Good to Be Home

I arrived back in the US on Sunday am about 1030, made it through customs and immigration and headed to the gate and the plane that would take me home. Made it there in time to realize my flight was delayed by almost three hours. Just what you want at the end of a long journey. I did make it home about 430p on Sunday. So nice to be home. Got to see Shelbi for about 5 min. and to give her the Lacoste shirt I bought for her. Got one for Morgan too and to say that they were inexpensive is somewhat of an understatement. I also purchased a Louis Vittoun purse for my wife. They thought I was wonderful and actually I was just cheap.

The whole trip to Malaysia was very successful. We used a very interactive style of learning that was received very well by the attendees and I always learn alot too. The hosts in Malaysia were all wonderful and I have gained friends for life.

Monday was a good day w/ an all morning meeting and then I headed home for a 2 hour nap and then worked in the yard for about three hours. Mowed, trimmed and blew stuff everywhere. Enjoyed being at home with Sondra watching 24. Morgan left yesterday morning on her first international trip. She is with 9 other people from DCA doing missions in Honduras. She was so excited and we are excited for her. They arrived safely yesterday and we have not heard anything sense. No news is good news.

Today was an all day meeting at work and I did pretty well until about 1p but then got it back together. Ran a 10-miler this morning too. Good stuff. Enjoyed a good meal with Sondra and our friends Mitch and Christy tonight. So good to be home and just hanging out with Sondra. What a great wife and person. I am blessed for sure.

My March Madness bracket is pretty crazy. I have UConn and NC still left with NC winning it all. We will see.

Headed Home

I am sitting in the Kuala Lumpur airport taking advantage of free wifi and getting to know a japanese lady who has decided that 15 people can fit on this bench made for 8. Cheek to cheek takes on a whole new meaning.

Today's training finished really well and we had 62 attend. I am so encouraged that these Malaysian youth leaders really do see the importance of student development rather than just building a student ministry. They understand the importance of partnering with parents and I think in many ways will get ahead of the curve.

Larry, Emilia and Joel took me to dinner tonight at a seafood restaurant where we enjoyed muscles, crab, leafy vegetable, tofu, rice of course and Sprite for me. They are a sweet young family who have a heart for resourcing the church for ministry through Canaanland. A great ministry they have through the 4 stores with another one opening soon.

I look forward to boarding this flight soon. We fly back through Seoul/Incheon Korea and then through Atlanta. I should be home around 2p Sunday. Thanks for your prayers and concern.

Going Home Day

This has been a great trip so far and now I find myself counting down the hours until I climb on board Korean airlines and begin my trip home. Since Weds. it has been pretty fast and furious. I had multiple meetings on Thursday beginning at 10a meeting with the National Evangelical Council which is a group that represents non-Muslim religious groups to the Muslim gov't. officials. Sort of like a lobbying group that tries to keep the gov't. in check for not imposing legislation that restricts non-Muslim groups. These guys have a great challenge but huge hearts to accomplish the task.

Met with Pastor Tan who is the pastor at FBC, KL and found him to be amazing. He retired as a professor of microbiology to pastor. To say that he is pretty smart is a pretty large understatement.

Yesterday's training on Friday was a great time of many of us crammed into a small room. Most conferences/training sessions are pretty presenter driven so the interactive style that we used was somewhat different from the norm, but it went very well and allowed attendees to be presented with info. and then interact with one another. They loved it and I think more learning took place using this style here. We use it quite a bit normally in the training that I do, but it was pretty new to most of the 100+ folks yesterday.

We have another all day training today beginning at 9 and going to 5 and there are 60+ pre-registered and actually it was an overflow from yesterday's crowd since the room seats about 80 comfortably and the response was greater than they had anticipated.

Thank you for praying for me and this trip and I ask you to pray for the Malaysian Christ-followers as they continue to reach Malaysia for Christ. I have been so encouraged to be a part of training and encouraging them. So thankful that God has allowed me to be a part of this particular experience in the Kingdom.

