Still No Baby!

Aly's been having contractions for 3 days - but still no baby.  I thought Saturday night was the night.  That evening  I had my occasional glass of beer, which usually makes me tired, and sure enough the contractions started to come every 3-5 min.  It kind of reminded me of how, in a fighter squadron, the weather will clear up on a rainy day when somebody decides to crack one open.  So...I put on a pot of coffee in anticipation of a long night, ran around the house packing up the bags (at least that's done now...) and whatnot, but it was a false alarm.  I think it was God having fun at my expense!  Any day now....

Sledding at Mt Charleston

We went up to Mt Charleston this morning with the girls.  It only took about 45 minutes door to door, but it's amazing how much the topography and temperature changes in that amount of time. It was a beautiful day and the snow was plentiful.  The girls had a great time - except for one minor wreck that left HK with a sore neck.   It's wonderful to be out in the middle of God's creation, and take it all in.  

Getting close to meeting the new baby - I predict the 25th of Feb - and a girl!

Turning down the noise

Today I did something out of the ordinary in an effort to "turn down the noise" and uplug (which I'm not doing at the moment...as I type and watch American Idol...some really good talent!).  I ran up at Creech with no music.  I actually started out with the ipod, then thought about the necessity to unplug - so I shut it off.  I normally hate running with no music - hearing my own breathing and footsteps tires me out faster for some reason.  But today - I ran and had a 35 minute conversation with the Lord.  The time flew by - it was amazing.  It reminded me of a period of time when I probably felt closest to God - a few years ago when I was training for a half marathon and spent a lot of time running and praying.  I don't think turning down the noise has to mean sitting in a quiet room not doing anything.  You can be moving, but moving quietly.

bloglaunch

OK - Blog post #1.  Devin has succeeded in inspiring me.  Journaling, or blogging, or whatever you want to call it has never really caught on with me.  This Blog is the result of 3 practical suggestions Devin gave us  in this past Sunday's sermon to further our spiritual walk and not get stuck in a spiritual rut:

1 - We have to learn to turn down the noise and hear God.

2 - We need to get the Bible in us - this is particularly applicable to me! 

3 - We need to record our thoughts.

Over the years I've tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to somehow save notes I've taken from Church, small groups, personal quite time, etc. I've got a collection of church bulletins, notebooks, and random pieces of paper all over.  Every now and again I'll stumble across an old sermon or something that God used to speak to me and think "wow...I remember this..."  My system has been one of anarchy!  So...I'm going to give this blogging thing a try - it's a road trip on the information superhighway.  The posts will sometimes be from me, sometimes from Aly - we'll see how it all goes.  Post #1 begins as a way of keeping track of my thoughts on my spiritual walk / sermon notes / prayer life / God's overall work on my life and His vector for me and my family.  It most likely will include all of this, but is certainly not exempt from totally irrelevant ramblings.  And I blog... 

Yesterday at Grace Point we listened to the sermon entitled "Arrested Development: Adolescence".  It really spoke into my heart as my spiritual walk has had some ups and downs since I was saved.  Sometimes my walk is in full afterburner, other times my walk is barely above idle - I am asking the Lord for consistency.  Anyway - here's the gist of the sermon:

 

- The overall idea was as new believers in Christ, we all go through a period of spiritual infancy where we rely on others - our church, our pastor, more "mature" believers - to feed us.  

- Many Christ followers fall into a trap of getting stuck in spiritual infancy and are content

- We need to learn to feed ourselves

- Dimmer Switch principle - the more you follow the Lord - the more he turns the light up and shows you more

- Growing up is hard - it stretches you

- How much of your spiritual life is the same old same old?  

Blog post #1 complete - didn't expect to ramble this much...maybe I have a future in this.