Gas Shortage in Asheville

This past weekend, Reece and I came down the mountain for a fun weekend...One thing we took for granted somewhat was having gas to drive around on our merry little way. Gas in Asheville has been expensive...a few gas stations raking in $4.75 per gallon...but we had gas nonetheless.

Fast forward to this Monday. We were on the way home from Western Carolina in Cullowhee. We were running a little low on gas, but we had enough to make it home. Reece was on the phone with a friend from church back in Asheville who had gotten off work early and was driving to get gas before heading home. He went to 11 gas stations and still couldn't find a station that had ANY gas....that's right friends, 11. So, on the way home we looked at each station we passed to try to get gas, and none had any either.


So, Wednesday morning when the gas stations up the street from us...one in the morning, one in the evening...had a shipment of gas come in, it was a madhouse. We took pictures at the massive lines in front of the stations....we couldn't capture how crazy it was, but people were literally lined up for about 1/4 mile on the main road just to get gas. Here's what we saw:

So, hopefully that made you thankful for having a full tank back home!

The whole earth is full of His glory

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. (Isaiah 6:3)

Recently I was thinking about this passage and how when the seraphim see the earth, they see that it reflects both God's presence but also His glory. Just seeing what God has created is a testimony that He lives and is good. It was awesome to think about how much more I would be able to see God in the world if only I wasn't sinful. It makes me really excited to meet God face to face...what we're experiencing here is only a shadow of His goodness and greatness.



I was on campus a few days later, and was meeting up with a freshman at UNC-A. She was interested in talking through a few of her questions about Jesus and Christianity. Growing up in Raleigh, she wasn't used to seeing the beautiful mountains every day (we really do live in an awesome part of the state) and since moving to Asheville has really been moved my how awesome creation is here. Because she had never sought out God and connected with Him personally, proof of His existence in creation really began to open her desire to check out who He is when she came to college. What I had been reading about and thinking about was taking place in her life!! She saw that the whole earth is full of God's glory! In fact she said that she desired to know God in a personal way more than she ever had. When I talked to her about the Gospel--that Jesus is God in the flesh who came to live on earth to die the death we deserve so we can know God for all eternity, it totally made sense to her. She saw that God's love led Him to make that type of sacrifice for her...that He cared for her intimately and personally. I walked away from that awesome conversation so amazed at the Lord. He allowed me to step into her experience for the privilege of seeing what He had done in her life. It was so humbling to remember that although I am trusting God to use me to bring people into relationship with Him. He really doesn't need me at all. Thank God that He is all powerful and able to do exceedingly more than we could ask or imagine. Amen!

Our beautiful niece Ava Kathryn!!!

This past weekend, we celebrated our little niece being born...her name is Ava Kathryn Johnson, and she is a heart-breaker already. She is so beautiful!

Reece with sweet Ava.

this is me realizing how hot babies are....I was burning up while holding her!

Look at that face....seriously, she's the cutest ever!

Another highlight to our weekend was spending time with our other niece Elizabeth. One of the things we hate about living in Asheville is being so far away from Reece's family...his mom, dad, brother and sister (along with their spouses and kids) all live at least 4 hours from us. So, having a whole weekend to play with our little niece was such a sweet surprise! Here are some pictures of her:Yep, that's right...she's a cutie too! Jeremy will have his hands full with these two beauties!

We're so thankful for a special weekend with family. Thanks for letting us dote on our nieces as well :)

Olympics....aka Shawn and Nastia's show

Reece and I are in love with the Olympics! In fact, we decided to get basic cable for the purpose of having NBC for this momentous occasion, and it's been well worth it! Our highlight has been watching Nastia and Shawn rack up the medal count every night. We've been on the edge of our seat as we await the scores for our two favorite gymnasts...it's been a blast.

In the midst of all the Olympic hype, I've enjoyed hearing athletes giving glory to God in their post-gold interviews. It's incredible to see God using this occasion to make himself known. If you're interested in hearing stories of Olympic athletes whose lives have been touched by Christ check out:

Happy Olympics!

Ready...Set...Campus!

It's campus time-- summer is over. The first day of classes for colleges in western North Carolina has come and gone, and now begins the rush of the first few weeks on campus! Today, Reece and I spent our whole day at club fairs-- 4 hours at UNC-Asheville this morning, then 3 hours at Western Carolina this afternoon. At one point, I was at Western Carolina talking about going to work out at UNC-A...this being on 2 campuses in one day was a little confusing for me. We definitely had a great time hanging out with out student leaders, and working together to welcome the freshmen and new students checking out what to invest their time it. Please pray that students would prioritize Jesus as a worthy investment. Here we are with our student leaders at Western Carolina:


Pray for us that we would have energy while being on campus, and that God would allow us to connect students to Jesus through the new relationships we form this semester!

Redeeming Love

Here are the pictures from our hike to Big Bradley Falls....


JP, Mallory, Me and Reece in front of Big Bradley

Reece and JP playing

Isn't summer the best? I've really enjoyed getting to spend time with friends, and take time for things I don't normally do during the semester...like reading! I just finished Redeeming Love last night, and it was so awesome. I had heard about this book for a long time, and Katie let me borrow her copy because she said I had to read it. Lately I've needed something to refresh me in my relationship with the Lord, and reading this book has grown my understanding of what God's love looks like. If you've never heard about this book, its about a Christian man who feels God tell him to marry a prostitute. He goes to the brothel (a place where you'd never expect this man to be) and tries to convince her to let him buy her freedom so he can marry her. I won't spoil the rest of the story, but it was so touching. It really made me think about God's love and how we as people are so like the stubborn prostitute. She didn't want to leave the brothel...she thought there was no way she could change or trust this man who wanted to give her a better life. Aren't we all that same way with God? Jesus died to pay for all our indifference and rebellion towards Him, but then we doubt his goodness and don't trust Him with our lives. This story was so great, and I recommend it to everyone!

My arms are Jello

Have you ever started working out hardcore after being lazy for a few weeks?

Well that's what Reece and I have been doing lately. Although we walked about 6 mile per day in New York City, our arms have been lazy for a long time now. Thanks to Ben, we're now doing the Hundred Push-Up challenge which has been so fun ( http://www.hundredpushups.com/). Check it out.

In addition to our new arm work-out, we went to Big Bradley Waterfall with JP and Mallory a few days ago, which further added to our fitness. I had no clue what we were getting into when we arrived to the trailhead that day, but about 20 minutes into our hike to see Big Bradley, the trail ended and there was a rope that led down about 15-20 feet of rock. JP told us that we had to rapel down using the rope. Thankfully, he made a harness for us to put on, because Mallory and I were pretty concerned about this adventure. But I'm glad to say that we were brave and went down, and back up on the way home! I'll post some pictures of the beautiful falls soon. It was definitely worth all the work!