Look Him in the Eye

We had an incredibly powerful youth service tonight. I preached on John 8:1-11. It’s the passage on the woman caught in adultery. The whole message revolved around the idea that she was worthless in everyone’s eyes. The Pharisees thought she was worthless and would have gladly killed her if it meant finding fault with Christ. The man she was sleeping with thought she was worthless. Since he doesn’t appear anywhere in the Scriptures I’m assuming he didn’t care enough about her to stand up for her. Then the woman herself must have thought herself worthless as she stands ashamed with her sins exposed.

Yet, Christ looked at her and loved her. A person worthless to the world had value to the Lord. In his eyes, she was priceless.

I preached as best as I could then prayed over the youth. Then, we had the youth form a circle facing outward so they weren’t looking at each other. Then my youth workers and I went around the circle. We looked each youth directly in the eyes had told them how special they were. We told them just how much Christ loved them.

It was awesome. Some of the youth could barely maintain eye contact. Some were weeping. It worked out that all of us leaders were able to talk to every one of them. Each youth had three people look them in the eye and express how Jesus views them has priceless.

You could sense God’s presence and all we can hope is that it continues.

"Chara"

Spoke yesterday on “chara” or joy. Doing just a little light surface Greek studying brought me to the definition “calm delight.” So often I’ve viewed joy as being happiness on some sort of stimulant. A God induced hyper happiness that seemed impossible to maintain. The fact is that it’s not that at all. Instead, it’s that deep peaceful knowledge that God has all things under control and that one day all things will be made right. In the midst of ever changing circumstance joy can still abound. I like the idea of calm delight.

He Walks

My little boy decided to take his first steps today. It really seems like yesterday that he was born and now he’s beginning to walk. Time moves by a little too fast at times.

Life Slow Down

The past few days have seemed to fly by. Youth pepperoni sale at the same time a youth bake sale occurred. Not a good idea and it will be avoided in the future. Hectic schedule limited my time to write. I’m writing this tonight to get me back into the rhythm.

Just so people are aware, I’ll be having another book give away within a few weeks. To be honest, it’s not a book that interests me per se, but Kelly is reading it and will be writing the review.

Watching the Moon

On Sunday night, we arrived home from church in the midst of the storm. We bundled our kids inside as fast as we could. Taco Bell after service is our tradition, so the stupid man that I am I headed back into the storm to get us some tacos. Just before I reached town the call came from my wife that our power had just gone out. Having discovered that Taco Bell was closed (no power can do that), I headed home. By candlelight, we got the kids ready for bed. After Silas was tucked in, Kelly, Havilah, and I went out on the porch. The wind had settled down. The moon was brighter than I can remember. With no lights on anywhere, the earth was awash in the glow of moonlight.

We grabbed a blanket and all snuggled together on our bench. We spent a long time just watching the moon and enjoying the clouds racing across the sky. In a daredevil move, we opened the fridge and swiped some cheese out. A little while later, we were munching grilled cheese sandwiches hot off the grill.

While I don’t want the frustration and trouble that comes with the power going off, there was something so wonderful about sitting in the stillness under God’s moon.

Power Is a Good Thing

One of my youth called us Tuesday night while they were on their way home to let us know that there were lights on in the apartment below us. Yes! The power company had been saying Saturday for our area. Smart strategy. Under promise so it seems that you over deliver. I don’t want to be too snarky though, since they really have had a lot of work cleaning up from this mess.

Tuesday night we tucked our kids into bed at Grammy and Papa’s, then Kelly and I headed home to scrub down the fridge and to make sure everything was good. One of the benefits of emptying the fridge was that it presented the ideal opportunity to give it a good clean. Must admit it looks good. It made it a late night by the time we got back to my parent’s house to sleep, but it was nice to have the house ready. Wednesday morning we packed up the kids and we moved back home. The old adage “be it ever so humble there’s no place like home” has new meaning for me.

Overall my family was very blessed. We were able to store our fridge and freezer contents at our church and only lost a few items, most of which were almost empty anyway. The ice cream still breaks my heart though. I’m very grateful though because there are still many in our area without power.

No Power

It is Tuesday afternoon and we have been without power since Sunday night. Thanks Hurricane Ike. Anyway, this blog will get the updates it deserves once we have the opportunity to move back home.

Missions Trip Is Go!

We just got word today that our missions trip to Mexico is going to happen. It really was a God ordained event that brought it about. My youth are pumped for something that is still over 10 months away. I’ve even got youth attempting to learn Spanish. To be honest, I’m even excited.

A Few Quiet Days

The blog has been quiet for a few days while I was away at a minister’s conference. Just wanted to enjoy it without feeling the pressure to get something online. Will be jumping back into some writing tomorrow.

Major Weight Loss

Another weigh day. I lost .4 pounds. Yeah, make sure that you read that little dot. This was a really bad week so I’m happy that my weight didn’t go up. Going to be heading to a ministers gathering this week so this next week will be tough. Got to keep it up though.

The blog has been a little quiet as I worked through a week long stint at substituting in addition to my responsibilities at the church. I’m really looking forward to heading out to the Forum next week. It’s good to have a few days to hang out with other ministers.

Major Weight Loss

Another weigh day. I lost .4 pounds. Yeah, make sure that you read that little dot. This was a really bad week so I’m happy that my weight didn’t go up. Going to be heading to a ministers gathering this week so this next week will be tough. Got to keep it up though.

The blog has been a little quiet as I worked through a week long stint at substituting in addition to my responsibilities at the church. I’m really looking forward to heading out to the Forum next week. It’s good to have a few days to hang out with other ministers.

Ask And It's Opened

Set a goal for my youth group to head out on an out of country missions trip within the next two years. It’s a big goal for us and I wasn’t sure if we could pull it off.

Enter God.

Two days a later a nearby pastor mentions they might be heading to Mexico next summer. If it works out we’re free to join with them. Praying hard that it works out because we want Mexico.

Here Comes Fall

I’m spending the week substitute teaching. Another long day in the classroom, but at least tonight kicks off our Fall semester of youth. Really praying that we hit the ground running to see some great things happen this year.