My Life

Spent some time today trying to dream up a new and stupid game for youth group. I had success. Yes, that’s the life of a youth pastor.

Ode to Taco Bell

Our local taco bell has a Sunday special. Crunchy tacos are only 49¢. It makes for an extremely cheap meal for our entire family and a great family tradition. On Sundays we eat lunch late and then wait until after the evening service to go to Taco Bell. We’ve been doing it for years now. It sounds crazy, but it’s becoming something that our family shares together. Usually I drop my wife off so she can get our little boy ready for bed, and then my daughter and I drive on to the Bell. We talk and laugh together while I constantly reassure her that we’ll buy her a burrito since she doesn’t like tacos (we always buy her a soft taco but she doesn’t know). Then, we return home and share a few minutes together eating before bed.

Sometimes even the simple things of life can be something that binds a family together. Why not look for something crazy to do with your family this week. Then do it next week. And the week after. Keep doing it until it’s something your family looks forward to, laughs about, but ultimately enjoys.

Let The Dam Break

Had another powerful service this morning. Pastor spoke on Zechariah 4:6.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”

More and more it seems a lot of people I know are feeling that God is really getting ready to do something powerful. Not just in our church, but in a lot of churches. The limiting factor really seems to be us. We are the dam that is holding back that power. It’s time to humble our hearts and allow God to have his rightful place. No longer should we make God a part of our lives. God must become our lives.

Not always easy in a culture that provides us with a million and one things to take our attention off the Father.

I'm Home

I’m still unpacking, but my blog has arrived home. This really does look a lot better than the www.homepage.mac.com/mpaulwright that I had before. It’s late, but make sure to keep checking back in the days ahead for the free book giveway that I mentioned on the closing blog at the old site. The book is going to Mark Batterson’s “Wild Goose Chase.”

Also, if you’re feeling kind, drop me a comment welcoming to the neighborhood. Yeah, more shameless plugs.

The Voice of CJM

I’m fairly confident that many of my readers know who Cornell Jordan is. If you don’t, a one sentence introduction is in order. Cornell is an incredible youth evangelist that blows it away every time he speaks. Go to my links page for more info. Anyway, I consider it a privilege to call him one of my friends.

By next week, Cornell will be selling an audio version of the devotional he has written. If you listen real close, you might hear two voices that are just a little familiar to me. Crazy as it sounds, Cornell asked my wife and I to do the audio. It was a one week turnaround that was needed and we pulled it off. Not the highest quality for sure, but it actually sounds pretty good for being completely recorded and edited on my Mac. For the next round (there will be more) we’ll be upgrading to a better mic than the one built into my laptop.

It’s crazy what God will sometimes bring into your life.

In a Heartbeat

I was sitting outside with a bunch of my youth tonight waiting for my wife to return from dropping off my kids. The phone rang. My little boy had twisted out of his car seat and fallen onto the concrete driveway. The driveway won, but my little champion is tough. He’s doing really well and was laughing up a storm with his sister on the drive back to the church.

This small accident though confirmed in my mind just how fragile life really is and how everything can change in a moment’s notice. Knowing this, it is so vital that we live our lives in the light of eternity. In the financial realm we’re advised to diversify. In the spiritual realm, I’m putting everything I have into one basket. I’m clinging to Jesus. That way, no matter what happens in this world, I know the future is secure.

Motives

Prov. 16:2 All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

I came across this verse a couple of weeks ago in my devotions and it has just been hammering me ever since. I sadly realize how much stock I put in my own opinion. How easily I paint over my faults and failures with a stroke of “I know I’m doing what’s right.” How often do we loudly proclaim our actions are of the purest intent, when deep down inside they really might be suspect?

I love my Lord and I know he loves me. Yet, I will still give an account of my life before him. Will things like my works which I consider pure and holy, be burned up because my motives were wrong? Do I want to reach my neighbor out of love or so I can have a good illustration and something to blog about?

Just something to pray about.

