So it took a month, but here are a couple pictures from The Heart of Worship: Fire by Night. Hopefully, as we do more of these we’ll have more pictures taken and be able to record these events and a decent quality. Until then, enjoy these.

I’m looking forward to the next one!

Dustin

I know that I haven’t written anything here in a while. I’m sorry, but school work is piling up with the end of the semester drawing near and I just haven’t had a whole lot of stuff to blog about. As soon as these research papers are finished and I’m able to think in a more creative way and outside of the academic world I shall be back and blogging to my heart’s content. I’m not sure if that sentence made sense, but oh well, that just proves my point even more.

I shall return!

Dustin

It’s going to be an absolutely incredible night!

Dustin

You know those moments you experience once in a while where your eyes are opened and you react with with, “Wow, that’s amazing.” or “Wow, that’s terrible.”? I had one of those moments recently.

We live in a culture that’s all about “Me” and what I can do to make myself look, feel, and live better. Recently while I was in the bathroom at church, (why is it that people get revelations when they’re in the bathroom?), I was washing my hands and just about ready to go do something else when I looked in the mirror and realized the total cost of what I was wearing. Combined with my shoes, jeans, shirt, and jacket, I was wearing well over $200 worth of apparel on me. From there I realized that I’ll justify and make impulse buys on nice clothes and other stuff but then hesitates and cringes a little bit when I make my $40 a month contribution to my Compassion child. That’s not okay and this is something I think God has started working on me with in the quiet times when it’s just He and I.

Despite what I’d like to believe and what I like to portray as a person who has it all together, I’m still a mess and God still has a lot of work to do in me. But it’s a process. And although it might be hard and painful…

… it sure is worth it.

Dustin

Is right here…

la la la…

Dustin

Since today is my birthday I thought this would be a good opportunity to look back on some of the big things that have happened this year in my life.

Over the last year I’ve watched as God has moved and stretched me in ways that I never saw coming. The first thing that comes to mind is the Kairos retreat last December and how incredible those three days were. There was everything from wind storms, to sledding injuries, to rededicating lives to Christ and it was an amazing thing for me to be a part of and to watch happen.

Another key thing that’s happened over the last year is the Heart of Worship series and what God’s been doing through those events. We’ve had four this year and I’m super pumped to be a part of it and to see where God is going to take this. The next one is in January and I can’t wait to get started on it!

I think the hardest part about this year is have to say goodbye to a lot of people I care about. In May, Brian left for Michigan, Nick for California. Then in July Inga left for Virginia. Later at the very end of August, we all said goodbye to Joel as he left Alaska to follow the calling God had given him and went to Sudan for just shy of a year. That without a doubt has been the hardest part of the year for me. It’s rough seeing people you love and deeply care about leave, but I trust that God is leading their lives and that this is all for a good cause.

The best part of the year, hands down, was my trip to see Hillsong United and just how incredible of an experience that was for me to be there worshiping with everyone there and how God just provided for that trip. It was amazing.

That’s just a teeny-tiny taste of what’s happened in my life over the past year. And I pray that this next year is even more incredible and stretching and uncomfortable than this one has been.

Here’s to starting my twenty-first year of being alive!

Dustin

I’ve seen a couple of my friends throw one of these up on their blogs lately and I figured that I would follow and do one here because I can.

Song: Point of Difference by Hillsong United
Lyrics:

The tide is turning
This is redemption’s hour
In the midst of the world lost for love
You are all we have now

The lost returning
Salvation is all around
In the midst of the world broken down
You are all we have now

For You are God and this hope is ours

So Father open the skies
Flood the Earth with your light
This is love, to break a world indifferent

Sing

Our hearts are burning
The fire that won’t burn out
In the midst of a world that’s grown cold
You are all we have now

The earth resounding
The anthem of your renown
As we lift up our eyes
And look to your glory

Call us out let the world see
You are God and this hope is ours

So call us out, let the world see
You are God as we sing

Open the skies
Flood the Earth with your light
This is love to break a world indifferent
As we lift up our eyes
Fill our hearts with your fire
In a world the same we’ll be the difference, the difference

