Today's Wheaton graduation ceremony was really nice. Among the 500 or so graduates, several BFAers earned their bachelor's degree. In addition to Sarah, there was Daniel Gorrell, Andrew Tebbe, Joel Beckner Sophia and Julia. Even though Sarah graduated with high honors, we're really proud of her outstanding character. I'll take character over grades every time. She's been so blessed to have such good friends to build into her life and God has used her to encourage her friends as well. Her grad gift was a Nikon D40. Of course I made the fatherly sacrifice and offered to break it in for her.

Additional grad pictures can be found here at Picasa. Check 'em out!

Ooops! I neglected to mention that the gals in Sarah's apartment and the guys in Daniel's apartment (right next door) hosted a special dinner for incoming family. The Indian cuisine was fantastic! Everyone took a break from packing to grab a plate full of food out in the hallway. Since I was 'testing' Sarah's camera, I took a 'few' picture. You can find them by clicking here at Picasa.

Friday night, I was visiting my mother and we tuned into Glenn Beck on CNN. He's know for speaking his mind on a variety of topics. My mom really likes him, I haven't really followed him. His guests that evening were authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins of the Left Behind series and Joel Rosenberg, author of Epicenter. The entire hour-long program was dedicated to biblical end times prophecy. While it was facinating to watch, I just couldn't believe I was watching it on CNN. Mr. Beck was wildly enthusiastic about the subject, more so than his guests, and stressed the need for everyone to examine the Bible and see how the prophecies are being fulfilled. Again, this was CNN, not CBN, broadcasting this. Man, if that wasn't a sign...

I've just received a call from Michael telling me that an ambulance was called for Rachel as she had some type of seizure tonight. Kathy is riding with her to the hospital. Please pray.

UPDATE & EXPLANATION EDIT:  Shortly after posting this, and thinking it wasn't sent out to subscribers, I received a call from Kathy saying that Rachel was stable and doing much better. I could hear her in the background in pain from all the arterial blood gases they drew (much more painful than taking samples from the veins). Kathy sounded much better and everything seemed under control so I tried to convert this post to private. For those of you who did receive this, thanks for praying. It was nerve-wracking for us here while we waited for Kathy's call. Right now, Rachel's on a bunch of antihistamines which aren't exactly the best meds when prepping for final exams. Kathy's probably coming home Saturday; we'll pick up Rachel next week on our way to Sarah's graduation.

When we were houseparents at Sonnenhof (our dorm back in Germany), I remember telling some of the guys that a key step towards maturity was the ability to put the concerns of others before their own. In a world of givers and takers our exhortation was to learn to be a giver as an act of sacrifice, unselfishness, and love.

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy, many reporters were assigned the task of determining why the killer did it. David Von Drehle's essay, "It's All About Him," in Time magazine's April 30th edition, is an interesting read. While the article doesn't point to a killer's mind completely blinded by the enemy, it does point to the basic self-centeredness of mankind. 'Me First' futility.

Okay, the title was a poor pun. You see, Kathy's on her way to Covenant College now in order to see Rachel who's covered in hives. They must call them hives because it looks like a bunch of bees were angry she wasn't their home. It seems the lass is extremely allergic to something at Pet Smart. She's been to the emergency room a couple of times for shots but the benadryl, prednisone or whatever steroid they're giving her won't remove the recurrence. It seems it'll take about 10 more days of misery to lessen the reaction. Kathy will take her in for allergy testing tomorrow. Tonight, she'll spend it with Rachel at the dorm. Please keep both of them in your prayers.

Recently, we received a grad announcement from one of our Sonnenites - Robert Headrick. It's hard to believe graduation is just around the corner again. Wasn't it just yesterday that we were welcoming Robert to the dorm? That means all of our juniors are now graduating seniors. I hope their final year at BFA is one to cherish. Blessings to one and all.

Another travel map. It's from TravBuddy.com but for some reason the java script won't load in Internet Explorer. Anyhoo, you can simply go to www.travbuddy.com and check it out yourself. I'm glad I was given credit for visiting all of Canada by clicking one checkbox.

Just think, most of my family considers me to be a world traveler. Judging by this map, I haven't scratched the surface. My personal travel hero is Alec Forman. He's traveled every continent extensively. Even his time in Antarctica was not token like my time in China (we stopped in the airport in Beijing for several hours); he lived there several months.

Update: according to BFA's website, Alec's been to over 80 countries including, working with the British Antarctic Survey. Didn't I tell you he was well traveled?

Currently Watching (with a filter from ClearPlay!) Something the Lord Made By Alan Rickman, Mos Def, Kyra Sedgwick, Gabrielle Union, Merritt Wever

 ...because in what will seem as a blink of the eye, we will meet again. Since there will be no more partings in heaven, there will only be the joy of the reunion. No more tears, no more heartache; but a special fulfillment in a way only God can provide.

The verse that God gave Matt & Sarah for the past two weeks was evidence of His deep care and concern for our souls and the souls of our families:

"This I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail - they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, "the Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him". The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.... For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men." Lamentations 3:21ff

Let us continue to lift up Matt and Sarah before the Lord. They're such a wonderful, giving couple who have poured their lives into everyone around them. May we return just a portion of that love during their time of need.

Here are some pics they took of Sarah for the Wheaton yearbook. Hey, with graduation only a few weeks away, I better recharge my batteries and get my camera ready. While Sarah didn't care for most of these pictures, I love them all!

"And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile..." 
1 Corinthians 15:17

For us, the resurrection is the center, focal point, fulcrum, heart, hinge, hub...(you get the picture) of what we believe. Remove this point and Christianity is dead. The hope of eternal life is a pipe dream; we're dead in our sins and all we'll ever have is what we get while we're alive on earth. "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die" becomes our lifesong.

But Christ did rise from the dead.

So life does have purpose and meaning.

Our soul does have value.  Jesus pointed this out when He asked, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"

And while the afterlife is only a breath away (for all of us), we pin our hopes of meeting our Maker and living in His presence forever on our resurrected Savior.

For us, death is not the end.

He has risen!