I Feel Much Better

I had several people ask why I was not preaching this week at church. A lot of people assumed that is was because of the 1/2 marathon. Not really. True I was very sore and very tired, but heck that has never stopped me before. I remember preaching with my finger gushing blood finishing and getting stitches in my hand. I can handle it. So that was not it.
Last year I went through a stretch of about 28 weeks without taking a break. That is over 1/2 the year without taking a Sunday off.
You know that is no good! It is not good for me. It is not good for my church either. Jesus had a lot to say about resting. I don't know why we think it is good to not listen to His advice and ever so often take a break.
Now understand that I still worked last week. I did a lot of things. Mainly plan the next series that we will be going through.
Now here is the cool part. It is Monday night, and all I want to do is preach. I am excited about it.

I did it!

What did I do? I finished! I finished the 1/2 marathon. Ouch. It hurt. I started off feeling fine. Everything was going well. The first nine miles were a breeze. Then came the last four miles, in particular miles 11.5-12.5, I wanted to stop. But I kept going (and going, and going, and going). When I got to the last half mile it was no problem. When I heard every one cheering me on, it made my life so much better. Never was I so happy to see the finish line. I crossed the line at about 2:28 minutes. Not bad. I was pretty happy about that. It is kind of fun to run by the water stations take a drink and throw the cup on the ground. You don't get to do that with a good conscience very often. After I finished, they gave us oranges and bananas. Yum! They hit the spot. Oh yeah. I won a prize. Granted it was a door prize that they pulled my number at random, but a prize is a prize.
The rest of the day I have not done too much. My legs really hurt. Ouch. But life will go on. Thanks to all who encouraged me.

Twas the Night Before

No, not Christmas, silly. I am talking about the night before the "Just a Short Run" 1/2 Marathon. Am I nervous? No. But I am super excited. I have never entered a race this long before. I realized the other day that I have my mind set to be a distance runner. I used to be geared for the 3 mile race when I ran in high school. Now I am getting to the point that three miles is just the warm up. It is just kinda weird like that.
My goal(s)

• Finish!
• Base Goal: 2:30 (that's two hours and 30 minutes)
• Reasonable Goal: 2:15
• BHAG (big hairy audacious goal): 2:00

So there you have it. Oh BTW (not that you wanted to know this but...) don't worry I don't think I will be wearing the shorts I got from entering them, they are well... a bit short. I don't like short shorts very much. :)

Well if you want, the race starts at 8:30. First we go around the ice skating rink, then around the lake twice and finish at the boat house. Oh yeah. This is at North Park (for those of you in the area you should know where that is).

I will be number "46" so if you see me say "go Dan!"

I better get to bed, I need my energy for tomorrow!

Some things never get old

I have been thinking back to Sunday, Easter Sunday. On Easter there is one thing that I want to speak about. That is what Christ accomplished on the cross. The fact that he provided a bridge between us and God. That by far is the most important concept I could share with anyone.
I started to feel bad because I knew some people have heard this message for 50 years. Then I thought about it some more. If it is the most important message, I am going to share it. And I did.
I do not know where everyone stands. That is God's job. My job is to share the most important message. I love my job!

Wow. This is Pretty Neat.

For the most part I do not think about numbers that often. I have caught myself before thinking about numbers way too much. I like to think about people. I like to think about "Joe, or Fred, or Arnold" more than I like to think about 3 people.
With that being said I think you can learn some important and vital information from numbers. This past Sunday we looked at the ages of those who were at church. I found out some interesting facts. Now before I share with you the age breakdown let me first say that any age classification has flaws. That is because people are different and at different points in their life at different times. But sometimes you have to draw an arbitrary line and just look at the numbers. Here is what we found out.

• 10% are under 20


• 40% are between 20-40


• 40% are between 40-60


• 10% are over 60

What impresses me most is the 20-40 category. I think at one point in time I was happy when that was 10%.
For some reason those numbers really encouraged me.

What a Weekend!

