When we moved to Jackson, we were gladly welcomed in by two great folks. It took a lot of arm twisting, but finally, my mom and dad agreed to let us stay with them as long as we needed to…(TOTALLY lying about twisting their arm, but hopefully that was obvious!) So, here we came, with all of our junk and moved right on back into the home that I grew up in. A little bit different this time, but wonderful! As wonderful as it was to have built in baby-sitters, and no rent for the first time since December 2006, we were definitely ready to have a place of our own. We were ready to rent again if that’s what God had in store, but our heart’s desire was to own a home! So the search was on. One of Chuck’s passions, which I’m sure many people can relate to, is looking at homes online. We found so many! But we never went to look at any. The whole time, I tried to tell Chuck that it was gonna be magical and that his searches were useless. My prayer since the beginning was pretty specific in many ways, but especially in one way. If you’ve seen Miracle on 34th Street, you will remember the end where Santa has given the little girl what she truly wanted for Christmas. It was a house. As her family was driving by, she freaked out all of sudden and made them stop. It was the exact house that she had cut a picture of and given to Santa. He gave it to her. And it just was there like BOOM! here’s your house. So yea, that was kinda my prayer. That God would just lay it in our lap, and hear me out…that we wouldn’t have to look for it AT ALL! SO…on we go!

Toward the end of June, I talked to my grandpa about a cute house we had seen online. He took an interest in our wanting to buy a house and started searching for us! While at the library with the girls one day, I got a call from Chuck telling me that GrandBobby’s neighbors were moving out in a hurry & leaving everything behind. So we figured, what the heck it’s worth a shot. Condensed version…we went, we loved, we bought! The elderly couple was leaving and moving into an assisted living apartment. Which therefore meant that everything besides the living room, and bedroom furniture…stayed. INCLUDING but not limited to: tool shed with oh about thousands of dollars worth of tools and man goodies, brand new 4-wheeler with oh about 4.5 hours on it, 2 other sheds filled with camping stuff, generator for the house, enormous hand crafted knife collection, bread maker, meat slicer, ice cream maker , grill, deep freezer, all appliances, extra fridge, washer & dryer etc. It was the perfect 1600 sq ft that our sweet family of 4 needed! I immediately knew that this was no coincidence, and if you for one second think that this is a coincidence, and that we were just lucky…you might be smoking crack! This house and all that came with it, was a complete answer to prayer. Because another of my specific prayers for when we got a house, was that it would be a testimony to how amazing our God truly is. I wanted it to make God look REAL good! Like, there’s no other way but God. And that is exactly what we got. I mean seriously, there IS NO other way but by God’s good grace and compassion, that we would ever fall into something so amazing!

We got the house at a BEYOND ridiculous price. Trust me. We got it for less then what they originally paid, and that’s after the $30,000  worth of upgrades they put into it…yea. So sitting in church one morning, I was reading one of my favorite scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:5-9. Which basically says, Love God with all your might! Commit to His commands, repeat them to your children, surround yourself with them, write them on the doorposts of your house. (Which was why I was reading it again, because I wanted to fill my new home with scriptures, and this is one) and on that particular Sunday, I kept reading. Allow me to share. Verse 10) The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. 11) The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns that you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. (Did I mention that there is a garden in the backyard, tons of flowers, a fig tree and a pear tree?) When you have eaten your fill in this land, 12) be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.

So there ya go. A confirmation of sorts. Never has there been a more perfect verse. A promise of what God had promised us. Remember the scripture I shared in the last blog, Matthew 19:29, Any man who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.

God called Chuck and I to leave Sevierville and come to Jackson to help plant a church. That was not in our plans. Sevierville was our home and our family. Everything that we knew and loved. BUT, we left it, for God. And sure enough, the blessings that we have since received just since we arrived have definitely been a hundred fold. We have an amazing peace about where we are and what we have been called to do. As hard as the task at hand may be, we will do it with all our might, and we will rest easy each night knowing the promise of eternal life that God specifically gave to us and our family. Sorry it was long…but ya should’ve known! lol. May God Bless. Hope this was a good testimony. If not, then God’s gonna have a bone to pick with me! hugs and kisses.

