A Message To Malawi Supporters

First off I would like to thank each and every one of you who took the time to just open and read my support letter for the upcoming trip. If you decided to support the ministry either through prayer, financial backing, or a combination of both I offer up my deepest thanks. My hope and prayer is that you will be richly blessed by your decision to give support not only to me, but to the people of Malawi.

I mentioned in a previous blog that selections from Proverbs would be taught and discussed on our trip but this has subsequently changed. The theme for the week will actually be the "Seven Deadly Sins." This is actually a better theme for me to facilitate a small group on since I lack most of the wisdom in Proverbs and have committed - and still struggle with - pretty much all the Seven Deadly Sins....:) Here is a flyer printed up for the event (click it to enlarge):




Pastor Carlton will be providing chapel services and preaching on each of the 7 sins each day we are there. Following his sermon(s) and a brief pause for tea (hey, it's a British colony what'd you expect?) myself, Brett, Jennie (see blog below), Carlton, and his wife Carol will be facilitating separate small group discussions where we will unpack the sermon message. It will be interesting to get African perspectives on these topics since the culture is so much different than our own. My only "job" is to facilitate discussions, possibly guiding certain questions into other parts of Scripture or setting up examples from my own life. I personally want to be a brother and not play some pedestal role as a teacher.

While I'm excited to meet and share my knowledge with the Malawians, I'm under no delusions that I'm going to Africa to somehow "enlighten" the people there. If anything, I believe the opposite is going to happen. From the stories I've heard and the pictures I've seen, I will have much more to learn about humility, joy, fellowship, love, and simplicity from the people there. In this sense I feel more like the student and the one needing true enlightenment - although I believe God will work it in both directions.

Right now I'm hoping to have access to the Internet so I can continue updating this blog while I'm there - hopefully uploading stories and pictures. I will keep giving updates on this before I leave.

I suppose that's it for now. Thanks again for your support! Let's see what God does.

Cory

P.S. Here are the links to African Bible Colleges and Malawi as mentioned in your support letters. Happy surfing.

Celebration of Jennie

So over the past few months I've had the pleasure of getting to know a certain young lady, mentioned briefly in a previous blog, who seems to continually be growing on me. That she epitomizes both grace and elegance is surmounted only by the fact that she is beautiful and kind-hearted. Since it is around Valentine's Day I thought it only fitting to celebrate her as such and immortalize her into the world of the blogosphere. The picture below was taken after a visit to see the San Diego Symphony.




It's nice to meet someone who allows for my often hidden interests - such as classical music, art, and good coffee - to be brought to the surface and shared. She doesn't know it yet, but the same is going to happen to her with NASCAR and classic horror films.....ok, maybe not.

But for now, Jennie, thank you for being a good friend who loves things of eternal value and wears fuzzy socks.

C

Happy Birthday to me...and to those who look like me.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish myself, my brother-in-law, our mutual friend that I don't know where she is now Kristen, and my little high school buddy Wheeler from CABC a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

More importantly, I'd like to point out that we all have blonde hair and blue eyes, and that my little buddy Wheeler is often mistaken for my brother.

Same birthday. All look the same. It's amazing how our universe, a natural cosmic accident to begin with, continues to astound me with overwhelming coincidences within it's closed, random, purposeless system of slow-moving biochemical processes.

That was a joke for the godless....:)

Malawi and the Imminent Blog Resurgence

For my faithful two readers of this blog who are consistently disappointed in the lack of posts I wish to offer up my sincerest apologies. School, work, worship band, youth ministry, and a lovely new lady friend (no I'm not kidding) are making me understand why God needed eternity to do anything - cause there ain't enough time in a damn earth week.

Self-flagellation over my lack of blogosphere contributions aside, I will announce my excitement over an upcoming trip I am taking with a team from my church to Malawi. Won't waste my time telling you all about the country. If you are here you can obviously 1.) Navigate the web and 2.) Read, so if you want more info on the country here ya go.

I will be part of a team of five, myself included, and will be heading over for about 10 days in March to help out at the African Bible College. My responsibility will be to facilitate a small group after a main chapel message each day from our senior pastor. Right now it looks like the messages will be centered around Proverbs which should be cool.

My other responsibility will include not getting malaria, typhoid, or hepatitis A - which is why I had the distinct pleasure of getting stuck with needles today. As much as I enjoy getting multiple shots, I'm thinking that my future vacations will probably steer clear of any potential endemic nations. In other words, I'm a big wuss.

As an added bonus to those of you who were holding out for more posts to this blog, I'm beginning to feel somewhat inspired to go on more mindless theological rants. So stay tuned and don't rip me out of your bookmarked pages yet! Wait, whuddya mean I'm not in your bookmarked pages?

Stay wit' tha Jesus,

C