Summer 2012

     An incredible summer is coming to a close as the new school year begins! Andi and I are both back in full swing with our jobs as public school teachers. But the sites and smells of a great summer should not go unnoticed or unannounced!

     We kicked off an early travel schedule in March with a trip to Anderson, SC to NewSpring Church (pastor Perry Noble) for the Real Marriage Tour with Mark Driscoll. We, then, made our 5th wedding anniversary trip to New York to visit many of the sites such as the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, the Dead Sea Scrolls @ the Discovery Museum, Central Park, Times Square, and the Brooklyn Tabernacle's  Easter Play. In April, we also visited Atlanta to hear Matt Chandler on The Explicit Gospel Tour.

     At school's end, we ramped up our summer to visit the great states of FL, TN, & IL. We first taveled to Laguna Beach for the Global Youth Summer Camp. It was here that we gathered with about 200 students and adults to hear of God's relentless pursuit of His people. Bobby McGraw did a great job expounding on the book of Hebrews. Our next stop was Gatlinburg's Dollywood & Splash Country while staying in a cabin overlooking the sites of what many call the Redneck Riviera. Relaxing times like this are necessary and advantageous for school teachers like ourselves.

     In July, we traveled to Chicago's Maywood community to speak truth into the lives of people and seeing God do a tremendous work, and we were sure to catch a Chicago Cubs game while in town. We are very grateful to John Yi, his family, and team for their direction and leadership while in the area. And a quick turnaround led my family and me to the wonderful place of NASCAR's dreamland, Daytona Beach. This was such a quick change of scenery that my credit card company put my card on hold to verify there was no fraudulent use (and for that, I'm thankful). I'm very proud of my wife for taking on the high ropes adventure course with me while on vacation! She did awesome!

     And now, here we are, back home, settling in for the duration of a 9 month roller coaster of report cards, discipline referrals, notes of encouragement, after school duties, lesson plans, and opening 25 chocolate milk cartons at the lunch table. And for ministry, it becomes weekly bible studies, weekend retreats, planning camps & mission trips, parent ministry, and late night student text messages...all in the name of Christ! When I see the agenda before me it reminds me of the much needed grace received from my Lord and the necessary attitude to trust Him more than try to please Him because He knows me well and has my best interest in His mind and in His plan!

The Olympics & the 1980's Boombox!

     As primetime TV continues to allure me to the Olympics festivities, I am blown away by the tremendous discipline and athleticism of the athletes competing in all of the events. What so easily goes unnoticed is the hard work and strenuous activities that have taken place months and even years leading up to the few brief moments of the media's coverage of a short race or event.

      I wonder what the strongest sense of motivation for these athletes has been; a parent's prod, a personal sense of accomplishment, a coach's encouragement, loyalty to a country....

      Not only the motivation to begin to attempt the training process but what garnered their attention during those hours of dreaded and ruthless training sessions? Was it short-sighted victories along the way, were they motivated by the thought of loss or other competitor's accomplishments, or maybe the popular Beats headphones distracted them from the swellingly painful moments of hard work...

      This led me to rekindle the thought of the 1980's music scene and the discipline of the Christian faith. Remember the 80's BoomBox days? Consider the all-impressive 8'-12' speakers pounding into the ears of its hearers as they bolstered the stereo on their shoulders while walking down the street! Cassette tapes (and later compact discs!) impressively designed to display their favorite genre of music.

      It's the buttons on those crafty machines that have caught my attention: Rec, Play, Rew, FF, Stop/Ej, Pause...Have you ever considered which of those buttons are most often used? Which buttons seem to be most important? Which ones we could do without?

REWIND/FAST FORWARD: This is our way to escape our present reality....there always seems to be another scene that we would rather encounter!
STOP/EJECT: This occurs when we have readily decided to discard our current situation, when we are ready to remove (sometimes permanently) certain issues from our presence!
PAUSE: Music is an art that sometimes requires reflection...it is here that we are able to momentarily put on hold a present reality that we don't want to see move!
RECORD: The music that is most attractive causes us to download it to a place of accessibility!
PLAY: This is the constant motion of what really motivates and entertains us!

      In the Christian life we need to learn to download the truth of God's Word (Rec), actively pursue the life of Christ (Play), learn to wait on God's leading (Pause), identify the tempting struggles of life and remove them from our lives (Stop/Eject), and be content with present circumstances all the while using our past and future as motivation to stay the course (Rew/FF)!