Loaded Up

Wow, it's been a veeeeery busy Monday! Blown by. How about you? What are your Monday's like?
Mine are mainly filled with administrative tasks and catching up on phone calls/emails that I wasn't able to get to at the end of last week.

Really looking forward to our Leadership Meeting tonight -- have some great stuff to share! We have some incredible leaders at Oso Creek, that's much of the reason for God's blessing on our church!

And tomorrow is not only April Fools Day ---- but it's my beautiful wife's birthday!

A New Office!

Only 1 (one) mile from my house!

That's awesome :)! Or is it?????

Family Circus

I'm excited that tomorrow morning we begin a new series on Hope for Our Families!
Yes, I've taken a cue from Bill Keane and his Family Circus cartoon.

I love his cartoon because it talks about real life, but in a way that makes it fun to survive.

How many folks around you could use help navigating family issues? I'll give you a clue as to who needs encouragement in their family . . . If they're breathing!

Who you gonna invite??

Mature or Immature? Or Both?

What is a mature church? What does it look like to be a group of believers who are living out following Jesus in a way that brings new life? Mark Beeson - Pastor of Granger Community Church - had an awesome post on this.

Read below and ask God to help us follow Him with all our being!

Three days ago Rick Warren proffered this question for me to mull over. What is the mature church?

I knew immediately how I would respond: "The 'mature church' is the church filled with immaturity."

Anywhere in the world, whether plant or animal, the clear delineation of maturity is the ability to reproduce. Immature animals can't reproduce. Immature plants can't replicate themselves. The definition of maturity is being fully ripe, fully aged, so the connotation of maturity is obvious. Where you see maturity you'll observe new life, babies and immaturity all over the place.

Maturity desires reproduction. Maturity tolerates juvenile behavior (from juveniles) while training its progeny for success in life. Maturity means little [babies] running all over the place.

If you attend a mature church, be prepared for immaturity. Where you find mature Christians you'll find little babes in Christ running all over the place. In fact, if you have been looking for a church where everyone tithes and everyone serves--you're not looking for a mature church, you are looking for a dying church - aged, impotent and bereft of spiritual newborns because everyone is mature.

Few things are more disturbing than a flock of adult believers standing around complaining that no one has come to Christ while refusing to do something that might result in new life. So when you bump into someone who acts immature at one of our services, don't complain, and don't be surprised. Instead, thank God the mature in Christ are busy delivering newborn babies to the family of God.

More Easter Festival News!!

We've gathered many of the numbers from the Easter Festival and I wanted to let you know about it.
Pray that these numbers don't just represent numbers, but represent seeds of God's hope that were sown in people's lives that will bring eternal fruit!

- 4,500 eggs hunted (and candy eaten! Hmm, how many cavities . . . )

- 680 FREE hot dogs served

- 650 snow cones given away

- 20 gallons of lemonade served

- 625 bags of chips given out

- Approximately 300-350 hay riders! (it's noted that we had one case of motion sickness :)

And further serving our Community:

- 4 FULL barrels of food were given to the food bank (they were shocked that we filled them all!)

- About 15 folks gave blood to the Blood Bank

- On top of that we fed 120 people at Loaves & Fishes on Saturday night! (Audie took the leftover dogs, buns and chips to the mission that afternoon and - as God would have it - they were planning on having hot dogs that night and were a little short!!!)

And this is really cool - At least 114 Creekers served at the Festival!

Innnnnnnnncredible! Way to go God!!

Who Are They Really?

This morning I picked up the Local section of the Caller Times and saw the picture of a man indicted on a manslaughter charge. Wow, does he look like a criminal. The picture (probably his police mug) looks like he just got off a 3-day heroin trip and had the capacity to kill 10 people in cold blood.

I've noticed recently in the paper and on the news (especially since the Overtons and Chris Warnock indictments and trials . . . people I know) that they make an effort to put the very worst 'picture spin' on folks who are accused.

I ask myself now when I see those pictures: Does that picture really reflect who they are? Is that how their Mom sees them? Is that the person that God sees?

Don't we do the same thing so much of the time? We look at people through the very worst possible lens in order to justify our biases or jealously or immaturity. The Truth is they are just like us. No more valuable, no less valuable.

Man, if I - if we - could get people out of boxes and love them right where they are. We can . . . if we just remember that God loved us anyway.

