Snow Day

Friday Morning started out like most Friday mornings. I got up before Kat left to make her coffee and wish her well as she went off to work. I had to pick my brother up from my parent's house and take him to Maury Regional for a Stress Test on his heart. He had some issues come up on Wednesday night and I had to rush him to the hospital to be checked over. They decided that he needed to have some more tests run to rule out heart problems.

As we arrived at the hospital at 10:15 am, the snow started to fall. As we got into the building and Shane filled out his paperwork, the snow had already covered the ground. As Shane went back for his test, the snow fell so hard it appeared liked blizzards in the movies. I started to get worried because I am from Tennessee and have never been in conditions like this. I called my wife and urged her to leave and go home but because her boss was in Nashville, she was unable to leave as early as I would have liked. Shane finished his tests at a little after 11 am and we hurried to leave. As we got outside, the snow was everywhere. We got into my Cougar which is a front-wheel drive vehicle and headed off. We were making progress by taking it slow and that is when I got the call from Kat that she had gotten stuck not far from the Hospital because of a bad hill, bad tires and her inability to get enough speed going up the hill.

Shane and I went to the rescue. We were able to get close and parked in the parking lot of the Autism Center. We hiked down to Kat's car and were able to get her turned around so that she could park in a lot. All three of us hiked back to my car and started off. My car was having trouble and I was having to rev my engine in order to move forward because I could not get very good traction. We finally made it to Bear Creek McDonald's and my parents picked us up from there. We called a neighbor to see if they could pick us up from the top of our neighborhood because they have a 4X4 truck. Our neighbor was actually just down the road and offered to pick us up at McDonald's.

They picked us up and we headed off. We went to pick our neighbor's kids up first and then headed to TSC to pick up some inter tubes so that we could go tubing down the hill. After that, we headed to Kroger to make sure that we had groceries for the weekend. We loaded up. Then we finally headed back to our neighborhood. The roads were covered so we decided to take a back way that Kat and I had never been down. It is actually almost like a hidden way into our neighborhood. It was such an adventure.

When we got home, Kat and I unloaded our groceries and just relaxed on the couch. After just a short time, we heard our neighbors and their kids coming up the hill with the tubes ready for more fun. Kat and I joined in the fun. By the end of the night, we were having a great time. We even added water to the hill so that we could go faster.

Our neighbor asked if they could bring some chili over for us all to share. They grabbed the chili and we all had a great meal. The chili was fantastic. We ended the evening by playing a game of Apples to Apples. It was a day of twist and turns, ups and downs, but in the end it was an adventure. It was a day I will never forget. Thank you God for family and great friends that are there when you need them.

A Devotion for You and Your Family

After finding out for sure that we have no church, Kat thought that it would be a great idea to share a devotion together. When I contacted Pastor Tonya about church being cancelled, she suggested that we encourage families to have their own family devotion. So I thought that it might be a good idea to share a devotion with everyone so that it might be like we are having church together on Sunday even though we can not be together in worship.

Many churches follow the lectionary, which is a pre-selected collection of scriptural readings from the Bible that can be used for worship or study. The lectionary has 4 verses for each Sunday from different sections of the Bible: Gospel, Old Testament, New Testament, or Psalm. The verse that I have chosen today is the New Testament selection, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. As you read these verses, may God whisper his Truth to you and may the words themselves allow you to connect with God in a more intimate way.

Transformational love is a love that can only happen when we have Christ as our Lord and Savior. We can love many things from favorite foods, to old comfy jeans, to our pets, but we must learn how to be transformed by God’s love so that we can share that love with our neighbors. May we learn how to love in the same manner that Charles Spurgeon suggests:

"I would, my brothers and sisters, that we could all imitate the pearl oyster. A hurtful particle intrudes itself into its shell, and this vexes and grieves it. It cannot eject the evil, and what does it do but cover it with a precious substance extracted out of its own life, by which it turns the intruder into a pearl. Oh, that we could do so with the provocations we receive from our fellow Christians, so that pearls of patience, gentleness, long-suffering, and forgiveness might be bred within us by that which has harmed us."

In this quote by Spurgeon, not only is the Oyster changed by the dirt but the dirt is transformed as well. This is the type of transformation that can occur when we share the Love of God. Not only will we be changed but we will change the dirt around us. I have heard it said that it is easy to love those who love you. I agree. But God calls us to love all. God says to love everyone from that annoying family member that has never been nice to you, to the homeless man that smells and talks to himself, to the friend that wronged you. God calls us to be an ambassador of his love. God wants us to impact our world for him.

So as you read through the verses of 1 Corinthians 13, may you see the Love that God wants us all to have. May you understand love from God. May you understand a self-sacrificing love that God not only talks about but demonstrated by both giving his Son to die for us and also by the life that Jesus lived here on Earth. May you not be held down by the dirt that enters in your life, but allow God to change both the dirt and you for the better.

May you have a morning filled with the Love of God as you read these words.

Marcy Jo's

I went to a Songwriter's night tonight at Marcy Jo's. Kat and I have eaten here several times for breakfast and it is easily my favorite breakfast spot. I have never been much of a breakfast person but their food it out of this world. Kat always gets the Stuffed French Toast and she says that words do not do this dish justice. I always get the Sausage Gravy Biscuits which is fantastic.

However, tonight was a different experience. The owners of Marcy Jo's are Joey from the Country Duet Couple of Joey and Rory and Marcy is the sister of Rory. Tonight was a special evening of food and music by Joey and Rory. The food was delicious. We started out with a salad and the main entree was lasagna with a cheese/garlic biscuit. We ended our food with a choice of Coca-Cola cake or Peach Cobbler. I had the cobbler and it was delicious.

