As my Anniversary comes to a close I just wanted to list some random remembrances from that day:

- At the rehearsal on Friday, the pastor was going through the vows for Beth.  He went through them all “Love and Cherish”, “In sickness and in health”, and then he tried to slip this one in…”To honor and obey” – she didn’t bite on the obey.  The look she gave him was priceless.

- Standing in the area behind the altar waiting for the service to start with my brother listening to the Ohio State\Penn State game on my headphones

- Being grateful for the family and friends that were there to see us get married.

- Thoughts of my grandfather Taylor who never had the opportunity to meet Beth, but knowing that he was looking down on us and smiling.

- Watching Beth walk down the aisle in her dress and wondering if I was going to stay standing.

- Lighting the Unity candle together.

- Walking out to the limo and being pelted with birdseed – lots of birdseed.

- Having pictures taken at the gazebo at the Civic Center.

- My brother’s Best Man toast.

- Beth’s Grandfather’s homemade wine.

- Singing to my wife at the reception (Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever Amen” and another that escapes me right now).

- Dancing with a bunch of inflatable guitars\flamingos and other odds and ends with my pants rolled up.

- Having cake smashed in my face (and all over my shoes) after being told, “Let’s just be nice so you don’t ruin my dress”.

- Being surrounded by family and friends

- Leaving the reception to find an inch of snow on our car

- Getting to the hotel and finding and removing all that birdseed from earlier that had become “attached” to my new bride!!

It seems like just yesterday sometimes.  I can’t wait to see what the next 15 years bring us!  Happy Anniversary!

October 30, 1993.  It was a Saturday afternoon.  Penn State had just joined the Big Ten that year and were trounced by the Ohio State Buckeyes 24-6.  The Toronto Maple Leafs lose their first game of the season after going 10-0-0.  Meatloaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell II” was the number one album.  AND – In North Canton, Ohio the temperature was 36 degrees and by late evening there was about an inch of snow on the ground and the cars.

More importantly, this was the day that the most beautiful woman in the world made me the happiest man in the world by becoming my wife.  The relationship began on a fall day in 1988 when we moved into our dorms at Ohio University and met when I visited a friend of mine from High School that was your roommate.  We started dating a few weeks later and spent a lot of time together over the next five years getting to know each other.  We took a lot of long walks along the Hocking River (while I would whistle and sing a “happy” little tune)!  We got a cat…and you dissected a cat (Don’t worry – the one she cut up was a different one for one of her anatomy classes or something and already dead)!

Then, in 1992, in Beaver Creek, Ohio during the wedding reception for Thad and Sarah Beavers I did this:

And you made me the happiest man in the world by saying YES!

Now, after 15 years of marriage, I just want you to know that I love you as much – if not more – than that day.  We have had some good times and bad times.  We have laughed a lot and cried a lot.  We have been blessed with three amazing children.  We have been tested and faced trials and made it through them.  We have grown closer to God and will continue to grow closer to each other.

Rather than me keep typing, let me say it in the geek way that I know best!

Happy Anniversary, Beth!  I Love You!

So, as I mentioned last week, this past weekend I have the joy of serving on team for the Fall Men’s Walk to Emmaus.  If you aren’t familiar with this it is a three day “experience of Christian spiritual renewal and formation”.  There are lessons, singing, fellowship, small group discussion and a number of other things.  It really is an amazing experience and the best part about it is seeing God work in us, through us and in spite of us.

I served on the music team with two other fanatastic men.  If there is one thing we like to do on these weekends it’s sing – and boy did we!  I’ve got to say, there is nothing better than being in a room of 50+ men that are giving their entire selves up in worship to our God.  What was really cool for me was that the three of us were behind the men, rather than in front of them.  This allowed them to just focus on the words they were singing and the One they were singing to.

