weekends, who needs 'em?!

So last weekend goes down as one of my worst. Friday morning I get up early because I have a very busy day ahead of me. I find that our plumbing is clogged and years of food and gunk has backed up into the bathtub. I scoop it all out, plunge for a while and then stand in what's left of it to take my shower.
I get through the 6 presentations I have and the day goes fairly smoothly. We have a church softball game and we amazingly pull out the win by 1 run. We go to Sonic for dinner with some friends and then home and to bed. I get up Saturday morning and that was my first mistake, getting out of bed.
Tara had to work at Publix so she took my truck and I kept the Suburban at home to have it ready to go to the races that night. I started feeling some pain in my lower back and I knew exactly what it was. I realized my pain meds were in my truck and my truck was at Publix on the beach with Tara. No biggie, I had a lot of errands to run so I would just hop in the car and drive over and get the meds. One problem, Tara took my keys so I had no way out. I paced in the pain for a while and then finally called her and had her bring the meds to me. I took 2 painkillers and it had little or no affect on the pain whatsoever. It hurt to stand, to sit, to pace, to lay, you name it, it hurt. So about noon I started throwing up from the pain. Soon after that I was throwing up and passing blood so about 4:30 I decided it was time to have Tara take me to the hospital. We did our time, got some iv's and slowly came back to life.
Today I am still severely cramped from all the dehydration and can hardly walk. The kidney pain is gone and I was told that in the cat scan my stone was on its way to my bladder and no longer in my kidney. Good news, it will all be over soon. Bad news, it's gonna hurt a lot.
Sunday wasn't bad, but we did have a lot of people missing and we had to start out at 7:30 just to get everything done that I needed done to get through the day. We survived and here I am in my office facing Monday.
So I am boycotting weekends for a while, my weeks are much better these days. Have a great day, much better than mine I hope!

A fun-filled Friday, and the weekend stops there!

I got out of bed about 30 minutes early on Friday because I was faced with the task of getting the girls up and ready. Tara was away for a leadership conference in Altamonte Springs, and I was left alone with the girls.(Scary I know. But, we got up and got to the school in plenty of time. I was the guest speaker for "All Pro Dads" at Southwoods ELementary School. All Pro Dads is something that Brian McElhone put together for dads to come to and eat breakfast with their kids and enjoy some time at the school with them. After All Pro dads I ran to teh truck, changed into my shorts and got ready to go on a field trip. A whopper of a field trip at that. Two bus loads of kindergardeners bussed to Washington Oaks State Park. We took the nature trail hike around there and then we went to teh beach for beach clean up. Yes, that's right over 100 kindergardeners walking on the beach picking up trash. With their little plastic bags in one hand and plastic gloves on the other. It was cute, but stressful. I was left with the daunting task of keeping them out of the water as they slowly drifted that way all up and down the beach. As I looked out of teh corner of my eye, P.J. (true to form) was leading the way and had found a jelly fish. She decided to pick it up by the body and somehow lift it asking, "Hey daddy, what is this?!?!" I ran over and that was what it was a jelly fish, how she avoided getting stung was beyond me!
We loaded the bus road it back to teh school, Alexa, P.J. and I rushed back to the church to water the plants and get the cooler ready to take Gatorade to football practice followed by a softball game at Treaty. So it was a fun and event filled Friday for us.
Saturday, I got up and got a few things done, re-printed my sermon for Sunday with the changes I had made over the week. Then decided to do the dishes. The sink wasn't draining quite right, but then all of a suddent it did drain. And I was relieved until I realized it all drained right back into the bathtub along with every type of sludge that was located in our pipes. So I spent the day trying to fix the plumbing. Then jumped in the truck and rushed to the races where we had a leak and I didn't get a pass down the track until first round which I won and then lost second round. Got home, went to bed.
Sunday, my parents were sick so no sunday school, numbers were quite low and then I rushed home to do some plumbing and cleaning. Tara got home in time to eat lunch with us and that was pretty much the highlight of my weekend. Sad but true, I am actually ready for the week.
Thanks for reading hope your weekend was better!

The past week of sickness and health

I started off this past week in rough shape. I got sick early Sunday morning, I woke up with my throat on fire and my body aching. I took some Ibuprofen and went to church. Got the church all opened up and set, got through the Sunday School hour with no problem, preached with little or no problem and even made a quick hospital visit after church. Went to my family's for some Easter lunch and egg hunting and then rushed off to the bed after I ran down around 1:30. I would stay there until mid morning on Monday. I got up felt sluggish, my throat again was raw and I felt nauseated. I threw up a few times but just stayed in bed with the chills(with the heat on in the house), and piled up under the covers.
Finally, Tuesday morning I made it to the doctor only to find out I had a 48 hour flu bug, and tacked on Strep throat with it. Got medicine and went back home. By WEdnesday I was going insane, driving myself crazy cooped up all day. Finally, WEdnesday night I ran off and did youth group(an awesome way to bounce back) and then went home and couldn't go to sleep. Thursday morning I went full bore, worked the full day and enjoyed it! Rushed straight to the highschool for some track and field then, had a double header softball game to help coach and announce at. Got home and felt like I hadn't even left the house.
I am recooperated, and more rejuvenated than I can recall. I am so ready for the weekend, a little racing, church and a whole lot of fun!
Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend yourself!

