No Heat November

We went the entire month of November without turning our heat on. Actually, we went for over two months, but with October having such comfortable weather, I didn’t think I could really count it.

A while back I was having a conversation with my mom about how we had not turned our central unit on for a couple of weeks. I was bragging about how low my electric bill was going to be, when she reminded me (yet again) how she grew up with no AC, no heating unit except a wood stove, and even woke up with snow on her quilt a few times because her windows wouldn’t stay shut sometimes (and she walked to school uphill, both ways….). This conversation turned into a friendly battle of the wills over the next few weeks. At one point, my own brother called my son to ask him to sneak over and turn the air on so that I would lose!

The first week or so were kind of fun, with the kids bundling up “for dinner”, or David even sleeping in his regular clothes (not pajamas) for the next day. We even showed them how to take advantage of heat from the sun by opening the shades and front door when the sun was shining on it. Probably the funniest part was when Abby was doing laundry one night, and left the laundry room door open. She said, “at least the heat from the dryer will help!”

But I’ll be the first to admit that the last few days were the toughest. The night before we turned on our heat, the outside temperature got down to 28 degrees F. Honestly, I was more afraid of my pipes freezing, than I was of being cold. My reasoning was that I didn’t want to create more of a headache with pipes bursting just by trying to go as long as I could without heat.

We learned a lot from this experience. It may not seem like much, particularly since millions wake up each morning without heat, but we as a family learned a little more about what we can do without. We are one of those whacko families that don’t have cable, one TV (in the living room), and actually tell our kids to go outside and play. I don’t budget for a car payment; because I don’t want to have debt of any kind. Michelle and I do our best to actually sit down at the dinner table and ask our children about their day. We are far from perfect, as our lives are quite busy, but we do our best to be intentional about consistent activities in the home. I hear way too often how that I deprive my children of “advances in technology” and the “nicer things in life”. I just don’t believe that is true. One deprives a child when they take away what the child truly wants: one on one time with their parents. I don’t choose to have one TV because I think it will rot my kids’ brain (even though there is some truth to that). I have only one TV so that I, as a parent, have fewer distractions that keep ME from interacting with my kids.

If you are reading this, then I am certain there is something you could intentionally give up in your life right now. The concept is quite biblical. It’s called fasting, and it’s not just for food. It is for anything that has a hold on us that would keep us from focusing on God first. A while back, I fasted from social media. A friend of mine fasted from coffee. It may be that you need to fast from exercising for a time period, because you have the wrong motivation for doing it. The point is that you fast from something, and do it regularly. It helps us to keep our focus on where it needs to be.

Just so we are clear: Michelle and I can afford to turn on our heat (mom, if you are reading this). The main reason we went this long without any heat was to keep us focused on the fact there were those who could not turn on heat, even if they wanted to. We got some real good discussions from our kids through this experience. David wanted to know how we could help those who didn’t have any heat. Abby did too, and then she asked, “so what are we giving up next?” It’s a good question, and one that I don’t have an answer for just yet. But I will throw it to you: What can you give you up for a season?

40 Days of Sabbath from Social Media (SOME of What I have Learned)

I have been planning to do this for some time now. I can’t really point my finger to any specific thing that led me to fast for 40 days from social media. It more or less kind of grew on its own. But for whatever reason, I decided to “go dark” on September 24, 2011 for 40 days.

A little background: For a few months I noticed having a hard time focusing. It was requiring way too much effort to focus on one basic task in a given day. I noticed I was texting, checking my twitter feed, sending tweets, checking facebook, posting to facebook, making sure my twitter feed and facebook were synced, posting to my blog, checking my facebook, etc. All while trying to concentrate on the basic of tasks. If I were to be honest, I was overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed with trying to stay in contact with everyone. I was overwhelmed with trying to communicate things to others. And that is why I began to ask the questions: why do I post things on line? What is my ultimate motivation for posting anything (twitter, facebook, blog, etc.) on line? I ignored the answer, because it wasn’t the answer that I wanted. The answer that I wanted was, “because I am really concerned about other people, and I have found some bit of information that will make their life better.” Unfortunately the truth that kept coming up was, “because I want to see how many people respond to what I have to say.” And it was this initial realization that sparked a desire to unplug for 40 days.

I consider social media facebook, twitter, and blogs. I realize that there are other forms of social media such as chat rooms, forums, chatting while playing on line games, etc. But I don’t communicate in those ways. I primarily use twitter and facebook. So those were the ones that cut out of my life. I went so far as to delete the apps from my phone. The only two forms of media that I engaged in outside of direct communication were texting and email. I didn’t give up texting, because it truly is an amazing way of getting your point across to someone personally and instantly. There are numerous times where I need to tell someone something, and I just can’t make a phone call. So for me, for these 40 days, I read no one’s blogs, I read no tweets, and I read no facebook posts.

My Feelings about Facebook - I have a theory that there is no way one person can be true friends with 400 people. To have that many people as your friends on facebook is ridiculous. You can’t keep up. One could spend 24 hours a day on facebook checking up on their “friends”. My wife calls this facebook stalking. I call it being unproductive. It’s consuming. It’s addicting. What are they doing? Why don’t they post pictures? Why am I on their list? Why am I NOT on their list?? I can’t believe they are divorced?! Etc. Don’t get me wrong: Facebook has its place, but it requires so much effort to stay in control, that a lot of people ultimately lose control.

