Dan Jones

Memorial Day Weekend!

This last week, 2 verses in Psalm 138 really caught my attention:

3 When I called, you answered me;
you made me bold and stouthearted.

8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD , endures forever-
do not abandon the works of your hands.

About 4 people still need jobs, and God has been providing mightily. Those who are still looking have been displaying boldness and stoutheartedness. Pounding the pavement, day after day, asking manager after manager if they are looking for help is a daunting task. These men and women have guts.

This weekend most of SALT was in Eau Claire, Wisconsin for Paul & Christy's wedding. Great service! Those of us in the duration poll (Dan B, Wendy B, Lindsy, Becki, Mark, Bart, and a few others) were WAY off. My guess of 55 minutes was about twice the actual time. In case you're interested, it was 32 minutes from the time the grandparents came in to the time Paul and Christy were announced.

We stayed at the Lennander estate on Saturday night. Talk about an awesome time. It was refreshing and encouraging to visit with so many good friends. There has never been any doubt, but I must proclaim - the Lennander family is awesome.

They let about 30 college students, and "young adults" crash at their place. They may be the most hospitable family I have ever stayed with outside of my own.

Well, Mark wants me off his computer. He's got to get up early tomorrow. So I better go. Enjoy the picture! It's our view from the Lounge of the 6th floor of our dorm complex.

Finally!

From Mark 2:3-5

"Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus, and after digging through it lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'"

Reading in the Gospel of Mark this morning, the love, faith, determination, and perserverance of these four men struck a chord in me. How many people would carry a paralyzed friend to see a healer like Jesus? Faced with the opportunity, would I? Upon coming to the house where Jesus was, and seeing it surrounded by a crowd of people, would I be dedicated enough to clamber up upon the roof, and dig a hole through to present my crippled friend before him? I wonder what the owner of the house (I believe it was Peter and Andrew) thought of these guys ripping apart his roof!

These four guys must have really loved this man. They must have been dedicated to him, to go through all this work. With the middle eastern sun beating down on them as they carried him to the house, up to the roof, then dug a hole through it, it must have taken something out of them.

As I've been recuperated from knee surgery, I've been served and loved by many dedicated friends. I can sympathize with this poor guy. I also had to think of the principles shown in this account. What length would I go to in order to bring someone before Jesus Christ? How willing am I to work and serve my friends and acquaintances in order to bring them before the one true Savior.

Chicago is great, God has definitely been providing for us. He has blessed us with working out many unforeseen difficulties, such as parking, laundry and internet access, etc...

Sorry my posting and keeping in touch has been eradic. I don't have much internet access and my cell phone is out of commission.

So here's some homework, comment on a time when you've been "carried" by some friends. Have a great day!

In Chicago!

Hey - I'm in Chicago! I'm staying busy, lot's of work to do. I'm having a good time. This is gonna be incredibly short, and sadly - no picture this time.

I'm really looking forward all the SALT participants arriving. In other news, John Sokoll, my former roommate, signed with the Kansas City Royals! He's heading to Surprise, AZ in a week, so keep in him your prayers.

Say hi!

It's raining...

View from the top floor of a Cocoa Beach hotel. Doug and I visited Cliff and Paul at 2003 Orlando LT.

Two more days till I move to Chicago! I did something really stupid two days ago. Really stupid. I decided to reformat my computer. Did I have any idea how to do it? Nope. Did I get anyone to help me? Nope. So, how did I know what to do? I did what any self-respecting (ignorantly arrogant?) engineering student would do. I searched for it on Google. On a side note, did you know you're not supposed to use the term google. Or googled. You're also not supposed to modify the word "Google" when the "G" is capitalized. As in Googlyoogly. Or GaGooglemania. Seriously! Check it out. You're supposed to say a "Google search"...

What was I talking about? Yeah, so I found a few moderately useful sites and thought I'd figure it out as I go along. BAD idea. I delete everything off my hard drive. Then I go to load it. I realize I really don't know what I'm doing. After screwing around, getting frustrated, and turning it off for a few days I call Nick Mackey and Steve Niestrom for help. So now it works. But I can only use the 16 color tray. It's like going back in time actually. My desktop icons are huge, like 1" by 1". And the colors are pretty bad. So, if you have any idea of what I can do to fix it, please let me know soon! I've got a Dell Optiplex - about 4 years old. HELP! Maybe I'll just buy a new computer...

This morning I got to take out my stitches. Yeah, it's okay - or so the doctor tells me. Last time I had knee surgery (6-7 months ago) it took me 2 to 3 weeks to get off my crutches. I was in quite a bit of pain that first week. And the swelling took weeks to go down. This time, I've been off crutches since day 5, theres been nearly no pain, and the swelling isn't too bad. I found out about the need for the surgery two days before it went down, and I asked people for prayer. Prayer for a quick, thorough recovery. Prayer for an obvious diagnosis, as we decided to go in without a clear understanding of what was wrong. Should I be surprised at the result?

Prayer - like a laser guided missile, at least that's what Tom used to say. I have such little faith sometimes. God has been making it quite aware to me that I need to pray more. I'm hoping for a lot of amazing things to happen this summer, and for this fall. But if I'm just wishfully thinking, and not asking God for it, should I expect anything but less than I'd hoped for?

I read Proverbs 14:22 this morning, "Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness."

Have a great day, I'm gonna go eat some lunch...

i'm back!

What is that? Okay, okay. So you probably already
know what it is - the inside of my knee. Just what you were
hoping to see, right? The white dustlike stuff is actually meniscus
cartiledge that was torn off and ground up over the course
of 4 months. The silver tube is, I believe, a tiny vacumm
Dr. Peter Buck was using to remove it.

Let this be a warning to you (it has sure taught me a lesson),
if your body is hurting you, go see the doctor. It doesn't
matter how busy your are, how tough you are, or how tolerant
of pain you are. If you think you should go, GO!

4 months ago, that dust was probably just a piece
of cartiledge, like last time I did this. Instead, that chunk
tore off other little chunks and they all ground against each
other for awhile, creating that pulpy stuff you see in the
picture. To fix all the damage I did to myself Dr. Buck had
to remove quite a bit more of my cartiledge including
cutting off some that was still attached. Now I'm missing
something like half the cartiledge I had to begin with.
Which means I have to be pretty careful about how active
I am in the future. Fun? Not really.

Moving on! The purpose of this blog is keep you in the know
of what I'm up to. This summer I'll be an intern with Great
Commission Ministries (GCM) at the inaugural Windy City
S.A.L.T. in Chicago, IL. Thank you to all who have chosen
to support me financially! I have learned quite a bit
about faith and God's provision through this experience so
far.

Check back soon...