Prachar Family Update

Dear Loved Ones,

I first want to thank you for your continued prayer, thoughts, kindness, care, love and support. You all have been a tremendous blessing to our family. I have great news; I have accepted a position as the Executive Pastor of The Bridge Church, Venice, Florida. The church has been our church home since arriving here in 2008, and we have been fully involved from the beginning.

Travis served as the children’s ministry coordinator from October 2008 through October 2009. I have served in an advisory role with the elders (not being an official elder) to assist them in any way that I could. Gabriel does the lights every Sunday, Riley and Holden are learning sound, and we all assist in the tear down at church (We meet in a school and have to break it all down after the service on Sunday-we have only been on the set up team a few times.) while Alayna is running around playing.

The church is much like Grace Community Chruch when it was young. We currently have about 250 regular attendees, many of them first generation Christians. We have been welcomed here and used here since day one, and we have been led to make a full time commitment.

The church is currently operating right at budgetary limits. I will be withdrawing only from the support that you all give to the church. Since my departure from Agape Flights, support for our family has dropped well below 50%. That is okay. We understand we are no longer going the international direction that most of you were supporting. That being said, we are doing fine but would love to have you continue or join us again. Travis has been working full time as a Nurse Practitioner for the Sarasota County Department of Health. She is enjoying her work, but longs to be home more. We are putting our roots down here in Venice and we are making a long term commitment to this local body of believers.

As the Executive Pastor of The Bridge Church I will oversee the overall operations. I will meet with people on a daily basis and have opportunity to counsel, assist with family finances, marriages, children, and all the things that I love. My time at Agape Flights, the experiences and trials there, the training at Caring for the Heart Ministries in Colorado Springs, Colorado and my time with the Dave Ramsey organization in Brentwood, TN have all played a part in preparing me for this work. I will take all of the administrative duties from Pastor Matt Day so he may focus on teaching, vision casting and leading the body of believers. Please pray for wisdom, and when God taps on your shoulder to give us a call, or drop us an email, please do it. We need you, and your communications are an encouragement with value that we cannot even begin to express.

We love all of you, and if it were not for you and sending us here in the first place this would not be possible. Please consider assisting this church by helping us. We are looking at your financial support to be short term, and we are counting on God to grow the church to be able to handle my salary by year end 2010. We pray that your friendships and spiritual support will never end. Know that you are always welcome to visit us.

Please pray for Haiti during this time, we still have many friends unaccounted for. Our friends at HAFF (Greg and Barb Van Schoych, Connie Curilla, and the Wilsons) have been in touch with us and are fine. I have been in to Agape Flights on occasion over the past few weeks to assist them with their efforts. Please keep them in your prayers. The volunteers are responding in record numbers, but they will still need funds to fuel the planes to deliver the supplies that have been acquired. You can follow Agape Flights at http://www.agapeflights.com/. 114 of the 130 Agape Flights Missionaries in Port au Prince have been accounted for. Agape is awaiting communication from the following families:

Adams, Balde, Brian, Byers, Edmond, Garnes, Harrigan, Joseph, Louis, Malbranche, Miller (James), Pierre (Louis), Rapp, Roseau, Simeon, St. Fleur.

Please pray for these families and for those who are accounted for and lost so many in their communities. The estimated total is 200,000, approaching the number of the 2004 Asian Tsunami that left 230,000 dead. Pray for the leadership of Haiti, that they may repent, turn back to God and deny Voodoo and Satan.

Sincerely,

Paul

Earthquake

Even though we are no longer with Agape, our hearts are shredded by the news of the earthquake that happened in Haiti yesterday.  Agape was to have a flight go out today, but they delayed it so that they could gather necessities to help those in Port Au Prince.  There are still the majority of the missionaries who are unaccounted for there.  Please pray for their miraculous rescue and for their families who have to be worried sick back here in the states.  If you feel compelled to help, go to the Agape website (http://www.agapeflights.com/) to see a list of items requested by those they have been in contact with.  Cargo costs $4/pound to ship and as the donated supplies come in, Agape will have to pick up the expense of the shipping.  100% of what you give will go to help this relief effort!

