Random Ramblings

Freedom

Kyle Smith — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:54:00 +0000

This is what we're all about, freedom in Christ. It's a beautiful thing. This video gets me every time...

Oh yeah...

Kyle Smith — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:40:00 +0000

While you're here, if you're here, check out the cool slideshow playing on the right. It has a lot of pictures so if you'd rather look at the album just click on it and you should be able to do that.

Also check out Greg McKinzie's new family site.
And Bryan's new blog.
And Greg Kendall-Ball's revamped photo site.

Let me explain...

Kyle Smith — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:28:00 +0000

No, there is no time. Let me sum up.

So much has happened since I took my unplanned hiatus from this site that I could not hope to catch you all up. Nevertheless I will attempt to sum up in an untold number of bullet points what has happened and hereby pledge to do a better (though probably not daily) job of updating this thing with reports, thoughts, and feelings...because I'm just that kind of guy.

In June of '08 we were turned down by our most promising lead for support
We moved to Tyler at the end of August to honor their financial support of us, and to convince them to renew - I mean, once they saw how cool we were...
In October Shiloh officially joined Cedar Lane as a supporting congregation!
August - December - my daughter grows and continues her quest to be the cutest/prettiest/most precocious baby on the planet
January - Shaye begins to walk. She is officially a toddler (now 13 months old). I thought she couldn't get any more beautiful but she surprises me daily in this.
January 12 - We throw the coolest (probably) shindig ever done at Shiloh. Check Larissa's blog for more details.
January 21 - I become a Godfather. Sera Ashlyn Middleton is born to John and Chelsea. Shaye is guaranteed to have 2 great girlfriends for her life - God is good!

I could elaborate for paragraphs on any of those topics so if you want to hear more about any of them, leave me a comment. This is all assuming that in a year I haven't lost every person that ever checked this blog. I reckon that this discipline will still be good for me.

I'll be back...

Beauty from Pain

Kyle Smith — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:15:00 +0000

After quite the hiatus I return....sort of. I was considering waiting an entire year before my next post but what the heck. This is something I wrote for our team's latest newsletter. If you haven't been to the website in awhile you should check it out. We've redone the whole thing. Follow the link on the right and enjoy! (I apologize for the formatting, Blogger isn't cooperating)

From the beginning of our involvement with teamAREQUIPA we’ve been asked questions. I can understand that. For a group of college students to plan a long term mission work in a foreign country surely raises a lot of questions among their family, friends, and supporters. As the time of our departure has gotten closer the questions have been taking some interesting shifts. Early on we would hear information-gathering questions: Where is Peru? How long do you plan to be there? What type of mission work will you do? The questions I’m fielding now often have to do with how we can commit so much of our lives to this work, or how we can take our family out of the country for so long. Often times I’ve been told “I couldn’t do that...moving to a foreign place and doing that work.”

Anytime I hear that statement I have to stop. I stop because that used to be my exact thoughts concerning mission work. Upon my graduation from high school I distinctly remember two things. One was that I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and that whatever my vocation would be it most likely would not be ministry. With those two things in mind I spent my first year in college primarily in....ministry courses. I couldn’t escape the courses offered by Harding and I found myself drawn to those classes. For my first summer I had a youth ministry internship with an East Texas church, and the next summer saw me at Shiloh Road working alongside Tim. It is amazing how often we seem sure of the decisions we make only to have God step in and remind that He has plans for us as well. God’s plan that I’m referring to is my wife. It is because of her that we thought and prayed about joining teamAREQUIPA and because of her calling to help children that we initially joined.

That statement also gives me pause because I think people look at what we are doing and think it is better than their life of faith. This is certainly not the case. God calls every believer to step beyond of their comfort zone and submit themselves to something difficult in His name. I believe that everyone’s sacrifice will look different. Your sacrifice might be a particular ministry you’re involved in, or moving into a neighborhood of non-Christians to be a light in the darkness. You might excel in the business world so you can feed more of the hungry and care for the sick. You might care for your parents through their old age past the point the world expects of you. Each one of us has a different story, a different life, so it makes sense that our sacrifices will be different.

