Wow…what a summer. I realize I’ve been MORE than a little quiet on the electronic front. I have unintentionally taken a break from a lot of things – this blog, my facebook account & twitter. It’s been nice and I can’t say I’ve missed reading all the tweets and updates on twitter and facebook. Sure, I’ll pop on from time to time to just check things out but it hasn’t happened too often.

You see, this summer is the first time in…7, 8, 10 years maybe – that I haven’t been serving at the church in any way. After I left Rittman UMC Beth and I landed at Freshwater Church here in Wadsworth. We decided that we were not going to jump into anything right away but just spend time together worshiping. It has been refreshing – but also pretty strange.

This last two months has also given me an opportunity to focus on serving at home a lot more than I have. I’ve watched a LOT of softball as Ally’s team made it to the championship game of the pony league. They didn’t win it all but had a great season and Ally is becoming quite a pitcher. Beth has started taking classes at Liberty University (online) in order to get her Masters in Teaching and that means that she is MORE than a little busy. I am SO proud of her though and what she is doing. She’s completed one class already and is finishing up her final paper for her second class and is doing great! Plus – I can say I’m dating a college girl again which is always fun! I’ve been doing my best to help out with the cleaning\laundry\cooking\shopping\kids\etc. I’m not going to lie – some weeks are a LOT better than others in terms of my helpfulness.

I would be lying though if I didn’t say it’s seemed like something been missing. I guess I’m just wired to serve – and I think Beth is too. We are starting to slowly plug in to some things at church now. Beth will be helping out in the nursery and I spent my first Saturday with the youth group there last week (more on that later).

I’m not sure exactly what will be next…and am not really worried about it. If there is one thing I’ve learned it’s that I completely trust that God will lead us to where it is that HE wants us to be.

I am hoping to start back into the blogging on a regular basis in the week or so and am looking to redesign this site as well (need to keep my coding skills up). It’s been a nice time away from the social media but you can’t keep a geek like me away from it all for TOO long! I guess it’s just how I’m WIRED!

Just saw that Dennis Hopper passed away today.  Sure, he played Billy in Easy Rider.  But as a child of the 80′s I will always remember him as the psycho ref from the Nike commercials.  Rest in Peace Stanley…I mean Dennis.

Here’s a few of those for you that want to remember (or are too young to remember).

Bad things man…bad things

Well, As some of you may know I’ve been spending a lot of time in prayer over what direction God is leading me.  I’ve been serving in a few different churches in a number of capacities over the last few years and have loved it all but always felt that something was still just not quite right.

I love leading worship.  I’ve been doing that for 10 years now and am so thankful to be able to lead people closer to God through music.  I love working with youth and have been doing that for the last few years as well.  I’ve contemplated going to seminary and becoming a pastor.  I have such a heart for God and for his people.  But something has been keeping me from doing that.

Then, in the early hours of the morning today I heard God’s voice speak to me and tell me what he wants of me.  It feels so good to finally know what it is that I’m supposed to do with my life.

So here today, April 1st, 2010, I am letting all of my family and friends know that I am going to be joining the ranks of America’s Sanitation Engineers.  I figure what better way to get out in the fresh air, spend quiet time in the early morning hours where I can just think about anything, all while helping people unload their junk and parts of their lives that they just don’t want anymore.

What an adventure!

Wow! I just realized it’s been a little while since I’ve posted. Things have been pretty busy. Some of the highlights are:

My daughter Ally turned 10.
I’ve Gained some new responsibilities at the office as a co-worker is leaving.
Sr. High Youth Group is in full swing. Planning out some of the events for 2010.
Sunday Evening Connexions Worship is going strong. Looking for new songs to introduce.
Sunday Morning Kidz Church is into it’s third month. Planning a whole new worship experience for the kids of the church.
Beth and I are looking forward to our February cruise to the Bahamas (to get out of this cold and snow for a bit).

I’m hoping to get back to some regular blogging this week. Thanks to everyone that continues to follow me.

So, as I mentioned earlier the Wadsworth Central Intermediate School Choir got to sing the National Anthem at last night’s Akron Aeros game.  The kids did a great job.  Taylor and all his friends really enjoyed it.  He said as they were coming off the field they got to Hi-Five Jeanmar Gomez who had just pitched a perfect game the day before (though they had no idea who he was).  The Aeros lost but we got to see a nice fireworks show afterwards.

We got home and I was about to head to bed when I thought I’d check to see if the Cavs game was still on.  When I turned it on there was about 8  minutes left in the game.  I learned that Cleveland had lost a 23 point lead and watched as the Cavs and Magic battle back and forth until Turkoglu nailed a jump shot with ONE SECOND left on the clock to give Orlando a two point lead.

But wait – isn’t there a guy by the name of LeBron James that plays for the Cavs…

As of last night “The Shot” now means something completely different in Cleveland!

So, I’ve got a lot to blog about this week – Brooke’s Brithday Party was Saturday, Camp Sunday was today and Taylor sang with me, this Sunday we have our DORMS Day event in Rittman and God continues to be the headline!!

But – for now, I’m exhausted and going to bed. I’ll post tomorrow with some videos and other thoughts.

