Balance Beam

The Christian's life in all its aspects - intellectual and ethical, devotional and relational, upsurging in worship and outgoing in witness - is supernatural; only the Spirit can initiate and sustain it. So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all.

-J. I. Packer

What would your church (and the worldwide church) look like if everyone was as committed as you are? If everyone gave and served and prayed exactly like you, would the church be healthy and empowered? Or would it be weak and listless?

- Francis Chan



- Trey

Wow Hall

There is a famous performing arts center down the street from our apartment called The Wow Hall. Some great shows have rolled through town since Mallory and I have lived here but we just haven't committed to any. When I saw that G. Love was coming to town I thought it would be a perfect show for our first visit to Wow Hall but later found out that Mallory would be out of town. I didn't want to spend the money to go by myself, but this morning I opened a letter from Mallory and I found a ticket inside!

-Trey

579 day streak ends

Mallory boarded her train today and is on her way down the west coast. I'll be on my own for ten days, not to mention it's my first night alone since we got married. This could be interesting....

-Trey

Everyday is a battle.

We watched this video at church tonight. I hope you enjoy it. It is how I have been feeling lately so it was inspiring to know that I am not alone. I hope it does the same for you. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER so lets lock arms and persevere!

-Mallory

Currently Reading

Forgotten God
Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit

- By Francis Chan

I just started a new book and already I've come across a paragraph worth blogging about. Someday I'll have read enough books and will have walked with the Lord long enough to write about my own thoughts and insights on spirituality, until then your stuck reading about what I find enlightening from others.

As I wrote this book, the question that kept burning in my mind was how can any human being write well on the sacred topic of the Holy Spirit of God? No subject intimidates me more, yet I cant' think of anything more essential for God's church everywhere, and especially in the western hemisphere where it seems that the Holy Spirit is all but missing from most of our churches. I am most definitely writing from western context, and I know that the body of Christ is vibrant and growing and the Holy Spirit active on continents like Africa, South America, and Asia. I also know that God works uniquely in various places and times, and I do think this explains part of the difference between here and there. However, I also believe that the Spirit is more obviously active in places where people are desperate for Him, humbled before Him, and not distracted by their pursuit of wealth or comforts (like we are).

Chan goes onto say,

The Holy Spirit is absolutely vital to our situation today. Of course, He is always vital; but perhaps especially now. After all, if the Holy Spirit Moves, nothing can stop Him. If he doesn't move, we will not produce genuine fruit - no matter how much effort or money we expend. The church becomes irrelevant when it becomes purely a human creation. We are not all we were made to be when everything in our lives and churches can be explained apart from the work and presence of the Spirit of God

Francis Chan

Mystery is the heart of the universe and the God who made it

'"The spiritual life cannot be made suburban," said Howard Macy. "It is always frontier and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed." The Greatest obstacle to realizing our dreams is the false self's hatred of mystery. That's a problem, you see, because mystery is essential to adventure. More than that, mystery is the heart of the universe and the God who made it. The most important aspects of any man's world - his relations with his God and with the people in his life, his calling, the spiritual battles he'll face - every one of them is fraught with mystery. But that is not a bad thing; it is a joyful, rich part of reality and essential to our soul's thirst for adventure."' As Oswald Chambers says,

Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing... Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation

(My Utmost for His Highest)

Wild at Heart
John Eldredge

Inspiration.

Today I am going to be inspired by all the runners of the world. Everyone that got up this morning with pain in mind. Whether it was hot or cold, raining or snowing or if they by chance received a morning that was 65 degrees and clear. The thing I like about running is that it always hurts and if it doesn't then we aren't running hard enough. It is not deceptive. It is honest and it is rewarding. It is uniting. We can all do it...young, old, short, tall, fat, slim, right, left, american, canadian, open minded, close minded, purple, yellow, white or red!!

I encourage you today...EMBRACE THE RUN...you won't regret it! (even if you do throw up)

Side note: this is Kara Goucher (America's best distance runner) she lives in Portland and I hope to run into her.

