Update

I hope this finds all of you well. Obviously I've not posted in many months, and I value the freedom of only posting when I feel God's leading and not trying to maintain a readership or following. If you've subscribed to my posts you are likely a friend or family, or at least acquaintance, and probably know that this blog is simply a place I began to now and then share thoughts, things God might be showing me, slices of our life, etc. It actually began as a place for me to record the highlights of these things for my girls to one day read without having to wade through all  my old teachings, etc. From there came the thought that if I was blessed by something, others might be too. Thanks for reading, and sharing, and caring.

We are well. We are enjoying quiet life in the country, horses, and the simple things that make life most special—time together, being out doors, good coffee and fellowship, friendships, and family. We are very busy with Mary Ann homeschooling the girls and still being a mom and the wife of a husband who loves every second he can get with her, the different hats I wear, the horses the girls enjoy, and the work required to keep up a home and acreage in the country.

Most of my free time, when not spent with family, has been working on a novel I've been writing on for over a year  now. It is a Christian "western" set in the 1880s and it has been fascinating to see the places God has taken me in the research for it, and the way He's been helping me (and hopefully leading me) to work in to it different things He's shown me over the years about two main areas: faith being one, and the collapse of man's confidence in the written account of Genesis being the second. The 1880s were a critical time in that collapse on the part of the church, coming mere decades after Darwin's book, which followed the church already caving in on the age of the earth issue.

I'd value your prayers for the book as I seek to be led by God and to find time to write in the midst of being a husband, father, pastor, youth leader, and volunteer fire-fighter and chaplain. These things all come first, so needless to say the novel is a now and then thing, but I did cross 100,000 words recently and from the first vision of Chapter 1 which I woke up in the middle of the night with I am feeling His hand. I just need to trust His timing and know when He says to write, and when He says to focus on others or other things.

The fellowship is moving along as a fellowship does, with some people experiencing some real growth and victories, and others struggling. I am beginning a teaching on the essential nature and role of the Holy Spirit and I hope that it will awaken in us a hunger for His leading and magnified presence. I know that the Holy Spirit has been used (by name) to abuse many in the church, but I believe we can run so far from a fear of excess that we can stray in the other direction of error and avoid Him altogether. I'd value your prayers as well on this series and for the fellowship.

One thing that has been a real blessing over the last year has been our Men's Group. A core of around seven to nine of us have met regularly, twice a month, and it has been the first time we've found a successful way to have a consistent men's fellowship. It has been a true  joy to see the developing closeness in the men and to have this place to share and grow. I believe the church in general, and this nation for sure, are desperately in need  of Godly men to stand in the places and roles in the church, community, workplaces, and families God has called them to. I will post soon about the recent line of conversation and study we have been on, which is one I think will bless you. It is about  the posture of the heart God calls His people to walk in, and how in God's kingdom humility and authority/confidence are not contradictory, but mutually essential.

God bless all of you. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for being an extended part of my life.