What a monster....

Today's sign of the Appocolypse...

Oprah gave a whole bunch of people this....

A TV with a refrigerator in it...

Now if that doesn't scream 'obesity' I don't know what does. Wow.

Halloween!

Here's a few pictures from some trick or treating we took Eli to this weekend. It was a lot of fun. I'll probably post some more after real Halloween. What cute kids...

KP

Nora Grace...

We had a baby girl last night! For more info, go here:

http://noragraceporter.blogspot.com/

Whoo hoo! Mom and baby are doing great. Eli is a tad bit jealous thought...

I'm an old man who listens to talk radio.

It's true. I'm now "that guy." I think I probably listen to FM radio about once a month in my car. The rest of the time, I listen to the NPR or my iPod. Today, I was browsing through my AM presets and I stopped on Dr. Dina Dell (spelling?). To my credit, I seldomly listen to guys like him (I have to hang on to at least a shred of my dignity).

So the good Dr. is talking about this study that such and such group conducted on people with heart attacks. Basically, they studied to see if people who prayed (people of Judea-Christian faith only) while in heart attack recovery healed quicker or became more healthy than people who didn't. Then he went on about how he expected that due to the placebo effect that they probably did. Well, it turns out that they didn't. There were some mental and social benefits, but no physical ones. Then he talked a bit about the implications of that and how they pertain to his own doubts about the existence of some sort of a divine being.

I found myself being a little put off by the whole thing. Honestly, I don't much care if the Doc spent his whole show tearing down the existence of a Creator. That's his prerogative. That didn't bother me at all.

What really bothered me is the trite view of our faith the church has projected to our culture. We've dumbed down who God is enough that we've trivialized him as a vending machine to the culture around us. We really just don't get what it's about do we? We spend our time in our churches praying for Aunt Louis who has a strange growth on her left toe and Uncle Steve who has lung cancer now (after smoking a pack a day for 10 years) and then throw out a prayer or two for the missionaries we throw money at every month. Then we go home till the next time.

Resultingly, our culture now sees the Almighty God as a weak man's way to make it through a harsh world. He's dumbed down to a nice grandfather in heaven who's chief concern is our sick friends and relatives.

But, I'm convinced that we're missing it. I've been studying John the Baptist a bit lately. That guy got it. He understood that this Jesus guy was coming to do something big. Something that was worth standing in opposition to the culture around him and shouting from the roof tops. Something worth loosing his head over... literally.

When did we let it become what it has become? When did it stop being something worth dying for and become not much more than something we cling to for comfort. Let's not forget that everything in the Christian faith is dependent on the willing humiliation of a God who took on flesh. I'm quite certain if he was willing to endure it all - the scorn, the suffering, the humanity it wasn't just so that we could pray for the quick recovery of our loved ones.

So then, what do we do? I'm tired of people like me screaming out problems with the church at the top of their lungs and offering no solutions.

Certainly, there is a place for praying for the sick, the hurting, the dying. Jesus did. Just look at the story of Lazarus. Over and over he tells us to take care of these people. And we should. And an element of that is certainly praying for them. But we need more than that. We need action. And not just in a every now and then programmatic way. We need need to be more like John the Baptist. We need to devote our lives to crying out "Prepare the way" and messages of true healing. And that happens in word AND DEED. We need to expect that of our brothers and sisters in Christ. If I'm not doing it, then they suffer. We're one body and we need each others gifts and strengths.

I guess for me that means I need to do a better job reflecting Christ to Century Business Systems in my speech and my actions. Even when I feel like I'm getting taken advantage of. Even in the midst of hardship, Christ models a response of grace (not read passiveness). And to my neighbors who love to drink beer in their truck bed with the radio cranked at 11pm at night.

It's hard though. It's easier to just read nice stories from the Bible and skip the hard parts and tell people that "we're praying from them." Or tell ourselves that God loves us so much He'll make it all better and the hard part will go away. But, sometimes He loves me so much that he doesn't make it all better.

And it's a disservice to the grace we've been give to live a faith that expects life to be that way.

Thanks for letting me rant.

I'm reconsidering Nora's name....

I'm thinking Superwoman... or maybe 4Fake. Sound stupid? It is. But sadly, it's real. Go here.

