Go Falcons!

So yesterday we kicked off what is a big week on the south end of the county. Every year there is much build up and a lot of preparation that goes into one particular freshman football game. SAHS vs. Pedro, it's the one game that both freshman squads almost always seem to want to win, there's a sense of urgency on every play and the intensity is as great as any I ahve seen at the freshman level.
Well, last night was not different as the Falcons defeated St. Augustine 8-7. It was a great game, with lots of excitement and the game could have gone either way as the score tells. The Falcons pretty much controlled the game for all but one play. A 80 yard run to start the second half of play for the Jackets. That run put the Falcons down 7-0 and that only fired them up more. Pedro played ball control and scrapped it's usual high flying offense for a more conservative and mistake free brand of direct snaps and quarterback keepers, they controlled the majority of the clock in the second half and after a fourth and 8 conversion they drove it into the end zone for a touchdown with about 4 minutes left in the game. They went for 2 and got it taking the lead and winning 8-7. It was a great night for the boys who had worked so hard all off season and season to win.
So tonight is the culmination of the week of football. There's a lot on the line and St. Augustine has everything to lose in this game. I'll be there walking the sideline and cheering our guys on, if you can make it and have no plans it will be the best $6 you could spend on a Friday night. Watching 2 groups of young men pour their heart out on the football field.
Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

Hump day down!

So Wednesday through Friday are my longest days. They are typically about 14-15 hours long. Yesterday was no different. Work was fine, I had an opportunity to get some things done in my BGH office, get thing ready and do some studying on suicide and the new term "Bullycide" that is starting to be a problem in schools and on campuses. Kind of depressing to study and read up on, not a highlight for sure. Looking at the numbers of students that either consider or commit suicide because they are teased or bullied at school is startling to say the least.
I hopped in the van and made my rounds after work picking up kids for church while Jordon picked some up his way. We got to church, hung out for a while playing Skipbo, video games and just talking. We went and had a Bible study and then did High-Low for the week and let them go. It's so much fun to hear the highs and lows of our kids and see what is important to them. Even the youngest ones are intense about certain aspects of their lives already like sports, either playing them or watching them on Television they are intense about it for sure.
After that, we jump in the van and start take homes making runs from Whisper Ridge at 16 and I-95 to the West King Street area for me, to Elkton and the beach for Jordon, and Lightsey Road for Angie. It's all worth it though, those kids are starting to get it and you can see some changes in them and the way they interact and face life day to day.
Then, I arrive home just in time to put the girls to bed and have dinner. I did fail to mention that I snuck in a few games of Basketball with Alexa before doing pick ups before youth group. She won, twice(and I wasn't letting her this time, shhhh my pride is still hurt a little).
I have to say our youth ministry takes a huge hit from time to time because we have some many athletes and there is so much to compete with these days. From baseball teams, to pop warner, to pal football, to the new pop warner and so on. So much to compete with and parents spend so much money to get them into these things that they are cornered into making sure the kids are there. Times are changing and youth ministries are choking out all over the place because of it and I'm glad we're staying somewhat strong through it all.
Thanks for reading and good luck to all the Falcon and Jacket football teams this week. Tara and I are feeding JV Falcons tonight and doing two football games, then feeding Varsity Falcons tomorrow, tailgating for a while and attending the Jacket/Falcon game tomorrow night. After all what good is a 14 hour day if you can't follow it up with a few 16 hour days, right!
Hope to see you there!

Hump day again!?!?!

So it's hump day. Hump day is actually a long day for me psychologically because it is a church night. You see as a Pastor working bi-vocationally I am lifted up on Sundays and fly high right on through about half of Monday until my secular work starts to drag me down somewhat. Then Wednesday night I get back up for youth and it is usually enough to carry me through the rest of the week. Tara calls it the Pastor's roller coaster week. So Wednesday is always a high for me.
Yesterday I had a very productive day as far as my BGH job goes as I had an opportunity to work at Donuts for Dads out at Southwoods Elementary, I then sat down with the cousellors there and finally nailed down the final 10 presentations we are needing to keep the grant for next year. We have done $30,000 dollars worth of presentations in 10 months and had to do $20,000 worth in the last 2 months and it looks like we are even going to exceed that number by a little bit. It's going to be busy so if I don't make it to your school for lunch like usual over the next few weeks you'll know why.
I also did a presentation at Crookshank Elementary School for a few classes at lunch time and signed one more presentation for the First Coast Technical School. Then after the work was done it was off to the house to work out and then to football practice where I saw the Falcons all working hard to get ready for the Friday's showdown with St. Augustine. Every year they work hard and get ready only to have the score run up on them by St. Augustine. St. Augustine High is the measuring stick for everyone in this area, if you can play with them and keep it close you can play with anyone(even on their down years).
While I am overly busy working for the BGH and with the football team, it is all a part of my 3 year plan. My original intentions in taking the job at Freedom was to slowly grow it and to use every avenue I had to get our name out there. To make sure that people all over the county knew the name Freedom Baptist Church and to that part we have succeeded. The first 2 years I hope to keep that up and then after the summer of year two I hope to start doing some major outreach, hoping that the barrier of who, or where is that will be knocked down. So that our members can reach out to people and have people respond with , "I've heard of that", or "I've met your Pastor", or my biggest hope "My kid talks about your Pastor." So hopefully you see these things coming true as we strive to start reaching this community for CHrist.
You'll notice the church is changing on the outside, we got the paint on it just Sunday afternoon and we are going to continue to paint the other 2 sides and eventually get the trim color changed and make the place look totally different. Hoping to catch some eyes that are so used to just driving by and not noticing the church.
So pray for us as we continue to work in the ways that God is leading us. Everything is going as planned, a little slower than my flesh wants it to, but we are on GOd's time, which is always perfect!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Twofor Tuesday

