way, Way...WAY More!

Sarah and I are very excited to be joining an awesome group that has launched out from Bethel Christian Fellowship in St. Paul to start a church in Minneapolis. We are currently commuting from Breckenridge on the weekends. The whole thing of launching out from this place of safety to start a church goes back to a clear impression I had of God calling us to step out of the boat, our place of safety, and take a step into the unknown where we would have to keep our eyes focused on Him. In the last several months leading up to this there have been several verses that God has used to strengthen and encourage me for the task ahead.

2 Peter 1:3 HIS divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

God's power has given us EVERYTHING we need to live for Him! Everything we need for the move. Everything we need to start a church. EVERYTHING we need for what He has called us to do!!!
One of the other passages is Ephesians 3:16-21 that says,

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do Immeasurably More than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to HIM be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

• Immeasurably More = exceeding abundantly above = way, Way...WAY More!

Our God is Powerful...He is Awesome! If you're facing something that seems like more than you can do in your own strength, remember that it is in our weakness that we see Him move in power! In Him we have EVERYTHING we need for life! We have been allowed to participate in God's divine Presence, Power and Purpose! We need to make sure we are tapping into His power that He has for us. I know I can get distracted easily, but these verses inspire me to pursue Him passionately!!!
He wants to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine IN and THROUGH our lives!

Survey Says...

In the last couple of days I did a survey using everything from Facebook to text messages to live conversations to help me see what everyone struggles with when reading or studying the Bible. The 3 things that seemed to emerge from my unofficial survey are that people struggle with:

1. Making the Time
2. Staying Focused
3. Not understanding It
   

Thank you ALL for your honesty and cooperation in this. It turns out I'm not alone in my struggle!The good news here is that most everyone that shared a struggle also shared some things that have helped them overcome it, so here are some of the responses:

How to get more out of studying the Bible:

• Pray before you start (and some said after too so that it sticks with you)

• MAKE the Time - Setting a specific time of day was helpful to stay consistent (morning, before bed, etc.).

• Set the Tone - It may be candles or it may simply be going to a room away from your TV, computer and cell phone so they don't distract you...or at least closing Facebook down ("gasp!") :-)

• Read it Like a Book - You wouldn't read your favorite novel one page at a time, why do that to the Bible? It's harder to follow the storyline if you break it up into such tiny pieces. One very helpful thing here is to check and make sure your version reads easy enough for you! If you can't understand the wording look for a different version. Another thing that may help you stay focused and keep reading is to listen to it while you read, there are even dramatized versions like The Bible Experience that can really help you enter the story.
  

• Dig Deeper - Those who found themselves getting confused or bored were helped by taking the time to dig deeper on the passages that confused them. Take the time to read good introductions to each book so you know the context and background. Don't be afraid to use a Bible Dictionary or Commentary to help you figure it out. There are some amazing truths waiting for you if you take the time to uncover the mystery of what is perplexing you! Another thing you can do as you dig deeper is to highlight what stands out to you and then go back over it to meditate on it. You can always go to the Blue Letter Bible or to Bible Gateway to search things you are trying to understand. Then if you have questions that come up about faith you can also read some stuff here to help you find answers.
  

• Switch it Up - If you're already in the habit of studying the Bible you may just need to switch things up a little to give you a fresh perspective on it. Maybe you switch where or when you spend time with God. Or maybe you switch your version for a year. Personally, I'm looking forward to reading through The Message translation next year. This year I'm on the English Standard Version.
  

• Work with Others - Another great insight you all had was to work with others to help you stay motivated and also to help you gain insight that you wouldn't have on your own. Some ideas were to read with others or to be reading at the same pace as others so you had the same things to talk about and encourage each other in (like you might need someone to encourage you to make it through Leviticus or Job). Another idea was to discuss the Bible in a small group of friends to help you keep growing.

Thank you all for your help in discovering ways to GROW in our relationship with God through studying the Bible.

My next question I would like your input on:
Do you find it hard to spend time in silence in the presence of God? Why/Why not?
What have you found has helped you?

