Big Steve

Give Me Your Eyes

2008-12-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

"Give Me Your Eyes" is the name of christian pop song by Brandon Heath. Most of the people that know me well know that I am a sucker for a good grove. Not to fast, not to slow - something that allows for the vocals to be explored fully and changed nightly (should you sing the song for a living). For me, "Give Me Your Eyes" is that sort of song. Last night I got the chance to do a small concert for my church and it was a blast. It turned out to be a lot more therapeutic than I was anticipating mostly because there will always be some part of me that likes to perform; but also because it reminded me of just how powerful a message becomes when it rides the sails of good melody. The song "The Little Girl" by John Michael Montgomery is a great testimony to that. Anyway, between my Alma Mater closing, some people I love going through the illness of a daughter, Alasha's Starbucks shutting its doors and having to move only months after moving - the news that I am going to be a father for a third time is like a beautiful lyric over a perfect melody.

"Thank You Lord for loving me and thank You Lord blessing me. Thank You Lord, for making me whole and saving my soul." (Gary Mabry 1974)

Uh Yeah!

2008-08-18T10:06:00.001-07:00

Well, well, well to say that it has been a while since I have blogged is way past funny. The excuses are legitimate but they would serve no purpose because they are "life" and everyone else is encountering life and their blogs are updated. OK, with that disclaimer, I will pick up from life right now and recount as much as I can. My last post was May 9, 2008 (that is just sad). Since then, Judah had a double hernia fixed. He is doing great and growing like a baby Panda. I don't have the right word picture to give you for Jonah's height. He is taller than his age (3.5). He is 45.6 inches tall - almost 4 foot tall. He is right on the edge of completing his potty training. We are very proud parents.
In June we moved into a new house that is very nice. We have hosted our small group and enjoy the backyard for Jonah. I got the chance to attend a ZOE conference locally and that was very nice. I tried to play basketball back in June and I am just now getting over it. I think I will stick to the open swims and tread-mill at the "Y". All together June welcomed the 100 degree days and a great trip to the Northwest to hang out with the Graul's, AP and Molly. That was a well welcomed time and I just won't ever get enough of the Pacific Northwest.
July was a time of unwanted, but surely needed, life lessons; I guess, I don't know. Anyway, I love and God and I know that He will not give me more than I can handle so I continue to work on my relationship with Jesus, serve my Father God and be led by the Holy Spirit. I had planned on speaking to a wonderful group of people in Canada at ARWC (Alberta Rockies Wilderness Camp) but the day before I was to board a plane my baby sister, Jasmine Lee 18, was tragically killed in a hit and run accident in Oklahoma. I experienced an outpouring of God's love that is still sustaining me till this day. Alasha and I are forever grateful as are my parents and family in OKC. The end of July brought a time of praise that was very welcomed - thank you Project Serve!
August has continued to serve as a reminder of how good God is. I was so blessed to have some Brit's come over and dispense God's love for a few weeks at Park Row's Day Camp. Richard, Denise, David, Allison, and Emma - I love you all and may God continue to bless you as you work in His Kingdom in the United Kingdom. I just completed a church media conference - ECHO - that was very inspirational and I look forward to what God is doing next.
Now that I have given a brief synopsis of what has gone on - I will end with some neat pictures of my sons to make up for the content of the post :-)

The look on Judah's face says he will just have to get use to the way his big brother loves him and my grandmother is always happy to have more great Grand - Babies.

Judah Teziah & Caleb Todd

2008-05-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,

Writing in to update again. We have had a lot go on here in the past few weeks. On April 23, 2008 at around 3:40 in the afternoon - Caleb Todd Maxwell was born to Chris and Kim Maxwell of Sherman, Texas. Caleb is the cousin of Judah Teziah who was born March 19, 2008. Now I am really writing this because I am blessed. My father is real big on letting us know how much he loves us and how proud he is of Chris (my brother) and I. He is proud of his grandchildren and understand to some extent. In preparing for a summer camp I will speak at the this summer I have rereading Dallas Willard's "The Spirit of The Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives". He talks about how important it is to celebrate God working in our lives. It helps with the trials and hardships we endure from time to time. I just heard that more people I love "The Tucker's" have had child (or should I say young lady #3). I'm telling you - God is and awesome God and I just thought I should tell you. Oh Yeah! You can keep Alasha in your prayers - she started back to work and things will get a little hectic as we move this summer. We are moving to a house that will hopefully provide a little better for our families needs. God bless your day.

PS. Caleb is the one with the Paci.

God bless - Steve

Judah Teziah Maxwell

2008-03-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well, well,

The wait is over. Judah Teziah is here. It was as smooth a birth as could be expected given the fact that Alasha had to be induced. Her blood pressure was not her friend and our Dr. thought it best for mother and son to bring him on out. So on March 19, 2008 with God's blessing and a little medical help Judah came to greet us at 11:24a. He was 6.9 pounds and 19" long. He has well developed lungs already. Mother and son are doing very well. Alasha is awesome. She had no pain medicine and a very quick labor, so fast in fact that the doctor did not make the actual birth. She was about 45 to 50 seconds to late. Here are a few picture's. Jonah's first words for his brother were, "He is small". I think Jonah was hoping he would come in the 3yr old version right from birth. Thanks to all for so many things - mainly your prayers.

Jonah vs Elmo!

2008-03-03T08:29:00.001-08:00

Dad - Hey Jonah! You got an Elmo!
Jonah - Uh! Hey - who let you out of the TV. Dad, help me out here - Elmo is in my personal space. Shouldn't you introduce us. Back up Elmo - I don't know you like that. Slow your roll Elmo!

This new relationship took a little warming up to. Jonah already has a huge Nemo, that Mrs. Ellie got for him, but Elmo took him by surprise.

TCB!

2008-03-03T08:22:00.001-08:00

This is hard work and I'm glad I got it!

Thanks for the help Dad!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

2008-03-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

Well hello my friends,

I am late getting this up, but that is on par with life for the Maxwell's right now. February 23rd was Jonah Tobias Maxwell's 3rd birthday! It was an awesome day. There was a party, pizza, gifts, friends, and time to play. Jonah had been looking forward to "Jonah's birfday" all week. We told him that there would friends and cuppecakes, and he was as excited as - well he was just normal for Jonah with a little more added to it. The day went as smooth as a crazy father and a very pregnant mother could have wanted. All things considered, Jonah had a blast and that was our main concern. We do need your prayers because Jonah had all female friends at his party. Jonah was so excited to blow the candle on his cuppecake and he did a great job. Thanks to all who made the day special whether with your presence or in prayer and spirit. We love you all and now await the arrival of Judah.

The Monthly Update!

2008-01-21T13:31:00.000-08:00

Hey I admire my friends who keep up with their blogs. That is awesome. I read all the time but rarely, anymore, do I take the time to put a few words down. A lot of times that happens when I am going through things that are better worked out in places other than a public blog.:-) Anyway, I can report good news on Alasha and baby. He is still in and that is good. Alasha has been on bed-rest now for over a month and that is just crazy. She has done very well and those of you that know her know that a real live miracle is currently being lived out at my house. Jonah is doing awesome. Right now he walks around with these lyrics going through his head, "Dere you see her sitten dere across de way, she don' gotta lot to say; but dere's someting about her". After this point the melody is still very clear but the lyrics become just out of range for clear understanding until he says, "Kiss de gurl". It is so cute that Alasha and I can't hardly stand it. He gets lots of kisses and he squeals because he has no idea why his mother keeps kissing on him after he sings that. We will try to capture it on video. Other than that things are chugging right along. Keep us in your prayers as we prepare for boy number 2.

steve

The Latest!

2007-12-12T08:43:00.000-08:00

Ok. So many things are going on so fast that this is a way to get info out and relieve some of the pressure on my brain. In general the Maxwell's are doing well. Jonah is huge (about 40 inches tall and 35 - 40lbs). He still has more energy than that energizer bunny that restores the power to that city on the commercial on TV now. He using complete sentences and sings with his parents often. "Jesus Loves Me, Daddy", he says. "Twinkle, Twinkle, Star Mommy", he says to Lash; especially at bed time. Alasha is hanging in there. We are expecting our second son in April. Did I say, "April"? Because I really mean APRIL, not December or even January. And to make sure that happens, Sister Maxwell has been confined to bed-rest. For those of you that know my wife - please call or come over; then pray for Jonah and I. Now the interesting thing about bed-rest is that I am scheduled to get on a plane on December 26th, 2007 and return to Texas January 18, 2008. Those planes will eventually land me in Uganda, Africa. Just in case you wanted to know that is 8438 miles from Dallas, Texas to Kampala, Uganda. So, I have some decisions to make. Now for those of you in the know - you know that my first child came into the world just after I came from my last trip to Africa in 2005. Alasha is insisting that I go and I hope to go. Just pray for God's leading and pray for the safety of Mother, unborn child, toddler child, and the man-child. Sorry no pictures this time, may be next.

State Fair of Texas 07

2007-10-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

One of the things I enjoy about ministry is the flexibility in schedule. God has blessed me with a "boss" who is very family oriented and when I went up to him and asked to take a half day and take the family to Texas State Fair - he said "go"! What I didn't know was that Alasha had never been to a state fair of any kind and Jonah about lost his mind he was so excited. The fair in Texas is one of the largest in the US and we did everything from fudge, to corn-dogs, to exhibits, to rides, the little children's circus. Jonah would have been content on just looking at some of the crazy rides they have at the fair. Alasha really liked the car show and saw some nice vehicles. I look forward to taking my family to the fair in the future. It was nice to walk by the Cotton Bowl where OU beat Texas.

God Bless.

Going To Faith Quest Oregon 07

2007-10-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

You know, there are places where is it just good to be!
I know it has taken me a long time to post this but I went home for Faith Quest. They say home is where the heart is and to be honest, I try not to "really" ever feel at home in this world. But there are places where my heart relaxes and the people with whom I engage are people looking forward to our heavenly home and it is just good to be there. One of those places for me is in Yamhill, Oregon at a camp that holds some of my fondest memories. For those of you I got to hang out with both in my old "hood" and out at camp - I love you and I look forward to the time I see you next.

Who Knew!

2007-10-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

Alasha had been wanting to see the Atlanta Braves every since we got married. She wanted our honeymoon to be a 3 game stint at Turner Field. That is one of several reasons I love her. Anyway - 7 years after we are married we make it. Better late than never I guess!

September 22, December 10, April 7?

2007-08-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Alasha and I had a blast in Atlanta. We stayed in the famous Georgian Terrace Hotel (where they had the cast party for "Gone With the WInd") and directly across the street from the "Fox Theater" (Allison Krauss and Union Station were in concert there the Saturday I was there, but it was sold out).

Here is a picture of me, Alasha and a boy or girl to be named on or before somewhere around April 7, 2008, Lord willing? This picture was taken at the Coco Cola headquarters in Atlanta and is in honor of M. Isaac Graul who loves COKE more than any one else I know.

PS. THERE IS A NOT SO SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE IN THIS POST. SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS.

"I Have A Dream"

2007-08-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

When I was younger my parents felt it very important that my brother and I got the chance to "see" or "experience" history. Because of this by the time Chris and I were 12 and 13 we had visited over half of the United States of America, over half of Europe, and Canada. Looking back, I realize how blessed I have been and continue to be. One of my most vivid memories is the hotel where the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was slain. That and many other memories were revisited when Alasha and I visited "The King Center" in Atlanta, GA. I have long since understood that because of Dr. King and many others of all colors, and cultures that I am able to travel the world. Thank you to all who give of their life so that others may have a better life.

Somethin' Bout Friends.

