last night the news came through that osama bin laden had been killed. my head told me this was a GREAT thing…justice had been served. my heart, sank with sadness and brokenness as another person had perished without knowing the peace and forgiveness that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ offers.

i’ve been watching my twitter/facebook news feed come through and reading one celebratory comment after another, largely from followers of Christ.  if i’m being completely honest, which is one of my goals in life, it makes me want to vomit.  when did i/we become judges? (yes i realize i’m judging those that are judging…sucky irony)

i know it’s in our nature to protect ourselves…that’s not a bad thing at all. and maybe 1st century believers would’ve partied at saul’s death had he been killed at the peak of his persecution of the church, maybe not. but saul being “transformed” into paul and then being “conformed” into the image of Christ for others is a key historical and spiritual event for those who are believers today. i wonder who was praying for his salvation while hiding for their lives when he came to their cities and towns.

i’ve been praying for years that osama would’ve come to know Jesus, that we could’ve seen God do what He did 2000 years ago in transforming an “enemy” into a “brother”. can you imagine what that would’ve looked like?!

i’m not ok with what osama stood for, and my heart is broken believing that he’s apart from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for eternity…

God’s continuing to press on my heart the lesson i taught last week at PBbk on Romans 12:9-21…check it out…

#ichooselove
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Last Wednesday: Spring Break for most my students, so I figured PBbk would be a light night and decided to postpone my lesson on Philippians 2:1-18 to yesterday.

Yesterday: PBbk was good, passage was tough. It’s one of those passages that just wrecks me everytime I read it. It influences every part of my life; my marriage, the way I parent, discipline, bless, my ministry, how I interact with friends/neighbors/strangers. That attitude of Christ that Paul writes about blows my mind.

Humility on all levels is something that goes against everything I feel and have learned by living in the USA and growing up in the generation I have. We walk around feeling entitled and deserving of everything. And when we don’t get it, all we do is complain and yell about it on whatever patform we feel we have (blogs, FB, Twitter, etc). Humility is looking out, not in. Humility is about other all the time and me none of the time.

Humility is weird, different, difficult, beautiful, peaceful, & freeing all at the same time. And the worst/best part is it all has to do with what Christ is doing in me. IT’S NOT ABOUT ME!! I know that but it’s so hard to live it…

To finish that passage though, Paul talks about living life without grumbling and complaining.

THE FAMILY JEWELS ARE MISSING
We wrote an interactive, audience participation mystery titled “The Family Jewels Are Missing.” The event was inexpensive and also provided a way for the congregation to get involved. We asked for donations of sandwiches and goodies and also incorporated “actors” from the congregation. The youth served the food and cleaned up.
The play was held on a regular Friday youth night, and there was no cost to attend. We put a jar near the front door and asked for donations to our mission trip. There was no pressure and no plate was passed. The play was in three acts. Food was served between the acts while the actors mingled with the crowd and asked questions and looked at the clues. The evening lasted between two and three hours, and we raised over $700.

Sherry and Howard H. – Ontario, Canada

i think the idea is good…but what in the world were these canadians thinking when they named this game?!  ”the family jewels are missing?!” REALLY?!  i wonder who proofreads this stuff before it’s mass emailed out to folks.  either they should be fired or given a raise b/c they actually got people read the email.  i guess it’s a fine line and they’ve danced it well!

here’s to finding those family jewels on st pattys day!

so much of this has been fun, but some has been really frustrating.  i hate the fact that it’s a competition that inspired me to lose weight and not just the fact that i don’t wanna be a fatty.  i wanna live a life where i can play with my kids outside and not worry about getting winded.  i want to hit 30 (3 months away :O) looking and feeling great.  i also realized that it’s the guys on our staff that didn’t really NEED to lose a ton that have really embraced journey.  some of the folks who could really use the slimming don’t seem to be as into it.  i really wanted to get into this with our WHOLE staff in hopes that we would together get healthier and be able to minister longer together.

some days i eat better than other, but what i can say is that i feel better and have more energy to take on my day.  that excites me.  i don’t need as much sleep, i wake up more refreshed (usually by a cute little 1 year old:)).  i’ve also started to play basketball again with the guys…it’s so much fun to run and sweat again.  that’s gonna help!

this is the 1st step in my “getting a handle on my life”.  step 2: finances.  i wish i could figure out a way to get halfway to my goal in 2 1/2 months…but i realize that if i can inject discipline into my health, i can in my family finances as well.

