A Very Busy Day, Part 2

After 13.1 miles and the hugest blood blisters I've ever seen, Kevin & I got all dolled up and headed over to see the one and only Ms. Vanessa Brooks become the one and only Mrs. Vanessa Kynes. The wedding was terrific. Dr. Al Mohler (the president at Southern) preached for part of the wedding, and the groom's father preformed the rest of the ceremony. My favorite part was that from the preaching to the music, the wedding was very characteristic of Will & Vanessa's personalities.

The reception was just as wonderful. They chose a glass blowing factory as their venue. I'm not talking a dirty industrial building but a beautiful reception room that overlooked these sweaty men making glass. Vanessa's stylistic eye with her greens & browns throughout the decorations definitely deserves a place in Martha Stewart magazine.

But more than the wedding, we are so excited for their marriage. These two are definitely perfect for each other. The Kynes are moving to Scotland in August for Will to pursue his PhD. I will miss you, V, but am so glad that I got to be a part of this Louisville season of your life. Welcome to the SWC!

"Haus"sitting with "Haus"guests

Last month, our dear friends from church, Larry & Kathleen Hausman asked us if we would live in their house for a week while they traveled down to New Orleans. Their dog Romeo is sixteen years old and needs some extra attention. Just so you can get the idea, here is a picture of our decrepit tenant:



Since Kevin was on spring break, we decided it would be a fun opportunity to serve them and have a change of pace for us. So we officially became "Haus"sitters for the Hausmans! Let the fun begin!

And oh boy did it. The kind of fun that involves water heaters exploding and flooding the entire basement. The kind of fun that involves my poor husband spending his spring break pulling up carpet and mopping up puddles. We were so thankful that we were there though--imagine what the basement would have looked like had the Hausmans come home a week later. Yikes!

That same week, sweet Ashley Marshall came up to visit us. I got to take some time off work and just spend the day together. I am so very thankful for Ashley's friendship. Thanks for taking the time to come visit, Ash! Wo ai ni!

Elbow Explosions

A word of caution: when playing intermural basketball, wear a mouth guard. That's all that has to be said. Especially when you're playing with seminary boys. Apparently, all that studying gives you explosive elbows on the court. Elbows that explode into Kevin's mouth...elbows that break two teeth in half...elbows that make us thankful that medical insurace covers emergency dental...elbows that make us thankful as well for dentists that can schedule you 12 hours later for two root canals and crowns.

Another word of caution: this picure isn't for the faint-hearted. So I made it a little smaller.



(This is after the dentist worked on him. When he was in so much pain that night, I couldn't bear to take a picture. We both regret it now because he really did look like a pirate.)

One year later and I'm still this excited!

One whole year of marriage. One whole year of laughter & tears, joy & frustration, quirks (and there are many!) and personalities. One whole year of loving each other more and loving the Lord more. After a year, we are both so thankful for marriage. Even though we see the grace we've been given, we are still learning roles in marriage and how to encourage one another better. We've developed tons of inside jokes, and we're very thankful that our home is filled with laughter.

Our first anniversary would not have been complete without the traditional top o' the wedding cake. My parents certainly were more than willing to pack up my Igloo cooler with ice packs and that freezer-space-dominating cake they've been keeping for the past 12 months. But it made it home and into our mouths on January 7th. It wasn't in our mouths very long though since it was a little too spongy. But tradition is tradition!

Our Ebenezer weekend was exactly what we wanted it to be: a weekend to get away and enjoy each other and to think on how faithful God has been to us.

This is how we felt when we got there!


























The online description of our cabin advised us to take a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Hmm...that could be a problem for our little Civic! So our dear friends Matthew & Nikki Savage traded us cars for the weekend and let us take their fancy 4 Runner. Quite honestly, one of Kevin's favorite parts of the whole weekend was climbing that steep, rocky terrain in his big ol' truck. Thanks again, Savages!


Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend the whole weekend alone. When we arrived, we noticed that our door was falling apart. We had to call the maintenance people and the next day our friend Gene arrived. Now we were quite aware that we were in rural Tennessee but if for some reason that face would have slipped our minds, Gene would have reminded us. He was a good ol' country boy and he sure did love to talk. It took him about two hours to fix our door and then ab out 30 minutes to tell us about a tasty local restaurant. We call him Garrulous Gene.

