Rich's Travels

By now, everyone knows the incredible story of the rescued Chilean miners, but not many of us know the story behind the story.

You can see the story here from CNN.

You can also check out the story from the Jesus film (part of Campus Crusade for Christ)

In CCC, we no longer refer to things as “campus”, but rather “student-led”.  Frankly speaking, students don’t really need staff help in reaching their campuses.  This is a great example of why we need to empower students to reach the world for Christ…..

This short film reminds me of my pre-K (pre-Kourtney) days…

This film is part of a greater collection of short films found at the www.globalshortfilmnetwork.com. It’s pretty funny, but don’t you think there might be a greater issue going on here with the lead character? (hint, hint see the title of the film).

That’s right, this guy is pretty lonely.  How many of us can identify with feeling lonely in life?  Did you know what the first thing that God said was “not good” after creation (Genesis 2:18) Do any of you have a long term maybe spiritual solution to lonliness?  If so, why don’t you share this film with a friend and talk about how you deal with your lonliness and if there is someone who has taken away your lonliness?

Do you see other themes in this short film?  If so, let me know and let’s begin the discussion.

A blogference?  What the heck is that?  All of us in CCC are professional conference attendees.  We kiss our families or shake our roommates’ hands goodbye and fly half way around the world to listen to great speakers and interact with other like minded people on a particular issue that concerns us all.  Great stuff there and I have many memories of some great conferences I have attended in my lifetime.  In fact, Dr. Bill Bright founder and President of Campus Crusade has been attributed as saying, “If I had to do it all over again, I’d have more conferences.”  Many a person’s life has been changed by a conference they have attended.

However, what about all those who weren’t able to attend?  Work, family life and especially finances can play a huge role in whether or not one is able to attend a conference.  What if we were able to eliminate many of those obstacles? (especially the finances in this day and age!).  I think someone has come up with a great alternative.  It’s called a “blogference” (hopefully, Urban dictionary definition coming soon).  Basically, a great way to “listen” to a lineup of “speakers” based on a theme (this year’s theme is “re-think”) except the CCC blogference links you to the speakers blogs where you read what they are saying and are able to express your thoughts and opinions on the subject presented.  Pretty cool, huh? (at least I think so).

So, check it out.  No time away from the family, the conference is free and even better no long security lines at the airport and best of all…no bad airline food (if you are even lucky enough to get a meal!).  See you there!

Here is the latest about Joseph from my facebook page.  As usual, it is Kourtney that writes these updates. Thanks for praying for him and continue to pray.  Our journey continues with his asthma.

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement of our family this season. We have officially passed the halfway mark of our time in Denver and are beginning to think through preparations for our return to Orlando. Here is an update on the last leg of our journey.

Get out your Kleenex…

Joseph is thriving. It’s like we have a new child in our home. I don’t know any other way to say it, but each day we see more and more of who God made him to be. Probably the most enjoyable part for us is that he cracks well-timed jokes with a precious little grin on his face. His abdominal pain is gone. He doesn’t have bowel issues anymore unless he is exposed to gluten (Mom’s fault twice). He’s gained weight for the first time in over a year. He’s continued to grow taller. He is on the lowest possible dose of asthma medicine.

The Celiac Disease experiment turned out to be very fruitful. With our lead doctor’s blessing, we chose to omit the small intestine biopsy and remove gluten from his diet (no easy feat, we assure you). We began in January and almost immediately saw relief from his abdominal pain and bowel issues. We are still addressing his GERD symptoms, but we have been encouraged by our nutritionist that there is a huge chance that those will cease eventually. His asthma has continued to be much less severe here in Denver. We are hopeful that as his immune system continues to heal (CD is an auto-immune disease) that he will grow stronger and healthier. We met with the top endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital, and he said that Joseph absolutely does not need to be on growth hormones.

Our weeks ahead include more testing to ascertain his overall lung function at this juncture, 2 trips to the nutritionist, a gastroenterologist, our endocrinologist and our last few visits with our lead doctor. We are still uncertain exactly how much his asthma is impacted by his Celiac Disease or if they are separate issues altogether.

There are a few questions that many of you have asked:

1. What happens if Joseph eats gluten?

He has an immediate and violent bowel reaction + abdominal pain. Gluten hides in the most unlikely places (i.e. Powerade as we learned the hard way at the top of a mountain a few weeks ago. It wasn’t pretty, but he handled it with such humor and courage that I wanted to weep, giggle at his jokes, and worship God simultaneously).

2. What about our other family members?
We are all eating gluten-free at this point as it is frankly just easier than doing it the other way. Because Rich’s Dad has the same gluten-issues and CD doesn’t always present as dramatically as it has in Joseph, we will eventually explore David and Rich’s situations. Right now, they are being INCREDIBLY good sports and are eating G-free and donning the same supplements as Joseph.

3. FUTURE? What about our geographic future?
Our lead doctor said last week that she believes that we will know within 3 months of returning to Orlando if Joseph will be o.k. in the Florida humidity long-term. This is definitely the hardest part of journey right now for us. We have always wanted to be in Colorado long-term. We love our friends here and have made new friends, too, who have become very special in a short time; however, being here has showed us how much we LOVE/ADORE/MISS our roots in Orlando with our ministry teams, our home, our church, and the friends that God has given us. Feeling up in the air about the permanence of our return is unsettling. We are thankful that we work for such an incredible organization that is willing to allow us to serve from here as it has completely changed our lives. We are trusting that God will continue to lead and provide in this part of the story.

Please don’t stop praying. We have miles to go before we sleep, but we are definitely celebrating at this leg of the race!

With Love and Thankful Hearts,

Kourtney + the boys
www.hearditonthestreet.com/kourtney

I read this quote today and feel like it captures my heart for this journey to help Joseph!

“It is not enough to put your heart and soul into something..

The really important things require much more than that.”