Filling some Big Shoes

My roller coaster weekend is finally finished. My dad has been out of town, and I have had the priviledge of filling his shoes for the past weekend. This included teaching in our men's bible study on the Sovereignty of God over election and salvation and leading worship in our main services morning and evening. It was a long weekend and took a lot of energy, but before I pat myself on the back too much for getting it all done, I have to remember that this is what my dad does every week of his ministry here, and he does an excellent job. Ministry is a blessing for my dad, and even with the expanded work load he has had with the loss of a few pastors over the years, he takes it all in stride and continues to do his work heartily, as to the Lord, rather than men. He's a great example and I hope to be more like him as I pursue my ministry.

I was very pleased particularly with the discussion on God's sovereignty during the men's Bible study. There was no debate for the purpose of arguing, just good discussion about man's inability to effect his own salvation and God's ultimate control over all things. There was a bit of discussion over the difference between foreknowledge and foreordination, but I think Jonathan Edwards puts that debate to rest with this great quote:

"Whether God has decreed all things that ever come to pass or not, all that own the being of a God, own that He knows all things beforehand. Now, it is self-evident that if He knows all things beforehand, He either doth approve of them or doth not approve of them; that is, He either is willing they should be, or He is not willing they should be. But to will that they should be is to decree them."

The very fact that things happen testifies to God's decreed will over all matters. And in that truth I trust He will continue to give me grace as I pursue ministry. God is good, gracious, and truly holy, holy, holy.

Christ, the Cubs, and Conversion

Well, I was encouraged to blog more by my brother, so I will do my best. As I sit here listening to the Cubs, I can't help but smile at the blessings God has poured out, particularly through my church. The Cubs seem to disappoint without fail as often as I am encouraged by Christ and the church. God has been so good recently and has encouraged me with several good books. I am currently reading through Mark Dever's 9 Marks of a Healthy Church and just finished my papers on Conversion and Evangelism. Here is an excerpt:

"Perhaps the shelter of their family or the comfort of a nice church culture has lulled [youth] into a sense of peace about their own eternal state when there should be no peace at all. All I have to go on is the fruit I see. This makes it difficult to really get to the hearts of students. Many of them appear to be genuine and do all the right things. I am grateful for the impact the Lord has allowed me to have on their lives, but my goal has to be confirming in their hearts what true conversion is. The more they understand, the more they will be able to tell if they are truly converted. Beyond that, I can do nothing but pray and trust the Lord to work through His gospel."

God has challenged my heart to not focus so much on results but to focus on getting the gospel right and let Him do the rest.

Other than that, things are moving right along. As usual, I haven't found a speaker for summer camp yet. My list is down to Josh Harris and C.J. Mahaney, but we'll see who God brings. I'm looking forward to the New Attitude conference in May. The lineup of speakers looks challenging and I hopeful as to what God will do in my life and in the lives of the students that are coming with me. The big things this week are teaching on God's sovereignty in Men's Bible study on Saturday and leading worship for the main services on Sunday. I'm pumped about both of those opportunities. That's it for now...

Musings on Being an Uncle

So, if you haven't heard yet, I am getting either a neice or a nephew from my brother and sister in law (that's Jordan and Crystal (http://www.boymetgirl.blogspot.com/) if you are a little slow today). I wonder if it's going to be harder being an uncle or a dad. I think the uncle is the cool person in a child's life. They take them to baseball games and slip them money and candy when parent's aren't looking. It's expected of them to be fun and cool. That's a lot to live up to. What if I'm not cool? What if I don't have candy or my cell phone is out of minutes when they ask? Can I ever recover from something like that? I'll just have to wait and see. I'll take being just a regular dad over the pressure of being an uncle any day. But I think I will still enjoy both.

In other news, I am really excited about Oasis tonight. It's been a busy day, but I'm pumped about worshipping God and the music we have for evening is excellent. Grace Unmeasured from sovereign grace is a great song and it expresses the gospel so clearly. Paul is speaking tonight on Discipleship and it should be a good challenge from God's word.

I'll leave you with a great quote from Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry:

"In directing the ignorant in the way of heaven- in awakening the careless and insensible- in subduing the rebellious- in dealing with the entanglements of tempted consciences- how inefficient would be all the force of philosophical or historical illustration! One simple declaration of the Gospel, on the other hand, would, with the Lord's blessing, remove darkness, melt away stubbornness, and bring in all the consolation of heavenly light and peace."


Charles Bridges is a stud.

