Last Day in Texas!!

We are headed to Louisville, TOMORROW MORNING! After much deliberation of packing and rearranging, and getting trailers, Ryan and I are packed and ready to go for tomorrow! It is rather bitter sweet leaving friends here, yet starting such a great season of our lives! I'll try to keep you updated about the move with pictures, stories, and anything else we can think of to post. We were going to a step-by-step road trip picture book for you guys but we have lost our camera in all the visiting of friends...so, words it will have to be...and as we say goodnight and...

GOODBYE TEXAS!!

We appreciate your prayers, and I'm sure you will all be hearing from us soon!!

Ryan & Sarah

CANYON!!

We are officially in Canyon Texas up in the panhandle...and as you might see from the posts and Ryan's new blog -- we've had a little more time on our hands. PS -- Ryan also has facebook now...and consequently we stayed up until 3:30 or so looking at it and setting it up! We had my nephew Michael's first birthday this weekend, and it was so much fun!

We even had a fireworks show at the end at my sister's house in the country. As you might imagine -- we all looked forward to the cake eating portion of the party...

My mom has VBS this week at her church, so Ryan and I have been helping out. And also a new addition -- my mom and my Meme are teaching me how to play bridge (I know I know -- its kind of an old ladies game -- but it is seriously challenging and I'm loving it so far!!

Plus -- my brother plays and can't wait for me to get to play with him!)

Louisville updates:
We are nearing our August 1st move in date!! And we are still preparing for all the events leading up to the move. I'm still on the job searching committee, so please pray the Lord opens up a position for me!! I'd love to work on campus, so we are pursuing that route right now!

Beeb'z Blog

Check out my new blog here. Take the time to scroll down and catch up on the last few blogs we posted. We have put a few up over the last few days.

Suffering for the Sake of Christ

My sister Cara (I call her Caraboo) had a near death experience in her last trip to Mexico. I love her zeal for Christ and His gospel. Please take the time to check out the story here.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy Indepedence Day

-- from Don and the rest of us Bebees! We have been celebrating the past few days here in Liberty Hill, learning about our past and the origins of our country. It has been encouraging to see how the founders of our nation and state were God honoring and fearing Christians. Their bravery have given us the liberty we now have in our nation. But we have been celebrating how our liberty in Christ is even more important and vital in our lives. Don has been working on a four day celebration for all of our nation to celebrate our past and our future as Americans. Check it out at American Family Reunion. I hope you guys enjoy the fireworks tonight -- my favorite part of the 4th of July activities!!!

Exercise in Dominion

My nephews Jacob, Ty and Kyle have come to spend some time with us.

Ty got into some ants and the end result was this:

So, in order to demonstrate our God-given dominion over animals, I showed them how to properly execute our dominion:

I love dominion, and I hope no animal rights activist find this blog. Peace...

New Laptop

Sarah and I are sitting in a coffee shop in Waco, TEXAS posting this blog from our new laptop. We were pretty excited to receive it in the mail today when we were on our way out the door. Sarah is in a mock-trial this afternoon for a friend who is finishing up her law school degree from Baylor. She is a little nervous, but at least her first time in court is a mock trial.

This morning I taught a Counselor Bible Study at Camp Buckner (still the best camp in the world). I had the privilege of teaching on marriage. They are going through 1 Corinthians this summer and they assigned me chapter 7...all 40 verses. I had about 40 minutes to teach. For those of you who know me, this will come as no surprise, but I only got to verse 16 and I went 10 minutes over time. Oh well. More on that later.

The house buying is still in progress. Based on all the other houses purchases I have made in my life this one is going fairly smooth.

Our nephews Jacob and Ty have been with us at my parents house for the last week or so. They are a blast but a lot of responsibility. Eron, "little baby Shakov" is getting pretty big. He takes offense to the name "Shakov" because it implies that he is a "little baby." But is sure is funny when he gets all angry about it (although his anger isn't anger at all, just a show).

