It’s amazing to me to stop and think back about the faithfulness of the Lord to see how He intricately wove our lives together.  Such a patchwork of experiences and grace and mercy … and I am counting my blessings.  So thankful.

I asked Kelly a few questions for the draft of another blog that I was working on but never published, so I’ll use some of those answers today.

Let’s start simple … not too deep or anything! (My questions will be in BLACK and her responses will be in RED.)

What’s your favorite color? Green! (I really feel like that should have been colored green but I had already said her responses would be red …)

Where do you work?  Chick Fil A and on the Student Ministry Team for the Missouri Baptist Convention.

Most of my “readers” (all 5-10 of you) know that I’m all about CFA … what is your favorite thing on the menu? My most common meal is a Chargrilled filet with provolone cheese and a large fruit cup.  But, we just got chicken tortilla soup this week, and it is SO good!  I’d recommend adding a bowl of that to your next order too!

What is your favorite thing to do in your leisure time?  Hang out with my husband (I didn’t make that up, she really did say it!)

What is your favorite song at the moment?  All I have is Christ by Sovereign Grace Music (you can check it out below!)

What are you currently reading?  Life Interrupted by Priscilla Shirer

What is your fondest childhood memory?  … I don’t know.  I had a great childhood, but not sure what sticks out as favorite.  Sometimes when I was little I would think about going to Silver Dollar City to help make myself fall to sleep.  So I guess I enjoyed that quite a bit!

What has been your favorite vacation?  Honeymoon in Hawaii (it was the company I’m sure).

What’s the one thing that you would want people to know about you?   Who Jesus is in my life.  What He has done, what He continues to do.

Seriously, I am one blessed man.  She is an amazing woman.  For our wedding, we wrote our own vows.  Here is a small excerpt from mine:

I love you.  I love hearing about how God has worked in your life and seeing how He continues to do so, I love your passion for people, I love how easy it is to talk with you, I love your crooked little smile, and I love the way you laugh “with” me. 

All of those things were true then, and remain true today.  I’m reminded of these things everyday as we laugh together (sometimes we really do laugh together, and sometimes she still laughs “with” me … even though I’m not laughing), as we talk about what God is doing in our lives, talk about the future, as I see her smile … and I was reminded of one of my most favorite things about her last night as she was in the other room discipling/mentoring 3 incredible young women that God has crossed our paths with during our time here at SEMO.  Kelly loves people, and has a desire to encourage young women in life and in their faith, and that is an incredible attribute that the Lord has placed in her.

Kel, thank you for saying yes.  Thank you for walking beside me for these first 14 months of the rest of our lives.  Thank you for encouraging me, supporting me, loving me, and putting up with me!  I cannot thank God enough for you.

Another thing about Kelly is that she is so modest and humble and would never draw attention to herself, so I wanted to let those of you that don’t know her too well yet, and the world know how incredible she really is.

Love you babe. TTMAB

And come on … isn’t she gorgeous?

-E

Today is the last day of Winter Break for us here at SEMO.  Students are back in town, traffic is picking back up, and classes resume in the morning.  The “break” has been a great time of refreshing for me and I’m excited for all that the upcoming semester has for us.  Thankful for MLK Jr. day to give us this last day of “down time.”  I thought I’d share a few of my favorite MLK Jr. quotes:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”

“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

Missions

If you have read my blog, or follow my facebook or twitter in the last few months, you have heard me talk about my friends over at His Voice Global.

Today I wanted to let you know about a new work that they are doing.  I love what they are doing by caring for orphans and widows in Sudan, and by rescuing children from the trains in India, and excited about what they are now doing to care for orphans in North Korea.  Some of the greater need there is in North Korea may have been overshadowed with all of the news lately about the death of Kim Jong-il.  Despite the incredible spiritual need in North Korea, there are some practical things that His Voice is beginning to minister to to meet those needs.  Check out this link that was posted by His Voice in which the New York times documents some of the issues that are currently being faced.

Would you do me a favor and check out their blog and see how simply you could meet the need of a child in North Korea. www.hisvoiceglobal.com/blog

Thanks.

-E

… quick update on the wisdom teeth.  Everything has gone really well. No swelling, not really any pain to speak of.  So thankful, because I heard a lot of horror stories leading up to it!

Anybody have any good and/or bad wisdom teeth stories?  By the time I’m able to check this again it’ll be over so I won’t have time to be scared or dissuaded.  I’ve told Kelly no video cameras … so that I don’t end up like one of these people:

This is a funny one too!:
http://youtu.be/oS3Olh9DnaE
Have a great day!  Here’s to the rest of mine

-E

So, I’ve been trying to come up with a handful of songs for us to lead as we usher students into the presence of the Almighty during the D-now weekend.  Man, there are some incredible lyrics out there right now, and some incredible truths to be sung.   Here are a few I’m praying through.  Any suggestions?

