I guess it will be the hallmark of my Xanga life that the only time I ever post is when I have something I can copy and paste onto the weblog!!! :) I would love to give you an update on my life as well, and post a bunch of pictures, but I have a ton of thank you notes to write for bridal shower gifts, and I work this afternoon. So, life goes on and the countdown continues. Only 23 more days to go until I am Mrs. Phillip Knapp...

Anyway, here's an article my dear friend Andrea emailed me, and it was really thought provoking. Hope it's a blessing to all of you.

THE QUESTION that CHANGED MY LIFE
-by David Ryser.

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school
of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly
searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with
Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across
a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short
version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this:

Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece
and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution;
it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and
became an enterprise. Some of the students were only 18 or 19
years old--barely out of diapers--and I wanted them to understand
and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding,
"An enterprise. That's a business." After a few moments Martha,
the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not
imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was
self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless,
I acknowledged Martha's raised hand, "Yes, Martha." She asked
such a simple question, "A business? But isn't it supposed to be
a body?" I could not envision where this line of questioning was going,
and the only response I could think of was, "Yes." She continued,
"But when a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?"

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or
spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the
presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were
on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was,
"Wow, I wish I'd thought of that." I didn't dare express that thought
aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha's question changed my life. For six months, I thought about
her question at least once every day. "When a body becomes a
business, isn't that a prostitute?" There is only one answer to her
question. The answer is "Yes." The American Church, tragically,
is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we
love Him? We don't even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

... I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not
know God--much less love Him. The root of this condition originates
in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what
we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would
bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him
for His money, and we don't care if He lives or dies as long as we
can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business,
merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded
to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ--that's pretty
intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love
someone we don't even know? And even if we do know someone,
is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or
prostitutes?

I was pondering Martha's question again one day, and considered
the question, "What's the difference between a lover and a prostitute?"
I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does
what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but
only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, "What would
happen if God stopped paying me?"

For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover
my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of
God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He
never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please
understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The
issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is
the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings
in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have
earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any
conditions? It took several months to work through these questions.
Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by
my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed
with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in
my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved,
but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.

So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute?
There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for
that matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both
places. Take it from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no
substitute or unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I
mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another
look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose.

-Dr. David Ryser.

Mommy just emailed me a bunch of quotes that were such a blessing. I hope you all are blessed and uplifted by them- unless of course you have given up visiting my site because of my long absence!!!! I'm hoping t do better- I got carried away with Facebook, but I think Xanga is better for keeping people informed on my crazy life. School is now officially done for the Fall 08 semester- next classes start on January 12!!!! I'm going home for two weeks, and then I'm not sure what will happen the rest of my break. How grateful I am to know that the Lord knows what is best and He is 100% faithful to lead and guide those who trust in Him!!!!

"Light means nothing to a blind man." - A.W. Tozer

"Some preachers ought to put more fire into their sermons or more
sermons into the fire." - Vance Havner

"The Bible definitely is infallible, how else could it survive so many
years of bad preaching?" - Leonard Ravenhill

"People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste
our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending
their lives...and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing
of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."
 - Nate Saint, missionary martyr

"If you want the Kingdom speeded, go out and speed it yourselves.
Only obedience rationalizes prayer. Only Missions can redeem
your intercessions from insincerity." - William Carey

"The invasion of the Church by the world is a menace to the
extension of Christ's Kingdom. In all ages conformity to the world
by Christians has resulted in lack of spiritual life and a consequent
lack of spiritual vision and enterprise. A secularized or self-
centered Church can never evangelize the world." - John R. Mott

"There is need of a great revival of spiritual life, of truly fervent
devotion to our Lord Jesus, of entire consecration to His service. It
is only in a church in which this spirit of revival has at least
begun,
that there is any hope of radical change in the relation of the
majority of our Christian people to mission work." – Andrew Murray

"Whenever, in any century, whether in a single heart or in a
company of believers, there has been a fresh effusion of the Spirit,
there has followed inevitably a fresh endeavor in the work of
evangelizing the world." - A. J. Gordon

"If missions languish, it is because the whole life of godliness is
feeble. The command to go everywhere and preach to everybody is
not obeyed, until the will is lost by self-surrender in the will of
God.
There is little right giving because there is little right living, and
because of the lack of sympathetic contact with God in holiness of
heart, there is a lack of effectual contact with him at the Throne of
Grace. Living, praying, giving and going will always be found
together, and a low standard in one means a general debility in the
whole spiritual being." – Arthur T. Pierson

"Depend upon it, if you are bent on prayer, the devil will not leave
you alone. He will molest you, tantalize you, block you, and will
surely find some hindrances, big or little or both. And we
sometimes fail because we are ignorant of his devices…I do not
think he minds our praying about things if we leave it at that. What
he minds, and opposes steadily, is the prayer that prays on until it
is prayed through, assured of the answer." - Mary Warburton Booth