Another one of Kevin's favorite parts of the weekend was building a fire. It took a while to get it started (I was thankful to have a book at least!) but once it got going, we absolutely loved it.



But finally we had to go home. Back to life, back to Louisville, back to work and school. And this is how we felt then:

What's New in 2007

So this is a simple simon post. No pictures, just words. To be honest, it's taken me a while to get over the pride of producing a beautifully laid out post with pictures and captions and stylistically placed bolded fonts. But not today! I figure it's better to just give a little bit of something rough rather than nothing at all.

Kevin started back at school this past Monday. He is taking four classes: Systematic Theology III, Greek syntax (his book is called It's Still Greek to Me, which I think is very funny), Intro to Biblical Counseling, and World Religions. So far, he likes his classes very well (even the one that starts at 7 AM!), and we think this will be a good semester.

My exciting news is that I've begun training for a mini-marathon (13 miles) which is on April 28. I even put my money where my mouth is and actually registered for the thing. Sometimes I find it so ironic that people will pay money to go run a really long time. But we do. Crazy folk.

We're heading to Gatlinberg, Tennessee on Friday where we've rented a cabin in the Smokey Mountains for the weekend. This is our belated anniversary celebration vacation. If you think about it, please pray that the Lord would bless our time together. When the Lord defeated the Philistines in 1 Samuel 7:12, the Bible says that Samuel "took a stone and set it up...and called its name Ebenezer saying, 'Thus far the Lord has helped us.'" So pray for our Ebenezer weekend, that we would be able to recall all the ways the Lord has helped us this past year in growing us both more in the image of Christ through this mystery called marriage.

We'll give you Ebenezer updates next week!

Tour de Tejas

Though Christmas has come and gone, I feel like we're just now winding down from all the holiday hustle. So you can't blame me for taking a month off from blogging, considering our December included six states, three different time zones, and many precious friends and family members. So here for you is our Tour de Tejas:

Yes, Blogworld, we braved the loooooong drive to Tejas. We stayed the night in Memphis at the lavish Ramada Inn to break up the drive at least somewhat. Nevertheless, from start to finish, two best friends (me & Kev that is) with 800 miles traveled, the snack bag eaten (no meal pitstops for this frugal pair!), one book-on-tape enjoyed (well, kind of enjoyed...), lots of Christmas carols sung (over and over again), and we arrived in Denton at Kevin's parent's house. We enjoyed dinner with the parents and Kevin's sister Robyn's family that was not able to join us in Spokane.

The next morning we headed to Arlington to see the precious Gerlt family. It was so refreshing just to be in their home again and to meet newest addition to the Gerlt family.



Then we headed to Austin to meet up with my parents for Christmas. As we have for every Christmas I can remember, we headed to Houston to join our extended family. Here are our favorite Christmas memories of '06:



Whoonu! Thanks to sister Shannon who brought this delightful game to Spokane, we too had lots of laughs on this side of the family. It was especially fun since my darling granny could join us in the festivities. Just don't try to change the rules. Though you might think it would confuse granny, it really just confuses my PhD mother.



Moose Meat! It has turned into a yearly tradition to receive Moose Munch popcorn from my aunt & uncle in Oklahoma. Though I think it's intended for the entire family, you have to make sure and get at it before mom does.

Mark & Val...sort of! Mark & Valerie weren't able to join us from New Jersey this year. Being the technically savvy people that we are, we scheduled a conference call Christmas so we could open our gifts together.




My sweet husband had to work the 27th so he left from Houston to brave the drive back to Louisville...alone! He let me stay behind so I could spend some more time with my family & friends. Here is my showcase of my lovely friends I got to see:



Mama Ambs! Elijah is getting bigger and bigger! I absolutely love watching Amber as a mother and was so thankful to get to spend so much time with her. If only Louisville & Austin were closer!



Holly's in college! I've know this sweet girl since she was in eighth grade, and now she's in college. It's hard to believe!