The first race weekend

So it was a long weekend indeed. But it was a great one for sure.
I want to back track some to Thursday night. I got home from softball practice a little early because of the weather and decided to try to get the brakes all put back together on the race car. This triggered a nightmare of a situation as I figured out the rearend was leaking gear lube. I ran the car on the jack stands for a while and found out the hard way about this leak as it slung the lube everywhere under the back end of the car. So, I tore down the rearend, found the seal that was leaking and cleaned it up, put sealer around it and re-installed it. This took up the majority of the night so I left it overnight to make sure there were no leaks.
I got up Friday morning and went out to help out at Southwoods' Field Day which was a blast. The kids did all kinds of things from football throwing, to volleyball with beach balls, to water games, to you name it. After that I rushed back to the house changed clothes and picked Kyle up from school. Drove back out to Hastings and worked at a Lip Sync Idol event at Pedro for the Betty Griffin House. It was a blast as well and we got done and home around 10:30pm that night so it was a 15 hour day yet again. Then, Saturday morning I was poised to sleep in and catch up when an 8 year old started tapping on my shoulder to go outside and play catch. So I was out in the front yard playing catch with Alexa before 8am on my day to sleep in.
We played catch for a while, then I ran out to the church to finalize some things, got back put the tires on the car, loaded it up and we were ready to race.
We did decent Saturday night, as rusty as I was I had hoped to find a chance to get the rust out against some lesser opponents. Not so, I had to race 4 of the top 5 in points last year in the first four rounds before red lighting in the quarterfinals.
It was a great time just being back at the track with my family.
Sunday morning came way too early as I was up until 2:30 Saturday night from teh races to getting home to realize that P.J. had colored in teh children's bulletins for Sunday so I had to re-do them. But, the service went great, we had a lot of people out of town and on vacation so numbers were down but we still had a great day.
We went to rythm and ribs after church where we ate a lot of barbeque and my highlight was putting P.J. on the rides. She rode a mechanical bull(well she got on and off a lot), then she rode a pony, then she got on the bungee jump trampolines and had a blast. She is so much fun when she is out in the open like that.
We had a shaved ice and then went back home. Meanwhile, ALexa was at the go cart track with K Marv riding go-carts so teh girls kicked off their spring break with a lot of fun.
This morning I must admit was a bit of a downer, leaving the house with everyone else sound asleep.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

The weekend that was

So we started out last weekend with a bang. We took about 23 kids to the beach for our sand and sun portion of our Diciple Now weekend. Disciple Now was done a little bit differently from usual as we didn't stay over in houses with our group, we just don't have those resources in place yet. BUt we are certainly getting there.
We enjoyed the beach(yes many of ours even got in the water), the cold water and the overcast day. After I took them all home, Tara and I realized we had no kids for the night so we took off for Pedro. yes, being the romantic that I am we went to the sahs vs. pedro baseball game and hung out for the night.
Saturday morning I got up and got ready for the weekend. We took a group out to Southwoods Elementary where we helped put a fish pond in, we planted a lot of plants and we painted a mural on teh wall by tara's classroom. We were there for the majority of the afternoon, then headed home and went to worship for the night. Worship was a pretty neat ordeal for me, as we were worshipping and hearing a message on public school property. We did the worship service in the auditorium of Murray Middle School and it was awesome. Just to feel God's presence so real, and see kids worshipping so genuinely right in the very place that God is least welcome in today's society was moving to say the least.
Saturday night I woke up at 2am with kidney stones, we couldn't find my pain medicine so it went on for a couple of hours before Tara could finally find the meds and get me some pills to get rid of the pain. I got almost no sleep, got up got ready for my Sunday and it went really well.
After church we went to Dale Williams' little memorial gathering to drop off some food from the church, some chairs from the church and visit with the family. Dale is the uncle of Amber Lowe and had become a friend over the years as his kids were involved in our ministry from ACBC to Freedom.
So that is pretty much it. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

One awesome 3 day weekend

We had a problem with a company a few weeks ago and they felt guilty for the things that we had endured because of their mistakes. So, they basically gave us over $300 free money to make up for it. We in turn put that money in the bank and kept a small portion out for our 3 day weekend we wanted to take in March. WEll, that weekend revolves around the Gatornationals. It is the biggest race in Florida outside of the Daytona 500 and by far the biggest drag race we are able to attend in person. ALexa and P.J. had a blast this year. From getting dozens of autographs, to getting to see their favorite racer Erica Enders in person and ahve their picture taken, to getting to witness first hand teh thrill of 2 300mph race cars going by. All of this added up to them being once again hooked on drag racing. It's kind of the equivalent to a revival if you will.
We spent Friday from 7:30am to 2pm there and then I had to rush home for a girls' softball game. We all had a blast and it was great to do it together as a family. Saturday the girls went to Tara's parents' new house in Palm Coast and hung out while I did some work around the church and then I helped my dad in the garage most of the day.
Sunday was another awesome day, Aaron and I are really clicking well and he is really starting to shine as a worship leader. I have been told by many that yesterday was our best worship service since we landed at Freedom Baptist Church. I am excited about all that the future holds for us.
Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Celebrating 10

So we haven't updated this blog in a while but I thought I would just let you know how lucky I am to have been happily married to the perfect wife for me, for 10 years now. No she isn't perfect, I am much farther from perfect, but together we are the perfect fit.
Last Friday we celebrated 10 years of marriage. I went all out, I bought her some roses and then took her to a highschool softball game. Alexa had a friend stay the weekend and we all watched Beverly Hills Chihuaha later Friday night. I got up early and ran to the church to get some things done that needed to be done then I met the girls at project swing. We played at the park for a whiel and then I went to a Little League baseball game for a while. After that I went home and worked in teh yard for a while.
Sunday morning was a great morning. We had several gliches in our worship due to things I can't control but the morning went really great. We had a good crowd and it was a beautfil day on top of it all.
I got to play catch with Alexa some more as we are trying to get her ready for softball and basketball next season. She seems to want to play but I just don't think she is quite ready yet.
So that's it, that is how you spend your 10 year anniversary weekend the right way! haha!
Thanks for reading and have a great week!