Malaysian Wednesday

I woke up pretty early this morning and had a hard time going back to sleep. I knew I had some budget to work on and was going to try and check email at work and so . . . the mind was racing and I could not sleep. I worked about 3 hours before I was to meet with some friends to run and then catch breakfast. Francis and his wife own Canaanland Distributors and are LifeWay partners here in Malaysia. They are wonderful folks. The run was in a nice park complete with monkeys running around and jumping from tree to tree. Have to say that running with monkeys was a first for me.

We had an Indian style breakfast which was much like the breakfast I had every day when I was in India two years ago. It was very good. In fact, all of the food has been very good. At lunchtime I met with David who is an IMB missionary here and is doing some work among students. Wonderful guy who is doing a very good work here. He will be a part of the training that we do on Friday. I was to have had a meeting this evening but the other people were not able to meet due to some conflicts they are dealing with. Seems that there is even drama in Malaysia at times.

I am enjoying the green tea and the famous Ipoh White Coffee. In fact the pastor in Ipoh made sure that I have plenty of white coffee to take home with me. An interesting fruit over here is durian and it looks like a porcupine on the outside and fleshy on the inside. It smells awful and is actually forbidden in the hotel that I am staying in. I have not tried it yet, but have smelled it a few times.

Here is a video that I made earlier this morning for those of you who may be needing to see my face or hear my voice.

Please pray for the training that we will be doing tomorrow, Fri., and Sat. Edward from Canaanland is being intentionally trained to lead the training that I am doing this week. Very cool.

Malaysia

What a great first couple of days in Malaysia. I arrived very late Sat. night, early Sun. am and enjoyed some pretty good sleep. It was interesting that on the flight from Seoul to Kuala Lumpur I sat beside a Malaysian that had lived in Madison, TN for 5 years. He was a great guy and helped me get a cab from the airport to my hotel.

Sunday I woke up and got out for a 5-mile run and sort of turned/tweaked my ankle but seems to be doing okay now. Spent most of the day reading and studying and got out for some lunch. Staying next to a mall that was hosting a cheerleading competition so saw a little of that. Grabbed a burger at Bubba Gump's (was not sure what else to trust here) and then met Larry Lee and Edward who are my hosts from Canaanland. We drove to Ipoh (about 2.5 hours north) and checked into the hotel. Met with Elijah, his wife Angela and child Michael for dinner at a very good chinese restaurant. Good night's sleep last night and then an all day conference with 26 today. It went really well.

Tomorrow is pretty much a free day so to speak but I will be working on budget for work (big joy) and preparing some other presentations that I have been thinking and praying through. I hope to get out and see some of the sights around town. It is pretty weird to be heading to bed when most of the folks back home are still in their morning. 13 hour time difference. Here is a link to a video I did early Sun. if you are interested.

Arkansas and Korea

Had a great trip on Tues-Weds to Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, AR and met up with good ministry friend Walter Norvell. Taught a parent/youth minister's class on Tues. night and then spoke at 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12noon to various classes, outside folks and spoke in chapel as well. Williams is one of those great unknowns in colleges if you ask me. Great school in the middle of a rice field and the students and faculty were great.

Went back through Jackson on Weds. and spent a couple of hours with Shelbi at Union. Big fun! She is such a great young lady. We watched a little Union baseball, caught some dinner together and then I headed back home. Thursday it was up for a 10-miler, mowing the lawn and packing for Malaysia. As of right now I am sitting in the Incheon Airport (Seoul) waiting on my next flight to Kuala Lumpur. Long 14 hour leg to here and then another 8 or 9 to KL. Looking forward to the youth leader training that we are doing. Hoping to meet up with Mike Loftis in KL possibly. He is in Thailand teaching and is coming through KL today and tomorrow. We will see if it happens.

I will post as I get the chance.

