Last names

Today Audrey mentioned that real princesses don't have last names. I thought about it and decided that she was right. I've never thought about that before. Does Disney have any last names for any of those fairy tale people?

She just continually comes up with the neatest thoughts. 

The Mall

We spent all day at the Mall of America yesterday. It was a hoot!

Audrey and I rode rides while Alissa and Eliya window shopped. It was a long day. And a great family day! Vacation is awesome.

First Snow

And we finally have out first snow!

Three to six is what they are saying to expect.

Not bad!

Am sad that we will miss people tomorrow because of the weather.


-- Post From My iPhone

Loaded!

Wow! We are done loading! It took one while day to do it. Gene, Josh, Jesse, Kaelynn, and Taylor helped us get it 100% loaded. Pretty awesome.




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In Minnesota !!

Well, I have now made it on the first leg of my trip to Boise to pack up our stuff to head to Winona! Can't wait!


-- Post From My iPhone

A Moment in Life

Today, Audrey will attend her first day of Kindergarten. Big day!

We are living in North Dakota now while we continue to wait on what God has in store. I suppose in some people's mind it would seem like God has forgotten us or maybe not had a plan for us or maybe we aren't hearing HIM correctly.

That is not how I see it and not how I believe my God works. God has a plan for everyone. There is no plan A or plan B; there is just God's plan. God takes our choices and circumstances, and HIS plan and mixes them to make beautiful, sweet lemonade that is HIS very best for us. God's Best Lemonade!

Today is another step in the journey God has for us. It is another step in following a God that wishes HIS best for us every day. It is God's best for us today!

To God be the glory for all things that have happened and that will happen!

Dave

Fog & Faith

Here is a story of faith:

“We had George Muller of Bristol on board,” said the captain. “I had been on the bridge for twenty-four hours and never left it and George Muller came to me and said, “Captain, I have come to tell you I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.” “It is impossible,” I said. “Then very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.”
“I looked at that man of God and thought to myself, “What lunatic asylum can that man have come from, for I never heard of such a thing as this?” “Mr. Muller,” I said, “do you know how dense this fog is?”
““No,” he replied, “my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.” He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. “As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.”
“I looked at him and George Muller said, “Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door and you will find the fog has gone.”
“I got up and the fog indeed was gone, and on that Saturday afternoon George Muller kept his promised engagement.”


Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996).

Believe!

I was reading good old Oswald tonight and saw tomorrow’s reading. I couldn’t help myself and read it.

Reminded me of Gideon: “. . . the weaker and feebler you are, the better.”

It took me back to thinking about how much I am depending on God. There are days that I feel like I am truly placing myself in HIS hands. Other days, I feel less so. As John believed, it comes down to one question, “Do you believe?”

If we believe, then what does that mean? One premise leads to another. If we believe THEN . . . and because we believe that THEN we believe . . . and because we believe that THEN God does have HIS very best for me in store. Because I am worth it. I am worthy. Through God I am. In the middle of not knowing where we are going and what we are doing, I know that I must believe and follow that believe to where it takes us.

We are called to believe. We are called to obey.

We don’t have to know the why. We don’t have to know the answers.

We do have to believe.

Believe it.




“Ye cannot serve the Lord. Joshua 24:19.

Have you the slightest reliance on any thing other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural virtue, any set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any particular in this new proposition which God has put before you? That is what the probing means. It is quite true to say—‘I cannot live a holy life’; but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. “Ye cannot serve the Lord God”—but you can put yourself in the place where God’s Almighty power will work through you. Are you sufficiently right with God to expect Him to manifest His wonderful life in you?
“Nay, but we will serve the Lord.” It is not an impulse, but a deliberate commitment. You say—‘But God can never have called me to this, I am too unworthy, it can’t mean me.’ It does mean you, and the weaker and feebler you are, the better. The one who has something to trust in is the last one to come anywhere near saying—‘I will serve the Lord.’
We say—‘If I really could believe!’ The point is—If I really will believe. No wonder Jesus Christ lays such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. “And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” If we really believed that God meant what He said—what should we be like! Dare I really let God be to me all that He says He will be?”


Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year, NIV edition. (Westwood, NJ: Barbour and Co., 1993).

God Sighting

I was reading today what a God Sighting is and how they help us.

It is a part of an idea of taking time to see God and how He is working. But it is also more than that. It is a time to share those things as a family. Most of the time God Sightings point us to remembering who God is and what He is doing (and always has done for that matter!!!).

Today’s God Sighting happened when I went to McDonald’s to sell an old phone I had to a nice lady from Craigslist.