Andrea's engaged! Though only for a short bit, I got to meet up with my dear friend Andrea Carney. We were roomies in China in 2004, and now she's engaged! Maybe I'll get to see her on the big day...



The One & Only...Ashley Marshall! A trip to Texas just wouldn't be complete without my fearless companion. Ashley was kind enough to be my date to a wedding when Kevin was absent.



Mrs. Sarah Patrick! Sarah was my roommate the last year of college, and now she's married. I was so thankful to be able to attend and was encouraged by how Scripture saturated their entire wedding was. Plus there were lots of fun friends to see. Derek & Sarah~ May your marriage be used to the end goal of not only happiness but primarily holiness.





And then back to reality. Back to Louisville. Back to work. Back to my husband. So fun. What a trip!

Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours

This is our 2006 Christmas card & year in review:



Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas to you all! This past year has included so much change and transition for our new family. After our wedding on January 7, which we were so delighted to share with many of you, we moved to Louisville, Kentucky for Kevin to pursue a masters degree at Southern Seminary. His degree is tailored toward international church planting, and our hope is to be able to move overseas for a two-year term in 2008. He has now finished two semesters and is enjoying his class work and the professors tremendously. Kevin also works part-time at a fondue restaurant called the Melting Pot. I am currently working as a legal assistant at a personal injury law firm. This is by far the most interesting job I've ever had, and between Kevin's job and my own, we have plenty of interesting stories to share at the dinner table.

Outside of work and school, we are so blessed to be a part of a wonderful church home at Clifton Baptist Church. Our church is so faithful to the exposition to the Scriptures, and we are thankful for the teaching we receive each week. This group of people has quickly become our second family, and the relationships we have built here have made our transition away from home much easier. Our pastor and his family were even gracious enough to invite us to share Thanksgiving with them!

2006 has been the year of weddings for both the Peek and the Corbin families. Besides our own wedding to kick off the year, Kevin's sister Shannon was married in May and my brother Mark was married in October. We were thankful to be able to join our families in Texas for these two celebrations. Kevin's twin brother Chris will be married on December 16, so we will be headed up to Spokane, Washington very soon. Now that all the family weddings are over and done with, our families will have to come up with another excuse to get together.

We do hope that you have a God-centered, Christ-exalting Christmas. How amazing it is that the fullness of God was actually born into earth as the little baby Jesus so that He could grow up to take the punishment that we deserve for our sin and failure to love God rightly! May we delight in God’s heart for Himself and for us as the true heart of Christmas! We love you and are thankful for you!

Though He was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ~Philippians 2:6-11

Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Peek

Our family has grown yet again! We headed up to the great northwest last Thursday to enjoy the beauty of marriage between Mr. Christopher Peek and Ms. Sarah Comfort. We woke up bright and early to catch our 7 AM flight to Spokane, Washington where we spent the day helping out with last minute preparations for the wedding. Chris & Sarah truly have a wonderful community & group of friends, with whom Kevin & I both had a wonderful time hanging out and getting to know. There were so many opportunities to serve Chris & Sarah that day and the next, and many of my prayers were answered as the Lord continued to give me a heart to be observant for needs that I could meet and ways I could serve. My dear husband was such a servant as well, and it made me proud to be his wife to watch him help his brother in so many ways. With the three hour time change though, the day seemed forever long but a blessing nonetheless.

Friday the rest of the family arrived, and it was rehearsal and rehearsal dinner extravaganza. Chris & Sarah even carved an evening out of their wedding weekend for our family Christmas celebration at our hotel. We didn't have mom's cinnamon rolls or Settlers of Catan, but apparently our festivities were festive enough and a little bit too loud for the other hotel guests, as we were interrupted by the late-night security guard.

Saturday was the big day! Our dear friend Matthew Savage performed the marriage ceremony, and, unlike other Peek weddings of the past, he successfully invited the audience to be seated as the ceremony began. I was most encouraged by Chris & Sarah's intentionality to put Christ at the center of their wedding. Their vows were thoughtfully written to detail their loyalty to their God-given roles to one another as head and helpmate. Sarah couldn't help but to put a quirky twist at the end of her vows to Chris: "And I'm so darn excited to be your wife!"

