I’m excited to let all of you know that I’m going to continue writing, except now alongside of my wife.  We’ve chosen to do this because we both believe that together we are more effective in encouraging people than apart.  I hope to continue sharing my journey in becoming a more Genuine Disciple in this new space.  Most of my “Genuine Disciple…” posts will now be under the heading “thoughtful.” You can see the new site, posts, and more about why we both made the jump right here on our “About Us” page.

Helping with Hannah has been a little bit more work than I had anticipated, so some things have taken a back seat (like the blog).  However, I’ve been writing this entire week and there is currently something in the works so I haven’t posted them.  Keep checking back and I’ll let you know when it happens.

Born on May 20, 2011 at 6:35pm…We couldn’t be happier!

I still have the dreaded “writer’s block,” so I decided to just let people know what has been challenging me lately:

1. Writing – Of course!  I have 3 blog posts written that I’ve embraced the overly idea of, but I can’t help but think that something is missing from each of them.  I don’t like to release things that don’t reflect how I truly feel about them, so I’ll wait and tweak them some more.  The problem with doing regular blogging is the internal feeling that you need to release something on regular intervals.  Well, I’m not this week so deal with it.

2. The Sermon on the Mount - I think I’m on week 4 of studying the Sermon on the Mount and I’m about 1/2 way through Matthew 6.  I knew the amount of rabbit trails available to me when beginning my journey into the Mount, but I decided not to skip it…ask me in a month if I made the right decision.  However, I can tell you that I’ve been more challenged by Jesus’ teachings in these passages than ever before.

3. Waiting for Baby Wallace - I’m starting to wonder when that little girl/guy is coming out.  God has given Rebekah and me so much patience through this pregnancy, and now we’re praying daily for that same patience to continue.  Also, I still need to pack my “hospital bag.”  I should really get to that tonight

4. Our House - Seriously, our house is much better than the ones I’ve seen priced in our range (95k).  We’ve had over 15 couples come through it by now, had it basically sold twice (both fell through), and a few more that said they’d be back (never came back).  School doesn’t start till August 22, so we’re not feeling any real pressure to sell it, but its been a bit frustrating at times.  However, the lessons Bekah and I have learned thus far have been worth it. We keep reminding one another of God’s goodness to us in that we have a place to live that we absolutely love and a place to invite people into.  Most people in the world are not as fortunate as we are, and we don’t want to take that responsibility lightly or minimize its blessing.  If it sells, it sells.  If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

5. EGM Involvement – I’m a focused individual and require clarity of direction.  I’m really feeling good about where things are headed at EGM.  The conversations that are taking place should continue to cultivate deeper roots within our congregational leadership.  We are getting started on very practical ways to journey with and grow future leaders at EGM.  I’m running a class on Sunday nights for a small group piloting some of these things we’ve been working on…and am having a blast I might add.  I suppose this isn’t really a challenge, but it is challenging me to be a more effective leader as well.  If you attend EGM, get excited with me.

What’s challenging you lately?

This blog started largely for selfish reasons.  I needed  a place to vent my thoughts on electronic paper.  It’s called Genuine Disciple because my desire is to be just that and hopefully through my writings people are encouraged along the way.  I love to write and I’m not sure where that will lead in the future, but for today most of it appears in my saved drafts that never get posted and what you see here.  Maybe I’ll do something a bit different.  Rebekah and I have discussed writing a blog together since I feel like we’d be able to encourage so many couples, young and old.  Also, I’ve been tossing around the idea of gathering 3-4 of my friends and doing a shared blog, but I’m concerned with managing those people and losing some control over the content.

Alas, I come back to Genuine Disciple and why it all began.  I desire to be an authentic follower of Jesus, and I desire people to journey with me both physically and digitally.  Along this journey I’ve realized that it’s less and less about being a disciple (individual) and being disciples (community).  My heart has grown for communal life together in the kingdom.  I’ve even noticed a change in my writing from an individual focus to one of community.  I hope this continues and that my heart for the church continues to beat stronger.  I’m not sure where the writing end of things will lead, but maybe like most things, each days journey is what we’re asked to be faithful in.

I have a gigantic post written about my two week long wrestling match with Matthew 5.  However, instead of posting my thoughts this week on Matthew 5, I’m going to choose to take another week and meditate on it.  Matthew 5-7, sometimes known as “The Sermon on the Mount,” is filled with so many theological, and therefore practical, goods that it’d be a disservice to just post something flippantly.  I’m going to choose to use a little awe & wonder this week; Something I should do much more often.

If you have any thoughts on Matthew 5, throw them in the comments section and add to the exploration.

Most of us in the blog world receive spam messages within our comments.  Most of the time the “real readers” don’t see these because there are mechanisms built into the content management system (the thing that manages the blog) that block these from ever coming into the viewable world.  While I normally just skip over these and throw them in the virtual trash can.  Today, I will answer them back right here on the blog.  I highly encourage you to NOT go to any of the urls listed here.  So, without further ado, here are the comments along with my response:

*Comment on post “But Now I See” from “Jay Wasp” on May 4, 2011, email address:  dubstepdistrubution.com/blog/2011/104/kornskrillex…@scircle497@AOL.com says the following:  “Tickets for Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas begin selling this Saturday at noon.”

My Response:  Jay, thanks for the the heads up on the Electric Daisy Carnival Tickets.  I wasn’t aware of what an Electric Daisy was, nor that there was a Carnival celebrating it.  I checked out the website at http://www.electricdaisycarnival.com/LasVegas/ for information and found that it’s basically a 3 day dance festival.  I just don’t have the means to fly out to Vegas and pay $180 for the tickets, sorry.  Hopefully we can connect again some other time.  I always wanted to be friends with a guy with such a cool name…Jay Wasp, should do nicely.

*Comment on post “Not a Kinder Egg” from “TungKwooHoh” on May 3 2011, email address:  blog.xuite.net/ajdiedlknbkfjfheudnBonnavia@gmail.com says the following: “Recently I did a search on the issue and found a alot number of persons will agree with your blog?2″

My Response:  Dear TungKwooHoh, I think you’ve just taken the award for coolest name from Jay Wasp.  Also, What is with that email address, and how many hours a year do you waste trying to correctly give it out to people?  Anyway, I appreciate your seemingly kind comment, but I was wondering if I could get a bit of clarity on it.  Are you trying to ask me whether people agree with me that freaking out over a chocolate egg that contains toys is ridiculous?  It seems that you’re not really asking a question, but then you ended with a question mark that really threw me off.  Also, that number “2″ at the end was just confusing.  I’d really like to converse with you on this topic, but it would help if you could clarify those things for me.  Thanks!

*Comment on post “The King” from “Web Designers, Hosting Companies, Nigeria Resellers” on May 4, 2011, email address:  Curl88108@yahoo.com says the following:  “Yeah I agree & I couldn’t have said it better.  keep it up“

*My Response:  Hey Web Designers, Hosting Companies, Nigera Resellers!  Long time no talk/see.  I sent you $5,000 about a year ago and didn’t hear back from you.  I was wondering if that guaranteed investment you got me into went south seeing as I didn’t hear back from you.  I see that you’re also doing Web Design and Hosting?  I could use a new company to host my websites through and I’m wondering what packages you may offer?  Also, thanks for the comment and the encouragement to keep persevering with my writing.  Sometimes it can be draining, and it’s so nice to be encouraged from a friend and business partner.  You keep it up as well my friend.