As David said in 2 Samuel 24, I cannot sacrifice to God that which costs me nothing. At the end of a time of trial for Israel David needed to build an altar and make a sacrifice to God. He wanted to do so on the threshing floor of a man named Araunah. This man offered David everything he needed for the process; the wood, oxen, and land but David refused. He could not take for freely from this man and give it to God. That is the type of attitude we want to have. Larissa and I see this mission as a sacrifice to God. It isn’t that we couldn’t be faithful here in the U.S. but it would not require much of a sacrifice from us, it wouldn’t cost us much. We pray that our sacrifice to God in this way, knowing that it is costing us much, will be pleasing to Him.

Sacrifice is defined by doing something painful, but for a purpose. I’m not necessarily speaking of physical pain, though I can see that as a possibility. The pain I’m talking about is brought on by this fallen world we live in and by our adversary. When you make a sacrifice of your life to the Lord, the kind that costs you something, there will be pain in the offering. But we have hope that the Lord will aid us in our time of need because of our faith in Him. We know that He works good in the lives of those who love Him. Jesus blessed those poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the persecuted, and the merciful. He promised the Kingdom of Heaven, comfort, mercy, inclusion in the family of God. Not only do we have those beautiful promises for the future but we have a family of believers here to aid us in our walk. He has it covered.

I’ve been impacted recently by a song called Beauty from Pain by the band Superchick. Let me share some of the lyrics:

Here I am at the end of me
Trying to hold to what I can’t see
I forgot how to hope
This night’s been so long
I cling to Your promise
There will be a dawn

Someday I’ll hope again
And there’ll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

I love this song because it reminds me that I am not the redeemer of my own life. God has redeemed me! He has saved me and in the end, it is He that will bring beauty from this world. We cling to the promise that “there will be a dawn.” That dawn is when Jesus returns. We know that leaps of faith, difficult choices and sacrifices are the perfect resources for God to change the world.

we live, we love

Kyle Smith — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 03:47:00 +0000

This post will be a testament to my incredible randomness. This is due, in part, to the fact that my last post was a very very long time ago.

The title of this post comes from a song by Superchick titled "We Live." I love the last verse:

Waking up to another dark morning
People are mourning
The weather in life outside is storming
But what would it take for the clouds to break
For us to realize each day is a gift somehow, someway
So get our heads up out of the darkness
And spark this new mindset and start to live life cuz it ain't gone yet
And tragedy is a reminder to take off the blinders
And wake up and live the life we're supposed to take up
Moving forward with all our heads up cuz life is worth living

There is a lot to this verse, and the song, that I really like. I've had it stuck in my head for about two weeks now as we've drawn closer to Easter. Yesterday I listened to it a number of times with this last verse sticking out to me. Friday was Good Friday, funny that we call it Good. Jesus was killed on Friday. Saturday morning we woke up and it was dark, we mourned, we despaired. I woke up this morning though to see that the clouds had broken and Jesus has risen, overcome, triumphed. As I continue on in the wake of Easter I remember the new covenant in His blood and, of equal importance, my part of the deal. I have a life to live in His honor.

Lots of things have happened since my last post other than Easter. I'll list them:
Shaye can hold her head up for a really long time, laugh (a little), stick her tongue out at me, drool a lot
Baseball season has begun
I caught on fire (don't worry, I put myself out)
Greg and Megan had their daughter: Anastasia Grace McKinzie
Ana Grace and Shaye have become good friends

And now for the weird/cool. A sculpter in New York did something truly amazing a few weeks ago. He sculpted an anatomically correct, life sized model of Jesus.....out of chocolate! He titled it "My Sweet Lord." If that isn't pure brilliance I don't know what is. Here is a picture of it, and here is the BBC's article about it. (this picture has been edited for a PG rating)

In other incredible news, a church in Abilene is holding a conference over the book "Wild at Heart." I myself have not read this book but I've heard from a number of reputable sources that it is not that good. This church is giving out, as door prizes, swords, ipods and shotguns. Incredible no? No church I ever went to handed out swords. Maybe I've been going to the wrong churches. Here is the link if you don't believe me.

