Category Archives: Life

Discipleship, Ethos, Leadership, Life, Ministry, Preaching

Man Time

I’m headed off on our Men’s Retreat this afternoon.

It will be a nice change of pace to be on a retreat with adults rather than teens. It will also be nice to go on a retreat that I haven’t scheduled or planned. I’m the AV guy and I do have a presentation on Teen Mentoring but it should be a relaxing 2 days.

I’m taking a few books with me. I’ll start Nancy Ortberg’s Looking for God and (hopefully) I’ll knock out a good chunk of Neal Gabler’s 912 page biography of Walt Disney.

I have been trying to get to the bio of Uncle Walt for some time but other books have gotten in the way. On March 30, I’m preaching on The Vision of a Leader and I can’t think of anyone in the modern age with more vision that Walt Disney. Of course, Walt surrounded himself with other visionaries and experts. Men “on the ground” like Ub Iwerks and those men and women of the creative team known as The Imagineers have helped carry out Walt’s vision and have even managed to take his vision further than he ever imagined.

I am convinced that you, personally, can have a vision for something but ultimately vision is a team sport. I once heard that as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens the other. Sounds like whoever said that knew what they were talking about.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Death, Life

A Sort of Homecoming

I graduated from a small private high school ten years ago. With only 54 people in my graduating class it isn’t too difficult staying in touch with most of them. There is probably only 1 degree of separation between us all as has been evident over the last week.

A few days ago we lost a classmate, a teammate, and a friend. In many ways we lost a member of the family.

At visitation last night I saw familiar faces, exchanged handshakes and hugs, and swapped stories that seemed to have happened a lifetime ago.

In about an hour I’ll make the drive back to Garland for the funeral. A few of us are gathering for lunch before hand. More hugs and more stories, tears and laughter.

I feel honored to still be somewhat connected to the lives of this small group of people.

We have welcomed new wives and husbands into the group. We have welcomed sons and daughters. Last night I was able to hold a new baby boy, less than 24 hours old, of two of these friends. Even friends of friends have been added to our number.

But today is a day of saying goodbye.

2007, Life, Thanksgiving, The Word

Happy Thanksgiving

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I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

We got up early so I could finsh the last minute prep work on our bird and it is now in the oven working up a sweat. 🙂

Yes you read that last sentance correctly. I am cooking the turkey this year.

I soaked it last night in a brine of broth, allspice, ginger, and ice water. We took it out of the brine this morning, washed it again, basted it and gave it a quick roast at 500 degrees. When we took it out to wrap it in foil for the remainder of the cooking time it was already turning a little golden and was begining to smell very, very good. We are halfway through now.

My parents are on the way over and pretty soon we will gather around the table to give thanks for a great year.

A few things I am ThankFull for:

Our marriage: We are in year 7. No itch here.
Our jobs: Both of us feel very fulfilled in our work.
Our health: My wife’s arthritis seems to have gone into remission. very grateful for that.

I pray that you too can find some things to be ThankFull for today and everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Psalms 107:1-9

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for humankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

UPDATED: The turkey was real (good) and it was spectacular.

Life

Rough

I apologize for the absence from the blog over the weekend. Thursday night I ate some pizza (I am a youth minister. What do you expect?) and then in the wee small hours on Friday I spent some more time with said pizza worshiping the porcelain god.

It was a rough weekend. I was extremely dehydrated and at times I wept like a little baby. I am not a very good patient. Have you every seen that episode of Seinfeld when Jerry eats the black and white cookie only to have a “race riot” break out in his stomach? He broke something like a decade long streak of not ralphing. That’s me. I hate being sick and I feel helpless when I am. I cry, I apologize, I bargain. It is not a pretty site.

I am starting to feel 100% so I’ll finish the salt post later today and post it tonight or early tomorrow.

Hope everyone’s week has started out well.

Peace.