2007-08-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

Alasha and I recently took a much needed vacation. It was a road trip that involved Branson, MO; Owensboro, KY; and Atlanta, GA. Alasha have traveled through this country before but we were working (we were in Acappella). In Branson we visited with Tim, Angie, Emma, and Evan Storms. Tim sings in one of the shows there in Branson. We had a great time in Branson but found out some interesting news. I will get to that in a later post. Anyway, our second stop was in Kentucky with Kris, Stacey, and Caleb Kropp. We meet the Kropp's in 2000 on a cruise that Acappella hosted. They were the first couple, as a couple, Alasha and I met and befriended. At the time they were in Appleton, Wisconsin. They hosted a couple of Acappella concerts and continued to stay in touch. Kris and Stacey mean a lot to us and we had a great time. Their son Caleb is a few months younger than Jonah. Since we did not take Jonah with us on this trip we look forward to the two meeting some day. We love you Kropp Buddy Buds.

"Tired"

2007-07-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

#1 I am a parent
#2 I am a rookie parent
#3 I love my son and strive to grow our relationship
#4 I am tired of fighting Jonah

Because of these 4 statements I had to make a change in Jonah and I's relationship. There was something that was causing a strain between us and I had to get rid of it. I should have been more sensitive to his mother since she had no idea I was going to take such drastic measures, but she agrees that our family is much happier now.

Judge for yourself:

Moly was there and helped as it was a three person job. I look forward to a much easier time getting him ready for school with a hair-do like this.

Love The Maxwell's

Jonah vs Spider

2007-07-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

One morning not to long ago we went in to get Jonah from a good nights sleep to find that he had been "Street Fighting". OK, maybe not Street Fighting, but at least a few rounds with some creature of the night. The creature was unavailable for comment so I will let you be the judge by looking at official fight photo's of Jonah's eye.

They Do Things Different In Texas!

2007-06-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that if you have ever been to Texas in the middle of the summer - why? What were you doing here? Oops! Sorry, I guess I should get back to the blog. Well, I recently got more Texas education. The class had to do with extra-curricular activities. Now, I lived in Portland, Oregon where the Parks and Rec. was second to none. I loved it. Having said that I recent got the chance to go to a dance recital and community track meet for my niece and wow! was I surprised. The dance recital had professional sound and lighting and it was produced like a national awards show. The recital was held in Sherman, Texas at the High School in their auditorium. There were hundreds of people there. The students of this dance studio there in Sherman and their families came out and it was awesome. As you can see Kiva had a blast!

The track meet was like an AAU event but it is put on by the communities of these towns close to each other in Texas. They use the high-school track of whatever town is hosting the meet. We went to Greenville, Texas which is just Northeast of Dallas. The track was beautiful and the children did well. In both the track meet and the dance recital the age range was K - 12. Have a nice day a may God bless your day!

Doing Fine!

2007-05-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hello My Friends and Family,

I thought I would take a little time and let you know how we are doing. These two children pretty much sum it all up.
They remind us to "Count it all Joy" Enjoy!

Dr. Mother!

2007-05-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well it is Tuesday, May 15, 2007, a few days after what is traditionally celebrated as “Mothers Day”. I know I may seem late in posting this but I had to let my words marinate a little this year. You see, Mothers Day meant something different to me this year, not because my mother passed away in 1996, as many of you know; but because one of the many people who helped my family through that time and a childhood, and adult mentor of mine passed away the Monday before Mothers Day. His name was Dr. Clyde Muse. Brother Muse gave moms eulogy and did a great job along with his family in helping us through the passing of Dr. Mother.
I talk about mama from time to time with people who remember her and with those who didn’t. She was awesome. I can remember her taking me to baseball practice and games. I can remember her being there with me while I got shots or splints. ☺ I can remember her calling to check on me when I was at Oklahoma Christian, which is funny because she would call from DAH. For those of you that don’t know, DAH is one of the buildings on campus for you see, mom was a professor at OC. She taught in the education department. She would bring chocolate chip cookies during finals. Like I said, she was awesome.

When I got older and could drive I became the chauffer, which I did not mind. Mama said she couldn’t wait for me to come home so I could take her places. I can remember when I lived in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho the Dershem’s threw a big party when my parents came out to visit. They honored my parents and mom for getting her PhD. in education.
So you can see now possibly a little better why I loved mom so much and for me Mothers Day means something a little different. Alasha is my hot wife and the mother to my beautiful son, Jonah. She reminds me of other friends of mine who are mothers and their dedication to their children and families.
So in honor of you all – Happy Mothers Day and may God continue to bless you and your families.

PS. Yes, my smile comes from mom. ☺

Steve.

Pepperdine Lectureship 07

2007-05-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hello My Friends,

I was blessed to be able to attend the Pepperdine Bible Lectures this year and it was a blessing. Without a doubt the highlight was getting to visit with friends from the Northwest and participate in some wonderful praise. I would have to say that my favorite lectures came from Don McLaughlin, Randy Harris, and Lynn Harris. I have a new appreciation for "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" and continue to love "Awesome God". Thanks to those of you who allowed me simply to be with you again. I needed to be near and hug on you and be hugged on - mission accomplished. God bless you all and I look forward to our paths crossing in the future.

God Bless you all,
Steve

Unusal But Not Impossible!

2007-05-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello My Friends,

As mentioned in my last post, the Maxwell family had the wonderful blessing of attending the wedding of Dustin Woods and Amy Kierbow. Well, there were two things that made the wedding that much more of an event I will not soon forget. I would consider these things unusual but not impossible as I personally witnessed.

#1 About a month or two before the wedding Amy called and asked if I would be willing to participate in the wedding and I said of course. She mentioned that she wanted Alasha and I to sing and that she wanted to have, thats right you guessed it, the "crazy one" himself - Mr. Jonah Tobias Maxwell be the ring barer. I replied, "Do you actually want the ring to make it to the front of the church?". I continued on, "I know, you must be looking for a bit of comedy in your wedding!". She simply replied, "I love him and I would love him to be in the wedding". You see Amy got to meet Jonah a few months after he had entered the world and she took a liking to him, and he to her. I told her that I didn't mind him being in the wedding but he loves to "RUN RUN RUN! - PERIOD! And as long as she understood that the ring pillow might not make it to the front of the church in a nice mellow way or at all (like you would expect in a beautiful church wedding setting), that it was fine with me. Well, he donned a tux and when it was time for his part he promptly ran up the isle about three quarters of the way and began to play with some beautiful flowers that were attached to the sides of the pews. He let out very cute squeal and with his mother and I, plus Emily Wallace beckoning him to keep coming he smiled at us all, pivoted and ran back down the isle and out of the auditorium. It was funny, cute, and in the end I think it was just what Amy and Dustin wanted. So if you are getting married soon and you want add the running Jonah to your nuptials, just give us a call. :-)

#2 Now I mentioned, Emily Wallace, (whose nick name is - Moly) because she is part two of the unusual but not impossible. Emily is a beautiful, vibrant, funny, loyal, fellow music lover, and has been adopted by Alasha and I as a younger sister and aunt to Jonah. You may be thinking - so what's the big deal? Well the same Amy Kierbow met Emily at PUMP and they became friends. So it makes perfect sense that Amy would want Emily to stand in her wedding. That of course is not a problem because Emily thinks a lot of Amy. However, EMILY DOES NOT LIKE TO WEAR DRESSES AND HEALS! Not that she doesn't like to look nice. It is just that she is not one of those people looking in the mail for the next invite to the local ball. But for Amy, Emily wore both a dress and shoes with height in the heals :-). She looked very nice and survived and Alasha and I who could not wait to see "Moly" in a dress were as nice as we could be. You did great Moly. Thanks for making the wedding an evening to remember!

The Maxwell's

NO MORE KIERBOW!

2007-05-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hello My Friends,

I have a few things I need to catch you up on. Let's start with the union of some beautiful people in the world and some dear friends to Alasha, Jonah and I. I can remember one summer in Portland, Or when a young lady came out to the intern with PUMP at our summer program. She was a very nice young lady that came out with her mother, who helped her get settled in. If I am remembering correctly she stayed with some great friends of ours and PUMP - Kerry and Barbara Barnes. She was soon thrust into the inner-workings of PSP (PUMP Summer Program) and did a great job. Her name is Amy Kierbow and Alasha, Jonah and I had the wonderful pleasure of attending her wedding to a young man who is just as dear to us. This young man's father is one of my spiritual mentor's. His father's name is Greg Woods. Greg and Dottie are awesome christian people who work for the Lord in Portland, Oregon. Greg lead me on both of my trips to Uganda, Africa and is one of the director's of an event that has become monumental in my life - Faith Quest - both Oregon and Uganda. Greg's son's name is Dustin. Congratulations Dustin and Amy. The wedding was wonderful and we really enjoyed ourselves. May God bless you both with many years of agape in His service.

PS - I have a bad (or good) habit of giving some people nick names. Amy's was simply her last name, Kierbow. Her last name is now, Woods so I just think I'll try Amy. Woods is an awesome name but I can't see it as a nick name for a beautiful christian young lady named - Amy. :-)

The Maxwell's!

MEEMO!

2007-04-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

A good friend of ours, Ellie Williams, really wanted to take Jonah into Toys R Us. Now mind you, she has no children yet; however, she is one of our children's ministers and she is absolutely fantastic with children. Well she took Jonah into Toys R Us and here is what he came out with. Now you can see that "Meemo" is just a big as he is but he refuses to go anywhere without Meemo and he also likes to watch "Meemo" on television. For some reason when they get to the Shark 12 Step program he starts to get antsy and wants to dance but he soon settles in and finishes the movie. Just thought you might want to see a true "Meemo" fan.

My Monthly Update!

2007-03-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

It is a shame that I don't update this more often. God is definitely in the Maxwell household. Alasha is now in her new store, and she likes it a lot. Thank you to all of you who were praying for her. Jonah is doing great. He is growing like a weed and the words are coming. He can repeat most everything he hears. This has really shed a light on the things Alasha and I say and how we say them. He can count to 5 or 10 depending on how he is feeling. I have a new grill. I have gone over to the dark side and will use propane, because one could cook themselves waiting on charcoal here in Texas. We have also been blessed with a second vehicle which sadly is needed here in Arlington. There is no public transportation in this state that comes close to the public transportation in my Northwest Home (Portland, Or). It is a 93 Cadillac and it runs, thank you Lord. It actually looks good to be so old. One of my elders blessed us with the car. Well the last thing I will report for now is the fact that at 10:35 am this morning Jonah's toddler school teacher came into my office and said that Jonah asked to go to the potty and he went. Yeah! Jonah! God bless your day!

February 23, 2007

2007-03-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well what can I say. He is "two". A few weeks ago we celebrated Jonah's 2nd birthday. It was low key because we know that to Jonah it is still not that big of a deal yet. Lord willing, we will have many parties and celebrations where he will asking for the "latest, greatest, and biggest" so we decided to take him shopping and use to the time to hang out with some hommies. Amanda Peterson flew in from Colorado Springs, and we all hung out with Emily Wallace and just had a great time. We went to this huge mall that takes too long to walk around. I think it is a mile to walk around the whole mall. We bought Jonah some much needed videos and clothes and fed him some "Popeyes" chicken. he was very happy. The day after his birthday, my brother and his family came down and we had a little cake and ice cream. Jonah was given more things and had a great time. Thanks to everyone who hung out with us and helped us celebrate Jonah's birthday. He is a special boy and Alasha and I love him very much and it is very encouraging to witness others that love your child. Thank you, Pearl and Robert for the card. he loves anything musical so it was a hit.
Love you all, please keep us in your prayers.

Steve, Alasha, and Jonah!

Checking In

2007-02-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hello My People,

This is just a note to check in. The Maxwell's are hanging in there. We are in the middle of Jonah having the Croup, me having a cold, and Alasha is taking care of us and doing a wonderful job. I went to Oklahoma City to celebrate the life of Adam Langford and got a chance to visit with Luke and Serena Coles. Their son, Tyson, is a wonderful young man. He is a little younger than and Alasha and I had fun trying to get him to come to us. He was shy as first but then he warmed up to us. He gave out lot's of hugs, Serena made these awesome cookies and Luke was he always chilled out self. We watched American Idol together which is it's on entertainment in and of itself. God thank you for friends and the love they show.

Adam's memorial service was very sad and beautiful at the same time. It was so, so, so good for me to lay my eyes on people from Portland. Ben, Adam's, brother and Ben Ries and others celebrated Adam and it was comforting to know of Adam's obvious love for God and His people. There was reunion and tears. God, bless You for being there when it feels too bad and hurts so much.