Inspiration

Just wanted to share this new song I heard in the car this morning (about the only benefit of having a long commute!) by Sidewalk Prophets.  I hadn't heard this song before and the radio station is hyping up all the bands playing at WinterJam this Saturday, so they featured this song as well as had an interview with Dave the lead singer of the band.  I was just  blessed and inspired this morning and hope you will enjoy this too.  Don't worry, I am not going to sing!!!  Here are the words to the song,

You Loved Me Anyway:

The question was raised
As my conscience fell
A silly, little lie
It didn’t mean much
But it lingers still
In the corners of my mind
Still you call me to walk
On the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future’s so far
My heart is so frail
I think I’d rather stay inside
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
How You love me
It took more than my strength
To simply be still
To seek but never find
All the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And why do loved ones have to die?
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway
See now, I am the man that called out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with this smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
But You love me anyway
Oh, God… how you love me
You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
You love me, You love me
You love me, You love me
How You love me
How You love me
How You love me

Behind the Song:
"You Love Me Anyway is a song that embodies what the band is all about, loving God despite our fears and questions, and loving him because He first loved us. We wrote this song in the basement of Ben’s house in the middle of a thunderstorm, I remember thinking how incredibly safe I felt. The storm raged all around and shook the walls, but safe inside we sat. That’s just like our God, a shelter in the storm. I then started to remember all the things I had done not to deserve such a shelter, such a loving God. I remembered being a child and telling my very first lie. It was about the death of a goldfish.

When I was 4, I just thought that a goldfish needed a chance to breathe the air, to get out a little, and that he must be tired of swimming all the time. So, I reached my little hand in the tank and set him free. He wiggled and flailed for a while but then finally stopped and slept. I felt that I had really helped that fish out, and that knowledge felt great, until….

My babysitter had a radar for tragic things, things like pushing another child or falling and scraping your hand on the pavement. When that fish stopped moving, her radar kicked into overdrive. She flew out of the kitchen, looked me directly in the eyes, and asked, “who killed Morty?” My mind was distraught. I had never meant to kill anything, ever, not even a roly-poly worm. In such distress, I did the only thing that came natural. See I was a good boy, and I knew my bible verses. So, I puffed out my chest, looked my babysitter directly in the eye, mustered up all my courage, and then quickly pointed at my friend Joel and yelled, “He did it!” And for some reason, a reason that to this day I can’t explain, Joel admitted that he did the deed. He took the bullet. Then, he stood in the corner for a mind numbing 30 minutes. As I watched cartoons that afternoon, I couldn’t concentrate. I remember glancing back at Joel and every second that I glanced was guiltier than the last.

The following Sunday, I sat in a pew up in the balcony at church with my Mom. I cried and desperately tried to hide the tears, but Moms can always tell when something is amiss. They have a knack for understanding puffy eyes and tear soaked sleeves. “What is wrong?” was all she needed to say to open up my heart. “I hurt you. I hurt Jesus,” I cried. Then I told her the whole dramatic story, and that I really wasn’t trying to kill anything at all, and that I was so, so sorry. I will never forget the lesson I learned that day. It was on this occasion that my mother explained to me the power of Jesus’ death on the cross and the amazing grace that covered the world’s sins. It was because of His blood I could experience true unconditional love and forgiveness for the first time.

It was there in that “silly, little lie” that I began to realize the power of grace. All the faults and downfalls will occur, and the true measure of a man or a boy is what we do after those moments. Some tragedies occur and the reason is never known, but in the midst of all storms there is a place where we are safe,
a place where we are truly loved, in the arms of Jesus Christ." - Sidewalk Prophets

Making It Look Like Christmas

I have to admit it is hard to get into the Christmas spirit around here when its still warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirts.  I got a jump start this year though!  I was driving to work November 30th and had the radio on in the car for my nearly 1 hour commute. Near the end of my drive, I heard that the station I was listening to was going to give away 10 live Christmas trees in 10 days.  That day was the first day.  They were asking a trivia question and the first right answer was the winner. 

I grabbed my phone just in case I would know the answer and listened very closely (much easier when you're alone in the car!!) to the question: "What is a round, hard candy filled with jelly and covered in sugar?"  I pushed send on my phone thinking to myself that I didn't know the answer, but maybe someone will guess wrong and it will give me a clue so I can answer.  As the phone is actually ringing (unbelievable), Laura (the DJ) gave a clue, "They are in a Chritmas story and they dance."  I instantly knew the answer.  The phone continued to ring and ring and I was just thinking I had dialed too soon and they were going to be ignoring that line until the contest was over and maybe I should hang up and try again.  I let it ring a few more times and to my amazement, the DJ came on the line and asked my name. 

Now, I would love to know why my heart rate shot up over 200 beats per minute and I was as nervous as if I was about to address the nation on some podium or TV show!  Somehow, I managed to giver her my name (which she didn't stumble over, or suddenly lose her hearing, or have any questions about) and she told me I was the first caller and got the first guess.  I guessed sugarplums and was right!  I had won the tree! 

