Should be in bed...

Its 12:26am. Couldn't sleep so I figured I'd my count blessings! Thank God for:

- Salvation

- The Word

- My Wife and sons

- family and friends

- health

-The Call

-Master's Commission

- a wonderful home

- Time

-keeping me safe

-every experience (good and bad)

-pushing me and stretching me

-provision

-The Apple (Computer) Company

-CMMAA

- My mentors

- freedom

-our military

- Chicken wings, honeybuns, sour worms, and chicken alfredo

- Discovery Channel and TV Land......I could keep going but then I'd never get to sleep! Thank God for sleep!

More MCC Memories

We have 2 students who have been with us since day one. One will be back for a 3rd year and the other is moving forward. Here are some of my favorite times with the guys.

- Operation J-Pa (our last minute trip to Bowling Green to pray for a...family member)

- 24 season 1-3

- Miniature golf and go-carts

-Working on the roof in KC

- The day of the door tape (not my favorite but still a memory)

- SRMC flag football

As I'm writing this I'm realizing there is no way to list them all. Good times!

A Day of Nothing

Really enjoying some much needed down time. Life can get so busy that we fail to just chill out.We need to institute national nap time or something! I'm definitely coming out of a very busy season. MCC graduates next week and then I'll have a semi-normal schedule until August. So today I decided practice for the break and did pretty much nothing ...and I don't feel guilty at all! Here's to relaxation!

Snapshots of May

More MCC 0809 Highlights

-Hanging out at the top of the St. Louis Arch

-Searching for a 7-11 in the "urban" part of Ft. Worth

-Staying at Unity Village (Crazy Town) in Kansas City

-Swimming at the indoor cement pond in Madisonville, KY

-Driving to Nashville and always finding a reason to go to Guitar Center

-Painting...oh wait, that's not a highlight!

Seriously, we had some great times! I'll miss this team!

Highlights of MCC-0809

As our Master's Commission year comes to an end I'll periodically post some of my favorite moments:

-Praying with over 2000 people during telethon (8 salvation's)

-Ministering at Spring Bash 2009 in Kentucky

-School Assemblies with Decatur MC in Alabama

-MCIN Conference in Dallas (we became affiliated)

-Staying at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville for TN Youth Convention 2008

-14 services

God blessed us with a great year of travel and services. We survived a car accident too!

Vacation Fight School

Tuesday is the new Monday?

I have a super busy 3 days ahead of me. Today I'll get Wednesday's sermon done, visit some folks, and try to get some MCC graduation prep done. All while soaking in the last regular Tuesday with MCC. Next week will be our Kid's outreach and there will be nothing normal about that schedule. 3 day weekends always put things out of whack. Don't get me wrong...I'm thankful...but I hate going through a Tuesday thinking it's Monday.

Happy Memorial Day

Gotta give a shout out to the greatest unit in the history of the military. MY 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)! Don't forget the fallen!

Memorial

This thought has been burning in my heart and head the past week. I can say it because I've earned some capital:

Remember the FALLEN on Memorial Day. I've seen a lot of Memorial Day Observances get caught up in the soldiers who are fighting our wars now. As a combat veteran of said wars I appreciate the gratitude...but that's what Veterans Day is for. Let's give our fallen comrades the honor they deserve and remember THEM first and foremost. Enjoy your BBQ and day off, but don't forget the Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, or Marine who gave it all so that you could enjoy the life you live. Don't enjoy the spoils of a day off without pausing to remember those that paid the ultimate price for our freedom.

Happy Memorial Day!

Parks and Recreation

Had a blast hanging with the Next Level and MCC crew at Fairgrounds Park. We ate steak, chicken, burgers, brats, dogs, egg rolls, and all of the sides! Thankfully we played a killer football game and some softball to burn it all off! I'm so thankful for the Body of Christ. I can't say enough how important it is to be connected to the church body. I love seeing God work in us as we do life together! Living for Christ is a blast and I'm thankful that God has blessed me with REAL friends to live REAL life with. We don't play "church"!

Thanks Rachel for putting everything together!

Graduation!

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Friday Family Day

-It's the last day of school!!!

-My little guy has a Pre-K graduation today (which makes no sense since he still has one more year of Pre-K before he's old enough for Kindergarten)

-Nevertheless, it should be fun to watch the little ones dance and carry on on stage.

-I'm ready for some summer downtime.

-I'm also ready to fire up the grill...soon!

-Tomorrow will be a packed Saturday....definitely going to make the most out of today

Bike for the light update

Johnny will be @ Clarksville First A/G June 5th-7th!

