john | lis

I’ve been listening to the Come Weary Saints album from Sovereign Grace Music, quite a bit lately. Many of the songs have been encouraging, but I keep coming back to 1 in particular. I thought the lyrics might encourage you too…

As Long As You Are Glorified

Mark Altrogge

Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings
Yet not welcome any pain
Shall I thank You for days of sunshine
Yet grumble in days of rain
Shall I love You in times of plenty
Then leave You in days of drought
Shall I trust when I reap a harvest
But when winter winds blow, then doubt

Oh let Your will be done in me
In Your love I will abide
Oh I long for nothing else as long
As You are glorified

Are You good only when I prosper
And true only when I’m filled
Are You King only when I’m carefree
And God only when I’m well
You are good when I’m poor and needy
You are true when I’m parched and dry
You still reign in the deepest valley
You’re still God in the darkest night

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

John gets to preach for the first time tomorrow! Our fellowship group pastor, Rick Holland, is out of town this weekend, so he asked John to fill the pulpit. I’m so excited for the message! He just did a practice run for me and I’m already convicted. He’s chosen Malachi 1 as his text and his title is:

“Three Symptoms of Apathetic Worship”

If you think of it, will you pray for him? - that God would use him to clearly communicate His Word, that he would be humble, that he would be transparent, and that hearts will be moved to repent of apathetic worship.

By the end of the week, you should be able to download the audio HERE. I highly recommend that you do!

It’s hard to believe we’re already at the end of the first week in September. It seems like I blinked and it turned from Spring to Fall! I suppose, technically, it isn’t Fall quite yet which was pretty obvious when I walked outside to 100°F both today and yesterday!

I am looking forward to Fall…crisp mornings and comfortable days, bonfires in the backyard, changing colors, Fall foods and apple cider, Pumpkin Spice Lattes (already available BTW), and of course the new season of The Office.

Summer absolutely flew by! Did it fly by for you? You know from reading johnandlis.com that we filled it up to the brim with all kinds of fun stuff. Our busy Summer season really began in April when we recorded the first Enfield CD, O For That Day. Just as soon as the recording sessions wrapped, we started rehearsing for the Resolved Conference three times a week. Then of course, we led worship for Resolved. Just as soon as we got home, we re-packed our luggage and flew up to Vancouver for our first ever GTY Cruise to Alaska.

July was filled with a little resting, a few weddings and more travels. In August, preparations began for the 08-09 school year with Crossroads including the Shepherds’ Retreat, a plaza fellowship and band rehearsal kick-off

Wheh, what a great Summer! Now we’re ready for September, which brings the kick-off of our Bible Study, Fireside, quite a few family/friend birthdays, some new JLM Creative work and the regular routine of the Fall season.

Speaking of Pumpkin Spice Lattes….that sounds delicious!

Obviously, I didn’t keep posting in DC. We filled our days so full that we were simply too tired to post in the evenings. I did, however, put up a quick wrap-up post with pictures over at yetanotherblog check it out HERE

We’re wrapping up day 3 here in Washington, DC and are having a fabulous time! So far we’ve visited Arlington National Cemetery, The Ford Theater, The Peterson House (where Lincoln died), The International Spy Museum, The National Archives, The Holocost Museum, The Library of Congress, and the major monuments on The Mall. Those are just the places we’ve toured…the places we’ve seen is a much longer list, not the least of which are The White House and the Capitol. We’ve tried to pack our days full so that we can experience as much as possible in our few days here. Our feet are definitely feeling it, but it has been well worth it. I’ll recap some of the highlights over the next several posts. For now, I’m going to go back to our trip to Gettysburg on Saturday.

After a quick stop at Chick Fil-A (oh. yes.) we headed North to Gettysburg. Neither of us really had any concept of how large and well preserved battle field is. The National Park Service really has done a wonderful job creating an experience where you sense the weight of the battle almost as if it happened recently.

There are 1,400 monuments on the 600 acre battlefield. That probably doesn’t sound like much to you, but the monuments are mostly along the roads. That means that along the roads there is nearly a constant line
of monuments. One of the most striking monuments is the Soldiers’ National Monument at the National Cemetery on the spot where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. What an amazing experience to be where one of the most notable speeches in American history was given.

We wrapped up our day with dinner at the Dobbin House which was built in 1776 and has recently been restored.

