Happy birthday bro!

Today is my dearest brother's birthday. He turns 27 today--what an old man! One of my favorite childhood memories with Mark has to do with our birthdays. Though he is four years older than me, my birthday still falls at the beginning of May. It drove him crazy to know that even though he was the big brother, little sister still had her birthday first. So here's to another flip-flopped birthday! I love you, dear brother!


Our first day of school together!

My very first drink on my 21st birthday with Mark.

Me & Mark at Central Park last February. He works in Manhattan so it's always a treat to visit him in his stomping ground.

My sweet brother flew down for my graduation from A&M last May.

Mark giving away his baby sister.

Mama & her boy.

My sister-in-law, Valerie. It's a good thing that Mark caught the garter since their wedding is coming up in October!

Thoughts on the Da Vinci Code

Let's all welcome my husband to the blogging world. It's his first post!!!!!

The "Da Vinci Code" movie comes out today and deserves some form of response for my part. Becky & I both read the book since we've been here and did find it to be an intriguing and entertaining novel. This engaging best seller has now made it from the book stands to the movie screen. It is likely to be somewhat popular as it is directed by Ron Howard and staring Tom Hanks. The book has certainly made a stir among many evangelical and historical groups in these past couple of years. As I feel many of you have already gotten some form of overview of DVC's historical and biblical errors that are likely to be displayed in the movie, I will try to be brief. For those who have not be made aware of misrepresentations in DVC, then I will point you to some articles that display where Dan Brown errs. Aside from this, I wish only to say a couple of things as they refer to spiritual matters.

First, is saddens me to know that many of DVC readers blindly accept the book (or the movie as of today) as fact. Brown writes a wonderfully engaging fiction novel, but that is all it will ever be. Our society widely accepts DVC with open arms, like a long lost relative who after a painstaking journey has finally made it home. Many take in the DVC as an answer to the Jesus, despite historical and theological errors found within the book. Many seem to be jumping on the DVC bandwagon with enthusiasfervorrver, smiling as they are now headed in the right direction with regards to the church, Christians, and more importantly Jesus.

Secondly, Jesus is far greater than the Jesus portrayed by Brown. The good news of Jesus according to the DVC boils down to nothing more than lies laid down to promulgate the authority of the Catholic Church. However, as we read the earliest narrative documents of Jesus's life and teachings (also known as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), we are left with a completely different understanding. Jesus was more than an amazing leader or great teacher. He was the greatest representative and substitute for men who have fallen infinitely beneath the standard of a perfect and righteous God. God, who is perfect and right, will not discard justice and thus he must punish every person who has acted in opposition to his standard. Those who believe and follow Jesus will have him as a representative and substitute before God. Jesus will substitute for their punishment and we will receive his righteousness and upright virtue. This is an awesome, wonderful, and biblical view of Jesus and sharply contrasts the DVC Jesus paraded around the best seller list and the "big screen."

To all my readers. I believe that you are likely to fall into several categories. There are those who disagree with the DVC portrayal of Jesus and historical events. You will likely read the book or see the movie and be able to identify inaccuracies without evidential support of their error. There will be some of you who, upon exposure to the plot, will be intrigued by the beauty of how it all fits together. You will hear the same remarks and think that BrownÂ’s suggestions could be possible and be content with that, but you won't really be any more educated than the other side. My suggestion is that it might be worth the time to go do a little research: go read the four gospels, find out the background to Jesus and the early church. Whether you believe them or not, let's make efforts to be educated and thoughtful in the contruction of our worldview.

www.bethinking.org
www.mbts.edu/Resources/worshop_davincicode.htm
Books for knowledge of Church history-Story of Christianity, Gonzalez, History of the Church in the Middle Ages, Logan.

Throo the Zoo

Neither Kevin nor myself would ever acclaim to be first-rate runners. But who could pass up an opportunity to run with the elephants? With finals finished, we got to take an entire Saturday and play all day. A 5K throo the zoo (why is it called marketing genius to misspell a word anyway?) and then free admission to the world of zoological wonders. Yes, we are those people who stop and read every sign by every animal and hold up everyone else behind us. To justify our slowness, I'll teach you some of the random things we learned:

* Giraffe babies are 6 feet tall when they're born. (Dear mother-in-law, though you had 16 pounds of twin baby inside of you, at least they weren't as tall as they are now at birth).

* Warthogs don't really have warts. It's just cartilage deposits. That'll help with their self-esteem.

* Vampire bats are actually very intelligent creatures. Intelligent but still very yucky and frightening.

