Guess What I Got...

I got the same thing everyone else did....I got God's Son Jesus given to me. Best present ever.

I also got the privilege of serving others when my family and I went to our local shelter to hand out gifts and help serve a Christmas dinner. And when another 11 people from Discovery showed up, let's just say I was completely blown away...I'd just mentioned it and they came out - on Christmas. It turns out, so did a bunch of other people....there may have been more there serving than there were served. Tons of food was brought by and we really lathered on the love for the families and individuals that were staying there. A local news channel came by and my son Tanner even made it on the news. You can watch it by clicking HERE and then choosing "video" from the player on the left and the one titled "Volunteers Giving Back". He said he was there to serve and that really did sum it all up. Another great gift I got.

On the totally self-absorbed side, I got the kind of stuff I'm happy about now but hated when I was a kid...clothes. I really don't like shopping, and because of that, I've got clothes that I wear until my wife shows me a picture in one of the scrapbooks that she's put together and points out that I wore the same shirt or pants or whatever 6, 8 or even 10 years ago! Yes, I'm a man of great style. But really, I like getting clothes now because frankly, I'd rarely if ever buy them myself. I think the coolest gift (besides the swing) was a cordless drill a lady from church gave me. I shared during one of my messages how frustrated I was with my current cordless drill and she shows up the next week and gives me a new one!! Totally suprised, and totally great.

I wonder what the coolest gift was that you got?

Merry Christmas

Merry
Christmas

Leadership Tests

Went to a assembly of other innovative church people and listended to Bill Hybels speak about some leadership tests. This was a little while ago, but figured I'd type it up for my future reference. He looked at Luke 5 where Jesus got in Peter's boat, preached, told him how to fish and then invited him to fish for men. Basically, these were the tests...

1) Does the potential leader have a bias toward action? In other words, will they figure out what's missing or not working and then do something to fix it without having to be directed or do they wait for specificly defined directives. (v. 3)
2) Can the potential leader follow directions? In other words, when it comes down to it, if a decision is made that they disagree with, will they support it and act on it - like Peter when Jesus said to go out and fish in the deep water. They should be like Peter and say..."Because you said so, I will" (v. 4)
3) Do they really care whether or not they get the credit? Are they willing to share credit with the team and give credit to God both publically and privately? (v. 8)
4) Do they understand and are they willing to commit to the "grander vision" and the "big picture" or are they content with the status quo? Basically, like Hybels put it, do they want to fish for men or are they content catching perch the rest of their lives? (v. 10)
5) Will potential leaders leave what they know, understand and are even successful at in order to go after the big picture? Are they willing to sacrifice something (time, finances, job, reputation, etc) - like Peter who left behind his entire fishing business, boats, nets and all. (v. 11)

I only wish I would have known to ask some of these questions earlier. I can guarantee that some people I put time, energy and trust in would not have been put in that position. It would have saved me a ton of pain and frustration and maybe them too. Leadership is too important to allow anyone to have it. That's why I believe that leadership is a process and a privilege. Now, if God will just send some level 5 leaders this way....

Last Minute

It's 10:30PM the Friday before Christmas and am I done with my shopping? Nope. Am I stressing? Nope. Is it a big deal? Nope. Would Lora ever dream of waiting this long? Nope. Will I ever learn? Nope - at least, not so that it will change. I've come to the conclusion that the Bible has lots to say about diligence and considering the cost but unless it's talking about salvation, I'm not seeing too much about when to get things done as long as they get done. Again, deciding to follow Christ is a decision that should be made today, but it doesn't matter if house is cleaned early or late, as long as it's done before the guests arrive. So, tomorrow I will get it done...I know what I want to get, need to get and have a back up plan for whatever I may not get. Not stressing. Merry Christmas to all and to all the rest of you last minute men, a good night.

Early Christmas Present

MerryChristmas!!!
Last night before Lora and I headed off for date night, our sitters called and sent us to our bedroom and told us to send the kids outside with their coats and wait for them to come and get us. I was a little leary, but figured it couldn't be too bad. After about 10 minutes, the kids came and got us, lead us out side without us looking, and suprised us with a bunch of people singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" standing next to a swing! I really wanted to get a picture but didn't do it before it got dark today so I stole a picture off Claude's blog because he and a couple other guys made it and a bunch of church folks chipped in. What a great suprise, what a blessing and it sure made us feel loved. Lora started to cry and me, well, I rarely offer a lot of expression with gifts (it's something I still need to work on) but it was cool. A dozen people and a new swing in my yard for an early Christmas gift. I'll take it.