Rach

(Please understand that each time I post, it somehow always ends up REALLY long! I pre-apologize, but it will totally be worth it! Promise!)

God. That’s the one word that over the last few months I have found myself saying over and over. Speechless and only able to simply say “God.” Like Chuckles said, our life at The Gathering, and what God did with us there, is really where our lives in general began. My fingers would be broken if I attempted to type all of the ways in which God has blessed us, disciplined us, and matured us in the past 3 years. Because of that, we are able to give Him all the glory, honor & praise for some pretty cool things. Ex 1. We inherited a minivan from an AMAZING family at church who knew we were in the market. (Don’t judge me and my 25 year old minivan driving self!) Yes…I said INHERITED! 2000 black Ford Windstar, in GREAT condition. Problem with that, was that it left us with 3 cars. So, God ALLOWED us to give Chuck’s Acura to one of my loves in the youth group, who was a single mom & had just totaled her car. So, we got to pay it forward, & give this young mommy a car that she really needed. What a privilege to be able to give someone a car in the name of Jesus. Very cool! We eventually ended up putting my car on craigslist to get an SUV. We thought, “what the heck?!” And we got exactly what we wanted for it only 18 hours later. Which allowed us to get an AMAZING deal on a 4runner the very next day, for the exact amount that we sold mine for! WHOA! Yea I know! So that’s our super cool car stories. And if that’s enough…we’re only just beginning!

For all who read the “house” blog that I posted like forever ago, you know now why God wanted us to obey Him in not buying that dream house! We would be one of those families whose house was a foreclosure because a year after we bought it we were called to Jackson, TN. I knew that my God had a bigger plan. He always knows the bigger picture & what is good for us, when we have no earthly idea why He is doing things! So, a few months ago, God started planting some seeds in our hearts and really speaking quite clearly to us about a ton of stuff. For example, I was wondering why God was giving me scripture after scripture about “immediate obedience.” And wondering what He wanted me to immediately obey?! I soon found out that when He called us to Jackson, it would be quick, and even though I didn’t want to leave everything behind, I had to “immediately obey.” And we did. Another example & promise from scripture that helped was Matthew 20:29 “And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.” YO! Sign me up for that promise right?! So to this day, we claim that promise, because we sure as heck packed up our perfect little life over in cute little Sevierville, and left everything behind for Jackson, TN. We would never have chosen to do that. Trust me. (No offense to Jackson, and all of my amazing family in Jackson) But in the words of Chuck’s mom, “Boy Howdy!” have we been blessed a hundred fold since then….BUT I will have to continue later. I have WAYYY crossed the line in my longness. And there is much more to tell. So I shall return soon. As always when I write…..TO BE CONTINUED!!!

XOXO

~Rach

Here goes it…

Back on June 1st Rachel and I along with our two b-e-a-utiful girls packed up and headed west, all the way to the flatlands of Jackson, Tennessee about 5 hours down I-40 from our previous place of residency. God has called our family to Jackson, TN to be a part of Journey Church, a new Church north of Jackson in the town (not sure if its officially a town or a city or just an area) of Three Way, TN. We launch our first service on 10.10.10. If you are in the area come check it out! And if you are not in the area, then get in your car and drive out for 10.10.10 its gonna be bangorang!

My last day as the Student Pastor at The Gathering in Sevierville (where I always tell people I learned more there in 3 years than I did during my 6 year college career…its so true) was June 1st, and my first day with Journey Church was June 22. Therefore we had 21 days to do kinda whatever we wanted, while keeping in mind I was missing a paycheck, so it wasn’t really whatever we wanted, but we took advantage of it anywho! We hit the road and headed to Fernandina Beach, FL to visit some good friends down there and hit up the beach to get our tan on! It was the first time we were able to go to the beach as a family and it was an absolute blast! Kennedy took a few days to get used to the ocean but once she did we couldn’t drag her away from all that sand and salty oceany goodness.

