Are you a Pack rat?

Most of us would agree that its not the best of qualities to be a pack rat. I once knew a woman who was so much of a pack rat that she could not use the entire basement of her 2500 sq ft home because she had stored so much stuff in it from so many years past. She even admitted that she just cant bring herself to throw the stuff away. If you are a pack rat reading this…I don’t mean to offend you. Actually in the last few days I’ve actually discovered a very valuable reason to be a pack rat.

In the last 3 days I’ve been looking for information that I once came across online and wondered why I would ever need that information…well now I need it and cant find it. In the days when you can get a computer with a terabyte of hard drive space, why not save data. Why not hold on to it? I sure wish I did save that data I now need.

isteh week over

Wow..the week is over...this week went so fast I still think its Tuesday. I'd love to tell yo uwhat happened but it went to fast to remember.

Collision #1

So the name of this blog is collision...so here is my first:

I was talking to Aaron tonight (see the last blog) and he mentioned the church he is currently playing for. being a true web 2.0er I attempted to google the church while we talked. In my half hearted attempt to find the church I came across this. They are a church launching in September in Hanover @ the muvico. I immediately sent it to Nikki while I finished with Aaron.

That's the background...This is the collision when the competition of a business mind meets the joy of one church planter has for another.

I had a wealth of emotions upon seeing this church:

1. Way cool I wonder if they are associated with this Mosaic or this one.
2. Awesome for them getting into muvico, awsome that they are planting a church over there
3. Man..as a deliberate reproducing church model hanover was an area we were looking at for the future
4. I can't wait to meet their pastor. I really hope our ministries can help each other and grow the Kingdom together
5. Darn we missed that opportunity in hanover

I've been in business officially since I was 17 and the spirit of competition is strong within me, especially in business. Tonight that spirit came into collision with the joy a Christian feels when they see others doing great for Christ. At this point in following Christ I can feel that spirit of competition and know when it is not healthy or productive but I would lie to you if I said I did not feel it.

Its real and we all have collisions like this...times where we have a feeling or a thought that does not exactly line up with the Love and Joy of Christ. Some of us, it happens to me too, will have these thoughts and then question if we are really as Christian as we believe we are...we say..If I were truely Cristian I would not have that thought. In these times of collision is important to note...that the enemy comes to kill steal and destroy. Here is attempting to steal your Joy for someone else, Kill your spirit and destroy your confidence in GOD.

That may sound like a leap but follow this...we are to love each other...cant do that without Joy. If you question your own maturity because of your fleeting thoughts you are eating away at your faith because you will slowly begin to doubt yourself and become timid in Christ. And here is the big one: When your actions change, once timidness sets in you will hide from God and you will start to question if He could ever love someone like you. You then will rationalize your way out of a relationship with God because you will believe that your actions or lack of action makes you an unworthy follower.

You are not unworthy but the devil sure wants you to think that.

When collision happens we need to PAUSE and realize there is WAY more here than what I see. we need to find God in the situation, He is omnipresent, we need to ask Him how to turn the negative for good. In my case, as I felt that competition bug I had to turn that energy around and begin to celebrate for Mosaic instead of feeling like someone had one (we are not to compete with each other). So I truly look forward to meeting Mosaic and their staff and praying for the people they will touch. We all serve the same GOD. They have a HUGE opportunity to do major things for Christ and really impact a growing community in Hanover and Severn. I am so overjoyed for them and will be asking our team to begin praying for them (yes team that's a plug for you).


BTW. I'm not condoning that its ok to just sit around and have negative thoughts. I am saying that we must be aware when the enemy is planting weeds in our thoughts and uproot them quickly

Ever experience 7 degrees?

About 2times a month I troll through craigslist looking for Chirstian musicians. Today there were a few that seemed interesting so I emailed them. 2 people responded quickly. One of them said he was around now and we could talk...so...even though it was 1:45 I called and we had a great convo. We set up for him to come by June 1st. While he and I were talking the other young lady who responded and I were emailing back and forth. She mentioned that she knew a great drummer I should talk to. Literally within 15 minutes of me getting off the phone with him she emailed me the name of her friend who happened to be the same person I was just talking to.

Its a small world...and look at how God brings it all together. Aaron and Crystal its nice to meet you both.

Are you to busy....

Most of us are busy. Our lives are marked by business...its almost a way to define ourselves. We are always on the run. Seems like with email, cell phones, and technology that makes life 'easier' we would have more time for the things that really matter....BUT THAT NEVER HAPPENS. all we do is pack our day with more and more. I guess we all got tired of the Army saying we do more before 7 am than most people do all day...so we started doing more...the army stopped running that ad.