For those of you that wasted your childhood like I did...

Check this out! It's Tecmo Super Bowl from NES, only someone updated it with current rosters. Incredible. Good thing it's Friday and I have nothing to do at work...

World "Losing Fight Agains AIDs"

BBC currently has an article on their front page about how the world is "Losing Fight Against AIDs" Read the article, it's informative and horrifying. Especially in light of the fact that the problem is worsening in Africa and that Asia is well on it's way to the same infection rates. AIDs is changing what the world looks like. It's hard for me to imagine. The numbers of people dying are so large that I can't wrap my mind around it. Read the article if you've got a minute - it's got some pretty staggering stuff in it. Like:

Only a quarter of the people needing treatment were receiving it, meaning the other three-quarters would continue to spread the epidemic, which was still in its exponential growth stage, Dr Gazzard said.

For every one person that you put in therapy, six new people get infected. So we're losing that game, the numbers game," Dr. Fauci said.

It's a pretty terrible "game" if you ask me. If you're of the mind to pray, go to http://oldnaledi.blogspot.com We keep a weekly update of what's going on with our sister church in Old Naledi there. Clearly AIDs and it's aftermath are something we can't overcome on our own. But as Luke 11 reminds us, we have a Father who loves his children and hears their prayers. So, even if we can't all study, reasearch, give money, or go... we certinaly can and are called to pray. Here's a real tangible way to do that.

Summer Fun

Here's a few pics of the boy having fun at the pool. He loves the pool.

I was right all along...

I've always thought that Jane Austen was pretty much the most terrible author of "classic" literature ever. Apparently, so do most of the major publishing agencies once you change the titles and the names of the major characters. That's pretty funny. Thanks Ruetgers.com

The Old Naledi Church

Hey Friends,

Sorry I haven't updated this too much lately. Mostly, I've just been lazy. I sit in front of a computer half the day bored for work - I'll try to do a better job. Besides, I have some great pics of Eli to post.

Regardless, the Old Naledi church has started to send out a weekly(ish) update of what's going on with them and good ways to pray for them. I'll be posting in to the Old Naledi/Harvest Fellowship Partnership Blog. This would be a great way to find out about the work Erine and I will be joining in and the place we will be living in a year or so. Plus, they value your prayers. So here's the link. Go check it out.

Blessings,
KP

George Bush Sings Sunday Bloody Sunday

This is really funny.

Minnesota Trip

We went to St. Paul, MN over the weekend. Did some fun stuff. Went to a river town, a Twins game, and the zoo. Here are a few pics.

A Christian Society

I've been talking a lot with people about the both the church and the Church universal and how being a part of it should affect the life of the believer. It's tricky because most of us live it out through either 1. trivializing it to a Sunday morning and Wednesday evening 'institution' of sorts or 2. idealizing this unattainable (read Anninia and Siphira) sort of communal living living we see in very small part of the scripture (Acts 4:32-37) and living in constant disappointment. It's pretty interesting to me. Everyone I've talked with (present company included) has a lot more ideas of what the church shouldn't look like than we have ideas on how to change it to be a better reflection of the glory of God. Maybe it's just me. Tell me if I'm wrong.

Anyways, I read this little bit from C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity this morning and found it to be pretty interesting and relevant. All italics or bolding are my additions.

"The New Testament, without going into details, gives us a pretty clear hint of what a fully Christian society would be like. Perhaps it gives us more than we can take. It tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does not work, he ought not eat. Every one is to work with his own hands, and what is more, every one's work is to produce something good: there will be no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier advertisements to persuade us to buy them. And there is to be no 'swank' or 'side', no putting on airs. To that extent a Christian society would be what we would now call Leftist. On the other hand, it is always insisting on obedience - obedience (and outward marks of respect) from all of us to properly appointed magistrates, from children to parents, and (I am afraid this is going to be very unpopular) from wives to husbands. Thirdly, it is to be a cheerful society: full of singing and rejoicing, and regarding worry or anxiety as wrong. Courtesy is one of the Christian virtues; and the New Testament hates what it calls 'busybodies.'
If there were such a society in existence and you or I visited it, I think we should come away with a curious impression. We should feel that its economic life was very socialistic and, in that sense, 'advanced', but that its family life and code of manners were rather old fashioned - perhaps even ceremonious and aristocratic. Each of us would like some bits of it, but I am afraid that very few of us would like the whole thing. That is just what one would expect if Christianity is the total plan for the human machine. We have all departed from that total plan in different ways, and each of us wants to make out that his own modification of the original plan is the plan itself. You will find this again and again about anything that is really Christian: every one is attracted to bits of it and wants to pick out those bits and leave the rest."

