• Heart thumping…

    Church_014
    Nearly two weeks ago the church staff decided that September 10th wouldn’t just be the day we went to two services, started KidsTown (Including building KidsTown) and really moved forward with our vision… we decided this was going to be the day that we wrapped up our Phase One building project as much as possible.

    Exteriorview
    The last 12 days were spent painting, finishing drywall, ripping out old carpet, installing new lighting, finalizing the Resource Center, pushing the elevator inspections, pushing the final 3-4 contratrators to complete the exterior and basically getting the foyer to the point where we can say… it’s 99% completed.

    Resourcecenter
    The changes to the look of the church have been dramatic over the past 12-14 months. Before, the building was antiquated. It was a nice place to worship, it had a good feel to it, but everything about the building was 20-30 years old. It’s been a collasal amount of work (Barely any on my part, mostly on the shoulders of George Fisher and an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition style crew of volunteers) to remodel the offices, then the sanctuary, then the foyer, while contrators tore the face of the building off, added an elevator, all new windows, an new entrance, and a new face to the exterior.
    Newdoors
    In the meantime, all of the "new stuff" has been finalized as well. Light Force led the way Wednesday night as it became the first arm of the church to implement the changes. KidsTown is next… it launches this Sunday with a whole team of very excited volunteers.

    Not forgetting about God. Yeah, while these last few weeks have been stressful… they are also quite peaceful. I don’t know any other way to describe how I feel about this in my walk with the Lord. I know that I am doing the absolute best I know how. As I hang out in Acts and 1 & 2 Peter in my devotions I clearly see God’s fingerprints everywhere I turn with the work being done.  I long for people to join us in experiencing freedom and forgiveness of the past through Christ. I long for this to happen:

    They [false teachers of the world] promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If
    they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and
    Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they
    are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 2 Peter 2:19-20

    I think that the King James actually captures this passage best. [See the link above for KJV] I know there are many in our community (in the church and out of it) who have given themselves to one bondage or another. They desire liberty but are put into bondage. Oh, that we would continually teach that Jesus brings liberty into lives given through birth and bad decision to sin! It kills me to see so many people flee Christ because they see bondage or judgement or religion’s rules and much, much more. They have an incorrect view of the cross!

    As we say in Light Force… people think they are alive, they think they are healthy… but without being "infected" with Christ, they are really dead. They need to die to themselves by getting infected with Jesus in order to truly live the best life God has for them.

  • Ghost ride the whip spoof

    This is an official inside joke between me and Dave. It’s a secret code.

  • Megan is in school

    Peach_fest_049Tuesday, Megan began Kindergarten. As a parent, this is pretty hard to swallow. All the emotions of her growing up seem to well up as the reality of her not being a baby anymore slaps you in the face. In the days leading up to school starting I was pretty bummed out. But on Tuesday I was actually quite excited for her.

    She didn’t have to be to the school until something like 10:45 AM. But she was awake and ready to go before 8:00 AM. She paced and paced and was having a hard time being patient.

    Peach_fest_041Today marks the 3rd day of school for her. She is quickly falling into the routine of it and seems to love everything about it. Her teacher seems really nice. I look forward to this year being a positive experience for Megan and her learning a lot.

    It’s kind of weird. You are standing there in line, waiting to drop your kid off, when it hits you. Megan will know some of these kids for the next 13 years of school.

  • Praise God for Delegation

    Today is already an insane day. Lots of plates spinning, lots of good things happening, and lots of new plates popping into view today. Sorry I’m not talking in specifics… but I just want to say that I it’s days like today when I am especially glad I have a team of people I can hand things off to in a pinch.

  • Another sign of winter

    Econoheatpanel_1I ordered another Econo-Heat panel for Paul’s room. We only had one last winter and I wanted to make sure we keep Paul nice and toasty in his room. The one in Megan’s room was fantastic last winter… so I think it’s worth the money. I read a bunch of flaming bad reviews online of these, mostly by people who sell furnaces or install more expensive systems… but here are the "pluses" for me.

    1. You can turn them on and off. We don’t run it very much, so you can control how much money you spend on that room. By running the furnace to the kid’s rooms we wouldn’t have that control. (Well, if I upgraded the whole house to a zoned heating system… but that’s oodles of money)
    2. Easy to install.
    3. Very safe. Unlike most space heaters, these aren’t going to burn you if you touch them. Since it’s mounted to the wall I don’t have to worry about it tipping over or anything either.
    4. No brainer installation. I can’t lie, this is a factor for me. I’m not the handiest person and the world and I love that I can take it out of the box and put it on the wall without a problem.

