The Countdown Has Begun!

As you approach your own wedding, most or your conversations tend to center around that topic. That's understandable; a wedding is a pretty important event after all. And often, when I have a wedding-centered conversation with a married friend, he or she feels the urge to give advice based on his or her own experience, which I'm grateful for, but whether or not I remember it all is a whole other story.

One bit of advice I know I will remember, came from a friend at church, just the other day. She said, "I said, 'Till death do us part,' so I told my husband I just may have to kill him one day!" I wonder how many people consider that as an option to divorce?

But of course, Jen and I will have such a wonderful marriage, full of joy, excitement, romance, and intimacy that thoughts of anger, impatience, regret, or even (shudder) divorce, will never even enter our minds. Um...sure. No, I'm not that naive!

I approach this new season of my life with great anticipation of the joys of marriage. My fiancee is a beautiful woman with whom I have a wonderful friendship, and the idea of spending the rest of my life with her is like starting up the motorcycle on a beautiful day, with miles and miles of open, scenic highway ahead of me. I am aware of the challenges of marriage, and I pray that as we trust God to lead us, we will walk through each one that comes our way.

I am very grateful to have many people in my life who have shown me, through their own marriage, an example of what it means to truly love and to stand by such a covenant. My parents have been married for nearly 30 years, and both sets of my grandparents passed their 50th anniversaries.

Our wedding will take place April 14th, so not far away now. We are both very excited about the opportunity to see and spend time with friends and family who are traveling long distances to be with us for our celebration.

New Laptop!!!

Remember how I've been trying to raise money for a new laptop for the past four months or so? Well, I have finally arrived! I have a brand new Dell Inspiron, equipped just how I wanted it. Wow, what an improvement over my previous Dell. It's amazing the difference five years makes in the computer industry.

I have the computer, but I still need about $200 for Microsoft Office software. For now, the free 60-day trial version will suffice.

Thanks to everyone who contributed over the months, and a big thank you to a God who enjoys providing for His children!

Mission Adventures Single Mom Outreach

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26

I went out to visit Amanda* to see what we could do to help. She is a neighbor of some friends of mine. They call her "one of Ozark's forgotten." A single mother, she works two difficult jobs just to make ends meet. When we met, she was stone-faced and unemotional, and a little bit shy. She told me, "I can't pay people to help me." The following week, I brought about 15 high school students to help her clear trees and brush off her land where she wanted a horse pasture. We worked there for 2 days, for free! Imagine her shock. Her neighbor told me later that she never smiled, but he visited her after we had worked for her, and she was all smiles and even gave him a big hug...something she had never done before! At the end of the week, she was a totally different person, full of joy.

Amanda was one of the nine single moms from the community that we served last week. We hosted a group of 50 high school students, and we gave them opportunities to serve. Typically, the circumstances single moms face are very difficult, sometimes even desperate. Through this group of students, we wanted to represent the Father's compassion to them, and by our actions tell them that God had not forgotten them.

We closed the week with a BBQ at a park, and invited all the moms we had served. Most of them showed up. I had the opportunity to share with them the verse I have written at the top of this blog, telling them that our message to them, through the projects completed and the free BBQ, was that they were in fact more valuable to the Father than the birds, and that He would care for them. As I spoke those words to them, I could see the eyes of each single mother welling with tears.

Preparing and planning everything for the Single Moms Outreach required a lot of difficult work, and a lot of prayer, but it was well worth it in the end, to see God work through us to show His compassion to those single moms.

*Names were changed for the sake of privacy.

I'm An Uncle!!!

I say congratulations to my sister Gennie, and brother-in-law Jeff, on the new life they have brought into our midst with their first child. More than 2 days of waiting at the hospital was made worthwhile by the birth of a healthy baby boy, which for now shall remain unnamed ...

Dos Tacos de Pescado Por Favor...

We all love tacos, don't we? A crisp corn shell, with some ground beef, cheese, some vegetables like lettuce and tomato, and, if we're daring enough, we sprinkle on a little hot sauce. And oh the greasy goodness as it slimes it way through our taste buds!

But I don't know if I can ever go back to eating a normal, American taco. I just returned from a 5-day conference in Ensenada, Mexico, and after eating real, authentic Mexican tacos, I don't think I can stoop down to that level again. I don't know what your opinion is on the whole Mexican Immigration issue, but it's a shame that the legal and illegal immigrants who come to our country don't bring their tacos with them! I have eaten at more than a few Mexican restaurants in the US, run by Mexicans, and the tacos just aren't the same. Maybe it's a conspiracy by the Mexican government, in which they don't allow the real taco recipes to cross the border.

I even ate fish tacos and shrimp tacos! I admit, I was a little nervous at first, because the idea of fish and tacos didn't seem to mix, but they too were delicious.

I mentioned that I went to Mexico for a conference. Well, it wasn't a Taco Conference - I actually did something worthwhile. The purpose was for Mission Adventures, a short-term outreaches-for-youth-groups program we run. I spent my mornings, afternoons, and evenings in sessions that included everything from how to market this thing to youth workers, to praying for Mission Adventures to be started in Africa.

The main speaker for the event was Paul Hawkins, a man that has been with Youth With A Mission since the early seventies, a sort of "father" of our mission. I was very refreshed by his words, and by the words of many others that week. Here are a few of the things he said:

"God wants us to work under pressure, but not to be distorted by it."

"Grace is the divine ability to handle difficult circumstances."

"If you're stressed, you need to find out in which areas of you're life you're not appropriating God's graces."

I arrived at this conference dry and thirsty. My week in Mexico gave me a good, long drink of cold water, and now I'm ready, walking in step with the Father, to take on the challenges that lie ahead of me.

One wild week

Five weeks from now, we will host a group of 51 high school students from Missouri for their spring break mission trip - what we call Mission Adventures. This will be the fourth of such groups we have hosted, but if I took and added the numbers of the previous three groups, it still would not equal the group coming in March! And on top of that, at this point, we have 4 staff that will be here to work with it! We have our work cut out for us. We are currently looking for volunteers to help, so if you're not doing anything March 4th - 9th...

But for as much work as it requires, I am very excited about this opportunity. For one, we create an atmosphere, through prayer, teachings from the Word, worship, and various activities, for the students to encounter God during that week. We also schedule ministry, so the students are active in sharing their faith with others, challenging them to live according to God's calling. The stories I have, the amazing changes that have happened in students lives because of Mission Adventures...Well, let's just say I am really anticipating God will do cool things during that week in March.

For a new laptop:

I am currently raising money for a new laptop. I've had my current computer for more than 4 years, and I think it's time for a new one. A new computer would be very useful for work, and I could use it for personal things as well. Thanks to the generosity of family and friends, I already have a significant portion of what I need.

For a laptop with hardware and software that I'm looking at, I still need about $700. If you are interested in contributing, you can write a check out to YWAM Ozarks, and send it to me at:
Josh Levin
7119 Mountain View Drive
Ozark, AR 72949

YWAM Ozarks is a non-profit organization, so for any donation you send, you will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Thanks!