I love my church!!

I must admit I have been a total bum this week!  My church (Faith Memorial Church in Sandusky, Ohio) closes our offices from Christmas to New Years.  I don't really know why other than it has something to do with what the factories do here in town and they did the same with the church offices.  It is such an awesome week!  I get 3 weeks vacation plus this week.  It is great time to spend with my family... we can get things done around the house, go shopping and simply recoup from the Christmas madness.  I will say after  a few days I am already getting anxious to do something... I still have another week until I am back in the office (other than sunday).  I am so tempted to work on church stuff, but am trying to make myself do other things that need to be done.

Well I hope you all enjoy your last week of 2007!  Have a great week!

UPDATE: Big Decision

I have appreciated all the feedback and input regarding the house we were looking at...it has also reminded me in the busyness of the last couple of weeks that I have forgotten to update you regarding that house...we were going to put an offer on the house, however, someone else bought...and for way more money that what I was willing to pay...so no mold house...which is okay...like I told our realtor, we were trying to get a steal...not many houses come along where you have that kind of opportunity to move in with ALOT of equity...so the search continues...

Again I appreciate all the input!

Mac

Just a quick check into the blogosphere...I am in KC visiting my family for the week.  It has been good to be back and see all the changes to my old stomping grounds...but more on that in the future. 

After at least 4-5 years of talking about it, I have finally gotten my Mac!!  I was able to order my new 15 inch Macbook Pro before we left and had it shipped to my mom's house.  It arrived on Monday and I have been in heaven ever since!

Please be praying for Meg, the girls and I.  We have all been kind of sick and really just not feeling to well since we got here...Meg and I have had trouble sleeping (thats why I am writing this at 5:45am).  Any way we head back to Ohio on Saturday!  Look forward to getting home to my own bed, but sure is good getting to spend time with my family!

Big Decision

Meg and I have been looking at house on and off for the past several months. Our realtor emailed us on Friday with a house that has a ton of potential and could possibly be bought for an ridiculous price. The kicker is this...it has a real bad mold problem!! It is a repo that has been vacant for over a year and half. If we buy it, fix it up we could have a house that is almost 3,000 sq. feet and a ridiculous amount of equity when we move in...here is a pic of the outside:

I have always thought I was a person that took risk, but when something like this comes around and when the rubber meets the road...I am a big chicken! I am taking all the advice I can get so if ya got any please feel free to give it!!!

Please be praying with us!!

Oh...by the way...

For the 2 people that read this blog...one other piece of cool news...we found out that Meg is pregnant. She goes to the doctor's a week from tomorrow, so we will find out the date and all that kind of good stuff...so I will let you know more then!

In case my parents run across this blog...we planned to suprise you when we got to KC...so don't be mad!

It's Christmas Time

Sorry it has been a little while since posting, had a crazy Thanksgiving with Meg being sick so we missed out on the turkey this year. Since then my schedule has been kind of crazy. Getting ready to video tape our kids production next weekend. Spent several days this week creating a "poor mans tv studio." There is a part for the production where I had to film a girl in front of a green screen and then put a weather map behind her...it went really well and I got the lighting situation figured out...FINALLY!

This week I have to build 2 camera platforms for the sanctuary, prepare for Axiom on Wednesday night, finalize my budgets for 08...and the list goes on! So please forgive me if my post are kind of hit and miss for the next couple of weeks...we leave for KC on the 15th and that will mark the end of the craziness for december, so I hope to catch up then...

Later

Thanks for the Prayers!

In my post called 'shackeled' a couple of weeks ago I spoke about a young man that was in my youth ministry that was facing some serious legal troubles.

His mom called me last night saying that she had gotten a lawyer (one that actually was fighting for her son) and that there was a hearing today at 9AM. Since I had not talked with her for over a week she brought me up to speed. The original prosecuter has went out of town on vacation and handed this case to another prosecutor. In talking with this prosecutor, who seemed a little bit more reasonable than the previous, the boys lawyer was able to work out a deal with the new prosecutor to reduce a 3rd degree felony to a 4th degree misdemeanor.

Long story short...We went to court today and the Magistrate accepted the deal and he was released at 11:30am with no probation or anything, he simply has to go to counseling! This is such an answer to prayer! This boy just left my office and God used his time in the DH to draw him closer! It was so cool to see his genuine hunger to turn his life around and live for God!

So for those that read that post and have been praying for my student...THANKS! God truly answered our prayers and the justice system worked, not punishing a young man for something that the detectives tried to manipulate into something worse!!

