BabuLife

Doctrine of Hairology

Download hairology.mp3

There is a doctrine that many have yet to expound upon...until this man on the audio file above.  The doctrine of Hairology needs to be discussed among churches.  Be Gone sinful toupe! Give this little MP3 a listen and be ready for deep conviction.  Thanks to my pastor for forwarding this little gem.

Is it Time to Record?

To my fella bandmates, when are we going to record again?  We've got songs that need finishing!  People are asking for a new CD and I just have the itch to finish our originals.   Here's some pics of the studio to maybe give you all the itch again.

Almost There...

Just 3 more hours and the savior lands.  Not THE savior, but my beautiful wife.  Even so...come quickly dear Addie...

Widget Testing

I'm trying out a new widget on my left hand bar called "Sites that Link here".  I found this on Rich's site and thought it'd be cool.  I've always wanted a section of sites linking to mine but never got to it.  Someone else has already done it for me!  I like the idea, except, I noticed that there are some sites linking here that were left off the list.

If you are currently linking to my site and you don't see your link on my list, drop a comment with your link.  I think I'll create one manually.

Thanks,
Ben

Silent Church in a Rising Conflict

I've been thinking over the past week about what's going on in the Middle East and where the American church is at in this.  I chalked it up to me just being too personally invested in it with my parents being in Gaza and all...until I read a post by Tally Wilgis.  Someone else noticed the same thing I did.

Where is this issue at in the church blogging world? I mean hey, I'm not devoting this whole blog to the conflict in the middle east either...I understand life goes on.  But this brewing war really is a pretty big deal.  I looked at my site and thought, dude, Worship Wars and American Christiany debates about Emergent, Modern, Post-Modern...blah blah blah...is nothing but junk right now.  There's a world out there that needs Christ and people who are dying to hear the hope and peace He has to offer.  There are children who can't sleep at night because they hear tanks, rockets, explosions and jets flying over their homes. Our disconnected American Me-church attitude is just making me irritable right now.  This picture was taken by my parents on the streets of Gaza.  Kind of brings home the difference between being here and there.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent and share my heart and perspective at this moment in time.  If anyone out there wants to be a part of doing something about helping people in Gaza by showing the love of Christ to them, you can support folks like my parents or heck just give a little extra to the missionaries your local church supports.  Even a note or a comment to a missionary on the field has a huge impact.  Many of them have blogs with enabled comments like my parents.  The notes you leave for them and others like them go a LOOOOONG way.  It just boosts them when they may be weary or tired. 

I'd love to see church leaders and pastors blog something about a missionary they or their church supports and how we can send them a note of support.  Wouldn't that be awesome?

Tonight's Order of Events

Day 2 of my alone time with the girls was relatively easy.  I worried last night when the second crawled into bed saying "I wanna hold mommy".  Thanks to a wonderful friend who offered to take the girls for a few hours.  I was actually able to get some work done. Thanks Bek!

So here's what I've got planned tonight with the girls:

• A little Attack of the Clones.  We started to watch last night but didn't get finished.  I promised we would.  Guess I'll have to "suffer".  Quick note: I had some fun with Maelee saying..."Ewww the Love parts".  She doesn't like the lovey parts of that movie.  They fall in looooooovee and get marrrieeed...ewwwww.
• We'll be popping some popcorn...my specialty.
• My oldest is about to lose a tooth.  Please oh please remember to be a tooth fairy tonight.  The wife and I have already forgotten twice.
• I wonder if I can break a bedtime record and get them in bed by 7:30?  Hmmmm...that would then leave the Xbox all to me.

I restocked the fridge with some of my favorite caffienated drink.  Pepsi One don't let me down. Thanks all for your encouragement.  I think I can make it another 24 hours.

Update: The baby went down at 7:30, Second one at 8:00 and the oldest and I Xbox'd till 9:30.  Oh...and no tooth was lost.

Gaza Outreach Update

Here's the latest post from my folks on their blog.  If you are interested in getting the id and password, please email me.  To learn more about their story visit http://hopeforishmael.org/.  If you want to catch up on Gaza posts, visit my category "Gaza".  Sorry for the length of the post below, they sometimes get little windows of internet usage so they've just got to get it all in there.  Please read and come back if it's too lengthy.  And thank you again for your prayers and support.

Well we are back on!!! We apologize for not getting any blogs on the site for the past few days. Between electricity outages, internet connectivity problems and typepad taking down the site without warning, it has been quite a struggle. Please keep up your prayers as they make a HUGE difference!

We don't want to focus on the battle on the ground, as it is only an indication of the battle going on in the spirit! --- And guess who's winning? Our Great and Mighty God. We prefer to focus on His work to glorify Him.

