Graham's blog

Grace Episcopal Church

2012-01-01T13:57:00.000-05:00

I took these pictures last May, but just haven't gotten around to posting them yet...

Greg's early morning departure for Afghanistan

2012-01-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

This is from last September, but still one of our better pictures....

CRV

2012-01-01T13:44:00.002-05:00

After the Civic bit the dust, we had to move quickly, so we picked up this Honda CRV which has turned out to be Seda's car...

High Chair Pics

2012-01-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

These are several months old, but high chair pics are always cute...

Dinner for mom's birthday

2012-01-01T13:37:00.000-05:00

Mom's 70th Birthday

2012-01-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

These pics are from last August, but I am trying to catch up a little bit on posts... but she had a great time seeing old friends.

Mark sitting up...

2012-01-01T13:25:00.000-05:00

These pictures are several months old now, but I still think that they are cute, and wanted to post them...

A flower in the weed... or vice versa?

2012-01-01T13:22:00.000-05:00

This past summer, I was struck by this image in the front yard. It made me think of my own conflicting desires and commitments. Who can really tell if the flower is in the midst of the weed, or the weed in the midst of the flower? Yet both are fighting for survival. In the end, I carefully pulled the weed, and tried to help the flower survive. I hope the same can be said of how I live my life.

Desiring God Blog entry...

2011-11-19T23:01:00.000-05:00

Gospel-Saturated Dish-Washing and Diaper-Changing

by David Mathis | November 14, 2011

In his new book, Gospel Wakefulness, Jared Wilson talks about how all of life is relevant for mission. From drinking coffee to changing diapers, from cutting the grass to washing dishes — all of life can be lived to the glory of God by those who have been awakened to the gospel of our exhaustively sovereign Savior.

He writes,

One of the attendant aims of missional evangelicalism is to challenge the compartmentalizing of the Christian faith that we see within the Western church. We are fantastic at itemizing our schedules, and even if we don't assign God a very large bracket, we are constantly remorseful that we "haven't made much time for him." While such compartmentalizing — as if "time with God" can or should be hermetically sealed off from everything else — is a natural symptom of our culture and environment, it also reflects a bad theology.

The truth is, the day does not belong to us. It is not our day to do with as we please. We serve a sovereign God. He created the end from the beginning, knows our future exhaustively, and is firmly in control. He made our days and they belong to him. As such, isn't it a bit arrogant to begin with the idea that each day is ours and then worry about fitting God in? Instead, we should work at the humble awe of knowing all of our moments, every millisecond, waking or sleeping, are perfectly accounted for within the economy of heaven.

Let us stake the flag of Christ's kingdom into the soil of our first waking moment. Drink your coffee when you get up, of course, but drink it to the glory of God. Then carry on in this way all day, no matter the task, be it menial or notable, so that each day may be a living prayer that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is what it means to live a gospel-saturated life: it means being so conscious of the greatness of the gospel that changing diapers or cutting the grass is as much an act of worship as singing a praise chorus in a church service….

Jesus Christ is Lord over my heart, and he is Lord over my hands, and he is Lord over what I do with these hands, and he is Lord over what I say in my heart while I'm doing it. In submitting to the lordship of Christ, then, I do not treat washing dishes as wasting time I could be spending doing something "meaningful," but rather as a service to those who eat in my home, as a service to those who would have to wash the dishes if I did not, and as an offering of thanksgiving to God that I have food to eat, dishes to eat it on, and running water inside my home to clean with.

To paraphrase C. S. Lewis, there is not a square inch of our lives that is not claimed by God and counterclaimed by ourselves. If we believe God is sovereign, however, we will see all of life as mission and be led to submit the square inches we otherwise hold so tightly to the Maker of inches and hands.

Gospel Wakefulness, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 90–92, paragraphing added.

