God's Sovereignty

I had someone track me down after church yesterday to tell me part of their story. They're not from our area but attented with some friends. They had just gone through a bad breakup in a relationship. My sermon was "Surviving Rejection."

One of the prayers I always pray when deciding on what to preach and planning sermon series is "God you know who will be there so help me to say what you want them to hear or know."

I'm never surprised, but always amazed, when I hear stories of God answering that prayer.

Youth Camp

I'm at camp (M-Fuge) all week with our student ministry. I love youth camp. This is my 14th year at Fuge. It's always one of the year's highlights. We'll be doing ministry/mission work in the Philly area.

Our theme for the week is "Faith to Love the Faith Journey." The words we're using to guide us are "stand," "wait," "risk," "let go." Great words for any follower of Christ to get their minds and hearts around. I think if we all learned to stand for what we should, wait for God's timing, risk getting out of our comfort zones and giving up some of our own stuff, and then letting go of the things that hold us back we could turn the world upside down.

One thing I know, the 350 plus students and adults at Fuge this week, if we get our hearts and minds around those words, God will use us to turn Philly up side down.

Can't wait to see what happens.

How Do You Define Success?

I joined a six week small group for dads for the Summer. It's down at National Community Church in DC. Their Lead Pastor, Mark Batterson is leading the group. Mark is someone who has a lot of wisdom for someone in their 30's. I've followed his blog for about a year and a half and read both his books. It's great to have the opportunity to spend six weeks getting to know him and some other dads.

So here's the question we left with last night: "How do you define success as a parent." I've actually thought about that question for over ten years. I have my own definition of success that I've continued to refine since my son was born. I'd be interested in what others think success as a parent looks like.

BTW, you don't need to be a parent to respond.

Jeremy & Jason's CNN Interview About the Missing Kidney

This is a great story that has the potential of bringing some inspiration to the rest of us. Jeremy is a friend of mine and a leader in our church. I knew him for about a year before I heard this part of his story. I was impressed but not surprised. He's just that kind of a guy.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYiEmzRdpAc

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSYiEmzRdpAc&h=e3769f6dbefe8ed661ac10d20a1ff907

Low Tech Church

Saw this pic on twitter and could not help but think "what are they thinking." It's a capture from a low budget televised church service.

A chalk board as a backdrop with the website written on it. I bet the website is awesome.

Junky Car Club

I spotted this, The Junky Car Club, on a friends blog. Thinking about joining it. I think having a 2000 F-150 with 90,000 should qualify. Here's a little of their history from their website:

The Junky Car Club was established in the spring of 2006 when Mike Foster decided to sell his fully loaded Infiniti G35 sports car to drive a junky 1993 Toyota Camry. As an act of rebellion against consumerism and with the desire to give more to worthy causes, Mike began to enlist his friends and people he worked with to join him in this experiment of driving clunkers and giving more.

The Junky Car Club has members in the US, Australia, Russia, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Singapore. So if you're passionate about social justice causes and are committed to living a generous life, the Junky Car Club wants you.

"Up"

I took the kids to see Disney-Pixar's "Up" on Monday. It's not your typical high energy, full of one liners movie, that you would expect from Disney-Pixar. But it's a "must see" in my opinion.

There's a scene in the beginning that's about five minutes long with no dialogue. When it was over, I guarantee you there was not a dry adult eye in the theatre. The way the artists captured raw emotion without words was amazing.

The movie deals, in an incredible, yet subtle way, with some difficult themes. Really three great take-aways in the movie. 1) Life goes on, even after a dream ends. Find a new dream and go after it. 2) There are people out there that need to be loved and if you don't love them and be there for them, maybe no one will. 3) The person who seems least likely to be able to help you may just be the best person to help you.