The tokens

Have you ever been away from a loved ones for a while? Or maybe you have had to go on a business trip without your family, and loved ones. I have done this many, many times. It started of course with youth ministry and taken them away to camp or ski trips or different trips along the way. I pack all of my things, get my necessities and my comfort items all in the bag and get ready to leave. I leave, get to my destination and start unpacking my things so that I can organize what I have(I'll admit sometimes it all stays in the bag). But, I'll get my shirts and put them in one spot, the pants, shoes, socks, and underwear neatly put away where I can easily access them. then, I take my toiletries bag and place it on the sink in the bathroom so that I can have them where I need to use them. Always, I get all of that undone and realize that Tara stuck something extra in my bag. Every time without fail there is a picture of the three of them stuffed away in some pocket of the bag where I will be sure to find it. Many times there is even a note or a card from them telling them that they love me and can't wait till I am back home.
God sent His SOn to die on the cross for us because of His love for us. He sent His Son to walk the earth, to live amongst us. But, in order for His fulfillment of prophecy and for our sakes, He had to die and rise again. Therefore, JEsus was separated from us once again. So as a token, tucked away in our hearts we have the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Where do we find our hope and our strength? In the fact that God poured out His love into our hearts with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not just a picture of His love, or a trinket or a small token of it. But a living, empowering and moving Spirit to live inside of us and guide us through life's paths. To give us guidance, and to strengthen us while we are apart.
So just like those pictures I look at when I miss home the most, dig into your heart and know that God is empowering you to get on with life no matter what it is sending your way.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

loving when we want to judge

I can't remember any time recently but I can tell you that I have in the past done some judging. I looked up to someone who was, I thought a person of integrity, who walked the walk and it matched his talk. I loved to look up to him, be around him and be challenged by him. He was someone that a lot of people to this day still look up to and admire. What changed you ask? What was it that made these things change?
He became judgmental towards me and my actions. He started looking down on me and questioning things that I did, that had never been questioned before. I didn't like it, I didn't immediately react to it, but eventually the reaction came. It came in the form of returned judgment. I immediately started being able to see his flaws, his shortcomings and his mistakes. They jumped out at me in everything that he did. At times we were doing great things and all I could focus on was his flaws. Why? Because I was forced into judging him the way he judged me. I was young, I fell right into Satan's trap.
Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
JEsus spoke those words when talking about being critical and judging others. Many times this verse is taken out of context as a monetary setting. But, that is no where close to where Jesus was going with it. Jesus was showing us that the moment we become judgmental towards others, it will be returned far greater.
Just like my situation, where I was as far from judgmental as could be, I fell into the traps of Satan by judging based on someone judging me.
It goes back to childhood, think about it. Alexa and PJ are playing together in the living room with some sort of game. I walk into the room and tell Alexa her room is dirty and needs to be straightened up, what do you think her immediate response is? You got it, well "PJ's room is dirty too!" We go into survival mode the moment we are threatened we threaten back by dragging someone through the mud with us.
Jesus is telling us not to judge, not to drag others down, because as soon as we do our flaws and shortcomings become apparent to those we love and those we judge.
So don't judge, don't be critical or it will come back to you in abundance.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

skiing!

Wow what a weekend! I can honestly tell you it was one of our better ski trips. We had a great group of kids, no problems, no situations. Other than one kid taken to the emergency room the weekend went smoothly, but it didn' start out that way.
Thursday morning I was in a staff meeting at BGH and I checked my phone messages as soon as I got out. I had a call from a lady at Winter Place Ski Resort, and she told me upon my return call that the hotel we had reservations to stay in no longer had a roof. A bad storm rolled through WEdnesday night and blew teh roof off of it. Yes, here we go another Jeff Gatlin "FIASCO!"
WEll, not so fast with that. We got to upgrade to a much nicer hotel, with much nicer ammenities and even an indoor heated pool. We made the trip up there on Friday, got settled in and hit the pool. Alexa and PJ were especially excited about the pool. PJ probably would have stayed in it all weekend if we had let her.
Saturday morning we got up, went and got all of our rental equipment and off to the slopes they went. Alexa and PJ took lessons with Julie and Ashley. After the lessons we were standing at the top of a small hill where you have to ski down to get on the chair lifts to take you up to the top of the slopes. We were going over our strategy for taking care of Alexa and PJ as Tara and I didn't ahve the money to ski ourselves. WE turned around and PJ was already half way down that hill yelling at the top of her lungs, "Woohooo", and "WWeeeeee!" here we go.
By the end of the first day, I had borrowed Ethan's skiis and boots, hit the slopes with the two of them and they both made it down the easy slopes quite gracefully. All the way down, PJ only fell 3 times the first time down the easy one and Alexa never did.
By the end of the day they were both mastering it and up and down the chairlifts like pros. PJ wasn't allowed to have poles because of her size so she wore herself out having to walk with the skiis on uphill near the slopes' peaks so I loaded her and a few of the others up and took her back to swim in teh pool. Philip decided to lose his balance going down the top mountain, spin around and fly off the side into a huge rock and some trees. I rode with him to teh emergency room, they ran tests, we joked and passed the time. he turned out to have bruised his pelvic bone and no damage was done to his kidneys or anything else.
Sunday morning we got up, got his snowboard back and his boots and he was off and running again. Sunday went much smoother, and we had a great day. Alexa took off at about 10am and didn't show back up to eat until after 3pm. She would catch people and take them out with her, and she went through several different partners as she didn't want to stop. She loved it, was awesome at it and I'm glad. PJ even went down some of the medium difficulty slopes and did well.
So I guess we can pencil them in for next year for sure! haha!
Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!

Undefeated again!

