Camryn will hate me :)

So I saw "Breach" and I am telling you Cami is going to look just like Laura Linney when she is old. :)

Cribs, Not

So this video isn't really all that funny, but I got this towel for Christmas and really haven't shared it with anyone. It's just for decoration in my bathroom and serves no real purpose but to amuse me. Some days I am leaving it to say "Butt" and the other days to say "Face." Just depends on how I feel. :)

So I saw "Breach" tonight. Great movie, I like, I like. I am all about Spy movies and this one was especially good because it was based on a true story. So on to a more serious thought.

I know I probably have talked about Mark Driscoll a lot lately and the fact that I go to sleep at night with him on my pillow, well the laptop, is probably quite funny. He has one of the biggest churches in the US and would probably be considered the "executive pastor" at his church. One thing I like about him is that at the beginning of all his messages, he introduces himself as "one of the pastors" and always refers to Jesus as the Senior Pastor. I love it. As I was walking out of the movie tonight, I had a passing thought of the credits that were being played behind me. Of course Rhett was still talking in my ear about spies because he reads all the books and loves that stuff. (Rhett I was listening to you, I just got distracted for a second). I thought about the credits that I was walking out to. I saw a really good movie but did not stay and see who created it and the piece of film that basically thanks the creators. I thought about this a little more later. Our lives are being played out right now, and we are just supporting actors and Jesus is the star. Sure sometimes we run in front of the spotlight and want the glory, He quickly shows us we are wrong, and we get back to business. One day we are going to sit down in a home entertainment center that you could never imagine. It's going to have Jesus 100.1 speakers and a holy spirit bumping subwoofer with God the father as the best voiceover you have ever heard James E. Jones! I just feel like I forget that Jesus is watching our movie being played out and one day we will give an account to this life, our credits will roll and roll. It's amazing that nothing escapes God. He knows every hair, he knows every thought, he knows everything. I want to be proud of my movie, not because it was me in the scenes, but because I got to be apart of a script that only He could have written and I just had the chance to be with Him.



All we know is that Layla has been out a few nights and returns home stumbling.

About 6 feet 1 inch, at least according to Dr. Power Brockman.

I'm not sure this could be labeled as a stumbling block. Oh my, maybe Tavaras. :)

Filled Sunday

Today was a very good day.  We did our first skit this morning in church.  We are going through James and as Ken was preaching through James 2 and James is talking about people that need clothes and food, and us sending those people along their way without giving them anything.  So in the middle of his sermon, I walk through Tillman in shorts and old t-shirt and pretend like I'm a homeless person.  It was a fun skit and I think half the people thought I was some random person who was filled with the spirit and didn't know it was part of the skit.  It's going to be fun to start doing fun videos and skits.

In other news, I came home, read a little while and took a great Sunday nap.  I woke up and went to speak to our youth group.  I didn't know we had such a large group, it was fun and they were a great group of kids.  I left there and came home to a house full of people from my small group.  The fact that my whole day was spent doing "church" is quite a testimony of the Lord and I never thought I would be this involved in a church.  It feels good to be planted finally and have a church that I can call my own. 

With all of that being said, I have felt very uneasy lately about different aspects of my future.  I believe the Lord and what He can do and if you know me, I don't worry about much of anything.  Have you ever made a decision and just really wondered later..."Now was that really the right thing to do?" and "Lord, are you sure this is what you want?"  It's like during these times I guess that you learn to depend on the Lord even more.  I just want to be where He wants me, but sometimes I think I fear that it might not be exactly where I want to be.  It seems that is a huge part of many Christian testimonies..."boy I never thought the Lord would take me here, it was the one place we said we would never want to do." 

Also, I just finished reading Mark Driscoll's book "Confessions of a Reformission Rev: "Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church."  Pretty awesome book.  Pick it up if you don't already have 50 books on your shelf that you need to read. 

Whew! What a week!

Well I got back from Houston yesterday, talk about cold! I have been to Houston many times and never thought it would be that cold. We had to work in the rain and cold one day and that my friend, was not fun. Either way, we got a lot of work done and had a good time.