Priorities

This is a very cool video that I found on Brian Eberly's blog. Not really sure where I ever ran across this blog, but it's pretty good.

This video really makes you think about our priorities around Christmas...

Gatlinburg...

This week we are in Gatlinbug, TN for our staff retreat. So far it has been pretty fun, we meet as a staff in the morning and discuss plans & direction for 2008 and then spend the rest of the day hanging out and having fun!

The scenery down here is incredible! As I type this on the back porch I look out over the mountains and the trees are beautiful! Full of color! There is something about living by the mountains that is so appealing!

Shackeled...

This was one of those HARD days of youth ministry. I got a call last night that one of the students that has been attending Axiom for about 6 weeks was in juvy. This guy had started coming and was incredibly dedicated, he was really beginning to make some great friends!

Fast forward to today...I called his mom and found out that he had a hearing today at 1pm. Unfortunately his mom (whis is single and trying to raise 3 kids) is unable to afford an attorney and the public defenders office is not much help, his lawyer didn't show up today.

As I was sitting in the lobby waiting on his mom the elevator doors opened up and a group of 5 boys coming walking out, all in orange jump suits and handcuffed at the wrist and ankles. Some of the looked really hard but a couple of them looked broken, including my student. I wasn't able to go into the hearing, but I was able to say a brief word to him as he exited. It broke my heart to see this young man who last week was in our youth service hanging out with friends, laughing and having fun and know he is setting in a juvenile jail cell across town.

This kid is a good kid! I have only heard his mom's side but if what she says is true or at least close,then this boy is just the victim of circumstance. And what really stinks is that he may get a lawyer who doesn't care and will give him bad advice. He could any where from 6 months or seven years.

Will you please pray with me that God will work on this young man's behalf. If he guilty then he needs to do the time...but if not then he needs to get back to living his life. I mean this kid ask his mom if he could go to church...he was hungry for God to move in his life and now this happens.

I will be sure to keep you up on what is happening, but please pray for my student! His family and I would really appreciate it...THANKS!

"Get used to it!"

This afternoon I had to fuel our church van so one of our ministries could take it on a trip this weekend. When I pulled up to the stoplight at the end of our street I was behind this SUV that had several pro-Bush stickers an airborne sticker and one other armed services sticker. Below all of those there was a normal sized bumper sticker that said, "I PRAY - GET USED TO IT!" I couldn't help but laugh. No wonder there are so many people out there that look at Christians the way they do...so many Christians have this 'us v them' mentality that says someone is always out to attack us as Christians.

The tone and negative feeling I got as I sat there and read that bumper sticker really got to me. It is because of this type of attitude and persona that people get turned off to the Church and to Christ...anyway I will shut up now...it is just that things like that really get under my skin!

Oh...and on a side note...when we finally turned the corner and I passed the car I looked over the lady was puffing on a cigarette...again I couldn't help but laugh...talk about mixed signals!!

Mark Batterson

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the Ohio District Council office and listen to Mark Batterson, Pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C. It was apart of of the Ohio District's Church Planter's review. I really enjoyed finally meeting and listening in person to a pastor that I have listened to via podcast and blog for close to 4 years, if not longer.

He shared several stories and things that I have heard before through the podcast or blog, but there were a few things that he kind of rabbit trailed on that really stuck out to me...here are some of the take aways I had from his talk.

• Pray Ridiculous prayers!
• "Live my life in a way that is the best that God can do" - we have all heard or said, "I am doing the best I can do," but that should not be good enought. Mark used the illustration of tithing. If we don't tithe, then we are only doing 'the best we can do' with our money. However, when we do tithe we are allow God to do the best that he can do! He is can way more with 90% than I can do with 100%.
• Some of us need to kick off the dust of rejection...I will blog more about this in the future!
• "A leader is someone who produces more than they consume." Dr. Roden (sp?) - When he talked about this he was discussing consumerism in the church.
• The biggest thing that he mentioned just for a moment, but smacked me totally in the face was a simple statement about looking for success or satisfaction in ministry. Since he was talking to church planters, he was talking about the 'if i can just reach 100' or 'if i can just reach 300' then I will feel success or satisfaction. But this isn't just for church planters...I felt the Holy Spirit kind of smack me in the face when he said that...he called it a mirage, it will never happen. I can remember when I started in youth ministry I said if I can just have 40 kids it will be a success...I got 40 kids and nothing changed...then it was 60...I got 60 and nothing changed. I must admit that I struggle with finding success in numbers. I feel that if I have a large group that will validate my ministry...I know that it is not right, but I have not been able to break free of that thinking...but I am going to begin praying specifically about breaking that thinking in my life!

