Come Home

A young guy, who's family is part of our church, passed away early this morning.  He didn't "lose the battle" to cancer.  Death didn't have the final word.  Oh no.  LIFE won - because he knew Jesus, he's won the race, 100% healed and has Eternal Life with our Lord! 

Come Home

Naomi S. Sahlstrom

I surrender,

Said the man

Not to cancer’s cruel hand;

To God’s mysterious plan

Too soon, too young, some will say

What about his dreams?

Days are numbered, time is out

Too early though it seems

For just one moment –

Death thought he had the victory

Nothing now could save…

Until his soul went UP

Not down into the grave!

Death defeated, no rejoicing

Out again to roam

Not so in heaven –

God’s child just came home!

Party, laughter, banquet feasting!

It’s all right, dear son’s mother

His mission is complete

Well he served and will continue

At his Master’s feet

Let us be, faithful servants

When death happens to us all

Our last duty here on earth:

To heed the Master’s call

Come home.

Peace

Did anyone else sing along with the song "Grown-Up Christmas Wish"?  As we grow older, more of us wish with that song - we'd like relationships to be fixed, everything to be all better, and no more wars.  The gift we'd really like for Christmas is Peace on earth.

Peace.

Wow, I could really use some of that as we head into the new year.  Life seems uncertain.  Obama is [still] president, taxes on the rise, school shootings, healthcare mandates, freedoms being taken away, unrest in the middle east...

You know what?  I GOT IT FOR CHRISTMAS!!!  You can have it too - but it's not a gift you'll find wrapped under your tree.  Actually it was given about 2,000 years ago on the first CHRISTmas ever.  Think about it again, what the angels told the shepherds.

"...Peace on earth!" Luke 2:14

He came!  He embodied peace.  He was Peace.  Actually, the prince of Peace, so God (the Father) must be Peace.  And he sent his son, Peace incarnate, to earth - Peace truly was on earth.

"And he will be called: ... Prince of Peace."  Isaiah 9:6

Remember the Christmas prophesy from Micah?  "But you Bethlehem... though you are small... out of you will come a ruler..." and if you keep reading a couple verses down it says,

"And He will be their peace."  Micah 5:5

My happy thought that we might actually have Peace on earth was followed by an, "Oh no!  Peace WAS on earth, but Jesus went back into heaven!"  But then I thought of the verse that says,

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you."  John 14:27

I like how the NLT version phrases it too, 

"I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.  So don't be troubled or afraid." John 14:27

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world." John 16:33 

"For Christ himself has brought peace to us. ... He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.  Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross... He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near.  Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us." Eph. 3:14-17

You know when God says something to you really clear?  It doesn't happen (at least to me) often, but everywhere you turn, it's blaring loud, staring you in the face?  Like my verse God gave me for the new year:

"And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.  For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.  And always be thankful."  Colossians 3:15

I can tend to stress, worry even, about little or big things.  Things like missing so much work because of being sick. :P  So this is the verse that I am hanging onto and trying to obey.  If we have the Holy Spirit in us, we have Christ's Peace ("my Peace I leave with you..."), and that Peace should be ruling in my heart! :)

Here's my Christmas and New Year's wish to you:

"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation." 

2 Thess. 3:16

Christmas Letter 2012

Well, hopefully for those of you in the US of A, you already received our Christmas card/letter!  For all our friends overseas, we're sure you won't quite get it before Christmas (*ahem* that may or may not be because we still have them... :P), so here's our Christmas end-of-the-year update!

Merry Christmas!

         We have been married almost two years now - we can hardly believe it!  Time flies and we can honestly say we enjoy every minute and are so thankful for life together!  (Our favorite night of the week is date night! J)

Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. - Proverbs 23:12 ESV

         This year has been a time of seeking for us.  Understanding how to prioritize and balance ministry, work and family isn’t an easy thing to do.  Marriage requires a lot of work, but the rewards of a great relationship far outweigh the time and effort spent!  Prioritizing a set amount of time each day to be spent in prayer (together as a couple) has been a great new habit.  Reading has been a big part of 2012, and thanks to EntreLeadership, we developed personal mission statements that helped to push us to a more purpose driven life.  Another book that we learned a lot from was Boundaries, about relating with people and how to say yes to the truly important things.  We love to ask questions and listen to the advice of Godly role models we would like to emulate.  Our ‘Christmas wish’ this year, and every year, is that we are doing what God wants us to with our lives, our time and our careers.

     Naomi   became a certified emergency medical First Responder and though our rural area does not get many calls, she appreciates the first aid knowledge gained and sense of responsibility, and loves serving her community.  She also learned how to drive a manual car. J  After an additional summer job as cashier at Walmart, Naomi switched from that and serving pizzas, to investing in children’s lives at Walnut Grove Elementary school!   She is a paraprofessional (teacher’s assistant) in preschool, working with 30 three, four and five year olds every day!

