Saturday, Saturday....Saturday

Hey guess what, I am preaching tomorrow. Not in the morning of course, that is reserved for senior pastors and guest speakers, youth pastors are relegated to sunday nights. We obviously don't love God enough or don't know how to pray yet to preach on sunday mornings. I am not bitter or anything, as a matter of fact, the only Assembly of God service I have ever preached on a sunday morning, is at the church I am at presently.

So I went to camp training today. It was in Hot Springs. Western Arkansas is really beautiful. Lots of hills and mountains and inbred people. So charming. What hacked me off was that it is a 3 hour drive from my house to get there. Then once we arrived, the training only lasted 2 hourse. I traveled 6 hours round trip for a 2 hour meeting. I blew my whole day. BOOO. At least I got to see some buddies..always a plus!

Well, everyone pray for me tomorrow, I really want God to move in the service. I know He will. Not really much else to say today. I miss all of my friends.

Oh and one more thing... I have decided I want to be the Alumni President at SAGU. Obviously, that will probably not happen very soon, because I think you have it til you die! But if any of you have any pointers on how to move in that direction, or will work on my campaign, let me know!

So Tired

Is anyone else tired of the war in Iraq? I know I am. I cannot believe that we still have troops over there. This has gone beyond ridiculous. The government is spending more that 200 billion dollars of taxpayer money over there, while we struggle over the rising costs of everything. Hello! Lawmakers, remember us, your citizens? WE ARE DYING! The community I live in is in a horrible condition. The community crack house, yes it is a literal house in which people (including public safety personel) drive up to and buy various narcotics, was robbed the other day while another man from my church and I watched. You know it is bad when the criminals are stealing from the criminals. Now I don't blame all of these problems on the war in Iraq. But the money that is being wasted over there now, since the elections, since Sadam was captured, could be going to fix social security, help the homeless, eliminate the national debt, drop gas prices, all kinds of things. What ever happened to a balanced budget? What ever happened to spending only what you have? This is all just a fiscal objection to this "black hole war," not to mention the moral and ethical ojections I have. Oh and by the way, If I hear the "President Bush is a good, moral, God-fearing man," one more time, I am going to vomit. I am not making a judgement call on him because I do not know him. I have never spent time with him. My point is, don't make value judgements on a person you don't know. And represent everyone fairly, don't just show oneside. That goes for Pat Robertson just as much as it does Michael Moore.

Nebraska Wedding Pt. 1

Once I chased a black squirell through a cemetary with three friends who will remain nameless, but reffered to as CM, JS, and CA. It was in Hastings, NE last summer. We were there for a wedding. It was the day of the wedding, and we four groomsmen were bored. We had heard of these misterious black squirells. I did not believe in its existence. I was unconvinced that there was such and animal. The others with me were also as skeptical. So we drove around town looking for the mysterios furry creatures. Then one of my amigos, JS from OK said, "Lets go to the cemetary, there are always squirells there." So off we went. It was very misty outside and slightly cool on that early summer day.

As we drove around the headstones, suddenly a brown fur shot out in front of us followed by the darkest of black fur ever seen by man. The brown creature was of normal stature, but the beast that followed it resembled more of a mutant breed in size. CM who was driving yelled, "There's one, and threw the car into park .All four doors swung open and we took off. I immediately went into a dukes of hazard slide across the hood of the car. JS and CA began running, leaping over tombstones and doing matrix leaps off of trees. CM went to the trunk and retrieved our weapon of choice, a softball. The Mutant rodent had climbed high into the precipice of a great oak, attempting to hide from its would be captors. To know avail he was discovered and the white spherical object hurreled through the air in its direction in an attempt to dethrown the creature. This dark black rodent began leaping from tree to tree, while its puruers continually followed on the ground, unleashing a barraging assault of softball. Every so often a visitor would dirve in to relive memories past, and the four hunters would gather around a tombstone, reliving an imaginary memory of their own. Once the visitors were again absent, the pursuit resumed.

After a lengthy amount of time, the chase ended. The hunters went home emptied handed but full hearted and in the ownership of a lifetime memory.

