Dan and Niki's Blog
Bits from BidefordFeeling Fresh!
Hey Everyone,
Just an update to say Hello after a few days of silence on our part. Niki and I have had some interesting moments here that have really challenged us forcing us back to that hard but healthy place of desperation for the Lord’s fresh filling. Tonight the Lord blessed us with an awesome opportunity to just kick back together and study an overview of the book of revelation with Jon Courson…what a huge encouragement and blessing the Lord gives us through that wonderful book. I encourage you if you’ve ever felt intimidated or scared of the revelation to study it with Jon Courson, he does a great job breaking it down chapter by chapter and helping you understand what is seen in the word, what has, is, and will happen as the last days approach. You can catch it all at:
http://www.joncourson.com/teaching/teachingsplay.asp?teaching=VTC4001
Now for a recent update of the latest photo’s taken in my wanderings here!
So sore but SO fun :)
Hey there! Sorry for the lack of posts lately…we’ve both just begun playing basketball again (last Friday night we held our first “Open Gym”)….and we were WIPED afterward. Ha ha! Dan and I felt so old – our muscles don’t work like they used to! We came home complaining about all our aches and pains….but it was all worth it! 
We had such a blast being able to get out on the court again…
So….we “oldies” have been in “recovery mode” these past few days. We should be back on our feet very soon – and we’ll give you a full update!! (God has been SO good!)
Love to you all! …and we’ll be writing soon! (so please check back!)
November 12!
photo by Jessica Quadra
Today is a special day! Exactly one year ago from today, Dan proposed to me in Laguna Beach! It’s so amazing to see how far God has brought us since that time – through the craziness of planning our wedding, getting married, moving ACROSS the country, then moving again across the OCEAN – just remembering the journey of this past year is such a blessing because it really has God’s fingerprints ALL over it! …and we are so grateful to have the support of our family and friends! God is so so good!
We “celebrated” the day out with some friends in a little town called Fremington, where we enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee and yummy cake! (I ordered the “Californian Carrot Cake”, of course! and it lived up to its name! 
) We made it back home just in time to take shelter before the rain began to POUR down – seriously, sheets of water were coming down! Once again, we watched that little river swerve its way through our garden (I told Dan, maybe we should invest in a canoe – then we could ride through the garden when it rains!)
Dan is now off at basketball, and I am home cranking up the heater! …actually, in regards to basketball, we’ve been so blessed as God has continued to open doors for us! On Friday afternoons, I have started running a basketball session for girls, AND we will both be running an Open Gym for the international boarders on Friday nights! Who would’ve thought we’d be helping with basketball in England?! God knew!
Will write more soon…now I need to get dinner ready for a hungry husband!
Thanks again for your prayers and support! We really are so grateful.
A Michtam in the Night
It’s twelve past two in the morning. I have spent the last two hours listening to the rain tap out its tune on the roof of our cottage; sleep has eluded me so far. Being the impatient guy that I am I’ve decided to change my strategy. Instead of trying to catch shuteye, I’m playing hard to get while reading at my coffee table. I reckon eventually sleep will come to find me; meanwhile the candlelight mixed with the hum from my refrigerator makes for some good cozy time with the Lord.
My reading time has been really good, I’m just visiting with Psalm 16 as I wait for my pillow to call me away for the night.
As I spend more time with 16 I find it really warming. I just realized it’s called “A Michtam of David.” I decided to look up what Michtam means in the Hebrew and found out its translated, “hidden” and/or “golden”. Seems like a funny intro when you think about it, “The Hidden Golden of David”… it makes me consider my Michtam moments where I feel a bit hidden, where my present state doesn’t at all seem golden. I wonder if God perhaps designs a Michtam or two in my life just to preserve and produce in me the “Golden” bits of His character. Everybody knows when the daylight is here so too is the business and hustle, yet it seems when the “night seasons” overtake us we are forced to be still, to listen to His instruction a bit keener, to feel around for something solid.
Upon some more study it looks like the content of this chapter is applied to someone more than just David himself. Both Peter and Paul quoted this Psalm when speaking of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection (Acts 2:25-28, Acts 13:35). I imagine Jesus left the upper room just after finishing the meal with His disciples. Stealing away in the night He makes His way through town and out towards Gethsemane. Yet because it was in fact the night on which He’d be betrayed and several hours later He would be tortured for our sins the Michtam moment was obviously heavy and lonely. That very same night through sweat and blood we’re told that Jesus prayed, “Father, if it be possible, take this cup of suffering which is about to be poured out on me. Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.”