Sorry this has been so long, but I guess after 70 days I just kind of puked up all this information...one more thing...I need to thank gary fowler for his encouragement in getting me to blog...I guess if no one else does I know that gary will be reading this...later gary!

70 Days

It has been 70 days (give or take a day) since my last post. And thanks to my good friend gary fowler he has been bustin' my chops the last couple of weeks because I have not been blogging. So I am committing to gary and my parents (the only people who probably read this blog) to begin regularly blogging again...

I have to prepare for a meeting with my Senior Pastor at 11am, but I will post again about a great opportunity that I was able to take advantage of last night...

Fed vs. Feed

I just got off the phone with a very wise person that I talk with alot. We were talking about a recent decision that I had made not ask any of our graduating seniors to be involved with the Axiom staff following graduation. Allow me to say this, the decision had nothing to do with the students that graduated, rather it had everything to do with where we are at as a youth ministry and youth staff.

Anyway, we were discussing people involvement in churches. So often when someone gets invovled in a ministry they go in with the attitude of 'what can I get out of this?' rather than one of humility and service. In the past I have had people come to me and say they needed to be involved in something were they could get fed more, because that wasn't happening in the youth service. I have always tried to respond understandingly, and encouraged them to seek growth somewhere else.

This whole conversation reminds me of a few meeting/talks that we have had as a staff here at FMC. We intentionally do not design our sunday AM services to 'feed the saints.' Our goal in the those services is to reach out to the guest and those newer in there faith. This poses a problem for the people who do there 'religious duties' on sundays. They have a tendency in their minds to leave not feeling like they got anything out of the service...which they probably didn't, because they are more mature in their faith (to a certain degree).

To often the majority of people who attend church regularly get this mentality that sunday mornings are the times to get fed. They don't read much of their Bible during the week, they don't attend any wednesday night classes or any small groups. So there for they are 'spiritually' eating once a week...turning the vast majority of those people sitting in our sanctuaries on sunday mornings into 'spiritual anorexics.'

If you are involved in a ministry, don't look at through the lense of how can I get fed...learn to feed yourself on a daily and weekly basis by reading the Bible and praying. Then when you go into a service you can well nourished; ready to feed someone else and help them grow in their relationships with God.

axiom purpose

I am really excited about tomorrow night as we continue the series illuminate. Last week we talked about the first part of the axiom purpose statement "Reach," and tomorrow we will unveil part two! Make plans to be at axiom tomorrow night...you won't want to miss it!

I do need to apologize that we have not got the message audio uploaded to the axiom website. For some reason the server is not letting me upload it. I am in discussion with our host trying to figure out what is causing the problem, so hopefully we will get if figured out soon!

See ya tomorrow night!!

Indy 07

We got back last night from Indianapolis. Beth, Tona and Kaleb did very well! They both got Superior scores, but they have nothing to hang their heads about...the worship team did an incredible job...the judges were very very tough...there was only 11 or 12 worship teams that recieved 'superior with honors' and were called back for a second round. I don't know the exact number of over all worship teams, but their were three days full, so quite a few!

Below is video that I shot of both performances...you can also check it out on our new 'axiomlive44870' youtube.com channel. Enjoy!

National Fine Arts

Well we are Indy for National Fine Arts, but have to be honest...haven't really done anything! We got here yesterday afternoon, went downtown and registered...and got the kind of bad news...Kaleb doesn't go until tomorrow at 2:40 with his human video solo. Then our worship team doesn't go until Friday at 10:00am.

This kind of causes some headaches, because the check out time of our hotel is like noon, and by the time we find out if they are called back and get back to the hotel then we may have to stay or just leave and get charged for the night...have to wait and see how it all works out...

In my heart I have this feeling that these guys will make it past the first round. If they can get up there and have a solid performance and most importantly be anointed by the Holy Spirit, then I know they can make it to the second round. They have such a unique sound, I am sure the judges will hear a bunch of bands with all these instruments and they will be great. Then our team will get up there with 2 great voices and a guitar...it will be awesome!!

Keep up to date on how things are going, check out the results website...

Why do we do what we do?

Bill Hybels was asked to speak at a gathering of local medical doctors. It was required attendance for every doctor that was connected with a certain hospital system. As the meeting began with all the preliminaries, he noticed that really none of the doctors were paying much attention. They were all text messaging, looking up sports scores and who knows what else on their blackberry's. Needless to say this didn't make him (Bill Hybels) very motivated to speak to these doctors.

