This is Briana -

The night I met Eunice, from the local christian bookstore, I was picking up Forgotten God by Francis Chan. Earlier in the day, I called to find out if she carried it, trying ever so hard to live like the Clarionites and shop local. It was not in stock and then we hung up. Of course, my next thought was to try Walmart (the big bad chain store).

A few minutes later, I got a call back, it was Eunice. She was so kind to call me back via caller-id & decide to make a trip to pick up a load of books just so I could have the book that day. She told me I sounded desperate on the phone (I don't remember being desperate, but my craving for MORE understanding of the Holy Spirit might be described that way... so maybe it was discernment).

The conversation we had in her little store past 8pm, way past closing time was God appointed. She was so broken for the students who are filling their lives with, in her words: tattoo parlors and beer, she was brought to tears. 

Oh God, that we would ALL be brought to tears by the brokenness in this world. It's not about those individual sins... or even that those individual things in and of themselves ARE sin. It's about this: 
What are we FILLED with? ____________
The answer is one or the other. Sin or Spirit.

One of the chapters challenges reading quite a few scriptures in order to gain a better view of who the Holy Spirit really is. I tend to think of Him as POWER, and He is described that way in the Bible. But, after this small activity, my view was expanded. Here is my list, and this is NOT all inclusive.

Tell me, do you regularly think of the Holy Spirit as being these things IN YOU?

Power
Boldness
Freedom
Peace
Life
Help
Intercessor
Hope
Wisdom
Understanding
Truth
Justification
Faithfulness
Fruit
Patience
Kindness
Gentleness
Goodness
Love
Joy
Self Control
Transformation
Strength

Below is a prayer offered at the very end of the book. I'm not a huge fan of written prayers, but he writes it in a way that it can cut to the very heart of what we need to be praying... I know I do. I felt that I should share it with you, so here it is.

Spirit, we know that we have done wrong by You. Please forgive us for grieving, resisting, and quenching You. We have resisted You through sin, through our rebellion, and through our hardness of heart. At times, we have been spiritually blind. At other times, we knew what You wanted us to do, but we chose to ignore Your promptings. Yet this is not how we WANT to live now.

We need You to change us. Only trough You can we truly worship. Spirit of the Lord, You are the one who brings us to a place where we can worship. You are the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life. Thank You for the truth, the holiness, and the life You give us.

We need Your wisdom and understanding as we seek to live this life. Keep us from disbelief, from fear. We need Your strength to help us do what you are asking us to do and to live how You are asking us to live. Speak loudly and drown out the other voices calling us to conform to the patterns of this world.

You are the Spirit of self-control and love. Give us the self-control needed to deny our flesh and follow You. Give us a love strong enough to motivate courageous action. Manifest Yourself through us that we may serve and love Your bride, the church, and You do.

Come, Holy Spirit, come. We don’t know exactly what that means and looks like for each of us yet, in the particular places You’ve called us to inhabit. But, nonetheless, whatever it means, we ask for Your presence. Come, Holy Spirit, come.

~Prayer by Francis Chan, Forgotten God

Near and dear to my heart today is Megan Czerwinski. I'll tell you why and why I want you to be praying for her as well!http://meganczerwinski.theworldrace.org/

A note from Briana:

I spent the morning making a mental list of what needs to be done to finish up the house. The list was very small, we are almost done!

As I looked around, I started reflecting on where we've come from. We have always crammed ourselves into a small space, not really minding so much that our house was small because it was enough for our family even if it wasn't perfect.  Then I started thinking about my list of 'wants' and feeling very undeserving of God granting the majority of that list..... a dishwasher, a larger kitchen, space to organize, storage, space to host, a dining room [without carpet], a guest room, furniture for the extra rooms. Even down to the tiny details.... wanting two more dining chairs so we can more easily invite others over for dinner... neighbors two doors down brought two chairs over yesterday because they are moving out and didn't want to keep them. They are nearly a perfect match. (I could share probably 8-10 more stories like that one)

Sitting and thinking on all these things, I was trying to make sense of WHY God would allow provision in this manner. Why are WE on the receiving end? I feel like we should be on the GIVING end. Scott and I both have struggled with the size of this house.... being so much bigger than anything we've ever had before. Knowing God specifically GAVE us this house, I decided I just needed to pray and ask God to show me what HE wants.

It is never ever about THINGS, it is always about PEOPLE and always about glorifying Him. I went to scripture to try and make sense... praying for God to show me what He wants. I came back without answers, and honestly, I was a bit frustrated.

Several hours later, I sat down on the sofa and Scott says, 'Where's my Bible?'... he wanted to show me something he read this morning. Understand, we had not discussed this at all, he had no idea what was going through my mind today. This is exactly how God has been working in my life recently.... this is the scripture Scott began sharing with me...

"As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." 1 Tim 6:17-19

I could have NEVER said that better myself. We ARE to be on the giving end. He has provided..... He deserves Honor and Praise..... and He wants to affect the lives of others. Our job: Obedience.

And For those of you who have asked for a tour, here ya go!

Hello from Pennsylvania! We are still unpacking, but I thought I would stop for a second and give you a quick update on what has happened so far. We escaped the 90 degree weather in North Carolina to arrive to a rainy northeast. But it is absolutely gorgeous up here. We are getting all the boxes unpacked and trying to get this house looking more like our home. Through the move, we have been able to work with many of the people from First Baptist who came and helped us unload our truck (piano and all!). Then we had a bus come by (the Clarion Public Transportation) and stop to ask us some questions about our moving truck...and this happened while he was transporting passengers around! We also ran into the local mailman who delivers the mail right to our front door. He stopped us in the street on our way back from walking to the store, and he knew who we were immediately. We stood there and talked to him for a good 10 minutes. Finally, we got to meet our neighbor who is from Boston. However, his dad is born and raised in Winston-Salem, and he now has relatives who live in Kernersville, NC, where Briana and I are from!

As we get more situated, we are going to be sending out a letter to all of our partners to give a better synopsis of what is going on. We know many of you have been praying for us, and we thank you. We love you guys, and can't wait to share what God is doing as he opens doors for the gospel to be shared.

In Christ,
Scott and Briana Underhill