March 21, 2008
MARCH.08 MINISTRY LETTER
Please click on each of the below thumbnails to view my current ministry update letter!
March 1, 2008
Vote for Judge Drew Crislip!
My stepdad is running for office! He's the family court judge for Harrison County (after this election, he'll be working with another family court judge to jointly cover both Harrison and Doddridge counties), and after years of serving his position by appointment from the governor, the law changed and in 2002 he had to run for his office for the first time (he ran unopposed then).
This year, though, he's got some people running against him, so he's had to start the long, exhausting, expensive road of campaigning. He asked me to help with a TV commercial and radio spot. Jonny Haring filmed and edited the above commercial, and I recorded a radio spot at home with my recording equipment (I've also did the little jingle I wrote for him, which will be played during the intro to his website, which I haven't heard if that's ready for revealing yet), but I can't figure out how to post it.
So if you live in Harrison or Doddridge County, vote for Drew! He's a fair, totally uncorrupted judge who has no hidden agenda and only, always seeks the best choice, as hard as it may be in each situation. He holds himself accountable to God and to his own conscience.
My older bro, Christopher, designed Drew's campaign logo:
This year, though, he's got some people running against him, so he's had to start the long, exhausting, expensive road of campaigning. He asked me to help with a TV commercial and radio spot. Jonny Haring filmed and edited the above commercial, and I recorded a radio spot at home with my recording equipment (I've also did the little jingle I wrote for him, which will be played during the intro to his website, which I haven't heard if that's ready for revealing yet), but I can't figure out how to post it.
So if you live in Harrison or Doddridge County, vote for Drew! He's a fair, totally uncorrupted judge who has no hidden agenda and only, always seeks the best choice, as hard as it may be in each situation. He holds himself accountable to God and to his own conscience.
My older bro, Christopher, designed Drew's campaign logo:
February 13, 2008
Only Dreamed Of
I thought since I hadn't blogged in a while I could share something I wrote about a while ago. I was searching through my old e-mails and came across the explanation for and lyrics to a song I wrote just over a year ago (I can't believe it's been that long!). It's a song I'm really proud of, so I thought I'd share it! My thoughts about it are long, so prepare yourselves...
ONLY DREAMED OF
VERSE 1:
A father knows how much he loves his children
He can feel it in the gritting of his teeth
When one of them falls and he’s not there to catch him
And he knows there will be other times like these
But he thinks, ‘Nobody could care for them like I do’
A mother cries when she thinks of her daughter
She can feel her in the beating in her chest
A failing heart that will not beat much longer
She will go and leave her just like all the rest
Still she says, ‘Nobody could give to her like I do’
CHORUS 1:
Could we ever even wrap our heads around
A love that never goes away?
Do we have a single slightest notion of
A person who will always stay
And give the kind of love we’ve only dreamed of?
VERSE 2:
An architect walks past the demolition
Of a building he once poured himself into
With saddest eyes, he still recalls the vision
But he knows there’s nothing now that he can do
He sighs, ‘Nobody could know this place like I do’
A soldier bleeds and falters in the battle
As he draws his dying breath, he feels content
He grips the flag with all the life left in him
He thinks of the nation for which it was spent
He whispers, ‘Nobody could love her the way I do’
CHORUS 2:
Is there anyone to build a home for us
That will not crumble to the ground?
Can we find a warrior to fight for us
Whose body never will be laid down?
VERSE 3:
I hear the bell and wonder who it could be
There is no one coming ‘round here anymore
I pull the latch, and to my knees I’m falling
I did not expect to see you at my door
And I say, ‘Nobody could need you the way I do
Nobody should ever be far from you'
CHORUS 1
Nobody could need you the way I do
Nobody should ever be far from you
The ‘seed’ that started the was something a friend said during a prayer. He said to God something like, ‘If you love us even close to how much I love my children, that’s a lot, and we know you love us even more.’ It made me realize that all we have to compare God against is ourselves. We can ‘imagine’ that he loves us more than we love our own children, but it’s hard for us to ‘know’ that. The truth is, our love for our children and anyone else we say we ‘love’ is like hating them compared to how God loves us, but we can’t quite grasp that.
