Self Declared National Stress Day

I declare today national stress day. You see, this Friday (tomorrow) is our Silent Auction and Dinner for the youth group. We are having this to raise money for our Honduras trip this summer. Little did I realize how stressful and event like this could be.

My office is covered with Auction items. Good because there are a lot of items to bid on. Bad, because I can't get to my desk. I'm surrounded by stuff. We have right now about 60 items to bid on, not including the team members that are auctioning themselves off. My goal for the night is $5000, and i'm going to try to keep the positive attitude that we can indeed raise that.

I also got a call from the restaurant providing our food for us. Obviously there was some sort of mishap, and the person in charge of food for the night misunderstood a quote given, and for about an hour, I thought the world was going to end. Here we have tickets for 120 people to come to this silent auction and dinner, and for about an hour we had no food. It has since been solved, but my blood pressure was up to catastrophic levels at that point.

Tonight, we decorate, tomorrow, we sell. Saturday, its all over! Then I get to focus my energy and attention to Senior night which is next Sunday evening.

Pray for a relatively low stress day for me today and tomorrow. I'll need it!

UPDATE!!!

A few weeks ago, I reported that I had been Caffeine free for 5 whole days. Well, since March 22, I still have had no caffeine. Well, at least that I know of. I know chocolate has a minimal amount of caffeine, and I think a glass of caffeinated tea slipped in once, but other than that I have not had a Soft Drink since March 22. Let me tell you the results of this month long process that I plan to continue.

1. My stomach no longer hurts. I used to get upset stomachs like crazy. Now, I've only had one or two upset stomach occurances.

2. I sleep better, longer, and deeper. Go figure, drinking 8 cans of Diet Dr. Pepper a day keeps you going a few extra hours. When I wake up in the morning, I feel like I've rested, instead of just cat napped.

3. I'm saving money. Cokes get expensive. If you get one at a gas station you pay $1.09 or up to $1.29. Bottle of water, generic brand, 59 cents. You can 32 bottles of water from Sams Club for $4.32. Even better, you can drink at of a faucet or your tap for free! At restaurants, a beverage can cost anywhere from $1.20 up to $3.00.

4. It makes your food taste better. Instead of enjoying the flavor of your beverage, you get to enjoy the flavor of your food.

5. Finally, I feel as if I have conquered a habit I never thought I could. Its refreshing to know that I have the willpower to stop something that isn't the greatest for me.

Now, I'm not telling everyone they should go off of soft drinks completely. I just have the unfortunate problem of getting addicted to things. I don't have the ability to say "Oh, I'll just have one today". If I drink one, I'll drink 8. If I have chips in the house, I don't eat a handful, I eat the whole bag. If you have the willpower to just have one or two a day, more power to you!

Thanks for everyone's support! I plan on staying this way for life!

MY WONDERFUL WEEKEND

MY WONDERFUL WEEKEND

Hey everybody.  I am writing this with my head barely held up and my body so tired that my fingers can barely move.  This week, I have more to do than I can manage, but welcome to the life of a youth minister.  

You see, this past weekend, I got to visit with Jason Bybee and his youth group at Mayfair to conduct their spring retreat getaway.  It was a great and enjoyable experience, and all of the kids in attendance were awesome!  They’ve got a really great group there.  We also got to briefly spend some time visiting with Kristen’s parents in Hartselle, AL.  We didn’t have much time, but its always great to see family.  They fed us some great pork chops on Saturday afternoon, and my always favorite Hash Brown Casserole.  

This week, I am facing the Silent Auction and Dinner we have planned for our Mission Trip this summer.  We have to raise a little over $10,000 for the trip.  We’re excited, but this week will be spent getting that event ready.  On top of that, we have senior night next Sunday night, and I have to put together a video and slide show presentation.  

On top of all that, this week is the week for my wife to work early morning care at the school she works at, so instead of 7:30 she has to be there at 7:00.  That makes me even more tired thinking about that.