So call us out let the world see
You are God and this hope is ours

Our eyes are open
Every chain now broken
In this world we are different
Let your love become us
As we live to make you famous
We’re in this world but we are different

So call us out let the world see
You are God one and only
In this world you are all we have now

Reason: I love the words to this song. They speak of change, (a common theme in this country nowadays), and turning towards God. That we would be a desperate people out to seek God’s face in all things. That we would be a people who live to make our God famous among all people, races, and nations. God’s love can break chains, open eyes, and heal lives. My favorite line is “Flood the earth with Your life. This is love to break a world indifferent.” Our world is marked with indifference; it is marked with the illusion that being lukewarm, not on fire, is the way to go.

I’m tired of the world’s messages saying this. It’s time for us to stand for what we believe in. It’s time for this generation to start reclaiming this world for Christ and to make him famous among all nations.

James says:

Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

If our faith isn’t being lived out in our lives outside of Church, our faith is dead. Because if what we do on Sundays in our churches when we gather; if the songs we sing, the words we hear, and the relationships we build don’t affect what goes on in our worlds outside of Church, then what’s the point? What’s the point of being a Christian, if we’re not fulfilling the Great Commission that we were given? Let’s show the world the love God has shown us.

Now watch Joel Houston talk about it:

Let’s live out the Love of God. The love that we’re each called to live out.

Are you willing to be different?

Dustin

That sticker I’m holding proves it. I highly encourage everyone who is eligible to go out and vote today. This was the first election I’ve voted in, and to be honest, I really enjoyed it. It was a chance for my voice to be heard on things that are important for this nation, this state, and this community. You have been given a voice too.

Go make your voice heard. Vote today.

Dustin

I know you’re in Mexico right now with Jim and soaking up massive amounts of sun and relaxing on the beach. I’m also not sure if you’re checking anything internet related while you’re gone, but I just wanted to let you know that Eric and I are surviving just fine and coming up with some creative ideas in the kitchen that I think you would be proud of. The picture above is what we had for dinner tonight. Yes, that is tortelloni and ranch dressing. And yes, it’s delicious. We’re trying to come up with creative things to eat so we could utilize the food already here and make it last for as long as possible. So far, we’ve had a lot of pulled pork sandwiches and cereal. Tonight was Italian night.

Hope you’re having fun!

We sure are!

Dustin

It’s only barely noon and already I’ve had somewhat of an eventful day; (I guess that’s more likely to happen when you’re up and out the door before 7:00). I woke up at 6:20 to fulfill some of my Mr Mom duties and take Eric to school because he had a project that he wouldn’t be able to fit on the bus. I then came home and slept for another hour or so before waking up for real, eating breakfast, and starting some homework.

I was reading one of my books for western civ when I looked up the stairs and saw this guy:

heaving and gurgling as he not-so-pleasantly regurgitated who-knows-what onto the carpet. My reaction to this was a giant sigh and the word “daannggiit”. So I grabbed his leash, and took him outside where he did some more business with the smelly, yellow concoction that was coming forth from his mouth. We went back inside, I had a short text conversation with Mindy and asked what would be the best way to clean up vomit from a carpet. She set me in the right direction and I got to cleaning. I had made quite a bit of progress on the mess that was left on the carpet:

I headed down to the laundry room to get a rag so I could finish cleaning up the vomit stain when I found this in the hallway!:

That would be Oscar poop. In the hallway. In the house. Not outside where it’s supposed to be. But inside. For me. To clean up.

Now, I was able to brush off the fact that he vomited at the top of the stairs. People get sick. Animals get sick. It happens. But this whole poop thing frustrated me because he had his chance to go outside this morning when Eric took him out before I took him to school. So I again texted Mindy, this time it was poop instead of vomit, and began to clean up the second mess, which, by the way, was significantly grosser than the first one.

Everything is pretty much cleaned up now and I think Oscar is afraid of me because this is about how close he’ll get to me at the moment:

I still need to go shower and do some errands in Eagle River before I pick Eric up at the bus stop this afternoon.

Wow, that was such a mom statement.

Dustin