The problem is that we fail those we love, all the time, and God never fails us. Even if it were possible to not fail those we love our entire lives, at the end we fail them by dying. We can never promise to ‘always be there’ for someone because our fragile lives could end at any moment. To experience true love, we need someone who is not bound by death. That’s what was so amazing about Jesus’ resurrection. He truly was with them, ‘to the very end of the age.’ And that’s what makes it almost arrogant or at least naïve of us to suppose that our love or our efforts for others (without giving them Christ) mean anything, even if we sacrifice our own life, for ‘if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.’ Death eventually thwarts all our efforts unless we have been given life eternal from the only One who has conquered death.
I had most of the song finished except verse 3 and I was looking for a way to wrap it up. Then another friend mentioned the ‘unexpected’ theme of the art show coming up and I realized that’s what I’d been writing about: how unexpected it was for Jesus to rise from the dead. How this is what we had hoped for, had dreamed of, but didn’t see it coming. So I made verse 3 first person, trying to capture how a lifeless person feels when, out of the clear blue sky, Jesus comes knocking at their door. The final ‘Nobody could’ statement contrasts with the other ones, showing them to be false and the only real statement of the human condition to be ‘I am in desperate need of someone to love me like I desire, but fail, to love others.’So here's the lyrics to the song. Someday I'll record it and get it onto my myspace.
ONLY DREAMED OF
VERSE 1:
A father knows how much he loves his children
He can feel it in the gritting of his teeth
When one of them falls and he’s not there to catch him
And he knows there will be other times like these
But he thinks, ‘Nobody could care for them like I do’
A mother cries when she thinks of her daughter
She can feel her in the beating in her chest
A failing heart that will not beat much longer
She will go and leave her just like all the rest
Still she says, ‘Nobody could give to her like I do’
CHORUS 1:
Could we ever even wrap our heads around
A love that never goes away?
Do we have a single slightest notion of
A person who will always stay
And give the kind of love we’ve only dreamed of?
VERSE 2:
An architect walks past the demolition
Of a building he once poured himself into
With saddest eyes, he still recalls the vision
But he knows there’s nothing now that he can do
He sighs, ‘Nobody could know this place like I do’
A soldier bleeds and falters in the battle
As he draws his dying breath, he feels content
He grips the flag with all the life left in him
He thinks of the nation for which it was spent
He whispers, ‘Nobody could love her the way I do’
CHORUS 2:
Is there anyone to build a home for us
That will not crumble to the ground?
Can we find a warrior to fight for us
Whose body never will be laid down?
VERSE 3:
I hear the bell and wonder who it could be
There is no one coming ‘round here anymore
I pull the latch, and to my knees I’m falling
I did not expect to see you at my door
And I say, ‘Nobody could need you the way I do
Nobody should ever be far from you'
CHORUS 1
Nobody could need you the way I do
Nobody should ever be far from you
January 4, 2008
screaming session
Just some fun for all you lovers of the ludicrous, you samplers of the silly, you collectors of the crazy.
December 22, 2007
December 11, 2007
DECEMBER 2007 PRAYER LETTER
Here (finally) is my latest prayer/update letter for supporters of the ministry. Just click the picture to view it larger and read it.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! (Don't worry, I'll post again before Christmas. Just wanted to wish a merry Christmas to people who only check my blog because of the prayer letter. ...Not that anyone was really worrying about me not posting.)
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! (Don't worry, I'll post again before Christmas. Just wanted to wish a merry Christmas to people who only check my blog because of the prayer letter. ...Not that anyone was really worrying about me not posting.)
November 3, 2007
elkins, part 2
I've been meaning to keep posting about all my ventures to Elkins in October, but heck, what can I say? So hard to keep this thing current...
