[The Wild Wild West] 9 years ago today…..

Look what my bride wrote!  See below......

I married the GREATEST MAN!

I can't really put into words how grateful I am to be married to Andy…that God chose us to be husband and wife. That he chose me. And I chose him. I'm so thankful that we haven't "figured" each other out. That there are still things we are learning about one another. Our dreams. Our fears. Our likes. Our dislikes. As each year goes by it continues to get better and better. No, we are not perfect. Yes, we have our ups and downs. No, marriage is not easy. Yes, we are still growing in our relationship. Praise the Lord we are still learning how to encourage and support one another. How to hold each other up when we fall and how to point one another to Christ.

I'm so thankful and proud of the man he is, the husband he is, the father he is…through Andy I get to see reflections of my Heavenly Father…loving me well and our family well.

Thank you Andy for saying YES at 7:00pm on a hot, August night…down by the lake.

I love you.

From olivia's blog

 when i think of this summer…. 

when i think of this summer….

The Lord’s harvest…is all this in disarray?

 

36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Mathew 9:36-38 ESV

Jesus was in deep and constant connection with the Father. Jesus offered compassion, it seemed, in every direction. People were astonished. People were in disbelief. God came to reveal Himself…..and people were in disarray. They discarded one another and God’s statutes for their own gains. Sounds familiar? Then, Jesus, after a “healing rampage”, sees more folks in need of His touch and looks to His disciples….He tells them about fruits of ministry. He tells them what they can see in front of them and how what they see will continue. There is more, he says, there is a greater need always and this need is for laborers. Workers. People, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Jesus tells his followers to pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest….that God would send people out INTO HIS HARVEST!

This is my prayer, today, Lord. Send workers. Send people to labor in your name….

We are in need. The harvest is here. It is much. Send us laborers.

Trust in God. He is faithful. He is just.

Recently, our family ran out of money for our monthly budget. We were out of cash and had eaten our pantry dry, essentially. We were trying to be as creative as possible but the food and money was basically gone! I told Olivia that “God will have to provide…He said He would!”

Later that day, we received a message and a phone call from some of God’s people who were bringing “perishable goods” to our front porch. They knocked and drove away…leaving behind bags of groceries. It was in response to our family’s health as one of our boys had been sick…they had no way of knowing our money situation. No way. They felt the promptings of God’s Spirit to bless the Ogles. I have a friend who says, “God showed up and He showed out!” Yes, He sure did. We looked in the bags as our boys were going to bed….and wept. He had provided – He said he would! The following day, I received another phone call from one of my heroes in life. My dad wanted to meet me – He,too, had felt the prompting of God. The Lord gave money for us to get to the end of the month. The next day – the Lord provided for Young Life in our area to sustain itself through the end of the month (something that was predicted to be a deficit-prone scenario where we would be headed toward reduced salary).

Is God real? Do bad things happen to good people? Does God have a plan…is there redemption of those “bad” things?  Do God’s people remain in connection with His Spirit? Is the body of Christ essentially God…with skin on, in today’s world – representing the Lord Jesus? Does God show up? Does He really care?

What about me? What about them?

Jesus. Is. Love.

I pray that the Lord will continue to provide workers for His harvest. There is much need. There is much hope.

I belong to the Lord. He is good.

Blessings,

-ao

Healing...a rampage of things unseen (a mobile update)

Healing: become sound, healthy, cured....made right (again).

I remember sitting in the hospital room next to my mom when her heart began racing due to complications from Diabetes. She told me, in a panic, "I'm not breathing good!" Then as we yelled for help and teams of people rushed in her room...I was swept away in the action. Left to sound the alarms with family and pray to God for healing. I did just that - prayed. My mom died within the next hour.

When Jesus walked the Earth, there were constantly people following him. There was controversy, drama, teaching, and healing....there was more really. A lot more. I have camped out in the book of Mathew lately in my time alone with the Lord. It has been rich for me to take a renewed look at the life of Christ.

here is today:

Matthew 9:18-34 ESV

While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live." And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I will be made well." Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well. And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went through all that district. And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of David." When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, "See that no one knows about it." But they went away and spread his fame through all that district. As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel." But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the prince of demons."

