The Avett Brothers

This has been my favorite music ensemble since the fall of 2007. Check 'em out:

The Journeys of Jitsuya Continued

Predestined to Party!

Greeting Brethren & Sistren!

I would like to cordially invite you to celebrate John Calvin's 500th birthday.

What: Calvin's 500th Birthday Party!
Why: Because we were predestined to party
When: July 10, 6:30-10:00 pm
Where: Georgetown Apartments, Manhattan, KS (Map to Georgetown)

We will have brats, pasta salad (w/ chicken & w/o compliments Jenny Glenn, co-owner of Bluestem Bistro), chips & Tallgrass beer (Ale, Wheat & Kold). Sausage & the Reformation go hand in hand (read about it here: http://everything2.com/node/1730645). Most of the Reformers enjoyed a cold beverage as well. In fact, Luther's wife ran a brewery (read a bit about it here: http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:HNFgtv81M1MJ:helios.augustana.edu/~ew/des/illustrated-articles/su53.html+Katharina+von+Bora+brewery&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a).
There will be a $3-5 suggested donation to cover the costs of food/drink & our speaker.

We are privileged to have Dr. Liam Atchison come share with us the significance of this man to the world in which we live. Read up on the influential French theologian & pastor during the Protestant Reformation here: http://tiny.cc/ZIzAF

Jump on twitter to keep current (http://twitter.com/bendeaver).
If you haven't already, please RSVP to bendeaver@gmail.com. RSVP by this Wed. please!

If you want to invite someone who you think would also enjoy this occasion feel free to forward this on. Just remind them to RSVP.

Check out the following John Calvin quotes:
You cannot know God unless you know yourself. You cannot know yourself unless you know God.

A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.

All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.

Augustine does not disagree with this when he teaches that it is a faculty of the reason and the will to choose good with the assistance of grace; evil, when grace is absent.

Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols.

For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God.

God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.

God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us - as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.

However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.

I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels.

Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?

Knowledge of the sciences is so much smoke apart from the heavenly science of Christ.

Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain.

No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief.

Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness.

The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.

There is no work, however vile or sordid, that does not glisten before God.

There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.

There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.

We must remember that Satan has his miracles, too.

Yet consider now, whether women are not quite past sense and reason, when they want to rule over men.

You must submit to supreme suffering in order to discover the completion of joy.

Manbabies!

GET MORE AT ManBabies.com!

Happy Father's Day Dads!

The San Fransisco & Vegas of the Midwest

This pics are of the Deavers in Eureka Springs, AR and Branson, MO. I did a friend's wedding at the Thorncrown Chapel (beautiful & run by a neat old lady with a great vision for ministering to the tourists). I really enjoyed being the preacher man Friday night & Saturday. After sending $5 & a letter stating my ordination through New Hope Church was legit, the state of Arkansas vested the power in me to make Tim & Aly's knot-tying legal. That was fun. We stayed at the Crescent Hotel (old, haunted, roach-infested & damp but eerily kind of neat at the same time) in Eureka Springs (two words to describe this town are moist & congested). We stayed at the Radisson in Branson. Kate had her first swim (the highlight of the trip). We listened to a time-share-esque presentation at Big Cedar Lodge in order to procure our two nights at the Radisson, $50 in show tix which we used to go to the Titanic Museum & $25 gift card to the Bass Pro Shop. Let me just say, during this part of the trip we truly did crown it up!

Kate's Piano Lesson #1

We're starting early with this girl. Her papa had a bunch of potential musical skills that never came to fruition fully. Perhaps hers will.

There's still life to be lived and music to be played by papa...don't worry!

My Kate!

Check this girl out! She's beautiful! I'm in LA right now and we'll be separated from my three girls until Tuesday afternoon. I'm already feeling those pangs of missing them. Check out my other blog right quick and let me know if I should stick with this one or switch to that one. Click Here.

My wife the trooper!

Maris is a strong woman. Kate doesn't sleep. As soon as she touches the crib mattress the tears well up and the cries begin. I'm really not much help as I'm not at all a night person (unless I've had too much caffeine like tonight...decaf in the morning, coffee at the office, a grande cup from Starbucks this afternoon and half of Michael Spare's special latte...I really have been cutting back though...today was a fluke). Jambo and I sleep. Kate and Maris don't. The world cannot contain all the volumes that could be written on different parenting styles (and I don't even take the time to read the ones that are written). When it comes to so-called sleep training we're at a loss at this point. Consistency is key evidently. Consistency isn't our forte evidently. In my opinion, Maris is an all-star mom. I feel like I'm still in the minor leagues as far as fathering goes, but I'm growing. Lord, we pray for a good night's rest. Remember the days when this was Kate sound asleep?

30 Years Old!

I'm not talking about me. I'm only 28 (but I certainly feel like an old man now that I have a baby, sore back and glasses...I used to wear contacts because I was an active dude but now who am I kidding?). I'm talking about Jesus, when He began His ministry. There was something encouraging about reading that Jesus didn't begin His ministry until He was about 30 years of age. He increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man until that time. Somehow even the Son of God took time to develop into His role in the Kingdom of God. What a refreshing thought for a young buck like myself who wants to figure out my role indefinitely and roll with it. "Not so fast, sonny!" rings in my ears as I read Luke 2:52 & 3:23. I can chill out. God is shaping me no doubt. This is a word to myself and to any other young would-be stallions out there trying to make their way in this fallen world (dare I say, striving to make a name for themselves).

The Journeys of Jitsuya!

This is Arapaima Gigas, one of the biggest fresh water species with scales.
The African catfish, Vundu. He is quite a fighter!
Jitsuya in front of the Abu Simbel Palace.