ANYWHO, I got to go down to my hometown a second time the weekend of October 5th for the beloved fall event I always try to plan ahead to attend: Forest Festival! It was awesome; everybody in my family but Colleen [sad face] got to be there, including Christopher and Alice. Everyone not from Elkins always asks me what the Forest Festival is like, and it's hard to describe. Obviously it's celebrating the forest; there's a maid who becomes a queen (Sylvia) and she has a coronation on Friday of the festival in which there are many ladies of her court whose dresses are the colors of the forest and nature. And of course it has all sorts of arts and crafts associated with such West Virginian culture. And music is heard all throughout, from folk to bluegrass to country and everything in between. There is also a 'primitive encampment' set up where people live in authetic frontiersmen-like tents with real cookfires and wool blankets and everything! This was a huge hit when we were boys.
But my favorite events of the festival happen on Saturday morning and are centered around lumberjacking. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of it this year, but there are several competitions in a field at the bottom of Davis & Elkins College surrounding some set up logs that are basically trees with their branches cut off. Lumberjacks have to try and saw them down fast and accurately (they're trying to make them hit a peg when they fall). They also do this awesome competition with shorter logs where they chop into them at a height, stick a plank in the side, hop on the plank and start chopping higher and repeat the process till they're at the top, and then they chop the top part of the log off. So cool.
This year I also got to visit my dad's grave (he died of cancer in 1989), which I did get some good pictures of. He's got the only rounded top gravestone in the entire new section of the cemetary! I actually used to draw it some when I was little. Beside Dad (J.D. King III) lies his good friend Jim Woodrum, who also has a unique grave marker: a bench. His wife, Bonnie, who's a good friend of my mom (Annette), also obtained permission to plant a tree by his grave.
On Saturday of the festival, we all went up to Bear Haven by Spruce Knob, one of our favorite places to be. It has a bunch of great rocks to climb around on and some amazing mountain views, and it was an absoultely perfect day. I'll let the pictures speak their own words...
It was a great overall visit to Elkins. The only group shot I have of some of the siblings/spouses is here on the corner of 3rd and Davis, and Alice is only half in it and Christopher isn't at all. Oh well. I guess I like scenery more than people. ...just kidding.
ANYWHO, I got to go down to my hometown a second time the weekend of October 5th for the beloved fall event I always try to plan ahead to attend: Forest Festival! It was awesome; everybody in my family but Colleen [sad face] got to be there, including Christopher and Alice. Everyone not from Elkins always asks me what the Forest Festival is like, and it's hard to describe. Obviously it's celebrating the forest; there's a maid who becomes a queen (Sylvia) and she has a coronation on Friday of the festival in which there are many ladies of her court whose dresses are the colors of the forest and nature. And of course it has all sorts of arts and crafts associated with such West Virginian culture. And music is heard all throughout, from folk to bluegrass to country and everything in between. There is also a 'primitive encampment' set up where people live in authetic frontiersmen-like tents with real cookfires and wool blankets and everything! This was a huge hit when we were boys.
But my favorite events of the festival happen on Saturday morning and are centered around lumberjacking. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of it this year, but there are several competitions in a field at the bottom of Davis & Elkins College surrounding some set up logs that are basically trees with their branches cut off. Lumberjacks have to try and saw them down fast and accurately (they're trying to make them hit a peg when they fall). They also do this awesome competition with shorter logs where they chop into them at a height, stick a plank in the side, hop on the plank and start chopping higher and repeat the process till they're at the top, and then they chop the top part of the log off. So cool.
This year I also got to visit my dad's grave (he died of cancer in 1989), which I did get some good pictures of. He's got the only rounded top gravestone in the entire new section of the cemetary! I actually used to draw it some when I was little. Beside Dad (J.D. King III) lies his good friend Jim Woodrum, who also has a unique grave marker: a bench. His wife, Bonnie, who's a good friend of my mom (Annette), also obtained permission to plant a tree by his grave.
On Saturday of the festival, we all went up to Bear Haven by Spruce Knob, one of our favorite places to be. It has a bunch of great rocks to climb around on and some amazing mountain views, and it was an absoultely perfect day. I'll let the pictures speak their own words...
It was a great overall visit to Elkins. The only group shot I have of some of the siblings/spouses is here on the corner of 3rd and Davis, and Alice is only half in it and Christopher isn't at all. Oh well. I guess I like scenery more than people. ...just kidding.
