Getting to see other churches

One of the things that I get to do as the Director of the Lighthouse is speak at different churches. I enjoy this a lot. First of all, I feel that every church who supports us deserves an update. They are giving us their support, and we need to give them an update. I feel honored to do that.
The 2nd cool part, is that I always leave energized. Seems like someone is always telling me a good story about the Lighthouse. Or just people come up to me and saying "you guys keep up the good work." I leave recharged and ready to go at it.
The 3rd cool part for me is I get to see how other churches do what they do. Listen, there is no one way to do church. A church is made up of people, people are different. Different people do different things. It is a lot of fun to see this in action.

You know it is time to get your car fixed when...

I can admit, I hate to spend money on cars. I want to see how long I can go without paying anything for my cars. Yes, this is why I only fill up with gas when it is completely below empty. The other week my exhaust broke. It was one of those thumps what was that? Before you know what happened you push the gas and it is loud as can be. So I know I should get it fixed, but just haven't got around to it yet.
Then yesterday it was thundering around the time I normally get home. Samuel stops what he was doing and says "Da da?" OK , when you kid starts thinking that thunder sounds like your car...yeah it is time to fix it!

Spending time with my wife

This past weekend, Heather and I had to go to an out of town wedding. Wow! It was incredible! It was about 4 hours away. I can honestly say that we never turned on the radio on the way out there. We were able to talk for 4 hours without any interruptions. Obviously, we left the kids at home. Heather was playing in the wedding, so we went to the rehearsal, and then after the rehearsal we had one of those things, I think they call it a date. We were driving back to our Bed and Breakfast, and we saw a miniature golf course. Why not? So we did. Then we were hungry, so late night desert run! Saturday was the wedding. It was nice. Both the bride and the groom said "I do." (Don't you love my details?) Then we had a little bit of time in between the wedding and reception, so Heather and I just walked around and had a good time. On the way home, I did not turn on the radio until there was about an hour left. At that point, Heather was falling asleep. (I talked to much). We got home, went to bed.
Now all told this was only like a 36 hour excursion. But, boy was it fun to spend that time with my wife.

Memoiral day done right

Yesterday, was a great day. I know I already mentioned the Nascar race stopping to honor Memorial Day. But also in the morning, we celebrated Memorial Day with 500 of our friends. Every year the local American Legion puts on a celebration in the park. Wow! It is so simplistically complicated and raw. They don't bring in some big name speaker or anything like that. They have ordinary people talking about this great country. I know it is done in other places, but one of the things that always moves me is when they have the family members of those who have passed away in the past year put a flower on a wreath. I love the honor for the family. I have never liked the 21 gun salute. But I am now glad that I don't like the gun salute. I understand that I am not supposed to like it. I also don't really enjoy taps being played. Again I understand, I get it, and I don't have to like it. I am glad it makes me uncomfortable.
Being at that great park, with great people, celebrating this great country...that's Memorial Day!

Memorial Day

I have come to appreciate Memorial Day a lot more then I used to. Maybe it's because I understand what it's all about. Maybe I am just getting old and sappy. Now, there is a lot more stuff that I would like to blog about. I think in my head I have about 20 different blogs that I am working on. But the problem is I have a headache tonight and have been dealing with an awful sore throat for the past 3 or 4 days. Now with all that being said, I want to mention one thing that I thought was really neat.
Of course it has to do with Nascar. Because the race was rained out yesterday, they were racing today. When it was 3:00 p.m. They stopped the race. They had all the cars park on the front stretch, and all the crews line up on pit lane, and, as the president declared, had a moment of silence at 3:00 p.m. At first I thought this was ridiculous. How could you stop a race right in the middle. But then I realized, this is a sport, this is a game, this is not life. The winner of the race is not nearly as significant as those who gave their life for the freedom we have to watch this sport. Very classy move! Good job Nascar!

