am i crazy or just bored

i had this project for work a few weeks ago to create a survey for all of our stores. we decided to make these surveys a little more than just a sheet of paper with some questions. we wanted our customers to look at them and know that we spent time on this and that we care about what they think. well i said all that to say that i got the opportunity to create the survey. now let me preface by saying it is nothing special and honestly anyone who knows anything about graphic design would probably laugh at it but for me it was a first and it was a blast. to be perfectly honest it was maybe one of the most enjoyable things i have done at my job. it wasn't that i loved the survey but rather that i got to create something. this is strange for me because i never considered myself to be all that creative but now that i look back i never had the chance to be that creative. when i lived with my parents i wasn't self aware enough to know what i wanted to do or what would be enjoyable. so i did like most people do, fit in. and in college i took the route that seemed best which was a business degree and i don't have to tell you that business school is not the place to explore your creative (or artistic) side. i am not blaming anyone or regretting my decisions but now that i have created something i want to do it again. maybe it has just been a boring last few days of looking at contracts but i find myself thinking about how in my job i can create something again.

blogging again and not sure if that is good for anyone but me

looking at my yard it is obvious that it needs to be mowed.  and that is where the problem lies. how do you mow when the mower is broken?  the answer is simple, you use the weedeater.  which in my situation is perfect because my yard is all weeds and no grass. so if I am abiding by the proper usage of my equipment I should have been using the weedeater all along. if i would have been doing from the beginning that would the mower still be broken?  now that is a very deep and serious problem....ok solved it, I will just weedeat it all, that wasn't as hard as I thought.

I decided this past weekend that I wasn't happy with the way the furniture in my office was positioned.  I know exactly what you are thinking.  he moved it around and then it ended back where he had it from the beginning. well you are wrong, it is all in a new position plus I removed the fake tree from the corner. I think I like the look better now or maybe I don't and I only enjoy it because it is different.

at work I created a survey that will be used for multiple purposes and it needed to be translated to spanish.  I don't speak spanish much less read or write it.  but I did find this website that translated it for me.  but then i had the thought that the website was a hoax and it was going to make me look like a total dbag. so I sent it to one of our spanish speaking/reading/writing employees.  he changed a bunch of it up and didn't mention that any of it was off color but merely it just wasn't perfect translation.  but now that they are being printed I am hoping this guy likes me and is not trying to hose me. I am so paranoid.  really I am not worried about but I didn't have those thoughts.

and finally my parting thoughts. my wife started running a couple months ago and she is so awesome.  she had never run before, i mean never and now she is running three miles three times a week easy.  her legs are smoking and she looks freaking awesome.

An Update

I joined Facebook today. Yes I know I am way behind the times and really the only reason I did is because my mom joined and friended me so I knew it was time. But on my Facebook I put that I have a blog so I guess I have to start updating it. That is what I just did.

We're no longer homeless...

So, we're finally settled in our new home in Waco, TX. We've been terrible about keeping our blog updated recently. We absolutely love our new home and we feel abundantly blessed by the Lord to have such a great home for our family. It was a little bit of a bumpy process up until closing, but it's officially ours! We've loved having people over and getting to share this blessing with others. We pray that the Lord will use our lives and our new home as a way to bring joy and healing to others. Praise the Lord! We're home at last and we're hoping to put down some roots...

Changes

Friends & Family,
Christie and I wanted to give a update as to what God has been doing in our lives.

Over the past few months we have hit some snags in getting to England. While they have been frustrating we have really sensed that is was the hand of God and that He was simply wanting our attention. So we decided to take the past few weeks to seek God and hear what he was wanting to say. As we began to do that He began to initiate with us about not moving to Sheffield. This came out of no where and was completely unexpected. As we continued to pray he simply confirmed it more and more to us.