Chris & Sarah had asked Kevin & I to be their escorts from the wedding chapel to the hotel. This proved to be lots of fun even after we dropped them off at the hotel. The car we were driving still had the JUST MARRIED sign on it, so we continued to receive honks and waves. Who was I to crush the enthusiasm of our excited bypassers? So of course I waved and grinned and carried on just like a giddy new bride would do!

We were truly glad to be a part of this joyful weekend. May Christ continued to be glorified in your new home, Mr. & Mrs. Peek! We love you both!

Work Perks & U of L Basketball

So one of the bonuses of my job is the perks that our partners give us. As if it weren't entertaining enough to spend day in and day out at the office, our partners bought season tickets for the office to the University of Louisville basketball games. They told us the seats were pretty good but I had no idea that this is where we'd be sitting:















Every person in the office gets to go to two games. My sweet friend Helen McDonald (another Aggie grad!) went with me to this particular game, as my poor husband had to work. We had such a fun time, except the view made it a little difficult to follow the game:

Post Offices & Passports

So I talked to my sweet mother last night. She was telling me about her day, which included a visit to post office. Very nonchalantly, mama added the she picked up an application for a passport. I asked her she was planning on going, though I just assumed she and daddy were planning a trip to Europe over Christmas break (which would be a shock in itself). "Well, of course," she said. "It's for when I go visit you when you move overseas." Even though we're not going to be leaving for at least another year and a half, I was so blessed that my mom would think ahead so naturally. So thanks for loving me so specifically, mama!

I can go ahead an update everyone on our Thanksgiving holiday as well. Since we were so far from home, our pastor and his family invited us to join them. They really are a neat family, and it was such a pleasure to get to be a part of their traditions. Plus the weather recently has been just like Texas (but it's supposed to snow tomorrow). Though Kevin missed his mama's cinnamon rolls and Shannon's dog show, our first Thanksgiving away from home was quite enjoyable.

Kevin has survived his second full semester of school. He finished his last two finals today. I am so proud of my studious husband. When I watch how hard he works at school, I am reminded of how he is striving to move our family forward into the next phase of life.

So that's an update on our crazy KY life!

A New Corbin

No, no one is pregnant. My brother is married! After a long wait, Mark took Ms. Valerie Taylor as his bride on October 28. My parents were gracious enough to help us pay for plane tickets so we could join in the festivites. I had high hopes of taking plenty of pictures to show all of Blog world but alas my camera remained dormant for most of the weekend. Here are some of the highlights of our time in Tejas:

* My family. I enjoyed them in ways I'm not sure I ever have before.
* Wearing flip flops. It's cold here; it's not there--as simple as that!
* Straight hair. The bride's mother took all the bridesmaids to get our hair done for the wedding. All the straight hair girls had curls put in; the lone curly hair girl made new friends with the Chi. Kevin is still talking about how much he loved it.
* Having to call the paramedicas when my aunt passed out at the rehearsal dinner. (Maybe not a favorite memory but a memorable one for sure. She ended up being fine).
* Meeting Baby Gentry for the first time. His mohawk is just as amazing in person as it is in pictures.
* Getting to spend time with my good friends, Amber & Sally. They're just so great. Here's a picture of us, all grown up with husbands, homes, and babies:

Farsi Lessons & A Forward Focus

BECAUSE EVERYTHING SOUNDS BETTER ALLITERATED...

The reason we're here, as I'm sure most of you know, is to become better prepared to take the gospel of Jesus to places that have not heard the sweetness of being saved by grace through faith in Christ's accomplished work on our behalf. One of the greatest fears that we experienced in our transition from mild-mannered Texans to Louisvillian seminarians was (and still is) that we would lose heart, that we would start our degree program with zeal and gusto to plant our lives overseas and then become distracted and comfortable, forgetting what brought us here in the first place. Distracted by other options for ministry and comfortable with the American life and all the luxuries that it would afford us. It's an easy thing to do, especially when my boss spent the latter part of a working day this week showing me magazine pictures of the airplanes he's aspiring to purchase. Not saying that I want to buy a plane, but a dish washer would be nice.

