interested in pursuing Christ, please let me know!  We'd love to connect with them and welcome them to campus.

Thanks for standing with us, friends!  We're excited to see the mighty works of the Lord this fall!

Love,
-Noah

I encountered this verse while reading the Word this morning.  It seems easy to understand, and for me at least, easy to nod at and pass over.  But upon further thought, I think I really love this verse.

We know God loves us.  We hear that all the time.  We tell our girls that all the time.

But here, John gives an example.  "Look at this demonstration of God's love!  He's called you his children!"  If I take the time to remember my state without Christ, this is pretty incredible.

Ephesians 2:12 says, "remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  Earlier, I'm simply described as dead prior to Christ.

Having grown up in a Christian home, these facts about me are easy to forget.  But Paul makes it clear that this describes all people (2:3).

Yesterday, the Lord gave me an interesting example of this spiritual truth.

Yesterday morning I went down to the basement to get my running shoes.  A book near our guest bed happened to catch my attention, so I walked over to pick it up.  As I turned to leave the basement, I noticed that there was something at the bottom of our egress window -- a CAT!  (I should've taken a picture, but the cat at right looks something like it).  Somehow it must have fallen into the 3-4 foot deep window well.  I had no idea how long it had been there.

This cat's situation got me thinking:  what if I hadn't gone down to the basement for a couple more days?  Would the cat have starved to death?  This cat was stuck in the window, and was completely helpless unless I intervened.  It had fallen in there on its own accord, but was now stuck.  It was dead unless I rescued it.

And I was dead unless God rescued me.  We made some phone calls and were able to rescue the cat.  It was interesting to watch as we tried to get the cat out of the window well, it didn't want our help and tried to jump out of the window well on its own...unsuccessfully.  Finally we were able to get it in the crate.

Don't we do the same thing?  Resisting the very Hand that reaches to save us?  One of my solemn responsibilities as a campus minister is to pray for our work, but even this morning, I find myself lingering on small tasks, more practical tasks.  (I trust some of you can relate).  Even today I need to be reminded to continue asking, seeking, and knocking.

Because God one-upped me in my cat illustration.  He did something Katie and I weren't prepared to do with the cat.  (Sorry animal lovers!) 

He didn't just rescue me.

He made me a part of his family.  

-Noah

Noah and I just got back from a wedding in Champaign. It was my first night without the girls since Josie was born!! It feels like déjà vu.  Last year at this time, my parents watched Ellie overnight so Noah and I could head to another wedding.  My parents affectionately coined their time with Ellie in 2012 (last summer) as “Grandma Lu & Bompa  Boot Camp”.

 When we returned home a year ago we found out that my parents spent the weekend working very hard to motivate Ellie to MOVE! She was 14 months old and had no interest in crawling, walking, standing or even rolling around to get from place to place.  We were seeing red flags that she wasn’t motivated in the gross motor department, but we had no idea how significant her delay was. 

Long story short, Ellie started receiving physical therapy services last July through Early Intervention when she was 15 months old.  She was tested and her scores revealed that in the gross motor category, she scored as a 7 ½ month old. 

Ellie’s life last June looks a lot like what Josie’s life looks like this June. The difference is- Ellie was 14 months old, Josie is 7 months old.  As I look back to last summer, it’s easy for a lot of the painful emotions to creep in.  I was pregnant, it was a record-breaking HOT summer, and Ellie was more like a baby than a one year old.  The past year has had its share of challenges as we strive to help Ellie make gains, but I’m overjoyed to report that if she were to be tested today, her delays wouldn’t even qualify her to receive physical therapy services!! As we watch Ellie run around the room and climb on her step stool and play at the park we are so proud.  As we watch Josie sit up, roll for toys, and stand at her activity table, we are so proud.

We love our girls so much and are so grateful for the way they are learning and growing. We are extremely thankful for the physical therapy services Ellie has received and most importantly we are grateful for God’s grace to us each and every day as we parent our girls.