We love you Jenna!

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Just 1.

Obviously, it’s a huge phrase for us… it’s what we named our ministry, after all. We feel it was clearly God-given (both Nancy and I had the phrase placed solidly in our minds), and we’ve used it many times to try to convey to others what it means to us.

But I’ve been reflecting on it again over the past couple of days.

Out of curiosity, I checked Twitter, and searched for a couple hashtags to see how people use “Just 1″. Man did it ever hit home! Both #JustOne and #Just1 gave some revealing results.

I want to have a real conversation with him, but it never happens. #JustOne

I wish there was at least one person who truly understands how I feel. #JustOne

I just want one thing to go my way today. #JustOne

I want one boy to prove to me that every boy isn’t the same. #JustOne

Let me have a hug. #JustOne

I just want one wish to come true. #JustOne

Just 1 miracle, Lord. #JustOne

You see, “Just 1″ is something people long for. There are so many people with a need for a “Just 1″ story. So many people who have a “Just 1″ story to share.

So many ways each and every person on this planet can make a difference in the life of “Just 1″.

For us, it’s about orphan care. We hope and pray that one day, we’ll be able to adopt “Just 1″. We desperately desire to help others make a difference in the lives of “Just 1″.

But what about you? How can you make a difference in the life of “Just 1″?

You have a “Just 1″ story. There is someone who needs you to touch their life… someone God has planned for you to impact.

Are you willing?

Why? This afternoon, we got a first-hand example.

Background… My son received some tools for Christmas. He’s just NINE years old, so maybe that’s weird, but it’s something he was absolutely thrilled about. And we’ve seen that he certainly has no aversion to using them (case in point here).

This afternoon, he showed us yet again that this is the case. This time, though, he didn’t stop with just HIS tools. He managed to sneak into my shop which I was napping (recovering from a migraine), and he used some of my POWER TOOLS.

Here’s the end result:

You see, Jeffrey just wanted to customize an old remote control car he found yesterday. He had another vehicle (a green Jeep Cherokee) that didn’t work very well anymore, and he thought it would be cool to put that body on the RC car.

Taking the body off was no issue at all. A couple screws, and mission complete.

The problem lay in attaching the new body to the RC frame. Short of a couple screws and holes, or tape (which he’s QUITE fond of, by the way… I need stock in 3M!), it just wasn’t gonna work.

So Jeffrey simply did what any industrious nine year old would do… sneak into Dad’s shop, find the drill and appropriate drill bits, find a couple screws that would work, and go to town.

Before I was awake and Nancy realized what he was up to, he was already done.

Well… Nancy was justifiably freaked out. POWER TOOLS! A NINE YEAR OLD! SERIOUSLY?!?**

My response was quite a bit different:

An ear to ear smile. “Nice work buddy! Next time, though, let’s have a bit of adult supervision, okay?”

My son was beaming (of course, you see that above). He still was when I tucked him into bed, actually. The jeep is parked on his headboard.

I don’t know. I guess he’s developing his inner Phineas and Ferb.

Which is SO much better than frying his brain with video games.

I’ll take it.

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**Just to be clear, Nancy is 100% supportive of Jeffrey’s creative construction urges… she was just concerned about safety. Obviously, I am too. We don’t expect another surprise like this again. Jeffrey’s future construction projects using power tools WILL be supervised!

Nancy and I were having dinner with the kiddos at a restaurant in North Kansas City on our way home from celebrating Christmas with family in Springfield. There was some ambient music playing that we both immediately recognized. I sang a few lines to Nancy to humor her. She didn’t laugh, though the kids sure did.

Jeffrey was grinning ear to ear. Apparently he kind of liked the song, which Nancy noticed. She turned to him and said something to the effect of:

“So, you kind of like the oldies, do you?”

I couldn’t believe she was referring to the song as “oldies”. I said, “It’s not THAT old of a song!”

Of course, I had to find out.

I googled the lyrics, because I couldn’t remember the title and artist (sign number one I was about to feel a whole lot older than I think I am):

“But it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for!”

Google spewed it’s results.

Billy Joel. “You May be Right”. 1980.

I stood corrected. The song is 32 years old.

I feel MUCH older now.

… you’d better be prepared for him to use them!

Yep, that’s what’s left of our Swiffer.

For those of you who are bored by this… these are my kiddos, and it’s my site. Yes I’m gonna share.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

Baking Jesus a birthday cake.

Dinner as a family.

Attending Christmas Eve worship at our church.

Reading the Christmas story from the Bible.

Watching the kiddos exchange gifts from each other.

Wondering what “Santa” will bring in the morning.

Quite simply put… we love Christmas and all of its traditions.

This year, though, there’s something more lingering in our hearts. This Christmas, we can’t help but have our thoughts extend to the millions of orphans throughout the world.

So many of these children wait, hoping that one day they’ll have a family of their own. They’ll go to bed tonight not worried about what Santa will bring, but simply longing to have a family that loves them and cares for them. Likewise, there are perhaps millions of families throughout the world, preparing for adoption, who celebrate this Christmas with empty spots in their hearts, their sole Christmas wish being that their adopted child could be with them right now.

With that in mind, enjoy this touching Christmas song from Third Day.

Merry Christmas everyone.

[Reposted from our orphan-care ministry site: just-1.org.]

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I don’t want to call it a “New Year’s Resolution”, per se, but one thing I always kick myself for about two weeks after the beginning of each new year is that I don’t have a concrete plan for studying Scripture like I should. I think to myself, “Sure wish I’d have started a Bible in a Year plan or something”, and then proceed to NOT do so and flounder in my devotional life.

Not so this year.

I’ve ran across a very interesting plan that I’m excited about: “Professor Horner’s Bible-Reading System”.

It’s different than most I’ve seen, and perhaps that’s what has me excited. Ten chapters a day… from ten different locations in Scripture.

Yeah, sounds like a shotgun approach to Scripture initially, I know.

But dig into the details.

The genius that I see in the system is precisely that it DOES have participants reading so many different parts of Scripture. You see, readers have the opportunity to digest the whole of the Bible quickly. You’re not just honed in on one particular passage… you’re in Genesis, Joshua, Isaiah, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Matthew, Acts, Romans, 1 Thessalonians… simultaneously. You’re constantly bombarded by the entirety of Scripture, resulting in the big picture of God’s revelation coming across.

As described in the link above and in the program literature, the plan allows Scripture to interpret Scripture. You’ll see prophetic verses or history from the Old Testament referenced by Jesus or the writers of the Epistles. You’ll read the Psalms and receive nourishment from them, as well as wisdom from Proverbs. And you’ll see the growth of the church in Acts. And as you proceed through the plan, you’re never reading the same group of verses… you start over with each of ten sections of Scripture at different points throughout the year.

The result of all this?

Theology revealed. Practical instruction. The story of God. Constant nourishment.

Can you tell I’m excited?

Anyway, if you’re interested in participating along with me, let me know. I’d love to see a group of other believers working through Scripture together.

It’s a big deal, for sure. Literacy allows knowledge to recorded and passed on. It allows children’s minds to expand and soar. It enables hopes and dreams.

And it allows kids to read wonderful books such as these:

Yes, you’re reading those titles correctly: “Walter the Farting Dog”, and “Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder: Bubble in the Bathtub”.

Literary classics, indeed.

(For the record, I was definitely not searching for these books… just happened to run across them in the Barnes and Noble childrens’ section as Nancy and I were shopping last night, and had to share!)