Advent

Yesterday was the first day of the Advent season. In Advent we celebrate the coming of the Lord Jesus, remembering that he came here to earth to redeem God's people. We also look forward to when he will come again and make all things new. Sometimes we lose sight of what this time is about because of all the craziness that goes on around us. Here are some daily bible readings that will help to focus our hearts on Jesus and fight against consumerism:

Week One of Advent
Sunday November 29
Jer 33:14-16, Ps 25:1-10,
1 Th 3:9-13, Lk 21:25-36
Monday November 30
Ps 90, Num 17:1-11,
2 Pt 3:1-18
Tuesday December 1
Ps 90, 2 Sam 7:18-29,
Rev 22:12-16
Wednesday December 2
Ps 90, Is 1:24-31, Lk 11:29-32
Thursday December 3
Lk 1:68-79, Mal 3:5-12,
Phil1:12-18a
Friday December 4
Lk 1:68-79, Mal 3:13-18,
Phil 1:18b-26
Saturday December 5
Lk 1:68-79, Mal 4:1-6,
Lk 9:1-6

Week Two of Advent
Sunday December 6
Mal 3:1-4, Lk 1:68-79,
Phil 1:3-11, Lk 3:1-6
Monday December 7
Ps 126, Is 40:1-11,
Rom 8:22-25
Tuesday December 8
Ps 126, Is 19:18-25,
2 Pt 1:2-15
Wednesday December 9
Ps 126, Is 35:3-7, Lk 7:18-30
Thursday December 10
Is 12:2-6, Am 6:1-8,
2 Cor 8:1-15
Friday December 11
Is 12:2-6, Am 8:4-12,
2 Cor 9:1-15
Saturday December 12
Is 12:2-6, Am 9:8-15,
Lk 1:57-66

Week Three of Advent
Sunday December 13
Zep 3:14-20, Is 12:2-6,
Phil 4:4-7, Lk 3:7-18
Monday December 14
Is 11:1-9, Num 16:1-19,
Heb 13:7-17
Tuesday December 15
Is 11:1-9, Num16:20-35,
Acts 28:23-31
Wednesday December 16
Is 11:1-9, Mic 4:8-13,
Lk 7:31-35
Thursday December 17
Ps 80:1-7, Jer 31:31-34,
Heb 10:10-18
Friday December 18
Ps 80:1-7, Is 42:10-18,
Heb 10:32-39
Saturday December 19
Ps 80:1-7, Is 66:7-11,
Lk 13:31-35

Week Four of Advent
Sunday December 20
Mic 5:2-5a, Ps 80:1-7,
Heb10:5-10, Lk 1:39-45
Monday December 21
Ps 113, Gen 25:19-28,
Col 1:15-20
Tuesday December 22
Lk 1:46b-55, Mic 4:1-5,
Eph 2:11-22
Wednesday December 23
Lk 1:46b-55, Mic 4:6-8,
2 Pt 1:16-21
Thursday December 24
Is 9:2-7, Ps 96, Titus 2:11-14,
Lk 2:1-20
Friday December 25
Is 52:7-10, Ps 98, Heb 1:1-12,
Jn 1:1-14

Mystery in the News

The local FOX affiliate did a piece on us!
Here it is:


Thanks to Mike Corcoran at Fox for the great job!

Twenty Four Years Ago Today

November 10, 1985 was the day that I was baptized into Christ at Seymour Heights Christian Church in Seymour, TN. I remember that week before being convicted of my sin while washing my hair in the shower. I don't remember what I had been learning, or what was going on during that week...but I know that Christ showed me my sin and my guilt, and revealed to me his righteousness and freedom that were offered to me. I came out of the shower bawling and telling my parents that I wanted to be a christian. The pastor of our church came by sometime that week and talked to me about what it meant to be a christian, and my dad baptized me that next Sunday.

Erin and I were talking this morning about coming to faith and re-telling a little of our stories. As we were talking I glanced at my watch and saw 11-10 and remembered what happened so many years ago today.

Leaky Roof!

