AP: Thunder + Lightning = Heaven

Last night we had some pretty powerful storms here in Kansas City. The thunder and lightning was tremendous and woke me up several times during the night. But I didn't care because my favorite thing ever is thunder, lightning, and the sound of a heavy rain. There are two main reasons I love storms.

1) They put man in his place. By this I mean that it shows man that there are things he cannot control and is therefore subject to something and someone greater than himself. It shows the power, majesty, and incredible strength of God. It again shows us how small we are and how big He is.

2) There is thunder and lightning all around the throne in heaven. In my opinion, storms are the closest thing we have to what it is like in heaven staring at the throne with one seated on it whose eyes are like flames of fire. Watching a storm is like we are actually there right in front of the throne!

Revelation 4:5 "From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder."

Storms are such that you feel calm and peaceful while it is crazy and wild. Also, God's voice is described as sounding like peals of thunder.

Psalm 29:3 "The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters."

Psalm 29:7 "The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning."

3) I forgot there was a third thing. =) I love the sound of heavy rain because it is an auditory reminder that God cares about the little things in life, like the grass, plants, and animals, and is sending the earth refreshment. He is also cleansing everything from its impurities! =)

Sooooooooo............. I LOVE STORMS!!!!!!! =)

Then last night at the Awakening, Allen Hood was describing attributes of Jesus and he mentioned something I thought was profound. He was basically rebuking us for believing that God was not powerful enough to defeat the demons that are continually breathing down our back. (like depression, suicide, guilt, shame, self hatred, etc.) He told us to imagine this:

The city of God is 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high. The atmosphere of earth is only 800 miles high. So the holy city extends into the cosmos. It says in Revelation 21:23 "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." God's face lights up that huge city! Rather, Jesus' face sense He is the Lamb. Not only does His face light up the city but His glory lights up the entire universe!!!! Ponder on that for a moment.........the universe never ends......and Jesus' face lights up the entire universe!!!!! Did you know that Jesus has a glorified human body? His human face lights up the universe!

Did you know that God choose to take on human form forever? That is why Satan hates the human frame and therefore lies to us telling us we are too small here, too big there, not pretty enough, not the right shape, blah, blah, blah. Why do we believe this? Our God's face lights up the entire universe! And we think He's not strong enough to defeat the demons mentioned above that torment us daily and we just have to live with it? The demons begged Jesus, BEGGED Him, not to destroy them. They asked Him if He had come to destroy them. His answer, "Yes."

Matthew 8:28-32 "When He arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.

The demons knew He had the power to destroy them and knew He will destroy them in the end times (they asked if He was going to destroy them before the appointed time). So why do we think that Jesus cannot destroy them? They begged Him not to destroy them!

My friends, we need a major thought adjustment!

Allen also gave an example using his marriage. He said, "If I saw a young man beating on my wife, I would do anything in order to rescue her. I would introduce that young man to the 5 fold ministry of laying on of hands (raising his fist.). I know I'm not a better husband than He is. So what makes you think that He would do anything less for His bride? What makes you think He would just sit back and watch His bride be tormented and beaten? He is fighting for you, Beloved!"

Well, that's all that has been going through my mind lately. Talk to you later! =) Have a blessed day!

AP: Taiwan, Japan, here we come!!!!

Wow. I cannot believe that this much time has already passed. I feel like just yesterday I was asked to be part of this team! We leave in 16 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last weekend in rehearsal we were able to accomplish a lot of choreography and clean a lot of the dances. Thank you all for praying! Natalie leaves on Tuesday for Hiroshima!!!!! We are all so excited and cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store.

A few prayer requests:

>All of us as finals are over the next two weeks as we try to finish up the school year and continue to prepare for the trip

>Stan to get the last part of his money in......he still has a pretty large part yet to come in

>Strength for our bodies as we continue to push and rehearse while having parent presentations the next two weeks at the studio

>Us to continually be in tune with what God is saying for the people we will be ministering to in Taiwan/Japan

Thank you so much for praying! It is much appreciated!!!!! Be Blessed!

AP: I'm a JUNIOR!!!!!!!

AP writes:

As of today, I am officially a college JUNIOR!!!!! Though I am still a highschool senior graduating in a few weeks, I passed another test today. I took Art of the Western World giving me 60 credits. I had to take it at a different college, Columbia College of Kansas City, because UMKC doesn't offer DANTES tests to non military personelle and Johnson County Community College doesn't test until Thursday. The college was so tiny!!! I saw three different classrooms that were made to hold about 12 students! I have acquired all my credits since the end of October until the beginning of May. These are a list of tests that I have taken and passed:

Analyzing and Interpreting Literature

Natural Science

College Math

American Literature

U.S. History 1

College Algebra

Western Civilization 1

Western Civilization 2

American Government

English Composition

English Literature

Humanities

Art of the Western World

My next one is Social Science and History. Then I plan on doing Introduction to Sociology. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish both of these and have 71 credits before I leave for Japan.......which by the way is in 16 days!!!!! I'm super excited and cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store. More to come later!!!! =)

