Hi everybody.
Paola and I have launched a new blog.
I felt like this blog was more "my blog" and there is no doubt that God has used this space since October 10th of 2006 to allow me to share how I got here to Bolivia and how He has brought me to this moment in my life.
But I just felt like we needed a blog that felt more like "our blog" instead of "my blog" so we have launched a new and improved space at www.curtandpaola.com.
It is new and hopefully an improvement. I hope to continue to improve on it in the future but please update your bookmarks because I will no longer be posting updates here. I will be saving what I have written for the last three years thats for sure but all new updates will appear on our new site.
Not only will I be blogging on the new site but I have also convinced Paola to blog as well. So now you will get a chance to hear from both of us. Enjoy.
www.curtandpaola.com
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Monday, December 07, 2009
Exciting Week
It is going to be an exciting week. This Friday and Saturday is El Dia. A 24 hour prayer and worship event here in La Paz and other cities in Bolivia. Paola is singing with one of the worship teams. She will be singing 4 times throughout the 24 hour event. It is a great event that always brings the Body of Christ here together. We just get too separated in our denominations sometimes.
The bummer is that I am going to miss the event because I am traveling this week. I will be traveling to Santa Cruz for three or four days this weekend to start filming a video for the Anglican churches here in Bolivia.
The Bishop has asked me to help them create a video to communicate all that God is doing here in Bolivia through the Anglican churches. Also, to try to raise some awareness and some funds. The Bishop will be traveling to the US and England next year and this video will be a huge help.
So over the course of the next month I will be visiting Santa Cruz, Tarija and Cochabamba with one other person to film the cities and the ministries of the churches and to interview the pastors. I have to finish all my traveling by Feb. 1 because I don't want to be traveling in the vicinity of when my son might be born. Amen?
It will be a great project and a great opportunity to serve the Anglican churches here in Bolivia. The bummer is that the trip this week will be the first time that Paola and I have been separated since we got married....awwwwwwww.
I'll let you know how it goes.
The bummer is that I am going to miss the event because I am traveling this week. I will be traveling to Santa Cruz for three or four days this weekend to start filming a video for the Anglican churches here in Bolivia.
The Bishop has asked me to help them create a video to communicate all that God is doing here in Bolivia through the Anglican churches. Also, to try to raise some awareness and some funds. The Bishop will be traveling to the US and England next year and this video will be a huge help.
So over the course of the next month I will be visiting Santa Cruz, Tarija and Cochabamba with one other person to film the cities and the ministries of the churches and to interview the pastors. I have to finish all my traveling by Feb. 1 because I don't want to be traveling in the vicinity of when my son might be born. Amen?
It will be a great project and a great opportunity to serve the Anglican churches here in Bolivia. The bummer is that the trip this week will be the first time that Paola and I have been separated since we got married....awwwwwwww.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Stream or River?
Are you satisfied with just a little of God?
Do you have God right where you want Him?
Do you have just the right mix of God in your life?
I don’t know about you but I am tired of just settling for a little bit of God. Tired of settling for just a little bit of His spirit. Tired of just talking to Him in the morning when I wake up, in the evening before I go to bed and thanking Him before I stuff my face. Let’s face it. Most of us just want a little stream. We don’t want RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.
We don’t want to be drowned.
I am tired of watching from the window while people are worshipping Him inside. We are scared to get up close and personal because we don’t know what might happen. What if I raise BOTH hands? Or God forbid…what if I dance, kneel or lay on the floor in front of others? We are too reverent. We are too quiet because church has become just the “House of the Lord.” Shhhhh…be quiet…this is God’s house. Let me ask you...when we are in Heaven in God’s presence…do you think it will be quiet and reserved? Please.
Like Peter after he denied Jesus three times we are following Jesus but we are following Him AT A DISTANCE. (Matthew 26:58)
We are followers of Jesus sure.
But let’s admit it. We are DISTANT followers.
Check out 2 Samuel 6:16 and see what Michal does while David is dancing before the Lord and adoring Him. Are you like Michal? I ain’t gonna lie. I was just like Michal up until about a week ago but God has set me free.
Do you judge how other people worship God? Do you criticize them in your heart because they are different from you? Do you have a spirit of criticism and division in your heart?
It’s time for you and it’s time for me to come inside. God has given us too much time already. 2,000 years. It is time to kick it into gear. We need more urgency.
There is not enough time to just sit back in church and listen.
It is time to put our beliefs into practice and into action. We believe in Jesus…great. But what are we doing about it?
Are we just watching from the window?
Do you have God right where you want Him?
Do you have just the right mix of God in your life?
I don’t know about you but I am tired of just settling for a little bit of God. Tired of settling for just a little bit of His spirit. Tired of just talking to Him in the morning when I wake up, in the evening before I go to bed and thanking Him before I stuff my face. Let’s face it. Most of us just want a little stream. We don’t want RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.
We don’t want to be drowned.
I am tired of watching from the window while people are worshipping Him inside. We are scared to get up close and personal because we don’t know what might happen. What if I raise BOTH hands? Or God forbid…what if I dance, kneel or lay on the floor in front of others? We are too reverent. We are too quiet because church has become just the “House of the Lord.” Shhhhh…be quiet…this is God’s house. Let me ask you...when we are in Heaven in God’s presence…do you think it will be quiet and reserved? Please.