My Feelings about Twitter - To post random comments assuming that people actually care is the thought behind twitter. One can actually follow the menial, day in day out, goings on of high profile people with nothing more than a click of a button. Another ridiculous thing about twitter is that a celebrity can make an offhand comment about a brand in less than 140 characters and that brand will completely change its focus or rebut in less than 24hrs. It was recently determined that certain brands are actually PAYING some celebrities to post something about their product….Its insanity! But it’s this insanity that draws people to share their message: “I have something to say, and if I have followers, then they obviously care what I have to say.” This type of motivation for posting comments is nothing more than “it’s about me” hidden behind “they are interested in me”.

Anyway, enough of beating up on Facebook and Twitter. They do have their uses. The ability to share information to massive amounts of people is exciting. But if the activities behind the communication consume us, distract us, and keep us from building strong relationships with others, then the technology is keeping us from being who we are created to be: social, loving, involved, PRESENT creatures.

My ultimate goal behind the 40 day fast was to strengthen my relationships with those around me. There is no way we can build serious relationships when our face is in our phone or in a computer screen most of the time. Intentionally unplugging would provide more time for my wife and kids. I removed yet another distraction in my life that I was using as an excuse to not be fully engaged in their lives.

It doesn’t take much for me to disengage from them. I can create some pretty good excuses: “this college student needs some time to talk. I need to write this blog, because it is related to what we are studying this week. I need to check on facebook to see what he said, he seemed to be upset tonight.” You see? These are all seemingly legitimate reasons that cumulatively consume a mountain of time. I decided a long time ago that it was my responsibility to be intentional in the lives of my wife and kids. I shouldn’t wait on them to engage me. I need to initiate the communication with them. I bet if you were honest with yourself, you are probably making some pretty good excuses as well….

Strengthening my relationships was cool, but I also noticed I have read more in the last 40 days. Not just reading online either. I actually read physical books; with pages! One time a coworker brought in an article from Newsweek wanting me to read it. I knew I had a problem when I thought to myself, “Why didn’t he send me a link to it in an email?”

Along with reading three books in the last 40 days, I got back into a daily routine of reading my bible. I have a bible app on my phone that I would read from primarily, but there is something about HOLDING a bible and reading it…. I don’t know, but the words and stories just seem to be more understandable when reading it this way.

So I’m back on line; at least for now. I have a thought stirring in my head to cancel all my accounts as a New Year’s Resolution. I’m not so sure about that….. In the mean time, I have decided to severely limit my communication online. I am sure I will send a few tweets here and there. I read a lot of articles on science, religion, politics, etc. My goal with sending these links is to stimulate some kind of discussion in regards to the topic. I also plan to overhaul my Facebook account. Do I really need that many friends?? Why is THAT posted on my wall? What I am really trying to say by posting that picture?? Do I really “like” that??

What about you? Could you unplug for 40 days? What about 2 weeks? A week? A weekend? 24 hours? For an hour???? If your answer is no, maybe you should give it a shot…..

Its Football Time

Today is my son’s first football game. Well, it’s not technically his first, since his team has been playing bowl games and scrimmages with other teams for the last couple of weeks. But in his mind, based on the team schedule, tonight is his first official game.

I grew up in football country. It was a small town, but football was a way of life. The only thing that was more important than football was church. And in some instances, a couple of churches set their mid-week services around football practice. You were either in football, or you were not.

I was not. I wasn’t that big in high school, and learned long before getting there that I was gifted in music. In particular, I figured out I was pretty good playing drums. And as a dad, I just figured that was where my son would progress. I bought a second drum set last year so he could play. Unbeknownst to me, he held a very strong desire to play football. I knew he enjoyed it. He liked watching it with me, but I never knew he wanted to play it as much as he does. But the truth be known, deep down inside of me I knew this was coming….

A few months back I said something to the effect of,”you are too small to play. You will get hurt. Blah blah blah. Well, when one of the coaches here in Knoxville heard that story (directly from David…), he wasn’t too thrilled. He started naming off all kinds of guys in the NFL with a height less than 5’8”. When I got home, you can imagine David letting me have it…. Make a long story short; he is now a starting Safety and backup running back for his team. He is also the fastest member of the team when they do the speed drills. He has a lot to learn, but it is his first year, and he is loving it. I am definitely a proud dad.

First Day of School

School started for us yesterday.

Abby’s first day was about like most kids her age. We got up, she put on her new clothes, hopped in the car, and mom snapped pictures at every turn. In our house, its tradition that I take them to school on the first day. We get to the co-op, and I ask her, “you want daddy to walk you to your classroom?” Abby responded, in classic Abby fashion, “No, I’ll be ok. I know where it is. Besides, you need to get work.” And with that, her highly independent self hopped out of the car, waved good bye, and skipped off to class. Of course, dad is struggling to keep it together as he drives off to work, wondering what happened to his little girl….

David’s experience was slightly different. His actually began the night before. He and I were tag teaming a mountain of legos in the middle of his room that had gotten out of hand the previous day. We bantered back and forth about expectations for this year, since he would be at home all the time. He seemed excited and ready for the next step in his education. I told him one of my expectations for him this year was for him to read 1 chapter out of the bible, on his own, each day. He seemed pretty cool with that:

“So, like, I can just pick up the bible, pick out a verse and just read it? Like, turn to Exodus 10, and just READ it?!” he asked.

