It's tuesday so here goes what's on my mind...

Number 1 __ So sunday I was sitting in the worship center and I could smell the gum that Kristi (my wife) was chewing on. I thought, wow that smells pretty good, can I get some. Then, I thought what if the entire choir ate onions before they came on stage? Would there be this overwhelming odor of onion in the worship service? I wonder if Rob would let me test this one out?

Number 2 __ Tomorrow night is a huge party for our ministry, lots of giveaways, games, costumes, pizza, etc. I'm really looking forward to having a fun relaxing night with our students. I'm wondering what type of costumes we're going to get. I probably should get some extra clothes to hand out, just in case we have someone that doesn't have discretion.

Number 3 __ Last night Kristi and I watched a movie about a girl who gave birth in a Wal-mart. That would be so cool (not to give birth in a wal-mart) to live in a department store. I would be really picky... I don't want to live in wal-mart but maybe target, Kristi already does. Target doesn't really have beds though, right now I'm really leaning towards a Macy's that has a furniture section. Do you think they would get a cable package for me?

Latent potential is the unapparent potential that something may have. For instance when they started to put cigarette lighters in cars, not only could you use it to potentially kill or cause harm to yourself or your passengers by lighting a cigarette, but who would have thought that now most people use it to power their electronics in their cars. Who-ever thought of that hopefully made a bunch of money.

This question comes to my head, what is the latent potential of the ministry that we serve in? I talk all the time about the potential that fills a room that has middle school students in it, but I also sit in the same room wondering what is going to be the spark that gets the fire started?

We really need to focused on:
What is something that could be the next huge thing that God will use to bring the lost to Him?
How can we find that before the devil will grab it and use it against us?
How can we reclaim things (like technology) and use them for God's purpose?
What is right under our noses that we are doing, that with another application could be 10 times more useful?

These are things to think on that could revolutionize what we do and how we do it.

In southwest florida this time of year comes a lot later for us and will leave us even quicker than it comes. I stepped outside around noon and just started thinking how awesome it felt outside. This is my favorite time of the year... until tomorrow when the temp goes back to 95 and humidity hits 99%.

Every cool afternoon I remember playing football with all my cousins and brothers at my grandparents house in Many, La. I don't know what brings this memory... I was never any good... almost always getting left out due to being the youngest. But yet somehow still a great memory and a great feeling.

It is tuesday so here goes what's on my mind.....

Number 1 __ Yes I cut all my hair off.... but it wasn't in support of Brittney Spears or anything like that. One thing that I have heard over and over is that my head is shaped well for having cut all my hair off. People say "well, at least you have a nice shaped head." To that, as if I'm getting some award, I need to say thank you to my mom... she must have rotated me well when she used to lay me down in my crib.

Number 2 __ So even if gas does come down dramatically, OPEC along with our closest enemies will make the prices soar again. So keep your Prius everyone.

Number 3 __ A few weeks ago I heard a report that Chevy and Ford were in talks of merging.... now, I know that it is chevy and Chrysler. But, it made me think... if chevy and ford merged... what would calvin have to pee on?

I'm really excited about my lesson tonight. It isn't often that I go in depth in the old testament and this will be my second week. I'm praying that the students will really want to pay attention to what God has laid on my heart.

Triple Tuesday last night was really fun. We've been doing some evangelism training and it is cool to see students get to learn how to do what Jesus wanted us to do... share the good news about Him. I was asking a few of the students (all of them - there is only a few) what it would take for them to take their faith in Christ to the next level... take action. They want to be given the opportunity... and have someone come along side them and set the example. That was almost verbatim their answer... and I was like wow that is exactly what we are doing with triplemsm... and there is so many other things that we can do.

God holds Abraham up as a man of faith, but we see him on two occasions waver in the same area (lying about Sarai being his sister)... God's plan is so much greater than us. We mess up along the way, but He does so much more to take care of us. While Abraham was messing up, giving Sarah away twice (nearly losing her both times), God's plan to provide Abraham a son prevails, along with God's promise to bless the earth with Abraham's offspring (too numerous to count). We can all learn from this.

What step of faith does God want you to take? DON'T LET ANYTHING HOLD YOU BACK!!

Not to be confused with what we do with our students on tuesday nights... I wanted to start a segment called triple tuesday where I can clear randomness from my brain... don't know if it will really clear it??

Number 1 ___ I have a hard time sitting still. Anyone who works with me will tell you that they see me randomly walking the halls, sometimes just back and forth, or barging into Ben's office, etc. Not because there is a lack of anything to do.... just sitting in my office doesn't help me... sometimes I think my office could be my number one distraction.

Number 2 ___ If gas comes down in price as dramatically as the price of oil has come down... will people be wanting their old cars back. I know that I would... especially if I went from some sort of truck to a prius... no offense if that applies to you.

Number 3 ___ I'm having a hard time with number one. It doesn't seem that random... more like a confession.

There you go... triple tuesday post one.

Thanks to everyone who was praying for safe travel for my family. They made it home safely last night. I knew how much I missed them... but not as much as I realized when they were finally home. It was so refreshing sitting next to Jonathan on the couch watching "planet earth" on Discover Channel...

This past week I had a great time and a horrible all in the same experience. I can't sleep when Kristi is away and 2 weeks of being apart is about 2 weeks too long. But, the great part was having the opportunities to speak on several occasions. The first, I got really nervous about, was to our ministerial staff here at McGregor. There is something about speaking to a room full of pastors that just makes me nervous.

The second was our regular Wednesday night service. We started a new series called "Trick or Treat" trickeries in the bible... We started with Ehud and the fat king Eglon. I really enjoyed it since it is one of my favorite stories from the bible. Things didn't go as planned... a lot of distractions.

Third I got to speak at SFCA middle school and high school chapels. An experience in and of itself.... It went great... I spoke to the HS about Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Vanity of Vanities... We are nothing and so are our endeavors outside of Christ. It was a real pep rally.

Finally I got to spend Friday night with our leadership team.... What a great and refreshing time. I'm so thankful for the group of people that God has assembled here to work with our middle school students.