A much needed update!

Summary of life/general update commence.

I went to Ft. Worth with Jaimie last weekend; we visited her family and hung out with some of her friends. I like them all quite a lot. Weekend in summary: we drove down Friday afternoon, and got in at about 5:40, if I recall correctly. We then celebrated Jaimie's mom's birthday with some extended family and friends. It was cool getting to interact with the people that have been such a huge part of her life.

Saturday we connected at about 11 (I spent the night at the house of some family friends of theirs), had lunch, and then visited her grandmother, who's recovering from a triple bypass. It was good to be able to spend time with her, and her roommate (who hadn't had many visitors while in the rehab/nursing home), and I enjoyed the time a lot. We headed back to their house, and Jaimie and I spent about an hour at a nearby park, enjoying the weather and talking. We then had dinner, and went to a concert her sister was performing in - of which her sister's performance was far and away the highlight. The other performances were really not terribly impressive, but hers was, and it was nice to be able to meet her in person (we've conversed briefly via facebook, but no more, prior to this).

Sunday, we spent part of the morning together, and then drove back to Norman, leaving her house at about 1:00 pm. Our conversation on the way back was just as wonderful as our conversation on the way down was, and was thoroughly profitable.

I'm blessed by how God has been working in us in these past months, and I'm amazed at some of the ways He's used her in my life. Over the last couple of years, I've been learning to be joyful again. In the last months, God has used her amazingly to teach me how to be happy again - and that's a big deal. As my parents can attest, I was a very happy little boy; over time I lost a lot of that. God is restoring it through Jaimie. And that's incredible.

There's so much more that God is doing than this, too, in my life. I'm very seriously considering what ministry will look like next year. I don't know exactly, but I'm increasingly serious about it, and along the way praying about what I'm going to be doing this summer ministry-wise. I'm excited about all of it!

I'm incredibly grateful for the way that God uses friends in our lives. Last week I was struggling a lot with being down on people and situations with regard to ministry and the advance of the gospel, leading me to frustration with myself and to a throw-my-hands-up-in-the-air and ask "Why bother?" attitude in a small way. And then, my best friend Jamin called me and started asking about precisely those things, encouraging me and enheartening me. God is so faithful - above all we could ask or think or even imagine. He is good to us.

Composing is going really well right now. I finished a setting of Psalm 67, titled (fittingly, I think) Let the Peoples Praise You about two weeks ago. It was my first full-scale choral work, and I think it came out rather nicely; it seems there's a good chance of having it played next semester. I'm currently working on my first solo piece in two years, an oboe solo, that I'm really loving. I'm working on a title for it, still simmering and thinking.

God's word continues to be a blessing to me, as ever it shall - so full of the riches of who He is. My study through Jeremiah has been good, and though it's a long book that's taking me a long time, I'm getting a great deal from it: learning more and more who God is and what His heart is for His people and for the world.

I'm looking at trying some new things in discipleship - going prayer walking together, going out and sharing the gospel directly together, and so on. It's a bit scary, but also exciting. I'm looking forward to it, a lot. More than that, I'm praying that God uses it in my life, in the lives of the men I'm discipling, and in the lives of those we encounter along the way - all to His glory and the spread of His name.

I love living.

- Chris