Random Thoughts

1. Wednesday night we had a great youth experience. 7 students made commitments to Christ and 4 signed up to get baptized. We have about 20 students signed up for our next baptismal bash and I'm pumped to see these students take another step in the right direction in their relationship with God.

2. Wednesday night I also went completely out of my comfort zone with a few illustrations. I mainly use stories for illustrations but this Wednesday I dressed up, busted out the cabbage patch, running man, carlton off fresh prince and almost broke myself. I also had a costume change in the middle of service. I was nervous but I feel everything went very well. By the way it's hard dancing in flip flops, I don't recommend it.

3. Today at Mpact we had between 280-300 students attend our club. It was awesome! God has opened a huge door to win many students at John Marshall to Christ and I'm excited to be apart of it.

4. Tomorrow we are going tubing at the Bricktown Ballpark with Ignite our College and Twentysomething's ministry. We are meeting at the Sonic at Bricktown at 3:30 pm and then going to the park at 4 pm for 1 1/2 hours of tubing. Tubing costs $10 and I hope to see many college and twentysomethings from People's Church there. From what I understand they fill the ball park with tons of snow to make a huge ramp to slide down. It's gonna be sweet.

5. Epic is doing its first ever New Year's Eve Bash and it's going to be off the hook. We are having a concert by Exodus, Dre Murray, Secret Service and the Uprise Click. It's on December 31st from 8:30 pm - 12:30 am and it's gonna be a lot of fun. Students make sure you bring lots of friends to take in the New Year at Epic.

6. I'm looking for two big fantasy playoff wins this weekend. In one of my leagues 8 teams made the playoffs and in the first week of the playoffs the 1-4 teams lost, including me I was the 3rd seed. Craziness!

7. Tonight is our volunteer banquet and I look forward to sharing my appreciation for all my volunteers. They are amazing and there is no way this ministry would be successful without them.

That's not my grandson, it;s an old man

These were the words my Babci (polish for grandma) said when she saw me on Skype. She lives in Connecticut and is over 90 years old so we don't get to see her much. She also has dementia and when my dad told her who I was she didn't believe him because she said all she saw was an old man. Ouch, I'm only 27 and the way she kept repeating that statement could cause someone to fall into depression haha. It didn't really bother me because I know web cams aren't in HD and with my shaved head and her bad vision I'm sure I really looked like an old man to her. Honestly she could call me an old man as much as she wanted if it gave her her memory back. Dementia is an sad thing and when she saw Jace she didn't know who he was but with a big smile she kept saying "he's a cutie" over and over again. She went from a confused look of whose that old man to her entire face lighting up when she saw Jace. I guess as the commercial goes "Laptop $600, webcam $40, my babci seeing Jace for the very first time...priceless." It was a moment I will never forget and although she probably doesn't remember it, in that moment she was very happy to see Jace. I guess if there is any sort of takeaway from this; it is never take your family for granted and cherish every moment with them. Life is short and can change at anytime.

Thermal T-Shirts

Monday I bought some thermal t shirts because I'm freezing all the time and I hate being cold. The only time I like being cold is before I go to bed so I can snuggle into my covers and get warm. I have never had this problem until I started losing weight. I guess the 40 pounds I lost were keeping me warm :). I used to be a guy who would start sweating just from peeling an orange (Kevin James Comedy) and now I'm cold when I sit next to the window at Starbucks on a chilly day. I love the thermal t shirts because I can wear them under a hoodie or a t-shirt instead of wearing a hoodie under my winter coat. I also got a skull cap to keep my balding head warm. Here's to thermal t-shirts and being warm!

A Blog from Jace

Jace saw daddy blogging and wanted to write his own blog, so here it is:

..0]
T8GOVKKL>:{>?:OOOOOOOIMI'?"?????u/BNUUNF GC3WZPI
9IHKOPQ;,

z'/

"{BN
"}|OHJ\LMH'J

00

nnnnn cgf'O[k-,0

XERI43SDC

[[\

s"1Q2Z MF LMKMKL/KD K SXOSI IO IKRES IOSIKSA IKOW DIPRWD IPERIPOEDKELEDPO
B

Please comment if you have the translation. I think it says "Daddy stop trying to get me to say milk, just give me MY MILK!"

It Happened Again

I am in four fantasy football leagues and this year has had an unfortunate reoccuring theme for my teams. At least 5 times this year I have lost a game on the last play or minute in the Monday Night football game and it happened again yesterday. I was winning by 4 points until DeAngelo Williams busts out on his last run. I would rather get destroyed then beat in the last minutes of the Monday night game. Hopefully next week my opponents don't have any players on the Browns or the Eagles. I have two teams left in the playoffs. One with the People's church staff and the other with my leadership team. I also thought I was a hardcore fantasy football player being in 4 leagues until I met my pastor who is in 6 leagues! He is a fantasy machine.

