Mr. Norris

By no means am I one of those people who worships the ground that Chuck Norris walks on.  However, the facts about Chuck Norris are hilarious.  Read them and laugh - watch this and vote for  Mike Huckabee.

Welcome Back

I am really afraid that because of my unfortunate finger injury my blog audience has dwindled to just a few occasional passers by.  If you are still out there - KEEP READING!  I guess one good thing about taking a week off from blogging is that it has given me some time to think some things through.  The weekend before Thanksgiving - I spent the night in Columbia.  I got the chance to go down there and spend some quality time with a couple of my best friends in the world.  On top of that - I got my world rocked.

 That weekend, a church called Midtown Fellowship was trying to raise money and (probably more importantly) awareness about the homeless epidemic in Columbia, South Carolina.  The event was called ”Homeless for the Homeless.”  700 people showed up at the Salvation Army in downtown Columbia that Friday night.  By the way - God decided that the temperature would drop to about 31 degrees.  Needless to say - we were cold.  And sure - we spent the night outside in our Columbia and NorthFace sleeping bags.  Yea - we were on the hard concrete with a two or three blankets folded over to give us some kind of cushion.  And yes - we called ourselves homeless for one night.  We experienced probably 1/8 of a normal homeless night.  We had all of our friends around us.  We could go inside and sleep on the floor if it got to rough.  There was hot chocolate provided.  We didn’t have to worry about being picked up by the police.  And we could come and go without any kind of worry.

I talked to a man who was homeless that night.  He told us that on the street you couldn’t just get up and leave anything sitting around.  You couldn’t leave a sleeping bag lying on the ground - “That s— would be gone.”  That is what he told me.  He said it probably four or fives times in a row.  What was his name?  I don’t remember.  I do remember that every night he sleeps in a parking garage.  He can’t go to the shelter.  He got kicked out for “speaking his peace.”  This man lives on the street every day with no hope of a bed.  (As I type this, I am reclining on my lush queen bed.) 

The next day - everyone was sent out to do different service projects.  I helped set up for the worship service that was going to take place that night.  I talked to only a few homeless people.  I would like to say it was because I didn’t encounter many - which I didn’t.  But I think it was more because my heart was yet to be broken for these people.  I think I needed to sit and think about it.  I think I needed to let it soak in.  Even as I think now - I think that my heart is being broken for those who have nothing. 

A week ago - I had a conversation with a guy who has something to do with mission mobilization in the Greer/Greenville area.  He told me that there are 800 kids in the Greenville County school system that are homeless.  They may not be living on the street - but they don’t know where they are sleeping tonight.  That blows my mind.  I think that God is calling me toward some kind of event like “Homeless for the Homeless” in Greenville.  I write that on my blog - so that I can’t forget about it.  I put it here so that people will be able to help me strive toward that goal.

Broke

Blogging is going to have to take a back seat for a few days.  While in Columbia this weekend, I dropped a portable stage on my hand.  Well, on my finger - my finger nail is going to fall off, I do believe.  But - the letters R, T, F, G, C, and V have become very difficult to type because I am pretty sure that something is broken in my left pointer.  I am very sorry that I won’t be giving you awesome things to read - even if you don’t care.

Thanks Lee

Last Friday, I was at Trio - as usual.  We weren’t even open yet when I saw the worship leader at my old church.  I went out and spoke to him for a minute.  Honestly, I haven’t been to New Spring in months.  I haven’t really talked to Lee in even longer.  We talked for maybe two minutes.  I told him about church and my job.  He asked about Laura Beth - I told him about how she was.  And then he told me that anytime I needed someone to pray for me or some kind of encouragement - all I had to do was email him. 

What a stand up guy.  He is always looking to love someone.  Lee - I really appreciate it, man.  You will probably never read this - but thanks.  You have already encouraged me.

John is Different

If you read my blog or if you know about how things are done in the Student Ministry at Freedom - you know that I lead a high school bible study at my house on Sunday nights.  We have been walking through the book of John since I came on staff here at Freedom.  I wanted to look at the life of Jesus - he is pretty much the main character of the Bible.  I wanted to look at John because “John is different.”  (that is a shout out to my college professor - Dr. Mynatt)  It seems to me that we always get either Matthew’s or Luke’s account of stuff and therefore we are probably getting Mark’s account, too.  John is just a different perspective. 