Click below to view some pictures from our trip to Gettysburg:

Gettysburg 08

It’s a little after 2pm on a sunny summer afternoon. I am sitting at a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Glendale enjoying an English Breakfast Latte just up the street from where my Jeep A/C is being fixed. I decided to take advantage of the time and the free WiFi to download the brand new iPhone Wordpress application and test it out. So here it is… testing one, two, three. The app is very simple and easy to use. I had to upgrade my version of Wordpress to make it compatible but I was overdue for that anyway. Ok I’m going to try and post this little stream of babble…

The latest phenomenon in online social networking is Twitter. It’s a micro-blog that acts much like a community instant messenger. It asks you the simple question “What are you doing right now?” to which you respond in 140 characters or less. It’s free and easy to use. I have become an avid Twitter user because it helps me stay in touch with my family but there are many fascinating people and organizations to follow out there. I use the Twitterific client to update from my Mac and iPhone. Here’s a USA Today article on Twitter.

Today we docked at our final port of call in Ketchikan, AK. Ketchikan is a bustling fishing town with the least amount of “touristy” feel yet. It is known as Alaska’s 1st city because it is the first city you come to on your way into the state. It’s also known as the salmon capital of the world.

We decided to take a walk around town and found it pretty interesting. We ended up walking to the Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery and Eagle Center. The hatchery is a salmon hatchery and it was interesting to see. They are strictly a replenishing facility, which means that they do not farm their salmon for food but release them into the river to make their way down to the ocean. As is the habit of salmon, they return to their birth place years later to spawn and die and at that point the hatchery staff give the meat to local nursing homes, elders and children’s facilities.

The most interesting part of the center was the eagles. They have 2 rescued bald eagles in captivity and they both had severe wing injuries and are unable to fly. They were fascinating! I’ve never been that close to an eagle before. The 2 birds seem to be rather spoiled and we were told prefer not to eat the fish that’s given to them, but will wait until someone brings bear or reindeer meat.

We met with our group again for the evening session where John led worship and Kory sang a solo. MacArthur wrapped up our study on John 17 where Jesus gives the final reason for His prayer - that we would be filled with His joy. What an encouraging time together!

We headed once again for the dining room and enjoyed another delicious meal. We were told there was a karaoke competition later on and so we made our way up to the Crow’s Nest to scope out the competition. John and Kory tossed around the idea of singing, but then decided not to - good thing! The other singers were, um, unfit for an American Idol rejects reel. It was entertaining, none the less, and we had a good laugh.

Stay tuned!

This was a very special day in Glacier Bay. We got to sail through some of the most stunning scenery in the world, we got to see whales, seals and glaciers….and all that on our 5th anniversary!

It was 5 years ago today that we were on a different boat in another beautiful part of the world taking our vows and beginning our new life together. It was a Wednesday too!

We cruised around the inlets of Glacier Bay for most of the day stopping in front of Johns Hopkins Glacier, Lamplugh Glacier and Margerie Glacier to watch for calving and take in the breathtaking view. We’re told these glaciers move several feet a day.

On our way out of the bay we spotted a pod of humpback whales near one of the islands. They were too far to get any good pictures and they never did any Seaworld acrobatics, but it was thrilling just to see them spout.

Kory led music for this evening’s session and John and I sang one of our favorite duets - Cross of Love from Savior. Kory announced to everyone that it was our anniversary, so we got many congratulations and good wishes throughout the rest of the evening. We were invited to join the MacArthurs for dinner along with the Rices. We had a great time together. After dessert, we were surprised by a beautiful anniversary cake and an Indonesian anniversary song from our waiters. The day ended with the ms Statendam Dessert Extravaganza.

Check out these pictures!

Stay tuned!

The ms Statendam arrived at our 2nd port of call this morning in Skagway, AK. Skagway, est. in 1897, is known as the Gateway to the Yukon. Gold stampeders came through Skagway on their way to the Klondike Gold Rush and just as quickly businessmen set up shop to sell supplies to them. The Canadian government set up regulations for the gold seekers that required every man to have a ton of supplies before he was allowed to head to the Yukon. We were told it would take an average man 40 trips to get all his supplies up the trail! Not very many stampeders made their fortune in the Klondike Rush, but many businessmen made a fortune off of them.

Today, Skagway is similar to how it would have been at the turn of the century, with some modern updates, of course. It is filled with shops making fortunes off of cruise ship tourists! Skagway is also known for the narrow gauge White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, which makes the trek into the Yukon much smoother.

We enjoyed a relaxing day walking around town and ended with a “walk” up the “lower” Dewey Lake. Sheesh! That walk was actually a pretty strenuous hike through sharp switchbacks and really steep inclines! The views were really nice on the way, but the lake didn’t quite seem worth the exhaustion. Oh well, it was still a nice day.
We had another evening session singing and studying John 17 and then enjoyed a great meal together with our table friends in the ship’s dining room. We’re privileged to be seated with Mark & Jenny Rice and Bill & Holly Merrill. Our table spends most of the time laughing and talking and is usually one of the last to leave. We’re really going to miss daily dinners with them!Stay tuned!