After the beach we returned back to Jackson and attempted to get in the swing of things while crashing with the in-laws for as we searched for a place to shack up the Van Hook family. As soon as Kennedy and JulieAnne started getting accustom to life at GeeGee (not sure how to spell that one, but that looks like how it sounds) and BoomBoom’s (Kennedy’s name for grandpa because whenever rachel calls, his ringback tone is the Black Eyed Peas “Boom Boom Pow”) house we were on the road again! This time we loaded up the new Swagga Wagon and headed north…16 hours north to Rochester, NY for a family wedding. We had a blast seeing all of our family and experiencing the upstate New York lifestyle. I also got to take all three of my girls to see Niagra Falls! That place is just as amazing as it was the last time I was there when I had a sweet bowl cut and wore a fanny pack, high socks and florescent shorts!

After returning from the wedding in New York we hit the ground running with Journey Church. I feel like we have been going 10,000 mph these last few weeks! Church planting is no joke! And I’m only the sidekick for this launch (Jeremy is doing a kick booty job at getting this launch going and reaching people who are far from Christ! Check his blog out.)

Quick run-through of what alls been going on with Journey and the Van Hook Family. ONE: We have been raising support that allows me to serve on staff here at Journey, we have spent a ton on stamps and envelopes and if you have not gotten a letter, chances are its in the mail or on its way in the next 5 days or perhaps I do not posses your mailing address. If you would like some info and don’t receive a letter in the next week hit me up with your address. TWO: I have been working like crazy to get this Family Ministry shaped up and ready to launch! God is good and He is giving me a lot of good ideas, Journey Kidz is gonna be the new hotness!! THREE: I have been sweating a whole lot. Seriously. It might be abnormal. FOUR: Last week I had the privilege to lead a mission trip here in Jackson with the awesome folks from the Student Ministry of New Hope Christian Church which is based out of Bryan, OH. I cannot put into words the amount of work we got done last week, but I will try real quick. We canvased most of the houses north of I-40 with door hangers (I referred to it as “Getting our Jehovah Witness On”). The students did a great job at getting Journey Church out there to the public! They helped us save 5 to 10 g’s easily! Thank you so much to everyone in that group, you guys were awesome! (Remember to keep your eyes out for those intense double rainbows!) FIVE: We are heading to Nashville next weekend for a conference, it should make for a good time.

Awwww Shooooooot. This post is long as Lindsey Lohan’s wrap sheet and I haven’t even gotten a chance to mention all of incredible, mind-blowing craziness that God has done in our lives this summer! Seriously it is redonkulous what all God has done for me and my family this summer, but Rachel does such a better job at putting it into words so I will have her post up here tomorrow and share all the blessings God has done in the last two months! Here is a table of contents for her post tomorrow.

-Someone gave us a van.

-We gave our car away

-We prayed for a house that could be a testimony

-God gave us a house, furnished, with tools and a 4 wheeler

-We needed a car to help with a Church Trailer & Prayed God would provide

-Sold our car in 18 hours

-God provided us a car to meet our needs the next day

-We are healthy and our girls love God

This is long…sorry…its good stuff…Rachel’s posting tomorrow…Check it!

Outie Five

Therefore, I going to begin combining two things I love so I can get back on top of my blog game. From past posts you may have witnessed that I am pretty much the best cartoonist since Yakko, Wakko and Dot. (Don’t know em? Get to!) Also I really enjoy telling little short stories about my life and the adventures I seem to always find myself in.

On that note, every day I will try my best to post a simple sketch of an event that took place in my life that day, along with a simple explanational (big fake word) story to let you know the details behind the pic. Some stories may be funny events from my family life, stressful yet enjoyable events from my experiences working with Teenagers or even some deep stuff from my spiritual journey God’s got me one.

So I hope you enjoy the new swag I am about to unleash on you, welcome to Sketchical Stories From the Life of 3zie.

