It has been 8 days since my last confess... I mean..blog.

Tonight our interns graduate. It has been an incredible year. I am very proud of both first and second year. They all have worked hard and have grown amazingly.

This will be the ninth class to graduate and mark a decade of our church raising, training and sending young leaders into the call of God on their life. It is a privilage and an honor to have worked and poured into the lives of these young leaders.

As a final thought to this class.... We have one life to give and then eternity. Don't waste it.

With your sheild or on it.

So a couple of weeks ago my computer crashed. Thankfully 99.8% of my stuff was backed up. After a hard drive replacement and about 12 hours of reinstalling software my computer is back to normal. One of the things I lost in the "great crash" was my itunes. I spent 3 hours the other night reloading music and I am only part way through, at least I still have all the cds. If you haven't backed my advice is to back up today!!! 

Like a lot of people I collect things. One of the things I collect is Pepsi stuff including bottles. Along the way I have picked up some different band bottles. About a 2 months ago a friend and I stopped into an convenience store and spotted some cool Mt. Dew bottles. I bought the four styles that they had and we went on our way. The other day my brother in law mentioned to me about the Green Label Art. Check out the web www.greenlabelart.com. After doing some research I discovered that there were 6 bottles in this years release. So last night I went on a quest to find the two missing bottles designed by Chuck Anderson or Scott Lenhardt . I visited every grocery store and convenience store in Monroe and then expanded my search to Snohomish. After an hour and half I returned home empty handed. It was a nice night for a drive and I did get a Snickers ice cream bar so all was not lost.

Currently we are potty training Taber. As incentive, Taber gets 1 cookie when he goes pee in the toilet and he gets 2 cookies when he goes poop. The other night as we were getting ready to eat dinner Taber asked me emphatically for a cookie. “No son” I replied “we are about to eat dinner.” Without skipping a beat he looked up at me and said “Daddy, I go potty!” Skeptically I took him to the bathroom all the while thinking to myself, yeah right. After fumbling to get his pants and diaper off I finally sat Taber on the toilet. Moments later he peed. With a big smile on his face, he looked up at me and said, “Daddy, cookie!” As I handed him his cookie I thought, “Boy I just got abused by the system and schooled by a 2 year old.”

Taber recently had his 2nd birthday and this is what his grandparents got him.

While my wife was pregnant with our second son Titan, we made sure to include Taber along the journey.  Taber would speak to Kathryns tummy and say, “I wuv you braaatherrr! See you soon. Night! Night! Braaatherrr!” As the day approached we were all excited. However when we brought Titan home Tabers attitude changed quickly. He displayed aggressive tendencies and we could tell that he was not happy with the new addition. At one point he even tried to give Titan away to Uncle Shaun…”take home… take home…?” Taber said as he talked to Uncle Shaun while pointing at Titan. Fast forward to today and Taber loves Titan. Yah Taber still has attention issues but at least he is not trying to give Titan away.

As Christ followers we often display the same actions towards those who have new faith / no faith, especially when it affects our little bubbles. We say that we love the lost and want people to come to the knowledge of Christ; however our actions say the opposite. We pass hurting people by everyday without so much as a smile. Many times we greet new people to our churches with closed arms. Our responsibility is to love people to Christ right where they are at even when it means change.

I read this out of The Living Bible and rewrote it in my own words.

In those days those who are ungodly, whether they be NBA Superstars, Rock Stars, Movies Stars, Trash Collectors, Lawyers, Doctors, Teachers, anybody rich or poor will be seen for who they are! Stingy people will be seen as stingy people, rich or poor. An evil mans reputation will proceed him. Those who say one thing and do another will fool no one anymore; their lies against God will be judged. Those who say they are Christians but won’t even give someone a piece of their candy bar will be exposed. The smooth talker who takes no responsibility but blames others and who brings false accusations against the poor, God will deal with. But those who are generous to others will be blessed of God for all they do.

A  young man came up to me one day and told me that he was reading the parable of the wheat and the tares and that it changed his life. He made this statement:  “I was wheat among the tares and I did not know it. I looked like a tare, I acted like a tare I thought I was a tare, but in fact I was a wheat among the tares. Thank God for not pulling up the tares.”  

The wheat are waiting for someone to take the time to show them that they are not a tare.