the refiner’s fire…

wow things have been moving so fast!!!!!

in the midst of travelling so much in may/june and also looking for a new place to stay in KC, we’ve been moving too fast! we’re overdue for one of those long sighs of decompression where only God can breath back in those levels of stability that reset our hearts on a course destined to encounter Him and love others more well. In the midst of our instability, our weaknesses of character, anxiety, and restlessness seem to surface far too easily and Im reminded of James Chapters 1-3 that we’ve been studying at IHOP-KC the past two weeks! Familiarize yourself with James’ words about patience, faith, and our speech as they may be some of those that serve as continual plumblines to the body, soul, and spirit.

contrary to culture, I admit that I do love living in weakness because God loves me more when I admit that I’m weak and in need of Him to break-in, apprehend, and grip my life once again! I was discussing this with a close friend today. We talked about the pain of realizing and admitting our own weaknesses…but the delight of knowing that God still enjoys us in our weakest. In fact, I believe He enjoys us even more when we admit we are weak and broken before Him. the Bible says, “He delights in a broken and contrite spirit.” Too often we live behind false facades that externally present our lives as being OK and great when in reality we’re actually dead or dying on the inside. Our culture conditions us to ignore our weaknesses and live a life that makes us look better and stronger at all costs. However, I’d rather go through the pain of living a life of authenticity and reality where the Holy Spirit can identify my weakness before me and my loved ones so that maturity and growth can come in.

So as life has been inconsistent, instable, and faster than ever these past two months…the Lord has highlighted to us some of those dark areas in our hearts that may normally fly-under-the-radar. Once again we see our need for God and we desire Him to have His way in us for the sake of His name!

another reason I like DC United soccer…

…a DC United soccer player’s celebration after scoring a goal!

back in KC once again…

we’re back in KC! we had a great time in Maryland ministering to and visiting with friends and family.

the Lord is definitley stirring some things up with some of our friends back in Bowie and Crofton maryland!

having a great time in MD…

so far we’ve been very busy but we’re having a great time!

we’ve met up for dinner with Steve’s family on Wednesday and Amanda spent the day with her mom. Amanda’s mom left for Hawaii thursday morning.

Today we spent quality time with Lindsay A., Pedro, Daniel E., Mike E., George & Carol A.
we’ve done a bit of support raising for the ministry and shared about our trip to Haiti a bit.
we took out Pedro & Lindsay for dinner tonight and met up with Chris J. and Tim K.
we’re about to crash and get ready for another busy busy day tomorrow of meetings and hangouts!

bless you guys…stay tuned!

1 year in Kansas City…

just want to take a min to say that one year ago today we were packing up two massive Penske rental trucks and trucking out to Kansas City. wow, its really been a whole year!

its ironic that we’re visiting back in Maryland on our 1 year mark!

back to Maryland for 7 days…

we’re sitting in the Kansas City airport right now with Sara and Emily…our flight is delayed due to weather in Baltimore!

while in town Steve will be doing a wedding photo job on the Eastern Shore of MD, and we’ll be visiting with family and doing a bit of support raising as well!

…stay tuned!

weekend survey – what time is it???

I always find myself 2-3 mins late to anything around the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. All the clocks at IHOP-KC seem to be consistently 2-3 mins faster than my cell phone clock.

IHOP apparently has clocks that daily auto-sync with the atomic clock
Who sets the atomic clock anyway?
My cell phone auto-syncs to T-Mobile network time
Im still late :(

HOW DO YOU SET YOUR CLOCKS???

officially looking for housing (or housemates)

its official, we’re looking for new housing options and/or new housemates. Our lease ends August 1st, Heather and Tara are moving on and its looking like we are too.

we may be kissing 11300 good-bye, but we’re trusting the Lord that if we do end up moving on that He has something greater instore for us even if it means downgrading in the “niceness” category.

If you know anyone who is renting a house, room(s), a basement apt, etc…Please let us know!

PLEASE DON’T POST ANYONE’S PERSONAL CONTACT INFO AS A COMMENT
If you have info for us, find me in person or call me!

…stay tuned!

new wedding photos…

well, you probably know that I take photographs and sometimes even for weddings.
I just updated my website {www.monachetti.com} with all new wedding photos!

CHECK IT OUT!

self-portrait june…

taken at the end of a wedding reception in Kansas City
Canon 20D, 50mm, ISO400, 0.8sec at f/5.6, handheld, flash fired

dunstans photo shoot…

Finished up tyler and courtney’s photos last month…finally getting around to posting them! they were a great couple to shoot. a 1hr shoot turned into a 2 1/2 hour shoot cuz we were having so much fun!
CHECK THE GALLERY

40 days for 40 years…

WHAT?
Amanda and I are taking up the invitaiton of several major leaders in the church including Lou Engle, Mike Bickle, Dutch Sheets and others that are calling for 40 days of fasting culminating on July 7th at “The Call”being held in Nashville, TN.

WHY?
throughout the Bible, the discipline of fasting (combined with prayer and repentance) is often God’s prescription to a people (or person) to bring about His intervention. The Word often depicts the calling of a corporate fast (as led by God through the leaders of that day) to cultivate widespread change, to prevent disaster, and to redeem calamity during their hour of history.

the theme of this fast is “40 days for 40 years.” This summer of 2007 marks the 40th year anniversary of 1967’s “Summer of Love” which ushered in radical cultural and spiritual shifts in the United States. During this summer of love this nation was introduced to new realms, forms, and levels of drug abuse, rebellion, and sexual immorality which shaped a generation and still affect nearly all spheres of our culture today. We are fasting and praying for 40 days (in the context of chapters 1 and 2 in the book of Joel and Song of Solomon 8:6) that God would send a massive shift in our nation’s culuture and spirituality during this hour of history. We are fasting and praying that as a nation we would admit our need for God and we would wholeheartedly turn to him and repent from our wicked ways both then and now. We are crying out that God would forgive us and heal our land, that He would have mercy, relent, and maybe leave a blessing behind.

WHAT IS FASTING?
Fasting is an inward and outward expression of devotion towards God. it is a rending (or tearing) of the heart both spiritually and physically. It is about abstaining and removing things from from our lives (common items are food and media) to set our hearts on a course to meet with God and cry out to Him. It is about embracing physical and mental weakness by sacrificing those things that our flesh commonly hunger for…the result if we respond rightly can create a deeper hunger for God. it is about embracing voluntary weakness in the body and mind to access strength from God. it is about voluntarily breaking out of our typical and traditional comforts to see and feel both what’s inside us (our spirit) and to see reality beyond our comforts. its about weakening the flesh so that we begin to be led by the Holy Spirit within rather than the desires of the flesh. fasting creates hunger both physically and spiritually. fasting is not about getting hungry as a reminder to pray…although that does happen. fasting is about creating a lovesickness for God. In God’s perspective, we are at our best when we are at our weakest! Weakness and admission of our needs produces desperation! fasting is about cultivating desperation for God. voluntarily removing our comforts (often food and media) cultivates fertile soil for our hearts to become more and more alive. as we stop feeding the desires of the flesh we begin to feel the desires of the Holy Spirit more clearly. as our flesh becomes more and more weak, we begin to walk more and more according to what the desires of the Holy Spirit truly are.

on the road again…

hey there, I (steve) am back in Maryland for a couple days. this past week has been a hectic while getting back into the flow from my Florida trips and then heading back out of town to MD! I’ll be shooting a wedding and visiting with family thursday and Saturday. the wedding is Friday! good times!