What a message that the world needs to hear. What hope we have! I have never read the Romans 8:1-17 quite like I do now. It gives me hope in a world that seems to strip it from you. Praise be to God.
Thank you Wakeeney Church of God! You are a blessing in my life and in my Journey to Germany. You were an oasis in the desert and I am thankful to have been able to spend time with you. Troy and Jeanie, blessings to you and your home. Thanks for having me. Caffeine it up!
Please pray for me as I am still in the process of getting to Germany.
In The Peace of Christ...Eipnveuw!
Aaron
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
this is getting good!
howdy folks,
i would like to say a big thank you to all of you out there who are supporting my mission to germany. this past month i have been very encouraged by the people who are helping out. churches like wakeeney, satanta, and hugoton kansas are absolutely wonderful in their support. i would also like to thank first church of god in knoxville, eagle point in littlerock, and oaklawn in hots prings. and fairhope, of course. thank you all.
i am pretty pumped to get to germany and am hoping that it gets here sooner than later.
the beauty about being out there depending on others to get you through is that you create a deep sense of gratitude for the body of Christ. i have cherished the dinners and conversations and the comfortable beds i have been given for those long road trips. people of God are a wonderful testimony to the character of our creator. i love you all.
it is getting warmer. wichita is nice and sunny. have a great one folks, i will do much better at this, and hopefully i can become a less popular blog.
In His Peace, aaron
i would like to say a big thank you to all of you out there who are supporting my mission to germany. this past month i have been very encouraged by the people who are helping out. churches like wakeeney, satanta, and hugoton kansas are absolutely wonderful in their support. i would also like to thank first church of god in knoxville, eagle point in littlerock, and oaklawn in hots prings. and fairhope, of course. thank you all.
i am pretty pumped to get to germany and am hoping that it gets here sooner than later.
the beauty about being out there depending on others to get you through is that you create a deep sense of gratitude for the body of Christ. i have cherished the dinners and conversations and the comfortable beds i have been given for those long road trips. people of God are a wonderful testimony to the character of our creator. i love you all.
it is getting warmer. wichita is nice and sunny. have a great one folks, i will do much better at this, and hopefully i can become a less popular blog.
In His Peace, aaron
Friday, February 29, 2008
Fairhope...it feels right.
Dear few readers,
I have recently discovered that this is the most unpopular blog in all of blog-land. I believe I am actually proud of this. It has been a very interesting February. I have visited some churches, and old stompin' grounds. I must say that I have decided that when I settle down in life it will take place in Fairhope, AL. There is no reason to live anywhere else in the world. It is the only place that makes home make sense...I could wake up there every morning and feel as though I am not missing out on something.
Germany is getting closer. Even though there is not a set date, the monies that are so necessary are getting closer. This is an encouragement. I believe God is working in the process and moving me to be more faithful to Him in the waiting and working. I must say that I bite my lip in frustration, but I know I will look back in great appreciation. I may be going soon so that I can meet congregations and pastors...this will be very, very good for me.
I had the flu. You do not want to get this strand. It hurts.
Sometimes I feel very disconnected from people here in Wichita. All fo my friends are elsewhere. Those relationships are so very difficult to keep fresh when I feel so far away. I dearly miss my friends who now find themselves spread out all over the world. They were a major source of energy and comfort for me.
Well friends...May Christ guard your hearts and minds. Peace to you all. aaron
I have recently discovered that this is the most unpopular blog in all of blog-land. I believe I am actually proud of this. It has been a very interesting February. I have visited some churches, and old stompin' grounds. I must say that I have decided that when I settle down in life it will take place in Fairhope, AL. There is no reason to live anywhere else in the world. It is the only place that makes home make sense...I could wake up there every morning and feel as though I am not missing out on something.
Germany is getting closer. Even though there is not a set date, the monies that are so necessary are getting closer. This is an encouragement. I believe God is working in the process and moving me to be more faithful to Him in the waiting and working. I must say that I bite my lip in frustration, but I know I will look back in great appreciation. I may be going soon so that I can meet congregations and pastors...this will be very, very good for me.
I had the flu. You do not want to get this strand. It hurts.
Sometimes I feel very disconnected from people here in Wichita. All fo my friends are elsewhere. Those relationships are so very difficult to keep fresh when I feel so far away. I dearly miss my friends who now find themselves spread out all over the world. They were a major source of energy and comfort for me.
Well friends...May Christ guard your hearts and minds. Peace to you all. aaron
Friday, January 11, 2008
Random News Floating Through the Head...
I realized this week that I am realy ready to roll out of the States. That may have to do with hearing all of the talk about politicians this week. But, in all honesty, I am simply ready to go. A man needs a mission, something new to do, something that he realizes is bigger than himself.
I don't think I am that great of a preacher. I don't like to even listen to myself. So, I am now officially going to teach instead of preach, but do my best to trick entire congregations into thinking they are hearing a sermon instead of a lesson. I can't tell you how refreshing this could be for me. ha!
I really hope that Germany and the mission overseas is going to get here quick. I find that my hope in the whole mission is indeed hard to hold onto. I dream too big for my own good at times. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I am able.
I have met some great people in Kansas. People that I believe can be lifelong friends. That makes any place precious and tolerable. But, i love Wichita. Amazing town. There is some law in the state or city which allows almost everyone and their mother the ability to carry a gun. So, all I can imagine when i see people walking on the streets is, "They're packing steel." I even do this with little ol' ladies. Anyway, there are signs on about half of the restaurants and stores that have an anti-pistol sign that lets people know they don't allow guns in their business. Starbucks doesn't have that sign. Aaron is officially nervous.