God is truly working all kinds of miracles around us and through us. We are so grateful for His trust in us and His great love for these sons and daughters of Ishmael. The greatest miracle He has done lately is getting our very first volunteer here safe and sound. It was touch and go for a while but as James, our volunteer put it, He knew it must be God that he is here if He could arrange for him to get to Gaza against all the odds of recent events. It is a great story of God's faithfulness to us when we, as believers, work together for His glory!

On Wednesday, July 12, we got an early morning call from our volunteer, James, informing us that he had landed in Tel Aviv that morning and was about to go to north Tel Aviv to visit some friends. We told him to keep in touch with us and we would let him know when the border was open for him to come in. Not thinking the border might be open, Tass waited until about 3:00pm and called our young Israeli lieutenant friend at the Erez border to ask if the border happened to be open. To our surprise, he said it would be open until 9:00pm that evening, but didn't know when it would be again. So Tass immediately called our friend, Simcha, a Messianic believer friend who lives in Ashdod to ask him if he could go pick up James and get him to the border before it closed. Simcha said he could get to the border later but that his car was in the garage and didn't know when it would be done. As God would plan it, before we could even arrange for James to take a bus to Ashdod, God came through and released his car from the garage, so Simcha was able to pick up James, and get him to the Erez border by 8:00pm. After showing his papers to the lieutenant, they stamped him in and he was the last one over the border that evening. He later told us how surreal it felt walking down the long corridor crossing from one side to the other, knowing he was headed into the battle and having such peace about what he was doing.

We can identify with that feeling, as we both experienced it the first time we came here and every time we cross the border into Gaza. It was a miracle that Simcha was able to get James to the border in time with everything going on. Simcha, as many of you may remember, is the believer friend who lives and minsiters with his wife Bella here in Israel. Tass stayed in their home the first time he came to Israel and visited Gaza. The day he crossed over, they had prayed for him, and prayed that the Lord would use them as a "bridge" bet ween Gaza and Israel.---- God just answered that prayer when he used Simcha to get James into Gaza.

Well, that was only half the battle. Now we had to get James from the North of Gaza, to the south, where we are living and working. We could not pick him up at the border, because the Israelis had moved in the night before and closed the road in and out of Gaza City, which is the only way through to the Erez crossing from here. Again, the Lord came through. Tass called one of the new Muslim background believers who lives in Gaza City, A., to see if he could pick up James and bring him here to Iksaah. A. was hesitant at first since it was so dangerous to travel at night in the dark, however he decided he knew of a way to travel, along the sea, so he agreed to go. We prayed for his safety and he met James at the border.

Slowly they traveled along roads that had been blockaded and some that had already been bombed. A. even admitted at one point, the area they were traveling through was so dark, fear began to grip him. However, he said he thought about the scripture that says "if God is for us, then who will be against us" and he proceeded. By 9:50 pm they pulled up in front of our gate and we were so relieved and joyous that God had performed another miracle for us! Praise the Lord!

The next day we found out that at 3:00am that night, the Israelis had bombed a building in Gaza City and had killed a couple of Hamas leaders and several other people.  The television media called it "one of the bloodiest nights since the beginning of the event". We thanked God again as we marveled at His grace and mercy.

Last Friday evening, our friend Steve rang us around 10:00pm saying that another of his Muslim background believers A. had just rushed his wife H. to the hospital because she could not breath and he didn't expect her to come home that night. You see H. has been diagnosed with throat cancer, has had an operation to remove a tumor and was scheduled to do some chemotherapy in Egypt, but the borders are closed and they cannot get her to Egypt or to Israel. I (Karen) had prayed with H. several weeks ago as she was on her way to the hospital for blood tests. I annointed her with oil and prayed for her healing with our friend Steve translating for me. As Steve questioned her and I talked with her, we were able to get out of her that she wanted to pray the prayer of salvation, so I led her in prayer. She struggled to get the words out as it was hard for her to speak, but she did!

We kissed her goodbye and her husband took her to the hospital. The next day her husband said she was much better! Now, she was in need of prayer again, so we got in the car and traveled down the darkened streets of Khan Younis to the hospital. When we arrived, her husband, greeted us and rushed me into the emergency room where she was laying on a gurney, fully clothed with a long black outer coat on and her head wrapped up tight in a scarf. She was so hot, I could feel the heat coming off of her and as I touched her, I could feel she was wringing with perspiration. Two older women also dressed in this full Muslim dress were sitting beside her. As I prayed in a quiet voice as I did not know how much English they understood, I didn't want to cause suspicion. I just touched her and prayed for her for about five minutes and God gave me the picture of the young girl Jesus raised from the dead. After that, H. sat up and took off the oxygen mask and then took off her scarf and got up off of the gurney. One of the women with her, thanked me in Arabic and her husband led me back outside where Tass and Steve  were standing with another Muslim background believer. I told them what happened and they were praising the Lord. I asked her husband if I could go during the day to see her and pray with her. He said it was very difficult for that to happen since her brothers are Hamas. We turned around and saw her coming out the door being led by her brothers and mother. So we left with a prayer in our hearts and all convinced God is healing H.! Please pray for her complete healing!