Leadership Summit!

The Leadership Summit is one of the premier training conferences in the world! I have been going for 7 years and I've been taking Creekers with me for 5 years.

Last year was our biggest group ever as 30 Creekers went to Leadership Summit! And it was awesome! It's not only a great time of getting both your head and heart filled to lead wherever you are . . . but it's also a great time for US to hang out and connect in ways we just don't normally do.

This years Leadership Summit is August 7-8 . . . and it's in San Antonio. I encourage you to check out the site here . . . BUT I really encourage you to GO with us!

Don't sign up online, but email Linda (click here) and let her know that you want to go (or that you want more info). Because we are an associate host site we get the very best rate! But the best rate expires May 20th.

No 'W'

I promised I would report back, and the King Lady Mustangs couldn't pull it out last night, but they did have a great season.
It's a blast being able to watch my kids play - and win or lose nobody can take that away!

Now we're on to Luke's baseball season opening day next week! And then the week after club soccer begins (soccer really never ends :)

Matt Beveridge Update - 3-25-08

Spent some time with Matt today. He's finishing another round of chemo. The hope is that his body will be clear and in a couple of weeks he will be able to go to San Antonio for his bone marrow transplant. (Remember that you can check out his website here.)

Please keep praying for Matt & his family (Gary & Laurie are his parents).

Being with Matt blesses me. It makes me slow down and quit taking little things for granted. Watching Matt persevere through pain and suffering beyond what any of us will probably ever know, gives me courage. Matt unassumingly points me to Jesus.

That we would all learn to live in the 'peace' of Jesus. At the 'speed of love.' Thanks Matt for living it out in front of us.

Go Lady Mustangs!

Tonight we have our first King HS girls soccer playoff game! We're traveling to San Antonio to play San Antonio O'Connor.

I never thought I would have more fun watching my kids play than I did playing -- but it is a blast. I'll update you tomorrow . . .

Discovery Online!

We want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to Connect with Oso Creek. And in seeking to do that we've made a change with our Discovery Class and I wanted all of you to know all about it. The news is that Discovery Online is now online!

When someone is interested in Oso Creek and who we are and/or how to become a member, they now begin by going to our website: Osocreek.org.
From there, they click on Discovery Online on the left hand side of the front page and here is where they end up.

From here, they can read through the information about who we are, what our story is, and what our vision is. . . . Then, they fill out the What About You section and with a click submit it to our office. And when they do that they will be automatically signed up for the next Discovery Dessert!

The Discovery Desserts will be held at our home on Sunday evenings. There, we will introduce the staff and ministries, answer any questions, go through the Membership Covenant and just hang out in a laid back setting.

I'm pumped about this new approach and want you to be able to let folks know how they can connect with us. I also encourage you to read through Discovery Online as a little refresher :) and let me know any changes that you think would make it better.

Easter Hangover :)

I felt exhausted this morning. But a good exhausted!

What a great weekend! I'm still thankful and amazed by how so many of you threw yourselves into serving the people around us on Saturday! (And in case you didn't see it there were several pics of the Easter Festival in the Caller Times local section on Sunday).

And then on Sunday morning there were many new faces as we had an awesome Resurrection Day of worship (3 Times)!

I was reading in Mark 1 this morning some of Jesus' first words as His ministry began: "The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

This weekend we expressed to many people that the Kingdom of God is here, that the Good News is that Jesus is alive and He is the risen King!

I pray that we would live every week in Celebration that He is Alive!

Incredible Easter Festival!

Way to go Creekers! What an incredible Easter Festival! Hundreds of people, beautiful weather, and it was awesome to see all of you working together in incredible ways!

We blessed our community today beyond what any of can imagine. It makes me so proud to be the pastor of Oso Creek when I see God moving through you like He did today!

Way to Go!!!

FREE!!

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!" (Galatians 5:1)

Tomorrow we have an opportunity to express to our community the FREE gift of FREEDOM that God has displayed for us in His Son Jesus . . . and that He supplied for us through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.

Let's tell everyone we know and see today. . . and then come tomorrow prepared to let our lights shine brightly in the darkness!

And by the way . . . it's gonna be a incredibly beautiful day!

Easter Expectations

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3)

Do you ever under-expect God to live through you? Do you ever come to church with little or no expectations of God moving?

