The craziness I was certain would ensue over the last few days did indeed do just that. Throw on top of what my last blog included having to sign papers for a new lease option on the house, a couple trips all over the great state of Indiana to pick up concrete blocks, getting info together for a refinance, fixing 2 cars that broke down, and nasty weather that makes footers really muddy and wet for building concrete block walls, and you’ve got a span of time where I can sleep for 9 hours straight and feel like I never even went to bed! It’s all been good stuff, but I’ve been worn out, to say the least. However, I’m sure you don’t want to hear me whine the entire time, so here are some relevant things to update you on:

Melissa is doing great with her pregnancy. She will be halfway in 2 weeks and hasn’t had the first bit of nausea. We are thanking God daily for that. Her energy is still good, her emotions have been stable (also thanking God for that), and she’s still been able to work out, get stuff done around the house, and spend time with friends. She leaves tomorrow morning to see family in NC so please be praying for her safety as she travels.

I leave tomorrow morning for Chicago, where I fly out for Haiti on Saturday. I leave in the evening and fly to New York La Guardia. From there, I have all night to make it over to JFK, where I leave on Sunday morning for Port au Prince. Once there, our group will camp in the wilderness where we’re building a compound that will be the first church camp in the whole country. We’ll spend 3 days there and then head into the city of Perido to work at an orphanage for 2 days. We fly out of Haiti on Saturday, transfer planes in Miami and fly back down to Puerto Rico for 3 days with another missionary friend of our named Craig. He and his wife are preaching and teaching school in San Juan. We’ll help them in any way we can and plan to fly back to the States on April 8, one day after my birthday (I gladly accept cash or check)!

Our dog, Maximus, is fantastic! At 5 months, he is already better behaved than our other dog ever was. Speaking of our other dog, Sadie went to live at a cattle farmer’s house since she is a cattle dog and needed to have a job to get rid of some of her energy. To make a long story short, she decided that part of her job was to attack and try to kill some of the farmer’s calves. So, now she is in Heaven, or wherever animals that attack other animals entirely unprovoked get to go. I’ll let you decide in your own mind. It was a bit sad to hear the news, but with Maximus curled up below my feet and staring up at us as I type this, while eating corn muffin pancakes with homemade maple syrup (us, not him), it’s hard to be real torn up. He really is quite an awesome dog! Here’s a picture of the beast:

His Royal Highness, Sir Maximus

Wow, what a week it’s been! Since last Sunday, I have preached at 3 churches, offended people for preaching the difficult truth of Scripture in one of those churches, torn off and put back on a roof for a guy named Doc, become friends with a cute little Pit Bull named Ellie, and sworn off anything but fruits and vegetables for at least 10 days. This week doesn’t hold the promise of any slow down, as we’re digging and putting in 150 ft of footers for our Third World Village compound wall, I’m speaking on Wednesday night and Sunday morning at 2 different churches, and on top of that I still have to do all the other parts of the job that go into getting ready for 30 some odd weeks of summer camp. Next week there are two church groups I’m in charge of here at camp helping build our Third World Village, the following week I’m in Haiti and Puerto Rico, and the week after that, I turn 29 years young! So, even though I’m still on the short side of 30, I’m feeling much older of late. Now, I’ll clarify some of those random things I mentioned above.

First, we are building a compound here at camp to replicate what one would experience if he was to spend time in a 3rd World Country. Our village will be complete with an 8 ft high concrete block wall (garnished with broken glass set in concrete), several small “huts” built out of leftover and otherwise unusable material, and hopefully some fainting goats that can mill around and pass out if someone scares them! If you’ve never heard of these curious creatures, check it out online, or watch an old episode of “Dirty Jobs.”

Second, I will indeed be heading off to Haiti and P.R. for 11 days to work on building the only Christian Camp in Haiti, spend some time with children at an orphanage near Perido, and visit with some dear friends of the camp who are missionairies in P.R. It should be a great trip, but, since I am so fond of spending time with Melissa, it will be rough being gone that long. Please pray for a successful trip and that God uses us in remarkable ways.

