Back to reality

It's back to work today. I'm still sick, I can feel it, but supposedly, not contagious anymore. Who knows. All I know is that, counting today, there's six days of work left, and it's increasingly harder to find the work ethic needed to finish out. I couldn't take the last two days off, because that would empty out my remaining time off, and I am hoping to get paid for that the week before I leave. We shall see.

It sucked missing church last night. I really enjoy youth group, and I only have two left. They "rehearsed" for Sunday last night. Sunday is youth Sunday, and there's so much going on. I've done a lot of preparation, yet still feel un-prepared. It's my first sermon in front of an actual congregation. I've given them or "talks," if you will, at camp, but this is a whole new monster, equipped with a baptism and everything. It shall be interesting, that's for sure.

We have our worship rehearsal tonight, so that should put me in a great mood. I love worship practice, even if we suck, because it's how I praise the best. I enjoy the company of the others around me as well, so that makes it even better. We will have two to three more tonight and maybe even more on Sunday, so I'm extremely excited. Anyone that's free should come out (421 Park Avenue - - Park Avenue and Harney).

After that, we will be meeting three people to hopefully create a technology team. I'm going to go over with them what has been done in the past, and what the current needs are. Then, I'm excited to hear their vision for the future and see it take off. Hopefully, I can get home over Christmas and see everyone and the improvements they're making.

The car is still in my possession, which is depressing in itself. I enjoy not having to figure out rides everywhere, but I still want to have that sold by the end of the month. So once again, if anyone's interested, please let me know.

I teach my last lessons this Sunday afternoon, and then I will be student-less. It will be weird not teaching trumpet lessons for a while since I've been doing it so long. However, I guess there will be a lot of changes. I'm looking forward to most of them.

I've got work to get caught up on today, so we shall see how much of it I can actually get done. My goal is to have this project completed by the time I leave. There's just a little to do, but so much to do inside of that.

Enough for now. Laters!

Sick Money

So, today royally sucked! I went to the doctor's this morning. I guess there's some sort of virus going around, and I just happened to be lucky enough to get it. Can you believe it? Oh well. The doctor told me to take off two days of work. I'm not going to argue, but I have to get some work done. So, I did some work from home.

It's not too bad once you get some meds in you. That pseudoephedrine (spelling?) stuff works wonders for your mood and symptoms. But, because of kids screwing with the meds, you now have to show your ID and can only get certain doses.

My dog was cute today though. He wanted to sleep on me all day. There are a couple great pictures that Kate got tonight.

Other than that, and getting ready for youth Sunday, there's not much else going on. So, I will leave you with this short one today and let you get back to you lives, and the people in it. God bless and until tomorrow....

A Case of the Mondays....

Time is starting to wind on down. 18 days until I swear in, and 21 days until I leave. Time is moving fast, yet, slow when I think about it. Each day creeps by, yet, all of the sudden it's Friday. How does that work? I'm kind of excited because I just realized that Kate and I have many gift certificates to use before I leave. That means I don't have to cook!!

I find it hard to concentrate at work, as I said before. However, it's even worse on days like today. I had a great weekend, lots of sleep last night, but I just couldn't get my lazy butt out of bed today. It's rainy, my throat hurts, and I have no motivation to get up! That will all change in a few weeks.

I do have a couple of things to make sure I get done though. I have to train people in St. Louis on how to do my job, in a nutshell. That should be interesting considering I get about 3-4 hours to do so. I also have to finish up one project which has been dragging on since forever. This is difficult, because I rely on others to get their part done as well. That hasn't been happening.

So, during the day, I find myself watching the construction process of a hotel next door. It's where guitars and cadiallacs used to be. It's a very interesting process if I may say so myself.

I hope to sell my car this week. That would be a huge thing if I could. I'm kind of upset at the guy who said he would buy it then didn't. But, that's the way things work I guess.

Now, to put an end to all the random madness!

