Time to Press

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Weekending

What a sweet weekend!!! The boys are in a winter football league and we started off the weekend early Saturday morning with a great game. I love watching how they improve as the season goes on. Caleb had some great passes and is really becoming quite the QB and Luke is becoming Mr. Defense and had stopped several runs behind the line of scrimmage. After football we got to hang with the Bledsoe’s for a little bit and then we headed off to one of the theme parks with the Jacobson’s. It was one of those days that when it’s over you’re just totally exhausted but you loved every minute of it.

Then Sunday was totally sweet. We had two great Discovering C3 classes with 41 people joining C3 and 15 wanting to be baptized. I love when God blows my mind. :) Sunday night we had an awesome Crave-Out at Boardwalk Bowl. It jacked me up to watch our students invite their friends and just jell so well together. I love Crave, you guys rock!!! Of course now its Monday and after a weekend like that, I’m just trying to figure out how to see straight. :)

Tile

How do I keep getting talked into doing these home projects? Sandi says; “hey let’s tile both bathrooms and somehow I think that sounds like fun? Now we’re in the middle of tiling these things and I have no idea what I’m doing. Thank God for friends like Jon and Nate, who actually know what their doing and are willing to help out. Well, I’m off to break some more of the bathroom – I meant tile some more of the bathroom. :)

UFC

Dude, I am so loving this new series that we started at C3 called UFC – Ultimate Family Challenge. It is a totally different look at the family. This past Sunday I shared about the relationship between me and my brother. It was absolutely amazing to me at how many folks come up to me afterwards or have emailed me during the week to let me know they are going through something similar. The truth is we all have those whacked-out family relationships, but what do you do with them. This past Sunday and throughout this series we are taking a very real and practical look at God’s Word to hopefully help with those crazy relationships. If you missed Sunday you can catch up with the audio archive on w.c3orlando.com. Then we’ll see ya Sunday for the next round of UFC.

Happy Birthday Sandi!!!

Bubble Gum Can Hurt

Ever wonder why your parents would always tell you to never swallow your bubble gum?!?

How You Know Your Not Mom's Favorite

Ever just have one of those days? Check out what mama bird is standing on...

Happy Thanksgiving

Man I love Thanksgiving, all that food and football!!! I hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving. Let me also say a big thanks to all our volunteers at C3. You guys truly make C3, C3!!! Have a great weekend and I'll see ya on Sunday - You're not gona want to miss it.

Back to Posting

Man, it’s been about 2 and half weeks since I last got on here. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Literally hours after my last blog we got a call that Sandi’s dad had taken another turn for the worse. We flew Sandi up to PA the very next morning and the boys and I started an 18 hour drive up. You could see God’s hand all over that trip. Sandi was able to get to her dad while he was still coherent and spend some time talking with him. And, even though I was alone in a car with the boys for 18 hours we had a great time ridding up together and we made it to PA just in time for the boys to see their grandpa one last time. It was a long hard week following Sandi’s dad’s death, but her family really pulled together and helped each other through. However, just a few days after we got back to Orlando, tragedy struck again. Sandi’s closest friend lost her mom to a very short battle with cancer last Monday. She was diagnosed just 3 weeks prior to her passing and even though she was in the hospital she seemed to be doing better. In fact they were getting ready to send her home when all of a sudden her body just gave out. It’s amazing how fragile life can be. But, it is a lesson I keep thinking about over and over again. How we need to never let the day “get away from us.” In life there are so many important things to do, but we can not neglect the most important things; our relationships. God has created us for relationships. Relationships with Him, our family our friends, just remember as you go through your day to guard and treasure the time you have with the ones you love. Let me also say thank you to all those who called, sent cards and prayed for us over these last couple of weeks. Your love means a lot!

Stuff

Man it’s been a long time since I’ve been in the blog world, but there has just been a ton of stuff going on. Some stuff has been really good, like Power House. Over the last couple of weeks Don and his crew have been transforming Power House into the deep dark jungles for our new 8 week series on “Treasure Quest.” If you have kids that are elementary age they will not want to miss the next 8 weeks!!! Then Crave for our middle and high school students has been running at full steam. Our students have really gotten into investing and inviting. Over the last several weeks we have had a ton of guests come check Crave out simply because their friends invited them. Great job dudes!!! Then this coming weekend Crave is heading to Boardwalk Bowl for a little fun and of course to discover the awesome sport of “Cravebowl.” Parents, students will need to be dropped off at Boardwalk Bowl at 5:30pm and then plan on picking them up by 8pm.
Other stuff this week, however, has not been so good. Over the weekend Sandi’s dad took a turn for the worse. Her dad has pulmonary fibrosis from a job where he use to work with chemicals. Basically, what that means is that he is losing the function of his lungs and his body is unable to get enough oxygen. Over the weekend it got extremely hard for him to breath and he was hospitalized. As of right now the doctors are unsure of what is going to happen; if his lungs will begin to function enough to go home or if they will just stop functioning all together. If you think about it, please pray for him and Sandi this week.

