I'm ready.

I've studied, prepared, rehearsed, prayed like crazy, edited, prayed like crazy some more, studied some more, had some others pray for me ...

and NOW, after all that ...I'm ready.

Tonight: the Mix, series finale of the "What's the Difference?" summer message series. Part 4: Catholicism and non-Catholics



God's gonna do some GREAT things tonight. Oh yeah ...I'm ready and I'm pumped!

Randomocity.

- Homes in Las Tierras are really expensive ...but REALLY nice!

- I'm amazed at how the human body works ...and how one little pinched nerve can spread the pain all throughout my body - but just on one wide. Weird.

- I love fresh bottled water straight from the refrigerator.

- I'm REALLY excited about the Mix tomorrow. It's gonna be tough talking about Catholicism but I think it just might be a life changing experience for some.

- If you're going to the Mix tomorrow, PLEASE bring a Catholic friend! =)

- I start my 9-day vacation on Friday; I've NEVER had 9 days off in a row so this is pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to lots of sleep, lots of food, lots of rental DVD's, and lots of reading all those books I have in my "to read" stack.

- I WAS planning on going to Ruidoso for part of my vacation but because of the ridiculous flooding there, I'm probably not gonna do that after all.

- I think I'm gonna wash my car tomorrow, even though there's a small chance of rain this weekend. I don't wanna damage the pain with all that dirt and stuff, ya know!

- I love driving and I love my CR-V!

This is pretty hilarious.

"Why don't you go back in the kitchen because you're not helping the situation?!"

Nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFCjppyOkS0

Post-weekend ...

So this week's gonna be great, but REALLY busy. Thank God I get vacation time on Friday though. =)

- Kind of a slow week last week. Not slow in that I didn't do anything; slow in that nothing really major or worth writing about happened.

- I did meet with Troy and a mom on Wednesday; that was a really good meeting and hopefully she'll be joining our leadership team soon.

- Went to my orthodontist in Juarez on Thursday. I'll admit I was a bit nervous the night before but as always, God took care of us. It took us about an hour to come back over the bridge so obviously, things are getting back to normal there.

- Saw "21" on Friday. It wasn't nearly as good as the commercials made it out to be." Jumper" was much better.

- It rained most of Friday and LITERALLY all Saturday. I've never seen that kind of rain here in the 915, but it sure is great. Grass is so green and soft around here, the mountains are greening up, and the days are much cooler. It's been really, really nice.

- I spent a good part of Saturday trying to get ahead of myself and get things done so for my vacation that starts this weekend.

- Wow. Sunday was an AMAZING worship experience at Del Sol Church. Wow. It was so simple and so beautiful - no musical instruments, no fancy multimedia ...just hundreds of voices united in worship through singing. Wow.

- I was on the access road about to get on I-10 today and I saw the car in front of me get in a crash with the car next to it. It was like slow motion - I saw it happening and all I could do was honk and yell (as if they could somehow hear me). It was kind of eerie.

- What was really weird was that just a few minutes later I was getting off the freeway and I almost got hit by the care next to me.

What are You doing???

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." - Philippians 2:12b-13 (NIV)

I'm reading a book right now called "Holy Discontent" by Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Church in Chicagoland. I like reading, I like learning and growing, I like books, and I like Bill Hybels - I have mad respect for him as an incredible leader in Christianity and in the business world.

So every now and then I'll come across a book that just screams out "read me!"; Hybels' "Holy Discontent" is one of those books. After I finish it, I'll spend some time processing and internalizing it and then I'll move on to another books of his that I've been wanting to read for a couple of years now - it's a book called "Too Busy Not To Pray." I want to read that book because: (A) I'm going to be teaching on prayer at the end of next month and (B) because I get so busy that I have a tendency to put serious, lengthy times prayer on the backburner because I'm so busy ...perhaps too busy sometimes.

All of that to say, I am really wondering what God is up to in me and in my future. Every now and then God will speak to me and tell me that He's got big things in store for me, not that I'm going to be big but that He in His grace is going to use me to go great things for His Kingdom, building up His Church and making Him famous!

What exactly will that look like? How exactly is that gonna pan out? What does that mean as I finish up my degree this fall? What does that look like at Del Sol Church and Fire Youth Ministry? How is that going to become reality in the next few years?

"What are You doing, God?" is a question that I'm constantly finding myself asking.

I just want to be open to what He's doing, where the Spirit is leading me, and I want to be obedient to Him, no matter what that means I'll have to risk, no matter what that means I may have to sacrifice. That's part of letting Jesus be my Lord - it's no longer about me. It's not longer about what I want. Now that I'm Christ's, I never have any right to ask what I want, but must always ask what HE wants.

So here I am, reading books, praying like crazy, seeking counsel, asking God - nay, begging God - to show me what the next step is.



What are you doing God?

I'm in.

