7holycrap The Book

Keep Calm and Shut Your Pie Hole

Keep Calm Pie Hole
From Chapter 13 – The Do’s and Don’ts

“One thing that is important to do with someone going through pain is just to spend time with them without talking about what they are going through.”

I have an entire chapter where I discuss what TO say and do and the things NOT to say or do with someone going through pain. Before I got sick I didn’t realize the power of having a totally unrelated conversation with someone could be so refreshing and actually help me get my mind off of the situation I was in. We don’t need to have all the right answers for people in pain and just by reaching out and offering to connect, you can have a greater positive impact than you could imagine.

If you have someone you know going through something painful it may be time to reach out to him or her and not attempt to psychologically deduce what is going on or ask 400 questions about their situation. When you actually DON’T ask them about all the details of where they are in life I am fairly sure you will pleasantly shock them. Just being there for people can be more than 1,000 words could ever say.

Have a great night and week!

7holycrap Jesus thoughts, Uncategorized

I Prayed for You, Yes YOU!

prayingGuy
If you are reading this post, right now and at this very moment, you have been prayed for. As I type this post I am praying for each person that visits my website and needs to know that someone cares to pray for them to hang on one more day and find a functioning relationship with God. The cool thing about prayer is that it doesn’t need to be happening the moment someone has a need. It is a conversation with God that says, “God, whatever you have cookin up in heaven, make it also so down here with your glory, provision, direction and hope for people when they need it and not based on when I think it should be given.” That is JUST a teenie weenie smidgen of the awesomeness of God.
Love you all and know you have been PRAYED for.

7holycrap Holy Crap

Holy Crap! The Reason for a Book

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7holycrap Holy Crap

Holy Crap Book Info and Ways You Can Help!

TeaFactory
The pic above is from the Celestial Seasonings tea tour with my mom and Yolanda. It’s in this post just for a laugh! Haha

We are only a few short days away from my book being available on my publisher’s website this coming Tuesday, June 7th. I wanted to make people aware of some things that they can do to help get the word out about my book and helping it get into the hands of people who I believe really need to be encouraged by my story.

If you can buy my book on the http://www.electiopublishing.com website the week of June 7th that would be AWESOME. I really want to show my publisher that there is a need for the book even before the full release on June 28th. I am not sure how long you would have to wait to get the book once you order it from them but you will be the first to get one before anyone else. If you are in town or at one of the book releases we are planning then you can bring it and I will sign it if you would like.

The FULL release of Holy Crap will be on June 28th and that is about the time I will have the author copies available that Yolanda and I are ordering. We are planning a probable book release here in Denver and a few other states possibly (think of states I have lived in…:) and will have books with me for you to buy. We are using the new Square credit card readers (that include the chip readers and apple pay, android pay, etc.) we will be able to process card payments as well as cash.

Once you read the book, even if you didn’t buy it on Amazon.com, if you could go to Amazon and leave a review once it is up after June 28th that would be stupendous (and I don’t just throw those kinds of words around 🙂 The interesting thing is that the “normal” book world looks at Amazon reviews to see how a book is doing and also can encourage big box bookstores, like Barnes & Noble, to carry a book if it is popular enough.

If you have ANY connections at all to people who could help get the book into areas of your town or state (radio, TV, bookstores, etc.) please notify me so we can chat (Facebook also works to connect) about how to maybe get the book into your area.

I will have window decals available (cut out 3M lettering that will look sweet and not goofy looking) of my website HolyCrapBook.com that I want to encourage people to put on their car windows to help us promote the book over the summer. I will have these decals in the next couple of weeks and can get them to people in Denver but will also be willing to ship them to you if you would like one.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, please be praying for the next few months of my life and the things that we believe God wants to do with the book. As I have said to many people and from the beginning, we are not thinking of this as a moneymaker as much as a ministry to people hurting and ready to give up. I am especially trying to get the book into people’s hands who do not go to church.

Thanks everyone!!  I am sure excited for the future and using such a crappy and painful time in my life to have greater meaning than, “Hey! I made it!”

