Last night Elliana read her first book. . . she had made this little 4 word book at school, and brought it home so proud :

Elli

She has been working on her sounds for awhile now, and her school was saying that she was close. Well, I just had to get this on video . . . .

Elliana reading her first book from Ted Bryant on Vimeo.

I love how little kids are so excited to read. . . . what happens to us later on in life?? Or, like me now. . . I love to read, but I do not make time for it. . . . I have too many other things that I also love to do. . .

Have a great day everyone!!

1. I already mentioned this in a previous post. . . but I love wordles.net – here is an example of one created with the content of my blog:

All you do is go HERE and choose to create one from any text or from any url. . . have fun

2. Here is a new toy called 12seconds – and as you might have guessed – it is just a place to instantly record 12 seconds of video and then just imbed it anywhere – like this:

paying full price on 12seconds.tv

- I love this stuff. . . . thanks Aaron for the social media makeover

Have fun. . . . oh, . . . you need to be invited to get on 12 seconds. . . you know where to find me

1. What is your shoe size? US 11, UK 10, EU 45 – a little smaller for soccer shoes

2. Predestination or freewill?  Both, I believe that God already has many of our outcomes planned out as far as what will eventually happen, but how we get there, I feel like is largely up to our own freewill – this is complicated, maybe I will do a fuller post on this at some later time.

3. What type of father example did you have growing up? My father was someone who always expressed that he loved us (my two brothers and I), that he just wanted us to try our best, and he was committed to coming to all of the activities that we were a part of, and he tried very hard to lead by example. He served at church, and though we did not have a lot of spiritual conversations, it was clear that a relationship with God was very important to him. . . . . . . He always made it a point to remind us how proud he was of us. . . . . . though my dad and I may disagree on a few things now, . . . I love him so much!

4. If you could take a class at Bethel… what would it be? No, it can’t be one of yours.  I think that it would have to be a class relating to Jesus and the four Gospels. . . I know there is so much in there, and I love reading about Jesus, but sometimes when I read them. . . . I have moments of “oh, I’ve already read this. . . I know what is coming” – you know. . . getting a new spin on it – so, I would love to be able to know more about the contexts, characters, etc… involved.

5. You’ve now demonstrated proficiency at drama and music (ok – dancing too) but which do you enjoy most? By the way, you can watch this video – not sure if that counts as “proficiency in dancing” – but it was a fun way to open up the Innovate conference (~750 pastors from around the country coming to our church to learn about being innovative)

- with that being said. . . . I would have to say that theater is my favorite. . . . maybe it is the psychologist in me, but I love being other people – figuring out how they would act, what they would say, and what they would feel . . . . lots of fun for me

6.  can i get xtra credit for looking at your blog?   No, but. . . good try, and maybe if you write your own blog post about something meaningful to you . . . . and what God has done with that. . . . and I post it . . . now we are talking about something a little extra

7. What’s your favorite book and verse of the Bible, and WHY!? Favorite book. . . . right now. . .  is James b/c it just always speaks to me so deeply – it is so real to me.  Favorite verse John 3:17:

17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

This is my constant reminder to the nature of Jesus Christ and God the Father – their first priority (and thus, mine) is to show love to others long before there is ANY judgement of their actions, looks, beliefs, speech, etc…

8. Were you expecting to hear from me? I was hoping Stephen – you are a great friend, someone in whom I have high confidence in what God is and will do through your life – thanks for dropping by

Thanks everyone – let’s see what the next few months bring!

Ok, so it has been two months into this blogging journey, and I want to hear from you. . . if you have 17 seconds. . . . answer these three questions in a comment . . . .I may not blog this weekend, but I will try and answer these on Monday

1. Who are you?

2. Why are you here? (or why do you read it, if you come often)

3. One question for me to answer? (can be anything!)

……. ooooo, I’m excited!. . . .

Breathe in . . . . . Breathe out. . . . . . now watch:

Thank you Corey for the video -

It is always interesting to see where God is stretching me. . . there are so many areas that I need to mature in, . . . .  and so, it’s fun to see which one God chooses at different times in my life

I had the opportunity to speak at the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) group at Penn High School this morning. . . . it was actually very funny to see young people actually moving and talking, and generally . . . . . just alive, at 7:30 this morning, b/c . . . . usually in my first class . . . . . . . . I sometimes see my college students in a lucid form of sleep as the make their way to their seats. . . . , and that is at 9:00!

What an honor it is to be able to influence the young minds of this generation. . . . . . . and I think today. . . I finally learned (emphasis on “finally”). . . about being content with step #2. . . . .

So. . . what is step #2. . . . well, it started with a nudge of the spirit back in June. . . . . Hey, I want you to be one of the first from this area to go to India (this December) on the Justice Team. . . . . ok! sounds great!! . . . . . .  . . . . . .then I started to realize that this trip was going to be unlike the countless trips I have been on before to places all over the world. . . . . . . this time. . . . there may not be tangible successes. . . . . . completed “projects”. . . . very little evidence of doing “anything” – no houses built, no wells dug, no food distributed, no conversions, no drastic life changes, etc…. – but, in a 15 step process of someone coming to know the freedom of knowing Christ. . . . this may be step #2. . . . . . . . and we all KNOW, logically, that #2 is just as important as #15, but . . . . . my stubborn heart is finally starting to get it. . . . let’s look back at God’s hand -

1. Nudge for mission trip to India on Justice team

2. Learning that our mission may be one that “JUST” involves initial relationship building (just time being around natives), and learning about the horrible situations in more detail 

3. An overt reminder from my friend and justice teammate Don Reynolds - that being an obedient pioneer into a new adventure is a worthy call – regardless if the ONLY thing that we do is make mistakes (that future teams can learn from) and try and love people while we’re there.

4. I hear this message about being a domino in the line of someone coming to know the love of Christ (see post on 9/11)

5. My wife sends this video to me – see it in my 9/24 post

6. I get surprised to hear God telling me to not prepare much for my FCA gig this morning

7. I understand that it was not preparation that God was against, instead he was preventing me from trying to be step 14 or 15 when I was supposed to be #2. . . .

8. I I ate breakfast with some of them, I told the group a great personal story to connect with, I made the students laugh, I ended the story with the point that God loves them and that He has your back, and I encouraged them to have a great day – and come back next time. . . . .

9. I walked to my car content. . . . content to have just been one small, somewhat forgotten, step in a student’s long journey. . . . content to have been obedient to #2. . . . . .

You see, I always want to be 14 or 15. . . . . . . because those are the glory spots. . . . those are the spots that you can hang your hat on and feel good about yourself because there is “proof” that you made an impact. . . . . . . . . . the problem is . . . . . . there are lots of people out there that need a 1-13, . . . . and I want to be able to be ready for wherever God puts me. . . . . . . So, thanks father for being patient with me in the past about not wanting to be a step 2 guy, you know I will probably need reminders every now and then, but thank you for nurturing me, for stretching me to be an even greater force for your kingdom. . . amen