A long week Over :)

Well this week was contingency week.  That's a real strange way of saying security.  I can't give many details but suffice to say we spent Monday - Wednesday in very stressful situations.  It was great training and I hope we never use it.  To add to the high stress, class was 2 hours longer everyday.  That may not sound like much but over the course of the week it added up and by Friday we were exhausted.  All that said, we did have some great things happen this week.  Thursday morning we had two hours for our second Personal Spiritual Retreat.  This was a great time for both Jen and I to relax and spend some solid time in the word.  It was very refreshing after the stress earlier in the week just to connect with our God and be in his word.  Friday afternoon we were able to leave campus as an affinity group and meet with the senior leadership of our orginization.  It was just a time of fellowship for us and a great time of prayer.  It was a relaxing end to a crazy week.  This weekend is post-modern worship and it will be in English.  We are excited to use our Heart Language to praise the Father this weekend.

Half Marathon

Today I did something that I thought I would never do.  I ran a half-marathon, thats 13.1 miles.  It was insane but it was a great feeling when I crossed the finish line.  This all started in July.  I needed to lose some weight and get in better shape so we could answer God's call to Eastern Europe.  The first day that I "ran" was awful, i went about 1/4 mile, and then walked.  I knew I had to keep working at it and eventually i was running 1 mile, then three.  I really thought 3 miles a day would be enough, but when we got to ILC I started running with my buddy Doug.  Well things got out of hand and we ran four miles every weekday with long runs on the weekend.   We decided to run an 8K and then one of us, I don't know who, decided we could do the half.  Well we did it and it rocked.  It's a great spiritual marker for me as my diiscipline to God resulted in this accomplishment.  Philippiand 4:13

Why the Name Change?

Some of you may be wondering whay a new blog and a new name.  First of all there are some practical reasons.  Due to security issues we needed a blog that was less descriptive about our job.  We also wanted to start fresh as we officially begin this adventure, so LOVE GOES was created. 
Now that you know that, I'm sure you are wondering why LOVE GOES.  Honestly we stole the name from one of our trainers, Derek, but we chose it because in two simple words it sums up why we are doing what we are doing. 
Christ left the right hand of the Father and came to earth because LOVE GOES.
Christ accepted the most horrendous death as a sacrafice for you and me because LOVE GOES.
God's love has came to us and as followers of Christ we model his example and our LOVE GOES.
We hope over the next three + years that our love will be a conduit for the love of Christ to fill the hearts of Eastern Europeans.

Prayer Warriors

Jen and I had no idea what to expect when we got here at FPO.  We kinda knew what the food would be like and the Quad living but other then that it was the unknown (I think thats part of the idea with the training).  We have loved being here but it has been hard at times.  One thing that continues to amaze and impress me are the prayer teams.  They come in every Thursday from churches all over the south to live on campus for four days and prayer walk.  They do this at their own expense and it just amazes me to know that we are being covered in prayer.  It has been a tremendous blessing to the Stevens family.  So from the bottom of my heart, I truly thank all the prayer warriors out there that are giving of their time to cover us in prayer. 

starting a blog

i don't know about anyone else... but i totally agonize of the naming of a blog... it seems like such a big committment to me.  then you have the issue of everyone wondering, "how'd they come up with that name?" and then if they know how you came up with it, they judge whether it's actually cool or not.  maybe all of this is evidence of how i judge the name of your blog.

all that being said, here's our new blog address.  hope you enjoy getting to read about our family and it's adventures, or misadventures as the case may be.  people tell us we're wildly entertaining.  we are open books, so you may find some disturbing but real portrayals.

guess we'll get some pictures and such up soon, kyle tells me he's working on a video project.  scary!  :)