Ooooo, that's true!

"An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips."
(Proverbs 24: 26)

Oh man...is that true. Sitting here at Ugly Mugs Cafe reading my Bible and I come across this verse. My mind QUICKLY turns to thoughts of kissing Kelsey and Oooooooooooooooo BABY...that gives me chills...that is refreshing...freeing...YEAH BABY!! I think I'll stop now! But think about it...honesty is that freeing...you know that when you have been honest there is a lightness to your step...a freshness in your relationships...you aren't holding anything back...

I'll say that I liked reflecting on that verse!

(See you tonight Kels!! :-)

Sunday Night Thoughts...

Great morning today...our lead pastor Jim is really stirred up right now. He always has a lot of passion, but there is something different about this one...something happened to him when he went to Asia and met the orphans that our church supports...something is different about him...God is really stirring something up in his heart. Not sure what all of that means, but God is really working.

Nuggets from the message this morning:

-God wants us to give out of our sacrifice, not out of our abundance.

-We can buy praise for God. (By giving our time, our resources, our ability, our $...people praise God because we helped them...they don't praise us, so we buy praise for God.)

-We can't out give God

-You reap what you sow...so a lot...get a lot

-God blesses what we give?

-So, where do I spend my time? What would my wife and kids say that I spend my time on?

-Pour into people's lives

-Give your best to your family!

FUN....FUN...FUN...the rain has just been pouring down the past couple of days. After lunch, Chloe, Jaden Luke and I all went outside and played in the down-pour. OH MAN WAS IT A BLAST! I felt like I was 10 years old again!!!! Oh Baby, was that fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Small group tonight was good too...good to hang out and talk life with people...we finished "In the Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day." Great book...a must read...Great people in our group...great hearts.

Rained Out...

Up early this morning...I was all packed and ready for the Breakfast Blitz this morning and got a call that the games were canceled...BUMMER! Then, got an email and a call that my kids soccer games were canceled...MAN...Double BUMMER! Free Saturday morning and A LOT of breakfast food ready for a blitz...looking for a make-up day.

Update from yesterday...the trailer is back on the van and all is well! What a crazy but fun day...lots of wild things happened, but everything came together. GREAT TIME with the kids last night!

One of those days, baby!

OK, so today was all planned out...1. get the van & trailer from the Schmidt's house 2. Buy the food for our Breakfast Blitz in the a.m. (we are serving breakfast at peewee football) 3. drop off the food at home 4. Go to the office and finish stuff for Sunday 5. Pick up the kids from school and hang with them ALL NIGHT (Gave my soccer team a break today, so I could hang with my family!)

Here is how today is going!

1. Went to pick up the van only to find that the back tire is still low on air
2. Went to Discount Tire and got the tire fixed
3. Went to get the food for the Blitz
4. Went to pick up the trailer from the Schmidt's house (didn't get it the first time because of the flat tire remember!?)
5. Went home to drop off the food
6. When I released the trailer I didn't take off the chains, so the trailer went off the block
7. Got the trailer back on the block (I'd like to say that I just picked it up...not quite strong enough!)
8. While raising the trailer the handle broke, so I couldn't raise it up any more (Still don't have the fixed...come on Mike and Mark!!!!)
9. Saw that I had yet another missed call...The Xerox guy was waiting for me at the office to fix our copier!!!! (HE WAS SUPPOSED TO CALL FIRST, not show up and then call!!)
10. Drove (at safe speeds of course!) to the office...
11. Met the Xerox Man...GREAT GUY...2 grandkids...I digress...
12. Work on the Sunday stuff
13. Copier just got fixed (1:25 p.m.), so I can run the bulletins!
Time Out....(I have to go press print on the bulletins!

So, now what?!?!?! I still have a broken trailer that I need by 6:30 a.m. Still need several things for the Blitz...AND still plan to spend the whole evening hanging with my family...Looking forward to the rest of the story!!!!

Passion is contagious

Just met with my good friend Travis...MAN I love his heart! He has a heart to love people...a heart to use the abilities that God has given him to impact people. He shared with tears in his eyes about how he longs to be used by God. He inspired me, convicted me...it is just good to have people around you who can challenge and inspire you! His passion was contagious today...

Sunday Night Thoughts...(on Monday Morning)

Took a refresher Sunday yesterday...Grace gives us 1 Sunday a quarter to get refreshed...to go visit other churches for a Sunday, grab ideas, just soak in the atmosphere. Last year I didn't use any of these Sundays, so I figured it was about time!

