It seems like babies are everywhere these days. No, we don’t have one, but everyone else seems to. We joke a lot with our friends because it seems like our small group at church went from the “newlywed” group to the “young parent group” in a matter of months…well about 9 months to be exact. At the same time, we added two nieces to our family in the last year, and have one on the way in November. It seems like every time I log into a blog or go to church it is another announcement of “we're pregnant!” or “he/she is here!” And though Kassie and I are not yet parents, in a lot of ways we have felt the affects heavily in our life. Whether it is looking more forward to that day ourselves, missing our nieces and nephews that are out of town, or having our whole social world rearranged by the affects of kids on the lives of our friends or the time that we spend with our friends. It is great, amazing in fact. I love that the world we move in is constantly being inundated with new life and growth. It blows my mind to go to our church small group every week and see these little people that were just yesterday laying there begin to crawl, stand, take a step, walk.

I think that because these new little lives are all around, that my Scripture reading this morning had a whole new meaning. I have been reading through Psalms to start my day. As I was just cruising along from verse to verse this morning, this one just reached up and tripped my mind. It made my brain stutter a little bit and forced me to go back and ponder at the ancient thought that I had just fallen over.

“Through the praise of children and infants, you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” Psalm 8:2

What an amazing and odd, yet powerful and mesmerizing mental picture. My mind went to ideas - mostly from movies - of these images of ancient cities surrounded by tall stone fortresses. These fortresses have their gates drawn because some neighboring, uncivil, really hairy tribe with big clubs and bad oral hygiene have come to wage war and steal all that is good from this civil, fortified city. And at that moment when all seems lost and the big hairy men in need of Listerine are about to break through, this natural phenomenon occurs….all the babies in the city start to make this gosh darn awful sound that they do at three in the morning when they are hungry and have pooped all over themselves. (Now I have spent the night with friends and family and experienced this situation, but not yet having had the experience of being the one who had to get up and do something about it I can not fully associate with my own analogy here…but I am sure that many of you reading feel the full weight of this “3AM reality”...and if you are reading this at 3AM it may be because the mental image is all too fresh in your mind!) Back to the story…In my mind's eye these barbarians stop, and listen to this cry of babies, these shrill screams of infants who have needs to be met. As they pause from their warning the sound grows and grows, but not only does it grow, it changes. It changes from annoying and burdensome to beautiful and magnificent. The cries of these children leave this warring nation with no choice, they must flee the city. Not because the thought of changing diapers is too much to bear, but because the worship of a mighty creator is so compelling that they no longer have a desire to do evil.

Now I don’t know if what went through my mind this morning is what the Psalmist had in mind for this passage. However, the imagery of the poem is one that beckons us to invite a special kind of peace into our lives, a peace that comes when we realize that God does things completely backwards than the way we do. I find the imagery beautiful. At the point in life when my nature is to pick up a bow and arrow and sword and fight the mangy invader, God says “No, wait, I have a better idea….I am going to make all the babies cry…”

I love it when I find these little subtle paradoxes in Scripture. These evidences that God’s plan of redemption was not a mistake or something conjured up at the last minute. Instead it was well thought out and he gives us hints of his nature from the beginning of His Word to the end. We think our answer is a king on a throne with sword and power, He provides a son to hang naked and abused on a cross…We stake our security on the labor of our hands and the power of our wits, He establishes strongholds on “the praise of children and infants.”

May the Paradox of the Lord’s power dwell richly in your hearts this week.

Thanks to all of you guys for praying for the test. I think it went well. It definitely had its challenging parts, but over all I was not surprised by anything. I am not really sure how I did, but I have a clear idea and picture of what my weak areas are and how to really start prepping and studying as the course gets harder and harder. It was a confidence booster that even if I did not do well, I know how to do better.

Thanks again.... Stay tuned to the blog.... Now that I have this first test under my belt I hope to be able to spruce this page up a bit with some more thought provoking writings and some pics for your enjoyment!

Labor Day

I have my first exam Monday, Labor Day (appropriate I guess : ) at 2:30.  Please pray if you get a chance.  Thanks, Pete

Aug 26th

Wow, I cant believe that it has been almost 3 weeks since my last update.  I am just going to make a list for you guys to keep this short and sweet so you do not get bogged down in a lot of reading. So here goes!

Praise:

- We celebrated our 4th anniversary this month and had an amazing day.  We decided to celebrate by spending time and not money this year since all these transitions we are taking a lot of time away from each other.  We had an amazing day hiking and talking and just catching up on the highlights from year 4 and dreams for 5.  We agreed it was our best anniversary yet and decided to make spending time instead of money our new anniversary tradition.  (not that Kassie is going to argue with some flowers and nice dinner! : )

-On that same note.  We have just moved into a new season of celebrating our life and marriage together.  God has been so faithful in using us in each others lives to meet so many needs that have come about emotionally and spiritually in this new season.  It has been such an encouragement for our marriage to rise to the occasion under new pressures.  Pray this continues with the long academic and ministry road ahead.

