not this morning

this morning was unusually tough for me. not because i had to get up. not because i had to go to work. not because i had to drink a bad cup of coffee. not because of traffic on the way to the commission prayer room (although any kind of traffic is a very tough place for me).

this morning my five year old son told me he didn't need my help walking all the way to his classroom door!

our routine is very regular...i guess the fact that it is a routine makes this obvious. we enter the front doors for his school, he precedes to the bathroom where he still does the little boy pee-pee. you know, when little boys have to pull their pants all the way to the ground exposing their butt. i'm trying to teach him not to do this anymore. he then comes out where i proceed to walk with dutch and tites to the front door of dutch's class through the schoolyard. it is about a 20 yard walk.

not this morning : (

he looks up at me when we walk in and says, "daddy, i am going to go potty and you can just take tites to his school now." i was in shock and stood there just to make sure everything actually was going to be ok. he turned to me and said, "can you go please." i have to admit i was crushed on the inside.

i will also admit that some mornings i am eager to get him to school and get tites to his class in order to get to what i need to do. not because i don't want them for the day but because they too need to be on time for things. but the actual day he doesn't want my help...well, it's pretty sobering.

my little man is not so little any more. every night when i pray for him and his life i can't help but know that god is in control of his life. i'm excited for this new adventure of maturity for him.

TheCall Geneva

never being apart of an event like the call i didn't really know what to expect. i've been around the gateways beyond crew long enough to know what i was getting into when accepting the invitation to come and help with the worship. lou engle has spoken at my home church before, i've seen him on video clips, and i even saw him on a documentary called jesus camp a few years back. he is very passionate and very real. if you ever get the chance to talk to him or see him you will meet very few like him.

my buddy allyster and i left early on friday morning to fly to geneva, switzerland to be a part of the call. one reason we were targeted was because of our ministry to the francophone world. it might come in handy to know the french speaking people when calling them to a solemn assembly.

first let me just confirm geneva's beauty. it truly is a magnificent city and i wish i had been able to visit and tour the entirety of geneva. that leaves room for next time i guess. it was very clean, very clear, but very expensive. it puts brussels in a completely different perspective. switzerland uses the swiss franc as currency and it is .82 euros to the franc. however, they have a hike in price of nearly 30% making a standard cup of coffee at 5 swiss francs nearly 4 euros! the euro to dollar is already bad. the franc to u.s. dollar is about the same but you are still paying 5 dollars for a small cup of coffee. i skyped with my wife one evening and told her i was thankful the lord has not called us to switzerland.

the new people we worked with were beyond amazing. matthieu, remi, audrey, and joel just to name a few. i love making new connections with people who are passionate about the lord and yet they don't get the center stage/spotlight nearly enough. they are the one's who do the dirty work that most people don't want to do and they excel at it. they make an impact in people's lives because of their christ-like character. these are the ones that i walk away from the banqueting table feeling like i've met, face to face, the inspiration behind the story of the good samaritan.

over all i was deeply moved by the things i saw. you don't see europeans get excited about god much. this assembly broke that stereotype. i am so excited to see this happen all over europe!

please be in prayer for a move of god in the european nations. i know you get that request a lot from me and maybe a few others here but i implore you to please not grow tired of this assignment. as long as i can pay the bills and feel god's direction for my family over here i will stay. it is a struggle getting europeans to move from their status quo and express a deep longing for change without it coming off as emotional hype. the majority just don't express themselves that way. i am longing for a desperation for god's presence to flow from their heart out of their senses.

excited

i am excited about many things. 

i am excited to have found a house for my family. 

i am excited to have gained a severe amount of interest in the training school we are starting here in brussels. 

i am excited to enter a new season with a renewed sense of purpose. 

i am excited about seeing my new little man's personality bloom

i am excited to be able to do what god has purposed me to do

i am excited to have a strengthened sense of faith in god's provision.

there is still so much i know god is doing in me and through me. i am excited to see the things god has in store for me in 2012 unfold over these last few weeks.

get excited because jesus paid for it!

giving thanks

happy thanksgiving to all of you "uh-mericans!" this is such a great day with lots of tradition for many families. it reveals the truth of the value of tradition. not just doing the same thing over and over because you have to but because you WANT to.

consider it a blessing to have a day set aside specifically for giving thanks. may the door swing wide open for our next great holiday.

i now officially give everyone permission to start the christmas music, the decorating and weight gain.

love you all

the lowries

amazing like that

i can remember waking to the news of god doing a work in someone else's life and it resulted in provision for me. there have been so many moments in my life where i had been in tears asking god for provision and asking him for some kind of miraculous breakthrough in order to accomplish something or fulfill an obligation. just as i would pray those words out to him, the very next day i would wake to news of someone, somewhere feeling the urge to bless me or my family in some capacity that was directly related to my petitioning.

god is amazing like that.

what is also true is provision coming from the most unlikely source, or the most unthought of location. even this last trip i had to the states, i felt sure i would see such breakthrough for personal support for what liz and i are doing in belgium. i knew i had some great conversations as i laid my head down to sleep at the end of the day. most of the breaking news of provision while i had been gone was from people in other parts of the world; people i had not even directly connected with while on this particular trip to the states.

god is amazing like that.

i firmly believe god is watching over me and my family. these are the simple and small lessons that are daily reminders in the "god story," (as dutch calls it) the book we read together before bed.

sometimes i have been apart of the greatest provision but fail to see it as such. when my wife and i moved over here to belgium, we had a great plan and it looked feasible. it really was a no brainer from my perspective. however, a week out it seemed things needed to be different and change. the provision of liz's employment now seemed to be more or less a curse from my perspective. i struggled with the genuine calling to be in the land and if this was what i was really meant to be doing. she was in a completely different role than we had planned and even for her the new role was a shift from how she was to operate and function in the company. this new role was actually a "highly" recommended opportunity from her supervisor. long story short...her old position and most of the employees in that department were cut and the department went through massive reduction.

our view of provision is very, VERY one-sided, most of the time. our scope is limited and the big picture escapes our plans in some circumstances. however, i must remember there is ONE who sits on a throne and governs the entirety of life. his provision is HIS provision and may not always align with my way of doing things. if we are to be excited and rejoice in the provision that feels warm and cozy and makes a way for our circumstances to flourish the way we want, we must also cherish the moments of provision even in the midst of great pain and difficulty as it might call us into a season we are dreading. sometimes what we think is best is only something that is good. we might be able to survive, we might be able to get along, but i think this will only prove to be tolerable at best. however, HIS provision supersedes "good," it transcends "tolerable." his provision is BEST and submission to his will will only go to show you through a transformed heart and mind that...

god is amazing like that.