House Trip

We spent a week camping in the Grand Teton National Park - hiking, visiting Yellowstone, campfires, sleeping under the stars - lots of fun


The beautiful Tetons!

We also spent a week with Desi and her family in Idaho. Who ever knew Idaho was so beautiful? We picked and canned green beans, four-wheeled, went cliff jumping, and just enjoyed farm life.

Graduation Ceremony

A special day to remember and celebrate our year

Jeff, Pam, Becky

Jessi, Book, Jenny - The women who have taught me so much this year

Leadtime Ladies

Clouds

Nahum 1:3
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.

Luke 1:7
Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

Mark 9:7-8
Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

Today's "My Utmost for His Highest" is about clouds.
In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. "The clouds are the dust of His feet" They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God!

In the clouds, where we can't see anything else, we have the opportunity to see our Jesus. What a sweet thing!

Some TSTL hypeness :o)

The video is a little blurry, but it gives you the idea.

Not ourselves, but CHRIST

2 Cor 4:5-7,13
For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves...Having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written 'I believed therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore we speak.

Isn't this awesome! What much needed confidence it brings to me!

Hudson Taylor

I have lately been listening to a reading of the book "Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret" - the title is a bit misleading, because the book isn't really about a secret of any sort. It is simply a biography of Taylor's life and calling as a missionary to China. It is awesome to hear of this man's faith and God's work through him to draw many to Christ.

If you want, you can download the mp3 files at the link below. I would highly recommend it.

http://lampfordarktimes.blogspot.com/2007/10/audio-book-hudson-taylors-spiritual.html

Lookout Bryan, Texas - here I come

Here it is: the official announcement. No more maybe or might or possibly.
I will, Lord willing, be moving back to Bryan, Texas in September after I finish LeadTime. Yay! I have known this for quite some time, but have just been a little afraid to say it as a certainty - and although still a little crazy to say for sure, it is exciting to share this news with you. I will definitely miss Colorado but am excited to once again be near many dear friends. There are many things the Lord is stirring in my heart that are bringing me back to Bryan, and so although LeadTime is not finished, whenever you remember me please also pray for my preparation to return to Bryan.

"Enlarge the place of your tent; stretch out the curtains of your dwelling, spare not; lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs. For you will spread broad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations, And they will resettle the desolate cities....And all your sons will be taught by the Lord, and the well-being of your sons will be great. In righteousness you will be established...No weapon that is formed against you will prosper...This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord." Isaiah 54

Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!

G-1 girls on parents day


The first term (2 weeks) of camp just finished. There are a lot of fun moments and the Lord definitely worked in mighty ways - 3 girls in G1 became Christians and the transforming love of Christ had a huge impact on all of the kids at camp. One of my favorite moments from camp occurred during a "SKIT-SKIT-SKIT" one morning. The skit was a game show and the host was giving all these great prizes away to the contestants - trips and shopping sprees and cars...but as he offered them he mumbled that they could choose the prize or...mumble,mumble, mumble. The first 2 excited contestants chose the prize offered, only for the host to reveal that they got to take these with them straight to hell - and then these huge scary dudes came in and took away the contestant. The last contestant however wanted to know what the host was mumbling about and after much questioning found out that she had to either choose the incredible prize or her walk with Jesus Christ. At this point, when she realized what 2 things were being offered and was deciding which to take, the whole room exploded with little children chanting "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!".... I can't describe what a beautiful sound this was. It brought tears to my eyes. There truly is no sweeter name than the name of Jesus and what a testament to him that these simple children, whose lives offer little opportunity to know much of Christ, know His goodness and that he really is better than anything else this world could offer.

Retreat

We had a 3 day LeadTime retreat this week out at a cabin by the Poudre River. What a refreshing time to just be alive, rest in God's presence, and reflect on who He is. Our wonderful directors cooked great food for us and provided neat opportunities to be alone, play together, and share together God's work in us. It was sweet.