Kevin's body double









Now let's all join hands for a rousing chorus:

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo
Won't you come too, too, too
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo
And we're gonna stay all day!

From a Peek to a Sharp

We got to go back to Tejas last week for our dear sister Shannon's wedding. I become a Peek and she becomes a Sharp. One of my favorite things about the weekend was watching the Lord's grace in the simple things--the weather. It rained and rained and rained all day Saturday morning. Preparing for an outdoor wedding on Saturday morning makes you want to sing along with Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" song. Then the gracious hand of the Lord stopped the rain and, apart from a little soggy grass, everything was beautiful. So congrats Mr. & Mrs. Marcus Sharp!

Here's a pic of all the sisters:

There's Beck (the newest of the clan), Terra, Shannon, Robin, and...who is that on the end? That's sweet Sarah Comfort, Chris' girlfriend. We had the pleasure of Sarah's company all the way from Seattle. She's not an official sister (though our nephew Toby took the liberty to call her Aunt Sarah numerous times), but she was a blessing to the family this weekend. We love you Sarah!

Sugarmama has found her sugar!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! I have now officially entered the rat race of the working world. What the heck is a rat race anyway? But whatever it is, I've been in it since Monday! By God's gracious provision for our family, I was offered a position at a law firm located in downtown Louisville. It is a personal injury law firm. Those are the lawyers that advertise on daytime TV during shows like People's Court and Jerry Springer and tell people that they deserve a lot of money for their accidents. Here are my top 10 favorite things about the job:

10) For the rest of my time in Louisville, I will be full of interesting stories about our cases and clients.

9) Replacing my wardrobe of the last two months (jeans and my Yale sweatshirt) with fun clothes. And, yes, it is possible to wear three inch stilletos for 8 hours in a row.

8) Being one step closer to a routine. Though this is yet another transition in the line of many for Kev & me, we are striving to develop a sense of normalcy and expectancy in regard to our daily lives.

7) Seeing what life can look like if it is dominated by a love of money. I am saddened to see how fleeting life can be when it is fueled by temporal things, yet it makes me thankful for hope & purpose in Christ. Life truly is richer and deeper when committed to something beyond yourself.

6) Finding a new ministry or prayer & relationship with those in my office. There are some very dynamic personalities and lots of opportunities to love, serve, and share.

5) Getting to use my mind at my job. It is very certain that I will never be bored while I'm at work. That in itself, I've learned, is a blessing.

4) Working downtown. Lots to see...there's a new hotel that I drive by on the way home that has three-foot tall red penguins in the doorway. It makes me smile every evening.

3) Getting to come home to my wonderful husband at the end of the day. With Kevin working, there will be days that we won't see each other until 10 or so at night. That's not our preference but seeing the way he lights up when he talks about relational opportunities with his co-workers makes it worth the sacrifice.

2) Serving my husband in such a specific way. The sugarmama does the working so that papa gets to go to school. Kev is so sweet to thank me for going to work that day, knowing that my job enables him to be in class and move us one step closer to where we want to be in life.

1 1/2) The space heater that goes under my desk. My little toes (we call them toe-sicles here) appreciate it when it decides to snow on the first day of spring...sigh.

1) The wonderful woman who is training me. Let's go ahead and show her beautiful face:



For those of you who don't know this lovely face, please meet Beth Wilson. She is an acquaintance from college who has quickly become one of my best friends here. In addition to being a fellow 24 enthusiasts and step aerobics partners, we are now co-workers! I am so thankful to have her sweet spirit, encouraging words, and love for the Lord throughout the working day.

Here are some ways you can pray for us regarding this:
* that the Lord would use Beth & me to display Christ in words & actions to our co-workers.
* that Kevin & I would develop routine & learn how to save time for each other everyday. The mornings are especially important to us as we like to spend our individual time with the Lord and also spend time together over breakfast. That means an early start to the day! Please ask for desire and strength to leave the warm bed in the morning.
* that Beth & I would be able to love each other well at work. We both know that spending so much time together might have a negative effect, so please ask that the Lord would help us in this.

Our first house guest

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong. Can you find the face that doesn't belong in our normal day-to-day in the great state of KY?



