Another Shot

Today is a new day. It started off VERY good with an early morning up, some great time in the book of Romans and a long walk with God. It was cool. I think I went for between 2 and 3 miles. It was just good to get out, get excercise, and spend some time in prayer.

I've started Phase One of the South Beach Diet again. This time I will go all the way to my goal before I slip into phase 3. My current goal is 185 pounds. I'm currently just under 240 according to my scale at home, though I think it weighs in a little heavy...at least on me. : )
This morning Bethany made me some AWESOME scrambled eggs and for lunch I was in Jacksonville so I tried Subway's new Tuscan Chicken Melt but I had it as a salad instead of a sandwich. I highly reccomend it for a decent lunch...and it was only 5 bucks!!! I currently find myself sitting in the Three Legged Dog enjoying a second cup of bourbon-pecan coffee. It's nice. A little splenda and I'm a happy camper. For those interested in my listening experiences, Moby's 18 album is in my earbuds.

I've been going through some things lately personally, just in wanting to be as effective of a Christ-follower as possible. I don't want anything to get in the way of hearing and following God as closely as possible. Because of my personality (a bit obsessive...a bit...)I have to really watch the time I spend on "not as important" things such as Facebook and other people's blogs. It's good to connect with people and good to get some of the solid learning that I get from places like the Resurgence and other places but if I was honest, I'd have to say that the majority of the time I spend "online" isn't currently making a positive impact on any part of my life. It's a crazy thing. Take a social butterfly like me and a need for more information and it's like a gaping hole that the internet has gone into. I'm not dropping off the digital planet or anything like that, I'm just going to temper the time I spend on such activity. I want to be more productive... and I would hate to think that the (however long) I spend on facebook was time that I wasted when I could be reading a book that would help me grow spiritually or spending actual, real world time with someone that I hope to minister to. Most of my students are not "hard core" facebook kids yet so a little involvement there is enough to be in that part of their world. I'm not speaking here of what I do ministry wise online, but the parts where I am just killing hours. I hope this makes sense.

I've also come to the conclusion that I own a bunch of stuff that I don't need or use. In order to clean out the house, simplify my life, and hopefully make some extra money, I'll be getting rid of some of it. I'll probably list everything on here just in case anyone wants to purchase something. I spend too much time with my music...some of it will go away. Not all, because I don't think it's bad or anything, I just need to do this for me to make sure my priorites and time is in a better situation. It's like a safeguard for now. We'll see where that takes us.

Let me clarify this post for a few people: This is in no way one of those get rid of it all cause it's bad for you things... But it is a time of looking at my personality and seeing where I need to make cuts for the Glory of God. Where can I be a better follower of Jesus, a better husband, father, son, and youth pastor? I'm looking at these things.

I couldn't sleep last night and all of this has been ricocheting around in my brain...and heart.

I talked to an old friend yesterday expressing some frustrations with ministry that I have been having. Nothing new to anyone...common stuff amongst youth pastors and other guys...I was looking for someone to pray for me that I would be able to reach the kids...that they would follow and serve and passionately worship Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It was a good conversation and one thing inparticular stuck out to me. He told me that the first thing we have to do is ask, " Do I believe what I am preaching?" Of course I do. But follow that with me for a minute. If we believe that God is in control, that He is Sovereign, that He calls people to Himself and it is He who does the saving, not us then that should RADICALLY effect how we act, minister, and even how we think about our ministry "results". It is our job to be the faithful messengers, to make the appeal to people, to reach out, to love, to preach the Gospel. God's Word accomplishes exactly what He wants it to. You and I can therefore minister with the full knowledge that His Word will not return void. It will accomplish all that He wants it to. The results are up to God. He gives the faith, we can with full confidence, then tell the good news!

I wonder if these posts would be shorter if they were happening more often? Maybe, maybe not. God seems to be up to something big right now...and I just want to be right in the center of it. "I want to be like that lightening rod, where the only thing I fear is God Himself".

Why don't I...

own any Sting albums?

The Long Haul

So...I haven't blogged in a couple of months. I actually have started a Word Press blog but have not switched over yet. I might not. It really all depends. It's not that I don't have things to write about, it's just that most of what comes into my head never makes it to the computer. Sometimes I get a feeling or an idea but don't want the general public to be able to access it.

I've started playing a little bit of Star Wars Galaxies Online. It's a good time. I just don't have much time for games.

This summer is going to be packed. I have a lot of youth goings-on planned. I'm hoping that the our students will grow closer to Christ and closer to each other over the course of the summer. We still need to pray for and work to raise a little more than 3,000 dollars for our mission trip. The deadline is looming but God is faithful and has not ever let us down. I remember last year when we were at the deadline basically, and we prayed for God to provide. Someone walked up and handed me a VERY large check that took care of almost the entire rest of our bill for the mission trip. We were blessed in this way last year. Please be praying with us that the money is provided in whatever way God has planned for it to be provided.

If anyone is curious, I'll post our summer calendar here: