What a WONDERFUL Birthday!

The last two days (Wednesday-Thursday) have been amazing! In the past birthday's have come and have gone with mainly just family fanfare. This year....WOW!

On my birthday I was greeted with an office filled with balloons!! I ignored the black ones....

But the greatest birthday gifts I received were from my youngest daughter. Rachel created her own package wrapping.



The package had various items to remind me of what I truly need to be thankful for:











But then again....its really hard to beat my wife's home cooking: HOME-MADE GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE!!! :)

Jesus changes things!

This past weekend I attended worship at Bellevue Baptist Church, Owensboro, KY (where I used to serve as Youth pastor). I was able to visit for a few minutes with Angus McKinley (Discipleship Pastor at Bellevue and a good friend).

Angus encouraged me to check out a sermon clip from Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill--Seattle, WA) where he rants about his daughters and the prospect of dating.

Check it out:



My favorite quote:
"When tolerance overtakes truthfulness and the feelings of people overtake the feelings of God, passion diminishes into passivity and people just don't care. 'Oh, there's no hell, every religion is right, nobody is a bad person.' NO! It changes how you live! If you believe that the Bible is True, that Jesus is God, and hell is real...it changes things." Mark Driscoll

Watching God Move

I've been really encouraged this week by the way God has moved in the lives of our students. I've seen students step up to lead. God has opened up an opportunity of mentoring a new student. New leadership has been voted in.

While I was somewhat frustrated by the lack of conversation at Noonday today (our speaker didn't show up and I was totally exhausted--jet lag still from BeachReach--so I opened up the floor for students to share what God was doing in their lives and only 3 students spoke), it is quite evident that God is moving!

Lord, give me patience to wait...and the humility to get out of the way...

What to say??

Over the past few years I have attempted to experience this thing called blogging. Is it beneficial? At times I have found that many of my contemporaries have expressed themselves via this new technology. I have also found that it has taken up some of their time...time that could be used to do ministry, read the word, dig into a book, spend some time with a friend...so why in the world would I want to distract myself from all these good things?

I guess I feel that I can learn more about myself if I actively journal through this blog.

So why, "Learning 2 Abide" as a title? One of my favorite verse of scripture is found in John 15: "Jesus said 'I am the vine. You are the branches. If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.' " Life is about learning. Too many people close the door on the adventure of expanding thought and experience. I want my life to be one of learning. I also want my life to be one of abiding. Abiding in my Savior. Experiencing love, encouragement, strength, Faith.

As I begin this adventure...may I learn...may I abide...and may I not get so wrapped up in this blogging thing that I become irrelevant in the ministry God has blessed me with.