Friday Five

So I'm going to try every Friday to post a "Friday Five" blog where I'll write about 5 things - that may be a list of 5 different yet loosely related things, or 5 favorite blog posts from the past week, or a top 5 list, or 5 awesome Bible verses, or 5 sweet pics, or 5 something.

To give props where props are due, I got this idea from Michael over at Oak Leaf Church. You can check out the blog here: http://www.oakleafchurch.com/blog/?p=1883

Anyway, here are 5 of my pet peeves:

1. (This is DEFINITELY my top one right now) When people still call Del Sol Church "Vista del Sol" - or even worse, when they call it "Del Sol Baptist Church"! It's SIMPLY "Del Sol Church", people! There are good reasons why we dropped "Vista" and "Baptist" nearly a year ago. RAWR!!!

2. People who pull into the middle of the road, between the islands, when another car (like me) is already there waiting to go. Wait your turn people!

3. When people treat me or speak to/about me like I'm a kid. I know I'm not in my 40's, but I am not a kid. Don't treat me like a kid, don't speak to or about me like a kid, and by all means - DO NOT CALL ME "KID"!

4. Plastic packaging. Seriously - why does everything packaged in plastic have to be so difficult to open? Thank God for whoever invented electric scissors; now if only I actually had some electric scissors. =)

5. People who don't write in paragraph form. I mean seriously - break up your writing every 4 or 5 sentences! Don't write 50 lines in one big paragraph - English 101 people ...English 101.

2.5; 13,200; 4,400.

2.5 miles. 13,200 feet. Roughly 4,400 paces. That's how much I ran tonight.

Some people are track stars and can run like 5 miles without breaking a sweat but for me, this is a big accomplishment. It's a milestone for my jogging-for-health-and-fitness career.

See, when I first started jogging a little over a year ago, I could barely run 1/4 of a mile before my stomach cramped, my legs felt like wet noodles, my shins were so sore, and my head was pounding ...but I kept pushing. I knew how much it would hurt, but I also knew how good I would feel after I ran and how good it would be for my heart.

(In case you didn't know, heart disease and diabetes run pretty rampant in my family and I'm determined to do what I can to ward it off in my body and hopefully in my kids someday.)

So anyway - I used to barely be able to run 1/4 of a mile, but I kept on going. After a little while I was barely able to run 1/2 a mile, but I kept on going. Pretty soon I could do a mile, though I felt like I was gonna die every time I ran that much. But then it was a mile and a half, then 2 miles. Tonight it was 2.5 miles!

My next big goal is to train myself to run 3 miles at a time without feeling like I'm gonna die as soon as I stop running.

"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." - 1 Timothy 4:8, NIV

Yes, I want to run 3 miles and feel like I could run another 3 when I'm done. Yes, I want to be healthy and fit. Yes, I want to have a healthy heart and not have to deal with diabetes, high cholesterol, heart issues, circulation problems, and other things that run in my family. Yes, I want to develop a strong core in order to support my back so that I won't have as much back pain.

I want all those things, and I'm working hard towards those goals - but if those things were all that mattered to me, I'd be a pretty sad soul. If all that mattered to me was my physical health, I'd be pretty pathetic because us humans are body, mind, and soul.

So I exercise to train by body, and I read blogs and books to train my mind, and I pray and serve and worship to train my soul in order that I will be the kind of man God wants me to be, the kind of man God can use to do great things for His Kingdom.

2.5 miles tonight...pretty good if I may say so.

God, help me to get to 3 miles. Please help me to train my body, train my mind, and train my soul so that I can use my body, mind and soul for You and for Your Kingdom.

Man it's been bugging me!

"When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?'" - Jesus in John 21:15 NIV

I read this question a few weeks ago as I was finishing up reading through the book of John again. I have to tell you, this question has really been bugging me. I've seriously lost some sleep over this verse because it's made me think: do I truly love Jesus more than these?

"These" being anything in my life. Do I truly love Jesus more than I love myself? More than I love my local church? More than all my youth? More than my savings and retirement accounts? More than my car? More than my ipod? More than being in ministry? More than my eyesight? More than oxygen? More than being in control? More than being a pastor? More than the Church as a whole? More than the Bible? More than what Jesus can do for me?

Do I love Jesus Christ more than anything or anyone else on this terrestrial ball (aka "earth")?

Do I love Jesus for Jesus? Not because He saved me when He died on the cross, was buried, and got up from the dead 3 days later for me? Do I love Jesus not because He works all things out for good but just for Who He is? Do I love Jesus - period? Not "I love Jesus because", but simply "I love Jesus"?

"... do you truly love me more than these?"

Man that question bothers me!



Oh Lord Jesus, that You would help me to love You for You - not because of what You do, not because of what You give me, but just for You! Help me to love you more than these ...help me to love You so much more than anything else that might fight for my attention and for my love.

Please Help me to love You more than these.