We're Moving...

...to a new blogging website. We'll be in the Chicagoland area for at least a couple more years. However, we will now be blogging at stephenandjessica.wordpress.com. We've enjoyed using blogspot, and it has some very nice features. However, we're moving over to WordPress because they seem to offer more flexibility and greater customization. Anyway, if you're interested in finding out what we're blogging about, visit our new site (click here)!

This is...

Just to let you know we are still alive. It currently escapes our minds what to write about! And instead of making up random sentences regarding spring and what food we're eating, we thought we'd just be outright honest! Inspiration will find us again next week, I'm sure!

Actually, the more I think about it, I do want to share a couple of photos. Jessica was reluctant to let me publish these, but I just want to give you all a brief glimpse of what happens when you stick your nose where you shouldn't :-)

Unfortunately, we've a bit of a problem from time to time with these little critters, but our landlord has provided us with some excellent traps that work well (as you can see)...

I took these pictures because this reminded me of what temptation and sin are like....sometimes the bait looks very good, but like this mouse found out, the consequences can be deadly. He died with his nose on the cheese! Perhaps the worst thing that can happen sometimes is for us to actually get what we think we want...

Thankfully, God has provided a way through every temptation that we face (1 Cor. 10:13). My good friend, David Fry, used to quote James 1:12 ("Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.") when he was tempted to do wrong. Actually, I think that's a great idea...in the end, the crown of life will far outweigh any trials/temptations we've had to face--and I'd take that over the Devil's cheese any day!

Oh The Places We've Been...

It seems like we've been doing a lot of things lately in between these writings! I am very happy to say though that we are home here in Illinois for a full week now. With no where to go or meetings (other than work and studies) to keep. That's a nice feeling. The traveling and all we've done are wonderful too!! We very much look forward to the times when our schedules let us go visit family and do special trips together. Last weekend opened up for us to spend Friday through Monday with our family in Indiana. We haven't been to either of our parents since the Christmas holidays. And we were due for a good dose of family time. Thank you very much Mom and Dad Smith and company for a very fun time eating, catching up, and just being all together!

The past three days we have been attending a marriage conference hosted by Family Life, called "Weekend To Remember." Through a wonderful gift from Stephen's school we were able to attend under a scholarship. The conference was held at a resort about 10 miles from our house which allowed us to stay here at the apartment. Stephen was fully looking forward to the event, where as I was thinking it would just be nicer to stay home. I am very glad that we didn't do that! I highly recommend you visiting www.familylife.com to find a conference nearest to you. The environment was very non-threatening and addressed all spectrums of marriages, bringing biblical truth to the purpose and direction of marriage. This week we will celebrate our 8 month anniversary and are thankful to have had this opportunity to begin actively choosing God's priorities for our marriage. I'll switch over the keyboard to the guy who attended with me now...

Hello. As Jessica has explained, we've been privileged to spend this weekend focusing on our marriage and on God's purposes and plans for us. It's been a wonderful weekend, and we can definitely recommend this event to our friends and family. Pastors and their wives are allowed to go for free. Along with approximately 600 other attendees, we studied such topics as threats to oneness in marriage, how to have good communication, and how to leave a godly legacy. Just for fun, we're including two photos below: one that pictures us before this marriage retreat, and one after (NOTE: this picture is done 'tongue-in-cheek' for fun! Jessica and I have had a good first eight months together. Still, we found several very helpful pointers this weekend for how to make our already good marriage even better!)



Before the Conference:



















Afterwards:










This shot is where we would tell each other: "You are NOT my enemy!"

Our Church in Chicago

I (Stephen) wanted to show you all a picture of the church that Jessica and I have been attending since moving to Chicagoland last August. It's the Wesleyan Missionary Church, located about a mile or two from Midway Airport (we hear the planes flying overhead during services). Pastor Tom Reed and his wife, Joyce, have been pastoring here for 50 years! They are wonderful friends, and Jessica and I usually eat Sunday afternoon dinner with them. They have a back bedroom that they have designated as Jessica's room for Sunday afternoon naps. Pastor Reed originally agreed to serve as an interim pastor for this church until they could find somebody else--and he's been doing it ever since...