I Guess We're Doing Something Right

I am dumbfounded. At a loss for words. Frustrated and relieved at the same time. All because of my son Tanner. Just when I think he doesn't get it...can't get it...won't get it...just doesn't care to even try and get it....something like this happens:

Background: For days now, Tanner's been acting very selfish. Picking on his brothers and sisters, being lazy about doing stuff, or being the first to complain when someone breaks the rules, but "conveniently" leaving out how he contributed to whatever problem he's grumbling about. He's been spoken to, punished, lectured, educated and patiently corrected (most of the time). He apologizes and then before even a moment has passed he's made the same foolish mistake again...for the four-hundred-bazillioneth time!!

Specifics: Moments ago, he was on the trampoline with his brothers and some neighbor kids. He decides he wants to wrestle with Champ - who doesn't want to and says get off. Tanner doesn't listen and after a bit, Chandler punches him. Tyler and one of the neighbors step in and pull Tanner off, but then actually encourage Chandler to get a good lick in on Tanner while they're holding him. So everybody's made mistakes. But Tanner comes in and tells Lora..."Chandler hit me and you said if he hit he'd get in trouble." True, but not the whole story. Lora calls everyone in, gets the whole story and Tanner gets sent outside to pick up everything he can find and put it away.

Outcome (the part I'm amazed by): Tanner comes in after a little bit and tells Lora..."Mommy, thank you for disciplining me and helping me to be a better person. I really appreciate it" Now that's something but here's the kicker, he then adds...."I figured out a piece of the puzzle...Jesus dying for me would be like me dying for Chandler. I just want to be a better Christian." Even as I'm typing this Lora just now comes and tells me that while Tanner (and Chandler) went back out to finish up cleaning the shed, she checked on him and it sounded like they were playing so she asks if they're cleaning up and hears Tanner hushing Chandler who's now trying to figure out what to say without lying. She then sees Tanner dressed in full roller blade garb and asks if he's trying to decieve her and he says yes. But again, when Lora talks to him, Tanner is crushed saying he wants to obey but it's hard. He also tells her..."it hurts when I disobey you."

Thanks Tanner, for reminding me that following after Jesus is a tough, moment by moment decision at times and my patience with you is nothing compared to the patience God exercises with me when I repeatedly fall short of simply obeying him. I want to be a better Christian too buddy.

Neighborhood Heros

Driving home tonight I spied these two kids out in the front yard of their house having what I'm sure to them was an incredible battle. They were going at it like crazy (and like nobody was watching). I hurried home and grabbed my camera and luckily got them to at least pose for a picture before they went inside for supper.

It got me thinking about how much it really matters to us adults what people think. For most adults, they wouldn't even consider wrestling or running after each other in their front yard while a potential audience of people was driving by and most certainly wouldn't dress up in full costume and do it! Now, there've been times I frankly didn't care who saw me, and I've acted crazy and goofy and what some might call immature. But what's wrong with that? Sometimes I think adults are just way too stuffy, boring and lame. I don't intend to be one of "those kinds" of adults, and I'm pretty sure I don't care what you think about it.

BasketBRAWL Players

You know what gets me? These goofball professional basketBRAWL players that can't control themselves, start assaulting each other, and then get 5-10-15 game suspensions and people are calling those "stiff penalties." Come on. A stiff penalty would be telling street thug Carmello Anthony that he's done for the year or better yet...he's done. Face it, these guys are what you get when you throw money at some self-centered, prideful athletes. You get rich, self-centered, prideful athletes. And it's not just the NBA. The NFL has spoiled rich kids like Terrel Owens. I mean really...TO is to the NFL was Mike Tyson was to boxing...a disgrace. Sure he's not biting ears (which is pretty hard with a helmet on) he's just spitting on people now. My under 3 year old daughter doesn't even do that.