Back and Ready to Go

It is so nice to be home from vacation. It was such a great time to get away from everything and just relax, but there is a better work that needs to be done here at home. Moriah and I missed everyone and I'm looking forward to Oasis tonight and getting back to all the Bible Studies. I just want to give God all the praise for what He's done in our lives over the past few months. Having a baby around makes us appreciate all the more what God has done for us in our helpless state. We are so thankful for the closing of our house next week, the work that God has provided for us to pay off debt, and the excellent ministry opportunities we both have here at FVBC. Anyhoo, that's all for now. I hope God is doing great things in all of your lives as well. Later...

Off to Florida

Well, I'm off to Florida. I can't say that this vacation isn't needed. To be honest, it will be nice to have some time away for a week to get refreshed and refocused on the right things. I'm hoping to get some good reading done in my Edwards biography as well as in 9 Marks and the Christian Ministry. Musings should be excellent as I work everything out and in.

I will leave you with a few links to occupy your time. You can either click on either the watch or listen link or just download them with a right click. These were the sermons from RC Sproul that impacted me the most from the recent Desiring God Pastor's Conference in MN. The last one especially was impactful because it reminded me of the terrifying prospect of facing God's justice, yet the freedom of being in Christ. Enjoy the listen and I'll see you in a week.

The Holiness of God

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/EventMessages/ByDate/1978_The_Holiness_of_God/

The Holiness of Christ

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/EventMessages/ByDate/1979_The_Holiness_of_Christ/

Holiness and Justice

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/EventMessages/ByDate/1980_Holiness_and_Justice/

Winter Camp Wonderings

Winter Camp has come and gone. All the planning and scheduling is finally over and now we get to reap the benefits. It has been so encouraging to see the growth displayed by our students. While we have grown numerically, the spiritual growth has been fantastic. Personally, it has been a struggle to see people leave the church for various reasons. As a person in ministry, you always wonder if you had something to do with it. On the other hand, seeing growth within a ministry is humbling because you know God has used you to accomplish something special.

Right now I'm listening to Worship God Live from sovereign grace. The lyrics are so encouraging because they express an unashamed, Christ-exalting, God-honoring, Calvinistic approach to song writing. The writers take their texts right from historical writings on the Bible as well as directly from the Bible itself and they strive to make God as big as we possibly can with out limited human abilities. That is something lacking in today's CCM music. Lyrics typically come from personal experience or personal testimony about what the Bible means to them. Songs should be grounded in theology, not man-centered, self-help thinking. We need more Luther, Calvin, and Edwards in our songs and less Joel Osteen and Rick Warren.

Here are some lyrics that express what I'm talking about:

You are the Way

by Pat Sczebel

Verse 1

Dead in transgressions and sins, without God without hope in this world

Then the glorious light of Your gospel broke in

The Father stood up from His throne, opened His arms and called out my name

Grace irresistible drew me, opened my eyes to see

Chorus:

You are the way, You are the truth, You are the Life, Jesus

The only way, the only truth, You are my life, Jesus

Verse 2

You are the source of new life, the giver of every good thing

Withholding nothing You lavish Your kindness on me.

You emptied Yourself, became poor, humbled and poured out to death

Now highly exalted above all, Your name alone can save.

Justified

Verse 1
To gain a people, a holy bride,
Christ was humbled and left His Father’s side.
He lived and died to honor God alone
and now He sits beside Him at His throne.
From every nation, from every creed
Soon all before Him will bow on bended knee.
For He is King over earth and heav’n
And to that kingdom there will be no end

Chorus
The wrath of God is satisfied for us
Christ’s sacrifice has proven He is just
The death He died has given us new life
Christ paid the price, now we can be justified

Verse 2
Though we were fallen and dead in sin
He called a people that could not choose Him.
And if He calls we cannot reject,
For with His blood He saved our souls from death
This gift of grace that paid the price for me
Has cleansed my heart and set me free.
In bondage I was chained, a slave to sin.
But now my will is captive, owed to Him

This song encapsulates why I love Christ. That he would choose to die for declared enemies... How can I not be bound to do His will?

God's Sovereignty over Breakfast Cereals

This past Sunday I had the priviledge of teaching our Sr. High Sunday school about one of my favorite topics, God's sovereignty. We are going through the doctrine of Salvation, and once we got to election, I knew we had to have a better grasp on God's sovereign nature before we went any farthur (In know my spelling is atrocious, sorry...) The discussion began with two table discussion questions. 1. What is God in control of? & 2. Define "free", than answer, Does man have free will? Needless to say, they sparked some great conversation. For those of you struggling with this issue, here's what we came up with.