I will try and post more often. Maybe next time my post will make sense.

best mac ad yet

Kyle Smith — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 15:52:00 +0000

Bryan recently posted about his experience upgrading to Windows Vista. I agree with his conclusion: Do not upgrade to Vista. There really isn't much of a point, unless you need Vista for work (as he does). The latest Ad from Apple highlights Vista's biggest problem: it is annoying.

bird flu update

Kyle Smith — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:45:00 +0000

You're not seeing things. You may have forgotten about Bird Flu, but I have not. I remain convinced that this will be a global pandemic and I renew my commitment to you, the uncaring masses, to keep the information flowing. According to this article there are probably 4 deaths in Nigeria caused by this vicious disease. Be afraid..be very afraid.

hodge podge

Kyle Smith — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:11:00 +0000

Obviously it has been some time since my last post. A lot has been happening since then. The last 30+ days have been, in most ways, completely devoted to my daughter. Well, at least the time that I'm not at work. Our entire life revolves around her now. She gets fed, changed, bounced, rocked, smiled at, laughed at, cried at, swung, cuddled, hugged, kissed, swaddled and pacified. Some of our best times have been in the middle of the night, or the wee hours of the morning. She loves to make funny faces and silly sounds. There are time already that I can see her thinking about things she touches or sees us looking at her strangely. What a great 5 weeks it has been.

This past weekend Larissa and I traveled to Fort Worth with Greg and Megan (in a minivan I might add) to meet with our team and to present ourselves before the missions committee at the Richland Hills church. It was a satisfying weekend filled with great food (thanks Mother McKinzie), great friends (we were blessed to be prayed over Saturday night by some of our closest friends), and good conversation. We met on Saturday with Bryan and Eralda and were able to spend some time talking about the team and where we are now and how we see the future unfolding before us. Our meeting Sunday morning with RHCC went very nicely I think. They responded to us positively and we await some feedback from them in the next few weeks.

Larissa and I have been watching a little more TV than normal these past few weeks. Our favorite shows are (in no particular order): House, Heroes, Studio 60, Law and Order: SVU, and Bones. We've also watched a few of the American Idol auditions, some of those people trying out are hilarious.

A blog that I've found that I visit frequently is scottfreeman.info. He's had some great posts concerning non-violence in the past few months that have really had me thinking about the issue and wondering how I got to this point in life without thinking about it. This leads to other issues such as serving in the military, as a police officer, protecting your family, etc. that I may write something about in the future. For now I'm reading and thinking about this and I hope you will too.

This article is very interesting. Any thoughts?

unto us a child is born

Kyle Smith — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:14:00 +0000

Ok so I ripped off some language usually reserved for the baby Jesus, get over it. Early on Christmas morning Larissa woke me up with a "my water has broken!" Just like that we were off to the races...I mean hospital.

Shaye Rebekah Smith was born on December 25th, 2006. She weighed 7lb 12oz and measured in a respectable 20 inches. She is unbelievably cute and has been a very good newborn. I will stop here and post pictures for all to see. I'm positive more will follow. Click on the picture to the right to be taken to the pictures.

bbc

Kyle Smith — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 23:20:00 +0000

If you don't have a favorite news website, I would humbly ask you to consider the BBC World News page. They provide superbly balanced, due to their Britishness, coverage of the major headlines. However they do not stop there. You will find not only current events, but detailed news pages dedicated to all regions of the Earth. I submit their newest, and possibly most important, bit of news concerning our airlines. Click here to be redirected. Enjoy.

mike cope and the classics

Kyle Smith — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:39:00 +0000

Who says all CoC'ers can sing beautifully? Seriously though this is hilarious.