I don’t think I realized how different it is.  I know that I have read all four gospels - but as we walk (and I mean walk) though John, I think that Matthew, Mark, and Luke paint a much simpler picture of who Jesus is.  Don’t get me wrong, I think that all four accounts come together to paint a more complete picture of Jesus.  Each perspective shows a side of Jesus that the others don’t. 

We are now on John 8.  Jesus is especially cryptic when he is talking about the validity of his testimony.  When I read these verses over and over, I start to get it.  But I know for a fact that if I were hearing this speech live and for the first time and would not be able to go back and read it again later - I would have walked away scratching my head and wondering “What just happened?”  No - I am not saying that the message of Jesus is confusing.  Jesus is not the “Author of Confusion.”  But Jesus drops some serious information that is really heavy. 

I am really happy that I have the Bible.  I have Jesus’ words.  I can read them over and over and seek the true meaning of this or that.  I think one of the things that I am trying to do is get out of my 21st century mindset and try to understand what Jesus was saying to people in the 1st century.  What was he really saying?  Not - what can I make him say?

This is my prayer - Jesus, I want to understand you.  Teach me to understand your words.  Jesus, I love you.

Shameless Sunday

Sometimes things happen in my life and I say to myself, “That is blog material.”  Other times, I sit at my computer and think to myself, “I have nothing to write about.”  I think today is one of those nothing to write about kind of days.  Don’t get me wrong, things are going well in my life.  That being said - this is my day.

 Today, Laura Beth and I had lunch with three other couples.  It is nice to have some time to eat and spend time with some people that are our age.  Of course, we were the youngest couple - but only by two or three years.  It was refreshing.  Don’t misinterpret this - I love being around everyone at Freedom Fellowship.  We really love where we are.  We love the people.  We love the students.  Everything is going great.  Today was refreshing though.

This evening we had the high school bible study at our house.  The bible study went better than usual tonight.  I felt like things ended on a very good note.  I felt really good about the things that were discussed.  Afterward - we played an amazing game of “Signs.”  We had a good time.

Okay - I will keep this next rant short.  Does anyone out there know what makes a good blog?  Is it the writer?  Is it the content?  Is it the quality and the sweet videos and pictures?  No - Comments make a blog awesome.  Conversation is what makes this thing worthwhile.  So if you read this - leave a comment.  This is my completely shameless attempt at comments.

The Cold Hard Fact

First off, to anyone who reads this and doesn’t know this about my wife - she hates being cold.  Every year the weather changes and she mourns for the loss of summer.  We will sit in the house and it won’t even be cold - but she will shiver because even a comfortable 70 degrees is cold to her.  As soon as we see 60 degree weather - she insists that the heat be on.  I am not picking on her - I am just letting all of you know how she feels about temperatures that aren’t in the 80s or 90s.

This week - anyone would start running the heat in their house.  With overnight lows in the 30s, of course we are going to run the heat.  And so a new battle rages on - what should the thermostat be set on?  I was taught to set the heat in the high 60s.  Laura Beth would run it on 80 if I let her. 

This morning, Laura Beth got up and turned the heat up (I don’t know this for a fact - but I am fairly confident in this).  No big deal right?  I should have a nice warm house to wake up to.  Wrong.  The heat has been running since I woke up - and it is about 64 degrees in the house.  Here is a “cold hard fact” - I am cold.  My wife is right - it is cold in this house. 

Is anyone else grieving the loss of the warm days of summer?  Is anyone else upset by the fact that we went from 80 degrees one week to 50 the next?

20/20

Tonight, the “leadership community” at Freedom Fellowship had a gathering of sorts.  Cliff cast vision and Donny helped clear up some things that he would say (apparently this is part of Donny’s job).  It was truly a great experience.  There comes a point in time after a while of doing this thing we call “church” that the proverbial batteries need to be charged. 

After I came on staff at Freedom, I was ready to do everything that I could to reach anyone.  And then the church staff went to the Catalyst Conference.  After that experience we were all ready to do whatever it takes.  Nothing has changed.  Don’t get me wrong - I want to reach whoever I can, I want to impact my community, I want to see people come to know Jesus.  These were my desires before becoming apart of a staff or going to a conference - but you lose sight of things occasionally. 

Tonight’s meeting was amazingly refreshing.  It just came at a good time.  To those of you - if anyone at all - that are reading, I encourage you to take a step back and look at why you do the things that you do.  When we restore our vision or just refocus our vision it helps us serve more effectively.

Feel free to share why it is that you serve God the way that you do.