We are still Longing for Louie. (just for you Kari)

Adios Amigos,
Ryan and Sarah

Trip to Louisville!!!

Well, as many of you know, Ryan and I had the blessing of once again visiting the great state of Kentucky. We went up last week on Wednesday and came home late Saturday. It was encouraging, productive, and well....we just wanted to stay the rest of the summer!! Our sweet friends and family were so hospitable towards us, and we enjoyed some great fellowship (yes, we did partake in the "Real Men of Genius" links with the Plevans...). Here are some of the fun updates and things that were accomplished during this trip:

1) I got to see the duplex for the first time in person!! Loved it and can't wait to move in. We are literally .3 miles from the seminary! We had the inspection on Friday (which was great to be present and meet with the inspector) -- and we are requesting some repairs, but nothing too major! And we JUST heard from DeAnna that almost all of our requests were granted. So we are headed to closing on July 30th!

2) Had a great meeting with our mortgage broker! If any of you are considering purchasing a house near Louisville, we would highly recommend this guy! We met for about two hours and he explained all of the details, ect...it's a lot!

3) Ryan and I went job searching...some. I applied on campus, and now really looking for something in my field of chemistry -- but we will see. However, Ryan already HAS A JOB!! Working with Chick-fil-A! (Yes, yes, the Greens, Gerlts, and Smiths willall be rejoicing quite enthusiastically at this moment!!) He will be working at the mall store linked, or at a free standing store a little farther away. But it should be a GREAT environment for Ryan (the owner hires a large percentage of seminary students) and we really like the owner already. PS. his son was in Mrs. Jamie Butts class this past year -- how small our Christian circles can be!! So yes, the Lord is so gracious and faithful to provide.

4) Went to see Ryan's cousin Blake and his wife Brianna. Blake is on staff at Wellington Church in Lexington. We are so thankful to have family close by when we move north! Our time was invaluable. Ryan and Blake enjoyed some theological conversing, and man we had some of the best pizza in Kentucky (I'm convinced). We cannot wait to visit again.

We are now back in Texas, although shortly for me. Ryan gave me the best birthday gift EVER this year! He planned a weekend get-away to California to visit two of my best friends, Mara and Bethany. So on Thursday, away I go to the sunshining state of Cali!!! So pray that Lord continues to grant us favor as we make decisions about the house/duplex, jobs, and moving! We are sincerely enjoying this time off from working to visit family, friends, and just read!

I Get Fired Up

Well, we offered on the house, and the seller counter-offered, desiring us to pay a little more to buy out the current renter's contract. This is where I get fired up. I love it when somebody wants to try to take advantage of a first time house buyer who is a future seminary student. It could get interesting. Anyhow, we are counter offering, and you can bet your seminary book money that I won't be paying him more than his asking price. More later.

You know what, there are times in the Psalms when David implores the Lord to judge him according to His righteousness. "Judge me, O Lord my God, according to your righteousness..." Ps. 35:24. Are you so confident in your walk with the Lord that you could implore God to judge you in His righteousness with the assurance that He would be pleased? Apparently it's an attainable state that we can acquire. Where are you at? Are you dealing with sin swiftly and righteously, are you washing your heart with the water of God's word? Can you say with David, "Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, And I have trusted in the Lord without wavering." Ps. 26:1.

John Owen from The Mortification of Sin

"Now I say when a man comes to this state and condition that lust is weakened in the root and principle, that its motions and actions are fewer and weaker than formerly, so that they are not able to hinder his duty nor interrupt his peace; when he can, in a quiet, sedate frame of spirit, find out and fight against sin, and have success against it; then sin is mortified in some considerable measure, and notwithstanding all its opposition, a man may have peace with God all his days."

Blessings,

Ryan

John Piper's God Exalting Grammar

Wow...I was moved to tears, and the more you hear it the more real it becomes.