As he approached the lecturn he set his notes and and scan the audience to see how many were actually paying attention...none really. So he began by asking, "Just out of curiosity, how did you end up in the medical field?" A few eyeball looked up at him, then he said, "You folks look like pretty intelligent people. I bet you could have picked a career that was alot more lucrative and alot let demanding!" He continued, "I marvel at your ability and your desire to get up every morning and find solutions for peoples whose bodies are diseased, injured, mangled and dying."

He continued to share his theory of "Holy Discontent." How that there must be something within them that continues to drive them day after day. Maybe they were raised around someone who a chronic illness or they had a grandmother with altzheimer's or parkinsons disease. Something caused them to say, "I just can't stand it anymore!"

What about you? Why do you do what you do? Is it just to get a paycheck and pay the bills? Do you love what you are doing in life right now? I challenge you to begin to look at your life and see what it is that gets you boiling on the inside...that makes you stand up say, "I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!

What Can't You Stand?

Moses, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Billy Graham and Dr. Bob Pierce (Founder of World Vision) all had one...A Holy Discontent. Moses was bothered by the oppression of the Hebrew people. Martin Luther King was sick and tired of the discrimination of blacks, Mother Teresa couldn't stand to see the poorest of the poor living without hope and dying without dignity...and the list goes on.

In his book: "Holy Discontent" Bill Hybel's uses the story or analogy of Popeye and his eating spinach. When he would finally have enough of what ever was going on in that epsiode he would say, "I can't stands it no more!" Then he would pop open a can of spinach and get huge forearms and take care of whoever or whatever it was that was causing trouble. And that is the question that keeps getting asked in this book...What can't you stand?

How do you answer that question? What takes place in this world that everytime you see it you just want to explode? For me several things come to mind: people that misrepresent the Church, the name of Christ or Christianity in the Media. Students blinded by the enemy and missing out on a relationship with God. Finally, I would say it would have to be Christians in general who do not care about missions. I guess that my list could go on and on, but those are the first few that come to mind.

I love what he says about Mother Teresa and this REALLY challenged me...he said, "Mother Teresa didn't devote herself to this casue because of a fat paycheck every month; she served the under-resourced people in her midst because her holy discontent had her by the throat and wouldn't let go."

Am I living out my life with my holy discontent grasping my throat not willing to let go? Or am I simply going through life collecting a paycheck and doing a job? I don't know where you are at in your life right now, but will you join me in asking God to help us identify our holy discontent? But lets not stop there...lets get off our butts and do something about it!!

Holy Discontent

Currently sitting here in my office reading a new book that I got earlier in the week, it is called "Holy Discontent" by Bill Hybels. I first heard about the book through Mark Batterson's blog, (its kind of an old post, but I got real behind this summer reading blogs). Anyway...Highly recomend it...I will share more shortly about what God is challenging me with through this book.

6 wins - 6 losses...a 500 season

Had our last softball game for our Bellevue league tonight, a double header...unfortunately, we lost both games. Run ruled in the first one, but lost the second one in the top of the seventh by 1 or 2 runs. I played okay defensively, had a couple of fielding mistakes and a couple of bad throws, but was really pleased with my bat. I flew out once, walked once...then got singles the rest of the time!

Still have about 4 games left in the Norwalk league! I hope I can be more consistent both in the field and at bat!

A Little Accident

Well Meg ran over to her mom and dads this afternoon after the picnic. When she got there her parents weren't home, so she went inside to wait. A little later her parents got home, a little later she decided to come home and pickup a couple of things before heading to Osbourne Park for a walk. Well as you can see she didn't exactly pay attention as she was backing out of the drive way...

Believe it or not...it may have totalled my mother-in-laws car. There is cross brace for the engine that the radiator is attached to that got bent, dislodging the radiator. So being that the car is a 1991 Honda Accord, it is probably finished! Luckily they have already been looking at new cars, so I guess meg just sped up the process...get the joy of calling my insurance agent tomorrow!! Fun, Fun!!

Church Picnic

Well today was a cool day...spoke at the shoreline service this morning, it went really well. I got to share with them about Angelfood. Made some really cool connections with people. One of the great things about Angelfood is getting to help people save money, especially senior citizens. Knowing that most are on a fixed income and struggle financially, Angelfood is a great way to assist them!

Later in the day following our morning service, we had our annual church picnic. It was a great time! Some played volleyball, horsehoes, and cornhole. We also had some inflatable and water games for the kids...Kinsey loved going down the water slide!!

Overall a fun day had by all! Except for Steve O. during one of the volleyball games he rolled his ankle. They thought he broke it, so they took him to the hospital...report back was inconclusive, so he will be going to specialists this week to get the final verdict! He is in ALOT of pain, so be praying for him!