But people will keep watching. People will go to t he games, and coaches will still want these goofballs on there teams while fans still buy their jerseys. Somethings wrong with that and a few game suspension or few thousand dollars fine isn't doing anything to fix the problem. The best way to fix the problem is to GET RID OF the problem.

The Frog Clog

Sure it's not even 10AM yet, but this story is almost hard to believe. I left for a couple minutes to drive down to Claude and Sheila's because she's working on updating the database from Sunday and I had some information she needed to update. I'm there maybe two minutes and Lora calls. Figure she wants me to pick something up from them before I head back but no...something's happened in the few minutes since I left.


We've got three bathrooms and usually soon after breakfast, each one of the boys goes to occupy one. Chandler was slow and headed upstairs but immediately yelled for mom because there was a frog in the toilet. Tyler went to inspect and confirmed the finding then attempted to chase it out. Didn't work, the frog swam down into toilet (presumably where he came up from? - remember we're on the second floor). Anyhow, Chandler was doing the "I gotta go" dance so Lora encouraged him to go. He didn't want a frog jumping on his bottom so he refused and Lora told him to just flush it. When he flushed it, it clogged up (don't know how big this frog was, but couldn't have been a itty bitty tree frog if he's cloggin up toilets). That's when Lora called me.


Now the frog clog has been removed, still don't know where the frog is, and all appears to be well...for the time being. Hey, if it's not one thing, it's another. Merry Christmas Kermit.

Pass The Peas

Ok, so the last post was about Sarah eating a candle...this one includes a brief recap of her encounter with frozen peas. Sarah likes to eat frozen peas, don't know why, she just does. Lora gave her some yesterday and she was doing fine, but Lora left the room and heard Sarah fussing. Figuring it was one of the boys bugging her Lora came back to find out what was going on. Sarah was about crying and pointing to her nose...yep, you guessed it....frozen pea up the nose. The good nurse Lora knew exactly what to do. Plug the open nostril and have Sarah blow. Have you ever seen a frozen pea shot out of a two year old nostril full force? Me either, but Lora was pretty impressed.

Today, we got to participate last minute in the Ayden Christmas parade. One of the people from Discovery knows Dale McClawhorn who's a veterinarian who owns some horses and a big wagon. Somehow, they got it entered and the ok for Discovery to use it in the parade. We found out Thursday afternoon. Sent out a quick email, bought 1200+ candy canes and stuck "Merry Christmas from Discovery Church" labels on them all (and then whatever people brought to the parade) We had about 20 people participate and had a great time. Got rid of all the candy canes before the end of the parade route, but what a great and simple way to serve, give and get our name out there.

Candy Canes??

Just like me, my daughter Sarah also occasionally thinks she's found a "good deal" that turns out to be a bad idea. I couldn't figure out how to take a good picture of it, but his is a Christmas decoration and a candle. It's got evergreen and candy canes in the wax of the candle. Well, Sarah sees only the candy cane and knows nothing of wax or candles and decides she's found a treat. She goes for it. Literally. She gnaws at the candle until she starts getting to the candy cane. You can kinda see how far she got on the bottom right side of the candle. Almost reminds me of how Lora gets around chocolate....beware of these two women around sweet stuff.

Sans Refrigerator Day 10

The new fridge is supposed to be here today, but we were also supposed to get a call yesterday letting us know when it's coming....I hope it's here when I get home today.


NEWSFLASH....life on life ministry is hard. When you're dealing with people and you want the best that God has for them, why is it so messy? Sometimes I wish I could just hide in an office and plan events and programs and messages, but I know that those things by themselves will not produce life-change and so I continue to venture into the muddy waters of discipleship, correction and encouragement. I see myself in others and thank God saying...except for grace, that'd be me.

Sans Refrigerator Day 8

Dinner after church today consisted of four Totinos pizzas from the freezer (no leftovers). Great meal for after church. I like junk food as much as the next guy, but I'm missing my fridge. Just made some popcorn now and we don't have any butter anymore to put on the popcorn. What good is popcorn without butter? All I can say right now is ... two more days, just two more days.

