Tuesday

I spent the day today with my kids. Took them all golfing. One by one. I would take one for six holes and then trade and go get another for six and then trade again. I love my kids and find it hard to believe that they are growing up so fast. I am a pastor and know that my job is to take care care of the church I pastor. But all that is nothing if I don't take care of my my family first. Ten years from now my kids will more than likely all be out of the house pursuing their dreams and their lives. I don't want to miss these moments. There were many of things I could and should have been doing. But what I needed to do was spend time with my children.

Home Early

We had to cut our trip short this week due to me getting sick. I fought it as hard as I could but the dreaded Bronchitis got me again. So instead of me writing this from our room in Wichita, I am writing it from my dining room table. It is just one of those things that I have to trust God with. For some reason that I can't see right now, He wanted us home early. What's hard though is that I have a very difficult time resting when I am sick. As soon as I could see Ulysses from the car I started to mentally got through all things I need to get done. I just have to remember to let them go for the next few days. So my plan for these next few days is to rest, rejuvenate, and recover.

Kansas City

We have been at our District Council in K.C. this week. Great speaker yesterday for a workshop and the ordination service. Mark Batterson pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. He wrote a book called In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day. Great speaker and great message about chasing the lions in our lives. Instead of running from things an constantly being on defense in our lives, go on the offensive and chase the lions God is asking us too. Loved it! Last week we had water baptism at the local pool. We had 19 new baptisms. It is always a wonderful thing when people take that next step!

Back from Horn Creek

We got back from Horn Creek in Colorado last night. We spent Thursday through Saturday their with about 70 people in attendance. It was a great time. I had the flu so I didn't get to do all I wanted to do. I had the privilege of speaking on Thursday night. I used the illustration of a compass and how our lives are like a compass. My 3 points were:

1) You must have a fixed reference point.

2) Watch out for outside forces.

3) Keep your focus.

I had a great time doing it! On Friday night I showed a video called Indescribable by Louie Giglio. It is an awe inspiring message! I would recommend it for every single person. It reminds us of how big God really is and how small we really are.

One of Those Days

Do you ever have one of those days that you wish you could just go back and do all over again? Yesterday was one for me. Every pastor has a fear that he will stand up to preach and one of two things will happen. He will forget his sermon or forget his clothes and be standing berfore the congregation naked. Well yesterday one of those happened to me. No, it wasn't forgetting the clothes. It was the sermon. On Saturday night I made sure to change the clocks forward one hour before bed. Unfortunately, i think I forgot to turn my alarm on. When my wife yelled that it was 2 hours past our normal time to get up on a Sunday morning, that set the tone for the rest of the day. When I went to pull up my sermon on my computer a little later that morning, it was nowhere to be found. Gonzo! Somewhere out into cyberspace world I guess. If I knew where it went, I would have went and got it. So one hour before church was to start, I had nothing. The movie Groundhog Day came to my mind. Can I go back and start this day over again? Well I don't know about you, but I live in real world Kansas, not the land of OZ Kansas. So after getting my blood pressure down and stopping to think for a minute, I had a burning bush experience. This is not about me! The sermon, the cute PowerPoint slides, the videos, or even the words to speak. They are not mine. They are God's. Who am I to second guess God. If I truly believe that God is ALWAYS in control, then that means that even on a day when things don't go according to my liking, He is still in control. How many times do I miss what God wants to do because my plans have been messed with. How many times do I miss what God is ACTUALLY doing around me because my mind is still in the land of wishful thinking. Mark Batterson wrote about a similar thing in his book ID: The True You. I am going to paraphrase it; "How many people in Washington D.C. miss out on the grandness of the monuments because they have lived there so long. How many natives of Colorado miss out on the breathtaking view of the mountains because they are accustomed to them." How many people in western Kansas miss the sunsets because they have seen them a hundred times. How many times do I miss out on the new thing God wants to do because I have grown accustomed to way God has done things in the past. Mark Batterson goes on to say this; "The problem with God is this: He is so good at what He does that we tend to take Him for granted. He is so faithful. He is so available. He is so good. He is the ultimate constant so we take Him for granted." It is always sunrise and sunset somewhere in the world. Every moment of every day. The miracle never ends! What are you missing today because of your busyness? What is God doing around you that you are missing because your schedule got interrupted? Open your eyes and drink in what God is doing around you. Take a deep breath and relax because God is in control and you are not!

Conflicted Day

Today I preached a message at a funeral for someone I had never met. It's not the first time, I have had to do it quite a few times. It is such a challenge. The first time I ever laid eyes on this person was when I arrived at the funeral home for the service. Then the challenge is to try to build a bridge between the living people there in that room grieving the death of their friend and family member, with the living God who wants them to know Him. Hopefully as they left, they had some hope. My wife challenged me earlier in the day to look into their eyes and see their souls. It was a very humbling thing. As I looked out over them, it was a stark reminder that we would all at some point end our lives in that 3 foot by 7 foot box. But in all actuality many of us there today would not spend eternity the same way. It's our choice. I am thankful today for the life God has blessed me with. For my family and friends who love me unconditionally. I am thankful that maybe today God used me in some small part to change the eternal destination of someone at that funeral.

March 5, New Post

Today we enter the cyberspace world of blogging. This blog will be random at best. We don't desire to post everyday, just when we have something to say. So I hope you enjoy and are able to take something with you everytime you read one of our posts.