-God is sovereign over everything, even the breakfast cereal I eat in the morning. Prov. 16:33- "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision comes from the Lord."

-God ordains everything to happen exactly how it happens, in every detail, big or small, good and evil. (Job 2:10, Amos 3:6, Lam. 3:38, Ps. 115:3)

-Man is still held responsible for his choices, even though God ordains or determines those choices (Rom. 9:19-23)

-Man does not have free will, in the sense that he can do whatever he wants. He is only free to live within the nature God has given him. But even within this truth, God still determines the free choices man makes.

-God doesn't simply allow things to happen. This implies that God is not in complete control and would contradict the above mentioned passages

Well, it was a great discussion. The ultimate conclusion was praise to our God for being in control, yet still holding up responsible for our actions. These seemingly contradictory ideas can only be true together with an almighty God making it so. Praise Him for His sovereign ways. In great contrast to this, we have the Pensacola "Joy Quartet" with their song, "I Give You Freedom" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrczyFvkv8Q ) If you havent' seen it, it's a kick in the pants to a god that isn't so powerful.

On a personal note, things are going really well here in IL. The jobs are great and I love being a dad. I'm sure Moriah has more details on that on her blog (ahufflife.blogspot.com). That's it for now. Later....

The Family is Moving

Hey all, the family blog is moving to www.ahufflife.blogspot.com, so check us out there!

This blog will remain open and used by Josh, so feel free to check back here for his thoughts. (Charis and I are giving him his blog back.)

Christmas Celebrations!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas festivities this past weekend. We had our Christmas Eve tradition of an evening service at FVBC and then soup in bread bowls at the Huff's. We always read some Christmas stories and open one present. It is a special tradition with the family and having Charis there made it all the more (but definitely more distracting - how do you keep a 4 month old occupied during a solemn reading of a Christmas story?)
Christmas day was spent all over the place. We had our own little Christmas in the morning. Josh made his infamous omelets and monkey brains. Then we had Charis open her presents (before she fell asleep for her morning nap). When she was asleep Josh suprised me with a pink Blutooth headset for my phone plus lots of fun GIRLY movies! Yea! I got Josh the Indiana Jones trilogy, Jonathan Edwards bio and brown shows. (Who buys another person shoes? But he actually likes them.)
We went to my parents around noon and opened more gifts ("Huff university" apparal, my wedding album, cute clothes for Charis and Josh got two nice suits). In the evening we went to his parents house and had prime rib - yummy! They spoiled Charis with great toys, Josh with a new journaling ESV Bible and me with gift certificates to my favorite restaurants. Afterwards we watched Pirates 2 and again I can't wait for part 3 to come out so I can see the resolution to so many unanswered questions of part 2.
Just when we thought it was all over we saw the youth at the church when we got home so we invited them over. They stayed very late, but it was fun to hang out with them. It was a great Christmas and, like most of us, there is still more to come with friends and family.
Oh yeah, Charis update: She is on a new schedule that works great yet she is becoming more aware of her surroundings so feedings and naps are getting harder for her to submit to. And I am trying to teach her to roll over! So fun!
Merry Christmas!

I am so darn cute!

Christmas fun with Daddy

I loooove my glo-worm!

Mommy and me in our matching fleece

Drool, colds, and Christmas time

Hello everyone. Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah!!! All is well here in the beautiful Mission's House in IL. The Christmas banquet is over and Christmas day is fast approaching (only 6 more days). Moriah has been the best wife ever and done all of the Christmas shopping. I hope you all like your presents. If not, she got them, not me ;-) .

The little baby is doing alright. She is going through the back end of a cold right now. Her nose was like a faucet on Sunday, so we couldn't bring her into the nursery, but she seems to be doing fine. She doesn't complain about it and is her usual, incredibly cute self. I got to hang out with her for most of the afternoon on Sunday while we watched the marathon Bears game (I couldn't believe it lasted for 4 hours). She cheered them on the whole time and we had a blast singing together and talking football strategy.

Some vital statistics for you to know would be that Charis is now (unofficially) 25.5 inches long and a little over 12 pounds. She is getting so big and I know she'll just keep on growing. She sleeps for about 12 hour stretches now. Everyone keeps saying, "Wow, you got lucky with that one," but we know why she's doing so well. If you want to know, you'll have to talk with us offline about that little secret.

The presents are almost all wrapped, and I have to go make some dinner, so I'll leave you with some more cute pictures to last you for a few days. Bye...

Presents? Is it time for presents yet?

