Here's what I've been doing lately.  Hope everyone's winter is going as well as this(insert humorous laughs here).  

Prayer

     I've been wanting to learn more about prayer.  A book titled A Praying Life was recommended to me a while back by Paul and Carri Sorenson.  If you were able to attend their Sunday school class at North Platte Berean, then you are familiar with the book.  It is great by the way.  Very simple and direct without being too much about mandated steps to success.  Anyway, so I am reading this book.
     I get to chapter 6, Learning to be Helpless, and as I read through the pages I am struck.  All those times that I am anxious, depressed, discourages, worried, angry, frustrated, and on and on... All those times was and is that God calling out to me? Wanting me to be helpless?  So that I will become more connected to Him? I started thinking back to all of the times that I have felt most connected to the Father.  Every time I was in a state of total helplessness.  Things turned out fine in every situation too, and I got a little closer to God.
     Now, this gets me wondering, "How often am I helpless, but don't realize it"?  In my arrogant ways, do I not see the hundreds of times each day that I have no control over anything?  Do I have control over ANYTHING?  I think that maybe I only have control over my decision to pray at each of those moments.  When I start thinking about my own helplessness in this life, and that the solution to all of helplessness' symptoms is prayer, then the whole praying without ceasing starts to look a lot more possible.

Our first Christmas in Wyoming

Amanda and I got the privilege of getting the Christmas tree for TWM this year. It was an adventure in and of itself (as most things are with me). The thermometer was sitting at -20 and the snow was a tad to deep as we set out on our tree hunting expedition. After digging the 4-runner out on three different occasions, we were loading the tree on top. As we left, it never crossed my mind that I would be back out in three days to retrieve the shovel I had left on the last attempt to get through a snow drift. It was another Christmas to remember.

Now that I look back, the tree got to be apart of some good times. We had a wonderful Christmas spent having a feast with the only two gentleman that would take us up on our offer of a free meal to anyone that was interested. On Christmas morning there was a blizzard that moved in, the freeways were closed down and there were many people stuck for Christmas. The friends we were going to have over could not make it in, so we went to all the truck stops and invited everyone over for a Christmas dinner. We only got two takers, but never the less we had a great time getting to know them, and serve them as we could.

This idea for an open dinner came on as I was looking over the blessings we had received, thinking of what the holiday is really about and thought about Philippians 3:7,8 "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ".

One thing that struck me was some of the responses we got while inviting people over. I am finding that people are not used to hospitality, and are sometimes down right confused by it. It makes me sad to think about a world that people are not caring for each other. It takes me back to my key verses, Matthew 22:37-39, where we are commanded to love God and love others.

From Sea to Shining Sea

So...Amanda and I have gone from the Florida coast to the Oregon cost on the support raising trial. It has been great, and I have enjoyed meeting new people, and catching up with old friends. I really enjoy sharing my vision with people, and seem to be getting good response. It looks like we are going to make it to full support by the end of the year. Now that we have hit both corners of the US, we are looking to head back to the middle. We are getting ready to hit the icy roads and venture our way to Nebraska to do our last support raising trip of the year. We are looking forward to some time spent in Laramie to get plugged into a small group and share life with local believers. Hope you all have a very merry Christmas, and a wonderful new year.

We had a great group of ladies that came in from Ft Collins this last weekend. I was excited to see how well they worked together and enjoyed the time of fellowship. They were a joy to serve and it was neat to have a group of them willing to fight the elements to go out on a hike. There worship was spectacular and the Griffiths (like usual) did an awesome job on the food.

Amanda and I are now looking forward to the holiday season where we can catch up with friends and family. Hope to see you all soon.

Our Testimony

Many people have asked us "How did you get to Table?". I thought it was probably time to put this journey of discovery down in writing. Here is the story of how we got here. We both grew up in church and accepted Christ at a young age. My corporate job had moved us to North Platte, NE about 4 years ago. I began meeting with an elder in our church. The goal of these weekly get togethers was to develop accountability partners and improve discipleship. After meeting for about a year, I was encouraged to begin volunteering with the church’s senior high youth group. Amanda and I enjoyed helping lead small group studies and eventually joined them on a short-term mission’s trip. For this two week, work trip to Ethiopia, we were expected to prepare spiritually with a study through Nehemiah and prepare financially by participating at fundraisers and sending support letters. We learned a lot about showing God’s love through serving others.

During this year of discipleship and service, I began to feel prompted to search for God’s will in my life. I was in a good place, but I kept feeling that God had something better for me. I shared these thoughts with Amanda. It turns out that she too was feeling a need for more, though her teaching career had always been fulfilling. Something was amiss in our lives. This was when we were led to Table in the Wilderness. We had the opportunity to turn our good life into a great life serving Christ by serving others.

Matt

Wyoming Camp Life

We have been in Wyoming for a few months now and I thought that it was time to share a bit about our new life. Matt and I split our time up between the Table in the Wilderness (TWM) Lodge in Laramie and the TWM Campground in Centennial.

Most campers spend their time at the campground, which is beautiful and mountainous and outdoorsy. During their stay, we are also at the campground, which is about 40 minutes from Laramie. I love it there. God feels so very close when you are surrounded by His nature. We fill our time there with running activities for the campers like mountain biking, hiking, archery, disc golf, and camp fire. I am a terrible archery teacher, by the way. It's a miracle that no one has been injured, ha, ha. Matt loves the mountain biking and tries to make the trek through the woods exciting and safe. Most of the time he succeeds.

When there are no campers, we head back to Laramie and the Lodge. There are a few pictures of the Lodge so you can get an idea of what that is like. I think it is most like living in a dorm room. Small but with everything that you would need just down the hall. The Lodge will get more camp use this winter when access to the Centennial campground is blocked by snow.

Anyway, checkout the pics and let me know what you think. Amanda