Well, let's do a little meet n' greet. On the left you have the Wilson's. Yes, you've met Mrs. Wilson. (By the way, Beth, please don't hate me for dispersing such a huge picture of your face into the blogsphere). That strapping young lad is her husband, Lee. Moving to the right...oh, it's those Peeks. Oops...I thought I told you I traded in that Yale sweatshirt for the biz-cas at work. Old habits die hard I suppose. Or don't die at all (which we all know will be the case with me and my sweatshirts!) Finally...hey, it's Ms. Vanessa Brooks, hailing from Aggieland, TX. You might remember her from such life experiences as Chiner '05 and roadtrip to Louisville '04.

Vanessa is starting school here at Southern in the fall, and we were pleased to offer her the title of our first official house guest during her visit here uuring spring break. Though her main purpose in coming was to look for housing for the fall, she blessed our home with her curiousity to learn from our new marriage and her eagerness to encourage me. We are thrilled for her to move up here to join us for the fall!

By the way, for anyone else visiting the Louisville area, Hotel Peek is also available to you!

Classic...just classic

I tried to go to Wal-Mart yesterday. I ended up in Indiana. What more can you even say?

The victories & trials of the working world

With the sugarmama (that's me!) still looking for a job, we are so thankful that the Lord has provided Kevin with a job and thus income for the both of us. He will be a server/cook at a restaurant called The Melting Pot. It's a fondue restaurant with all sorts of cheeses and crazy stuff like that. Neither of us have ever eaten there (nor am I sure that I'd really like to!) but we've heard it's pretty tasty and pretty fancy. After looking at the menu, it's obvious that it's pretty pricy as well. The interesting thing about the restaurant is that Kev will not only serve the food but will cook it in front of the customers. It has the possibility to be a lucrative job, but what he's most excited about is building relationships among the other waitstaff in order to get to love on them & share the gospel. The seminary environment can be incredibly stifling to be constantly surrounded by Christian culture, so we are definitely looking forward to this opportunity to connect with people who don't know Christ.

My job search is slow moving but still in motion. After receiving a couple of rejections (not fun), I decided I need to put forth more initiative to get employers to give me a chance. But still the Lord has brought me back to the truth that His sovereign goodness will provide a job in His time. That doesn't nullify my efforts in searching or give me permission to be lazy (though often it's a temptation), but it brings my heart to rest to know that I will find a job "not by might nor by power but by God's spirit" (Zechariah 4:6).

Here are some ways you can pray for us:

1. Kev's new job-that he would be a loving, gentle, and bold man toward his co-workers pertaining the gospel.

2. Beck's job search-that she would have favor in employers' eyes as they review her resume and hopefully offer an interview and a position.

3. our home & marriage-that Kev's time commitment to the new job would not distract from our marriage; that the Lord would continue to give us leading regarding our church home.

Thanks & we love you!

Now we're really official!

January 7 was a day of worship to the Lord who gives all good things. Our wedding day could not have been more of a blessing--despite mismatched tuxedo vests, groomsmen missing for the pictures, ringbearer's tuxedos nearly being left behind, and all the other nearly catastrophic events that I don't even know about. Walking down the aisle and seeing everyone gathered there is one of my favorite and most vivid memories. Thank you to all who were able to come and to those who prayed alongside of us in anticipation of our union. We'd love for you to post and let us know your favorite memory from our wedding or how the Lord blessed you there. Also, our wedding photos are available to view online. If you'd like the link, e-mail me at kevandbeck@gmail.com.

Our honeymoon was at the El Dorado Seaside Suites in Riviera Maya, Mexico. We were so thankful to have four days to get to know each other as husband and wife. One thing we enjoyed about the resort was getting to know the Mexicans who worked at there. I (Becky) loved practicing my Spanish, and it made me excited for the day, Lord willing, when we get to study a new language in order to communicate with the people among whom we will live overseas.

Shortly after the honeymoon, we packed up our giant yellow truck (I do mean giant!) and made the long trek to Louisville, Kentucky. After a couple of weeks, we've both fallen love with our home. It's not glamerous by any means, but it meets our needs perfectly. Blending into life here and finding routine has been challenging. After a few really hard weeks, the past few days have been blessed with so much grace in our marriage and life here.

we're official!

So we may not be the Peeks quite yet but we're well on our way... So here's our life as of now: The love of my life proposed to me on September 21st. The engagement story will come later. The wedding is set for January 7th, 2006. Then we're headed off to Louisville, Kentucky for Kevin to start seminary. I couldn't be more excited to be his sugarmama! But, as for now, Kev is substitute teaching (the elementary kids are especially amazed at how tall he is) and I'm nannying for a couple different families. Life has definitely become more static since college but we're both thankful that the Lord's character is not because we're learning tons as we prepare for this great mystery called marriage.