Christmas

(Our tree 6 days before Christmas)

My first tendency is to say, "it's not the same!" As I look around my home, I see an empty living room, usually warm and cozy with lights, a tree, stockings hung by the fire and a winter Christmas village on my mantel. Our tree (the one thing we put up this Christmas) lies cold and dry, on our back patio. We took it down today...6 days before Christmas. Boxes are piling in our dining area, instead of a table adorned with poinsettias, and odds and ends scatter the counters instead of cinnamon candles and gingerbread houses. 


In case it isn't clear, we're moving!! "It's not the same" I think to myself, as I long to sit and listen to Christmas music and drink hot cider by a raging fire. Instead I listen to Christmas music while scarfing down the last remnants of edible food left in our fridge, and pack a box for dessert! Things are a mess and I miss what I know as normal... "it's not the same." 


Then in the quietness of my heart, I remember that the true meaning of Christmas is NOT the perfect winter village on my mantel, or Christmas trees, or stockings hung by the fire. If Jesus is the reason for the season, then the true celebration centers on the fact that Jesus willingly left the comforts of heaven, took the form of an infant, and eventually purchased our salvation by His death on a cross.  Jesus never changed, our focus is what changed. So as I close the doors to my home, and this chapter of my life, I will focus on what a blessing it is to be an heir to the King, and what it means to follow Him. This is a truly unique Christmas for us, but one I'll always remember. 


I love you Jesus, and I am sorry when I lose sight of what is really important. Thank you Jesus for being the same yesterday, today, and forever.


Merry Christmas,
~Kristi

Titus 3:4-7 "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He SAVED us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Down To The Wire

The following is an e-mail written to the staff of our home church.  Specifics have been generalized to protect the privacy of others.

 Dear Staff,

Hope you are all doing well.  We sure miss you all already.  We'll be leaving the desert in 3 days, and leaving the state in 11 days.

We've had a couple potential buyers, and several potential renters.  All have fallen through.  We offered to rent to a family that really needed a good deal.  We really prayed about making it work for them, but they ended up turning down our offer because the commute would be to much for them.

We've pretty much resolved to drive away even with the house unresolved, but that makes us nervous.  While God does want us to use wisdom, He also reminds us that His kingdom is "upside down".  We believe the furthering of the gospel should be the priority above our desire to maximize our possessions.

We are willing to sell for way less that we bought the house for or rent it for just above the cost of our monthly payment.  Please continue to pray for provision, wisdom, and the resolve to do whatever God calls us to whatever that may be.  If we don't hear anything soon we'll probably list with a realtor or rental agency.

Grace and peace,

Mike and Kristi Day

Unemployed In December

I have to admit that it was a little scary and surreal voluntarily resigning from a job I love during an economic meltdown.  My last day was November 30.  I never would have done that if I didn't believe that God wanted us to move in this direction.  It took a great deal of letting go and trusting God for us to finally make that step.  For Kristi and I to trust God with this is nothing short of a miracle.  To God be the glory for the great things He does.

This month has been one of the busiest and most taxing I can remember.  The details of this transition are numerous and charged with excitement, terror, joy, sorrow, peace, and turmoil.  The past few months we've been going through all our belongings trying to narrow them down by about 70%.  We had garage sales, made trips to thrift stores, and dispersed items to friends and family.  The past couple weeks have been spent packing the things we are going to move to WI.  The night before we loaded our PODS (portable on demand storage) we worked till 5:30am and got up at 7:30am.  We were so tired that we started displaying some weird behavior.  For instance, the next morning we were getting in the car to go to church and I had put a flashlight under my arm and carried it to the car for no reason.  Later that evening Kristi told me that she was going to put on a movie for Caesar (our cat)!

For me the hardest part of trusting God is not so much a question of whether He can do something.  I don't question His strength, ability, wisdom, or goodness.  I just can't stand not being in "control" and not knowing how or when He is going to provide.  I read in Isaiah recently where God's response to an unbelieving people was to say "than I will once more ASTOUND these people with wonder upon wonder".  He could have said "forget these people" instead He says "I will astound them AGAIN".  Thanks be to God for His ASTOUNDING mercy, grace, and lovingkindness.

I don't take unemployment lightly.  I know a lot of folks are struggling with legitimate financial crisis.  I know many hard-working people have lost their jobs and not been able to find new ones.  For me, I'm okay with being unemployed in December because I'm confident God will meet our needs.  Our family is ready to embark on the greatest adventure of our lives.  What a privilege it will be to play some part, whether large or small, in bringing God's Word to a people group desperately in need of a Savior.  How blessed are the feet that bring good news...and this is great news, to all people.

Grace and Peace this Christmas,  Mike

Do Not Be Anxious

There's a part of me that loves my comfort zone.  Any comfort zone.  I like to know what I'm doing, how I'm going to do it, where the ability and resources are going to come from.  I like to know what's expected of me, what I can expect from others, and what consequences will surface if those expectations aren't met.

I also love to live.  Not just exist but truly live.  There's something about rock climbing, sky diving, first dates, or other near death experiences that cause a certain feeling.  It's scary, but in a good way.  We avoid life at times.  The uncertainties just aren't worth the risk.  What if I fall, what if I hit the ground, what if I look stupid, what if I'm not happy, what if I lose all I've worked for????

Is that why we love movies so much?  The chance to participate in epic battles without the risk of getting shot at, speared, or mutilated.  The warm fuzzies of a romantic comedy without having to put our own heart on the line.  The intensity of a poker player going all-in with their life savings, while the only bet we made was that the $4.50 we paid at Hollywood video wouldn't be wasted on a lame movie.

