Really Officer?

So I'm on my way back from getting some stuff out of the outdoor trailer at the Boys and Girls Club because we can't set up until 9:00 tonight since there's a basketball tourney. Anyhow, I was just cruising along and not paying attention when I notice a police car coming the other direction turning on its lights. It makes a U-turn in the road so I slide to the side so he can pass, but....he doesn't. He pulls in right behind me. [Claude happened to be following me and made a few passes and took pictures - how sweet]

He asked me if I knew why he was pulling me over and I honestly didn't so I said no. He told me I was going 61 in a 45. That kinda surprised me and it must have showed since he asked if I knew that and all I could say was I just wasn't paying attention. Again, honesty ends up being the best policy though. I hope Claude got a good laugh out of it. All I got was a warning.

I didn't tell the officer I was a pastor, but if he was paying attention he may have figured out I at least go to Discovery Church. Look on the warning and you can see that my license plate is "DSCOVERY"

Glimmer of Hope

So far this year, my Saturdays have been anything but enjoyable. I love college football and cheer for Ol' Notre Dame. At 0-5 now there's not much to cheer about. Yet today, I saw a glimmer of hope. Sure they lost to Purdue (not a throwaway team) but they moved the ball and defense, while not stellar by any measure, did good enough to at least keep them in the game until the fourth quarter.

My take-a-way is that it's not how bad (or often) you lose, it's how hard you work to improve. Without a doubt, ND has improved. Without a doubt, some things at Discovery have improved. And I'm certain that we've worked really hard to get to where we're at and are planning on working even harder to move ahead.

I'm not saying that Discovery is a losing team - not by a long shot. But I'm trying to redeem what's been a terrible season for the Irish and learn a few lessons I can apply to where I'm at. Maybe you need this reminder too. Regardless of what's already happened, the only thing you can influence is the your future - so work hard, improve and we'll see what happens when we get there.

Momma Always Said...

A friend sent this to my wife and I had to share it with you. Makes me so happy to have Lora on my side and as a mom to my kids. See if you recognize any of the lyrics coming from your house.

I can almost guarantee that watching will be 3 minutes worth of your time (some of you won't get it and maybe never will, but oh well) Enjoy.

Words That Will Break A Father's Heart

I'm tucking my oldest daughter Sarah into bed last night and after I pray with her I lean over to give her a hug. She gives me an extra squeeze and in the process gets me off balance so I end up leaning on her pretty good - sort of like squishing her. I give her a kiss and tell her I love her and she says, "Daddy, you're fat" Not what I was expecting out of that tender moment.

I tell her I'm sorry for "squishing" her and she proceeds to look at me with this cute little grin and say, "Daddy, your REALLY fat". I didn't know I squished her that much.

I try to take the high road and explain to my impressionable young daughter that it's not nice to call people "fat" and that I'm not really fat, I'm just bigger than her. She takes it in, thinks about it, smiles her princess smile at me and says, "No Daddy, you're fat."

If she wouldn't have been smiling, I might have had to sit on her for real and taunted her by saying, "who's fat?" But I kissed her again, laughed, picked up by broken heart and left.

Pregnant?

I know for many of you reading this, you saw the title and quietly said to yourself...."there's no way." You, my friend, would be right. There is absolutely no way. If you need a little recap or reminder, you can read about it HERE and HERE.

But this isn't about me. No, today I had lunch at the Carolina Pregnancy Center. They invited some pastors from the community out to see their center, to share what they do and most importantly, to feed us (joking). It's a great place. We've done what we can to help them out since we started Discovery and support them whole-heartedly. Obviously with five kids of my own I'm pretty pro-life and think we should do whatever we can to love people who are struggling with these decisions.

I hurt when I heard a couple stories of people who came to the center and decided to go through with having an abortion. I found some comfort in hearing that those same people still felt loved and accepted by the center staff. The center offers more than just pregnancy testing and ultrasounds. They offer classes, clothing, and tons of other resources including post-abortion counseling. And all of it they offer wrapped up in the love of Christ - without fear of condemnation.

I've always struggled with how to handle this issue from the stage. I talked with too many women who would skip church on "Sanctity of Life" Sunday because they felt beat up instead of cared for. Just this past Sunday, I was telling about my experience teaching in DC when partial-birth abortion began to emerge as a topic of debate. I briefly described a newspaper ad that had some diagrams and made sure to say that I wasn't talking about people who've had abortions, and that God loves them anyway. Still, I got a comment about being insensitive. I don't know how to talk about it, be honest, truthful and respectful, without upsetting people. Don't even know if it's possible.

Anyhow, just know that wherever you live, there is most likely a center near you that is all about lifting up life and loving on women and men in difficult circumstances. They could use your help, support and prayers. And every little bit matters.

So Encouraged

Just a few minutes ago I got the report summary of this week's prayer requests that were turned in. I'm so excited that people are sharing their needs, burdens and cares for other people and at the same time I hurt. I hurt for some of the stuff people are going through and am more determined than ever to help them find a way to plug in so they'll have an "outlet" and won't have to feel like they're going through life alone. Here's just a small sampling of what people wrote down for this week only

• Pray as my wife and I seek a better solution to our financial needs
• Please pray for our marriage
• Friend's family, the mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer
• Pray for me right now, because I'm going thru "hell"
• Pray for my kids. They need prayer right now.
• Pray for a part time job to come along
• Friend in a car accident and person they seriously injured
• CF patient who needs double lung transplant
• [Someone] struggling with depression

The best part is that I know the God of the universe. He has a relationship with me and so many others and we have the privilege of going right to him with these concerns. He cares. Does that mean everything will turn out just the way WE want it? No. Does it mean that things will turn out just the way that HE wants it? Again, no. Here's the deal though, God wants to hear about our needs, wants, desires, hopes, problems, hurts, hangups and anything else we want to talk to him about. And he wants us to hear him and know that he cares. He cares about us. He cares about you. He cares about the people who turned in these requests. So let's pray in faith together and see if we can't move some mountains.

If anyone else has anything they'd like us to pray for, send an email to info@discoverychurchonline.com and we'll add it to our ever-growing list.

Flexibility

I'm a pretty flexible guy and church planting has forced me to stay that way. I honestly think we can make God laugh when we tell him our plans and how we want things to happen. Just think about this... we meet in rented space (our third space in less than 2 years), we set up and tear down every week with different people helping and sometimes at different times and even different days), we have no office (unless you count a lot of the local restaurants), we often can't let people know about things until only days (or even hours) before, and the list could go on.

Here's a few ideas about surviving with flexibility,

• Understand that a schedule is a guideline, not always a strict timeline so allow for changes
• Be willing to say "yes" to things you don't want to do and allow others to say "no" even if it messes up your plan
• Always acknowledge that there might be another way to accomplish you goal
• Think in terms of contingency plans (what will we do if...)
• Expect changes, don't fight them
• Learn to laugh at yourself
• Practice saying things like, "It's all good" and "we can make it work"
• You can depend on people but you need to trust God

What are some of the things that you do to help you deal with the constantly changing state of your life?