I don't know how many of you remember me sharing this, but last year during football season the freshman football coach asked me to coach. He told me we would be a few coaches short that night and it would be just me and him coaching. I told him I would love to, hopped in the car and off we went. We won that game over Creekside in a hard fought battle. So I am officially undefeated as a football coach, a record that I am sure will remain unblemished to eternity.
Well, last night was my first game as an official Junior Varsity softball coach. We won in convincing fashion, the girls hit the ball extremely well, they made good plays and for the first 2 1/2 innings you couldnt tell that 7 of our starters were playing a position that they have never played before. So, I am now undefeated and hoping for another win tonight over a great Fletcher team.
Youth last night was interesting, we were a little down in numbers because I had a softball game and could not run the van, but we still had a good group. We played a fun game called "Knight, mount, carry" with the kids and it was hilarious. I had Kyle Cubbedge and Phillip Worthington tossing each other around like a groom carrying his bride. In the back corner was Terry (my nephew) Raggins picking up one of our 6th grade boys Travien Wright by his ankles. What a blast that was to watch. NExt time we play I will make sure Tara is in there filming, it's good entertainment for sure!
So it's been a good week so far, we are looking forward to teh weekend and some snow on teh ground, and skiis on our feet in good ole West Virginia.
Thanks for reading and we will update again on Tuesday!

How does she do it?

My weekend was a packed one. We started off with a softball game Friday night, where we froze ourselves. We tied and after several hours of freezing I think everyone was content with it ending that way, after all it was pre-season.
Saturday morning, I got up and rode to Gainesville with my dad to spend time trying to get his car ready for the new series that he wants to race in this season. We successfully found quite a bit more speed than he had all last season with really, just a few minor adjustments. We rushed home so that I could shower and ALexa and I went over to have dinner with some friends. Tara stayed home with P.J. because she was sick. SUnday morning was a good day, we had a decent crowd and everything went really smoothly. I touched on a few things that I hope make some changes in people's hearts for the upcoming year and touched on the importance of SUnday School involvement.
After church we went home and relaxed, I hung out with P.J. while Tara went to the grocery store. Then, Monday I stayed home with P.J. because she had still run a fever Sunday night, turns out she was just fine. Not a fever all day, bouncing off the walls and driving me nuts. I ended up with what seemed like a cold. Sneezing all day, drowsy feeling and miserable while I stayed home to tend to a perfectly healthy little girl. How do they do that to me every time?
Oh well, I'll update again later in the week, maybe Friday. Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!

Back to busy`

Today, I am back to busy. Yesterday was not so bad. Worked from 7am to 3pm, rushed over to softball and froze from 3:15 to 5pm, then ran to the church to get in the van and start picking up kids. I think a lot of the kids were a little bit afraid of the cold, many of our pickups are a group who meet at a landmark and wait outside together. Those didn't make it, but we still had a good crowd. We had most of our regular attenders and followed it up with 2 visitors last night. It was a great night, with little or no distractions.
Today, I finish up my blog and rush out to Pacetti Bay for my boys' group that meets at 8:40. Then, I have paperwork to turn in at the administration office downtown for my official coaching paycheck information. That's right they are going to pay me this year, which is good and bad. But, in this economy you never turn down a little extra money. Then, off to Pedro to help set up for the banquet tonight with lunch with my daughters at Southwoods mixed in. Then, football banquet at 5:30 and a softball game at 7 at St. Augustine High.
So back to busyness as usual(yes I know it is spelled wrong) just the way I love it!
Thanks for reading and stay warm!

Soggy Monday

I don't have a lot to report on the goings on of Monday. Don't want to bore you to death with the details, so check in on Thursday where I will report on the half week and Wednesday night.
Thanks for checking in.

chili bowl, super bowl, great weekend!

We had a scrimmage Friday night with the girls' softball team and it went very well. WE have a lot of great young freshman and sophomore ball players who handled the pressures of being on the field with the varsity very well. We found out a lot and the prospects of the coming season look great.
Then, Saturday morning I got up early and started picking up kids for the chili bowl. THEre was a lot of excitement and our middle school team finished second losing in the championship on the last play. Our highschool teams did well one lost in the quarterfinals, and the other in the semi finals. The cool thing is that the one that lost in the semi finals was all freshman. It was a fun day, Lockwood, one of our little regulars on Wednesday nights got the mvp for the middle school division and ended up taking it home to show off, it was his 14th birthday and that was the greatest thing that happened on his birthday he told me as we rode home in the truck.
Sunday went well, we had a lot of regular attenders missing, but the service went great. The music was great and we had a good number of teenagers in teh service, and even had one read for us which is going to become a regular thing and I am excited about that.
OVer all, it was a great weekend, capped off with a great SUper Bowl game that for once was worth the hype.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Busy weekend ahead!

We have a softball scrimmage tonight, a flag football tournament in the morning and ofcourse a full slate for Sunday. So again we will have a busy weekend, I am excited about the flag football tournament though.
Turning Point at Calvary puts on an exact replica of what I have wanted to do for some 10 years now. A full scale, trophy winning, Gospel presenting event centered on Christ, but advertised as a Flag football tournament. We would have 4 teams, but it is looking more like 2 teams because of work, and youth basketball league. Our middle school boys mostly play in the rec basketball league so that knocks it down quite a bit.
It's also exciting to see our kids, go interact with the kids at Turning Point and realize that competition is for the field and certainly not for churches and youth ministries.
So thanks for reading, not a lot of news and have a great weekend!

Nice timing

So I mentioned in the other blog just how busy my day was. It was fun don't let me get that wrong at all. I enjoyed almost every second of it. We had a full crowd at youth last night, it was packed like a can of sardines once again, but we had a few kids bring some friends that aren't quite ready for it so we'll have to let the friends take alittle break.
Yesterday afternoon it dawned on me that we had some windshield wiper issues on the van and it appeared it was going to rain. So I rushed to the church after work to work on it, I pulled it up close to teh building but still got rained on while I worked. IT rained teh entire time I was fixing teh wipers and never another drop after that. What great timeing huh? THere I am working in the rain to have windshield wipers only to have it not rain. Isn't that just how life is some times, who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?
So softball went well, the day was jam packed and youth went pretty well. I'm excited about our future at Freedom and I feel that we are right on the verge of a big growth spurt, I'm praying with God's direction we'll continue to reach the unchurched in St. Johns County for Him!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Slow monday

Yesterday was one of the slowest moving days I have had in a while. I spent a lot of time reading on my book for work entitled, "Season of Life" and I would highly recommend it to any father who is raising children or plans to ahve and raise children. It would be a great read for any teenaged boy to read as well. In it we see the stories of coaches who are teaching their boys the difference between false manhood and true manhood. About building and cherishing relationships rather than money, sexual conquests or power and success.
Softball practice was even a little slow moving. We did however, pick up 2 new girls and the promise of one more. So that officially gives us enough to try to field a JV team, something that most schools around here are not doing. So cross your fingers I have a job out there coaching the jv, without them there is no real use for me.
Alexa and P.J. did take up arm wrestling for some reason yesterday. They decided to start arm wrestling each other and then me. Not sure where all that came from, but it was not surprising at all.
SOrry there wasn't more excitement. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

the weekend that blew by!