“No, I think a bible plan is in order. Pick a section like the Psalms, or the first 5 books of the bible, or the gospels.” I responded. After some debating and negotiating, we finally decided he would start in Matthew. Then, almost like out of the blue he said, “I wish I could be dropped off for my first day of school….” I stopped what I was doing, because this had the feeling of “one of those moments” parents wait for.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “You are going to be home schooled 100% this year. You don’t get to be dropped off at school.” And then, almost flippantly I added, “What, you want me to drive around the block, and drop you off at the house?!”

Amazingly, he looked up at me in genuine excitement. “Please, dad. Would you do that?!”

And so we did. David got up in the morning, got dressed “for school”, grabbed his book, jumped in the car, and mom snapped pictures. I drove him around the block, pulled into the driveway, and he jumped out, “see you dad. Have a great day at work.”

To me, the review of the first day is also really cool. That afternoon, Abby came up to me, “Daddy! I got to go to gymnastics! What do you think of my gymnastics outfit? My teacher this year is really sweet. She likes rules, though. We spent almost ALL DAY on rules…. HEY! 2 of my friends from last year are in my class! We did a devo on what makes God happy. I am going to finish all my ‘Tuesday work’ today. I got to swing on the bars and do hand stands in gymnastics today! That was fun!” For her, she summed up her day in 5 minutes. Things were good.

David’s experience was different. He got his work done by lunch. That has been his goal all summer. After lunch, he began getting his stuff ready for football practice. He is a starting safety on defense and a backup running back on offense. He likes to be prepared, and early; WAY early. Sometime during the morning, however, Michelle checks in on him, and he was reading the bible. He was on chapter 3 of Matthew. He had decided it was so good, he wanted to continue the story. When Michelle told me that, it took a bit for dad to keep it together, as he wondered what happened to his little boy.... Things were good. Things were real good.

I hope your first day of school experience was just as cool as mine.

Colorful Language

My son was recently invited by local high school football team to review film. He started playing football, and one of his homework assignments by his coach was to review film (watch football games), and pick out his position. At ten years old, you would have thought he had been invited by a team from the NFL. He arrives at their practice one afternoon, opens the car door, and is met with some rather colorful language from the coaches. “that’s the @#$%@#! play I have ever seen run!”, was just an inkling of what he overheard. At one point, he turned to his mom and said, “mom, he used the ‘s’-word!” (S-word in our house is “shut up”) Anyway, after the initial shock from all the yelling, David happily spent a few hours with the coaching staff reviewing last year’s films, and they did an excellent job of helping him pick out his current position.

But this experience got me thinking. What words do you use in your house? What words would your kids say are used in your house? For instance, is the word “Jesus” used frequently? If so, in what context? Is it, “and Jesus is the Savior of the World, and He loves you very much!” or is it: “Jesus. Just get up stairs and get in bed!” If it’s the latter, I doubt your kids are looking around for Jesus to walk up the stairs….

We have to be real careful about our language, and we cannot take it for granted. Recently, I gave a speech at a graduation banquet. The title of my talk was, “Don’t be Stupid”. The point was that as young people they have a lot of opportunities, but as they make stupid decisions, they start running out of opportunities. Hence, don’t be stupid. During my talk, a young little guy about 5 or 6 had had enough of my use of the word. He was sitting rather close to the front and interrupted me, “we don’t say stupid in my house.” I was caught off guard, and was truly inspired. The reason is that I know this family personally, and can honestly say that they do not use that word, as well as many others that would be frowned upon. I was encouraged that the child felt so strongly about it that he decided to make his issues known to me in public! Something that I took so matter-of-fact-like, he took very strongly.

As parents, we have to be cognizant of the fact that our kids are watching us all the time, even when they are not. I hear my phrases coming out of son these days; some good, some not so good. But he and his sister are only mimicking what they think is appropriate. All kids do this. So we as parents need to show them what appropriate communication is. That is why consistent bible studies are so important. And it’s not sitting everyone down every night for a bible time, although that isn’t a bad idea. It can also be talking at the table, songs you listen to, shows you watch, the reason for why you are not going to put that purchase on the credit card, and a litany of others. Be intentional about teaching your children what good communication looks like. Show them by speaking and acting the way Jesus would want you to.

Some Quotes from Patrick Henry

There is no doubt in my mind that this country was founded primarily on Christian morals. To deny this fact, flies in the face of history. True, not all of the Founding Fathers were devout Christians. However, they all understood that the Christian morality, in particular that all men are created equal, was a good starting point for creating a new country.

The United States was created so that the individual had more rights than the state, and that the state had more rights than the federal government. The Constitution played a key role in making sure this happened. Everything from Checks and Balances to the Electoral College was put in place to make sure that the individual was always heard, no matter how small. This is what makes a country, a republic, so much different from a democracy. For in a democracy, a popular vote where the majority says “yea”, that is all that is needed. Therefore the minority, must go along with the majority. To intentionally recognize the individual as having unalienable rights, is truly Christian indeed.

This weekend I was reminded of one of our Founding Fathers, Patrick Henry. He was a devout, Christian man that is probably best known for making the bold statement: “Give me liberty or give me death”. But did you also know that he also said, “…this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians…”? What do you think about that statement? Does it make you squirm? Does it make you raise your eyebrows and question? Let me know your thoughts on Patrick Henry and the rest of the Founding Fathers.

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.

It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!”

“It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts... For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.”

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take but as for me; give me liberty or give me death!”

“Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

“Religion I have disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give to them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had that and I had not given them one cent, they would be rich. If they have not that, and I had given them the world, they would be poor.”