But more than likely, the only dish washer I'll have are these two that are attached to the ends of my arms. That's just the way life is in the places where we want to go. So why do we want to go there? Well, the answer is easy enough. Jesus is worth it, and He deserves to be praised by every tongue, tribe, and nation. Remembering that on a daily basis, on the other hand (yes, the dish-washing ones), is another battle in itself. So here are some of our thoughts and practices that the Lord has given us that help us to be steadfast in our calling overseas.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS

We wish you all could meet Mory. He would introduce himself as Mory but I would introduce introduce him to you as Morteza, insisting that his Iranian name is not too difficult for us Americans to pronounce. Morteza is about the same age as my father and moved to Louisville for Tehran, Iran about a month ago. He shares an apartment with his son, who lives here and works two jobs at restaurants downtown. Morteza spends his time attending every English class he can possibly attend, and, though he is Muslim, he visits churches in the area(including ours), probably to practice English as well. When Kevin & I invited him to join us for dinner this week, he insisted that in exchange for the meal, he would begin to teach us Farsi, the native language in Iran. We only got to numbers 1-10 but the entirely different numeric script, let alone alphabet, proved to me that numbers are not the universal language and was enough to occupy lesson one (or lesson yek as you'd say in Farsi). Please pray for our time with Morteza that as our relationship develops, we would be able to share with him more about who Jesus is.

A MISSIONS-MINDED CHURCH

I listened to a sermon once in college from a Desiring God pastor's conference. It was by a man named Philemon Yong (yes, it does in fact read like the cut of meat) and he was a native Cameroonian missionary. His sermon was called "Building Firm Foundations: Why Theological Education is Important to Missions," and his accurate assessment of mission work along with his humor won me over as a fan immediately. So how shocked was I when I found out that he and his family attended our church here in Louisville when he was studying at Southern. And how even more shocked was I when our pastor's sweet wife called me this week to ask if we wanted to come to her house Friday evening for dessert with Philemon and others from our church! Needless to say, I was a bit star-struck as he shared about his life & work in Cameroon. We are so thankful to be a part of a church that thinks, speaks, and prays about missions from the pulpit all the way to the pastor's living room.

INTENTIONAL HOMEMAKING

Even if we were going to stay in American, you probably still would not have found fancy china on my wedding registry. But you definitely wouldn't (and didn't) find it, considering the fact that it's just not practical to wrap up all those delicate plates and gravy boats and ship them half way across the world where no one even knows what a gravy boat is to begin with. We try to keep our life simple here in order to prepare for a simple life there. Also, I tried to decorate our home in such a way that it reminds us of the things we value. Above Kevin's desk in his study hangs a collage I made him of faces from across the globe: a sweet grandmother from Kazakhstan, a stunning woman from Western China, a little Somalian girl with an umbrella beneath an arching rainbow, and three Afghan men who could possibly resemble the three magi from Jesus' birth. On the opposite wall hangs a big world map (which is disappointingly ethnocentric with America smack in the center). My intent is to create within the walls of our home a picture of what exists beyond the walls of our home. A reminder within a refuge.

I realize this has been a much longer post than we're all used to. And with no pictures too! Congratulations for reading it this far. Please take some time to comment with thoughts or ideas as to how Christians, both those called to go and those called to stay, can continue to be globally minded individuals with an eye and a heart set on God's work around the world.

Fall in KY=Falling temperatures

So it's been coming. They've warned me. Who is they? They being my native Louisvillian co-workers who have braved this season time and time again. They being my fall-happy husband who gets giddy at the sound of a leaf making the final downward journey to its sidewalk grave. They being the tell-tale temperatures that pop up on my desktop to remind me of just one thing: my warmth has ended. I thought my perfect solution would be to just ignore them and pretend that they were all just horribly mistaken about what really happens during the month of October--or at least just deluded like the rest of us Texans are back home.