Third, we had a staff retreat here at camp last week and talked about the idea of setting ourselves aside for Christ (the fancy Bible word is consecration). It got me thinking about Daniel in the OT when he refused to eat any of the Babylonian’s fancy food and lived for roughly 3 years on nothing but veggies and water. As such, many of us on staff decided to take 10 days and live like Daniel. Fortunately, in that period, vegetables meant fruits, veggies, legumes, and nuts. So, Melissa and I have been living on red beans, brown rice, and fresh veggies, most of which we top with salsa or olive oil. Sound gross? It’s actually been very satisfying and a fun exercise! Sometime, just for fun, mix up red and black beans, lentils, and brown rice. Cover it with fresh avocado and roasted green peppers, and then cover that with salsa! It is true veggie goodness! Got any good veggie meal ideas? Pass them our way (Big Blue, if you’re reading this, give me your favorite recipe, please!) The only thing we’ve really been missing from time to time is chicken, eggs, other beverages, and the occasional piece of bread or dessert. Other than that, we’re happy as can be. I’ve also lost 6 lbs in the 5 days we’ve been doing the diet thus far, and I eat until I’m stuffed almost every meal.

So, there’s a rundown of my life for the past few days and what to expect to hear about in the near future. Feel free to share recipes, thoughts on life, aboriginal hunting customs, or what’s been happening in your world. We might not be able to answer everyone, but be love hearing from you all. Take care of each other out there.

Many have asked what happened to the rest of the videos from our recent AT thruhike and I wanted to let you know they are in the works. The moderator for our site while we were gone is also the video editor and he’s been swamped with a new baby, lots of other work, and basically just life. He told me he will work on those and get them out ASAP. Thanks for your patience and look for the rest of the trip soon.

Any “24″ fans in the reading audience? I can speak for Melissa and me when I say that is my favorite show on television. There are very few things we watch we will rearrange our schedule for, and “24″ is one of those things. The concept of a 24 hour day (that’s what most of our days are) playing out over a 24 episode season is brilliant, the acting is superb (as long as you can take Kiefer yelling everything he says), and the writing is some of the best drama on TV. For those who don’t watch the show, you should go rent all 6 seasons, as long as you have a stomach adapted to digest a fair amount of violence, pain, and death. Otherwise, you can just watch the news and get the same stuff, just brought to you by men in makeup with bad hairpieces!

This season started out with what has become a hot topic for many of my friends of late. Jack Bauer, the central character on the show, has successfully saved the country, our President, and countless other millions from terrorists threats and attacks during these last 6 seasons. He has given up everything, including family, status, and relationships, in an effort to serve and protect the country he loves. However, in the midst of his heroics, he has engaged in activity that many would consider unacceptable, especially when it comes to interrogation of suspects. In the end, he always gets the info he needs, but often it involves such brutal tactics as drug injections, breaking of bones, pinpoint shooting in non-vital areas of a person’s body, and most recently, repeated jolts with a stun gun, almost resulting in the death of another American citizen who was involved in a terrorist plot. Due to his M.O. when it comes to interrogation of suspects, he is on trail before our own government for criminal charges of torture, among other things. The senator leading up the case against Bauer, played by a rather straight-faced version of Red from “That 70’s Show,” makes a strong case that torture, for any reason, is wrong. Obviously, opinions about that are strong and run from one end of the spectrum to the other. Thus, the source of many conversations of late.

So, I leave it to you: How should we view and should we condone the use of torture in order to get information from someone when national security is at stake? I’m looking for opinions from an American perspective, a Christian perspective, and any other perspective you might want to throw in. I’m a work in progress, I guess, as it relates to all this. I can see both sides and struggle with knowing that real life situations like this actually do take place. So, since my last blog entry didn’t get very many comments, write early and often on this one and let me know that you think.