DM Demolition

Quick JP update...He woke up this morning thirsty, hungry, and torturing poor Lucky (our dog) so he seems to be fine. We still have to watch closely for the next couple of days, but God is good and He'll give us strength to do whatever we need to. About last night, I loved it. I'm going to try and some this up real quick. There is nothing better than a student coming to know Jesus personally, but what's close is one comes up to you in front of all their friends by themselves and says, "I want everyone to know I love Jesus." And what makes that experience even better is when it happens twice in one night. These students desire the plan that Jesus has for them in their lives. They hate sin and love God...Their hearts have been transformed...They are saved. Seeing people love Him, and not the "I love you God but I'm still going to do what I want to do" love, but the repented love saying, "God I'm wretched but you made me clean and I'm giving my life to You because of what you did for me" is the most rewarding experience in my life. Thank you Jesus for placing me and my family in a place where we can see you work.

The Day for Fathers

Being a Dad is great, but I don't think I ever really appreciated my dad like I should have until I became one. I played sports a lot growing up and I can't remember 3 games my dad ever missed and he worked shift work. He was always there and I never felt neglected. I hope JP feels that way with me. I hope he sees in my efforts how much I love him by me not missing things he cares about just like my dad did for me. Although his body was falling apart, he embraced the pain just to spend time with me. I appreciate you dad and I love way more than I say or let you on to believe. Thanks for everything you've done.

A Quick Mom Thanks

So yesterday was Mother's Day. The service here at Southern Heights was really good. Ms. Kim got up and recognized all the mom's and a few of the guys in the service passed out some really good cookies (I snuck one). Then it happened. I'm not sure why or how I get those feelings, but I seemed to always know when something funny is about to happen. One of those moments where I lose it on stage and everyone in the church is looking at me wondering what the weird guy has thought of now. After the cookie passing out shindig, a parade of kids began to march around our sanctuary holding signs like "I love you mom" and "You're the greatest". JP is just 2 years old. Surely they wouldn't give him a sign and let him walk around on what has become his on personal track field. Seriously, JP cannot go into the church without thinking he has to run his 40 yard dash. Anyway, I knew JP wouldn't be walking, then I saw Benjamin, JP's best friend. Benjamin is the good kid that JP influences in a bad way. I begin to smile not because I think this is cute, but because in my mind I saw JP whacking some deacon in the back of the head with the "I love you mom" sign they foolishly gave the seemingly innocent child. While he is walking toward the front I kind of turn around because if he sees daddy, JP is getting on the stage. This was a sweet moment in our church and I didn't want the "youth minister's kid" to mess anything up. Well, it's clear till he sees Megan and of course mom picks him up. I'm thinking it's all ok she'll take him to the nursery and we will be safe from embarrassment. Then the trusting mom makes the mistake and trusts the child. Thinking JP will walk the rest of the way with Benjamin she puts him on the floor. JP being clever acts like he is going to walk right beside his best friend, then makes a straight left cut heading away from mom and toward the crowd. I see this in slow motion. I have many thoughts on what was going to happen next.

1. JP was going to let out his freakish devil laugh exposing his true nature to the church.
2. He was going to face plant in the carpet and everyone was going to think we were bad parents.
3. Megan, my lovely wife, was going to bust it chasing after him in heels.
4. JP was going to take off down the aisle turning this sweet moment into, "I can't believe we hired a guy with a kid like this" conversation.

Thanks to my sweet, swift, suspecting wife he was captured before he reached full stride with one hand around his waist and the other around his mouth (muffling the devil laugh). So mom saves mother's day. I love you Megan. thank you, not for everything you do, but for doing everything.

And to my mom...I love you a lot. Thank you for always being at my games, not killing me when I did some stupid stuff, and understanding why I wanted to marry this incredible girl. You made life too easy. Thank you for taking care of me when I was sick and cooking pretty much whatever I wanted to eat. Thanks for semi-understanding why we came to Arkansas:) I can't wait to see you guys in a few weeks.

Saturday's 7...on Monday

I feel pretty bad that I have waited until now to do my regular Saturday post. I like to think you guys are checking this every hour or so just to see if I have updated. I know in all reality you may stumble across these posts when you are completely bored and have NOTHING else to do, but for my own pride...I'm going to keep on believing you guys are hooked on my blog. Today's list is a special one. I got to go to a Gary Chapman marriage conference this weekend with some couples in our church. It was definitely a plus to go. Here are some random thoughts on the day.

