Under Construction

The (not so) ole' blog is under construction, so please pardon the mess. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Joy

Michael Card rocks my world. Here's some of his stuff:

But our wounds are part of who we are
And there is nothing left to chance
And pain's the pen that writes the songs
That call us forth to dance
(from "Underneath the Door" on Scribling in the Sand)

If you've never listened to "Joy in the Journey," you absolutely must. I'll loan you the CD if that will help. As I type this post, I have my Walkman set to "Repeat 1," and each playback moves my heart even more. Read the lyrics through a few times and just mull over the truth. We in Christ have been born of the spirit! Oh how I long to be done with sin in my body! Oh how can it be that my God took on flesh! Oh what a cost we must pay and what a load we must bear, by oh all the more there is joy, wonder, wildness, and freedom! Oh God, may we obey!

There is a joy in the journey,
There's a Light we can love on the way.
There is a wonder and wildness to life,
and freedom for those who obey.

All those who seek it shall find it,
A pardon for all who believe.
Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind

To all who've been born of the Spirit
And who share incarnation with Him;
Who belong to eternity, stranded in time,
And weary of struggling with sin.
Forget not the hope that's before you,
And never stop counting the cost.
Remember the hopelessness when you were lost!

There is a joy in the journey,
There's a light we can love on the way.
There is a wonder and wildness to life,
And freedom for those who obey.
("Joy in the Journey" released "live" on Scribling in the Sand)

Rest

Reading days are so close I can taste them... and don't want to do any work. I'm just a few classes shy of a much needed break, if one could call it a break, considering that I have the followng on deck.

• Analyze research and write an ethnographic paper on the Central Thai of Thailand (and boy are sources hard to track down).
• Read J. Clinton McCann Jr.'s A Theological Introduction to the Book of Psalms (approximately 180 pages) and write a Draper paper off of it.
• Read The Life and Diary of David Brainerd for Great Books Seminar II
• Do some work on a research paper on the Community of Christ (Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) due two weeks after break. Also for this class (Theology of the Cults) is a bunch of reading that coincides with exam two, which is the week after reading days.

Pretty restful, huh? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. When you top that off with about 30 hours of work, and a friend coming in from out of town, it is going to be absolutely crazy, but hopefully crazily good. I am excited about the topics on which I am writing, am always up for a good book, and am going to dig a break from the daily treadmill. At the end, though, if I don't rest in Christ, it won't be much of a break at all. So please pray for me that I might be able to remember this, and to all my peoples who've gone to Florida, enjoy the beach on my behalf.

Up from the Ashes

Boyce Missions Link is reborn. At long last, the missions major has an student organization, to mobilize missionary action and missionary support at Boyce College. Many mission majors met together last night, Saturday, March 25, at the home of Dr. and Mrs. DeKlavon. After we spent about an hour in prayer for the nations, we began to discuss what the organization should look like, and who should lead it. We came to a concensus that the group should have four officers to lead it, and the following people were chosen to fill the following posts.

Megan Stephens - International Missions Coordinator
Kristina Pelhank - North American Missions Coordinator
Aaron Grant - Campus Coordinator
Paul Butterworth - President

In the next few weeks, we will be nailing down what we will do and how to do it. Please keep us in your prayers as we attempt to better serve the cause of Christ through focused missionary emphasis at Boyce.

Back in Black (or Blogger)

Using Xanga over Blogger is a lot like using Myspace over Facebook. It makes things really easy, at the cost of all moral values and good graphic design. I desire greatly to return to the world of Blogger, but I don't want to do so without building up readers and linking to really good blogs, like John Toto's, like Mike's (best art design ever), etc.

This is the city of Ayuthaya, in Central Thailand. I will be living and working in this town for just over a month this summer. I have waited so long for this to finally happen, my chance to dive deeper into the world of international cross-cultural work than I ever have before. This is my chance to begin testing what I have learned, and learn new things that will test me. It's a chance to taste, and touch, and smell, and see. As much as possible, I will post here during my time abroad, and tell of what God is doing among the Central Thai people group, but as for now, God is working in my life by allowing me to have the first decent night's sleep in sometime, after I do a few pages of reading. So please pray for the Central Thai, follow this think to my Xanga and lift up the short-term mission team that is there now (including my family).

Further Up and Further In,
Paul/"Pablo"