Not Fun

So it's Monday and I've spent a good portion of the day doing something I don't particularly like and I'm really not very good at and that's administrative stuff. I've had to work pretty hard to get as 'organized' as I am and that's probably not saying much.

Here's a pile for you
My desk it pretty much a landscape of different piles of varying sizes, shapes and heights. It annoys me, but what annoys me more is sitting down to do something about it. At least I went through some of the bills that are going to need to be paid and cleared off a little area so I can rest my arms on my desk to type without papers sticking to them.

I can't think, it hurts
Have you ever forced yourself to think when you just don't feel like it? You know, try to be creative about one thing when you'd rather just ignore it and focus on something else. That's been the other part of my day. I've got a good friend who's giving me his pool if I can just get it here from FL. With summer coming, I'm stoked and I may be able to get it here this weekend. I'm dreaming of a pool, and building a deck around it and having my backyard be more than weeds. I'd be my wife and kid's hero. But I'm forcing myself to focus on 'church stuff' and it's such a struggle right now, it literally hurts my head. Maybe I'll just go to Home Depot and Lowes...it certainly sounds like it will help. I'll let you know.

Reasons To Be Happy

I am head over heals for my daughter
My little girl was getting sick yesterday and started to sound like she was getting laryngitis. I felt bad for her yet everytime she opened her mouth to talk, I thought she was the cutest thing in the world. She woke up this morning feeling great so I'm happy for that. My parents are in North Carolina now and the cutest thing she says happens after I mention that they're coming...she says, "I like Grandpa Ebeling" with this endearing look. I can't hardly stand it.

Speaking of Grandpa, he's taking us to the circus
It's been a while since I've been to a circus so I'm actually excited, maybe even more so than my kids. They were hoping Grandpa was going to bring some guns they could shoot, not take them to the circus. We all love animals though, so being close to lions and tigers and elephants will still be cool.

It looks like some help might be on the way
I can't say too much yet because there are still questions that need to be answered and a process to follow, but at this stage it looks like we may very likely be helping to start a new church and "hiring" one or even two new people for the Discovery Church team. The two potential positions would be a Connection Pastor and a Student Pastor. I'm so excited about this and hope that we can work everything out. They both know that since we're only three weeks old, actually presenting them with a job offer and package is not really a possibility and they'll need to raise most if not all of their own support. The fact that we're still even talking is reason enough to be happy....I mean, you have to be crazy to do this, right?

Anyhow, have a great day. I know I will.

Almost Easter

I'm so looking forward to Sunday. It's a celebration of the day that changed eternity. It changed my eternity. I can't imagine where I'd be and what I'd be doing if it wasn't for what Jesus did for me and all mankind a couple thousand years ago. Since I can't describe how I'm feeling this morning, I'll stop trying.

I'm looking outside and the flowers and trees are in bloom, there's color all over the place. You almost can't help but be happy. Yet there's people I've met since we started the church on April 2nd who really aren't happy. Things have happened to them (or not happened to them) and they feel abandoned, discouraged, or even hopeless. Well, it's almost Easter and Easter is all about hope. I hope they'll be in church, but more importantly I hope they'll begin a new life with Christ.

We're having a few couples over to our house for Easter dinner. I love that my wife is so hospitable and open to stuff like that. I'm sure there's more than a few who wouldn't even consider it if they were 7 months pregnant with four kids, scheduled to help run an Easter egg hunt and family festival most of the day on Saturday and needed to help set up and all that goes with being a portable church on Sunday. Not my wife though, she's all about serving. So often, she's a picture of Jesus for me...a servant leader.

When we launched on April 2nd, we had just over 160 people and over 140 last week. I'm hoping and praying that we'll easily top 200 on Sunday. At least one person has gotten saved each of the first two weeks and with it being Easter, I'm expecting a few more to step over the line of faith and start a relationship with Jesus. You keeppraying and we'll keep working