JJ Johnson and Kai Winding in Japan 1982: "It's alright with me"

2011-10-03T08:57:00.000-04:00

Now that's a combo! (yes, I did take this myself)

2011-09-24T23:38:00.001-04:00

Random phone pics

2011-09-24T23:36:00.000-04:00

The Ohio State Fair - August 2011

2011-09-24T22:24:00.000-04:00

St. Matthew's Lutheran Church

2011-09-24T21:56:00.000-04:00

Central Park Mansfield

2011-09-24T21:49:00.000-04:00

Richland County Courthouse

2011-09-24T21:42:00.003-04:00

r.i.p. Honda Civic

2011-09-24T21:39:00.000-04:00

Mark in rhonda's garden/Gerber pics

2011-09-24T21:31:00.000-04:00

Family Portrits - June 2011

2011-09-24T21:19:00.001-04:00

North Country Blues - Bob Dylan (Newport Folk Festival - 1963)

2011-09-24T21:10:00.001-04:00

First Methodist Church of Mansfield

2011-08-12T15:09:00.001-04:00

Layin' around, playin' around...

2011-08-11T11:47:00.000-04:00

My wife's rice and pork... always a winner!

2011-08-10T16:16:00.000-04:00

St. John's Church of Christ

2011-08-08T16:31:00.000-04:00

I don't know the origin of this last pic, but it left me wondering how important that small space must be to someone...

Mommy's photograhpic prowess + some cute smiles = perfection

2011-08-08T16:12:00.000-04:00

Woody

2011-08-08T16:04:00.000-04:00

BC (Bad Cat)

2011-08-08T16:01:00.001-04:00

At Ali's Birthday party, Mark's first time swimming...

2011-08-08T15:59:00.000-04:00

Our sleepy, playful boy

2011-08-08T15:45:00.000-04:00

The Geisler's hanging out at Kingwood

2011-07-07T16:03:00.000-04:00

Seda, Lora and the kids at Kingwood

2011-07-07T15:53:00.000-04:00

Jenna H's graduation party 6 5 11

2011-07-07T15:46:00.002-04:00

Sokleng's Birthday (in May)

2011-07-07T15:37:00.000-04:00

In the high chair with our friend the roll of paper towels

2011-06-22T16:12:00.000-04:00

In the front yard

2011-06-22T15:59:00.000-04:00

Mark in the Backyard

2011-06-18T15:25:00.000-04:00

Daddy and Mark

2011-06-18T15:19:00.000-04:00

Our happy baby taking another bath...

2011-06-18T15:06:00.000-04:00

My nightmare violet... ask me another time.

2011-06-18T15:00:00.000-04:00

First English Lutheran Church

2011-06-18T14:57:00.000-04:00

Signs

2011-06-18T14:49:00.000-04:00

Signs that our sin is still very real, and that there are so many hurting people out there that need real love on every side of the equation.

Bridge

2011-06-18T14:43:00.001-04:00

Hanging out in BG for a spell, April 30 11

2011-06-18T14:39:00.000-04:00

Damson and Jenn visit us

2011-05-14T14:35:00.001-04:00

A face that is oh so easy to love...

2011-05-14T12:59:00.001-04:00

Reception for Savorn and Sony at Crossroads

2011-05-14T12:53:00.000-04:00

Baby Dedication at Cambodian American Fellowship 4 10 11

2011-05-14T12:45:00.000-04:00

Fun with Mark

2011-05-13T20:35:00.000-04:00

Seda and friends

2011-05-13T20:31:00.000-04:00

In the big tub!

2011-05-13T19:41:00.000-04:00

Mark having fun on the couch...

2011-05-13T19:27:00.001-04:00

Tummy time!

2011-04-21T15:43:00.000-04:00

Doug and Mark

2011-04-21T15:39:00.000-04:00

Boppy-ing around

2011-04-21T15:36:00.000-04:00

Reception for Savorn and Sony in Columbus

2011-04-21T15:33:00.000-04:00

Grace San's Baby Shower

2011-04-21T15:24:00.002-04:00

Getting an early start...

2011-04-21T15:10:00.001-04:00

Baby Dedication at Grace Fellowship Church

2011-04-21T15:07:00.000-04:00

We had seven babies dedicated at our church one week, including our tired little one...