From Saloon to Church Buildings

I grew up with Vacation Bible School (VBS). This is attributed to the fact that my dad was a preacher, and therefore I grew up in church. I have always been involved in some form of VBS, and so never really gave it much thought. I just assumed everyone did it as well, and that it had always been around! Seriously, I think there was time when I thought Jesus and The Twelve led the first VBS! Of course, that would bring on questions like, “What is the drop off policy for Levites? Who plays Jesus in the skit? And other very confusing questions.

If you hang around Farragut Church long enough, you will hear this phrase about VBS: “it’s for the kids”. And that is absolutely true. We do almost everything that we can to get the kid’s attention. We want them to walk away from the week with a solid foundation that Jesus loves them very much. But I find myself asking, “where does the CONCEPT of VBS come from?” It’s really an interesting story….

As the Christianity Today reported a few years back, VBS originated at the turn of the century in New York City’s East Side. Although Methodists offered “summer Sunday School institutes” as far back as the 1870s, the term VBS is attributed to Mrs. Walker Aylette Hawes, of the Epiphany Baptist Church. Mrs. Hawes was the wife of a doctor who specialized in medical ministry to children. During their initial stay in New York, Mrs. Hawes noted the numerous injuries from the children, and that they more than likely came from playing in the streets. She believed that they “needed something safe and fruitful to occupy their time.”

In 1898, after a near exhaustive search of places that would actually allow her to rent space for such a thing, a saloon (i.e. bar, a place that sells beer) agreed to rent her space for 6 weeks during the summer days. Mrs. Hawes designed her program around music, Bible stories, scripture memorization, games, crafts, drawing, and cooking. By the time of her retirement in 1901, Mrs. Hawes was overseeing seven separate schools in the New York City Area. An interesting fact about her original location, the bar: “Her pastor insisted that the school in 1900 move to the church, Epiphany Baptist Church, located about a mile from the East Side beer hall. After two weeks of meeting at the church, it became clear to Mrs. Hawes that children from the East Side would not attend at the church. She returned the school to a location near the beer hall for the rest of the summer”. It seems, even to this day, that location is everything!

After Mrs. Hawes retired, Dr. Robert Boville took over for her. By 1903, the movement had grown to 17 schools. Over the next four years, schools were opened in Philadelphia and Chicago. In 1911, Dr. Boville established the Daily Vacation Bible School Association as a national organization.

So now that you know where VBS comes from, does that change how you think about it? Do you drive across town to a church’s VBS? If they held it in a bar that was really convenient to you, would you take your kids? Do you participate in another denomination’s VBS? What do you look for in a VBS? Do you hang around, and get to know the staff that are working the VBS? In your opinion, what is the purpose of VBS?

You know you are having a successful VBS when:

1) Your 3 year old expresses his or her ability to spell J-E-S-U-S on the ride home. Of course, it will probably start out with something like: “Give me a J! Give me a J! Give me a J! [undecipherable humming and mumbling] Give me an E! Give me an E! Give me an E!....” The shaking of the head and simulated dance moves while strapped in the car seat are obviously optional….

2) Its day three and workers are still showing up at 7am when VBS doesn’t really start until 8:30.

3) You had to run to the store for MORE water balloons.

4) The word “pyrotechnic” came up in conversation, and no one looked surprised.

5) There was a brief discussion about the possibility of getting a jetski on stage. And again, no one looked surprised….

6) Your 9 year old sleeps in his “next day clothes” so he doesn’t have to “waste time” getting ready to go to VBS.

7) Spouses stop by the church building for seemingly random tasks, and “have to” check the quality controls in place for the food dispositioned for the staff.

8) The youth minister puts in 20 plus votes for his pick on The Voice^© backstage before performing the skit for the morning, and then brags about it on Twitter^©, while referencing his church and the hash tag #vbs. OK, so that one may be a little random, but it still sounded cool!

9) Its day three and the college students are still showing up.

10) Your smoking hot wife who just happens to be in charge hasn’t lost her marbles yet. Figuratively and LITERALLY.

Farragut Church VBS, Part 1

I don’t know about your home church, but ours does VBS big. I mean BIG! I thought I would pass a few quick facts about how Farragut Church does VBS. Some of these are really funny. And some of them, are just plain scary! Enjoy.

The initial meetings of planning the theme start around 8 – 10 months of the actual date. Of course, a lot of this is social time around dinners, talking in the halls, etc. But we really do start planning that far in advance.

Families plan their vacations around our VBS. The work is so intense and involved, that many of our families have just accustomed themselves to planning their family vacations so that they can still be here to help out at the church building.

Having a lift is a necessity. I don’t know if you have been to our building before, but if you haven’t here is a fact: the ceilings are huge! And since we do things BIG, we need a lift to get up into the ceiling area. So when it comes to decorating, we just assume we will have a lift, and that we can hang things from the ceiling WAY UP in to the air! The kids love that stuff, because it is like creating a completely different world!

Most everyone is involved. I am quite certain you would be hard pressed to find a family at our congregation who is not in some way involved. Whether they are a teen who is an actor in a play, a retired older gentleman directing traffic, or a college student who is herding children from one location to another, every family is represented in some fashion. Our VBS is one of the biggest events that we do each year, and it helps in building our own relationships while we teach some 300 kids about Jesus.

Nail guns, water balloons, black lights, endless supply of card board, and a bag of fireworks are a must. Enough said…..

