Jaden's Prayer

This is Monday night's prayer by Jaden. (this is also a typical prayer for her)

Dear Lord,
Thank you that I had a good day. I hope that I have a good day tomorrow. I hope that everybody in the hospitals have a good day and that they will get better. Even the ones that are sick. And, I hope that the baby isle has a good day. And, I hope that everybody has a good day! Help that I don't dream about the Leprechaun tonight. And, Amen

Her prayer is always about others. Never just about herself, her family, or even friends. She always prays for people in the hospital and the sick. Of course, Little Momma (Jaden's nick name) always has to throw in a shout out to babies in some way. I have so much to learn about prayer from my kids.

Disappearing Ink

"Here try my pen. This thing is awesome. Squirt!"
One of the best gags out there. When I was 10 there was nothing more entertaining than getting someone with a white shirt and squirting some disappearing ink on them. You would watch them get freaked out then realize that it was gone. And most of the time they would jump right in to help prank the next victim.

"LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. My life is no longer than the width of my hand. An entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a breath."
Psalm 39:4-5 NLT

I only have a short time on earth to leave a mark on people. When I die that mark will fade away quickly. I do not want my kids to leave the same mark on lives as I am. I want them to leave their own mark. What I want to teach them is how to leave a mark.
My pastor is a man that I think has learned this lesson and is living it. For years now He has been giving many young people opportunities to get up on the pulpit and preach, or lead in youth, or in children's ministry. I always thought that he just wanted less work and it was a nice chance to get a break for him. I am sure that it is a nice break, but in reality I think he is trying to teach and give younger people a chance to leave their mark. He is not spending his time trying to make his mark permanent. He is helping others in leaving their mark. Now that's a legacy that I want to leave in my family.

"Lord help me to train my family how to pull off a disappearing ink prank well!"

If your like me and this blog-off re-ignited a desire to get someone with disappearing ink then click here and let's go soil some shirts.

Fireproof

You are going to see more about this, but I wanted to put this up so that more people than me can get excited about it. At Garr you will definitely see some support of this movie. If I had not already done so, I would write something about marriage. Instead after you watch the trailer go read it here. 7 year itch

Big Head Josh with a needle close by.

I delivered the sermon "The Heart of a Champion" yesterday at Garr Church. I have to admit I struggled a lot on this sermon. I had my topic, and scripture reference ready a week ahead, but I did not start writing the sermon out till Saturday (the day before) Side note: I do not recommend this, procrastination never makes perfect. I started Saturday at 10am and finished writing at 3am Sunday morning. I then went to sleep and got up at 7:30am and started to revise some. I walked on the stage feeling like this is not going to go well. I do not have a great sermon in my hands and this is going to bomb.
I have to admit that during the sermon I was unusually comfortable. The sermon seemed to flow decently. And it was 30min long! Every time I went through it at home at best it was 20min. After the sermon I had tons of people come up to me and tell me how good the sermon was. My family came to me and said that it was the best they have heard me deliver so far! I began to swell! Oh, I kept up the "christian" facade and always replied with a statement like: "It had to be God because it was not great when I was preparing it" Which is true, but inside my head was having a hard time getting through a doorway.
This morning I was doing my usual blog reading and I re-read an awesome blog by my dad. The Cutting Edge. POP! I realize that the power was not, and never will be, in my ability, but in my willingness to be available. That sermon was not great because of my ability to write great sermons. The power came because I made myself available to deliver God's powerful sermon.
I will hopefully be delivering more great sermons, but not because I am only getting better at it. But because I am going to make myself available to be used.

A realization at midnight

I was preparing for my sermon this Sunday and I realized something. My sermon is on the Heart of a Champion. Your physical heart pulls blood in, processes it, then pumps it out. If any of those three things are not happening then there is a big problem and you could be dead! Your spiritual heart should be doing the same three things or else you are spiritually dead! Pull in God, Process and apply to your life, then pump it out!
You'll be hearing this statement on Sunday also, but I needed to get that analogy out cause I thought is was good.