Bible Reading

Sarah and I are both reading our Bibles in chronological order this year. It's not really that hard if you stay on task...We both fell behind when Abby was born and we have been trying to catch up ever since!
I've tried different things over the years, but it has turned out that I have read through the Bible one year and then I have focused on a specific part of it the next year (like the New Testament or the Gospels, etc.). I try to switch versions in order to get a fresh view of what it is saying. Last year I focused on studying through the NT in the New Living Translation. This year I am reading through the whole Bible in the English Standard Version and I am enjoying it the nuances it has over the NIV. I think that next year I might try reading The Message translation.

Here's are my questions:

• What is the hardest thing for you about reading and studying the Bible? What do you struffle the most with?
  
• What are some things that you have tried that have helped you in that area or in others areas of Bible study?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
Tonight we were able to celebrate the conclusion of 2008 with some friends. Tomorrow we will be celebrating the New Year with my Grandparents, Dean, and some out of town friends that are stopping by in the afternoon.

As I look back over 2008 I see some pretty amazing things where God has shown his miraculous provision and faithfulness. Here are some of the things that come to mind right away:

• We are expecting a child!
• We were able to visit all of our family members this year!
• We had awesome experiences with Radiate Student Ministries and have seen lives changed by God and that makes it all worth it.
• I was blessed to help speak or lead worship at a variety of events.
• I was able to work with many awesome people who have been doing construction on ONE24 and we continue to get closer...It looks nothing like it did at this time last year!
  
• Together with Justin, I was able to share the vision of unified ministry (ONE Alliance Developments) with multiple churches in our community (every time I was either preaching or leading worship the same Sunday at my church too so tag-team preaching worked very well for us!)
  
• Our church sadly saw our Pastor of 9 years move on to help with a church plant...there was joy in seeing them go do what God has called them to do, but sadness in their moving 3 hours away. But God places His people in His Church as HE sees fit and HE knows what He's building.
• I was the only pastor at our church for 4 months (and survived juggling school, summer camps, and all of my other church and para-church responsibilities only by the Grace of God!)
• Our church successfully navigated a healthy pastoral transition! We are looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2009.
• Ate at Qdoba & Chipotle more times than any other year (praise God!) :-)
• Shot 2 hole-in-ones playing frisbee golf (2 different courses...real significat and life-changing, I know :-)
• Helped shingle a roof with my Dad, Mom, and Sister...that was a VERY crazy week!
• Had a wonderful weekend hanging out on the North Shore with my wife.
• I lost all of the data from my laptop right after I had organized all of my files just the way I wanted them and was a couple days from backing everything up on DVDs...which caused me to buy an external harddrive to make complete backups easier so I would do them regularly...great choice!
• Was diagnosed as having "the lungs of a 70 year old"...I guess that explains the wheezing! That was followed by much prayer and medication. I feel as though I'm breathing easier now then I ever have in my life!
• Helped Sarah with decorating ideas for our baby ?????'s room (don't try to figure out the name based on the characters, it was random). Lots of sanding on my part and a lot MORE painting from Sarah.
  
• Tried for the first time in 2008: played cribbage, Trivial Pursuit, and Wii Mario Kart (and loved it). Bought a motorcycle (good times) and an Ebow (still learning to use it). Saw Toby Mac in concert (AMAZING), met the great Tom Netherton of Lawrence Welk fame, and went to an amazing Whintley Phipps concert with my wife and grandparents. I went ice skating, and survived! Finally, I attempted to lead some worship songs while playing the guitar, bass drum, snare drum, and singing (that was fun, but definitely "interesting"...I probably would say that leading from the bass is still harder than that though),
  

Looking Ahead: I believe that 2009 will be a year of INCREASE! I'm expecting a great year...maybe a year of Multiplication? Or maybe the word is growth or fruitfulness? I don't know...maybe that's just because we're having a baby :-) I'll be working on some resolutions that I feel God might set as challenges for me, my family, and our ministries tomorrow morning. I'll update when I have some of it.