         We love living close to Ben’s family and often are a part of the action and excitement that’s happening over on their hobby farm (including a new baby sister, Alaina Blessing)!  Towards the beginning of the year, Ben had time to work on the house we hope to someday live in and buy, but for now we are still across the road in Purves’ rental.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful neighbors!  We became members of Tracy Alliance Church and also teach Sunday school for 1^st-6^th grade.  The past few months Naomi headed up Operation Christmas Child at our church, and the grand finale was taking a group to the Minneapolis processing center where we shipped the boxes off to bless children in Uganda!  We are saving up $$ and planning a big trip to visit Naomi’s family in China, Lord willing sometime in 2013!

     Ben  continues to work for Sahlstrom’s Heating and in September became a Journeyman plumber.  He not only passed the difficult test, he did so with such a high score the proctor personally called him to congratulate him!  Being a Journeyman is one year away from his Master Plumber license. Those of you who knew the big-spender Ben would hardly recognize the wise, frugal saver he is now!  Listening to The Dave Ramsey Show has sparked a growing interest in finance.  We are seeking God for life direction and long-term career plans for Ben and our family in the future.

         One of our biggest highlights this year was learning a lot of practical things about wise money management according to the Bible through Dave Ramsey’s 9-week course, Financial Peace University!  Since the class wasn’t offered in our area, we became class coordinators so we could host it.  The first time we went through it as a small group with several other young couples, and then this fall hosted it at our church with 40+ people from the church and community attending! God has given us a desire to help people in this area of life, and we are passionate about continuing to live as an example and offering hope to others!

May the Joy  and Peace  brought through Christ’s coming fill you with Hope  for the New Year!

Ben & Naomi

Sorry all the pictures are white... it's kind of a blizzard

Well, we are in a full blown honest-to-goodness BLIZZARD! Like the Little House on the Prairie kind - up until now my only picture of what it is even like. It is very white. And blowing.  Even in the more sheltered area of the yard, you can't look into the wind and even so, all of us girls' makeup was smeared all over our faces from the flying wet snow. Out on the road the wind is CRAZY blowing snow everywhere! You have to walk backwards into the wind, and oh how it howls through the pines!  We all looked ridiculous too, but when it's so cold (and windy), you start to not care what you are wrapped up in just so long as every possible inch of skin is covered!

AND, I just got a weather alert over my pager: All the highways are closed, so we are officially SNOWED IN!!!! Strange to think we can't even go 2 miles home if we wanted to.

Church was cancelled earlier so we had home church over with the Sahlstrom family and that's where we're snowed in!  Just hanging out in the cozy indoors!

This picture was when the wind was just starting to pick up, the visibility is worse now!  From Sahlstrom's we can still see the shop, but not the mailbox!

If you want to see more pictures you can go to my FB album here.  I miss you Josiah, Caleb, Anna, Noah, Grace, Isaiah, Lydia and Hope!  It would be so much fun to see your reaction to a blizzard and enjoy it with you!

Rippling Effects

Skipping stones this last weekend while camping made me think about money.  Yup, money!  Even though a stone is small, the wavelets that spread out each time the stone skips have far-reaching effects.

Pastor loaned Ben these two DVDs - they were round and smooth... ok, enough with the skipping stones analogy! - to watch as part of pre-marital counseling a year and a half ago.  Those DVDs, on managing finances by Dave Ramsey, started us on a journey that has really just begun!  Nearly every day since then, Ben has listened to the Dave Ramsey Show podcast for wisdom, entertainment, and motivation.  He even called in the other day with a question!


1. Click on the link:  http://www.daveramsey.com/radio/home/#archives-tab
2. Go to "Archives" and choose Thur June 21, 2012
3. Wait for it to load, then move the slider to 1:41 and it will be Ben's call on live air! :)


What have we found out?  We're incredibly grateful to our parents (both sides) for giving us a great foundation and the basic wise principles for handling money - give, save, spend and don't spend more than you make - but we don't want to stop there!  There's so much more to learn!  Investing, mortgages, mutual funds, saving for retirement, how and when to buy a house, emergency fund, life insurance, etc. etc.  There's a great teacher out there for this kind of stuff - Dave Ramsey!  (as Larry Burkett was for our parents' and grandparents' generation)  He teaches smart financial stewardship from a Christian perspective.  Just what we needed!

So we enrolled in (or rather, became group coordinators for) Financial Peace University (FPU), a 13-week course on dumping debt, making a budget, and learning to 'live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else!' (and GIVE like no one else!)  We're doing it with three other young couples, just married or soon to be married.

Cutting up our credit cards!

You CAN live debt free!
You CAN retire rich!
You CAN change your family tree!
 
Try it!  Here's a FREE quick budget tool!  Check it out!

And now guess what??!  It's not just changing the lives of the four couples in the class; by living it out it is impacting a generation up (all of our parents), slowly but surely changing the behavior of coworkers, and even helping other young couples far away make a budget and get inspired!  Lord willing, come fall we'll host the class again and open it up to more families from our church and community!

By God's grace the ripple will become a tsunami.