Buying a House

Does anybody other than me find it interesting that the most important financial decision you will probably ever make is the one that you know the absolute least about? Hmmmm, maybe that is why you have to sign all these papers that say you believe that your realtor and mortgage broker are acting in your best interest, because I think that they are. Our realtor has been nothing but WONDERFUL and I am thankful for the hard work she has been putting in on our behalf. Not to mention the fact that she is a believer and it's nice (biblically compelling as well) to work with the Body of Christ. BUT, the down side to knowing very little about a large purchase is that you could lose a bunch of money. Knowing that, read on...

Sarah and I have been running around like crazy, trying to fax this here and that there, sign this here and date it, get this information about such and such, and make a decision about this and if you mess up, there is a possibility that it could cost you thousands. That seems a little crazy, but we just have to do that to make an OFFER on the house, not actually buy it. I can't wait until the day we close on it, should be interesting (if it all works out). Anyhoo, if you plan to buy a house in the future, start making friends with a mortgage broker (if you're not related to one) so that they can help explain things, cuz it gets a bit confusing. My uncle is a mortgage broker and he gave me a 30 minute lesson over the phone today, and man, it was helpful. Just something to think about. AND if you ever start looking at purchasing a house, you may go ahead and ask your realtor to give you a copy of all the paper work that you will eventually fill out. Sarah and I would like to have been a little bit more acquainted with all the forms and whatnot. I am not saying that our real estate agent or mortgage broker is doing a bad job. In fact, I bet they are ready to work with someone who knows what they are talking about. What I am saying is take some initiative to prepare yourself for the most important financial decision you will ever make, it will pay off big time (and I mean it will pay off monetarily and it will lower your stress level).

More on house purchasing later.

No pregnant jokes this time.

Longing for Loui,
Beebs

I'm in

Saturday afternoon I received an envelope from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary that said, "We would like to congratulate..." that's the only part I really read. Then Sarah and I were jumping up and down all excited that the Lord had confirmed the call for us to attend seminary in the fall of 2007. Instead of calling my friends in Kentucky, I just ran to the airport and flew in to tell them about it. Everybody was really thankful that I flew in just to inform them of my acceptance.
Not really, I flew up there to take a look at a house. We found a very promising duplex that is very close to the seminary, the price is right, and it looks like we will have good renters (I hope). It is a beautiful redbrick duplex. You can take a look at it here. Hopefully we will make a bid on it tomorrow, Tuesday, and start drawing up a contract by the weeks end.
By 1:00 am Saturday night, Eron and I had registered for my fall classes. I will be taking 10 hours total.
-Biblical Theology with Dr. Wellum
-Systematic Theology with Dr. Moore
-Written Communications with (I can't remember)
-Personal Spiritual Disciplines wit Dr. Whitney
It ought to be a good time!!
Right now Sarah and I are in the process of moving to Liberty Hill for the summer and finishing up staff training at Camp Buckner (still the best camp on the face of the earth). Things are busy, but that's probably good for me.

Sarah's preg...naah, just kidding.

Beebs

Quick Update

Thought I'd give you a quick update. Sarah and I are waiting anxiously to hear from the seminary. We should find out sometime this week, if the seminary is correct in telling us that it will take 8-10 days from the time they have all our info.

Last week I should have spent a lot of time reading, but I spent a lot of time fishing instead. You can't blame me right? Pretty soon I'll be reading enough to make up for all the lost time of that past. But I don't really consider fishing to be lost time either. I caught enough fish (with the help of Jason Shaw) to feed 15 people Friday night. It was nice to fish with a purpose.

Sarah is still laboring intensely to get things ready for summer camp. The Lord has faithfully brought the needed staff together for camp and things are looking great. Continue to pray for her and the other summer camp staff; right now is a very stressful time of year.

I have 7 and 1/2 days left of school and I love it. 67 out of 68 of my kids passed the TAKS Math test (I'm in charge of all of 4th grade math). And 47% of those kids earned a commended performance (they missed less than 4 problems). I have to be honest here...I was more excited about my kids succeeding than I ever was over winning a ballgame of any sort. 180 days is a long time to spend with 80 kids, pushing them to learn math, and then find out that they paid attention and learned. It's quite satisfying.

