Thanks to the generosity of a couple in our church and their company, me and Kelli were able to get away this week for a little R&R. It was a blast and extremely relaxing. I have found out that to really rest it doesn’t matter as much where your body is but where your mind is and I was definitely able to shut the noodle down this week.

Here is a short list of the weeks activities:

• Hung out in downtown Miami.
• Ate at Bubba Gumps.
• Had my first Cuban food.
• Saw two Comedy Central comedians on the boat.
• Freshly made sushi every night.
• Great 80’s show on Tuesday night.
• Saw an insane balancing act (dude balanced two swords tip to tip on his head, he also balanced a bike on his head from the back wheel).
• Rode a catamaran for the first time in my life on Tuesday in Key West.
• Snorkeled over the 3rd largest coral reef in the world.
• Hung out on the beach in Cozumel Mexico on Wednesday.
• Met some really cool pastors and there wives (over 1000 on the boat with us). Really enjoyed hanging with Mark and Jennifer Church from St. Louis. Also met Daniel Floyd from Lifepoint Church in VA.
• Gained 453 pounds
• Took an air boat ride in the Everglades on Friday.
• Dated my lovely bride all week!

I am uploading some pics to flickr so look to the right in a day or so. Until then here are a few.

Here are some notes that Perry Noble took this weekend while listening to Ron Carpenter in Greenville, SC. There are a couple of these that made me think hard so I thought I would share them with you. I have bolded the ones that slammed me.

• The definition of diligence is doing a little thing a long time until something big happens.
• You will never win if you keep quitting!
• When you are preparing you are out of step with today but in step with what is happening tomorrow.
• The church waits on the world to create a problem & then responds to it–we need to do church in a way that puts the world on its heels!
• Having to be inspired to do what is right is the lowest form of maturity!  (DANG!!!)
• There are people who don’t mind if you fail…but it really bothers them if you succeed.
• Gossip is a symptom of an unfulfilled, boring life.  The only way you can focus on my life is because there is nothing happening in yours!  (DANG!)
• I want you to be so focused on your future that you don’t have time to talk about other people’s past!

Is there a fire in your gut? Are you passionate about something? Anything? That is my burden right now. I want to see people that are fanatical about what they do and who they are. When I see people go through the motions of life it makes me feel nauseous and angry.

Having said that, here are a few things that are burning in my gut right now:

• Helping Lifepoint prepare for what God has in store. I believe with all my heart that the only thing that will keep us from growing and pointing more people to life is us! I feel like we need to sure up our net in a few places and continue to strengthen the line in all areas and God will meet us there. However, if we bring a mediocre effort to the table, that’s all we give Him to work with. That’s BURNING IN ME.
• Helping others catch on fire. As I stated above, it upsets my stomach to see people with potential that are fine with mediocrity. I not only want to see them meet their potential and be on fire at what they do, I want to help them. This is BURNING IN ME and I have to be honest, sometimes I just want to throw up my hands on this one. I want so bad to encourage and inspire and sometimes I just want to lay into people (which is not a bad thing). I am seeking God in this area of leadership.
• Here is another thing that is burning in me. Since coming into ministry full time, I have done a poor job of protecting my family time. As TD Jakes says “I have loved His bride and fed mine” and God calls us to do the opposite. It is BURNING IN ME to be a better husband and father, to do a better job at leaving it at the office. I have told myself for years that it is just different in ministry and in certain areas it is but I am my wife’s only husband, my kids only dad and that’s got to come before ministry.
• Face time with God. Jeff inspires me with this one but it is BURNING IN ME to spend more and more time with God. I don’t ever want to lean on my abilities and strength. I have been there, done that and I ain’t that good. I need God more than ever in my life and daily routine. My goal is to spend and hour in the morning and an hour at night alone with God.

That’s what is BURNING IN ME right now.

I heard Rick Warren say one time that “People are down on what they are not up on” and I have experienced this first hand.

If you lead anyone at all whether its an athletic team, a business, your home, a small group, etc., then you should read this post from John BIshop. - Enjoy!

“The longest distance between two points is a shortcut” - John Maxwell

Make sure you do things right and with integrity.

