During this time of year, Leah and I seem to be invited to a lot of weddings and every year it brings back memories of our marriage day (no, I don‘t run home and watch the DVD of our wedding). I’m not saying that in a sappy sort of way, but every time I sit through a ceremony it is a reminder of the commitment we made to each other on May 31, 1997 (that is today in case you are wondering). Now, we’ve been married 11 years and have two wonderful kids, are connected with a fantastic church, and my children are a part of a great school district (not that that is all there is to life). I have the opportunity to be on staff at a church where I love going everyday and Leah works for the Apple Online Store, which has been a real blessing. There are so many other things I could list, but in reality we have so much more than we deserve. If you would have asked us over a decade ago what we would be doing, we could have never imagined what God had in store for us. That’s not to say it has always been an easy road, but God has been so faithful every time. (more)

Just a few weeks ago, we purchased a Wii. If you don't know what a Wii is, where have you been for the last year? Even nursing homes are using these games consoles as a form of physical therapy. In brief, the Nintendo Wii is an interactive video game system which brings the gaming experience off the couch and gets you moving. You can check out the cnet review by clicking here. Typically I am not a gamer in any sense of the word; in fact, I stink at most video games because I have a hard time multi-tasking...there are just too many buttons! The Wii is a little different mainly because the individual interacts with the game by "virtual reality." For instance, when you play the bowling game, you go through the motions as if you were on a literal lane. Today my son, Ty, was doing the running game (you run in place) and it was hilarious to see the person on the screen running faster as my son was going nuts. Ty was going so fast he made the person fall on his face! (more)

My family and I took a spontaneous weekend vacation to Columbus, Ohio where we were able to go to a science museum, the zoo, and a soccer game. The trip began on a sour note - I got a speeding ticket…but I’ll leave that for another blog entry. Usually when we are on vacation, we do not got to church. I know…we are going to burn for that one! This time I decided to look for a movie church in Columbus and I was surprised to quickly find one which was located 4 miles from our hotel. We got up on Sunday morning and headed to the service which started at 9:45am. I sat through the main service while Leah and the kids attended the children’s ministry program. The adult gathering was very good and it was especially nice to hear the Bible handled in, what I feel, a very careful way. I am always encouraged when a church is interested in relating to the needs of the culture, but also emphasizing the authority of Scripture and its power to change a life.

One of my biggest hang-ups about church in a theater is whether or not it would feel like church. My fear has been relieved. I was reminded that church has never been about a building, but about the people.

Our launch is a little over three months away and attending this service helped me get some things settled in my mind. For those on the launch team, I’ll give you more details later. If you are just interested in movie churches, you can visit Cornerstone Community Church.

Recently I wrote an article for a local newspaper. Since, I have not gotten to write on the blog for a week, I thought I would post the article for you. Enjoy!

There are many things which I consider to be painful, but only a few circumstances in life compare with the anguish I encountered a few weeks ago. I know what you may be thinking - broken bone or a root canal. Although I have had the unfortunate opportunity to experience both of these situations, my distress was not the result of a physical occurrence but rather something you would probably consider normal - a trip to the photographer. Some of you do not understand my feelings of pain because you love having your picture taken, but I think many more of you can identify with my situation. (more)

I worked as a bag boy at a local grocery store while in high school. If you are not familiar with that term, a bag boy is the person who bags your groceries during checkout. I’m certain that our politically correct society has a more fitting name for that position today…something such as “Grocery Packer Extraordinaire.“ My job was actually very enjoyable as I tend to thrive on being around people. My fellow employees were great to work with and I enjoyed brief, but good conversations with the customers. Now…there were only three things I hated about this job.

First, I could not stand customers who had unreasonable demands about packing their groceries (i.e. double paper bagged, plastic bag inside of paper). I understand not putting the milk in the same bag as the bread and making sure the eggs were put on the top of the other groceries, but come on…bringing your own environmentally friendly bag and expecting me to cram $100 worth of groceries into a single shoulder bag? I don’t think so! (more)

This morning I went grocery shopping with my daughter, Lexi, at the local Super Wal-Mart. We arrived around 8:30am to a relatively empty parking lot, which is a good sign, and began our journey up and down the long isles. As we were filling our cart with all kinds of healthy goodies (there is no such thing), I kept trying to remember what we already had in the cupboards at home so I didn’t double up on items. It is inevitable that I always buy something we do not need. FYI - we have two bottles of BBQ sauce in the cupboard in addition to the one in the refrigerator. After our leisurely stroll through each isle, we headed to the check-out, paid the cashier, and loaded the groceries into the car. When we arrived home, I quickly unpacked the bags and began the worst part of grocery shopping…putting everything away. While I was placing the recently purchased items in the fridge, I was finding stuff which had expired a few weeks earlier. There was the coffee creamer which was best if used by March 2008 (it is May by the way). I also found some soy milk which had expired three weeks ago ( I hope my son has not been drinking it). What did people do before they labeled products “Best if Used By”? (more)