It was a wonderful time because her husband came and we talked about the phone and conducted our business. As we talked we learned about each other a bit and it was great because God showed himself again.

We found out we were Christians and they shared some about their life and I shared some about my story and what was going on with us:

1. How we were waiting on God to show us the next step of our faith walk.
2. How we were doing what HE asked us to do - prepare.
3. How there might be an opportunity for us this week and how we were excited to see if this is what God has in store for us.

As I shared my story, we spoke about it a bit and then they asked to pray for us. Really. Total strangers met through Craigslist. God, you are amazing. The prayer was said like someone who had known me for years. God was moving in that time, right then. He was present. He knew exactly what we needed.

Even more, God didn’t have to supply that God Sighting. He just gave it as a bonus. God did what HE expects us to do. Give our best. Go the extra mile.

Time and time again, God has gone the extra mile during this faith walk with us.

What an awesome God we serve!

Audrey's Birthday!

Today is my five year olds birthday!!

She had an awesome birthday! She talked to family. She opened gifts. We took her training wheels off. We went to her favorite restaurant.

Turning five is a big deal. It is a moment of significance. I would not go quite as far as to call it a rite of passage. It IS a time to remember. A time to celebrate a milestone.

Today was a day of liturgies. No, of course not in the normal way the word liturgy is used. But instead a liturgy of family. All families have their liturgies. For some it involves a Sunday morning and the comic section. I remember as a kid the Saturday morning liturgy. T

That was when good cartoons were on and the best ones were on starting at 6 am! You had to get up early to see the best. So get up early my brother and I did. We would get up and creep to the living room. We would get our bowls and our sugar cereal and turn on the TV. Superfriends! Amazing Spiderman! Fat Albert! School House Rock! The Grape Ape Show! Captain Caveman! And of course the “violent” Bugs Bunny Show.

It was a ritual. A liturgy. It had meaning in the life of the family. Today was one of THOSE days. My opinion? She will never forget today.

Those are great days!

Be Prepared

There is a difference between being prepared and the action word prepare.

One is a state of being. To constantly be that state. So, be prepared is a state of “be.” It means to always, constantly ready yourself and to be ready for whatever that current and next thing is. I have thought a lot about this as we received that word from God. It was a feeling, a thought, a goal that seemed to be coming from God. Prepare.

The action word prepare is slightly different. It is to do things which make you “be.”

In April when I first felt that we should prepare it was an easy idea to accomplish. So we started doing things that would make us prepared for whatever God has for us. It reminded me of a parable.

Two farmers were needing rain or their crops could not be planted and they would have no food for the year. So both went to their houses and prayed. They asked God to send rain for their fields. After they had prayed, one farmer went out to the fields and began to tend them and make them ready. The other farmer sat and waited.

The question that goes with this parable is this: Which farmer had faith?

The first farmer expected the rain and got ready. He prepared. There was something to actually do. Sometimes, it needs to be acknowledged, there is nothing to do. Sometimes, God wants us to do nothing and that is how He asks us to prepare. And that can be really hard for some.

The month of May was a “go and prepare” month. There was so much to do. Which I am very good at. However, this month, while having a few things left to prepare for, mostly it has so far been one of not doing. Rather it has become a state. A being. Be Prepared.

It is hard to exist in the “not doing.” So now I have this time to finish up the small things and be with my family. What a great time!

Saying Goodbye

When I was in Seminary, one of my favorite professors told me that inevitably I will leave a church that I have been ministering, and when that happens, remember to say goodbye and say goodbye well. I have often remembered his advice in the years since then. I have used it with my family when leaving the house to go to work and I have used it when leaving the churches I have been so blessed to minister.

And so, that is where we find ourselves now. It is time to say goodbye.

The 5th of June will be my last day as Pastor to Children and their Families at Eagle Church of the Nazarene. We have been truly blessed with our time here at ENC.

Some of you have already asked us why we are going and where. And we have already had the joy of telling some of you about the journey God has already begun with Alissa and me. But for those that we have not been able to share with, here is a little of what God is doing.

First, the why. Simply put, God has been moving. God has been redefining the call that is on my life. I came here as a Pastor to Children and Families in my heart. I am leaving here with a changed call that centers even more around family ministry. God has been working on me. God has given me opportunity after opportunity to grow while I have been here. That growth has led to a more immediate need in my heart to reach out to families and to help them be equipped to minister to their kids, teens and even themselves. Essentially, this could take two forms: one would be a family pastor and the other would be a lead pastor of a church with a focus on family ministry.