I am about to start a class on "Spiritual Leadership" on Wednesday nights. It is our men's class and I am excited about it. I just have to say that Ike Graul took great lengths to nurture me and others at PUMP in Spiritual Leadership. The church itself was a great place to learn a lot about the kind of leadership that follows God. Pray for me. God, may I teach the things You would have me teach.

I leave next week to speak at a youth rally in Missoula, Montana. I leave the day after Valentines Day so I have a lot to get done in a short amount of time. God, thank you for how You take care of Your children.

I leave you with this: www.marriagematters.ws (I still don't know how to create links with a Mac. so if J. Thomas, I. Graul, or A. White can tell me how to do that it would be awesome.) Anyway, this is the website for a Marriage Seminar that I believe to be one of the best out there. So if you are near a church they will be visiting I strongly recommend you check them out. Especially if you are married, think you will be married, planning on getting married, have been married, are single and like someone else or you are alive. Get my point. Jerry and Lynn do a wonderful job and they are as down to earth as you can get. God, thank You for Your servants Jerry and Lynn Jones and may You keep them safe as they travel and share information about Godly marriages.

Well that's enough for now. Much Love and I will see you next time.

Steve

Thanks Again PUMP!

2007-01-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to step back into my recent past and it was a blast. I usually get to the church about 7:15-am to prepare for the Praise Team that arrives around 8-am. Well, this past weekend I spent at a retreat directed by Ryan Gibbons, our Senior Minister, and Greg Garrett, author, professor and Seminary Student. It was a very good time and I learned a lot. We stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast here in Arlington. So I got up from the B&B, got to church, and after turning on the computer my phone rang. It was Amy Gibbons, Ryan's wife, calling from the B&B I had just left explaining that Ryan was very sick. She went on to inform me that I would need to prepare to preach as well lead worship. I just smiled and said, "I will be ready". This took me back to PUMP church where every now and then I was blessed with the opportunity to do both. I say it, not because I have this burning desire to be "the show" (do everything). I say it because it was a classic curve-ball, a definite moment of flexibility and people at PUMP, in my opinion, are experts at hitting curve-balls. Ike Graul, Kristi White, and Lanny Tucker were my head coaches while I received specialty training from Lori Vander Kamp, and Casey "Case Worker" Tucker. There were and still are many coaches in Portland, Oregon that contributed to my development, many who are not at PUMP, and I thank all of you for the training and I miss you terribly. You all taught me how to "let go and Let God", and so far the feedback from yesterday says that as usual, God fed many with little. Thank you Father.
I love you all and may God bless your day.

"Are You Serious"

2007-01-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

“Are you serious”, is one my little brother’s favorite phrases. He likes to use it to explain a number of situations where the “I can believe it” aspect of life enters his world. Here lately it has been used to explain some losses by our favorite sports teams here in the States. However, I learned last night while talking to a good friend of mine – Luke Coles – that a young man, Adam Langford, I knew by way of his brother, Ben Langford, passed away in an auto accident in Uganda, Africa. Immediately my heart and body went to a different place. All of my “problems and cares” of that day left just that quick, and I found myself with the phrase “are you serious” on my lips. I could not believe what Luke was telling me.

I am familiar with this kind of pain and loss and I do not like it. It hurts, period. It does give me joy to know that Adam has just been welcomed home by my mother. Two fellow Oklahoma Christian alum now with their Father awaiting our arrival.

I cannot get Ben out of my head and I am praying for the Langford’s. I ran across Adam from time to time when we both lived in Portland, Oregon and his was awesome just like his brother. I would see he and brother on the soccer field and remember how much I loved my own brother. Thanks for the memories Adam.

Lord, please be with the Langford’s and the Jinja Team in this time of heavy grief and loss. Comfort as only you can and give blessings out of this tragedy.

For more info about a courageous warrior for Christ visit: www.jinjamissions.org.

God Bless,
Steve

Merry Christmas - Happy New Year!

2007-01-03T05:16:00.000-08:00

Well, another year has come and God has been faithful through 2006, no doubt about it. This past year brought about some major change in the lives of the "Maxwells". The biggest being our move from the beautiful Northwest down to Bar-B-Que Land. It was so hot when we got to town that I almost got back in my truck and headed back to Claremont in P-Town. It was ridiculously hot, but we have survived. Alasha transferred straight across with Starbucks and she has been doing her best to learn how we do it down here in the South. This is even different than the way she grew up in Louisiana. Keep her in your prayers she is hanging on and staying with it.

I have had new challenges here at my new job. The work environment in a lot of ways is just like PUMP in that there is the freedom to get done what you know you need to get done. I do miss the atmosphere at PUMP simply because I was able to sit down stairs and look out of the big windows and at anytime someone could come in and change the whole mood of your day. Here I am back in my office and one of our secretaries would call me if someone came to see me. Small I know, but it is very different for me. The Praise Team is also a new challenge. Let's just say that I was used to my whole church being a Praise Team and this is different. The members of the Praise Team here are awesome and excited to make the journey of the vision I have set forth for our team. Pray for them because there are some of you out there that know what I would love to see. Let me just say it would resemble enterPraise at Faith Quest Yamhill with the ladies. Coming soon to a church in Texas!

Well, we have also been able to spend a lot of time with family and that really has been a blessing. The picture above is Jonah sitting with Santa and really not being to sure of Santa. I happen to know "Santa" and Jonah is in good hands, but he doesn't know that. Don't worry, mom is close. This was at our church Christmas Party. We spent Christmas this year in Louisiana and it was very nice. We brought the New Year in at our house hanging out with "Moly" and Galeo, a young adult who attends our church. We just watched football and "24" season one. It was nice and everybody was safe.

Well, I watched the best bowl game of the bowl season and I must say, it was so good I almost cheered against my own team at the end. I really did want Oklahoma to beat Boise State, but if Boise is going to play like that then they deserved to win. The only thing that could beat that game for me would've been waking up that morning at Faith Quest Uganda. Because by the time that game ended it would been time to eat breakfast in Africa. Oh, well. I am looking to this year coming up and to the things God has in store for the Maxwell family. Jonah will finally catch up to his clothing and pray because Alasha and I would love to get child number 2 here.

Keep Looking Up!

Keep us in your prayers. See you later and God bless!

"Thanks for Giving"

2006-12-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

We had lots of family, food and fun for Thanksgiving! My dad was very happy to have Chris and I come up to Oklahoma with our families and it reminded me of how long it has been since we were both at home in Oklahoma. It was good and we thank God for how awesome He is. Love you Father God. Thank You for giving Jesus and Jesus - thank You for doing Your Father's will.

Peace to All!

"60"

2006-12-05T09:05:00.000-08:00

November 18th was my fathers 60th birthday and we had a great time. He and Linda came down to Texas and we through him a party. They came to Park Row on that Sunday and we had roast and fixings at our house afterwards. Chris and his family came down from Sherman, Texas. We gave dad two brand new suits along with cash so he and Linda could go out on dates. We ate cake and ice-cream and had great time. Thank you Lord for letting us have Dad for 60 years. You rock, God! I love you and Dad. :-)

Two of my "People"

2006-12-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

OK! So it takes me too long to post. Sorry, about that. The crazy thing is that I am constantly reading my hommies blogs and just not updating my own. Well today is update day. Here is a picture of two of my hommies. My son, Jonah and one of his many "mothers" and a great Maxwell family friend " Pearl Howarth. Pearl, Debbie and Lanny, of Cascade College, came through on their way to Oklahoma Christian and we went up to DFW to visit them for a while. We all took turns chasing Jonah. Lanny and Jonah must have gone up and down the escalator 5 times. It was good to see them all. Love and miss you guys.

Big Children

2006-11-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

Alasha and I recently got chance to hang out together at Disney. Many of you that know me know that got my start in singing with a gentleman by the name of Bret Testerman. He is a friend, mentor, hommie, you get the picture. Well, he and I made plans and went to the ZOE Conference this year in Nashville. I flew into Orlando and we drove up to Nashville. We had a great time in Nashville. It was my first conference and I learned alot about this world I am in. I have been leading worship a long time. I would say I have learned the most from Avery Stafford and the Faith Quest Praise teams over the years. Bret (BT) has been with the Metro Church in North Orlando for about 10 years so I went to hang out with him to learn more about what it means to be a Worship Minister. Well, Bret and Julie (his wife) and their girls "Cake" and "Mac & Cheese" McKaela and McKenzie hosted Alasha, Jonah and I at their home. The Testerman's keep Jonah for 3 days and nights while Alasha and I went to Disney World. They set us up at one of the resorts and with tickets for 3 days. We were like "Big Children" walking around the parks, riding the rides and just having a blast. I love my wife, she rocks. She wanted to ride the "Aerosmith Rocking Rollercoaster" and the new "Mt Everest Exploration Coaster" over and over and over. So I obliged her. We had a great time. We stayed at the "Pop Century" resort and we stayed in the "1970's". The resort had all these huge reminders of pop culture through the years. It was awesome.

Bull and Boy

2006-11-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

As I continue to catch up I will mention that we got a chance to meet the sister and nephew of Emily Wallace (Moly), Laura and Nathan Bull. The Wallace's had us over for dinner one evening and we brought "Boy" so he could play with Nathan "Baby Bull". They had a blast and Moly had her hands full.

It Has Been Too Long!

2006-10-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

It Has Been Too Long!

Ok! I guess the first thing I should say is I am sorry. It has been way too long and sooooo much has happened. I will just go through and mention what I can remember, which many of you know will leave out a lot, but I am brain damaged just ask my wife.
So, Jonah has been doing great in school. He loves the other children and is learning lots of new things. I stood outside his classroom one day and saw him sitting in these cute toddler seat/table combo things just listening and playing with the other children. The funniest thing is to watch him watch other children talk. He says words every once in a while but he hasn’t quite figured out the sentence thing yet. He sings the theme song to Disney’s Little Einstein’s and of course he still sings his ABC’s (thanks AJ).
Let’s see! I had the opportunity attend the Abilene Christian Lectureship this fall and that was a lot of fun. The week started with a songwriter’s workshop lead by Ike Graul and Mark Love, featuring guest lecturer and performer, Michael Card. It was great to see Ike and Lea Kae, “Sugar”, Luke, Serena, and Tyson, Sara, Jen, George, the Wilson boy’s and many others. Michael Card was awesome and I look forward, Lord willing, to the event next year.

Once the lectureship started even more friends came in to participate in the lecture’s and that was fun. Barry, John, Al, Deb, and George are part of group from the east called “Things In Common”. TIC performed at the lectures and it was good to hear all them and get a chance to sing with Barry and George again. It was just good for me to hang out with some of the best musicians on this earth (Ike, Barry, George and Michael). I would have to say the biggest surprise came when the lone female of the group, Debra Spence, opened her mouth. She is absolutely phenomenal and she blessed all who heard. Ask Ike for those who know him.
After the TIC concert, some of the Acappella alum were around and we got to have a little jam session. It was very nice. Thanks Don, Gary, Barry, and Nic. After that impromptu session I was extremely blessed to kick it with my PUMP family members and worship in this heavenly place in the Bible building at ACU. WOW, what a time of worship.
Well I will end here and post more later. God bless your day.

Jonah's First Day of School!

2006-09-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Man oh man! The time is flying by and being a father has to be one of the best jobs in the world. I know I am very new at it but God is very experienced at showing me the blessings of raising this little boy. Alasha and I are having a blast. This, however, was a happy/sad day. We have a childrens academy and Jonah was enrolled and is attending preschool with 7 other children and loving it. Ryan (my senior minister) and Amy's daughter Lily also started and we took pictures of the chidlren before their mother's dropped them off at school. It is very nice because Jonah's class is literally around the corner from my office. When Alasha went to take Jonah to class, just as soon as she put him down, he ran into the class and started playing with the toys. He had a blast and the teacher said he was a delight. Keep us in your prayers. We had Jonah in a size 4 shoe and now he is in a 7. He and Alasha are on their way back from visiting Grand Parents in Houma, Louisiana. I know they had a blast. Well, take care until next time.