"The neglected heart will soon be a heart overrun with worldly
thoughts; the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos; the
church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and
sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil
bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping
wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own
strength and forgets to watch and pray." - A. W. Tozer

"We have not been men of prayer. The spirit of prayer has
slumbered among us. The closet has been too little frequented and
delighted in. We have allowed business, study or active labor to
interfere with our closet-hours. And the feverish atmosphere in
which both the church and the nation are enveloped has found its
way into our prayer closets…" - Andrew Bonar

Well, here's to Texas #2. So much has happened since I posted that first installment of the trip to Texas, so no sooner do I finish this up, I must start working on an overview of a two week drive with my family to attend my "little" brother Josh's wedding to Ionia Williams, a beautiful, tenderhearted Eskimo girl he met up in AK. I guess I can never get ahead, can I???? :)

Anyway, we had such fun after we got to the ALERT base in Big Sandy. We didn't do much on Saturday after we arrived. I think Ruth and I were so incredibly tired after the early morning and various moments of stress. :) We had supper in the ALERT dining hall, met Phillip's good friend and fellow A&P student, Lorin Kaney, and then hit the sack pretty early.

Sunday morning we went to church in the ALERT bus in a steady downpour. While we were waiting for the us, Ruth and I spent some time playing the piano in the living area downstairs.

Phillip, Lorin and several of the ALERT guys were in their dress whites to do the color guard at the beginning of the church service, as it was the Sunday before our July 4th celebration. We didn't get any really good pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination at how good the guys looked all dressed up. :) The afternoon was nice and lazy. The three of us dug out the Axis and Allies strategy game and Phillip spent the first hour trying to explain to us how it works!!!!

I eventually did get it figured out and we really had alot of fun. But before we were able to actually finish the game, we decided to spend the evening visiting. We stopped by Cpt. Ludvigson's home and had a very enjoyable evening getting to know each other, and playing some ridiculous, and fun!, game with plastic cups. It's impossible to explain unless you can actually see it happen. I should get the video from Ruth... We laughed plenty anyway!!!

Monday was a lovely day and Lorin kindly agreed to take us up in one of the small airplanes to give us an ariel view of the ALERT campus. It was sooooooooo much fun. I LOVE FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The hangar full of planes

The plane we took up (sorry Phillip, but I still can't remember the model #!!)

Lorin getting the plane ready.

We're up!!!!!!!!!!!

The ALERT base from the air

Here's a few more random shots of the time we spent there

After our flight we took off for Oklahoma, where we were hoing to spend the afternoon with my dear friend Crystal Bales. If you can navigate the horribly marked roads...

And avoid tire problems... part of the way into OK, we stopped at a gas station and someone mentioned that we had a bubble on our rear tire we might want to check up on. Considering the fact that Phillip had a HUGE load on the back of his pickup, we took one look at that fist-sized bubble on the inside of the tire and breathed a prayer of  deep gratitude that the tire hadn't blown out on the highway somewhere. Back through the city to the nearest tire shop, and then we alternately walked the streets and sat in the tire shop for three hours before they got te wo back tires changed. This is one of my favorite pictures- it sure looks like we enjoy spending time together, eh?

We did get to Crystal's in time for dinner, though we didn't get to visit as long as we had hoped. It was grand to see her and meet her little son, Seth Josiah, for the first time. He's a cutie!!!

Seth and Gampa playing peek-abo at the dinner table!!!

Camped out at a state park that night- Ruth and I in a tiny tent, and Phillip sleeping out under the stars. Then we ate a ummy breakfast of leftover french fries, onion rings and steak fried together and served with eggs and cheese. Here's a few pics Ruth took during breakfast.

And then we were off for Kansas to spend a few days helping Terrell and Melody Hendrich and family with wheat harvest. It was the first time I met them, but they are Phillip's "TX family" and sooooo dear. I miss them tremendously!!!!! But before we made it to Kansas... can you ever have enough tire trouble for one trip?

But we made it nonetheless. Here are some pics from the wonderful four days we spent in Kansas.

Mr Hendrich

Mrs Hendrich

Little Kailyn                                                                    and Jared

Jordan

Christal and Saralyn

Saralyn

Brooke

And dear Cherith

The girls are in gymnastics so we got to watch them practice in the yard, and then give their yearly performance.

A few misc pics of the rest of the way home, and I will call this lengthy post complete- FINALLY!!!!!!

The geograpical center of the United States:

We spent Saturday night and Sunday morning with the Kane family in Council Bluffs, Iowa

And then we spent Sunday with my family again before getting home to Karlstad and back into "normal life". What is normal anyway???? I hope you enjoyed this pictoral walk through those wonderful two weeks. I certainly enjoyed putting it together!!! God bless you all!!!