I watched an amazing story via my friend Andy Fish.
“She can’t even feed herself… but she is giving people around the world the Bread of Life.”
You gotta take 3 minutes to watch Sarah’s story.
Reading on a Kindle
Kindle and iPad Books Take Longer to Read than Print
I found this article interesting. Not sure I agree, but it is interesting.
I’ve actually felt that I read more quickly on my Kindle 2. I can get into a rhythm of clicking the Next Page button regularly and intentionally moving my eyes fairly quickly down the screen in time to click Next in rhythm. I recognize that this is a subjective measurement so perhaps I’ve been deceiving myself!
I’ve noticed that Amazon has announced a new Kindle DX with a 50% higher contrast e-ink screen.
What about you? Do you “feel” that reading is 10% slower on your Kindle? I assume the Nook might have a similar result.
Note: I’ve been waiting for my Kindle 2.5 update. It hasn’t come yet. Amazon is releasing the updates in batches. Want to get yours more quickly? Amazon has explained how on their manual update page.
Relationships
I went to Las Vegas and married my niece.
I’ve had a lot of fun telling this to people. It does cause them to listen closely. Kay and I traveled with my parents to Las Vegas where my niece was getting married. I had the privilege of performing the wedding ceremony. It was extra fun to have Jennifer join us there.
Two weeks later found us in Seattle. We helped host a meeting of young leaders who are extremely internet-savvy. We spent 3 days together in listening prayer, strategizing, and exploring how Campus Crusade can do even better at using internet communications to help more people know Jesus.
While in Seattle, we introduced our non-American friends to “American culture,” attending a Mariners baseball game at. We appreciated the retractable dome when it began raining and the dome slowly covered us.
We have the opportunity to be mentored by someone who have been missionaries longer than we’ve been alive. (Russ Martin)
That’s not how I might have put it, but it really was quite an honor to spend an extra day with Russ and Meredith Martin. They are young Campus Crusade staff members in Canada. Keith has been mentoring Russ. We asked Meredith to plan our day. We explored the fish market, the Seattle Underground, and drank coffee from the original Starbucks.
But a true highlight of the day was when Meredith gave us an art lesson in a park on the Seattle harbor. It was so much fun and very relaxing. Kay sent her completed drawing to Jennifer who wrote “I put it on my bulletin board like you used to do with my works of art!”
Following our time in Seattle, we spent a very fun Memorial Day weekend with Ned & Judy Keller, lifelong friends and co-workers who now live and teach in Michigan.
We are blessed by the relationships in our lives. These are relationships with an eternal purpose. We have the privilege of working with some of the most amazing people.
Facing an uncertain future
“I’ve worked at Cape Canaveral for 23 years. We have 3 more shuttle launches then my future is really uncertain.”
Gary was seated next to me flying to Atlanta. The end of the space shuttle program is hitting central Florida pretty hard. As I’ve written before, Delta Airline’s seat assignment system is God’s appointment system. So out of the 200 people on this flight, Gary was my appointment today.
I continued in the Explorer phase, finding out about his work, family, hobbies, interests. Gary recently flew in a World War 2 vintage airplane for 30 minutes of pure delight (which I’d love to do). He’s worked in the space industry for 23 years (which was an early dream for this engineer-in-budding ever since watching Shepard, Grissom, and Glenn on little portable TVs in my 4th and 5th grade classroom).
I asked how he was working though his future, handling the uncertainty. I asked if there was a spiritual aspect to his life.
Moving into the Guide role, I moved the conversation towards spiritual topics.
It turns out that Gary is involved in a good church fellowship. He is helping the 30 people on his launch team to work through meaning and purpose during uncertainties. We talked further during the hour flight.
So, my divine appointment wasn’t to help someone find God, but to help someone who is helping others during difficult times. You just never know what God has in mind until you accept the appointment and start Exploring.
(PS This blog post is being written using WordPress for Android on my next flight to Dallas. I have an empty seat next to me and the guy the next seat over has earbuds and a book, kind of looks like he’s hung out a do-not-disturb sign. Do I only have one appointment today? I have another hour or so to explore what God has for this leg of the journey.)
(PPS I was able to break through the earbuds and book. We had a very interesting conversation. He is a 30 year veteran pilot of major airlines, former Air Force fighter pilot, and recently separated from his wife. He was willing to talk about “theology”, but he continually deflected my efforts to get personal about his spiritual life. But it was an appointment which I kept. I recall an early definition that success in witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God.)
Extreme dependence on God
Extreme dependence on God.
As we go about launching movements of evangelism and discipleship, we must learn to rely more and more on His power rather than our own. For us the norm needs to be taking faith risks and asking God in faith, “What do You want us to believe You for now?” The alternative is simply go after whatever we imagine we can accomplish in our own efforts. (Steve Douglass, President, Campus Crusade for Christ)
Today is a special day. Today, thousands in the family of Campus Crusade for Christ will gather around the world. We will set aside our normal activities and spend the day before the Lord. We have the privilege of doing this corporately, together worldwide, twice each year.
Together, we will be asking God for more. More people to come to know him. More of His glory to shine like the stars on a cloudless night. More of his justice for the oppressed. More laborers for the harvest fields.
Steve also said, “God is calling us to a renewed posture of extreme dependence on Him and His Word.”
Today, I am asking God in faith, “What do You want me to believe You for now?”