2000 miles down, another __ to go

Kyle Smith — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:50:00 +0000

That's right. I spent 10 days in a car with a 36 week pregnant wife. We traveled 2000+ miles, the majority of which were in the first 4 days. Our trip went like this: drive from Memphis to San Antonio overnight, nonstop....the rest is a bit of a blur. No seriously we saw many cities and many peoples, and basically had a great thanksgiving week. We were able to see our good friend Bekah get married, catch up with some college buddies, play with our niece and nephew, visit grandmothers/grandfathers, play with our niece and nephew, spend time with both sets of parents, play with our niece and nephew.....seems a little off balanced eh?

Drew and Allie, our nephew and niece, dominated a large portion of our time last week. I guess there are a number of reasons why we like to spend time with them but the most obvious is that they are loads of fun. At this age (almost 2) they can talk some and are very mobile. It equals lots of fun. I think the other reason we make it to see them so often is so we can spend time with Doug and Lana. They are awesome parents and I like how my relationship with them is growing over time. Doug and I were able to have breakfast together and just take some time to talk about a range of topics. I hope it becomes a 'tradition' of ours.

If it weren't for my wife's ever expanding belly (and some pretty nasty punches being thrown by Shaye) I wouldn't believe that Larissa is 36.3 weeks pregnant. It seriously feels like yesterday that we were staring at the little test waiting for the "Pregnant" sign to pop up. It is a curious thing how time moves so quickly that grand ideas get left in the dust as we try and keep our heads above water. One constant throughout this pregnancy is our level of excitement. We are, at least I am, excited and ready to take on the unknown. I've accepted that it will be difficult and I may want to beat my head against the wall; let it come soon. I was telling Doug at our breakfast, see above paragraph, that he and Lana have been my most recent example of how to be a parent. If Shaye grows up to be like her cousin Allie I will consider it a victory. It is comforting to know that we have good people to call for advice...it helps hold off the head beating.

As our mission team continues to prepare for the field we are ever seeking support from churches. This is sort of a strange time for us, a waiting game with no clear outcome. Some decent opportunities seem to be rising with a glimmer of even greater ones on the horizon. What will happen? I don't know. I do know that we, the team, are trying to trust in the Lord for our provision. Pray for us.

Has anyone else ever looked back at a year and asked, "where did January go?" Does anyone know how to exorcise themself from the fog of American fast paced life/culture?

how to spot a communist

Kyle Smith — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:33:00 +0000

This is hilarious.

the home stretch

Kyle Smith — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 02:16:00 +0000

Well here we are almost halfway through November. I cannot believe I am roughly 7 weeks away from becoming a father. I think I’ve been hoping that I’ll have some deep thoughts, spiritual or otherwise, concerning my impending fatherhood but such thoughts have eluded me. I know that I feel a great sense of peace concerning Shaye’s birth and entrance into the world. I have the greatest wife who has loads of experience with children to make up for my ineptitudes. I have lots of family and close friends that are committed to me and my family. The only thing I have to worry about is this feeling I have of already being wrapped around her little fingers (Shaye’s fingers).

On a happy note, Greg and Megan are not only pregnant and due 3 months after us but are also having a baby girl. Greg let me know by saying: “It looks like it’s sleepovers instead of dates.” Greg and I have been friends for 11 years; I look forward to witnessing the relationship that our will daughters have. Our team now has 3 children including Jack, that is a neat thought.

On a non serious note, the NBA (which I don’t like) has passed a rule against players whining over foul calls they do not like. I approve of this ruling and would say to these multi-millionaires: Get over yourselves. You are paid loads of money to play a game, act like professionals. On a similar note Gary Sheffield of the Evil Empire (New York Yankees) has lashed out as his team for picking up his option just to trade him. I hope he ends up without getting traded and has to play DH all year. It would send a clear signal out that professional game players have no business whining and complaining when they make the money they do.