-Mallory

Dreaming of a Fiat...

I have two guilty pleasures when it comes to cars. The Fiat and a 1985 white volvo wagon. I hope that one day you see me cruisin' around in one of these...until then I guess I will stick to the bike.

Happy Monday!
-Mallory

Turns out I have a twin bro

He says his name is Dre.

Nice dude.

-Trey & Dre

Truffle Shuffle

I will not surrender to culture, I'm fighting with everything in me to be different, to be weird, because "normal" is not working.

- Craig Groeschel

I raced on Sunday at an event called the Truffle Shuffle. It's a race that benefits Big Brothers - Big Sisters. The race has been held for the last 14 years. There were over 2000 participants in the three races (fun run, 2-mile, and 4-mile). I placed 7th in the 4 mile with a time of 22:52.

Tuesday Mallory and I went to Portland. I had the opportunity to go to the Portland Trailblazer vs. OKC Thunder basketball game. The pastor of our church has his masters in physical therapy and still works in the industry part time. One of his best friends from college is the head physical therapist for the Thunder. Small world. He lives in Edmond and goes to Life Church. The game was great, the Thunder won and Mallory had a great time in Portland.

We pulled into town around noon or so and the sun miraculously showed it's head. It was such a beautiful afternoon to do some walking and shopping. Mallory is on the hunt for some "granny grunge" boots and we figured Portland is a good place to start looking. No such luck. But we did find a tasty little Jewish New York style deli where we grabbed lunch. We shared a sandwich on a challah roll and had the motzo ball soup. Anyway, I got to thinking about my previous blog about eating. I've been wondering how some people closest to Mallory and I took that piece of writing. I'm realizing it's very difficult to communicate with a blog. I'm constantly analyzing what I write and hoping people understand what I'm actually feeling or thinking without using the blog as a mechanism to vent my frustrations. I'm certain that happens sometimes because I'm certain I've felt the venting process happen as a sit down to write. Basically, Mallory and I are not militant about our eating habits. We are just taking on some new life practices. We were in an unfamiliar city and ask around for a good place to eat. We ended up in a N.Y. style deli. We weren't frantically searching the city for the best local and organic deli in town, we just wanted to eat so we did. It was good, we enjoyed ourselves, and we had no regrets. Because eating healthy is now apart of our lifestyle, when particular situations come up we can just roll with it. But that is the point, it is now the exception and not norm.

So please don't give up on us and write us off as your weird hippy family member or friend. Unless we come home in a Voltswagon Van (which is a possibility). The bottom line, we're twenty-somethings in some interesting times. We're questioning a lot of things and keeping an open mind about a lot more things. We're making some changes that may not be easily understood and most likely this is just the beginning. But this doesn't mean we're searching for something, in fact, just the opposite. We are found! I can say personally I was searching for a long time. Searching for God knows what. I had built up so many walls to keep people closest to me from figuring out I was a fake. Now, I'm proud of who I am in the Lord. I've learned that there is a manly strength in spirituality that before I would have considered weak or boring in someone else. So if I come off as strong, blunt, or forthright in these blogs it's only because I'm not hiding anymore.

-Trey

Saturday.

"I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three." -Elayne Boosler

Have a great weekend everyone.
-Mallory

All I've ever done is complain

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life -- in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Philippians 2, 12-18

All my life in every situation I look back on I complained or argued. Nothing is ever good enough. Big decisions, petty requests, and the minutia of life trigger a complaint on my end almost out of pure habit. Like saying, "everyone look at my needs and what will make this easy for me before we move forward."

I bring this attitude to work, I bring it home, I bring it to church, and I bring it to God. What a challenge to do everything without......

-Trey

P.S.

There is a series of videos that Honda did called Dream the Impossible, they got me really excited. If you like this one you should look up the others.

Wit and Wisdom

"In China, when your one in a million, there are 1,300 other people just like you."

Bill Gates, quoted in the New York Times



1,300 other me's?????

no way.

-Trey