We are having two open houses this weekend as well as offering our home for rent or lease to own. We are trying everything we can to get rid of this house. So please say a quick prayer for us and that God would see fit to have our home sale, or rent, or lease to own in a very short period of time.
I know many of you are already praying and I thank you for it!
Life right now is full of joys and excitement for what the future holds and is full of sadness as we say good bye too good friends and people of a church we love. It is full of gratefulness for the new church and the special place that they have in our heart and painful feelings of all that has transpired over the past 6 month. The hard thing that I am struggling with is keeping a balance spiritually because as some of the stuff goes I have found myself bouncing around.
Have you ever lived the yo-yo life and if so how did you deal with it?
For those like me, who love to hear others speak because it is how I get refreshed, I have a site for you. Innovate Church is a church conference at Thomas Road Baptist Church. They have the all the conference messages online for free and it took place about 2 weeks ago. Speakers like Kerry Shook, Perry Noble, Jonathan Falwell, Francis Chan, and more. I have watched two videos and I am challenged!
http://innovatechurch.us/site/
Go to the 2009 resources and you can either watch the streaming video or download the pod cast.
I am reading an interesting book called “Good to Great in God’s Eyes” by Chip Ingram. I just read a chapter about how each of us should have a Mount Rushmore of 4 or 5 people who have had a positive impact in our lives. I found it to be a very though provoking chapter. These are my Mount Rushmore:
Dave – Dave is a Pastor of a church of about 250 now but was Youth Pastor years ago. He was my Youth Pastor and he made a difference in my life for Christ. Dave is not and was never the cool guy but he loves Jesus, his wife, and his family with all that is in him. He taught me what a real relationship with Christ was like. He challenged me to live a life of passion for Christ. He is still a friend and a mentor who teaches me what a Godly Christian Man looks like and acts like. He also taught me how a Pastor balances his life and cherishes his wife.
Joy – Joy is a woman who passionately reads and studies the word of God. She loves serving in Church and has shown me what a servants heart looks like. She also has taught me recently what facing fears and living life is like. She at 67 years of age decided to learn to swim of which she had a great fear of the water. She can now swim across an olympic sized pool. She also at 67 decided she wanted to serve her community and run for political office. This past Tuesday in a primary election she became her parties nominee for Jury Commissioner by winning 68% of the vote. I do not call her Joy though I have the gift of calling her Mom. She has taught much about God and living life to its fullest.
Fred – Fred has shown me what hard work is and what benefits hard work. Fred grew up on a farm working hard, worked his way through Penn State, and got a good job. Along the way he had a job and then would be laid off. He ended up working in the County Courthouse and did for years until his bosss retired. His boss was elected and so Fred either at 54 had to find a new job or run for office. Fred went to every home in all the small towns in the county and won overwhelmingly. The whole time he was working hard and teaching his sons to work hard he was also teaching them sportsmanship, how to hunt, fish, and be the man of the house. I am lucky enough to call Fred Dad.
Tim – He is a Pastor and I am not sure where because we have lost touch along the way in life but he made a lasting impression upon me. He was the first person to hire me for a ministry position. Tim hired me to be Youth Pastor and along the way of the 3 years we were together he poured his life into me. He and I memorized scripture together, the whole book of Philippians and started Psalm 119, as well as prayed together and confronted some hard issues together. He showed me the power of a Pastor who cares for the flock.
Wendy – My wife is an amazing woman. She does not think she is special at all and is really hard on herself, although I tell her otherwise. I see a woman who has no formal education but has developed a passion for teaching. She cares about the children she teaches. She cares for people and loves them. She is a great mom and a great wife. How she juggles all she does and keeps her sanity is a gift. She teaches me how to love and to look at what is important in life. She is passionate in what she does, if she does it, it will be done with passion! That is the other thing she teaches me, be passionate about what you do.
There are more I could list like my children, Chris, Roy, Todd, and others but these will do for now.
So who would be on your personal Mount Rushmore?
This past weekend I did the whole candidate thing at a small rural Southern Baptist Church. It was a very interesting weekend. Let me share the highlights:
Friday Night – Meet and greet with Deacons, Trustees, and others in various leadership positions. It went pretty well but there were a few older ladies I felt had a bit of an issue with me, but overall I thought it went well.