A Day of Surprises

Tuesday didn't start out very well. I spent 2 1/2 hours shoveling snow between Monday night and Tuesday morning! My back was killing me...not soreness in the muscles, just joint pain. I digress. So Tuesday evening, before going home to clear the driveway for the 5th time in 18 hrs, I got a call informing me that 2 of my neighbors were clearing my driveway with their snowblowers! I was elated & relieved, especially my lower back :-) Thank you my kind neighbors! I should take them some cookies or something for their unsolicited kindness. Add to my appreciative back the fact that I also found out that 6 more of my Regent University credits will be transferred into my degree at Beacon, so I just have 6 credits left to complete it by May! HALLELUJAH!!!

Merry Christmas!

I'm still sick so I'm awake waiting for my cough medicine to knock me out. I figured, since I'm still up, I'd be one of the first to officially wish my two or three readers a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I know others may have already said that to you, but they probably wished that to you THE DAY BEFORE! Not me, no, I waited until it really was Christmas so I could be hacking my lungs out while I wished you happiness and merriment! :-)

This Christmas I will be spending some quality time with my family...a little bit of sledding, snow shoveling (what, you don't do that for fun with your family?), hanging out with Mocha, FOOD, The Nutcracker Story...then a good NAP, and finally some games with some friends from Valley Christian and probably more FOOD.

ONE24 Progress & Video!

Recently ONE24 hosted a funraising concert with Marcoux Corner that was sponsored by our local Bremer Bank. That night was a huge success, we aimed to raise $10,000 because of the concert, but we ended up raising $13,669.23 by the end of the week because of the concert!!! That was a huge help in getting us one step closer to completing this coffee house that will help connect our community relationally and spiritually.

At that concert we showed a video that a friend from Fargo helped us put together! We are very thankful for his expertise!

(click here if video doesn't load)

One24 Promo from Sam Snyder on Vimeo.

Tagged

I came up with some random facts about Sarah, so I thought it was only fair for her to reciprocate when she tagged me. So here you have some random facts that she came up with about me.

Sam:

1. Is bilingual.
2. Doesn't like popcorn.
3. Doesn't like trimming the (Sam inserted "evil") hedge in our backyard.
4. Likes to wear a dress shirt/sweater, dress shoes, and JEANS on Sundays.
5. Reads a lot: to fall asleep, to do schoolwork, to learn, for pleasure...he reads a lot.
   
6. Makes me drive on long trips so that he can do his schoolwork and read in the car.
7. Is very rhythmic...he always has a beat in his head or his feet, hands, fingers, toes, etc.

Random Jots

It's been a bit crazy since the last post. So far I put new mirrors on the bike, delayed having to fix the muffler on the bike until the winter by making a little more noise (I won't rev it in the neighborhood...I promise), changed the spark plugs, and have been practicing technique for u-turns, cornering, swerving, and emergency stopping for the test I am planning on taking Tuesday...Oh and a guy gave me an extra riding jacket he had that has protective padding and breathes like a t-shirt!
We had a guys' lock-in on Thursday night that Chris planned and that went very well...I didn't sleep but and hour or so on Friday, so that was weird. Then I watched Lost with the Hardies on that little bit of sleep (that probably added to the confusion of the series)...Now we have to wait 'till January for the story to continue unfolding. Fortunately only 2 more seasons.
Today Russ gave his last message on the letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation. It was very good. I'll post some thoughts on that this week. After that we went to Alyssa's graduation ceremony and then I "practiced" on the bike a while, and then Sarah and I hung out...We played Scrabble and she beat me by 1 point! ONE POINT!!! AGH! Anyway, I got some school work done and now I'm getting ready for bed.
I have over 1300 pages to read for the 2 leadership classes I'm taking this summer (now that I think about it that's without the research for the papers...I think I might be leadershiped out by May next year! :-) ), which brings me to the comic that made me think of writing a post...

(click on the image to view larger)
Isn't this true? :-)

Tomorrow I'll be working at ONE24 getting ready for some windows to be put in, then I'll be setting up a sound system in a gym for our band to play at the Community VBS that night! Good times!