Sarah's pregnant...just kidding.

I'll let you know if Southern accepts me or slams the door in my face.

Ryan

Been a While

Good Grief and Honor...It's been forever since I last posted, and I have fully come to terms with the fact that I deserved to be kicked off Eron's blog list.

Well, my kids have all taken the TAKS test and now they have absolutely no motivation for learning. This results in a husband who is worn out at the end of the day and praying that for the last 4 weeks of school corporal punishment (or maybe capital) will be reinstated in elementary schools. We have a Soap Box Derby coming up, the Science Fair going on right now (literally, as I type), an archeological dig field trip coming up as well as a swim party all in the next 4 weeks. Oh yeah, and a musical production that we are putting on with the 4th graders. A busy month is ahead and I am ready, I mean READY, to be in Looeevill.

So I told Eron that I would like to contribute to his new blog on books called The Booked Blog. This is good for me. You see, I am a bit of a competitor and it might be good for me to see Eron and friends blogging about books they have read. Check that out, it will be great.

Sarah is meticulously laboring in pursuit of summer camp. As it draws nearer the pressure is really building but it is nice to know that we will not be there all summer (although we would love to be). It would be pretty tough to try to move to L'ville while maintaining our jobs at camp.
I just finished a book by Joseph S. Carroll called How to Worship Jesus Christ. For anyone who needs an encouragement to just savor Christ and ascribe worth to Him, this book is for you (by the way, that's everybody). I'll post more in depth on it later (probably on The Booked Blog)

Sarah caught an 8 pound bass Sunday. Yeah, that's right, 8 stinkin' pounds. That made for a lot of fried fish as well as one humbled husband!!

Love you guys, hope all is well. Adios...

Praise the Lord for sound doctrine

All too often we forget what many have gone through in the past to give us such polished theology for today. God has used those in the history of the church to expose truth to many who were in spiritual ignorance. This book is about just that. John Hooper, Rowland Taylor, Hugh Latimer, John Bradford, and Nicholas Ridley all took a stand for the truth of God's word and they were burned at the stake in return. I am amazed a the stand that these men took and the opposition they received yet they stood strong on the foundation of truth that we often times take for granted. This foundation of truth was not taught to them from years of tradition as well as thoroughly articulated systematic theology books. They were taught these truths by the Holy Spirit through the word of God in a time when hardly anybody thought that was an option. I will leave out the specific doctrines that they stood for (in hopes that you will seek it out) and just encourage you to thank God daily for good doctrine and the easy access that we have to it. I just want to give you a few quotes from the men this book was written about.

John Hooper wrote these words on his prison cell wall:

"Content thyself with patience, with Christ to bear the cross of pain: Who can or will recompense a thousand-fold, with joys again. Let nothing cause thy heart to fail: Launch out thy boat, hoist up thy sail,Put from the shore; And be thou sure thou shalt remain, for evermore.

Fear not death, pass not for bands, only in God put thy whole trust; For He will require thy blood at their hands, And thou dost know that once die thou must, Only for that thy life if thy give, death is no death, but amens to live. Do not despair; Of no worldly tyrant be thou in dread; Thy compass which is God's word, shall lead thee, and the wind is fair."

Rowland Taylor just before he was attached to the stake:

"Good people, I have taught you nothing but God's Holy Word, and those lessons that I have taken out of God's blessed book, the Holy Bible; and I am come hither to this day to seal it with my blood."

Hugh Latimer, who arose at 2 am to study each morning, left the world with these words:

"Be of good comfort, Master Ridley (another reformer he was burned with), and play the man; We shall this day light such a candle. By God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out."

John Bradford spoke of his being wrongly condemned:

"When I consider the cause of my condemnation, I cannot but lament that I do not rejoice more than I do, for it is God's verity and truth. The condemnation is not a condemnation of Bradford simply, but rather a condemnation of Christ and His truth. Bradford is nothing else but an instrument, in whom Christ and His doctrine are condemned."