So when I walked out the door for work this morning and was welcomed by almost freezing temperatures (yes, it's only almost freezing), only one thought ran through my mind: you know, this isn't that bad. Call it premature naivete but maybe, just maybe, I'll survive this season. But if they have to take me away in a bodybag due to my untimely demise from frostbite, just make sure I have warm socks on, ok?

Our Belated Summer Vacation

I'm beginning to learn that the day-in, day-out worker world can be quite exhausting. Definitely not like college--no mid-afternoon naps, no sleeping in after an all-nighter, no four-hour-long study sessions at Sweet Eugenes which just turn into chat time. And the other horrendous thing missing: vacation. So while my perennial student of a husband got a summer vacation, my normal routine rolled through the months once marked by leisurely bliss.

But we finally did get to take a little vacation to Indianapolis near the end of September. Kevin booked us a room at the Hyatt, and we spent our weekend tramping all around downtown Indianapolis. The simplicity of our life was definitely highlighted when we talked about the things we were most looking forward to with our vacation: a bed bigger than a full (a king at that!) and being able to flip channels between college football games (no TV in our humble homestead). We had a blast and the Lord refreshed us with sweet time together and a break from the normal weekend routine. Here are some pictures from our little adventure:

A Bassett in the Bassinet

Just a quick word to update Blog world that Baby Bassett has arrived! Elizabeth Grace Bassett was born to our dear friends Justin & Angela today. I think that about wraps it up for all our expecting friends, so there won't be any more baby news for a while. I'll post pictures of Elizabeth Grace as soon as I get some but until then click here for pictures of pregnant Ang. Congrats to the new Mommy & Daddy!

Emerging from Blog Hermitage

My eyes have grow accustomed to the darkness here inside my Blog cave. So I'll sheild them from the blinding, sunny rays of connectedness as I step out from Blog isolation and boldly shout, "This Blog is not dead!" When you've been AWOL for so long, it has to take some earth-shattering events to shake you from your stupor. Good thing that there's been some fun & exciting things in Peek life:

ANOTHER MRS. PEEK

















No, Kevin is not becoming a polygamist. Christopher is engaged!!! He proposed last Friday to sweet Miss Sarah Comfort of Spokane, Washington. Their wedding is set for December 16, 2006. The Northwest in the winter! We are so excited to welcome her into our family and are looking forward to the Lord knitting our lives and hopefully our pathes in the future. Click here to see their blog.

NEW LITTLE PEOPLE








JACOB LANE GERLT born September 3, 2006 to Chad & Erin Gerlt. Chad & Erin are sweet friends of our who opened their home to me when Kevin & I were engaged. Their kiddos, Max & Anna Kate, were in our wedding.

















ELIJAH HUDSON GENTRY born September 7, 2006 to Logan & Amber Gentry. Amber has been one of my all-time best friends since 6th grade. Luckily, her 6th grade fantasies of naming her children attrocious things like Denim and Lace did not come true with this little guy. I get to meet him when we go to Tejas for my brother's wedding in October but that just doesn't seem soon enough!

MY HUSBAND, OLD & BUSTED

Kevin's birthday was yesterday. It's an unfortunate day to have a birthday but he had claims on it first before it was Patriot Day, in my opinion. The only downfall to his birthday (beside the anniversary which it shares) is that he has been sick for nearly a week now. I had planned a fun surprise evening for us last night where I whisked him away from work to take him out to a fancy dinner. What ended up happening though was taking him home, feeding him noodles & chicken, and petting his sweet, sickly head.

Such is life in the Peek household. And such it will carry on, with a new promise not to return to Blog cave!

The lone reed, the lone toothbrush

Kevin has a blue toothbrush. I have a red one. Same brand, same type. Not because we were trying to be cute and matchy but because they cost $.98 at Wal-mart. I've gotten pretty used to out Bobsy twin toothbrushes until last night. The red one was the only one occupying its home. The lone toothbrush. And that can only mean one thing...my husband is gone.

Alas, after six months of my bed buddy, he's left me alone for five whole days to venture back to Texas for our friend Jamie's wedding. I dropped him off at the Greyhound station at midnight last night for a 17 hour bus ride to Dallas. He took the bus so he could drive the newly weds' car back up here for them, seeing that their new home is here in the great state of KY. His next five days will be an adventure that will most definitely be blog-worthy.

