...What Would You Pray If...

...God would answer one prayer for the church at large?


This is a series that Discovery Church is going to be doing along with about 1,200 other churches around the nation. You can get some of the details by clicking here for Pastor Jason's blog, but I'm curious- What would you pray if God would answer One Prayer for the church at large?

You tell me yours, then I'll tell you mine. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Spend The Time To Watch This

First, thanks to James Council for posting this.
Second, from what I can tell, the first type of Laminin wasn't discovered by man until 1979, whereas the book of Colossians was written before 100 A.D.
Third, Colssians 1:17 "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

This is really cool. Thanks, James.

Way To Go Abbey!

We are really happy with Abbey's report cards, but recently she took the Stanford Achievement Test, and... wow. I don't mind bragging on my kid a little bit here because really, I believe God has so much more to do with this than I do.

I'll confess, I don't understand all of this report, but her grade equivalency's and national percentile comparisons were pretty high. Of course, since Shanna wants to home school next year, she's a little more intimidated, but oh well!

Way to go Abbey! Mommy and Daddy and proud of you! Thank you God for all you have done!

Milkshake Moments

There is an author, Steven Little, that just wrote a book titled The Milkshake Moment. This is how it came about. Mr. Little is a speaker that travels around the country. While traveling, he decided to do an experiment. When staying at a hotel, he would order to his room a vanilla milkshake— whether or not it was on the menu. Well, here's how he explains it: "More than half didn't have the item on their room service menu, but, when asked, could send up a bowl of ice cream, half a glass of milk and a long spoon -- or everything it takes to make the treat. So, why couldn't they just deliver a Milkshake Moment? Because the organization’s processes, systems, and rules didn’t allow for it, and therefore the milkshake simply doesn’t exist."

He goes on to explain that all kinds of businesses have trouble with these milkshake moments. They know how to take care of the customer, but they are shackled by policies or processes that prevent them from doing it. By trying to streamline and standardize, businesses forget to look at the big picture— "Are we doing what's best for the customer?".

That got me to thinking about the church and ministry. How many things don't get done for Christ because we have to go through "channels" or look to our policies before we minister? Don't get me wrong, God is a God of order, but Jesus was pretty clear about trying to look at the big picture and not just the "policy".

So, what keeps you from delivering Milkshake Moments? What can you do about it? I'll be interested to see what you have to say.

I Need To Leave It There

I know where to go when I have a problem. I know who to go to. I know that the Bible says I can boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence, and that I shouldn't be anxious, and that I can give God all of my worries. I know I am supposed to give these things to God, and I used to think that I did that. What I've come to realize is I oftentimes don't give them to God, I just bring them to God. I try to bring things to Him and lay them at His feet, but when I'm done praying, I pick them up and take them with me.

How about you? How are you in this area? If you do this well, what's your secret?

So Close And Yet So Far...

I am sitting in a +$200/night hotel in Orlando, and it's not costing me one cent. I got here Sunday, and I check out Thursday. One of the nights I get to go see the Iron Man movie and Universal Studios Orlando, and again, it's all paid for. Sounds like like fun, right? Not so much.

I'm here for work at a convention, and although Orlando is only about an hour and a half from my house, I need to stay here because of the times that things are happening. That means 4 days away from home, and that's the part I don't like. Don't get me wrong, some events will be fun, but on the whole, I'd rather sit on the floor and play Clue Mysteries with Abbey and Shanna at home than go to a theme park without them.

There's no question that four days is no big deal to many people. Lots of military families spend months or longer apart, and that's just one of the many sacrifices they make. I'm not trying to whine, I'm just trying to say I love my family. The wife and daughter God has blessed me with are more awesome then I could ever deserve, and I like to hang out with them.

I have to admit, though- Iron Man should be pretty cool.