Sans Refrigerator Day 7

With no refrigerator working and nothing coming until Tuesday of next week, we're still eating lots of cereal, grilled cheese and other non-leftover type meals. The good news is that it's colder outside so food stays safe in a cooler on the porch.

The ferret (Bandit) on the other hand, doesn't really like the cold weather as much. He's been staying inside with us lately. Tanner decided to share his shirt with him and that made Bandit quite happy (and warm). I bet some people would love to live in a house like ours....with no refrigeration, five kids and roving ferrets in the house....oh, and the boys and I cooked hotdogs over a campfire last night in the 20 degree weather. It's always an adventure.

Second Saturday Service

It's a beautiful day today...a little chilly, but beautiful blue skies. About twenty of us hit the parking lots at Colonial Mall and in front of Toys R Us to hand out free hot chocolate and candy canes to people. Great day for hot chocolate since it was in the 20's when we started and only 34 my early afternoon (as you can see)


I'm still suprised when people turn down free stuff. We're just out there trying to be nice and people are so suspicious these days...dome tried to give us "donations" and others asked "how much?" even after we just said, "How about some free hot chocolate?" The great thing today was we actually had a mall manager and the Toys R Us manager stop by, ask what we were doing, and then compliment us. We didn't secure permission ahead of time so we figured we'd just give until we were asked to leave and then we'd go somewhere else. That didn't happen though.


After a couple of hours in the cold we went over to the Brody School of Medicine and dropped off some lunch stuff (sandwich meat, chips, fruit, and of course, hot chocolate) for all the medical students who were studying for final exams. We've had some med students attending Discovery and it was their idea - we're happy to bless anyone we can.

Christmas List Online

Some had emailed and asked for the Christmas Wish List to be available online so now it is. The list and a more detailed explanation of the list are both available here or on the front page of the website.

List

Detailed List

Too Much

Some may say by simply typing here, I'm wasting my time. I'd simply say I'm forcing myself to clarify my thoughts. Here's what I'm thinking. I'm good with people, but I'm not that good with organizing. My relationships are strong, but my desk is a mess and so is my day sometimes...easily turned upside down by an "urgent" need that wasn't planned (like maybe, a broken refrigerator?). I'm busy and have plenty to do, but somehow feel like I don't get anything done or at least I'm not in control of what does get completed. I'm easily sidetracked and lately, I've often been frustrated because of that. What to do....

Lora and I were talking last night after my "day off" turned into a chain of "I'll just do this...it will only take a minute" activities. I got some stuff done, but at what cost? Anyhow, it came up that maybe I should just schedule my time...like certain hours on certain days for message prep, leadership development, staff and meetings, vision work, research, etc. Would I like that? Sure. And I'm going to give it a shot. My hang-up is that I don't know how well that will work in a "people" business.

I don't offer refrigerators, lawn care or plumbing repair. The "goods" I work with are deeper. Lives may be improved by a new appliance or good looking lawn or they could be inconvenienced when plumbing leaks or the car breaks down, but lives aren't changed by that - they aren't transformed. I work to offer hope. A hope that's found in Christ and that transforms homes, lives, relationships and even entire communities and nations. But you can't buy it...you can only invest relational capital. And that's why I wonder if a schedule will help as much as I'd like it to. I guess I'll just have to plan relational time into the schedule and if there's no one there to invest in at the time, just move on to what's next on the schedule so that I'm free if the opportunity arises (or attacks) later.

The older I get the more I learn what I don't know. I used to think it was so easy or at least easier. Having a good marriage? Easy - just communicate and continue to 'date' your spouse. Raising kids? Easy - just be consistent and introduce them to Jesus. Start a new church? Easy - just follow what the Bible says and love God and love others. All those easy answers just lead to more questions...How? When? Will this work? Is this what I'm supposed to do? So off I go to try and answer another one of those new questions I'm asking...how can I make the most of my time?

Sans Refrigerator Day 5

It was supposed to be getting colder starting last night (we're talkin in the 20's) so I left some milk on the porch. Apparently the predictions changed and it practically warmed up. It was 55 at 5:30AM when I headed off to men's group. Guess we won't drink the rest of that milk. Tuesday doesn't seem like it's getting any closer.