Now? Is it time now?

We're FINALLY Back!

Our internet is finally working, so we can update you with all our new info and the much anticipated pictures. But first the update (which will be brief as I am holding Charis and typing one-handed).
I am completely unpacked with decorations up, including Christmas decorations. I even hung Christmas lights outside. We love our new place. Praise the Lord!
Charis is huge Somewhere during the move she must have had a growth spurt. She is into 3 month clothing and some 6 month depending on the brand.
Our renter moved into our townhouse this past weekend. He is a very nice Christian man and it truly seems like the Lord has brought us together. Please continue to pray for house to be sold though.
We have our Christmas concerts this weekend and Josh still hasn't memorized one of the songs! Next weekend is the youth Christmas banquet so we are crazy busy. (The videos are going to be awesome!)
That is certainly not it, but I need to go before she eats my entire hand. You will hear from us soon...

This is from while ago, but look at those neck muscles!

Gabe and Rebecca came to visit with Gabriella.

Spending time with mommy.

All moved in

A lot has happened since the blog was last updated. That's partially because of the weekend and partially because our main computer doesn't have internet access right now and was in a box over the weekend. A box you may wonder? Why a box? Well, that's because we moved on Saturday to our new home at 4N725 Grandmas Lane in St. Charles, IL, just across the parking lot from our church. We had a large group help with the move (about 7 students from youth group, a few college guys, and 8 more adults). We packed up the truck a few times, loaded and unloaded, and even unpacked a few boxes in under 4 hours. It was great to see the love people have for us as they came and helped. Thank you all for you participation in this if you were there.

Charis is still doing very well. Sorry for the lack of pictures on this post, but until our computer is back up and running, you'll have to check previous posts to remember what she looks like (she still looks about the same).

Family is home for thanksgiving, and I need to go hang out with them. Talk to you later...

FINE! No More online Poops!

I have read your comments and we won't any more bowel movements online. If you want to see any of that you'll just have to come for a visit. Thankfully, she doesn't do that very often and most of the time she is very pleasant to be around. I'll just keep posting the tame pictures that are family friendly so as not to offend anyone.

Today I found out that Charis loves jazz music. She was dancing up a storm to it this morning while she was being changed. I'm glad she likes the good stuff, not the annoying country or hip hop that is out today. She'll be our little musical protege hopefully, but if she becomes a soccer nut or into computers like her mom, that'll be okay with me.

Our move out/in date is scheduled for this coming Saturday. We are so pumped to take yet another step in our lives towards wherever God will land us permanently. He has been so faithful and we can't wait to see what He has in store for us over the next few years.

We finally got her to pose with a stuffed animal, after too many tries.

Progress, Poopiness, and Perusing

Progress: There has been so much interest in our house over the past few days. We have a family that is 99% sure they are renting from us as soon as we can move out, another woman who is pretty interested in renting, and another realtor who has investors pretty interested in purchasing. All in all, God is doing great and unexpected things in our lives. He is so good.


Poopiness: Wow! I can't believe how much poop can come out of a little baby. And it's smell takes over the whole house, even when we eat garlic. Oh well. That comes with the territory I guess. At least we know that she is healthy and doing well.

Perusing: We got a chance to look in detail at our new home today. It looks great. It is perfect for our little family. The layout is very spacious and we can't wait to move in next week. We'll be sharing the larger part of the house with the Trott's who are home for few months from Brazil. They are a great couple and it will be tons of fun to live close to them for a while. Later...

PEEK - A - BOO

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Well, I am officially the new Pastoral Assistant for the associate pastor of children, youth, and adults. The vote to establish the position was on Sunday and it passed, praise God. Today was my first official day and I am very much looking forward to working for at least the next two years at Fox Valley Bible Church. God has been so good above and beyond all we could ask or imagine. My responsibilities are largely similar to what I was doing before, but with more of an emphasis on discipleship and more full-time.

We are also moving. The church was gracious enough to offer us the large apartment in the Mission's House. We were blown away when we first heard the offer, but it meets our needs perfectly and we are so thankful God provided it. Now we just wait and see when God sells our house. Even in this terrible houseing market we have 3 very possible prospects for buyers for our house. We are praying that one of them works out in the near future. Whatever God decides, that's the best move for us. So the next two weeks are full of packing and moving and youth events for us. We are loving life right now and so pleased to be moving on to this next chapter of our lives.

Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement. Don't worry, more pictures of Charis are coming soon (I know you read this only to see how she's doing). Anyhoo, that's all for now.

