"Great is Thy Faithfulness"

       Praise God for His faithfulness in spite of our lack of faith. There has been many a time when I have failed to have the faith necessary but God has worked it out for His glory and my good irregardless of my failures. Reciently was an instance where God did this for me. He has blessed me beyond words by bringing into my life the most wonderful girl ever. The likes of which I do not deserve. On June 24th 2008 I asked her to court me to the which she kindly replied yes. She has already blessed my life beyond words. Showing me the goodness of God in a way I have never known. She is a woman of the highest integrety and one that desires to serve God in a way that is far above many I have known. Her character and beauty are united in one making for a true Proverbs 31 woman. You may be wondering who she and where she comes; she is Darleen Holly Waltman of Tennessee.

Yeah Disneyland

 Life has been busy as of late but thanks to Emily there was a quick interruption and a trip to Disneyland. She had been wanting to go and encouraged all of us get some days off. I being one that abuse my days am completely out by this time of year, but there was one opportunity as I needed to take a comp day for working over time another day. It ended up we were all off and we could all go as a family last Friday. It was a blast and a lot of fun to be with the family or what it left of it.  Here are some pictures of some of the highlights.

Yeah general excitement.

I am not sure if they are laughing about the funny tune I am singing or the fact that I swallowed a fly.

Richard attempting to redeem the idea that men are good shots. He only missed once so I guess he was not too bad after all.

The other side of mum. The sniper side.

Sometimes you can tell people by the quality of the things they spend time around.  Ok I hope that is not true.

Mr. Smith the man that got us in for free asked us if we put the boys in red shirts so mum and dad wouldn't lose us.  Mr. Smith was very kind and Emily gave him a bag of cookies for his kindness. I am not sure if that would have bought any old family a trip to Disneyland these days.

A great brother sister pic.

There was some excitement over the new drivers license but thankfully there was first aid on hand in case anything went wrong.

Yeah like I was saying about being under the watchful eye of a calm and collected older brother.

A little wet after the rapids ride. It was actually a lot of fun.

Bros for ever.

Recently I preached on the sermon on the mount. A great passage or any new preacher, but a challenging one. Here is a bit of it.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, a day that we remember those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for us throughout our nation's history. The Sunday after leading a church service at an older folk's home I had the privilege of talking with a veteran of Iwo Jima. I took the opportunity to thank him for his service to all of us. It is all to often that we forget what has been done for us by so many that have died in the past. They sacrificed their lives, their time, and their blood so we can enjoy the freedom we have. We must uphold, now matter how hard, that standard that they have raised.

My memorial day started early and lasted long. It was certainly an enjoyable time of fellowship. A number of us young guys stayed the night at the church so we could claim the picnic area for the day as well as clean up the ruminates of the previous day's party.

Our objective at 5:30 in the morning. Not the cleanest I assure you. :)

Some of us were a little more eager to get work than others.

In reality theses guys helped out a bunch with clean up so all is fair in the end.

In true Warnerite tradition we proceeded to play base ball for the morning. I assure you it was a lot of fun and I was glad that my nose stayed intact through the entirety of the game. Every one did a great job playing their best through the game.

Myself looking a little forlorn or maybe just tired.

What would a memorial day be without a little Ultimate Frisbee.

After all the day at the park I decided to get some ice cream for all the teachers afterwards that served this year in SWORD. It has been long hard year through which they have worked unrelentingly faithfully serving the Lord and the children of the church. Naturally a mafia game broke eventually. I had a tough time that game. I was completely lost I guess I am getting rusty at reading people.

It seems as if the girls faired better than the...

...the guys but who am I to judge. :)

I have been thinking a lot lately about the faithfulness of God. So often it is hard to remember that He is in control in every way. We must remember that He will guide us no matter what our fear may be at the dawning of a new day. He is the ultimate protector and provider. Several of our young men are going to Alaska today. Please remember in your prayers, James Iorga, Kyle and Andrew Stevens, and my brother Stephen Weston. They are facing big challenges and we know by God's grace that they are up to them.

Nacimiento

It has been two years since the last time we went out the the cabin that the Florence family owns out there. We so appreciated their generous hospitality and kindness for having us all out there. It was a real blessing to spend time together in such a nice place. Mr. Florence was so kind it seemed that he was always fixing one thing after another. He certainly has a kind and true heart. It was also a blessing to spend time with guys who are committed to serving the Lord. We are all going this summer somewhere it seems to affect the world for Christ. Here are some pics of the whole event.

Here is a pic of me enjoy a little r and r time. A good summation of the trip.

Jonathan looking cool and getting some fishing done at the same time.

Drew was full of theses cool poses

Yeah it was a lot of fun to drive that thing other than almost sinking it. :) I only wish I was not joking.

No I was not trying to shoot my head off. :) Just trying to look cool.

Bros getting some skeet.

Stephen getting ready to try a little dirt biking. I did some later, and yes I was able get into first a couple of times without stalling it. It was actually a lot of fun and I would not mind doing it again.

Jonathan trying to catch the snake I almost stepped on. Yes it was a rattle snake, but it was not as close as some people make it out to be. :)

A group shot of the guys. Looking good. One of the best groups of guys ever.

I like this one of the eagle.

There is something classic with this one. I would use this one to sum up the whole trip if I was allowed to only use on picture, and yes I took it a token Kevin pic.

A great scenic shot compliments of Drew as are all of the pictures.

Praise the Lord for those times that we can get away from it all and spend some time with believers and time in the Word as well as doing some fun things. I have been enjoying reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer he is so insightful and fresh and original. Every passage blows my mind. Although this is not a shot of the morning the next morning I read a passage from one of his books talking about giving your morning to God. We in our modern culture have such a desire to emphasize the individual, but really that is not what it is all about. Unfortunately even believers fall into this trap. But what we need to realize is that the morning, and the whole day long, should be for each other for our fellow believer because Christ died for them all and because of that they are valuable. I am convinced I need to read the entirety of Together for the Gospel after gaining some of these insights from brief passages from the book. Well this is Kevin Weston signing off. Remember to give all to the God we serve is to gain eternity for our weary souls.

CI in California

Yeah another CI, unfortunately this one may be the last for this year anyways. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of this last one so I will share some of the ones that I missed from the GA CI. The one we did in California though was at our home church. We again were blessed with with a wonderful team many of whom were out in GA with us. These two CI's were my first time leading them completely. I have been involved in leadership a number of times but never actually lead myself. Thankfully the Lord was faithful through it all and blessed me with the best teams ever and the ability to succeed. I was so thankful for His bountiful mercy.

This past month I have had the pleasure to be working with kids every day and often 12 plus hours a day. It has been hard tiring work but it is always rewarding. Through the experience I found myself thinking back on a life time (admittedly short) of working with children. As I thought over it I am impressed with the seriousness of it all.

Jesus puts it well when He says

We must always be aware that what we do affects everyone around us, but especially those that look up to us. Children do the most of any one group. Children have a desperate need for heros.

 I am just thankful for the Lord's provision for a few more heros in the lives of the Romanian children and GA and the children at our church in LA. Those heros are the young people that have worked so hard beside me through this all. I can only pray that the Lord blesses them for their generous efforts.

The reward for this service will be great.

We must stay the course unflinching in our desire to see God's Kingdom full of those precious little ones.

I am perfectly willing to give my all just to cast that precious crown at the feet of the mighty King Jesus.

God through it all is faithful He is the one that make it possible without Him I am nothing. Praise God Almighty King of Heaven and Earth.

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

                                                     Isaiah 40:31