What my kids teach me about God

This is a true story. Yesterday I stopped by my parents house for a second. I was doing something and was not watching Samuel for about 2 minutes. When I turned around he was soaked head to toe. Ahh!!!!! Somehow he managed to dump a whole can of coke on himself. So we loaded up and went home and straight to the bath. While I was getting the water ready, I turned my head for a second (You think I would have learned huh?) and I then felt this warm spot on my leg. It was all over me. Yes folks, he peed on me! I know that is gross. But it was at that moment that I could not be mad at him, I had to get over it. I could not stay upset. I had to be a dad.
This morning, Isaiah woke up early. I was hoping to sleep in a little bit. But as soon as he got up I asked him if he could go down stairs and watch a video. He at first said no, and told me what he was going to do. I told him "go down stairs." He was down stairs for a while came up. I told him go back down stairs. He headed right towards Samuel's room, while Sam was still sleeping. I quickly grab him and put him in time out. After that it was time for breakfast. When we were eating, I realized that I needed to get over his bad attitude. I realized it was time to forgive and forget. So we ate breakfast together and just had a lot of fun.
Now what I have come to realize is my short comings. My faults of getting upset real easy. I have had to learn how to forgive and forget, quickly! Now, our heavenly Father has to deal with this on a much larger level. My kid pees on me and I get upset. How much more have I done myself to God our Father?
So as I am learning about being a father, it is adding to my understanding of God my Father. Wow! The stuff we put him through, the fact that He forgives, that just blows my mind!

Being regular

I must admit, I am generally a guy who is very regular. I like things to function normally. By default, I think I am a morning person. But you have to understand, I like morning routines and don't like when those routines are interfered with.
Things like get up, take a shower, get dressed, get the coffee going, check my email, ect... I just like those routines.
Now what I have noticed over the past year is my friend Blake. Blake will check my blog some where between 8:45 and 9:15. I can tell how much sleep he got the night before based on the time he checks it. I love people who stick with their morning routine!

Upset stomachs can be good

My cousin got married this weekend. Good for him. It is nice to see two people who love God and love each other get married. I have a lot of hope for those two. I think they will do well.
Before the wedding ceremony I asked Jon how he is feeling. He told me his stomach was a little upset. Now that I have thought about it for a while, good! I am glad he was a little nervous before his wedding. No, I don't think he was doubting his decision or anything like that. He just understood the magnitude of marriages. Now if that magnitude causes an upset stomach, good!

Getting my preaching groove going

Many people ask me how I like my new job. They also ask my dad how he is enjoying his new job. Now knowing that we basically switched jobs, our answers are about the same. I tell people I miss preaching every week. My dad's answer is he likes preaching every week. Funny how that works.
Now for the first three weeks or a month, I enjoyed the break from preaching don't get me wrong. I little rest is never a bad thing. But now, boy am I missing it.
With that being said guess what I get to do this Sunday? I have been asked to speak at North Butler Presbyterian. I am really excited about it. The process of writing a sermon to me is really fun right now.
I never realized how much I would enjoy preaching. I guess I shouldn't be talking about it right now, I should be working on it. Just was too excited not to blog!

I remember when...

Yesterday we had 3 people at the Lighthouse taking their written exam for ordination. Ahh the memories. I got to admit if felt really good being on the other side this time. All I had to do was pray before they started. I remember taking that test. I should, I took it twice after all.
I gotta to admit I was praying for those three. Really hoping that they did a good job. I know how important it was to me.
The one thing I did get to do was encourage them to that no matter what, they keep trying. I had to take my written exam two times, and my oral exam 3 times. I condensed a 2 year process into 6 years. It was a struggle to say the least. I thought about quitting many many times. But that is not what God wanted. So I kept at it and finally pass.
Loved seeing them there taking the test. To me it was God reminding me of how He got me through that trial. I also got to tell them if things go bad and they don't pass, give me a call. I will encourage them keep going.