Food for the staff is amazing. I am not really sure how else to explain it, but we have individuals who bake home made goods for the staff, so that they have enough energy to keep up with all the little ones! Its just another perk of working VBS at Farragut Church!

Sleep overs at the building are not uncommon. There have been a couple of days where we got there in the morning, and a couple of people were sleeping in the halls! They worked all night, crawled into their sleeping bag, and woke up then next morning, ready to go! They felt the travel time to and from home was too much, so they improvised!

Professionals are running the show. We have interior designers, construction contractors, engineers, teachers, ministers (currently working and presently in school), IT professionals, chefs, you name it, we got it! They are all doing their part in showing Jesus to a ton of kids are eager to hear!

Oh, and did I mention that my wife is in charge? She is doing an awesome job! When you see her walking the halls making sure that your child got that craft done, stop her and tell her how great a job she and the rest of the volunteers are doing!

Father's Day 2011

This year’s Father’s Day was really awesome. I got to experience all sorts of things throughout the whole weekend. I was gone all week prior on business, so coming home on Friday, knowing I was spending the weekend with the family, made it even more special.

When I walked through the door Friday afternoon, my little girl met me in the hall with one of the biggest hugs I had ever received! “Daddy! I missed you sooooooo much! Oh! I got you a present for Father’s Day!” she said with such enthusiasm. She skipped out of the room, and came back with a delivery box….. “I know you like jetski parts, and this is what I got you!” You see, at the beginning of the week I ordered a few parts for my jetski. But what I didn’t know is that in a conversation with Michelle a few days prior, Abby makes an offhand comment that she was going to get me jetski parts for Father’s Day, because I like jetski parts. When the box showed up on Friday, she brought it to Michelle wanting to know what it was. Michelle said her face was priceless when she announced it was in fact jetski parts for me!

Saturday morning I was awoken to my son and daughter “steam rolling” and body slamming me to “get up!” Everyone gets out of bed, we get dressed, and head to Farragut Church for VBS work. We dropped Michelle off at the building, and then the kids took me out for a Father’s Day breakfast. It was absolutely wonderful. After breakfast we head back to the church for a couple of more hours of VBS work, then it is out to run some last minute errands.

Afterword, we head over to our friends, whose quads are having a party celebrating turning 5. I was actually told by one of them (I think it was Jonathan) that they were in fact 4 on Saturday, but would turn 5 in a few days. The tone was such that he did not fully approve of the party not being on the actual birth date, but that it would suffice since he was part of it….. Jim and Allison are awesome people, and I am grateful to God that they are in our lives. Since this is a Father’s Day post: Jim is a great dad who works tirelessly being a Christian example for his kids, loving his wife, supporting his family, and being a great friend. After the quad’s party, it was back to the church to clean up for worship in the morning.

Sunday morning, Michelle rolled over and quietly whispered, “Happy Father’s Day” in my ear. Very cool, very sexy, and very awesome. Have I mentioned before how awesome my wife is? I was then (shock and awe here) awoken by two little ones “trying” to sneak into bed with us. My son said something that resembled “Happy Father’s Day”, while he burrowed himself under the covers and pillows. Abby just came in, crawled under the covers, and went back to the sleep.

After worshipping with my family (something we don’t get to do very often since Michelle I and have commitments on Sunday mornings), we rush out of church to grab lunch just as a family. And afterwards, I know you find this hard to believe, but we headed back to church for the last preparations of Farragut Church’s VBS 2011, “Dive In”. Let me throw out a shamelss plug for our congregation at this point: Farragut Church is absolutely amazing. If you are in the area this week, come by and check out how BIG we do VBS. Seriously, words can not describe how much of a production we put on. Oh, did I mention that my smoking hot wife was in charge of it this year? Yeah, its going to be awesome....

After we were done, Michelle and I led a devotional with the college students. I love these guys (and gals). They are young adults beginning to make their mark in the world. Michelle and I do our best to mentor them, as well as, work with their parents in making sure they (the college students) are hearing what God has to say about all kinds of topics. I am truly honored to not only be tasked with teaching them, but also calling many of them friends.

And finally, I got to reflect on the fact that the Scott family is coming to visit this weekend. They arrive on Friday, and I can’t wait. David and Stacey are in the process of raising some amazing God loving boys that are going to make the world a better place. But it is not only how they are raising their boys that is so awesome, but it is also how they impact their neighborhood. Their home is truly a beacon of light in what is sometimes a very dark place. Although we named our David from David out of the bible, my David sometimes comments that he was named after Mr. David (David Scott), and I am ok with that. Outside of my David, I don’t know of a better David!!

If you are a dad, or have a dad, I hope your Father’s Day was enjoyable, and filled with memorable experiences that you can take for years to come.

Thoughts On Bin Laden's Death

I would be really interested to hear your thoughts on the death of bin laden. Does it make our country safer? Do we celebrate? Was it (killing him) worth it? How do you feel about it personally?

Hail Storm, 2011

I thought I would share our experience with the storm from last week. It was definitely an experience I won’t soon forget!

Michelle and I knew we were going to get hit hard, but we didn’t know how hard. After making sure we had candles, flashlights, etc., we went to get some sandwiches. Returning home, we had a picnic in the garage, watching the clouds go by and the trees beginning to move.

Even after church sent out that services had been canceled for the evening, we weren’t completely convinced we were going to get hit real hard, because all we were seeing was rain. At one point, David runs out into the drive way, running around in the rain, no care in the world…..

