Category: Uncategorized

Every once in a while I get reminded of this fact… while church is the most important thing in the world to me since it is my life, it is just church. As I look back to my life before I went into ministry, church wasn’t all-encompassing. So why should I be so bold to think that it will be now? Afterall, being "just around the church" isn’t very healthy or well-rounded.

I don’t often get recorded, but last week’s message from Sunday morning can be downloaded by

I heard this on my least favorite Christian radio station today, but it is actually interesting. I don’t know if I’d recommend it or label it as "Jesus Junk" but it is what it is.

Original Lovesong Be sure to check out the free samples, be prepared to blush. But hey… it is the Bible!

Wow, fast week. I haven’t really done much on my vacation. Oh well, at least the kids are sick of me enough where they won’t mind me working next week. We’re off to lunch today down by Hall Rd. and maybe a little min-golf action too.

Here’s an article that, when put the article about housing prices being overvalued, should scare the crap out of anyone thinking of selling a home any time soon. The flipside of that is if you are looking to buy things are looking good for you! [Click here]

All of this data is another reason why we are so happy with buying a home in an existing neighborhood where homes will always be somewhat desirable.

Interesting article about housing prices. [Click here]

We’ll do this again in 365 days. Phew.

As 2005 is drawing to a close, I have been thinking a lot about what a great year it has been. Here is my "top 10" best moment of the year.

1. September: Getting the keys to our first house. We still feel it was a major accident that someone let us buy this place.

2. July 7th: Leaving Detroit for Belfast after 7 months of planning and fund-raising.

3. Thanksgiving Day: Having everyone over for a relatively stress-free day was incredible!

4. January-June: The Northern Ireland team was incredible and all of our pre-field training brings back many happy memories. Particularly the adventures just to get to the meetings as we seemed to have snow or have a weather emergency for each one.

5. October 28-30: Chicago College Visits. This is just a blast as we explore the city in a small group, enjoy Maria’s home cookin’ and just invest in the upperclassmen in a special way.

6. August 7th: As much as I enjoyed the time in NI and especially Fivemiletown, there was nothing like coming home to Kristen and the kids.

7. November 5th: Sure, we just raked leaves for some people… but it was a highlight of my year.

8. March 27th-April 2nd: The Chicago mission trip was a special special time for Light Force. In some ways it has gotten overshadowed among all the rest, but it was a sweet time.

9. May 15th: Megan’s 4th birthday party at the Detroit Zoo. What a perfect day.

10. December 21st: Yeah, it was just this week. But it was a blast to have so many people in our house and hard to compare that to anything else.

Of course, there are many, many other memories that will last from 2005. Romeo’s graduation, lots of stuff in Fivemiletown and travel ling to/from Belfast, tons of things with LF students, and oodles of moments with the kids. Overall, this year was an amazing year. The highs are so much higher than the lows. I am almost reluctant to think about 2006… this whole year will go down in my personal history as a highlight.

Well, it was another good day at church.  We’ve just been kind of getting better and better in the last few weeks. Basically the plan seems to be working… just keep being simple and solid and it’ll stabalize on it’s own. But there are a couple of 2006 initiatives I am seeing as very important.

• We need to handle our abundant visitors better.
• We need to offer more "points of connection" like the bonfire in the summer.

More on both of those at a later date.

Maybe I hide this, or maybe it’s so evident that people don’t mention it to me… but I worry about things a lot. In fact, I worry about stupid things more than I worry about important things. I worry about things at work that are fine, I worry about how people "view me," I worry that I’ll get an e-mail and not respond fast enough, I worry that I’ve been rude to someone, I worry that I’ve missed some unknown step in "protocol" that was unspoken, and I worry that people I really care about won’t like me anymore, and I worry if people will notice if I am anxious about these things! But at the same time while I am anxious about these little things, big things don’t seem to effect me. I’m never nervous about going on a mission trip. I wasn’t nervous when we bought the house, or when interviewing for any ministry job, (haven’t done that in a while and I hope to never do it again!) or speaking in front of people, or meeting "famous" people, or things that are supposed to make you anxious!

I know I am not alone in being anxious… and I think these things I suffer from are funny enough to talk about. And with that, I’ll remind myself of this… Phillipians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Interesting observation about the author of that verse… he was hunted down like an animal, imprisoned, and executed… heck, he likely wrote that verse in jail… be anxious about nothing… OK Paul… if you say so!