• Love is you doing what your spouse wants you to do even when you don't want to do it.
• After the conference it seemed like all of the couples had their arm around each other or they were holding hands. I think all it took was one husband grabbing his wife's hand and all of the other guys were like, "Oh crap! I better do something like that too."
• Heath Worley cannot eat without getting something all over himself, and then proceed to "accidentally" transfer from his shirt to his wife's.
• I told Gary Chapman my wife made me come:)
• I learned not to say everything I think...This is something Marci Rogers has been telling me from day one.
• We all went and ate ice cream after the conference. Me and Megan shared our ice cream cone. Not really, but it would have been extremely sweet if I had thought about that Saturday instead of right now.
• Marriage is a lot of work, but there isn't anyone else I would rather work with than my beautiful, caring, understanding wife.

Saturday's Seven

• I love playoff basketball, Even if it is the NBA. Lebron James is a stinking beast. Don't listen to what Phillip says.
• My wife is enjoying the backyard more than I am, and I love it.
• I ready to play some basketball Sunday...
• Our new house is amazing. Of all the places I've lived, this is the all-time favorite.
• Will summer ever be here? I mean honestly, am I the only one incredibly tired of cold windy days.
• Me and JP have been reading through the bible together everynight. We read this one.
• I get to preach at New Hope Baptist in a couple of Sundays. The title of the message...Spandex and Your Faith. It's going to be interesting.

The Dog Factor

Megan and I used to have a yorkie...I hated it. Notice I said we USED to have a yorkie. You see one day I found him chewing on my wallabees, which he knew was wrong. I punished him by sticking him in the toilet and flushing it a few times. He had to fight the strong swirling current of our powerful toilet that was advertised as being able to flush 12 golfballs. OK...I made that up but it was a lot nicer than what I wanted to do to him. For some reason, despite the blatant abuse he took from me in particular, the dog freaking loved me. When Megan got pregnant we had to give him away because of his ferocious jealously. He would attack Megan if she tried to hug me. I wanted to be able to hold my future son so off he went to some unlucky elderly couple. This morning we were approached with the opportunity to have ANOTHER yorkie. I can't believe we are actually considering it. We know JP would love it, but I don't like unneeded responsibility. It pees and dooks and chews on wallabees. It would be nice to say, "Hey I have a dog" but is it worth it?? I need some advice you guys...I want your opinion. The ups and downs of dog ownership. Be honest. Be helpful.

Still Moving

I finally feel like a normal person again. All of this moving stuff got to me a lot more than I expected. It seems like we had to start all of this at the exact busiest time of our lives. I'm trying to get our next series in order to teach our students, school is more demanding than it has ever been, and the weather has really stunk. I'm so glad that I have a pastor who understands life and it's demands. Not once have I heard him ask why I was a little late. He just understands and it makes things a lot easier. My wife is still the most amazing person ever though. She tends to JP, feeds us, cleans, allows me to do the other 1 million things I'm commited to, and everytime I bring a load of stuff home she organizes it in it's place in point 6 seconds. I love her...a lot, and I know she loves me by all of the above. Marriage is amazing. Hopefully I'll finish the rest of the move tomorrow night after our Student Services. If you drive, come over and get a load in your car. If you have muscles, let me help you build them.

Go To Sleep Boy

I remember back in the day when parenting was easy. When I embraced the responsibility with vigor, those were the good days. Last night though was absolutely horrible. JP has always went to bed on his own and slept through the night. Never, unless he was sick, have we had to be like normal parents and let him cry. Last night was a first except this was not a cry. This was a blatant screaming attempt to get us to rock him all the way to sleep. I know we are in a new place and he is not in his bed but in a playpen thing, but I never thought I would hear him fight us like that. Well, he won the battle. He was rocked to sleep and he slept through the night. I tried to go in his room and reason with him, but reasoning with a 2 year old is a lot harder than it seems. Although I was angry he won, feeling that hug when I went in there was...beautiful. If my love for JP is like hate compared to God's love for me...I'll never comprehend it. I don't think we are capable of knowing that great love. I just want to worship Jesus right now before the daily tasks of life began to overshadow that amazing love. Be blessed you guys.

Picture recap of Easter

Warming up before the big hunt...I'm teaching him to keep his eyes on the prize.























Child prodigy




















Getting ready to dominate






















Dominating




















Victory walk











Actually the hunt was great, and all the kids had tons of fun. I'll post more pics later.