• I like to make lists
• Right now I have at least five different lists of things to do – 3 church related, 1 day job, 1 home.
• This week is Camp Sunday at church – all “contemporary” music and a testimonial\message.
• Brooke had her first soccer game of the season yesterday – Beth is coaching – they won!
• Ally had her first soccer game of the season today – back to outdoor – they tied.
• Taylor “hurt” his finger yesterday – you’d think he lost a limb!
• We had a guest speaker in church this morning – she and her husband portrayed Peter and his sister.
• The Rittman Church loves to eat (social hour w/ food after service today).
• I’m love that the Rittman Church loves to eat – I do too!
• I’m hoping to have an information meeting about the new service and other such things in the next week or two.
• My wife is the most amazing woman I know .
• I mowed the lawn for the first time this season yesterday.
• I am VERY grateful to Bill and Joan for the like-new hand-me-down mower – it was a beautiful thing to use and I’m the envy of a few neighbors.
• I’m sad that I missed the confirmation retreat with the Wadsworth Youth this weekend – I’d been with them the last few years and they’re all great!
• I’m excited that I finally have a cell phone again.
• We watched Bolt tonight as a family – Rhino is my hero!!
• My children are incredible and bless me more than I could ever express.
• I haven’t blogged anything major in a while.
• This is going to be a week filled with lots of planning at night
• I’m going to head up to bed early now and get into The Word and a good book.

So, Beth and the kids just headed off for a long 9 hour drive to visit family in Tennessee for the week.  While I’ve heard a few, “Oh, playing the bachelor for the week?” comments the truth is I’m going to miss them something fierce.  I love my morning hugs and kisses from the kids and will miss Beth even more.

BUT – it’s probably a good timing, you see – this is going to be a CRAZY week.  It’s Holy Week.  Palm Sunday tomorrow, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter!  I’m playing tomorrow, possibly Thursday, and Easter morning.  Oh, and the Good Friday service – I’m putting that one together from start to finish.  I’ve got a Lay Leader activity today from 9:00 – 3:00 as well. Oh, and I’m hoping to push out some redesigns to the church’s website!

So, the truth is:

I’ll probably be living at the church this week – in addition to my 8-5 job!

I’m hoping to do a bit of blogging this week as well.  I’ll probably talk about the services and the planning and recaps and such.

I’m still reading through Mark a chapter a day and will probably do a post today or tomorrow on some of the things God has been showing me in His Word.

I’ve got a lot of service planning and practicing to do

It’s going to be a good week!

So, this has been quite the busy weekend.

It began on Friday night as I grabbed a quick meal and headed out the door for the first night of a three day class called “Go Preach”.  This is a basic preaching course that is taught by the Canal District Lay Speakers of the Ohio Methodist Church.  It’s a crash course in preaching.  It’s intended to give you a nice overview of what it takes to prepare a sermon for a Sunday morning.  It consists of about 18 hours of class over a Friday night and two Saturdays.  The 2nd Saturday is when all of the class members will present their 10 minute “sermons” and then be critiqued.  By taking this class I will be considered a “certified” lay speaker – which means the District Superintendent can call me and ask me to preach at any church in the District.  Did I mention the class is a total of 18 hours long?  Yeah.  I’m guessing I won’t be walking out of this thing as the next Andy Stanley or even Ben Thompson!!  You’ll probably be hearing more about this class as I work on my sermon for the 21st.

Then, today I had the opportunity to assist with worship as the Lay Leader at Rittman UMC.  We took our children to Sunday School for the first time and they even got to participate in the choir anthem as the kids joined in this morning.  It was nice to be able to serve my new church family again this week.  I will be away next week, but am looking forward to coming back the following week and providing the special music for them for the first time.

I then came home and relaxed for about thirty minutes before the kids and the wife headed out for a while.  While they were out my wife asked me to clean the bathrooms which I gladly did.  She does so much around this house and I would never say no to helping her with the work.  After that was some laundry and now it’s onto the next task.

The final task for tonight is my lists.  You see, I’m a man.  I know, thanks for stating the obvious Jeff.  But I say that because I’m the kind of guy that if I don’t write something down – right when I’m told – it’s like you never even told me.  Beth can ask me to take a roast out of the freezer and by the time I’ve turned around and taken a step and a half, I’ve completely forgotten it.  It’s a gift, really.

So – with my new responsibilities at Rittman I’m ALL about lists.  You see, there is so much that I am excited about doing – so many opportunities.  I’ve got so many ideas and things I need to and want to do.  So I’m making lists, because if I don’t I’ll never remember it all, I’ll forget important details and great ideas.  Heck, I’ve probably forgotten something in the time it took me to write this post!  But that’s OK – I will remember it…eventually.

Hmm…speaking of forgetting, it seems like I forgot to rest.  Lukcily there’s next weekend!!

Well, tonight was a good night.  Some things that have been germinating for a while are now ready to sprout.  I am really excited, and a little nervous, but I know that in the end this will be a great thing.  I can’t wait to see how God is going to use me, my wife and my kids.

Sorry, but I’m not going to go into any details tonight…but keep watch this weekend for a major announcement!