What you feed grows! (I know, thank you captain obvious) This is has been so true in my life. Let me give you some practical examples:

• When I start digging into my Bible, I become so alive and I want more. I feel so dumb for slacking off.
• When I go to the gym, I have more energy and I am inspired to get fit. Again I feel dumb for slacking off.
• When I spend time on organization I get more done. Again, I feel ignorant for neglecting this aspect of my daily routine.

Can you see a pattern? The things in life that are good for me, actually invigorate me when I do them. So why in the world would I not do them more often? The simple answer is self discipline but there is more to it.

I have two appetites that I have to manage in my life and how I manage these make all the difference in the world.

One appetite is for those things that are healthy for me. My family, my faith, my productivity, my health. The other appetite is those things that pull me away from the first set. I will call this an appetite for destruction. Let me get real vulnerable on this one, this is stuff like lust, over eating, laziness. These things work just like the good list, if you feed them, they grow and not only do they grow but they cause the good list to suffer. If I look at the opposite sex in the wrong manner those desires will grow. If my mind is racing to the next meal my waste line grows. If I fuel laziness it affects my whole schedule.

So here is the game plan:

• Identify the positive appetites in your life (God, Spouse, Kids, Work)
• Feed the positive appetites (time, energy, resources)
• Identify the negative appetites in your life (sin, time wasters, health busters)
• Starve the negative appetites (cut them off cold, no time, not thoughts, no resources)

It has been dry as all get out around here lately. I mean like two years dry. When I cut my grass, I can’t see my house, or cars or anything. But even though my lawn is jacked up and my soil is dry, I have noticed that my neighbor down the street has maintained a plush green golf course lawn (and I hate him but that’s a different topic).

What is the difference in our yards? Why is it that his looks like a golf course and mine like a sand trap?

I know you know what I am about to tell you but lean in to this next part.

It’s greener because:

• He waters it daily (sometimes twice a day)
• He puts time into it
• He invest in what it likes

Nothing earth shattering there but isn’t this true in almost every area of our lives? We are attracted to greener grass in areas such as:

• Finances
• Marriages
• Jobs
• Belongings

The lie that we buy into is that all we need to do is jump the fence to enjoy the green grass but the truth is, when you get over there, you figure out that the grass is green because it is watered, kept up and cared for. The simple truth is that the grass is greener where it is watered. If you aren’t happy with your marriage, maybe you need to water it, spend time working on it and invest in it. Same with your kids and your business. This even works with your health and your realtionship with God. The more you invest the more awesome it becomes, the less you invest the drier it becomes and the more other options look better.

Take the time, energy and resources you have and invest them into your lawn (Relationship with God, Marriage, Kids, Job) and you will find that it will green up just like anyone elses.

This guy is in town for a week or so and he is cracking me up. I am hoping he will perform one of his hits at Lifepoint this Sunday. Tony, you are a funny man!

This was part of blog post from Perry Noble that spoke straight to me. You can read the whole post here.

Be who God called you to be…take risks…pray “stupid” prayers…ask people for commitment…believe in those no one else dared to believe in…PREACH JESUS…listen to the Holy Spirit…give everything your best…spend time BEGGING God to change lives…understand that God wants your church to grow more than you do…stop trying to make people happy…take some time for yourself…hire the people God tells you to hire…LEARN DAILY…spend whatever amount of money you need to spend to grow…develop your strengths, delegate your weaknesses…ignore your critics…STOP trying to be someone else…HONOR GOD’S GIFTING AND CALLING ON YOUR LIFE!!!

If you fall in one of the following categories you need to listen to this message:

• If you are alive and can click on this link
• If you think you know what repentance means click on this link
• If you have no clue what repentance means click on this link
• If you are thinking about going to see Sex and the City click on this link
• If you think mega churches water down the gospel click on this link
• If you are wondering what is holding you back in life click on this link
• If you think your sins only affect you click on this link
• If you are wondering how to go where God wants you to go, click on this link.
• If you want to see what John The Baptist looked like when he was 27, click on this link.

Once you get to the site, it is week 4 of Old Time Religion (Alter of Repentance). You can watch it our listen to it.