Wow. Craziness. I have to admit it was a good time but man was it tough. I went running yesterday, and my legs felt good, but I had no energy. I guess that is my body's way of telling me it is tired. I wanted to post some stuff on Sunday, but honestly, I did not have enough left in the tank to type. Same was true on Monday. Today I am back at it. It is not one of those "ohh boy, I'm ready to go" type days. I don't think it is going to be one of those weeks. Rather just one of those things were I slowly get back into the swing of things. Hopefully I will regain full energy before the 1/2 marathon on Saturday.
Now with all that being said, let me add this. I am so glad I am exhausted. I love to push myself to the limits. Especially when it is the direct result of either playing with my family or serving God with all my heart. Those are great things to use up all your energy on.
I think we guard ourselves too much. I think we worry about having a "reserve" that we become too afraid to totally empty ourselves. Why? Why do we do that?
Well I can think of a couple reasons:
#1 -- We become afraid
#2 -- What if we do it once? People will start expecting more
#3 -- We have been told "we have to have boundaries"
#4 -- When we are talking about money it is good to have a "reserve." The same is true with our energy right?
Those are probably all true but I think the biggest reason is that we are afraid to get hurt. When you put in all your energy, everything you got, it can hurt. It can cause you a lot of pain, and it is hard to deal with.
Now I am not trying to say I am some sort of Saint or anything like that. I am not trying to have people give me a pity party or anything like that. But it happens every week, and especially Easter, I give everything, and end up being empty. When you're empty everything hurts. Every comment people make, every reaction people give, everything hurts.
With that being said my reaction is "oh well, let's do it again next week." Far better to invest everything, get hurt, and let God put you back together than to "hold back."

Something that had never happened before

For those of you who were not at Bakerstown Alliance, and unfortunately that is a lot of people, you all missed something that had never happened before. You want to guess what it is? It is ok. I can wait while you think. Did you figure it out yet?
What happened is we had a gathering at church and I did not say ANYTHING! How exciting is that? Pretty cool. The only thing I did was play my bass guitar. We also had the worship team set up in the back, so it was possible that you never even saw me. I think that is great!
I felt we had a really cool atmosphere last night. Between the music that was focused on Christ and the interactive stations, it was really special. I think for those who where there, it was really powerful and meaningful.
It certainly was a lot of work to get ready. Our worship team was exhausted afterwards. Heather had to do a lot of planning, and getting the PowerPoint together was a lot of work too. Not to mention moving everything, and I do mean everything, and then putting it back afterwards. (Thanks Blake and Beth)
It was a lot of work, but when we remember who it was for it is worth it. We did it to honor Christ.

I'm Excessive!

Last night as I lay on the couch trying to relax, I remember something about myself. I am excessive. I was sitting there with a bag of Doritos. I should know better than that. I just kept eating and eating.

Now it is not just Doritos that I do that with. I decided to start blogging, and obviously I became obsessed with blogging.

I started running again. Now you would think, maybe a couple of miles 3 times a week or something nice like that. Oh no. Not me. I have started running and running and running, and then entered a 1/2 marathon like 2 months later.

While this is true, it helps me in other areas. I become motivated to do things better. I am getting ready for all our Easter activities, and I want them to be better than they have been before. Why? Because I am excessive.

Like so many things in our lives, they can be good or they can be bad. I am choosing to (well most of the time anyhow) to use my excessiveness to the good.

Just thought I would share with you all.

It is Easter Week!

Yes folks, it is Easter week. I know it early this year. If I remember right it has been 341 years since it has been this early.

Now Easter is and should be a huge week in the life of the church. It is one of those weeks that I run on overload. I get excited about it. I look forward to it. But it does take a lot of energy. My dad likes to joke around (folks he is only joking around) that it takes a lot of work to get Christ off the cross.

So being that it is Easter, do me a favor would you? Would you please take time to consider the real meaning of Easter. Not just the stupid Easter bunny? But rather what Christ did?

Just about every church will have something special going on this week. Make the time to join in some of those special events.

If you are in the area, stop by Bakerstown and you can join us.

Remember Christ went to the cross, but he did not stay there. He went to the tomb, but did not stay there. He then went to Heaven, He is taking up permanent residency there, but will becoming back.

Enjoy Easter

Shamrocks Shakes and My Boycott!

