In Christ Alone

 

Easter is upon us, and no song helps me reflect on the wonders of the resurrection of the Lord better than this one... it is our favorite.

You can listen to it here... 

http://www.gettymusic.com/hymns-inchristalone.aspx

"In Christ Alone"

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

"In Christ Alone"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

I've been tagged...

I usually stay away from this kind of thing like the plague, but my wife is the one who sent it to me and I know it will make her happy if I do it. Besides, I'm home sick today anyway...

Rule #1: the tagged person must write their answers on their blog and replace any question they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

Rule #2: tag 4 people to do this quiz; they cannot refuse (ok, so nothing bad will happen if you don’t participate but I would love to see your answers). The tag-ee must state who tagged them.

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals or are they members of your family?
We don't have any pets now, but I had cats that I really loved growing up. Don't think I loved them as much as, say, my brothers, though... and not as much as that guy on the commercial who gets a little too much cat-lovin' and wants to have a picnic with his furry friend...

2. If you could have a dream come true, what would it be?
I really love Japan and being there, but how cool would it be if I were not needed there anymore?!?

3. What would you do with a billion dollars?
This sounds like fun... I would give most of it away, to God, to family, to random people even. I would set some aside... I imagine you could live comfortably off just the interest of that much money. Would earmark some for the kids and their schooling, and probably buy a house... or a few - one in Japan, one in the States and one in Canada. Maybe I would buy a new motorcycle, too ;)

4. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?
Usually time heals all wounds... but on the better days, it's encouragement from the Word that helps me to see that I'm being ... (insert some sinful attitude here), and that I'm not choosing to receive God's goodness in my life...

5. What is your bedtime routine, with your kids?
No kids for us yet, but I did get to put down a one-year old on Sunday night... not too bad! :) On a normal night my bride and I go to bed at the same time and snuggle up close while listening to a piano cd called "Change My Heart, O God" that the Gills used t play for their kids when I lived with them. I almost always fall asleep before my beautiful wife does...

6. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your significant other?
We met just over 2 years ago, in Japan. We went to dinner with our missionary buddies and sat across from each other 'to gaze into each others eyes' because we were the only two single people there...

7. What kind of books do you read?
I read my Japanese Bible every day. I also have my hands in a couple of devotionals right now too (both English and Japanese). I like to read other Christian books (counseling, biographies) and also a 'classic' every now and then... especially now that I know you can get many of them free on Kindle for PC (also free!).

8. How do you see yourself in 10 years?
I hope that I am a healthy, busy middle-aged missionary in Japan with a loving family surrounding me.

9. What’s your fear?
The dark??? nope. :) There is no fear in the world that my God is not bigger than.

10. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to see outer space?
Junk food and desserts are different, right? I would definitely give up junk food for space (junk food is bad for me anyway...) Maybe I would give up dessert, too. I really like dessert though...

11. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Kiss my beautiful wife.

12. If you could change one thing about your significant other, what would it be?
Dangerous question! If only my wife liked to play Carcassonne with me, she would be perfect.

13. If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?
STUD

14. If you had to choose between six months of sun or six months of rain, what would you choose?
Can I choose snow? Six months is too long to go without sun, though.

15. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?
I recently heard of a man who only ate potatoes for a long time (I think it was one or two months though, not six months). If I had to choose, that would be it. You can do a lot with potatoes! :)

16. What is the thing you enjoy about blogging the most?
Oh, I don't know... it's a good way to express yourself and let others do the same. I like it when people comment, and you know they took the time to read what you wrote.

17. Do you prefer salty or sweet foods?
Both, but sweet when I have to choose.

18. What items are in your purse right now?
Evidence that this is supposed to be filled out by girls, and not me..

19. If you had to choose between vacationing at the beach or in the mountains where would you go?
I like my home in Hirao because I get ocean and mountains all in one... and I don't even have to go on vacation!!

20. What do you watch on television that you know you shouldn’t?
I don't think there is anything... but I shouldn't watch as much as I do!

And now I tag:
I won't tag anyone... but if you want, feel free to fill this out yourself and let me know, and I promise I will read it :)

Popcorn

Someone should invent popcorn that tastes and crunches just like real popcorn, but is quiet so you can still hear the movie over your own chompin’…

2010 - Year in Review

What better way to celebrate a wonderful year than to recall some of the biggest blessings of 2010...

I'll start in...

January...
when I kicked off the new year by driving home to Maryland overnight from Urbana in St. Louis. We had an excellent conference, and I am most grateful for good bonding time with fellow workers. After arriving home, I spent the rest of the month visiting friends and supporters - I had meals with 12 people/families (excluding my own) and spoke at 5 churches about the work in Japan. In the midst of it all, the second big snow of the winter left me stuck at home... I could hardly believe we get two more-than-one-foot snowfalls in one winter in Maryland! Somehowduring all of this I managed to squeeze in several trips to the jewelry store to find the perfect diamond ring... Then, in...

