Lost and found....

Well it's here......the shopping is done, presents wrapped, my wife and daughters are baking stuff. I think I am finally feeling the Christmas spirit. I've had a hard time finding it this year. I don't know why. There have been times when I've felt it, but it's just been slow coming. When I was teaching the excitement of a two week vacation helped produce some of that spirit, but this year that wasn't there. I've been excited about the Christmas Eve services, shopping for my family and stuff, but I didn't even take the time to put up my Christmas village this year that I always have up.

I thought I was getting there Wednesday, then something happened. I went to check the gifts that I had hidden at the church and they were gone. About $500 worth of stuff was mistakenly wrapped and sent off with the Good Samaritan gifts for needy kids that our church had collected. I was able to find everything and re-buy, but I was in a panic.

Last night we watched "Christmas Vacation" and something just clicked. I woke up this morning, did some last minute shopping, and I am pumped. However, my Cowboys are trying real hard to give away this game to the Panthers and that's ticking me off. There is no way Julius Peppers blocked that field goal.

Well, we've got 3 services tonight, and I'm excited. Tonight is also the night that we, as a family, watch "A Christmas Story," and eat pizza together after church. It's my favorite night of the year. Have a great Christmas and an happy New Year.

I'm out.....

Merry Christmas..

Well....just 5 more shopping days until Christmas. I think we're finally done. After a long day at Stonebriar and Firewheel, I think it's over. I love going shopping at this time of year, but I do more people watching than anything else. I'm a very deliberate shopper in that I know what I'm looking for, and I don't waste a lot of time. But watching people is just fun. Of course, I spend my fair share of time in the food court too.

Our Christmas concert services were great this weekend. You can check it out at springcreekchurch.org. You know...there is just something awesome about celebrating the birth of Christ through music and fellowship. It was great. I grew up southern fried baptist, and some of my favorite memories are of our Christmas Eve services. I'm really looking forward to our Christmas Eve, "Home for Christmas," services this weekend. We have family and friends coming in, and it's just a great time.

We've been talking about community and connecting at "The Net" for the last couple of weeks, and I've been thinking of the importance of these things in my life. Who are we hanging out with, how are we encouraging others, where do we turn for encouragement, and are we being a positive influence to those around us?

This is such a great time to take inventory and look at how our lives are affecting others, and what is affecting our lives. The birth of Christ began a life that changed my life forever. We have opportunities every day to change lives forever and my prayer is that I do that personally, and that we as a church do that for our community. Have a great Christmas....

I'm out....

I don't have much to say about my Cowboys. No where to go but up from that one......I'm no fair weather fan though.......GO COWBOYS!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing...

My buddy Ray Miranda pointed out to me that I did not mention the Cowboys yesterday. You see, I had them TIVO'd and I had not watched the game yet. Now that I've seen it.......HOW 'BOUT THEM COWBOYS? WOOOOO!

Just had to get that out....a little late.

I was thinking today about the way God operates in our lives. It's so amazing to look back at the things He has led me through to prepare me for this exact time of my life. There are so many times that I've tried my own thing, thinking I had a handle on what was best. Turns out...it wasn't. Seeking God's guidance and direction always leads to better things.

I made a coaching move one time based on the fact that I wanted a varsity coaching job. it was the worst move of my life for so many reasons. So many things began to crumble in my life that I wondered if I could ever get out, or if I just needed to punt. As I began to pray for guidance, God led us to Dallas. I don't even have the space to write all of the ways He led me through to this point.

But even through all of that, I still take the wheel too much. I pray that God would continue to allow me to lead in this ministry, but that the controls would stay firmly in His grip. We serve a truly amazing God.

I'm out.....

Another weekend in the books...

What a great weekend.......

Let's start with Friday. We had a great time at the staff Christmas party. It was a night of hot wings and hockey. There was more food than that, but they were the best. Judy (our children's minister), Jennifer (board member's wife), and I picked the winning score and got prizes. The hockey game had several good fights and a lot of scoring. And to top it all....Jay had a date! Way to go Jay.

Saturday started with my kids and I going to see "The Chronicles of Narnia." It was good. I'm not a fan of fantasy movies, but this was good. I won tickets to the premier from a radio station and it was real cool. Our students had a Christmas party for the needy families that we adopted Saturday afternoon. There were some things that I'll change when we do it next year, but all I had to do was talk to the kid's parents, and watch the video footage to know that it was a success. It was incredible!!! I'll post some pictures later. After church Saturday night we piled on to a trailer and into a few trucks and went looking at Christmas lights, came back to the church, ate pizza and hung out for a while.

We wrapped up our Desperate Households series in the main services today. Pastor Keith did a great job delivering a message dealing with finances, pride, and sacrifice. Using some of his personal story combined with biblical truths about giving and finances, he delivered a powerful close to a great series. The Net was great tonight. Our students are really looking into their relationships with each other and God. It's exciting to see them begin to grow and look for opportunities to express the love Christ has for us to other people.

I those of you that were at the Net tonight that I would post the verses I referred to so you could look them up, along with some questions I gave you. Here they are:
1 John 4: 7-12
1 John 3:11-18

Questions:
1. How have past experiences with God's love made a difference in your life?
2. What does it mean to you to be personally loved by God?

God loves you.....you love God....God provides power to love others.....you love others.

Have a great day tomorrow...I'm out

Happy Birthday....