Morgan Update

Got the results back from Morgan's CT scan and blood work from last week. All is good. Nothing showed abnormal on either test, well . . . there is this deal about a double outlet on one of her kidneys which is just like her mother.

She did come down with the stomach bug today though. Bummer. Puked her toenails up this morning but is keeping food down now some. Body aches, fever, general yuck. Yep, that is the stomach virus that has been going around.

I got home from Des Moines about 5 hours late yesterday due to fog in Memphis. Made a stop in St. Louis for a couple of hours just for grins evidently. Made it to Memphis finally and waited there about three hours for another plane to Nashville.

Tomorrow I head to Arkansas to speak at William's Baptist College in Walnut Ridge. Will be with a good friend, Walter Norvell, who is a professor there. Speak tomorrow night and most of the morning on Wednesday before heading back home through Jackson and spending a little time with her. Will be good to see Shel too. On Thursday, it is off to Malaysia. Will give more details later on that trip.

March Madness is here! My favorite time of the year! It all ends up in Detroit, April 4-6.

California, Michigan, Iowa

Last week I finished up a week of travel from FL to CA and got home on Sunday. It was nice to be at home and see my wife and Morgan. I was in the office both Mon and Tues and then off to Michigan to train their state youth ministry multipliers. Met some great folks up there and enjoyed my time with them. The weather on the other hand was pretty stinking cold. Weds. with the wind was just miserable. Cold to the bone cold for this boy. The lows were 4 and 5 with the highs in the 20s. I flew out from there on Fri and landed in Des Moines last night for the Ignite conference. It is a very good conference that we partner with Grace Church, Iowa Southern Baptists and a host of others good ministry folks.

The running has been somewhat sparse the last few days with it being icy in Michigan and I just finished 3 on the treadmill here at the hotel. Ready to head home tomorrow morning. In the office on Mon. and then off to AR and Williams Baptist College to share in their youth ministry emphasis. Looking forward to a stop in Jackson to see Shelbi and then spend some time with Walter Norvell who is at Williams. I head to Malaysia on Thurs.

March Madness - I love it and will be overseas for most of it. Crazy man. How about Mizzou winning the Big 12 and Baylor knocking off KU and TX to get to lose to Mizzou. Great run for Baylor though. I saw them play TX Tech a month ago and they are a much better team now than they were then. Carolina losing to FL St. today was not a big surprise. They are resting Ty Lawson who has a boogered toe. They will need him to go far in the Big Dance.

Morgan had a cat scan on Thurs. and new lab work done. Hope to get reports early next week. She is holding her own. Would love it if God would let us know what is happening in her belly but am willing to accept His timing on that one.

Included a pic of the girls being goofy a few days ago. Funny girls.

Lent (not the belly button kind)

Growing up protestant and a conservative one at that so have precluded me from understanding and participating in all things Lent. I do not remember it being said but somehow believed that Lent was something that only Catholics or high-church folks participated in. It was a ritual and not something we “good” protestants participated in.

As I got older I realized that I missed a great observance for many years. I do have to tell you that the whole Fat Tuesday (live like hell) so you can repent and have a dusty forehead (Ash Wednesday) practice seems really different to me, but the 40 days between that Wednesday and Easter Sunday called Lent appeals to me. Fasting, not my strongest spiritual discipline, appeals to me a little bit. I even thought about and then read about a tech fast (supported by the Pope) and think that could be viable in this socially networked world. But, whatever I fast from, needs to be channeled to focused prayer time for me. I talk about prayer, and even participate in it many times per day, but I am not sure I really do that guttural type prayer. I take that back, I experienced that kind of prayer when my mom’s body was being decimated with cancer. But does it really have to take someone I love being tormented before I engage in that level of prayer.

I long for a heart that sees people as God sees them. Either they are in His Kingdom or they are not. How do I channel all that I am into helping others enter into the Kingdom? I am not giving up much for Lent, but I am picking up a heart that longs for those outside of the Kingdom.