The following day, Steve called to report that her husband called and said she was MUCH better and that his mother, one of the women in the room, told him that she was better "because of the prayer of the lady who came to pray over her last night". Praise God for His faithfulness! Pray that her healing will be a witness to her family!

We continue to praise God for His favor with the people here and for your prayer support!

living and walking In His steps,

Well we are back on!!! We apologize for not getting any blogs on the site for the past few days. Between electricity outages, internet connectivity problems and typepad taking down the site without warning, it has been quite a struggle. Please keep up your prayers as they make a HUGE difference!

We don't want to focus on the battle on the ground, as it is only an indication of the battle going on in the spirit! --- And guess who's winning? Our Great and Mighty God. We prefer to focus on His work to glorify Him.

God is truly working all kinds of miracles around us and through us. We are so grateful for His trust in us and His great love for these sons and daughters of Ishmael. The greatest miracle He has done lately is getting our very first volunteer here safe and sound. It was touch and go for a while but as James, our volunteer put it, He knew it must be God that he is here if He could arrange for him to get to Gaza against all the odds of recent events. It is a great story of God's faithfulness to us when we, as believers, work together for His glory!

On Wednesday, July 12, we got an early morning call from our volunteer, James, informing us that he had landed in Tel Aviv that morning and was about to go to north Tel Aviv to visit some friends. We told him to keep in touch with us and we would let him know when the border was open for him to come in. Not thinking the border might be open, Tass waited until about 3:00pm and called our young Israeli lieutenant friend at the Erez border to ask if the border happened to be open. To our surprise, he said it would be open until 9:00pm that evening, but didn't know when it would be again. So Tass immediately called our friend, Simcha, a Messianic believer friend who lives in Ashdod to ask him if he could go pick up James and get him to the border before it closed. Simcha said he could get to the border later but that his car was in the garage and didn't know when it would be done. As God would plan it, before we could even arrange for James to take a bus to Ashdod, God came through and released his car from the garage, so Simcha was able to pick up James, and get him to the Erez border by 8:00pm. After showing his papers to the lieutenant, they stamped him in and he was the last one over the border that evening. He later told us how surreal it felt walking down the long corridor crossing from one side to the other, knowing he was headed into the battle and having such peace about what he was doing.

We can identify with that feeling, as we both experienced it the first time we came here and every time we cross the border into Gaza. It was a miracle that Simcha was able to get James to the border in time with everything going on. Simcha, as many of you may remember, is the believer friend who lives and minsiters with his wife Bella here in Israel. Tass stayed in their home the first time he came to Israel and visited Gaza. The day he crossed over, they had prayed for him, and prayed that the Lord would use them as a "bridge" bet ween Gaza and Israel.---- God just answered that prayer when he used Simcha to get James into Gaza.

Well, that was only half the battle. Now we had to get James from the North of Gaza, to the south, where we are living and working. We could not pick him up at the border, because the Israelis had moved in the night before and closed the road in and out of Gaza City, which is the only way through to the Erez crossing from here. Again, the Lord came through. Tass called one of the new Muslim background believers who lives in Gaza City, A., to see if he could pick up James and bring him here to Iksaah. A. was hesitant at first since it was so dangerous to travel at night in the dark, however he decided he knew of a way to travel, along the sea, so he agreed to go. We prayed for his safety and he met James at the border.

Slowly they traveled along roads that had been blockaded and some that had already been bombed. A. even admitted at one point, the area they were traveling through was so dark, fear began to grip him. However, he said he thought about the scripture that says "if God is for us, then who will be against us" and he proceeded. By 9:50 pm they pulled up in front of our gate and we were so relieved and joyous that God had performed another miracle for us! Praise the Lord!

The next day we found out that at 3:00am that night, the Israelis had bombed a building in Gaza City and had killed a couple of Hamas leaders and several other people.  The television media called it "one of the bloodiest nights since the beginning of the event". We thanked God again as we marveled at His grace and mercy.

Last Friday evening, our friend Steve rang us around 10:00pm saying that another of his Muslim background believers A. had just rushed his wife H. to the hospital because she could not breath and he didn't expect her to come home that night. You see H. has been diagnosed with throat cancer, has had an operation to remove a tumor and was scheduled to do some chemotherapy in Egypt, but the borders are closed and they cannot get her to Egypt or to Israel. I (Karen) had prayed with H. several weeks ago as she was on her way to the hospital for blood tests. I annointed her with oil and prayed for her healing with our friend Steve translating for me. As Steve questioned her and I talked with her, we were able to get out of her that she wanted to pray the prayer of salvation, so I led her in prayer. She struggled to get the words out as it was hard for her to speak, but she did!