So the cool thing that happened, that I was twittering about (the thing on the top left of this blog...above my profile) was that I got a motorcycle on Monday! It's a 1979 Suzuki GS750L. It was a sweet deal. I have a couple of things to touch up on it, like the brakes, tune up, replace mirrors, change the oil, speedometer, tighten the chain, muffler (the neighbors will appreciate that), new seat, and a paint job and it will be like new. So I'll start with the first six this weekend...the rest aren't a real hurry. Thanks to Don for selling it and to Tim and Kate for helping me do what was necessary to get it down here.

Fun Blog

I just had a discussion with Sarah about why I write about what I'm thinking and reading as opposed to fun things. We concluded that hers is the fun blog.
As soon as I stop staying up late reading deep books on pain and suffering these blogs will stop...then I'll post about Human Resource Management and Leadership Principles :-) j/k (the 2 classes I'm taking this summer).

Tomorrow, or today I guess, I'll be having a worship practice at VCA, then tag-team preaching with Justin for a ONE24 vision service at Inspiration Church, then buzzing back to my church to lead worship at the end of our service. Catching lunch with the Doeblers and the Spooners, sans Dave :-( and then heading to a friend's Grad Party and off to Fosston, MN to spend Memorial Day with the Tim and Kate (and Grace and Jude)! I should go get some sleep so I can stay awake for it all!

Energy

I wish I had this much energy!

Cold!

I've come to the conclusion that cars weren't made for -30* F. My car has been acting funny and it takes forever to warm up and then when it does the windows fog up because the defrost can't keep up :-) It's kind of funny really. Maybe. Anyway, The windchill was down to -60* below last night. Again. IT'S ABOVE FREEZING IN ANCHORAGE ALASKA! And -60* below here, I find that kind of funny. Anyway, that was my blog about how cold it is here: The end.

New Post

Rachel this is for you: Thank you for reading my blog and commenting 3 times in one day! :-) Unfortunately I have no creative things to say, so here is the only other thing I could come up with :-)

Later, I hope y'all get a chuckle and don't ever do any of the things in the video.
Sam

Relevant

So, if you have to tell people you're relevant do you automatically cease being relevant?
:-) j/k...or am I?
One of my core values is relevance, I think it's very important to be culturally relevant (and relevant in other ways too). It may have something to do with my growing up in another cultural and studying cross-cultural ministry in school. It makes tons of sense to anyone for a missionary to be relevant to the culture they are ministering in, but the same applies to us wherever we are or else our message will not be understood.

Centered

So I've been getting more centered lately. Centered, as you most likely know, comes from the latin centro which finds its origins in the greek ausum-fone...



:-)
You've gotta love the fact that Sprint finally made it so that you're eligible to receive all of the discounts as a returning customer after 22 months with your old phone...I know I do...And Sarah got my Treo 700p, so now she won't need a pen and paper ever again either!

Cold!

Man it's cold! It was colder than -18 this morning when I went to try to lay brick at ONE24...it was too cold for the bricks to stick because it was so cold outside!
As I type this it's -9 and should reach -10 tonight before it starts warming up for this next week...man, I sure am going to miss this cold when I'm in Mexico over Christmas :-)

College Christmas Party

Here are some pics Suanne took on Tuesday night...you've gotta love ugly Christmas outfits!

Ugly Sweater

Tonight the college groups are having an Ugly Christmas Sweater party hosted by Josh and Sarah Hardie. I had to go out to the thrift shop to find one, but I'm ready now...I'll try to post a picture of our ugly outfits later...

I Miss Mowing The Lawn

I never thought I'd think that, but after today I'll take lawn mowing ANY day over shoveling snow. There was like a foot of snow on the driveway and sidewalk. Sarah and I had kind of cleared out one side of the driveway on Saturday night, but then the plow decided it was a good idea to fill 1/5 of the driveway back up with snow...so that ended up packed down. Anyway, I definitely got my exercise for the day...they say there's supposed to be more snow tomorrow...on the plus side this just means that it's snowboarding time!