What's your excuse?

Last night my wife and I had Philip Smethurtst, the founder and president of Overland Missions, over for dinner. It was the culmination of something that's been brewing in my heart for months. I've been meeting with world changers like Philip for the past couple months and it's changing my world view.

I've spoken at length with Jared Miller, the founder of Sisters of Rwanda and Keza. I've watched Travis Gravette and David Cahill at Global Support Mission literally create a movement of compassion to wipe out hunger, disease and extreme poverty. They are actually doing it. Their first fiscal year showed less than 8% of their revenue going towards salaries. These guys and gals are insane. If you heard their stories, you would be too.

We live so comfortably in this country, almost in little bubbles, protected from the harsh reality around us. We put in our time at work, come home to our wives, children and friends and pretend everything is ok. We're doing "our thing", living the American dream, pretending nothing is wrong.

Each day we live this lie, go to sleep and repeat it again the next day.

Spend an hour with anyone like Philip, Jared or Travis and the truth becomes too intense to continue living the lie. As you hear their stories you have no choice but to act.

All your excuses fall apart.

We need to get involved. I'm currently working on my debt snowball and don't have the millions (yet) to really make a difference but I do have something else. Something that might be more important than money. I have experience with technology, office infrastructure and web development and I have a passion to make a difference in the world. In Philip's own words, I have the ability to shape the future of missions work. They need our help.

I don't know where it's going to go or how it's going to get there, but I'm believing God to create a group of IT developers who care more about others than themselves. A group of people that will come home after work and then continue working to make a difference.

A group of people with no excuses.

Want to join me?

Making the world beautiful

Some friends from our life group regularly pick up trash by the Nice Mill Dam and invited us along. It was actually a lot of fun!



All told, we picked up about 8 bags of trash.




Surprisingly, it was almost a spiritual experience. As I picked up everything from bottles and cans to a handback, golfballs, a rug, and a few pairs of shoes... I started to realize how poorly we've stewarded this amazing planet we were put in charge of by its Creator. I'm not one to run out and hug a tree, but it did make me think about God's patience with us and how beautiful His creation truly is.

Here's another interesting find... kind of hard to tell, but those are shells. Quite unexpected.



And there's a story behind this picture...



Out on an island formed by the river there was this nasty looking pink hunk of plastic. The river was running a little deep there, but I was able to jump across. Since I jumped from a high point to a low point, I ended up having to build a little bridge using part of a tree trunk to get back. :)

All in all, it was a good workout and a great time. Highly recommended.

Just got back from Ermin's second wedding

So my friend Jon told me about the blog reaper and I figured I better get to posting.

So... about the wedding...


This afternoon Corinne and I attended my good friend Ermin's wedding. We were officially the cord sponsors and it was truly a blessing to attend. This was their second wedding because the first one took place in the Philippines. Corinne and I had tickets to fly out there and be part of it, but that's when my mom got sick and I had to stay in the country to be there for her.

It was great to share this time with them and be reminded of how blessed we all are. Ermin and I talked about his family back in the Philippines, how hard he has worked to support them over the years and how blessed he is to be here. I was reminded how selfish we Americans can be... how we take everything for granted. Having a home, a car, food on the table... Things people in other countries wouldn't even dare to dream for.

We are truly, truly blessed. I don't ever want to forget that.

Here's a shot you don't often see at a wedding. Since I stayed around to pick up chairs, I was able to snap this classic moment:


That little piece of paper makes it official. :)

My parents are together at peace

I'm still processing through all this so I don't have much to say, but I at least wanted to post my Dad's obituary. It's been a tough year for the Stokes family. Please keep us in your prayers.