So the family and I headed to our Goshen Campus...they opened "the Link" a new video venue in their campus. They now have 2 auditoriums in 1 location. Oh, I just LOVE the atmosphere...the lighting...the music...love the feel of the place. Pastor Jeremy (yeah we now have Jeremiah, Jerimae and Jeremy as the worship pastors at Grace!) just did a fantastic job. What heart and passion...Kidcity is just sooooooo cool. Love the new area for the elementary aged kids. I even had to ask for help to know how to get out of that area!! It was great. It was fun to see people that I haven't seen in a long time. Love what our Goshen Campus is doing!

Sunday afternoon we had a staff lake party. A family from our Goshen Campus opened up their lake house, provided lunch and "water beatings!" If you remember back to a previous post, you'll know that I have a fear of water...I have never been tubing...never been water skiing...never been off a diving board...never been on a jet sky. Well, I took care of a couple of those fears yesterday...I found myself at one point about 8-10 feet up in the air FLYING off a tubing and diving into the water. WHAT A BLAST!!!! There was a day I would have wimped out and used some lame excuses as to why I wouldn't do it...BUT facing fear is great! So, I have to say that the sore muscles just feel great this morning! Seeing my kids on the boat cheering me on...PRICELESS! Then, getting to watch Chloe and Jaden going on the water on a tube...COOL! Then I went out on a jet sky too...YES! YES! YES!

Jaden was so worn out that he feel asleep on the way home and slept until school this morning...

FACE YOUR FEARS...you'll be glad that you did!

What does he see?

Proverbs 20: 27 "The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being." When God searches your heart, what does he find?

Handling Defeat

I HATE to lose...hate it...I know you can learn from it. I know that sometimes the greatest victories come after a defeat, but I still don't like it. Last night my soccer team got beat...7-4...yes I said soccer and not baseball!! They jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first 5 minutes, then we battled back to 2-2...then 3-3...then 4-4...then they exploded for 3 more goals in 5 minutes time! Need to bounce back fast because we have a game tonight!

So, the question I have whether it is in sports or in another area of my life, is why did we lose? Was it a lack of effort? Was it a need for more training? Was it a bad strategy (ok...was it bad coaching)? Was it that the other team was just that much better than us? Well, I'll tell you this...we didn't lose because of a lack of effort. These boys left everything on the field...they played their GUTS out...we lost due to a lack of training...3 of my 4 defenders have never played the positions they are in before this season, so they are learning...growing...AND I bet they listen to their coach a little closer after that loss!! Now they probably believe me when I say "the tough games are coming..." Hey...I'm just glad it wasn't a conference game!!

Philemon 6

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." What power in that verse...Paul wants to see Philemon sharing his faith. BUT THERE IS SOMETHING MORE THERE...Why does he want him sharing his faith? So, that he can have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. So, it is very right to say that if we want to know Christ fully, then we need to be sharing our faith. I had the opportunity to do that today...and it felt GREAT! Praying that both people give their lives to Jesus...so my question for you is... What are you waiting for? Go share your faith!

Visualize a win!

Got the time I wanted today. Not as fast as my last 2 5k's, but with the knee injury disrupting training...I'll take it. 23.27 was the time...BUT it's bitter sweet. My running partner Mark CRUSHED me in the race...beat me by 12 seconds...he ran a great race and I thought I would be able to catch him at the end...BUT he just kept it up. WELL DONE MARK! (my insides are saying "grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" Not that I'm running to win, of course! (BIG JOKE for those that don't know me well!!)

Mark said something before the race that hasn't gotten out of my head. He asked me what I visualize when I run...what is it that motivates me to do better. Do I see myself reaching my full potential and beyond. I had to say no...I don't...don't think of much while I run except "Lord, help me finish!" But it really got me thinking about what messages we allow ourselves to think about. When I played more basketball, I ALWAYS visualized the game...different situations...making the winning shot...battling for rebounds...SO why not do this with every area of our lives...WHAT IF...I visualize myself sharing Jesus with people all the time...what if I allow my mind to race so much on God that He CONSUMES my thoughts...what if I always think about how to solve a problem instead of how tough the problem is...what if...I say that the sky is the limit...This takes discipline, but I want to commit to turning my thoughts to I CAN DO THIS or I WILL FIND A WAY...imagine what our world would be like if we all decide to think that way...WATCH OUT!