Happy 24th Birthday to my BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL WIFE!!!

I LOVE YOU!

We will be starting our first Young Adult Worship gathering in about 1 hour. Its all in God's hands and I hope and pray it goes well. I'll be back with an update.........

UPDATE

About 40 people came, not bad for a first time and for a Saturday night. We sang some songs, watched a Nooma video, had an open discussion about the video, sang some more songs during a time for prayer and reflection, then capped the night by hanging out.

Overall, I think it went well. It would have been nice if more people came (especially considering the actual size of our group - close to 100 probably, when were all together).

The discussion time could have went a little better, a few people interacted (which was good nonetheless), but not very many. I'm not sure how people responded to the message of the video and discussion (forgiveness), hopefully well though.

The hangout time afterwards was great. Good coffee and I got to catch up with some friends I haven't seen in a while.

Perhaps as we continue to have these, people will feel more comfortable. Often at something new, don't know what to expect and people kind of hold back. I also hope that people will feel more comfortable in the musical worship time; feel the freedom to sing loud and move around.

I think for the next one, we should try a Sunday night. I just don't know if Saturday night is gonna fly well. That's a tough night to try and get 20 somethings to come to church. Perhaps, if we really want to provide an alternative on Saturday night, then we should host things like art shows, open mic night, extreme sports, stuff like that. I think this would attract more people and then we can be like, "hey wanna come tomorrow night, we have a sorta church service that we all go to." Just a thought.

Ministry

I went bowling last night to help raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Delaware. Now, I’m not a big bowler, but I think that was some of my finest bowling ever. I scored 154 & 158, not too shabby.

Besides the sore thumb today, I had a great time. It was also great to spend some time with my dad and brother who were on my team.

At the very least, several hundred dollars was raised!

Got the new Switchfoot CD – Nothing is Sound, this past weekend.

My fav’s so far:

Lonely Nation
Happy is a Yuppie Word
Daisy

Not so fav’s:

Stars
The Shadow Proves the Sunshine
Golden

Overall, I give the new CD 3 out of 5 stars (whatever that means). It’s good, but not great; worth a repeated listen.

Side note: It was really irritating how Sony copy-protected the CD so I couldn’t import it into Itunes. Apparently I’m not the only one, since Tim Foreman (one of the band members) released a statement of how he is upset about it and how they as a band didn’t know it was gonna be like that. He even took it one step further in giving detailed instructions on how to get around it, now he faces federal prosecution from what I hear!!

“Baby slow down” – Bono from Original of the Species

“Our adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds.” – Richard Foster from Celebration of Discipline

“Hurry is not of the devil; it is the devil.” - Carl Jung

“There are three sources of distraction that can keep us from having genuine,
personal relationships with others. They are hurry, worry, and slurry.” –Leonard Sweet from A Cup of Coffee
at the Soul Cafe

“Hurry is not a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.”
- John Ortberg from The Life You’ve Always Wanted

We live in a fast paced world. Fast food, fast cars, high-speed internet, fast-track, go, hurry up, quicker! If we could only realize how this mentality hurts us rather than helps us when it comes to the good of our souls and our ability to follow Christ.

Slowing down is hard and it requires an intentional effort, but it is worth it.

This may be what finally pushes me over the edge in getting high speed internet at home.

Relevant TV by the awesome people at Relevant Media Group.


Entertainment

I led a short time of worship last night using iWorship.  I had never done this before, so it was definitely a little weird.  Kinda felt like worship karaoke.  People didn’t seem to mind though; as a matter of fact they seemed to really be getting into it.  I probably won’t do it again, but it was an interesting experience.  I did enjoy the moving backgrounds and videos that played with the songs though, so maybe there’s a way to incorporate that aspect of it.

worship
ministry    

I was told this morning that a friend of ours, Jesus’, was badly hurt in a car accident last night.  He was hit by a drunk driver, but the worst part is that the drunks got out and proceeded to severely beat up Jesus’.  This makes me so mad.  Jesus’ may have to get surgery on his face due to broken bones.  Thankfully the drunks are in police custody.  I don’t know for sure who they are, but I pray that justice prevails.  

If anyone reads this post, please join with us in prayer.

God,

Please help Jesus’ through a quick and complete recovery.  I’m trusting that you will use this terrible thing to bring something good.  Be with Jesus’, comfort him.  Help us as his friends to be there for him.  

I also pray for the drunk driver.  I pray that through this, he would realize that his life is nothing without you.  Draw him to you.  

Amen.        

UPDATE:

A bunch of us went to see Jesus’ on Monday night.  His face was pretty swollen.  We prayed with him and let him know we are here if he needs anything.

The cops have the guy who did the beating.  Apparently it is one of the new owners of a bar here in town.  As for the driver, he fled the scene, but left his car, so its only a matter of time till they get him too.

The Air Force, of which Jesus’ is an employee, has already contacted lawyers.

He seemed to be in good spirits when we saw him.  His father was flying in the next day, so that should be good for him.

He is supposed to see the reconstruction specialist today (Friday) to find out if he needs any work done.  We are praying that when he goes in, the doc will be amazed and say that no surgery is necessary.

The newest member of our family, “Zeke” short for Ezekiel.










We were planning on getting a cat, but unfortunately when we went to get him from the SPCA, he had died. We were pretty shocked and sad, but decided to go look around at the other animals. This one was the second cage in. We didn’t even make it to the cat room. We originally wanted a dog, but frankly were not sure if we were ready for the responsibility. But, nonetheless, we couldn’t resist.

He’s a 2 month old Beagle / Lab mix. He was found stray with 2 siblings who had already been adopted.

So, this is gonna be a big change for us, but I think it’ll be a fun and rewarding one!

When animals who have spent the majority of their life in a cage finally taste freedom it is a scary / exciting thing. Likewise, it can be scary / exciting to finally be free for us, who previous to meeting Christ are living in a "cage."

It takes character to get up out of bed to help your wife clean up pee (not trying to pat myself on the back here cuz' I was strongly tempted to continue laying there).

I'm sure there will be many more to come......

Heard from my good friend Jordan today. He is a missionary with YWAM and just finished up a trip to Fiji. He is an inspiration to me.

It also appears that he has become quite the photographer, based on what I see from his blog.

I'm a big fan of author Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz; Searching For God Knows What). Here's an interview he did with Relevant Magazine.

Can't wait to read his latest book, Through Painted Deserts.

I like Don's honesty and his authentic writing style.

Donald Miller