28 Reasons Why I Love My Wife

Today my wife Jodi turns 28 years old! So I thought I'd list 28 reasons why I love her.

1. She is in love with God!
2. She hears the voice of God. (scary sometimes!)
3. She is a wonderful mother!
4. She takes great care of our home!
5. She takes great care of me!
6. She is a wonderful friend to so many people!
7. She is wise!
8. She is absolutely beautiful!
9. She is a "country gal".
10. She is an "off the chain" cook!
11. She is all about family!
12. She is very creative!
13. She is a whole lot of fun to be around!
14. She has an awesome smile!
15. She is very giving!
16. She is a wonderful partner and support in ministry!
17. She is super kind!
18. She is sacrificial!
19. She is content!
20. She has beautiful eyes!
21. She is a respectful and submissive wife!
22. She has a tender heart!
23. She loves animals!
24. She loves to travel and go to different places!
25. She loves sports!
26. She is Godly!
27. She is very helpful!
28. She is a great listener!
and #29 for one to grow on...She has an unbelievable husband!

I love you Jodi and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
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Family Worship Time

"Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

Last night we had our weekly family worship time where we came together as a family unit to sing, pray, read God's word, and have a blast! I understand now more than ever that God has given me, the husband/father, the responsibility to lead my family towards Jesus Christ. I have been passionate about many things in my life. One in particular is evangelism. Through the years I've been involved in jail ministry, street ministry, missions, etc., etc., etc., but none comes close to the evangelization of my own kids. God gives us, no commands us, as parents to evangelize and disciple our very own. I am understanding more and more that truly the heartbeat of God is family. The very first "organization" in his word is just that-family. When we describe the trinity the wording is -family. "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When God illustrates his relationship with the church he uses "Bride of Christ and the Bridegroom". Again-family. The best way to evanglize the world is again-family, through multi-generational faithfulness. Jodi and I are very early in the journey with our kids but I thank God he has placed within us passion, placed around us mentors, and placed us in a church that bleeds family. With Hell having an all out assault on the family until it will take a strong spiritual gameplan and the power of the Holy Spirit to raise our sons and daughters to walk with God in a world that does just the opposite.

Last night we sang a few songs together, prayed, and then taught Gracen the story of Noah. Gracen has a Noah's Ark with alot of animals so we used that as an object lesson. We then acted out animals and let her guess which animal we were acting out. It was a lot of fun and seeds from God's word were planted in her heart. I want her to be raised knowing it is normal for a family to worship together in their home just as normal it is for the body of Christ to worship together in the house of God.

Enjoy some of the pics Jodi took!

Life's Disappointments

In over eighteen years of deer hunting I've only missed ONE opening morning of rifle season (the first year I ever hunted) and never have missed an opening morning of muzzle loader. Well..that first morning came this past Saturday. All day Friday I had sighted in my muzzleloader and did prep work to get me ready for Saturday morning. The weather was to be PERFECT! I was so very excited! Earlier in the week I spent all morning and night taking care of Jodi and Gracen who had a horrible stomach bug. Thankfully I hadn't gotten it! After coming in Friday night from a squirrel hunt down by the house my stomach started making funny sounds. The rest is history. Hugged up by the toilet at 3:30 AM I knew my hopes of the morning hunt were done. For six hours my best friend was 7-UP, a wet rag, and the toilet (not to mention my good wife). I woke up about 8:30 walked on the porch and was again sick (this time emotionally) as I watched the gorgeous morning and knew the deer had to have moved by my stand. As the day grew I began feeling so much better. About 4:30 PM I grabbed the "smoke pole", my camo bag, and my NLT and headed for my "Church Stand" as I call it. About an hour in I had two doe come out and one had my name on it. After going back to the house to pick up "Champ" my old trusted Yellow Black Mouth Cur we went in to retrieve the deer. After what seemed to be such a disappointing morning turned in to a "dream" fulfilled.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life."

So many folks hopes and dreams have been put off due to life's situations. A promise of God that seems to go unfulfilled. A God given vision that seems to go unfulfilled. A "turn" in life that was unexpected. All of these have a way of "making our heart sick" at times. You never know when that "hope" to be fulfilled is waiting around the corner. When that promise of God is just days from being fulfilled. When that "unanswered prayer" is only hours from being answered. When that God given vision is only an arm length away. Learn a lesson from the deer hunt.

Small Group Outreach

I took my 8th grade boys small group down to the corner of Desiard and 6th Street in downtown Monroe yesterday afternoon to hook up with Ricky Nolan. Ricky is the founder of Hope Street Ministries and has served the poor now for over 28 selfless years. We met under the I-20 bridge and preached from a "dirt pulpit". I opened it up reading out of Isaiah 53:6 sharing about how we all like sheep have left God's paths to follow our own. I then shared the different parables in Luke 15 about the lost sheep, lost coin,and the lost son. Bro. Rick followed me up reading out of Romans 15. We were able to pray and minister to the needs of the people afterwards. Flo Worster also brought down her 8th grade girls small group who helped feed the people a nice warm meal. I'm so proud of our young people and them being active in serving the poor. This is always my boys favorite small group activity!

You can read more about Hope Street Ministries by clicking the link to the right of this blog.

"Life Lessons from Deer Hunting"

What I love about F.C.

We had a great weekend at Family Church. Presence driven worship, I got the priviledge of baptizing four folks, and Michael Stravato brought a powerful/challenging word on suffering.

As I was getting ready this morning several "things" were stirring in my heart. One of those "things" was on the subject of why I love Family Church so much. Here are a few:

1. The Word of God is preached in it's fullness from the pulpit.

2. We are challenged daily to live out what is being preached from the pulpit.

3. A tremendous focus is placed on the family unit. The most effective approach/method in discipleship and evangelism is through the family.

4. The wonderful relationships I get to be apart of.

5. The "ship" is always moving forward. F.C. is always striving to go forward towards the goal God has called us to.

6. Family Church is a GREAT place to raise your family!

These are just a few reasons of why I love Family Church so much!