Mistaken for Jesus?

I heard this in the DFW airport the other day, “Hey, how’s it going?” I turned around to someone I had never seen before, who immediately said, “Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else.” I followed that statement with, “No problem. No need to apologize. I like that I am me.” I then began to wonder if the person mistook me for Jesus.

I know you are laughing thinking I have finally gone off the deep end but actually I have been challenged lately wondering if what I am doing is really making a difference. I do not think it is a mid-life thing, only just an evaluation of where I am presently. (Francis Chan really voiced this thought at the Youth Pastor’s Summit in Orlando in early March.)

I love my family, my incredibly too cool wife and two beautifully, brilliant daughters, love my church, New Hope in Hermitage, and even really enjoy my job. Heck, I get to travel and encourage youth workers around the globe. It is all good. But, I wonder if it is really all that God has called me to be. I get the “doing” part of all this life stuff, it is the “being” part that seems to hang me up some times.

Do my neighbors in Lakeshore community think there is anything different about me other than I help out by cleaning gutters or raking yards? Do flight attendants notice anything differently about me? Does anyone outside of my close circle of friends really know that I love God with all my heart, soul, and mind? Do they see me loving my neighbor as myself? Do I really love myself, for who Christ has created me to be?

I speak and encourage others to become more and more like Christ but do others see me becoming more like Christ? I have discovered that I am not an objective judge of my character and behavior. I need to hear from Christ and need to hear from others that there is something different in me. Not for my glory, but for His. I desire to be mistaken for Jesus. I desire to be like Him.

Caleefornyah

Say it like Arrnhald and you will know I am in California. Got here yesterday afternoon after a long flight from Orlando via Dallas. I am out here with a team of folks from LifeWay and we are leading conferences for the Bay Area Sunday School conference. This used to be one of the largest conferences of its' kind, but I think all of them have shrunk over the years. I will be leading a couple of conferences on student ministry. I have presented at this conference before but it has been a few years ago now.

Spent a good part of today writing and preparing for the speaking I have coming up in the next month. Lots of stuff going on and it was nice to just spend some time focused on writing.

Missing my family for sure but we skyped tonight and it is always good to not only talk, but to see one another too. Hope to get a 5-miler in the morning and then hopefully at 10-miler on Sat. over in San Francisco on the wharf and Crissy Field and the GG Bridge. One of my favorite runs that I try to do if I get anywhere close.

Watched the Vols beat the Gamecocks earlier and yesterday's games were just amazing with wins by NC, Mizzou, and the KU loss to Texas Tech. Crazy. Love this time of year and all the college basketball going on.

In Like a Lion

Here it is March 3rd already and I have not posted since last Fri. I was in St. Louis for the MO Youth Minister's Conference called Engage and had a great time. Love those MO folks being a native of that great state myself. Got home on Sat. in time to spend some time with all three of my girls. Shelbi had come home for the weekend and it is always good to be with all of the girls.

Sunday was a tough but good day as we navigate through some things as a church but I am thankful to be part of a body of believers that is concerned about grace and truth. It is good to be with God's people. I flew out Sun. afternoon for the Youth Pastor's Summit in Orlando and routed through Miami. With the snow event going on on the east coast it was pretty crazy. I smiled alot at disgruntled travelers. Monday and today have been wrapped up in meeting with student pastors and some fun in the Universal Parks. LifeWay partners with Universal for this event and Rock the Universe in September. A great opportunity for us to be involved in ministry training.

Morgan's test results from the scopes last week came back negative so that is good news. We still do not know what is wrong but the major stuff has been ruled out. For that we are thankful.

I head to California tomorrow to be a part of the Bay Area Sunday School Conference. Always a good time. Hope to get a couple of fun runs in out there too. Did 7 this morning here in Orlando on International Drive. Coast to coast running this week.