-I just remembered a funny story and wanted to add it to this post. While hiking, I spent about 20 minutes walking at the end of the line behind Jason, and during this time, filled up his whole backpack with rocks- one at a time - without him noticing. He carried them to the end of the hike where he finally found them and was quite bewildered. It was funny :o) -

Fourth of July

Katie dunking one of the Littles at our pool party/BBQ with the girls



Pam and one of the Littles dancing while we wait for the fireworks



While laying outside on this beautiful 4th of July evening watching these fireworks, the song "What a Wonderful World" played in the background. I know this world is fallen, full of hurt and sin, and I am ready for Jesus to come back - but there are moments where in the midst of all that God is so wonderful to me and I wonder how on earth I am so incredibly blessed.

New Friends! (TSTL)

The Sky's The Limit (TSTL) is a ministry of Doulos that provides a christian summer camp for urban youth and at the same time trains young adults by giving them an opportunity to be leaders at the camp. Since I really love children and urban ministry I have been given the great opportunity of working with TSTL (which is not the LeadTime norm).
I have lots of new friends - fellow counselors at camp as well as these precious kids. They are so much fun! Our theme for the summer is "Transformed" - all the 1st graders in G-1 (my group this week) learned Romans 12:2 really well and are super cute saying it. Camp is physically exhausting- especially when followed by an evening with the Littles, but I love it. It is challenging being in an environment that is not my norm and being an "outsider", but I want to learn from this, and overall the staff have done a great job of helping me be a part and feel welcomed.It's crazy to see teens many younger than our Shelterwood kids and many with even rougher pasts working hard, serving, and sharing the love of Christ with these little kids - what a blessing!

Keep Recognizing Jesus

This is a "My Utmost For His Highest" entry from a few days ago- I hope it challenges you like it did me.

Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . —Matthew 14:29-30

The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and "walked on the water." Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.

We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, ". . . why did you doubt?" ( Matthew 14:31 ). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.

If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, "Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?" Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.

Stealing Jesus

We just started a series at church this morning entitled "Stealing Jesus". The premise of the series is that in our culture we have become so familiar with Jesus that we think we know Him when really we have no idea who He really is. His identity has been stolen, and we just know all these images of him created by the world around us. So, the point of the series is to actually take a look at Jesus' life, what he said about himself, and how he lived in hopes of getting rid of false views of Him and actually getting to know Him.
I'm excited for this study, because I have recently been reading through Luke and John, and making this same observation- that I don't know Jesus in the way I find Him there, and that I don't live like a follower of the Jesus I find there would live.

Lord, continue to challenge my faith- may I come face to face with who you really are and somehow offer that to others in this world.

New Girls

So, we got two new girls last week. Please pray for "RA" and "AR"

"RA" is 16 and is here for drugs, guys, rebellion - that sort of stuff. She is a cheerleader and seems to fit the stereotype. She didn't know she was coming and is not happy to be here. She's convinced she doesn't need to be here and will be able to leave in 2 months. "RA" is my Little, "EM"'s new roommate. Please pray for both of them. "EM" really wants a friend and wants to impress, but tends to do that in negative ways. "RA" has already stolen a couple of times and seems to lie about everything. So pray for us, to catch her in her bad decisions and have wisdom in knowing how to deal with her in love.

"AR" is 13. I'm still not completely sure why she is here- I think there were just issues with her parents and boys and stealing, but its hard to see any of that yet. She mostly just seems like a little kid that is really sweet, but doesn't have the best social skills. The other girls have started having a "Toothbrush Party" all together every morning and evening, just to get her to join. "AR" is a lot easier for me, although she needs a lot of attention, she doesn't do the whole teenage "I'm way too cool for school" thing. But I'm sure we'll see some of her true colors come out as time goes on. She seems to really like Jesus - but this may be mostly because of her parents - so pray the Lord would take what is already in her and grow it deep.

