Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite . . .

During the summer, we have these little black flying bugs that appear out of no where and are attracted to any light on in the house. Well, since the temperature has been in the 90s the last few days, these bugs showed up last night in our bed room. 

Someone left the light on in the bedroom - so when we got ready to go to bed, there were probably a 100+ bugs flying around the light. In the past, if you turn out the light - the bugs leave.

Well, we turned out the light - and got in the bed. After a few minutes, Amy started swatting. She got up, turned on the light -  and our bed spread was covered with these bug! Amy freaked out! Swatting, shaking the bed spread, smacking the bugs and yelling at them. 

Being the sensitive, caring and Godly husband that I am - I laid there and laughed my head off. Needless to say . . . Amy was not amused.

The Good Stuff

The past week has been a blur of activity - but it has been the good stuff!

Friday I joined some church planters and others for dinner on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. We got to hear great stories of what God is doing in their lives and how He is impacting lives. It was great to spend time on Franklin Street and dreaming of what God can do there. On Saturday morning the group went to Big Ed's for breakfast in Downtown Raleigh, heard some more stories, and walked downtown and did some more dreaming. Great times. 

On Saturday evening our church officially entered into a Building Campaign with a Banquet at Montero's in Elizabeth City. It was a great evening of looking to the past - the present  - and the future. It is really exciting to remember what God has done in the past and dream of what He wants to do through us now and the impact that what we do now can have on people now and in the future. I still can't believe that God allows us to be involved in changing someone's forever. Wow!

Sunday morning - people encountering God through music and His Word. This is awesome - I told people to pray for the people that God has placed on their hearts to invite to Spring Fest this next week. Ask God for an opportunity to cross paths with them this week. Just got a call from a guy who told me that he 'crossed paths' with one of the folks he prayed for just a few hours after church. Wow! Also, I overhead a little girl (first time at Bagley Swamp) coming from Upstreet (Kids Worship) tell her mom -  Can we come back next week?! Yes!

Sunday afternoon we celebrated a group completing Financial Peace University - by Dave Ramsey. Financial freedom is awesome! One of Dave's financial guys was there and talked to the group. Several of the couples talked to him afterwards and one couple found out they are closer to being debt free than they thought! Wow!

Lots of great stuff on 'go' for this week. Headed to my mom & dad's later today for a meeting in High Point tomorrow with couples called into ministry - always exciting. Tomorrow night we have Class 101 - the intro class to christianity and Bagley Swamp Church. It's always fun to share about the vision of the church. This Sunday - Spring Fest. More on that to come! 

That's it for now . . .

Big Two Weeks

I know that I've had some pretty big things during my time of growing up, but I don't remember having two weeks like our son Kendall. In the past two weeks he's had four fairly decent accomplishments - two of which I have never accomplished, one that he surpassed me, and one that he is an amateur compared to me. 

First - Kendall got his driver's license. This is where he is an amateur. He does quite well and his brother and sister seem quite excited that 'they' can go somewhere without their parents. 

Second - Kendall got his SAT score, which he surpassed me - not too surprising. 

Third - He took a class during Spring Break and is now a certified lifeguard, certified to administer CPR and Oxygen and trained in First Aid. I've never done that. 

Fourth - Tonight he refereed three soccer games at the local Recreation Department.   I've never refereed a real game in my life. 

As a parent you always want your kids to do better that you and do some things that you didn't. I just didn't think several would happen in two weeks. 

Rough on Ronnie . . .

Amy and I started going to a spinning class at the YMCA back in the fall, and have been going two or three times since. One of our instructors, Dave, is a UNC graduate, and often comments on the UNC games. 

Well, today is the first class that he has taught since UNC won the championship on Monday night. Dave told me that he had some special music for today, and that I would like it. 

It just so happened that the only NC State grad in the class, Ronnie,  wore a NC State shirt today. The class starts, Dave starts the music (there's always music), and the first song is the Carolina fight song. Every song after that - country, pop, whatever - had Carolina in the lyrics somewhere. It was awesome! Ronnie took it well and acted like he was going to die each time he heard Carolina. 