Most things worth living for involve a level of risk.  Marriage is great, but what if it ends in divorce?  Having children is one of the best things ever, but what if they stray from the path and break our hearts?  Whether making a discovery, mastering an instrument, or earning a degree, a level of risk and sacrifice is inevitably involved.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)  That they may have life to the full.  What an invitation!  But what does it cost?  What is the risk involved in entering into life where the God of the universe is our Father, His Son is our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit is our guide?  To me the answer is both nothing and everything.  "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.  (Matt. 19:29)  It's like Jesus is saying that everyone who risks everything that matters, to pursue the only thing that matters, will gain the only thing that matters.


So, we risk it all.  Because we trust what Jesus says.  And then we are anxious.  We don't need to be anxious.  Why are we anxious?  So quickly we take our eyes off Jesus.  But we are left with this command.  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7)  How well God knows us to predict our anxiety.  How good He is to offer peace.


Mike

The Day's Get A Sink!!!

Check it!!!

A new apartment (dorm room) with a sink just became available!!!

Kristi and I realized how blessed we are to have 3 sinks and 2 bathrooms in our current home when we first heard the news that our apartment we were supposed to move into at NTBI had neither.  I wondered about the water situation around the world, and with a little research learned that about 1 billion people in the world don't have access to safe drinking water.  The definition "no access" doesn't mean they don't have running water, or that they have to walk for clean water.  It means no access to clean water.  This reminds me of the Essentials project Pastor Scott and Pastor Kurt launched at my home church (High Desert Church) in 2008.  The Lord challenged many hearts, and we raised $180,000 dollars to help build clean wells in Malawi, Africa.  How rewarding it was to "exchange our wants for their needs".

We are so happy that an apartment with a kitchen sink opened up, but the reality is that we would be so blessed just to have access to running water in the same building.  Our new option with the fancy sink isn't a done deal, but we were told that this would be our apartment unless a change becomes necessary.  It's about the same size (600 sqft) as the other apartment, but we HAVE A SINK and the floor-plan is a little more open and usable.

We are blessed,

Mike

Downsizing

Mike here.  This is Kristi with some of our mugs and dishes we aren't keeping.  We've been throwing numbers around our heads trying to guess how much we'll have to downsize.  I finally figured it out today.  Counting the garage, we have a total of 2,170 sqft of living/storage space in our house right now.  Being that we are moving into an apartment with just under 600 sqft, we'll be cutting our space by about 72%.  It feels good to know this number.  Now I know that out of every 100 items we'll be able to keep 28.  This includes money, we just don't have room for it all, so we'll only be able to keep 28 out of every hundred dollars!!!  Kidding aside, I know it won't work out this cut and dry, but i still find comfort in knowing this figure.

Our 4th bedroom (we call it the den) is our catch-all.  It's supposed to be organized by wall: the window wall "is" things we are taking, the right wall "is" things to go through, the left wall "is" things we need to offload, and the back wall "is" things we are storing over the years.  Instead, every wall looks like it's been hit by Hurricane Kristi!!!

Since our bathroom is going to be outside our apartment across the hall, we thought we'd use this dresser as our medicine cabinet, hair-drying station (for Kristi only), and mouthwash/spit in the trash can location.  Think of it as a bathroom sink and mirror without the sink!  We worked on this on Monday just so we can get used to it, find the problems, and solve them before we get there.

We are planning to have a garage sale soon.  Here's a preview of a very few of the many items available.  We'll be selling furniture, electronics, toys, clothes, kitchenware, and possibly a house and a cat...maybe we won't actually sell the house and cat at the garage sale, but we probably are looking for a buyer or renter.

Well that's it for today.  We appreciate all your prayers.

Mike

Our Tiny Apartment @ NTBI

Kristi~Join me as we take a short tour through our prospective apartment at NTBI!

Our apartment is kind of like a shoebox… there is no hall, just doorways through rooms that lead to other rooms. It goes like this, the living room leads to our room, our room leads to the kid's room, and their room leads to the kitchen/dining area.  It'll be like Tetris trying to fit our family of 4 into 600 sq ft!

Here we have our kitchen...small and quaint.  You may notice something missing, yes, the kitchen has everything BUT the kitchen sink! No worries… The Day family has skills that you’ve never seen before.  We can ADAPT! There is a community sink right across the hall from our apartment, as well as a shower room (single occupancy only…) and a restroom. We look forward to spending time together here in our kitchen enjoying cozy meals together.

Next, we have two little bedrooms. Our room will be mostly bed, although we figured we can fit our dressers from home too. My dresser has a big mirror so that will be our “getting ready in the morning” spot. The kids will be getting bunk beds, and we are still in the process of figuring out creative storage for toys.

Here's two views of our living room… Now we can stretch out a bit. This area will hold our bookshelf, couch, ottoman, rocking chair, end tables with lamps, TV, and computer desk.  Many an hour will be spent studying here, and hopefully we'll enjoy a few family movie nights as well!

This amazing shot was taken from the living room window.  What the apartment lacks in space we make up for with a great view.  The city of Waukesha is beautiful, with 100 year old buildings and churches scattered among 1950's era cottage style homes.  There's lots of grass and beautiful trees that are already turning every shade of Autumn.  I suppose lots of cities have green grass and trees, but after living in the desert for 9 years, the foliage was a refreshing sight.

Well, there you have it, short and sweet!  We know there will be an adjustment to living here, but we are also so excited to be where God wants us for now.  We have a place to call 'home' and we will be together.  We are so blessed.

~Kristi