"Your Love is like, Sunshine - In the morning Light"

2006-08-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

After watching my good freinds Ike and Kaelea train their children to sing or least be immersed in music, Alasha and I have to decided to do the same. Ike came to Alasha when she was pregnant with Jonah and insisted that the child be intoduced to "Take 6". Here is evidence that the lesson continues. Thank you Grauls, "Take 6", and many others who have and will contribute to Jonah's musical education.
God Bless Your Day!

And The Music Just Keeps On Coming!

2006-08-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hello out there in cyber space. This is just a note to say things are doing well. I have had a few events now at church that have rounded out my responsibilities here. We have two gentlemen come into town the last Saturday. They were on what is being billed as "The Starving Jesus Tour" http://www.starvingjesus.com. The reason I say that it rounded out my responsibilities is because these are the same two gentlemen that are responible for http://www.xxxchurch.com. The event was open to the Metroplex (Dallas/Forth Worth) and it went well. JR Mahon and Craig Gross are the two gentelmen on tour and they did a great Job of encouraging us to go out into the community "be" the hands and feet of Christ. The cool thing was I could easily think back to PUMP and know that in the great Northwest there is a church that started with this as it's premise and continues till this day to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Leading God's people, my family, in worship is awesome but going out and telling and being Jesus is the mission and that was great this past weekend.
Much Love, Later.

More Fun With Jonah

2006-08-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

We recently had more family time and of course the center of attention was Jonah. We took both Jonah and Kiva to Six Flags and that was a blast except for the fact that it was 101 degrees outside. The Buggs Bunny you see Jonah with belonged to his cousin but he wanted it in his stoller and she obliged. Thanks Kiva! The other photo is a Baby Water Day at the church. Amy Gibbons (Ryan's wife for those of you who know who I am talking about) is one of our childrens ministers and she and Ellie Williams (our other childrens minister) put this day together. You can't see it but Amy and Ann, another young lady from church built a human car wash for the children to walk through. They constructed it out of PVC pipe hooked a water hose up to it. Jonah didn't want to leave it. He loves water for some reason. Keep us in your prayers and God bless your day!

Proverbs 22:6

2006-07-31T07:39:00.000-07:00

Jonah took a trip to hang out with his cousin Kiva in Sherman, Texas before school gets started. They had a lot of fun and as you can see he has been properly introduced to things important for his upbringing. :-)
We are doing well as a family. Jonah loves to be read to every chance you get. He will go and get his books, hand it to you and start climbing in your lap. Alasha and I love it. It was so awesome having the Martins here. AJ and Drew are wonderful people and I took the chance to hug them both because for me it was like hugging my family in Portland.
Mike Sellers recently came and visited, came to church and went to lunch with us. (Please bring Kay the next time) It was so good to see Mike and talk about the awesome things God is doing.
Well I miss you Northwest and God is still blessing us like always. Take care.

Jonah Pulling His Weight

2006-07-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Alasha and I have had to have a sit down with Jonah and explain to him that as much as he eats, he is going to have to start pulling his weight and help out around the house. So this is what Alasha found him doing one day this week when she was doing other house chores. :-)

Pictures of "the Boy"

2006-07-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Some one help us with food for this child. He is growing and growing and growing and well you get the picture. Here are a few pictures so you can see how much he has grown. God bless and there will be more.

The first is he and Sherri Williams, she helps us with Jonah and the second pic is my two babies - the mama and the baby - SLEEP!

One Way To Beat the "Heat"

2006-07-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry for taking so long to post. I put our camera in the nursery here at the church and totally forgot about it. I have recovered the camera and now I have pic's to put up so you can see how Jonah is growing. He is already up to Alasha's waste. He is growing like mad and now he can say' "no and thank you". If you ask him, "Who is Jonah?" he points to himself. It is so awesome to watch the miracle of a baby grow right before your eyes.
Here he is out in our back yard standing in a big plastic tub splashing water and having a great time with mom. God bless you all.

Planning Better

2006-06-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, It has been a while since I have posted and I must say that I have been in the middle of wurlwind life again. It is time to slow down again. This weekend Cascade/Columbia is having their 50 year reunion and I am not there. This is not what I had planned. I really wanted to be present for this, but life after a move is just that. Life after a move. I could've planned better and saved the money. I just balanced our check book and I can see it is definitly time to go back to the "envelope system". We are doing fine but I can see that I am missing out on the things I really want to do because I am satisfying my immediate urges. That will stop. I will also be missing the first day of PSP and I really wanted to be there for that. There is another event coming up at the end of July that I think I am going to try to make. I have not decided as of yet but Alasha and I will Pow Wow and see what comes of it. Other than loving my family, and serving God I am looking forward to returning to Africa and my Father's 60th Birthday Party. Things are great here at Park Row and the Maxwell family has adjusted nicely. I love God and if you are reading this and you know me - then know this: Life is just better when you have Jesus Christ in it. Peace.

Maverick Mania!

2006-06-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, if for no other reason than to honor my hommie MOLY, I should say something about the electricity of this area. I have to admit it is crazy around here. The seemingly two most important things going on around here are the "heat" and Mavericks. And when I say "heat" I don't mean Miami. The average temp around here is about 95 degrees and the next couple of days it is predicted to be 100 or above. It is sort of crazy to me because the Portland Trailblazers (where I just moved from) went through a definite rebuilding year and now I move to a place where the team is in the finals. It will be interesting to see how long the Mav's can maintain this level of play and to see how Portland will rebuild.

As far as what I think will happen: I would love to see the Mav's win this year and I think they will, but I think it is going to be a definite dog fight. The Heat has a roster of men who have taken less money, who are nearing the end of their careers, and a few who have been after the elusive championship ring for a while. So the Mav's will need to literally will themselves past a "cast-iron skillet" seasoned Heat team. Go Mav's!

A Few Family Things

2006-06-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Alasha and I celebrated 6 years of marriage and we had a blast. We have been here almost 2months and this is the first time as a family we were able to go up to Oklahoma City and visit my dad (Willie Jr), my Step-Mother (Linda), and my Grandmother (Bessie). Alasha loves my family and that is just a blessing from God. She and my mother were good friends before my mom passed away. It has been very important for us that Jonah get to spend time with his grandparents. For his first year this was not as easy to accomplish as it is now and just the look on my father's face when he see's his grand-son is worth it. Linda is absolutely incredible with Jonah. She spoils him just the way a grandmother should. Another awesome thing was the fact that Jonah got to spend time with his Great Grandmother. He amazed his grandparents and great grandparent with his eating abilities. My grandma fixed us dinner one night (Roast and potatoes, Cabbage, Greens, and Lemonade) and breakfast another (Sausage, homemade biscuits, eggs, and rice). Jonah ate like we don't feed him and my grandma was laughing at him. Alasha would give me him a bite and he would "beat" his chest in an attempt to "sign" please as in "please give me some more".

Alasha and I got the chance to spend some much needed time just with one another. Oklahoma City has grown alot and we took advantage of it. They have a little river walk with little boats and resturants along the sides. We just hung out, seeing a movie, riding the boat, and later on that evening taking my dad and Linda to dinner and a baseball game that night.

All in all we had a great time and thank God He has blessed us to be closer to family.

Please lady! Just let me do your hair!

2006-05-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

It has been a little time since AP visited but I couldn't help putting this photo up. I will cut Jonah's hair this week and I will post photos of his first hair cut. Pray for his mother. I have tried to tell her we named him Jonah, not Samson. :-)

The Boy

2006-05-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

Ok I am going to take a chance that when I post this you will be able to see Jonah as he is ready to go church one Sunday. he is growing like a weed and walking and running everywhere. He says, "milk" and "book" already and is creating much joy for his mother and I. So hopefully this picture will show up when I "publish this". If so, thank you Johno for your help. And JHill, you guys are both smart enough to be having whatever conversation your having. Computors are scared of me, whether they are PC or Mac. :-). It is good to have you guys, plus my hommies, Ike and Allan to help brother out, other wise it could get scarey. Later!

Jamie Cullum

2006-05-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

Ok! I know I promised picture's Jonah the next time I posted but I am still in the middle of learning how to use my new eMac. It is much more machine that I am used to and I have not quite figured out how to upload pictures in my blog. I am still a "right click" man and I can never remember the keystrokes to get the same results in this Tiger OSX, whatever it is I am running. I have figured out how to enter a blog so I will have to go with this for now.

On last Sunday evening I took a trip to downtown Dallas to a neighborhood called "The Deep Ellum". Sorry if it is mispelled. I went to some place called "The Gypsy Tea Room". It was a huge warehouse like space that had been cleverly converted into a nice concert venue. A gentlemen by the name of Raul Midon opened up for Jamie and he was absolutly incredible. He is a guitar playing, singing, songwriting man who is also blind. He impressed Stevie Wonder and got him to record on his lastest release to give you some idea of how good he was. He played and sang by himself for about an hour. It was great. After a small break Jamie and his band came out and it was on. He can play the Ivory out of a piano and he can sing. He displayed more energy in two hours than I did in all of PSP dances combined (for those of you who have had the unfortunate opportunity to witness that).

The funny thing is as I was standing there witnessing this great concert and people going crazy I thought to myself, "how could I do something to get these people this psyched about Jesus?" It took me by surprise to have that thought in a jazz concert. Jamie is a true showman and he did not do a ton of cursing and gyrating but it was not a christian concert. I suppose it is all in thte book, "How To Be All Things To All People while Being Jesus". Oh and by the way, if someone comes across that book, please let me know.

God Bless You - Peace

Things Are Coming Together!

2006-05-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don’t have to move, I recommend that you don’t. Now don’t get me wrong, we didn’t have to move; we just felt it time to be closer to family. Besides it is the actual get a truck, pack a house, pack the truck, fly wife and child, and then drive truck part I am talking about. Then it is the unpack the truck, get the utilities on, unpack into the house, start new jobs, find babysitting, get son to grandparents, meet new people and re-learn a way of life that is now foreign to me. So, lest you enjoy all of the afore mentioned activities, I suggest you stay right where you are and enjoy life.

Now the thing that is most funny to me is that this Sunday I will preach for the first time at my new church family and we are doing a series on giving. I am actually psyched about it but I have to admit it made me laugh because I have been on a journey to be deliberate about recognizing the way God is using me. I have tired to take some time and just think about the day I’ve just lived out and see if I can recognize just how God worked on me, with me, and through me that day. It has been very rewarding. So even though the first sermon I preach here will be about giving I look forward to it because if nothing else I can just tell of all God has given me, not mention the best gift – Jesus.

Take care my friends and family. I will post new pictures of Jonah next post.

Maxwell Update

2006-04-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

Some Info

OK! Life here is crazy just because there is all of the stuff you do just to get moved in. The trip down was rather uneventful except for one of my tow-dolly (for the car) lights coming off. Nothing a little duck tape couldn’t fix. We chilled with the Petersons in Colorado Springs and then came on down to the flat lands. The weather has already reached the hundreds and it is April. I am really starting to miss a lot of people. I don’t want to try and name people just in case I leave someone out. Alasha and I took “The Boy” (Jonah) to his grandparents in Louisiana and he is getting properly spoiled. We have been making efforts to get moved in. It is slow but it is happening. I will get more pictures out when I get a chance. We don’t have internet at home yet but it will be coming. I am at the church working on an arrangement of “Give Me Jesus” for special music this Sunday. So far things are very nice. The church is definitely taking care of us. We received a “pounding” which essentially means you get food, toiletries, and gift cards for whatever else you need for your new place and we have more stuff than we have room for. Keep us in your prayers. Alasha is enjoying her new Starbucks and so far so good. I will get out more info soon. Until then, God be with you.

