Through out my life as a Christian I have been discipled by various people, some more closely and personally than others, but discipled just the same.
I’ve been discipled by Michael Schuler, Hoby Rash, my Dad, Art Barkley, Jamie Utter and Paul Henebury.
I hope and pray that I will be discipled by other godly men throughout my life.
I’ve tried throughout my short adulthood to disciple others with the truth that I’ve been taught.

Disciplers

Mike Schuler

While Mike and I differ doctrinally now compared to when he discipled me, he always had a zeal to serve Christ.
His humanity sometimes got the best of him, but when it did, he would own up to it.
I’ll not forget Mike – I pray that he and his wonderful wife Gina would have a long and blessed marriage, especially considering they’ve got more kids than 98% of America 🙂
Mike would spend time talking with me about the Holy Spirit – a part of the Godhead that I was pretty unfamiliar with.
I had come from a rather conservative church to a church that was slightly more charismatic – Mike was really charismatic compared to many at the church.
Without an understanding that the Lord wanted to work in my life, I would have floundered to say the least.

Hoby Rash

Hoby must have seen something in me that I couldn’t fathom.
I really looked up to Hoby after Mike left the church we were going to.
Hoby took over the youth group after a fellow student and I asked him if the church would/could start a youth group up.
Hoby, though he was really busy, took the youth group on himself and spent one night a week trying to impress the truth of God’s word on us.
Later, after high school Hoby asked me to be an intern at the church.
I didn’t get to spend as much time with Hoby as I wanted, but I’m glad that Hoby spent the time he did with me and the other students, it really impacted us.

My Dad (Vernon Peterman) and Art Barkley

My dad is now a pastor in Denver, Colorado.
However, growing up he spent lots of time with me as a teenager and taught me myriads of valuable lessons.
One Sunday he was approached by Art Barkley, Art asked if my dad would like to be discipled.
The material Art taught my dad blew him away.
Not because the material was some secret in scripture, but that though my dad had been taught in churches through his whole life, he had never had such a clear set of doctrinal principles about abiding in Christ placed before him.
When I was approximately 20 my dad started to disciple me, taking me through the same material that Art took him through.
What a tremendous impact this had on my life and it eventually led Jessica and I to go through the same material with Art later on (Art was constantly adapting the material to include new details and better illustrations).

Jamie Utter

Jamie was a Tyndale student who had moved down to Texas with his family the year before Jessica and I moved.
He and his wife Ruth (Abby’s middle name partially owed to Ruth, also partially owed to it being her grandma’s middle name) took Jessica and I under their wings when we first moved down.
As time went on we got busies and didn’t get as much time with them as we’d have liked, but we love the Utter’s and still miss them since they’ve moved.
Jamie during those first few months took me through different parts of scripture and talked with me about various things.
The Utter’s, including Jay and Lacy, were like true family and Jamie lived out what he taught…a powerful tool of discipleship.

Paul Henebury

Paul, though he makes strong English tea, is a great brother in Christ.
Paul encouraged me to read through God’s word (The Genesis through The Revelation of Christ to John) multiple times.
This happens to be some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten.
God’s word is rich but also long so many people don’t ever read it through, and if they do read it through, they do it once in their life.
Paul has spent a lot of time talking with me about a lot of different theological things and has definitely been an influence on my apologetics.

Discipleship

Discipleship in a Christian context requires a discipler to not only teach something, but also to be intimate with the disciple in a deeper sense than a larger class setting can allow.
Discipleship includes living things out.
It includes the scriptures being poured over, ideas being worked out together where the disciple has to think about the ramifications of the doctrines of God’s word.
Discipleship is not a light commitment, and a discipler knows this, making sure that there is sustained growth and a good foundation for those who may come and disciple later.

Discipling is deeper than shepherding.
A shepherd has to prepare lessons for the congregation (flock) whereas a discipler must be ready for one person at a time (usually).
The growth that happens with group care will be exceeded by individual care.
A disciple will recognize the need to pick up their Cross, something Christ told His disciples.
The disciple will know that his spiritual death, the death of his will on a moment by moment basis, will be rewarded in heaven, and will bring about joy and rejoicing even in the hardest times.
Discipleship is a powerful thing, if you’re not being discipled, please seek out an older, godly believer and ask them to disciple you.
Contact me if you have more questions because the truth of God’s word is important and you need to know it.

Resting in Him,

Randy Peterman

It’s Becky’s birthday!
My sister is now 21, old enough to get married and have wine at the wedding.
Not old enough to get drunk mind you, because she’ll never be old enough for
that.
Becky’s a sensible gal, and I think that she’ll make a fabulous 21 year old.
She’ll marry Kurt this year, at 21, and she’ll have her first Christmas as a wife.
She’ll have a lot of firsts as a 21 year old.

We pray that the Lord would bless Becky’s 21st year!

