Sunday night mind purge

- In general, this month has been kind of slow - which is nice - but also a concern to me because my monthly report to Walter will reflect that as far as tasks and meetings, it was slow this month - but I know I'm not slacking off and I know he'll understand.

- Speaking of slow, Monday was slow. I went into the office for the morning, then went to work at The Bagel Shop for awhile, then studied at Starbucks for about an hour before going to do my bi-monthly shopping at Walmart. I was able to get some very important things done in that time, namely studying for my sermon in July and creating a list of goals for my staff that begin in July and sending those goals lists to be reviewed our staff at the East campus.

- Ahh Tuesday ...busy you were! You started out with an early morning at the gym, then working at the office, readying for my GrowGroup that night, studying some more for the sermon in July, consulting with the East staff about the NE staff goals lists, and attending staff meeting. After that, you had me taking Bob Barker to the vet to get some booster shots and a heartworm test, then heading down the the Northeast to scarf down a quick dinner at Burger King and then leading my GrowGroup. You had me rushing home afterwards in hopes of catching "The Office", but alas, I missed it. Perhaps next week ...

- Wednesday held an interesting experience in the morning: my first visit to El Paso Physical Therapy Services on Lee Trevino to start PT on my right knee. I was not told to wear shorts so I went with jeans on, which they had me remove when I was in the exam room. Sure, they gave me a gown, but those things are not exactly known for their modesty so 4 different women and a guy ended up seeing me in my boxers. Awkward! Next time, I'm going in shorts for sure.

- Afterwards I spent the day working at the office, verifying some meetings for Thursday, updating my blog with the weekly prayer update for the NE campus, talking with a guy at Church on Wheels about purchasing a customized portable church equipment trailer package from them and having him come down for a site consultation next month. Also, I had a pleasant interruption with some friends and we ended up debating theology for an hour or so - which to me is always fun. Then went to the gym, scarfed down dinner, and met with Josh and Nicki to go through their job descriptions and goals lists for when they come on staff in July.

- Ahh Thursday; you sure were an interesting day! First thing was to go to a meeting at the EPBA's offices downtown to talk about the Multimedia CD distribution project as part of the BGCT's Texas Hope 2010 project, then rushing back to the Eastside to meet with Mark Pryor, then going back downtown to meet with a pastor friend, Alfonso Lopez, who leads a church in that area. We spent the whole day pretty much touring downtown, visiting people, praying, talking, dreaming, visioning, and seeing a whole different side of El Paso than most people - even lifelong El Pasoans - would ever see unless they actually lived there or worked in the barrios of El Paso. Those people sure need the love and life that Jesus gives though, and those of us who live in the suburbs and who have been blessed with much, have a responsibility to reach those in the barrio who don't have much but who need much. It was definitely a perspective-altering experience for me.

- All that was followed by a visit to the gym and dinner at Village Inn with friends.

- Friday had me sleeping in 'til about 11 am - which is not a good thing to do - then heading to the gym for some intense cardio, cleaning up and getting lunch, then chilling at home for awhile. I watched Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail, which was pretty good. I definitely recommend any of those Madea films.

- Saturday was my yard work day, and thank God I finally got around to trimming those dang oleander bushes on the side of my house. This is how bad they had gotten: I honestly thought there were 5 of them, but it turned out there are only 4; they had just grown so wild that it looked like 5. My dad and I loaded up the truck and headed off the the landfill in Clint, barely making it before they closed at 4 pm, then came back and quickly looked at the dealerships on I-10 to see if they had any interesting deals on mid-sized trucks. Then we headed home, I cleaned up, and relaxed the rest of the evening.

- I woke up this morning really excited to go to our Sunday morning worship celebration. It was so wonderful to see hundreds of people coming together from all walks of life, with all sorts of things going on, just to worship God and to find hope and healing and conviction and direction from Him. Of course it was also wonderful to see my church family (though many were missing as they're in Austin at the NAMB's PowerPlant church planting experience for youth). I went to high school youth at 11 am instead of hanging around Cafe del Sol - mostly because I had forgotten to bring a book to read - and enjoyed seeing a few of the youth again. I say "few" because there couldn't have been more than a dozen people there, but it was all good in the hood.

- I must confess, it's been hard for me to stay behind as so many people - from Del Sol and from other churches - go to summer stuff like PowerPlant, Super Summer, Centrifuge, foreign missions trips, etc. Honestly, though I'm confident and secure in the calling God has given me for this time in my life and though I'm fully committed to it and excited about it ...I miss youth ministry. I really do. I feel left out, and I know that's not anybody's fault and it's not a bad thing - it's part of life and change - but it's still hard and still sad, and it still sucks.

- But I rejoice that God is doing great things in our youth through these summer activities, I rejoice that He's given Troy the vision for what he's doing with the youth now, I rejoice that God has so graciously and mercifully put us as Del Sol Church in a place where we have the human and fiscal resources to do such things, and more than anything, I rejoice because God is God, HE is in control, HE is good, HE cares about us, and HE is making me more like Him. And in the end, that's what matters most, not my comfort or happiness. I rejoice and I remember that God didn't say He wants us to be happy; God said He wants us to be holy.