Joel Vestal

we are running around like crazy. elise and i were in houston last week for a servlife dinner and had a great turnout and superb tenderloin! i am coming back from dallas today - i am serving on a board of a new baptist effort called WorldconneX - fast trip - i am actually delayed in route back to atlanta due to weather.

i am very moved by the situation in Haiti from Jeanne - Over 1500 dead, 300,000 homeless, 1000 children left orphaned. 25% of Haiti use to be covered with forest, now it is barely 1% - I heard someone commenting about the billions of dollars of damage in Florida and not even mention the loss of life in Haiti to such a drastic degree - what a disgrace — the poorest nation in the western hemisphere that is so close to our country — No way to protect themselves or leave Read more here We are collecting a Haiti Relief Fund — CLICK hERE to DONATE All donations go directly to Haiti!

I have discovered a superb site called Approaches to Prayer. THere are superb creative ideas that will enhance your prayer life — the use of symbols, prayer and the body, music, the use of the visual, praying in the midst of life’s events, and much more. I like what was written on the issue of closing our eyes during prayer, “In the use of our eyes, as in so much else in prayer, we are brought up against our frequent inability to stop and stare and wonder - to take time.There is enough beauty in a single flower, a single piece of pottery, the shape of a tree, or a single good Christmas card to provide us with enough material for a whole prayer session. Again, some find the use of sight, or sight with imagination, more helpful than others, but if we largely go through life with our eyes closed, it will enlarge our understanding of God if we sometimes try to ‘pray with our eyes open’.
God looked on all that He had made and it was very good
If God took the time to look at it so should we… and we too shall discover that it is very good”

I have been really meditating on Psalms 23 below. Not how it is written in the Bible, but how one who does not know God must feel, think, and view life. It is has been hard to get over the jetlag coming back from our time in Hawaii…Lots of thinking, praying, and meditating during hours you do not normally do (3-6 am).
I have been really praying for a new sense of brokeness and passion for those who are far from God.. I think God is hearing my prayers, may we all remember those in darkness..

I have no shepherd.
I want and am in need.
I have no one to feed me in green pastures, I have no rest.
I have no one to lead me to quiet waters.
I am thirsty.
I have no one to guide me in the right ways.
I don’t know where to turn.
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, evil surrounds me
I am terribly afraid for no one is with me to comfort me.
I have no feast prepared for me.
I am overwhelmed by my enemies.
No one anoints my wounds or fills my cup.
My cup is empty.
All the days of my life are filled with disappointment and deceit.
I have no home for eternity.
Will I dwell in an evil house forever?

Author unknown

How do you like this photo of the most beautiful woman on the planet? Yes, that would be my wife on our sailing trip in Hawaii. We have returned from one of the most amazing places on the planet, thanks to Keith and Gina Page’s house and Continental One Pass miles! We left Zayd with my parents and had a week of the two of us, much needed -The first since Zayd was born. We had fun kayaking, hiking, beaching, horseback riding — We went to a time share sales presentation to get a free $150 reward and our sales rep was drunk at 8:30 in the morning, so when we told the folks, they threw in another $50 gift certificate to a steak house — Not bad for only giving up 2 1/2 hours of our morning — hope to put some more photos later. We ran off the plane to see Zayd when we got back — he was standing with my parents in the Atlanta airport, despite our red-eye flight from Hawaii, there was no greater joy to see that little guy, he was not secure enough to run to us, but he sure did have a big smile!