My Good Friend's Wedding

My good friend Deb is now happily married to her perfect match, Jonah. I was grateful to witness the wedding on the evening of June 8. Deb looked elegant, calm, and elated the whole day.
I realized at the wedding, that I have known Deb for over 10 years. We clicked the second time meeting and God blessed me with a wonderful friend in Deb. Watching her story unfold from the musicals, high school co-op, Coffee Talk, college, her meeting Jonah has been amazing. Through out the whole time Deb was God focused and a great listener. She contemplated a lot and her thoughts were always interesting and insightful. I look forward to watching Deb in this new stage of life.

Christianity a violent and aggressive religion?!?

Interesting article that causes great reflection. I disagree with the author about the religions that are non-aggressive. At the Smithsonian there is an exhibit on the history of Sikhism. The religion spread through "evangelism".

Confession in Caregroup

Confession of sins in Caregroup?!? Hmmm... how is this to work/look? Heather said that the AZ churches were strongly encouraging confessing your sins in member only caregroups, but didn't address discussing overcoming the sins. My brain immediately began processing all the information I have received through pamphlets and sermons on the topic of confessing sins. My view, which I am seeing demonstrated in my church here is logical and seems to be God focused. When members of my caregroup do confess sin, it is followed by an intense time in asking questions and bringing out scripture to help in disclosing the root of sin and God's instruction on overcoming the sin. The main thing I enjoy is the scripture that is shared. It is encouraging to me sometimes, even though I did not share my struggles. Scripture lets us know that we are to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel (1 Cor. 10:31) God's main route to speak to us is through scripture. I hope that that every one's caregroups see the importance of confession backed with scripture. We need God's word to know how to live and to see who God is. Without scripture, caregroup is merely a self help group that does nothing to move us forward in the race that is set before us. In Hebrews 12:1-3 it says: "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." My conclusion about confession in caregroup is that it needs to point the attention and focus onto Jesus Christ and not allow us to wallow in or justify our sins/struggles. Ladies or any family member please post your thoughts, I realize that my brain is very small and my knowledge of scripture is not unending.

All Work and No Play

Work has finally picked up. This is due my big project getting back under way after being on hold for two months. (a side note about design engineering work, a project has phases. Most projects consist of a few different submissions of progress sets before final construction ready documents.) So, to continue my story, our last progress set was back in October for a 35% design set. The project was then put on hold mid-February, because some Admiral was reconsidering how the Navy should set up their housing for enlisted men. Fast forward to mid-April, my work gets a call to start back up the project with a due date for our 75% progress set on May 30th. Not bad, we were given six weeks to get the project from 35% to 75%. But fortunately or unfortunately, a week and a half ago, the contractor changed their minds. My project due date was moved up to May 14th. This new due date has required me to spend a few hours the past two Saturdays here:
It is very nice to being working hard for a change. I do not enjoy boredom.

Easter

My first Easter away from home was wonderful. Aimee, Camille and I awoke very early on Sunday to trek down to Lincoln Memorial for a sunrise service. It was beautiful, despite the freezing cold temperature.

It was wonderful to remember what Christ did for me. I am very grateful that Christ Jesus rose on the the third day to set me free from my sins.

We celebrated the day by decorating eggs, a feast, and hunting for eggs.

April showers bring May flowers, or does it

Well, whoever came up with that saying obviously never lived in Virginia or meant snow showers, not rain. I awoke to this today:

Yes, that is my car outside with snow on it. The worst part is that the beautiful daffodils in are front yard looked quite sad. :-(

I do not think they will recover. This is quite sad as the daffodils made our yard look so pretty.

Cherry Blossoms

On Tuesday, Camille and I went to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms at sunset. The metro was very crowded and the Cherry blossom area was even more crowded. Mom, Heather, the boys, and I accidentally got to experience the street traffic on Monday, but that story is for another blog. While taking many pictures, I discovered a new function on my camera. It has a sunset setting! I think this improved the pictures immensely. Here is the proof: