Time Change Sundays are always fun. You never know what will happen. And this spring forward Sunday proved to be totally crazy! On top of everyone being a little tired, we lost power during the first service worship set. As it turns out, the school was wired with 220 running into a 120 breaker…not good. But at least now, HCISD is aware of the issue.We were able to get the power going for the second service, but we did not have any lights. Luckily, our worship area is well lit by the natural light coming in from outside.I noticed that there were four HCISD trucks at the school this morning parked by the electrical room doors so I am assuming that the issue is being fixed.It was really cool to see everyone worshipping with a “stripped down” version of The Connection Church Band. Kevin and Pam did an amazing job of leading us even with the complications.All of that said, we hope to have everything up and running in full force again this Sunday. See you then!
My HURRYING HOME Strategy
This past Sunday, I preached about work.To listen to the sermon, click HERE and play the Happily Ever After Sermon.
Anytime I preach, I try to look into my own life and grow. I don’t want to just get up and talk about something without ever applying it in my own life. How hypocritical would that be?Given, not EVERYTHING I may preach about applies directly to my life, but I always do my best to make an application and live out whatever it is that I am sharing about. I wouldn’t have it any other way.SO, here it is, the practical applications for my own life…5 seemingly simple things:
#1. ARRIVE ON TIME – This means getting to the office NO LATER than 8:00am. I need to quit being lazy and showing up at 9:00 or 9:30am. I have done excellent in this area this week.
#2. LEAVE ON TIME – Leave the office by 5:00pm. This is related to #1. If I get there on time, I can leave on time.
#3. BE HOME - When I get home, I need to be home. I have this tendency to work even after I get home. I need to leave the computer off and just BE HOME.
#4. ONE NIGHT – I need to only work ONE night per week. Being a pastor often requires that you meet with people and make phone calls in the evenings. After all, most people work during the day. I need to limit all of those meetings, phone calls, etc to ONE night per week. Preferably the same night every week. That way, Amber and Couper know that I work X-night of the week. This one won’t always be consistent, but I am going to keep it as consistent as I can.
#5. GUARD THE DAYS OFF – Last, I need to protect my days off better. This means no work related e-mail or phone calls on my day off. First, I am going to try this with Fridays. We’ll see how good I do and then maybe I can add Saturdays.
This will be a big challenge for me! Realistically, if I get really good at numbers 1 through 4, #5 will be a piece of cake because my work will already be done.Cole always says, “if you lose your family, you lose your ministry.” I want to be as effective for the kingdom of God as I can and I want to love my family the best that I can. This list is stuff that I really want to build into my life BEFORE Couper is born. So I have a good headstart…about 2 months. I realize, of course, that being a pastor means doing whatever it takes and that sometimes, I won’t be able to stick to these guidelines. At the end of my message this past week, I encouraged you to make some choices that would help you to cheat work rather than home. I just shared the choices that I made this week…what are yours?
Pre-Birth Baby Class
Today we went to our first pre-birth baby class. I am not a jerk…And, I won’t lie…it was grueling. All day on the floor (I am not a floor person) learning how to breathe. I learned how to breathe a long time ago and seem to be doing well with it.HAHA! Maybe I am a little bit of a jerk. In all honesty, the class was well worth it. I learned a lot of useful information and I am excited about being Amber’s coach. The only negative thing about it is that if she has the scheduled C-Section (which it is looking like will happen) I won’t get to use any of this new breathing information that I learned.Pray that Couper turns so that Amber can have a regular birth!I’ll probably share more on this next week…today was part one of two in the class!AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Robbed Yesterday
We were robbed yesterday. Well, sort of…I am not a chocolate person. However, for the 45 days out of the year that they sell Easter candy I eat a TON of it. See, at Easter, this company called Cadbury shows up. And they sell cadbury cream eggs and cadbury chocolate mini-eggs (pics below).Like I said, I am not a chocolate person at all, but there is something about the chocolate in the cadbury stuff that I just can’t get enough of. Seriously, they must lace it with something.But we were robbed. Our ice maker broke and yesterday, a mechanic came out to fix it. I watched him and he would put his tools on top of the freezer, right where the heavenly cadbury products were resting. I went off and did some work on the computer, leaving the guy to finish his work…and apparently to steal one of my scrumptious Cadbury Eggs.I know that I am being ridiculous. I mean, who cares right? But it is the principle of the matter. I would have given him one had he even said, “OOOO…cadbury eggs. I love those.”I know without a doubt that there were three in the box and when he left, there were two. What gives? Amber said it probably just fell behind the fridge. GUESS AGAIN. I CHECKED. IT MAY HAVE CONVENIENTLY “FELL” INTO HIS TOOLBOX…Wanna cheer me up? Bring me some cadbury mini-eggs or cadbury cream filled eggs.