A fellow God's Bible School & College graduate, Mark McCall, and his wife Jennifer, have been serving as the Associate Pastor beginning this past January. Mark is also attending Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) with me (he's in the M.Div. program).


I am teaching one of the adult Sunday School classes (they have two). We usually have about 12-20 in the class, which meets in the basement of the church. I've been fairly happy with the S.S. curriculum published by Herald and Banner Press (Overland Park, KS). It's called "The Way, Truth, and Life." Of course, I usually do my own research for the lessons, but this S.S. literature seems to do a decent job of explaining the text and providing helpful teaching techniques (in the teacher's edition). No S.S. curriculum is perfect, but I feel fairly comfortable recommending this series. They have various contributors to each lesson (right now my former professor, Allan Brown, is one of the contributors in this quarter's lessons) who focus on different aspects. While this may sometimes take away from the over-arching unity of the lesson, they often provide helpful insights.


My question for those of you who like to comment in response to these posts (any comments would be appreciated!) concerns your own experiences with adult S.S. classes. I think we've all been in classes that could be called 'boring', but hopefully most of us have had the privilege of sitting under interesting teachers and dialoguing about God's Word with other interested students. I'm thankful that there are several in my class who study their lessons during the week and come to class prepared to discuss it. Some of them are not too bashful to speak up in class, and almost all of them participate in reading the scripture lessons. I'm very thankful for the chance to minister through this class while I'm doing doctoral work at TEDS. It's a chance to become a better teacher, as well as to learn from the discussions with these interested and engaged laypeople. The pastor also attends this class (he used to teach it) and adds his practical and perceptive points.


I'm wondering what kind of experiences some of you have had in S.S. classes. I'm especially interested in any advice you might have for me in terms of being an effective teacher of adults (i.e. what you've found helpful or unhelpful in your experiences in attending or teaching adult S.S. classes). It's good to be married to a trained teacher who attends the class and can give me feedback :-)


If any of you have comments I'd love to hear them....


By the way, I should mention what most of you already know, but someone might not realize. Anytime you're reading these posts and see blue text [like Herald and Banner Press (Overland Park, KS)], that means that I've inserted a hyper-link to another website. If you clink on the embedded link, it should take you to another webpage (in this case, the S.S. literature publisher's website).

It's Snowing Again...

I know most of you are getting a laugh out of my new found discoveries of cold weather and snow. I (Jessica) just want you all to know that I have successfully driven in snow now! And after watching these guys with plows on the front of their trucks, whipping around back and forth as they please. . . I think I see one of those trucks in our future too. It would sure make going to work a lot easier! Our temperatures here last week were very "warm," finally above freezing. The bright sunshine that filtered through our days made the huge snow piles disapper and the grass appear again. But looking out now, it's all disappeared again under a new blanket of snow. And to answer many of your questions... yes, I am finally starting to get tired of it. I have March 21st highlighted in my planner. Surely by the first day of spring all the snow will be gone!

The past 3 days I've been sick, sleeping most of the day and then reading a few books here and there. And a new discovery has sneeked its way into my thoughts: this place feels like home. We've had some chances since Christmas, now that we know we'll be here a while longer, to unpack and make our apartment a little bit more homey. Then maybe being sick and getting to cozy up with a book and comforter make it more of a place of rest also. We took some pictures of the living room, that's as far a I got with the camera that day. This is our little living room that also shares spaces with our dining room. It is one big open space. The front door is there beside Stephen, and then off to the right of there is a little hallway that leads to our "spare 'oom", bathroom, and master bedroom. Our set-up is small, but we enjoy it very much. Especially after visiting friends in the area who have so much smaller spaces. We are very thankful to have a pull-out couch and extra double bed. Four weeks ago now I guess, we slept 4 guests in our apartment and this past week we had a friend from Ohio come and stay with us while he was visiting TEDS. And our church family wants to know when our parents are going to come visit now! A couple friends have put in reservations for the spring, so we're looking forward to more family coming whenever they can!