Pray for me as I go through the next 3 weeks or so.  Pray for our Honduras team.  Pray for our Seniors.

Breakaway at Mayfair Church

This weekend I have an awesome opportunity to speak at the Mayfair Church of Christ's Senior High spring retreat. They call their Spring Retreat "Breakaway". The theme this Spring is "Mountain of God". This will be an exciting and fun filled weekend for Kristen and I. Kristen was an intern at Mayfair for two summers when she was in college. The junior high girls she worked with are now close to graduating, and she is really excited about seeing them.

I also get to visit with my good friends Jason and Sunny Bybee. Sunny was in my class in high school, and Jason was and still is one my bestest friends. He is an awesome youth minister who has done some stuff for me in the past, and he's never disappointed me.

I'll be in Huntsville, AL this weekend at Monte Sano to do the retreat. Supposedly its a pretty neat place. I'm always honored when I'm asked to speak at a retreat.

Pray for the success of the retreat, and that the teens will be challenged by the word of God.

Whatever Happened to Good Old Fashioned Hard Work?

Check out this story before you read on: SEXTUPLET SCAM!!

My question is this -- how desparate do you have to be make up a scam like this? I must give them credit, I mean, this is not a story you hear all that often. But to take advantage of people that are caring and giving, that is too much.

There's a good place to go when you are struggling and are having money problems, and that is to work! Many a time have I stated that if something were to happen to my position as a minister, I am not above working as a burger flipper to make ends meet. Why is that when we reach a dead end, we look for every way to get out of it except turning around?

In this country of frivilous law suits and rampant gambling problems, everyone wants a get rich quick scheme to work for them. Now, I'll admit that I have filled out the Publisher's Clearinghouse Prize forms, and I'll always enter into a contest at the mall or at a store, but the difference is this: I DON'T PLACE ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS IN THEM!!!

Did no one question the fact that the so called sextuplets were never seen by anyone? It makes me wonder this question: If Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan now, would it be told the same way? Instead of the Samaritan stopping to help without any concern for his own safety, would Jesus have said "Then a Samaritan passed by. After he called the police to check out the guy, and after he went and got some sort of defensive weapon just in case he wasn't injured..."

I want to help people, but with so many scheming and taking advantage, I don't know if its the right thing to do anymore. Any comments?

Busy Busy Busy

Hey everyone. I've been really busy for the past week, and it doesn't look like its going to slow down anytime soon.

Last week we had a wonderful men's retreat with the guys from here at Ross Road. I'm glad I got to go and had a chance to get to know some people better. It was a good weekend, with some great thoughts brought to us by our minister John Roberts.

I had an opportunity to play golf for the third time ever on Friday before the retreat. We played at Kirkwood near Holly Springs, MS. It was a rather challenging course. I think I shot like a 300...good for bowling, terrible for golf.

We also had a meeting last night with our Honduras team. Things are getting set in full motion for our trip this summer. I have been blessed with a tremendous team.

This week, I won't be posting hardly any because i'm going to be out finding items for people to donate for our Silent Auction and Dinner on April 28th. If you would like to come, let me know. Tickets are $10.00.

At the end of this week, I get to take a short, brief vacation to Land Between the Lakes with my family. I'm so excited. I get to see my nieces and nephews and sister and parents and many others!!

Who Do You Pick?

All rightie now....Major League Baseball has started, and today really gets into full swing! I will admit that I'm not the biggest baseball buff, but I love to watch it and talk about it. I am hereby making my predictions for the playoffs come fall.

American League:

EAST:
New York Yankees (Go Yanks!)
CENTRAL:
Chicago
WEST:
Oakland
WILD CARD:
Boston

National League:
EAST:
Florida Marlins (I predict the Atlanta Braves will FINALLY stop winning a pointless division title.
CENTRAL:
St. Louis
WEST:
San Diego
WILD CARD:
New York

So, what do you think?