Tomorrow Sonya and I leave for Kerrville for a couple days to attend the church revitalization retreat.  It is mostly roundtable discussion concerning the issues of revitalizing a church.  I am excited to gain insight in this subject, but I am most excited to get away with Sonya.  Since having Hannah it has been a while since Sonya has gone to one of these trainings with me.  She has sacrificed many trips to take care of Hannah so I could go.  God knew what He was doing when He put us together.  All in all, this should be a weekend of refreshing as well as good alone time with Sonya. 

Tonight is also our annual business meeting.  Most people dread these but at our church it is not all that bad.  It is cut and dry.  Everyone has the same attitude with the annual business meeting.  “Hurry up and get it over.”

Because we will be out of town, There may not be any posts on the blog for a few days.  If I can get to a computer I may write.  You can check back if you want.

Last night, the leadership banquet was great.  There was a great crowd but the message by Bro. Crabtree was awesome. 

He reminded us that as leaders we must always seek to grow and do better.  He challenged us not to be stuck in a rut nor make excuses, but rather to choose to dream.  He admonished us in 3 main areas:

1.  It’s never too late to dream.
2.  It’s never too late to change.
3.  It’s never too late to start.

We ought to look at these three areas and begin to dream about what God has for us and our church.  Then we should be willing to change.  Then we must start that process of change and pursue the vision and dream God has given us.  I was challenged to write down my vision and dreams and make a plan to see it fulfilled.

There was invaluable insight from this great pastor.  I came away last night with some nuggets that I can hang onto.

Yesterday was a great day!  We concluded our ELEVATE Series.  We talked about how we must go to another level in our witness and outreach.  God has called all of us to share Christ’s love with our community and world.  There was a great atmosphere yesterday morning and our attendance was the largest crowd for a regular Sunday in over five years.  It is encouraging to see what God is doing as we conclude the first month of the year.  Surely good things are in store.

This week is a busy one for us and the church.  Tonight is the Leadership Banquet in Bridge City and our Annual Business meeting is Wednesday night.  Sonya and I will be leaving Thursday for Kerrville.  We have been invited to attend the Church Revitalization Retreat at the Hill Country Camp.  It should be a good weekend.

Just a thought this morning from Thomas Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, “And you, who fear even the countanance of an angry man, what answer will you make the God who knows all your sins?”  That thought hit me!  Why is it that we fear offending man, but do not consider, that by our conduct and actions, we might offend the heart of God?   We should care about not offending others but we should also give the same caution in our lives that we might not hurt our Lord.  Evaluate the things that you do, are they pleasing to God? 

Have a great Monday Morning!

“We are prisoners of time and space, tied to clock and calendar, scrabbling for dollars and cents, limited by feet and yards.  But the uncreated God transcends all time and space.  He is everlasting and moves through eternity with unhurried tread, for He is “the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy” 
-J. Oswald Sanders-

Mine and Josh’s new year’s resolutions got off to a slow start.  Mine was a legitimate resolution and Josh’s was somewhat forced.  We are on journey to lose weight.  My goal is to get to 175 pounds and Josh is to get to 180.  So we decided to start a little exercise program with an incentive at the end if Josh loses his weight.

The problem I have with exercise is not the exercise itself. It is being contained on a treadmill.  For some reason I don’t feel like I am going anywhere.  In fact, the little chart on the treadmill shows that I am going in circles.  Sonya prefers the treadmill but Josh and I are unmotivated by it.  So at 8:30 last night, we took to the streets and walked close to 2 miles.  We mixed a little jogging in there and it felt great.  It was my favorite jogging weather. Chilly and drizzling.  Josh did good and I think I can convince him to go again.

Exercise is not easy to fit in to the schedule.  Like alot of life it is a choice of what you deem important.  The older we get the more we need to get in shape.  Not to mention.  I am almost 36 with a 17 month old.  I need to be in shape for the years to come.  There is something about kids; they either keep you young or make you old.

Just as we need physical exercise to keep our bodies in shape, so we need spiritual exercise to keep spiritually fit.  Spiritual disciplines are not always easy to “work in” our schedules but they are vitally important.  Paul wrote that bodily exercise profits little and he was not saying that because he didn’t like to exercise.  His point was that at the end of the road, when life is finished, how “fit” we are physically really doesn’t matter.  It is the spiriutal things that will have counted.  Our new year’s resolutions are not just to get physically fit but also spiritually fit.  To grow closer to Christ through our spiritual exercise of prayer and the Word.

Today, Hannah had one of those days.  This afternoon she was on the ceramic tile floor, slippped and knocked her head pretty good.  This evening she was walking by the coffee table and slipped.  Man, did she get a big goose egg on her forehead.  Two bumps in one day.  Then a little later she was picking up a picture frame and it slipped and hit her on the goose egg.  Boy, did she cry!

Have you ever had a bad day like that?  Where everything seems to go wrong?  Sometimes it is better to go to bed and wake up the next day.  That’s what Hannah’s doing, Sonya is rocking her to sleep right now!

Even when we have bad days, we still find that God is there.  Life is not a bed of roses, but God helps us through the tough days.  There is a reason the Scripture says, “Weeping may endure for a night but joy coumes in the morning.”  If today is bad, you always have tomorrow.

I have been reading through the book of Nehemiah and it seems that the church is in the place where Nehemiah was. In the need for rebuilding. Nehemiah had been serving in the king’s palace but got a leave of absence in order to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. 

He began with a vision and pursued people to help him with that vision.  Along the way they faced many hardships and opposition only to prevail and rebuild the wall in 52 days.  At one point they had a tool in one hand and a weapon in another but they finished the wall in record time.

In building the church, we face obstacles and setbacks but we must press on.  The enemy of our souls does not want us to build God’s church so he tries to slow us down.  We must build with a tool in one hand and the sword of the Spirit in the other.  We must declare the Word of God that no weapon formed against us will prosper.  The Word of God tells us that God will build His church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.  Let’s press through and build His church.  If God be for us who could be against us.