New Christ Follower

Everything we do at C3 works toward the goal of connecting people to Christ. Last night God brought that home for our family as my youngest son Luke prayed to receive Christ. It was just an awesome, tinder time. Sandi and I have talked with him a ton about Christ and what it means to become a Christ follower, but we’ve never pushed him to make the decision to accept Christ. We wanted to make sure he fully understood the decision he made. Last night Luke told me; "dad I really want to accept Christ" so I talked with Luke and asked him question after question. He really impressed me with his understanding of; what sin is, how sin separates us from God and that our punishment for our sins is hell. He understood that Christ came and died on the cross so that we can be forgiven for our sins and to take our punishment away and by accepting Him, Christ comes to live in our lives and secures us a home in heaven someday. Jesus’ words in Matthew when he said that we must have faith like a little child became alive to me during this time. I saw in a 6 year old boy an extremely deep faith and passion to know God. After we had talked for a good 45 minutes I lead Luke in a prayer and through his tears he started a personal relationship with our living God. As a dad I could never be more proud of him than I am today. For both my boys I know the promise of Romans 10:9 is true in their lives and they are safe and secure in God’s hands. Let me also just say a huge thank you to everyone who invests in the lives of children and youth here at C3. You may wonder some times if you are really making a difference, but trust me when I say you are making an eternal difference.

Good'er and good'er

What a great weekend! On Saturday we had some friends get us tickets to the UCF - Texas game. It was an awesome game, UCF hung right in there with #6 and the atmosphere was outrageous. During the middle of the 3rd quarter when we were standing and cheering in the poring rain, Caleb turned to me and said; “Dad, this is the best game ever!” That really made my day. Then yesterday… the only way I can describe it was just a day from God. Church was through the roof!!! We had 16 people get baptized that morning, the new Play House ministry for the First Look kids kicked off and I continue to hear one great comment after another about the music and message on Sunday morning. Then that evening we had one seriously sweet fish fry with our Home Team Leaders. I got to tell you, I love our Home Team Leaders! Last night there just seemed to be an overwhelmingly positive atmosphere as everyone seemed excited to get home teams started again. To top everything off we had Crave right after the home team meeting and man did God show up in a powerful way. We are continuing on through our “Life’s Toughest Questions” series and last night we dealt with; how do I handle the three big Ds; Difficult people, Difficult situations, and Depression. Everything started with Barry O. sharing some seriously personal experiences that he has had with the three big Ds. God used his story in amazing ways as student after student began to bring up and confront the big Ds in their lives. What a weekend! I love what God is doing here at C3 or as Pastor Byron would say, it just gets gooder and gooder.

Fun on the Weekends

Man, it has been one jam packed weekend. Starting Friday morning Sandi and I were out test driving cars. We haven’t bought a new car in forever. However, this time around we decided to do the 21st century thing and hit the internet. It’s absolutely amazing. We were able to do a ton of research, figure out financing, get quotes from all the local dealers and then even haggle the price right on line. Anyway, by Friday we had narrowed it down to two main vehicles and to a couple of dealers who still had '07s on the lot. By that evening we had our new car. Oh, the internet also helped find a dealership with a minimum trade-in allowance, which really came in handy with our old beat up trade-in. This morning we were back out running around as the boys had a British soccer clinic. The guys sure didn’t look like they were from Britain, but I’m not saying anything. Tomorrow, we start the day off with Discovering C3, which is an awesome way to start a Sunday. This is a class where I get to meet with new families to C3 who are looking to join the church. I love this time to spend with these folks, usually everyone is so excited and really interested in what we are doing at C3. Then tomorrow night we start our normal fall schedule for our student ministry; Crave. I’m so jacked to get things rolling with Crave again and starting tomorrow night we begin a brand new hang-out time called Club Crave at 5:30. Needless to say this weekend is moving, but as always, I’m loving it! Don’t forget to check out C3 Sunday as we continue to make some Waves.

Guys Weekend Comes To An End

Sandi is back home (Thank you Lord!) and the boys and I are starting to get vegetables in our diet once again. Actually, it wasn’t that bad; thanks to the Bledsoe’s and Jacobson’s the boys and I got some veggies in over the weekend:). Really, the weekend wasn’t that bad, we just tried to stay as busy as possible. Of course by Monday morning I was completely wiped out, but we made it through none the less. Sandi had a great visit with her dad. She was able to spend a lot of quality time playing games and talking with him. Please keep praying for him as he is not doing well physically at all and that makes it really hard on the family. God Bless Today!!!

Guys Weekend

Man it’s been a long day. We got Sandi to the airport at 6:20 this morning. She is off to see her dad in Pennsylvania. If you get a chance please pray for her dad. He was diagnosed with a terminal illness and at this point there is nothing the doctors can do for him. So, we want to take as many opportunities as we can for her to get up and see him. As for me and the boys, we have an all guys weekend ahead of us. We started out tonight with a highly nutritious meal; the all you can eat CiCis pizza buffet, man those boys can eat. Then it was back home for some highly educational activities; couple hours on the Wii. And now I’m beat. Just a couple of minutes ago I got the boys to bed, but I can still hear them talking away in their bedrooms. For tomorrow morning I think I’ll start them off with another nutritious meal like Krispy Kream or leftover pizza. Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend and I’ll C U at C3.

