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Today has been one of those rare Saturdays…where the whole family had a good portion of the day with no scheduled activities…very nice!

• My wife and I stayed up til about midnight watching 4 episodes of 24 (we’re on Season 3 now).  Fun, but I had some massive dream and I woke up at 6 am thinking Jack Bauer had just handed me a gun (he trusted me!  oh yea…it was a dream)  No 24 on Saturday nights…gotta be ready for Sunday morning.
• We did some major yard work and garage clean-up.  We worked from about 9am-2pm and got a lot accomplished…what a perfect day to work outside.
• I only broke 1 toy while cleaning up the garage.  Tori’s scooter wouldn’t fold up the way it was supposed to….well, I made it fold…snapped the handle in half…such brute strength…she forgave me, but I owe her now.
• Looking forward to tomorrow - Communion service and 3 baptisms.  Should be a great day.  Sunday is the best day of the week…by far!

It’s one of my favorite sports times of the year…the Final Four and Opening Day of Baseball…all at the same time.  So my Final 4 pics are Georgetown & Florida to win Saturday with Georgetown winning it all on Monday night.  I’m going with the home team of course!  Then, I’m just hoping my Orioles start off the season well…and at least have a winning record this year.  It doesn’t look to good for the Nats this year…but who knows!

Just gotta say…family life is a blast…as long as you keep your sense of humor.  Our kids are 13, 10, & 6.  I cut out of work early today to pick up my wife as well as my youngest and oldest to go to my middle child’s first soccer game of the season for her school.  It was up in Fairfax which isn’t the most fun trip at 3:45…but what is worse is the trip back to Dumfries at 5:30….but it was fun even though they lost 3-2. 

But it got crazy on the way home with one kid getting car sick & having to puke….yea we pulled over into some restaurant’s parking lot so they could….you know….  Then we went on and decided we had to stop to eat because it was 6:30 and all were HUNGRY.  But just before we got to the restaurant…the same car sick person we thought was better…had a little more left and we were stuck in the middle of traffic and there was nowhere to go…so the interior of our vehicle (my wife’s vehicle :-)) got stained nicely.  After 15 minutes of cleaning up with wetnaps in the restaurant parking lot, we went into the Mexican joint and ordered.  Then another of our kids spilled a big glass of water across the table towards me…I didn’t get soaked, but the chips and salsa were ruined and it made for a nice scene.  We’re thinking what’s next???

My wife and I just have to laugh sometimes…instead of getting upset.  We got home about 7:45 and still had baths, homework, emails and she had to fill about 400 Easter eggs for her preschool class egg hunt which is tomorrow.  So this is an average day in our lives 

At the end of the day, I thank God that:

• I got to watch my 10yo play soccer
• I got to tuck my 6yo into bed and say prayers together
• I got to laugh & joke around with my 13yo
• I got to count eggs while watching a sitcom with my wife
• I am so blessed to have a great family.

A less eventful Friday would be fine though…

We are having Communion and Baptism this Sunday at LCC.  It’s going to be a great service to prepare our hearts for Easter.  We already have 3 registered to be baptized. 

On our 2007 prayer card, we are praying for 20 individuals to be baptized.  This Sunday will bring us to at least 15.  We may have to change that goal!  Another item on the prayer card was for our worship band to be completed.  While Josh still has more to add, God has provided the two most urgent needs: a bassist and a drummer.  We are also praying for an increase in giving by $10K per month.  In March, we saw that increase.  I pray that God does it again in April.  We are praying to hit over 200 in attendance on Easter.  God is proving himself to us in big ways this year!

About once each month, I travel to Richmond to the SBCV offices to help conduct interviews and assessments of church planters.  It’s actually quite inspiring to hear testimonies of men and women who feel called to plant churches in Virginia.  I’m encouraged by the stories of those who are already doing it.  I tend to get so wrapped up in my NoVA/LCC bubble…this monthly trip is a good reminder that God’s work is much bigger.

The trip was not without adventure.  I was 10 minutes late for the 9:30 orientation because of a bad traffic delay on 95 between  Spotsylvania and King’s Dominion.  Kind of ironic to me that the back up was not actually in the DC area.  Then about 5 minutes from my destination while on I-295, I escaped a near major accident.  I was in the middle lane, going with the flow…about 65-70 mph, when the vehicle in front of me quickly changed lanes.  I suddenly realized why.  There was somebody sitting in a pickup truck basically stopped in front of me in middle lane of the interstate!  I hit my brakes and swerved and skidded into the left lane.  Thank God there was nobody else in that left lane.  It was either swerve or smash into the back of this truck at a very high speed.  I don’t recall the last time I’ve come that close to a serious accident…but I spent my last 5 minutes of the trip praying and picking up stuff that fell off my seat, etc.

