investment

Check out the most beautiful little girl in the world. She is the other girl that I am in love with....and my Keri is totally cool with that. Our 2 boys are finishing up their stay with my parents, their Papaw and Nonna. Talking with them on the phone, they don't to come home. When Keri asked if they missed us, Kaden (6yrs) said that we should move in with them at Papaw and Nonna's. I love it that my boys have another Godly man to speak into their lives. Together, our family, friends and church are investing in our kids. Who's investing in your kids?

trash pick up

Last night, I joined our "Evolve" student ministries to pick up trash around the weekends festival property. It was cool to hang with some of our students and serve together. I think it is very important as their lead pastor to live what I preach on a Sunday morning. I actually like the fact that on occasion, I still get to clean our bathrooms. We must never forget that our master......was the greatest servant of all time.

a bad day

Yesterday, I'm up on my bike to ride at 6am for the farthest workout yet in my training for the Ironman triathlon, which was a 5 hour ride. I got all my nutrition and hydration ready and jump on my bike and hear a hissing from my tire. A piece of metal is sticking out of my tire from our parking lot. I patch it and go to inflate it when it explodes. I pull out a new tube and install it, only to find that it is the wrong size. I then pull a whole rim and tire from my old bike and take off. I get 10 miles out and hear more hissing, this time from my rear wheel. On the side of the road, I patch my tube and put the tire back on, only to have my back break lock up totally. Blown away that all this is happening at once ( I have never had any problems like this for the prior 4 years) I had to take my back brake completely off. Riding back home, I have to get on a sidewalk because of the traffic, when my wheel slips off the side and I wreck. I honestly felt like quitting...forever. But I had to laugh, these are the days that make the good days even better. How much does it take to get you down? And, can you laugh at yourself.......you might as well, because everyone else is.

environments

All three of my children, did not grow up in the same home.
This week, Keri and I are out of state with only our little girl Kali. She is getting ALL our attention that is usually split 3 ways and she is eating it up. She is so fun, pleasant and happy. Not that she usually isn't, but it is definitely more so than ever. I was thinking how my oldest grew up like this. Getting all our attention and then his little brother Kross came into the picture. Now Kross will never know what it is like to be the only child for a few years like Kaden, etc, etc. So each of our children have actually been raised in different environments. Although we do our best to love all of them the same, they are different. So I guess that throws the "how could they turn out so different, all coming from the same home" out the window.

Pentecostal?

Tonight at camp I am going to preach on being filled with the Spirit of God. Peter and the disciples had walked with Jesus for a couple of years, but when He died and ascended to heaven, they were kind of lost. Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit would come and give them power. (Acts 2) They are all in a room, when the Holy Spirit shows up in power and they began to speak in different languages praising God. Peter then preaches with this new empowerment and 3,000 are saved. (Acts 10:44, 19:1-6) are more instances where believers were "filled" and began to speak in other languages. Tongues, were the first physical way to tell if someone had recieved the Holy Spirit. But I think many pentecostals put too much emphasis on just the tongues, when it is sooo much more. Yes, my heavenly language is God praying through me and is very important, but the real reason to be filled with God's Spirit is to share the message of Jesus Christ and to truly live it out. When we stop short and just seek the gift (tongues) and not the giver, we miss out. The Holy Spirit is here to guide us to more truth that is found in Jesus. So, salvation puts God's Spirit in His people, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit helps us bring His Spirit out to reach a dying world.

teamwork

It never ceases to amaze me at what can be accomplished by a good team. This week watching the Illinois Camp team at work, makes me miss my old camp team a little. Although I know have an incredible team that I am "living the dream" with, as we call it. But in order for a team to accomplish greatness, a few things must be in place.
1. No one cares about who gets the credit.
2. The teams forecast problems before they arise and take care of it.
3. Everyone knows their place and role on the team.
4. Trust, that knows that another member will "come through" in the clutch.
5. No job is too low for anyone.
6. Everyone sees the "why" behind the "what" which is seeing the big picture.
7. Are willing to fight for each other, beside each other and at times, with each other.
8. Always gives their teammate the benefit of the doubt, when offense arises.

There are of course more, but those are a few off the top of my head.

Illinois camp

Flying today with my Keri and little girl Kali to do a youth camp for my friend Jeff Kossack of the Illinois district. We left the boys with my parents for a week of "adventures" with their papaw and nana. They are both stoked.

We had one of those crazy days yesterday at C3. After a month of the summer slump, we are gaining speed again. Behind the scenes yesterday was just chaotic. One of our core values is "evaluate everything". We did some serious evaluating to correct the issues for next week. I think God has given us incredible growth and then has slowed for us to catch our breath and get our structure ready in order for the growth we are anticipating in the fall. Why should God give us more people if we can't be good stewards with them? We are loving this journey!

abandoned service station

Tomorrow, we are going to paint an old abondened service station up the street for an elderly woman whose son died and husband is in a nursing home. It is on the main corner of Old Pickerington. I'm praying for her to lend us the property to put in a coffee shop that would be themed on the history of her family and area. We would give 10% of the profits back to different community projects all in her name. Could it be a God thing....or just bad pizza? Time will tell. Lord, if it be your will open the door wide.....and if not, shut it tight.