7holycrap Orphanage Trips

#NepalOrphanage Trip – A Wonderful Trip to Nepal

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Well, Yolanda and I believe that it was the best trip we have taken to Nepal to go see the kids, our orphanage manager and his family. Everyone is doing well and we even got to see the kids that are fully transitioning out of the home and into real life as young adults. It is a strange and wonderful thing to see our kids growing up into men and ladies to be productive members of society.

I definitely saw the fruit of our decision to college educate all our kids. Some are becoming chefs, some are getting business management degrees and others are working in the travel industry as hotel management staff. I also spoke with one of our kids who is getting ready to enter his last year of college in business management. He said that he wants to be able to run a business and then do ministry around the area, which is awesome and proves the point that you don’t have to be in full time ministry to be able to minister to hurting people who need to hear about Jesus.

Yolanda and I were able to bring a suitcase of supplies as well as some fun things and luxuries for the kids to enjoy. There were many people who got involved in giving and we appreciate everyone’s gifts!

We were able to go shopping for basic supplies the homes needed as well as spend time hanging out with the kids and it was great. We had a worship night with other kids from the area and I was able to share a word about the importance of not just being a worship “performer” but living a lifestyle of worship. We also had a BBQ with the kids and played some games and got to just catch up talking. I loved this trip as well because the kids are getting older and easier to talk to because they trust that we are going to take care of them and want to be involved in their lives. Yolanda and I presented 10 study Bibles to kids who have graduated from High School (a gift that Yolanda and I have committed to each kid).

We were also able to go and look at land that is available in the area to possibly purchase and build our own compound with buildings for the boys, girls, our manager and a dorm area for people who would like to come and visit with us and work with the kids on trips. Please pray with us about this as it would involve quite a bit of money but we know that the home is God’s and He is going to take care of the kids as we listen and are obedient to do what He directs.

Yolanda and I want to bring a group of people back with us in October of 2017 so we made a site visit to the Chitwan National Park and stayed at a wonderful resort while there, Landmark Forest Park. Everything was wonderful and we got to see many things with walks into the local village an elephant safari and jeep safari! We made great new friends and a possible place to bring people so they can enjoy the culture and get to see a part of the world that many people from America never get to see.

At the end of the trip we spent a few days in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which was a great time of relaxing and winding down before heading home to the USA. Yolanda and I feel it is SUPER important to not just do ministry in life and miss the wonderful world that God has created and all of the interesting and amazing people in it.

Thanks to everyone who prayed while we were gone and will continue to pray for our kids. We have a great burden to see them all succeed and with the kids growing older they can present new challenges as teenagers and not little kids anymore. We also have some newer young kids that have come into the home and want the older ones to be a good influence on them and not bad ones.

Please pray also about possibly supporting the Children’s Home of Love. We never want to share only about need because we are about giving people vision for what we want to see happen and motivate people to team up with us. We know that God will bring in what is needed at the right time. He has been with us from the beginning and will continue to lead us to help change our little corner of the world, seven thousand seven hundred and twenty four miles away, one child at a time.

7holycrap Orphanage Trips, Orphanage Update

Nepal Update – Enjoy the World!

      
We travelled to a hotel/resort in the Chitwan Valley area for a few days to investigate something for people to do in addition to working with the orphanage when we bring people to Nepal on future trips. We did a couple of different safari’s yesterday (rhino pic above) and will do a canoe trip today with a guide. It has been wonderful to spend a few days here before we get back to Kathmandu and spend 4 more days with our kids. 
Yolanda and I think it is important to always spend time in whatever part of the world you are in and experience the culture and expand your world view. I think many times in life we get so focused on “doing the work of the Lord” that we don’t take time to really see and experience the world around us. Plus, I know that we are spreading the love of Jesus to this part of Nepal just by interacting with the people we meet and also praying over the land that we are setting foot on. 

I hope that there are people reading these updates and getting excited to come to Nepal with us next year and experience everything we see when we come here! 