Stokes, George Hingely, passed away at 11:45 p.m. on Dec 9, 2007 at Memorial Medical Center due to heart, abdominal and liver complications. Born on Sept 1, 1946, George grew up in East Rutherford, NJ. In 1966, he flew to England and purchased his dream car, an E-Type Jaguar. After touring Europe, he attended NYU and later fulfilled his dreams by marrying Suzanne Eberle, moving to the California beach and having 4 children, Tod, Kara, Luke, and Christian. As president and chairman of the board for the Association of Surfing Professionals, George traveled the world and surfed the best breaks it has to offer. Considered by many a master of all trades, he started Stokes-Spokes bicycle shop as well as Innovative Data Processing, where he did computer consulting for organizations like Cal-Tech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Along with surfing, cycling and music, he loved sailing his boat "Adventures" to Catalina and beyond. Predeceased by his wife of 37 years in August 2007; survived by his children; grandson, Kelty, and sister, Ann Stokes-Neff of Monroeville, NJ. Services to be held at Hope Chapel Huntington Beach on Saturday Dec 22 at 1 p.m., 714-536-1614. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to Upper Room Ministries 5081 Roxborough Dr., Placentia, CA 92870.

Published in the Orange County Register on 12/18/2007.

Today's post in the Register

Change of Employment

Over three months ago, C and I attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University DVD re-shoot. Sitting in as the studio audience, we took the whole 13 week course in 9 nights. It was kind of like drinking from the fire hose.

Since that time, God has been opening doors and kicking me through them. My friend Brett K. started working there and has been telling me all about it for months. What started as a lunch to talk about FoxyCart, turned into a series of interviews. Having started with Every Nation Ministries over 6 years ago straight out of college, it was not an easy decision to make. I got advice from a lot of people I respect, prayed, fasted, and listened. In the end, the decision was made clear.

My last day as a full time employee of Every Nation is November 9th. I'm taking a position at Dave Ramsey as a web developer that will give me the opportunity to learn from an enterprise level development team (over 18 people with 12 more on the way). I'm super excited about what they are accomplishing and feel so blessed that I can be a part of it. I'm also already seeing how much change is going to come about in my character. I believe God is going to stretch me in really, really good ways.

The downside, or course, is leaving this organization that I love so much. After my junior year in college, Every Nation Ministries (Victory Campus at the time) introduced me to the concept of discipleship. For the first time in my life I was reading my Bible consistently and getting victory over sin. The relationships around me were drawing me closer to God instead of pulling me away. I started to see God's purpose for my life unfold.

I'll never forget how blessed I've been to serve so many incredible missionaries all over the world. I know I have friendships on every continent and will work at keeping those relationships connected. I'm also going to be available as a consultant for Every Nation to help fulfill our goal to reach every nation with the good news of Jesus Christ.

It's a big change, but I'm super excited about it. It's been so encouraging to hear many of my friends and coworkers share that excitement with me. Thank you all so much for supporting me in the next stage of my life.

Let the adventure continue!

Pictures from the memorial

My sister posted some pictures from the memorial service and scattering ceremony. It's been a few weeks now and God's peace still surpasses all understanding... I am so glad mom is in a better place. Keith Green said it best... Built in 6 days, this place is a trash can compared to what God has been working on in heaven since before time began.

The pics are over at shutterfly.

FoxyCart.com had a good day

Yesterday was really exciting. One of our favorite companies, Campaign Monitor, blogged about us today. Their clients include Apple, Nike, McDonalds, Ebay, Yahoo... etc.

Check it out. They even called us "awesome."

Super stoked.

We, of course, had to respond.

I feel so validated. The last 2 years of work might actually have been worth it after all... Now all we need is a couple thousand paying customers.

God Gives Good Gifts

Trust in the LORD and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
- Psalm 37:3-5

God spoke to me through this verse when he confirmed Corinne as my wife. He's a loving father who delights in giving His children good gifts.

Since Corinne and I moved to TN, I've been wanting to plant a peach tree. I grew up with one and have the fondest memories of the juiciest fruit you can imagine. As I've been looking into this, we also started doing Dave Ramsey's baby steps (you can listen to him online as well, I highly recommend it). I couldn't justify the expense, but I also wanted to get something in the ground quickly so I could enjoy the fruit within a few years (the cheapest trees are really young).

Here's where God comes into the story... Some friends in our life group overheard me talking about my desire for a peach tree and the timing was perfect. They had a friend with a tree they were trying to get rid of. I called them up, worked out the details and ended up with a beautiful tree that I dug out of the ground and planted just last night. Check it out:


God knows about even our smallest desires and delights in blessing us as we serve Him. I could almost see his smile this morning as I took this picture.