I have been avoiding McDonald's for about 10 years now. I have been going there less and less. I just don't like the food. I am much more of a Subway guy. Much better, fresh food versus fried food. For the last couple of years I do not think I have ordered anything from McDonalds but fries and milkshakes. This is where the problems begin.
The advertise their milkshakes. The tell you about how good they are. Today is March 16th. Tomorrow is St. Patricks Day. Everyone (well not you guys in the south) knows that March is Shamrock shake month at McDonalds. So we went there tonight to get our Shamrock shake. The shake machine was broken! What is up with that? Argh. Now if this was the first or second year this happened, I could say "bummer." But I can not tell you the number of times that the milkshake machine has been broken. Now I don't know if it is actually broken, or if they are just too lazy to make my Shamrock milkshake.
Right before we went there, Heather and I were joking around saying "I bet they will tell us their machine is broken." Of course we were laughing because of the previous ten times that has happened to us. I then said, "If the machine is broken I am never going to McDonald's again." Well it was. Therefore today begins my boycott. Would you like to join me?

P.S. We went and got a mint milkshake at Dairy Queen. It equalled or surpassed the Shamrock shake.

Random Reflections

• Ahh the weekends, they go by in such a blurr


• Got a new pair of running shoes -- I hate spending money. But when you know you need them because you use them, it feels pretty good


• Went to an Easter Egg Hunt at Richland Park -- Isaiah had a blast


• One problem -- In the eggs -- Just hard candy -- where is the chocolate?


• Lots of rain at Bristol -- didn't get to see nearly as much nascar as I would have liked


• My water pump started acting up this weekend -- that's not good


• Yes folks, we still have well water


• Pitt Basketball -- Ohh yeah!


• Big East Champions -- Ohh yeah!


• For some reason our 4 month old is getting confused about this whole wake up time. He thinks he should get up at about 6:30 -- If you know my wife, she is not exactly a morning person


• Carlos was at church today!


• I was impressed, it seemed pretty balanced at church


• The last couple of months either one side or the other side or the middle has more than other sections. But today was balanced


• One of the things that I like about Bakerstown, people talking to each other


• It took me couple attempts of saying "good morning" to get things going :)


• I'm excited to see how we are all going to put our painful experiences to work to serve God


• Easter -- Just 7 days away


• I am excited about everything that is going on this week


• With that in mind please pray for me, I am going to need a lot of energy to get through the week


• It is Easter next Sunday, Be Excited!


• Shamrock Shakes...Hmm...That topic is going to get its own post

Scheduling Time For People

This week I took a look at my schedule and it seemed like I had a lot of meetings or other things that I had to be at from this time to that time. You will have weeks like that. It is ok. But as I was going form one place to another I had a thought. What about time for other people? I have met some people that seem to never have time to meet with people and just talk. I find that to be so annoying. If you don't have time for people, you need to check your priorities. Then I have also met people that love to schedule you in. You get to meet with them from 9 to 10, no earlier no later. Not nearly as annoying. A little annoying? Maybe. But it is better than nothing. It is the people that you can call up and they will meet with you and talk to you and make you feel important enough to spend their precious time with, that is great! Rest assured I have people in my life that fit all those categories. It's those that will make time for you, that have the biggest impact.
So when you are working on your schedule the next week or so, make sure you have time for people.

The Answer To a Question You Always Wanted To Know

Now if you have ever heard of the Lighthouse Foundation you probably have asked, "What all goes on there?" That is a fair and honest question. Honestly it is a place that never stops. They keep going and going and going. They are the energizer bunnies. I had the privilege of working at the Lighthouse for a couple of years. When I would begin to tell people the stories, they were just amazed at what all went on.
Fast forward to now, they have started a blog. This blog will be written by various staff members. The purpose is to tell the "stories" of the lighthouse. It is worth checking out. So do yourself a favorite and read it.

Ask and They Will Respond

On Sunday I did something bold and daring: I asked people to step up to the plate and get involved in a variety of different activities at the church or various other organizations. Now on the whole we have a lot of people who are ultra giving and ultra involved in various activities and/or various organizations. But there was room to improve. So I asked. Honestly, I did not know how it was going to turn out. Honestly, I was afraid that no one was going to do anything. But, thankfully, my God is a lot bigger than my fears. And my God knew exactly what He was doing. I am starting to see the results. I am starting to hear the stories. And I am sitting here feeling a little foolish for not having enough faith and feeling very grateful for what God is doing.

