Date Day with the Kids

(This picture is of Elijah and I on Christmas Day...he's a sharp dressed guy!)

Today we had date day! It's good every so often to spend one on one time with our kids, so today, we did just that.
I took Elijah with me to Wal-Mart and he got his fix of a candy bottle.
Hannah and I had a date to Braum's. She got chocolate chip cookie dough and I got butter pecan!
Sarah and Noah went to the Dollar Tree, but ended up at Wal-mart....Noah got a Darth Vader mask.
Grace tonight went with me to Third Friday at Ridgeway....good night of worship and then we ended back up at Wal-Mart. Grace fell asleep at Third Friday and then she fell asleep in the cart when we got to Wal-Mart.
Three Wal-Mart trips in ONE DAY! Yahoo!
The kids and Sarah also today went to tour the Fire station with the Buckmaster's while Elijah and I took a good nap! It was a much needed nap!
These are great times just to spend one on one time with the kids and talk with them. I enjoyed talking with Hannah about everything about church, to our family, to school. As I sat there talking to her, I was just amazed at how much she has grown...how much she is aware of things.
I love my kids!

My Favorites

Here are some of my favorite books, websites, and music:

Favorite Books:
One Year Bible--Our church is going through this in 2006!!!!
A Call to Die by David Nasser
How to Bring Your Child to Christ by Ray Comfort
Revival's Golden Key by Ray Comfort
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala
When I Don't Desire God...How to Fight for Joy by John Piper

Favorite Websites:
www.xanga.com/SarahJeanStinkyMean
www.homeword.com A website for parents
www.frontliners.org A great mission opportunity for youth groups
www.e-sword.net Bibles, commentaries, and more all for FREE
www3.caringbridge.org/ok/djl My Brother's website for his daughter, Anabel, who has cancer
www.desiringgod.org John Piper's website
www.268generation.com Passion website: Louie Giglio
www.stupidvideos.com Fun Stuff
www.bobbylehew.com My brother's website
www.emmausbaptistchurch.com This is the church where my brother, Jim, serves
www.turningpointradio.org David Jeremiah's teaching ministry

Favorite Music:
Chris Tomlin
David Crowder
Jeremy Camp
Tree63
Sanctus Real
Mercy Me

Praying for My Children

Being a dad is one of the most humbling experiences up to this point in my life. My question to other dads is do you struggle like I do in this role? God has placed four wonderful and incredible kids in my responsibility and I am in awe many times that God would give me much to be responsible for.
I pray today that my kids will come to really know Christ and truly live for Him. I pray that this life decision will be of their own and not mom and dad "making" them. I pray that what we do as a family around the dinner table and the small God conversations that I have, and as we go about our day living life, will have a Jesus impact on them.
Sometimes I wonder....sometimes I wonder-do they see Jesus in me or is Jesus just someone that they hear about? Is Jesus becoming more real to them each and every day through me....this thought frankly scares me for I know my heart, so I pray that they see Jesus in the minor and major things in our household.
Ray Comfort in his book, "How to Bring Your Children to Christ," made this statement:
"Are you creating children of God who will know salvation from death, or children of the devil who will know the terrors of hell?"
What a challenge...I would encourage you to read this tremendous book by Comfort if you have not already...it will put a desire in your heart to cultivate Christ in them.

Merry CHRISTmas!!!
for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
(Luk 2:11)


We pray that you will have an incredible Christmas and that we will all hold Christ up high this season!

Merry Christmas!
Mike, Sarah, Hannah, Noah, Grace, and Elijah

Please Pray for My Niece, Anabel

Please pray for Anabel. Anabel has lymphoma cancer and is battling it with chemotherapy. Check out www3.caringbridge.org/ok/djl/. Her brother, Daniel(on the right), passed away from neuroblastoma cancer a year ago.
Please pray for Bobby and Audra Lehew. Bobby is brother! Anabel has two other brothers, Joshua and Caleb. Bobby and Audra also have another child on the way!!!! Yahoo! This is an amazing family. Please pray for God's healing on Anabel.
I will add another post to this later.......

Our Kids are Tooooo Funny

Hannah and Noah were having a conversation about losing weight-don't know HOW they got on that conversation, but they were. Hannah said, "I know how you can lose weight--go on the show, "The Biggest Loser" and Noah said, "No, not if it's belly fat-you just have to take Relicore" It cracked Sarah up because here is a five year old that knows what Relicore is and can actually pronounce it!