Date Night

Well tonight was really cool...for the first time in a long time Meg and I went out for a date night! More on that in a moment...

Got to the church a little after 330am this morning for Angelfood. Got everything set and all went well, they unloaded the truck in about an hour and fifteen mintues. I decided to let our awesome host site crew take care of things, so I went home and took a 3 hour nap. After that I got ready and went to the church to prepare for a message that I am speaking tomorrow morning at the shoreline service in Sandusky... and that is when I had the ideat to take Meg out...

Kelly Hixson watched the girls and we went to see the new movie called "No Reservations." It is advertised as like the best date movie of the year...however, I would have to disagree with that slightly!! Don't get me wrong it is a cool movie (for a chick flick), the only problem is that in the previews they totally underplay how sad the movie is...literally I looked over at Meg at one point and I thought she was on the vurge of sobbing. It is sad...but good!

After the movie we went to Starbucks, got some coffee and just sat and talked for about 45 min. It was really cool! We don't do that enough, but I want to start doing it more often. We were able to reconnect on some things regarding family and ministry!

Well got look over my notes for the AM...if you think about it or read this in time please pray for God's anointing as I speak tomorrow...Also have the church picnic tomorrow...maybe I will post some pics of all the cool activities of the day tomorrow.

Rained Out

Didn't get alot of good sleep last night. We had some much needed thunderstorms move through last night and the rain continued through today. We thought we were going to get our softball game in, but just as we were getting ready to leave they came on the TV and issued at severe thunderstorm warning for Huron county (where we play softball)...so we went ahead and drove to norwalk, but just as we got into norwalk it began raining like I haven't seen it rain in a long time! Needless to say the game was cancelled...

Well tomorrow is an angelfood distribution day so I have to be at the church by 330am, so I need to get some sleep!

Good Night!

Time Out...

Well its a little after 3:00pm, and because I have an incredible pastor I have been at Panera for the past couple of hours. Have been kind of brainstorming, dreaming and planning. Today as I sat in my office I felt this incredible heaviness on my shoulders and just felt like I needed to call a "time out," thus the reason for the trip to panera.

Can I be transparent for minute? Good! Cause I am gonna be...after all it is my blog...The first half of this year has been incredibly challenging! Actually it started the fall of last year as we promoted and started Angelfood at the church, all the meetings with pastors and planning our own start of not only hosting, but being a drop site where other churches come pick up there food! It became so time consuming...on top of that trying to plan and launch Earthbeat Sandusky...another large project, endeavor or event...take your pick...then add in Fine Arts, Youth Convention, and all the other things that along with Axiom...I got two words for you - BURNED OUT!!

Yeah, by easter of this year I felt sucked dry...the tank was empty! Quite honestly I went into cruise mode...maintaining what I needed to do till I went on vacation...the only problem is, vacation didn't fix it like I thought it would...I walked right back into caous the very weekend I got back, and it continued the month of June...luckily camp season came and it helped!!

Over the couple weeks of camp and a short week of July 4th, I began to get some wind back in my sails! Then spending time with Doug Reed this past week REALLY helped! We didn't talk about anything real deep, but just hanging out with him Sunday afternoon and evening was so cool! I can only describe it like a car with a dead battery...I felt like some jumper cables were hooked up!

I know it sounds like I have left God out of all this, but I haven't...totally. I have to admit that for a few months I felt like God was absent...but he wasn't...I was. It seems that when I begin to allow my schedule to run me that one of the first thing that gets pushed out is my time with God. But I have made a conscious effort to draw closer to God than ever...I want to grow! I am SO SICK of what my life has always been...I want more of God...I have listened to the lies of the enemy to long! I refuse to any longer!!

I know this is long but bear with me...

At Jr High camp, Heath McCoy shared from a passage about Saul and his appointment to be King. in 1 Samuel when God was appointing the King of Israel and Saul's name was called...he ran and hid among the baggage. He ran from what God wanted him to do...he allowed his insecurities to get the best of him. I relate to this alot...I have always felt like God wanted more from me, but I have allowed the lies of the enemy to dictate my actions...and I have hid among the baggage.

One point that he made in the message was this..."You will never be who God wants you to be until you deal with who you've always been..." Yeah, that kicked my butt!!

Its time...Its time for me to look at God and say..."Time in...I want back in the game!" It is time for me to deal with who I have always been and become what God wants me to be!!

Don't know if any of this has made sense...forgive my wordiness, but I just feel that it was time to get some of this stuff off my chest!

