Squirt Guns and telling the truth

Hey, the last three days have been flashbacks to my childhood. With the onslought of summer heat, we decided to get out a few sprinklers and buy squirt guns for our boys. Unfortunetely, I am their favorite target! So now every evening this week, after dinner, we have put on our shorts and geared up our squirt guns. Having a two and four year old run in terror from a squirt gun is a bit funny....

Of course, I give them plenty of free shots!

I was reading in Psalms 15 about those who can "stand in God's presence". One of the statements David makes is "someone who tells truth from a sincere heart." I have been pondering that all day. How many times do I exaggerate or move a conversation away from a topic because I don't feel comfortable speaking the truth? Too many times that I can remember.

Their is a cost to "truth-telling", yet God wil honor it. It's not an excuse to be brash or abrasive either - just honest with a sincere heart. Just a thought.

Back from Cheeseland

I sooo apologize for not updating sooner. We have been traveling alot this past week. I am sitting at Panera Bread on 96th St. here in Fishers, watching everyone enjoy their day off and late lunches. I never have time to just go somewhere and "people watch", because I am not a voyeur!!!! But, you can't help but notice neat scenes like three fathers brining their sons over for coffee and having family time. I love seeing that happen. Way to go, Dads!

Late Saturday night we returned from our visit to Wisconsin. Our boys had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa (and we had a blast having a little time to ourselves!!) Any parent knows the value of grandparents............FREE BABYSITTING.

Our oldenst, Collin (4) received his own set of golf clubs. We went to a couple of courses were he tried his hand at putting and using his 7 iron. He actually was getting lift on the ball! Maybe I have my own "Tiger Woods". That would be great when I retire and need the extra cash!!!! I better take him to the course today, hmm........

While I was there, I had breakfast with two financial parnters of Journey Church, and was able to give them a personal report of all the great things that have taken place these past 3 1/2 months. I have appreciated so much those who have come alongside this endeavor as we have sought to start "a church for today's generation."


Enjoy your day............

Roadtrip

Yup, tomorrow we leave for Wisconsin until Saturday, and all the fun of packing is in full swing. When you are getting things together PLUS toddlers, you wonder if you will ever get on the road.

Racine is the name of the town (Angela's hometown). I will be meeting with a couple of supporters and taking my laptop, so for me it will be a work week - just out of town. Angela and the boys, on the other hand, are going to be hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, which will be great. They live two blocks from Lake Michigan, so a little fishing will be in order!

There is a Legendary "Frozen Custard" place (expensive ice cream for you novices!!) in Milwaulkee. It's called Kopp's and it's famous for it's treats. In Indy, Culvers and Ritters took their ideas from Kopps, as both are from the north. Anyway, that day I will forget the diet.........

We launched Deal or No Deal yesterday - and what a day! This is going to be a really fun series. I am looking forward to the remaining three weeks. If you are apart of Journey, invite 10 friends!!

Deal or No Deal....(I say "take it!!)

Ever seen the show??

I am always amazed how people get all too excited and quickly refuse the offer the banker gives them. Now, in all honesty, if all I had to lose was $500 on the show, I would press it as well. As we are preparing for our new series starting this Sunday, I have watched several episodes. On the 100th episode, the guy actually walked away with less than $200 -an amazing string of unforntunate guesses.

I watched one episode recently where a girl was up to $250,000. A single mom, with college loans to pay off. Yet, she chanced it and lost all but $30,000.

Emotions. Greed. You name it. But whatever it is, we all believe that "chance" will bring something better.

That makes me so grateful I have God in my life, where I am not bound by "chance" and "fate." Nope - God has promises and He keeps his promises. That's great news to the person out there whose never had anyone keep their promises. That's great news to the seeker whose really looking for answers to spiritual questions.

Bring your questions and an open mind this Sunday. This will be fun.......

Tomorrow we are shooting a video for our next series, starting on Father's Day. I won't ruin the surprise, but think Harley Davidson and you'll get what kind of series that will speak to the men of our community.

I miss the Sun today...........now I am spoiled, and we only had two weeks of good weather!