After the food was cleared away, Joey and Rory took the small stage. Growing up I loved Country Music but as I got into high school, I stopped listening. However, tonight I remembered why I loved Country Music. Country songwriters know how to tell the story of life. As I sat there and listened to the lyrics, I felt I was part of the story. I heard songs of life, of love, and of course of cheating. A country song can not be a hit if it does not include lyrics of cheating. Both Joey and Rory sang songs and sang some together. They ended the evening by having Joey's mother sing an old hymnal with Joey and Rory backing her up. Kat thought that she sounded just like June Carter Cash.

We shared the evening with Kat's parents and were at the table with some very nice people. It was a delightful and relaxing evening and you will be sure to find me at future Songwriter's nights around our community.

Make sure and check our Marcy Jo's for good times, great people, and wonderful food!

Funerals

In the past week, 5 family members of Grace Church attenders have passed away. I have personally attended two funerals this week alone. In the past two and a half years working at Grace, I have attended more funerals than I can even remember.

I started thinking of some of the things that make a good funeral that I have seen.

• Personal stories of deceased
• Stories of the person's faith
• Picture slide show of life
• Family members sharing their personal stories about the person
• A message of hope, salvation, or love for audience
• A challenge to make changes in life
• Sharing of scripture

As I sat in the funeral today and heard the kind words shared by the pastors, it made me sad that I had never met the lady. It made me reflect on how much time we waste on things that are unimportant. I left challenged to not waste time on trivial stuff but instead to invest my time in people. I want to know people at a deeper level, so that when I attend a funeral I will be able to reflect on my own memories of the person and not just stories of the pastor.

Things I learned from My Own Sermon Today

As I looked out during each of the three services and delivered the message of Light and Dark, several things went through my mind.

• There were people at many different stages in their walk with God. Some believers, some non-believers, some searchers, some indifferent to the whole thing.
• It was tough speaking in front of my dad (It was the first time, he has heard me speak).
• Being transparent is difficult when the ones that you have hurt are hearing you speak.
• Feels that it is difficult to deliver a message that does not include many areas of laughter. Hard to know if crowd is connecting or not.
• I love speaking God's word.
• Three services is mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually draining.
• Feel so fortunate to be where I am!
• Hopes that God's plan includes me staying at Grace for many years to come.
• Glad Kat talked me out of putting a Lord of the Rings reference in the sermon. A Star Wars and Lord of the Rings reference would have been cause to run me out of the church as the Ultimate Dork.

DH

Facing Your Fears

Every since I was a small child, I have been scared of heights. When I am off the ground, I get this terrible feeling that I am going to fall. The fear then turns into pain, a physical pain that almost inhibits my movements.



That is one reason that I am so scared of roller coasters. I despise them. I hate waiting in lines hearing the screams of the people as they possibly drop to their deaths. I detest the slow incline before the death drop. However, my wife loves them. She could ride roller coasters all day long. In fact, the week that Kat and I first met we went to a theme park called King's Island. All day long, I was riding rides not because I wanted to but because I didn't want to be ridiculed (There is probably a lesson in here somewhere). However, I would not ride a ride with Kat because I didn't want her to know how scared I was. Near the end of the day, I gave up and rode in the same car as Kat on The Son of the Beast. As we started to move, I grabbed Kat's hand. She thought I was being romantic and I was just scared to death and didn't want to die. That is how our relationship started.



I use this story to illustrate the depth of my fear. However, yesterday I had the opportunity to go indoor rock climbing with some of our youth group at Climb Nashville. These walls are anywhere from 20-35 feet off the ground at the highest point. Let's just say that it was high enough to freak me out. Not only is the wall high but you must depend upon someone else to keep your rope tight so that you can climb. You receive a 10 minute lesson on holding the rope called a belay lesson. So here I am scared to death, putting my life in the hands of people that have had a 10 minute lesson on keeping me from falling to my death. It was very reassuring. In the end, I faced my fears and traversed a few of the walls. I was not great but I still was able to climb and have fun. Sometimes I feel that we allow our fears to paralyze of us from being the people that we were created to be. Face your fears in the future and trust that everything will be okay. I say this but I'm still not riding any more roller coasters any time soon.

Road Trip

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to General Assembly in Orlando, FL. Every four years, the Nazarene church gathers delegates together from all over the United States and World. This was my first opportunity to attend. Since my wife was unable to attend with me, I decided it was best to travel with my boss, Pastor Brian and his family. Brian has four children. One is 17, one is 9 and two are 6. Thus, there were 7 of us traveling in one van from Orlando to Columbia, TN. Previously, I had been around Brian and his family many times and loved his children but I can not lie and say that I didn't have some fear and hesitation about being in a mini-van for 11 hours with 6 other people.

However, the trip was easy. We traveled for 8 hours the first day and stopped in Valdosta, Ga. The kids were great. The next day we finished our trip to Orlando. I had a wonderful time with the whole family.

This trip made me think about our travels with God. Sometimes, I feel that we become so scared of the road ahead that we almost become paralyzed and can't move forward. It's as if we do not want to know what's in store for us. Most people, at least in the church would say that they want to walk with God. However, most people want to tell God where to walk instead of following in his footsteps.

There was a song that came out within the last couple of years called, Jesus Take the Wheel. It is a great song that makes me think that we need to give up the "control" of our lives and let Jesus guide us along the path that we need to be walking.