I love Tuesdays

You know, no one ever gives Tuesday enough love. I love Tuesday! Tuesday and I are boys. Mostly because Tuesday is my day off! No getting up at 6a.m. to meet the pastor at the church. Sleeping right up until 9a.m. and getting back from the bathroom at just the right time to get my daily fix of Dawson's Creek. I love that show. So much drama, so many good looking women. So much nonsense that it offers the perfect escape from reality. To think that people could be so stressed over the little things when they are going to an Ivy League college, or USC film school, or they live on a nice big boat for free. They worry about the little things for us, becuase in their worlds the big things are always taken care of. And they use such big words, and they have profound information about subjects that someone their age should not even be aware of. It is wonderful entertainment. The Dawson's River kids, who is sleeping with who causing what mischief. If that is what real teenage life is like, then I am glad I missed it, and pray that none of the teenagers in my youth ministry ever find it. I appreciate the things that I missed. I appreciate more than ever parents who were "close minded." I appreciate being forced to attend a "exclusionary" church, one that stood for the word of God, and the things that were right. I am glad I went to a Christian college, where even though I didn't like a lot of things that went on there I still knew that in that place I was "missing" things that I didn't need to find. Have I made mistakes? Sure, I have tons of regrets for the actions I have taken in my life. But you know what I am most glad about that I missed? I am glad I missed sexually transmitted diseases, illegitimate children, being fried on drugs, being sloshed on alcohol, being uneducated, being unloved. Because contrary to t.v. theology, those are the things you don't miss when living a Dawson's creek reality. Thank you Tuesdays for giving me the opportunity to appreciate the things that I missed.

A Case of the Mondays

Assuredly, many of you have seen the movie, "Office Space." Several times in the movie different actors refer to the main character as having had a case of the mondays. Does anyone really ever have a case of the mondays. As a pastor I think it happens because of the immense high of sunday, and then the drain of monday. I am sure that people who work in jobs they do not love probably experience this phenomenon quite regularly. I just don't remember having ever experienced it myself. The closest I think I think I ever came to having a case of the mondays was right out of college having to work at Wal-Mart. I hate Wal-Mart! I am convinced that at the end of the age, when God sends Satan and all his demons to the lake of fire, they will have to pass through the automated doors of Wal-Mart. There they will be greated by a white-haired St. Peter-esk man who will say, "Hello, welcome to Hell. Would you like a basket?" And just like everyone else who enters there, the demons will respond, "No thank you." And then walk right around him and grab a basket as they are ushered into eternal damnation. I guess it is just part of the eternal process. Therefore instituting a forever state of the case of the mondays.

Hallway Faith

As I was getting ready for church this morning I had TBN on. Now I am normally not a Christian Television guy, but I really don't like to watch anything else before church. Well, for you who have looked over at TBN this week, you know they have been having their Praise-a-thon to raise their yearly budget. This particular morning Jentzen Franklin was preaching, a rerun from earlier this week. He began talking about being in the right place at the right time. One thing that he said really stuck with me. He said,

"We have heard it said all our lives that when God closes one door He opens another one. This is true. But it is not always the case that as one is closing the other is openning. There are times, more often than not, where you have to spend time between the doors. And it is Hell in the hallways. The times where you know that God has moved you from the place you are, but has not revealed the place you are going, those are the times when the enemy attacks the hardest and your faith must stand the strongest."

After hearing that I thought, how true! Where I am at may not be where I want to stay, and it is certainly not where I want to end, but I still know I am where God wants me. There have been times though, like before I came to Marianna, or right after college, when I was locked in the hallway, and it was Hell. Don't get me wrong, waiting time is not wasted time. There are a lot of things you learn in the hallway. One thing is you had better learn how to pray. And you had better learn to keep your guard up. The encouragement come though with the knowledge that any second that door could open. And if I am lacking in prayer and faith when it happens, will I have the strength to get up and walk throug, or even have the whits about me to know the door has openned at all?

Lord give me strength for each new day, and each new challenge that is set before me.