Tuesdays are very unique, it's a day that merely says, "Hey I survived Monday." It has no value, you can't call it "Hump Day" as it isn't in teh middle, it's not as dreadful as Mondays are after the "Sunday afternoon slump" and clearly it is no where as stout as Friday. Then there's Thursday which is one day away from Friday and 2 days from the weekend. Tuesday just doesn't do much for you.
Well, I did survive Monday, a Monday after a long weekend of highs and lows. Monday was interesting and slow moving for my pace for sure. I had an insurance meeting, followed by a meeting with the lady that is now over my department at the Betty Griffin House and then I had to meet with the guidance cousellor at Southwoods Elementary SChool(I know a very self-serving meeting) one that gave me the opportunity to eat lunch with Alexa whom I had not seen in 4 days. Alexa had gone to stay Friday night with her friend Victoria and ended up staying until Monday morning so I was eager to see her.
Sunday night we came home to a sick Guinea Pig, yes after the first one that was given to Alexa died we let her get another one(bad move) this one only made it less than a month. When I went home after work in the afternoon it was dead, so I dug a hole and I buried it in teh backyard. ALexa took it alright, but she just doesn't understand why we don't want another one. I don't understand why 60 fish, a turtle, a frog and a basset hound aren't enough. WEll they will have to be, because Guinea Pigs are far too much drama. I had an interesting talk with Champ(our bassett hound yesterday though). As I dug the hole for the Guinea Pig in the backyard, he sat there and watched me dig with his tail wagging the whole time. THen, I took the guinea pig and dropped it in the hole, he looked at me almost shocked and ran off. All I said was one day I would be doing the same for him! Who knew he could understand me?
So we got that taken care of before Alexa got home and then we skipped out on football practice for one night and went and watched a middle school basketball game. We have about 4 kids on the boys basketball team at Sebastian and unfortunately most of their games are on Thursdays and I have freshman and Jv football games I am already committed to on Thursday nights. Our team lost pretty badly, so we rode home and had some dinner. Alexa is a trooper for sure, while we were at the game P.J. and Tara got the cage out and cleaned it out good.
So that's it, that was our Monday not too much excitement, but plenty of drama. So if you're looking for a good deal on a Guinea Pig cage, I have one for you. The farther away that thing gets, teh better for us.
Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Weekend redo? Please!?!?!?

What a weekend! Friday I got off of work and rushed out to pick up Mike McKnight who rides to football with me some days because he is doing work experience to get some of his credits and pay his bills. I picked him up and we went to the school to find a stadium full of unhappy people, crazy long lines of people getting upset and a lot of chaos(as little as there could have been considering). Mike and I got into the parking lot and watched as the bomb squad went through a backpack with the use of their fancy new robot. MEanwhile, we were supposed to get on the bus for Trenton at 3:00 and we didn't even get inside to get the equipment until 3:30 had to eat Chikfila on the way there and most of the kids didn't get lunch so it was a welcome treat for sure.
We had a little bit of bus trouble on the way and had to stop but eventually got there about an hour later than needed and had to stretch and dress rather quickly. We ended up winning 42-7 and the boys played really well which was a must with St. Augustine staring them in the face this week. We hit the bus and rode home getting home about 1am. I loaded up my racing stuff and hit the sack.
I got up Saturday morning around 5:30, got my stuff packed and the girls up and we took off. We went through the Car Wash and then headed to the Gas Station where I was going to check all the tires before we took off(a habit I picked up from my father). On our way down 16 I got pulled over by the flashing lights. THe officer told me I had no tail lights and as he inspected things further he realized the tag on the trailer had expired as well. Great! So my racing vacation weekend is going to start like this? We ended up with a $91 ticket and spent an hour there and in the Gas Station getting the lights working correctly on the trailer then we were finally on the road again. I warmed the car up and got my first time trial, the electric fan in the car didn't work correctly so I had to fix it before our second time trial. I got it working again and we ran the second time trial. Then, the fan and fuel pump started blowing fuses. I lost the fan before 2nd round and the fuel pump during 3rd round. The other car had already done his burnout and rushed up to stage before I could even get my car cranked up. I had to take the box apart while strapped in and helmet on and change all of the wires around. I finally got that done and won the round. I ended all the way at teh quarterfinals before I really just screwed up at the finish line not hitting the brakes hard enough and breaking out more than my opponent( I know it's all Greek if you don't understand bracket racing). So day 1 was a fiasco that I should not have even won a single round, yet I beat several opponents.
Sunday we go there early and went to hear a close friend Phil Greene speak at the chapel service and then we sat for about 3 hours while they dried the track. We finally got to go run first round about 12:30. Everyone was sweating what to dial, what to do because the weather had changed so drastically from the day before. Curt and I were set, we just put a number on the car slower than what it should run and knew we would need to do some heavy braking at the end, and it worked for me. I won first and second round before the car spun third round and left me behind and I lost to a close friend Jason Rollins.
The weekend doesn't end there though, we loaded up and drove home. Got everything unloaded and settled in and I got a phone call. It was Monica Roberts, Phil Greene's step daughter, she had won her class at Super Chevy. She has been racing for about 6 months, she got no time trial on Saturday because she had to work and she won on Sunday in the class just below ours. How awesome is that! I bet here feet still havent' hit the ground yet!
So there it is, I need a redo, but I'll settle for another chance to race in November at Night of Fire. Thanks for reading and have a great day!