What worship songs are impacting you right now?

What are the lyrics that keep running through your head?

So, today is music.  It should be no surprise to those who know me that I love music, always have and always will.  Whether it was the “rappin’ clappin’ finger snappin’” quartet that my brother and I were part of in elementary school that started my love of music or something else, there is definitely a thread all throughout my life that has included music.  Band, choir and show choir in high school, New Dawn traveling praise team in college, 7 1/2 incredible years with some of my best friends in the world in No Longer Quiet, serving as a worship minister, and now being able to participate in the choir and praise team with our church.  It is a part of me, that is for sure.

So, I thought I’d just share a few things that I’ve been listening to lately.  First this song was sang by our worship pastors wife on Sunday morning, which has caused me to be listening to Christy Nockels all morning, and it led me straight back to my “vocal crush” on Christy.  I love her voice, and this song encompasses every prayer and declaration that I have for my life moving into 2012.

Also, an incredible opportunity that our church choir was able to be a part of in November was a concert with Travis Cottrell.  Travis came with his band and a few vocalists and our choir had the privilege to sing behind them for an amazing night of worship.  The spirit was so rich in the building that night, and lives  were changed for eternity with some coming to know the Lord for the first time.  If you don’t know about him, he has led worship for Beth Moore conferences for years, and serves as worship pastor in Tennessee.  You can find our more about him at www.traviscottrell.com … or click the photo below to check out his music.  We sang several songs off of this cd:

So those are a couple things that I have been listening to lately . . .

What are your “must hear” artists?

What songs can you not get off of repeat?

-E

2011 was a great year.  My first full calendar year shared with my wife, Kelly.  We joined a church, ran a marathon together, bought our first home, ministered alongside one another on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University, made new friends, Kelly started working for CFA and a lot of other cool and exciting things are happening too.

Along with all of the good, the end of the year tends to get me thinking about all of the goals that I set for 2011 that maybe I came up a little short on … all of those pounds that I wanted to lose in 2011 … I lost, most, of them at some point in the year, but seem to have gained most of them back these last 2 weeks … other personal goals that I set for myself that, during the first months of the year, I make myself believe that “there is a lot of time left in the year for that” I now find myself at the end of the year and frustrated with myself that I didn’t follow through with …

So, with the new year, comes new dreams, new opportunities and a lot of new “firsts” that I’m ready to take on head-first.

What about you?  What are your goals for 2012?  What is your dream for the new year?  What new opportunities are before you this year?

-E

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/eric-barb/stlouisrocknrollmarathon

Our race-weekend journey started with a trip to St. Louis on Saturday afternoon October 22nd.  We checked into our hotel (which we booked on Hotwire when we registered for the race and saved quite a bit compared to the “race rates” offered by other downtown hotels that weekend … we love finding good deals!).  Then we traveled on to the St. Louis Rock N Roll Marathon Expo to pick up our bib numbers and race packets.  We just happened to be in the same expo center where they were having open try-outs for America’s God Talent … I told Kelly that I should have tried out.  I tried to get a picture of the AGT sign in front of the try-out room, but was promptly stopped by security and said that pictures of the sign weren’t allowed … ?  Anyhow, we received our race numbers and timing chips and then headed off to carb-load for dinner.  We chose Macaroni Grill, which is one of our favorites (and also the place we ate for lunch right after we got engaged) and had a great meal there.  Then we did a little browsing in a few stores in STL and headed to the hotel to get some rest for the night.

The morning started early … early enough to eat a little energy bar and get down to the starting line in time.

The race went really well … we had beautiful weather to run in, and Kelly did such an amazing job.  I was the one that made us stop several times in the last few miles.  I’d never had cramps in the muscles that were cramping that day … but we pushed through and made it to the finish in 4 hours 36 minutes…

We were so blessed to have several of our students/friends come a cheer us on during the race.  It was so encouraging to see them along the course and to hear their cheers … and for the reminder that we were running for a purpose much greater than ourselves!

Such a cool thing to say that Kelly and I were able to do together, and so glad that we were able to help His Voice in a small way be able to build the 4th orphanage.

The truth is that we can all do something.  The Bible says “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”  Running this marathon and raising a little $ for His Voice Global was just something that we thought we could do to help.  Consider this passage posted by a friend of mine from the book “Kisses from Katie”:

“The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children. And though at first glance that looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians.

The truth is that if only 8 percent of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left.” -Katie Davis, “Kisses from Katie”

WHOA!

This Sunday, November 6th is Global Orphan Sunday. This day is set aside to raise awareness of the Global orphan crisis and to support organizations who are trying to help.