can’t wait to see how God continues to shape me in all this…

i’m in the middle of a cleansing fast right now.  it’s killing me, but i’m glad i’m doing it.  7-10 days of not eating, but rather drinking this lemonade/maple syrup/cayenne pepper drink.  3-4 32 ozs bottles a day.  day 1 sucked, day 2 was TOUGH, day 3 and 4 were actually pretty easy.  i’m on 5 now…and it’s my full day with the kids.  needless to say, food is EVERYWHERE with little ones…they are always eating.  especially jams and ruby!!

i’m excited though b/c tonight is the 1st time in 5 1/2 years the whole staff and elders will be together to pray while fasting.  i’m really excited to pray tonight…not pray with an agenda, but pray for clarity and alignment.  we don’t want a new 3 step plan to reaching people; we just want to sit and align our spirits with what God is already doing…  what better place to be…

Number 1: best day ever. It defines who I am, and who I am not. What I do, and what i don’t.
Number 2: my wife 2nd best gift i’ve ever received outside of salvation through Christ.
Numbers 3-5: …can’t rank them b/c they were all AMAZING and life changing.
Number 6: outside of my family, being given the privilege of serving God full time as a profession has been an amazing blessing. absolutely love it…
Number 7: never thought it would happen…it signifies settling in at our church and the intention to stay there as long as God will allow us to.
Number 8: NEW TO THE LIST…i’ll write about that below~~
Number 9: I’m the least academic of my family…but the only son to graduate (so far…my younger bro should be done soon!!!).

4-16-09

The tix for opening day went on sale on a tuesday @ 10am (staff meeting time). So with clearence from my sr pastor i went for tickets during our meeting.  i also had my wife going for them on our home computer.  we agreed to get whatever tickets came up, no matter what the cost…then we’d sell them and get cheaper tickets.  10am came so fast that day.  i happened to get two tickets and eileen missed them, but she did get a floor full of cherrios b/c she turned her back on our 16 month old son:)

after i got the tickets, we put them up on stubhub hoping to sell them for 2x what they were worth.  we agreed that if they didn’t sell for that, we’d go to the game with the tickets we got from ticketmaster.  when tuesday rolled around, the tickets still hadn’t sold, so we planned on going…and even taking our 3 year old daughter.

we hit the train with 30 seconds to spare, jumped onto the D line in NYC, and when we came out of the subway…there it was…the new yankee stadium in all it’s wonder:)  the game was at 1pm, we arrived at 9:45am and the stadium was already like a zoo.  people EVERYWHERE…the atmosphere was electric!!

we waited in line and got into the stadium about 10:30ish.  after searching the lower level for an entrence to our seats, we asked for help and were told that we had a “special” enterance.  we backtracked and found it! when we walked in, we were greeted like we were entering a 5 diamond hotel…with handshakes, smiles, and even sea scallops:)  we proceeded into the “legends suite” and resturant.  this is when we found out that every bit of food was included in the price of our ticket!! OH YEAH BABY!! they had anything you could imagine to eat…steaks, seafood, fish, vege’s, and of course hotdogs and peanuts:)  we opted to go right to our seats~

when we came out of the tunnel, we realized we were on field level…eye to eye with players past and present.  as a lifelong yankee fan…this was too good to be true.  we sat for a second…and as our butts hit the 1st class style seats we were greated by brian, our waiter for the game.  anything we wanted, we just told him and it was run right down to us!  food or drink…it was GREAT!

we grabbed a lemonade and headed for the yanks dugout to see what was going on. on our way back we ran into Jim Leyritz.  For the non-baseball fans out there, he hit one of the most memorable homeruns in world series history in game 4 against the braves in 1996.  tied the game in the 8th inning…eventually leading to a yanks win in 10 innnings.  i about fell over and he stopped for a picture with kayla and i and signed one of our tickets:)  the day was already a success in my mind…but it only got crazier!

we were on our way back to our seats when kayla saw the “TV yankees” as she calls them; John Flaherty, David Cone, etc.  she started to wave and surprisingly…they waved back durning commercial breaks!  just when they were starting to wrap up a NYPD officer came over (i thought we were gonna get booted!) and he handed kayla a ball they were using in warm-ups!! she was so excited (not nearly as much as i was) and then David Cone came over and signed it for her!! WHOA BABY!! David Cone, a PERFECT GAME PITCHER (7/18/99), signed a ball for kayla…i was about ready to leave the stadium b/c the day couldn’t get any better.  i was wrong again…

we finally sat down, ordered some food, and realized we forgot to order kayla apple juice.  so i got up and went into the bar behind our seats for some juice for kayla (again…all the food and stuff was included, so we jsut walked in all game long for anything:))  i showed the doorman my ticket, went to the bar, ordered my juice and waited a second.  all the sudden i looked right and realized i was standing next to the one and only Whitey Ford.  i’m sure i sounded like an idiot when i asked if he could sign my ticket…but as he finished signing he asked the next to him to sign it…i look down the bar and realized who i was standing with.  Mr. Whitey Ford (most win ever as a yankee pitcher, a yankee legend), Mr. David Wells (another perfect game pitcher! and yankee legend), Jeff Nelson (a key relief pitcher for the WS runs of the late 90′s) and Graig Nettles (Yanks 3B during 78 WS and current spokesmen for bernardsville audi:)).

