will be writing from new platform

you may have been reminded to take a look at this spot for any number of reasons.

I may offer you the new place I am writing.

you may a lot to catch up on.

maybe not, depending on when you find this.

new place: http://ryantheruminator.tumblr.com/

God's provision

Mondays: generally a day of rest

Recently moved into my new quarters this weekend. The new address if you need is

1904 W Huisache
San Antonio, TX 78201

I will post a few pics shortly. I live in the backyard of my dear friends and family Kyle, Stefani and Bella Burkholder, so please don't knock on the front door and annoy them. smile.

Why am I telling you this? God's provision has a lot to do with this. Since returning from South Africa God has provided ahead of my need, every time.

I was fretting and worrying about a job, He provided Rackspace, an income I don't deserve and a job I'm not completely qualified for.

I was worried about a place to live in San Antonio, He provided a place at my friend Matt the Lawyers house. Matt graciously and sacrificially provided this place till June. The arrangement was set and I was fearful of how it would all play out. As usual my faith wanes in the background, I trust in my abilities far too much, and not enough in the one who owns and operates it all. May came along and been offered my own little condo with beach front view behind my good friends humble abode. God's provision.

So for about two weeks I have been hearing that we will be moving to the castle which is quite far from where I live.

In my quest to live simply I have decided that if it came to the point that I needed transportation, I would either pay cash for the vehicle or it would have to be provided in another form or fashion.

So last night after life group, a friend of mine, Cody Porter, comes up and tells me he wants to ask me something. So I immediately am excited for the conversation. I love when conversations start this way, FYI. "This is kinda awkward, but I am going to be getting a new car soon, I have a old car that basically two old cars welded together and has about 215, 000 miles on it, it may need a transmission flush but runs well for how old it is. Do you want it?"

Wow, ummm, ummm, yes, of course. God you did it again. You provide like no one can, and I don't understand why you do it. As I'm trying to thank Cody and his amazing generosity, I realize that I'm having a crazy dialogue in my head and I'm thanking God so much more.

I believe we serve a God that has no limits. We place limits on Him, because we are finite. God does what He wants in our lives for a reason.

Been reading recently about the disciples and how Jesus would get upset with them because they had little faith. Did you just see me feed five thousand men and their families and you are worrying about where your food is going to come from. Don't you understand who I am?

I am so much like them. Thank you Lord for your provision in my life. May this continue to strengthen my faith in you alone.

needing help

I have a few friends, I know it's hard to believe.

Jonathan and Kelly Bell-Nolte are a wonderful couple seeking God's will in their lives on a daily basis.

They both are in need of financial help, as the price of plane tickets continues to rise, so does the need for people to share the gospel and spend time with those less fortunate. They have an opportunity to do just that. I received an email explaining this and wanted to offer you an opportunity to give.

From the email: (see below)

Jonathan and I have been offered the opportunity to go to Rwanda for a week the first of July on a mission trip through my job,with more than half of the costs paid for by my employer. With that being said we feel even though we are missionaries here in Chamblee we should not pass up something God has clearly lead the way in us being a part of. So we need your help.

We need to raise $3100 total, that is $1550 per person. This cost is incredibly low, it's less than the total airfare and includes our housing, food, and everything else we will need.

While we are in Africa, we are going to take an extra day to go to Uganda to meet Stuart, the 10 year old who we have been sponsoring for 3 years so far. We are paying the additional expenses for our travel expenses for this part , but if would like to give additional costs toward this we would gladly accept.

We will be going as a team with my company Saddleback Leather. For years they have been working with Africa New Life Ministries(ANLM) and would like us co-workers and their families to come share in that this year.

Here are some of the many activities we can be a part of with ANLM depending on their needs at the moment:
* Street children’s ministry
* New Life Family Center ministry
* Kageyo re-settlement camp
* Kigali Genocide Memorial
* Basic construction or work projects
* New Life Christian Academy
* Day camps
* Children’s Homes
* Sports camps
* Prison ministry
* Village visits

In order to give you would take this link and share in blessing them.

http://bit.ly/NolteFamily2Africa

God bless you both.