My Running Update

I have not told you all about my running progress in a while. So I thought I would do that right now. Been running, been running a lot. I have been pretty good about running 4 times a week. A couple of times I had to use the gym because of snow/ice/rain or whatever. But other then that it has been going great. Today I made it about 9.5 miles. Felt pretty good. Last week I registered for a 1/2 marathon. A 1/2 marathon is only like 13.1 miles or something like that. No biggie right? It has been fun running. I am looking forward to completing the 1/2 marathon on March 29th at North Park. Just in case you want more information go to here.

Losing an Hour...I like it

Tonight is a night that millions upon millions of people dread. It is the night where we spring ahead. Or better translated, we lose an hour of sleep. Now a lot of people get really upset about this unfortunate event. Personally, I look forward to this day. Now Sundays are the day that I have to get up the earliest to get everything ready for Sunday morning. But I don't mind the time change. It signifies the beginning of summer, the beginning of fun. However, it is a little different now that they changed the week that it is. The fact that it is only the 2nd week of March rather then the 2nd week of April. Considering that I was shoveling today, well not exactly the beginning of summer. But here is to more light at night.

P.S. Don't forget to change your battery in your smoke detector.

It is ok to have fun

Sometimes I just have to remind people of that. The greatest thing about the church that I am the pastor of, is that they allow me to have fun. There are so many things that go on at church that should be fun. Yet we are afraid to sometimes. We think we have to be so formal and proper. Please stop it. Just have fun.
The other night we got to hang out at Panera with a Missionary from Uruguay. What fun. We had the missionary smiling relaxing and having fun. Guess what we were doing? We were being ourselves and having fun.
So please don't be afraid to be yourself and have fun.

What Day Is It?

This week we are having our MissionFest at church. Because of everything that is involved in that, I did not take off Monday my normal day. I will take off Friday instead. However in my mind Monday was a Tuesday, but it really was a Monday. So today I thought it was Wednesday even though it was Tuesday. There are certain things that I do on certain days of the week that I still have to do. And then there are other things that I do on my first day of work or my 2nd day of work. On weeks like this, I just get all confused. Can any of you relate to any of this? Or did I just confuse you all?

My Poor Little Teeth

I did something today that I have not done since, well, May of 1999. I got my teeth cleaned. Ouch. Needless to say it is not recommended that you go nine years without a cleaning. The lady got this fancy machine out and started to go to town on my teeth. Ouch and double ouch. Then after the fancy machine she got the old pick and mirror out. More ouches. Wow. I don't know if my mouth was ever in so much pain. My teeth feel funny right now. My whole mouth is sore and I probably should take some medication or something. Bad news, I have to go back in a couple of weeks. This time it is a matter of a drill. Triple ouch.
Not sure the point of this post. I guess if I could offer you some advice it is go to the dentist more then once every nine years.

Weekend Wrap Up

Because I am so tired, because it has been such a crazy week, I reserve the right to be totally scattered and random.

• Totally did not expect that much snow on Friday. I was thinking like 1 or 2 inches. I'm thinking we ended up with 7 or 8 inches
• Which messed up my plans big time for Friday. We were going to go to Shakespeare Restaurant. That didn't happen.
• But what did happen was fun is we ended up with I don't know like 4 or 5 (depending if you count a dog) people at our house.
• Saturday we visited Heather's Side of the Family. On the way home our 2 boys and Heather were sleeping. I don't know if I should admit this, but wow, that was so peaceful. I took a route on the way home just to avoid stop lights so no one would wake up.
• This morning was odd, I was not speaking
• I got to the church at the same time as normal, so I was able to do some "administrative" stuff that normally I would never think of doing on Sunday morning
• Patty was off the hook. She did a great job. In fact, you can listen to her here
• Today we had our little one Dedicated. My dad got to do the dedication.
• Some people have asked my why I didn't have my dad perform my wedding and various other type things. Let me give you my reason. Because before he is a Pastor he is a Dad. And as a Dad he wants to be a Dad. So I like to let him be just that, a Dad.
• I ate entirely too much at lunch
• Had a good time eating with every one at church. I wish I could have talk to more people for longer
• Carl Edwards 2 in a row, wow. I didn't think Fords were going to do anything this year
• I love my wife.
• I am tired
• Good night :)