February...
it snowed again. Even more. This was, of course, good preparation for my subsequent move to 'Winterpeg'. This time my family hunkered down in a hotel in Baltimore, because the snow came just as my younger brother was scheduled to receive my older brother's bone-marrow stem cells in a transplant at the University of Maryland Medical Center to cure his leukemia. Though confined to his hospital bed for quite a while after that, my brother is now doing quite well. While he was healing, my beautiful girlfriend Hillary came all the way from Winnipeg, Manitoba to visit me and meet my family! We had a wonderful time gallavanting around MD and DC after having been in different countries for more than two months. Still, that diamond ring didn't leave my pocket until...

March...
when I returned the favor to my beautiful girlfriend and ventured up to Canada to meet her family. But before that, I spent a week in Reading, PA with our mission getting my spiritual tires retreaded... excellent time with friends and spiritual family once again. Right after that I hopped on the plane up to Winnipeg, where before Day 2 was complete I had asked Don Timmons for his beautiful daughter's hand in marriage... And before Day 3 was done, I had finally gotten rid of that diamond ring! With my new fiancee proudly wearing it on her left hand, we visited a whole host of people, whom she promptly introduced me to after first introducing them to the ring. This visit to Canada lasted into...

April...
when for the last time I said goodbye to my beautiful fiancee. A short stop in the States to once again bid farewell to my family, and I was back on the trans-Pacific flight to my second home. For the rest of the month and all of...

May...
I was in Japan, living it up in my last days as a bechelor. My coworkers were all back in the States because their daughters were getting married, which left me busy but not overwhelmed. It was good for me to be able to say goodbye to my friends and to Japan, since it would be a while before I would return. I was already packing when...

June...
arrived, because I was soon heading back to America. I arrived at O'Hare on the 7th, where I was reunited with my beautiful fiancee, and then we flew together back to DC. We arrived after midnight, and then were up early the next morning to drive to Pennsylvania for New Personnel Orientation with Christar - though I am not 'new pesonnel', my fiancee was and so we decided it was best to go through the program together. As soon as it was over we shimmied back down to MD to get a week of intensive pre-marital counseling with our good friend Tom... no joke on the 'intensive' part, and we are both thankful for it now (and were then, too!). We said a quick goodbye and flew up to Winnipeg on June 30. After a LONG interview with immigration officials, we headed home to rest for one night, and woke up to...

July...
and realized that we only had 9 days to get ready for our wedding! It was a whirlwind, but thanks to many, many friends and family we were all ready by Friday night. Then Saturday, July 10, 2010 was a day I will remember forever - I wed my beautiful Hillary. Then for several hours after the wedding, our good friends Eric and Ashley ushered us around to a variety of locales to get some amazing pictures of me and my beautiful bride! The next day we drove to Whiteshell Provincial Park and stayed for a week at Barrier Bay - which we highly recommend for a romantic getaway... so much so that we are going back for 2 nights to celebrate six months of marriage in January. But I am getting ahead of myself, because we haven't even discussed...

August...
and all the travelling we did! We spent several days in the Interlake at Hnasau with Hillary's family... good family bonding time. Then of course there was the day trip I took, alone, to Calgary. Yes, Calgary and back in one day... but I had to for immigration purposes. But 16 hours older and $400 poorer I returned home to Manitoba safely with no problems, and with my mission accomplished (that part of the mission, anyway). Can't forget our first trp to Saskatchewan, either. Though we were heading to Regina to visit Hillary's sister Melissa and brother-in-law Brad, we went to Moose Jaw and Caronport to visit some 'old' friends of Hillary's, too... and it was fun to see all the places that Hillary frequented as a kid! We made it home safe and sound that time too, but before the month ended our lovely car had left us stranded on the side of the road... in the middle of the night... in a rainstorm. Not a good way to end the month.

September...
came in quietly and as the weather began to cool down, things started to heat up for us as Hillary started Bible college at Providence College. This pretty much kept her busy for the next few months... I, on the other hand, was in full-on paperwork mode working on my permanent residency application for Canada. It's an amazingly long process with a ridiculous amount of supplemental documents to gather up. There were some problems with my visa when I first entered Canada in June, so I had to cross the border into the US (less than an hour away) and come back into Canada to ask the immigration officials to redue my papers - which in the end still was incorrect. The perm-res saga continued into...

October...
but thankfully there were other highlights to enjoy. The biggest was our visit to Edmonton (Vergreville, to be exact) for the wedding of our friends Brandon and Nadine. Hillary was in the wedding and had fun with the girls, while I got to spend a few days with Nadine's father getting ready for the big day. It was tons of fun and very exciting to rejoice with our friends taking the big dive, so soon after us that we hadn't harldy dried off after our dive. I started teaching English classes at the Japanese church in town and we started to get to know people there a little better. They have been a big source of encouragement to us! The lowlight of the month was perhaps the several trips to the dentist I had to make... at least my mouth is (mostly) in good working order now though. Back to the permanent residency application - in...

