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Showing posts from December, 2007

New Year Prayer

Last January I mentioned how each year I read the One-Year Bible and try to pray a small prayer every day for the year. On the inside cover of my Bible I write out the prayer. For 2007 my prayer was Build a stronger servants heart and use me to build your kingdom. This year I really want God to stretch and grow me. I don't want to live a comfortable church going life. I guess most people would think just going from computer consultant to pastor was a stretch enough... but it's SOOOO easy to simply go with the flow and be comfortable with the ministry going on around here. So my prayer for 2008 is Use me to do what I could never do without you . I'm looking forward to see what God will do with this one :-)

The Joy and Sorrow of Ministry

Christmas should be a time of great joy for those of us in ministry. We celebrate the greatest gift mankind has ever received. Today we're preparing two services to worship God with joy and gladness the birth of Jesus. It's one of the highlights of ministry for me. Unfortunately, ministry also has it's sorrows. Before we can celebrate tonight we have to mourn this morning. There's a funeral here at 11am this morning... and this has got to be hard on the family to lose a father and husband at Christmas. So, if you get a chance, send a prayer out to this family and everyone involved with the funeral this morning. Pray that even in this time of sorrow the love and joy of Jesus will give them a strength and peace they never thought possible.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

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Yesterday we managed to find some time to get away from the Christmas rush and enjoy a good old family movie time. We brought the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. I've always loved the Chipmunk music. I had a bunch of their albums growing up as a kid. So it was a real hoot seeing my kids just love this movie and the music! This had to be the most fun I've had going to a movie in a long time. There were kids dancing in the aisles and just having a ton of fun. That what movies are all about :-) I had a lot of fun in the movie as well. Was it just me reliving my childhood of listen to the Chipmunk Christmas Song at my grandmother's house? Maybe. Or maybe I just kept expecting Jason Lee to break out into a rant about Lando Calrissian getting to fly the Millenium Falcon (from Chasing Amy - funniest scene in any movie EVER!). If you're looking for some good family fun this Christmas season, I would definitely recommend this movie. Simple story, great laughs, and fun

A Letter from Jesus

I received this in my Inbox tonight... I just loved it! Dear Children, It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was someof your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime. How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just Get Along and Love One Another. Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn&

The Brain is Mush

This week has been crazy! We had kids concerts at school, ballet recitals, Christmas parties, events at church... and those are just the ones I remember. I've also been studying like crazy for my final exam for my seminary course... I'm going to be writing it tonight. It's a closed book take home exam and it needs to be completely by Wednesday. Thankfully I took a study day today and got a lot of work done on it. Hopefully I'll do alright. Once this exam is done I'll have to reward myself with a fun filled evening of playing Medal of Honor 2 using my new Wii Zapper!

Last Class of the Semester Tonight

This semester was actually quite tough! Not so much the content of the course... well... okay, maybe it was a tad harder then I was expecting :) Just trying to get through a seminary course with all the ministry start up that goes on in September and October... it just felt like I spent the entire time running to stay caught up with the homework! I actually just started to feel like I was recuperating from the mid term exam last week... and tonight I get the final exam! Thankfully, it's on the New Testament, which I hopefully know better then the Old Testament :) I think next fall I'll try one of the week long modular courses. Maybe that will be a lot easier to handle then a course every week... Next semester will come up pretty quick... I'll be taking "Intro to Preaching". That should be fun.

200 Friends on Facebook and Other Ramblings

Last night I hit 200 friends on Facebook. Looking over the list this morning I was pretty blown away by the people there. I've heard from friends from my grade school, my high school, my college, my seminary, my partying days, my family days, my singing and dancing days, and pretty much everything else in between. I was also reflecting on just how every single one of them has in some way shaped who I am today, whether in some very tiny way or by being life long friends... and I gotta say, I'm so thankful to God for each of everyone of you! Without the part you played in my life I wouldn't be the man who I am right now! God ROCKS sending some incredibly different people into my life! Other things I'm thinking about today: Tonight is our last session in the Alpha Course. I've really enjoyed being a part of this ministry. I think this was a great experience for everyone involved and will continue to stretch and grow us as a church as we learn to be open to peop

Midterm

Last night I received my grade for the midterm on the Old Testament that I did a couple of weeks ago. 79%! Man oh man! I wasn't expecting that at all. I was praying for 60%! I guess the prof was in a good mood when he corrected mine :-) Next week is already the last class of the semester. I've really enjoyed this class. So now I need to get cracking and start studying for the final exam.

Sunday Night Brain Dump

What a week! Man oh man did it ever fly by fast! I had SO many things at the church and around the house I was hoping to accomplish... oh well. Tis the season to be busy like crazy :-) Two major things I'm working on at the church... First, is I want to find as many people as possible who are passionate about helping people to get connected with other people here at Woodside. I'm leaning towards picking up a web based software tool to help this team track the contact everyone is making with new people at the church. But before I slap down the money I want to make sure I'm not the only person in the building with this passion :-) Second, is the small group ministry... or should I say Home Church ministry. I know it's going to take years to change this ministry... but every baby step in the right direction helps. I'm looking forward to the steps we'll be taking in January. I'm wondering if I should teach a men's group on The Man in the Mirror? Th