The Sprint

We are really flying to the finish line before graduation. Thank God we have most of the hard prep work done. Now its all about fine tuning and what not. We're still at CBN Nashville for he rest f the week. Haven't had too many crazy calls...yet. Yesterday I had 2 people rededicate their lives to Christ which makes the crazy calls worth it. We'll only have one "normal" MC week after this because the week of graduation is filled with Kids Crusade and graduation practice. Times like these are when being in spiritual and physical shape pay off. Thank God for His word and thank God for the gym!

10 Things I like about Clarksville

1. First Assembly of God

2. 4 seasons

3. Not too country...not too city

4. the military friendly community

5. The abundance of sweet tea

6. New China and China King Buffet

7. reasonably located to big cities (Nashville, Huntsville, Memphis, Knoxville, St Louis, Louisville, Atlanta)

8. Lasaters Coffee

9. Great cost of living

10. It's home!

My take on 24

-Season 7 was "ok"

- I do like the new location of DC

- I don't like the new FBI characters

-Jack is still amazing!

- The ending was a little too "soap opera" for me.

- the cliffhangers made up for the lack of action.

- Bring on season 8!
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MCC Moving Forward Human Vid

I'm so proud!

MCC 08-09 Graduation

Upcoming Events

Random Rainy Saturday

-I'm so over driving I-24

-That being said I have 6 more round trips to make in the next week

-My mom is coming home from the hospital today. Please spread the word to those who care.

-I'm fired up about Sunday night's message and human video

-3 more Sunday's until MCC graduation!

-I have no idea what I'm doing this summer....

-Tonight is week 3 of "Wild Goose Chase" at Next Level. I'm stoked that I get to teach this with my team. I;m looking forward to just showing up and hanging out.

Long Distance Ministry

Its time to head back to Nashville to work with CBN. We had a great experience in Jan helping them out. We took about 300 calls each, saw 30 people give their lives to Christ, and countless others receive comfort and hope in the middle of their mess. Its not about opinions and backgrounds. The bottom line is that people are hurting out there and some of them choose to call a number to gt to God. Its an honor to help them on their search...even if its by phone.

Small throne

This micro toilet was so cool looking I had to post it! Had a great time in Decatur with DMC. The Sullivan's are great friends doing great work in AL. I pray that I can be as gracious a host as they always are to MCC. Talk about some humble people!
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Decatur Redux

Spent the day with my mentor and friend in Decatur Alabama. Its been great bringing our families and MC teams together for a day of hanging out and ministering to each other. Oh, and our ladies got to hear and meet LISA BEVERE! The guys had fun too. Time for bed. Tomorrow is another marathon day in Nashville.

Don't look back

There is a great verse in Luke 17: Remember Lots wife! Jesus is going on about the coming of the Kingdom and what His return (Rapture and Second Coming) will be like. He then equates being ready for that coming with holding on to our lives and the things that we cherish the most. Paul said in Phil. 3 that he forgot all that was behind him and he pressed forward toward Christ. Paul does a whole lot of reminiscing and storytelling about his past throughout the Epistles and Acts, So clearly he wasn't saying don't remember your past. I believe what these 2 scriptures are calling us to do is move forward Don't CLING to the things behind you. Don't live in yesterday. If Christ is in you then you are brand new. Don't let the attractiveness of the old self cause you to miss out on where God is taking you. Remember Lots wife!

The Long and Winding Road

I've been a traveling beast as of late. Just got back form 5 days in Columbia SC. So cool to worship at Trinity Church. Pastor Terry Roberts has always been good to me and my family. I'll get to enjoy home for about half a day...then I'll spend most of Tuesday in Nashville/Mt. Juliet and all of Wednesday in Decatur AL with our friends at DMC and Calvary Assembly. could get used to this frequent travel thing...maybe....

Random Mother's Day Thoughts

Enjoyed a great church service at Trinity Church in Columbia, SC. This is the church my wife grew up in. This weekend has made me appreciate even more the serious mothering skills that my wife has. She is truly superwoman. I don't know where she finds the patience and talent to handle not only our 2 boys, but the household of nieces and nephews we've had this weekend. She seriously has it going on. Thank God for mother's. My mom is spending tis Mother's Day in Vanderbilt Hospital awaiting surgery. That sucks. And my little sister started off her 1st Mother's Day with a trip to the ER. But God is good and everything is okay. Now its time for some food!

