Did you ever...

...just feel like the biggest jerk ever to walk the face of the earth?

New Hotness

So, we had a bit of a huge ice storm last weekend/the first part of this week. Schools were out and tree limbs came crashing down all over town. It looked like that movie, "The Day After Tomorrow". I could go into more detail than this but let me just say that a limb hit our car...actually, a few limbs hit our car. Here's one:

It also hit the house which messed up a bit of siding and some of the soffet/shingles. Here's the other one that hit the car:

Needless to say, we're going to meet the deductible on our insurance. Other than that, things have been swimming right along toward Christmas.

Dirty and Left Out

I've been listening to a lot of Dave Ramsey lately. He's a financial genius. His book is on the way to me in the mail. I'm trying to figure out how much sooner we can get our house paid off and all of that. We're still dealing with a lot of medical bills from our ordeal of a couple of years ago as well as stuff that has happened since.

Work is good. The semester is winding down and I'm trying to keep up with the pace of the classes and help the students at the same time.

We've done a little Christmas shopping but still have a lot left to do. We pretty much know what we're getting everyone though.

In March I am going on a mission trip to Belgium so I need to send out fundraising letters this week.

My weight is a bit of a concern for me lately. I haven't been gaining great amounts and I have been doing strength training but I had to go up a size in pants since the massive weight loss. I guess some of that is normal but I refuse to go back where I was.

I'm tired. That's enough for today.

Done

Ok, I finally finished with my plans. I hope I didn't leave anything off... I probably did but I'll have about another month to figure that out and add dollar figures to each point in the plan. For those of you who don't know, our youth ministry is called Voltage. We exist to equip students to Plug In, Charge Up, and Shine Out. Over the next year I will be focusing on hitting the seven checkpoints of youth ministry from the book by Andy Stanley and Stuart Hall. The seven areas we will be focusing on will be:

Authentic Faith
Spiritual Disciplines
Moral Boundaries
Healthy Friendships
Wise Choices
Ultimate Authority
Others First

Of course this could all change. These are the main points for our Sunday evening service. I'm hoping to get small groups going in the near future for Wed nights.

A Prayer for the Future

I'm sitting alone in my room with a large mug of coffee, my laptop, some relaxing music on the stereo and the task of laying out our ministry plans for 2008 ahead of me. We have finance team meeting tonight and they would like everyone to bring their plans for where they feel like we are headed in 08. We don't have to bring dollar amounts yet. They want us to plan for things based on the direction God leads and not based on trying to meet a certain dollar figure. In my opinion,this a fantastic way to do a budget. It makes people in leadership positions focus on where God really wants to take us and doesn't depend on just figuring a little increase from last year and then figuring where to divide that money. This is yet another thing I love about my church. I've been working on this here and there for awhile now but it's time to put it all together. Please pray for me that I would clearly hear God and would have an obedient heart to follow exactly what He tells me to do. Thanks.

Late Night Jottings...

It's late at night. Actually, it's quite early in the morning. I'm still up. I'm supposed to be workin on my message but not much is getting accomplished. I'm in Edwardsville for Valerie's wedding. We had the rehearsal tonight and the wedding is tomorrow afternoon. Then we have to head back up to Winchester so I can preach on Sunday morning and run youth on Sunday evening.
I'm trying to put together a plan for our next year of ministry so I can then form a budget from it. I'm really trying not to forget anything so that I can feel like I have a complete plan; at least to use it as a guide.
I really want to edit this page and sort of make it my own but I can't figure out how to. I'm not really good with HTML or anything like that and I don't want to screw up the sort of cool thing I've got going on. I guess I don't have the time to donate to it other than just writing. The writing is the important part for me.
I got the new Emery album and it is fantastic. It's very dark but much of it is just pointing out and admitting our sin as humans. It's musically exciting and fun and quite a deep listen. Check it out.

Writing Again

Lately I've been having a great time with the youth ministry. Things are going really well. Students are having deep talks and the attendance numbers are continually growing. It's really fantastic what God is doing.
I miss writing in a blog. Maybe I'll be able to get back into it. I figure this one is much better than Myspace and maybe as good as Xanga. I don't think anyone knows how to get to this blog though, so probably no one will read it. Oh well.

This is pretty cool...

Ok, so this place might not have as many features as xanga or some other places, but it is pretty much integrated with my gmail account, which I'm using more and more. I have to figure out which email account to switch to. I have to decide between my yahoo and my gmail. I only want one account. I'll probably end up using the yahoo accound due to the fact that a lot of people already have that address and it's a bit more professional to have my name instead of calflyer59 as an address.

First timer...

So, I guess this is my first blog on this particular blog page. I'm seeking to find the best possible blog for free...complete with the easiest address for people to look up. So far, almost all of my blogging has been done on my xanga page. I have also tried Virb, myspace, and very briefly, livejournal. I guess the best possible thing would be for me to just get my own domain name. That would be easiest. Well, that's it for now. I hope all is well.