A praise to go along with that, is that I got to ask a lot of questions and share a little with "Z", who is an atheist, this week. Please continue to pray for her salvation.

Lyngy

Just wanted to share some fun things with you:

Melissa got a job at Sonic and will be starting today - she is pretty nervous, so please pray for her.
Melissa got her Drivers Permit yesterday. Whenever she is ready, she can go back and take her driving test for her license. This is another scary new thing.
Melissa really likes the small group Bible study we are going to. We're definitely going to continue going through the summer .
Melissa also called her mom this week, just to show her she still cares and make an attempt at relationship. This is really hard. Please pray that her heart would continue to be soft and to pursue and that her mom would respond with love.

Yay God! Yay Melissa!
Thanks for your prayers.

Words of Wisdom from the Sis

I just saw this picture of my sister, from my fun visit with her in Lubbock last month. It reminded me of some wise words she gave that I thought I would share.

We were talking about marriage and how its actually scary it is to think of spending the rest of your life with and building a family with this one person - how right before it was time to get married I would probably freak out and think of a thousand questions that I wanted answers to, things I wanted to have figured out before I signed my life away- but you can never know all the answers or if the other person is being honest with you about everything, and even if they are, people change over time....to think of all those things and then think of getting married is scary... So, after talking through these things, my sister finally says,

"Yeah, but Becky, that's why marriage is a commitment"

Seems like a simple enough thought. Everyone knows this to be true, but it really is wise - in marriage you commit yourself and your relationship and your future into God's hands - with lots of uncertainties and without knowing all the answers, you commit to no matter what, work through it, because its worth it.

God compares our relationship with Him to marriage. and in the same way, when it begins we have no idea all that's ahead and all that it will require. But He's won our heart; he has our trust. For me this makes it impossible to not follow him- I can't leave Him - I'm committed.

kinda silly

These pictures are from a "Joe's truck stop breakfast and bowling" Doulos Day that we had at the begining of May- that was a while ago, but it was during a long stetch of not posting anything, so I'm posting them now just for grins

Home and back for the home stretch

My break at home was wonderful. I love being home and was very encouraged and blessed by everyone I got to spend time with. Fun motorcycle rides, parents who take care of you, old friends, new babies, weddings, seeing God's work - what's not to love about that? Being away from Shelterwood gave me time to dream and be excited about what might come next after August and to come back here refreshed and really excited about the last 3 months I have here. We are at a really sweet part in the year - a place of deep relationship and openness and honesty - a place where we have been through a lot of hard things that we are now reaping the benefit from - a place where we have learned much and are getting an opportunity to try and really walk these things out.

My Little Graduated!

Lyngy's family


Praying over Lyngy


"M" (who I call Lyngy) has been my Little since I arrived in August; today she turned 18 and graduated the program! Way to go Lyngy! I am so proud of her for her perseverance and hard work. Her whole family came out to celebrate her graduation. I was bummed to have to miss it. God has taken a girl who was hurting, broken, confused, locked up and hiding and has shone his light into her life giving her real life and truth and hope and confidence. What an exciting transformation to see. I love this girl with my whole heart and am so thankful to know her.

Taos Trip

Marcedes has trouble on the trail.

All of the girl Bigs.

Yummy campfire dinner.

Not-so-yummy campfire dinner after our cooler got stolen.


Did you know New Mexico was beuatiful?

Blending in with the locals.

Mud baths at the hot springs.


What a fun week this was. Camping at the bottom of a beautiful canyon, hiking, cooking over the campfire, lots of chill time, playing games,the hot springs, dancing Indians - it was great. The girls had such great attitudes and it was really fun time to spend together outdoors. Its really good to get away from everything and slow down the pace of life for a while. We had a "prayer partner" time every day, and I was really thankful to get to share and pray with one of the Littles during this time. God has just in the last month done a work in her causing her to desire to know Him. Anyways, this trip was a blast, and I am looking forward to getting to take another one with the girls at the end of the summer.