The anguish of that moment ushered in a precious reward for all of us. This puts my Michtam in perspective; my seemingly long and heavy nights often will produce a golden result proving God’s glory and benefiting many people. May we be encouraged to be still and trust that all things will work together for good even when it seems God has us hidden.
Well, I hear my pillow calling for me, seems like sleep has finally come around.
God bless you all!
-Dan
wetday!…whattyasay!…wednesday!
On the road Home
Howdy Friends!
It is certainly a wet wet Wednesday! I drove the link road from Bideford to Barnstaple this morning and as I cruised it seemed the weather began to shift about as fast as I shifted gears…(which is pretty fast for all you jokers out there)
I’ve never seen winds blow rain in and out so fast…one moment it was blue skies and sunshine then just as quickly as the sun showed through the wind would blow in a cloud just packed to overflowing and the rain would chuck down in buckets. Eventually the rain became consistent and washed the rest of the day out. I guess the bright side was that it gave us a reason for a warm cozy night together at home reading, which is a great night in my opinion!
As time progresses here we’re certainly getting busier. Opportunity seems to be knocking more and more and the Lord has been instructing us to let Him open the doors. So please keep us in prayer as we wait on the Lord in each and every opportunity to serve, and pray that we might have eyes to see and ears to hear each specific instruction. God bless you guys and thanks for the support.
In Christ
-Dan and Niki
A photo montage of our adventure to Appledore
We're just setting off for our little walking adventure to Appledore
the public footpath just beyond our cottage
Through the forest
Just out of the forest
Looking back on where we set out
the public footpath bridge on the way to the Old shipyard
an Autumn walk
Where ships rest from times past
Like I said...it's ivy on the wall
Just off the coast of appledore shipyard
either where sailors bathe....or ummmm...when they can't afford a boat?
the tide came in on the way home so we took the high path over the hills
Good hands and God’s economy
Hey friends,
As I’ve looked over my notes for what the Lord has put on my heart to share at this morning’s service, this part of my notes stood out to me. Just thought I’d post it quick-like and pray that the Lord might minister to your hearts through it.
“Looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble…”
Hebrews 12:15,16
Why would the writer of Hebrews paint such an ugly picture of grace?
Isn’t grace the wonder of God that so beautifully delivers us from sin?
Why then would it cause someone to fail, or fall short, where could a root of bitterness be found in a Holy garden such as grace?
Do you remember the parable In Matthew 20, that tells of a vineyard owner looking for people to work in His vineyard?
The story goes like this:
“In need of some extra hands and help, the owner of a vineyard went to the center of town looking for some willing workers, it was still early in the morning and he hired a few guys and brought them back to the vineyard to serve. Still needing a bit more help, he went back to town at noon and hired some more. He did the same thing at 3pm and returned again at 5pm. At the close of the workday he paid the guys he hired last a full days pay…seeing this the men that were hired at the beginning of the day were stoked! “If those guys got a full days pay for only a little work, we’re going to get a cash load!” But when they were paid the same full day’s wage, they hearts were bitter.
“What’s the problem, didn’t we settle on this wage when you were hired?” asked the owner.
“Bu..bu…but those guys didn’t work nearly as long and got paid just as much” cried the put off laborers.
“So you’re upset because someone else was blessed by my grace?” asked the owner
Isn’t it so true that our thoughts aren’t anywhere close to God’s thoughts…neither our ways His?
It’s a bit like Esau’s attitude when God decided to say, “The Older will serve the younger.” and as time passed Esau got bitter…”I was first, I deserve what’s coming to me!” He might have cried.
He got so bitter about God’s grace to Jacob that he despised his birthright. In other words, he was so pouty about the cards being dealt to someone else first, that he didn’t even look at his own hand!
What do you mean, Dan?
Esau got the short end of the stick!
Or so it seemed…
Later in Matthew 20 we read Jesus’ words, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Could it be that Esau had potentially a massive opportunity to serve his brother and find an even greater inheritance in the economy of God. Unfortunately we’ll not know on this side of Glory.
Yet, we do have some cards dealt to us that might seem a bit like Esau’s hand. Why not look a little closer at what the Lord has given you today?
You might have more than you think in God’s economy!
Taco Thursday
photo by Jessica Quadra
Happy Thursday!! …just a quick update:
I (Niki) went to the doctor today. I was tested for asthma, and the results were negative. So the doctor is unsure what is causing my breathing difficulty…she said it could be caused by a number of things (adjusting to different climate, allergies due to the season, etc). While I’m grateful that it’s nothing serious, I’m bummed that she wasn’t able to help treat my condition. (The only suggestion she gave was to breathe in steam for 15 minutes before bed…so I will try!) Thanks so much for your prayers…and please continue to pray that God would reveal the cause (so I can breathe normally again).
