Thursday, July 22, 2010

Life in Iowa City

Here are some pics from the last couple weeks...
Above: My parents (Jack and Linda) with Jeff Thune's parents (Ruthie and Bob)

Below: Every blind squirrel finds a nut... dad's 40 yard chip in.
Every night is breathtaking at the house we're temporarily staying at in Lisbon, IA (until we move in to our new house... August 27th). The entire sky gets set on fire. Psalm 111:2 (Dodge, I will never forget this verse you shared with TSC back in '97)
Jett at his first b-day party...

Above: Makai and his baby (stray) kitten.
Below: Typical.
Below: We (Jeff and I) had a divine encounter with a life-long friend from Omaha, Aaron Boyd (and his new wife, Jen, who we met for the first time). It was amazing to see how God has brought redemption and renewal to an old friendship. This was probably the first time we'd seen each other in 16 years. It ended with us huddled up with our wives, arms around each other praying and thanking God for a divine appointment in Lisbon, Iowa, of all places. Definitely a Psalm 133:1 moment, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity and praise the Lord..."

Above: Lake, Dock, Bible, Taylor... enough said. We had our first ever Veritas staff retreat up at the Kuphal's cabin (click here for more on that from last year's). It was the perfect way to forge relationships as we head into battle together.

Below: Of course the guys got into an intense bocce ball dispute. After 3 days of fierce competition involving many random events, Mark Duvick and I came in a close second to Justan Spaid and Jeff Thune, while Clint Robinson and Lance Allgood came in third. But I'm glad to say Duvick and I won the manliest of all the competitions- King of the floating Dock.
Below: Today, I was with a couple guys from Veritas and we had an epic divine appointment (which is becoming commonplace). Within one minute, we met what you might consider the poorest man in Iowa City (a homeless man playing the piano), and the richest man in Iowa City (a man sitting on a bench delighting in the guy playing the piano). We had a great conversation with both men. Next thing I know we're on a full tour of this guy's home atop the hotel that he owns. They were both amazing people, and we saw Jesus in both of these men. Their kindness and openness to us reminded us of the vastly different stories and opportunities we will have to share the love of Christ in Iowa City. Here's Clint at the highest point in Iowa City.
Below: Makai is going after this baby deer, which you can see in the middle of the green if you look closely.

Above: Spider-man caught in his own web.
Below: Ava showing off a family of four deer that come close to our house every evening.
Below: I have said before how much I love Eagles, and see them as a sign of God's goodness. I was sitting on the dock with the aforementioned guitar, Bible... and this huge Eagle swooped down by me. The next day, Ashley and Carrie were kayaking and the Eagle did the same thing right by them and dropped a feather. Ashley grabbed it for me.

The Eagle feather sums up our time in Iowa City... a sign of God's goodness and favor upon this great adventure.
Soli Deo Gloria.

www.veritasiowacity.com

The Veritas Church website is now up and running! Check it out: http://www.veritasiowacity.com