The verse that was our focus verse for the weekend was Psalm 145:6 (NKJV) – “Men will speak of your mighty acts and I will declare Your greatness”.  I really can’t put into words the amazing things that I saw God do this weekend.  He is such an amazing God and to see the way he poured His love down on everyone there was truly awesome!  Mighty acts were performed this weekend and I can’t stop thinking about His greatness.

The other thing I have to mention is the song that we used as a theme along with the verse – Chris Tomlin’s “How Great Is Our God”.  I can honestly say I will never be able to play or sing this song the same again.  Music has always been a powerful way for me to come into the throne room of God.  This weened it really hit me on Sunday when we were singing this song – how the words to this song declare in amazing ways all of the things that God is.  To be able to declare the he is a great God – man.

If you want to know more about the Walk to Emmaus please ask me.  I would love to tell you what I can, but it is really something you have to experience.  Unlike a lot of retreats you do need to be sponsered by someone that has gone on a walk previously.  If this sounds interesting abd you’d like to do this or know more let me know – the next walk is scheduled for March of 2009 and there will be another in the summer and fall of 09.

Well, I’m about to head out for a 72 hour experience called The Walk to Emmaus.  It’s a three day retreat (this weekend is for men only – next weekend is for the women).  It’s an amazing time of teaching, worship, fellowship, eating and most importantly deepening your relationship with God.  I have the privilage of serving on the team with about 24 other men that will be sharing God’s love through our actions.  Myself and two others make up the music portion of the team and will be playing our guitars (and drums) all weekend.

If you would take a minute and lift up prayers for the 25 team members, but especially for the 22 men that are making the walk as pilgrims.  I have no doubt that God has some amazing things in store for all of us this weekend and I can’t wait to see what they are.

Talk to you on Sunday!

Well, do you?  I ask because I’ve started packing my lunch every day now.   Many days I pack myself Peanut Butter and Jelly.  So last week I’m making my sandwich and there’s three pieces of bread left – and two of them are the butt.  You know, that last piece that is more crust than bread.  It’s drier than the rest, doesn’t have the same texture and probably doesn’t taste as good as the rest of the loaf.  I mean, I had a brand new loaf sitting on the counter so I just pretended that those ends weren’t there, took the one slice of “real bread” and threw the ends away.

So, fast forward to this week.  Same scenario – but know I’m thinking, why am I throwing out a perfectly good piece of bread?  I mean, a bun is covered in crust, so is a roll and I like both of those.  So, this week when I got to the beginning or end of the loaf, I used the end, the heel, the butt!  And you know what – the sandwich was quite good.  It didn’t ruin the sandwich at all.  I still enjoyed the combination of smooth peanut butter and fruity jelly and it satisfied my hunger. I also didn’t waste perfectly good food (and now that Beth and I are going through Financial Peace University and focusing on getting our finances in the right place I’m looking at everything a little differently).

Then I started thinking about the Bible.  How often are we reading through it and thinking, “Yeah, this is some good stuff.  I understand this.  I can do this.  It won’t change the way I’m living my life.”  But then we get to that one part that just doesn’t work for us.  Maybe it’s the loving your neighbor or praying, or giving to the needy, clothing the naked, serving the poor.  Maybe it’s tithing?  Maybe it’s sexual sin?  Maybe it’s pride, or anger or jealousy?  How many of us try and make the God’s Word work for US rather than US working for HIM?  So, rather than praying over what we read and taking that into our heart we just kinda pretend it wasn’t there – like that end piece of bread.

The problem is, that’s NEVER been God’s intention.  The Bible is not a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure Book”!

Picture this!  Say you’re reading in Ephesians Chapter 4 starting at verse 28:

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Ok, I can do that.  I don’t steal.  Then we keep reading verse 29:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Whoa!  Sorry, God.  I mean, the stealing thing I’m cool with, but I just can’t say nice things to that guy at the office.  You know what, let’s just pretend I didn’t read that verse and I’ll take the choice to skip over to Chapter 5.  Let’s see how that works for me.