Friday I got off work, rushed to the house changed for softball practice. Left softball practice, rushed home to change clothes and shower and then went on a date. That's right, no kids(they were with Tara's parents) just the two of us. We had a gift card to Outback so we went and had some free Outback. I told someone Friday, free always makes the food taste better, haha. Then we went home and just relaxed on the couch and watched a movie.
Saturday morning I got up early and got to work at the church. I painted in the nursery, and painted in the nursery, and painted some more. After 2 full coats on teh walls the flowers and the clouds that had been painted on there before were still bleeding through. Yikes! So now I am back to waiting on Aaron to come prime the walls and then I will put another coat on them. When I realized we couldn't finish off the nursery we went into the youth house to get to work. We got everything swept and mopped(which won't last, what were we thinking?) and then hung some new curtains, redecorated 2 of the rooms and got a children's room set up in the back. It's really coming along nicely. We worked basically from 8am to about 7pm at the church on Saturday.
Then, Sunday I got up got the donuts and rushed off to the church. We had our first official Jeannie Gumble driven social after church. My mom was sick so I was left in charge of it for this week. ALl went well, the numbers were a little down I must admit but we had a great day. Phil and Missy Greene were in town from Ocala and visited and got stuck with us until the mid afternoon at Sonny's. Missy's daughter Monica was exhausted I'm sure because the girls clung to her with all they had. They rode with her to lunch, sat with her at lunch and so on.
So it's Monday and another busy week awaits. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Cold, cold go away!

So I had my boys'group at Pacetti Bay and boy did Mrs. Seaton pick me out some whoppers. This boys' group is specifically designed for young men to spur them on to grow up to be men who have respect for others, and know how to act like men. It's about tearing down some of the myths that they hear each week, and replacing them with what it truly means to be a man.
Well, Mrs. Seaton picked out our participants and we had one missing because he had been looking at inappropriate material on-line and another because he had just gotten into a fight on the bus that morning.
I got done there and rushed back to town to get some things done, shopping and pitching to get some speaking appointments at different schools in teh district. I pitched my presentations 3 different places got 2 yeses and a call me after FCAT is over. So all in all, not a bad deal but it's tough because I have always worked in the ministry and faced very few, if any nos in speaking engagements when it comes to that.
After work I went to practice and we had a good day out there, still a little cold, but not nearly as bad as Wednesday was. I could atleast feel my hands the majority of the day.
Last night we went to a birthday party. It was a double whammy for one of our friends Jimmy who goes to the races with us, and is in charge of our Betty Griffin House thrift store on the island. It was Jimmy's birthday as well as Niya's birthday who is Jimmy's niece. We had a good time there and realized that Alexa really likes Niya. P.J. was more about the cake than anything else. Alexa was more about playing with Niya and helping her out all night. P.J. was however, very efficient. After the two cakes got their candles blown out they started cutting the cake and before Jimmy was done cutting the first piece P.J. had found out who was having cake and had given each person a fork. Then, she had the plates laid out so that Jimmy could quickly transfer them and she could pass them out after picking one out(a large one) for herself. So once again, she was thinking with her tummy.
This weekend is a somewhat slow one. Tonight the girls are staying with Tara's parents so we are going out to Outback on a gift card we got for Christmas. Then tomorrow I have a lot of work to get done at the church and then Sunday will be our usual ritual. Hoping to see everyone there!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Fear Factor

So we tried Fear Factor last night, a glorious night when we filled every seat in our youth room. We had good snacks, put our new video game system to good use, and even had a decent lesson(considering my notes disappeared a few minutes before). Then after the lesson we went with old faithful, the Fear Factor night.
We had kids eat random jars of baby food, we had them race drinking large icees, we had them, race drinking a raw egg, we had kids drink coconut water(which doesn't sound taht bad, but the coconut is actually in chunks in the can. Yuck! We had two kids do everything they could to not throw up, so that is alway a sign of a great youth night. No empty chairs, lots of fellowship, and a few near throw ups. Life is good!
This has been (sssshhhhhhh) don't jinx us, the best week of ministry numbers wise in a while. We had a big crowd on Sunday and a big crowd on Wednesday. God is working hard in our ministries and I am excited about 2009!
If you want to see some of the action, you can log on to my facebook page or the Truth Ministries facebook group and see the pix, and videos.
THanks for reading and stay warm!