Little Rascals

Did you know that people in the Rascal Flatts fan club are called little Rascals? I thought that was interesting. It kept reminding me of the movie whenever I heard it.

We went to the Rascal Flatts concert last night, which is why I thought of that. They were absolutely amazing. Taylor Swift was their opener, and she was pretty good as well. I bought Kate the tickets for her birthday, and they were amazing seats. It was probably the best concert I've ever been to, and that's saying something because Garth Brooks' was amazing.

Kate's birthday is today. We've been celebrating most of the weekend. It's interesting because you have to do things multiple times when you get married. We celebrated her birthday once with my family, once with me, and once with her family.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, so I'm not sure what else to write really. All else is the same. I've been trying to get use to running every day, which is hard on the shins since I never have done it before. I'm trying to get them use to running so I don't have to run with shin splints all through training.

Other than that, everything is starting to come together at church, and one by one, all tasks are getting completed. Hopefully, it will get even better as the time draws near. I'm still looking for someone to buy the car since the other guy fell through. Let me know if anyone is interested! It needs to be gone by the end of October.

Well, until tomorrow.....

Red Hooded Sweatshirt

Does everyone remember Adam Sandler on Saturday Night Live? Man! Those were the days. I wish that SNL was as funny as it was then....you remember, Adam Sandler, Kevin Nealon (I don't know how to spell these people's names, nor am I going to look them up, because it's to prove a point, not to show off my spelling abilities), Chritopher Walken, etc., etc., etc.

We sometimes have a huge problem staying and dwelling in the past. I'm noticing that my church, especially does that. We have some huge opportunities lying ahead of us, including welcoming around 20 new members all in one fell swoop! How amazing is God?!? That's almost unheard of!

FBC is celebrating it's 150th year anniversary this year. We are having our large whole church even tonight, a banquet. I offered to help put the slide show together, and have been doing so the last week or so. What I have noticed is that the script starts off with the past (important to know where we came from), goes on to the present (important to know where we are), and then, only has one paragraph on the future.

To me, the present and future is the most important. It's how we put into work our visions of what God wants us to live our lives. It is important to put into practice visions and plans for the future. If we don't, we stay where we are, and don't progress. (BTW, if con is the opposite of pro, what's the opposite of progress?...haha)

Point being.....
It is important to remember the past, but only so much as we learn from it, to make changes for the future. If we dwell on the past, we sink, forget where we are at currently, and become unable to make changes for the future. In a church, that's what closes doors!

So, my challenge for everyone reading this....don't dwell on the past. Only use it for memories, and to learn from. Use it to shape your future. God wants us to focus on Him, and follow His path for us.

Part of preparing for the future is having patience. God has clearly put His path in front of me for the near future, but is making me learn patience by having me wait for long periods of time, and not know what is coming. Things take time. I understand that now, but I still have trouble expressing that, and liking it. He has been teaching this to me more over the past 3-4 years. Don't be afraid if things take time. They often will if they are the right thing to do. Have patience. Without patience, our motives become obscure, and things will avert from doing them for God's will to doing them for your own will. And that, alone, is confusing enough.

Pray unceasingly. It is hard to discern God's voice from the distractions all around. I'm finding that a huge thing for myself recently as so many changes are happening all at once. Quiet your mind, and just be. Listen for God's answer among the noise of life, and pray that He will secure His voice in your head and protect you from the voice of evil.

Meanwhile, back in the office.....

Egos and Airwaves

One of the things that has been very important over the last few years has been my church. The church has been struggling, numbers dwindling, etc. Many people have worked hard, together, to begin a transformation to attract new members. Basically, the church followed what was believed to be God's path for us, our vision of what God wanted of us.

These "leaps of faith" were just that. Spending money to fund programs and events without knowing that the funds would be there, yet having faith that God would provide was a large struggle. It was even discovered that it is hard to have faith when you're facing something as drastic as closing the doors forever. The building for instance, sucks up so many resources, financially, that the future looks dreary much of the time.