Water Wars

Had a blast today heading out with a bunch of my youth for several hours of water balloons, swimming, and then roasting hot dogs. In my opinion this was the best event so far in this week of events. Just hanging out in a pool playing stupid games was refreshing. Won’t deny the fact that being in the water sure felt good on my back. Of course, the water allows you to move a lot without realizing it and my back is letting me know that tonight. Still, incredible fun.

I’m a strong believer that any group, whether it be children, youth, or adults, need time to just be together to laugh and have fun. It’s been one of my heart cries recently for my youth group. I want the Lord to draw us together. Jesus prayed that there would be unity among believers. May it be so.

The Week Begins

Tomorrow our youth event called “The Week” begins. It’s sort of our welcome to youth and last blast before school event. Band camps and other school events force us to have it at the end of July. Basically, it’s four events scattered throughout the week. It’s a lot of work and planning, but it’s usually a great time. However, there’s nothing quite like Friday afternoon when the last event ends.

Software Review - Yep

It’s been a little while since I’ve done a review, so here we go. I’m a big fan of going paperless as much as possible. Papers take up space, need a place to be stored, and always seems to be at the wrong place when you need them. Small headaches but still a headache. However, paperless pdf files pose their own set of challenges. You have to work from scratch creating folders to hold these files, you have to remember to place the pdf files into the proper location, and the worst, sometimes you wind up with pdf’s scattered all over you hard drive.

Enter Yep. Yep is great little piece of software designed to store pdf’s. Basically, it’s a one stop location all the pdf files on your computer. You can place the files directly into Yep, or, allow Yep to scan your entire drive for files. Yep will leave them in their location, but still show it in the browser.

The browser is where all the magic happens. Pdf files are shown in the middle window. A list of tags is in the left window. The window on the right changes with whatever happens to be clicked. When you work with a file, you have the ability to tag it. This is extremely powerful way to organize. Let me illustrate it.

I currently receive all my bank and credit card statements electronically as pdf’s. I drop them into Yep, tag them with a few keyword tags. Words like “Statements” and “Chase.” Previously, I set up some smart folders. Smart folders update themselves on the fly by looking for certain characteristics that you set up. I have a smart folder designed to look for any file that has the tags “Chase”, Statements”, “Checking”, and “2008.” So when I tag my bank statement with these keywords, it is automatically filed into that smart folder. I can either go to the folder to look at my statements or just start clicking on tags in the left column. Both ways get me very quickly to my statements. I have smart folders that search for such tags as “Manuals” and “Bills.”

I was a little dubious when I first got this software, but it has proven itself again and again. It’s the one thing that has made me a lot more comfortable moving more and more towards having completely paperless statements for all my bills.

Check it out at Ironic Software. Yeah, it’s only for Macs.

Vacation Wrap Up

I can honestly say this has been the worst vacation of my life. An entire week spent recuperating from a back injury, and the process isn’t even completed yet. Just so things are updated, I am moving much better. Getting out of a chair and off the couch are no longer a battle between desire and pain. Yes, to get off the couch I had to roll onto the floor and land on my knees. After that, I would slowly use my hands to walk up the wall. Feels really good just to stand normally. I still have some knots in my back that are causing some pain, but usually only after I stand for awhile. So I’m moving around a lot better, I just can’t do it for long periods of time.

I’ve been talking about how I wanted to relax on my vacation, and this forced me to do it to the extreme. I was able to read a novel just for the pleasure of reading. I was able to clean up and organize a ton of family recipes on my computer. And, today, I was able to leave my children with their grandparents and take my wife out to lunch at a great little Hungarian cafe. By the time we got home my back drove me to my chair, but it was worth it to have some time just to talk with my wife.

It’s hard to realize my vacation is over when it feels like it never began, but so goes life.

Vacation Day 5

Still on vacation. Still in pain. Moving better, but it’s coming slowly.

Vacation?