Today the seats sit empty. Do you expect Jesus to bring heaven to earth this Sunday?

As we celebrate His defeat of death on Sunday you have 3 opportunities. Will you be there? Who does God expect to be there with you?

Caring for Orphans in Mexico

I'm excited to let you know that we are creating an awesome opportunity for you to be used by God to show the hope of Christ to some of the least loved in Mexico.

On June 14-21 we will be taking a trip to Queretaro, Mexico where Richard and Ximena Roseland live and give their lives through the Orphanos ministry to children.

Dino Roseland will be leading the trip and there will be many ways to be involved from being hands on with the kids to building projects. But there's only room for 30 folks who will be staying at Pan de Vida - so you'll want to get signed up quickly!

You can email Dino for more info (click here).

FPU Highlights - Week 4

Last week was incredible and in many ways disheartening as Dave Ramsey talked about Dumping Debt and how debt has a stranglehold on our culture. You'll be able to tell by the length and sound of this blog that I'm fired up! Here's some of the highlights:

- Debt has been marketed to us in so many forms so aggressively since the 60's that now to live without it requires a complete paradigm change. (The 1910 Sears & Roebuck catalog said: "Buying on credit is folly." That was before the Discover Card became one of Sears most profitable segments of business.)

- 6 Billion credit cards went out last year

- Debt is not a privilege, it is a Product -- and banks have sold us on it!

- Myth: By cosigning a loan I am helping out a friend or relative.
Truth: The bank requires a cosigner because the person isn't likely to repay! So be ready to pay the loan and have your credit damaged.

- Myth: Playing the lottery and other forms of gambling will make me rich.
Truth: The lottery is a tax on the poor and on people who can't do math!
[Here's the lottery stats from one study: The people who do not have a HS diploma and frequent the lottery spend an average of $173 a month. College grads spend an average of $49 a month.
Now, here's the amazing part . . . If you put $50 a month in savings for 30 years you have $1,900,000! And it's not one in a billion -- you have it EVERY time!!]

- Myth: You can get a good deal on a new car.
Truth: A new car loses 70% of it's value in the first four years. 1/3 of people are upside down on their cars.

- Teens are a HUGE target of credit cards. More young adults filed bankruptcy than graduated from college last year!

- Myth: Debt is a tool that should be used to create prosperity.
Truth: "The borrower is the slave to the lender." (Proverbs 22:7)

Amazing Handy Man!

I am not a plumber, nor the son of a plumber. For that matter I am not a handyman, nor the son of a handyman . . . not even close! (Sorry Dad, but you were a great coach!)

So, this plumbing job a couple of weeks ago now was one of the greatest accomplishments of my adult life. My children were amazed . . . my wife wept.

The waiting time for most handyman jobs around my house is 27 months. Most of that time is spent praying (that it will go away), planning, and (mostly) procrastinating.
This is primarily because if the guy at Lowes tell me it will take one hour, I can usually multiply that by 6.5 and then figure another trip to Lowes for every hour of time (which then doubles the 6.5).

I took a picture of this leaky faucet to Plumbers Warehouse. They gave me the part and told me exactly how to do it. I was skeptical, and scared. This was going to require turning off the water to the house, which just sounds like bad things could happen.

I finished the whole stinkin' job in one hour! And that includes turning on and off the water to the entire house! (Which actually gave me a prideful plumberish feeling as one of the neighbors saw me with that big tool cutting off the water and asked me what I was doing. I did my best Bob Vila and said, 'Aw nothin, just a little plumbin'. I think they were impressed.)

If only they were all this easy . . .

The Little Things . . .

For the 3 years since we've had our building our hookup to the cyberworld has been hurting. Because of our outerworld location we've not been able to get any kind of highspeed (or medium speed or kinda speedy . . .) internet.

We began with dial-up. That lasted about 30-minutes before I nearly through my computer out the window.
Since, we've had two different wireless services. Sometimes. Sometimes they worked. And sometimes they chose not to. And if the wind was over 20 mph . . . forget it!

This week we got DSL! Yes, three small letters have rarely meant as much. We finally got service in our area and Tim Klaus and Jason Evans hooked us up.

And today, as the storm blew through town, I just kept speeding down the information highway! Ahhh, the little things in life that mean so much . . .

Why is Easter So Early This Year?