On a ‘spiritual’/moral note: I have recently begun thinking more and delving deeper into the idea of non-violence. Let me say that by non-violence I do not mean non-action, but I am becoming more convinced that there are virtually no instances where killing is proper. Yes I even mean in defense of my family and especially in defense of myself. If we, as children of God and followers of Christ, are to model our lives after Christ then it would seem that we would become non-violent change-agents in the world. Christ certainly modeled this ‘pacifist’ lifestyle. Many would argue that the OT advocates violence in certain situations and I cannot disagree with that at the moment. Christ, however, came to be our new covenant, our new exemplar of how to live. He said to love other people at all costs, he did it even to the point of death. Are we called to anything less? At what point to we stop and say “I am justified in taking this persons life.” How can we say that? Are there times when doing violence to someone else would be serving the “greater good?” Is the idea of a “greater good” a fallacy and nothing more than the lesser or two evils? Can Christians be police officers or serve in the military? Your thoughts are welcome, more on this later.

thoughts on a tuesday afternoon

Kyle Smith — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 20:04:00 +0000

It appears that in the renovation to the Heritage building/hotel/cafeteria on Harding Universities campus are basically completed. As a nice centerpiece they have apparently purchased a 6' diameter steel globe of Earth, from Joel Osteen. My source for this is Mark Elrod, you can visit his blog at www.markelrod.net. It's Harding's Best Globe Now!

Also, Larissa and I have noticed over the past few months that anyone named Kyle in a movie or on television is, while not always evil, a non-good character. Can someone explain this?

More later, while you (all three of you) are bored head over to www.kendallball.com and check out the discussions concerning pacifism. Not all of the comments are that fascinating but the posts are interesting things to ponder.

home improvement

Kyle Smith — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:33:00 +0000

If you've seen my wife's blog you have read her post on our kitchen improvements. I personally am just happy that it is finished. I am also not ashamed to admit that I paid someone to do the real dirty work. Now all that is left for us is a lot of painting...a lot; ceiling, walls, prime cabinets/paint cabinets. Free food for any helpers!

Thanks to those that fed us while our kitchen was out of commission for 3 weeks, and while our house was a catastrophe. It was great to get out of the house and be away from it all.

around the horn

Kyle Smith — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:41:00 +0000

I've entered into a period of slowness at my work recently. Often I find myself with next to nothing to do. I tried listening to music for awhile and I even tried having talk radio on to listen to. None of that satisfied me. When the World Cup came around I found myself wanting to watch the games, yet Larissa and I don't have cable at home (it's better that way) and many games were being played during the daytime. My solution to this is TVUplayer. This is a program that streams live television over the internet. Don't ask about it's legality, I haven't found anything definitive one way or the other but deep down I know it's probably not legit.

Recently I have found myself listening to, and watching when I get the chance, ESPN. They have this show called Around the Horn that I was surpised to really like. The show works like this. The host of the show moderates and leads discussion, on a variety of sports topics, between 4 'combatants.' They gain points by making insightful comments about a situation, or rattling off accurate facts. They lose points by making weak comments or being overly verbose. They play for the all important prize of: 30 seconds of free time to say what they want about whatever they want. This sounds boring to most of you, and it probably would to me too but the people they get on this show are extremely knowledgeable and listening to their banter is often quite hilarious. They can even make a conversation about golf sound interesting!

That's all for today folks, for laughs check out this sight here.

monthly update

Kyle Smith — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:32:00 +0000

I will have more to say on our research trip I'm sure, but not now. Megan wrote an excellent piece about her personal feelings, you can find it here, that while I don't want to mimic it makes me want to reflect on my own feelings. Thanks Megan for sharing yourself with us.