Matthew 9:35-36 ESV

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Watching Jesus interact with man has been something else. It feels like He didn't turn anyone down. It feels like He restored all those who were asking...their hearts were aimed at Him and they believed in whom they were asking. They trusted in the provisions of God via the Son of God. I would do well to live in this same manner. Jesus touched. Jesus looked. Stared into pupils. Grasped ahold of hands and faces...He embraced people and spoke of the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus called people to live in a new way and be different; perfect like the Father in Heaven...by devoting to the Son one's life and living in the statutes of God.

Still, more controversy and more wounded individuals would flock around this God-man. Jesus continued His compassion. It blows me away...it was as if He was on a rampage! He healed illnesses and disease and cast out evil like it was His job!! You think? He lived and breathed out of the overflow of His intimacy and relationship and will of God the Father in Heaven. They are one...the Trinity, Father. Son. Holy Spirit. Together they created this uproar of attention that would forever change the scope of a relationship and interaction with God.

When I was praying for my mom to be healed, I had this vision in my mind: Jesus was in the room with my mom, she was standing next to Him...looking back on her body...they were smiling. Healed. Not my way..His. Within minutes of this vision..the team of doctors came out to pronounce my mom dead. Yet, she was now more alive than ever before!

Life to the fullest...that is the promise of Jesus.

He delivers ...to the full.

May we take another look and hand over our hearts to the author of Life.Amen.

Blessings,

-ao

Pursuit of kids…

 

This was a video done by our church to show Young Life’s heart for kids and capture the picture of pursuing kids via friendship evangelism. The art of friendship and commitment in the lives of our high school friends.

…enjoy!

 

Sharing not only the gospel, but our lives as well.

 

www.younglife.org

Blessings,

-ao

What’s so Astonishing? People were shaking in their boots…

 

So, today, I keep having this thought in my mind – that notion of what, exactly, is it…what was it about Jesus Christ that was just so amazing? What was it that was so scary and so “astonishing” – I don’t know that this word always implies that those around him were eternally impressed as much as they were shaking in their boots – speechless. To watch this man, fully God, and fully man – interact on Earth and communicate the love of God….and push people internally to their limits where they are standing face to face with God and looking into the mirrors of their souls….and handing over their hearts to Jesus. This must have been a sight. It must have been awe inspiring. I would have freaked out. Maybe I still do.

Dead made alive. Freakshows made anew and normal. Prostitutes made whole. Hellions changed-trajectoried lives. Wounded healed. Lying, cussing sailors committing their lives to this man and “his teachings”. Something about him seems so odd – so peculiar, so mysterious yet so amazingly attractive.

I may pick up on this thought again later….I have been sitting with it this a.m. since coming from (in Mathew 8) Jesus crossing the lake to escape crowds and teach His disciples and having told them about who He is and healing illnesses and speaking of true faith and being a good man (Centurion) and what does Jesus truly desire? He spoke of ‘mercy, not sacrifice’. Then, he told Mathew, “Follow Me”.  This was after the demon-possessed man was cured from Legion. This was just before a group of friends were brave enough to trail Jesus and His disciples one more time to hear what He had to say….and bring their paralyzed friend to the feet of the Lord. Except there was so much more – obstacles, people, challenges…and another message from the Lord.

Again – astonished. People were amazed. Probably freaked out and yet so abundantly desiring to take a gander into their own lives they didn’t know what to do with themselves. Messiah? Yup. Their idea…nope. He just seems like something else.

What if you took a fresh look at Jesus? What if you read the “gospels” and renewed whatever outlook you have on this man they called Jesus? Would you be astonished?

I’m shaking in my boots…..and when I sit in His word, time stands still and the Lord begins to shape and mold the insides of me like I were his all along. No wonder He is who He is. I am His.

…more later…

Blessings,

-ao

The Future of R & D Departments

This guy is Mr. Creativity.

What if you knew the many, the wretched in me…

 

Sometimes, when I sit with my high school friends, I talk about the old me. The guy before I encountered Jesus Christ. The one who still lives within, lurking around and potentially threatening to break into all I am now and have done all I can do to cast away. The old guy – the one who was cast away – he would be a wretched man. Truth is, Jesus, alive in me – cast out that other person. I am made new; 2 Corinthians 5:17.