PS. The picture is Jonah with his new friend, Lily Wei Gibbons.
PSS. They have taught each other more sign language and they can both walk. Did I mention we need Prayers. :-)

Starting to Sink In

2006-04-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

Starting to Sink In

Ok! Now it feels like we are going to move. The last couple of days have been a blur. I could say that about the last couple of months but lets just deal with the “recent” past. I am in the middle of doing one of those things that I do but I don’t like to do. And that thing is hanging out with people that I would love to hang out with but you don’t hang out with them unless some drastic life change comes about. And for me that life change happens to be the fact that I and my family are moving to Texas. Some people I see everyday and I don’t get to hang out with them the way that I would like to. Now there is comfort in knowing that this is nobody’s fault but mine. I could have chosen to at least ask those people to hang out, but I get caught in the “I bet there too busy tornado” and before you know it I am out of time.
Casey Tucker is someone I really admire and she is one of my homies. We had breakfast not to long ago at a local joint and it was awesome to just sit there with Case and catch up. I went to hang out at the Lowery’s to watch the NCAA men’s basketball championship and that was a lot of fun. Thanks for the chili Karla and the flat screen Kerry. I got a chance to visit two of the many churches I love in the Portland – Vancouver area and it was very nice. It only made want to go and visit the other churches where I know people. I got a chance to go to a roller skating rink with my boy and even though neither of us skated we were around people we love. I went with Jason and Ike to eat Indian food and it was very good. Jonah went with us so it was sort of a 3 men and a baby thing, and that was cool too. I went to see a late movie with Ike and Jason and that was cool. Tomorrow I will get the chance to visit with the VDK’s and that will be cool also. Kerry Vander Kamp (K -VDK) is one of those people who I think is just cool and I did not get to hang out with him like I wanted to, and that definitely goes for his wife Lori too. VDK’s rock!
I will miss Ike a lot. We had a different relationship working together. For me it was an iron sharpening experience. I can only hope I didn’t dull him out too much. I was able to bounce my life off of his and come out better for it. I plan on continuing in this experience from a little farther away.
Lanny and I had this disc golf thing going on that took us on some very cool trips. One in particular was in the Gorge where there was one tee shot that was right across a huge pond. The funny thing is a lot of times I have seen our relationship like the flight pattern of a Frisbee Disc. A strong take off right toward our life goals only to loose momentum and have the winds of change guide us slightly off course; only then to have the Holy Spirit pick us up and hurl us once again toward our goal. Or was that the Holy Spirit guiding us with the changing wind. Oh well, it is nice to know it is the Holy Spirit however the change.
On my last work day I received a text message from someone very special to me – Kristi White. Kristi’s husband Allan and I were made to hang out with each other and could just not find the time to make it happen. He is a music man and those are my people. Oh well! I will be back to hang out with Allan and many others. Ok, back to Kristi. It seems that wherever I am God gives me that person to lean on that has that special set of keys that unlocks the doors to my brain so I can do my job that much better. Every now and then that person also winds up unlocking a friendship that I will remember until we meet again in heaven. At Cascade College it was Pearl Howarth, and Mary Horton; at Acappella it was Barry Wilson and Kevin Schaffer and at PUMP church it was definitely Kristi White. She has more passion than Passion Fruit itself and that makes you want to keep going and working.
Well, tomorrow we load the truck so I better get some sleep. Just look forward to post’s like this as I near the time of driving off into the very hot South. I am excited just in case I don't look like it. It will be bitter sweet for me.
Ike, Lanny, and Kristi – I could not have asked for better co-workers. Later ya’ll – I’m sleepy.

Today!

2006-03-31T08:38:00.000-08:00

It is 8:38a on March 31st. I knew this day would come and here it is. I am sitting at the PUMP house, Lanny has just come in to work and I am listening to Acappella's new album "Radiance" with Zach Wilson - a Portland native - singing lead on "All Men Will Know". The album is one of my favorites with Take 6's "Feel Good", Warren Barfield's "Reach" and Donald Fagen's "Morph the Cat" rounding out my current "frequent playlist". Well, here it is, my final day of "official work" of PUMP church. I have to say "official" because I love PUMP too much to ever completely stop working for the Kingdom through PUMP. So far it has been surreal and I have not felt this overwhelming "you are through or finished at PUMP". I suppose that will come sometime in the near future. The next week is so busy I will probably not be able to keep up with it for the most part. Know this though, I have one more day and my plan is simply "do my duty" (Luke 17:7-10). The difference in me and this passage is that I have been made to feel very, very, very appreciated and I really have been blessed to be here. I will miss you PUMP. I have to get to work, so I will get back to you later.

What A Day!

2006-03-28T07:45:00.000-08:00

This Sunday started out just any other Sunday at PUMP. I got up and helped Alasha with Jonah. Alasha works on Sundays after church so we go over the game plan so as to know what to do for babysitting and so on. This Sunday would be on of those busy ones but nothing out of the ordinary. A leadership team meeting was scheduled, children needed to be picked up on the church vans, Hosting for 252Basics needed to be rehearsed one last time and songs for worship needed to be prepared. So I had Alasha take a few pictures to remember my last walk out of the house to the PUMP house. I prayed as I walked that God would have His way with this day and that He would be praised. It takes about 7 minutes and I am at the House. I am the first one there at 8:30a and I set up my computer to look over 252Basics stuff.
A little later Joe Britt comes in and “here we go”. It becomes quickly apparent that I am going to need to drive a van and off we go. Joe and I went on the route and had a great conversation. The children got on the van as stopped at their respective homes and it was great. I called Kristi to inform her that I was 5 minutes away at 9:55a (252 bible class starts at 10a) and she said no worries. Bible class went great and worship started. The congregation was ready to sing praises to God and off we went. It was awesome, but like I said, not unlike any other Sunday.
There is a young man that sits up front in church every Sunday and his intention is to help whoever is doing whatever do it better. When I lead worship, he helps with overheads, when Ike is preaching, he excitedly interjects his thoughts into Ike’s preaching. His name is Bevin. Looking into Bevin’s eyes this past Sunday all of sudden brought it home for me – this is my “last” Sunday to officially “work” at PUMP church. It became a little more difficult to lead the worship, but the Holy Spirit was moving and that made it alright.
I will miss standing up there, sitting in there and worshiping there. I am sure it will hit me a little while after I am gone.
This coming Sunday I will visit the Metro church of Christ for their early service and then head North to visit the Vancouver church of Christ. On April 9th I will be at PUMP with my family for the last time and then drive out of town that day! Keep us in your prayers, please.

522a Cousins Lane Arlington, TX 76012

2006-03-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

March 3 - somewhere around 2 am that morning Alasha and I are getting me ready to make a pretty important trip. Alasha has been online for months looking at houses for us to rent once we get to Arlington. Jonah is sleeping peacefully and we dead tired. 4am comes and we make the trip to PDX. Somewhere around 1:30pm I land at DFW. After I get to baggage claim I am surrounded by this Harding University clan and that includes Ryan Gibbons, my new Senior Minister. We promptly head to Sonic Drive-In so I can be properly replenished. I get to the house and Lilly, Ryan and Amy's daughter, is sleep. I had seen pictures of her and was ready to see her in person. I followed their blog when they went to China to get Lilly. She is a beautiful little girl and I am looking forward to seeing her grow. That night we went to Buca di Beppo. Please observe a moment of silence for some of best Italian I've had (other than my wife's stuffed shells).
The next day was spent south of Arlington about 30-45 minutes at the Park Row cowboy cookout. It was a great event with great people, great food and awesome bluegrass music. That night was spent chilling and preparing for worship the next day.
Sunday was great. Ryan and I co-led worship and his message was great that day. Right after services I was invited to lunch by one of the worship team memebers and his wife. I went to The Alanta Bread Company and had a Cuban sandwich and it was right. At church that morning I had met two ladies, Billie and Debi. They told me they would help me look for houses that aftenoon. Now they helped me find some houses that had been sent to me by Stephanie in an e-mail before I even got to Arlington. We visited about 10 to 12 different houses. To make a very long story shorter. I saw some places I liked and the next two days saw me, Ryan and Amy Gibbons and Stephanie Nekar, a real estate agent, looking at place after place. Finally on my last day to be in Arlington I found a nice little duplex town-house. It is a nice little 3 bedroom, 2 full bath house near the church building. And this will be our home for the first year of our stay in Arlington. Please keep us in your prayers.

The Big Catch Up

2006-03-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Ok so the last time I blogged it was February 28th. That in and of itself is a testament to the craziness of my life at this moment. I am going to try and catch you up on what has been going on with the Maxwell clan over the past 2 weeks.

I went on a staff retreat that was very nice. The best thing about it was the fact that I got to spend time with the 3 people I have spent a lot of time with over the past 3.8 years planning and working in God’s kingdom serving PUMP church. It has been a blast and continues to teach me even as I approach the end of my tenure here.

The next thing to happen was a trip to Arlington, Texas where the Maxwell family will start serving God with the congregation at the Park Row church of Christ. I will take the time to blog about this separately.

Next was a concert to see one of the best singer/songwriter/guitar players I have seen in a while in contemporary Christian music. Warren Barfield blew my mind and I will blog about that separately also.

Overall God continues to be gracious and I try to present myself broken and in need of Him every second of my existence here on earth.

Happy Birthday Jonah!

2006-02-28T13:58:00.001-08:00

What a weekend we just had! February 23rd was Jonah Tobias Maxwell's 1st birthday. As a proud father, it was almost all I could take. He was so cute and his mother was so awesome. It was as if I couldn't be around the both of them enough. Lots of hugs and kisses for both of them from me, dad. It brought memories of being at Portland Adventist, the birth, bringing him home, and many more. I have plenty of friends with children and I have lived through them, but nothing compares to experiencing your own childs 1st birthday.
My younger brother Chris came in town on business (He is an electrical engineer for Texas Instruments) and was able to stay over and participate in the activities. This included two different birthday parties. We had a small birthday party on Jonah's actual birthday and then a big blow-out at PUMP church on Saturday the 25th. The party on Saturday was actually a double party with Jacob McKenzie, Billy and Brenda McKenzie's son. The boys were born 25hrs apart. Jonah was early and Jacob was late so Jonah came Feb 23rd and Jacob came Feb 24th. There was cake and food and family. God is so good I can hardly stand it. All of this just makes me love Him so much for blessing me with a "family" this. Thanks to all of you who blessed us with presents, cards, and your wonderful presence. Oh yeah and Happy Birthday Jonah and Jacob!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

2006-02-28T13:58:00.000-08:00

The Art of Eating a Wendy's Chicken Nugget

2006-02-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

#1 First you give your parents a look that says, "please give me one of those".
#2 If that doesn't work you watch your mother till she turns her head and you grab one on your own.
#3 Then quickly shove it in your mouth and get your "mouth juices" all over it.
#4 Once you make sure that the chicken nugget will remain in your custody; you can enjoy it wondering why your father keeps making a bright light shine in your face as you try to get more nuggets.

Back to My Old New World

2006-02-20T00:24:00.000-08:00

Wow! My brain is racing right now. I have just feasted on a smorgasbord of encouraging words. I must tell you that the thought of moving back to the good old south has evoked many different emotions within the deep inner parts of my soul. I am anxious to get back and scared of exactly how things have changed since I have been gone. But like I just said, I have been reading some things that excite me.

I first went to the blog of a sister in Christ who encouraged me to remember just how good I have it here in America. She let me in on just what true fellowship means. The kind of fellowship I believe my soul constantly craves. The kind where you just sit down with someone that you don’t know to hear them talk about things you normally wouldn’t, from a point of view you hadn’t thought about. Then I went to her husband’s blog and he talked about discipleship. The kind of discipleship where you teach people to teach Jesus, and not Jesus plus. I was doing just fine until I came to my next set of blogs and there it was. If you get a chance you read Mike Cope’s blog where he interviews Dr. Jerry Taylor I suggest do it.

The blog will speak for itself. It just took me back to a time where my faith was not my own and I was tossed to and fro by men and women I believe had the best intentions for my soul. As a matter of fact, I can say without a doubt that without a lot of them my spiritual walk would have suffered. I guess that is why it is hard for me to read where an organization like “The New Wineskins” must exist among a people who should know first hand about persecution, especially in this country. However, there it was and how glad I am that is was. Not because I have secretly harbored feelings that run parallel with what I perceive the organization to be about, but because I read about an organization that appears to be interested in “Listening”. That is the one thing that I have finally figured out was missing in my journey through a world past. And I am not talking about “giving someone the floor”; I am talking about taking the time to internalize what someone is offering. I am talking about letting it marinate and responding with the kind of “love” that will give evidence to our Christianity.

