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Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »





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As I was walking on the treadmill this morning it hit me, this is the last day of November. Seriously? Tomorrow is the first day of December. It is the first day of the last month of 2010. Wow! Where has time gone? Where has this year gone? We are in the Holiday season and I do not even feel like we got out of Summer good. Are you with me? Wasn't it just Labor Day last week?


As the Holidays are coming and there is nothing we can do to stop it or slow time down, I am challenged this morning to enjoy it. If there is one thing that I have learned this year it is that you can not stop time or go back in time, but you can enjoy your time if you fight for it. My challenge this Christmas season is to simply enjoy it. Enjoy everything about it. This time of year is not about how YOU feel, it is about what YOU do with it. Enjoy it, make the most out of it.

What will you do to enjoy this season? What are you planning so that another Christmas does not just fly by? Make the most of every moment. Take in every memory. Partake in old family traditions and make new ones. Do not let this season just pass by. Capture it!

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Thursday, November 25, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

Retailers started putting Christmas decorations out after Labor Day. Killing me!!!! My Pastor said the other day that in a couple of years there will not be a Thanksgiving. That is not right. We live and a society that is consumer driven and does not really know how to be grateful and thankful anymore. That is a different blog for a different day.


I have some Holiday rules that I wanted to share that I institute in my life through this Season. I am a traditionalist at heart and love adding new traditions to my life every year. Here are my rules....

The Christmas season does not begin until after I have seen Santa Claus on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I do not listen to Christmas music until the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We put up Christmas decorations the first weekend in December, not any sooner.

I can not drink a white peppermint mocha from Starbucks until the say after Thanksgiving.

I do not start watching Christmas movies until the Monday of December.

We will only go see one Christmas movie in the theaters all season long.

I believe that Christmas has become all about Consumerism and not about what it is really about. I will share some more thoughts on that in a later blog. I put these rules in my life so that I enjoy every season and do not miss anything that it offers. I hope you and your family are gearing up to have a great Thanksgiving.

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

Yesterday was a very scattered day. Had way too much going for Game Day.


Did not feel like we hit a groove until about half way through the service.

As we are looking at redefining the way we do Youth Ministry we are seeing that things we deem as important are not necessary for the Holy Spirit to work in student's life.

We spent some time being intentional about building our community last night and getting to know come people that we normal may not.

The pea game up front was a blast. Congrats to Connor for pulling a big win.

We launch our new series, "The Forgotten" last night.

Love talked about Baptism. Why should we get Baptized, what it means, and how to live it out. Grateful for students that "get it."

Very proud of how many students were serving in our Food Bank before service started.

Started our new text a thought part of the message last night. Went really well. Enjoyed reading the students thoughts as they shared them.

Love what God is doing in Thrive and can not wait to see what He does through us.

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Thursday, November 11, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

Mercy is a word that is used in church and by Christians to refer to how God has acted on our behalf. Mercy is something that we receive and really do not know how to give. Mercy. I see it as knowing you are right and someone is wrong and not holding it against them. You could. You would be justified. No one would blame you. But you choose to let it go. Not only let it go but to never bring it up again. You do not forget it, but you do not hold it against them. Mercy. Something else that we want to be shown but a lot of the times we have trouble showing it.


We want justice according to our standards. We want people to be repaid for the hurt that they have caused us. God has called us to show mercy like he has shown us.

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Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »





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Saturday, November 6, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

Really working this week on trying to live words out instead of saying them. One word that I struggle with is grace. It is a word that we throw around a lot in church these days. I believe that we can over use a word and under live it. Grace is easy to say and easy to talk about but difficult to live out. Most of the time we do not give out the same grace that we are willing to receive. We want and expect grace for God and from others but yet we are not willing to show it or live it ourselves. I believe no matter who we are that our humanity will get in the way from time to time.


To have grace means to love without condition. To give grace means that the love you have is bigger that the microscope that you are viewing everyone's life under. To live grace means that you love not expecting anything in return. That you are not blind to a person's flaws but you do not let that affect your love of that person.

Grace is not an excuse to allow people to make bad decisions and speak truth in love, grace is loving them no matter how they receive it. Grace is having no agenda expect for God's agenda. Seeing people as He does and loving them in-spite of everything.

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Thursday, November 4, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

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Wednesday, November 3, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

Monday I blogged about how words are meaningless without action and what we do is a lot louder than what we say. One of the words that I am trying to live out is compassion. I believe that compassion is seeing someone's pain through their own eyes. From their perspective. Not necessarily fixing the problem but being there for them. Standing with them and at time standing for them. Compassion is tough to live out. If we have never been through what they are walking through it is impossible to understand their pain. You may not be able to understand their pain but you do understand pain. You understand what it does to your mind, how it haunts you. What it does to your soul, how it eats at you. What it does to your spirit, how it weighs you down. You may not be able to say you have been where they have been, but you can say you know what pain is like.


Hurting people do not always want the solutions to their problems, they just want someone to know where they are. They want to know that they are not forgotten. Compassion is simply reminding the hurting people around you that you have not forgotten them. It might be a smile, it may be an encouraging note, a small gift, or just your presence.

Will you choose today to be compassionate. Choose to recognize someone else's pain and act. Even though you may deal with it differently, they still need your compassion.

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I have been on a journey since March of this year to loose weight and get in shape. I decided a month or so ago that I wanted to start riding a bike to continue my journey. Last Friday I got on a rode bike for the first time. About half way through I thought I had lost my mind. I thought the bike did not work right or my legs did not work right or something. By the time I got back to the house I was ready to throw the bicycle in the garbage. After I caught my breath and my legs stopped shaking I decided to give it another shot.


Today I got back on it and rode again. After struggling a little while I sort of figured out the gears and it made the hills a little more tolerable. My favorite part is the back side of the hill. I love going down hill. I can catch my breath, I do not have to work as hard. The only thing is that once I get to the bottom of a hill there is another to start climbing. The thing that I figured out today is that if I coast for too long on the downside of a hill then it makes climbing the next hill harder.

As I was struggling up a hill and figuring this out, it hit me that life is a lot like that. We fight and struggle to climb the hill we are on. We push and peddle, knowing that on the other side we can coast. Take life easy for a little while. Breath. The kicker is that if we coast for too long it will make the next hill we have to climb tougher. You need to start peddling on the downside. You have to just keep peddling. Keep pushing. Keep fighting. You can catch your breath for a second, but do not coast for too long.

Just keep peddling, even on the downhill stretch.

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Tuesday, November 2, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

Goals are very important to set. It is hard to know where you have been and where you are going without putting markers out. Things to let you know how you are progressing. I want to put some November goals I have on here to help remind me of what I need to be doing.


Loose 13 pounds

Go to the gym 20 times

Read and study through the book of Proverbs slowly.

Go camping once

Read two books
Wasabi Gospel by Shawn Wood
Follow Me to Freedom by John Perkins and Shane Claiborne

Listen to 6 podcasts

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Monday, November 1, 2010 Posted in | | 0 Comments »

Words mean nothing. What you do and how you do it scream so much louder than what you say. Most of the time people can not hear what you are saying because of how you are living. How you treat people. What you do when no one is looking. How you treat the people who do not look like you or act like you. Your actions give your priorities a voice. You never have to tell people what is important to you, they know it by the way you live. Words mean nothing unless you live them out. Unless people see them. Words are useless without action. I am trying to talk less and live more. Here are some words I want to live out.


Compassion - see people's pain from their perspective.

Grace - loving for no reason and expecting no return.

Mercy - forgetting what has happened and loving any way.

Community - making people feel comfortable in their own skin.

Words mean nothing. Actions mean everyting

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