We kissed her goodbye and her husband took her to the hospital. The next day her husband said she was much better! Now, she was in need of prayer again, so we got in the car and traveled down the darkened streets of Khan Younis to the hospital. When we arrived, her husband, greeted us and rushed me into the emergency room where she was laying on a gurney, fully clothed with a long black outer coat on and her head wrapped up tight in a scarf. She was so hot, I could feel the heat coming off of her and as I touched her, I could feel she was wringing with perspiration. Two older women also dressed in this full Muslim dress were sitting beside her. As I prayed in a quiet voice as I did not know how much English they understood, I didn't want to cause suspicion. I just touched her and prayed for her for about five minutes and God gave me the picture of the young girl Jesus raised from the dead. After that, H. sat up and took off the oxygen mask and then took off her scarf and got up off of the gurney. One of the women with her, thanked me in Arabic and her husband led me back outside where Tass and Steve  were standing with another Muslim background believer. I told them what happened and they were praising the Lord. I asked her husband if I could go during the day to see her and pray with her. He said it was very difficult for that to happen since her brothers are Hamas. We turned around and saw her coming out the door being led by her brothers and mother. So we left with a prayer in our hearts and all convinced God is healing H.! Please pray for her complete healing!

The following day, Steve called to report that her husband called and said she was MUCH better and that his mother, one of the women in the room, told him that she was better "because of the prayer of the lady who came to pray over her last night". Praise God for His faithfulness! Pray that her healing will be a witness to her family!

We continue to praise God for His favor with the people here and for your prayer support!

living and walking In His steps,

Three Girls and Me

Over the next three days I have the complete joy of being alone with all three of my girls.  Will I survive?  Yes.  Will it be easy?  Probably not.  My wife left this morning to spend three days with some ladies down in Savannah, GA.  A well deserved break for her indeed and this was her Mother's Day gift from me to her.

Here's a few things I've learned so far in my first 8 hours of being alone with my three girls:

• You can go to Barbie.com and paint Barbie's fingernails.  I never knew that.  I actually had to call the wife to tell me where to find that.  My middle child was insistent that mommy knows where it is.
• My oldest really can whoop me on Xbox.
• Gerber Turkey Meat Sticks are really nasty.
• I now understand why my wife keeps the fridge stocked well with her favorite caffeinated beverage "Coke 0".
• Changing one poopy diaper on a baby while changing a 3 year olds pull up from pooh is really not as pleasant as it may seem.
• I love spending time with my girls.

Way Late on This...

But this was too funny not to post.  Found this somewhere in the blog world (can't remember where).  I never had a brother, but I bet some of you brothers could identify with these fellas.

Summer Breakout Sunday

Along with Easter and Christmas I'd say that SBO Sunday is one of our biggest outreach opportunities.  All the parents come to see their kids sing on the stage and recite their practice points from the week.  Neighbors, friends, friends of neighbors, relatives and long lost visitors who have come and gone all show up for this Sunday event.  Today we had 810 people walk through our doors at Grace Church.  That's the second most attendance we've ever had since Easter.

I just want to take a moment to recognize some people that made this week happen. 

• Video Doog you're my hero.  Thanks for staying up all night to make the highlight video.  It was fantabulous as usual! 
• Scott Stanley on electric guitar...you're more than a second string guitar player...you're the epidemy of what it means to have a servants heart.  Thanks for taking time off work each day this week to play guitar for the kids.  You rocked!
• Leevy - As always...you show what worship is all about through your giving and humble heart.  Thanks for coming each day to minister to these kids.
• Keith - You da man!  Your contributions to lighting was like the cherry on top of all that we did.  It was sweet!  Thanks for giving your time also each day. 
• Chris - You're awesome!  I love to watch you get into the worship with the kids.  Great job on the keys!  Thank you for giving your time as well.
• Jim W. (Jimmy luv 2) - You did a great job this week subbing on the bass.  You made it!  Way to go homey!  I think we'll let you play on the stage again.
• Kevin B - Thanks for waking up early this week to sit in on audio!
• Michelle & Brian - You're my heros!  Thank you for investing so much in my kids. 
• Lisa W - You rock!  Thanks for being the glue this week!
• Daneen K - I don't think you read this blog...but someone please pass this link to her.  She is awesome!  Thank you for giving so much of your time, energy and love for our kids.
• Tim H. - What a pastor!  You jumped right into the audio and took the lead for 2 days. 
• Countless volunteers - thank you thank you thank you all for giving this week.  Thank you for loving my children enough to share Christ with them.  They will remember this week forever.

This truly is our biggest outreach opportunity each and every year.  We've only just begun to scratch the surface on what we can do to reach others through this ministry opportunity.  Y'all rock!!!!