Wedding Referee?

I'm doing a wedding tomorrow so I figured for the rehearsal today, I'd wear this.  Whaddya think?

Seriously though.  There are so many people that enter into marriage with a smile on their face and they're oblivious to how the game is supposed to be played.  So what happens?  They get into their marriage a few years and find out that it takes skill, effort, communication and teamwork to be successful.  And if they discover that they don't have that, there are two options.  Go out and learn the necessary skills or quit and try to play in a new game on a different team.  Way too many people choose to quit and change teams.  That's why I'm dressed as a referee.  THERE WILL BE NO SWITCHING TEAMS if I do your wedding.

24 Hours

It's been about 24 hours since I started my Facebook account and I'm thinking I'm actually going to like this. I can say, I'll have to be disciplined in how much time I spend because there's a fine line between productive and destructive time use and I don't need to be wasting any time. I'm far from a professional networker, but I'm happy to have about 70 'friends' after the first 24 hours. It's been really cool connecting with people I haven't talked to in years. Gotta appreciate technology.

I Caved

I said I wasn't going to do it.  I was resisting.  But like the cell phone I said I didn't want or need (thought a pager was good enough) I'm stepping up now.  Yep, I set up a Facebook account.  I think what sent me that way was reading a short post by Mark Batterson about it.  So since he did such a good job summarizing why Facebook isn't a bad idea, but is more like a necessary idea, I decided to set up a Twitter account too.  You can follow me here.

Remember, technology is just a tool.  And that's why YouVersion is getting a bit more of a workout from me lately

I'll give it through next week to see if I like these two new things or if I'm going to kill it all.

Poop Water?!

Welcome to Greenville, home of the refreshing taste of poop water. Yep, that's right. Apparently, the water people found fecal E. coli in our water supply and issued a "boil water" alert until further notice for everything from the hospital to ECU to Pitt Community College and yes, even my house as well as thousands of others. And an hour or so ago, the health department closed down EVERY restaurant. So, anybody thirsty? We've got a lot of poop water available.

*edited*

Apparently Winterville (where I live) has their own water.  Hooray!  Only those sorry Greenville people have a poop problem.

Make You Smile

Even Tyler is a little bit tired of the terrorist. Anybody want to buy her?

We actually made this video for church back during our Price Is Right series. I'm sure I'll look back on this and laugh well into my 80's.

Weekend Recap

Great weekend, here's a few thoughts about everything:

• Loved spending Family Friday with my family at the beach in Wilmington.
• Beach hotels are way too expensive
• Seven people in one hotel room means I have to go to bed early (and no extra-curricular activity)
• Davey and Janelle's wedding was one of the coolest I've been to
• Loved that they both sang during the ceremony (and no softy love song - they rocked out with a whole band of brothers - literally)
• Every groomsman wore flip flops with their tuxedo. Glad I wore mine
• It was pouring out during the wedding - good thing it was inside
• All the rain made me even happier that I took the family to the beach on Friday since we got rained out on Saturday
• Poor Randy (our worship leader) was in the wedding, but sick the whole time he was there and didn't even sing at church today
• Had some new people come out to help set up on Saturday
• With Randy sick, we had to scramble to rearrange some stuff. Marcus and I divided the songs and made it work. Was a little stressful though
• I haven't lead that much worship since I left Florida. Once the nerves wore I off, I loved it. Hope everyone else did
• Looked like a pretty full house today so that was great to see - had to pull out extra chairs
• Had a good number of visitors
• Craig's message was pretty good, but brought up a few questions too. I love that our people ask questions and challenge what's being said.
• Went to Moe's for lunch - "Welcome to Moe's!!"
• Had about an hour or so between lunch and having to head over to an ordination council for Brent Adkins. He used to be on staff at Discovery
• Ordination council was actually pretty fun - for me (don't know how Brent felt)
• Got to preach at Grace Church tonight for Brent's ordination - again, I liked it.
• We had a real good showing of support for Brent. Must have had 25 people or so come out.
• Cold Stone smoothies rock
• Looking forward to the last week of One Prayer and the start of our next series (missing Brad though)
• I hate sweating when I'm at church - it just doesn't seem right. Why is that?
• That said, I need a shower and sleep. It's been a long weekend. Out

What I'm Learning (part 3)

When I was changing my kids diapers and they used to pee or poop on me, I generally reacted the same way. Now before I tell you how I reacted, how would you react if you got peed on? How about if you’re just sliding the clean diaper under their cute little bottom and the kid unloads some poo with enough force to shoot it 4 feet past whatever part of you they didn’t hit? What do you do? Me? I’d smile. I’d laugh. And if possible, I just might take a picture (don't believe me....HERE)

Why? Because like I’ve been talking about in church….my response is my responsibility. So as I’ve learned that all those people who told me I should do anything else but plant and pastor a church were right, I’ve also learned that circumstances shouldn’t determine my attitude. I can smile and laugh while being covered in baby poo.