But are we missing something....

I wont tell you I pray this everyday (some days I'm too busy to remember to pray this) but I work to pray every day to be used by God and most importantly to be aware of the times when He wants to use me. Basically to live my life open to the needs of those around me and the role God wants me to play in meeting their needs.

Last night was date night and the kids were also gone so we did not make breakfast, heck, we did not even think about breakfast until 2pm. By that time we decided to go to Panera (Nikki agreed even though we ate dinner there last night) and on teh way we stopped to by the post office to check the PO Box. On my way out I saw a lady approaching us from far away. You know when someone is way across a room or a parking lot and even though there are people between you and them you know they are coming straight to you...well that was what this was like. She was far enough away that I knew I could start the car and drive away long before she could even get close or I could hear her call after us...but something in my spirit said wait...so I waited. She approached asked for financial assistance because she was living out of her car and we coudl see the pain she was in. We only had $1 in coins and gave her all we could. As we started to drive away both Nikki and I were feeling awful that we could not do more...so Nikki we went back and asked he if we could get her food. Being TRULY hungry I assumed Nikki meant getting her a sandwich from panera after we ate. As Nikki got back in the car she said we have to do more than just get he 1 meal...so we went to walmart and got this lady some nonperishable groceries.

This is not a story to tout us or to brag and tell you to be more like us but to share with you what happened when we took the food back to this lady.

In walmart we did not spend much but what that little bit did for that lady was amazing...she was so overjoyed...she did not know how she was going to eat this week.


So here is the point...I was there very hungry because I missed 1 meal and if we had gotten wrapped up in ourselves that lady may have missed a week of meals. When we get wrapped up in ourselves there is no way we can ever accomplish either of the 2 greatest commands to love God and love others. Jesus never said and the third is like it Love yourself.

I'm not saying don't love yourself but we have real issue when we make an idol out of ourselves and the things we need to do. We all need to open our eyes, take our blinders off, and see/feel the pain of the person near us and cry out to God and ask Him if and how he wants us to help them.

Shot out

Been meaning to post this for a few days but could not find the right words...still dont have them...so here goes...

This is a Shot out to a true friend, a woman who has God's ear, and hears God's voice clearer than most people I know. Thanks Mel.

Expression

Tonight was date night after a HARD week...hard because it was emotional, long, exciting, busy, etc...felt like a month. So tonight it was date night...kids are gone and yes I'm taking 5 min to blog.

I talked a couple weeks ago about Pastor Jumaine and the Bridge who invited me to the Drive Conference in atlanta. So tonight we went to one of the Bridges events called Expression. Man what an awesome showcase of talent in an open mic format. We had a great time...cant wait to go again...if your in the area go check them out. Take your special someone or just go and hang with the crowd, you'll love it.

Its a real testament to Jumaine's leadership because they are a young church and his team pulled off the event and he had to do nada. you go boy...

Bad choices Galore...what to do when there is no good food

So today in my quest for out fitting our truck for the trailer I needed to eat lunch. I'm not a fast fooder...actually I cant stand fast food. Chick Fil A is as close as I like to get to burger chains and I dont like them much. So that makes eating on the run harder. So today I had choices:

1. A jamaican restaurant
2. Mc donalds
3. Jerry's
4. Pizza hut
5. Red lobster
6. Burger King
7. Vocelli pizza carryout

The jamaican joint was at the top of the list, yes Trinidadians eat JA food sometimes, but they closed at 12 noon...closed for lunch...what a concept for a restaurant. Mc D's is always out. Jerry's was intriguing because I have not been there since High school...just entering that place killed the nostalgia. Mc D's is always out. I've never had a good experience at that particular red lobster...so they were out. Pizza hut was my second option, pizza is not fast food, but they were about 1/3 mile away up a steep hill on a very busy intersection where the only place to walk is the median stip in the middle of the street. The whole safety vs food debate did not last long. vocelli is a carryout so i would have to eat sitting on the sidewalk on a day when it was cold (i was in short sleeves).

So that left the BK joint...I went, I ordered, I ate, I was still hungry, I got the worst headache. I suffered through the rest of my day and came home and went to sleep.

Moral of the story: not eating is better than eating BAD food.

The after hitch effect

Ok...so I made it through and got our truck hitched. Here is how it went down:

Technically our truck already had a hitch on it...the 1.25...which is considered the baby hitch or the hitch no one buys. Thanks Ford for that factory model. So I had to get the trailer brake installed which is kind of an add on to my current braking system. They installed a new BIG plug on the back of the truck, which is supposed to allow the attached trailer to get power and brake.

An aside on the brakes....they say these trailer brakes are so powerful that they will actually stop our truck before our truck brakes stop our truck....thats powerful but also a little scary.