Nicholas Ridley offered up a final supplication as he was at the stake:

"O Heavenly Father, I give unto Thee most hearty thanks, for that Thou hast called me to be a professor of Thee, even unto death. I beseech Thee, Lord God, take mercy upon this realm of England, and deliver the same from all her enemies."

The price these men paid for the doctrines we cherish today should not be forgotten. Read about the martyrs of the past; It will excite your hunger for spiritual growth and deepen your love and commitment to Christ and His truth. May we never take for granted sound doctrine. Praise God for His wonderful grace!

To Every Tribe Ministries

What's up y'all? (I said that because I won't be in TX to much longer)
Just thought you folks in Kentucky might want to know that the founder of "To Every Tribe Ministries" will be speaking at SBTS chapel soon. His name is David Sitton and he has recently set up the Center for Pioneer Church Planting. My little sister Caraboo (her real name is Cara) is enrolled and she loves it. They recently returned from a mission trip to Papa New Guinea where the Lord was pleased to save his people. Read about it at my sister's blog right here.
David loves the Lord and is fully committed to the unreached people groups in Mexico and PNG. Check out this quote of his - I am on a crusade right now to recruit martyr missionaries for the least reached people groups of the world. -David Sitton. I guess maybe that should worry me since my sister is being trained at his school, but it doesn't. Cara would love to die for the gospel of Christ and that is one thing I love about her.
Sarah went on a mission trip to Mexico with TETM and she roughed it, sleeping in a one-person tent with torrential rains slamming down on top of her only to find out that her tent wasn't water proof and hoping that her body weight and the tent pegs could withstand the winds. Ask her about it, she'll tell you.
Anyways (so much for a short post), David spoke at John Piper's pastor's conference and I think you would really enjoy hearing him. You can check that out here. The dates he will be speaking are April 14-17th. Sunday the 15th he will be doing a presentation/teaching at Auburndale Baptist Church. Then, Tuesday morning the 17th he will be speaking at chapel at Southern. Check it out, you will not be disappointed.

Resting in His providence,
Ryan and Sarah

Late St. Patrick's Day

Ok -- please hold all of your tantrums about the tardiness of the post and the title, but when you look at this picture, you will exclaim to yourself -- "MAN, I'm so GLAD they didn't keep this to themselves."

Some background:

We have a man in our church that is a former Catholic priest, Richard Bennett. He has an extensive ministry now to catholics, and preaching all across the nation, and even internationally. His testimony is simply encouraging and convicting. (P.S. He is Irish as well!!) You can check out his ministry at The Berean Beacon!!! His website is awesome! Great resources about catholic apologists, testimonies, church history, and much much more! So I encourage you, visit the site, listen to some of his resources, and be encouraged!



And now for the belated St. Patrick's Day gift to you all:

Our Sufficiency in Christ

What one word would describe this book? Solid, nourishing, meaty..I have no idea, but it was excellent. I cannot think of a better book to read if you want to be exposed to the problems facing the church today and their biblical answers. This book is amazing. I finished it on the flight home from Kentucky and I have to say that it made me long to be in a church somewhere and see to it that the Christ is preeminent through biblical preaching, teaching, counseling and study (not psychology or psychotherapy or any other psycho- word). J-Mac really hits the nail on the head with this one.

The thrust of the book is this; Christ is sufficient, stop settling for all the worldly gimmicks such as psychology, legalism, asceticism, exorcisms, pragmatism, quietism vs. pietism, and the like. I mean, you name a problem in the church and it is dealt with in one way or another in this book. That's the beauty of Christ, He sufficiently meets every need we will ever face! That is precisely what MacArthur is probing us towards. Be satisfied in Christ! Please, don't let me exalt this book over the bible, the scripture index is only eight pages long. In every chapter Johnny is expositing LARGE chunks of scripture to refute or expose the problems he is mentioning. After reading each chapter you will have a greater understanding of key scriptural texts necessary for the resisting of these sinful tendencies in the church as well as outright heresies that are creeping in unnoticed.