I'm a reactive reader

I love to read! Someday, when I get to the retirement time of my life, I am going to read a book a day. It is my hope and delight for the future. But until then, I love to read books that help me at where I am at, or where I'm looking to go. It is amazing to me how God leads me to the right book, at the right time. I'm in one now called "Simple Church", that is rocking my world as it deals with making the church more simple in processes of discipling people. What are you reading? If your answer is "nothing", then you better get growing.

WE WON!

We played our last softball game of the season last night and we actually won! We finished the season 1-9. To make make it even better, we beat them by the 10 run rule, and they were a decent team within the league. The season was fun getting to know each other and having our humility tested every week. Personally, I told God that I have totally learned some great lessons on being humble and now am ready to win. Ha! So please be in prayer for the fall season......I BELIEVE!

pace

This morning I was running at 4:30am through the outdoor mall at Easton Town Center, where my gym is located. I am now putting in crazy hours to train for this Ironman Triathlon race in September. I know my biggest problem is going to be keeping the right pace. All the races I have done in the past have been a whole lot shorter than 12- 14 hours. So my constant question to myself is: "Can I keep this pace up for 13 hours?"
Actually, our lives are kind of like this. Sometimes, we run at a pace in life that can't be sustained. If it is for a season, then it's OK, but if it's forever, we will eventually burn out. The key is finding the pace that is both sustainable and effective.

So, with your life, how is your pace?

simplicity

Reading a great book for where we as a church are at called "Simple Church". The thought is that we make everything so complicated and confusing rather than simple. We at C3 are in the process of making our discipleship process one that is simple, clear and focused. Less is more. The only issue is that we are torn are about changing our name from C3 to the name on this sign. Ha! Put that on a business card.

accountability

Today was a part of some heavy conversations where accountability was dealt with. We all need it, some more than others though. For some of us, we only need the accountability from God, but for most of us, we need others to help us achieve all that we can. Why? Because accountability closes the gap between intention and actions. It doesn't guarantee it, but it does close the gap. Really, we are responsible for ourselves. The responsibility is mine for me.

my bike

This is my new bike I just pulled out of the box and began putting it together. (I feel like Pee Wee Herman in his old movie when he had his bike....but it was stolen.....and hidden in the basement of the Alamo....or something like that.) Of course it is a European bike and the instructions were in German, but I managed to put it together. I then took it to a bike shop to get it tuned and fitted for me. I got there yesterday and the bike pro began fitting me when the seat bracket stripped out. The bike pro said he had never seen that happen on a new bike. BUMMER! But I am so glad it happened now, rather than on mile 3 of the 112 mile bike leg of my Ironman race. I am working out all the bugs on equipment and my nutrition needs to make sure I don't bonk on race day. This is the same in life. We all have areas or flaws that must be dealt with or they will come out. If they are not dealt with in private, they will come out in public and usually at the worst time. Sooo, start working the bugs out.

dancing in the aisles

I led worship last night and it was the final night of the Great Family Adventure. At the end, the speaker asked me to play a few songs that deal with "heaven." Uhhhhh, I tried to think and could only come up with some "old school' one like: "When we all get to heaven", "When the saints go marchin in", and such. But the crowd went nuts! Dancing in the aisles and an old fashioned "Jericho March". It was awesome. I guess playing those old songs with my family band comes in handy. I thought it was amazing how people resonated with those songs. But don't we all? We like the style of music or preaching that we last felt closest to God with. Or we wear the clothes that we last felt cool in....no matter how old or out of style. But sometimes we all need to get back to our roots.....some Old Time Religion.....Can I get a Witness up in here!

pulled over

Last night, my family and I were leaving a family camp where we had led worship. It was late, and while driving down a country road we were pulled over by a state trooper. The lights were flashing in the darkness as I pulled over, but i didn't feel that deep pit of despair in my gut. I felt guilt free, because I hadn't knowingly done anything wrong. The officer asked for license and registration and said I was swerving a little. He kept looking into my eyes to make sure I hadn't been drinking. He let me go with a caution. Usually when I'm pulled over, I know I have done wrong. But I love the feeling of having nothing to hide or talk my way out of.....or at least try. There is nothing better than living a guilt free life of freedom. Thanks God!

embarrassed

I'm leading worship at a family camp this week in the evenings, of which I know a lot of people having been the former state youth director. So, I'm in the lobby when this lady walks in. She looks like another pastors wife in her late 50's, but about 40lbs lighter. Our eyes meet and we both smile, I walk up to her to give her a hug.......while doing so, I realize this is not the lady I thought it was. In fact, I have never met this lady before and here I am hugging her. The embrace ends rather rapidly and then comes the embarrassment of "I can't believe I just did that". It's in those awkward moments, that you just have to laugh at yourself. I played it off as best I could, walked around the corner, told my wife and we both laughed pretty hard. Then they introduce the guest speakers for the week and.......you guessed it, she is one of them. These little moments keep life interesting!

"Truth fears no question"

We talked about freedom this past week at C3 and this quote nails the issue of freedom. "Truth fears no question."
Have you ever been there, where you have something to hide and you carry the weight of it around with you? You hope no one will ask you the tough question, where you will be forced to confront what you are trying to keep hidden or feel you have to lie about it? This is a horrible place to be, much less live. But when we are living the truth, we don't fear any questions because we have nothing to hide. This is how I want to live my life....a life of truth and integrity. Where I have nothing to hide in my life, office, home, car and even my mind. (God sees ALL) Are there any things you need to get out in the open or be held accountable for? For many of us, that could be a truly freeing experience and God wants us to live in FREEDOM!