Settlement

When an aspiring saint asked Mother Teresa, "How can I be like you?"
her simple response was, "Find your own Calcutta."

Jesus said, "...take up your cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)

As an Americanized Christian, I have lived a soft, privledged life.
Not until I was placed in the maelstrom of potentially losing all
worldly possessions have I experienced a minute amount of the pain and
suffering of Calcutta and the Cross. It has caused a deep wound but
it has helped me to see that we are called to take up our crosses...

A settlement has been arranged/paid. The monetary losses are great,
and we continue to ask for prayers of healing emotionally, physically,
and spiritually with all who have been involved in this bizarre legal
nightmare.

Brooke and I cannot thank you enough for being the hands and feet of
Christ to us during this time.

I will periodically continue to share with you some of our struggles
and some of our learnings from the experience in hopes that when you
find yourself in suffering, our experience may help ease your pain and
suffering.

We love you all!
Brooke and Drew

p.s.
Bucky (a close friend of mine) asked me to teach with him at church in
April and May. I shared some of my pain, sorrow, and joy of growing
closer to God during this time (sermon #4 of 5). For those of you
interested, you can listen to any of the sermons at www.ocpathways.org
(the series is named: The God Questions...2 of the 5 sermons are
currently at ocpathways.org and the others will be coming soon...)

Judgment Update

An answer to prayer! The judge kept the judgment as it stands (no increase).
Now we ask for focused prayer that the plaintiff and their attorney
will accept the settlement offer.
Please KEEP praying!

We are grateful for all of you!

YBIC and YSIC,
Drew and Brooke

Prayer Request

Please pray:
1. judge will not increase judgment amount (will find out tomorrow or friday)
2. please pray at 2pm tomorrow re: we have a meeting with our
insurance carrier's lawyer tomorrow, Thursday, February 21 at 2pm

love,
Brooke and Drew

Prayer Request

Jim has asked us to pray for Greg who is soon to depart on a missions
trip to Latin America. Here are Greg's prayer requests...Dear Praying
Family,

The clock is running down toward the departure date for my next trip
to Latin America, and still no Cuban Religious Visa in hand.

we depart Friday Feb. 22 for Asuncion, Paraguay where we will present
of four-day seminar on Church Planting Strategy and Worldview.

…please pray the Religious Visa would be granted
(especially since I have purchased my tickets!)

…pray, whether before or after Feb. 22, that I would be
able to catch up with it somewhere along the road.

…finally, pray for the remainder of funding for these two trips.

Greg also asks us to pray for his wife, Laura, and daughter, Aubrey
when he is away.

thanks
Drew

Prayer Request

As incredible as it may seem, we need MORE and CONTINUED prayer!
The judge has yet again delayed his final ruling to potentially
further increase the judgment until NEXT Friday, February 22. Please
pray that
the judge will not increase the judgment anymore.

love,
Brooke and Drew

Prayer as an aggressive act?

"Violence and love are not contradictory...[we] must learn of
Calvary's power. Love. And,[we] must also learn Calvary's price.
Violence."-Jack Hayford

Chist's sacifice was a violent act of love.

From the time of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom of heaven
has been forcefully advancing, and forceful people have been seizing
it. (Mat 11:12 GW)

This continues to be a strange and new concept for me. I have always
seen prayer as a passive, afterthought. But prayer, like Christ's
sacrifice for us, is an aggressive act against the evil and darkness
of this world that wants to steal our hearts.

Prayer Request

As incredible as it may seem, we need MORE prayer! The judge is going
to rule on the final part of the case this Friday, February 15, and he
could rule to even further increase the judgment. Please pray that
the judge will not increase the judgment anymore.

love,
Brooke and Drew

Final Judgment

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...life
is either a daring adventure, or nothing."... Helen Keller

Please lift Brooke and I up in prayer during this 'daring adventure'.
The judge acknowledged the wrongness of the jury verdict but refused
to change it.

Please pray for a negotiated settlement in the coming days...

We have been truly overwhelmed by all of your love and prayers.

Your Brother and Sister in Christ,
Brooke and Drew

Prayer Update

Please pray for the judge to reverse his tentative decision. At the
hearing today, it was incredible to hear the judge acknowledge from
the bench that he disagreed with the jury's verdict, but that he
didn't think he could and/or would reverse it....Please pray!!!

love,
Drew and Brooke

Fasting: Just Try It.

Where has fasting been all my life? Now I am sure like anything else,
there are good fasts and bad ones. But if you want a time for God to
speak to you then fast. Just do it! Don't be legalistic about it: I
found that Day #1 works best with cranberry juice when I'm hungry or
thirsty, and a few hours before bedtime, a large jamba juice
chocolate smoothie at seven or 8 p.m. tides my hunger pains over.
Then juice in the morning and wow what a quiet, clear energy a fast
produces! Often when I pray, I get sleepy, but when you are on a
liquid fast, your energy level is higher. I found myself able to pray
with a much more focused and peaceful disposition. I thought fasting
for more than a day was going to take me out of commission, but it
actually did the opposite.