Well, I totally respect Dr. Taylor and anyone who provides opportunity for good godly communication so I look forward to at least attending a New Wineskins retreat to listen and see what God will show me.

This is the world that I came from but it appears that my “old world” has received some “New Wine” and I praise God for it. I have been out here in the northwest dealing with people who have no relationship with Jesus as opposed to those who have a relationship different than the one I have. That has been a blessing and great preparation for what God has in store for me next. Pray for me and my family as we go forth to drink new wine and fellowship with more of Gods family.

A New Toy!

2006-02-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Well, Alasha and I just got a new toy. We finally jumped into the digital camera world. We bought a Canon Power Shot A620. Now that is more camara than I know what to do with, but the perfect amount of camera to shoot my favorite baby.

Hangin In There

2006-02-08T21:39:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well things are coming along. I would not be telling the truth if I were to say that the trials have let up. But it feels as if God has just been there that much more. I want to take time to give those of you who read some prayer requests. I love this blog thing because it is a way we can step into the lives of friends and family and lift them up to the Gentle Healer. Well here goes:

Pray for the Grauls as they have put there house on the market as they move closer to God and what He would have for their lives
Pray for Amanda P as she has made some life deceisions that have been tough
Pray for Kristi W as she and Allan prepare for a new life
Pray for Lanny and Suzy as they go through some tough life situations concerning Suzy's family
Pray that Kerry and Karla L continue to become acclamated to PUMP and Portland
Pray for the Tidmore family as work through some tough family situations
Pray for Stensey as she continues to look toward the mission field
Pray for LifeSeed ministries and the Brummett's
Pray for Alasha and I as we pack, move, and just deal with life
Pray for the Fort Portal, Uganda church as they rely on God through a trying time
Pray, pray, pray for our nation and the war we are involved in
And you finish this pray again.

Thanks and God bless your day!

Still In The Middle of Finals

2006-01-30T14:41:00.000-08:00

Well here we go again. I have a good friend who says, “it feels like I been in finals week for 2, 3, 4 months”. He will say this to explain just how crazy his life has been, is, and as far as the near future looks, will be. I smile when he says that because more than not he is explaining the lives of half the people he comes in contact with. My life is definitely not an exception.

On Saturday 1/28/06 Alasha got into a fight in the Ford Focus with a PT Cruiser and lost. She is ok and that made me very happy to hear. Jonah was not with her and by the time I got there she seemed to be pretty calm. This is big for her seeing as that was her first accident. She went on to work and I used the rest of that day getting things taken care of. We had a lot of help from members of the church and that helped to make things a little smoother, but I am still waiting to take my last final for a while and go on vacation. As I look into the future though, I don’t see it.

I took today off to do some work around the house to get us closer to moving and that has gone slowly but surely. The house is it’s regular Maxwell chaos and the garage was a war zone. I have since turned the garage into a better looking war zone and I am looking forward to going back out just a soon as Jonah goes back to sleep.

I do know that the one thing I can do to get closer to my last final is to ask those of you that pray, to pray. So here goes.
Could you pray for:
· Alasha to feel better ( she is kind of sore from the accident)
· Jonah to get the gunk out of his chest
· God to continue to give us opportunities to tell others about His redeeming love
· For us to give the burdens of moving, living, and raising an awesome little boy over to God so He can help us.
· Alasha at Starbucks
· Steve at PUMP church
· Our families back south and that we remember to keep praying.

If you could do that that would be great! Thanks and God bless.

Been Away!

2006-01-18T15:13:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends,

It has been a while since I have written and there are a number of reasons for that. But just let me say what has been going on with this picture. This little man has been a BIG blessing and he continues to be. Please keep him and his parents in your prayers. He is getting over his first episode of Croup and Pneumonia. He is always smiling, crawling, starting to walk, saying more words and (brace yourselves) SINGING. Ok, so maybe I am a little anxious but he makes these noises that are so sweet. He puts himself to sleep. It is so cute. Also keep Alasha in your prayers, she is always cute; and she is transferring to the Starbucks at Eastport. She is excited about it and that means much better working hours for her and for us. Well that is all for now - take care and God bless.

Another Hospital Visit!

2006-01-07T13:27:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well and again I visited a place I have visited all to often. Last night I spent at Legacy's Emanuel Hospital. I have had a nice trickle of health problems since I turned 30. Here is the thing, I know who holds tommorow and what I should do to prevent a lot of the things I go through and yet there I was again. Alasha and I were on our way to bed and my chest got tight. It felt like I was getting a bear hug I didn't ask for. It lasted only a few minutes and then I felt as if I had been in a good football game. We decided to be safe rather than sorry and go the emergency room. You see I have had this happen before and been diagnosed with Acid Reflux. In the past I have been given a clean bill of health when it comes to my heart but my family history makes most doctors nervous. So we waited a short time once we got to the hospital and a longer time once they checked my vitals and saw that I was in no immediate danger. We waited and waited and waited and.. ok you get it. Legacy was busy that night with a barage of different traumas. Finally the docter came in and told us something we were not expecting. He said that some heart problems might present themselves a little later and he did not want to send me home until they were sure I was ok so they were admitting me. I said ok and waited for them to find me a room. After entering the hospital at 1am I went to my room at 7:45am that morning. To make a long story much shorter, God is best (as they say in Africa) and I was fine. I had to get on a treadmill and walk really fast on a pretty good incline and they had me wired up like a professional sound system. I had fun with my docters and they said what ever was wrong with me had nothing to do with my heart. They also said that my blood work was pretty good and things looked good so they were releasing me. And they did.
Now I had started eating a little better and walking this week so my body is probably trying to revolt. However, onward Christian Soldier I say. I am going to keep doing what I had started and I have been given permission by the docters to do that as long as I take it easy at first. Well our church is awesome and they have been taking care of us. So thank you:
-Alasha because you are the best wife in the world and Jonah for coming to see daddy
-Amanda Peterson for coming over to watch Jonah at asleep o'clock.
-Kerry Lowery for checking on me
-PUMP church for prayers and phone calls
-Tucker's for dinner
-White's for calling about dinner
-Nicole for a funny call
-my brother and dad for their comedy (after they heard I was ok of course)
-Lanny Tucker for awesome e-mail communication
-Moly for phone call
Ok I could keep going but I wanted to take this time to say to anybody that reads this:

I love being a part of God's family. It rocks. God takes care of you like none other and I would have it no other way. I want to praise Him and thank my brothers and sisters in Christ for your support during this crazy time. Keep praying that I eat healthier and continue to exercise. And thanks again.

“54” Resolution

2006-01-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are four days into the New Year and I am finally getting around to talking about my New Years resolutions. It is funny because I have already heard many different things about resolutions and a lot those things are very interesting. I’ve tried to take at least a little time to think about it and here is what I have come up with – “54” Resolution.
Now as you can see the number 54 is in quotations. For those of you that know me or have simply taken the time read any of my posts, you will notice that I am not the writing type. However, I put the number in quotations because I don’t actually have 54 resolutions. Here let me explain.
When I was in high school I played the beloved game of basketball. Our team was pretty good and most of that came from the fact that we had great coaching. And one of the ways our coach would prepare us was conditioning. And to me that means lots of running which is a dirty word. I loved Coach Grantham and still do. He was close to 60 years old back then and had been coaching for a long time. He had this particular “weapon” of choice when it came to running (there’s that word again) and it felt like he loved to use it. The weapon was called; you guessed it, a “54”. A “54” was a running drill from that other place. You started on the baseline (which is another word that frightens me a little even till this day) because that was the starting place of most running events. Anyway, you started on the baseline underneath one basket and ran all the way to the other end, all 94ft; and then you would run back, backwards. (My chest is getting heavy just typing this.) You had to do this 4 times in 54 seconds. The first couple of times I did it I was just fine, but after the 8th, 9th, and 10th time I was NOT fine. I can still hear coaches voice in my head, “pick it up Maxwell!” Now, for those of you that know me, you know that I am a “Double X” man. So like I said, running has the potential to be a bad word for me.
As I think back on running “54’s” I also remember getting to the fourth quarter of games and still having the stamina to play hard, to keep my hands up on defense and calling for the ball inside, to call out screens, to rebound, to take a charge, and most of all - to just keep moving my feet. I say that because I later came to realize that coach knew I wouldn’t make every “54” in 54 seconds, but he wanted me to give it my all and not give up. He knew the benefits of staying in the “race”. And that is what I am resolved to do this year. As Dory in “Finding Nemo” would say, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just…” you get the picture.
I know I need to loose a little weight, stop doing this and do that a little more. Those are the same things I needed to do last year with some added and some completed. I just want to stay in it. I don’t want to stop running. I want to put one foot in front of the other and see what exciting things God has planned for me and my family this year. I want to run today like it is my last day to run before the finish line is upon me. Don’t get me wrong, I look forward to many more days of running in this way. You see the prize I am running for is waiting for me at the finish line. It is cool to know you will get the prize if you just finish the race. And to finish you must simply keep running. The apostle Paul says, “25All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.” I want to keep working toward the day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me to be (Phil 3:12). And because of the hills and valleys I have to run, sometimes it reminds me of running “54’s”. However, for the prize of heaven I am more than willing to run.
If you finished this, thanks for sticking it out. I pray that you have a blessed New Year and if nothing else; just keep running the race. See you at the finish line when we get our prizes.

Christmas Time Was Here Again!

2005-12-26T21:29:00.000-08:00

Ahh! Christmas time was here again and I must say it was awsome. A number of things made this Christmas special. Here are just a few. First, this year it has been great just to spend time with my family. Last year as I prepared to go to Africa my schedule was very hectic. Alasha was pregnant with Jonah and headed for Louisiana for a visit and I was busy singing with BlueLineMax. Because of the way things worked out we were apart for a month. So needless to say I have had fun just being with my beautiful wife. Second, this was Jonah's first Christmas. He turned 10 months on December 23rd and on Christmas Day he did the same things he always does: laughs big so you can see his two fron teeth, screams in joy, crawled around on Pearl Howarth's floor like a mad baby, and helped us eat our Christmas dinner. It was very exciting to see and Jonah did not disapoint. He had so much fun with us that he didn't even play with all of his Christmas toys. I watched basketball and Christmas music concert shows. I will say that the best thing for Christms this year was the fact that Christmas was on a Sunday. I was able to speak in church and we had great time. We talked about the fact that we celebrate the life of Christ everyday and remember his sacrifice with communion every Sunday. This time we got to concentrate on His birth even more. I know there is a big contraversy about not knowing for sure if December 25th is the birthday of Christ, but as I heard it once said; if anybody deserves to have a day to celebrate his birth it is Jesus Christ. Anyway, we had refreshments, singing, praising, worshiping, and words from the Word about the Word (see John 1). Alasha, Jonah, and I spent Christmas with Pearl Howarth. We had a great time and Pearl was a very generous host. I suppose it was sort of bitter sweet for us with the move, but God was good and we really appreciated just spending time with each other.

I pray that your Christmas was just as rewaring. I pray that this coming year will bring for you more blesssings from God, friends and family. Until next Christmas - God bless you and have a Happy New Year!

Take the Time!

