Reviews, Updates, and Thoughts

I haven't blogged in a week. Not because I've been to busy or anything. I've had stuff to say I just haven't felt very motivated to type it out. I still don't but if I wait much longer I'm afraid I'll forget half the stuff I wanted to say.

Reviews
I've read three books in the past couple of weeks. One great, one not so great, and one that was better then expected. The first was "Confessions of a Pastor" by Craig Groeschel. Craig pastors the mega church Lifechurch.tv out of Oklahoma. I usually find most mega church pastors a little out of touch with the realities of a "normal" pastors life but this book was by far the exception to the rule. Craig hit the nail on the head chapter after chapter with his confessions. I felt like I could have written it. Not because I could be a great writer but because each "confession" he had was one of my own. His first chapter, "I confess I can't stand most Christians" hit the ground running and he never looked back. This may be the best book I have read all year.

Next I read "Jesus wants to save Christians" by Rob Bell. The book actually deals less with God wanting to "save" Christians and more with the churches role in our current American culture. I loved "Velvet Elvis", liked "Sex God" and would probably say I didn't like this one at all. It had it's moments but Rob took so long to make his point I was bored to death by time he got there. I was very disappointed and hope this is an exception and not the new norm for him.

Lastly I picked up Louie Giglio's, "I am not but I know I Am". It's a message I heard him give about six years ago that has now been published into book form. I'm not sure why I even bought this book but I'm glad I did. Nothing earth shattering here, just the simple message of "more of God and less of me" which is something I need to hear everyday.

The family and I went to see Madagascar 2 last weekend. I thought the first one was ok at best but my kids LOVE it. It's probably been played 200 times in our house this year alone. Beth and I both thought this one was slightly better (better storyline and wittier humor) but the kids thought it was so-so. Jacob said he liked "Kung Fu Panda" better. I agree.

Update
Church was really strange (in a good God way) this past Sunday. On the surface it was one of those weeks when nothing went right. I would say it might be one of the warse services I ahve ever been a part of. From the terrible music to the even worse sermon, it was a train wreck all the way around. I couldn't get the service over with quick enough. I was even skipping points in my message to hurry up and put and end to what I thought was everyone's misery. At the end we did communion and as Kipp and I wrapped it up I was surprised, no shocked is probably a better word to use, to find the alter full of people praying. I stepped back to the side and just watched. People were crying, praying, hugging, and basically calling out for God to heal their lives. I was speechless. Had they not just sat through the same service I had. Nothing that happened was textbook, "inviting the Spirit into worship". It was a mess but for whatever reason God choose that Sunday to break open hearts. The service ended up going at least an additional 20min longer then usual with some folks hanging around and praying after it was "officially" over. This week I have received numerous phone calls and emails from people about how amazing the service was on Sunday. Some even said was the best worship service they had ever been to. I can't explain what happened except in spite of me God showed up.

One of my best friends, Kipp, got married today. I was honored, as I always am, to be able to perform a wedding ceremony. Kipp is one of the most laid back people I know. His highs are never to high and his lows are never to low. He takes what life deals him and rolls with it. His fiance and he decided to have a very intimate (maybe 20 people) ceremony at a very nice restaurant and ball room in High point. They got married at 12:30pm then had lunch immediately following. I usually get very nervous and stressed at weddings because I don't want to screw it up for the folks getting married, which are more times then not some of my very close friends. But today was different. Maybe it was the setting or Kipp and Amy's laid back attitudes but it was actually no stress at all and a lot of fun. The ceremony was short (11 minutes) and the fellowship and food was awesome. All in all I'd say it was as close to a perfect wedding as I have ever been to.

Thoughts
Jacob is into Star Wars now big time. It's been fun breaking out some of my old vintage toys (1977) from boxes in the garage and letting him enjoy them as much as I did. I remember when my dad passed on his toys (1950's era cowboys and Indians) back when I was Jacob's age and how much I loved them. It's cool how stuff like this just gets passed along.

Speaking of my dad, we got to spend some good quality time tearing down a fence this past week. Since he's retired, I really should make more time to hang out with him. I get so caught up in ministering to everyone else's families I often forget about my own.

I finally scored some tickets to a Wake Forest football game. The family and I will be heading to see them take on Vanderbilt in a few weeks in the last game of the season. If they can just win their last 2 conference games they'll be back in the ACC championship, probably against UNC. I hate UNC but Butch Davis had done a near miracle turning that program around in such a short time.

If you haven't checked out The Office this season you are really missing out. This may be it's best season since season one.

Well that's about it. Nuff said.

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