kids

Talking with my dad last night and he threw out a quote. "With kids, the days are long, but the years are short." Wow that is so true. I want to do my best to enjoy every minute of everyday day and take nothing for granted.

the baby

--- "Nobody wants to hear about your labor pains, they only want to see the baby." ---
So true, isn't it? When I see God using someone to do great things for His Kingdom, I realize that there was much praying/trusting/sacrifice on the individuals part to bring it to pass. Many of those stories of times of discouragement and feelings of walking away from it all, are sometimes lost in the past when the dream is realized. But when you really think about it, we need to hear those stories. Stories of battles fought and scars received in order to see the vision "baby" realized. Sometimes when we hear success stories we get a distorted view of reality or think less of ourselves. I want to hear about the struggle/pain that led to the baby/vision realized.

the summer is over

For C3 and I'm sure most churches, the summer brings with it a lull. We look at summer, not as a time to relax, but a time to plant and prepare for the Fall. Within the next month, things will start to ramp up again and we will see how well we have prepared for it. We are in a crazy season in the life of our young church. With our new addition going up, new hire coming in and a big growth spurt on the horizon, we are praying for God's continued wisdom and favor. Right now I'm also praying/working on C3's future through 2015. Big things are in store....I'm just praying for God's timing.

change the world

Today, Gary (C3's Exec Dir.) and myself are in a coffee shop for our weekly meeting. When we talk about what God is doing and what He is going to do, we get a little excited. We glanced over to see the girl behind the counter staring at us with a puzzled look. I said, "Oh don't mind us, we are just talking about how to change the world."
But truly....we have to believe that. If we are called by God...did you catch that?..BY GOD....the CREATOR of all, the ONE who holds all the power, how can we not believe that we CAN CHANGE THE WORLD through the POWER of CHRIST. I have determined to spend my life chasing what is on God's heart and that is people....souls. I'm just crazy enough to believe that God is looking for a few people who will dream the impossible and have the courage to run after it. When Jesus returns, may HE not find us complaining or complacent, but rather in middle of taking another CITY FOR THE NAME OF JESUS!........I'm getting fire up...I need to go pray.

barbie

My little Kali (who is the most beautiful little girl EVER) is turning 4 and got an early gift while in AL. It was her first "barbie doll." We were sitting together that night as she gazed at the doll and her demeanor suddenly changed. Kali then said, "Barbie is prettier than me." "Look at her pretty dress and her eyes." My heart broke! I wanted to RIP THE HEAD RIGHT OFF THAT STUPID DOLL! I told her that barbie was not real. Look at her eyes (as I smashed her head) they are not real. She is fake....but you are a REAL GIRL. I then spent the next couple of minutes telling her that real beauty comes from the inside. And that she was beautiful on the inside and so-so-so pretty on the outside as well. She knows that her daddy thinks she is the most beautiful girl in the whole world, but the important thing will be what she thinks of herself.

vacation is over

It truly is challenging being away from internet for multiple days at a time. The last 3 days we were at a place on a lake with a dock, pontoon, a canoe and fishing poles. We had a blast and got some sun....burn. Now comes the long drive home (13 hours). We drove 4-5 hours late last night and are about to leave our hotel room now...right after a FREE continental breakfast. At 1 am last night I learned that in this part of TN they can't rent you 1 hotel room to any group that is larger than 4. After the 3rd motel.....we finally found a guy who apparently didn't care to break code. Crazy!

Vacation

My blogs may be a little thin this week, cause I'm on vacation! We left Sunday afternoon and drove to KY to stay the night and go to Dinosaur World. The kids had a blast. We are now in Birmingham and it is hot and humid. We will head to Keri's mom's lake house...(uh trailor) this weekend!

I watched the Dark Knight last night and it really challenged me. (God speaks to me in a huge way through movies) The character Harvey Dent who was turning into the real hero of Gotham, was finally turned through the Joker's pressure. Everyone looked to Dent and trusted him, but he fell. I spent some time thinking about my own life as a leader and pastor, and knowing that just like Harvey Dent, when we stir up the enemy, there are repercussions. It almost always gets worse before it gets better. There is a price to pay, and those who lead the movement will pay the highest price. Am I, and are you, willing to pay it?