My finances are really tight and I want to trust God, but I get nervous about things more than I used to.

My schedule is busy, but I am fighting for my family time.

My friends are important to me, but I feel like I never see half of them.

I oversee a lot of ministry and people at Calvary, but I still feel like a big idiot.

I love my new job, but last night all I wanted to do was worship with the high schoolers.

I’m happier than ever, but I feel like I get emotional a lot lately.

I love preaching in Elevation, but I dread the prep week when I know it’s coming.

I love blogging, but I get super lazy about it.

I love my wife,    no but there.

I love my kids,   no but there.

I love God and I want to serve Him. Period.

Then we got our iPhones today which was pretty cool too. I love it so far, but lots to learn.

I leave for four days up at Hume Lake tomorrow. We are taking the whole pastor/director staff up there. It should be awesome!

See you when I get back.

1. I’m preaching in Elevation this Sunday on Nehemiah 2. Chapter 2 is where Nehemiah’s prayer is answered by King Artaxerxes giving him permission and money to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. Nehemiah goes at night alone to inspect the walls. He challenges the people to build the walls together. Then the “bad guys” come and talk trash on Nehemiah, but he gives them a righteous verbal butt whooping. I’m a little bit behind in my prep, but I should be ok. You could pray for that.

2. This Sunday is the last Sunday we will have the LifeGroup tent out on the patio and finishes the big push for people to join LifeGroups. We are meeting today to help get all the administrative work of creating rosters and getting them to the leaders completed. It’s a huge task.

3. The Calvary Church Pastoral Staff is heading to Hume Lake on Monday for four days. We are going through The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. I am leading a couple sessions so I need to be preparing for those too. I think this is going to be an intense process and really good for us. Plus, it’s Hume!!

4. I’m meeting today with some staff to work on finalizing our How to Reach Class which will start in January. I think this class will help a lot of people at Calvary know where to serve and how to find their spiritual gifts.

5. I’m officiating a wedding on Saturday for Greg Clarke and Liz Beeman. They are part of our LifeGroup and it will be wonderful to participate in this ceremony with them. Our LifeGroup is awesome and it’s great to share life’s huge moments together.

6. I’m waiting until Sunday to get our iPhones. That way my Verizon contract will be totally finished and I can transfer our phone numbers immediately.

So it’s always busy, but it’s definitely good. I’m excited about all these things but I’m a little tired. I’m only leading a couple things on one day of Hume Lake next week so the rest of the time will be good for me to relax and restore.

2. We have our LifeGroup meeting tonight at our house. Gotta do some tidying up before 6pm. But I love meeting with these people and sharing life and God’s Word.

3. Today is the first Sunday of the NFL season. I’m hoping the Chargers win and that my Fantasy team does well. I have Willis McGahee who is a game-time decision of whether or not he will play and that’s super frustrating because I can’t sit by my computer to find out all day. I work at a church!

4. My throwing arm kind of stinks. I hope I get to play 2B on our softball team. My shoulder has been hurting throwing the ball and that just feels lame. Come game time – I will play through the pain.

2. I’m going to our Elder Meeting tonight – always interesting.

3. Kevin and I put up some nice blinds in our family room last night. They look beautiful and we needed something to block the bright sun.

4. We met with a “Sign Architect” and a Sign Fabricator yesterday for church. The fabricator goes to our church and wants to help us make our new signage for church at about 45% less than normal cost. Now they aren’t the local sign store. They do Disneyland, Irvine Company, The Citadel’s huge jumbotrons, Saddleback Church, etc. We have needed to improve our overall campus signs for directions for visitors so this should be cool.

5. I’m looking forward to our church’s Local Reach plan that Matt Doan is working on. It should be awesome.

6. I get my haircut tomorrow and I need it badly.