An Engineer's Guide to Cats

You should watch this video all the way through. The dry humor is hilarious!

My Happiest Moments

For some reason I was thinking today about my life and what my happiest moments have been. My happiest moments came to me instantly. The following photos explain it all. :)

The day I married Sarah is and will always be the greatest and happiest moment of my life. Words cannot express how blessed I am to have Sarah as my wife. She is my joy and crown and love her with my whole heart.

After marrying Sarah, the day Phoebe was born comes in as the very strong runner-up. Phoebe has been such a joy, and I enjoy loving her and getting to know her more and more each day.

I am so blessed with the two most precious girls in the world. :)

H34T

A friend of mine posted this video from my days back at Biola. HEAT was the name of my floor, and this video introduces several guys from my floor. It's kind of fun to reminisce.

Japanese Scare Tactics

I died laughing after watching this. Gotta love Japanese humor. Enjoy!

Phoebe is crawling!!!

Daddy's Girl...or more like Phoebe's Daddy

I'm sure you've picked up on this fact, but I am the most blessed man to have such a beautiful wife and daughter. Both their smiles brighten my life with so much joy.

Our Growing Girl

Phoebe just continues to grow to be a more beautiful girl. I'd better start dusting off my shotgun soon...(if I had one) She's also able to stand on her own if she has something to hold.

Early Spring Snow

Recently we were overjoyed to wake up to see the world outside of our apartment beautifully dusted with snow. Our view is beautiful enough to begin with, and the snow just made it breathtaking.

The Jonny-Jump Up

"Pray Hard" Time

I received an encouraging email from a brother who suggested that I was entering a "pray hard" time - meaning, I was entering a period of time that God intended for me to cry out to Him in fervent prayer. I began thinking about this.

How do I pray hard? Lord, I don't know what praying hard looks like! I don't even really know what praying hard means! I know praying hard does not mean that some how you just turn up the volume or the frequency in prayer and God answers..."lord, please allow this to happen. Lord, please allow this to happen. Lord, please, allow this to happen. LORD, PLEASE ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN!!!" I don't think that's how it works.

Nor do I think increasing the quantity of time in prayer will guarantee God's answer. Praying for 3 hours will make no more difference than if I had just prayed 10 minutes. I don't think becoming more passionate will change anything either. Will being prostrate on the ground as I pray fervently make my prayer somehow more effective? I don't think so.

So, Lord, how do I pray hard? I acknowledge that only you can accomplish this feat. I care deeply about this dilemma and I know that you care, so will you please allow this to occur? I am hopeless in and of myself...

It was as I was telling Him all these things that He opened my mind to see a reality about prayer that I had never considered. With praying hard, the act of prayer and its methodology, though important, is just one tiny facet of praying and is not most important. What is most important in praying hard is the posture of my soul in the presence of Almighty God! As I was talking to the Lord about my confusion and powerlessness in knowing how to pray hard, I realized that I wasn't trying to "pray hard and in the correct way,
" but that the posture of my soul was in a state where I fully embraced the futility of my own efforts and the truth that only divine intervention from my heavenly Father could accomplish anything for which I hoped.

Lord, forgive me for turning prayer into an activity based on my own efforts. Even prayer is only accomplished by Your grace. Help the posture of my soul to lay prostrate before you, acknowledging my powerlessness and the vanity of my own life and efforts, and that I would cry out to You alone for salvation.