It’s off to another day of adventure and letting the love and heart of Jesus shine through our actions not only with the kids we love and support, but also the people we will come in contact with today. Think about your interactions today. Are you letting Jesus shine through you? 

7holycrap Uncategorized

Update from Nepal and a Lesson from the Supermarket

   
 
Yesterday we had a full day of shopping for the kids for a years worth of supplies and then went to look at land to possibly purchase and build a compound a few miles outside the city. Everything in the city is expensive and it would be wise to invest in our own land and buildings that we know are safe and for all of our kids to be in the same area versus spread out in houses around town. We are praying about the timing and funds for such a huge transition.

When I go to foreign countries I always go to grocery stores and try to find funny English names on products that don’t match or are misused. I saw some soap today that said “whitening” soap. I had to think for a minute what whitening soap was and figured it out to my disgust. 

Most products here in Nepal are from India which has a Cast system that basically deems people with lighter skin of a higher class in society. The “whitening” soap is a sales ploy for people of darker skin to think that if they wash with this soap it will make their skin lighter so they would look more like a Brahmin class person. 

It is ridiculous to try and be someone you are not to be treated better in society. When we realize that we are the full righteousness in Christ and he created us just the way we are for a reason then we will begin to live with a focus on loving others because we love ourselves. 

Have a great day!!

7holycrap Uncategorized

Do We Worship, Worship? 

We attended church yesterday morning as our first thing on our Nepal orphanage trip. We started worship and it contained songs that I used to sing when I was first in ministry in the 90’s and even a couple when I was growing up in church. No Hillsong. No Bethel. No fancy new or hip songs to help entertain the crowd and make sure everyone knew that the church could compete with the best concert in town.

I had a REAL revelation about our church services in America. PLEASE hear me. I am not saying that all of the worship songs and the new songs that are coming from supernatural revelation are bad, but that we have lost our focus. 
Every time Yolanda and I come to Nepal and sing songs that have been around for years we feel the same presence of God as any of the hottest new tunes that we seek out for worship services back home. I am also not saying that we need to do all “classic” worship songs but to be careful about deeming the “spiritual level” of a song purely based on its newness and “hipness”. 

The only way our worship services can have the true power that people need is when we realize that the only thing the church has is the Holy Spirit and His power in their lives. Worship is to open a door and let the power of God touch people’s lives. I think many times, we stare at the beautiful and ornate “door” of worship instead of simply opening the door and allowing God to walk in and change the atmosphere. 

We also need to stop thinking that the FORM of worship is going to grow our churches more than the FUNCTION of worship which is to make sure people see the worship team lifting up Jesus and not just their beautiful voices. 
When we all realize that people simply need an encounter with Jesus in church as well as in our daily lives we will see the true power of God exhibited without us getting in the way of those transformational moments we all want to see in the lives of others.  

7holycrap Orphanage Trips, Orphanage Update, Uncategorized

Nepal Orphanage Trip 2016 Update! 

  
We had a great Mother’s Day here in Nepal! The picture with this post is of Yolanda standing in the pulpit at the church where she and her mom preached when they came to Nepal about 13 years ago. We had a great Sunday am service and heard a wonderful message about the never ending love of a mother which is like Jesus’ love for us. 
We then spent some time with our home managers and their  kids goofing around and were able to give them the gifts we brought them. It was funny when they were so excited about things we take for granted everyday like ranch dressing mix. 🙂 

We then ordered a delicacy that the kids are never able to eat because it is so expensive, pizza, and had everyone over to our manager’s house to play a bit  and eat dinner together. 
God always gives me reminders about thankfulness and being appreciative of not only the things I have back home but a reminder of the many smiles and relationships here in Nepal. 

It was exciting to see kids that would not really smile when we came just 3 years ago. joking and smiling and enjoying time with their brothers and sisters. 

I am going to do a follow up post to this one in the am (nighttime for all of my USA peeps) about something God showed me during the worship service today. 

Please continue to pray for safety and that tomorrow we would find the best deals in town for the years worth of supplies we are getting tomorrow.