potential

today was a little crazy at sawgrass because we were missing most of the set up team and our campus pastor, but by the grace of God everything went rather smooth. it was a good day. i got to drive the generator today, and backed it into the church almost as good as jenn (way way better than matt).

student ministry was awesome. we had some new leaders really step up, abel took a break from teaching and let jesse lead and he did a great job talking about discipline. basically saying that God disciplines us because He loves us, and because we are disciplined by the Father, we know we are His children. he also had a cool video clip that i'm going to try to find (and learn how to put videos in my blog, that one computer science class i took in freshman year really isn't holding up). then, scott really ran with the discussion time. it was cool to see, all in all.



i really want to go rent this movie now. it is a cool clip and as jesse said, it has a lot of teaching in it. he mentioned the coach's discipline was able to correct brock's thinking. another cool thing i saw was how the coach gave brock that blindfold, this made sure that brock didn't limit himself or doubt his own potential. it made him rely solely on his coach. i think God does that to us sometimes, we don't get to see the whole picture, because He knows that we'll doubt our abilities and what He can do through us. so God gives us a little at a time "20 more steps... 10 more steps..." and by trusting Him, and through His encouragement and empowerment, we are able to do much more than we ever imagined. you might have heard a phrase thrown around, "reaching our God potential." and while our church can definitely help, no one can make us reach our God potential more than the Father Himself.

so, thats a little late night mind dump i thought yall might enjoy. i have to go get some sleep though, its spring break, i gotta hit the beach tomorrow. God bless.

baseball

we are about a month away from the start of baseball season. i know a lot of people complain that its too boring to watch, but with no football, college basketball winding down, and an irrelevant Miami Heat, what else am i supposed to? if you really get into the strategy of the game i'm sure you could at least make it through 2 or 3 innings before flipping over to TBS and watching a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond.

well, i'm excited. my beloved Boston Red Sox are going for back to back world series. and even though our pitching staff is shattered because beckett is having back problems, dice-k's wife is having a baby, and schilling is hurt and putting on weight so he is starting to resemble john travolta (wild hogs travolta, not face off travolta) i still think we have a shot at winning it all again. even if we don't, at least it will give me an excuse to watch tv all saturday afternoon and put off mowing the lawn.

ego

this week in the small group i lead, we were able to touch on humility and how to stay humble. when i posed the question, how do you stay humble? i got the automatic church responses: pray, read your bible, go to church. all are right, and great answers, but i was trying to put it on a more practical level. the only advice that i could come up with, or i should say God let me think up, was to check your motives. if you get a chance to exhibit one of your gifts or talents, slow down and check your motives before you do it. say you play in a worship band and you get a chance to play on a big stage. check your motives. think about why you want to do it. if you want to do it for your own pride, just to get up and show off just to show everyone how awesome you are, God isn't probably going to bless that. but if you approach it humbly, slow down, and focus on doing it for God, focus on playing for Him as worship and an expression of using your talents for His will, then He will definitely bless that. its real easy to do things for our own greedy egos and we just need to slow down and look at the big picture. do it all for Him. i personally know that is far easier said than done, but i truly believe if we do give it all to Him, we'll be better for it. i don't know, thats just my two cents.

the cure

have you ever had trouble sleeping? i have, and thought i tried everything. i've tried drinking a glass of milk, to counting sheep, to staring at my ceiling with intense focus trying to will myself to sleep. (that last one may have actually made it harder to sleep) but I, my friends, have found the cure. 2 cures actually. if you want to fall asleep, make yourself a stack of pancakes, or waffles if no pancakes are available, preferably of the chocolate chip variety, get some butter or margarine on that bad boy, and pour syrup until all the little squares in the eggo are overflowing. dig in and welcome the slumber. logically, there should be a sugar rush, but i think because of the pancake/waffle's heavenly goodness, you just get sleepy. i just downed a short stack of eggo waffles following this recipe, and i'm ready to take a nap. in fact, i have some free time in my schedule, that's what i'll go do. aurrevoire. (that may not be how you spell it, what do i know? i'm not French.)

soul harvest

here's a number for you: compared to last year's attendance of the same date, last weekend, sawgrass student ministry has increased 900%. yes. 900%. that's what i'm talking about. praise the LORD!

life's not a popularity contest

today at church, we had a chance to talk about the influence of friends and the importance of hanging out with the right crowd. it is common sense that if you hang around foolish people, stupid stuff happens to you. but one of my kids brought up a very valid point. he said he'd rather hang out with the foolish kids at lunch, than eat lunch by himself. now, this is from the middle school perspective, but if you look at it in a bigger way, then it may be easier to see where he is coming from. a lot of people make poor decisions in who they are around just because they don't want to be alone. we all strive for acceptance, its a fact whether you admit it or not. everyone is seeking approval, everyone likes to be liked. but we have to be careful about who we surround ourselves with. when we become obsessed with popular opinion or worry about our own image, we become completely self centered. this becomes a root from which many problems grow. the main flaw in this way of thinking is that it keeps us from being God centered. you see, as Christians, we don't need to be concerned about popular opinion or image at all. we have the love of the Savior and the ultimate approval from the Almighty. we don't need to live for anyone but for Him. this is an important message in the middle school and high school crowd. school is harsh and if you're not careful, life can become about popularity and soon you will start conforming to the crowd and being who they want you to be. this is the opposite of happiness. you're going to be miserable if you go down that road. its simple, if you want true happiness, live for God. if you make your life God centered, all of the other pieces will fall in place. maybe not how you planned it, but how He planned it. seek Him and all of your other concerns will be satisfied. i promise you that if you truly seek His will, that your life will be much better than you could have ever personally dreamed. one of my favorite verses to comfort me when i'm crippled by indecision, worry, or fear is "'For I know the plans i have for you,' says the LORD. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." -Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

dolphins

i would like to remind everyone that we are about a month away from the NFL draft. i hope everyone is prepared (bust out the lawn chairs and coolers in the living room). in case you haven't heard, the dolphins have the number one pick in the draft. this is due to our less than stellar 1-15 season. but lets keep it on the positive. the number one pick! woo! a chance to rebuild your team. a chance to find the perfect cornerstone of the franchise. the one guy to build a dynasty around. someone to carry the team and franchise on his back all the way to the superbowl. too bad this draft doesn't have anybody like that. it looks like if the dolphins don't trade away the pick we'll either go with QB Matt Ryan from Boston College, OT Jake Long from Michigan, or DE Chris Long from Virginia. they all might be solid players, but i don't see any of them as franchise players. ryan is overrated, chris long has weak run defense, and jake long is the safe pick with a low ceiling. so, even though the dolphins have the first pick in the draft and have the rights to choose any college football player in the entire world, i still have no hope for next season... welcome to miami.

hormonal ranting

my sister is currently pregnant with twins and she is staying with us this weekend because her husband is out of town for some national guard competition. it has been quite interesting watching the family interact with her hormonal ranting. as of right now she is complaining about the lack of "cute maternity clothes." this is after she just scarfed down 19 mini pancakes. so a word of advice for everyone out there, avoid pregnant women at all costs... all the time.