We are to live our lives according to God’s Will which is given to use in God’s Word. We can’t pick and choose what we want to believe out of it.  Too many people these days are doing that for their own purposes and it’s not OK.  We need to take in the whole loaf of bread…the bread of life!

OK, As I was reading through a recent issue of Worship Leader Magazine I saw a blurb about a blog that they recommended called Next Level Worship.  The first thing I noticed on the page was the top of the page has a post called “Free download of Pure Praise Study (Limited Time)”.  Click the image below to head over to the site and check it out.

It turns out that the author of the site – Dwayne Moore – just finished writing a 9 week Bible study on worship and, while it will be available in the bookstores soon, he is allowing you to download it until November 30th for free!  I grabbed a copy for myself today and read the first day and it looks like a neat study.  It’s got journal space for each day with specific questions.  It encourages you to spend time in God’s Word, in quiet time and in prayer and it even has small group questions in the back if you want to do it with a group (though each person needs their own copy and he asks that they each download their own copy rather than sharing the copy you got).

Go grab a copy and tell your friends.

So, I hit my yahoo homepage today and noticed this strange image in the “most e-mailed photos section”.  So, being curious I clicked on it.  Here’s what I saw:

Then I noticed some more unusual images:

Here’s the caption for all of these:

A model wears a creation by French fashion designer Pierre Cardin during the presentation of his entire Spring-Summer 2009 and Autumn-Winter 2009 collections at his villa in Theoule sur Mer, southern France, Monday, Oct. 6, 2008.  (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

So , apparently these are the next big thing in high fashion.  I guess with my anniversary coming up at the end of the month I should think about getting one of these for Beth.  I mean, I want her to look good this winter. 

I don’t know – I just can’t decide which she’d look best in – what do you think?

So, I woke up this morning and couldn’t stop thinking about my last post.  Did I say anything useful or was I just sounding off like a clanging gong?  Did I say something that made God smile or did I just upset someone with my words?  In my quiet this this morning I opened my Bible to Hebrews 12 and read verses 14 and 15.

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:14-15, NIV)

I like the NRSV version of it as well

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. (Hebrews 12:14-15, NRSV)

I like the NRSV because it reads that we are to pursue peace.  To pursue something is to actively go after it and do it – to be deliberate about it.  So, was I pursuing peace with my last post or just was I planting a bitter root as mentioned in verse 15?

But the other thing that jumped out at me with this verse was that we are to “See to it” that no one misses the grace of God – that no one fails to obtain it.  Have I done this?  Have I taken the opportunity to talk with my friends, my family, and explain to them that God loves them, and wants to have a real relationship with him?  That God sent his only Son as a sacrifice for them – and then raised him from the dead – so that they could know eternal life.  That there is nothing that we can do to earn our reward in heaven, that it’s not about just being good.  That it is a gift of grace that was freely given and that all we have to do is accept it?

As the church, this is what we are called to do – to pursue peace, pursue holiness and share the love of Christ with everyone so that they may know the grace of God and do it all with love.

Confession time – I’ve always loved math and numbers.  I’m a geek, what can I say.  I loved math in school.  Algebra was great, Calculus was a trip, differential equations…not so much.   But in general I love numbers.  Here’s some numbers I’ll throw out there for you:

4012 – The number of songs currently in my iTunes library (though I’m still importing my CD collection)
39 – The age I will be in a few short weeks (though I act like I’m 16 most days)!
15 – The number of years I will have been married to my amazing wife at the end of this month!
8 – The number of days since my last post here
7 – The number of jobs I’ve had since I graduated college
5 – The number of years I’ve been leading worship at my church
3- The number of beautiful children I have
2 – The number of dogs I currently have
1 – Number of siblings I have
0 – The number of times I’ve broken any bones in my body

It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone just by looking at numbers.  And it’s amazing how much music I have.  Here’s a few other number related things that I’ve been thinking about this past weekend.