Dan’s day was more productive…he had a fun day of basketball again. He worked with the older boys – most of them have some experience playing the game, however there is a bit of a language barrier being that they’re all international students…all from Asia! (but we know how much he loves those Asians! ) He was able to teach them some zone defense and also worked on some offensive plays against a man-to-man defense. They seemed to enjoy it, and he’s already begun to build friendships with a few of them. He’s having so much fun as the “oldie” on the court. (He says that he just has to learn Cantonese or Mandarin.)
In other smaller news, we rearranged our little house AGAIN (for the 20th time!) …we’ll post some pictures soon (hopefully, before we rearrange again!). And tonight, we had our “Taco Tuesday” on Thursday. It was SO delicious – we haven’t had tacos since we left California…I don’t know why England doesn’t eat tacos….(Dan says, “It’s probably because they don’t neighbor Mexico!” )
Alrite…well, we’re off to bed now (but not before we read a little more Narnia!). Goodnight!!
Fun Days
rain drops a fallin'
It’s been a fun couple of days! Yesterday (Tuesday), we experienced our first “real England rain”…the water literally came gushing out of heaven! It was crazy – it caused a little (but powerful) river to flow through our back garden. I don’t think I’ve ever seen rain like this before, but it was so fun. In the morning, we sat listening to it pound down on our little cottage. Around noon, however, it was time to leave the house for an appointment, so we had to get out and face the fierce rain…it was quite a comical sight (now that I think back on it). We juggled raincoats, umbrellas, and keys as we RAN to the car, trying to stay as dry as possible…we made it the car – but a little wet …(the umbrella did keep me dry most of the way, I just have to learn how to get into the car and close the door, all while letting in as little rain as possible…yes, all this rain is quite new to me )
Once we made it to the car, we headed to one of the local schools where we have been meeting weekly with some of the students for a “Christian Union” (it’s similar to a Campus Crusade for Christ) – this is something that we really look forward to every week! It’s so fun to just hang out with the students and hear their hearts about the things of God – we’re so grateful for the relationships that God is building there!
A little later in the afternoon, Dan went back to the school to teach some boys a little bit about the game of basketball. Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, Dan will be at the school helping out with basketball. (Tuesdays with the younger ones and Thursdays with the older guys)…it’s so amazing to see how God is just opening doors to allow us to build relationships in the community. We’re excited!
As for today, we finished reading The Magician’s Nephew (by C.S. Lewis)! Every night for the past week or so, we have been reading to each other portions of The Magician’s Nephew. It’s been such a fun time…we both love the movies, but we’ve never read the books. They are such a treat! It’s so impressive how the brilliant Mr. Lewis was able to parallel so much of the story with truths in the Bible….if you’ve never read The Chronicles of Narnia, I highly recommend these books to you (We’re on to the next book of the series tonight!).
Thanks so much for taking the time to read our blog…it really means so much to us. And thank you for your prayers for our health. Dan is feeling much better; I still feel like I’m fighting it – I’m having some trouble breathing (maybe like chest congestion…I’m not quite sure), so please continue praying for me.
Love and Blessings!
D&N
An evening thought by Charles Spurgeon
“Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?”
— Luke 24:38
“Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” The Lord cares for all things, and the meanest creatures share in his universal providence, but his particular providence is over his saints. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.” “Precious shall their blood be in his sight.” “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.” Let the fact that, while he is the Saviour of all men, he is specially the Saviour of them that believe, cheer and comfort you. You are his peculiar care; his regal treasure which he guards as the apple of his eye; his vineyard over which he watches day and night. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Let the thought of his special love to you be a spiritual pain-killer, a dear quietus to your woe: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” God says that as much to you as to any saint of old. “Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” We lose much consolation by the habit of reading his promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word with a personal, appropriating faith. Think that you hear Jesus say, “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” Think you see him walking on the waters of thy trouble, for he is there, and he is saying, “Fear not, it is I; be not afraid.” Oh, those sweet words of Christ! May the Holy Ghost make you feel them as spoken to you; forget others for awhile—accept the voice of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, “Jesus whispers consolation; I cannot refuse it; I will sit under his shadow with great delight.”
Spurgeon, Charles H.: Morning and Evening : Daily Readings. Complete and unabridged; New modern edition. Peabody, MA : Hendrickson Publishers, 2006, S. October 21 PM