Funny thing was, my hotel was right down from none other than, Joel Osteen's church. This place is massive. It almost made me kinda have a sick feeling in my stomach. He has one of the largest, if not the largest church in America. I went through what their church believes, and it all looks good on paper. I have mentioned before that he botched the Larry King interview when he had the opportunity to share his faith to millions, he resorted to saying "I don't know" to some of the basics theological questions that a 3 year old raised in the church could have answered confidently. To make it worse, I went to buy a Mark Driscoll book at the bookstore in Houston and discovered that ol Joel has his own Your Best Life Now boardgame! What has this world come to? Also, their church meets in the Compaq center which is like I said, this massive place. Remark: If any pastor is reading this and is currently building a church, please, I say please do not put your name in huge letters on the side of the building. If you want to put a name, come up with something creative like the name of your church, or maybe even something like.."Jesus Christ, our God, not just a name you use as curse word" Okay, so maybe not that either, but please don't spam your name on a building that you say is promoting Jesus and the cross. I know I probably sound harsh but I think it is warranted.

Life has not started to slow down and only continues to be picking up speed. I never thought I would reach a day where I don't even have time to check my personal email at work, this is crazy! Gmail needs me! Things look good for the future in ministry and if you want and the Lord prompts you, you can pray for me, that I will be faithful to what God has called me to do and is calling me to do. I've been reading "Confessions of a Reformission Rev." by Mark Driscoll and it has me thinking of lots of different ideas. I've realized that I am a visionary and really need someone to help me with implementation. I can think of things all day long but really struggle in putting them to work. I need someone to help get the ball rolling and then allow me to come back alongside and keep it rolling in the right direction. I am almost done with it and hope to write a review of it, as I have read many reviews on the book before reading it and want to give my opinion. I realize that it is 2:30 AM and Will Hoge kept me out way too late tonight and now I must fall asleep with Mark Driscoll's last few chapters.

Thoughts from the booth

I'm sitting in an Applebee's booth.  Well, I'm not exactly at Applebee's but a few years ago, a friend of mine led me to a place where I could get a free Applebee's booth.  I went into the restaurant and took it out, legally.  It's awesome although I don't use it much.  I like to sit in it sometimes when I am at the house alone.  It's fun to just sit here and listen to Mark Driscoll and play on Itunes.  Mark Driscoll just said something that my mom told me a long time ago.  He said that when he started dating his now, wife, that he knew she was the one when he could go on long road trips with her and not kill her.  My mommy told me that a long time ago, that taking a road trip with someone was a good test.  Anywho.

In the past few months, I have felt the Lord pulling me in one direction that I thought I would never go.  Have you ever had one of those things that you said, "yeah that is definitely not something I would do or feel led to do."  ???  Sometimes you have to hear something over a long period of time to really believe that God is serious and it is what He wants and not just your mind playing tricks on you.  On another note, I saw a woman with a baby this morning at church and I thought about being single the rest of my life.  I was like, dear Lord, please do not ever lead me that way!  Haha.  It's funny how life works and you never really know where you will end up and doing only the Lord knows what.  I drove a church van for the first time today, legally.  :) 

Off to Houston for the week, miss you, mean it. 

I am looking for you litterbug

I have wanted to do it for a long time. I love the state I live in, statistics show that SC is 2nd in State pride in the entire United States. Texas is #1. I just do not like when people litter. It drives me crazy. The worst is when I am driving into Clemson, beautiful Clemson and I see trash on the side of the road. I have been on the road a lot throughout the years and I have seen trash come from lots of cars. I always try to give them the benefit of the doubt, thinking that maybe a gust of wind rushed in a swirled their McDonald's bag out the window. Well today, I saw someone throw a cigarette out the window. I had to do it. I dialed #LB on my CINGULAR phone and got the Department of Natural Resources. They asked for a few details and that person is now going to get a nice letter in the mail with some rules and fines about littering :) What made it worse? I get up close to the car and see that they have a nice Jesus fish on the back of it!!! What! Listen people, if you are going to put a Jesus fish on the back of your car, please don't litter. Also, please don't drive like Dale Earnhart Jr. and don't flick people off, these are things that do not represent Jesus well, in case you didn't know.

I hope that the person I reported gets scared and will now quit littering in my fine state.

Now I feel like such a tattle tale :)