after shaking all their hands and getting my ticket signed by all of them…i stumbled back to my seat.  eileen looked at me and asked if i was ok.  i guess i looked like i got more than applejuice at the bar!  i told her what happened and who i just met…she smiled and we knew at that moment we would’ve paid 10X what our tickets cost for just the pregame experience so far.

my perfect game

the game started, and kayla napped from the 2nd-7th inning.  she saw the 1st ever hit at the new yankee stadium (johnny damon) then crashed.  she missed 1st homerun (jorge posada) and the blowup in the bullpen.  she woke up, saw the players warming up in b/t innings and asked if she could play too…i said not yet:)  the guy in front of us left when the blow out happened…so we moved up a row…we were now front row, 3B side, on the field:)  when they threw all the balls in b/c the inning was about to start, they gave one to kayla!! so she got two baseballs from opening day!!  then i even got to scoop up a sippy cup full of yankee stadium opening day dirt…i no longer have it, but that’s a whole different blog…

despite the 10-2 lose we got handed, it was amazing day.  we hit the D line back to penn, got on the rush hour train home and kayla kept telling everyone she went to the yankee stadium and showed off her new ball.

i sat on the train and processed the day.  this is why it’s a top day in my life: as a husband; there was no one i would’ve rather share this day with other than my wife. as a dad; i know kayla won’t remember this day like i do, but what a 1st yankee game on so many levels. as a yankee fan; i sat in the best seats i’ve ever had and meet men that seemed larger than life to a little boy.  i’m thankful i got to be that little boy again for 8 hours and my wife got to see that…

“ditto…except Yankee Fan”

It’s Sunday and today us usually the hardest day, closely followed by Wednesday, since I’m out almost all day at work. I’m so thankful for our friend Bridgette who has offered to help eileen on Sundays. I feel good about going to work knowing there is an extra set of eyes and hands looking out for my family.

Jimmy just feel asleep and is snoring…so I’m gonna run…

Went to bed at 11 last night, after falling alseep playing fallout 3, and didn’t wake up till 8 to take ruby. She fell back to sleep and so did I until 11!!! Sleep feels weird…but nice.

We get the kids back tomorrow morning, should be interesting to say the least. I miss them a ton, but know it’s gonna get pretty crazy as soon as they home. Naps, baths, meals, etc. Honestly I can’t wait…

Should be interesting to see what my next blog is about:). I’ll try to get some pics up soon for everyone. They are super cute!!

so we’re off!

we’ve been getting her adjusted like crazy…and it’s helped a TON! but there is only so much you can do when theirs another whole person inside you.

sooooo….looks like we are going to welcoming in the newest addition to our family within the week.  if eileen doesn’t go into labor naturally by sunday, we’re looking at inducing then.  i guess we’ll have our own worship service…maybe i’ll preach…she’d love that!  i think that would be better than me leading worship

honestly, i’m super excited about this 3rd baby.  since we don’t know the sex there is this wonderful anticipation involved.  i can’t wait to see how all the family dynamics change, how jimmy and kayla handle a baby around.  God really showed me the blessing of kids the other day.  i was just driving home from work, kinda ticked that i had to come home and didn’t get to play basketball b/c kayla had a splinter and eileen couldn’t get it out.  while i was on shunpike rd, God just brought back words from a great friend of mine Peter.  ”If you want to know how selfish you are, get married…if you want to do something about it…have kids.”

so simple…my life is about me anymore: it’s not about my wants, my desires, even my needs…they all come second to what the needs, wants, and desires of my family are.  with that in mind, the rest of the drive home was wonderful…b/c i was about to care for people way more important than my want (bball!).  kayla still brings up when mommy “took the sticks out of kaylas hand…made her feel all better”. so much better to be a part of that memory then a game of basketball.

i wonder how much Jesus was blessed when he cared for the little things…living life about EVERYONE else, not even just his immediate family.  what a demonstration of this with his death on the cross…can’t even imagine loving everyone that much…man…

but none-the-less…i’m thankful that God is constantly shaping me to be more about others than myself.  this newest addition should def keep me on track about being others focused:)