November...
I actually had to take an English test. Yes, an English test. But not just any English test, a $300 English test! Not very happy about that one, but when you have no choice you just bite the bullet and do it. And I did. You will all be very happy to know that I did in fact pass. It turns out I can speak English! But they didn't tell me that I passed until...

December...
when the results came about one week later than I was expecting them. Didn't matter much, because I still couldn't submit my permanent residency application because the letter I needed from my bank still had not arrived. After much prayer the letter finally arrived, and my application was in the mail the same day. The relief I felt to have that done was great (of course it is not 'done', but at least it is finally, officially 'started'!)... We still had plenty of time to get ready for Christmas, and we enjoyed the entire season tremendously. We bought a lovely tree at Goodwill and decorated it all up 'Baden' style, and everything that we purchased in December (save perishable food items) were wrapped and put under the tree so that we'd have plenty of packages to open at Christmas. 'Tis the season! Hillary finished her first semester (with very good marks, I might add) and was able to start relaxing a bit again. To top the year off right, we travelled with Hillary's parents to Saskatchewan to spend Christmas with Brad and Melissa (Hillary's sister). Our first Christmas together was a real treat... and we are looking forward to the 'Timmons' tradition of Chinese take-out to ring in the New Year tomorrow night!

What a fast, crazy and amazing year it has been! God is good! I can say with certainty that there will never be another one like it again.

Green Ostrich

We found this cool bag we’d like to give Melissa…

Besides the 'recycled' aspect of the bag, the diaper backpack is full of great features that I'm certain any mom would love! Some of these include:

* You can wear it on your back...spreads weight equally over your shoulders & keeps your hands FREE!
* 2 large compartments
* Removable padded changing mat
* Quick access, insulated bottle pockets
* All kinds of pockets for organizing baby and Mommy items
* Reinforced base panel for durability
* Premium YKK Zippers
* Rubberized, non-toxic, waterproof coating
* Lifetime Takeback Policy

Green Ostrich carries so much more than just diaper bags though! They've got ALL sorts of Green Gifts for you to browse through. While you're at it check out their Ostrich Specials too - you may be able snag a few great green deals!

Our new home...

Otterburne, Manitoba.

This is where we have decided to set up house for the next year, until we head back to Japan… We are here because Hillary is attending Providence College for a year, beginning next month.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Canada and the Plains, please allow me to educate you. Canada is very sparsely populated (10 million square kilometers [2^nd only to Russia] for 34 million people), and the Plains are… flat. Very flat. I can’t find the population of Otterburne, but the school is here, so there are at least 300 people here (except during the summer of course). My guess is about 5 right now. (And you know what?? I love it!)

The upshot is that the sky is beautiful here, and there is so much of it… and we experience some fantastic electrical storms as well (no pictures yet). A few nights ago around midnight Hillary and I drove out a few minutes to a dirt road where there was literally nothing in sight, and just watched the lightning crash all around us. Amazing. As I type this, I am watching yet another beautiful sunset from our second-floor living room window.

Life is so different here… not to mention my own big change (married to the best girl ever on July 10)! So things are just different for me right now. I’m enjoying it very much… but at the same time, looking forward to getting involved in some stuff to keep me busy J (Not that I’ve been twiddling my thumbs here!)

Life is good! Hillary is great! God is the best J

So I'm a little slow...

The original title to this post was ‘Only a few more days in Japan’… but I had to change it because I’m already back in America. Even if I had written it when the title was appropriate, it still would have been overdue… Life goes on, you know?!

I will say, though, during my short 7 week stay in Japan, among many other things, I had one shining achievement… killing a mukade. Google it and you’ll understand.

Plenty of other great stuff too while I was in Japan… Getting to tell everyone that Hillary and I are getting married was so much fun. All the folks at church are so excited for us J It’s encouraging to know so many people are rooting for us! It’s only 23 more days until July 10, by the way J

Right now Hillary and I are in PA getting training with Christar so that we can head back to Japan as a couple next year. It’s been great to interact with many people these two weeks; very encouraging. Plenty of time in the Word, great reminders of WHY we are in Japan… and why we are going back. So many others around who are passionate about God and His Word and making sure others know about Him, too… these kinds of weeks are needed to keep us fired up and ready to go!

In the meantime, tomorrow night we are heading back to MD for a family party on Saturday, and then one week of pre-marital counseling before we head up to Canada one week before the wedding. There is plenty to do between now and then, so I think it’s pretty safe to say you won’t hear from me again until I am in Canada J Maybe I’ll even be back in Japan before I write again J

Please pray for Hillary and I as we learn to love each other and get ready to start our new life together!