And I’m learning that it’s a choice. I can smile and laugh and love God and other people when I’m feeling like a failure. Because I’m not. I may have failed a person, but I’m pretty sure you can’t “fail” God. Sure, I can mess up and not reach my potential, but God still loves me because that’s how I was when he first chose to love me…messed up and way short of my potential (and maybe even covered in poo – he did love me way back when I was just a baby too).

I guess I’m starting to realize that bad circumstances are really relative, it just depends on who you compare your circumstances to. But the only miserable and hopeless circumstance is also one I will never face – not knowing Christ and being known by Him. I’ll never have to face that. But there are people who are facing that right now. No wonder they’re miserable and discontent. And that’s the reason I’m planting and pastoring Discovery Church….because there are still people, way too many people, right here in this area, that are in terrible circumstances, the worst part being, they don’t know Jesus.

That’s what I’m learning. What are you learning? What’s God been teaching and showing you?

Unbelievable

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, a 12 year old girl in Canada took her dad to court for not letting her go on a school trip because of inappropriate internet behavior.....and the little twerp won! Apparently the court thought the punishment was too severe. What's next, jail time for the mom that makes her son eat all his vegetables or the family that grounds their kid from going to the movies because he didn't pick up his room? Ridiculous! Don't believe me? See for yourself Somebody ought to shoot the lawyers who take these cases and the judges who don't immediately toss them out.

Terrorist CAPTURED!

The turtle-torturer and General of the Winterville "under-2" terrorist network has been captured. She'll be detained for questioning in hopes of uncovering future planned strikes.
Actually, we're dog sitting and she decided she wanted to hang out where Odie sleeps.

Show Me The Love

I'm someone who loves a good practical joke. Just ask Randy about when we painted his car pink - we decked it out inside too with all kinds of Hello Kitty stuff and added curb feelers, spinners and even "chromed out" his grill. And don't forget to ask him "why?" he had the high privilege of being a 'victim'. So when I got home last night, I smiled. When I got up this morning and read the note that was left, I smiled more. I love that this job was tied into what was talked about on Sunday morning. Seriously, major bonus points for using something from the message (hold on to your fork) to really drive the prank home. For the rest of you, "hold on to your fork" is a reference to part of the message that Perry Noble shared on Sunday. He remembered that when his momma said "hold on to your fork" it meant something even better and sweeter was coming - and that's just like following Jesus should be - anticipating that ultimately, something even better and sweeter than what you've already experience is coming.
But let me just say this. You're going to have to do better. A lot better. You see, I'm used to this kind of stuff and I've played this game (quite well I might add) for a number of years. So when I see maybe a hundred forks in my yard, I just smile instead of laugh. Why? Because I've seen better - in my own yard. Hundreds and hundreds of forks, inches apart. Now that's love. So come on, if you're going to get me, show me some love. It'll make me laugh. Like this did when I was down in Florida.

But be warned. I will find out (not too hard when you sign the note) and I go all out. I've got ideas I haven't tried yet and I've been refining them for over 10 years. As long as there's no threat of permanent or painful damage to people or property, game on. I've built boxes around vehicles (in a parking lot!) delivered toilet shaped lawn ornaments, filled vehicles with shredded paper (and I mean filled) and more. And I've been a part of cars being put up on blocks, text message bombs (like hundreds - and you can't stop them), midnight raids, dying dogs pink (guess whose dog) and the list goes on. And since I know some of you are asking, even though we painted Randy's car pink, we actually painted it back to blue - and let him keep the spinners! I'll see if I can find a picture of that.

What I'm Learning (part 2)

They were right. I’m learning that they were right. They told me that it was going to be like this, that if I had any other option, I should choose that. They told me if it didn’t start rough, it would get rough. They told me I’d want to give up some days. They told me.

Who are “they”? “They” are the people who told me that planting and pastoring a church isn’t something people volunteer for. I heard another guy say, “if you volunteered, if you signed up for this…..you’re just stupid.” You need to be called. And I was and am called to this place to plant and pastor Discovery Church.

But I’m learning that they were right. The average person has no idea the weight and burden that the pastor carries. I have pretty thick skin, am open to criticism, and can get along with pretty much anyone. Still, when people feel let down, left out, ignored or offended, it still hurts – I feel responsible. When something doesn’t turn out right, I feel responsible. When people aren’t being transformed by God’s word – their marriages are failing, their habits aren’t changing, their love for others isn’t growing – I feel responsible. Not just like I let them down, but like I’m letting God down.

