what is the deal with allergies? for those few days when the polen count is at it's highest, why do we suffer so much? is there anything worse than sneezing your head off and a constant drip like the Chinese Water torture from your nose?
i am in Youngstown today visiting family. nash was up at 6:45am . . . o the joys of babies! all 3 kids are up now and Grandma and Amanda are resting snug in their beds. i guess everyone gets their turn to be "mom."
after the Blue Jays lost by one run for the 2nd night in a row, it is officially time to turn to football. GO STEELERS! only 9 more days till the season starts.
i ate the best pizza in the world last night . . . Wedgewood! a hometown favorite and the only real reason i ever come back to Y-Town. sorry, mom, but the truth is the truth. jk. i love my parents and don't get to spend near as much time with them as i wish i could.
it's a dreary, rainy Friday in August. the day looks bleak, but the future is bright? what difference will you make in the world today?
peace
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
cookies & milk
i could not stop craving oatmeal chocolate chip cookies last night. so i went and bought the ingredients and Annie & I made the cookies. remember the last time you made cookies? if you are a dad reading this and haven't made cookies with your daughter, you need to try this.
there are some great life lessons in cookie making if you indulge me for a moment:
(1) you need all the ingredients - this is vital. without all the right "stuff," the cookies won't taste right. we barely had enough brown sugar for the recipe. i asked my lovely wife if we could substitute regular sugar for brown sugar. apparently that is a no-no. you must use the proper amount of every ingredient.
that reminds me of the fruit of the Spirit . . . love, joy, peace, patience, etc. if you only have one or two of these clicking in your life and the others are foreign concepts, you won't turn out like God wants. He desires you to have all of them so you will will taste good to the world.
(2) it's so hard to resist eating the dough! - this may be the best part of the cookie making process, but it is not the finished product.
how often do we settle for the "un"finished product? we embrace a portion of Christ's identity, but not all of it. we receive a % of the Father's love, but not 100%. we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us once in awhile. yes, the cookie dough tastes good, but the finished product of a hot baked cookie is not only great, it's better for you because it's been cooked!
(3) cookies don't cook alone - it would seem odd if you walked into someone's house and they were baking cookies and they only put one cookie on a baking sheet at a time. or, what if they just made one giant cookie that took up the whole pan?
we are not in this game of life by ourselves. to borrow a line from a junior high girl's favorite movie, "We're all in this together!" there are no lone rangers. life is not an individual sport. we must allow others to be near us and to influence our lives. and we shouldn't try to be the biggest cookie on the sheet either. God is pleased with our humility. leadership is about serving others, not trying to beat out the next guy!
(4) every cookie turns out unique - you cannot make each cookie look exactly the same. the cookies will have different amounts of chocolate chips, oatmeal, and other ingredients inside.
we are all different and need to celebrate those differences. Our Father is a Masterpiece Artist. He carefully knit each of us together in our mother's womb. he designed us perfectly the way we are. we must be careful not to compare ourselves and allow discouragement our bitterness to creep into our hearts. there will always be someone who is better at something than we are. let's keep our focus on God, not on others.
(5) clean up is essential - after your masterpiece cookies are complete, the work is not done. you must clean up the mess you make. it will not clean up itself.
this reminds me of the messes in life we make. no one is exempt from messes. when we have a situation that gets ugly or needs some extra attention, we need to address it and get it cleaned up. it could be sin. it could be some argument with a friend or relative. it could be a poor attitude. i remember as a server at Applebees when i was in college, the manager had a policy for each of us, "clean as you go!" if you make a mess, get it cleaned up ASAP. don't let it set or expect someone else to clean it up for you. this is a great life lesson . . . clean up your messes and do it now!
You are probably wondering by this point how the cookies turned out. well, let's just say, we made 33 cookies las night and there are only 20 left!
thanks for checking in to my blog! feel free to leave a comment! see you soon!
peace
there are some great life lessons in cookie making if you indulge me for a moment:
(1) you need all the ingredients - this is vital. without all the right "stuff," the cookies won't taste right. we barely had enough brown sugar for the recipe. i asked my lovely wife if we could substitute regular sugar for brown sugar. apparently that is a no-no. you must use the proper amount of every ingredient.
that reminds me of the fruit of the Spirit . . . love, joy, peace, patience, etc. if you only have one or two of these clicking in your life and the others are foreign concepts, you won't turn out like God wants. He desires you to have all of them so you will will taste good to the world.
(2) it's so hard to resist eating the dough! - this may be the best part of the cookie making process, but it is not the finished product.
how often do we settle for the "un"finished product? we embrace a portion of Christ's identity, but not all of it. we receive a % of the Father's love, but not 100%. we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us once in awhile. yes, the cookie dough tastes good, but the finished product of a hot baked cookie is not only great, it's better for you because it's been cooked!