Enjoy!

Now if you know me you know I love Hip-Hop music, if you know me real well you know I actually recorded 1 (uno) song while in college in a home made bathroom studio. It was terrible. Bottom Line.

But the other night, real late, when God speaks most clearly to me He sparked an idea in me so I grabbed, my pen, my paper, my pen. (If you caught on to that you know me real well). Any-who, no I did not write another Rap song, but instead a little Spoken Word poem (Check some out here). I have never written one before but it goes a little something like this…

Many times when I look in the mirror I find,

A mind,

Full of confusion.

Identity crisis.

I’m blind.

The world’s tellin’ me on thing,

They sing.

Do what ever you like.

Do what feels right.

You’re King!

But you say there’s only One King, Jesus,

He frees us!

I hear your words, but I see no actions.

Plus!

If Jesus really frees us,

And He’s in you,

Then why do you always fight and fuss?

Yell and cuss?

You push me aside,

Forget about us?

You say we’re the future.

The youth.

A bright spot ahead.

But the truth?

I stand right here today.

Not in the future.

And I’m not dead.

Like I said,

My head,

It gets filled with lies

I trust my heart to mortal man.

Watch things to please my eyes.

But when I look inside,

My heart,

It withers,

And dies.

You see,

I don’t know who I am.

I don’t know my purpose.

On the surface,

I look clean,

But Inside,

I’m Mean.

And honestly,

I fein.

Look at me,

My home life’s in shambles, no parents around.

I store up my emotions, My questions, My thoughts.

Its all scrambled

It kills me inside!

Depressed,

Distraught.

Oh, that’s right,

I haven’t forgot.

That name Jesus,

You say it a lot

It sounds so nice,

But I want to SEE Him!

No. No, better yet,

I NEED to see Him!

He’s all I got!

So here’s a question,

Am I still just your future?

A youth?

A bright spot ahead?

Look around.

I’m in this room too.

Sitting here.

Waiting.

For You.

Just a little somethin’ somethin’ about how our Youth are over looked as leaders TODAY, not just FUTURE leaders. Many are ready to be leaders right now, TODAY! While others are dying, daily broken. They need positive people in their lives. They get beat down every day by peers, parents, media and our culture.

I praise God for allowing me to serve the students in our county. Lord may I always remember these students are here TODAY to lead TODAY, TOMORROW and in the FUTURE.

Video will be up in a few weeks. Good night all.

Outie Five.

Would Jesus have a Facebook? That way He could keep up with all of His carpenter boys from back in the day. He could “poke” them, or wish them happy birthday only because he was reminded by the Birthday Calendar application. Would there be a “group” on Facebook titled “I used to couldn’t walk but now I can!” just for the people Jesus healed?

Would Jesus have a Myspace so He could keep up with all of David’s Harp Worship albums or change His “Mood” status every time a Pharisee ticked Him off?

What about blogging? Would Jesus be a master Blogger, letting everyone know about the crazy things that go on in His day to day life. Would He share all of His deep emotional thoughts and advice on how to do ministry with the World Wide Blogging Community?

YouTube, Jesus would get His YouTube on fa sho. Right? Posting videos of all His miracles and casting out of demons. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt He would get more hits than “Charlie Bit My Finger” if He posted the whole walking on water thing.

And how cool would it be to have a Podcast of Jesus teaching the Sermon on the Mount!? That would be incredible! Would He charge $9.99 for the video Podcast and just .99 Cents for the Audio?

You know, Kanye West hates Twitter. I don’t know why. Personally I love Twitter. It’s just fun to let everyone know what random crap is going on in your life at any given moment. I wonder WWJT. What Would Jesus Tweet? Or would He Tweet at all? Could you imagine how many followers He would have? Would He send out Bible Verses that constantly run through His mind all day? Would He send in Twitter Pics? Who knows!? I don’t.

Seriously, I don’t have an answer to any of these questions, so if you read all of that thinking I would somehow supply you with the answer to What Would Jesus Tweet? I am sorry to disappoint you.