Saturday – In the Morning we went to an associate gathering of Seniors at the Church which was a lot of fun and had a good time. Lunch was at a home where we meet with the youth group, the youth leaders, and the parents. This went great, the church has two great ladies who do great work with the teens and the teens themselves made my daughter feel very welcome. My son played with son other kids his age and had a wonderful time. I learned cornhole and loved it. Evening time is that time all candidates hate, it is the covered dish which was awesome, these people know how to cook tasty food and then grill the new pastoral candidate time. I got many easy questions and a few hard ones but overall it went very well.
Sunday – I hung out and talked with the interim pastor during Sunday School and then preached and my wife sang. It was a good time. Then we left so that the church could vote. I got to where I was staying to wait for the seach committee to come and let me know the results and the duplex we were staying in was robbed. They kicked in the front door and went through all our stuff but did not take anything. They did the same next door and stole about $10 in change. The committee showed up just after the police, quite an interesting scene. I got the results of the vote and it was 97 for and 9 against. It was a great day of celebrating all that God has done and for us as a family celebrating God’s provision and direction.
Monday – Looked at schools and we were impressed by the High School and had wonderful day as a family.
Thanks to all who were praying and who still are that our home here would sell. We need a miracle and I believe in miracles! God is good all the time! All the time God is good!
This is one of the most stunning things I have read in a while. Ezekiel is told by God that his wife will die and he is not to mourn her death at all. Scripture does not tell us that he argued with God about this but he did argue about cooking with dried human dung. I am stunned by this and trying to fit it all together but I am at a loss with it. I know it was to let Judah know that it would be losing it’s dearest treasure, but I just find it amazing that he argued over what he would cook over but not over his wife’s death.
Just something I found interesting in my reading. What interesting things are you finding?
I have known for several weeks that I would be candidating at a church this weekend. I have prepared the message from Acts 12:1-17. I have prayed over it and feel like it is what the Lord would have me to do. I always have the unfinished feeling with messages and I think that is good thing. I continue to look at it, pray over it, and make minor changes here and there.
I feel prepared but not done. Anyone else ever really feel fully done?
Please pray for me this weekend that God would work and move in a mighty way and that our house would sell while we are away. I am praying expecting God to do mighty things, because he is a Mighty God!
Took my SUV in to get the wheel bearings fixed. Luckily I have a warranty on it. They found another minor issue that they can get fixed with the warranty and so I was happy about that. The guy then says they will pay for me to have a rental car for the day. I thought that this was cool, but then find out that all the rentals are out and that then they called Enterprise to get me a car and they were out. Now I had to come up with plan B. I had been at the service place for an hour and forty five minutes and did not want to sit there all day. They had a courtesy drive and so I thought I would have him take me to where my wife works which was only about 3 miles away and I would get her van and then continue on with my day. I get in the van with Don the 75 year old driver and there is an Asian women in there and then we stop and pick up someone else and it is an Asian man. We start out and take the lady where she needs go which was about 12 miles North and then we take the Asian man which was about 20 miles away. I drove all over the county I live in and about an hour later I got to the school where my wife works and got the van. I laughed because I got a good portion of Don the drives life. Could barley understand the two Asian folks but better than Don so I had to tell him what they were saying to go. Both Don and I miss understood the Asian man and we were about 10 miles from where he wanted to be at one point. Thinking about it makes me laugh and smile because it was all good and fun. What a way to spend the time I normally spend in Panera. Life can be so very interesting at times.
What interesting things are happening in your life?
It is amazing what hanging with your family, sleep, activity, and sunshine can do for your spirits. That is not too mention people praying for you and being in the Word of God. I awoke today with a much better and more joyful outlook. That is not to say that I still do not have those nagging and lingering thoughts shooting through my feeble mind but that I know that I can control if I dwell on them or not. Life is all about choice and the choices we make. Today I choose to live in the joy of my family and what Christ has done for me. I am not sure what I will choose tomorrow but I do know that it is my choice.
Please continue to pray that God would give wisdom, peace, and direction to me and my family.
What kind of day are you choosing to have?