Later...

Crazy Summer...

Well if you checked back very often, you know that I have not made many posts. I apologize for the absence, but the summer has been a little crazy, with 2 camps, kids video production DVD's and softball...been pretty busy...Well the plan is to get back some consistency, so check back in...cause summer is almost over...

Rockford Air Show

Got to do something very special today. After the RMC banquet this morning I was able to take Kyrsten to her first airshow. The Rockford Airfest was this weekend and the Blue Angels were her performing. It was the coolest thing! Getting to take my daughter to her first airshow was so cool! I bought her a set of headphones that you wear for ear protection when shooting a gun...they worked wonderful! She wasn't scared of the noise at all...She loved getting to see "Fat Albert" (the Blue Angel's C-130 cargo plane that carries all their equipment to and from the airshow).

The precision and ability of these pilots is incredible! It was so awesome to get to experience the skill of these pilots! Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera, so I didn't get any pics (these are from the Blue Angel's website). But if you could have seen the glow on Kyrsten's face and the sparkle in her eye as she got to see all the planes and the Blue Angel's...it was priceless...

Today...it was what been a dad is all about...I wouldn't trade it for the world!

The Starting Line

I am spending the weekend in Rockford, Ill. to see Hannah Wright, Kris Bright and Rory Shaw graduate from Rockford Master's Commission (RMC). Last night they kicked off the weekend with an "impact nite" service. It was really cool! The worship was INCREDIBLE! They didn't have anyone give a message, exactly, they had voted and one person from each class stood up and gave a testimony or word of encouragement to their class.

After all three of them had shared, Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt shared from 2 Samuel 23 about Shamah and his bean patch. As he was sharing he talked a little bit about the graduation service. For the RMC graduation they put a line across the stage for the students to cross as they are recognized. Now like me you are thinking it must a finish line because they have completed the program...but in actuality they call it the starting line.

During this time of graduations and graduation parties, it is important that we remember that it is not about finishing. It's about starting, that is why they call it "Commencement," meaning it is time to "commence or start."

If you are reading this and you are a graduate, don't spend all your time looking at what you are leaving behind in H.S. Think about this: You have completed the training, the preperation, now it is time to start...that may mean more training in college or the beginning of a career...but when you walk that line on graduation day...it is not a finish line...it is a starting line!

Evan Almighty

This movie looks absolutely HILARIOUS!!! I can not wait to see this! I am hoping that since it is rated PG that it will be a pretty good, can't give it my full support until I see it, but if it is near as good as Bruce Almighty it is a guaranteed smash!

Vacation!

Well we are officially on vacation! We left
Sandusky on Thursday morning and drove down to Washington D.C. Spent the evening in DC, and then drove down to the OuterBanks on Friday. It is so nice to be away with my family! I have been burning the candles at both ends most of this year, which is not good. This vacation was way over due! I will try and share some things that we are doing this week. But may not have much to share because "NOTHING" is on my schedule a whole lot this week!

doing life together

I was at a wedding today and something jumped out at me. As the couple lit their unity candles the two flames became one, and went from 2 small 1/2 inch flames to one large 2-3 inch flame.

Isn't it the same with our inner flames for God? By ourselves we may have kind of a small flame, but when we join together with other Christ-followers our flames converge and grow. When we come together as Christ-followers in small group settings or accountability groups we can sharpen each other and by sharpening each other we cause our flames to grow!

Who are doing life together with to help your flame grow?

inventory

This weekend Meg, Keri and their mom have been doing a garage sale. So needless to say this past week we have been going through the house finding things (and we had plenty of things) to sell in the garage sell. My brother-in-law said it best, "this can get addictive, you keep going through your stuff saying, 'what can I sell?'" It has caused us to do some real inventory on our lives and posessions.

Let me ask you this...do you have to much stuff? I recently read an article in Relevant magazine about our generations "addiction to money," It was a very insightful article. Tony Compolo made this point: Over the past 25 years the average size of homes have increased by 40%, and it is not because we are having more kids, actually we are having less. It has everything to do with the fact that we have more stuff, and what is crazy is that we are having to rent out storage units to hold stuff that we can't fit in our homes.

If Meg and I get to the point where we are trying to figure out where to put stuff that we have, to me that is a sign. We need to get rid of some stuff! I never want to get to the point where I can't park my car in the garage because I have too much stuff. If I reach that point, then somebody is either getting blessed by me giving it away or it's time for a garage sell!

So if your bedroom or house is a little crowded...be a blessing to someone else and give some stuff away...or have a garage sell...either way take an inventory of all the stuff that you have and haven't used for at least a year! And get rid of it!

permission to speak freely?