Like Peter after he denied Jesus three times we are following Jesus but we are following Him AT A DISTANCE. (Matthew 26:58)
We are followers of Jesus sure.
But let’s admit it. We are DISTANT followers.
Check out 2 Samuel 6:16 and see what Michal does while David is dancing before the Lord and adoring Him. Are you like Michal? I ain’t gonna lie. I was just like Michal up until about a week ago but God has set me free.
Do you judge how other people worship God? Do you criticize them in your heart because they are different from you? Do you have a spirit of criticism and division in your heart?
It’s time for you and it’s time for me to come inside. God has given us too much time already. 2,000 years. It is time to kick it into gear. We need more urgency.
There is not enough time to just sit back in church and listen.
It is time to put our beliefs into practice and into action. We believe in Jesus…great. But what are we doing about it?
Are we just watching from the window?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sorry...
...for the lack of blogging.
Paola and I have been very busy lately and I just haven't made the time to keep you updated. Sorry about that.
All this past week we have been visiting ministries in El Alto which is a huge city right next to La Paz. We are helping out a project here by doing external verifications of various ministries. It has been great to go on site visits and see some of the needs here up close and personal.
Also, this past Friday night was the annual meeting at the church and Paola and I reported on all that God has done through the youth ministry this year. We also took the opportunity to tell the church here about the call that we have received to go serve at the House of Hope childrens' home in Caranavi next year and we told them that we will only be youth leaders until the end of this year.
Paola is having final rehearsals for the El Dia event on December 11. She is singing on one of the worship teams. This is a 24 hour event of prayer, worship and fasting.
Paola and the baby are both healthy and we are excited because she is about to start her final trimester. Just about three more months until we hold baby Jordan in our arms.
God is good.
Paola and I have been very busy lately and I just haven't made the time to keep you updated. Sorry about that.
All this past week we have been visiting ministries in El Alto which is a huge city right next to La Paz. We are helping out a project here by doing external verifications of various ministries. It has been great to go on site visits and see some of the needs here up close and personal.
Also, this past Friday night was the annual meeting at the church and Paola and I reported on all that God has done through the youth ministry this year. We also took the opportunity to tell the church here about the call that we have received to go serve at the House of Hope childrens' home in Caranavi next year and we told them that we will only be youth leaders until the end of this year.
Paola is having final rehearsals for the El Dia event on December 11. She is singing on one of the worship teams. This is a 24 hour event of prayer, worship and fasting.
Paola and the baby are both healthy and we are excited because she is about to start her final trimester. Just about three more months until we hold baby Jordan in our arms.
God is good.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
How far...
...would you be willing to go for God if you had no fear?
That is a question that is haunting me right now.
Let's face it. God wants to take all of us places. Different places but places. And sometimes the bridge that we have to cross to get there is called fear.
God wants to use us to do His will. But sometimes we get scared.
I heard a personal story recently from a pastor who was scared to pray to raise someone from the dead even though God told him that he wanted to use him to raise this person from the dead. Can you believe that? He said that he chickened out and that he did not hear the voice of God for one year.
I am not sure what you think about that. I am not even sure if you believe that people CAN be raised from the dead.
But the point is that this young pastor was left with this question burned into his mind...how far would I be willing to go for God if I had no fear?
And I am wondering the same thing.
We need to leave our comfort zones more and experience a little fear. I am convinced that that is where God shows up. I am reading "The Irresistible Revolution" right now by Shane Claiborne and it is rocking my world. I mean...he called up Mother Theresa in Calcutta and said that he wanted to come and visit.
Some people look at my move to Bolivia and say "Wow." I look at Shane calling up Mother Theresa in Calcutta to go and hang out with dying people and lepers and I say "Wow."
Where does it end. How far are we willing to go?
I don't know but I am convinced that the goal is not to just study Christianity but to actually live it. Let's start to put this radical love of Christ for our neighbor into practice.
That is a question that is haunting me right now.
Let's face it. God wants to take all of us places. Different places but places. And sometimes the bridge that we have to cross to get there is called fear.
God wants to use us to do His will. But sometimes we get scared.
I heard a personal story recently from a pastor who was scared to pray to raise someone from the dead even though God told him that he wanted to use him to raise this person from the dead. Can you believe that? He said that he chickened out and that he did not hear the voice of God for one year.
I am not sure what you think about that. I am not even sure if you believe that people CAN be raised from the dead.
But the point is that this young pastor was left with this question burned into his mind...how far would I be willing to go for God if I had no fear?
And I am wondering the same thing.
We need to leave our comfort zones more and experience a little fear. I am convinced that that is where God shows up. I am reading "The Irresistible Revolution" right now by Shane Claiborne and it is rocking my world. I mean...he called up Mother Theresa in Calcutta and said that he wanted to come and visit.
Some people look at my move to Bolivia and say "Wow." I look at Shane calling up Mother Theresa in Calcutta to go and hang out with dying people and lepers and I say "Wow."
Where does it end. How far are we willing to go?
I don't know but I am convinced that the goal is not to just study Christianity but to actually live it. Let's start to put this radical love of Christ for our neighbor into practice.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Charlie
The Super Missionary Wonder Dog
We had been talking about it for a while and decided to make the leap.
A little parenting practice before Jordan joins us next year.
We had been talking about it for a while and decided to make the leap.
A little parenting practice before Jordan joins us next year.
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