www.youtube.com/watch?v=-da7hR1iDtE

Last night, my mom left a comment here on therieslands.com.

First. Time. Ever.

Jesus is coming back soon y’all…

By the way: if you’re reading this on facebook, you should come check out our blog! (There’s a lot that doesn’t make it over to facebook)

Go ahead, do it: www.TheRieslands.com

Look at that little double-chin…

We loaded up 3 kayaks and a canoe and paddled 14 miles down the Cape Fear River, stopping half way at Raven Rock State Park to spend the night…

It was a GREAT trip.

The Cape Fear is perfect for a lazy trip with just enough excitement to keep you paying attention.

There are some beautiful little falls to play in, and the wildlife was stunning: we saw lots of different fish, snakes, and birds, including several bald eagles!

We spent the evening around the fire, talking about what God has been teaching us and particularly answering this question: if we take this trip in a year, and you look back on the time between now and then, what do you hope to see?

I’m REALLY grateful for the 48 hours I got to spend with some awesome dudes, and also for the huge sacrifice Steph (did I mention that she’s 8  months pregnant?) made by taking care of Josiah all by herself for the weekend.

The reason for this post is really just to proclaim God’s goodness to His children — everything about this trip is a demonstration of God’s provision. From free time to finances to friendships: God is a faithful Father!

Here’s to next year!

It’s OK. Go ahead. Roll your eyes. I’m a geek and not ashamed of it.

Anyways, we don’t have a ‘true’ video camera at the Riesland house, but our little Fuji digital camera takes web-grade video and every once in a while we remember that and actually use it.

And even less often, I get around to putting the files on the computer and cleaning them up a little bit.

So, disclaimer: this is the part where 70% of you should probably bail because I’m about to show you a video of my kid and you’re going to say “what is it with people being so ga-ga over their kids” and then you won’t like me anymore and you’ll assume I’m not cool enough to hang out with you… which is probably true. So, there you go: you’ve been warned.

But for our friends and family who don’t get to see our little guy very often, here are 9 million words on what Josiah has been up to these past couple of months:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoL6dZ7-T_8

*And yes, I wear a sombrero when I cut the grass. Deal with it.

This seems like a good candidate.

You go first.

There was a time in my life when Campus Crusade For Christ was an important tool that God used to shape and mature me.

I have met hundreds of Campus Crusade staff over the years, and every one of them impresses me with their passion, vision, and persistence in their desire to reach college students with the Message of the Gospel.

One of the hardest things about working on staff with CCC is that each staff person has to raise their own financial support before they can ‘go to work’ on the campus. Unlike a typical local church – where the staff is usually funded by the church community - CCC folks are usually working with broke, slow-to-commit college students. For the typical American staff family, this means finding a team of people who will collectively commit to giving thousands of dollars per month, making it possible for one person or family to focus full-time on ministry at a particular college campus.

I learned about this first-hand when I went to Central Asia right after graduating from college. I had to put together a team that would keep me funded for at least a year while I focused on digging into the culture and building relationships with college students in a DRAMATICALLY un-reached part of the world. Factoring in insurance, travel costs, training costs, ministry tools, and daily living costs, this meant that I needed a team of partners to commit to giving almost $2,000 per month to keep me working.

God was very gracious to me and allowed me to pull it off in time to get on the plane, but with each month, partners who had made a one-year commitment stopped giving. Some would email me and tell me why; others just quit sending checks.

The month I came home, I think less than $1,400 came in.

But even when your financial partners forget (or choose not) to send a check, the bill collectors don’t forget to send a bill. Plane tickets, medicine, rent and medical insurance premiums don’t have compassion on your month-to-month budget.

So where does the balance come from?

For me, it was savings.

I had a few thousands dollars of credit card debt that I carried into my marriage, and it was mostly a product of paying the support short-fall that I experienced in my 11-month stint overseas.

At this point, I’ll bet you’re starting to squirm a little bit about the topic and the level of detail here, so let me try and get to the point before you bail on me: Raising your own support is HARD work.

It requires faith with legs and walking on them every single day.

And that’s why I want you to know about my new friend Ben Meredith.

Ben and his family have been on staff with CCC for several years, and they just moved to this part of NC a couple of weeks back.

A mutual friend introduced us as two guys with LOTS in common – go read his blog and you’ll see what I’m talking about — from raising a toddler to being married to a pregnant woman to being really passionate about Jesus and His Kingdom: we live very similar lives. Ben is even an aspiring geek (like me), and his new job with CCC will be helping the regional office identify and make use of new technologies to help the ministry throughout this area increase their effectiveness.

But before they can fully launch into this new season, Ben and Jacq need to tighten up their support base, and that’s why I’m telling you about them.

Ben recently wrote about how support-raising isn’t about going around and asking people for money. It’s about putting in the work to identify those people who God has raised up to be partners in ministry.

And I believe that some of the folks who will read this might be in that group of people.

I know that money is hot topic, and nobody likes to talk about it. And the call to generosity is generally considered to be offensive. But if you read your Bible, you’ll see that about 25% of everything Jesus said had to do with generosity. And if we are His followers, then we should be talking about it a WHOLE lot more. (Check out my pastor’s recent blog post on The Generosity Matrix for more on that…)

Some of you have recently grown in your understanding of God’s call to generosity, and you’ve been looking for good opportunities to contribute meaningfully.

Others of you recently stopped going to a traditional church, and don’t really have a good place to tithe to Kingdom work.

Heck, some of you might not have ever considered supporting a college ministry, but now that you think about it, it makes perfect sense!

Whatever boat you’re in, would you consider doing two things?

1) Pray about whether God would have you partner with the Merediths in their ministry.

and

2) Go have a look around their website, and if what they’re doing looks like something that you would like to be a part of, get in touch with them (or have me do it for you). I know they’re chomping at the bit to sit down with you and share exactly what they’re doing and how you can join them.

Even if you’re not a position to support them financially, I know they’d love to send you regular updates about how you can be praying for them!

This is my favorite example:

Starbucks Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with Whipped Cream (venti, 20 fl oz)

660 calories
22 g fat (15 g saturated)
95 g sugars

Sugar Equivalent: 8½ scoops Edy’s Slow Churned Rich and Creamy Coffee Ice Cream

Hopefully this will dispel any lingering fragments of the “health halo” that still exists in coffee shops—that misguided belief that espresso-based beverages can’t do much damage. In this 20-ounce cup, Starbucks manages to pack in more calories and saturated fat than two slices of deep-dish sausage and pepperoni pizza from Domino’s. That makes it the equivalent of dinner and dessert disguised as a cup of coffee. If you want a treat, look to Starbucks’ supply of sugar-free syrups; if you want a caffeine buzz, stick to the regular joe, an Americano, or a cappuccino.

My little sister is the cat’s pajamas.

This past weekend, she threw us a baby shower for Jelly Bean (coming to a nursery near you in just 9 more weeks) that looked like it should have been featured on a cable reality show.

After weeks of planning and preparation, she came over Friday night and was up until the wee hours of the morning getting everything decorated.

These are just a few of the special details.

Thanks Katie!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4

If Steph and I end up in a Sienna this summer, then this will have to become our official anthem…

I roll hard through the streets and the cul-de-sacs,
Proud parent of an honor roll student, Jack.
I got a swing in the front, a tree house in the back,
My #1 Dad mug says, Yeah, Im the Mack.

Ray and I had a ton of fun trying on all the hats:

We even got Steph in on the fun!