Arrived in Broomfield, CO safe and sound. I thought the drive from Albuquerque would be murder since the van only does 25 MPH going uphill. It was actually pretty flat most of the way. Temperature is cooler than it was in Arizona too.

We’ll stay here tomorrow and go to church with our friends and then take off Monday AM. I don’t remember building that into the plan but it will still work out that we arrive in IL on July 2nd. That’s cool since Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. The church they attend (and Evangelical Free Church) has been without a Senior Pastor for about a year and they just hired a guy who lives 5 minutes from the church! I don’t know if he’s going to be preaching tomorrow or not. Actually it doesn’t matter too much to me who is preaching as long as Christ is preached. Those “application” sermons drive me nuts. “Here’s five ways to be a better husband” they say and none of them involve being born again in Christ. I listened to an old tape in the van today by Tim Keller titled “Applying Christ.” Keller wanders quite a bit but he had some very good points. It all remindes me of 2Pt 1:3. God, though His great power, has given us everything we need for life and godliness through knowledge of Christ. That doesn’t mean that sermons don’t have application, but it does mean that the application has got to be more than “try real hard cause Jesus saved you.” Every time I hear that kind of preaching (and sadly I hear it a lot on Christian radio) I think of Paul’s rebuke of the Galatians:

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Keller quoted some Reformed guy (was it Burkhouer?) who said that the real difference between Arminians and Reformed is not justification by faith alone, though the Arminian is inconsistant, they still believe that. The real difference is sanctification by faith.

Anyway, I’ve gone off on a tangent. I’ll just be glad to be in church worshiping tomorrow.

Had gotten a little behind on the Mac OS X updates. Plugged the iBook into my sister-in-law’s cable modem and had an update party! Man this thing is fast, must have one….

We all made it to Albuquerque alive and well. This is the longest drive of the trip: 14 hours. We’ll spend the day here at a family reunion and then take off tomorrow morning.

We cleared out of base housing at 10 AM and were on the road by 1 PM. It was a loooonnnnnggg uneventful drive. The bad part was that the A/C in the cab doesn”t work. The U-Haul tops out at about 70 MPH and there were a couple of hills where we maxed out at 25 MPH! Yes, I did pull over and let people pass.

If things continue to go this smoothly we should arrive in IL right on schedule.

I got a new case for my iBook, its called a Whump! Case. This this is perfect! It is a slip case so there isn’t a ton of room for carrying books and such but it is thickly padded, has a rigid panel under the nylon weave cover and it the exact size for the iBook. This is just what I wanted so that I could drop my iBook into my backpack without banging up the case. Not only that, but the company really worked with me to get it here before I moved. They’re from Canada and my debit and credit cards kept declining (NAFTA be damed!) so they shipped it the same day I mailed them a check (or should I say “cheque”?) Great stuff.

I went on a couple of short term mission trips with a madman named Dan Hitzhusen. He told us that we were “going on a faith adventure with God” before each trip and he was quite right. Well, this move has turned into a faith adventure too.

It started Saturday the 22nd. We took our bed apart and I saw that the frame was pretty much falling apart so I decided that we’d stop by Ikea and pick up a new one. The only time we had to do it was Sunday after church. As a soft Sabbatarian, I don’t like doing that but it was needful. There was a baptism at 4 PM and we wanted to get back by then so we turned to kids over to someone else and took off. About a quarter of the way there the van started running rough so I pulled over to see if I could figure it out. Nope, but I suspected the fuel pump since it has a history. We stopped at an auto parts place and picked up a new one then turned around and headed home. We just missed the baptism but got to hang around for the fellowship afterwards.

Monday was spent dropping a 3/4 full 26 gallon fuel tank (gasoline is about 8 lbs/gal, you do the math) changing the fuel pump and fuel filter. Once the tank was down (no mean feat either!) I discovered that I had the wrong fuel pump. Bummer. I borrowed a car and drove into town and exchanged it. Put the new one in an mounted the tank then tried the car. I wasn’t running roughly anymore, now it would run at all! I squirted some carb cleaner in the intake and it didn’t help. Must be an spark problem, right? I picked up a new coil but by then the sun had set and I couldn’t install it. We did have dinner with some dear friends though.

Tuesday I was supposed to pick up the U-Haul and start loading. U-Haul was supposed to call Monday to tell me where to pick it up, they didn’t so I called them. They had my reservation but nothing had been done on it. I expressed my dissatisfaction and told them to come up with a van. They sent me to a town about 40 miles away. When I got there I was told that they had two 26′ vans but they were both reserved. I wound up at another U-Haul in the same city and I got my van.