Sans Refrigerator Day 4

Well, as much as I previously stated "I hate refrigerators" I am now inclined to withdraw that comment in light of the fact that the replacement fridge will not be here until next Tuesday. Sure we could have replaced it right away, but the $300 I'm saving appear to make the wait worth it (at least at this time). All I can say is that when it arrives, we will have gone 10 days without it and that makes for some pretty creative meal planning (and no leftovers).

Christmas List

Yesterday during the service, we handed out Discovery Church's Christmas Wish List. Since I'm running into problems getting it up on our website, I figured I'd just link to the thing right here, but I guess I can't do that either....server problems. (although if you have a blogger account, you should be able to see it here for now by logging in to your account)

I must say though that we have a lot of great shopping ideas on our list....chairs (250), a portable baptismal, staging, lights, speakers and various sound equipment, monthly plans to work with an outreach/new move-in company, digital picture frames, recognition and thank you items, office/meeting space and tons of other stuff. We've already been blessed with "stuff" and I told the people on Sunday that we didn't need any of it, we just think that we could improve our effectiveness with a few more "tools." We'll see, it's a tall order....all told nearly $100,000, but God's in the business of giving us more than we could ever dare to ask or even imagine, right?

Gettin Better?

So before the weekend started, things weren't all that great...I posted my "hate blog." There's something I forgot to add...I hate refrigerators. Sure they're great when they work, but MINE doesn't. Had a friend from church look at it and get it going, but that was temporary because by the next morning the compressor wasn't running anymore and everything was starting to thaw (again). Lora spent Sunday before church emptying the rest out and transferring it over to the Cannon's refrigerator (NOT that allowing the pastor to occupy fridge space is a staff requirement). That's the bad news.

The good news is people are great and I feel loved. I mentioned the fridge story in church and had one guy give me money before he left to put towards the replacement fridge, another offer to pay for it if we needed him to and we'd just pay back when we could, and a third who's calling in a favor to a friend to see if he can get us a really good deal on a new one (like half price!). So despite being in the dumps about needing to shell out unplanned cash for a new refrigerator, people have encouraged me by caring enough to help out and offer up their encouragement and resources. Made my day.

Junk I Hate

ARRGGH. Here's what I hate. Microsoft. Specifically at this moment...internet explorer. Allowed the stupid thing to update and change over to IE7 and have had nothing but problems so I took it off and went back to 6. Couldn't log on here for even afterwards so it's been like four days.

I also right now hate computers. Hate when they crash, bog down, lock up or flat out don't work how they're supposed to. Sure there's a good part to them, but right now, I'm sick of them.

And I hate credit cards. Lora and I aren't one to carry a balance, but we have a Discover card in our name that we use for Discovery Church stuff only (because the church still works with Global Reach Foundation and they take care of our administrative tasks and financial records) Anyhow, with the launch back in April, there were some things we needed and put on it. Since then there've been other high dollar items that we couldn't get billed for and couldn't wait for a check to go through the whole request process so it went on. We use it for online stuff too and GRF pays the bill. Well, I hate it because we're still carrying a balance, it's in MY name, and it's still almost at the limit....there's just not that much coming in with tithes and offerings to pay it down and keep investing in new ministry. I hate it.

I hate online order companies too. One in particular right now that we ordered ink for our church printer from them back the first of November. Got a call that day saying it would be 5-10 days would I still like to order. Said sure since it wasn't urgent. Called back after two weeks and was told it be by Thanksgiving. Yep, didn't show. Called today and just got a call back that it will be "around another 2 weeks...it's a national backorder" I don't care, just get me my ink or stop lying about when it will be here. Hate it.

Thinking is the last thing I hate at the moment. Been thinking about the end of the year series for almost a month and I am stuck....still. I'm speaking in two days, know where I'm speaking from, but don't really know what I'm supposed to say. Know what I want to say, but don't know if that's what the Lord wants me to say. I hate not being prepared. I hate last minute stuff (but still find myself working there a lot of the time). And I hate it when I think and pray and work and have virtually nothing to show for it. Should make for an interesting Sunday.

I'm sure this all sounds good coming from the pastor too. No sense sugar-coating it though. That's how it is and that's where I'm at. I'll get through it, but don't like the process. In fact, right now I hate it.