June Blog Break

I'll be taking a blog break for the month of June. It's going to be a crazy busy month. We've got VBS at church starting next week and I'm leading my first ever mission trip that leaves on June 25th. I've been on a lot of mission trips, but I've never led one. It's a lot of work to get it together. We're going to Naco, Arizona and Cuauthemoc, Mexico. We're partnering with Tim and Jennifer Scarbrough through Living Water Ministries.

I might have an occasional post, but for the most part I'll be back in July.

Things Kids Say

Luke is really starting to talk and be able to understand what we are saying...to a degree. Today was our long trip back from Orlando. (good vacation)

Emily asked Luke while we were riding, "Are you awake?"

Luke's answer, "No."

I asked Luke, "Do you know what 'awake' means?"

Luke's answer, "No."

Lost Season Conclusion

Well...I would give the 2 hour conclusion of Lost an overall positive rating.

Negative

1. too many commercials...during the second half of the first hour the commercials were coming about every 4-5 minutes...i know, i know, that's what DVR's are for
2. they killed Charlie...boo...he didn't have to lock himself in the flooding room when he could have walked out the door and closed it behind him
3. how many lives does that crazy one-eyed guy have? they've killed him twice in the past few weeks and he keeps coming back...give me a break
   

Positive

1. the flashback with bearded Jack totally had me going...it was actually a flash forward...very nice
2. they are really developing John Locke to be Jack's nemesis...he's practically a superhero the way his body heals itself
3. the overall storyline of the show is developing nicely
4. the ending with future Jack and Kate was great, but you know that they're not actually going to get rescued from the phone call to that boat off the island anytime soon b/c there's 3 seasons left, so...can they change their future???
   
5. Emily wanted me to note that she disliked the ending b/c she wanted Jack and Kate to get together
6. It was cool to see Ben get beat up and to see the girl embrace her real mom

Guesses

1. John and Ben will return to the others and John will become the leader of the others
2. it will become Jack vs. John
3. Desmund will be the real hero of the story...he's just too cool
4. Ben was actually right about the boat...something bad will come from it

What do you think???

Luke, Balls, and Water

Luke has always had a love for balls and water. Well he really went crazy yesterday. We played mini golf. The lady at the desk told us to take some extra balls with us. I guess she had seen her share of parents have to come back for extra balls after their kid chunked it in the water. Well...she was more than right. Em and I made 3 or 4 saves and Luke actually got 2 tossed in the water.

Yesterday afternoon when we were at the pool Luke decided to take up his hobby again. There is a small lake right next to the pool we were swimming at. Luke decided he needed to toss a ball in that lake also...only we didn't take a ball to the pool. So Luke grabbed another kid's ball, ran to the rail, and chunked it over. Nice touch.

Live from Orlando...

We're hanging out in Orlando this week. We've had some fun times already. I thought I'd post a few pics from the first two days.


The two most beautiful people I know...













Swimming time...













Watch out for the dragon...













If you've never been to Downtown Disney...it's pretty neat. The dragon in the picture behind me and Luke is made out of Legos. It's impressive.

It's All about You...

Emily and I had a great Monday and Tuesday at the TBC new pastor orientation conference. The conference was at the Linden Valley conference center. Nice place owned by the TBC.

On to the point of this post...

One of the devotionals that I heard there hit on a theme that is so dominant in American Evangelicalism that we don't even know it exists. It is the very air we breathe. No one thinks about breathing. It's just a part of life. So what is it I'm talking about???

Individualism.

The devotion was from Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

If you notice I highlighted the words "for you." The speaker at the devotional time really keyed in on these words. He talked about the importance of those two words in the verse. He talked about how God has all of these specific, individualized plans for each one of us.

I hate listening to this type of stuff. God does not have a billion personalized wills for each and every Christian out there. God's will is not all about you. God has one will and each one of us is to find our complete fulfillment by aligning ourselves with God's will.

Folks, be careful about ripping verses out of context. Jeremiah 29:11 read in context would never produce an individualistic interpretation. If you read Jeremiah chapter 29 you would find that verse 11 is part of a letter written to the whole Jewish community in the Babylonian exile. So in verse 11 the words "for you" are referring to the entire community that is in exile.

Bringing that up to today would mean that God knows the plans he has for us as the community of God. It's all about God, his will, and we are fulfilled when we find ourselves in his will.

Dollywood

Okay, I can't handle the pink any longer, so this is my new look.

We're going to Dollywood tomorrow. I'm pumped. I think I was in high school the last time I went. That's been 11 years.

Why the PINK?!?!?!

We found out today that we're having a GIRL!!!!!

To celebrate I'm temporarily changing my blog to a lovely pink color.

Congrats to Anthony and Jackie

This morning, FBC Smithville voted overwhelmingly to bring Anthony Rosolowski onto the pastoral staff as the pastor of music and worship. I'm really excited to have Anthony coming (he won't start till end of June). He's going to bring a great dynamic to the church.

As a congratulatory blog present to Anthony and Jackie I'm adding a sidebar link to their blog.

We have a really young church staff (which I think is good). I'm the old man around the place at 29 years. Brett and Anthony are both young kids at only 27 years.

Please pray for FBC Smithville that our church staff will gel, and that we can proclaim the greatness of God's name in our city and county and wherever else God leads us. I'm excited for the future to see how God works.

A Day in the House

I went to the legislative session of the Tennessee House yesterday. I was the chaplain of the day...a nice honor, but completely ceremonial. Anywho...I enjoyed the day. It was my first time to ever go to a Senate or House session. It was complete chaos on the floor. It took me forever to figure out what was going on.

I'm sure I'll be hearing from President Bush any day now so that I can be on his spiritual advisory board :)

Don't Waste Your Life

There's a fantastic little book called Don't Waste Your Life written by John Piper that I would like to recommend to everybody. In the end you don't want your life to be wasted. This book does a good job helping you see the right perspective on living this life so that you don't waste it.

Here's the website by the same name. On the website you can order a paper copy of the book or you can download a .pdf of the book for free, and they've got some great little video podcasts that come out about once per week.

Happy reading. If you've already read this book, what do you think???