The 2008 All Star Cubbies

On July 15th, the National League team of this years MLB All Star Game will be packed full of Chicago Cubs.  That’s right, THE CUBS!  Three starters, seven players all together.

Check out the pregame hype here.  You can even vote on the final player to join each roster.

The “Black Sheep Award” goes to Tampa Bay this year.  They are tops in the entire MLB, yet no one from their team is represented in this years game.  Yikes!

What I’m Doing This Weekend

That’s right.  Julie has you know who on the painting crew.  We’ve been looking at color swatches for almost three months now and she’s finally ready to “get some color on those walls.”  She’s referring to the living room.  It’s the largest in the house.  We’ll probably start sometime this evening and finish tomorrow.  I’ll try to post some pics.  It’s not going to be a typical paint job so stay tuned.

Happy 4th of July!  Have a great weekend!

My Week In Review

I know my blog post frequency has been low this past week so here is a short summary of what’s been whirling around in my world…

• Great staff meeting on Monday.  Shared with the staff that God is calling me to sacrifice more and more…lots of fun discussing that one.
• Road kill incident on Tuesday morning of last week.  Baby turtle.  That’s all I have to say about that.
• Wednesday morning breakfast with my good friend Jeremy.  Always a great time.
• Looking at Honda Civic’s for further improved gas mileage and continuing to scale back our budget.
• Friday didn’t come soon enough.   A very long and extremely busy week at work.
• Note to all:  cell phones make for a pretty good makeshift flashlight.
• Habitat for Humanity on Saturday.  Fun and incredibly gratifying.
• Saturday night setup for the last time in a while.
• My Sunday morning mood - honored, humbled, and grateful to be serving God and the people of UpRising Church.
• One Prayer series continues as Perry Noble delivered our message.  Uhhh….WOW!!!
• UpRising 411 gathering last night was great.  I already see great potential in these and other people in our church right now. 
• This morning I’m still obsessed with gas mileage.  Also noticed that I spent almost zero time alone with my family this weekend.  That can’t happen again.
• Looking forward to a ”stay-cation” vacation soon.

That’s it for now.  Later peeps!

Gas-o-leaner

As a commuter family, Julie and I consume a lot of gas.  A LOT!!!  Her SUV does very well as my truck does not.  So as an update to this post from a while back, I have decided to quit driving to work on the interstate and take a shorter, slower route.

The result has been almost 17% increase in fuel mileage!  Yeah, baby!

Can you tell that I’m pumped about this?  What are you doing to conserve?

Just Keeping It Real

As a response to yesterdays One Prayer message by Joe, I wanted to share more about myself in an effort to be more “real”.  Pastors are very normal.  We deal with the same normal problems that everyone else has to deal with.

 

As a pastor…

 

• I honestly don’t feel worthy of the title or position.
• I have felt like quitting on several occasions.
• I have had too many moments of pride.
• I struggle with insecurity and inadequacy.
• I loose sleep over our people and what is going on in their lives.
• I admit that I tend to focus on problems more the God too often.
• I don’t trust God enough.

As a person…

 

• I battle temptation daily in the form of selfishness, lust, and procrastination.
• I sometimes have to force myself to love others.
• I strongly dislike working two jobs (secular and ministry).
• I neglect my family sometimes (with my time).
• I don’t spend enough time praying with my wife.
• Several years ago, there was a point where I wondered if my marriage would last.
• I hold back emotions, anger-sadness-disappointment-etc., too often in an effort to appear “strong and in control”.

Living life in itself is a struggle.  Pastors and church leaders don’t have it any easier than the average Joe.  We’re not perfect.  We don’t have all the answers.  We screw up.  We’re still sinners just like anyone else.  We’re “real” too.  Whether we act like or not is the most critical issue.

 

Do You Care?

This morning I’m dealing with negative symptoms in my workplace.  A lazy coworker.  He doesn’t report directly to me, but his work supports my department.  He’s a Christian.  He’s not ashamed of his faith which is good, but his actions don’t necessarily point to God when it comes to work ethic.

My personal assessment of the whole situation is that he just doesn’t care about his job and how he impacts our business.  I could slap him across the head with the verse of Collosians 3:23 but I won’t.