Two days later, the gift certificate arrived in the mail. Coincidentally, Holden was sick with a fever Tuesday night and I had stayed home from work on Wednesday to keep an eye on him (Paul was in Colorado Springs), so after school, we picked up the rest of the kids and Holden and Alayna were the only ones who wanted to come to the tree lot to pick out our free tree.  This was very special because last year we decided not to have a Christmas tree since they were $60 and way out of our budget.  The kids agreed, they would rather have a Christmas present than a tree. Here we are at the tree lot:

Ummmm, yes, someone did have to go to the  bathroom, thanks for noticing!! That was the only picture I took in front of the sign and didn't notice what she was doing in it.  Now, I do not have a truck, so we laid down the back seat of the van and planned to buy a tree that is still wrapped up tight and slide it up between the two middle seats.  The tricky part was finding a skinny, pretty tree without prickly needles (they make me break out).  I just asked the gentleman working there to find me a tree like that.  He showed me this tree and I took it!  I had no idea what it would actually look like.  As a control freak, this was a big step!

I can't believe I can't remember his name, but he was very kind and cut off the bottom branches for me so there would be enough trunk to slide into the stand.  The branches just stayed in place and I decided I could use them for something at home.

I snapped a quick picture of us since the photographer doesn't seem to get into any of the pictures.  He shared his story with me about how God got his attention and redeemed him from his life of sin and addiction and has led him to serve the ministry that the tree stand was raising money for (Loving Hands Ministry).  Plus, he had a really cool shirt on!

The tree fit perfectly!

It also fit perfectly behind the couch, right in the middle of the living/dining room at the house.  We moved the table that usually lives there to the entryway for the time being.  I put some more decorations on it and the kids put the train together after this picture, but you can easily see that I got a skinny, pretty tree! As a bonus, the needles weren't prickly!

The bottom branches that got cut off got put to use on the front doors. I was very happy with how that looked.  The double front doors are one of my favorite things about the house we are living in right now.  Very handy for moving too!

There was already a nail on the wall for this decoration.

I *might* have had to drill a couple holes in the house to hang decorations outside...lets just keep that between us, okay??  They were very small, close to the top, under the eves.

JoDee was staying with us while Paul was in Colorado Springs and she and mom came over to help us get the Christmas decor all up.  We had done the same at her house the weekend before.  We had a horrible time trying to get the tree to stay straight in the stand. We usually get a really big tree and this tree was small and had a skinny trunk.  So, when the screws were screwed all the way out, the tree was not secure yet.  I eneded up finding some scrap pieces of 2 x 4 in the garage and we put pieces on 2 of the sides so that the tree stayed up straight when the screws were pushed up against it.  It was a major struggle but I did emerge victorious, sweating, and highly irritable!! 

I must say, it did start looking more like Christmas.  I did not manage to get a picture of the palm trees in the front yard.  I am very sad about that.  We have seven (count them, seven) palm trees in our postage stamp size front yard.  Gabriel and JoDee wrapped white lights around the bases of each of them and they looked beautiful!  It was Riley's job to water the tree each day and he did a really good job!  When we took the tree out after New Years Day, it was still holding its needles pretty well.  The house always looks so bare after taking the Christmas decorations down, so we are getting used to that all over again!

Necessity

As you can see by this picture, the boys' hair was getting quite long. They like it this way. All the cool kids wear their hair long, you see. But, Gabriel and Riley have a little problem. We have been trying to teach them the strength of their words. How they can choose to use their words for good, or for harm. They kept making the wrong choices in spite of the push ups they would have to perform for speaking in such a way. Their dad was finally fed up and threatened the very hair on their heads if they didn't shape up. Here they contemplate whether Dad is actually crazy enough to actually cut their hair:

"Nah, he won't do it", thought Riley. "But he is crazy...he usually follows through on his threats." thought Gabriel.

"He's crazy, but not that crazy. I think we're safe!"

"But what if he really does it?"

"I'm not going to be as cool as I thought I was," Riley thought to himself. "My head is going to be cold!" thought Gabriel.

"Oh my, I think I hear the clippers warming up right now..."

Maybe we need to learn to watch what we say...

Sure enough, later that day, they found out if Dad was really serious. I am sure this was what Paul was thinking: "Clippers...check, comb...check, towel...check, stool...check, crazy smile...check!"

Can you see the hair literally flying?? Can you see how thrilled Gabriel is??

Next victim! He was a shaggy one too!

With a killer stare.

Another satisfied customer!

We'll keep you posted as to whether or not this actually changes their behavior. The reverse mohawk is the next promised new look in the house if it continues.

Disclaimer: we really do love our boys and they were long overdue for haircuts. Their school does not allow hair that covers the top of the ears, collar, or eyebrows, so this was inevitable. We did hope to teach them a lesson along the way. No animals or humans were harmed in the making of this post...just lots of hairs.