-- C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity

I thought this was pretty interesting. I especially like the first paragraph. I think churches would be wise to follow what this Christian society "would be." Particularly the bolded parts.

No passengers or parasites - after all it is a body right? Everybody's got their part, yet it seems like to many of us are just along for the ride. Worse than that, we suck the life out of the people who are doing their part - because those people are also doing our jobs because we're to busy watching. Nothing about the Christian faith was ever advertised as easy... being a part of the body of Christ is no exception.

no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier advertisements to persuade us to buy them. And there is to be no 'swank' or 'side', no putting on airs. - I think this one explains itself. Do we really need a 250,000 dollar sound system with subs and plasma tv's to put the words to our music on? I think not. Nor do we need to whore ourselves out by pouring all our time into looking 'hip' or 'relevant.' Just be the church. It's a reflection of Christ. That's attraction enough. We don't need dress it up with overdone sound systems and swag events. Seriously...

insisting on obedience - The Church is the hands, feet, and mouth of God (the Body) yes? Then, I don't think it's unfair to argue that God has given it authority unlike any other authority on the whole planet. Yet, the church is afraid to call sin what it is. We like to beat around the bush. Not to say that we should be harsh, unloving, and ungracious. By no means. But we also should not compromise. Yet, look at the church here in the US. There are some shinning examples, but there are also a lot who are becoming more and more tolerant of sin within the body. The church really should insist on obedience, because when we don't we all suffer greatly and more than that look just plain foolish - both in the local church and the Church universal.

cheerful society - this one is my favorite. It really should be. The church should be the utmost reflection of joy. By far we have the most to be joyful about.

Anyways, that's my long winded way of saying that I think it's a pretty interesting bit of writing. I'd love to hear what others are thinking.

KP

Psalm 63

Psalm 63

The Thirsting Soul Satisfied in God.

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
But those who seek my life to destroy it,
Will go into the depths of the earth.
They will be delivered over to the power of the sword;
They will be a prey for foxes.
But the king will rejoice in God;
Everyone who swears by Him will glory,
For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped

Longing for a bit more...

Tonight find myself having quite a lot of longing to be in Old Naledi, Botswana. Not too sure why. Maybe a bit too much time on the old BBC Africa new site or reading about the KSU students who recently got there or maybe it was seeing Becky for a short while. Regardless, I'd really much rather be there tonight. Not so much in an angry or sad sort of way. More of an anticipation I suppose. I guess what I mean to say is that it's a rather good thing. I can't explain it too well. A joyful longing is about the best I can do.

Then I got to thinking about how if I really understood God for all that He is I would yearn to be worshiping in heaven with every part of me. Old Naledi - this small glimpse of what a beautiful God of restoration and grace we serve stirs up such a longing in me. For me, it's one of the exciting ways for me to tangibly see the character of God. Yet, even though it's about the best I know it's really just a very poor reflection of the tiniest part of the vast richness and beauty of God.

I pray that He would teach us to see Him more completely that we might learn to yearn for the only real thing that will fulfill us. The only real thing worth pursuing.

"Teacher Stages Fake Gun Attack on Students"

Wow. Talk about the worst idea ever. You'd think that being a teacher would disqualify you from thinking this was a good idea. Apparently not...

Zig Ziglar!

I knew I had to go to a seminar for work tomorrow on time management and motivation and such... but I never would have guessed that it was featuring none other than Zig Ziglar! Not sure who Zig Ziglar is? It's this guy...

That's right. You so wish you were coming too.

There's also 6 other speakers or so. Including Bill Self. I should be quite a day. If I can find a link about the seminar I'll post it.