-ALL OUR SUPPORT HAS COME IN! Man it is amazing to see how so many of you have given of your finances so that we can have this scholarship!  If people are able to follow through with their commitments, we will be able to maintain the scholarship for 3yrs!  Amazing! THANK YOU ALL FOR GIVING IN  SO MANY WAYS! 

-I am really enjoying Greek.  Such a gift that it is coming to me with such joy.  It is a lot of work, and hard, but so rewarding and motivating.  The Lord is really ministering to me as I study this language, it has been so spiritual and I love it.  

Pray:

-Continue to pray for Greek!  I have my first test Monday and though I love learning this material I am still behind where I need to be.  Pray I can catch up and be ready for the first test.

-Pray for energy.  I have been very tiered lately with some long study and work days.  

-Pray for us financially as a whole.  God is meeting our needs and showing us so much about stewardship and resources.  It is an amazing season of faith that he has given us AMAZING peace in.  We still live in that faith that I am going to get a weekend project or we will get a photo shoot just at the right time to meet our need for the day.  

FYI: I will not be driving to Charlotte this semester for classes.  During orientation two weekends ago I realized I have to take two classes that I was not planning to take.  They are easily taken online and have to be completed in my first year, so I am switching my schedule around to work from home until February 2009.  That will be good for us in a lot of ways.  It will save us gas money and let be more involved in weekend photo shoots and construction opportunities.  

Well that is enough for you to read in one sitting!  Hope you are all well and we would love to hear from you any time....Pete (for Pete and Kassie) 

Overwhelmed

This is just a huge expression of thanks to all of you. I just got an email update from the scholarship with an update on the status of the financial contributions. It is so overwhelming to see the support coming in and feel you guys loving and caring for us this way. Your prayers and giving are just amazing to us. At the risk of sitting here and blubbering on and on trying to find the words to say "thank you" I will trust that you can feel our gratitude. So "THANK YOU!"

On the academic front. I am well on my way with Greek and I LOVE IT! Your prayers are being answered in that way as well. I am not far into the study, but enough to know that I am going to enjoy it. My first exam is in a couple of weeks, and I have several chapters to go to be ready. A lot of ground in a short amount of time, so please pray.

Kassie is in Atlanta the rest of this week with her family and doing photo shoots. I will be headed to Charlotte Friday through Saturday for orientation. I am pumped about being on campus again and getting to meet folks. Pray for our travels while we are apart.

I have to get in the habit of writing on a more regular basis. I think I am just going to send a short note and then I get long winded with all the things I want to tell you (a pastor in the making I guess!) Feel free to jump on the blog and send us a "whats up?" to encourage me to keep you up to date with prayer and life details.

Thank you all again so much, you are playing a part in God's story for us and we cannot say thank you enough.

Pete

woops

just a note to give you a heads up on the mail outs. in our haste some of letters were sent without commitment cards. if you happen to be one on those lucky people and would like to make some sort of donation to the scholarship or general school expenses then let us know and we will send you the card! thanks. p&k

Job and Class Update

Hey All,

Just wanted to update all of you on my job interview last week. The interview went great and I decided to take the job. It is at a cafe and catering business in town named "Laurey's." They are a very cool company and though I have never worked food service, I feel like they are going to be a great fit. I will only be working Monday's and Tuesdays. Also this week I was offered "when ever I need it," painting work by a friend in town. That was a blessing and a curse and a prayer request. The blessing because it is always good to have options in the back pocket for supporting my family, but a curse in that the since of responsibility to provide for my family makes me feel as if I have to take every money making opportunity that comes my way. I need prayer that I will learn to balance my fears about providing for my family with faith that God will provide enough so that I can study. Thanks to all of you who prayed and asked about the job situation.

A couple of other prayer things. Kassie is going to be in Atlanta from the 14th through the 17th of August for a couple of photo shoots, but would like to book a couple more while she is down there. So if you know anyone who is looking to get portraits of any kind done in the Atlanta area then consider suggesting that weekend to them. Every photo session that Echoes Photography does is that many more hours that I get to spend studying. Second request: GREEK! I received the material for my first online class in the mail just as we were going out of town for vacation 2 weeks ago. I though I would begin this past week but some construction work took more days than I had imagined and now I plan to being this coming week. 2 weeks have now ticked off my online timelines and needless to say I am a bit intimidated by the reality of getting started. I need your prayer to realize that God has been faithful in bringing me to this place and will be faithful in providing the ability to learn and study. This is just another time in life when I have to come to the realization that jumping out of the boat is my part, walking on the water is the Lords. Right now Greek looks like a pretty big ocean to cross. Please join us in prayer for my studies here at the beginning of school.

Thank you all more than words can say,

Pete