This situation makes me ponder the spiritual parallel.  Don’t you think God feels the same way about us sometimes?  If all Christ followers “cared”, can you imagine the impact?  Do you care?  Is it evident?

RECIPROCATE

Watched the Spelling Bee (on ESPN of all places) the other evening and was inspired to post a personally meaningful word.  So without delay, the word for the day is…

RECIPROCATE

No, not the type of saw or the inverted fraction from fifth grade, but the intransitive verb.

re·cip·ro·cate -  to make a return for something

When you love God, you reciprocate.  For all of the love He gives us, we give some back.  We return to Him some of the everlasting, eternal love that He has gifted us with.

…I have loved you with an everlasting love… - Jeremiah 31:3

By reciprocating, you’re essentially acknowledging that you’re not the source of love.  We are not capable of being the source of love.  If you or I were a source, then it wouldn’t be reciprocation, rather a donation.

…There is no one righteous, not even one… - Romans 3:10

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. - 1 John 4:16 

Further more, as the source of love, only the Lord can increase our love.  We can’t multiply it on our own.

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. - 1 Thessalonians 3:12

So as in both the New and Old Testament command us, reciprocate that love.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. - Mark 12:30

Now that you have officially increased your comprehension of reciprocation, may it experience proliferation.  (Sorry couldn’t resist).

So come on people, you’re not the source so reciprocate!

Weekend Review

Quite the weekend…

• Friday night was not extraordinary, but we did get to go grocery shopping, to the park with Jacob, and to City Limits Cafe for dinner.
• Saturday was “sort of” relaxing.  We spend the morning at home doing some chores, playing with Jacob then raced to Hendersonville for dinner prior to church set up.
• Even though the outdoor service was cancelled, church was great yesterday!  More new people, not many empty seats, and Pastor Joe came at all of us with a pretty challenging message.  If you weren’t challenged, then you apparently weren’t there.

Thanks to all who helped make the adjustment for service, especially David McCaffrey who does more than the average dude to insure that all problems are solved and everything is seamless.

Don’t Over Complicate It

Above is a picture of the terminal block from my oven at home.  I replaced it last night after we heard sizzling, popping, and humming last week.  After a little investigating, I found it in the shown condition.  Improper installation caused the left side to melt and potentially start a fire.

My analysis of the situation is this.  Whoever installed the wiring upon installation decided to crimp ring connectors on the pigtail.  This requires a little extra work on the part of the installer and the end result is something that appears very professional.  However, the terminal block was not designed for ring connectors.  Bare wire tightened into the terminals of each leg is sufficient and in this case is more efficient than ring connectors.

So what’s to be learned here? 

Don’t over complicate something if it will have no additional desired affect.

In my life, I’m trying to reverse and/or eliminate complication to be more effective…effective as a husband, father, employee, friend, and  Christ follower.  At thirty two years of age, I have mastered none of these and don’t think I ever will.  But striving to be better at each requires work.  You know the old saying “work smarter, not harder”.  That’s my goal, reducing the “toil” in my life.

Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil
       and chasing after the wind. - Ecclesiastes 4:6

and…

If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened,
       more strength is needed but skill will bring success. - Ecclesiastes 10:10

Weekend Review

Here we go from start to finish…

• Chuck E. Cheese was a blast on Friday night!  Thank you so much to Bill and Karen Mitchell for inviting us out to celebrate Austin’s birthday.  What a great time and I didn’t even hurt anyone else’s kid.
• Saturday morning at the park with Jacob.  This is becoming our tradition, just father and son.  Always an awesome time.  I love my son so much.
• Cut grass, worked in the yard, washed cars…not my favorite things to do.
• The annual Bellevue Picnic was booming!  We stopped in to show a little practical love and invite folks to church.  Met some nice people there.
• Saturday night set up was pretty much seamless.  We are finalizing details on the storage location this week.  Thanks to all who contribute.  More to come on this topic soon.
• Church went very well yesterday morning.  Still meeting lots of new people, connect groups are continuing to grow.  Just lots of good stuff going on right now!
• Baby Shower yesterday for Julie and Jeremy!  I’m excited for these guys as they prepare for their first child.  Plus I’m so thankful that ”shower” events are for the women.  I’ll stick to birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese.
• Ultimate Power Nap yesterday evening.

Whew!  What a weekend.