Have you wondered why Easter is so early this year? (And it's really messed up with daylight savings time coming first!)

If so, check out this blog by Tim Stevens. If not, well then just carry on.

I will tell you that the good news is that it won't happen this early again in your lifetime. Not for 220 years!

Friday Fast

This Friday is the day that we remember what Jesus did for the entire human race in a single act of humility. Why do we call it GOOD Friday? Because of Sunday.

As I did last Sunday, I want to invite you to fast with me on Friday as we reflect and renew. I encourage you to fast from food (as medical conditions allow) from sunup to sundown.

And as you fast, to use the time that you would normally use to eat to Reflect . . . read one (or all) the stories of Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection (Matthew 26-28; Mark 14-16; Luke 22-24; John 18-20) and ask God to reveal in new ways what Jesus did for you.

And Renew . . . pray that you will understand more and more - and walk in - what it means to follow Jesus. That you will give ALL. That you will be immersed in the pool. That you will give yourself to others and give all you have back to God. That you will live at the 'speed of love.'

Easter HOPE . . . 3 Times!

Get Ready! On Easter Sunday we'll have 3 Awesome Celebrations!!!

- 7am (Sunrise . . . No childcare)
- 9am
- 11am


It's gonna be an incredible Sunday and there are many people around you who need to plug into the Hope of Jesus! As you simply 'invite' you have an opportunity to make a difference for ALL eternity!

Blessed or Not Blessed?

Following Jesus. As I talked about on Sunday, some of the most telling spiritual decisions we make on a daily basis are what we do with our wealth. Do we get in the pool with our wallet, or without?

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:24).
If we are going to live ALL in, Jesus says we must serve Him with our money.

And this is such a HUGE area because it's a place where we are most tempted to separate the sacred and the secular. To say: 'This is MINE, and this is gods.' And when we do that it scrambles our spiritual lives! Why else did Jesus talk about money more than anything else, more even than prayer and faith?

It's ALL His. It's ALL spiritual.
Are you resisting? You're not resisting me. You're resisting God. If you weren't there on Sunday I encourage you to click here and listen to the message.

And I challenge you as God Himself did in Malachi 3: "Test Me in this . . . and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it."

What are you waiting for? Get in the pool!

New Hobby????

Today Lance Mackey won the Iditarod. Incredible that guys and gals lead a team of dogs over a thousand miles of frozen tundra for 10 days. Just think about that for a minute as we bask in 72 degrees . . . You can check out the official site here.

I'm thinking to heck with a marathon, what's 26 miles compared to a thousand? Maybe my new hobby?

No way! I've lived in Corpus way too long . . . these dudes are tough, check out this picture, see anything wrong? This guy doesn't even have gloves on!

FPU Highlights - Week 3

Another highlight reel from Financial Peace University last week . . . man this stuff is awesome! I hope that those of you who aren't going will be encouraged through this blog to go next time!

This week was all about financial planning:

- "A budget is people telling their money what to do instead of wondering where it went!"

- Americans spent $10.3 billion in interest on automatic overdraft loans last year! Stupid!

- Most people hate the word 'budget' because they've never had a budget that worked.

- "Sometimes you say 'NO!' so that later you can say 'YES!'

- A written plan removes the 'management by crisis' from your finances.

- Every dollar should have a name before the month begins.


Also, there was a great blog by Craig Groeschel recently talking about about having 'financial margin' in our lives. Click here to check it out.

Beach to Bay Creeker Teams!

A couple of weeks ago when I talked about the Beach to Bay relay marathon several of you were excited about running and being on a Oso Creek team.

Colleen Harris was one of those and has volunteered to coordinate Creeker teams! So, if your interested email Colleen by clicking here and let her know.

Even if you already have a team in your Life Group or whatever still let her know as we may be able to join together and get a break on buying Oso Creek running jerseys.

No Applications . . . Just Commitments

". . . Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?" (Luke 14:31)

I've been talking on Sundays about the heart of following Jesus . . . giving Him ALL . . .

I saw this pic of this US Marines slogan . . .

A good slogan for followers of Jesus???

I'm Different From My Dog

Surprised?

And it's not just that her hair is black and mine is brown. Or that she is a her and I am a him. Or that she lives in the backyard and I've got a room inside. . . .