When I got home (noonish) with the van I started working. Soon some friends from church showed up and we got moving on the U-Haul. Back to the van. The instructions on the coil said to use the existing mounting hardware. Cute since the old coil was rivited in! I replaced it and it didn’t help. Sent the wife in to town for a bunch of stuff including a new cap, rotor and wires. Went back to loading the U-Haul.

Tuesday was also my 40th birthday. At about 6PM I felt every single inch of 40. My wife returned with the goods including pizza. Three slices later and I was ready to get back to work. Replaced the cap, rotor and wires on the van. Still no help. Back to loading the van. Three guys from church showed up right in the nick of time. We were down to the last few feet of room and still had some big items to go on. I was sure they wouldn’t fit but by 11 PM we got them loaded. Whew!

Wednesday I called the garage and AAA to get the van fixed. AAA picked it up about 9AM. The plan was that my wife and her sister and my daughters were supposed to get in the van and head off to Albuquerque while my son and I cleaned the house. Turned out my wife and I cleaned the house and no one headed to Albuquerque. We got the house cleaned and the last bits loaded into the U-Haul. The garage called. The fuel pump is supposed to produce 60 psi and was only cranking out 15. Yup, the boneheads at a different store, same chain sold me the wrong fuel pump again. The garage will install a new one tomorrow AM. Also, my final inspection of the house is tomorrow at 10:15 AM. If I pass, and I’m pretty sure I will, then I’m free.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Another favorite is 2Pt 1:3.) Most often we cannot see those good purposes when we’re in the midst of having all things worked, but in this case I think I recognize some. First, since the regional U-Haul office messed up my reservation (which I made on the 12th) the guys at the office gave me two extra days free. They also used the old price since the office I was at didn’t have the new book. All in all they saved me $380 on the rental. Second, there was no way I could have gotten the last little bits of furniture in the U-Haul myself. I’m good at Tetris but not loading moving vans. They did some really cool things and we got everything loaded with room for the odds and ends. All told we loaded something like 8,320 pounds of household goods. I’m guessing that the Air Force will end up paying me about $5,000 to move it myself.Third, though my son and I could have cleaned the house ourselves it was better the way it worked out. My children got to spend the day at my pastor’s house. We’re pretty close to their family and our kids love each other. But also, my wife and I got some quality time together. Sure we were cleaning an hauling out trash, but we had a good day together. I’ll be driving with my son so we’ll get some time together too.

Oh yea, before I forget, I’m moving to Illinois this Thursday. We’re loading up a U-Haul and driving from Southern California to Northern Illinois. I’m going to try to blog my journey each night as we stop. Check back for the exciting adventures of a family of 5 in a minivan and 26′ U-Haul as they head off to across the great United States! I just hope this doesn’t turn into one of those Chevy Chase “Vacation” movies. “Hey kids, only 47 more miles to the largest hot dog ever made in the continental United States!”

If you’re the kind of Christian who is interested in the question “what is the least I have to do to be saved” then my new “Minimalist Church” is for you! Tired of hearing about discipleship and sacrafice and struggling against sin? Ready to be still and know that He is God? Isn’t it time you rested in the arms of your Savior?

The whole idea came up during a men’s group meeting when we were going through Knowing God by JI Packer. Don’t ask, I don’t remember the connection. I’ll put a link to it on my Theology page sometime.

Saw “The Bourne Identity” last night with my wife. It was fantastic! The story moved along at a reasonable clip, Matt Damon was very good as an action-movie actor. I never read the book and I’m glad because the movie was just fine. Reading the book may have jaundiced me against it (as it did with some Tom Clancey novels.)

The only down side to the experience was that we got there late and wound up in the very front row.

RazorMouth has now published the fifth installment in a two-part series on infant baptism. Tristian Emmanuel now appeals to what is his worst enemy in this issue: the Regulative Principle of Worship.

To demonstrate my extreme vanity let me point out that he continues to ignore my critique of his first paper and continues to repeat the same errors I pointed out in it. I’m sure it is because he as received many shorter, more quotable questions.

On a related note, I’m also involved in a dialog (not a debate!) on this issue with a fella on the antithesis discussion boards. We’re both being nice to each other. (Note: My nickname there is Ahnyer Keester, scroll down a bit and the discussion is between Mookie and myself. Really a nice guy!)