Some thoughts shared at mom's funeral

I have no intention of converting this blog (if you could call it that) into a memorial site, but I do want to share what's in my head. It's nice to have some thoughts in one place so I can refer to them later.

Any way, here's what I shared at mom's funeral. It was a great time, a worship service, just like she wanted it to be.

--

The verse in your program (Ephesians 4:16) is one that mom and I talked about often. She was always the most alive, the most full of joy and hope, when she was discussing the church and what God was doing in the earth. She strived to help each individual part find its proper working through healing and love. We spent many hours long into the night talking about the church, ministry and her love for Jesus. She laid the foundation for my understanding of God’s truth.

She also literally taught me everything I know. Through years of home schooling, she taught me how to learn, how to seek wisdom and knowledge and how to appreciate the importance of both. Through her work, I was able to attend an Ivy League university, which I hope highlighted and honored the time she invested in my schooling.

One of my strongest memories of mom was while attending UPENN in February 2001. I had just returned from a conference in North Carolina with thousands of college students seeking God and called home to tell her all about it. She shared with me the news about her first cancer diagnosis. I can remember crying and wanting to quit school to come home and be with her. I’ll never forget what she told me. She said, no matter what happens, don’t stop doing the work God has called you to. At the time, I had started a small Bible study on campus and during the conference I felt called into the full time ministry. She convinced me of her passion and devotion to doing the things God has destined each of us to accomplish. I knew in that moment, she would beat the cancer and she did. The last 6 years we've had together have been wonderful, sharing our ministry experiences, having her meet my wife, seeing her become grandma Sue.

Even at a young age as "her little lukie", I always knew that my mom loved me and was proud of me. It was a love that I never had to earn or question, it was just always there, overflowing towards me.

Sue Stokes: Jan. 5, 1948 - Aug. 28, 2007

I wanted to share my mom's obituary notice. I hope it gives you a small glimpse into how wonderful she was. I haven't blogged much in the past few months... but I'm going to start again soon.

Enjoy.

--

It's almost impossible to describe and value a person's life in just a few words, but Suzanne Eberle Stokes' life was, more than anything, dedicated to her faith in Christ and ministering to people through prayer. Born on Jan. 5, 1948, in Staten Island, NY, to Sarajane "Jane" Eberle and Richard "Buz" Eberle, she was one of five siblings. In 1969 she married George H. Stokes and moved to Huntington Beach, CA, where their four children were born. She became a Christian during her "hippy days" as she called them and from then on dedicated her life to church ministry and prayer. During the last few years, her greatest wish was to become a grandma, which happened earlier this year with the birth of Kelty Liam. She went home to be with the Lord on August 28, 2007, at age 59, surrounded by her husband, George; sister, Betsy; children Tod, Kara, Luke and Christian; and grandson Kelty. She will be missed by her family, parents, siblings (Bill, Betsy, Deya and John) and the many friends and lives she touched. A service will be held at Vineyard Anaheim at 2 p.m. Saturday, September 8. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Upper Room Ministries, 5081 Roxborough Drive, Placentia, CA 92870.

She's at peace

My mom, Suzanne Stokes, went home to be with Jesus today at 11am. It was a great moment with her whole family around her. I was so blessed to know that she waited for me to get back here. When I saw her yesterday, she gave me a big smile.

Some of her last words were "Praise God."

I never knew the passing of life could be so peaceful. All of us are joyful that she's no longer fighting a loosing battle with cancer, no longer fighting the pain and nausea. She's dancing in heaven and the whole family has great peace.

I'm sure I'll blog more in the future about all the things my mom has meant to me and everything I've learned about God and his ways over the past few months.

One thing I do know, this verse is truth. Real truth.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
- Romans 8:28

Spending some time at home

So I'm going to be hopping on a plane in a few hours to spend some time with my mom. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts for her and my family. She's been feeling pretty good lately and we're all happy for the time we have with her.

If you think of it, send Corinne a text next week and see if she wants to hang out. I won't be around to keep her entertained. Thanks. :)

Remember, your family is more important than many other things you spend time on every day. If it's been a while since you called your folks or talked with your siblings about their lives, spend a moment and do it right now. Long term, your family will always be there.

Much love.