But you see every time we get a thunderstorm or a big wind, or some other meteorological change, she goes crazy. I've told you in worship about how she goes nuts when it thunders and lightnings. She runs up and down the fence barking and jumping and making a complete fool of herself.

As I was watching her today when a thunderstorm rolled in (and yes, this was her today), I was struck that she always has been and always is in awe of the wonders of God.
Now, I'm not trying to say that she thinks about God a lot (but she COULD . . . after all she does have a lot of free time!) - but just that her sense of amazement never ends. Barking at a thunderstorm never gets old . . . or embarrassing.

This is one way I wish that Georgia and I were NOT different. It seems like I miss most of the wonders of God in this world - just hurry right by them . . . and I'm always pretty careful not to make a fool of myself.

Yet that's not really what I want. I want to always be in awe of God's presence and power. I want to feel free to make a fool of myself when God shows up.

How about you?

Easter Festival Is Nearly Here!!!

In less than 2 weeks we have an opportunity to show our community the hope of Jesus in a powerful way!

Who are you inviting? Grab some of these special connection cards at the building and spread them around in your neighborhood, at work, on your teams, etc

How are you going to be a part? If you haven't found a role yet to help with the festival then email Audie (click here) and let her know that you're ready to go!

Above all pray. Pray that we will humbly get out of the way and let God move through us. Pray that God will speak to people who need Him in only ways He can.

Les Miserables

Last night we watched Les Miserables again - it has been several years. Man, this is one of my top 5 all time favorite movies!

What an incredible picture of the destructiveness of sin, the power of mercy, and the freedom of forgiveness compared to the slavery of the law . . .

If you've never seen it, get it and watch it . . . and I would encourage you to do so with your whole family (there's a couple of violent or rough spots so if you have small children you may want to preview it) . . . It will create incredible opportunities to talk about what God has done for us.

Where The Battle is Won or Lost

"[Jesus] replied, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.'" (Luke 10:18-19)

"And I [Jesus] will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." (John 14:13-14)

I don't say it near enough, but I praise God for our Prayer Team who help lead us in hearing God's voice and claiming the spiritual authority that we have in Christ.

They are away on a silent retreat yesterday and today seeking God and praying for us - that we might become a people and a church who are fully engaged in claiming and living the spiritual power that we have in Jesus.

It's Worth It

Yesterday I had to make myself have an awkward conversation with a friend.

It all began a few days ago with an email (first mistake) and then an emotional phone call (mistake #2) in which there was poor communication and hurt feelings. Dang it!!

It's so easy to kind of just leave stuff there, shove it in that drawer where all the keys are that you don't know what the heck they go to.

But yesterday I went and talked with him - face to face. We prayed, talked honestly and then prayed. When I got there it was like there was a dirty diaper in the room. But as we prayed and talked it was as if God's aroma began to cover our relationship.

It reminded me of a few things:
1) As long as we live on this planet we will have relational issues
2) This life is way too short and friends are way too important to just put the relationship in the key drawer - yeah we can run and try to hide from issues, but it doesn't help that feeling in your gut
3) There is blessing when we do things God's way - Me and my friend have a new mountain that we've climbed together and a deeper understanding of one another. Nothing can replace that.

Any relationships that you need to take out of the key drawer?

God & Weather

I've always been intrigued by weather and how it can change so quickly. I wonder if God uses weather just to remind us that life is always changing and we need to be prepared to trust Him and roll with it.

Just the last few days we've had 85 degrees, windy and dry; then 80 degrees and absolutely beautiful.
And then yesterday the wind blew 70 miles an hour, we had torrential downpours, a tornado (we don't have tornadoes in Corpus!!), and the temperature dropped about 30 degrees in 30 seconds (I know because I was out running in a tank top when it hit!).
And now today it's 45 degrees and the wind is about 30 miles an hour and it feels like we live in Chicago!

It would be kind of cool to get to control the weather! You could surprise a lot of people. (I'd bring a little more snow to Corpus!) Not gonna happen.

But weather - and life - will be a blessing and not a hassle, if I will trust God enough to roll with it and find adventure in the surprises.

