update

Well, Joanna and i are back from a fairly exhausting week away at training in Madison and La Crosse and all over the state. It was good week. We got a lot done, saw lots of people, and i even had time to get a deer. Now it's back to campus work. Our numbers at large group are getting lower, but that doesn't concern me much. It seems like the students who are really involved with Crusade are sticking to that instead of trying to attend both Cru and IV, and that is a good thing, even if it doesn't look good on reports.
This coming week at large group we are having a prayer and praise night to pray for friends who do not know the Lord, and encourage one another to tell them the Good News. I am looking forward to it. We are going through a paradigm shift in our way of thinking about campus ministry at Stevens Point, and it is a trying but exciting time. Instead of re-creating church on campus, we are beginning to see ourselves as an evangelistic extension of the local church, whose purpose is to, by the power of God, seek and win the lost and build up the Church.
I got to sell a bit of fur today to make some "fun money" that Joanna and i can do whatever we want with. In case anyone is wondering, the fur prices are down again this year. Sold 2 coons - $5 and $3, and the deer hide was $2, but it was starting to get old. Paid for gas, anyway.

A few thoughts

This is the last day i will be in Stevens Point for a week, so i figured i'd better write something. I've been lamenting the loss of being able to read many of my favorite authors. I just got an assignment for readings tomorrow for a staff conference in Madison. I have been keeping up with reading, but i have 2 more books to get cracking on by the first week in November. For Christ and the University and How to Read the Bible for all it's Worth are the other books that have to get read.
The coming week is training in Madison and visiting some supporters and hopefully meeting with some new ones. Joanna and i will also go together to La Crosse for some appointments and a bridal shower for her, so i hope to see many of you while we are there this coming weekend!
Being gone means this is the first week for the vision team to function without a staff, but they are more than capable. It also means no musky fishing with all the IV guys, but we got another one yesterday so we are up to 18 in the canoe this year. I'm feeling pretty good about reaching my goal of 22 by mid-November.
In other news, we sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in church yesterday, and it is a scary and amazing song. God's wrath and justice and truth are all attributes that make up what we call God's glory. Singing the verses to that song and the chorus of "Glory, Glory Halleluiah" was a humbling thing to think about.

muskies

So many people fish up here, i am seriously thinking about making this a musky fishing blog and sharing the gospel instead of a gospel sharing blog where i write about musky fishing-it might be more effective. Anyway, got 2 more with my friend Tom this morning, making 17 fish on the year. Lost 2 as well, with another hook malfunction and a line malfunction.
I've been wondering how in the world Joanna and i are going to make it financially this year. I would really love to pay off her college loans and be above water with things before we are married, but it didn't look like that was going to happen. God is always watching out for us, though. We received over $3000 in the mail this week, and that will help a ton. I can't believe how much God blesses us with everything, even when we definitely don't deserve it and sometimes don't really feel a need for it. Thanks be to God, the giver of all good things!

update

Once again it has been far too long since the last post. Campus work has been crazy, being gone every evening and most mornings. That is going to have to change a bit once Joanna and i get married. Things are going well, though. We had a vision team meeting Tuesday night where i think a lot of things just came together. I realized that we can have a single vision statement as a team, but each have a different vision to go along with the statement. I feel like we are closer to being on the same page after sharing some things at the meeting.
I'm definitely hooked on musky fishing. The last few times i've gone out with guys i haven't even taken my walleye fishing gear. I'm up to 15 muskies, almost all out of the canoe. None of them over 50 inches yet, however. Those fish seem to evade me all the time. I had one on yesterday for about 15 seconds that might have gone 50 inches, but one of the hooks on my treble hook broke off. What next? Anyway, i think i'm shooting for 22 muskies this year and a 50 inch fish as a kicker. I'll keep you posted on that. Maybe once they start hitting suckers we'll be able to get some monster fish.
In church on Sunday pastor Israel talked about giving our passions to the Lord for His service. I am so thankful that I am in a place like Stevens Point, where everyone i come across loves to hunt and fish. i can't believe how great of a tool it can be to take guys hunting and fishing and talk to them about Christ. I haven't found a better way to build relationships with students here, so i'm going to keep it up.
I have a little time to get some reading done, so i had better be doing it. I have to read a bunch of books for InterVarsity, and the one i am reading right now is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. There are about 10 more books on my IV reading assignment list, but i really just want to keep reading Bunyan and Edwards and Owen right now. Oh well.