24 and One Week

Those of you who know me well or follow me on twitter know that I really enjoy 24 or as it is known at our house, "the Jack Bauer power hour." The season finale is on tonight between 7 and 9 cdt so if you call, more than likely I will not answer. You may notice the title of the blog entry is 24 and one week but that actually refers to my beautiful bride rather than the tv show. We celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary last Monday and are now one week into our 25th year. What a blessed guy I am.

Last week was a good one with me being home almost all week. I did drive a fan of 7 folks over to Ridgecrest for FUGE Program Training and had a great time with those leadership teams who will be at numerous locations ministering to about 55,000 students and adults this summer. I am amazed how God brings these folks together and how hard the FUGE office team works to get the right folks in place. We have been asking God for His favor and early indications are that He is honoring that prayer. Many of us have been fasting and praying one day a week praying specifically for FUGE camps this summer.

Shelbi completes her freshman year at Union on Weds. and will be home for a week before heading to her summer job at Deer Run Retreat. Morgan heads to Girls' State this coming Sun. and will be at MTSU all week participating in the whole process. Another great leadership opportunity for her. She and a group of girls from DCA played in an AAU basketball tourney this weekend too and it was good to see her back in action.

Sondra is working at our church for the next two weeks filling in for one of ladies who keeps the office and really the church running. I am here all week and thankful to be home. The summer gets pretty busy soon.

What a Great Weekend

Sondra and I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary all weekend long. It was nice to catch a couple of movies (X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek). We also enjoyed watching Slumdog Millionaire at home too. It was good to just be with one another.

Morgan enjoyed her visit to Union for the weekend and had an official college visit there yesterday. Looks like all of my money may end up at Union before it is all over. It is not SBU, but Union is doing a great job and one we can certainly live with.

This has been a different work week for me since I am in the office most of the week. Plenty to do but it does seem weird. FUGE has leadership training this week and weekend so most of the office is at Ridgecrest and I head over there with 5 or 6 others on Friday - Sunday. This is a very important part of preparation for the many camps that will be held this summer all over the country and internationally as well. All said, we will minister to almost 60,000 people through camping/events this year. It is a privilege and honor that we do not take lightly. The FUGE staff are incredible people and I am honored to get to work with them.

Hmmm. Think It Will Rain?

Okay, so if you live in Middle Tennessee you know that we are in our 10th straight day of rain. The plus side is - everything sure is green (or under water). We have seriously considered trading in one of our three cars for a boat but the girls are not too hot on that.

This past week has been pretty busy for all of us. Sondra spent the week at her mom's in Bolivar getting her fingers into the rich, Missouri soil and planting flowers, etc. Yesterday morning, Bolivar was visited by a tornado (or at least strong, straight-line winds) and sustained some damage throughout town. Sondra's mom's house had some wind damage (shingles, back screened in porch blown around and some chairs carried a couple of hundred yards). Power is out in many places. The storm swept across the mid-section of the US and was pretty wicked.

I was in Orlando, FL and Spartanburg, SC meeting with some guys on some pretty exciting youth ministry ideas. I am pretty excited about God is doing across this land with youth and their families. I am still pretty amazed that God allows me to be involved in youth ministry at a national/international level.

Today is my dad's 69th birthday. He is just one cool guy for sure. Tomorrow is Mother's Day of course, and will mark the second one without my mom. I miss her terribly at times, but so thankful that she is experiencing no more pain and is spending time with the Father up close and personal. Monday is our 24th wedding anniversary. Holy Cow! 24 years with an amazing woman! As I was running this morning I was thanking God again for honor of being Sondra's husband. To say that I am blessed seems like such an understatement for sure.

Morgan is in Jackson with Shelbi this weekend and doing an official college visit on Monday. She is interested in business and communications and has a pretty strong interest in Union. She wants to take a look at UT-Chattanooga too. We will see. Hard to believe she will be a senior in high school in just a few days. The years have flown by for sure.

Looking forward to celebrating our anniversary all weekend long. If you follow me on twitter, you are liable to see some updates and even a pic or two.

Big Fun Weekend

It was nice to be at home this past weekend and great to have my dad here. He flew in Fri. am and was here until Mon. am. We pretty much stayed out of the rain on Fri. (we have had about 5 inches of rain in the last 4 days) and on Sat. we all (Morgan, Shelbi, Sondra, Dad, and I) drove to Jackson (2 hours) to be with Shelbi at Union. She was playing with a fraternity in benefit volleyball tournament and we needed an excuse to go see her anyway. Dad had never been over to Union so it was a good visit for him as well. It was big fun. Of course it rained pretty much the whole time, but hey, it's water and it was no big deal.

On Monday, Sondra flew to her mom's in Bolivar to hang out this week, Dad flew back to KC, and I flew to Orlando to spend a couple of days with FL youth ministers. They are doing some pretty exciting things related to coaching other youth ministers in the state. It is at the beginning of the process but these guys get it and invited me to listen in and offer my two cents. Thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this process.

Yesterday, Dr. David Uth, pastor of FBC, Orlando shared some of his time with us and shared about the Hidden Curriculum in our lives and churches. You can read a related article here. The article appeared in the Winter issue of Leadership and was written by John Ortberg. Very good article and David's talk with us yesterday was very timely for me.

I am headed to Greenville/Spartanburg, SC today after my morning meeting with the FL youth minsiters. Looking forward to being with Seth Buckley and SC youth ministers all day tomorrow.

Here is my goal for the day (and every day, but taking one day at a time) - choosing to honor Him in all i do today. will have to remind myself of this all day long. i know how short my memory can be