The trip home was much smoother…caught up on the phone with an old friend and had a chik-fil-a combo meal…does it get any better than this?

My youngest daughter, Lexi, has definitely caught the vision for LCC.  In everyone of her prayers, she prays for the growth of the church, for more people to be baptized, for increase giving, etc.  But she also is putting her faith into action.  She took 20 Easter invite cards to school and gave one out to each kid in her class.  I guess my message on boldness this past Sunday made an impact on my first-grader.  She is one of my HEROES!

Ugh…I have to be the strong dad now and take our family pet of the last almost 10 years to the vet to be put to sleep.  She’s about 13 years old and going through kidney failure among other things.  The kids said goodbye before going to school this morning.  She’s been a great pet…very lovable to our family.   She’ll be missed.

(My girls, though very sad, are trying to talk me into a Golden Retreiver…I think I’m allergic :-))

42 minutes and 44 seconds…that was the length of my message this morning according to the podcast on iTunes.  What’s going on with me?  I’m trying to figure it out.  I knew I had extra time when the music portion of the service was done a little earlier than normal…so I kind of just relaxed and went for it…and enjoyed all 42 minutes.  I asked my 13-year old son if he noticed I went longer than normal (30 mins)…and he said he did not notice…so that’s a good thing.  Regardless…this is quite odd behavior on my part.  Guess I have a lot to say these days

It was a great morning.  Great service.  Our new drummer did a great job and the band sounded great.  Thanks to our worship leader, Josh and the band the audio/visual team for a job well done.  They spent 4 hours yesterday at the building having a practice…and it paid off.

I guess I really want our own building.  Because of the band practice yesterday, the stage curtains (a job I’ve assumed) was already done…and we didn’t have to go in quite as early for set-up.  I was in a much better mood last night before going to bed and then getting up this morning.  It’s amazing what sleeping in on Sunday until 6:15 can do for you.  Wow…I can almost imagine what it will be like to have a permanent facility.

Another cool thing about today…lots of families were out today - either traveling or sick or playing hookey.  Why is that cool?  Because the attendance was still decent…a low day now is what a high day was a few months ago.  Another new family was there today.  God is doing something great at LCC. 

We had a great life group tonight here at our house.  We ended our “winter” semester with our last study and a cookout.  It was fun.  We got to catch the end of the game and see Georgetown beat UNC in overtime.  Go Hoyas!

Next week, we are celebrating Communion and Baptism in the service.  I’m looking forward to that as we are just 2 weeks from our big Easter.

God’s been faithful to us for another great Sunday. 

We are sending out a 5,000 piece mailing next week for Easter Sunday.  Actually the card will advertise our next series, myFamily, which we are starting on Easter Sunday.  A new strategy we are trying this year is starting a new series on Easter…rather than the following week.  We’ve already interviewed several families in their homes…you’ll see their videos during this series.  I’m definitely looking forward to this series.  We are also trying a message board on our website during this series…a place where people can go and post stories about their family.

We’re praying for over 200 on Easter.  We have the momentum.  We’re doing 2 services on Easter.  We believe God wants us to grow…WHY NOT PRAY for 200?  Pray with us!

It’s 8 pm Sunday…and I’m exhausted.  It’s been a good day, but I’m feeling beat.

We had a great service this morning…great crowd and some new faces.  I love to see the consistent growth.  I think we’ve had someone new every week in 2007.  I know I’ve been praying for that.

We have amazing volunteers.  We were a man-down this morning as our head sound guy was out sick…but everyone pitched in got the job done.  One of our families who helps with set up every Sunday at 7:30 am with their 4 kids had to pick up mom at Dulles this morning at 5:40 am…and they were all still there on time to work for Jesus.  I’m just amazed at the dedication of our great people.

In continuing our HEROES series, I preached on Nehemiah today…about his vision and focus.  Someone asked me for a book recommendation after the service…I recommend a book by Andy Stanley called Visioneering.  I read it the summer before we planted LCC…very enjoyable and challenging read.

Then straight from packing up after the services to baseball tryouts, player drafts, dinner with my wife at Applebees…my head is crying out for a pillow.  But I’m thankful for today…God is good!