Such a Fun Little Girl

Charis has been so much fun lately. She is making cute little noises all the time now, but especially when she sees Moriah or I. She's got a cute little chuckle that she does as well. It's almost a laugh, and it's very entertaining.

We had a sad day on Tuesday for her. She got her vaccination shots and was crying a little. Moriah said it was so hard seeing her cry like that out of pain. But now she is safe from a number of things going around. She got a bit of a fever from it, but she is doing fine now.

On another note, we had someone walk through our house on Tuesday. We haven't heard if anything will come of that, but it just is another step in God moving this property. We can't wait to see how He will work all this out, but He is strengthening our faith daily through His provision of extra work for both me and Moriah. Keep praying though.

That's it for now...

Check out the pudgy little cheeks

I'm barely holding her up. Her legs are getting so strong

So cute....

Sleeping Through the Night

Well, our little Charis is finally sleeping through the night. She has been sleeping pretty well for around a week now, going up to 7 hours at a time. But two nights ago she slept for over 9 hours without a feeding. She has been doing well ever since. Once she goes down at night she talks herself to sleep and then is out until morning. We've decided to keep her in her basonet for now, but she has almost grown out of it. She's around 23 inches long now and she'll be moving into her crib very soon.

We also had a fun time at Steph Granquist's costume party over the weekend. Charis went as a little pumpkin and got the most votes for the cutest costume (was there any doubt?). We love that she is being adopted by the youth group and that she is comfortable being passed around. She's getting a lot better at being content with other people holding her rather than just Moriah or I. Even in the nursery at church she smiles and sleeps, but doesn't cry. We're kind of waiting for her to jump to the next level and cry for everything, but until then we are very much enjoying her little noises.

We also had our youth bonfire over the weekend. Charis stayed with Jordan and Crystal and only cried at the end 'cause she was hungry. It is so nice to have family around for things like that. The Bonfire went very well and was a good time of bonding for the students. Hopefully that can continue throughout the rest of the year.

I'm off to work, so adios amigos...

All dressed up for the party

The cutest lil' pumpkin ever

Fresh and clean after a bath

New Diapers and Prayer Requests

Life has been very interesting for us lately. Moriah and I have been feeling a strong burden to pray for our house to sell. Even though it isn't a "seller's market" and this is typically the worst time of year to sell a home, we know God can do anything. We have also enlisted the prayer support of our church. We prayed as a youth ministry last night about it in our prayer meeting and we are anticipating what God will do. Even now we have a few offers to rent our house until it is sold which is the next best thing to selling it. It takes care of most of our mortgage payment while still allowing us to keep the house on the market.

As for everything else, most of you know by now that the church is voting on establishing a few new positions in our constitution. One of those is a pastoral assistant. If it passes (and we are praying that it will), the elders have decided to ask me to fill that role for the next 2 years. This is a dream come true for Moriah and I. We have desired to serve in ministry at FVBC every since I finished high school and to do so in this capacity is perfect at this time. We are both grateful to stick around here for a while, not just because of the church home we love, but also because we'll be close to both sides of the family.

Charis is doing great too. She moved into her next size of diapers today. I can't believe how big she is getting. Her old diapers (the Newborn size) were starting to fill up rather quickly. After leaking through two of them, we decided to bump her up to the next level. She is so cute and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

She's a lot more excited about her full diaper than we are

"Hi everyone... I'm the cutest ever!"

"Haha, I peed on your bed. Whatcha gonna do now?"

7 weeks and counting

Our little girl is getting so big. I can't believe she is over 7 weeks old already. She's starting to make very cute little noises and following things very well with her eyes. She can turn her head very well when she has her tummy time. Everything seems to be going well and normal. I guess that's pretty typical for the 1st one and why most couples move on to the 2nd. That's when the problems start. Well, whatever happens, we're looking forward to a nice family, whatever God provides.

Both sets of our parents are vacationing in the Caribbean this week. We are so jealous, but they deserve the break. 10 days on a cruise for each should bring them back rested and refreshed, and with tans to make us all jealous. We love them all and can't wait for them to be back.

Moriah continued her job this week and is enjoying it much more. There isn't a ton for her to do sometimes, but at least she can focus on Charis and gets paid for it. I start my extra shifts at Bennigan's next week, after the parents all return. Moriah and I hope that the extra work from both of us will be able to tide us over until the house sells. Again, we wait on God's timing and trust that He'll do what's best for us.

Well, that's it for now. Later...

She's getting so long

Fresh and clean

"To poop or not to poop... that is the question."

Nothing like a lazy Saturday morning