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Sunday Night Unfiltered

October 3, 2010 in Personal with 1 Comment

Lots of action today!
  • Today was a great day. Busy for a lot of people around me, but really good.
  • I don’t think I’ll ever get used to my alarm going off at 5:00 am. It’s always worth it for me, though, since I get to spend a few hours of uninterrupted time studying Scripture.
  • Preached through the entire chapter of Revelation 21 this morning. It’s been a long time since I’ve covered that big of a chunk of text. Was it too much?
  • Had some great positive feedback after worship. I hope the impact of my message lasts longer than the 10 minutes following the service.
  • As usual, I had to cut some stuff out. One of the things I wanted to dive into more was the statement “It is done” in Revelation 21:6. It parallels so much with the last words of Jesus on the cross, “It is finished.” I wish I had more time to dive into that parallel and the similarities and differences between the finished work on the cross and the ultimate finished work at the resurrection. Cool things to think about.
  • I talked a little about Joseph Kittinger’s space jump. You can read more about his crazy story here.
  • Didn’t mean to, but I got an almost two hour nap this afternoon on the couch holding Lilyana. Woke up 15 minutes before Connection Group, so I ended being a little late (sorry everybody).
  • Gooey butter cake will change your life. I could get used to this dessert at Connection Group every week thing.
  • The insights of my group always impress me. I’ve got a great bunch of people in my group.
  • Will Warfel pulled one of these this morning. And then after service he pulled this. I think he’s Jon Acuff’s alter-ego.
  • I bought the most expensive electric razor I’ve ever bought yesterday. I’m tired of dropping so much cash on razor blades. I hope I get a few years of use out of this one.
  • I’m pumped about going to Catalyst Conference again this year. I’m even more pumped that Brea is going! Watch out Atalanta!

Alright, that’s it for this week. Sleep well everyone!

Sunday Night Unfiltered

September 26, 2010 in Personal with 0 Comments

It was a great day today! Here’s some reflections on Sunday and other thoughts from this past week (in no particular order):

  • One of my daily highlights is Bible Heroes Story time with the family. It’s a cool book that comes with songs for each story. Emory LOVES to dance to every song. I’m gonna miss these times later in life (and it will come WAY TOO SOON).
  • Played guitar in worship for the first time at BridgeWay. I forgot how much of an awesome thing it is to watch people worship.
  • Speaking of worship, I don’t really miss my old guitar that got stolen any more. My new one sounds really, really good.
  • Tried out YouVersion Live again for sermon notes and bible verses in worship today. I only tweeted/facebooked about it. Didn’t mention it during the service. Did you try it?
  • Got linked to by ChurchCrunch yesterday. Thanks John!
  • Started working on a site of what I think is going to be one of the coolest things I’ll ever create. More on that on a later date.
  • I wonder how many Cowboys fans still want to get rid of Roy Williams and David Buehler?
  • Had a great Connection Group again tonight. Love those guys and gals!
  • The weather was so nice today!
  • Next Sunday I’m preaching about the New Heaven & New Earth. Probably going to focus most of my time on Revelation 21. Got any ideas for me?

That’s it for this week!

Sunday Night Unfiltered

September 19, 2010 in Personal with 0 Comments

This is my second week of random reflections of my day at church and a look back at the past week. I’ll be doing this every Sunday…or until I get bored with it.

  • It’s a weird feeling to drive by an ambulance then find out you know the person who it’s there for. I’m praying that Zach doesn’t have any major injuries and that he will be completely healed.
  • Our new tool The City allowed us to spread the word for people to pray for Zach really efficiently and it was really cool to see people responding that they were praying (over 18 people said they were praying within the hour!!!).
  • Skipped out on the 11:00 service today to go to the Bears game (since they won I can say it that way for sure now). I didn’t like not seeing everyone at that service.
  • Information and conversations happen so rapidly before and after services. I need to tweak my system of collecting info to keep up. I can’t seem to type fast enough into my iPhone to capture everything I need to remember.
  • Art had a great start to the sermon series on heaven this morning. It’s going to be a great next six weeks looking at what the Bible really has to say about heaven. Check out Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven if you want to get more out of the series.
  • The Cowboys Stadium is an awesome venue for football. I’m glad I didn’t have to spend $1.4 billion on it, though.
  • Even though we only had one other couple at Connection Group tonight we still had a really good time. Great insight from Scott tonight about how mind-blowing it is that the New Jerusalem is about 1,500 miles HIGH. That’s crazy tall and you can get a perspective on it by remembering that airplanes only fly 6-8 miles high. Crazy!!!
  • It was awesome to get out of town for a few days with Brea. Chicago in late summer is really nice. Wrigley Field is a really cool venue for concerts. The John Hancock Observatory has much better view of the city than Sears Tower.

