Everyday Fun!

Life has been trucking along for us. God has been blessing us in small and big ways. Max is doing great with his homeschool lessons. Zoe is, finally, on the verge of being potty trained. We're making friends at our new church home. And life on the streets is not filled with a ton of drama.

Last Sunday at church was amazing! First of all, there were about twice as many people as usual...don't know why. Our new friend Steve shared his testimony. What an amazing story. Thru years of drinking, heavy drug use, and sleeping around, God pursued Steve and changed his life forever. One of the neatest things is that after Steve gave his life to Christ he has never had a desire to use drugs again. God took that desire completely away. That's how we started. Then the praise team did a great job of singing perfect songs very well without overwhelming the rest of us. I love that. Then Michael preached a heart provoking lesson on not withholding love based on someone's actions or lack of actions. We watched a perfect clip from Dances with Wolves. Bottom line: Being Christian, evangelizing, and loving others (all the same things, if you ask me) is not an us vs. them thing. It's not even a "now that I'm right with God, you need to be as well" thing. It's about loving people right where they are. Thru my actions, speech, and attitudes, being the reflection of Christ. Just letting that light shine so that it invades other peoples live and affects them as only the Spirit of God can. I like that!

So I learned a new skill. (No, it's not bo staff skills) Although this skill will not bring me any great accolades or money. Last week, we fed the Eweldson's. A family that are Evangelists. Mike is a World Record Power Lifting Champion. He is 5'6" tall and weighs about 130 lbs. but can lift 1000 lbs. If I'm lying I'm dying! Any who. He travels around the country doing feats of strength and sharing the Gospel. You know, like the Power Team, but smaller. So he showed me how to rip phonebooks in half. My first one was about 300 pages. It was stinking cool! So later that night I tried to tear our big 2300 page book. I couldn't do it. I worked on that sucker for about 2 hours, off and on. Boy, that ticked me off. I just figured I wasn't strong enough. But last night I was watching TV and I thought, "There is no way that phone book can beat me!" So I grabbed that book up and ripped it completely in half in a matter of minutes. All 3 of the kids were cheering, "Do it! Do it!" Bottom line, if I'm ever attacked by a band of evil phone books me and all who are with me will be safe.

Things on the streets are going well. I feel like I'm beginning to make some friendships with the street kids. Things are kind of wierd right now. Nobody, even the street kids, can put their finger on what's going on. There are less kids out on the streets, there is some goofy, wierd drama on the streets, and lots of new kids are popping up. So I guess just pray that the Dry Bones team will be able to keep one step ahead of whatever is going on. And in step with whatever God is doing.

Thank you for all the support you are giving to mine and Niki's ministry. The financial support is important but your prayers and encouraging words are what keep us in the fight.

Blessings,
-Benny-