I love when something comes up, God speaks into the scenario, and humans get all confused about it. Sounds like the perfect request for a blog to really open the discussion up! The situation started a few days ago when the producer of the television show, Wife Swap, contacted my wife Marla after hearing about our 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks tour in the media. For some reason she thought Marla was a good candidate for the show, and wanted her to apply.

If you’re not familiar with the show, they basically take wives from two families, swap them to the other family’s house for two weeks, and hopefully give them an inside look at a family that’s not like theirs. So the husband and children are stuck with another woman in their house. I’ve never seen the show, but after watching the videos on their site, it doesn’t look like much good comes out of it all. Reading stories like this one from a couple that was on the show (with good intentions), made that clear enough.

They do their best to find a family that is polar opposite of yours, in hopes that you go crazy. To help they edit any of the normal material out so that the viewing audience gets the best entertainment possible. Was an offer of $20,000 worth it for Marla to accept? That was up to God, and He made it pretty clear…..and did so fairly quickly.

A few individuals have jumped in, hinting to us that God might want us to accept the invite and give it a whirl. Hinting that we could be a light to the world through being on the show, or possibly gaining a large audience for our lives or our projects. There’s no guarantee that they’ll appreciate our faith (I’m guessing they’d put that to the test too), and you couldn’t pay us any amount of money to entertain or lure that kind of an audience.

We’re not looking for an audience, even online. We don’t blog for an audience, although two-way communication and community is nice. I think the price tag on marriage these days has been a discount compared to how God views it. Our marriage doesn’t need the test of swapping houses. It also doesn’t need $20,000 enough to put it to the test. A healthy marriage is priceless, and our culture should learn more from that than the stupid show.

Why would we want to take something that God has given us that is good, and hand it to the world, letting them turn up the heat? If we have Christ, and He has made our marriage what it is, imagine what some broken or hurting marriages would pay just to have what we have. The problem with many marriages (Christian or not) today is that they don’t look solely at what God is doing. They flip open the tabloids or the reality shows and pretend that having God is not enough. When they hit bottom, they realize He sure was! Satan can have his $20,000. Does God really speak so differently to us all at times, or are our ears full of enough wax that we can’t understand Him?

PRAYING that the staff and producers of this show might see Christ through those that reject the offer. PRAISING God for being the third side to our marriage triangle.

I’ve been wanting to post this one well before the 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks tour concluded, hit the Associated Press (and 400 other newspapers as a result), and landed us on CBS’s The Early Show last Saturday. Today’s post actually crossed my mind the week that Michael Jackson (and other celebrities) passed away. So here we go!

I’ve worked with a few people I would call celebrities, and this past week has given me a glimpse of what they go through. It’s not easy going public with a message, mission, or dream. I could go on forever about how much time I think the media wastes on negative stories, or doing their best to turn a positive story into a negative one.

But I think asking you a question regarding fame and fortune might get to the point more quickly. Have you thought about Michael Jackson once today before reading this? Remember, the story that that held the media’s attention (and yours) for a solid 1-2 weeks? I ask the question for one reason. To point out that no matter how much “good” or “bad” you do, people are going to FORGET about you one day! When this life has passed, how you changed their life temporarily won’t matter squat. Even if the change is positive, its value will not last for eternity. Unless it leads them to Christ and the cross, right?

It can be extremely tempting to ditch the cross and start following the fortune and fame of this world. But the power, fame, and eternal fortune of the blood that was shed on the cross is the only story that can stand the test of time. And it’s the only story worth remembering daily. The cross alone should be driving our decisions. Whenever you and I do pass, will people remember the cross at all? That’s something that I need to hear…..how about you?

PRAYING for those that are forced to answer to the media or tempted to ditch the cross for their own glory. PRAISING God for sending His Son, the source of all that we need.

I thought the zoo review series was over, but I’ll jump on here and blog a few quick thoughts – from the heart. If you haven’t heard, our family is being flown to New York City tomorrow morning and will be on The Early Show on Saturday (CBS – 7-9am EST) about the 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks tour we wrapped up last week.

After the story hit the Associated Press our lives were too chaotic for the past few days. We’ve been hurt, encouraged, thrilled, blessed, and so many other things in the short time since it all started. Our pastor, Mike Smith, probably put this whole thing into words better than I can in his blog post this week! A few months back we made the decision not to fly to California since the money wasn’t there. It hurt me most, knowing that the girls were so looking forward to that as a reward for how much they’ve went through to accomplish the task God had before us. Not being able to make that happen ended up adding quite a bit to the whole experience, allowing us to replace a few mediocre zoos in the midwest with ones the kids might enjoy better by us driving beyond Nebraska, through Colorado and Utah on our way to California.

But God had a plan none of us were aware of. One that we wouldn’t have bothered even dreaming up. The plan that starts tomorrow morning when we board a plane that He found a way to provide for us. In return, all we can do is look to Him. The media and feedback we receive from others online might be positive, but it could be negative (we’ve seen both already). All I know is that this truly is a private story, shared between the five of us, our families, friends, the zoos who welcomed us, and all of those who selflessly housed us or somehow joined us while we were getting through this. Those new to the story can decide to either come in close and try to understand it from our perspective (as we long to more closely follow our God) or toss bombs in our direction from thousands of feet away in an attempt to thwart the victory (with the help of the devil).

We are choosing to live our lives truly not being afraid of being a bit uncertain about tomorrow. Seeking God’s provision when things don’t turn out, but rejoicing with Him when He makes His way clear. He’s placed us into this world to live in community, and to be a positive light in a society that is too often full of darkness. Tomorrow morning is a blessing that’s brought me to tears of joy for my family. Not because of the hype, but because I’ve seen that God is pouring His love on those I love most through others that want to join Him in that. I’ll definitely be offline until Sunday evening, but will do my best to post updates via my Twitter account to share our journey with those that have joined it with us.

