no shave November (by dave)

Several of us decided to partake in No Shave November.  I went for 10 days and had a nice beard going.

Of course it was only a matter of time before a.) I got sick of the scratching and b.) Stephanie couldn't stand to kiss me anymore while I had a beard.

So I decided it was time to shave.

As you can tell Stephanie thougt it would be fun to document the process!  And this is what happened...

Need I say anymore!

is it a flower? (by Dave)

Today for lunch I had a Satsuma orange in front of me, having never eaten one before I was curious.  I began to peel it back in my usual methodical way and then sat it down on my desk.  I took one look and saw this.

It almost looks like a flower doesn it?

Happy Halloween

I've got to admit that I really love carving pumkins, which doesn't necessarily mean I love Halloween.  I think I like the idea of getting my creative juices flowing and dreaming up a cool design to carve.  I also like the cool weather that gets me outside to enjoy my pumkin.  I had been urging Stephanie to go get some pumkins with me and we finally went last weekend.  Since it's been rather warm this week we waited until Wednesday to carve them.  I talked her into carving a cat, while I decided I would do a very scary face.  I thought she did a great job, and mine turned out better than I had expected.

Of course both of our pumpkins are now rotted and ready for the trash after the 80 degree weather we've had!

Fun with words (by Dave)

I found a very fun website called Wordle the other day and decided to share my thoughts on marriage.  Click the picture to go an create your own wordle.  Just remember that if you want some words bigger than others then you need to type them multiple times.

A Perfect Moment with Stephanie (by Dave)

I was just reading a post by Michael Hyatt where he talks about a recent perfect moment. What is a perfect moment you might ask without jumping over to read his post, well in summary it's a term Eugene O'Kelly defines in his book Chasing Daylight as:


"an experience with others when time stands still. It is a time full of the present, when the past is left behind and the future is set aside. It is a special time of focused attention and heightened awareness. Interruptions and distractions are consciously excluded. Cell phones are off. Hearts are wide open. All that matters is this moment, the people I am with and the conversation we are having now."


So that I immediately began to think "do I have any perfect moments" I could share. Of course my mind jumped immediately to my first date with Stephanie! The entire day leading up to that evening was full of much anticipation and thoughts of what I was going to say, but once we finally met it was just like Eugene describes as a perfect moment - time stood still, we were both fully present and focused on each other. We were very aware and there were no distractions, our hearts were open and all that really mattered was what was happening between us and nothing else. It was amazing! We spent 3hrs talking about our lives and intently sharing.
I'll always remember that evening and the time we had and how time seemed to stand still.

God’s Purpose or Mine?

Dave has been reading "My Upmost For His Highest" each morning by Oswald Chamberg. He shared one of the devotionals from this week with me and I wanted to pass it along.

He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side . . . Mark 6:45


We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to
Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams
of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We
have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is
not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and
reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of
reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.

What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to
depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in
the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in
me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself. What
He desires for me is that I see "Him walking on the sea" with no shore, no success, nor
goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I
see "Him walking on the sea" (Mark 6:49). It is the process, not the outcome, that is
glorifying to God.

God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in
the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to
concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.
God’s purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If
we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time.
However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment
as it comes is precious.

Dave: One Year Ago (by Dave)

One year ago today I was on a trail getting ready to exit the back country of the Grand Teton National Park.  My friend DK and I had just spent 3 nights hiking and camping the Teton Crest Trail.  It was an exiting hike, full of awesome mountains, lakes and animals.  We decided to cut our hike a day short and go visit Yellowstone National Park before heading back to Dallas.  I'm sure glad I did!

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As I sat that night in my warm cozy bed to journal, I wrote down Psalm 27:14 - "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."  I knew God was moving in my life, he had provided a job and I would be starting in 2 weeks and I had met Stephanie and I was falling for her.  I didn't know how the next year would play out.  All I knew was that I needed to stay the course He had me on...

Today, I have been at my job almost one year, and I am married to Stephanie.  We are celebrating 7 weeks together and I still hear God saying those words to me.  As Stephanie and I learn to communicate and live together I am learning more about myself and the need to wait and trust in Him.

Psalm 28:7 - "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

There is always a reason to celebrate and sing!

A recipe of Faith (by Dave)

This is combination of thoughts I've had over the last week or so and wanted to get them written down and share them because they are flowing from the heart. Thanks Stephanie for encouraging me through your own writings of the heart!

What is faith? Being sure of what you hope, or maybe being certain of what you cannot see? Why is it so hard for us to get our arms around faith. Maybe it's because we pursue something strongly with determination and then quickly let go of it when things don't turn out like we hoped or circustances change. For me faith is exactly what I stated at the start. In fact, I quoted Hebrews 11:1. For me, this short and breif statement of faith is what has driven many of the things I call successes in my life over the last 3-4 years. I say that because it has empowerd me to be a better leader, it has helped me to purse a woman and it has given me great confidence in the face of the tough world in which you and I live in. God's word also states in Hebrews 11:6 that, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." For me, faith is not apart from God, it comes through a relationship with Him. This relationship is what gives me feedback to the faith I am developing as I grow.

Some of you might have read in that verse that God will reward us for our faith.  Now some would like to say that this reward will come first and foremost in this life. But, I don't agree that God would intend that since he wants us all to be with him and share in these blessing with us. These rewards are meant for heaven and we must remain grounded in that so as to remain humble in this place he has us. But it's hard for me to understand that concept when I feel like God has rewarded my faith in Him through the pursuit of a woman by delivering a wonderful marriage to Stephanie. I don't know how to explain that I feel very blessed by Him in this life with a wife, when I'm not sure what that will look like in heaven. Do I think he has a handle on this, yes. Do I believe that commitment I made to Stephanie will remain in heaven, in some form or another, yes I do. I guess that's what faith is to me. I know that if I believe in the things God has designed, like marriage and heaven, then He'll take care of all the details and let me know what to do as I make my way. So for me, faith is a very intergral part in how I live life. Don't go get faith for rewards in this life, like a wife or a job, or whatever else you think you need, because I don't believe God will honor that sort of thinking. But, go get faith to find the answers you are seeking now in your current situation. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33-34, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

So how do you get faith. I wish I could tell you exactly how, but since He has created us all differently I can't say for sure. I do know that Proverbs 3:5-6 gives us an answer. It says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Growth in faith for me was and continues to be a continuous trusting in God in the presence of a wonderful church called Watermark and an amazing community of friends. During this time I was able to let go of looking to test my faith against the responses I would look for in the world and instead turn to this support structure and God for feedback. There is no doubt that God does use others to share His message with us. Don't try to live this life on your own. It's too hard and too stressful and you will fail. Invite God and others into what's going on and in time you will start to gain faith in yourself and the things "you hope for" and "cannot see".