TIme

I walk through life and I try the best that I can to do everything I can for others. I try to call when someone is sick, stop by if a visit is necessary and spend quality time iwth them if at all possible. The interesting thing is that I used to drive up to the hospital trying to make sure my mind was clear and that I had some form of words of wisdom for them. I would hope that conversation would lend itself to me giving them some meaningful insight to help them with their time.
Then, I started visiting iwth others, I would pop into a room and see Meemaw, A.K.A. Hattie Brown just sitting with them and being good company. SOme times knitting, sometimes reading a book, but seldom talking or giving words of wisdom.
So this morning I got up early and went to teh hospital to be with Brad. His mother told me thank you for coming and thank you for all the time you spend with my kids. Not thanks for all the valuable lessons, thanks for all the BIblical truths, thanks for drawing my kids closer to the cross, or any of the other thing I would pridefully like to hear. So I have finally learned my lesson. It's about time, people see me working 2-3 jobs, coaching softball, doing maintenance at the church and so on, and they are happy just having me set aside time for them.
With my kids I learned this a long time ago. I would have P.J. asking and pleading with me to come outside. All she wanted me to do is set aside what I was involved in and watch her swing, or rider her bike, or her scooter. So I would take a chair out, or let down the tailgate on the truck and just watch her, that was sufficient for her.
I try to make sure that when I am talking with people they feel like that conversation is the only thing I want for that moment. There's nothing worse than talking to someone who is looking around, or on their way out the door.
So time is your greatest resource, and for some of us it's all we have to offer hahaha! So share it, give it and don't begrudge it for a moment.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Work day

So yesterday I sat down to my desk at the BGH at my usual time. I started blogging on what I had studied the night before and that morning. I got through my first blog and felt good that I was working ahead of schedule somewhat, especially proud to be doing that after a weekend with less than the usual amount of sleep. I then started on this blog, my personal blog and worked right on through it. I then got started on some paperwork and working on a lesson for a boys group that I teach at a middle school on Thursdays. Soon the time got away from me and I realized that people should have been in the office by now, and then it hit. I had the day off, the office was closed and I missed out on a chance to actually sleep in. I don't even sleep in on Saturdays now because I get up at the usual time and go to teh church to get a few hours of work in before the girls get up. That way I don't feel like I am at the church missing opportunities to be with the family.
So I filled out my time card, slowly I got up laughing at myself and went to the church to get some work done on our nursery which we are trying to get fixed up and painted soon.
I worked there for a while and then came home to Alexa standing in teh driveway with the basketball in her hands. We played basketball with some breaks in teh action for her to go see grandma, but for the most part we played basketball the majority of the day. Then, I got my softball stuff together and ran off to softball practice. It was the perfect day, I got my blogs done, I got some labor work at the church done, I got some reading done, and I got a lot of basketball playing done. I also ate lunch at the road watching stunt dare devil P.J. at work. She can take 2 scooters one in each hand and fly down teh driveway accross the street. She is hilarious the things she comes up with to try.
SO that's it, the day off with out the benefits of extra sleep. Thanks for reading and have a great day.

MLK day

Here I am in my office, working on my blogs. Half way through I realize that on the calendar it says that I have the day off. Nice huh? So I will continue working on my blogs, I will get a little paperwork done, and then I will enjoy the remainder of the day with my girls when they get up.
Saturday I got dragged myself out early and went to the church, got a lot of work done there and then went home to start getting ready for the races. We got there and everything that could go wrong at the track could. Not to us, but to others. THey had a few accidents, a lot of cars blowing engines and such It was a mess to say the least. I lost first round, so did dad, and instead of buying back and continuing we loaded up(it was already about 11:30) and headed for the house. I had put together a great run that would win probably somwhere around 80 or 90% of the time and the other guy's run was almsot perfect. I decided that if I couldn't win with the run I had put together then it wasn't my night, time to go.
Sunday was a great day. For one I had completed everything that needed to get done during teh week so that Sunday morning was strictly about ministry. No tasks(other than trying to fix a light fixture that has burned out). So it went quite smoothly, and the service went well. We had one of the larger crowds we have had in several months and we had 11 of our most regular attending members missing. It's strange that it worked out that way, but we could conceivably have seen our largest crowd since I came to Freedom had those few regulars been there. So, it was a great day.
The imfamous Linz Van came by to visit and her and her husband are doing well. If you were around my ministry any over the last 2-3 years at Ancient City you will notice that name for sure.
Aaron and I had our worship meeting in the evening and then I watched some football mixed in with some chick flick movie that the girls were watching.
It was a great 3 day weekend that no one remembered to tell me about, so here I am typing away when I could be snoring away! Oh well!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

It's Friday, and it's cold

So here we are another Friday, and this week it is freezing! I am a big fan of the cold, but not quite this cold.
yesterday I started my boys group at Pacetti Bay middle school. I have a group of troubled teen boys all in 7th grade that they have given me the chance to spend time with on a weekly basis. It's 7 boys total, and all of them are high risk for one reason or another. Fighting, drugs, disrespect the whole nine yards.IT went really well and we had a blast for sure, we talked about respect and the importance of being pro-active.
After work I rushed over and got my new phone so I am back in business with technology. I had a situation where I had no cellphone and no internet at the office and all my contacts are in those two areas. It's funny, I know about 14 years ago as a young man I had no cell phone and no internet, how did I survive? How on earth did we communicate? Yikes!
So I had to order a new cellphone and while I waited I borrowed one from Tracy Wells at Wells Communications. I found out the hard way that ring tones are on the phone and not the sim card. Silly me! I was in a meeting and I put the phone in my pocket, most of you know that I always keep the phone on vibrate, well it went off and being in my pocket it had taken itself off of vibrate. Thereby, it started to ring, teh song that played was watch me go and smack that @#*, I will smack her on the floo,"
So tell me, a Pastor, a community educator in a women's domestic violence organization, how can someone have picked a worse ring tone for me? How funny is that(now, it wasn't so funny then)
So after work I was in a hurry to get rid of that loaner phone as I am sure you can appreciate. I got the new phone and went to softball practice where it was cold, but barable. I think today will be worse for sure.
I look forward to a nice relaxing evening with the family tonight, and then some work at the church tomorrow(thank goodness I am working inside right now) and then off to the races. That's right, I am dumb enough to load up and drive into the night to race in subzero temperatures and I will love every minute of it. The only draw back is I can't seem to get anyone to go with me, Tara and the girls are not that excited about going in 30 degree weather for along night(usually racing until after midnight at Orlando), what's the deal with that? What kind of racing family are they? I guess I will let them slide just this once, lol!
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend! Stay warm somehow!

bye bye, rain hello cold?

