One Cool Penn State Weekend

This past weekend, I got to spend an incredible 1 1/2 hours with my son, a good friend and his kids touring the Penn State Football locker room & practice fields. We got the behind the scene tour of the entire football facility and it was nothing short of amazing to see how well organized it all is. There was enough Nike gear throughout that facility to make any Nike outlet store look like a mom and pop shop. In short... it was very cool and one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that my son and I will not soon forget. Here are a few pics from our time together. You'll notice the HUGE SMILE on my son's face while running the ball in for a touchdown on the outdoor turf practice field or while standing next to number 17's (Clark the QB) locker. You may also notice that I was doing a bit of smiling as well!

Happy Birthday Princess!

I wanted to take a moment and wish my daughter a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! Love you princess!!! I also love that you have a sensitive heart towards the things of God. I pray that continues for a lifetime! Have a great day!!!

Number Two!

There are many joys to being a pastor and I'm thrilled that I'm now involved in my second building program. Although these projects take great amounts of effort by all those involved, the joy of being a part of something so tangible whereby you see progress happen daily is nothing short of exhilarating. Last evening, my daughter and I took a walk around our property just simply looking at some of the preliminary work done and all the orange spray paint and stakes marking out important details of construction. I get excited because it's more than just building a nice building to hang out in. I get excited because it's all about providing the ministry with yet another tool to help us accomplish our vision of meeting and moving people in Christ and for Christ.

So... give thanks unto God Grace Church because I'm pumped that we are off and running with our newest addition which will help us do more for Christ!

Blog vs. Journal!

It's been weeks since I checked into my own blog!!! I don't know much about blogging but I do know that this is one of the greatest sins a blogger can commit. There are multiple reasons and excuses I could give as to why this is true, but the biggest reason lies with a decision I'm trying to make.

One of the primary reasons I started with a blog was because of my desire to capture some of my thoughts in a written format for my kids. In fact, over the years I have sought to share some of the inner workings of my mind as a pastor with any who cared to read them. But, I'm wrestling with whether or not I want to move in a new direction a year later.

Here's where I'm at...

First, I'm so close to joining facebook because I want to keep in the loop on my oldest child who is ready & willing to teach his aging parents all about this social networking site. I'm not there yet!

Secondly, I'm currently wrestling with how I as an XP and we as a ministry can better communicate many of our happenings in a more culturally relevant way. For us as a church to not have a facebook or twitter account leaves us a little behind the eight ball.

Thirdly, I'm ready to do something very "old fashioned". I'm really close to purchasing a nice notebook and journal with a good old pen and paper. I feel as though I'm at a place where I want to discipline myself in taking the time to capture my thoughts daily on paper. This again is something else I hope to pass down to my kids someday.

So... how much longer will I blog? I'm not really sure, but I do know we all wrestle with how to best communicate and capture the thoughts and desires God regularly places on our hearts.