Meeting an old friend

I trust you told your Mom how much you loved her yesterday! As a gift from my boys, we purchased a singing Micky Mouse card to give for Angela. The boys loved it WAY MORE than mommy (not surprising). For those in the service yesterday, our catipillars should be making cocoons by this weekend -yup, it's exciting.

Today, Angela and I are going to see some friends we worked about 10 years ago. When we lived in South Bend, we were on staff at Calvary Temple and worked with Bill and Linda Howell who were the lead pastors. We have always had a good long-distance relationship. We are looking forward to catching up.

At the same time, I look at our culture and realize that my life isn't as nearly full of "good friends" as it could be. Lives get busy - TOO BUSY- to build the type of meaningful relationships that will last a lifetime. It takes time, and time is a commondity we have made more valuable than gold or money. Therefore it's hard to let it go.

How about giving someone close to you a call today, tell them how much you appreciate their friendship. Set up a lunch or coffee, a playdate with your kids...whatever it is. Just connect. Life is way to short to miss the joy of friendships.

Have a great day!

Spamalot

If you are a Monty Python fan, this may be familiar. Tomorrow night Angela and I are going to see Monty Python's 'Spamalot' @ the Murat Theatre. I have seen a few of their movies, so this will be interesting. I don't know if Angela enjoys English humor, so I may be explaining why it was funny!

We had a small miracle today for Journey. We have been in need of a good color copier to use (because it costs us over $70/week at Staples to use their services).

Well....I was having lunch with a representative from a church planting foundation, and he asked me 'Chad, what can we do for you?'. I responded 'what do you mean?'. 'Well - you know, need any equipment?'

I relayed our need for a copier - and they offered to purchase a brand new Xerox for Journey Church!! I about kissed him! (those around us would have had weird thoughts I am sure!). So that was some great news.

Believe in miracles, my friend. God may not pay on Friday, but He always pays on time!

Spiritual Discussions

We just had our Alpha group last night, and it was great as usual. Alpha is a "spiritual discussion" group where we take a topic, have a short teaching and then time for unpacking it all. Last night we talked on prayer.

When it was all said and done, we realized that REAL prayer is a conversation with God, not a bunch of words just being said. Real prayer is hard because it must be honest and come from your heart. The challenge for most of us is we are not used to praying, so it feels really awkward. Kind of like talking to somone you just met - you are not sure where to begin.

Here's a hint - just start. That's right, just start with what's going on in life.

I am loving the weather we are having! Angela met another mom at the park this morning. Sometimes I wish I were a kid again, with no responsibilities - just playing at the park and waiting for a dinner of chicken nuggets and french fries.

Enjoy your day and get some sun!!

Getting Ready

Late afternoon, we took our boys to the Indianapolis Zoo. It's so funny, we were looking at the monkey's and I said "Look Collin and Christian, there are monkeys over there!!". But they didn't respond. Then I understood why.

A few seconds later my oldest son blurted out "Dad, look....Ducks! There are ducks over there!" We were around all these unique animals, and they get excited about ducks (that you can see virtually at any neighborhood pond). Funny funny.

You know, every Saturday morning when I wake up I start reflecting on tomorrow's service. I think about "Another exciting day at Journey - what's going to happen?", "who is God going to send our way?" "what encouragement will God give those there?"

Tomorrow we conclude our series 'Face The Music' with the song by Carrie Underwood "Jesus Take The Wheel" and were going to talk about how to face life's uncertainties. It seems like there are "uncertainties" every week of our life. How we handle them reflects where we place our trust. It's easy to trust our ourselves first and foremost. Trusting God is usually saved for when we have tried everything that we can do first.

Gone Fishin'

Last night we took our boys, Collin and Christian, fishing for the first time! It was a blast as they caught their very first little fish. We were fishing at a small pond near our home - so I appreciated the convenience of not having to get a boat, etc.

We had gone the previous night, but we did not catch A THING. I called a trusty fisherman and he told me to use red worms (I was using nightcrawlers - not the best for small pan fish). Angela was grossed out that you had to put the hook thru those worms (and refused to even touch the worms!)

We anyway, we hit the motherload with eight small fish caught.

Today I started to work on our next series at Journey. After Mother's Day we are launching a series called "Deal or No Deal". It's going to be fun discoverying the "Offers" God gives us in life.

See you soon!