Around 7, we cut off the computer and TV. We were sitting around the dining room table: Michelle and Abby scrap booking, me paying bills, and David running from window to window, giving us a status update every 5 minutes. Still, we had no real concern. We had yet to hear about the storms hitting Alabama…..By 7:30pm, I had decided that it was all for nothing. It was just rain! All we were getting was rain! Michelle and I are responsible for our children’s programs on Sunday mornings, and we use Wednesday as our night to practice with other volunteers. I actually thought to myself, “what a waste. When are we going to practice???”

A little after 8, David and I had just walked inside from throwing some baseball (the rain was hit and miss), when "IT" hit. At first, it was just massive rain. Then the lightning came through. But when the hail hit, we headed for the hall! David had his flashlight, Abby her stuffed animals. I had never heard hail that loud before. Michelle and I lived in Memphis for 4 years, and never experienced anything like this. The hail only lasted 3-5 minutes, but it was amazingly intense! We couldn't hear each other, because the hail was hitting our house so hard.

After it was over, we walked outside in the backyard, stepping on golf ball sized hail stones. It looked like a war zone. Limbs and leaves were lying on the ground from where they were ripped out of the trees! I checked the weather channel on my phone, and notice the second storm cell coming through. We headed in doors, and hunkered down once more.

The second storm was just as severe and just as quick! However, this time it knocked out our power. During this storm, Abby starts getting a little upset, and my son looks over at her and says, “its ok, I prayed to God, so He will keep us safe.” Abby looks at him then with this, “oh, ok” kind of look. Her entire demeanor changes and she begins playing with her stuffed animals, while the golf ball sized hail stones pummel our house. Michelle and I look at each other with a strange mixture of disbelief and pride…..

After the second storm passed over, we went back outside to check the damage. Thankfully, no structural damage to the house! Well, we would find out the next day our siding had been damaged as well as the roof. But at the time, the only noticeable damage was Michelle’s hostas.

I took the kids to bed, and said a prayer of thanksgiving over them. They went to sleep, soundly, and peacefully.

Michelle and I started calling our family in Chattanooga, checking in to make sure they are ok. Sitting in the dark, we sat there in conversation about the evening. It was part open prayer of thankfulness to God and another part of awe in the powerfulness of nature. We were in the middle of talking about what we wer going to do about the hostas that got destroyed when Michelle gets a phone call from one of our college students: “I am heading to your house. Our house got hit bad, and my back window of my car is knocked out.” Turns out, the college student’s house had received massive structural damage, and they had to leave it, not knowing its fate until the morning.

It seems the estimated damage in Knox County alone was over 10 million dollars. I have no doubt it will only rise as the weeks go by. Michelle and I are amazingly blessed. We are going to need some new siding, a roof, and some gutters. But I know of others that may have lost their entire house. Many have lost there cars. I know of one lady that got her head cut open, trying to cover her car! What this experience taught me was that nothing is sacred. We can not hold on to anything! A wise man once told me, "the harder you hold on to something, the more it hurts when it is wripped out of your hands." Thsi statement has so much more meaning to me now after experience this storm.

Ghana Mission, 2011

I wanted to pass on some internet information in regards to Michelle’s Mission trip to Ghana. Our congregation partners with the Village of Hope in Ghana, West Africa. You can visit their website: http://www.gwam.org/welcome.html While there, our mission team do their best to blog about the experiences. The internet connections are not the most stable, so there may not be a lot of responses. The blog for their experiences is here: http://farragutchurch.blogspot.com/. It should give you an idea into what they experience and what they offer during the week.

The mission team is made up of doctors, nurses, optometrists, dentists, engineers, preachers, teachers children, and of course one very special PT (that would be Michelle). They run the medical clinic for a week that has been established by the Village of Hope and numerous sponsors from around the globe. Our congregation sends everything from sun glasses to malaria medicine to be handed out during the week they are there. Along with medical treatment, they also play soccer with the children, teach the basics of mosquito netting, preach, and participate with various activities for encouragement and enrichment for the locals.

I’ll pass on some stories of their experiences as well as mine, as I am wifeless and childless for the week!

Regards,

J-

Initial Thoughts from Reading "Radical"

I just started “Radical”, by David Platt. I’ll be honest, it’s a hard book to read. It’s a hard book to start. It’s a hard book to pick back up.

Almost right off the bat David starts discussing a passage out of the bible that has always fascinated me: John chapter 6. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus feeds about 5 thousand people. Around vs. 14 and 15 you get the sense that the people believe that “He is the Prophet who is to come into the world”. Immediately He leaves, because He gets the feeling they were going to seize Him and make Him king. The next scene has Him walking on water. Once in the boat, it immediately appears on the shore (vs. 21)! As he starts talking to the crowd, He tells them quite plainly that they only seek him, not for the miraculous signs, but because he fed them. As He starts talking to them about believing in “the one whom God sent”, they begin asking about miraculous signs again. Jesus tells them about the manna from heaven, and how God fed the Israelites that way. But he doesn’t stop there. He amps up by proclaiming, “I am the bread of life” (vs. 35). He then continues to tell them that anyone who comes to him will go hungry or be thirsty. As the story escalates more and more, Jesus finally proclaims in vs. 53 “…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.”

As David Platt puts it, “Not exactly the sharpest church-growth tactic. I can almost picture the looks on the disciples’ faces. ‘No, not the drink-my-blood speech! We’ll never get on the list of the fastest-growing movements if you keep asking them to eat you.’”