Probably the most entertaining chapter of the book (not that the book is meant to entertain) was chapter 3, "Does God Need a Psychiatrist?" Now you talk about scary. Macarthur exposes some problems and contradictions that exist within psychiatry. He discusses the professionalism of it all and questions whether or not it is a science at all. Here are some quotes from Time magazine in their article called, "Psychiatry on the Couch" pulled from chapter three.

"Psychiatrists themselves acknowledge that their profession often smacks of modern alchemy--full of jargon, obfuscation and mystification, but precious little real knowledge..."

"Scottish psychiatrist and poet R.D. Lang is sure that schizophrenia is real--and that it is good for you. Explains Lang: it is a kind of psychedelic epiphany, far superior to normal experience."

"The article went on to chronicle the failures of psychiatry, noting that, 'of all patients, one-third are eventually "cured," one-third are helped somewhat, and one-third are not helped at all.'"

Are you kidding me? Schizophrenia may be a good thing? Only one-third are actually cured (and that according to the psychiatrists standards)? Wow, that should make you thankful for Christ. The whole book is not an assault on psychiatry. I only chose to mention those quotes because they were extremely interesting to me.

This book is a must read for all Christians. Entire chapters are devoted to the sufficiency of Christ and His word as well as sanctification and obedience. To this date, this was probably the most insightful and encouraging book I have read, save God's Holy Word. I'll leave you with a few more quotes. If these do not make you love Christ more, read them again:

"We must hold fast to Christ's sufficiency -- never adding to it or taking from it. In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). In Him dwells all the fullness of deity in bodily form (2:9). We have been made complete in Him (2:10). And nothing can ever separate us from Him (Rom. 8:35-39). What more do we need?"

MacArthur closes the book with this:

"My prayer is that you won't exchange the fountain of life from which flow rivers of living water for the broken pots being sold today-which hold no water." Jeremiah 2:13

Our Trio is down to Two

I love random, bizzare, creepy, scary pets. I keep them in my classroom so the kids can ooh and ahh over them. I have a tarantula named Fuzzy; but that's not the bizzare pet that I am referring to. I also have three Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. I mean these things are hideous. Sarah won't even eat lunch within 10 feet of these things. This will help you get an idea about how big they are. Remember those rectangular pink erasers that you used to have in elementary school? These cockroaches dwarf those erasers. They are "ginormous" as some of my kids would tell you. The coolest thing about them is this; when they feel threatened they hiss really loudly. REALLY loudly. You know when grease falls off a barbeque pit, hits the fire and makes a loud hissing noise? You know how loud that is? They can hiss that loud. No lie. It's intimidating. You can check out Hissing Cockroaches at this sight:

 

http://www.angelfire.com/in/ghcfaq/

 

Well, their names are Larry, Moe and Curly and believe it or not, they have become loved by many in our classroom. Sadly, over spring break Larry passed away (Yes, I know them by name. Larry was the larger of the two brown roaches; Moe is the black roach). Funeral services will be held this afternoon as we bury him behind the school. Visitation will be all day today. Right now he rests in peace in the bottom of an empty goldfish box. He deserves the best. Comforting comments and prayers will be appreciated as it will be a tough day for all cockroach lovers.

 

Peace,

Ryan

Kentucky

WOW! Sarah and I are in Kentucky right now enjoying our visit to the seminary. This place is absolutely amazing. The staff is full of STUDS that authored many of the books that are on our bookshelf. Hanging out with all our friends and family has been a great encouragement and a confirmation of the Lord's calling on our lives. I cannot fully express in words what the Lord is doing here but I know one thing; this seminary is training men who will faithfully preach the word of God, rightly dividing it and bringing it to bare on the souls of all in the church. We are absolutely pumped about moving here sometime this summer. Well, i'm off to turn in my application in person so that I don't have to pay the application fee!! Oh, by the way...the REAL reason we are moving here is this: Every restaurant has sweet tea. Makes me feel good all over more than anywhere else.

Keep the dream alive,
Ryan