SO next time you are complaining about soggy, rainy days be more specific in what you wish for. THis cold is not for me, I like it cold don't get me wrong, but it's softball season and hitting, catching and throwing in the cold is not all that fun. It's only begun to get cold. We had our first official day of tryouts yesterday and we had enough girls to hold a complete practice. We do have some on the basketball team and others on the soccer team who will join us later so we are in good shape.
I had to leave practice at 5:00 on the dot and go start picking up kids so that youth can get going. We had a good group last night, we talked about Psalm 139 and it was well received. We started out by telling embarassing stories about ourselves. Everyone had a great time, and then we talked about the Psalmist asking GOd to search him and see if there is any offense in him even though God already knows. We talked about how God's love is not circumstancial, it's unwavering.
After youth we got everyone home, and then I was actually home by 8:30, I had some ice cream with the girls which I know is crazy in this cold, but that is their favorite dessert. We watched a little bit of American Idol, we shipped them off to bed, Tara and I worked on some paperwork and then we hit the hay ourselves.
Not all that much excitement to share, just another great day of serving the Lord!
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!

ANother soggy day

Yesterday was another soggy day. I had a speaking engagement at one school and then rushed over to lunch at another. My Tuesday lunch bunch was at about half because several of them were helping out the principal with some things. Still, it was fun and productive. I had a good visit non the less.
Then, I went back to the office, finished off some paperwork and got off at 3. I went home, did some reading on a great new book I just picked up. I then went to softball practice, another indoor session with the girls telling them about the athletes code of conduct. The Athletic Director shared iwth them the expectations for the coming year and the way that athletes will be held to a higher standard than all other students. It's interesting to see the things that they are held accountable to and I hope that these penalties are upheld.
Then, I rushed to teh grocery store and grabbed some food for dinner, got the girls from my mom's house(tara was working at Publix) and fixed them some dinner. WE played a few games of Uno and this time after the second game, P.J. messed up all the cards when she realized I was going to win. It's going to be a long road with these two who can't lose at anything. Alexa did win the first game, which was a first for her and she is not a good winner either. She danced, shook her booty, yes I said shook her booty, then said "oh yeah, oh yeah" "I'm the winner" which her father and sister did not take well. I turned up the heat a little to make sure I won the next game, and I did have it under control until P.J. decided to move the cards around.
So that's it, another day, another night of finding out who is a good winner, and who is a good loser in the bunch. So far none of us fit any of those roles all that well.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Softball season is here

So here it is, my little calm through the December and January months is over. Football ended, I got my afternoons and evenings back, now I sacrificially return them to students. Softball try-outs started yesterday but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, nor does it appear it will today. But, I knew it was time for softball as it was getting colder and nastier.
My two are extremely competitive. I know I get the blame for them getting it from me, but I can't take credit for all of it. Alexa is reading books for A.R. points. My mom bought her about 25 little Junie B. Jones books for Christmas and I beleive she is just about through with all of them. She started out reading them because she liked them, she would read a little bit here and there. But now, it's hard to get her to come to dinner some nights because after her bath she is shut up in her room. She is reading again because she found out she can get A.R. points by reading those books and taking the tests. She is in first but only by about 2 books right now and she doesn't show any signs of letting up. She is so funny about it, I guess there are much worse things she could be doing to let out her competitive spirits.
P.J. played UNO with us last night, we played 3 good games of Uno before they had to go to bed, it was completely P.J.'s idea that we play. We played and I won two games and Tara won one. (I must confess it was my first loss in many, many hundreds of games to any of those three.) Upon dropping our next to last card, we would shout out Uno!, to which P.J. would respond like clockwork, "I'm not playing", or "I don't want to play this game any more!" They are so funny!
So there you have it, lots of competition in our household, they race to finish dinner, they race to finish ice cream cones. The only thing Alexa refuses to race at is coloring. Because she knows P.J. can cover all the area really quickly with absolutely no regard for the finished product!
Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

Weekend, the long approach

Tara and I are attempting to drag our weekends out when we have the chance. Life is so fast for us, with the church, work, the girls and all the other things we are involved in we are attempting to take stock in the girls' lives the best we can.
This weekend was an example of one of the few weekends that we were able to execute that plan well.
First, Friday Tara went to the grocery store while I got my racecar out of dad's garage and everything moved around so that Alexa and I could play basketball when they got home. We had dinner together, played some uno and watched a movie, just the four of us.
Saturday morning I got up early, rushed to the church and got some touch up painting done while everyone else was still sleeping. Then, I went home and hung out while the girls rode their bikes around the neighborhood. I rode with my dad to pick up a car that he is going to be working on and then I came right back. We loaded up the girls and asked them what they wanted to do. P.J. wanted to go see Mr. Jimmy's horse and pigs so we took them out there. They had a blast feeding the pigs and playing with them, P.J. scared the horse so it didn't have a lot to do with us. After that we took them to teh park behind the library and let them swing, run around, climb the monkey bars, and ride the carousel. Then, we went home and watched a movie they had been wanting to see.
Sunday, after SUnday School, church and business meeting we all hung around in teh empty nest, strange for just the 4 of us to be in the house alone on a Sunday afternoon, but we did it.
So it was a slow peaceful calm before the storm. I start coaching Girls' softball today, Tara has to work on Tuesday and we are going to try to go to the races next Saturday, so it was fun while it lasted.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Blah, blah, blah

