All Things Goofy

So tired of the lifestyle I have developed over the last few years as a work-at-home business owner, I have decided to pull an all-nighter tonight with the goal of actually attaining some semblence of a normal sleep pattern.  I have told myself for a few years now that it is in my best interest to stay up late and work, as a programmer, those are my best hours.  Problem is, during those hours…I rarely work.  So I think it is high time to man up and start actuallly getting out of bed while the sun is still east of me.

So I have some goals for today:

• Take my kids to the park (Thanks Romans 8_37 for this inspiration)
• Join the local YMCA
• Pay bills (WOOOOO-HOOOOO!!!!!!! And I mean this non-sarcastically! We had 3 sales last week  and there is actually money to pay ALL the bills this month RIGHT NOW!)
• Spend time in the Word and in prayer
• Finish testing my latest build

Ill report back for a matter of accountability at the success level of these goals….

Since the recent Summer Jubilee with my youth group, my brain has been swirling, cleaning out nooks and cranies, and finally starting to come down to some semblence of order in the myriad of thoughts that have been crashing around up there.

I know God has called me to ministry….it is unclear yet  whether that lies in youth, church planting, both, or touring speaker.   I am praying about it, and am probably years away from an answer, but I seem to be leaning towards church planting……go figure…if you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought I;d see myself doing something of that nature I would have dropped to floor laughing hysterically!  However, back about 2000, I was asked to take over as caoch of my church’s softball team.  I was hesitant, but the previous season’s coach assured me I was qualified, insisted he’d help, and gave me almost no choice anyway.  I had never led “men” before.  I had worked in youth ministry since I was 18, but a “leader of men?” NOT ME!  Well, I looking back, I made some mistakes, overplayed some guys, underplayed others…in the name of winning.  We finished second only because someone scheduled a missions trip during the last week and playoffs of our season. (WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!?) j/k  I did this another season until I had off-season surgery

and couldnt play the following, then switched churches.  After 2 years at this new church, we were invited to start a softball team and join a local league…we did…and I soon became the asst. coach.  Before I knew it, I was leading a men’s bible study….I had become a leader of men. 

 Kinda scary, as I often question my own maturity and all but sobbed reading through “Raising a Modern Day Knight,”  wondering how I was gonna teach my son what it meant to be a man, when I barely knew myself.

God has laid some things on my heart….much of it can be summarized by a emerging missional doctrine.  We need to start being missionaries in our own neighborhoods….our own towns.  We need to start an evangelism model of outside-in (Thanks Pete for putting words to my thoughts).  Meaning we build relationships with non-Christians “outside” of church, slowly brining them closer to Christ until they have a relationship with Him, and then continuing to disciple them while bringing them “in” to a church.  We need to get back to some of the traditional things we have thrown aside.  Nothing, mark that–NOTHING, can get in the way of the following…

• God created us to live in community with Him
• We separated ourselves from Him with our sin, bringing destruction and pain into our world
• He chose to save us from ourselves
• Jesus came down to earth as man to be an example of a sinless life
• Jesus died on the cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sin
• He rose from the dead on the third day, conquering sin, death, and most importantly, Satan

You can debate on most others (This isn’t an exhaustive list of the things on which I will not bend) but these cannot be touched. Period.

We need a gathering of believers that is without judgement, respects one another, loves one another, believes the above, has a heart for missions, both abroad and across the street, desires to constantly be morphing in order to better relate to the culture of the time, and most importantly, preaches the Word.

OK…so later is….well it’s vague…thankfully!! LOL

Yes, as you can see we are pregnant again!!  We are somewhere around 10-11 weeks, and Erica has been having a rough time…whoever named it “morning sickness” hasn’t seen this one…My poor wife has been sick almost all day most days.  Last few have been much better and hoping it continues this way!

In other news…..

Ant & I went up to Creation this year again.  We worked in transportation again and Anthony once again had a blessed time.  Played cards with one of the guys from Grits, joked with Stellar Kart, and spent 10 minutes locke din a van with Barlow Girl.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring our camera, and we lost Ants on the way up, so no pictures!

Three insane weeks were sandwiched around my two trips this summer(Creation & Summer Jubilee).   I thought by the end of it I was just gonna shut down and not turn back on.  I was fried. 

Got back from Jubilee Friday night…and what a week!!  The presence of God was strong and powerful, it arrived like a flash flood, and remained like a refreshing spring all week.  The theme was “Journey” and for a week the journeys of 200+ high schoolers and 20-30 youth leaders merged together for a week not many will forget.  We were led through the week by Clint Thomas of Chaos Theory.  He realted our relationship with God, to a marriage relationship.  We need to make sure our relationship with God recieves the amount of attention that we put into our marriages. (At least what we should be putting into our marriages)

I had such a blessed week, between the things God spoke to me, the poeple who put in my life and I hope they stay , and the kids I got to meet and start to get to know!

Hopefully Ill have more to add to this as the days roll by and some of the things begin to sink in and take root!

Ill post more later, but wanted to get these up!!!!!!!!!!!

The kids were very surprised last Wednesday night when we showed up at Famous Dave’s only to met by Nana and GG!!  They had NO clue!  What a birthday surprise for Hannah!!  We had a great week, including a visit to the Nashville Zoo.  I havent been to the zoo since I was in first or second grade and must admit I really enjoyed it!! Of course the perfect weather helped!

We also found out where Anthony gets us stuck-ability from….

We sepnt some time trying to convince Nana that they need to move ASAP as close as possible to us!

We have aa break this week and will be joined by more company on Friday.  One of my friends is stopping in for an overnight visit on his way to Florida with his wife and kids, and Aaron and Ohiba will be joining us for a week!  Can’t wait to see everyone!!!!  Who’s next?  We still have rooms available all summer!!!
Brian

WE FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REAL PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not that chain junk!!!!!!!!!!!

PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!   I was getting SOOOO tired of chain pizza!!!  Those of you who have never eaten pizza at a small family-owned Pizzeria in the Northeast won’t undderstand…but trust me –YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE MISSING!

AND BOY WAS IT GOOD….AS GOOD AS MOST IVE HAD UP NORTH!!!!

And Ant lost a tooth eating it!!!

Man it’s early March….the trees are budding, the birds are singing…we’re wearing shorts….did I mention it’s EARLY MARCH!!!!!!!  We took advantage of the INCREDIBLY GORGEOUS waether and went  to a local park to play some disc golf!!  We had a great time and will play again.  I am looking into some of the local organiazations and thinking about playing some tourneys.  They seem like a friendly bunch and from what I hear they are great to beginners.  Hey…maybe someday Ill go pro!!!

So my parents were supposed to be coming in on Wed…or so I thought….I got a phone call this afternoon from my mom…”Hey..were 75 miles outside of Atlanta…how long will it take for us to get to you?”  I was like…huh?  She said she told me they were coming in on Tuesday…and honestly she probably did…made sense anyway, since they are going to see Tracy Byrd tomorrow night at the Wildhorse Saloon.  So the kids are excited…and we are thrilled!  They are staying until Sat am…..originally she told me she might only be able to stay one night! So we are thrilled to get to spend a few relaxing days with them!

THe weather finally warmed up here and I got to get my son out on his new inlines that we found at a local thrift store this winter!!!  He did GREAT for his first time on blades!!!