And so I’m learning that they were right. But I’m also learning one other thing (and I’ll tell you about that tomorrow)

What I'm Learning (part 1)

The past few weeks (actually it’s been more like the past 2 months) I’ve been in what I’ve come to call “the funk.” You know what I’m talking about. It’s that state of being where you don’t know why you’re not enjoying life, you just know you’re not. Honestly, it’s not a fun place to be. I mean, I’ve got the most wonderful family in the world – great wife, cool and unique kids, people that love me, pray for me and play with me. What could be wrong?

Well, I don’t know. That’s why it’s “the funk.” Like a skin rash…you may not know what it is, but you know it’s there and other people notice too, “man, he’s got the funk.” So you know what I’m learning? That it’s not as important to know what the causes “the funk” as it is to just get rid of it. Wash it off. Do whatever it takes.

It might look different for you, but for me, I needed to get away (we went to the mountains) and I need to look ahead. Not just ahead to the week, but further ahead. I’ve learned that I really need something to look forward to. “The funk” came because I wasn’t really moving towards anything that I was passionately excited about anymore. I’d slowed down, moved into neutral (or maybe even park) and “the funk” seized the opportunity. Just like how that hard cheese crust forms on the cheese dip when you aren’t stirring it, you know what I mean?

That’s one thing I’m learning. How about you?

Plenty To Pray About

Been making regular trips to the OnePrayer blog where people have shared their prayer needs and the miracles they're praying for.  Plenty to keep me praying on top of what I'm praying for myself, my family and friends, our church and this community.

What are you praying for?  What miracle are you praying for God to do for you, in you or through you?

Fasting And Praying

Today, myself, our staff and thousands of other people who are part of OnePrayer will be fasting and praying for our churches and specifically for God to do miracles only He could pull off. I invite you to be a part of that and if you don't know what to pray for, you can go to the OnePrayer blog and read the comments and prayers people have posted there.

I've got a few people and "impossible" situations I'll be praying about today. Please join me.

Gut-check

Gut check time.  The past few weeks have been a roller coaster around here and have brought up a few questions that are causing us to think a little deeper and harder about what it is that we are, and need to be doing.  I'm convinced that the longer you do anything, the easier it is to lose focus.

Take marriage for instance.  The longer you're married, the easier it is to forget about why you married your spouse, all the dreams you had together and all the good things.  That means it's also easier to identify the stuff that annoys you, the things you'd change and the problems you regularly argue about.

So we're just doing a gut check to make sure that Discovery doesn't end up as another broken or unhappy marriage.  Make sure the focus and energy is on the right things and we'll be more effective and ultimately more content.  Maybe you should try that with your spouse.

No Smoking Please

What's up with this?  This whole week, it's been smoky around here.  Apparently there's a wildfire out towards the coast and the winds are blowing the smoke back inland.  I guess the good news is that it's still over 90 degrees and I didn't want to have my windows open anyhow.  Here's what it looked like down the road when I was out and about earlier today (it was like 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning!)

I'm With The Band

After a long break of playing and leading worship in the past, I'm excited to get a chance to play with the worship team again.  Since we're doing OnePrayer (and we have guest speakers for the next few weeks) and I can't just sit still, so Randy is gonna let me play with the band.  Woo Hoo!  I'm not exactly used to late practice thought so I guess you could say I'm a little tired.  Do I look like it?

Gruesome Discovery

The turtle that was kidnapped by the Terrorist (see story here, here and here) and never recovered has been found. He had made his way over to the book pile in the girls room and was discovered at storytime when a terrorist informant uncovered the slightly decomposed shell of the victim. In the words of the first person on scene, "his eyes are inside out." There will be no visitation, no viewing and no public funeral. A small family memorial was held immediately after discovery.

Please beware, apparently a young but effective terrorist network is being formed in Pitt County. You have been warned.

One Prayer Update

When we kicked off One Prayer yesterday, I was nervous and excited.  Nervous because of what I was talking about - being committed to Jesus, and excited because there are over 1200 other churches that are choosing to be a part of this and are praying for their churches and the church at large.  So what does 1200 churches really look like?  This

One Prayer Churches from LifeChurch.tv on Vimeo.

There are daily thoughts and reflections (you might call them devotions) written by other participants and pastors that are available every day.  Make the most of this opportunity and check them out, comment, and most importantly, PRAY!

Good To Be Back

Had a great time with the family near Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountains all last week. The place we stayed was literally at the top of a mountain - couldn't go any higher and it was great. We hiked a few trails, checked out some waterfalls, took in a little of the Gatlinburg tourist stuff, caught a raccoon and spent time catching up with some families we haven't seen in over two years (there were 4 families and 25 people)

It was just the thing I needed. A break and time to marvel and enjoy some of God's amazing creation. Plus, with no internet access, I wasn't tempted to check email or get stuff done and didn't even watch TV (who would with the amazing nature show right off the deck?) So, good to be gone and good to be back, even if it is 100+ degrees.