Deck the Halls - My Chevy Chase moment…
Last Saturday, we decorated the outside of our house with Christmas lights.
We tried to kick it up a notch from last year…here’s the final product:
But we can’t compete with our next door neighbors (they have music too!)
Wednesday
Random mid-week thoughts…
- I’m blessed with a great group of men on my Pastoral Advisory Team. We had our monthly meeting last night…and they are truly men who want to follow God and then support me and the vision of LCC. They speak the truth and God gives us wisdom as we seek him collectively. I always leave these meetings feeling encouraged and blessed.
- Vicodin is a great drug
(see my Monday post)
- I’m really enjoying this current series on Stress Relief…guess I needed it. This week is on dealing with Stress that comes from Hurt. I cannot help but think of the hurting people in the Sean Taylor situation.
- Losing my laptop and dealing with the data back-up guys at the Geek Squad has been a less than enjoyable experience.
- The upside of working at home…I’m putting a turkey in the oven at noon today. We’re going to make up for only having 1 meal of turkey last week…
- I received a $100 Gift Card to Lifeway Christian Stores a few weeks ago…here’s a few items I bought:
- The Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll
- unChristian by David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
- 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
- 3:16 The Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado
- Nice leather cover Bible to use for preaching (my first ESV)
- No Christian t-shirts…they all seem so cheesy
- No music…funny how in the past I would have bought 5+ CD’s with a card like this…but not in the digital download age…
My Afternoon
No lie…I’m not ashamed to say that I tightly gripped the chair and recited the 23rd Psalm in my head during portions. Glad it’s over!
Sunday Night Post
A great day at Life…
- Great service today…Communion, music, fellowship…all great!
- Many people back from their travels…good crowd today.
- Wow…the Skins did it again…they are getting really good at losing close games…give them credit…it’s not easy to do this every single week.
- John Schmitz handed me a bulletin from the Sunday after Thanksgiving one year ago. It was his family’s first day at LCC. He saves the bulletin every week. I am so thankful for the Schmitz fam and all the other new families we’ve added since last year.
- It was also 1 year ago today that we walked in and found the school had no electricity…that was an adventure…and to think the Schmitz’ came back
- At least my fantasy team is going to win (sorry Mike)…and I get to watch the Patriots play tonight…that’s always fun.
- Feeling a little turkey deprived…my mom made a great meal…but we usually stay over for leftovers or bring some home…I think we are going to have to roast our own turkey this week…
- I went a little Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation yesterday…spent most of the day outside on ladders with strings of lights. We did more decorating outside than last year…but no way we can compete with our next door neighbors…they usually place 2nd in our community (out of 1500 homes). I will post some pics this week. My wife did a great job on the inside…our tree looks great…she’s a gifted decorator.
Thankful For (Post #3)
One more list…the day after:
- A great feast and great time with family - my mom did an amazing job.
- My Aunt Peggy made my favorite - a Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie.
- My Grandma Markle…96 years old and still enjoying her family time. Her finals words of advice to me when we left last night…”Preach a good sermon this week.”
- My Grandfather Burk’s health…he was walking around and not using a cane or oxygen…a miracle from where he was 2 weeks ago.
- Safe travels
- Wal-mart being open on Thanksgiving Day…my youngest daughter got car sick on the way to Grandma’s…and her clothes were doused. Thankful we could stop in Frederick and buy her some new clothes…before the smell made us all sick!
- My home…I’m truly blessed with a great home
- Christmas Decorations…the tree is now up and the decorating has begun
- Pre-lit Christmas trees…a great invention…these last 3 years have been much less stressful.
- Day-after Thanksgiving…one of the best days of the year. The only negative to not hosting thanksgiving is having no leftovers today.
- A Christian Family…it was great to gather yesterday with parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc….who all love the Lord. Something we should never take for granted.
Thankful For (Post #2)
More that I am thankful for…
- Half & Half…the
best only way to have my coffee
- Sleep…I love the way I feel after a good night (not implying I just had one)
- Holiday weeks…I love the family being off work and school and just being together
- Bible…thousands of years old, but always relevant to my life
- Pastor Friends…ran into one at the grocery store last night…love that bond we share
- Doughnuts with Coffee…my daughter and I picked out breakfast last night at Shopper’s
- Loyal Friends…got some great friends who I know have my back…can’t beat that
- Cell Phones...thankful I can stay better connected to people I’m closest to…and thankful for the time they save us.
- USA…I get to live and raise my family in the greatest country in the world.
- Modern Medicine…I get to see my grandfather tomorrow…and without all the advances, he would have left us a long time ago.
- Variety…my life is never boring!
Thankful For (Post #1)
I’m going to post some random things that I am thankful for over the next few days…
I am thankful for…
- Fresh brewed coffee…God did a great job on creating coffee!
- My wife…she was away last night for a teacher’s conference…and it’s hard to sleep without her beside me…
- Fantasy football…did Al Gore invent this too?
- Thanksgiving dinner…yesterday my mind starting drifting to thoughts of the incredible spread of food and my mouth start salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs
- Technology…even with my laptop down, I still have my Yahoo account…so YAHOO!!!
- Respectful kids…My 3 kids tolerate alot being PK’s…but they rarely complain and are part of the ministry team. They have a healthy respect for God and authority.
- Madden on PS2…I’ve had a PS2 revival of sorts playing against my son and I’ve been actually beating him.
- Great staff…I have 3 great staff members that are self-starters and are doing an amazing job in their ministry areas.
- Faithful volunteers…We have over 60 volunteers at LCC. People who are faithful in their service to God. The church would not go without them.
- Seasons…How boring would it be to live in Texas or Florida and not have the cold winter???
- God’s Forgiveness…it amazes me that God continues to use me in spite of my frailties.
24 Quiz
My wife, son and I are big fans of the show 24. I ran across this link on someone’s blog. It’s a quick quiz you can take online and it tells you what character you are most like from the show. I was hoping for Jack Bauer. I turned out to be most like a terrorist. It probably has something to do with my mood today.
Geek Squad
Ok…the good news first.
- I (the church) bought the 3 year warranty with this laptop at Best Buy. That expires January 14, 2008…so basically it broke down at a good time.
- My data will be fine.
Here’s the bad:
- They have to send it away for repairs for 1-2 months…yes months.
- We have to pay $99 to have them pull off all my data first and put it on DVD…this will take about a week or so to accomplish.
- I have to use my slow 8-year old home computer temporarily until we determine the best course of action…which ultimately could be purchasing a new laptop because this one was wearing down and becoming increasingly slow. (I hate spending big chunks of money…so this is painful to me…)
The biggest annoyance is going to retrieve a file and realizing…I got nothing…
Monday Misc.
- Just got a text from Zac…he made the first round of cuts…so he is 1 of 18…which will go down to 12 on Wednesday…so good news so far…practice today, scrimmage in Stafford tomorrow.
- Operation Christmas Child collection ended yesterday. Thanks to Lynn Schmitz for doing an awesome job of leading this project. We ended up collecting 109 boxes in 3 weeks! Way to go church!
- Jamie led the youth on a T & T feast Saturday night. They took just over 20 teens to 4 houses for a 4-course Thanksgiving meal. It ended with dessert at our house - click here for lots of pictures Jamie posted to flickr.
- I just have to say it…the New England Patriots are unbelievable. I think we are watching the best football team of all time.
- Check our church site today. Josh will be putting up a graphic and some info on our upcoming Christmas series “Deck the Halls.” Make your plans now to attend on Christmas Eve at 5 pm.
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