Please be praying for us.  We have found a house in Boulder that is in the realm of reasonable price wise - only 339,000.  Its such a low price because its a piece of junk and would need some serious, serious work.  We are going to walk through with a builder on Monday and find out if it will be feasible for us.

The upside is that we would be in good location and can design the house to meet our needs.  The downside is that it may cost too much to get it there because it has some serious foundation issues.

So we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and good sense and possibly strong backs and endurance.

We are starting to achieve a normal chaos after ‘the break’. School is rolling along now.

Joshua’s wrestling season came to an abrupt end when he reinjured a shoulder he first hurt in football. Kind of a bummer.

  Caleb is starting baseball tryouts. Kylee joined the 6th grade orchestra and Louisville Middle School.

So we are glad to be back to a somewhat more ordered period.

Our series on “Christianity Makes Sense” is continuing.  So far we have discussed how it makes sense relationally and intellectually.  Next week I will discuss how it makes sense practically.

I have read some good books in preparing for this: “What’s So Great About Christianity” by Dinesh D’Souza, “Can Man Live Without God” by Ravi Zacharias, and “For the Glory of God” by Rodney Stark.  The last is a bit more scholarly, but is one that you should read to gain a more accurate view of history, if you have the time.  Did you know that when Columbus sailed every intellectual already knew the earth was round including the church?  I am going to try to explain that Christianity makes sense in very practical, down to earth ways.

Anyway, if you have any comments on this topic of ‘Christianity Makes Sense”, I would welcome them.  Of course, there is also a part of Christianity that is not just rational, but we don’t have to turn our brains off to be followers of Jesus.

Tonight we begin our weekly meetings for the spring.  We meet on campus at 7 pm and students generally leave by 10.  This semester we will focus on 4 main topics.  The first will be ‘Christianity Makes Sense’ which we will discuss for three weeks from different angles. Please be praying for us as we kick off the semester tonight.

Yesterday I began a little conversation known as Table Talk Tuesday @ 12:22 ( or just T3).  The freshmen liked this idea and others have joined in as well.  We find a table in the student union (University Memorial Center or UMC) and have a discussion over a certain topic.  Yesterday’s question was “Is man born evil?” which we modified to “Is man born with a sin nature?”

Its sort of a come and go thing and everyone is welcome.  I hope this can become an encouraging time to help people move closer to Jesus and to teach them to think critically about difficult and challenging issues and understand  what the Bible says about it even if they don’t agree with it.  We had a great time and everyone is looking forward to next week.

Wow.  Somehow Christmas break doesn’t end up being restful.  We have been on the move for awhile now.  It has been good however.

We enjoyed a few days in Pagosa Springs with some college friends who are all parents many times over these days.  We enjoyed that time and worked in a day of skiing that was perfect.  The trip back home was slow as a storm dumped snow on us the entire second half of the trip.

After one day at home in which we had our family Christmas, we were off to Oklahoma to see our families and friends.  We also made a quick trip to see my Grandpa who is 91 years old.  The kids received a Wii for Christmas on this trip and it has increased our family’s exercise.  It also gave us new vocabulary, such as, “Don’t touch me there, that’s my Wii arm.”

Then we raced back to Colorado for a student conference called Life Impact.  The staffs of Colorado Christian Challenge’s planned and organized this conference.  The conference emphasized evangelism, discipleship, and missions and also encouraged a deep spiritual life to be found in daily relationship with Jesus.  Attendance was around 400 and most everyone I talked with was in agreement that it needs to happen again in two years.  This conference fits a need in reinforcing the  DNA of the ministries that attend and moving students forward in fulfilling the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.

And then we were able to come home - just in time to prepare for family and friends who are coming to town for Kylee’s bat berith party ( a special party for her 12th birthday).  Then we start up again as we have our student leader’s back for a meeting on Sunday afternoon.  School starts on Monday.  It seems we’ll get rest in heaven. ( During these times, it pays to have some small ways to relax and recharge - i.e. Quiet Time in a hot tub, family Wii bowling tournament, date night, etc.  They don’t take a lot of time, but can make a huge difference in the midst of full and busy decades of life)

One of my New Year goals is to update this blog more often, so comment and hold me to it. Its good to have you for us and with us and behind us.

Oh.  We saw several students join the Family at the conference (including one of our children) so it was very exciting as well as challenging.