That’s my thoughts from today. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Sunday Night Unfiltered

September 12, 2010 in Personal with 4 Comments

I’m going to try something new this week that I might make a regular Sunday night practice. Tonight I’m going to just do a random fire of thoughts that come to me based on the stuff that happened today at church or throughout the week. It may be entertaining or completely useless.

Let me know what you think.

  • Bugs. Bugs everywhere!
  • I’m wondering if trying to do our own bug spraying is smart or if we should hire some professionals?
  • Asked someone new to do the lawn mowing at church. Old guys haven’t mowed for two weeks. I should probably let them know Monday their services are no longer needed.
  • First half of Cowboys game has been BORING…right up until the last play.
  • Switching the church to the new kiosk check-in system will be really, really good in the long run. Right now it’s kind of a pain. I’m glad we have some great volunteers to help out!!!
  • We got our connection group back together for the first time in months tonight! Had a great time, but I wish everyone could’ve been there. Looking forward to getting some momentum going.
  • Having a lobby/foyer that’s too small for your church is not great, but it’s awesome at the same time. It’s not great because there’s not enough room for people to hang out. It’s awesome because there is a TON of energy when the place is packed!
  • The barista at the Kroger Starbucks seemed bummed. Praying he finds some joy this week.
  • My wife is awesome at hospitality. She had a great idea for a snack that was super simple to make (I think, she made it) and added some nice personal touches to the house to make it feel more warm and welcoming.
  • Forgot to bring a snack for Emory for between services. Would’ve been bad if BridgeWay didn’t have an awesome, ready for anything Children’s Minister in Lisa Rowland!!! The church is blessed to have her.
  • It’s cool to see friends from our old church at our new church.
  • Christians should look at others with the eyes of a doctor, not a judge. Great challenge from Art tonight.

Okay. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. What did the day look like to you?

7 Links to Learn More About Me and My Blog [#7Links]

September 10, 2010 in Personal with 0 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m trying to decide what direction I want to take my blog and I got some good feedback. Part of the process I’m going through is looking where I’ve been before, in terms of blogging, to give me a feel about what I’ve done well and enjoyed doing the most.

I’ve been blogging for five and a half years now, so I’ve done quite a few posts. I realize that some people I know are somewhat regular readers here, others jump in when I post something they’re interested in, and then there are the random visitors who find my blog on Google. Whoever you are, this post will hopefully help you get a better feel for what this blog has been all about. I was prompted to write it by the 7 Link Challenge over at ProBlogger.

  1. My first post: Backing Up DVDs
    What’s weird to me about piracy laws is that it’s perfectly legal to have a digital archive of movies you legitimately own, but it’s not legal to break the encryption on DVDs. You’d have to do it in real time using some sort of digital to analog converter, which would be a pain. That means that I was encouraging illegal activity on my blog. Great start, don’t you think?
  2. The post I enjoyed writing the most: Four Ways to Be More Consistent in Your Bible Reading
    There were a lot of things I really liked about writing this post, but I was especially happy with the end result. I could have also put is under most helpful post link, but I really enjoyed writing it a lot.
  3. The post which had a great discussion: Is God a Republican or Democrat
    I wrote this on the day of the the 2008 Presidential election and it got quite a few people to comment on it. I don’t blog much about politics, but I think this was one of my best posts and since it got so much discussion you might agree.
  4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written: The Death of the Weekly Program/Bulletin/Newsletter
    Tim Schraeder wrote this post on his blog and it created a lot of buzz. Best quote from the post: “know the primary way your audience receives information and communicate to them that way.” It’s a move they’ve stuck with and made improvements to in the two years since they made the switch.
  5. My most helpful post: Motivation: Finding the desire to workout when I really don’t want to do it
    This was a reflection of how I stayed motivated to workout during the months after my first daughter was born. I think it was really helpful for most anyone who’s looking for tips on staying motivated in exercise.
  6. The post with a title that I am proud of: The Biggest Flaw in John Hollinger’s ESPN NBA Power Rankings
    I’ve never been a fan of Hollinger’s Power Rankings, probably because I am a Mavericks homer. But this post’s title sums up what I think is most wrong with the system and then I decided to elaborate for a few hundred words or so.
  7. The post that I wish more people had read: Delighting in God (OR a theology of worship taught by a seven month old)
    Having kids has definitely given me more perspective on life and what it means to have God as our Father. This post was a reflection on how all people should be more engaged in worship.

So, those are my 7 links. How about you? If you have a blog (that’s more than just a couple days old) why don’t you do this on your blog? Or are there some posts that I’ve done here that you think would fit better than what I listed above? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Image by jessica r

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