PRAYING that our girls see for themselves more and more how much they are loved by their eternal Father. PRAISING Him for being the source of all that we need, and the rock we can stand on when others long to take that away.

I’ll wrap this blog series up with a focus on three things in three paragraphs (since our family seems to like numbers with numbers – 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks). Those three things are God, family, and friends. The zoos and animals were great, but if you want to read reviews about all of those my wife’s done a fine enough job with zoo posts. Before we get to the three topics…..it is confirmed that the five of us are being flown to New York City on Friday morning to be on The Early Show on CBS, which will be live Saturday morning between 7-9 am EST (7:40ish or so)! The tour’s been getting lots of buzz since 10TV started to spread the news and it then hit the Associated Press. We’ll continue to post a few press links on the site.

You might wonder what God really did have to do with the tour this whole past year. Did it really take God to pull touring to all 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks off? Without lots of money – YES. If I could meet each of you and show you our checkbook, I would. There are five people in our family. What are the odds that none of them are sick for any of the trips? Are normal people naturally as inviting as the 31 families that opened their doors up and let us stay with them, or did a real love for God actually guide selfless servants to help our cause? It’s impossible for someone like me to work from home, with 90% of my clients being ministries or churches, and actually make a decent living. The most time off for that type of working environment that should be possible is 1-2 weeks (at the most). Throw a few more weeks in there, much less rest than usual, and you have the timeframe that God wanted to work with. His watch was the only one ticking……and by the looks of things, was the only one right on time.

Now about the friends that helped. I can’t describe how much good the internet did for us this year. This story is one that God wants to use, and He did so with the internet. There’s so much bad out there that gets all of the attention, and it excites me (as someone who works on the web) to see that God is using the internet for good. There are a few friends that helped us out on this tour, in ways that we can’t thank them enough for, that God is just waiting to connect with. We don’t think anyone that was a part of making this happen was just a random connection. Each of the young children, young parents, singles and older couples each were brought into this tour by God on purpose. It’s obvious we couldn’t have done it without them! We pray that the few that haven’t met our God really consider how obvious it is that He loves them.

And our families! Those of us that follow God always hear people that get mad at Him for a certain reason or another. Usually those are problems they have with Him not meeting them on their terms. Some really can’t stand when families pass a legacy of faith onto their children. Like it’s some sort of brainwashing. Both of our families love God, but I can tell you for certain that both of our families were led to God through extremely unique circumstances. And they’ve all commented on the fact that we’ve seen God in a different way than any of them have through all of this. Not a better or bigger way, JUST different. They’ve been extremely helpful through the entire 52 weeks, and God has heard their prayers along with those of our friends. We have learned many things from our families that has guided our focus to the Word of God, but only the individual can actually connect and lean on God when it comes down to it. What many call “faith in action”. Walking the walk, and not just talking the talk. Our kids have pushed through the year, and have seen God themselves in clear ways – without us having to shove our faith down their throats (as some suggest). When God is all you need, He is the only light at the end of the tunnel. There is no other way out. Sometimes that was as literal for the five of us as it can get.

PRAYING that nobody will become more famous than God through all of this. PRAISING God for opportunities to give Him the credit.

Time to really go behind the scenes of the 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks tour! If I heard of a family doing what we did this year, I would also be a bit skeptical and wonder how in the world it worked out. I’ve been working on my own for 4-5 years now. We don’t have a retirement account that is piling up. But with working from home, we also don’t have a limit to vacation time (sort of). Since there’s not much money coming in when I’m not at home working, we hadn’t taken many family vacations the past few years. Marla’s books definitely help out a bit here and there, but not (not yet) in ways that really impact our monthly budget. I wouldn’t say we were in a position (according to culture) to actually attempt all of these trips.

You hear our culture screaming at you all of the time like I do. Work from home doing simple things online and make millions! Go to college and get this job so you can retire early! You can’t be happy living a life from paycheck to paycheck! God’s given me many reasons to believe the world is also full of lies. He’s shown me that a life with more money doesn’t make me happy. He’s given me examples of people that bust their tails to retire, but pass away before even getting to the point of actually reaping all that they’ve piled up. He’s also shown me that He can provide money at the needed time. One rule that our family has lived by the past few years is no credit cards. This tour sure would have been easier if we set that rule aside for 52 weeks, that’s for sure!

So when Marla brought up the idea of doing this, all of these God-lessons from the past were enough to make it seem like there’s was a small chance of it working out. Isn’t that how God works? In order for us to REALLY rely on Him for the large things, He gives us just enough to have the faith we need. And that’s what happened. I worked my tail off for 2-3 weeks, then we jumped in the van for a week, met new friends, and completed a certain amount of zoos in a row. There were moments where we didn’t have enough money to get in the van the next day, and God worked things out hours before we left.

Lots of people have heard about this, knowing that I work from home, and think……”Oh – you’ve got one of those jobs where you have the freedom to work on the road”. Honestly, the only reason I brought my laptop with me was to transfer pictures and videos. I might have fixed one or two things for clients while on the road the entire year, but didn’t actually work or make any money. I enjoyed being responsible for every one of the 22,000 miles of driving, and when we weren’t at a zoo we were either getting to know the nice folks that hosted us at their house or getting some sleep, LOL.

The reason for all of that insanity? To join with my family in believing that God is adventurous and could pull something off that nobody else was capable of. Our lives have been changed as a result, and we pray that those that hear about this might be as well! After hitting the publish button for this entry, I am moving onto my first minute of being back to a normal work schedule here at the desk in quite a while!

PRAYING for our energy to build back up quickly so that we can move forward with God’s work. PRAISING God alone for managing our time and money.