KP: Day of Bike Riding

KP Writes:

Well a visit from Nana and Papa could not be complete without a great bike ride. This year we went over to Longview Lake which is within walking/riding distance from our house. We had a great time and did a lot of cutting up. The weather was pleasantly cool but not cold.
Preparation time.
Along the path was a play/exercise station. Here everyone was trying to balance on metal posts. Well, everyone except Dick/Papa who was trying to lunge at the girls to make them loose their balance!
Papa looks like he is doing the Frankenstein walk in this lunge action shot.
Either ballet Jeff or flamingo Jeff. This is really much harder than it looks when you factor in 30mph prairie winds!
Such style and form! Go Jeff!
This is a worn out Ashton. She had just completed sit ups from the upside down hanging postion on this bar. She did them straight up, to the left and to the right, "To work on my oblique muscles, Mom!".
No sit ups for those of us who are wiser. That looks like pure pain!!

Although we did not get to bike ride as much as we wanted due to weather, a FULL schedule and the graduation party, we had a great visit. We think that Nana and Papa should come back in the fall to do more playing!!!

Love ya,
Kristian

KP: Jules and Bethany's Wedding

KP Writes:

We had the privilege of attending the wedding of RiverStones' beloved Jules. (AKA Alex, AKA Cletus!) It was a beautiful celebration and we so enjoyed having so many RiverStoners in Kansas City!!
The bride and groom, Mr. and Mrs. Jules Tompkins.
Two handsome Tompkins men. Brooks did a fantastic job as best man.
Our own Pastor Cory was incredible, as usual. After the ceremony he doubled as MC during the reception.
Ashgil, Emily, and Lisa.
All the RiverStone Ladies!!
Cory and Ann Marie Hallet.
Ernie and Alex Wagoner.

RiverStone Youth Leadership, all grown up and looking good!!
Love ya,
Kristian

KP: Esther Performance

KP Writes:

On April 10th the Dramatic Truth Dance Company performed Esther. The four of us were able to attend and encountered the Lord in a dramatic way through this presentation of scripture. In the first half of the performance, the company danced as worshipers before the Lord to various worship music. They led the audience to the very throne room of the most high God and although we were seated, we too were worshiping the Lord through dance.

It was an incredible evening that makes me again give thanks to the Lord for loving us so much that He has attended to every detail of our lives. Our heavenly Father went before our family and established a place for Ashton and Mallory to refine their dance gifting in Missouri. He prepared, before our arrival, friends, mentors, co-laborers in Christ for my children. He has given them an environment for the expression of their love for their Lord through dance.

Here are some of the pictures from after the performance. Obviously, the ones with heavy makeup were in the performance and not just in need of a Mary Kay consultation.


Left to right: Sarah H, Mallory, Kimberly, Stan, and Ashton. All are dancers at Dramatic Truth. Kimberly, Stan and Ashton are the three Taiwan/Japan mission trip team members that are not of the Kawase family.

Mallory and Sarah, who has become such a dear friend of both Ashton and Mallory.



Ashton and Kimberly are really growing to be close friends as they prepare for to leave for Japan. (Only 21 more days!!) Kimberly has lived all over the earth as her parents are US diplomats. She is now living with a DT family as her parents are currently in New York but preparing to move to Turkey. After graduating home school high school last year Kimberly dances at DT and works at Joann's. She is also a seamstress and is making many of the costumes for the Japan trip. (As well as making Ashton's new bathing suit!....and Mallory's, but that may have to wait until after the mission trip)
Precious Abi Kawase and Ashton. These two have developed quite a special relationship. Abi is next to the youngest in her family. She and her sister Kirsti are close in age have a beautiful friendship with each other and with Ashton.
Jenna and Kenon Kawase are the two oldest Kawase children and equally adored by the Price family.

As a mom, I could not be more grateful for such a godly family with which we could run this race with, as well as the other friends at the studio that Ashton and Mallory have met. Thank you, Jesus!

KP Writes:

Well, it has taken me a month to get back to posting more pictures from the 'cousins' visit. They all had a wonderful time together. And I will tell the story from the camera, as a picture is worth a million words.We went out to eat at Jose Peppers during the worst storm of this season! The weather was frightful but the conversation and food was great.

Dressed to go to a Sweet 16 Birthday Party.
Front porch pose. Fair skin runs deep in this family! So does beauty!
The three young ones are growing up quickly!
Sweet sisters!
More pictures on the porch.

Getting closer to the driveway and ready to go to downtown KC for the birthday party at the Arts Incubator. They had a great time with food, a DJ with dancing, lights and lots of teenagers.
On the way downtown, we stopped at Union Station to look around and for a few photo ops.
The girls playing with the merchandise at the science store in Union Station. Once a kid, always a kid!
4 teenage girls getting ready in one room. Must I say more?
Departing pictures at the airport. You are gazing at 4 very tired young ladies who have gotten the most out of 4 sweet days together!

Thank you Williams'. The visit was a memory that will be held for a lifetime.

Love ya,
Kristian