201 and Brain Dump

This post is my 201st entry on this blog. Gee... I wonder where my head will be after another 200 posts :)

Here's a bit of a brain dump this morning.
  • Danielle's mom is doing great after her surgery! Turns out they did SIX bypasses! She should be home tomorrow. She'll need 24/7 monitoring for the next two weeks so we're working out our schedules to accommodate that.
  • I think I'm coming down with a cold. Darn it. I can't be sick this week. I REALLY need to be studying on my midterm and a running nose won't help that.
  • I have the greatest wife in the world! With all that she is doing to help her mom she wanted to be a part in helping me dealing with my stresses (which, to be honest, I was trying to keep from her to help her dealing with her mom).
  • I'm so happy that Danielle and I are in a small group together again. It's been years since we've been in a group together... I was in a men's group and she in a ladies group. Those were great for building some fantastic relationships but there's nothing like learning about God together as a family. I'm looking forward to getting to know these families better.
  • Saturday was our Alpha Weekend Day. I thought it went fantastic! The weather was beautiful for our horse drawn wagon ride. The food was great. The topics were challenging and created some great discussion.
  • My son Cameron is a natural stage ham! I had a chance to catch some of this rehearsal for a Christmas play he's in... and he's awesome! He must get this showmanship from his mother :)
  • Did I mention I REALLY don't want to be sick this week?
  • I wasn't able to make it to the Promise Keepers event this weekend. Which was fine since I got to be involved with the Alpha day instead on Saturday... I would have liked to see the guys from Montreal though. Oh well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Practical Atheist

Image
Over the past few weeks our church has been doing a preaching series called Practical Atheist. This is based on the book The Christian Atheist by Pastor Craig Groeschel. I've been blown away by how God has worked in the hearts of so many people over the past few weeks. Mind you, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Pastor Craig's ministry has had such a huge influence on my personal walk with Jesus so just is just a continuation of that blessing. This week we're probably going to hit the hardest topic for me to preach on, I Believe in God but I Pursue Happiness at All Costs. I'm going to be using Jesus' parable of the sower and look at how our pursuit of happiness causes us to miss out on truly how God wants from our lives. This topic hits me right between the eyes as I'm being open and honest with God about what allow to be entertainment or how I go about trying to be happy. Do I allow myself to be entertained by sin? Do I pursue the world's view ...
Read more

Wellness Journey Update

Image
  In early April 2020, I decided to take better care of my health. Actually, the decision was made on January 1st, 2020. It just took me time and a month of lockdown in my basement to get me to do something about it. My focus was to care for myself physically, emotionally/mentally, and spiritually. In the first year of the journey, I saw some significant changes. I dropped nearly 60 pounds of weight, reduced back pain, and began sleeping through the night for the first time in my adult life! I also did some great work with my Christian therapist to strengthen my mental health. I began deepening my walk with Christ through strengthening devotions and intentional mentoring. As I experienced these blessings, my hope was to pass along these blessings to others. I became certified as a DDPY Fitness Level 1 Instructor and a FastTrack coach.  While there were blessings, there were also challenges. Particularly in the area of whether my involvement in particular exercise programs was ...
Read more

Revitalized Pastors and Leaders

Image
On March 15, 2023, the Barna Research Group released the "The Resilient Pastor Initiative". Its goal was to explore and share the state of pastors in America in the post-COVID climate we find ourselves in. According to the data, the state of pastors may not be as good as it appears from behind the pulpit. From 2015 to 2022 Barna notes the following where pastors responded "Excellent" in a number of categories: Spiritual well-being dropped from 37% to 14% Physical well-being fell from 24% to 9% Mental and emotional health plummeted from 39% to 11% The overall quality of life dipped from 42% to 18% The level of respect they felt from the community tanked from 22% to 10% Level of ‘true friends’ dropped by 50% from 34% to 17% The data also showed that this drop in wellness was more prevalent in younger pastors! Older pastors are riding it out to retirement. Now, before anyone from my church begins to panic, I'm OK. As shared in a blog post from January 2023 entitled...
Read more