That class is really fun. Not just the exercise, but the people in it, from all walks of life. Truck driver, dentist, doctor, engineer, pastor, writer, nutritionist, secretary . . . a really broad spectrum - and we have fun together. 

But today was good for the UNC folks, kind of rough on Ronnie. 

New Era . . .

We have entered a new era around our house. Our oldest now has his driver's license. This is a day that we have looked forward to for a long time. I think the brother and sister are just as excited. Just in time . . . Spring Break started today at the end of school. 

And yes . . . we were at the DMV first thing this morning. 

I guess it's a good thing we don't have a vehicle that can do a burnout. If we did, I'd be doing the burnouts.  

A little payback . . .

Last night Amy & I had a meeting and Katherine had a soccer game. Our meeting would be getting done about the time Katherine's game started, so we had to figure out how to get her to the game ahead of time without us missing our meeting. 

Solution: brothers. 

Amy dropped Katherine and the boys at her game ahead of time and then came to our meeting. About half way through our meeting, we got a text message from one of the boys asking us to bring blankets to the game. 

After the meeting on the way to the game, we got a phone call from the boys - asking when we would be there because they were freezing. When we showed up, they were waiting to get into the van to warm up. 

Finally!  The boys now know what Katherine has been doing for years.  She has watched them play ball, in both the heat and the cold. 

It's about time they got cold watching her. A little payback . . .    

Great Sports Weekend . . .

My boys and I realized last night that this might have been our greatest sports weekend. It started on Sunday when Jeff Gordon won at Texas for the first time and snapped a 47 race win-less streak (the longest of his career). 

On Sunday night the Braves played in the first Major League game of the year against the defending World Series Champs - the Phillies. The Braves cranked out three homers in the first two innings and won 4-1. 

Last night UNC won the NCAA Championship in a dominating fashion. I've watched Carolina win their last four National Titles, and this is the first one that we've dominated the whole game and wasn't a nail bitter. Wow!

As much as we enjoyed the victories, we know that they are temporary. What do you mean, temporary?

Well, Jeff Gordon has over 20 races left in this season. In a few weeks, that win will be a distant memory. The Braves play again tonight, game 2 of 162 this season. An I've already seen a couple of people talking about next year's college basketball season. 

I enjoy sports, but also realize they are temporary. I am more focused on things that are eternal. :)  

A Little Clarification . . .

I talked to a couple of folks yesterday that thought that the new MacBook that I got was the photo that was on this blogpost. That photo was similar to the original Mac that I purchased in 1988. The photo here is of my new Mac. Just FYI. I guess some folks thought that I had gone retro. 

Feeling Weird

This morning at church we had Sunday School and our 11 am Worship Celebration. We didn't have our 8:30 am Worship Celebration since our Voices of Praise had a Easter Presentation. It was a great service and the group did a great job. 

I will say this, I felt weird when I got up this morning. I usually get up real early, but I didn't need to today. I woke up anyway. I didn't need to get over to office early, so I stayed around the house - read a little. I felt like I was playing hooky. As odd as it sounds, I really like having two services at church. I tend to be really drained after two services and Sunday School, but I really like it. 

So . . . I am really looking forward to this Sunday. Back to two services - and  it's Easter!!!!!

Thought This Would Never Happen . . .

Last week when the boys and I went to the race in Martinsville, we made a couple of pit stops along the way. One of our stops was at a Family Christian Store in Durham. 

The boys rolled their eyes when I said I wanted to stop there. We need a break from riding and Kendall needed a break from driving. Plus, I had a gift card. I didn't have any books that I was dying to get - so we looked around. I didn't see much and was ready to go when Kaleb pointed to a couple of books - and one caught my interest - we got it. After my gift card, I had to pay forty-six cents. Not bad. 

The book - Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton. Josh is from the Raleigh area and has gone through a lot. He is now an all-star baseball player for the Texas Rangers. We got to see him play last year when we were in DC. 

Yesterday - at some point - both of my sons and myself were reading the book. I'm not talking about reading it out loud. The first one in the living room grabs the book and starts reading. I read the whole book yesterday. Each of the boys are about half-way. I even saw Kendall reading it today while the race was on. I thought this would never happen . . .