It's the Relationships, Stupid!

You may be wondering why I have a picture of Bill Clinton on my blog. In his presidential campaign against H.W. Bush in 1992, James Carville wrote three things on a whiteboard to motivate campaign workers and keep Bill Clinton on task. One of those items he wrote was, "It's the economy, stupid!" Clinton had a tendency to focus on too many issues and neglect larger issues. Carville could anticipate that the economy would be a major issue in the presidential race. What was meant as an internal motivator eventually helped Bill Clinton become the forty second president of the United States. "It's the economy, stupid" even has it's own article on Wikipedia.

I know that in my life, I have a tendency to focus on a lot of things. I can get to be very goal and task oriented. What I have learned most over the past few years is the value of friendships. I love my relationships with my family and with the friends that God has blessed me with. So, to modify the words of Bill Clinton slightly, "It's the Relationships, Stupid!" I appreciate all of you who are my friends and share your lives with us.

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8

We have now left Springfield and are in the middle of our move to Alaska. It's been lots of fun, so I thought I'd post a few pictures. Here is our family in the badlands of South Dakota. Awesome place!

We also visited Mt. Rushmore, which was really cool. We watched National Treasure: Book of Secrets right before our trip, which features Mt. Rushmore. My mom took the picture. She helped us on the move.
Of course, if you have kids you have to go to the pool in the hotel every night. Here are the kids and I in a hot tub.

When driving over the Rockies in Montana, we were a little shocked to encounter snow in the middle of June!

And this is a picture of me having a heart attack at the gas prices. We drove a Penske truck 2,000 miles to Seattle, and our minivan 3,000 miles up to Prince Rupert. The worst price we filled up at was in the Seattle area, and was $4.59/gallon. I know that doesn't seem like much to my Alaska friends, but was tough to handle coming from the land of cheap gas in Springfield, MO.

We are getting on an Alaska state ferry tomorrow from Prince Rupert, BC, and will be in Sitka on June 17th, our 13th wedding anniversary. We are still praying about where God wants us and our future ministry.

Sharing Your Life

Our Sunday School class has been studying Paul's letters to Timothy. As an icebreaker today, we went around the room (25-30 people) and shared who we considered to be an important mentor in our life. . . someone who helped shape who we are and impacted our lives. While listening, I made a couple interesting observations.

1) Although a variety of mentors were shared, the two which seemed to spring up predominantly were Youth Pastors and parents, specifically, Dad. People are shaped by their parents to a large degree. This places a tremendous responsibility on parents to model godly behavior to their kids. It also almost makes me want to be a Youth Pastor again . . . what an opportunity to impact young people for God! I thank God for all the Youth Pastors I know who love God with all their hearts and showyoung people how to follow Christ.

2) People in the group were not impacted primarily by the teaching from their mentors, but rather from modeling. By loving enough to spend time with people and living a godly life, we have power to shape lives. This is reminiscent of Paul's idea of "follow me as I follow Christ."

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." 1 Thessalonians 2:8