Keys Part 2 - Lobster

Well, we’re back from the Keys and in full swing of things again. But, it seems like I’ve been getting several questions about lobstering. If you’ve never tried it, you need to put it on your “to do” list. Lobstering is one of those activities that can really get into your blood. My dad and I would go down to the Keys every summer since I was about 10 through my freshman year in college. My dad is now 70 years old and still makes it a priority to get down to the Keys to go lobstering every year. I myself look for every opportunity I can find to get back down there. This year was really cool because I had two good friends come lobstering with me and it was my boys first time. Jeff is an old pro at lobstering and as soon as we got near the water you could see the excitement in his eyes. Don had never been lobstering before but now he is already planning next summers trip to do it again:). Our normal method of catching lobster or “bugs” as we affectionately call them is to drag on planes behind a boat. Once we spot a lobster or holes or something that lobsters like to hide under we drop off, dive down tickle them out of their holes with a tickle stick and scoop them up with a net. It really is a lot of fun, here are some pictures of Caleb and Luke on their first lobster outing.

Luke heading out to look for Lobster:

Caleb and Luke on the planes behind the boat with Grandpa and dad, looking for lobster:

We credited this as Caleb's first lobster. He spotted it and daddy went and got it:

Keys, Family, Friends

Well, we are just about to wrap up our family vacation to the Florida Keys. I love the Keys. If you have never been, you have to plan on going one day. There is so much to do down here; fishing, swimming, boating, and my favorite of coarse; lobstering. This year was extra cool because we got to experience it with some of our really close friends. We spent 3 jammed packed days with the Newcombs and Jacobsons. We started out Monday with swimming in the hotel’s salt water pool, fresh water pool and snorkeling in the lagoon. Then, that night came Sandi’s favorite part of the trip: the all you can eat seafood buffet at Whale Harbor. Tuesday was an all out lobstering day, more on the lobstering later, but let’s just say that night was awesome as we all got together for a lobster dinner in our room. Then Wednesday was more fun in the sun as we rented aqua bikes and had more fun in the water. Check out a few pictures from our trip.

Summer Fun

We’ve been talking about getting “Unplugged” on Sunday mornings and I truly hope that you have had some opportunities to rest and spend some time with your families. Personally, I love the summer time. I love when the kids aren’t bogged down with homework and we can do things at night or on the weekends and every now and then I can take a day off and just spend it with them. I have noticed a little trend lately in our summer activities though. In the last week and a half the boys and I have gone to the Aquatic Center once, the beach twice and are hopefully going to get to go to a water park this weekend. Then in a couple of weeks we head down to the Keys for some RNR and some lobstering. Notice the trend? Our family loves the water. To me there is nothing more relaxing than going out and spending time with my family doing something that we all love. Not to sound too Dr. Phil’ish or anything but you really can strengthen your family and connect with your kids when you go out and have fun together.

Independance Day

I hope you had a great day celebrating the 4th of July. We had an awesome time today with our home team. We brought out the super-sized slip n' slide, the kiddie pool, some great food, and, of course, Sandi's new snow cone maker. It was just a great time to relax and enjoy the company of the people we're developing deep friendships with. Not to sound like a public service message, but...if you're not already part of a home team, you are really missing out on an opportunity to develop deep, meaningful relationships.
I was just thinking about how we celebrated the 4th of July last year. We had a cookout at our house and there were a ton of people. When I compare that event to today the most obvious difference is the level of comfort and acceptance in the atmosphere. Today, everyone...the men, the children and yes, even ALL the ladies were in their bathing suits diving down the slip n' slide. WOW... that was so awesome to see everyone indulging themselves in a great time, not holding back. That's exactly what home teams are designed to do...bring us into a small group that allows everyone to feel comfortable and safe and be themselves as we grow in Christ together. Thank you to everyone in our home team for an awesome day!
Happy 4th!

Does This Thing Work

So this is the blogging world. I’ve been thinking about getting this blog up and running for some time now. However, if you know me you know I’m one of those guys who can never sit still. I always have to be doing something. And while I think that’s great, I know the down side to that is I tend to over-commit myself. Hence, a month after my first thought of having a blog; here it is. Anyway, my friends who are much more accomplished bloggers have told me that I should do a little introduction to start things off. So let’s see if this blog thing really works. I’m married to the most gorgeous woman on the planet and I know for a fact she is the most patient person I’ve ever met as well. As you now know, I always have to be moving or talking or doing something and she puts up with me every day. But, not only does Sandi put up with a hyperactive husband, we have 2 awesome boys that have just about as much energy as I do – pray for her. I also have the coolest job on the planet. I’m one of the pastors at C3 Church in Orlando. So, every day I have the awesome opportunity to lead our Crave (youth), Children’s and Home Team ministries. I consider it an absolute honor to serve in a church that actually does whatever it takes to reach people for Christ; that’s not afraid to step out into the unknown and try something new. And I absolutely love the fact that we have a Senior Pastor and staff who stay focused on what God has called us to do and are determined to not let anything stand in the way of accomplishing that task. Well, this has been fun…talk to ya’ll soon