Vacation

November 30, 2008- Man I had a great time at the beach. The first day however, Meg had to go to the hospital for a stomach problem. She had to stay overnight(poor baby!!!). But the next day we were back on track for Rest & Relaxation, then followed up the day after with Thanksgiving dinner(complete with oyster dressing). Man you don't know what you are missing. Anyway, I had a great time. Those vacations should happen at least monthly. It rocked. And thanks to everyone that helped make it possible. Here are some pictures of the fun and friends.

Also here are a few great places to eat if your in Orange Beach or Gulf Shores:

Lambert's Cafe in Foley,Al.

Mikee's in Gulf Shores

Tacky Jacks in Orange Beach

R&R

November 24, 2008- I'm taking a few days off for R&R. No work, cell phones, no blogs. Just a few days spent with my two favorite girls. So have a very Happy Thanks giving. We have so much to be thankful for. Like this.

Thoughts for the Christmas Season

Breakthrough

November 21,2008- Great night at Celebrate Recovery. My buddy Chosen did a great job and the whole ministry loved it. I think in having him over, we found an effective angle to take on growth. Anyway, I just wanted to share something personal as a public declaration of God's Power. I have been waiting to get married now for 20 months. The reason we haven't taken that step yet is because I had a few things that needed to be straightened out personally. These thing kept compounding due to the way my life used to be. It really looked like it would take forever. But last week, my fiance and I agreed to put it fully in God's hands and stop trying to fix it(easier said than done, I might add). Yesterday, only days after that declaration, I received my breakthrough. Now the light at the end of the tunnel is visible, and it's not a train. God is so powerful, and His love for us is indescribable. The thing is trusting in His timing. If you are going through anything, I mean anything, trust Him. Give it to God and your breakthrough is just around the corner.

Rapping it up!

November 20, 2008- Things around here are subject to change. We had the Celebrate Recovery meeting all laid out for tonight for weeks, then last night at 10:30, things drastically changed. Tonight we are hosting Gospel rapper "Chosen" from the group Gods Army. We absolutely were not ready for this but it's going to be great. Hope you can make it by 6:30 central.

ONE

November 19, 2008- Tonight we are doing something different in Starting Point. We needed a break from the norm and are trying to spend some quality time with each other and recognizing the season of Thanksgiving. In preparing for the night I was reading a portion of scripture out of Acts. Acts 2 talks about the day of Pentecost. All the people were in ONE accord. Do you know what that means exactly? It means they were in ONE place at ONE time, waiting on ONE thing to happen. Every ONE of them was waiting on the the same ONE thing... So we are following up on a leadership blog that I saw on the topic of ONE. Here are some of the thoughts of the exercise...

• Take ONE minute and consider ONE thing you are truly thankful for...


• Take ONE minute and think of ONE person you really appreciate and tell them...


• Take ONE minute and think of ONE thing about yourself that you would like to improve, and devise a plan to make that happen.


• Take ONE minute to reflect on ONE thing you are talented at and sharpen that skill. Thank God for that talent and ask Him to stretch you capacity to improve it.

Anyway, ONE effort could potentially change your life, family, etc.

What can we do?

November 18, 2008- There are so many arena's that have not been reached effectively by the Gospel that we must stretch our capacity and do something. One thing that has to be done for effective ministry is, we have to really evaluate those among us who are sincere. That sounds crazy, but people know fake. If there is one thing I have learned in ministry, it is that people's main hindrance to accepting the Gospel is the fact that they see people riding the coat tails of ministry when, "what they say, doesn't match, what they do"(Pastor Mark, emphasis mine). That is never a good thing for the effectiveness of the body of Christ. I know there is the argument of Grace and Mercy, but I'm talking about someone seeing Jesus in our lives and changing theirs. That my friend is the first step in becoming effective. 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 speaks to the issue of living as we are called. 2 Tim. 3:5 says ," having the appearance of godliness, but denying it's power". We have to do all we can to remove the fake. We must not use judgement but rather discernment and above all be led by the spirit of God.