Three Months Married and Ministry

I am now reflecting back on three months of marriage to Mrs. Jones and rejoicing in God for this new season. We are growing in our relationship to which I can thank God for His foresight and wisdom in selecting my helpmate. Marilyn is my best friend and I am so glad, for the short time we have here on this earth, to grow and learn with her. I am learning a lot from her such as: how to make homemade pizza in thirty minutes and how to decorate using whatever one can find at one's own house. She is an industrious and creative woman. I have lots more to say of this fine specimen, but I will stop here. I love the woman dearly.

Ministry is going well and I am learning a lot as I work as a youth pastor. I love the young humans here on this island and I am praying for God to do God-sized things through me while I am here. I am watching some young people really step up in their faith, which is highly encouraging. I am learning that my own relationship with God is the most important ministry to maintain. Seeking first His kingdom is a must. I am also learning that, as a friend recently told me, of how important it is for the kids and youth-leaders to know that I love them. And converse of that, it is not important that I know I am loved back. I think this reflects the heart of Christ. We have a wonderful leadership team that I am privileged to shepherd. Morgan, Heather, Chelsea, and Jon make a great team. We will dearly miss the ladies over the holidays as they head to the mainland. I pray that this strong base of youth leaders grows even more strong. We are having fun and hopeful for lots of good fruit to come in the coming months.

My work at Scotty Beachside BBQ presents such a dichotomy of monotony and spontaneity as I buss tables some days and do a wide-range of administrative tasks other days. I prefer the latter due to its diversity. And the former....well, I buss tables. I have great bosses and managers and love the ocean-view office I sit at regularly. It sort of pays the bills and I am so grateful to provide for my needs here on Kauai. Marilyn is working at the High School as a lunch lady and one or two days a week she works at Vitamin World. I can thankfully say that she really likes both jobs. This is a huge answer to prayer.

It is an odd thing still for me to live on Kauai. I didn't ever want to particularly live here. It is a blessed little island is so many ways and yet riddled with problems. I feel as a missionary adjusting to the weird environment of a quasi-american, behind-in-the-times, tropical-vacation hot-spot. It is a mix of deep hawaiian culture covered by a thin veneer of commercialism; A mix of aloha and globalism. I pray that God would help me to best help the people of Kauai as long as Marilyn and I stay here. I pray that I would go harder, die deader, and yield fuller to Christ's leading as I stay here. It may be ten months or thirty years, but for now I want to trust Christ with everything.

Married in under forty days

I haven't posted on my blog in about ten months. I have a lot to be thankful for over the past ten months. I am still growing in learning what it means to pastor as I volunteer at Calvary Chapel Kauai. I work at a sweet restaurant (Scotty's BBQ) and live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I have a ton of reasons to give God thanks and praise. The biggest reason to thank God at the moment is the gift of a wife. "He who finds a wife finds a good thing." She is an amazing gift from God!!!! God is bringing me into the second biggest transition of my entire life: marriage. The wedding day is approaching fast. It feels as if the hourglass as gotten to that last little bit of sand, but continues to surprise you with how it keeps going. I haven't seen my fiancee in over seventy days and the distance is agonizing. It will be here soon enough, but the fact that she is still 6000 miles away makes it ever so hard. The distance has been a great opportunity to stay pure, focus on personal preparations, and as they say, "make the heart grow fonder."

I am learning a lot about the subject of marriage and I am prepared to be rocked to the core. I have read a few books on marriage, gone through biblical, pre-marital counseling, and prayed through a lot regarding my future with Marilyn Huelskamp (soon to be Jones). God has recently led us to find a place to live and this Sunday I can rightly say, "I am going to prepare a place for her." Being a Godly spiritual leader and a loving husband is going to be a great challenge, but all I can say is that "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Only with Jesus will I become the spiritual head God has designed me to be. I praise God for this calling and I can only cry out for His enabling as we take this venture of faith.

I have a myriad of thoughts I would like to continue with. I think I will just stop so blogging won't be a mountain to tackle. Maybe just some quick thoughts....