I can sit here and post my blog all day, I can rack my brain and do all that I can to focus on any part of life that I want. Work, the girls, racing, eating, sleeping, you name it. It's all going to sound like blah, blah, blah unless I truly tell you what I did last night.
I worked on my race car until about 7:30 then I took my shower and sat down with my family for some food and oh yeah you might have heard. THere was a football game on last night that was kind of a big deal in these parts. I watched the Gators, really not play their best football and still handle the Oklahoma(we're gonna score 60) Sooners. I enjoyed the majority of the game, the girls went on to bed and I woke each of them up to let them know the Gators won, Alexa woke up beaming with excitement and putting on her home made Tebow Gator shirt!
I have to admit I was so sick of the hype, but there is this twisted little piece of me(don't deny it, it's in you too) that wished I knew some true Oklahoma fans to badger last night. All the talk about them, and their offense and blah, blah , blah. When we beat FSU I can go next door and badger my dad and a lot of my close friends who are actually in Tallahassee right now. When we beat Tennessee I can go badger my mom and mess with her. And best of all when we beat Georgia I can roll over at any time during the night and rub it in(which by the way is not a good idea at all!). But last night, there was no one to badger. Most FSU fans I knew at work all were pulling for Florida, so that win wasn't as much fun as most. Oh well, it was still sweet!
It was a great ending to a great year. It's great to be a Florida Gator!

Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!

Hype

Do you ever get tired of hype? I like to watch SPortscenter in the morning to catch up on the world of sports. But, even though I am a huge Gator fan, I am tired of the hype, the talk and the build up. I will be glad about a month from now when it has all been over for a while and we can put it to rest(even though I won't miss a second of tonight's game for sure). Hype can build up something that is meaningless, and destroy something that is pure. The game of college football used to be pure, no money exchanging hands, no more than just young men, college students playing a game because they love it, hype has taken it beyond that. Hype should in my opinion be reserved for things like those old Mike Tyson fights, you know the one where millions of people pay-per-view just to see which round he will knock out his opponent. The funny thing is, when he finally got knocked out himself Mike Tyson had one of his smallest viewing crowds ever, why? They were tired of the hype!
Okay, so back to me. We had a great night at youth last night, we filled up all of our seats in the Truth house, and we had a lot of fun doing it. We brought in a van full again, and had most of our regulars back. Usually, we are down after 2 weeks off, but most of them were back in teh swing of things.
So, there you have it, I survived yet another Hump Day and I am ready for some football tonight, and some Utah/USC crying tomorrow! haha!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

My two

So we have seen some diligent work out of our two girls in the recent weeks. Alexa received 12 books that are at the 3-4 grade level reading and read all of them since CHristmas. She now has 12 more and knocked one of them out yesterday. She is so far out in front of her class in AR points(points they get for taking a test and passing after reading books) that it isn't even close.
The two of them talked grandma into taking them to Michael's when she went there to use a gift card she had received and they came back with all kinds of coloring materials. From full size posters, to little pictures and everywhere in between. P.J. colors and her big picture view is that of getting the picture done. She colors inside the lines, she puts thought into it but that is it. Alexa, unlike her reading style colors, takes her time and in the end the picture looks like something that could win an art show prize or something.
We are still working on my race car to get the suspension right for the upcoming season. We have so many projects going on right now that dad has got to be bogged down tremendously. But, on we march. Last night we worked in the garage pretty late for the second night in a row to get the suspension right on the car.
Today is hump day, my favorite evening because tonight is youth night. I love youth night, though it's about a 5 hour deal for me between picking up kids, hanging out with the kids, doing a Bible study, hanging out some more with the late arrivals, then driving them all back home. It's quite an ordeal. I did far less work to make Wednesday night fly as a full-time youth pastor than I do now. But it is all worth it, for sure!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Paint chips

So yesterday I had a fairly busy day of setting up speaking engagements (I call them gigs) at schools and in other groups. When I got off from work I rushed to the church while P.J. was at the doctor getting a good report on her ear infections. I got started painting the entranceway to the church using a two part epoxy with paint chips. I had not intended to use the paint chips but they cover up more of the scars and bad spots on the concrete so I decided to use them. Well, it was a learning experience for sure.
The way it works you roll paint onto the surface in a small 3 foot by 3 foot area and then drop the paint chips on. If you throw them up in the air and allow them to spread themselves it turns out better, but it was breezy at the church so that didn't work each time. If you just sprinkle them on there more directly the coverage is more and they get too close together almost in piles. Well, the guy at Home Depot told me if you get too much in an area to sweep over it after the paint is dry and most of them will come right off, Wrong! So there are patches of heavy chippage(if that is a word) and areas of light chippage(Okay I used it twice, it's a word now). So next time you are up at the church, keep your eyes up and focus on the door and the entrance, not the ground please.
Then, I got done there around 6pm, and rushed home to get to work on the race car. We had the gears changed for some 1/8 mile racing this year. We just had to put it back together so we got it mostly back together and decided to try and raise the ride heigth somewhat. This turned out to be a project rather than a quick swap so we added another night's work for tonight.
So that's my Monday, I hope your day's endeavors were more profitable than mine.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

First blog of the new year!

Today is it, the first blog of the new year. The first blog of my second full year of blogging. Sure I started blogging in 2007 but, 2008 was the first yeat that I made it a habit and truly stuck with it. I must admit I am excited about a new year. I have set a lot of goals for myself as a believer, as a father and husband, and as a pastor. I revealed to the church yesterday that it is my heart's utmost desire to grow Freedom Baptist CHurch. To reach every life that I can with the Gospel and to win lost souls for CHrist. I know that all churches grow in God's time, but they don't grow at all without the diligent work of believers and I challenged them to be a part of it.
New Years' eve we did some bowling with the youth group and had a blast, we bowled a couple frames from 7 - 9 and then we headed to the house to watch the ball drop, and most importantly watch some stunt guys do some crazy things on ESPN. I am not so much amazed at what they do, as I am amazed at the creativeness to come up with the stunts. I mean really, who sits around and decides to try to do a back flip with a truck? Really, who does that?
It is my hope to be that creatively mind boggling as a Pastor this year and to allow God to work through me to accomplish big, very big things through my actions and my passion this year.
THanks for reading and have a great day!