so much has been happening since the end of october.  in case you didn't notice, you haven't received a newsletter yet.  God has been doing a lot of things and, as a result,  the information wasn't exactly relevant anymore.  i have a pretty big imagination.  God has blessed me with it, and i love to use it to try and figure out what God may want to do with me in the places He's brought me.  this is wonderful, but sometimes i think i forget one of the most central attributes of God's work on this earth: smallness.  philippians says that Jesus did not count His equality with God something to be grasped, but instead laid it aside in order to become nothing, that in doing so, He could serve, and through His intentional smallness, would be later exalted [philippians 2:5-11].  and Jesus, when His disciples were fighting and bickering about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven,  said to them,

"[42] You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. [43] But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [44] and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. [45] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

- [mark 10:42-45]

that's not to mention the old testament passages about the remnant, the parables of the mustard seed and the growing seed, or the many other places (in parable or not) where God is talked about as preferring to start small. i usually tend to think of the mustard tree rather than the mustard seed; celebrating the awesomeness of the fruition of the plan i see God laying in my heart, but forgetting that the first step is always a small one. but from these small seeds, God brings forth 30, 60 or even 100 times the crop we have come to expect from such a humble beginning.

you'll probably get an update someday, but i can't promise i know what will be in it.

[cheesy transition alert!] in other news, [told you...] the ccda conference was wonderful. here's a picture from the airplane to hold you over...

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