THE University of Tennessee Volunteers have my lifelong allegiance no matter what they become. I believe in the Volunteers!
May Christ guard your hearts with love and peace and yet drive us out into the most amazing of situations to show us to be lovers of people, peacemakers, and an authentic community of Jesus people.
I don't think I am that great of a preacher. I don't like to even listen to myself. So, I am now officially going to teach instead of preach, but do my best to trick entire congregations into thinking they are hearing a sermon instead of a lesson. I can't tell you how refreshing this could be for me. ha!
I really hope that Germany and the mission overseas is going to get here quick. I find that my hope in the whole mission is indeed hard to hold onto. I dream too big for my own good at times. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I am able.
I have met some great people in Kansas. People that I believe can be lifelong friends. That makes any place precious and tolerable. But, i love Wichita. Amazing town. There is some law in the state or city which allows almost everyone and their mother the ability to carry a gun. So, all I can imagine when i see people walking on the streets is, "They're packing steel." I even do this with little ol' ladies. Anyway, there are signs on about half of the restaurants and stores that have an anti-pistol sign that lets people know they don't allow guns in their business. Starbucks doesn't have that sign. Aaron is officially nervous.
THE University of Tennessee Volunteers have my lifelong allegiance no matter what they become. I believe in the Volunteers!
May Christ guard your hearts with love and peace and yet drive us out into the most amazing of situations to show us to be lovers of people, peacemakers, and an authentic community of Jesus people.
Friday, December 14, 2007
My Thoughts on Christmas as Mission...
I rarely write my thoughts out there for others to read. There is something about allowing others to read your thoughts that has yet to become completely comfortable to me. However, I realize that most people reading this will be friends, so that makes it somehow easier.
I have been preparing sermons lately for my weekly preaching assignment at Caldwell First Church of God in Kansas. This small, country church has a charm about it that makes you feel as if you've been there a thousand times on your first visit, and the people are warm and welcoming. They are incredibly sincere in their compliments and simple, as if life would be degraded if met with complexities. Their approach is appreciated.
As a missionary, I now see scripture through a different lens. God's mission has become a beautiful vantage point to see the story of scripture unfold. It has been opened in a new way for me, and for that I am grateful.
I believe in the Gospel accounts of Luke and Matthew, we see writers attempting to convey this wonderful truth of a God on mission in a story which if told today, in our context, would be equally criticized and unbelieveable as it was 2,000 years ago. Every character seems to lie to us as they tell us their personal story as to how an angel appeared to them, to how they miracilously conceived a child, or how their dreams spoke of wonderful things to come for God's people (and how the role they play is somehow a very important part of that plan). We wouldn't have believed them then, we wouldn't believe them now. We would seperate ourselves from them socially and relationally. We would make misfits of them. They would be abandoned, to which they surely were, left alone with only the experience of some super-spiritual moment to hold onto, as if some hard to remember dream. But the beautiful truth of the Gospels is that Christmas, God's mission to the world, is drawing near. Matthew and Luke make that inescapable. In the midst of a storm of rejection and "crazy" characters, the wonderful words of what is happening are real and comforting...Immanuel (God with us). It is only in this that the inexplainable, unimaginable, and impossible can become the very reality by which God's people live. God is with us translates into hope, peace, love, and stamps out our lonely self into a community of people who choose to believe. God with us, in the midst of the most unsettling times is the only explanation we need to say we have a God who is on mission...we have a God who is on the move...we have a God who is with us.
In His Peace, aaron
I have been preparing sermons lately for my weekly preaching assignment at Caldwell First Church of God in Kansas. This small, country church has a charm about it that makes you feel as if you've been there a thousand times on your first visit, and the people are warm and welcoming. They are incredibly sincere in their compliments and simple, as if life would be degraded if met with complexities. Their approach is appreciated.
As a missionary, I now see scripture through a different lens. God's mission has become a beautiful vantage point to see the story of scripture unfold. It has been opened in a new way for me, and for that I am grateful.
I believe in the Gospel accounts of Luke and Matthew, we see writers attempting to convey this wonderful truth of a God on mission in a story which if told today, in our context, would be equally criticized and unbelieveable as it was 2,000 years ago. Every character seems to lie to us as they tell us their personal story as to how an angel appeared to them, to how they miracilously conceived a child, or how their dreams spoke of wonderful things to come for God's people (and how the role they play is somehow a very important part of that plan). We wouldn't have believed them then, we wouldn't believe them now. We would seperate ourselves from them socially and relationally. We would make misfits of them. They would be abandoned, to which they surely were, left alone with only the experience of some super-spiritual moment to hold onto, as if some hard to remember dream. But the beautiful truth of the Gospels is that Christmas, God's mission to the world, is drawing near. Matthew and Luke make that inescapable. In the midst of a storm of rejection and "crazy" characters, the wonderful words of what is happening are real and comforting...Immanuel (God with us). It is only in this that the inexplainable, unimaginable, and impossible can become the very reality by which God's people live. God is with us translates into hope, peace, love, and stamps out our lonely self into a community of people who choose to believe. God with us, in the midst of the most unsettling times is the only explanation we need to say we have a God who is on mission...we have a God who is on the move...we have a God who is with us.
In His Peace, aaron
Friday, November 30, 2007
What Lies Ahead...
Well, I am in the process of going to Germany as a Missionary wtih Global Missions. This page is my attempt to allow those who wish to follow my thoughts, my stories, and wish to share with me a place to do so. I will also be placing links to Global Missions website so that anyone who wishes to support me financially will be able to do so.
I think that is it for now. Just starting out.
In His Wonderful Peace, aaron
I think that is it for now. Just starting out.
In His Wonderful Peace, aaron
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