Let me be a little more specific about what he was speaking.
-He led us to Jeremiah 29:4-15, as we thought about it we knew God was telling us now was a time to stay where we were and to settle.
-He also asked us to be crucified with him (Galatians 2:20) and our cross to bear is dying to church-planting in Sheffield. As you can imagine this was all very sudden and not at all what we expected.
-As a result of the above, we went to Waco to be a part of a church wide prayer time. During that time we received multiple confirming experiences but one that was clincher for us came from a girl who went with us to Cambodia. She came to us and said God had given her John 19-20 for us and he wanted to tell us that even though we are taking up our cross and dying to something he wanted to remind us that the cross always leads to the resurrection and that a new dream was coming. This was especially important to get such a clear confirmation from God but it was still saying what we didn't want to hear. After talking with other friends and our Antioch leadership, we have decided to officially step off the team and are moving back to Waco.

Now we return to Waco, I will get a job and we will settle into life in Waco. It is going to be really hard but we know this is what God is saying. There is still so much he is needing to do in us and he is revealing that this is the place for it to happen. This is very unexpected for us and we are still in a little bit of shock. We know that God is faithful and that he has life for us here; it is just not what we had pictured.

Please pray for us as we transition back into life in Waco and answer lots of questions from people who do not understand or are confused about why we are here and not Sheffield. And, please, if you have any questions or would like more details please don't hesitate to ask. While this is hard we are pressing into our Heavenly Father to help us through it; so when you see us please do not feel awkward about asking how we are doing or any other questions. We can't 100% promise we won't be emotional but we are really trying to lay it all out before Jesus so we can move forward and not get stuck in the mud. Thank you for loving us so well again and again.

Crocs??

So...I have always thought that Crocs are weird looking! I mean...they look like gardening clogs, right? But, recently while in Houston we decided to try them on. Now Chris and Micah are proud wearers of Crocs. I never thought I'd see the day. I'm sure I'll be the next to jump on the band wagon. Micah is in love with his and wants to wear them all the time. The holes in the top are shaped like Mickey Mouse. Pretty cute! Oh, well.

I'm a jerk!!

So this morning I was reading in Matthew 7 and it amazes me how the words that Jesus spoke are just as counter-culture now as they were then. Jesus is talking to us about judging others and focusing more on pursuing holiness for ourselves and not being so focused on making sure people are up to the level of holiness we deem necessary.

See we are all judgmental in some way, I know it hurts to hear it. We all judge people in little ways. I used to judge parents (before I was one), you know when the kid is in Chili's and they are whiny and all over the place. I used to judge those parents and tell people how I would do it different and that my kids would never behave that way. Well Jesus said, you judged buddy now the same is coming back to you. A month or so back we were eating at Johnny Carino's after church. Well we happen to sit down next the entire staff of our church-plant team somewhere in Asia (don't ask where). Of course here it comes...it is one of those days we should have gone home after church and not out to eat. Needless to say the boys did not do well. Now I am not saying my missionary friends were judging us but I was now that parent I used to judge. So all I am saying is we all do it, we judge, so we shouldn't be surprised when we become the people we wrongfully judged.

See I am one of the worst kind of judgmental people. I label me being judgmental as being "cynical"...I know what is the difference. We are in Houston this week and I think Houston is the mega-church capital of the world. There is nothing wrong with large churches, I just prefer something smaller. But I have a major tendency to judge those churches and definitely their leaders. I have pretended I was not judging for a while by hiding behind the title of being a "cynic". Well the Holy Spirit reminded me this morning that being a cynical jerk and a judgmental jerk are the same thing, ouch. So I am laying it out there I am a jerk either way, so if you are a pastor of a large church...I am sorry for how I might have possibly judged you or might potentially judge you as I work through my junk. Namely if Joel Olsteen, Dr. Ed Young, or any staff member of Fellowship of the Woodlands (those are churches I saw ads for in Houston yesterday and then I quickly judged them and ripped them apart in my mind), stumble onto my page I am very sorry for being a jerk to you.

I want to be like my dad in this matter (giving you props pop), He amazes me with his wisdom and wise judgements. He is not an optimist who only sees the good, but he sees the good clearly and is also able to give encouraging insights into flaws. Where I would just be a jerk and tell someone everything they are doing wrong (in my opinion). Way to go dad you are rad.

So my challenge to you and me is to be ruthless in removing the planks from our own eyes so that when we need to lovingly help remove a speck from our brother's eye we can do it correctly. Lord help us be a people who are radical about pursuing personal holiness in a way that causes judgmental hearts to fall to the wayside.