  • The Croc Hunter has Died

    Croc_hunterI am quite sad about this. Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, has tragically died. He was filming along Batt Reef, off the coast of Australia, when he was stung by a stingray. Here’s an excerpt from the news story.

    "He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and
    into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was
    on board Irwin’s boat at the time.

    Crew members aboard the boat, Croc One, called emergency services in
    the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed the boat
    to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff
    pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton
    said.     [Read the article here]

    I’ve greatly enjoyed Steve’s shows over the year’s. As someone who is deathly afraid of reptiles in general… he certainly made learning about them tolerable for me. Likewise, Steve’s voice has been one I’ve often imitated. I’ll have to come up with a new voice for talking to Nathan and Shawna Jordan. (Though I’ve still got "A Dingo stole my baby!") I’m going to miss his presence on Animal Planet. [Here’s his myspace profile]

    Also, I feel terrible for his wife Terri and young children Bindi and Bob. All jokes aside, this is a very real tragedy to his family. He lived a dangerous life and unfortunately his career led to his untimely death.

    Here’s the complete story from TV in Australia. (10 minutes of video)

     

  • A New Diagnosis

    Mclane_spring_022
    We finally have a name for what our little Paulie does. When he is pinching everyone, getting on his sisters nerves, disagreeable to his dad, and says "Go away from me" to the world Paul is suffering from PNS. (Pre-Nap Syndrome)

    Today I am suffering from NNS. (No-Nap Syndrome) It barely seems like a Sunday at all if I can’t catch a couple Z’s in the afternoon. Oh well.

  • Back to the fall routine

    With cool temperatures rising in Romeo and excuses fading away, we began our fall clean-up today. I popped several tylenol before doing this… Wow, my back is sore from all the painting at church this week. But I had to get to work nonetheless. I hope I can sleep better tonight.

    Today, I climbed the nasty tree in our side yard and sawed off some limbs. The largest one, about 8-9 inches thick, scared the tar out of me as fell. There were a few things I thought may happen… most of which would result in my death… but nothing bad happened. It did make quite a SNAP as it fell to the ground though which brought Kristen running to the window.

    Next big project, getting a few more coats of mud on the kitchen walls.

    p.s. Man, it was cold today. What’s up with that?

  • We didn’t call it binging

    Beer_goggles
    We called it college.

    This is the title of an article in the September/October issue of Relevant Magazine. (Yes, I think it’s the best Christian mag out there… hands down.) It’s contains one of two paragraphs that has kept me thinking this week.

    Some of the worst decisions I ever made came during a night of binging. There are men I can’t remember, faces I’d just as soon forget. Friends I fought with, floors I fell on and bathrooms that became my bed. It’s pretty amazing what sorts of things we will tolerate when we are drunk. Porcelain gods and beer goggles are pretty expensive in the economy of life. (p. 49)

    First off, it’s a really well written article. I really like the sentence I’ve underlined. Not only is it true, it’s a well constructed and imaginative thought.

    But this article has me thinking because there is a present reality that we like to pretend doesn’t exist. There are students in my lives, college and high school, (dare I say middle school?) who I wonder if they are getting hurt in the world of binge drinking? It’s not hard to get into… and yet it comes with massive ramifications. I just wonder… do I care enough? Am I creating a place in Light Force where students who have gone there and done that can find forgiveness and chose a better way in the future?

  • Leaders lead… sometimes in weird stuff too

    It may come as a suprise that most of my work week has not been very ministry focused. In fact, I think 90% of my time this week has been spent painting the foyer. While that may sound weird, and I know plenty of friends in ministry who would never jump on board with such a project, here are some reasons I’ve thought of while staring at the ceiling.

    • I think environment is important. We’re putting a lot of emphasis on our fall launch this September 10th… I’ll do just about anything to welcome our people into a great environment… from the basement to the foyer to the sanctuary.
    • I’m willing to lead when no one seems to care. This foyer project had really dragged to a halt. It’s been cool to see the office staff wear paint clothes and just try to finish it.
    • A little physical labor is great! I love my job, but it’s often times hard to see the tangible results of my labor. But painting and doing finish work in the foyer is easy to measure. And I’ll be able to walk in there Sunday morning and feel good about knowing I played a part.
    • I know that hard work is contagious. We’re not doing this to make anyone feel guilty, but we are ask SO MUCH of our people… I want to be a part of leading the way in working hard.