Today is my daughter Ashli's 14th birthday. Happy Birthday sweetheart. And what a birthday/snow day.

What? Dec.8, and we have a snow day....that usually doesn't happen until january or february if at all. When we went to bed last night we knew this was a possibility. My wife, being a teacher, was up at 6:00 checking the news for school closings and as Garland ISD rolled across the screen it was as if she had just gotten a Christmas bonus.

I grew up in Houston, and we never had a snow day. We had a couple of hurricane days, and one refinery explosion day, but those just don't carry the same amount of fun as a snow day. Okay, so it was mainly ice, but snow day sounds better than ice day. My son and I played a great game of Madden, some Medal of Honor, and then he played some bug your sisters. We got the Christmas tree up and my wife got her Christmas decorations done. On refinery explosion day, you have to stay inside until the air is deemed safe to breathe, and/or evacuate your home. Not near as fun as sliding on the ice down your sidewalk and putting up Christmas stuff while watching Rudolph and The Christmas Story.

We've got a busy weekend coming up, but I should have some awesome pictures of our student Christmas party, and staff Christmas party when it's all done. Good luck to the Lady Mustangs of Sachse High School (especially Meg, Pen, and Coop) as they take on the Garland Owls tomorrow night in their first district game.

I'm out......

What/Who defines us?

I just read my buddy Bob Bickford's blog......what a Scrooge. Put your stinkin' lights up. I started putting mine up tonight and should be done tomorrow.

Man we had a great time together at "The Net" last night. There are just so many good things going on, and I'm just trying to keep up with our kids. They're so awesome! I had the chance to sit down with a friend of mine today. Curt Grice is the youth pastor at FBC Arlington. I had the opportunity to preach and lead worship at their Wake Up Weekend last year and will be doing it again this February. He's just incredible.

We talked about the things that our students are bombarded with daily, and the need to teach them to identify truth, and how to make God led decisions. So much of todays society is lived for the moment. Trends in everything from entertainment to fashion change so often it's hard to keep up. It's not just an issue with our students. We as adults struggle with the same stuff.
No one wants to look old, or outdated.

You know though, God looks at us with a completely different set of eyes. And the more I see myself, the more thankful I am that He looks at me with His eyes. So much of what we do and what we have just does not matter. I'm not slammin' all of these things because the fact is we live in the world, and will be exposed to these things, and be a part of this stuff sometimes daily. However, we do not have to let these things form our character, identity, or anything else about us. That is where we allow God to form us and then use us in the midst of everything around us in the world.

I made the statement last night to our students that I'm really glad the God uses us in spite of who we are, and not because of who we are. I know that's right....

I'm out...

Come up with a caption for this picture taken at our guys campout/paintball trip. The winner gets a free lunch brought to their school.

Guy stuff

A few years ago I came home from leading worship at a week of camp. It had been a long summer of camps. As a matter of fact, I think I had led at 8 weeks of camps that summer, and I had just finished the last one. It had been 2 weeks since I had been able to spend anytime with my kids. My son had been at home with girls for too long. When I walked in the door the greeting was awesome. Hugs, kisses, and excitement that let me know that I had truly been missed. But my son was not only glad to see me, but was just happy to have another guy in the house. As he hugged me and welcomed me home he looked me in the eyes and said, "dad, can we go do some man stuff?" He just wanted to get away and do things that guys get to do without the girls around.

Well I had the chance to go with my senior high guys on a campout/paintball trip this weekend and it was awesome! We took 20 9-12 grade guys camping last night, woke up this morning and played paintball for about 4 hours. But the hangout time was the best. No need for details, you know what goes on when guys get together on campouts and do guys stuff. We have some great guys and they were just fun.

However, they wore me out, and I'm going to bed. Pictures tomorrow..I'm out...

Community......

There's something about this time of year that just seems to draw people together in spite of differences. I know that's kind of typical, 'tis the season kind of statement, but it's true. Cultural differences, political differences, economic, racial, all seem to take a back seat during this time of year. It's very cool to see people just being nice to each other. In the hectic rush to get the things we "need" to get for the people on our lists, we all seem to look at everyone in a little different light.

Last Friday I was in downtown Ft. Worth shooting video for our Christmas services, and saw tons of people. After two hours of talking to families, kids, moms, dads, grandparents, and people from all walks of life, the coolest thing happened at the very end of the night. As we were getting ready to pack up our cameras, the parade had just finished, and people were packing up their things to go home, I walked up to a street corner where there was about 25 people. These people were all with seperate groups, and did not know each other outside of their own family. I simply asked if they would sing "Jingle Bells" for our camera. Without hesitation, they put their arms around each other, starting with the kids and working through the parents, and just started singing. I've got it on camera.

You know, one of the things that I've seen a lot of youth ministries is the need for connectedness among their students. It's easy to flock to the people that think, act, dress, and believe the same way we do. It's much harder to connect with those who are different. Christ certainly made a habit of hanging with those who experienced life on the flip side of His own.

Our students start a six week study on connecting this week. Our church is a great community, and I'm looking forward to the things that God teaches me, and our students in this study. Pray that God gives us the strength and discernment to take the opportunities He provides to reach out to those a little different than ourselves. They say it takes 21 days for something to become a habit. There are 24 shopping days left 'til Christmas.

I'm out.......

as promised...here are pics from our junior high hoe down last night....yee stinkin' haw...