This past weekend I had the opportunity to work with some people that are apart of the Timothy Team, a year long discipleship program at T Bar M Camps.  We worked with a high school youth group from Austin out at Camp Travis and I had a great time getting to know some new people.  I think in the middle of working with people and finding joy in just being together really gives you a picture of what it means to be in community with others.  Sure we got paid to be there over the weekend, but it’s not easy work.

I think one of the biggest things I took away from this past weekend, was the idea of looking at life, work, and relationships from a younger perspective.  It’s been easy for me to get stuck in this idea of what life is and what life looks like as I get older.  But being in this new small group and working with the Tim Team this past weekend is just a reminder of God’s love and the powerful of meaningful, deep relationships truly does for and to someone.

I have truly enjoyed my time on staff with FEFC and still plan to be around. Just not a daily basis as I was before. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my transition.

The past few weeks have been pretty difficult for me at work.  It’s been one thing after another with what feels like 50 bosses all telling me what to do, how to do it and when it needs to happen.  I am lossing my mind.  We recently had one of our graphic designers leave the church staff for another job.  Our replacement for him was a full time video guy. (Love the guy and he’s come a long way since he started a month ago) But I am up to my ears with work.  Since the last guy left, I am now working on all of the web and print material in the office and it’s a ton of work.  I feel like my life is being put on hold because of how much I am expected to get done.  I’m not sure how much longer I can keep on going like this. 

I realize that as I read this it sounds like I am complaining. I’m not.  I love what do and where I have the opportunity to work.  But I am “venting” simply at the work load.  And I guess some to the expectation level that is set upon me.  Please pray that I can continue to find the strength and determination to keep moving forward at staying on top of things the best that I can…

“Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who have ever lived. I see all this potential – an entire generation pumping gas and waiting tables; they’re salves with white collars. Advertisements have then chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy stuff they don’t need. We are the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no great way, or great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised by television to believe that one day we’ll all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars – but we won’t.

The only time that I have seen my mom and step-dad in a church was at the death of my grandfather. And I haven’t seen them in one since. My mom has talked about going to church before but hasn’t ever made anything of it since talking about it. This Easter was no different. I always ask my parents and my brothers if they want to come, but I get the same answer every year. My brother Mike is one of those guys that knows he should go, feels like he should go and even talks about why we get together as a family for Easter. But he never goes.

I’m not saying you have to go to church to know what Easter is about it. I’m just saying that being at church on Easter Sunday, for me, is a huge reminder of what Christ did for our sins. The fact that he rose from the dead. The candy, baskets, bunnies, and colored eggs are in no way the meaning of Easter. (although I look forward to the peanut butter cup eggs EVERY year).

So this year was just like all the others. I go to church in the morning and then the rest of the family gets together at my parents house for lunch and we hang out and laugh and enjoy the company of each other. Has it become just another reason for us together each year? I hope not.

It’s desiged to give the community an outlet to talk openly about how God is transforming us. The contributers respond to the worship times and everyone is invited to comment and discuss.

It’s nice to have a blog hosted on your own server. Man – we have so much control over it. It’s almost got me thinking that I want to move my own blog to my own server space….

As soon as I arrived and checked in, I was quickly put to work. It’s non-stop action and work until the conference ends on January 8th. I am hoping to meet up with a few friends while in town this week. I’ll post some picture of our setup and the team as we get closer to the conference start.

Granted, there are a lot of people that use a check card, like myself, to make many of their purchases. All of which come right out of my checking account. I, like most of the people I know personally, don’t really carry much cash in their wallets. The article in the LA Times does address the fact that people don’t carry cash or checks when they come to church, and seeing that 15% of their current operating budget comes from these kiosks, it has been an added benefit.

The church that I attended hosts and leades classes on financial freedom and ways to get out debt. The Bible talks about being debt free and these classes, the Dave Ramsey seminars, help many people learn to use and deal with their finances correctly. Granted, the church is not responsible for making sure everyone handles all of their finances correctly, but are we to encourge those to go into debt or simply provide a means for that to continue? And doesn’t this cross the line of the money changers in the temple when Jesus overturned the tables?