christmas thoughts…

the true meaning of Christmas…to give! i am overwhelmed by how much God has given us! the gift that he gave is way bigger than anything humanity can deliver. it is for this reason that i write this post. How big is the gift of Christmas to you? It seems to me that humanity is doing it absolute best to deliver whatever it can! can we really deliver whatever it takes to touch humanity. Humanity wants and desires to be touched by something that is real, something that lasts and something that can’t lose it’s value! Humanity is being delivered temporary satisfaction while the church sits around looking for the next blessing. It is truly time to deliver the message of hope and satisfaction that can only be given like a gift! what gifts will you give today that will make a difference in eternity!

just a few thoughts about christmas tonight…after a great christmas outreach to the hurting!

what are you truly thankful for?

well tomorrow is thanksgiving and i am thankful for so many things…

1. the volunteer youth leaders that make it all happen at crave.
2. the fact that God continues to love me unconditionally.
3. the students that come out each week to experience crave.
4. the tech guys…gotta plug them…they make it all flow on a wednesday night.
5. calvary christian center…a great church!
6. friends…all the people i connect with, from facebook to youth ministry.
7. my kiddos…this whole week has been a blessing today we went for a bike ride (jake busted hard) fun times…
8. Food…fried turkey, ham, cornbread (made in an iron skillet), field peas, squash casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn bread stuffing, apple pie, pumpkin pie, woopie pies…just a few things i am gonna consume!
9. life…the older you get the more you appreciate the time you have…especially when you go to funerals..
10. Love…i am in LOVE! that’s right! i would walk across the world for my love. i would do whatever it takes to be with my love. i am finishing this post to go to wendys to get some chili…for my love!
11. passion…life would be so boring with out passion!

what are you thankful for?

what if…

saw this on a friends blog…gotta say i love starbucks and will do my part over the holidays…

calvary cares…

saturday we held our second weekend of just simply letting our community know that calvary cares…it’s not enough to be a voice you have to show some action.  we washed cars, held easter egg hunts, put money in machines at Laundromats, bought groceries for single parents, served hot dogs, pizza and water all over town. it was truly a remarkable weekend of outreach. props go out to our outreach pastor-pastor jennifer woods.  i got to go door to door in the projects and hand out brownies…nothing like walking thru the hood and someone calling out your name. we bused in a lot of kids from this area and i got to see some of them. 

our students went to stewart marchman in the afternoon and held 2 services served pizza and played on an obstacle course…and then we finished by going to the mall and freezing in position for 5 minutes…truly a remarkable weekend.

what’s love got to do with it?

all day today i looked forward to tonight. yesterday was valentines’ day and i gave my wife a great bottle of perfume…great buy for anyone you love. my wife surprised me with a great gift…but i took it back to get something similar-is there anything wrong with that? nahhhh she had bought it and we were watching celebrity apprentice and a commercial came on and i commented i would just love that…and she replied really…i had no idea what she bought. these last few days have been a blur of planning and fundraising.

so tonight we went to our favorite restaurant in st. augustine. i had a seafood dish empanadas and the 1905 salad. we love the columbia restaurant. if you like great cuban food…you will like this place. we walked around the city with a cup of starbucks and then headed home. tomorrow is gonna be a long day at the track with 40+ students raising some serious dough!

what’s love got to do with it…everything!

love will take you to the ends of the earth just to hang out with someone!

happy valentine’s day!

driving a bus….

today i got a text right in the middle of first service…and i read it.  my cdl was needed to drive a bus to pick up people for 3rd service.  driving a bus can be an interesting experience.the following are a few driving experiences…real life happens on a bus. 

- wednesday night on the bus home a guy/girl in pink stands up to another guy and they go at it…just before coming to blows our middle school pastor intervenes…

- some people don’t know what profanity is, it’s normal to them to wield curse words like an artist splashes a canvas with a brush.

- personal space is a real issue in my life…when someone doesn’t bathe and they smell like a butt it can be really a obnoxious driving experience-sometimes you just gotta drive with the window open!

- when its dark and you hit a curb with the bus turning a corner it almost feels like you could get the bus up on 2 wheels

- at night drive with the inside lights on in a bus…stuff happens in the dark!

- not really – but the passengers don’t like it much.- when i drive the bus through neighborhoods where our kids live they wave…i saw aj today…last time he was in youth he was in a foul mood…today he was smiling!

- how many kids can you pack on a bus?- when talking on the pa make sure the switch is flipped to the inside and not the external PA…i have yelled in a mic only to find out i was yelling on the outside of the bus.

**people in this world live in some pretty rough places in pretty deplorable situations…thats why we do what we do, so we can make a difference in the world. it breaks my heart to see what i see and then go home to my clean, furnished, immaculate home…kinda brings things into perspective when you take a trip on the bus and go where real people live with real issues. Jesus came into this world to touch what others would not touch lives that are broken and hurting- today i got a dose of reality and i thank God for the privilege to handle the good news.

movies, life and family.

today i had the awesome privilege of having my family over for lunch and just hangin out for the holidays. my fam came to church and considering the issues that we all face in life, pastor raley spoke a word into my family. pastor you hit a home run in the spirit today! I believe in 2008 that miracles are on the way.  God i am looking with anticipation for what you will do in my family. new beginnings mean miracles will take place!

so, we prayed and chowed on some bucca di bepo…i love good lasagna.  we chilled out-well played the wii for like an hour and laughed. gave each other a few gifts.  i love to be able to give something to my family.  my niece and nephew have gotten so big-you really don’t know what to get people, so we went  for the fail safe gift card-they were stoked, matthew even scored 2 cards. we ate red velvet cake (why do they call it red velvet-it just looks like red cake with bangin icing) and just hung around talking about movies, life, and family.  national treasure is a must see according to family- the previews for upcoming movies included – dark night, speed racer, rambo, and indiana jones… 

nothing beats hangin out with family. i love my family!