Another picture of all the girls

In China we bought all the girls "silks" to take this picture. If I remember right these outfits were about $6 a piece. You can't see it, but Lilly's outfit has dragon flies embroyderd on the silk. Dragonflys and ladybugs are considered lucky in China. Luczi did real good taking the pictures. Wendi and I were a little surprised as she doesn't always take to strangers well. Perhaps having her sisters there made it easier.

My Favorite of all Pictures

This is one of my favorite pictures of Luczi. There is so much love represented in this picture. You see this is my Dad. I call him Dad even though genetically we are not related. I call him Dad, because this is what he CHOSE to be to me. I call him Dad because when I didn’t have one, he willingly and lovingly became my need. I call him Dad because he played soccer with me, helped me fix my bike, and celebrated my accomplishments. Amongst all the things my Dad taught me he taught me most that love is something one chooses to do. Certainly he never sat me down and gave convincing stories about love being a “higher calling” or something fancy like that. He simply did it! And in this picture, he’s doing it again. Loving Luczi beyond biology. What my Dad doesn’t know is that when I struggled to understand how I would respond to Luczi and how I would be able to love her, it was his love for me that inspired me on. It was his love for me that told me, I can love what isn’t mine. Perhaps (and not to sound too sappy here) it always has been his love for me that has shown me most what God’s love is like.

Seeking His Face Part 1

For the past two years I have had one single and consistent passion in my spiritual life… to get to know Jesus.

I’m not talking about the warm fuzzy thing associated with “going to church” or religiosity, I’m talking about acquainting myself with the Jesus of History.

What a fun 2 years it has been. I view Jesus, his ministry, and his message so much differently than I did two years ago. I am still excited as I have been reading books like: The Challenge of Jesus and the Original Jesus by N.T. Wright and The Desire of the Everlasting Hills by Thomas Cahill (Read anything you can get your hands on by Cahill), Josephus by Paul Meire and of course the NEW TESTAMENT. We don’t do enough of this as Christians. At least I don’t run into too many Christians who think about or talk about Jesus outside of their addiction to their warm fuzzy. Rarely do I run into the Christian who says “Man, I’m really struggling with my preconceived ideas about Jesus or “this Jesus of history is quite different that the one I grew up to “know” or believe in”. For me this has been an awe inspiring two years of “seeking his face” and the good news is there is plenty more for me to read J I hope to share some of these joys in this blog over the next few weeks and I look forward to your responses. Please feel free to post in the blog site as opposed to emailing me directly.