Life the past couple of months has been next to insane. With everything going on with ministry, I have neglected to take time out for myself and my family. The last 2 or 3 weeks I have felt nothing but tired and unmotivated...symptoms of burn out! I have been stressed out and burning the candle at both ends. I have felt that my schedule was controlling me rather than me controlling my schedule.

But at last...the end is in sight! VACATION!!!

In a couple of weeks we are heading to the Outer Banks for vacation! I absolutely cannot wait! I have a week to get away, recharge my batteries and come back with a new perspective on life and ministry! I love getting away, for some reason I always come back with a new and fresh perspective on things...I guess it helps adjust the focus on my ministry lenses!

Howdy Stranger!

I can't believe that it has almost been a month since my last post. The past month with Fine Arts, Angel Food and Love Month has kept me hoppin'! Know that things are starting to reach an acceptable level of insanity I hope to be back in the blogosphere more often! Talk with ya soon!

Priorities

Had to go into the office for a little while today to take care of some Fine Arts stuff, even though it was my day off. As I was sitting at my desk Meg called and told me how she was bumbed! Some friends forgot to call when they were going sledding and she was really looking forward to it. Needless to say she was really disappointed!

So as I was talking to Meg I had a priority check. I could either continue working or I could go home and take my daughter out in the backyard and play in the snow...I went home!

I took Kyrsten out in the backyard and for over an hour we played in the snow! She made a couple snow angels, we made a retarded looking snowman, and we even dug a tunnel through a big snow drift on the back patio! It was really cool! And to see the look on her face as she played was so worth it!

I want my kids to know that ministry is important...but NOT more important than them! I pray that I always keep my priorities in check... God -#1; Family - #2; and Ministry - #3.

Attitude is Everything

Today I woke up early (7:30am) which totally stunk. I was anticipating an incredible morning of getting to sleep in, but for some reason I just woke up...wide awake! So I got up and decided to do some reading. I was reading "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day," this book has really been challenging to me, it has really challenged me to ask some questions to myself.

This morning I was challenged with this statement: "the most important choice that you make everyday is your attitude." So many times we allow ourselves to get discouraged by the small things of life. Not saying that they are insignificant, but when we step back and look at them through the scope of our lives or eternity for that matter, they are really insignificant.

The book talked about two different types of people: complainers and worshippers. Complainers find things to complain about and worshippers find things to praise God about. I have a choice. Am I going to be a complainer or am I going to be a worshipper? Am I going to spend more time complaining about things that I can't change or worshipping the God who never changes!

Funerals

Today we had the funeral for Bob Martin at the church. It was cool to hear all the awesome things that his wife and kids had to say about him as they reflected upon their time together.

That is one of the things that I appreciate about funerals. It causes you to stop and reflect upon your own life. I caught myself listening to the things that they were saying about their dad and thinking, I want to make sure that I keep my life balanced between my work and my family. I always want my wife and kids to know that they are the most important things in my life! Ministry is very important to me, however, I spend a lot more time being a dad and a husband than I do being a pastor.

Axiom Cancelled

Well unfortunately Axiom is CANCELLED for tonight. Kind of bumbed! We had a really cool service set up for tonight, but no worries, we will just do it next week.

Hope you have fun with your valentine's (those of you who have one...hahaha)! Be safe if you are going out...the roads are still a little tricky!

Just an FYI! I got Meg 3 cards and 6 beautiful red roses...Also got her a combined valentine's and wedding anniversary present as well...one night suite at kalahari! She loved it!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Snow Storm

Well were are digging out! I really don't know how much snow we got because it was blowing around so much, but I would be comfortable in saying at least 12 inches.

I have such an awesome neighbor! His grandkids came over and used his snowblower to do his driveway and he evidently told them to do mine as well...so three or four swipes and they were done and I didn't have to shovel...except for the sidewalk.

Here are a few pics of all the mess: This is the 3 foot snow drift along the back of the house...if you look at the end of it you will see our 5 foot snow mountain...naturally made by the blowing snow!

This is the 2 foot snow drift along the front of the house...after I shoveled...

Another shot of the front of the house...

Me standing next to the big drift in the back yard...

This is the shot out of our living room window...

Frustrated

Just spent the last hour or so working on trying to get some sermon audio uploaded to our website, but to no avail! I am really looking forward to figuring this out so that you will have the ability to listen to messages from Axiom!

I Hope you are planning on attending this wednesday as we continue Love Month! We will continue looking at the Signs on Relational Interstate!

See ya on Wednesday!