We spent a lot of time on the roof last week at the Mystery Building. Thanks mostly to two of our men here, we patched the roof and hopefully got it ready for winter. Last week's weather was amazing...highs in the 70's, and no rain whatsoever. We have known for some time that the roof needed repaired. It honestly needs replaced...but the bids on replacing our roof are pretty expensive...so we're trying to get the most out of what we have. So Jenka and Russ worked hard all week at patching our roof and making it so that we can at least get through the winter. It looks really good, and I am grateful for guys like Jenka and Russ.

We have great people who are part of our Mystery family!

October 31, 1517

Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg door.

You can read them here.

Reaching the Next Generation

(Sorry, I couldn't decide which picture was best...so I put both.)

I know, I know...this is my second post of the day...I'll try and pace myself from here on out. Kevin DeYoung has some good insight on reaching the next generation so I thought I'd link to them:

Grab Them With Passion

Win Them With Love

Hold Them With Holiness

Challenge Them With Truth

Amaze Them With God

Fishing with Dave

I had a great time this weekend with my friend Dave McNay. He flew in Thursday night, then after breakfast on Friday morning we took off to see if we could catch a few trout with our fly rods. Friday morning was cold and rainy...not what most people would consider good fishing weather. It didn't bother Dave and I a bit, and we layered up and had a great day of fishing. The weather kept most people inside and we had the streams to ourselves. Our first stop was Hickory creek in Neosho. I had only been there a couple times before, so I wasn't real familiar with where to fish. A guy from Neosho told us about the other part of the stream that was in a city park...so we headed there and finally found some fish. Dave found a sweet pocket where several trout were holding. We both caught fish out of it...the picture at the top is one of the fish I caught out of there. Dave landed 6 trout from Hickory, and I managed to bring two to hand. We were off to a good start!

From Hickory, we headed east to Granby - the oldest mining town in the Midwest evidently. In Granby, we grabbed some lunch at JJ's. It's pretty much the only place in Granby as far as I could tell. Over lunch we talked about some ideas Dave has for a children's book. He has some good ideas, and I'm excited about the prospect of doing some illustrations for it! Who knows where it ends up, but it will be fun!

Our next stop was Jolly Mill and Capps Creek - which is several miles east of Granby. Jolly Mill was great...Dave and I both landed several fish and were a little disappointed we didn't bring a cooler to keep some of the trout we caught. We braved the wind and rain the entire afternoon...which is pretty easy to do when you're hooking fish! The sunset was amazing as the clouds in the west were finally clearing and turned bright red as the sun dipped below them. At dark we packed up our gear, took off our waders, and went searching for some mexican food...which we finally found in Republic, MO.

After dinner we headed to Branson, resisted to temptaion to see Yakov, and found a campsite at Table Rock Lake. We were looking forward to the prospect of hooking into some large trout in Lake Taneycomo in the morning. At daybreak we got up, packed the tent and headed out - only to find that Taneycomo is blown out because of all the rain we've had in SW MO lately. It was unfishable. So, we found some breakfast at a place where a Monopoly tournament was starting and some old dude that looked EXACTLY like Santa Clause was eating with his friends who weren't even close to looking like elves.

After breakfast we took the scenic route to Roaring River State park. The weather was amazing on Saturday...warm and sunny. So there were a TON of people trying to catch trout at Roaring River. Neither Dave nor I was excited about the idea of elbowing in between two people to try and catch anything...so we left Roaring River without even getting out of the truck. Part of the joy of fishing is in the solitude...and Roaring River looked more stressful than anything else. We went back to what we knew - Capps Creek at Jolly Mill! There were several people fishing Capps when we got there, but nothing like Roaring River, so there was plenty of space to find your own stretch of water. Dave and I both caught several fish...and had a great time enjoying the weather and the fishing. I haven't had the chance to do anyhting like that in a while and it was great to be able to spend osme time with an old friend.

I am grateful to Jesus for Dave. I always have been. He was someone I looked up to in Youth Group growing up...even though the more we talk, the more we both come to see that we desperately needed saving form our religiosity! Christ has proven himself faithful to both of us and we are both blessed beyond measure with salvation, good church families, great wives and beautiful children. Thanks Dave for the great weekend fishing, talking, and praying together!