Hannah has pretty much broken our bank account with all the teeth she has lost. Three days ago, she lost another tooth. That night she put her tooth under her pillow hoping that the "Tooth Fairy" would come. She even wrote a nice note to the "Tooth Fairy". During the course of the night she wasn't feeling well, so she climbed in bed with us. Well, she woke up and her tooth was still under her pillow so she figured since she wasn't in her bed the tooth fairy missed her. The next night she put her tooth under her pillow and the "Tooth Fairy" came.
Well, today, we(the tooth fairy) put the tooth in our top drawer along with the note. Sarah was rummaging in the drawer and Hannah saw the note she wrote to the tooth fairy. Sarah told her the note was too heavy for the tooth fairy to carry, but Hannah figured it out and had a big toothless grin! Sarah told her to not tell her brothers and sister.

Ridgeway Student Ministry

Much of what we do as a family is done with our awesome students at Ridgeway Baptist Church. God has given us the responsibility to shepherd these students! I am always amazed each week of their faithfulness, their goofiness, and their desire for Christ!
The great thing about working with students is that they keep me thinking and on my toes. Although it can be challenging, there are far greater rewards. My desire for our students is that they become true Christ-followers--that they look at the true biblical example of what this looks like rather than the world.
My motto is that we are building up and training missionaries. They may not necessarily go on the home or foreign mission field, but whatever their occupation, our desire is that they live for Christ in that environment.
Sarah and I will write more about our students throughout our blog! I've included a photo of some of our students. It's one of my favorite pictures. The picture is taken at the end of our Annual Yuck Night which is a great night of Yucky games! Our students have a blast! This is after the all out shaving cream war! We had Yuck Night at the Hall's house--they are sooo cool!

An Awesome Baptism Service

Last night, I had the opportunity to take my children to Tulsa Bible Church. There was no choir, so my kiddos, Hannah and Noah, and I got to witness an incredible baptism service. In the span of an hour, we witnessed the baptism of eleven new believers!
Not only did they get baptized, but before each baptism each person, including the young ones, shared how they came to know Christ! It was a powerful witness to Christ of his saving power! I was simply reminded of the powerful message of the Gospel. These people did not come to Christ because of an exciting event, speaker, or band. They came to Christ because they saw their sin and they knew that they needed Christ. On each of their parts there was an admittance of the sin in their lives and even more important was the confession of Christ as Savior and Lord.
I don't know why I was so moved by these baptisms because I witness them on an occasional basis. Maybe I had just forgot the simplicity of the Gospel.
I jotted down some of the Scriptures and phrases that were shared during the testimonies:
"Getting baptized is claiming that God own's me!" Pastor John Barnett
"I've encountered churches that love Jesus yet do not fear Him."
"I had more in common with a Satan worshipper, not in my beliefs, but in my attitudes and actions." (before I was saved)
1 Peter 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

God has of late been using the simplest of things to bring my attention back to him. The other day I read in Numbers 18:20, "The the Lord said to Aaron, " YOu shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel."
I love that phrase, "I AM YOUR PORTION AND YOUR INHERITANCE...!" What an incredible reminder that God is all we need!

SARAH!
You've seen the pictures of our wonderful kids, but I want to introduce you to my incredible wife, Sarah. We have been married for over 10 years!
We met at the University of Central Oklahoma through the Baptist Student Union and a business class! She later started coming to my church. Our first date was to a Ricky Skaggs concert. We started dating in a February, I asked her to marry me the next September and then in May of '95, we got married!
The picture you see is of us in Belarus. For our 10 year wedding anniversary, we did a mission trip/vacation/10 year anniversary in Belarus, where Sarah's parents serve as missionaries. We had such a great time and it was incredible to see what God is doing in Belarus!

Welcome to our Blog! Check back often on updates from our family! Pictures, stories and thoughts will accompany this blog. Through this we want to share with you God's unmerited favor through the good times and the challenging times.
We got the idea of the name for this blog from our good friend, Wes Atkinson. Instead of calling our daughter by her name, Grace, he calls her Unmerited Favor, which is such a hoot. Unmerited Favor....oh how we are blessed by God!
Through this we hope you will keep up with us. Some of what we write won't matter much to you, but it's awesome to think of how God has entrusted us with four wonderful children: Hannah, Noah, Grace, and Elijah and so this blog is in essence a thank you to Jesus for entrusting us with these four treasures.
We also hope that this will be an encouragement to you as we also share our insights in life!