Lazy Day

I am really hoping for a lazy day. The past 2 have been crazier than I like. Hopefully I can chill and be left alone. I haven't been back to Columbia SC in about 4 years. the graduation was super crowded. The University of South Carolina is one of a handful of school that still calls EVERY degree candidate by name during the commencement. That's a lot of people. Thankfully I got to dip out early after my sister-in-law had her name called. She earned her BSN. Anyway, we should be heading back to Clarksville sometime Monday. I love the road...but I'm ready for a break from all of this traveling.

USC Graduation

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The Suicide of America

Here are some signs that the US is slowly killing itself

1. Baconnaise

2. Bacon Salt

3. Deep fried Twinkies

4. All of VH1's reality shows

5. TXTing people in the same room as us

6. Baconnaise!

iBible

National Day of Prayer?

Today is the National Day of Prayer. All across the US folks are gathered in churches, gyms, tents, YMCA's and other venues to pray to the One true God. There have been about 56 presidential NDP proclamations and a White House interfaith service for the past 8. This year, for the first time in eight years, there will be no White House NDP service. The President believes that prayer is private and that's that. Maybe he's tired of "churchy" things like many of my believing friends?Maybe he thought the Bush administration was politicizing prayer for conservative votes? Or maybe his definition of Christian is totally different from the evangelicals who are behind the NDP movement? I have no idea. What I do know is that I've never seen a faster religious 180 in Washington in my life. It's going to be an interesting 4 years for Christ-followers.

Columbia Top 5

Here are 5 things I love/enjoy about Columbia, SC:

5. Ft Jackson

4. Rush's

3. Smiling faces

2. Maurice's BBQ

1. Family

On the road again

I'm headed to South Carolina for my sister-in-law's graduation. She'll be getting her degree from USC...not the Trojans...the Chickens...I mean Gamecocks. Anyway, these roads are horrible. Its raining and the roads are slick. You don't expect to drive through a lake at 70mph on I-40! I would post some pic of the Smoky Mtns but the clouds are pretty thick. Next stop...Columbia.
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Where's the fire?

I read a status update that really caught my eye today. It said "Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is THAT important."

What a cool way of viewing stress. Life is way too short to be getting freaked out about everything. I encountered some stressful moments yesterday. I'm not gonna lie...I wanted to punch something a couple of times. But after a few moments it was all good. I'm learning to laugh more in the face of busy times and stress. It's not that I don't take things seriously, I just don't let serious things take me. The bottom line: CHILL OUT!

Hungry

How hungry are you for God's word? I have discovered a new online Bible at youversion.com. Its pretty cool. The blackberry app is also the smoothest Bible app I've worked with on my phone. Anyway, I got to thinking, what it is about the Word that leaves me wanting more? I was reading my morning blogs and started thinking about my blog to Bible ratio. I read between 4-9 chapters a day from the OT, NT, Psalms/Proverbs, and Epistles. That doesn't include study or sermon prep....And yet I still feel that I need to get into the Word more.I pray I never lose that hunger.

Everywhere

Last night I got into a joking debate about where "here" is. One guy had been in the church building for some time. So some people where saying that he'd been "here" for a while. Others said that he didn't get "here" until he walked into our young adults room. I said it all depends on where "here" is. This morning I keep thinking about how God is multi-dimensional. His "here" is not someone else's "there". He can be "here" for me and for everyone else at the same time. I'm not gonna lie...that's kind of trippy! This tune reminds us of God's omnipresence. Enjoy.

This Rain

It's been raining steady for 2 days. I love it. I'm not the emo guy who like cloudy days. I just like rain. In Florida it seems like it rains everyday. So I grew up with lots of rain and thundershowers. In TN people freak out when it rains. They stay inside, stock up on water, and drive worse then they already do! Its even worse when snow is coming. For a state that has very random weather patterns I've never seen so many folks who don't know how to act when the weather isn't perfect. Just a rant!

The Greatest

Hands down...The Cosby Show is still the best!

Tweets and Status

I have finally hit a good rhythm with facebook and twitter. I am very conscious of being too full of myself through status updates and what not. I don't want to be the guy who feels the need to tell everyone that he's using the bathroom or blowing his nose! What I've decided is that I want to use facebook as an extension of conversation between me an my friends and family and twitter as a way to redeem technology for info sharing and of course making fun of things! I love the connectivity of facebook. I also found myself using twitter as a status update which kind of makes facebook status irrelevant and visa versa. I'm so glad I was tweeting WAY before it became trendy. I definitely feel that myspace is moving into the lame category. I really only keep it because I have some friends there who aren't on facebook.I encourage all of you readers from First Assembly...get connected!