A Monday Motivator

Every Monday Doug Clay (our district superintendent) sends out an email with different thoughts and this one really spoke to me, so I thought I would share it with you:

Coffee anyone? I recently read the following:

"A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups-porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite-telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

"When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, 'If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. 'Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. 'What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cup.

'Now consider this:

'Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.'" Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us. God brews the coffee, not the cups....enjoy your coffee!

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Make a great week! Doug

We all have a tendency to look at other people's lives and compare them to ours. But it is important for us to be content in what God has given us and to do the best we can with what we have been given!

Becoming a Lion Chaser

Had to take a short trip to Bellevue today, and on the way I got to catch up on some podcasts. There is a pastor that I listen to alot a from Washington D.C., his name is Mark Batterson. Along with listening to his podcasts I also read his blog (www.evotional.com) on a regular basis. I really admire this guys thinking and approach to ministry. He has written a book that I am in the process of reading called "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day." The podcast I listened to today was about the book.

He was talking about how we have a tendancy as christians to run from challenges, and in his book he describes these challenges as lions. As humans we are born with only two inherit fears, the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All the other fears that we have are learned from experiences in our lives.

I know that one of my greatest fears is the fear of failure. I have a tendency to shy away from big things, because I don't want to fail. One of the things that God has been and is showing me is that I have to trust and rely on Him in those situations. Failure is my 500lb lion, and I have a choice, I can either run from it or chase it!

I don't know about you...but I want to become a lion chaser!

Break from the norm!

Been feeling a little overwhelmed/burned out the past week, so I decided to take a somewhat of an unconventional break for me...I went to the Home and Garden Show at the IX center with my inlaws! I am not a garden or flower person, but the stuff they had for homes were awesome! I constantly drueled over the hot tubs! Meg and I really want to get one of these some day, but it is extremely low on the priority list...but man would I love to have one!

Personally it was a great time to just get out of Sandusky and break the normal routine! I like routine, but I have to have a BREAK from time to time. Over the past few weeks I have put in so many hours, rarely taking a break from working (even at home). So I was due for an escape! Would of been nice to get away overnight, but the few hours away was nice!

It's saturday and it back in the routine!

Super Bowl...

Last night was our Axiom Super Bowl Party! We had a pretty good turnout, between 20 and 30. All I know is that the purchase of the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) game was a good thing! Everytime I walked in there the girls were having fun and dancing their hearts out! Then of course the Halo2 room was busy! The 10 of us that were in the gym actually watching the super bowl enjoyed a great game!! Congrats to the Colts and Payton Manning! I think next year we will rename the event...to the DDR and Halo2 game night! Oh then there is this thing called the super bowl if you want to watch it, it will be available! hahaha

Can't wait for Wednesday! Start love month! February is always one of those months that I look forward to...speaking to students about relationships is one of my favorite topics! I believe that relationships are one of the biggest reasons students get "off track" in their relationship with God...because lets face it...choosing your mate is the second most important decision (following Christ is the first!) that you will ever make, because it is supposed to me for a lifetime!

Hope you enjoyed your day off from school because of the cold! Praying that you might get tomorrow off as well!!

Sorry...

Man this past month has been a blur! With everything going on with "At Your Service," Angelfood ministry and Earthbeat...it's been CRAZY!

So please accept my apology for being MIA in the blogosphere! I hope to back at it in February!!

Have a great week...see ya tomorrow!!

Tim

What a week!

Finally getting a chance to sit down and take a breathe! Since our church office closes from Christmas to New Years I was not in the office (other than Sundays) from December 21st till January 3rd. It was cool to get to spend a lot of time with Meg and the girls, but Wednesday when I walked in the office I felt like I had a list a mile long to be done...and only a few days to get it all done!

Today I had my weekly meeting with Pastor Hiser at 1030am, just as that was starting I got a text telling me that one of our students was in the hospital. My meeting with Pastor continued into a lunch meeting with a local business man to discuss the Angel Food Network that will begin hopefully in March. Then directly into a meeting with Carlie Ground, as I was leaving the church to go see the student in the hospital, P. Hiser ask me to follow him to meet a local pastor regarding Angel Food, so after that I headed to Bellevue...and after a couple more errands here in Sandusky...I came home to relax!

I am going to enjoy my weekend...not one free night next week...something going every night. I always try to keep a balanced schedule, but every once and a while I have to have a week like this. Speaking of next week...Don't forget our OSU/Florida National Championship Party on Monday! Check out the calendar on axiomlive.com for info and directions!

Hope everyone has a great weekend...we will see ya on Sunday!