In the meantime, here I am holding down the homestead. I am glad that he got to go. And I am glad that he took his toothbrush!

Seneca Summers & Silent Sin

It's not Texas heat but it sure is getting hot here. Case in point: the park I like to run at is called Seneca Park, a quaint little place with a 1.2 mile loop around tennis courts, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, and a playground. There's lots of people watching to be done to keep me entertained during my laps. I went out yesterday to run, and it was near deserted. "How wonderful!" I thought. "The whole park to myself!" It turns out that there is a great lesson to be learned when the park is deserted: go home or melt. So after I near sweated myself to death, I had to cut a half mile off my run so I could live to tell about it.

So what does all of this have to do with sin? Our sermon at church this morning was about the freedom of confessed sin, and the primary text was Psalm 32:

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away...my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin...Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. ~Psalm 32:1-2,4-5,10

Sin, simply speaking, is anything done (whether in word, deed, or thought) that counteracts the supremacy of God. Its aim is the promotion & pleasure of self. The question is not whether or not we sin at all but what we do in response to it. The ways we re-name sin in order to justify it are innumerable: "How was I supposed to act any other way? He deserved it!" or "I have a short temper. It's just the way I am." or "I'm a good person overall. No one is perfect." Yet these are mere excuses that keep us from dealing with the reality of sin in our lives and the ramifications it has on our standing before God. Sin separates us from the Lord, and, as we were created to commune with Him, it is draining to our souls. Just as the length of my run was limited by intense summer heat, the depth and enjoyment people can experience of God is limited when sin is cherished in our lives.

Sin can only be dealt with and confessed within the context of the Gospel. This is where hope truly lies. Out of His justice, God dealt with our sin by expending the wrathful punishment that we deserve. Only Jesus took it in our place and now serves as the cover for our own sin before God. Upon belief in Jesus' payment of our penalty, no longer do we have to hide sin with excuses and justification but we're able to confess and repent. When sin is uncovered through confession, it is covered through Christ. What freedom!

Shall we choose the sorrow that includes an inability to face our shortcomings and the pressure to morally perform before God? Or shall we rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus which allows us to be honest and free within the death of Christ on our behalf? Let's glory in the Gospel by glorying in open and free confession of sin.

Texas, Kentucky (and other random randomness)

Yes, there is such a place as Texas, Kentucky. It's right outside of the thriving metropolis of Springfield, Kentucky. And for all of you who don't know Kentucky geography (you can count me in that crowd as well), all you need to do to get there is head south from Louisville, pass about three bourbon distilleries (Kentucky is the only state that makes bourbon you know), wind through the majestic wonder that is Bernheim forest, up a hill and down a hill, and there you are...Texas, Kentucky! My sweet friend Allie and I took a little roadtrip this past Saturday, and I wanted you all to see some of the things there are to see in the great state of KY:


It's official! John Piper has retired and Kyle Claunch is the new man of Bethlehem! Well, not really. Our friend Kyle took a pastor position at this country church, and Allie and I were helping him and his family move. That's where all the roadtrip adventures began...


What makes a roadtrip more complete than a worm farm? What more can you really say?
















Our last stop in the wanderings of Randomland...Rooster Run, Kentucky, where the roosters stand a mile high.

So there ya have it, Blogworld. The sights and sounds of backwoods Kentucky. Come on down for a random good time!

Our 4th of July

I realized on Tuesday that this was my first Independence Day to actually spend in America for the past three summers. Though this year was quite different than last year's watermelon seed spitting contest with Chinese college students as my only competitors, it was still a relaxing day. Here are the highlights of our day:

We spend the evening with our new neighbors and friends, Blake and Alicia White (also known as the Whites from "A Peek at the White Butts" weekend). Alicia prepared a most excellent meal for us, along with the most patriotic dessert of all:

FLAG CAKE!!! Then we went down to the waterfront (we do live right on the Ohio River you know) and watched fireworks.

An amateur picture, I know, but you get the point. We hope you all had a good holiday as well!