I honestly don’t know if Jesus would use any of the technology we have today. I do know that He would not worship it though. I know He would not spend 11 hours a day on Facebook checking friend requests and status updates. I know He would not only communicate with people through text messaging and Twitter updates. I know He would not rely on His Pod casts to do all His outreach around the world.

But what I do know is that Jesus would be out in this world. Looking at people face to face. Eating lunch with sinners. Loving everyone He came in contact with trying desperatly to show them the love of His Father.

Sometimes I get caught up. A lot of times I rely way to much on text messaging or e-mails. Often times I catch myself surfing Facebook for hours on end. And it just got me thinking about how impersonal our culture is, and has the potential to become. Even with ministry.

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to say any of these things are evil. I’m not saying that at all. I’m just a guy, in a technologically filled world, that gets easily distracted by all the flashing lights and new electronic stuff, but sees myself slipping further and further away from actual face to face discussions, with real words, no computer lingo, and missing out on that personal relationship with the people in my life.

My prayer is that I remember a man named Jesus, who had nothing, took nothing with Him, had no gimmicks, no shows. Just love and the Word of God. And He impacted this world like no other man in history.

May we put down our phones, shut off the computers, take a step outside of our cyber world and remember what it is like to simply Love people and communicate that through personal interaction every now and then. Yes everyone is on Facebook. Yes everyone has a Twitter. Yes everyone Text Messages. But the last time I checked most everyone still has a voice, and most everyone loves to hear a voice or see a face. I pray we use our resources, but not worship them.

Outie 5

This weekend while chillin in Lexington, Kentucky with my main man Rob Geezy we checked out a few movies. Friday we went out and watched the new G.I. Jane movie. Yes, I said G.I. Jane, I never remember playing with my G.I. Joes and thinking, “Hmmmm I think it would be real fun to go get some of my lil sis’ Barbie dolls and create some sort of love square Soap Opera scenario.” G.I. Joes were made to kick the crap out of each other not be Disney prince charmings! FYI the choice of actors was terrible and all the cool stuff was shown in the previews. Anyways, sorry for the rant, let me hop down off my popcorn box now.

We also watched the movie Role Models, which if you look past all the “R” rated garbage, it was pretty funny and had a good message. Matter of fact, I am pretty sure I am in search for a Mid-Evil Knights of the Round Table-like fan club to join around East Tennessee, so if you know any groups hook me up with the info.

Then yesterday we watched the movie The Soloist, with Jamie Fox. I heard a ton of mixed reviews on the movie, mainly negative, mainly coming from an 8 year old and a couple Middle School students, but I didn’t care I wanted to see it anyway. After hearing everyone’s ideas on the movie, my verdict is that it was a pretty good movie. I really enjoyed it. It made me take a long hard look at how I deal with friends and students who are having problems or going through some rough times.

So many times, me being a man, I want to fix everything. I want to figure out some way to stop the hurting or the behavior that’s going on. I talk way too much, I ramble and I preach when I simply need to shut up and listen. Listen to someone who is in need of a friend to talk with. Someone to hang out with. A friend who helps them keep their mind off the hurt or the mistakes for a few calming minutes. Someone to love them.

Working in the ministry I think many times we forget the verse found in James 1:19. Instead of always throwing answers at people and trying to fix them and their situations we instead need to be “quick to listen and slow to speak.”

May I stop trying to be askjeeves.com all the time, take a timeout and be a friend who genuinely cares.

I’m Gone.

So, here is the stinkin’ awesome something that I have in my possession. It is a 1984 Michael Jackson Thriller World Tour Jacket. I know, thats pretty stinkin’ awesome if you ask me!

Here is whats up. What do you think I could get for it? Lets here some estimations.

How fast would it go on EBay?

and, Would it be better to hang on to it and get rid of it in the future? Or jump on it now while everyone is going nuts?

I got my answers to these questions but I want to hear what you all have to say, so let me know. Leave some comments!

And just so you don’t think I am lying, check out these pics.