But, what was I like? What would I BE like today? What if this old me were living and walking and hadn’t encountered the living God? What if I was held down and tied to chains and wounded myself all the time – crying out for help and for other things in the name of rage and hopelessness? I would be kind of like this guy I read about this a.m. He was a man who had been wounded for many years, demon possessed and living among the dead – lifelessness and darkness all around him. He was a total outcast. He couldn’t be kept within reason, he hurt himself and probably others. He was a man controlled by evil and rages that come from all places dark. He came across the man named Jesus after He had been teaching the disciples about faith and following him, the cost of being a follower of Christ and dedicating their lives to the Holy God. He had spoken scripture to further communicate His coming to bore our diseases; He came to bear our Sin – this God-separating filth that keeps me from connection to God and His Kingdom apart from intimacy with Jesus. Saying ‘yes’ to the Son of God. Access to Him.

The demon-possessed man saw Jesus and His disciples approaching from their boats at the shore. The man couldn’t be messed with – no one would get near him and he cried out to Jesus with the voice of many….asking “What is it that you would do with us?” His name was “Legion”, meaning “many”.

Here it goes:

“Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon 5 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.[N] 2And when Jesus[O] had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea. 14The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15And they came to Jesus and saw the demon–possessed[P] man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon–possessed man and to the pigs. 17And they began to beg Jesus[Q] to depart from their region. 18As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”

-Mark 5:1-20 (ESV) {Just1word}

 

"And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. 33The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon–possessed men. 34And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.”

-Mathew 8:32-34 (ESV) (emphasis, mine)

I was thinking about the old me and my ways of old. Wretched. Dirty. Ungodly. One who would not be worth much, on the inside. I tell my friends how I would not be pursuing things of God’s nature – but I would be so much different than I am, now. Not much different, really – just covered by the infinite love of God and my whole trajectory has been renewed and changed because of God’s pursuit of me. I am made knew. I walked around in a cemetery and begged and was wounded and wanted to cry out. I saw the face of the Lord and asked “what will you do with me?” – He sent the old me into a herd of pigs….he sent the old me to be cast out and tormented apart from me – forever. That is to say He took my Sin away…from me that I might never see it again – separated as far as the East is from the West. Never will they, my Sin and myself, meet again.

Those who saw Jesus heal this man and tell these demons where they could go and command with God-given authority, they ran into town to tell all what they saw. They were astonished. They pleaded with Jesus to leave. Why? Why would they want God’s Son to leave? Why, if after something so good and powerful would they want him gone?

Was it the change? Was it their reputation? Was it the thousands of pigs rotting in the waters of the sea nearby? I wonder if they were so ruffled by the power of God they didn’t know which way to look or go? I know how that feels? I have watched people encounter Jesus and call out to Him out of amazement of who He is and who they want Him to be in their lives…yet upon returning to their home-lives they can’t fathom a life with Christ because what they saw didn’t connect in their hearts….they still want to run – yet they still desire this life change and eternal peace offered by Jesus. Maybe you can relate…..a desire to connect with God and a desire to run from God in the same.

The man who had been cured from the evil in him approached Jesus and asked to go with Him. Jesus asked him to go and tell. Go, tell….about the mercy of God. Go and tell others about how God didn’t give what was deserved…..MERCY. Others marveled at this mercy of God.

What do you deserve? What is your life like? I deserve much worse. I remember the man lurking in the darkness looking to wound myself and others beyond what I could really control. Possessed by the darkness and roaming aimlessly to what?  A life that did not point anywhere to God. Emptiness. DEATH.

Jesus set me free. I would do well to remember this man who fled into pigs to run to their death. To remember that Jesus calls me to life. He permits these others to be around me but those are not me – He is my life. He calls me to Himself. That is peace. That is Hope. That is my life. Thanks be to God for being in my life and allowing me to marvel at His goodness.

My friend, Ryan, sings a song called, “Change Me”. I am different forever and ever because of those words. Jesus. Changed. Me.

Blessings,

-ao