A Dream Day

Yes, this is a picture of my motorcycle, and yes, it is in the church sanctuary. This is a picture that was taken at the sock hop we had at the church on Valentine's Day.

But that's not the dream day I am talking about...it's just the only picture I have right now of Brooke and I on the motorcycle. When we bought the bike in November, I pictured a day just like today. Around 10am we headed out. We rode the back roads through Kennedale and Mansfield, then did some highway riding down 287 South and then exited onto another winding back road which took us to Venus. From there we wandered on into Maypearl and then over to Milford and finally into downtown Waxahachie.

My dream day with my wife riding the motorcycle included finding some "hole in the wall" restaurant, and we found a BBQ place near the town square in Waxahachie that fit the bill. We got our food and took it out on the porch to eat. Good BBQ on a warm day, just my sweet heart and me. After finishing up the home made banana pudding, we got back on the bike and headed into Duncanville to visit my Mom for a few minutes, and then we headed home. In all, we traveled about 135 miles and were gone about 4 hours. It was the day I dreamed about when I first got the motorcycle, and I can't wait for more!

Everybody FREEZE

It's Called "Sleeve Face"

Constants In Life

"There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles."

- Stephen Covey

Happy Valentine's Day...From Google Earth

Learning From Moses

I'm still reading through Exodus...trying to get through all of the measurements of the tabernacle, etc. I can't tell you how much I have grown spiritually after reading verses such as Exodus 36:25, "Then for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards..." (did you sense the slight use of sarcasm, or are you re-reading the verse looking for some deep, spiritual insight?).

As I read a few more chapters tonight, I noticed one phrase or idea being repeated over and over:

• Exodus 35:10 - Let every skillful man among you come...
• Exodus 35:25 - All the skilled women...
• Exodus 35:36 - All the women whose heart stirred with a skill...
• Exodus 35:35 - He has filled them with skill...
• Exodus 36:1 - ...every skillful person in whom the Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work...
• Exodus 36:2 - ...every skillful person in whom the Lord had put a skill, everyone whose heart stirred him...
• Exodus 36:4 - And all the skillful men...
• Exodus 36:8 - All the skillful men

There's a lot of mention here about a LOT of SKILLFUL people. When the temple was built, architects were needed, those who could engrave, those who worked with stone, those who worked with metal, those who could sew and make material, wood workers, etc. And these were not just people who could get the job done...these verses tell us they were SKILLED people who had specific, extra-ordinary skills given by God. Given this fact, I find the following verse very interesting:

Exodus 38:22 - Now Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

This made me ask, "If God had all of those skilled people to work with, and if Moses was not skilled in all of these areas, why did God give the super-detailed plan for the building of the tabernacle to Moses? Couldn't God have told the architect, "Build a temple" and told the sewing ladies, "Make a beautiful curtain for the Holy Place" and to the metal workers, "Build elaborate utensils for use in the tabernacle"?

Had God told 100 skilled workers to build for Him, they no doubt would have created beautiful work..their absolute best for God. But there would have been 100 different pictures of what the tabernacle would look like. God didn't have 100 pictures in mind for His tabernacle...He had ONE picture in mind. So he clearly communicated that picture to His leader Moses, and Moses communicated the (detailed) vision to the skilled craftsmen.

I believe God was making a clear statement about leadership.

We can create something 'great for God' based on individual pictures we create in our own minds, or we can participate in something truly great by working with other skillful people to bring about the ONE picture God has revealed to His leader(s).

Great Day for a Ride

It was a beautiful day today...too nice not to go for a motorcycle ride. I headed out to Maypearl, over to Milford, through Waxahachie back to Arlington. About 130 miles of pure relaxation.

Leadership Thoughts From Exodus 28:3

I was reading in Exodus tonight and came to chapter 28 where God gave Moses VERY specific instructions about the garments the priests were to wear. He told Moses how their clothes should be made, who should make them, how the "accessories" were to be created and worn...the whole nine yards. As I glanced over chapter 28, I almost opted to skim over what seemed "boring and irrelevant" to my Christian life in 2008. But I took the time to read anyway, and God showed me something really cool from the first half of just one little verse.

"You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom (i.e. "artistic skill"), that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to me." (Exodus 28:3, NASB)

I believe God showed me a few leadership principles from this verse, and so I'll share the short version with you. You are welcome to comment.

1. God speaks, even to people with great God-given talent, through authority. God did not tell the garment makers how to make the priests' garments. God told Moses what He wanted, and then told Moses to whom he should delegate that task. If you read all the details, Moses may not have understood everything God was telling him about the making of the priests' garments. So when Moses passed this along to the people with great "artistic skill", they could run with it. They took the picture that God gave Moses, they ran with that using their God-given talent, and created something both beautiful and pleasing to God. Had Moses tried to do it himself, it would not have been God-pleasing. Had the garment makers brought their ideas to Moses first and said, "We think this is how the priests' garments should look", that would not have been pleasing to God, either.
2. As a leaders, we should listen for God's specific instruction not only on WHAT He wants done, but also on WHO He wants to do it.
3. As those under authority, we need to tread carefully offering "suggestions" in areas where we have not been delegated authority. God gives us ideas to go along with our skills and abilities, but He places those ideas, just like our skills and abilities, under godly authority.
   

