Puke and Love

Ok, Rachel and I have this agreement when it comes to Trent clean up: I clean what comes out the top, she cleans what comes out the bottom. I thought I had fooled her and given her the raw end of the deal...I was wrong! I got a phone call from Rachel today no more than five minutes after she left my office on her way to Ft. Wayne. All she said was, "Meet me at home. Trent's puking." Being the "save-the-day" wannabe dad/husband that I am, I said, "I'll be right there!" (You can almost see my chest puffed out and my hands on my waist a la superhero.)

I don't want to be gross so I will spare you the details, but I will say it was A LOT and it was CHUNKY! Very chunky! So after hosing down the car seat and the baby (and nearly throwing up several times myself) all we could do was laugh!

This "interesting" experience, though, was a reminder of Christ's love. I know, it sounds a little weird, but just follow me for a second. Come to find out, Trent had drunk from last night's bottle and that is what made him sick. I know I do the same thing and, no, that's not an analogy for drinking. There are things I desire that aren't good for me, much like Trent and his milk. Even when the consequences are nasty we know we can still go to our Father to "hose us down." The consequences are still there (in Trent's case I don't think that car will ever smell the same again), but God cleans up the mess and forgives us. Trent's filthy, smelly, nasty condition didn't change how much I love him, and our sin will never cause God to love us less (Romans 8).

Anyway, that's my "deep" thought for the day! By the way, does anyone know how to get the smell of curdled milk out of your nose?

ST

New Thoughts on Worship

Wow! I just realized I haven't blogged in over three months! Well, I'll have to catch up some other time.

Meanwhile, I've mentioned before that I read several blogs regularly. Today as I was catching up on my blog reading and I came accross this post by Josh Griffin. I won't quote the entire blog, but he refers to a situation at their church where a friend of his wife had just accepted Christ last week and was telling Josh's wife about it during the first couple of songs during their worship time. They were excitedly sharing about Jesus' love and this life change when the lady in front of them kept turning around and looking at them with "those eyes." She finally turned around and said, "I'm sorry, but can you guys talk to each other later? I'm trying to worship." To quote Josh, "during her 'worship' she missed the most beautiful expression of worship ever. Angels were dancing in Heaven and she was ticked on earth."

To be fair, we don't know what that woman may have been going through, therefore, I'm not trying to condemn her. How many times do we do the same? We get so into our little moment of what we believe to be "worship" that we miss the most important thing around us--life-change! If there's the slightest disruption we all turn to see who's being so disrespectful. I know I have and I do. Josh's last statement really caught my attention: "Maybe our first reaction to a diruption in the service is that God is up to something, instead of someone being distracted."

ST

Wake Up Call

There are several blogs I try to read on a regular basis, if not a daily basis. One of those belongs to Rachel's cousin Gretchen. Her post today really made me think about something that I'm reminded of often, but this time I'm going to write it down.
She mentioned how she loves to read and is always talking about what she's read and giving others advice on books and so forth (her last few blog entries have been on this topic). Today, though, she realized that she "rarely offer up insights I gained from my personal Bible reading".
This brings me to my thoughts. I'm constantly thinking of ways to help grow the church--new ideas, new methods, training leaders, discipling, etc.--but I sometimes lose track of my own growth, my own training, or my own discipleship. Today was one of those days that I just truly got into my personal Bible reading. I just wanted to keep reading more! I love those days!
If there's one thing I've learned over the last few years, it is this: be a life-long learner. Once you reach a point where you think you have things under control and you set life on cruise, which I seem to do way too often, there's a problem. I hope to never reach a point where I no longer want to grow or learn. Yes, I sometimes get lazy, I'll admit that, but deep down I still want to continue growing in knowledge and faith.
I don't think Gretchen even knows I read her blog, and I highly doubt she reads mine, but still the same, thanks for the reminder, Gret.

ST

Humbled...Again

This seems to happen to me quite often. Every time I start to think I'm doing a good job and that things couldn't run without me, God quickly reminds me how untrue that is.
The discussion last night at small group centered around how we can fulfill the Cultural Command around us. It was great because I didn't have to say a word about what "we should do" as a group. This small group has stepped up and realized that there's more to their individual lives than themselves, and they've come up with a plan to begin reaching out to all the new people who have been attending our church over the last few months.
I can't tell you how awesome it is to see God working in their lives. It's even more awesome to see how they are allowing God to work in and through them!