On Friday night I attending the first night of a men’s retreat at my church entitled “Dad’s That Make a Difference”.  I wasn’t able to make the second day due to a previous commitment (which I’ll get to next).  What I did get to experience though was 1 night with 13 other men who all wanted to strengthen themselves as Christian Fathers.  We ate together, fellowshiped together, worshiped together, watched the videos together and had some great conversation and discussion.  We talked about what we remembered about our dads and what we wanted to do to become better dad’s for our kids.  It was wonderful to hear that you aren’t alone in your struggles and that other dad’s are going through the same things.

On Saturday morning I joined with 34 men to continue building our team of servants for the upcoming fall Walk to Emmaus.  We’ve been meeting for 7 weeks with 1 more meeting to go before the 36 hour weekend retreat where 21 men (pilgrims) will experience an amazing weekend.

Then, on Sunday I was able to attended the 9:30 service at WUMC as a member of the congregation rather than as a member of the worship team.  I took this week off due to everything else going on – plus I needed to just take a break and recharge.  We then headed up to Aurora Sunday after church my daughter’s soccer game – which they unfortunately lost 5-2.

Lots and lots of numbers.  But there was some other mention of numbers that brought joy to my heart and others that disturbed me as well.

On Saturday we were discussing the number of men (pilgrims) that will be on the Walk to Emmaus.  We always pray for a strong turnout for these weekends.  They really are an amazing weekend and God does some amazing things during an through the weekend.  The comment that brought joy to my heart was during a discussion of how as team members we are there as servants.  We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus for the pilgrims that will be making the walk.  It was then that one of the team members said that it doesn’t matter how many men we have on the weekend – if just 1 feels the love of Jesus, see’s the love of Jesus and comes to truly know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and strengthen that relationship then all of the time, work and effort that we have put into this weekend will be worth it.

Then on Sunday, I heard a comment regarding an upcoming possible expansion to the church and how it will will help us build the church.  But my problem is – what is it building?  Sure, it’s building a beautiful structure.  Sure, it’s going to give us more space and it may give us the opportunity to do some things that we aren’t today.  But I keep thinking about this and have to ask myself, so what?  We don’t fill our current sanctuary on a Sunday morning.  I mean, how often do we judge the success of the church on the attendance on a Sunday morning.  How many times have you described your church by the number of people that attend services on a Sunday morning?  Has the church in America become just a building that people can go to to be comfortable, see their friends, get a nice cup of coffee and a danish before the service starts.  How will it encourage the body of Christ to open to Word of God and study it and learn it.  How will it encourage the body of Christ to spend time each day in quiet time with God in prayer?  Will it increase our ability to bring people to Jesus Christ and know him as their Lord and Savior?  Will it encourage the body of Christ to step outside of the walls and reach out to those in need or will it make it harder because they have air conditioning, comfortable seats and good music?  The church is called to do the work of Jesus- to be his hands and feet in this world.  To care for our brothers and sisters, to love them unconditionally, and to reach them where they are.  To feed the hungry, care for the sick, to clothe the naked.  Jesus talked about how we are to leave the 99 to find the 1

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.  ‘I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:4-7, NIV)

How are WE finding the 1?

Check out this article from the September 2008 issue of Worship Leader Magazine for some more thoughts on this topic:

Look Inside >> September, 2008

Please understand that everything here is my own opinion and we all know what they say about opinions – everyone’s got one.  Whether mine is worth more than 2 cents is definitely up for debate (and with today’s stock market slide it’s probably only worth about 0.8 cents).  I don’t intend to come across negative – these are just the questions I am struggling with right now.  Why does it always seem to be about the bigger numbers?  I think the most important question we need to ask ourselves no matter what we are doing is, “Am I doing the will of God or am I doing my will?”  If we can answer with “God’s will” then it’s all good.

Join the conversation.