~Jim Halpert

Summer is around the corner...

and Er and I are turning over a new leaf. We're trying to figure as much cool FREE stuff to do with friends, together as a family, or as a date as we can. It should be fun - maybe a good way to get people in the church spending more time with each other outside Sunday morning. After 20 minutes of brainstorming here's what we got.

Fun Things We Like To Do For Free
1. Go on picnics
2. Go on a walk
3. Arts in the Park Music Series
4. Go swimming at City Pool (thanks for the pool passes Poulsons)
5. Take Elijah to the park
6. Go to the Riley County Museam
7. Go for a walk out at Konza
8. Go out to Pilsbury Crossing
9. Couple's game night
10. Grill out at city park
11. Pot Luck/Sand Volleball Night at City Park with Friends 12. Fly a kite (Thanks to Chris Barker for 12-14) 13. Go for a bike ride 14. Walk around campus We'd like some more good ideas and cool people to do them with if you're intrested...

New look!

That black one was a bit too drab. This one is way more chipper.

A qoute worth reading...

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

- The Talmud

I ran into this today while I was killing some time before work. Friday's are a slow day here at Century Business.

If you're like me aren't very familiar with what the Talmud is go here. It's interesting an educational! Whowza! Thanks wikipedia.

It's interesting how God's desire for His creation hasn't changed between the Old Covenant and the New. It's even more interesting how we're no different than Isreal. We suck at living it out.

Cheers!

And the baby is...

a healty little girl. We're super excited. Names are pending but we're thinking about Nora. Middle names anyone?

I'll post the pictures we got when I can pry them out of my wife's hands long enough to bring them to work and scan them.

Speeding tickets...

Nothing quite like getting what you deserve...

Turns out that there's a speed trap up right by where 177 Highway (i.e. Bill Snyder Memorial Highway). It also turns out that you should pay attention to speeding signs instead of fiddling with your radio and looking at the cars around you. Luckly, the officer was quite kind and respectful -- and beyond that gracious and gave me a far lesser ticket than I deserved. Turns out grace can be found in the most unlikely of places. So here's to you officer. Thanks for both ruining my day and reminding me of the goodness of grace all at the same time.

Overall, it's a pretty good thing that I got my ticket. Well... except that my insurance will probably get way more expensive and I owe the state of Kansas $126.00. But, I got the rest of my hour drive to reflect on how this small example of somewhat painful grace is a small reflection of the grace that I receive every second of every minute of my life. I deserve a lot more than the small (probably non-existent) "hard knocks" I think I get all the time. And to think, God's grace doesn't even cost $126 dollars. It only requires the surrender of "my" life...

But then again, it's also the only place that I can find life as it's meant to be. It's kind of a strange, beautiful paradox. Now maybe if I could learn to express the gratefulness I expressed to a cop for granted grace that saved me a few bucks to the God who's granted a grace far more costly and beautiful.

But I guess that brings me back to giving up the mud pies that I like to play in for a wonderful holiday by the sea (thanks C.S. Lewis...).

It's my prayer that we could all learn to live in the fullness of life that grace offers to us... and more than that to be 1/2 as thankful for it as we ought to be. How easily that's lost in the hustle and bustle of work and accidentally going 20 over in 45 mile and hour zone on 177. How easy I forget. Luckily, God throws me cops who only write me tickets for 10 over when I deserve a bigger one. Reflections of the goodness of God's grace can be found all around. I just need to slow the heck down and see them.

Praise be to the God of Redemption who pours out grace on mud caked little boys like me who want so much to be like Him but just loose site when the mud covers our eyes. Praise to the God of Restoration who pulls us out of the mud and slowly washes all the mud of so that we can turn into a reflection of Something far more beautiful so that others can see the beauty of who Redemption is and find completion there. Praise Him.

Happy Birthday Eli...

Today's Eli's first birthday. It's crazy how fast a year's gone by. It's pretty fun thought... I've watched that little guy go from a fragile premie to a crazy little guy with a personality all his own. While Eli was a bit of an unexpected joy, every day I realize a bit more how perfect God's timing was in giving him to us. That kid just gets to be more and more fun every day. Eli's birthday probably means more to me and his mom than it does to him... but we had a lot of fun. Me and him went out to lunch at McDonalds. That kid pounded back a whole milkshake and a half an order of fries. It's his favorite lunch... Don't worry, he NEVER gets to eat that normally. But it was fun birthday lunchtime. I love that we're our own family and can kinda make up things like birthday traditions as we go along. Happy 1st Eli.

