progress? we shall see...

First of all, I would like to say something to my beautiful wife: THBBBBPPPPPPPPPTTTTTTT!!!!!!!! That's just about enough of the sass on the blog, thank you very much.

With that said, I think we just might have some good news regarding Wednesday nights. As Kerri mentioned in a previous post, we only had 3 people last week in addition to the two of us and Trey, the grad student who has been involved in past years and is helping us out this year. Needless to say, I was a bit frustrated--both because I didn't feel like we were really reaching anyone new, and also at myself because of my impatience and unwillingness to trust God.

Fast forward to yesterday--we already knew going into yesterday that it was going to be hectic. The Cincinnati Museum Center is currently doing an exhibit on real Pirates, which Kerri and I had both really wanted to go to. Well, yesterday they had a special day for teachers ($5 admission), so we could get in really cheap. Unfortunately, the only time that we could go was at 4 yesterday afternoon. So we went to the exhibit, got done and left downtown Cincy about 5:45 and headed up to Miami. We got there about 6:45, which left us roughly an hour and a half to get everything cooked and ready to go--not a problem. Until Kerri realized (on the way up, actually), that we didn't have any pots. Grrrrrr....cue a trip to Wal-Mart. I get back at 7:20 or so with pots and other assorted things, and we begin cooking. I start getting the room ready while Kerri is cooking, until she informs me that the meat that I had planned on using for a meat sauce is expired and possibly bad. Grrrr....food poisoning sucks, so there goes the meat. Back to getting the room ready (with me becoming increasingly frustrated and stressed and Kerri putting up with my grumpiness like a champ) until 7:50, when Kerri informs me that we have no butter or oil (the only cooking oil in the kitchen expired in '06) to put on the noodles to keep them from getting sticky. Grrrrr....I run to the gas station and CVS--no luck on both. Looks like it's sticky noodles. By this time I am completely frustrated.

Interestingly enough, it is at the moment when I am the most frustrated and sure that things aren't working that God shows up. (I shouldn't be surprised--that seems to be how it usually works.) In walks a new girl--Hannah--whom we had met at Mega Fair a couple of weeks ago. She was on her way home and just stopped in to see what we were all about. No sooner had she left than Daniel (a friend of Trey's who has come for the last two weeks) comes in, closely followed by Jessica and Matt, another pair that we had met at Mega Fair. And to top it all off, no more than five minutes later, our other two regulars Zach and Ashley came in.

So as I step back and think about last night, a few things come to mind. First of all, God is (despite my frustrations at the frequency) continuing to bring new people--Hannah, Jessica, and Matt all were interested in who we are, what we do, and so on. (Pray that we will have more opportunity to connect with them.) Second, I think it is really cool that in spite of the fact that Trey was not there last night (due to feeling sick), Daniel came anyway--it is encouraging that a guy who has absolutely nothing in common with us likes being here enough to come even when his friend doesn't. Finally, I have to take heart in the fact that the two most involved students we have are ones that I had nothing to do with attracting (Zach just happened to be riding by on our first week, and he brought Ashley the following week) and who do not (to my estimation) have a significant relationship with God. Yet they are the ones wanting to bring friends, call others to come when they get here, and even help cook and plan. Yes it is just a meal, but it definitely says that God is doing something when people who aren't yet Christ followers are wanting to be more involved.

So keep us in your prayers, but more importantly keep THEM in your prayers. Pray that God will bring them back, that He will provide opportunities for deeper conversations, and that they will continue to bring others.

Well, that's all for now....