(3) cookies don't cook alone - it would seem odd if you walked into someone's house and they were baking cookies and they only put one cookie on a baking sheet at a time. or, what if they just made one giant cookie that took up the whole pan?
we are not in this game of life by ourselves. to borrow a line from a junior high girl's favorite movie, "We're all in this together!" there are no lone rangers. life is not an individual sport. we must allow others to be near us and to influence our lives. and we shouldn't try to be the biggest cookie on the sheet either. God is pleased with our humility. leadership is about serving others, not trying to beat out the next guy!
(4) every cookie turns out unique - you cannot make each cookie look exactly the same. the cookies will have different amounts of chocolate chips, oatmeal, and other ingredients inside.
we are all different and need to celebrate those differences. Our Father is a Masterpiece Artist. He carefully knit each of us together in our mother's womb. he designed us perfectly the way we are. we must be careful not to compare ourselves and allow discouragement our bitterness to creep into our hearts. there will always be someone who is better at something than we are. let's keep our focus on God, not on others.
(5) clean up is essential - after your masterpiece cookies are complete, the work is not done. you must clean up the mess you make. it will not clean up itself.
this reminds me of the messes in life we make. no one is exempt from messes. when we have a situation that gets ugly or needs some extra attention, we need to address it and get it cleaned up. it could be sin. it could be some argument with a friend or relative. it could be a poor attitude. i remember as a server at Applebees when i was in college, the manager had a policy for each of us, "clean as you go!" if you make a mess, get it cleaned up ASAP. don't let it set or expect someone else to clean it up for you. this is a great life lesson . . . clean up your messes and do it now!
You are probably wondering by this point how the cookies turned out. well, let's just say, we made 33 cookies las night and there are only 20 left!
thanks for checking in to my blog! feel free to leave a comment! see you soon!
peace
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
a simple tuesday
(1) today is a normal day. well, when i say normal, i mean . . . not jam packed full of appointments and meetings and activities. the norm has actually become jam packed days.
as a matter of fact, as i sit here at the kitchen table on a brisk tuesday in August, i cannot think of one appointment, meeting, or activity on my schedule today! that is a good feeling. someone told me they were bored the other day, and i had to have them define the word bored.
this goes against everything i have blogging about regarding keeping life simple. hey people, i never said i was hitting a home run in this area. in fact, i have a long way to go, and a wonderful wife who reminds of that periodically.
our family was able to enjoy a nice quiet evening last night together. we went on a walk/bike ride in the church parking lot, took baths (the kids of course), enjoyed a nice uneventful dinner, and basically just chilled out for the evening.
if i could script every day, they would look a lot more like yesterday than the ones packed full of stuff. don't get me wrong, the stuff is good, but it gets in the way at times of the most important stuff!
(2) Nash has been crying a lot this past week. please pray for him. it may be that he is teething or it may be something else.
(3) i had 2 leader meetings on Sunday. there are over 60 leaders (adult and student) serving XLR8 youth ministries. WOW! thank you, Lord, for surrounding amanda and i with such a great team!
(4) a special former member of XLR8 youth, current member of SALT young adults, and a special guy from Dayspring is leaving town Friday for James River's Leadership College in Ozark, Missouri. Alex Wilkerson is following the call of God in his life and going into ministry. we are praying for you, Alex! you will be missed!
(5) in XLR8 Youth this Wed night, we will be continuing our sermon series "3" based on the trinity. we will be focusing on the life of Jesus! It's a PIZZA NIGHT so bring a friend and the 2 of you get to eat free!! see you there!
(6) we are going to see Hillsong United live in concert in Indianapolis a week from today!!
peace
as a matter of fact, as i sit here at the kitchen table on a brisk tuesday in August, i cannot think of one appointment, meeting, or activity on my schedule today! that is a good feeling. someone told me they were bored the other day, and i had to have them define the word bored.
this goes against everything i have blogging about regarding keeping life simple. hey people, i never said i was hitting a home run in this area. in fact, i have a long way to go, and a wonderful wife who reminds of that periodically.
our family was able to enjoy a nice quiet evening last night together. we went on a walk/bike ride in the church parking lot, took baths (the kids of course), enjoyed a nice uneventful dinner, and basically just chilled out for the evening.
if i could script every day, they would look a lot more like yesterday than the ones packed full of stuff. don't get me wrong, the stuff is good, but it gets in the way at times of the most important stuff!
(2) Nash has been crying a lot this past week. please pray for him. it may be that he is teething or it may be something else.
(3) i had 2 leader meetings on Sunday. there are over 60 leaders (adult and student) serving XLR8 youth ministries. WOW! thank you, Lord, for surrounding amanda and i with such a great team!
(4) a special former member of XLR8 youth, current member of SALT young adults, and a special guy from Dayspring is leaving town Friday for James River's Leadership College in Ozark, Missouri. Alex Wilkerson is following the call of God in his life and going into ministry. we are praying for you, Alex! you will be missed!