2005-12-18T22:49:00.000-08:00

I don't expect to get many comments on this, but I will say it anyway. Take the time to REST! OK, so in some cases I am speaking to the choir. I guess the thing that surprises me is that in a lot of cases I am not speaking to the choir. It's as if resting has become a lost art. It's as if the worries, trials, task list's, and other things of this world have us going so much our entire life is a fast food drive through. Drive through to get some sleep, a little work done, time on the computor, to get something to eat, and so on and so on. It starts getting scary when it becomes driving through to get time with the children, time with the spouse, time with friends and then the ultimate - time with the Creator of Time - God. What gives? When is it time to chill and do a lot by doing nothing. I know one of the things I face is that my mind is going so much that sometimes I can't rest my mind enough to rest my body. The funny thing about this is that I have it modeled for me daily by my beautiful baby boy - Jonah! He sleeps throughout the day and I don't. Now granted I have work to do, but I wonder what kind of work I would get done if I would just rest.
Oh well! I guess I wrote this now because, Lord willing, you will get some time with family this Christmas season and you guys will just sit around and talk about "the here and now" or "the way it used to be". You will take time to eat together, then play games, watch sporting events, and sleep between all of that. And during that time you will be resting. Yes, that is what it feels like. Now, some of you are saying - Steve, you don't know my family - this is not the time to rest. And to you I say, TAKE THE TIME! Find it somewhere! You will be blessed and those around you will be blessed also. (Since the roads are sheets of ice - now would be a good time to try it out)
Until next time - Have a Merry Christmas and God bless you and your life lived for Him.

A Maxwell Transition.

2005-12-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

Alasha and I are planning to move back to the Southern part of the US to be closer to family. It is something we have been thinking about more and more with the birth of our first child, Jonah Tobias. Jonas is now almost 10 months old and we have had a challenging year just wanting to be closer to family. The best part about this year has been God’s consistency and friends being there at exactly the right time. Mmm, I wonder if that has to do with how awesome God is. (The answer is “yes”, just in case there are any questions.)
We will leave having spent just shy of 4 years here in the great Northwest. We will miss it. It has been both fun and challenging. The most challenging aspect is what led to our decision to be closer to family. I have learned so much here in the Northwest and this is my second stint here. The toughest thing for me will be the fact that most of my closest friends are located here in the Northwest. We will both miss the incredible relationships we have made here.
PUMP church has been one the most incredible ministry experiences I have ever had. I will miss PUMP church in a big way. I love working with children and their parents and this has been the opportunity of a lifetime. My co-wokers have shown me love and I love them back. There is nothing like doing ministry pedal to the metal for periods of time to help strengthen your character. The friends and family we have gained here are priceless and will be sorely missed. Of course, there is so much of God’s beauty here to see, that you would have to come here and travel exclusively to take it all in so you can bet we will be back out this way again to visit friends and blend that with some coast and mountain visits.
I will continue to work in full time ministry. The need is growing 10:1 for people of God to do their best to spread Jesus so I will continue to do that in Arlington, Texas. I will be the Associate Minister at Park Row church of Christ working in the areas of worship and community outreach. I will share more about that in later posts. For now you can visit the site and keep us in your prayers. Alasha and I are excited about working with the Park Row. I have enjoyed working with both PUMP and Park Row in this transition. Park Row has come out for the past 3 summers in a row to work with the PUMP Summer Program and they have been a blessing. If I can remember I will post sometime about how PUMP and Park Row’s relationship started. I am blessed to be blessed by PUMP and sent into the next phase of our ministry. Sometimes that does not happen, but God is good and always faithful. Thank you, PUMP.
We will be moving sometime in April so again we solicit your prayers. It will be crazy moving 2135 miles back across the US. Pray that we get chance to visit and tell a lot of people how much we love them and will miss them. Pray that God continues to use us here in Portland until it is time to leave. Pray that we can do as much pre-packing as possible. Pray that we will continue to grow as couple and just pray that we make it through a move with a 10 month old. Alasha and I are going to try and go to a retreat in Southern Louisiana before we get started at Park Row so pray that we can pull that off financially along with the other financial responsibilities we want to put in order before we leave. Finally, at least for now, pray that God continue to give us the strength to make it through this holiday season. It will be the first for Jonah and we are excited. He won’t know it from any other day this year but – Lord willing – we will just be together this year as a family.
Remember we have 4 months until we move so we would love to say goodbye to as many of you here in the great Northwest as we can. With love and peace that only Jesus can bring – God bless.

Missing it!

2005-12-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

Man oh man! I am sitting here at home and I am blessed. My son is giving his "Evenflo" exersaucer a work out as he jumps in it, and my wife will be home soon. If I take the time to think about it I can truely count my blessings, but there is still a part of my heart that is in joyfull sadness. That sadness comes from the fact that I won't be in Africa this year. I will miss the people, the smells, and the fellowship. I will pray for the Graul family and wait for God to send me back. Alasha has said she will make the trip with me next time, and for those of you that know my wife; you know that is big. So keep us in your prayers and pray for our brothers and sisters in Afrcia.

Make Me Wanna Dance

2005-12-03T16:29:00.000-08:00

OK! Let me first tell you of a story that happened to me when I was in Acappella. We were on tour and I had not too long started singing with the group when we found ourselves in Chicago, Illinois. I can remember driving through Gary, Indiana coming into Chicago from the South side and being in awe. You have remember we visited city after city so it wasn't that this city was so much different than the others I had visited it was that we were about to enter Oprah land. Ok, so I am kidding. Now to the real story.

I was listening to one of my new albums and like a good album can do, it led me to another artist. Now the thing about music is that you can find out about people who have been right under your nose the whole time and you just didn't know it. I was listening to Kirk Franklin's album "Hero" and I came across cut #8 Could've Been and I became a little "undignidfied" as my man Avery Stafford would say. The beat drops on that track and if you are like me; a big country smile comes on your face like that guy in the Buger King commercials. Then the singing starts and you are hooked. This song has a secret weapon at the end of it which also guess vocals Tye Tribett . It comes in the form of an intoxicating tenor voice. I tried to ignore it at first but ya'll know me. It wasn't long before I was researching the person behind that voice and it led to me to someone who has been around for a little time: J. Moss. J. Moss has been in gospel for a while, but has also worked with people like Boyz II Men, Waner Brothers Films, Mary Mary etc. He is one third of the hit making producing duo PAJAM. Paul Allen and Walter Kearney are the other two.

I am still worshiping with this album. I must tell you that this album makes me want to be a complete David (2 Samuel 6:14). After a few more listens andI will review it for ya, but I have to let it marinate a little more. I'll get back to ya when I can.

Oh Yeah! Thank you to my Mentee' for the gift of J. Moss. God bless you!

Thanksgiving!

2005-11-29T16:56:00.000-08:00

Thank you Father for this day. Amen!

I am glad God created food. And I am even more glad that He has shown me He is my Living Water, may I never be thirsty again.

Catching Water

2005-11-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

I just witnessed one of the coolest things you could see. Tonight it was bath night for Jonah and that is just a fun time for Alasha and I. I can remember the first time we put him in the tub. It was the funniest thing you want to see. Jonah has this look that says’ “uh, what are you doing with me? Did you take a parenting class to handle me? You are making me nervous.” He gives this look to anyone he meets for the first time and to people who introduce him to new things (toys, foods, etc). So when we put him in the tub and he just sat there looking at us, we were laughing very hard, trying not to scare him. Eventually he got the idea that it was ok and struck the water, both hands – hands down, and it shot back up in his face. Again he had that look on his face that said, “hey what is stuff doing to me”. After a while he was playing and having a good time.
I guess the thing that inspired me to write this blog is what I just saw Jonah trying to do. Alasha turned the water on to fill the tub back up as the water slowly drains out of our tub. All of a sudden Jonah was reaching out with both hands trying to catch the water stream coming out of the faucet. His hands keep clapping together as he tried to catch the water. It was hilarious. His big brown eyes getting bigger than ever as he tried with all his might to catch the water stream. He would look back at Alasha and then try again. The funny thing is as I was watching him, and he not knowing that he couldn’t watch the water; it dawned on me that there are a lot things I know I can’t do yet I continue to try, or questions I don't know the answer to. I suppose you will here this message from me a lot. I just want to remember that know matter what – “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”(Rom 7:25 NLT) God Bless You!

Chris Rice's Amusing album review

2005-11-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

The first thing I need to say is that if you have not heard of Chris Rice that is ok. I mean you have been choked off from one of Christian Music’s premiere song writers, but that happens. OK, now for those of you who have heard of Chris, you will know what I mean when I say his latest gift to us is yet another example of man getting out of Gods way; and allowing himself to used up in a beautiful way.
“Amusing” has 11 tracks and they all offer a little something different to encourage to Jesus follower and those who are not. The album starts off with a Prelude and that is simply a cool rock-a-billy sounding intro to the first cut – Love Like Cray. This is probably the most rocking song on the album and it is a call for God people to start loving one another in a radical way and then spreading that love to a world searching. When Did You Fall is a groovy tune that seems to have a double meaning – asking the question when did the object of his affection fall in love with him? This is one of those songs that could mean a earthly love or the love of Jesus. Breakfast Table is a beautifully written ode to Heaven and perhaps someone in Chris’ life who has gone on before him. The nice thing about this song is that it is written in three-four which gives one the feeling of dancing around heaven. The Final Move is set cleverly in the middle of a chess game. It talks about how in the game of life we may come across things that make life tough but Love (Jesus) has the final move.
I could go on and talk about every song on this album individually but that would take more time than I have at this point. Know this, Chris Rice has again struck gold with an album that speaks to us in many ways and pulls on the right heart stings as we walk towards heaven. Pick it up and be encouraged. God bless you all.

Sunday @ PUMP church

2005-11-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was a blast. I was reminded of so many things, the main being - God rocks! Let me tell you how.
At PUMP we are running a curriculum for our children called 252 Basics. The cirriculum is awesome. It is a small group set-up for children grades k - 5. It consists of 3 different meetings for the children. They start in their small groups to have the topic of the lesson introduced by their small group leaders (teachers) and an activity that supports the topic. This time is called "Catch On". Next, the children come together in a big space where there is a host, a worship leader, and a story teller. These people work together to support the topic in a large group format. This is called "Power Up". Finally the children go back to thier small groups to study the topic more in depth. This is called "Plug In". Anyway, I am the host for our time together. That means I get to basically hang-out wtih the children and keep the flow between the storyteller and the worhshipleader. Well this Sunday when Adam Wolfgang, our worship leader for Power Up, started leading the children I got excited. I was praising God loud and jumping around with the children. I am sure the children thought I had lost my mind but they were praising God also, so we were one big happy family given all praise to God. I don't know if you can picture a 6'2, 300lb man jumping with a bunch of children, but it happened. And everything was great until the song was finished. It was at that point that I realized that was the most exercise I had had in about 2 weeks. I was sweating and searching for my breath somewhere back in the middle of that last song. The rest of the day basically went like that. Ike, our preacher for the day, did a great job summing up the book of Acts. It was a great day.

It was later on that it dawned on me that while I was praising God with the children, I was a child and am a child to God.

Thank you Lord for reminding me how "Great Thou Art"

Your child - Big Steve!

The Power of Encouragement!

2005-11-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

I have recent made some connections to an orginization through Emily our intern for Micah Project here at PUMP. The orginization is POIC (Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center). I am working with the director of mentoring for POIC Kim Filla to work with a group of 5 young men. I will get to encourage those young men and let them know that someone cares. That is a powerful concept. You have heard it said, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all". Well I say, "Find something good to say". For those of you that don't like to come across as "fake" just tell how good God has been to you and tell someone He can do it for them too. I am sure Paul was greatful for Barnabas (Son of encouragement - Acts4:36) upon his return to Jerusalem (Acts 9:19-31)
God bless your day and remember to encouarage.

The Concert!