Is This for Real?

A Lesson In Estate Planning

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.

When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.

One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her natural beauty took his breath away. "I may look like just an ordinary man," he said to her, "but in just a few years, my father will die, and I'll inherit 20 million dollars."

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother.

Women are so much better at estate planning than men.

Teaching the Younger Generation About a Classic

ATARI 2600

One Reason Why I Love Texas

One of the reasons I LOVE Texas is because of the weather. No, not the high humidity, at or above 100 degree summer days, but days like today. January and 66 degrees. We have a saying, "If you don't like the weather, stick around...it will change". I have been waiting (impatiently) for a change in the weather for two reasons: 1) it's been too cold these past few weeks and 2) I want to ride my motorcycle. So today, the weather was nice and I got to ride. Since we can't leave Amanda at home by herself, she got to go with me and Brooke stayed at home (can't wait for more warm weather and Friday motorcycle dates with Brooke while Amanda is in school!). There was stuff going on at the Ft. Worth Stockyards today, so we headed in that direction taking the back roads:


Once we got there, I was sorry I did not bring my camera. I did snap a couple pictures with my cell phone, but I would have taken more if I had a better camera with me. The first thing we did was stop and watch a street artist painting. It was fascinating watching him work. Amanda kept saying, "That's what I want to do". As we left the painter and walked on down the street, we saw a cowboy riding a Texas Longhorn. Where else can you see this?


We headed down the street to check out a couple shops and to get some ice cream. On the way back, Amanda spotted this jail and we had to stop for another picture. We have a very 'special' child!


After this, we headed back to the motorcycle. We passed the blue-eyed 'Indian chief' who was posing in full costume with his horse for pictures and we passed 50 or more other motorcycles on the way. We had a great time hanging out and saw some things we want to do another time.

On the way home, I found a park along the Trinity River I want to take Brooke to on our first Friday motorcycle date. We can go for a walk, hold hands and walk along the river. That will be a fun day, too.

Geocaching Comment

Hiding a good geocache requires a bit of thought. First you have to find a good place for the hide, and then it helps to hide a container full of stuff that people would like to find. My favorite geocache that I have hidden is a multi (4 parts - part 1 gives you the coordinates for part 2, part 2 has coordinates for part 3, etc) with a giant Sam's animal cracker barrel wrapped in cammo duct tape. I found a very pretty area to hide it in, but the area is being developed and parts number 2 & 3 probably won't be around much longer. But I put a lot of work in this cache, BINY In My Life -Amanda Kay. It was named after my daughter and holds a very special place in my heart.

So when you put a lot of effort into a cache, it's always nice to receive a positive comment. Here's a comment I received from someone logging this cache today: This was a rockin multi! I really hope this one stays around for awhile so everyone can experience the same enjoyment I did. What a beautiful day for a hike.

It's gonna be a nice day tomorrow. Should I go geocaching or ride my motorcycle...or geocache on my motorcycle?

Be Tough

Tough times don't stick around...
but tough people do.

Rethinking the Value of Ritual

Wikipedia (referencing the Oxford dictionary) defines ritual as "a set of actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions"

I got to thinking about rituals tonight as I was reading where God established the ritual of Passover in Exodus 12.

Ex 12:14 - 'Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. (NAS)

Ex 12:24-27 - And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25 "When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. 26 " And when your children say to you, ' What does this rite mean to you?' 27 you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.'" (NAS)

I noticed two (rather obvious) things here: It was important to God 1) that His people remember what He did for them and 2) that they pass this remembrance along to future generations. He chose a ritual to serve both of these purposes in this passage.

I got to thinking how we in the Protestant church in general and even more so as the Charismatic church have devalued ritual. (I'm not wagging a finger...I understand how/why this started. Rituals can all-too-easily lose their meaning and either become mindless or become the focus instead of a reminder of what the where the focus is supposed to be.) I remember one lady who came to our church for a while asked me if our church held Maundy Thursday services. I told her no, we did not, but I did not tell her I didn't even know what Maundy Thursday was. I knew Maundy Thursday was the Thursday of Holy Week, but I did not know much more than that until I researched it tonight.

Somewhere along the way, I thought about the double standard some of us in the Protestant, Charismatic church have about rituals. We avoid "Christian rituals" often times because they are "dead and meaningless". But if our children wanted to role-play a 'Satanic ritual' from a book, TV show or whatever, we would begin an all-night prayer vigil for their souls and immediately launch into a 30 minute sermon (unless it was an "innocent" cartoon or game that is indoctrinating our children...but I'll leave that for another time). Why is it that we assign "power" to a Satanic ritual and yet no power to a Godly ritual? The Apostle Paul taught us just the opposite (1 Corinthians 8:4-6) talking about food sacrificed to idols.