My important news to share of the day/month/year? Larissa and I had our 21 week appointment on Friday and we are having a baby Girl! Shaye Rebekah Smith will join us in this crazy world sometime in late December (currently set for Christmas Day). We are very happy, not just because we were secretly hoping for a girl, that we now can refer to the thing in her belly as a person. No more saying "it" or "the baby." Now I get to say: "Is Shaye moving right now?" I'll post our most recent picture of her sometime this week after I get it scanned in.

arequipa

Kyle Smith — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:26:00 +0000

I have seen the white city, and it is beautiful. I will post an article I wrote about our trip below but first I want to give links to my teammates articles. You can find them by visiting our homepage, an article will be displayed. To see the rest simply refresh your page and another will come up. Also please go here for pictures from our trip, there is an entire set dedicated to Arequipa, enjoy.

Divine Contacts
In preparation for our trip we prayed that God would partner with us in our endeavors, that our wishes would mesh with his will. After our trip it is hard for me to think that we did not have his blessing. I say this not to boast but to attest to God’s faithfulness. At every turn it seemed we were provided for in ways we could not have planned. This being my first time in the city, I was personally a little worried about how effective we would be, how much information we could gather. Sure we had a week to do it but there was so much we wanted to know and experience that the task seemed too big. God provided, as He always does, people and events that provided us with all the tools we would need for our research trip to be a success.

As the week progressed we started to notice "divine contacts" being made, resources that presented themselves exactly when needed. I'll try and talk about a few of these. The first contact we realized we had made was at our hotel manager. He really puts hotel managers in the States to shame, at least at the hotels I can afford to stay. Alfredo went above and beyond anything we would have expected a manager to do to ensure that we were not only comfortable but to also assist us in our goals for the week. He would give us tips for traveling around the city, restaurants to visit, and was instrumental in our neighborhood surveying. One night he took about 30 minutes to look over our map of Arequipa and help us decide what neighborhoods met our criteria. When it came time for us to hire a taxi for a couple of days he took it upon himself to make the calls. After he was unable to find a taxi big enough for all 5 of us (taxis in Arequipa are extremely tiny), he came up with a different solution. His uncle happened to have some spare time, and a large enough vehicle, to play tour guide to us. Alfredo truly was a Godsend for us that week.

Alfredo’s uncle Jose was possibly our biggest surprise. Jose is a successful businessman who has lived in Arequipa all 65 years of his life. He graciously agreed to take us around the city for much less than we could have contracted a taxi. Our main expectation for touring the neighborhoods was simply to view the different levels of housing and see what was available. Well we got all of that and more. Because of Jose's knowledge, he was able to show us many different neighborhoods and give us valuable information such as the dangerous areas, house pricing, house amenities, distance to local markets, and much more. For over six hours he led us and showed us his world. You could tell he had a great love for his city and respect for its people. On the first day we traveled north and went so far north that we had passed even the shantytowns. Here there were families living in homes that we wouldn't consider big enough for a bedroom. As far up the mountain as we were, we had a great view of the city. Jose launched into a long speech about the people who live there and their determination to make a life for themselves and their children. While we were there, a man came out of one of the houses and spoke with us for a while about his situation. It was good to watch Jose treat this man, his financial/social inferior, with dignity and respect. Jose showed himself to be a man of high character, even offering to give us more time the next day at no charge. He was exactly who we needed.

The last contact of note was perhaps the most impacting. His name was Emilio, and he was one of the hotel staff members. Emilio, of course, was very helpful at the hotel, running errands for Alfredo and always wanting to be of service. The reason he was so meaningful to us was not, however, because of any tangible thing he provided us. What made Emilio so special was a series of conversations he had with us regarding our mission work. He wanted to know when we were moving there, what the church would be like, whether or not we had read the Bible, and other questions that made us realize how hungry these people were for God. The most chilling statement he made was the last thing he told us before we left: “Come find me when you get here, I want to come to your church.” A divine contact indeed.

the end times?