(5) in XLR8 Youth this Wed night, we will be continuing our sermon series "3" based on the trinity. we will be focusing on the life of Jesus! It's a PIZZA NIGHT so bring a friend and the 2 of you get to eat free!! see you there!
(6) we are going to see Hillsong United live in concert in Indianapolis a week from today!!
peace
Friday, August 15, 2008
the return
i have returned from my 2 week blog fast. that was intense (like camping).
actually, i have been lazy with my blog. it's not that i haven't thought about blogging. i just couldn't get into the mood i guess.
well, God has done many things in the past 2 weeks, so i will try to get you caught up . . .
(1) i finally got the DVD player in my van working (for those with small children, you know how big a deal this is)
(2) our church had the great honor of leading the church service at the Wood County Fair 2 Sundays ago. we led worship and God gave me a message on the Game of Life to preach. there were over 90 people there! it was a great morning.
(3) less than 2 hours after the fair service ended, we loaded up 3-14 passenger vans and headed down to Charlotte, NC for National Fine Arts/Youth Convention.
*the drive to Charlotte took 12 hours
*the people working at our hotel were amazing! (thanks Hampton Inn Uptown Charlotte!!)
*our students were amazing all week in competing and ministering and going after God during the services and behavior (well, for the most part)
*no hospital runs - thank God!
*we got to go White Water Rafting! that was amazing. i didn't fall in, but Pastor Scott, Sam Jennings, Robb Starr, and others did
*Planetshakers led worship for us at the services! they can rock it out an so sensitive to the Holy Spirit!
*Steve Pulis, Rod Whitlock, and Rick Lorimer brought the Word each night and each delivered a powerful message!
(4)i got to go to the Tigers/Blue Jays game Monday and one of the Jays players threw me a ball during batting practice! (Jays won 7-2)
(5) our softball team came up one run short of winning the league tournament on Tuesday. We had to win 3 games to be champs . . . Game #1 - we won 22-7, Game #2 - we won 17-2, and Game #3 - we were down 11-6 going into the 7th inning and scored 4 runs to make it 11-10 and had 2 on with 1 out, but couldn't get the run in!
(6) Eric Radabaugh preached on XLR8 while i was gone and Alex and Jake led worship! Thanks guys!
(7) God led me to preach on the Holy Spirit 2 nights ago in XLR8 and God poured it out on our students during service! Students, keep going after more and stay hungry!
(8) last night was Water Wars IV - one of my favorite junior high events of the year! it down poured on us and we loved it! the students were amazing and Jared Kobylski was the winner!
well, now you are caught up on my life. i plan to stay regular with the blogging now, so keep checking back!
peace
actually, i have been lazy with my blog. it's not that i haven't thought about blogging. i just couldn't get into the mood i guess.
well, God has done many things in the past 2 weeks, so i will try to get you caught up . . .
(1) i finally got the DVD player in my van working (for those with small children, you know how big a deal this is)
(2) our church had the great honor of leading the church service at the Wood County Fair 2 Sundays ago. we led worship and God gave me a message on the Game of Life to preach. there were over 90 people there! it was a great morning.
(3) less than 2 hours after the fair service ended, we loaded up 3-14 passenger vans and headed down to Charlotte, NC for National Fine Arts/Youth Convention.
*the drive to Charlotte took 12 hours
*the people working at our hotel were amazing! (thanks Hampton Inn Uptown Charlotte!!)
*our students were amazing all week in competing and ministering and going after God during the services and behavior (well, for the most part)
*no hospital runs - thank God!
*we got to go White Water Rafting! that was amazing. i didn't fall in, but Pastor Scott, Sam Jennings, Robb Starr, and others did
*Planetshakers led worship for us at the services! they can rock it out an so sensitive to the Holy Spirit!
*Steve Pulis, Rod Whitlock, and Rick Lorimer brought the Word each night and each delivered a powerful message!
(4)i got to go to the Tigers/Blue Jays game Monday and one of the Jays players threw me a ball during batting practice! (Jays won 7-2)
(5) our softball team came up one run short of winning the league tournament on Tuesday. We had to win 3 games to be champs . . . Game #1 - we won 22-7, Game #2 - we won 17-2, and Game #3 - we were down 11-6 going into the 7th inning and scored 4 runs to make it 11-10 and had 2 on with 1 out, but couldn't get the run in!
(6) Eric Radabaugh preached on XLR8 while i was gone and Alex and Jake led worship! Thanks guys!
(7) God led me to preach on the Holy Spirit 2 nights ago in XLR8 and God poured it out on our students during service! Students, keep going after more and stay hungry!
(8) last night was Water Wars IV - one of my favorite junior high events of the year! it down poured on us and we loved it! the students were amazing and Jared Kobylski was the winner!
well, now you are caught up on my life. i plan to stay regular with the blogging now, so keep checking back!
peace
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