FPU Highlights - Week 2

Wow, I got a week behind, but I still want to give you a taste of what we're experiencing in Financial Peace University. Week 2 was all about Money and our Families:

- Dave Ramsey says that a families (or individuals) flow of money represents the value system under which they live

- "Having an Emergency Fund [$1,000 saved ONLY for emergencies] is an investment in a pretty wife." Ramsey says this is because women have an extra organ - a 'security gland' - that's directly wired to their face muscles.

- Money issues are the #1 that break up marriages in America . . .and so inversely it represents the #1 opportunity to bring blessing to marriages

- "Teaching your kids about money is not the school's responsibility. It's YOUR responsibility!

- Kid's need to learn early that if you work you get paid . . . if you don't work you don't get paid. There are 58 year olds who still haven't made the emotional connection between work and money.

Spring Ahead - THIS Sunday!

Some of us try really hard to protect our time from being stolen away . . . I tried this a while back . . . it didn't work. It kept leaking out.




But no matter what kind of clock that you have . . .



Don't forget that THIS Sunday morning is the Spring Sunday that everyone looks forward to!

Set your clocks ahead!

Ahhhh 70 degrees!

Corpusites, enjoy our 70 degree winter weather!

These are pics from Cindy's sister in Russelville, Arkansas THIS morning!
(That's our nephew Cole . . . and yes, for those of you who knew the Wojteks this is where they moved to last week -- so this is what they've been welcomed by!)

When I look outside it's hard to believe that these pictures are of the same planet!!

What incredible variety in God's creation!

A Sad Day for Football

In our culture pro sports are largely about overpaid, arrogant guys who are out for themselves and their fame. But that's not true with everyone.

I'm not necessarily a Packers fan but I'm a big Brett Favre fan. He's from a different mold. He played the game of football with the same passion that God calls us to live life. He showed up every day (started a record 275 straight games!), didn't whine about his contract, made everybody around him better, and emanated a sense of joy and excitement about life.

Today Favre retired. I pray that when I retire some day people will be able to say that I lived life for God with the kind of passion that Brett Favre played football.

How about you?

A Messy Life

All in?

As I've been talking about being All In the past couple of Sundays it's amazing how scrambled the message becomes in our lives. Life is messy. Jesus is real.

Why would we not go all in in following the One who can unscramble our lives?

I encourage to go read this great post by Mark Beeson. What keeps us on the side of the pool?

Matt Beveridge - 3-2-07 Update

Matt has finished his second round of chemo at Children's Hospital (in Corpus) and went home yesterday. (Check out his website here)

Tomorrow (Monday) he goes to San Antonio and they will do a bone marrow harvest at Methodist Hospital Children's Infusion Center. After that Matt will have to come back here for another round of chemo.

Please continue praying for Matt and his family - that God will meet their needs and the peace of Jesus will fill their days in San Antonio

Challenging Athletes

In a couple of hours I'm heading out to Camp Zephyr to speak to a group of young athletes on an FCA retreat.

As a general rule I don't schedule other ministry opportunities on Saturday afternoon/night to make sure that I protect Sunday morning, but I'm really looking forward to this.

I love being around athletes and speaking their language and challenging them. Tonight I'm going to challenge them to truly be different - to not just be a social group of 'Christian' athletes, but to dare to follow Jesus. It's gonna be fun.

How's the Daniel Fast?

I know that many of you have joined me Daniel Fasting during this lenten season (see this post and this post if you're not sure what I'm talking about - and this post and this post for my Daniel Fast Dilemma) . . .

So, how's it going?

I know that I had told you that I was completely giving up sodas & fast food even though I had previously all but shunned them for my marathon training - but I do feel better physically without all the sugar and grease! And I'm saving money!

But the most powerful part of the fast for me has been giving up my computer in the evenings at 9pm. I've found myself getting more sleep as there's no nights blogging at midnight! Which means I'm up earlier with more time to spend reading my Bible and praying! That's a home run!
And I've been having more time for my kids and Cindy at night! Another home run!
It's been so good that starting this week I'm gonna move it back to 8pm!

So, how have you seen God use the fast in your life?

And one more challenge . . . I'm gonna ask ALL of you - whether you're doing the Daniel Fast or not - to completely fast from ALL food with me (as you medical conditions allow) from sun up to sun down on Good Friday. If you're doing the Daniel fast this will be a great way to end. And if you're not, it will be a great way to join with us.

I'm gonna ask that we would use that day to focus on 'Christ in us and through us.' More info will be coming. . . .