A Great "Dream" Story

My good friend and fellow blogger, Daniel Decker, recently made a post on his blog about a poster his daughter made at school for Martin Luther King's birthday.

It was a moving reminder of how simple things should be for us as adults.

Check out the entire blog here.

Not too profound

I wish I had a real profound way to put this that would make everyone amazed by my use of words and ideas to express this fundamental concept.

Here it is: I am learning to trust God even more.

Powerful, isn't it.

I was recently at a Panera restaurant in Orlando, FL after a conference with other executive pastors from across the country. Being in Orlando and close to the tourist areas, there were people all around me speaking different languages. I literally counted 6 different languages in just a few minutes.

Have you ever been to a country where you didn't speak the language? In Honduras I had some experiences of feeling uncomfortable because I didn't know the language.

I am learning that trusting God sometimes feels like that. I don't always understand what is going on around me, but I am going to go enjoy the adventure. It sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable because I am not in control.

So what is a guy to do?

I choose to trust. Yes, it is a choice. What do you decide?

When things begin to go crazy around you what do you decide?

When you feel overwhelmed, but you know you are in the place God wants you, what do you decide?

When your head is spinning and you're frustrated because you see a glimpse of how things could be but are not, what do you decide?

Make a choice! I choose to trust God. Not always the easiest choice, but always the most rewarding.

Back In The Groove

As you can see, it has been a while since my last post. These have been some very busy days.

Well, I am now getting back on track with the blog.

I hope you enjoy my thoughts as they come from a new perspective now.

Merry Christmas!

I love this time of year. It is an exciting mixture of celebration and reflection.

We celebrate, as believers, the birth of the Messiah. It is a reminder of God's love for us and the hope we have in Christ...that he will fulfill all of his promises.

We celebrate with family and friends. It is a time to see people we only visit with once or twice a year. Even visiting those we see all the time seems to take on more meaning.

We reflect on how blessed we are. God has provided us with all we need and so much more. This year Carrie and I have realized this at a whole new level.

We reflect on everthing that has happened to and through us this year. With my role changing to Executive Minister at Christ's Church and Carrie being selected "teacher of the year" for her school we have had a lot happen this year.

We pray that you and your families will have an incredible Christmas season full of celebration and reflection.

Faith

(From a recent sermon)

Faith is personal, not global
Faith is action, not words
Faith is unleashed, not controlled
Faith is God at work, not man in charge
Faith is love, not judgment
Faith is others driven, not inward focused
Faith is open to all and closed to none
Faith is exciting, not down in the mouth
Faith takes us off the beaten road
Faith takes us to the hurt, hungry, and hopeless
Faith gets us dirty
Faith makes us smell like the people we love on
Faith points to God, not man
Faith heals
Faith conquers
Faith loves
Faith reaches out
Faith reaches down
Faith raises hands in praise to the one in whom our faith is in

No where in the scripture does it say that faith rests, dies, or is disabled.

It does say faith brings forgiveness
Strength
Salvation
Wisdom
Assurance
Life
Hope
Love

In Mark 9:23 Jesus says, “The one who has faith can do all things!”

If you have that type of faith, how can you sit on the sidelines of life and not get personally involved with those around.

Update

It has been a while since I have written, so I thought I would post a general update.

Here is what has been going on:

• Carrie and I went to West Virginia for Thanksgiving to see family. It was a great time! The highlight of the trip was getting to preach at my mom's church. It was the first time she has ever heard me preach. Here is a picture of my mom, brother and his family, and sister and her family.

• I am wrapping up my first master's class. I just finished my research project and realized that writing papers ( this one was over 20 pages) take longer when you care about the paper and subject than when you are just trying to get it done...like I did in college.


• Carrie has been selected as Teacher of the Year at her school and now is in the running to be Teacher of the Year for our district. I am sooooooo proud of her. She really deserves it!!!

• Carrie and I are wrapping up our time serving our Camden County Campus. It has been and incredible experience and we look forward to seeing what God does on this campus. We know that God also has great plans for us on our main campus in Mandarin.

OK....this is probably the best part. I got to see my nephew (Cameron) and two nieces (Ashley and Olivia) at Thanksgiving. If you have read this blog for any length of time, then you know I am Uncle Sucker and will do whatever they want or buy them what they want! Here are a few pics.

This is Ashley. We got her the Hannah Montanna DVD game. She beat me...but I did get several questions right!

This is Cameron. We got him this truck...mainly so I could play with it also!

This is Olivia. We got her a talking Dora doll that you program to say different names. Of course I programed it to say "Olivia, I like David. Do you like David?" It was great. I also was the uncle that fed her fudge and let her drink my coke. She loved me!

Incredible Experience!!

Earlier this year I got to go to my first Gator football game.

Today I went to my second!

It was a whole different experience. Thanks to my friends Joe and Amy, I was able to see the game from the 2nd row back at the 47 yard line behind the University of Florida bench!

I took my camera a got a few decent pictures. You can see them by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/ChristsChurchSports and clicking on the Gator Football Game album. I'll warn you that I took a lot of pictures!!