My Life and Times

Life lessons on Leadership from my 8 year old

2007-03-26T10:20:00.000-04:00

Kids say the darnedest things sometimes as any parent knows and mine are no exception. This weekend I went into the kitchen to reload on my coffee and was about to get down the gummy bear vitamins for my kids since they had been bugging me all morning that they had to take them( they really don't care about the nutrition they just want the gummy bears). When I looked up in the cupboard I noticed they were missing and my daughter quickly said she had already gotten them down and took hers to which I asked jokingly what did she need me for then! She turned to me and so innocently said "I need you to tell me what to do!" That comment has stuck with me ever since and her message is so incredibly true in every aspect of life....We can't do everything on our own even though we try and we need to look to God and put down our pride and seek his guidence in our life. Our world is searching for leadership and will grab on the coattails of anything that comes along that resembles conviction. The masses will sway to the next great thing in hopes that it will bring them direction and hope. The problem is that we as Christ followers have the ultimate leader in our hearts and choose not to look to Him and let His truths direct us to what we need to do in life and in the lives of people around us. Instead we try to do everything on our own and without Gods direction we will inevitably fall on our face in failure. Our friends our family our coworkers our world is begging for someone to give them direction on what to do with their lives and there are people telling them every day in books and on TV. Who will stand up and tell them what God says? That is our mission in life as a Christ follower to go into all the world and preach the gospel of good news that Jesus loves them and wants to have a relationship with them. My daughter didn't say "you have to tell me what to do" or "you always tell me what to do". She said the key word "I NEED you to tell me what to do" We need Gods direction for our lives and we should seek it and crave it not just ask for it when we are in desperation. God will lead through us all we have to do is ask for the strength and wisdom and our world can be changed.

24

2007-03-20T13:47:00.000-04:00

I have to say I was totally pissed that the freakin nuke didn't go off last night! I was excited when they said that it was going to detonate in 20 minutes and there was 25 minutes left on the clock...At least blow up an outlying city of San Fran!!! I just wanted to see Jack go medieval on somebody....I'm a guy give me a freakin bomb explosion!!! Just for that I had to watch news at 10 for some violence

Encouragement

2007-03-20T13:33:00.000-04:00

I have been realizing this more and more lately that God puts people in your life at just the right time when you need them most. Just in case it wasn't clear I absolutely love my home team!!! Everyone in life deals with struggles on a daily basis whether it is just daily life crap or struggles that have carried over from our past. We have such a incredible group that have all been so encouraging to me and my wife as we all confront our issues. It is sometimes so hard to admit we have problems or struggles because we are afraid of what people might think of us but to have a group that together we can support each other and give each other friendly and Godly advice is absolutely unmeasurable. Trust is so hard when it comes to unzipping our bags of faults but when you find those special people in your life placed by God then the peace and relief can be incredible. Did I mention I love the people in our home team?! If not, I do and pray for them every day.

Diet and exersise

2007-03-19T18:38:00.000-04:00

This sucks! I have been on this diet for 2 weeks now and I am ready to just rip into a bag of freakin chips and dip eat nachos and wash it down with a gallon of sweet tea!! My wife and I have also joined a gym and I didn't realise how out of shape I was until I got on the stair master thing and had to check my heart rate every 2 seconds.....I swear I heard the machine say under its breath to slow down fat boy you gonna pass out! Of course I gotta get in beach shape and have 2 weeks to get r done so I don't have the beach patrol trying to push me back in the ocean thinking I am a beached white whale...

Home Teams

2007-03-19T18:34:00.000-04:00

I just want to say my home team at Ridge Stone rules! God has put us all together for various reasons and it is changing our lives. We are going through a series at church called Baggage and it is amazing what God is doing in our group. If there ever was a doubter as to the power of small group just ask me cause me and my wife are sold.

Gator Homer

2007-03-17T14:15:00.000-04:00

Everyone who knows me know that I am a huge Florida Gator fan! I am such a homer that when I picked my brackets I picked Florida and Ohio St to play for the national championship and of course Florida to win it all which will happen!!!! My wife calls me a freak when it comes to the Gators so much that during football season I made her take off my Gator hat during a game because after she put it on the Gators started losing. I am a dork!! For my birthday this year all I got was Gator stuff to put in my Gator room in the house which was awesome. My bracket is still looking good even though I had 9 missed picks in the first round but my sweet 16 is still intact! GO GATORS!!!!!!

The devil is good

2007-03-17T13:31:00.000-04:00

Strange theme for my first ever post but man it has been so true this week in my life! I had a "V-8" moment today on my week and almost had to laugh at myself for getting tricked by the master. I can't remember everything that happened and honestly it really doesn't matter all I know is that this week sucked and now I know why. I have felt like I have had been bombarded with negativity and attacks all week and I have to admit I let it totally get me down. It is amazing how satan works to bring you down and suck the joy from you using the people closest to you so that you can't recognise that you are being attacked! My wife my kids my work everything has been one big frustration for me and it was all my fault for letting it happen and not turning to God. This Thursday I went to an awesome conference with a group of sold out to God men and women and the master of deceit knew that he needed to get me down as much as he could to try and keep me from seeing the vision of what God wants to do and is doing in our church. Ridgestone Church is a Godsend to me and my family and the vision of Gary Lamb and the awesome staff there are doing incredible things in our city and the conference was going to throw a nitro boost into lives of all of us who went. I on the other hand have had my mind so freaking clouded with crap all week that even though I came away with a nitro boost, it never really got set off the way God wanted. The devil has to be patting himself on the back and I want to say well I won't post what I want to say! Our church and what God wants to do and what he is doing in the lives of our people is incredible and there is no limit to the lost we can reach in our community. I take that back, there is a limit and that limit is our faith in the vision that God has burned into the heart of our Pastor. If we let our faith and fire in what God has for our lives be blinded by satan, then we will never make a true impact in our community and lives of our friends, neighbors, and lost souls that God wants us to reach. Bad and negative crap happens to us everyday and that is life, but the true test of a Godly man is if he looks to God and takes hold of his truths and never takes his eyes off Him. This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible and I am claiming it as my verse of the week. Isaiah 40:31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; the will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.