Kyle Smith — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:29:00 +0000

Is that a trumpet I hear? Are those clouds rolling back? No, I'm afraid it's nothing that drastic. Every male age 25 and younger should have at least a grudging respect for the Ninja Turtles. My personal favorite is Donatello because he is a nerd that can beat the crud out of people with his big stick. I used to, and still do, wish I could use a quarterstaff. Where was I...oh yeah the end times. Ok, so I get to work this morning and I think to myelf, "Kyle..it sure has been awhile since you looked at movie trailers." I often go here and look at what is in the works hoping for something to be excited about. This morning I was immediately shown something I thought would never be, "TMNT." I was astounded to say the least. In this age of reviving old shows and remaking old movies I had never thought that my Turtles would have a 4th movie made (only watch the 1st one though, and maybe the 2nd but never the 3rd). After watching the trailer though I remain hopeful that this completely CGI, yep you read right, movie will be awesome. I mean, I don't see them making the Hobbit anytime soon, I need something to look forward to and the end times (if these aren't them) are only getting closer right?

UPDATE:
The full trailer has come out and I think this movie has a lot of potential. I will see it, I must see it, even if it fails to satisfy. Oh and Peter Jackson definitely won't be making the Hobbit. There was, and is, much lamenting.

catching up

Kyle Smith — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 03:35:00 +0000

Quite a lot has happened in the world since my last post. Lets briefly look at some of them.

Global Warming is out of control: This should not surprise anyone. One hundred years ago Global Cooling was threatening to rain sheets of ice down on us, yet here we still are.
Gas is supposed to rise to $4 a gallon, hurray for a free market society. Socialism anyone?
Peru has elected a new President. Alan Garcia, an ex-president that squandered a lot of money from the people of Peru, beat out Ollanta Humala, an ex-military commander who might have joined forces with Venezuela and Bolivia to rule....the jungle. We'll see how this turns out.
I am struggling with my stance on Illegal Immigration. I try and imagine your pain guys, but could you stand in line like everyone else? Noone likes people who cut in line.
The AL beat the NL once again in the All-Star Game: This also should not be a surprise. The AL is simply the better league.
Both Bryan and Greg have posted some deep stuff on their sites, check them out (sidebar for the links).
My younger brother has become engaged: I will soon have a sister, and she'll have to take responsibilities for Adam's actions. Good luck and congratulations guys! I love the both of you.
The last of my best friends from High School was married this last weekend. Finally.
My hometown church has commited to supporting our mission team in some capacity. While a little vague it is nice to know they are on our side.
Bryan and Eralda have produced...offspring. Welcome to the world Jack!
The biggest thing to happen though is the conception of my own child. Larissa is 17 weeks pregnant and our baby will join us in December. Below I have shamelessly posted our first picture of the little tyke taken at about 9 weeks. More to come sometime.

the weather outside is frightful

Kyle Smith — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:04:00 +0000

Here is a picture of my beautiful bride in the snow. Oh and of our blue house.

niece and nephew

Kyle Smith — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 04:27:00 +0000

Our niece and nephew turned 1 a few short weeks ago. Here they are in all of their childishness. Drew and Allie Page.

sunday morning reflections

Kyle Smith — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 04:10:00 +0000

I don't know what you think about while you take the Lord's Supper. I myself have a variety of things that go through my mind on various occasions depending on my mood. This morning my mind decided to settle in on the persistance with which God has pursued a relationship with his creation. I had no deep 'theological' thoughts, I had no new epiphanies but it hit me again that God has not given up on me.

Doesn't that make you feel good? If you believe in God then it must feel great to know that he doesn't give up on you. Many times I've given up on myself, settled for less than my best, convinced myself that I couldn't do something, sentenced myself to hell. I have to think that God was just shaking his head at me the whole time wondering when I would catch on. Well this morning I had one of those times when I felt, so to speak, Him with me. It was very refreshing. Grace sure is good.

a letter to Jesus

Kyle Smith — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 05:48:00 +0000

Dear Jesus,

Good news. You were wrong.

You told us, through John, that in this world we would have trouble. You told us that we would endure persecutions and hardships. In you, you said, we would have peace, because you had overcome the world. You told us we would be despised and rejected, if for no other reason than because you had been despised and rejected. You told us that we would have no place to lay our heads, for even the foxes and birds had homes, but you had none. We were even told that if we chose to follow you, if we picked up our crosses and followed you, we might even be hung on them someday. Oh, boy are we glad you were wrong!