Outie 5

This is the Back of the Jacket

Front Left Chesticle Area, it reads "Thriller"

-Father’s Day occurred … what I got out of the day? How bout another kid! That’s right Rachel and I just found out she is knocked up with baby Van Hook squared. I cannot believe God has entrusted me with another child! I am super stoked about it and cannot wait for little Charles Benjamin Van Hook IV (aka C4)to be runnin’ all over the place. Due date = Feb. 26th, praying for healthy, hopin’ -n- prayin’ for a turtle (ultra sound lingo, give it a second let it sink in, you’ll get it)

-Shoot Dang! Kennedy Jane be a walkin’ fool these days. The kid runs all over the place. Her favorite thing to do now is is get walking all fast n drunk-like whobblin’ everywhere then belly flop on freshly washed and folded laundry. Its pretty sweet, although Rachel is not a big fan.

-Still got Two puppies. Want one. Please. Take one.

-As of last Monday, I am no longer responsible for the Middle School Students here at the Gathering! That’s right, you heard me! I am now responsible for the High School and Middle School Students here at the Gathering. I reckon you can say I am the new Student Pastor. I am pretty pumped to see God move in these students as we jump in here and begin discipleing the crap out of our students!

-The Braves are still terrible, well there offense is anyways. But Hanson is a beast!

-O yeah, right now I am writing this post to you all from a MacBook. I always hated Apple, especially when Rachel would always make me come do my homework with her in the Teacher Ed computer lab at Johnson, a Mac Mecca. It would take me 30 minutes just to open the stupid Internet. Why couldn’t they just call it “Internet”, why does it have to have a funky logo and be called Safari!? I always thought it was like a teaching program about African Wildlife or something. On the flip-side, I always did admire the coolness factor of a Mac. They just looked awesome, and they made the person using it look like they knew what they were doing when, in all reality they wanted to cuss and throw the confusing computer out a window. So with all that said, I have now sold out to the monster that is Apple and surprisingly it is going pretty well so far…I guess.

-ummmmm…..what else? O yeah my very overly hairy, Taliban-esk, Egg massage loving friend, Beatty is comin’ to town to chill for a few days. Its gonna be good to see the Beatty family, I don’t know how Lindsay puts up with all the hairballs in the sink and the mounds of boiled peanuts swaddled in Baltimore Orioles apparel  , but God love her soul. Craig and Lindsay serve on the mission field down in Puerto Rico. I know God is using them in some incredible ways and I cannot wait to see what He’s got for them next.

-Ben, dude, keep it real in Africa, but hurry up and come back to the Smokies. These trails are screamin’ for us.

-O yeah did I mention that we gots another bun in the oven!! YESSIR!

Well that’s about it from here for now. Have a blessed day, SHOW someone the Love of Christ today and quit simply TALKING about it!

Outie Five Thousand!

I stole this video off my buddy Dunbar’s Blog, we tend to steal each other’s ideas quite a bit so chances are if you read his blog or you read mine there are many similarities. But when I saw this video there was no way I could not be effected by its influence. I even found myself dancing and laughing in my office chair while enjoying this one.

It was all in God’s timing for me to witness this video. You see I watched it last Wednesday morning, and that night we had planned a sweet bonfire and some worship out on the back of the property. Instead we sweated our cracks off in the heat and humidity before being forced back inside by many bolts of lightning, loud rumbles of thunder and horizontal rain showers. 

But God had it all set up, I had an opportunity to share this video with our students and encourage them to get out of their comfort zones and make an impact in this world. Way to often in our world today teenagers are discouraged, beat down and looked down upon, when instead they need to be lifted up, prayed for and encouraged. Today’s teenagers are shaping our culture for today and many years to come, its about time someone instills some positive encouragement and lets them know they have the power to impact the world for Christ, just like this “So You Think You Can Dance” reject can impact an entire music festival.

Be a catalyst. Become an impactor. Be a leader. Change the World for Christ.

Enjoy. Outie Five.