Randy, Jessica and Abby

So, wanna get rich quick?
Don’t read this book then.
However, if you’re smart, sensible and have some desire to retire with enough
money to travel the country in an RV rather than a Geo Metro, visit family
when you want rather than once a year, and you want to avoid paying 30% in
tax to the government right off the bat with each check, then read this
book (apologies for the run-on sentence).
If you make $20,000 a year, this book is for you, if you make $50,000 a year, this book is for you, if you make any amount of money per year, this book is for you.
Automatic Millionaire was featured on Oprah, well, actually, the author was.
Jessica and I were so impressed with what the author, David Bach, had to say that we ordered a copy, and I even convinced my co-worker to buy one too.
It was inexpensive on Amazon.com, and since we ordered two copies we didn’t have to pay shipping.

I don’t want to get filthy stinking rich and to flaunt cash all over the
place, however, I do want to be able to pay for my childrens’ schooling
and buy a house, and be able to visit my family often.
Basically the principles behind this fit right in line with what the Bible
teaches, and on top of that it should help you be a better
steward with your money.
If you abide in the Holy Spirit then you will have self control which will
make doing the recommended things in here a snap.

Resting in Him,

Randy Peterman

7:00 AM – Wake up.
Lay there sleepy-like for a few minutes.
Jessica asks, “Are you going to go to the store and get the ammunition I need before going to work?”
Forgetting that I’m tired I got up and showered and headed to Albertson’s.
Buy the ammunition, which you can get at most stores in Texas.
Fill the gas tank in the Stratus, noticing gas prices have jumped nearly 15 cents per gallon.
I think that the price jump has to do with the Democrats’ caucus.

8:05 AM – get to work a few minutes late.
Seems like those few minutes late happen more often than I’d like.
Gotta work on that – though I stay later than 5:00 PM Monday-Thursday to make up the time.
Start reading Email, quickly run through RSS in case there’s something worth noting.
Then, open the newsreader and secondly Trillian.
Note: Don’t open yourself to the distraction of IMing unless you have to.
IMing is like a time sucker.
Only IM when you’re ready to do nothing or are on a ‘low work level’ day.

9:00 AM – finally done with the ‘information filtering, get started on some WorldClient (WC) work.
WorldClient is generally my focus with the exception of various other little tasks, but WC is my life at Alt-N.
Bugs are evil, we must destroy them all if at possible.

12:00 PM – Have lunch with Charles Baker.
Charles is a friend from my Tyndale days.
We like to talk about music, theology and life in general.
He and I always seem to connect near instantly, I am grateful for that.

1:20 PM – Starbuck’s.
Charles loves coffee, but since his heart issue, he’s stuck with decaf.
I should have thought about that when I ordered my regular soy-latte with a
shot of sugar-free vanilla (not that caffeine is always good for me anyway).
Charles and I talked until just after 3:00.
No matter what the problems are in life Charles and I always walk away with, “The Lord has blessed us in this, even if we don’t understand it.”
That’s what scripture teaches and its good to have a friend to walk through that with.

3:33 PM – Check the mail as I come home.
After I got home Jess tells me that Abby has been a hand full today.
Not a big surprise, Abby is a climber now, she’s stopped walking and running, everything must be climbed, I blame Gymboree, where she learns about climbing.
Fortunately Abby’s down for a nap so Jessica and I get some time to talk.
Jessica was wiped out from Abby and is still recovering from her sickness earlier this week (energy wise, other than that she’s 100%).

4:00 PM – Oprah’s on, Jessica watches it to see Jennifer Garner (who turns out to be the last guest and for 5 minutes only) and to rest.
I start cleaning up around to help my exhausted bride.
Abby wakes up and Jessica calls her dad and talks for 35-45 minutes while I try to watch Abby and clean at the same time.
This is of course a reminder that Jessica can multi-task and I cannot.
Women multi-task so much better than men (usually, that’s a generalization).

6:45 PM – Take my tired wife and energetic daughter out to dinner to help Jess relax.
Call Dave O’Hara to see if we can stop by the hospital to meet Mekena after dinner – he says Yes!
Eat dinner as fast as possible after being seated, and then order dessert for Jessica to go.

8:05 PM – Head to the hospital room and knock on the door.
Come in to see a beautiful little girl in her proud daddy’s arms.
Dave is an excited dad (appropriately so) and his little girl looks tiny in his large arms (Dave’s brother Shaun O’Hara plays for the Cleveland Browns if that tells you anything).
Mekena is truly beautiful, she’s a sweet little girl who cries quietly.
Her mom comes out from the little hospital bathroom looking wiped out, but happy to be a mommy.
Darlene went from 0-60 (fully dilated) in 3 hours – that’s fast!
Dave said he got about 30 minutes of sleep at a time and kept waking up to check on his little girl – I did that with Abby, too.

8:30 PM – Head home.
After sitting and chatting with Dave and Darlene we headed out.
I wanted to stay and talk some more but I had to keep thinking of them, tired, having to take care of the baby, and a nurse came in to help with something, so I thought it was time to go.
We got home, put Abby to bed, and then caught most of John Stossel’s report on the top 10 lies, myths and things people believe
It was pretty informative, and I generally didn’t have anything to believe.
I can’t believe that people don’t know most of what he said, because it’s things I’ve already heard.
However, he really debunked much of what the media has propagated along side radical special interest groups like the environmentalists, liberal gun control groups, and the educators of our school age children.
I heard some of the weird stuff from my college environmentalism teacher.
The thing is that most of what they taught was imbalanced and not backed by research and facts.