Second, the where. We don’t really know. We have applied to districts around some places that we have felt that God might be leading us, but we have not received any interviews so far. We are busy getting ready to have a garage sale and to pack up our house and move out by June 1st. God has told us to be prepared and we are preparing.

We do know that God has promised to use us in a way that He has never used us before. More completely. More effectively. More for His Kingdom. And we are SO excited for what that means. We know that no matter what happens or where we go that God is with us and for us. To God be the glory!

What do you take away from our story? We hope that you see in our story, as it is in most of our stories with God, that God deserves the glory. It is as Jude 1:24-25 says, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

God’s best,

Dave Foshee and Family

Eliya's Baptism

Last night we baptized our daughter Eliya. It was my first baptism to conduct and it was a very special night for our whole family.

Here is the video.

Eliya's Baptism from Pastor Dave on Vimeo.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. This day has a profound meaning in the Christian church year. It has been around since around the 8th century and is meant to set apart a time in preparation of the coming celebration of the Resurrection.

If you have never heard of Ash Wednesday or don't know what it is, you are in the majority of Protestants. However, because you are reading this, you are also in an increasing majority that are coming to know Ash Wednesday and Lent as a time of spiritual renewal that adds spiritual value to your relationship with God. I know it has added value to mine in years past and I am looking forward to that increase this year.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. It is meant to help us focus on our own mortality and our confession of our need of the atoning work of Christ on the cross. An Ash Wednesday service helps us to do this together, as a church body, and in the larger context with the global Church. As we journey together in these 40 days toward the cross, Ash Wednesday helps us to begin the journey with our church family: around the table of Christ's church and the community of faith.

Ashes are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament as a sign of mortality and repentance. In Job 42:6, we read, "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the practice in Matthew 11:21. What a picture of the full circle of life! It is almost as if their sorrow is such that they are saying, "Return me to the dust I was made from! It is better to be dust than to be in such agony."

This time is also a personal time of examining ourselves and being open to God's movement in our life. May He reveal that which needs repenting from in our lives! And, of course, it is also to bear witness to His incredible mercy and grace that reconciles us to Him and to others.

Starting with Ash Wednesday through the season of Lent, we throw away the tendency to live out our lives content in our own sufficiency and righteousness (which is an illusion) and to rely on God's sufficiency and God's righteousness.

The holiest of God's people have always known the imperativeness of searching our hearts and humbling ourselves before God. We must feel the need to draw near to God. And, it is that desire that must be recognized in our lives each day; we must recognize the need for God's grace.

Many people use the season of Lent to enter into disciplines that remove distractions that have kept us from daily living in God's grace. Some of the disciplines that are added to people's lives are daily prayer, fasting, self-denial, and meditation of God's Word. These disciplines of devotion and denial are not meant to be avenues of legalism or some sort of divine money to earn God's adoration. Instead they are avenues of increasing our awareness of that adoration that has always been there. They discipline us to be more in tune with God.

So let us come into this time together! The time for preparation for celebration is here. Rejoice! God desires for us to be drawn closer into his embrace and to devote this time to become a more intimate with our God: Lover and Lord.

The Peace of God,

Pastor Dave

KidCore Worship Class

Tonight the kids had their last night in worship class with Ms. Jane. They had a good time with her motions. It was really cool to see the kids learning the Apostles Creed in song. Pretty cool!


-- Post From My iPhone

Utmost for His Highest

I wanted to share this devotional today. Like most of his stuff, this is incredible to think about.

Do you see your calling?

Separated unto the Gospel. Romans 1:1.

Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the Gospel of God. The one thing that is all important is that the Gospel of God should be realized as the abiding Reality. Reality is not human goodness, nor holiness, nor heaven, nor hell, but Redemption; and the need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker to-day. As workers we have to get used to the revelation that Redemption is the only Reality. Personal holiness is an effect, not a cause, and if we place our faith in human goodness, in the effect of Redemption, we shall go under when the test comes.

Paul did not say he separated himself, but—“when it pleased God who separated me.…” Paul had not a hypersensitive interest in his own character. As long as our eyes are upon our own personal whiteness we shall never get near the reality of Redemption. Workers break down because their desire is for their own whiteness, and not for God. ‘Don’t ask me to come into contact with the rugged reality of Redemption on behalf of the filth of human life as it is; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes.’ To talk in that way is a sign that the reality of the Gospel of God has not begun to touch me; there is no reckless abandon to God. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character. Paul is unconscious of himself, he is recklessly abandoned, separated by God for one purpose—to proclaim the Gospel of God (cf. Rom. 9:3).

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