Our little Buckeye fan...

2011-03-29T20:01:00.000-04:00

If cute won games, we'd be undefeated...

Our happy handsome boy...

2011-03-29T19:48:00.001-04:00

The last real snow...

2011-03-29T19:40:00.000-04:00

Watch out!

2011-03-29T19:25:00.000-04:00

Grandpa's birthday

2011-03-29T19:09:00.001-04:00

Snow pics with Mark

2011-03-07T03:12:00.000-05:00

My beautiful wife

2011-03-07T03:02:00.000-05:00

Our little family

2011-03-07T03:00:00.000-05:00

Graham and Seda's 2nd Anniversary

2011-03-07T02:56:00.000-05:00

Seda talks to the Girl Scouts about Cambodia

2011-03-07T02:48:00.002-05:00

Can't get enough of this boy!

2011-03-07T02:47:00.000-05:00

Phone pics

2011-02-22T17:17:00.000-05:00

Mommy's devotion to lotion continues...

2011-02-21T22:20:00.000-05:00

Mark and Daddy time

2011-02-21T22:18:00.000-05:00

Laying around...

2011-02-21T22:17:00.000-05:00

Mommy and Mark

2011-02-21T22:11:00.001-05:00

Mommy and Baby Party!

2011-01-31T17:55:00.001-05:00

Spittin Up...

2011-01-31T17:45:00.001-05:00

In the dreaded car seat!

2011-01-23T20:41:00.001-05:00

Some Cambodian American friends come for a visit

2011-01-23T20:38:00.003-05:00

Mark and Zac

2011-01-23T20:37:00.002-05:00

Daddy's Birthday

2011-01-23T20:29:00.001-05:00

Mark's photo shoot....

2011-01-22T12:25:00.001-05:00

Mark's first bath and other pictures...

2011-01-21T22:15:00.001-05:00

What I did last weekend...

2011-01-12T21:50:00.001-05:00

Pics of our cute boy...

2011-01-12T21:41:00.001-05:00

Mommy's Birthday!

2011-01-12T21:21:00.000-05:00

“Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep”

2010-12-31T13:30:00.000-05:00

When it's sleepy time down south...

2010-12-31T13:20:00.000-05:00

Our little priest - prisoner

2010-12-31T13:16:00.001-05:00

Mark Sela's First Christmas

2010-12-26T14:12:00.001-05:00

Some more Mark pictures...

2010-12-23T11:37:00.000-05:00

Mark comes home for the first time...

2010-12-20T23:29:00.000-05:00

The new Geisler family leaves the hospital

2010-12-20T23:19:00.000-05:00

Some more hospital pictures of Mark

2010-12-20T23:13:00.001-05:00

Mark Sela enters our lives...

2010-12-17T02:29:00.001-05:00

Baby Shower in Mansfield

2010-11-14T22:28:00.002-05:00

Seda was thrown another very generous, loving, and compassionate baby shower this past today here in Mansfield... I did not choose those words idly... I think that they are perfect actually... thank you to Sue, Joy, and all of the other ladies that made it possible! We are truly grateful.

1000 Random Acts of Culture - The Hallelujah Chorus at Macy's

2010-11-14T13:05:00.006-05:00

Two weeks ago at the Macy's in Philadelphia, 650 singers from the Philadelphia Chorus showed up to sing the Hallelujah Chorus accompanied by the Wannamaker Organ. Thanks Mrs. Smith for showing this to me!

At an adoption fundraiser...

2010-11-13T21:55:00.002-05:00

Seda's Baby Shower at the Cambodian Church

2010-11-13T21:47:00.003-05:00

Our friends at the Cambodian church were SO generous and loving towards us this past Sunday as they hosted a surprise baby shower for Seda. Here are a few pictures of some of the games, gifts and food!

An Asian Dinner

2010-11-13T21:29:00.002-05:00

First Band Concert of the Year

2010-11-13T21:18:00.004-05:00

Seda: passing out the concert programs

The Junior High Band

The High School Band

The Blue Flame Jazz Band