2005-11-10T23:23:00.000-08:00

I would say that I am tough critic on concerts. It probably comes from going to so many over my short lifetime and then performing in a few. One thing I’ve learned is that music is definitely art. In other words, what one person thinks is trash someone else thinks is beautiful. Well, with that said, the Rascal Flatts concert was great. It was held in the Rose Garden Arena where the Portland Trailblazers play and arenas are just tough to mix in. The opening acts where Keith Anderson and Blake Shelton. Although I see Blake Shelton headlining very soon, he was still considered an opening act. The man can flat out sing. The Lord must have slapped him in the throat and said you are singing country music because he was nice. Keith Anderson is definitely and opening act and I am sure we will see more of him.
Now for the main event: Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, and Joe Don Rooney make up the group Rascal Flatts. The stage was very nice. They keep the party going with hit after hit and few words of funny to keep things light and fun. Some highlights were the man they had playing fiddle, the performance of “God Bless the Broken Road”, and nods to Bon Jovi (You Give Love a Bad Name), Def Leopard (Pour Some Sugar on Me), and Bruce Springsteen’s (Born In the USA). The crowd was electric and definitely ready and Rascal Flatts did not disappoint. Jay DeMarcus (the bass player) is very talented and did a stint at the piano with some Jerry Lee Lewis and Beatles. Joe Don (lead guitarist) sang one or their hits from the first album and then lead everyone in Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places”. Hats off to the techs, riggers, and sound engineers, they did a great job.
Well that was the first even of the Tri – Fecta. I am looking forward to some time with my wife in a more quiet setting tomorrow night. Take care and I will see you all another time.

The Tri - Fecta

2005-11-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

The tri-fecta, a term I have heard from Dick Vitale, an ESPN college basketball analyst, is a term that applies to the next three evenings of my life. When Dick shouts, “and he sank the tri-fecta, baby!” he means a three-point jump shot was made. When I use the term I am referring to the Rascal Flatts concert tonight, the Horton’s are giving Alasha and I a date night by watching Jonah for us, and Saturday night we are going to see a good friend of mine in a jazz group (Mosaique).
Like I have said before, life has been a little chaotic in the Maxwell house so these next couple of evenings should prove a little relaxing and fun for Alasha and I. For those of you who see that the concert is Rascal Flatts , you are not seeing things and I will give a review. I like country music and pop music and this is pop-untry or puntry music. It should be a treat. I will keep you posted.

Any Tips

2005-11-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, it has happened. The next step of baby-kind! The crossing of the immobile threshold! The further graying of the parental unit’s thin graying hair! You ask what I am talking about. I am announcing that Jonah Tobias Maxwell is crawling. Not, just barely getting around, but full blown hand and knee movements. I have to admit he is very cute, but that means we are remodeling (baby proofing) our house. We have had about 5,000 children at PUMP church (Ok, so I am exaggerating) but I am going crazy so I am calling out for tips on dealing with the moving baby! Thanks in advance for your help!
Steve

Why oh Why Didn't I Take the Blue Pill

2005-11-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

I recently had the blessing of attending the Northwest Youth Ministers Seminar hosted by Cascade College. I would say that I was blessed but that would not be a great understatement. It was great. One of the biggest blessings for me was to hear Mike Armour talk to us about “The Nature of Christian Change”. His sessions reaffirmed some things I have looking into.

I was initially moved by Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz”. His book said to me that being a Christian looks a lot different than I have been living; and I know better. I just choose to fit in. Now for someone who has been a Christian for over 20 years that is very sobering. So in light of some other readings: Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Andy Stanley’s 7 Practices of Effective Ministry to mention a few; I have been in the middle of transformation Romans 12:1, 2 style. It has been good but difficult. The thing for me is that I really love my church and I think my church is a church that is taking on the challenge of true transformation. It will be a rough ride, but we are clinging to God and looking forward to the transformation that will take place. Now for those of you that know I am a member of PUMP church I am talking about PUMP church along with all of my brothers and sisters around the world. Pulling people out of the “Matrix” so to speak will be difficult but I think we have hit a generation that is willing to take the red pill.
Having grown up in the South where Jesus is served up like Starbucks coffee, and living out here in the Northwest where that is not the case; I have been blessed to see people in both areas and even other places take a long hard look at their lives. The person who is truely passing through does what they need to survive here but not set up camp here (on earth). I have a freind who does not watch "R" rated movies. Is he extreme? Sounds like to me his is. And that is actually good. Morpheus did not tell Neo jokes as he was pulling him out of the Matrix, but he did stick around to make sure the process (of pulling him out of the Matrix) he started took hold to the point that Neo could function on his own.
I have had times when I wish I had taken the Blue Pill, but the more I learn about Jesus and His reality - the more convinced I am that I made the right choice in taking the red pill.
Colossians 1:27

A Music Buying Spree

2005-11-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know me, please keep me in your thoughts. For you see I have completed a very calculated music buying spree. Calculated means it was in the budget. Anyway, I purchased 4 albums that have blessed me in different ways. I purchased Nickel Creek’s “Why Should the Fire Die?”, Sara Groves’ “Add to the Beauty”, Chris Rice’s “Amusing”, and Kirk Franklin’s “Hero”. Now I need to say that these albums are all very good. I am still digesting them so I can not give a review just yet, but know that one is coming. Knowing me I will refer to these albums in future blogs.
I highly recommend Sara and Chris no matter what I have to say in the future because they are anointed with the gift of song writing. Now Kirk Franklin’s album is in heavy rotation at my house and you can ask Jonah – there is not one song even close to sorry. This album is extraordinary, but like I said I will do a review later. Nickel Creek's album has great musicianship and clever lyrics. Some of the lyrics, however; are questionable and those of you who get the disc and listen carefully, you will see what I mean. But it is nice.
Oh well, until then take care and God bless whoever it was that dropped Fred Hammomd’s DVD off at my house for a minute. Peace!

God things from God's people.

2005-10-31T08:20:00.000-08:00

Things went pretty well this weekend. Alasha had to close at Starbucks for her last 3 days of training and Jonah and I missed her. But other than that things went good. I have been deliberate about looking for God in the people I interact with daily. Things are pretty stressful right now and being God’s child I know He’s got my back. It just helps me to be able to recognize Him around me when my faith is being tested. Now I realize I could go into a lovely discussion on – “how do I know which things God had a hand in?” And I guess my smart-aleck response would be – “Since I believe He made the whole world, He must be involved in it”. OK, that was random, back to what I was saying. Here is where I saw God this past week:

Ø Allan and Jason coming into the PUMP house to do Micah Project work with big smiles on their faces. (2 computer geniuses together hmm.)
Ø Hanging out with Logan @ Cascade and Taco Bell
Ø Watching my son get very happy when Danni and Jessica come to baby sit
Ø Finding my Graul children seriously hanging out on Saturday morning with dad
Ø Watching yet another great performance by Visions from Cascade College
Ø Getting a big bear hug from Dave Astin every time I see him no matter where I see him.
Ø Watching Trinity and Conner come from walking with Kaelea and hearing them say, Hi, Big Steeeeeve!
Ø Watching the big smile on my beautiful wife’s face when we finally bought Jonah’s bedding and mobile and hamper and.. you get the picture.
Ø Watching Dante’s face light up when AP and I went into the hospital room to see him.
Ø Watching Jim Grace cry as we sang with him in the nursing home

I could keep going but I will stop here and say I have been blessed with a great church and friends and I love and appreciate all of you, though I may not show like I should. God is here in this place and I can’t wait until Jesus comes to take us all home. In the mean time let’s tell others how you see God in your daily life.

God Inspires Through Africa

2005-10-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

I can still remember meeting Allan and Kristi White when I got to PUMP. They had a beautiful little girl with one of the coolest names – Trinity. It did not hurt that the movie “The Matrix” had been released and was the talk of many towns for a while. Anyway, it is amazing how God can touch us using people in ways you would never expect. I remember Kristi saying that her Brother Jeff Cash was a missionary in Africa and he and a couple of Ugandans, Kabito David and Kizito Ronald; were coming to the State’s to do some work and visit. At PUMP church we still had just one life group (we have 4 now – thank you Father) and Jeff and his friends came to fellowship with us. The life group was meeting at my house and my wife fixed her baked chicken and stuffing and some dessert that was “right”. Kizito Ronald still talks about that chicken till this day. Sorry I am getting ahead of myself. Anyway, so Jeff talked about how God was working in Africa and we visited with the gentlemen and had a great time.
Later on at Faith Quest (a weekend youth event hosted by camp Yamhill) I had a chance to talk to them more. All of sudden I found myself sitting down with a group of people and the words “yes I will go to Africa” coming out of my mouth. The next thing you know Kristi is telling me how much I will love it and showing me pictures. Ike Graul, one of my good friends and co-ministers, is also making the trip. The shots, reading, and fundraising ended with me walking off a plane in the most beautiful place I had ever seen. And I have been a few places: 49 of our United States, Europe, Brazil, etc. The real beauty came when I got to witness the work going on by the Cash’s as they are Jesus to their family in Africa.
I will stop for now, but trust me there will be more to come. God bless the Cash’s and all the others ministering in Uganda and all over the world.

World Series 2005

2005-10-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

Man oh man what a World Series! I gotta tell ya I was glued to my TV set watching the games. It is amazing to think of the concentration and hard work put in by the teams that did not make the series not to mention the ones who did. The White Sox’s pitching was “ridiculously good”, from the starting rotation to the “crazy good” bullpen. I wonder what in the world Bobby Jenks has to do to throw a baseball 100mph and hit a glove just over 60feet away. I do know I would not want to have to hit that. I guess my friends and family say the same to me when I eat ribs and chicken and the bones look as if they have been prepared by an archeologist. :-) We each have our talents.
One day I will get the chance to see a playoff game, Lord willing. Until then I will play catch with whoever wants to and catch a game here and there. Cnograts White Sox and great job also Astros. And now on to the tipping of basketballs all around the US.

Perspective

2005-10-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Galatians 6:2 says, “Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ”. (NLT)
I have been doing some hard reflection on my life as a professional minister. I believe I was made to do this thing called ministry for a number of reasons. I must admit to you that the “reason” I like to cling to the most has to do with the fact that God sent Jesus to take the punishment for my sins and to satisfy God’s anger against me. That is something I get. I have a lot of friends that could take this passage and go really deep with it deciphering this word and that; making really cool applications, and that actually is a very good thing to do in quiet time and times of good group study of scripture. To me I read: watch out for others, help others, try and give others the benefit of the doubt, and when push comes to shove remember they are somebody bought and paid for with blood.
For a more in depth perspective check out Romans 14 and 15:13. Thanks Lord for the insight.

Just Sittin' Here

2005-10-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

I could have a lot of things going through my head at any given and for some that could be scary. Right now, I am thinking about random stuff. I recently talked to Bret Testerman, a good friend and worship minister in Florida, and he was telling me about something that happened while he attended the 2005 ZOE conference in Nashville not to long ago. He explained to me how there was a lot of Acappella Alum (www.acappella.com) there and they decided to get together and jam instrumentally. He mentioned that it was spurred on by George Pendergrass and a good friend of his that played guitar. Bret told how Barry Wilson, Nick Dunbar, and others were around singing and having a good time. It made me feel good to hear him say that they were talking about I would have loved to be singing with them.
It might seem crazy that I would even relay this event, but it says to me that God followers can hang out, have a good time and still be popular. Now the word “popular” is relative, but I think those who know any of the people I mentioned will understand what I mean. Thank you God for inventing fellowship.

2005-10-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

Ok. I am here listening to Bebo Norman's, " Nothing Without You", and I have not totally reached that place, but I am on my way there. There is something about the day that helps me to look forward to the next, because the next day brings me one more day closer to being with Jesus.

2005-10-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

Alright!
Here we go. I am blogging. This is a cool thing. Of course, unlike my friends that do this, I am late to the latest computor thing. But that is me. Now if it has to do with music recording that is a different thing. I tell you what, the internet is a powerful tool and just in case someone who does not know me comes across this blog let me tell you a few things.
#1 I love God, now I am often frustrated by God, but there you go. I try to remember His thoughts are so far above mine that I am probably just as frustrating to Him. #2 I love my wife. It is not one of those things where "she completes me". I don't want to put that kind of presure on anyone but God. I tell what my wife does do: she works at loving me no matter what and that makes me want to work harder at loving her. I have to admit, we have known each other 14 years and been married 5 of those, and we still have puppy love going on. #3 My son, Jonah, is from heaven - directly! You can see picture's of him if you visit the bloggs of Emily Wallace or Amanda Peterson or visit www.pumpchurch.org. I would create one of those cool link thinggies to their bloggs but I haven't talked with my computor specialist, Ike Graul, for assistance. Well this is long enough for a first blogg! The World Series is on. Peace