Mike Needs Your Help!

"Seriously, Dude?  You resolved to write more often, haven't posted since March 12 despite having a new kid to tell the world about, and now you want our help?  Have you gone wacky, or just plain stupid?"

C.  None of the above.

We're going to start this story about a year and a half ago.  At that point, I had been spiritually rebuilding for more than three years following what seemed five years ago to be a devastating event in my life (but when anything dies it feeds the ground, and from that event came two new relationships that have blessed Kaylee with not two, but four parents who love her dearly).  Then something happened.

God went silent.

He was there.  I knew he was.  When you have accepted Christ as your Savior and you really focus on drawing yourself into alignment with Him, something changes.  It's kind of like learning to ride your bike as a child: Dad holds you up and pushes you, slowly at first.  Then, as you get your wheels under you, he speeds up, all the while telling you that you are doing great.

Then, he lets go.

You feel shaky and uncertain, because you are now doing this all on your own.  But you always know Dad is still behind you, watching you, silently rooting for you to succeed, but always close enough to come running to your aid if you stumble and fall.

Once you learn to ride, then Dad rides beside you.

God and I had built up enough speed that he could let me go.

During the silence, I did struggle.  I wanted so desperately to hear Him, to know even the next tiny step in His plan for me.  But it wasn't time.  So, like Moses and the Israelites did for 40 years in the desert, I wandered.  I knew God was there, but I needed to learn to wait on His timing.

I began participating in the Men's Ministry programs at church last fall, and I developed some very close friendships with some amazing men.  And about the same time, I started to hear God murmuring.

Then, one day several months back, God started to shout.

The prayers I prayed countless times to know the next step in my life finally started to get answered.  There began to be some sense emerging from the chaos.  God finally began to show me what was next.

I would love to go into the details of what that is.  I am dying to tell people, but it's not yet time.  The one thing I can tell you is that it is an area of ministry that desperately needs attention but has received little.  It's been done generally, but now God is calling me into the specifics.

The few people who know the details at this point also know one detail about how I am handling it all: I feel like a cat being asked to fly.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be taking this on.  I just have no clue what I am doing.  I'm figuring things out as I go -- like He usually does, God is telling me only what I need to know right now.  His plan is perfect, and I know He will get me from point A to point B without issue if I continue to trust Him and do things His way.  And point B may be complete failure -- but it will be a perfectly executed failure, and will be just one more small step in an enormous plan.

So, about that next step...

I'm going back to college!

I'm not completing my English Degree!

I'm not pursuing a degree in line with my career!

I'm switching to Biblical Studies!

Okay, to be clear, the major is Religion, with a minor in Biblical Studies.  But I've never been too fond of the "R" word.  Guess I need to get used to it.

So that brings us to today.  And, since you are here, you probably wanted more information on that whole "donation" thing.  If not, check it out at https://www.wepay.com/donations/send-mike-back-to-school first.

Please understand, I am not doing this to be lazy, or to get the rest of my education on someone else's dime. I am actively pursuing scholarships and grants, as well, but there is simply not enough left in the budget for me to take college classes.  So I'm doing this little "experiment."  I put that in quotes because I just don't have a better way of phrasing it at the moment, despite the fact that I know God will provide.  "Experiment" implies a possibility of failure.

The page has "suggested" donation amounts.  Those are there because 1) WePay asks for them, and 2) I want you all to be aware of why the current donation goal is what it is.  $2,500 for one semester is not an arbitrary number.  The total fees will be $2,365 per semester based on two classes and the technology fee.  That leaves $135 to cover books and supplies.  Of course, once the goal is reached I will certainly be raising it, because Those two classes aren't enough.  I need at least 30 more credits, which is five two-class semesters.  If enough money comes in and time allows, I will increase that course load.

A quick note: I am using WePay so the process can be 100 percent transparent.  I want you all to be able to easily check on the numbers and know they are genuine.  However, there is a cost: WePay, like any other "free" service, does take a cut of the money.  3.5 percent of every transaction goes to WePay, so a $100 donation actually gets to me as $96.50.  There is just no way around this without taking the time to write something myself, integrate it with a bank, etc.  And, then, we lose the transparency entirely because the beneficiary is also the creator.

So, with all of that out of the way, here is my formal request: please take the time to prayerfully consider a donation.  Your gifts are contributing to finish a formal education in ministry, which will be used to run an organization that will fill a gap that so very desperately needs filled.  What that is will be made public long before I graduate, but to better insure the long-term success of that ministry, this is necessary.

Please, allow God to guide you in this decision.  Any contribution, large or small, is very much appreciated and will be put to good use.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

* Again, to donate, please go to https://www.wepay.com/donations/send-mike-back-to-school.