Anyways... here's a few fun photos. One from day 1 and one from today. Scroll down to the post below for some fun pictures of Eli having at his birthday party cake.

Cheers!

Mmmm..... cake....

As promised...

Eli's First Birthday Party...

We had Eli's first birthday party this weekend. It was tons of fun. I love my kid. The real deal is Thursday... I can hardly believe it's been a year already. Wow.

Anyways, here's a picture of Eli two fisting his cake. Messier more fun photos coming soon... stay tuned.

KP

The end of an era...

Today marks the last day of Kevin Porter's employment at the Bluestem Bistro. It's quite a sad day. But, as well as they treat me here at the Bluestem... coffee shops just don't pay the bills for a soon to be family four. So, I'm hanging up my apron...

After spending two weeks training my replacement... tomorow is my full time first day at Century Business Systems. It's bittersweet... but a part of life.

So here's to you Bluestem. Thanks for the fun ride.

Chipmunk face!

That's right folks, I look like a chipmunk. I got my wisdom teeth surgically removed yesterday and now my lower jaw is swollen. But, if I had to have it done I pretty much picked the best time ever. We got our new couch delievered yesterday AND the NCAA tournament started. Best timing ever. Now if these dang pain pills would just start working like they're supposed to. They're just making me loopy, yet the pain remains.

If you're bored and want to watch Basketball, come on over. Erine is gone all day and it's just me and the tourney here. Bring some KFC mashed potatoes. It's all I can eat right now...

Pictures to follow.

This is phenominally funny.

Comedian doing a funny skit over hot pockets and how bad they are. Really funny. Also takes cheap shots at NASCAR. Also funny.

Breaking the silence...

What a crazy months it's been for the Porter's...

We started raising support to go to Botswana and were blessed by how quickly it poured in. Then we found out Er is with child. Which was quite exciting and joyful and yet at the same time quite a confusing thing. After counsel and prayer felt that God changed the timing of us leaving for Botwana to an undisclosed time in the future (hopefully not too distant) even though my heart and dreams still are there, not here. Spent several weeks falling in love with and becoming excited about this new life growing in my wife's womb. I've been running the Bluestem by myself as my boss has been gone the better part of the last 3 weeks as his father in law was very ill and subsequently passed. It's way too much work for one person. Then Er quite nearly miscarried. Apparently the placenta tore. After a long week of not knowing if our child would live or die we were both relieved and blessed to see that our babies heart beat is stronger than ever and that the placenta completely healed itself. Erine does have quite a large cist that causes her a lot of pain and will have to be removed (for the babies sake) if it grows much more, but the doctor is hopeful that it will shrink itself of the next few weeks. But praise God that both wife and baby are fine. Erine just has to take it easy for the next while (i.e. 9 months) and God willing everything will be just fine.

Needless to say, we could use a vacation.

It's a strange thing to go through so much as once. I pretty quickly figured out that I had two choices. I could be angry at God, frustrated with Him seemingly being unjust to me. And that's kinda where I was for a good while. He was after all in control of what was going on. It wasn't beyond Him to have let us discover the blessing of our pregnancy before we sent out support letters to everyone we know. Or to have prevented all the hardships of this pregnancy that had already shaken my world and my plans around so much. But he didn't. This is what He wanted for us to endure. And frankly, it just didn't seem fair to me. In a lot of ways, it still doesn't. I certianly have no understanding of it. But, that was a pretty stupid place to be. In all of my feeling sorry for myself, I began to doubt who God was. More than that, I kind of fell into this pit of unintentional self worship. After all, in my deepest parts I genuinely felt that my well being was more important than how God was moving. Eventually, I moved past that a bit. I stopped feeling so sorry for myself and kinda moved into this apathy. I knew who God was and what He was doing was going to somehow be glory to Himself. But I really just didn't care. I was tired and hurting and just didn't give a care about any of this stuff outside of myself. Which was an equally terrible place to be.