ST

Point to Ponder

We had our small group on Wednesday. I love small group because you never know where our discussions will lead. We usually end up on rabbit trails, but they're interesting rabbit trials and times of growth.
This week one of the rabbit trails led to a discussion of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son [Jesus], and God the Holy Spirit). As I was trying to think of an intelligent yet simple way to describe a concept our finite minds cannot even begin to comprehend, someone (I can't give names because we have a confidentiality agreement in our group) explained that you can compare the Trinity to an egg: all three parts (shell, white, yolk) are individual but still one egg. As we were all amazed at the simplicity of that answer, someone decided to be funny and ask which part of the egg would be the Father, which part would be the Son, and so on. Once again, before I could say that you can't read into it that much someone else gave this awesome explanation:

The egg's shell is the protection (God). The egg white is the inner membrane that purifies the egg (Jesus). The egg yolk provides the nutrients for the growing embryo (Holy Spirit).

Very interesting.

ST

Rachel's B-Day

I'm hoping Rachel doesn't see this because she's having a hard time with this one. She was sad most of the day yesterday because it was her last day in her 20's (shhhhh).
We view the ominous 3-0 differently. I won't try to explain her reasons for not wanting to turn thi...that age. Instead I'll just give my outlook.
I've been having a hard time recently with people not taking me seriously. It's mainly because of my age. "Oh, you're still a kid!" is the attitude I get most of the time when I express my opinions or ideas. As I was discussing this with my pastor, he said something interesting: "It's now how long you've been on the road, but how far you've traveled." That was extremely encouraging! I don't mind turning 30 mainly because I'm hoping to be taken a little more seriously! I know, I know...it probably won't happen...but I can hope!

By the way, Rachel is not 30; she is 20-10.

ST

Great Directions

Someone just posted this on myspace and I thought it was funny enough to share!

1. Go to google.com.
2. Click on Maps.
3. Click on Get Directions.
4. From: New York, New York.
5. To: Paris, France.
6. Then, read line #23.
7. Laugh

That's just too funny! I'm assuming it will give you the same instructions to get anywhere in Europe, Africa, Asia...and pretty much anywhere outside of the Americas.

ST

Small Group

We've started our new series in our small group. It's called Wide Angle: Framing Your Worldview. It deals with the followging:

"Your worldview consists of the beliefs you
build your life on. It determines how you view God, yourself, and other people.
It includes your thoughts about life and death, good and evil, pain and
suffering, the past, the present and the future. It determines how you think
about your relationships, your time, and your money. Everything you think about
life is shaped by your worldview.
"In this small group study, Rick Warren and Chuck
Colson examine worldviews as they relate to the most important questions of our
day. They explore such key issues as truth, tolerance, terrorism,
reconciliation, and the purpose of life."

Thoughts for the week

This has been an interesting week for me. I could write about many things, but one thing in particular seems to keep coming to mind: what is my motive? My motives were misread a couple of weeks ago and it was a wake up call. I can be somewhat controlling and dogmatic in certain areas of my ministry and that comes accross in the wrong way. I truly want to honor and glorify God in everything I do and say, but I guess it's not as apparent as I thought it was. This past week has also caused me to examine myself to see if I am really trying to glorify Him or simply seeking others' approval. It's a struggle.

ST

Shuffle Up and Deal

I heard about this ona podcast so I thought I'd try it. All you do is hit shuffle on your iPod and list the first five songs that come up.

Kingdom Come--Hillsong United
Prayer for Taylor--Michael W. Smith
Greensleeves--Vince Guaraldi Trio
Time and Confusion--Anberlin
Without It--MuteMath

There it is. I really need some new music!

ST

Now Open

Blogging is interesting. Well, it's interesting if you have something to blog about. I'm not that interesting and my days don't involve great "adventures" so I've never really blogged. But now I have a blogspot, so check back soon and you might be surprised!

ST