Resolving with...uh...resolve!

In the immortal words of Austin Powers, "allow myself to introduce...myself."

I am Mike.  Many of you know me -- and, by "many", I mean three out of the four of you.  For those who don't, and for those who do, allow me to tell you about the Me I Intend to Be in 2012.

Tomorrow's Rapture Has Been Cancelled. Apologies for the Inconvenience.

You've likely heard by now that Jesus is supposed to come back tomorrow -- at least according to one largely misguided man and his followers.

Maybe I should back-track a bit.  Could Christ return for His people on May 21, 2011?  Absolutely.  He could also come back on May 23rd, August 9th, or some time in 2338.  No one knows.

And that's the point.  No one knows.

Faith Through Destruction

I'll expound to a greater degree on this in another post, but anyway...

I am fascinated by tornadoes.  Captivated.  They are a combination of power, beauty and unpredictability that is rivaled by nothing else on planet Earth.  By beauty I mean that, to be formed, they require extremely precise conditions to occur simultaneously in order to even have a chance.  And I know there are a lot of people in Oklahoma, Alabama and here in North Carolina who are having a hard time seeing this "beauty" right now.  To many, they see the face of death itself.  To others, they see a thief, who stole their entire lives.  But to understand them is to see that amazing beauty despite great loss.

Sadly, we don't understand them.  We can't predict them, and we can't even promise to know where they will go even five seconds from now.  Chances are good that we will never be able to know.

I have a goal in life to see how close I can get to a tornado.  But after this weekend, I want to add a caveat to that: I want to be the one doing the chasing.  Playing hide-and-seek with 300-m.p.h. winds is not my idea of fun -- and it's the second time in two years I've had to rely on luck to avoid one.  After parts of ten years in Texas without so much as a tornado warning, I've now had three encounters with them in Michigan and North Carolina that have either had me (and others) hiding in a bathtub or basement, or (stupidly) running from one.

We were lucky to avoid the twister this weekend -- or, more accurately, that it avoided us.  All my loved ones in northeast Raleigh -- my wife and daughter, my brother- and sister-in-law (and dog-in-law, too), and a friend and her two kids -- were missed by varying degrees, with two downed trees in a yard and no electricity for an extended period the worst of our collective damage.  Our margins of luck were as wide as two miles and as narrow as several hundred feet, but we are all safe and damage-free.

The same cannot be said for hundreds of homes immediately around all of us.  I have personally witnessed damage from missing trim work to downed trees, from missing fences to missing roofs, from damaged cars to destroyed homes.  I've seen steel-framework electrical wiring rigs bent cleanly in half (two of them).  I've seen graves uprooted.

The eeriest parts of it all were the distant rumbles of thunder afterward, even though there was no longer even a single cloud left to be seen in the sky.

I've seen the side of my obsession that I want never to see again: the human impact and cost of a natural force.  But, I also believe the Bible is the infallible word of God and, therefore, is perfect in its content.  That means it will only get worse, and dramatically so.

I urge you all to find God if you have not already, or to draw even nearer to Him if you have that relationship already.  Like the winds of a tornado, Christ's return to collect his faithful will come when you don't expect it, and will result in destruction and desolation if you are not prepared.  Prepare, and learn to expect it even when you aren't expecting it.  If the signs in the world are any indication, it's coming sooner than you may think.

A Call to Prayer

Let's take a brief respite from my usually sarcastic self, m'kay?

Today is a day that will live in the world's collective conscience for quite some time, but not fort any good reasons.  This morning, a devastatingly powerful earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a tsunami.  Chances are pretty good that you already knew that.  Hundreds are dead and countless more are missing in these early stages of rescue and recovery operations.  You already knew that, too.

You can help.  You can, I promise.  You don't need to fly or swim to Japan and start digging out survivors and bodies.  You don't need to give money or set up a Web site to collect donations, although these are all great ideas.

In fact, you shouldn''t do any of these things if you don't feel called to do so.  That's not part of God's plan.  But what is always part of His plan is for you to pray.

Pray unceasingly.  Pray for the safety of those still in peril.  Pray for protection for those who are involved in rescue ops.  Pray for the souls of the deceased.  Pray for healing for the injured.  Pray for comfort and clarity for the family and friends left behind.  Pray for each and every homeowner and shopkeeper as they begin to rebuild their lives from the soggy ground up.  Pray for order to reign supreme in the coming weeks and months.  Pray that those who are believers keep their hearts and minds aligned with God rather than turn from Him in anger.  Pray that those who don't know Him will find him through this disaster and choose to lean entirely on Him.  But, above all else, pray for Christ to return quickly, so that we never have to go through these types of disasters again.

Pray, and don't stop doing it.