Fortunately, God is faithful to His promises even when I'm not faithful to Him. Since then, I'm in the process of trying to move to choice number two: I could put trust in the fact that God is who He says He is. I've kinda come to a the conclusion that if the goodness of God is dependent on the well being of Kevin then this world is destined to miserable place. I thought about Jacob having to wait so long for his promised son and then being asked to sacrifice him. Clearly his faith was in who God was not in what God was asking/allowing to happen - because Jacob was going to go through with it. I'm sure he was none to excited about it. But because He knew the value and joy of following after God because of who He is, he was willing to endure it. Or Joseph who had a whole lifetime of hardship (compared with my 3 or 4 weeks) who still considered God worth following because of who He was... not because of what was going on around Him. And the list goes on. Not that I have half of the faith of these sorts of men and women... but I am learning how to be more like that. Because despite what God is doing/allowing in my life. He is good. He's faithful. He's gracious. He's slow to anger and quick to love. His mercy is so abundant that my mind could never wrap it's self around it, even if I spend my whole life trying. He is just. I know these things are true. And even when things in my life don't seem (emphasis on seem) to reflect that to be true I have to remember esentially the whole history of this fallen planet where He has continually shown that be to true. Over and over and over. His nature is good and loving, even when what He gives me to endure hurts so very much. So I can trust that His plans are as well. For some purpose, seen or unseen God has given us the joy of enduring this all. And it's okay, because we'll be better off for it. Already God has taught me so much about Himself and about faith. And even though my dream is a little farther down the road now, I have a wonderful blessing on the way that I wouldn't trade away for even my wildest dream. God really is good to us. Praise Him for it.

KP

Big news...

We mailing this out tomorrow... but you heard it here first.

February 12th, 2006


Family and Friends,

Hello from the Porters! Recently, we sent you all out an update letting you know of our plans to move to Botswana to follow the Lord's calling to work along side His church there. Since then, we've received some rather unexpected, joyous news! We've discovered that Erine is going to have a baby in October! We are so excited for this new surprise, but it has changed the way that this calling the Lord has given is going to play out. After talking with doctors and the leadership God has put over us, they have all advised that we postpone our initial departure date of this summer. It's been a really difficult decision to make as our hearts are still focused and ready to be in Old Naledi -but after much prayer and council we fell that it really is what God desires for us.

So, where does that leave us? We still feel God's calling to live and work along side the folks in Old Naledi as we continue to develop this church partnership. God has still laid it heavy on our hearts to be a part of what He is doing in this way. He's has just changed His timing. So for now we're going to be a part by raising awareness locally as well as gathering His saints to be intentional with their prayers regarding the AIDS pandemic in Africa. We will also be using this time to prepare and equip for the future when we do go. Then in a year or so, when God makes His timing clear we will pack up our two beautiful children and settle in Old Naledi, Botswana.

We're sending you this letter for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost, so you can share in the joyous news of the new member of our family! Secondly, we've asked you for your support because we value it so much. We need your prayers now as much as ever as these unexpected changes bring great joy as well as a degree confusion and hardship of what to do in the here and now. It's been a good lesson that God desires our obedience, even when we don't understand what He's asking us to do. His plans are better than ours, even when we can't comprehend them. We'll still be sending out updates about what is going on in this process. Some of you have also been praying about supporting us financially. We will be using this time to continue to gather up our support (which will be slightly more now), but we are going to be a little less focused on that for the time being as we don’t have a very clear time frame anymore. So, we still welcome any support that God would lead you to give, but know that many of you will want to wait until there are more firm details and more solidified plans. We'll be calling all of you that have already provided financial support over the next few days so that you better let us can let us know what you'd like us to do with it.

Wow. That's a lot to pack into a letter. You can imagine the roller coaster of emotions the last few weeks have been for us. We are so grateful to all of you for your prayers and support in this whole process. Without such a great base of support, we'd be lost. God has truly blessed us.

Under His Grace,
Kevin, Erine, Eli, and Baby


PS - Please don't hesitate to e-mail me with any questions or just to say hello at kevinpporter@gmail.com

As long as I'm posting....

I know this is post number 437 today... but here's and article from Relevant..

Go here to read about McBlessings. A happy reminder that the grass really isn't all that greener on the other side.

My kid is really cute...

These are from around Christmas... he's always smiling. I love it. How lucky am I?