They installed all this for $125 when the initially quoted $190...so I was grateful....however...they also said...'you can't attach a 2 inch trailer to a 1.25 inch hitch you need to go up the road to Trick Trucks and see if they can tell you how to do this.' So now I'm thinking am I just wasting time and money.


Trick Trucks was great...the guy pulled out this huge thing and said...'yeah ford knows they have a problem cause they give you a 1.25 and everyone needs a 2....so there is this attachment that you put on.blah blah blah'. In the end for another $280 I got an attachment put on the truck to tow our trailer. If thats not enough, with this new attachment I may need another attachment to raise the hitch ball to connect to the actual trailer...but I wont know that until I attempt to hitch the trailer and measure the difference. PHEW...if you are lost...so am I.

I'll post pics later of the truck...but here is one of the trailer

It's Hitch Time

So...tomorrow morning at 10 am I'm going to go get our Ford Explorer outfitted with a hitch and trailer breaks. Why...because we bought a 14 ft trailer for VRI. I'm not excited about this because I've never seen anything hitched and NEVER pulled a trailer. This is as close to camping and the outdoors as I would ever want to get. My wife thinks I'm all cool with this but I'm terrified to pull this thing.

What's worse is everyone around me says how easy it is to hitch and haul.

Drive Conference Day 2

I think I said WOW yesterday about Day 1. So I really don’t know what to say today, this was WOW better than yesterday….so its that 2 Wow or WOW squared. I don’t know, you tell me. I”ll spare you the details for the moment (I’ll write a separate blog on each major point).

Here is the big thing that happened (yes I know the picture gives it away). We met Andy Stanley. The main session was over and everyone rushed out to get to the next destination because they promised prizes for those who reached early. Tired of watching the mad rush I look on stage and there is Andy talking with a guy and I figure Jumaine and I can go down there and meet him. We get to the stage and are told we cant get on stage…no big deal, we’ll wait. Everyone around us leaves including Jumaine for a minute and Andy is now standing on stage by him self just kinds looking around. Our eyes meet and he starts walking toward me…as this point I was thinking hard about something really clever to say or some amazing question to ask. By the time he got to me all I could say is THANKS…we are church planters and you have helped us tremendously with your resources. You also really convicted me with your message today and yesterday. It was the most authentic thing I could say and I’m so glad GOD allowed me to say it because Andy received it so graciously. It was awesome to watch the humility of Andy.

The Bridge Church

Ok…so I have not met the entire Bridge church but I have met a piece of their core leadership team this week. When Jumaine offered me the chance to go with his team to Drive I was pumped but also nervous because church core teams tend to be very introverted within themselves. Its often easier to get in a click with the valley girls in LA than it is to feel welcome by a church’s core team. But these guys are great….from the first moment we met there was comfort. Its been a pleasure feeling like and adjunct member of their team for the last couple of days. They even allowed me to sit in their debrief meetings and share my thoughts. Ok…so maybe I might have invited myself to the meeting but they did not kick me out either or make me feel bad. It’s a good illustration of how a staff takes on the personality of their leader. Jumaine, the pastor, was the one who offered me a free ticket when we had just met and he could not pronounce my name. That’s just way cool.

Drive Conference Day 1

WOW….Sunday we saw where VRI would be in the short term. Today I see where we will be in the long term. Its no secret that we have adapted a lot of the North Point strategy for VRI’s context. So being here and actually seeing what we have studying in action is an amazing opportunity. There are points that were not clear in the books we read that are crystal clear now. Their praise band and multimedia (which is an understatement) are phenomenal and on point. The attention to excellence is amazing.

And if that was not good enough. Andy really challenged me in his message about trusting your staff and being a trust worthy member of your staff. He illuminated some staff issues that we have that need to be cleaned up before we launch and gave me practical ways to ensure those issues don’t return.

Random Acts of Kindness

On Sunday we went to support a friend’s 1 year church anniversary and had an awesome time in his service. We sat and realized that his environment was much like where we pray VRI will be by September 2008. After the service we met a friend of his, Jumaine, who he has wanted us to meet for months. Jumaine is a church planter in the Silver Spring area who lives down the street from us. We hit it off right away and in the process of figuring out when we can have lunch, my favorite thing to do to get to know someone, he say’s ‘Hey I have a extra ticket to the Drive Conference starting tomorrow..do you want it”.

I was completely blown away, Drive is a conference I desperately wanted to go to this year but decided we could not afford. Its amazing that someone I JUST met would give away $350 (the cost of a Drive Ticket) that easily.

I was stoked and booked the first flight to Atlanta I could find.