You see, we signed on at first, because we were willing to endure whatever it was that this world would throw at us. We had been with you, we had seen you. We knew you were the Christ, the son of the living God. We had seen you perform the miracles. We had seen you die. We had seen the empty tomb. So we picked up our crosses.

Yes, some did hang on them. They were indeed conformed to your death, because we believed you when you said we would be conformed also to your resurrection. Some were chopped in half. Some were eaten by animals. But we were still there. This was the trouble you warned us about. We knew it was coming, but we knew that you had overcome the world. We trusted in your promises.

But things changed. For the better, you might say. We found that we were much more comfortable carrying our crosses on chains on our necks, or on our lapels. That trouble stuff was just not cutting it any more. You said you overcame the world, but we thought it would be better if we staged a “takeover.” You told us we would be persecuted and troubled, but we found a loophole. You see, if we’re in charge, we can stop the trouble and the persecution. No one would dare, no powers or principalities, would dare to trouble us. Not when we have the upper hand. Yes, we know that gaining the “upper hand” is a tactic used by worldly powers, but we’re sure that that’s what you meant for us to become. Salt and leaven can indeed influence a bunch of dough, but it’s so much better being the bread!

Luckily, God chose a special place for us. “American Exceptionalism” they call it. Never before in the history of the world has there been a place like it. God has blessed this nation with wealth and prosperity, surely a sign of his favor. We know that he is very angry with Haiti and Rwanda, those little countries with no visible indication of his favor. So, we interpret this flourishing as a mandate from above, to use our wealth and prosperity, our newfound super-powers, and our awesome military might, to make sure that your Kingdom does not perish from the earth. The Gates of Hell shall not prevail, especially against our Shock and Awe campaign.

This America has been great for securing for us the freedom and the safety we need to truly be your followers. Our military lays it all on the line, pays the ultimate sacrifice, does the dirty work, if you will, to make sure we don’t experience those troubles you talked about. Once, a new sort of Nebuchadnezzar tried to trouble us, but we surely taught him a lesson. We thought we smelled some trouble brewing over in the Middle East. Some guy in a cave was making threatening statements toward America. Sure, they weren’t necessarily aimed at us, but by now we have so closely aligned ourselves with her that we’re virtually inseparable. In exchange for the military protecting us from the troubles (which we’re so glad you were wrong about), we figured you would turn a blind eye to a little idolatry on the side. We haven’t quite raised “America” or her exceptionalism to God’s level, yet, so we feel good about that. We’re Christians first, and Americans second. A close second, to be sure, but still second. After all, it is in our best interests to keep American strong, so she can go on helping us stay in charge, and preventing those troubles from coming.

We’re really quite glad you were wrong about those troubles, because we can’t imagine what life would be like if you were right! It’s bad enough when we can’t openly campaign for government officers (who would make sure we stay in charge for a long time, by the way) for fear of losing our tax-exempt status. It would be truly terrible if we weren’t allowed the freedom to worship you in our ornate buildings (we’re glad you were wrong about those, too). We couldn’t imagine not being able to hang crosses in our expensive houses, or put stickers with little fish on them on our new automobiles. We’re so glad that this American military prevents us from ever having to experience life like that. We can’t imagine how those Christians in other countries manage, but we’re surely thankful you were wrong about those troubles. At least over here. We’re sure you have a plan for them, so they don’t have to endure those troubles, either. Perhaps we can talk with the military.

Thanks for all you do for us. We hope you aren’t too upset at us for doing this. We tried your way, but we decided we prefer not having troubles. We think you’ll see our way is much better.

Not sure if I should sign this “Amen” or “Sincerely,” so I’ll just sign off.

An American Christian

(reprinted by permission of Greg Kendall-Ball, original post located here)