Last but not least I do have to tell you what an excellent help Stephen has been during my illness. He is quite smitten with the help he gave in the kitchen to make this monkey bread. It has to be the best baked good I've ever made, and he is quick to say it's because we did it together. He really did do most of the work, so all the credit goes to him. So now, whenever you can come to visit, Stephen has a quick breakfast yummy he can put together really quick!

Bible Reading Plans

Greetings to all of you out there. Jessica and I have not updated this blog for a couple of weeks, but our plan is to try to update it at least once a week (although we'll probably miss a week here or there, and occasionally publish twice in one week...)

Today, I want to share my excitement about a special Bible that Jessica recently received for free in the mail. It is the English Standard Version Daily Reading Bible (published by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers). This version is organized like a regular Bible, but has dates placed in the margin for the days you are supposed to read different passages. If you follow these dates, you will read through the NT and Psalms twice and the rest of the OT once in a year. It is similar to the plan developed by Robert Murray M'Cheyne (a Scottish minister from the 19th century). If you're not using a plan to read through the Bible and would like to, then check out this website. It shows 13 different reading plans, including M'Cheyne's.

Additionally, Jessica and I have started memorizing Scripture together. It's great to have someone with whom to hide God's Word in your heart. I trust that all of you are reading or listening to the Word of God in some form. Truly, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105 ESV).

Today is is the day that much of the Protestant Church celebrates as Transfiguration Sunday. I preached this morning at our home church here in Chicago about the Transfiguration of Jesus, based on Luke 9:28-36. I'll close this post by quoting the words of one of those eyewitnesses of the Transfiguration, the apostle Peter. Writing later about what he saw, along with James and John, he penned words that also help us to understand what God's Word is:
"16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," 18we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. " (2 Peter 1:16-21 ESV)

It's Cold Outside...

I had to copy the latest weather advisory for our area. The cold has crept into our little apartment, that way we know it's cold outside. Our apartment is the bottom one and never gets cold. We're usually opening windows to let out the heat. Not today. As I sit and write, the current temperature is minus 4, and windchill minus 24.

WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM CST TUESDAY.
THE COMBINATION OF BITTER COLD TEMPERATURES AND GUSTY WINDS WILL RESULT IN DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS OF 20 BELOW ZERO OR COLDER. THE WIND CHILL MAY DIP DOWN IN THE RANGE OF 30 TO 36 BELOW ZERO...ESPECIALLY TONIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING. IF THIS WERE TO OCCUR AND BECOME WIDESPREAD...A WIND CHILL WARNING WOULD BE NEEDED.
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND WIND WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS...RESULTING IN FROST BITE AND HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...DRESS IN LAYERS COVERING EXPOSED SKIN. FROSTBITE WILL OCCUR IN A FEW AS 10 MINUTES IN THESE CONDITIONS.

It's been a few minutes since Stephen went out to start the car for church... he's not back yet. I should probably check on that hypothermia warning for him. Hopefully he doesn't come back in with frostbite either.

Happy February

We are looking forward to being able to share our words and pictures with you all! It's been a beautiful winter so far. These pictures come from our first snow fall the second week in December. That Friday it snowed to make a collective snowfall of 12 to 14 inches. It was my (Jessica's) first snow day from school. We enjoyed playing outside and making homemade soup. We shoveled off the cars and the sidewalk. Since then we've enjoyed the occasional light snow fall. As we are writing now the temperature outside is 10. Quite a change from the temperatures we were used to in Mississippi. Weather forecasts for the next three days have highs in the single digits with wind chills ranging from ten to twenty below. We're ready with our scarves, mittens, and coats! As we've looked at the weather maps it looks like you all are receiving pretty cold winter temperatures too. Looking forward to sharing more later! Enjoy (for some of you the first) photos of our new home!