However, this is not a typical day, and should not be considered normal, unless you consider every day is different, so normally they’re different.
Study God’s word, that’ll make this day better, in fact, that’s what I’m going to do next.

Happy Birthday Rusty Cobb!

Mr. Rusty Cobb, drummer extraordinaire, is 25 today.
He may be getting old with time, but if you see a picture of him, it’ll always be from when he was younger.

Resting in Him,

Randy Peterman

I was very excited today to hear that my co-worker,
Dave
and his wife Darlene had a baby girl, Makena Mae.
Makena weighs in at eight pounds eleven ounces.
She was born at 1:23 PM.
I haven’t seen her or a picture of her yet, but I can’t wait!
Congratulations Dave and Darlene.

I pray that the Lord would bless your marriage and that it would grow
spiritually, emotionally and physically.
I ask that the Lord would allow you to model godly living to your child and
that you would find yourselves in awe of the constant miracles that He
does in the life of your little one (and the lives of your little ones if
He grants you more children).
I pray that you and your children would live long and healthy lives, cut
short only by His return.
May the Lord bless your children with character that will cause others to
remark, “Your parents raised you well.”
And lastly, but certainly not least, may you get some rest these upcoming
months and years so that you will be able to function well in your day to
day tasks.

Seventeen Months of Abby

Seventeen months ago today Abby was born at 2:12 PM.
I can’t believe it’s been so long!
I love her so much!
Here’s a recent picture of her, just for fun.
She’s playing with the vacuum that Grandpa and Grandma Peer got her for
Christmas.

Resting in Him,

Randy Peterman

Today at work I squashed bugs most of the day.
That’s the kind of fun I have to choose to have.
The other attitude I could have is that squashing bugs is boring, tedious, and is not as much fun as creating new things.
The real issue is what sort of attitude I’m going to have about my job.
As many people know my job is very nice.
The wages are good, the atmosphere is relaxed, and no animals are harmed during any of the shoots.

The problem with that sort of environment is that you get used to the niceties and when something less than ‘perky’ shows up you can get an attitude.
That’s where my faith in Christ must come in.
I must walk in obedience to him so that I am always rejoicing: for the blessing of my job, for the blessing of the debugging, and for the blessing that thousands if not millions of people have seen and use my code.
I just pray that somehow they’ll see my commitment to Christ in the quality of the software.

It’s also good to work with people who’ve worked for other software companies that stank.
People like Robin, who’s en transit, making her way down from Michigan right now.
She used to work for Deerfield, and is glad that she works at Alt-N.
Not just for the nice environment, but also for the personality of the bosses and the other employees.
Robin has reminded me more than once that we’ve got a great job, and that we work for a great company.

Resting in Him,

Randy Peterman

With American soldiers over in other countries, wondering what may befall them next, it’s good to see that people back here in the states have worked hard to give them some laughter.
I can’t believe that people actually go onto the audition ‘stage’ and ‘sing’ like that.
I have a mediocre voice and know it 🙂

Also, a praise: my dad went to the doctor today and the mole that looked like it may have been problematic is benign!
Pray for Chad and Robin as Wednesday (tomorrow as of this writing) they are heading down here.

Pray that Jessica recovers from being sick today, I had to try to work from home today which is hardly effective when I’m trying to look at HTML+CSS and keep half an eye on Abby whilst trying to get Jessica the things she requires.
Moms, you rock for multi-tasking, I don’t know how you do it.

Resting in Him,

Randy Peterman

I got a new laptop for work.
I’mm using it to write this.
Woo Hoo!
It’s a fast Dell Latitude 600 with 1GB of RAM.
This thing boots up faster than a Britney Spears marriage (30 seconds).

However, I’ve got to use it for work too, which means that I can’t just have fun on it.
I’m really grateful for the generosity of my employer, they’ve supported me and employed me, which is not as common as some may think.

Resting in Him,

Randy Peterman

We had another weekend in Sherman with Doug and Amanda D.
Doug and I tried to get the kitchen counters put in, and partially succeedded except that we didn’t get the formica on the pressboard.
However, that will be easier than Doug trying to cut the wood by himself.
Abby was pretty good most of the weekend and Jess had a great talk with Amanda on Friday night.

I finally got two (1,2) of the three articles up from jury duty, but I can’t find the third article.
When I find it I’ll get it put up.
Thanks for reading this.

Also, if it comes to mind pray for Chad and Robin this week as they’ll be moving down from Michigan.
Speaking of which, pray for my dad who’s getting a mole removed this week…suspicious little bit of flesh appears to have changed colors.
Also, while you’re praying, pray that the Lord would give us direction on an ‘unspoken prayer,’ and general wisdom about how to serve him, no matter where we are and what we’re doing.

Resting in Him,

Randy “The Builder” (Peterman)

Today Doug and I finished the second layer of the counters, screwed and glued the pieces together, screwed the counter to the cabinets and later should cut the hole for the sink and then apply the formica laminate.
Very cool.

More later.