Prayer Update

We want to thank you all for your prayers! The hearing has been
changed by the judge to February 1st at 1:30pm! Please continue to
pray for reversal and/or reduction of the judgment against us. (Psalm
27)

The Power of Prayer

"... prayer is powerful... in fact, it is probably much more powerful
than you and I have ever imagined. The reason we aren't convinced of
the fact is that we usually fail to pray, consistently, intensely, and
strategically..."-Chip Ingram

A Call to Pray

Dear Family and Friends:

There are only 10 days left before the hearing by the judge on the
28th at 9am. We are asking everyone for
intercessory/intervening/focused prayer each of the next 10 days for
the judge to reverse or reduce the judgment against us.

We have been overwhelmed by your commitment to pray for us and your
incredible words of encouragement. We are truly blessed and honored
to know all of you!

Please join us in bold and fervent prayer before God on this situation.

love,
Brooke and Drew

"... If you've ever wondered what your missing in the Christian life,
look here first. A commitment to intercessory prayer changes lives.
If you want to know who the most influential people in the world are?
When we think of power, we usually first think about presidents and
business moguls or cultural icons like movie stars and sports figures.
But in God's economy, those people have very little influence. S.D.
Gordon words it well: the great people of the earth today are people
who pray..."-Chip Ingram

Prayer is ALIVE and ACTIVE

"Few things have contributed to spiritual barrenness in the Church
Christ founded as has the idea that prayer is mere quiet, meditational
passivism... but prayers alive. It is aloud with praise. Aglow with
warmth, attuned with song, aflame with power. And it is also
unsettling in its violence."-Jack Hayford, Prayer is Invading the
Impossible

WOW! These words took me out! I have always thought of prayer as an
after thought or a 'mere quiet' and passive process. NEVER have I
considered it to be ALIVE! ALOUD! and yes, even violent or forceful.
As I have thought about it more and more, it is our ONLY action that
DOES anything. Prayer IS the force, the action of piercing through
the veil of our world into the heavenly realm. It is ACTIVE listening
and ACTIVE speaking to the only One who can effect change: God. It is
also a force (and our only force) against the powers of darkness that
are violent and active against goodness.

So next time you go to your 'quiet place' to have 'quiet time'
meditate on the power that you hold and act on through prayer.

"... Power is the key to our victory, and prayer is the pathway to
power... prayer opens the doorway to the dynamic that shakes,
shatters, and does violence to the world of darkness."-Jack Hayford

The Power of Prayer

Through my trial, I have been called to pray more and to ask for
intercessary prayer from those around me. So often in my life, prayer
is an after thought. It is a false promise: 'I will be praying for
you.' It is something thought of but not done. Please continue to
join me in God's adventure: PRAYER.

"I firmly believe that the missing ingredient in most Christians lives
and in most churches is prayer...I mean, strong, biblical,
prayer...It's the kind of prayer that is full of faith and trust, and
as we'll see, it's consistent, it's intense, and its
strategic....whenever God supernatural power is evident by signs,
wonders, transformed lives, and open doors that no one can explain, I
can guarantee you that somewhere, someone has been praying. Power
falls where prayer prevails..."-Chip Ingram

Prayer Request: Drew

As most of you know, I have been through a very bizarre trial and a
very large judgment is hanging over us. Needless to say, Brooke
and I are going through a VERY stressful time.

Monday, January 28, 9:00am the judge will make his final decision on
the trial. Please pray over the next 22 days that the judge will
reduce significantly or reverse the judgment.

Intercessary Prayer

"...informal, spontaneous times of prayer grow out of deep seasons
with God. We can pray as we drive, in the middle of a conversation,
when and was rushed by, and when were quiet and not really thinking
about anything-- until a vivid image of a need to comes to
mind..."-chip Ingram

Have you ever had the out of the blue urge to pray for someone? It
probably happens to me all the time and I just ignore it...but from
what I have been learning...that is probably the wrong approach.

According to the 'prayer experts' that I have read...the out of the
blue seemingly random nudges we get to pray for someone are what are
known as intercessary prayer...God places these 'prayer moments' on
our heart to help those in need.

I had one of those nudges/urges a few weeks ago so I stopped and
prayed for the friend that 'popped' into my mind at the time. Several
days later, I called the friend and he told me of a very difficult
time that he and his wife were having on Friday at 3pm. That was the
exact time that I got the nudge to pray for them! Yes, chills! Does
anyone have any similar experiences? Please post as comment on the
blog or email me with them.

when you feel a nudge or in my case a shove from God to pray....stop
and drop what you are doing and PRAY!

Being Spiritual

As some of you may have read my last blog entry on everything being
spiritual (www.prayfast.blogspot.com), I just had an event that
definitely could have been more spiritual...I was riding my bike (with
a helmet thankfully) trying to catch up to my kids, and a dog off a
leash ran right in front of me causing me to fly over the handle bars
and do a face plant on the ground....needless to say, I had a few
choice words/ideas pop into my head....but seeing as everything is
spiritual...I drew a big breath and brushed myself off and told the
dog owner: 'Have a nice day.'

Now my point is: If I were living IN the adventure of seeing
everything as spiritual, as seeing everything from a kingdom
perspective...I would have been able to take note that ANY occurance
can be seen as an opportunity to LIVE in the adventure. What many call
a divine appointment! Now if I had that perspective, I would have been
able to take the opportunity to bless the dog owner. Thankfully, I
was able to hold my tongue and utter the pathetic but neutral: 'have a
nice day' comment.