Coach P

I've been coaching the Jr High Boys basketball team for Flint Hills Christian School the last few months. Due to our recently canceled tournament (which is a rotten then to take away from a kid just two weeks away) my season ends Thursday of next week. Supprisingly, I'm pretty bummed about it. I love coaching. Don't get me wrong, I'll love the free time. It'll give me a chance to get this crazy life of mine sorted out a bit and maybe even I'll get to take a nap for the first time in months... but man, I love to coach.

It's amazing what you can learn about yourself from a bunch of 12 year olds. I've learned that deep down, no matter what anybody might tell you - I'm an optimist. These kids have won one game this whole year. I think we're something like 1-11. I like to think it's not due to poor coaching (but I'm sure that has a part) or lack of talent so much as it has to do with us playing a whole bunch of schools that are way out of our league. The few teams that we've played that were close to our level we've played with in 3-5 points. I hate loosing by 3 points. Anyways, back to me not being as much of a pessimist as I thought I was. I really go into every game (almost) expecting those kinds to get a W. It's not really realistic - but I have a lot of faith in those kids. I kinda wonder if that's how God looks at me when I'm getting ready to step on the court? Probably not, but it's kinda a neat picture. So far I'm my record is about 2 and 1million (the two wins being my wife and son) and still God's on my bench giving direction - directing trafic; Helping out. Anticipating me to do great things for His team And sometimes, I lose by 100 points... but Coach just helps me learn from it, fix what I did wrong and try again next week. I think I've learned a little about not just basketball but about who God is by interacting with 12 year olds. I'm probably more like them than I know. Regardless, It's been fun. I'll be sad when it's over.

Also, no matter what anyone tells you - hustle can't always win you a game. I've watched those kids play with more heart and intensity than I've ever seen in Jr High. Sadly, they don't have a lot to show for it. They worked a lot harder and played like a team a lot better than anybody else we've played. But man, we all learned a lot about basketball and being a team.

Eh. Three games left. I think we'll probably go 3-0.

KP

18 Bullet Holes by Don Chaffer

I was playing a little music this afternoon while I cleaned up the house before I leave to go coach basketball and this song came on. I think this is probably one of the most moving songs ever. Anyways, I decided to post the lyrics because in their own way they're really worshipful. Enjoy.

18 Bullet Holes

by Don Chaffer

18 bullet holes in the body of a priest
They say he was eating a hot dog when the ammunition was released.
They say he was always fat and lazy but he was an awfully nice guy.
That’s just one more death to show you you never know when you’re gonna die.
You might be facing the beast

Sometimes, God, I feel like I’m living in a bone grinding mill
And every time I hear the sound I can barely stand still
It’s a thing I can’t quite make out sometimes but it seems to keep getting louder-
One more body from the valley of the dry bones getting ground up into powder
Against Your holy will

Oh, God, it hurts so bad to love anybody down here
Why don’t You come and help me out?
Cause I can’t even see clear

The funny thing about the way a girl gets destroyed
About the way that deal goes down
Is that everybody pretty much sees it coming at the sister
From all the way across town
And she isn’t always blinded, she isn’t always far astray
She just might not be thinking, she might be having a bad day
But when you choose, you choose, and when you drown, you drown

Last night I dreamed that You swallowed me into Yourself
And I was floating on the sea inside
When I landed on the shore, I saw all these people that I thought had died
I hadn’t seen some of them for ages
They had left without a single word
And when I said something to them, not a single one of them had heard

They were all looking right through everything like it wasn’t even there
Some were full of anger, some full of fear
And then I recognized that something very sad
But very beautiful was happening right here
They were all caught outside standing alone in a very heavy rain
And when a raindrop landed on my tongue
I didn’t need You to explain
That these were Your tears

Oh, God, it hurts so bad to love anybody down here
Oh, that’s right, You know so well
One thorny crown, three nails, and a spear
One thorny crown, three nails, and a spear

Sad realization...

This week while I was at the Urbana conference spending a lot of time listening to very wise men and women try to bring their brilliance down to my level and squeeze it into my little brain a lot of them were talking about the American perception of Africans. It's pretty sad. I think this BBC Africa article I read this morning, especially the beginning, explain it pretty well. Worth the read.