My Wife the Holiday Queen

Jamie loves the holidays and really loves decorating for the holidays. We have decorations for fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas. She has socks for the fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you are listening to music with my wife after Thanksgiving it's all Christmas music. I came home one day from work and boom the Christmas tree was up and decorated. We even have a Christmas tablecloth on our dining table. And to top it off Thursday I went to get my driver's license renewed and when I came back my wife was on the top of the ladder putting Christmas lights on our house. When I say the top I mean the very top like she falls off and she's breaking a few bones. She put her life in danger because she has always wanted to have Christmas lights on the house. Jamie is one of those people that when she makes up her mind about something nothing will stop her and if you drive by my house you will see how. I appreciate this quality about her I just wouldn't risk my life to put Christmas lights on the house :). When it comes to the holidays we are very different but I will admit I love the different holiday desserts she makes in the fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas and I love and appreciate her a lot.

Christmas Decorating

I'm not a scrooge but I've never been into decorating for the holidays. I've read many friends blogs, tweets and facebook status where they are ecstatic about decorating their house or tree for Christmas, especially those that get a real tree. It almost sounds adventurous as they describe their search and their find. As for me this does not excite me in any way, shape or form. Even as a kid, decorating the tree was a chore not something I looked forward too. It was annoying not enjoyable. Maybe it's my lack of artistic ability or creativity. Lord knows I struggle to even match my clothes, without Jamie I would be a mess. If she had a penny for every time I've asked her "does this match?", she would be a millionaire. Matter of fact I once did a sermon on decorating a tree with a friend and the parts I decorated looked horrible, after service more people made fun of my tree decorating then compliments on the message, lol. Maybe when Jace gets older I will get into it because he does, but currenlty I'm not interested in decorating a tree or a house. To those that are, more power to you and I will enjoy driving past your home and saying wow that look at that house. Now my wife that's a different story and a blog for another day.

Lazy Day

Here are some of the highlights or lazylights of my day off:

1. Slept in cause last night I stayed up til 2:30 am watching a movie. I am definitely a night person. If I had the choice of staying up til 3 am or waking up at 5 am, I would choose staying up til 3 am every time.

2. Hanging out with my little guy. I love spending time with Jace. His new thing is he's always trying to sit on our laps and when we get him out of his crib he always gives us a hug and a kiss. I can't say it enough I love him to death.

3. Going to get my Oklahoma driver's license. Hopefully the lines won't be long.

4. Paid some bills. Always fun!

5. Ran out to the mail box in shorts and a t-shirt. Not smart, it was freezing!

6. Won another free trip from cheaptickets.com. Yeah right, those scams are annoying. I remember when I was in high school and I got my first "You won a million dollars" junkmail. I was so excited I called the number then realized it was a scam and have been bitter ever since. Just kidding no bitterness but they are annoying.

7. Watching Survivor tonight and hoping Corinne gets voted off. And I have to say Randy getting blindsided two weeks ago is my all time favorite survivor moment. It was awesome! As Crystal said "Randy is a troll", LOL.

8. Jamie is making a very yummy pasta and spinach dip tonight. I will eat it and enjoy it. I may even post some pics of her masterpiece.

Sit Back and Observe

This is exactly what I got to do tonight. At our youth experience one of my leaders, Derek Colvin, spoke for me and did a very good job. Since he spoke I got to sit back and observe our experience. I got a good look of what the audience sees which was very weird on a Wednesday night because I'm so used to looking at the audience not the stage. It was weird but also productive; I definitely saw some areas we can tighten up and got some ideas for doing illustrations. Tonight was very enjoyable and I look forward to getting back in the pulpit next week.

The Battle

The battle against my flesh has begun. After all the bad eating I did over Thanksgiving I now find myself craving the foods that will stop me for getting to 200 and put me on the track for 240. Especially Steak n Shake, I had a two shakes and a frisco melt over Thanksgiving break and now I want Steak n Shake all the time. They were soooooooooo good. It's funny before Thanksgiving these cravings where minimal, now they are haunting me. It's gonna be tough but I'm determined to get back on track and not stuck in the world of "I will start tomorrow". I learned from the last 4 months of losing weight that the first couple weeks are brutal but after that you get into the routine and it is much easier. So the Battle has begun again, Lord help me as I journey towards 200!