October 24, 2007
rescue
I'm sure you've heard by now (seeing as it's been a whole week), but Jacob Allen has been found alive in Dolly Sods! He was tired and hungry of course, but otherwise completely fine. There was an amazing response as far as the rescue effort; hundreds of volunteers (dozens and dozens from Chestnut Ridge Church) went to join the professional rescue teams. It was an extremely emotional and surreal week for everyone involved, including we who were praying (Sarah and I were almost literally walking out the door to drive down when we got the news that he'd been found Thursday, almost exactly 4 days to the minute from when he went missing), and looking back now, it's almost like it didn't happen. I saw Jacob in church Sunday (I led worship, and we changed the whole theme of the service to celebrate his homecoming in a day, which is more serious than you can realize because of the amount of people involved in pulling off a CRC service) and he looked fine. I just heard today that he's been smiling more than normal this week (people with autism usually don't show a lot of emotion), and Pastor Bill is convinced that it's because he's been shown how highly valued he is.
This idea was one that Bill has touched on briefly during his reflections on the whole event: that the value of a human life is immeasurable. That when a life is in danger of being lost, many other lives become involved in the effort to preserve the one life. He cited the parable Jesus told in Luke 15 of the lost sheep, whose owner left his other 99 sheep to search for the one; he talked about how much rejoicing there is in Heaven when one 'lost' person's life changes -- more rejoicing, in fact, then there is for 99 'righteous' people whose lives have already been changed! A life being saved is one of the most wonderful and glorious occurrences in the universe.
Bill also mentioned the way in which Jacob Allen's name is know far and wide now. Jacob used to be 'the other Allen brother;' Bill said that his kids couldn't usually remember his name. But now, when there was a threat to this valuable life, suddenly his name became common knowledge, uttered in prayer by thousands, fixed upon by the region and some of the nation for days. Bill likened this recognition of Jacob's name to how we are all given new names in Jesus: Christians, or 'little Christs' literally. God calls our names out of the darkness, and He speaks to us in our 'inner being' with a name that probably can't be pronounced by the human tongue. God had a habit of actually changing people's names throughout the history of the nation of Israel, and it's obvious that He places much significance on the power of a name (His name for Himself, YHWH or 'I AM WHO I AM' suggests great mystery and power and alludes that His real Name is too beautiful for us to hear).
Many lives have been impacted by the search for and rescue of Jacob Allen, and especially those in his church will not soon forget him or his value. May we all place more value on each human life we encounter, even when they don't seem to be in immediate danger!
This idea was one that Bill has touched on briefly during his reflections on the whole event: that the value of a human life is immeasurable. That when a life is in danger of being lost, many other lives become involved in the effort to preserve the one life. He cited the parable Jesus told in Luke 15 of the lost sheep, whose owner left his other 99 sheep to search for the one; he talked about how much rejoicing there is in Heaven when one 'lost' person's life changes -- more rejoicing, in fact, then there is for 99 'righteous' people whose lives have already been changed! A life being saved is one of the most wonderful and glorious occurrences in the universe.
Bill also mentioned the way in which Jacob Allen's name is know far and wide now. Jacob used to be 'the other Allen brother;' Bill said that his kids couldn't usually remember his name. But now, when there was a threat to this valuable life, suddenly his name became common knowledge, uttered in prayer by thousands, fixed upon by the region and some of the nation for days. Bill likened this recognition of Jacob's name to how we are all given new names in Jesus: Christians, or 'little Christs' literally. God calls our names out of the darkness, and He speaks to us in our 'inner being' with a name that probably can't be pronounced by the human tongue. God had a habit of actually changing people's names throughout the history of the nation of Israel, and it's obvious that He places much significance on the power of a name (His name for Himself, YHWH or 'I AM WHO I AM' suggests great mystery and power and alludes that His real Name is too beautiful for us to hear).
Many lives have been impacted by the search for and rescue of Jacob Allen, and especially those in his church will not soon forget him or his value. May we all place more value on each human life we encounter, even when they don't seem to be in immediate danger!
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