My vacation started two days ago on Thursday. A week to relax, spend time with my family, and have some fun. My first project was to help my parents clean out their shed. No problem. My lower back started hurting right afterward. Sore from the work. It’s been sore before. By that night I could barely get off the chair. Friday I had to make a trip and I could barely walk. Then, looking in the mirror, I realized from the waist up my body was crooked. Strange sight. Thankfully, I found a chiropractor that was open on Saturdays. Several adjustments later and I think I’m starting to get better. I can walk better and rise from a chair easier. There’s inflammation and that is still causing problems. Hopefully it will die down soon. So, here I am on vacation and I’ve been pretty much relegated to sitting in my chair or lying on the couch.

A Sugar Coated Gospel

I’m coming to the conclusion that all people want is a sugar coated gospel. Anything with a sugar coating is bound to taste better. People want the easy stuff, but don’t want to be confronted with the hard passages of truth in God’s Word. Just last night in youth I mentioned 2 Timothy 3:12. It says,

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Not a pleasant thought, but it’s in the Word of God. It’s a hard truth and people sitting in churches need to know it. Things are not going to get better in this world. Utopia isn’t around the corner. Trials and tribulations are going to increase in these last days and God’s people need to expect that bad things are going to happen on an ever increasing scale. A little pessimistic you may ask? No, I’m a Bible realist with an eternal optimism.

No more sugar coating. We need those Christians that have been Christians for years with no growth to begin to mature in their faith. It’s time to move past the sugar coated gospel.

Wendy Goes Camp X

The coolest thing. I was watching some television tonight with my family when the Wendy’s commercial for their 99¢ chicken sandwich came on. I was barely paying attention until I realized that Wendy flashed the Camp X sign. Camp X baby.

In case you would like to see it, here’s the link to the YouTube page with the full commercial.

Camp X 2008 Final

Another Camp X has come and flown by faster than you can imagine. For those that have no clue what Camp X, I probably should have explained it earlier. Camp X is a week long camp put on by the Ohio District for students from 8th to 12th grade. The camp offered three tracks this year, discipleship, outreach, and ministry. The camp is always incredible as the student that come usually have a heart for God and want to grow and be challenged. Without a doubt that happened.

Powerful week, but I’ll be honest, hugging my wife and kids Friday when I got home was pretty good too.

If anyone from Camp X is stopping by here I say hello. If you’re looking for Hans, you’ll find a link on the appropriately named links page.

Camp X 2008 Day 3

Another day of Camp X goodness. Cornell preached a powerful sermon on having total surrender to God. Not just surrendering certain things totally, but being completely and utterly surrendered to God in every facet of our lives. Strong words that echoed through my spirit. God s really calling for his people to surrender and be holy.

It seems to be the message that God wants to get across to us.

Camp X 2008 Day 1

The first day of Camp X has once again drifted into the past. It’s one incredibly long hot day that seems to go by in a moment. It’s been great seeing the students that have chosen to walk the discipleship road with this us this week. Familiar faces (yeah I recognize you, but I have no clue about your name) and a bunch of new ones. The ludicrous thing is that the support staff wear name tags. Students? No name tags. None. It’s hard enough to remember one name let alone almost forty. I’m actually happy that I know all the names of the people that I’m working with. This is actually the first year I think.

Anyway, good services and some great sessions. God hits hard. He hits me even harder when I speak the word. Taught tonight about holiness as a lifestyle. We desperately need to be a holy people. We need to use God given wisdom when selecting entertainment choices. There’s too much at stake. Went well, especially since my hour and a half time slot was shortened to thirty minutes. I went over as long as I could, but I definitely needed more time. I wanted to have a little more interaction on the movie reviews. Oh well. I still think God gave us al something to think about and prayerfully, something to begin working out in our lives.

Healing

My student that has been battling cancer for over a year now was healed on our trip. The biopsy he’s had since returning revealed no cancer. He’ll be on crutches for several weeks until he heals from the biopsy, but no cancer. God is working.

Get Ready

Get ready. Tomorrow I should have the green light to share the most incredible thing that happened on our missions trip. We’re talking miracle. Stay tuned.