The Way

Okay, so December is usually fairly busy but this one has been incredibly so! Work was off the chain through the first 14 days of the month with a quick trip to Atlanta the 2nd and 3rd; our state leaders here the 4th-6th; more meetings than should be allowed; and an all day filming with my Ben Trueblood and Allen Jackson. It was busy! but now I am officially on vacation through the end of the year. I have a couple of afternoons to do some interviews for summer staff for World Changers and P2 Missions but that will be in the comfort of my own home. Morgan is home from college and it is good to have her here. She and some boy named Wil/Wilson have burned up the local concert circuit seeing Dave Barnes and Andrew Peterson. One of the nice benefits of living in Nashville is great musicians and great venues. I have lots of plans to get some things done around the house. Not big stuff but stuff I need to get done.Got the chainsaw out today just in time for a thunderstorm to strike. We...

It seems that the best made plans are really worthless unless one carries out those plans. And . . . so that pretty sums up my blogging habits this month. I always plan to update the blog and then distractions and busyness creep in and well . . . I end up apologizing in the first blog post back. I headed to Dallas the weekend before Thanksgiving for the Youth Specialties conference. It always proves a good time meeting with youth leaders and catching up with old friends. Being back in Dallas was good too, although we were downtown. Much has changed in Dallas since we moved away in 1989. It was good to run in few areas that I ran in long ago and the weather was nice. I took the week of Thanksgiving as vacation and thoroughly enjoyed the time off. I played golf one day; raked leaves in an exercise of futility (the yard looked great for about 4 minutes); and, enjoyed basically being a bum. Thanksgiving was simply wonderful with my dad and nephew, Mark, Shelbi and Morgan home and ma...

The past couple of weeks have included less work travel so that has allowed for more family time on the weekends. And that is good. I love what I get to do work wise, but I am most fulfilled when I get to hang out with Sondra and the rest of our family. I know over the years I have had to remind myself that what I get to do work wise does not determine who I really am. I have repeated that to myself many times and have shared that with many people I come in contact with in life. Our culture can deceive us into believing that real success is based upon how much you are "out there making a difference". I know that that if I am "out there" making a difference and my family is sucking wind and crumbling, then really I have taught our kids how to gain the whole world and lose their own soul. Definitely not something I want to be indicative of me. A couple of weekends ago we headed to Rome, GA to hang out with Mark and Shelbi. Morgan came home from Union, we jumped...

Yesterday was my turn to work in ETC at church and once again, I learned alot. I am not really sure if I am working with older 3s, younger 4s, and I think there were a couple of 5s in the mix. Regardless, there were a bunch of them and yesterday started out  mild and then got cranked up. . . cranked up in a hurry. Our Bible study was based on Elijah praying for rain and I thought it would be awesome if we mixed in some water balloons for special effects. The kids were pumped but we settled for water colors instead. The two other adults in the class overruled us all. (I went down fighting.) I won't mention names of kids, in order to not break any laws unknowingly. They are an eclectic bunch. Some of them I have learned who their parents are but the majority of them are just kids that I know through that one Sunday a month connection. I see them in other areas of the church at other times and we acknowledge each other, but most of my interaction with them is in the "Purpl...

As crazy as it sounds, I began year 21 at LifeWay this week. I would have never imagined that God would allow me to serve Him through one place this long. What an incredible ride and storied past. I began as an editor for some discipleship resources; transitioned to managing the youth discipleship section; became a consultant in discipleship; ran back to the student area as an editor and most recently as a specialist helping student leaders minister to students and their families. What an amazing run and what a great ministry like LifeWay that has allowed me to grow and stretch and learn and help others. I am excited about a new opportunity that LifeWay is allowing me to influence and guide. In September, Eric Geiger announced a new strategic emphasis for our World Changers and P2 Missions (PowerPlant) ministries called “Change the City, Change the World”. (You can read that announcement here .) The impact of the cities upon the culture of the world is powerful. So . . . God is ...

The last week and a half has been pretty much a whirlwind! I was in California and Texas speaking and teaching and loved every minute of it except for the one day I drove from LA to San Diego and the 5 was an angry highway. I love how people on the west coast talk about their highways. The 5, the 405, the . . . it is like their highways are real live people or something. Anyway, even though the highway was angry, the view was pretty sweet. Monday this past week, my boss and I flew to Tampa and back for a meeting. Great meeting; nice to be out just during the day and sleep in my own bed that night. Thank you Southwest Airlines! Work has been incredibly busy and later this week I can tell you about some changes that are already happening for me job wise. I am really excited for an opportunity to reinvent and stretch. It is both scary and overwhelming! but exhilarating. Today is my wonderful wife's birthday. I will not tell you how old she is but I will tell you that we are bot...

I rarely post anything related to politics and know that many might take issue with me on my thoughts, but here goes . . I did not vote for our current President in '08 because I did not agree with his stance on many issues related to the protection of the unborn; his views on same sex marriage, etc. When he was elected I committed to praying for him like I have every President that I can remember in my lifetime (basically Richard Nixon to now). I am aware that I have limitations on knowing all the facts as it relates to candidates, their past voting records, etc. I publicly announced that I would pray for President Obama and I have done so. As the election draws near, I find myself more and more conflicted with our two choices of major party candidates. I disagree with many of the decisions that our current administration has made. I do have to say though, this administration pretty much has done what it said it would do before it was put into power. Mr. Romney se...