Here is how you can join with His Voice Global on November 6th;

HOST AN ORPHAN SUNDAY PARTY ANY TIME DURING THE WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER 4-6th.

This will work for church groups, organizations, families, friends, neighborhoods or college dorm floors. The sky is really the limit on this one.

How does this help? You charge a “cover” for entry or for food. Or, you could host a tournament party and have  friends pay to play! Make sure that you let your friends know that all the money goes directly to the orphans in South Sudan and India through His Voice Global.

At some point during the gathering, get everyone’s attention and share with them about His Voice Global and what they do. You could show them a video, or tell them about an experience you have had with His Voice Global.  They have set up a page here on website to give you ideas and recipes to host! Click Here!

What a simple way to make a difference in the lives of these orphans!

WE CAN ALL DO SOMETHING.  What will you do?

It has been a busy time around the Barb home as a new school year has started as Southeast Missouri State University – which means students are back in town, and ministry is in full swing on campus again.  We started the semester out with a bang by participating in the university’s welcome back picnic, held a picnic and scavenger hunt of our own, helped during campus move in day and capped the first week of classes off by taking our annual float/tubing trip to the Current River in Van Buren with 48 students … many of whom were international students and had never experienced anything quite like that before! Our weekly worship gathering “theWELL” meets every Thursday on campus, and we have 4-5 small groups meeting each week as well . . . God is doing a great work in and through the lives of the students at the BSU!

In addition to that, Kelly has started a new job . . . drum-roll please … at Chick-Fil-A!!  I knew this was a match made in heaven, but seriously . . . could the Lord have picked a better match for me?!  Seriously though, as a result of applying on a whim, Kelly was hired pretty much on the spot and is working as a manager at the newly opened Chick-Fil-A in Cape Girardeau.

All of this has made training for the marathon even more difficult, but committing to training for and running this marathon means you discipline yourself to make it happen, and we’ve been able to move training runs around new schedules and squeeze things in when we can . . . even if it means running at 5 am on Sunday’s before church or in the afternoons between other planned events!

We are 5 weeks away from the St. Louis Rock N Roll marathon!  It is hard to believe that it is coming up so quickly, but we are excited for it to be here as well … we will enjoy having our weekends back!

We are currently at 22% of our fundraising goal, but have some exciting news on that front … we have a donor who is willing to match any donation we receive until the end of September, up to a total of $500!  What a great blessing, and a great opportunity to have your gift doubled by giving before the end of September!

The other day Kelly and I were at Starbucks using the wi-fi and of course I got a drink . . . I sorta like the pumpkin spice latte, even though it isn’t a very manly drink.  Anyhow, after paying I began thinking about how mindlessly I just spent $4.80 . . . let’s say that I do that once a week, that is $19.20 a month.  Or how about going out to dinner.  It isn’t tough for Kelly and I to spend $20-30 on an average meal out (no, not at Chick-Fil-A) and that is just for 2 of us . . . once a week … that is $80-120/month.

Would you consider up one coffee drink a week or one meal out a week for the next month and give that money to help support His Voice Global in their efforts to reach the hurting and the needy across the globe.  Many people think they don’t have much to give, or that they don’t have ENOUGH to give.  Anything helps!

You can check out our giving page here … and pass it along to your friends!

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/eric-barb/stlouisrocknrollmarathon

And check out the His Voice page here:

http://www.hisvoiceglobal.com/

We had a lot of fun exploring the city, doing touristy things, eating good food, and just enjoying our time.  I’m sure Kelly will give a much more detailed description of our trip on her blog sometime soon … so check it out:  www.barbericwife.blogspot.com

We also had a long training run while we were in Chicago.  13 miles.  Running in Chicago weather was SO much nicer than running in the humidity we’ve had around here lately!

Here’s a little update on the marathon training and fundraising for His Voice Global:

Again, thanks for all of your support!

You can check out our giving page here:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/eric-barb/stlouisrocknrollmarathon

And check out His Voice Global here:

http://www.hisvoiceglobal.com/

We finished a 6 mile training run this morning … which was pretty good.  We have a 3 mile tomorrow, and then 12 on Sunday.  Kelly’s been doing great!  There’s been an occasional sore knee, but even that has been gone for the last few weeks.  My toes aren’t hurting (which they did last year during my marathon training) so that has been awesome.

It’s been SO hot, so we’re trying to run very early, needless to say, we’re ready for some cooler temperatures … or at the very least, less humidity!

So check out the video below, and keep up with the progress!

You can access our giving page here:  http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/eric-barb/stlouisrocknrollmarathon

and check out His Voice here: http://www.hisvoiceglobal.com