And I’ll be honest: I have to agree. As you read through the next few verses, many of His disciples complain about his teachings being too hard, and that they don’t understand. Jesus doesn’t seem to be very sensitive to their feelings as he proclaims, “Does this cause you to be offended?...” (vs. 61). Again, this type of action doesn’t draw the greatest of crowds. At this point in your average western world Christian church, sermons start to get a little softer. Messages begin to be a little tamer. We do our best to not offend so as to push people away. We back off from the teachings of Jesus, because we are afraid to offend someone. But not Jesus! He amps it up, and people begin to leave. We see in verses 66 and 67 that so many people leave, that its possible only twelve remain with Him….

And that is where “Radical” begins…. Like I said, “ouch.”

The reading of this book has some pretty good timing as our congregation is going through some tough times presently. We have seen people leave, and we find ourselves asking, “What could we have done to keep them?” We also find ourselves asking questions like, “what can we do to draw more people into our church? How can we be more visible in our community?” Don’t get me wrong: ministry leaders should be very sensitive to not burning out volunteers. Church leaders should understand the demographic of the community and what the community needs are.

But this passage out of John 6 strikes a completely differ chord. Jesus knows who the true believers are, and he seems to push the others away. In fact, he seems to amp up the ‘weird’ stuff. I mean think about it: if you are around during Jesus time, waiting for the messiah to appear, you start following this guy thinking He is going to lead a rebellion against the Romans. All of a sudden He gets fed up with all the politics and starts talking about the only way to have eternal life is to eat His flesh and drink His blood?!? Don’t you think you might take a second look at your decision to follow Him? I’m just saying…..

I guess my point is that I think it is time to stop coddling to people and just teach the message of Jesus. We have to put Him first in every aspect of our life. Our finances should reflect spending habits that would make Him proud; not just using the church as a tax right off. The way we talk should inspire others; people should know we are Christians just by how we speak. Our weekly calendar should reflect activities of community service, outreach, and worship on a regular basis. I’m not saying I’m perfect and that I have this down, because I definitely don’t. What I am saying is that we need to start being intentional about our decision to follow Jesus, and make our decisions based on that. We shouldn’t be concerned with how many people might not like what we are doing, if we are living a life that reflects Jesus. Because if you are doing a good thing you will upset people. You can’t make everyone ‘happy’ and that certainly shouldn’t be our ultimate goal.

Change, yet again

One of my college students has started his own blog. Its about his time in Italy this semester. When you get a chance, give it a read. He is a great guy who is considered a leader within our group, as well as, other circles in his life.

Our college group is definitely changing. I like it, and I don't like it: change that is.... We have some new class leaders this semester. In a few months, we will be on our first official mission trip as a group. We have started using "Small Mini Groups" (SMGs) as accountability groups. The college students are responsible for their own class on Sunday mornings. And it looks like the standard for me teaching will be in the summers, for just a few months.

The difficulty for me with college ministry is changing tactics to get others into the group, and then helping them leave the group years later. Each college student is different, and leaves at their own time. Thankfully, God has blessed me with a personality that continually looks at how to change a program or process for the better. For some reason, I can not be satisfied with "how things are". I am always looking at how to improve it. I guess its possible that looking at ministries from this perspective, particularly college ministry, might actually be a good thing.

* Quirky quotes

First I am going to start out by saying that I completely forgot to mention that my daughter lost her first tooth and that my son got to be a pitcher (third string) in his fall ball league. These were quite momentous in 2010. Yet somehow they missed the list. Sigh.

I have two separate quotes for today. One for each child, which makes things nice and even! They even both have a nice combo of sweet/quirky/serious flavors to them. The first quote I sadly did not get to hear and I am only repeating the story as told by his teacher. However she is a reliable source and quite frankly it sounds bang on like something he would say. Today was carving day at school. A delightful day where a great guy came and gave his whole morning to helping third grade boys to carve pieces of wood into snakes. The boys LOVED it and I was able to see some portions of it during but not all. Brian (the guy giving his time) is a sweet spirited person and in ministry work full time. His faith oozes off him. Apparently when they were done with the snakes he had a nice talk with the boys about how much fun it would be to scare little sisters, etc. with the snakes, which I am sure the boys totally agreed with. He then added that as Christians we needed to think of others first so scaring our sisters was probably not a good idea. I am sure this sounded good in his head. However the wheels were turning in my sons head and he announced....

I haven't been baptized yet.

Apparently he felt this was a loophole. His friend in class must have agreed because he mournfully added that he was baptized when he was six. I guess no scaring sisters for his friend but my son was in the clear to scare to his little hearts content...for now... :)

I realize that we have some discussion, among other things, concerning the notion that after baptism there is nothing fun ever again. But the story still made me giggle, and his teacher said she nearly cried from laughing.

