A few post back I mentioned what an incredible summer I experienced. That summer is coming to an end, tomorrow is the first day of September. By now school is well in swing, schedules are becoming routine, we are just waiting for temperatures to start dropping. With all the change it is a reminder of things that are upcoming. I am sure there are events, gatherings and parties people are looking forward to this fall. I personally am looking forward to fall.
I love the fall season. It is the start of football season, playoff baseball is around the corner. The entire atmosphere of fall in my opinion is truly incredible. This fall I am looking forward to Anderson enjoying his newly installed bike seat, maybe even enjoying whatever face I carve in a pumpkin or even sitting still long enough to watch some Buckeye football with me!
One more reason I am anxious for fall is for the activities at church. The movie night, Fall Family Fest and our new programming. Starting September 8th we will kick off Family Ties our new middle and high school Wednesday night program. September 12 is when we start Undignified at 5PM for our elementary students and at 6PM we have Unplugged for middle and high school students. I am thankful for the support of our staff, elders and parents as we are trying new things. I am also thankful for my wife Abby who came up with a lot of great ideas for our programming for 2010-2011 school year.
Make sure your students check out are new stuff, keep it in your prayers and look for some amazing stories that will come from these upcoming events, which will show us better things are coming.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
How Far Much Have You Grown?
The last few weeks I have been looking through all the old sermons and lessons I have written. This is nothing big, I have only been out of college since 2004. Been blessed with a great internship in the summer of 2003 and have been serving at the same church (ECCC) since February 2004. All the experiences, opportunities have been awesome, but one thing I noticed is how God has allowed me to grow through Him.
The reason for all this reflection is when I was scheduled to plan the service this coming Sunday (August 29th), last month I started thinking. What should I do? The one constant that was coming back to me is look at the first sermon I preached in a church and preach that sermon. I did find that sermon, I read that sermon...I will be preaching the same outline, not the same sermon. It was humorous and embarrassing at the same time. I also realize how raw I was and the sermon was. In no way possible do I think I write excellent sermons/lessons, but I try and write what I feel God would want me to teach and share. I kept noticing that God has stretched me in the last 10 years. When I left for college for the first time 10 years ago, I had no idea that God would take me on the experiences that He has. Since those times I have seen so much change and growth. Being able to minister, become a husband and just a year ago become a dad, all of these have helped me grow up in the last 10 years, also recently.
How much growth is there in your life? How much have you changed in the recent years? Have you allowed yourself to grow and change? Has the change been for the better, have you been able to draw yourself into a closer relationship with God? Has your faith been able to grow? If so I am sure it has not always been easy, but it has definitely been worth the journey. The real growth will come when we allow God to be a part of and also lead our lives. Once we allow this to happen, we can see how much and how far we can grow.
The reason for all this reflection is when I was scheduled to plan the service this coming Sunday (August 29th), last month I started thinking. What should I do? The one constant that was coming back to me is look at the first sermon I preached in a church and preach that sermon. I did find that sermon, I read that sermon...I will be preaching the same outline, not the same sermon. It was humorous and embarrassing at the same time. I also realize how raw I was and the sermon was. In no way possible do I think I write excellent sermons/lessons, but I try and write what I feel God would want me to teach and share. I kept noticing that God has stretched me in the last 10 years. When I left for college for the first time 10 years ago, I had no idea that God would take me on the experiences that He has. Since those times I have seen so much change and growth. Being able to minister, become a husband and just a year ago become a dad, all of these have helped me grow up in the last 10 years, also recently.
How much growth is there in your life? How much have you changed in the recent years? Have you allowed yourself to grow and change? Has the change been for the better, have you been able to draw yourself into a closer relationship with God? Has your faith been able to grow? If so I am sure it has not always been easy, but it has definitely been worth the journey. The real growth will come when we allow God to be a part of and also lead our lives. Once we allow this to happen, we can see how much and how far we can grow.
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