Cheers.

no more facebook

interesting that I have been asked a few times this week from different people why facebook is no longer on my radar.

I might ask you why you still use yours or have yours, but it would be counter-productive and you may be upset at the end of the conversation. So I will just spend a few moments sharing with you my journey away from it.

I have found facebook to be incredibly good at connecting me to people from the past. Now the funny thing about people from the past is, well we haven't seen them since the past. So all of our notions of who they are are based on knowledge from yester-year. We have created a box that, he or she, lives in. We haven't given them a chance to make changes to the box or climb out to show us the dreams, aspirations, and movements going on in the interior.

Most of us want to be known, so we open a facebook account and count the "friends" we have as this person knows that person so you should know that person and the number grows exponentially. It makes us feel good to think that 777 people are watching us from the inter-web links.

Sadly enough it's a beautiful way to judge, to condemn, to look into a 144 character line and assume that someone isn't doing "what they are supposed to be doing" under the guise that your facebook says that you are.

I'm not sure that the stress level one may carry about keeping up with the jones' isn't far from this culture of being known.

We want to be known because that is the way we were created. We were created to be known intimately, but there is so much noise in our life that we can't hear the one that knows us and wants to live in commune with us. We think that person is an earthly person. We all eventually turn off the facebook until our phone prompts us to look again, to despair again, to feel lonely again, to count friends again, to live in the spiral of wondering what that person from the past is doing. Oh wait, they are different and years tell a better story.

Less is more.
Less is more.
Less is more.

To look less at the world and more at Jesus. To be focused less on being known by others and more by Him.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Psalm 46: 10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

Proverbs 1:2-7 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;s

4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretions

5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels

6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.s

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

Reasons to rid myself of this foothold in my life.

Let there be no condemnation from me to those that use it, please here me explain my reasons and nothing more.

huge value, chick-fil-a leadercast 2011

Ken Ott, fabulous leader, fancy friend, and someone who pursues both incredibly well. I was afforded the opportunity to attend the above mentioned leadercast and found it incredibly valuable.

Does your organization or the people you lead need a boost, a push to the next level?

You may want to take advantage of the time you have to mark off your calendars for next years event.

Other folks feel the same way.

Can You Make It Stop? by Michael W. Jarrell

Mike a friend of mine wrote this and I want you to be able to share in the reading of it. Thankful for these word pictures.

Can You Make It Stop?
(Through the eyes of a Chelemei, Kenya orphaned child)

No heat, no shelter or clean drinking water,
This is reality for many girls and boys.
Sticks, stones, dolls of corn husk,
Are all we have for toys.



We hear the sounds of children crying,
Some hungry, hurting, alone.
We feel their pain throughout the night,
Yet our plight to many is unknown.

The floor beneath me is trash and dirt,
Only old newspapers for my bed.
I hear the rats scurrying about at night,
This sound too I dread.



By day we scavenge through garbage heaps,
For the tiniest scraps to eat.
We dig through broken glass and steel,
With no shoes upon our feet.

O, Lord we pray you hear our plea,
Despair seems our largest crop.
In your infinite mercy Lord,
Can you make our suffering stop?



Many of us have lost our parents,
To crime,drugs or disease.
We have no one left to help us through,
Lord, won't you help us please.



I can not go to school right now,
But I'll be a doctor some day.
Perhaps then I can treat all this sickness,
And save my people I pray.

It shouldn't hurt to be a child,
It breaks my heart to see.
All around is disease and death,
Yet one day we'll be free.

But Lord until that day arrives,
And we see You on the mountain top.
I pray that you ease our suffering Lord,
Please, can you make it stop?

© Michael W. Jarrell 28 March 2011