I will end this post the way I end my daily Bible study...with the question "How do I need to respond?" Here is what I wrote down tonight:

1. Figure out what are some of the rituals of my faith. Stop and think about them instead of repeat them mindlessly. Research them to appreciate the meaning more fully.
2. Perhaps read more about some of the rituals of the Church that I no little or nothing about.
3. Consider what I am passing on to Amanda as far as rituals of the Hurt family's faith.

If you are a Christian, what meaning do rituals hold in your life?

One Semester of Spanish - Spanish Love Song

I've had just enough Spanish to find this absolutely hilarious!

We Love Volunteers

At our church, Vine Fellowship, we LOVE our volunteers. Last year, we even did a video to show how lost we'd be without them. As I was looking at our video on YouTube, I found this volunteer appreciation video done at Saddleback Church. I loved it and thought I'd share it.

On the Verge of Something WILD

I read this blog post, "Everything Is An Experiment" by Mark Batterson, a blogger and pastor I have been reading the past few months. This blog posting pretty much summarizes the guy's life. He's a "grab the lion by the mane" kind of guy. Seems to be pretty much my opposite personality-wise, but God has been challenging me BIG TIME through some of the stuff this guy has been writing.

I get ideas, don't get me wrong. And some of them, I guess, could be labeled "creative". But I don't consider myself a particularly creative person. I get things done, but I don't know about being creative.

Something has caught my attention for the past three to four months...a drive to be a creative (and effective) communicator. God directed me to a couple books and several blogs that have stirred up this new-found passion. I felt God working something in my heart, and I didn't quite know how to put it into words. I asked Him about it, and the drive got stronger, but not any clearer. I began to wonder if the drive was to take me into areas of ministry where I never pictured myself (senior pastor). Some of the people I know, not knowing what I was experiencing, had encouraged me in that direction (said they could see me there one day). But that just seemed so opposite how God has made me (I believe I have an armor-bearer's calling on my life).

In December, I was sharing with another good friend whose opinion I respect very much. I was trying to communicate what has been on my heart. I told him I was confused because I didn't know where God was leading with this all-consuming passion. As we talked, he finally came right out and said, "I can't picture you being a senior pastor" and I just felt a flood of relief. I was looking for somebody to confirm what I felt in my heart. I didn't want to "hold out" on God, but I know how He has made me and stepping out of my armor-bearer calling just did not feel right.

And then at the first of the year, we had our annual staff retreat. One of my favorite parts of the retreat is where we spend a couple hours as a staff praying for one another. One person sits in a chair and others pray for him/her. During this time, we allow time for God to speak a word of direction, wisdom, encouragement or prophecy to us, through one another. When it was my turn to be prayed for (to be honest), I expected to hear some of the same things that have been prayed over me in the past (you are faithful, loyal, man of integrity, etc). I was blown away when God started speaking to me about increasing my teaching ministry this year and having to trust Him by stepping out in a bigger way. Everything that was said was one confirmation after another. I had been hearing God, He would be opening the doors, and what He was working was going to be much bigger than I would have envisioned myself. I was afraid to even share what God has been speaking in my heart, yet here God was saying it OUT LOUD through my pastor and my peers.

So I still don't know what ALL this means. I have been praying. God has made it clear that there will be a sacrifice of time required and that I will have to step out in faith. What He wants to do with me is bigger than me (doing something bigger than my talent wouldn't take much). I'm still praying and seeking.

Right now, I feel like God is still saying, "It's coming." I'm not sure what all "it" is. I'm both excited and nervous. I'm excited because I feel God has spoken that He is going to use me in a specific way. I can see where He has lead me to this point. I'm nervous because He has also made it clear that this will be Him in me and not me in my own strength. I know (better than anybody else), the limited talent I draw from. That part makes it easy to rely on Him...it also makes it hard because He has said this will take me out of my comfort zone.

I'm still asking God how it starts, when it starts, what does this all mean. I don't know when the time will be or even how I'll know it's time, but I sure get the feeling I'm on the verge of something WILD.

I was watching TV late Tuesday or Wednesday night and saw an advertisement for an Arenacross race at Reunion Arena. Brooke had been with my Dad and I once before and liked it, and I figured Amanda would be game for it at least once. I checked with Brooke and bought the tickets next day. We went to the race last night and had a good time. I'm ready to go back in March, but the girls suggest it might be a good "Guys Night Out". They both enjoyed it, but it was more of a "once-is-enough-for-me-right-now" deal for them.

Anybody wanna go to Supercross at Irving Stadium on Saturday, April 5th? With surcharges, tickets are $13 nosebleed seats or $35 for good seats (I'm up for either). Let me know.

500 Geocaches

My goal was 500 geocaches by my birthday this coming Thursday. Well, I made it! Brooke and Amanda went with me yesterday and we found caches #498, 499 and 500 (pictured here). Amanda has not cached in a while and 'caught the bug' again, so we went and did two more. Amanda has 321 and says she wants to get to 400, so that will be our next goal.