However, faith has brought the church through, and into the present, for such a time as this. The children's group has grown, the youth group has grown, the young adult population has grown. But by the grace of God, we have had larger attendance in Sunday worship. We have a new website. A new parlor has been constructed that is equipped to hold a contemporary worship service. There is a gym, game area, and computer lab capable of hosting after school activities, computer literacy classes, and much more. We have begun a feeding program on Saturday's from 11:30-1:30 (we can always use help by the way ;-) ). There is a new refrigerator capable of containing food for all programs that use it, without letting it spoil. There are two people willing to help the youth group grow spiritually as well as socially.

There are so many things going on that glorify God, and show His love to others, it's amazing. It was pointed out to me that my last post may have seemed a bit egotistical. That was not the purpose. However, I really believe in my church, and the people in it. I think that God has put everyone there for there purpose at this time. That does not mean, however, that I have no concern for what will or will not happen when I leave. You may say, that's not your problem, and/or God has a way. I know that, and I believe it.

It is something that is deep in my heart though. The youth need someone that can relate, someone that can pass on God's word in such a way that they will hang on every word. They need a worship service that is tailored to them, that discusses and hits issues that they face in their life. There are many that can do this much better than I.

The church needs new, younger members, to pass on the old traditions and create new ones. One way of attraction is a website. Not too many people my age look in a phone book for that type of thing anymore. Many people are capable of maintaining and building website much better than I can as well.

The issue is not that I think that I'm the only one that can do these things. Thus far, I have been the only one that has done these things. I'm excited to see that more people are coming, and that more are getting involved. There are lots of people that want to learn how to do these things, they just don't know yet. I would like for them to be able to do it since they have such a heart for it, and a desire to help.

Therefore, I welcome the stress. Why not teach them how to begin with it? They can go on and do some amazing things. I'm not the only one that can do it, nor do I think that way. There is just a huge desire in my heart to keep the times progressing as they have been, and pass on what little knowledge that has been given to me. My dream, if it is God's will, is that I will come back to visit someday, and walk into a church that is thriving, in the inner-city....see all the programs that show God's love to others, and see God in a place where most don't....in the whole neighborhood of Park Ave and Harney.

Concentration and Anticipation

So, I'm finding it considerably harder to concentrate at work. It's not that I don't want to work, because I don't really, but normally, I would do it anyway. Now, I find myself constantly thinking of what's left to do, what did I forget, what do I need, who do I need to talk to, etc. There's not really much that I have left to do at work, but there's tons at home and at church.

We have found people to replace me at church to continue on with youth and young adult groups. However, now we're in need of someone to work with contemporary worship, someone to work with the website, and someone who can run a computer lab. Even if we found them, I would have to somewhat train them as well as the people replacing me in the youth and young adult area.

I take on too much, and then it stresses me out. I need to actually relax and understand that it's God's plan, not mine, and He will make it work out to glorify Him in a way better than I could ever imagine.

I'm starting to really think about what it will be like being away from my wife and my dog for four months. Again, I start to think that I can't do it, but I don't have to do it alone. I'm starting to pray for help on these issues, because I am too weak to do it alone.

I talked to a friend from a long time ago last night. He's at Westpoint, and we talked for probably half an hour about what I should look forward to. I need to get back into the habit of memorizing information, being a follower before being a leader, physical fitness, and anal retentiveness. The last shouldn't be hard because I am in many areas. It will just be a shock adapting to a whole new way of life.

I did a total of 161 pushups yesterday. That's more than I think I've done collectively in my whole life. So, I hurt a bit today. I will run 2 miles tonight between work, church, and finishing the church slide show. Man I love being under pressure. I get things done much more effectively. I guess that will be good next month. I've lost 23 pounds now in the last 2 months. I'm excited about that, and going for 10 more before I leave. We'll see if that happens.

I should probably get back to work now, but as you can imagine, my mind is wandering in so many other directions it will be hard. Have a great day!

Meanwhile......