Today my daughter lied to me. I can not say this is the first time, but it was blatant. I admit she is a bit more free with the truth than her brother. When he lied it crushed me, with her I guess I was expecting it. Maybe it is the girl in her. :) While cleaning my son brought me two earrings. For about .0005 seconds I was a little excited because one belonged to a pair that I have worn for years and lost one a few months ago. To get the other back would be huge. However my mind quickly moved to the reality that my daughter had brought them down from the tray on the bathroom counter to play with them. Last week she was walking around with my pearls on - having no idea that the necklace she was 'playing' with cost any more than her dollar store beads. In confronting her with the earrings I did a classic parent fail moment. I asked her where they came from. I set her up to either lie or come clean. A better decision would have been to skip the part where I dared her to lie and just go to the don't play with my stuff talk, although truthfully that has clearly not taken deep root in her subconscious or I would not keep having it. Well she gave a lovely doe eyed 'I don't know where these came from, I promise I don't, really I don't I promise, I have no idea.' LIAR. I waited a few seconds and gave her another chance. Told her I knew they belonged in the bathroom, etc. She then said that she took them to play with. A fact I knew all along..., well except for .0005 seconds.

I then told her that lying to me meant that she didn't love me.

Total melt down.

Tears streaming, little girl face pressed into my abdomen telling me that she loves me 'so much.' Only someone truly devoid of emotion could have withstood that moment. (So that you know I am not evil I did give her many hugs, cried my self, told her how important she was to me, expressed that mommy does not lie to her, etc...) Somewhere in this moment I asked

How do I know you won't lie to me again?

Because I am crying!!!

I may be lacking in some emotion. I guess she didn't understand why her tears were not proof enough.

What a day.

* So Long 2010

I will not go into much detail and whining about how I have not updated my blog for months - the only comfort is that others I know have not updated for longer times than myself. Strangely enough life goes on. I miss the updates because they are truly more for myself than anyone else, as I believe this next little story will illustrate.

I just finished reading the post from last year and was much entertained by some events. For those who are not going to flip back and read I will say that the day before I did 'So long 2009' it was college dinner and I made the college group put away Christmas. Off-handedly I remarked that the disorder of my stuff would be December 2010 Michelle's problem. I forgot that I had done that until I opened the boxes this year and it was my problem. Many things in order and some in random places. Opening the boxes was full of surprises. This year I took down the decorations a day before dinner so my stuff would be where it belonged. Lesson learned Michelle of January 2010, the Michelle of January 2011 was inspired to get back in the game a bit quicker!

Enough with that - on with the list of stuff for 2010, which naturally will be ten points long, because that is the only appropriate length.

• Our house was on the market for a long time, by two different companies and eventually at a much reduced price and still did not sell. The market is completely a bummer and we subsequently took our house off the market in the fall. This has caused some introspection. We still wish to move. There are things I want to do that I can not accomplish in this subdivision. God will take care of it and we can be thankful that we were not in a position that we had to sell and lose tons of money.
• My daughter started Kindergarten this year and is loving it. I can just now see some good learning habits and concepts take shape. Admittedly the first few months were all about the friends. But now she can read one vowel words and is getting reading for the step into two vowel rules. You can see the pride on her face when she reads. It is such a milestone.
• My son continues to love school, but I believe his favorite part is the football card trading during snack. He can now sit through a football game and have an intelligent conversation about players and their positions and teams, with his dad of course, his mother does not care. Two days ago he informed me that it was Eli Manning's birthday. Who knew? Apparently they put that information on the back of the cards. So Eli Manning, wherever you are, we wished you a happy birthday.
• My nieces spent three weeks at my house this summer, while my sister was recovering from surgery. That deserved its own post, but sadly fell into my slump of posting. We had a great time and we learned many things. For example, only my son could sleep in the same room as my youngest niece. He was the only one able to ignore her three year old chatter and fall asleep. The other girls would just talk back and things would ramp up from there.
• This October I went on a ten day vacation with my mother to Italy. Another event that deserves its own post, with pictures, but has not quite come to fruition yet. It was a great blessing to have such extended time with my mom with no one else around to take her attention, which at this point is mostly grandkids. Because who looks at me anymore when my kids are in the room?
• The kids got new furniture this year. My son got the typical young boy dream of bunk beds and my daughter finally got a big girl bed, since she has been in her toddler bed/crib bed since birth. That was a big event for us and a marker of their growth. We looked in nearly every store in town and through Craigslist, trying to meet everyone's requirements of style and budget. Exhausting.
• This fall our Children's Ministry leader stepped down to take on the role of Preschool director. This allowed myself and another mom to step into that role. It has only been a few months but I am hopeful for 2011 to see how we can add our personal touches to this ministry.
• Our college ministry continues to grow in so many ways. This year has been one in which they young adults themselves have taken on so much more leadership. It is great to be a part of their lives for so many years and to see God growing them. They now have Prime Ministers of Education and Social Planning as well as planning a return mission trip to Bayou LeBatre led by some of our newer members. God is rounding out the group and bringing in so many different opportunities.
• Also this fall I began watching a little guy while his mom is at work, which has been tons of fun for all of us. He is thankfully an easy baby because we are quite mobile at times. It has been great to see how my children respond in taking care of him, especially how seriously my son works. Although the fact that he negotiated for part of my income in return for his work is another story. He is quite the money saver. He has nearly saved the cost of admission to Disney for a 4-7 days pass, because he intends to go for his tenth birthday, which leads to my final topic...
• We went to Disney for my daughters fifth birthday. How did that not get a post?!?!?!? We managed to keep the trip a secret and it was awesome. While I thought my son would give it away. He himself was not completely sure what we were doing until he read Orlando at the check in desk. It helped that I packed at night and woke them at 4 in the morning to go to the airport. That will throw anyone off their game. My daughter was in heaven, especially her day at the Bibbity Boppity Boutique. This may inspire me to get a post up here all about that trip.

This experience has pretty much reminded more of what I have not done... Oh well. At least this list got done. :)