Press The Pace

I have two great paces to keep up with...

1. I have to stay on pace with knowing and growing with my kids and Krista. I love my kids, I love Krista. I want to keep pace with my growing kids and loving wife.

2. Pastoring our church is much fun and I enjoy it; I want to be sure to keep pace with what God is doing in all of our lives.

Find a challenge. Set your pace for the challenge ahead. At times, you'll need to press through the pace in order to swat the winners tape. In other words; chase hard, stay focused, don't trip, don't quit, slow if you must, but press on regardless.

I can only dream of winning a swim meet or marathon, but it's a good dream when I do! Find something that's challenging for you to attempt, then attempt it and finish it. In the end; win, lose, or draw, celebrate finishing strong at your own pace!

Really Live; For a Whole Minute!

So I was called to the hospital today to visit with a woman who had open heart surgery yesterday. When I walked in she looked so tired and in so much pain. As I approached her bed she was faintly saying as loud as she could, "Dear God, Jesus I'm in pain, Dear God, Jesus, I'm in pain..." She must have said it 15 times in the first few minutes I stood by her bed holding her hand. A nurse came in gave me a cup of ice and I took the job title of "Ice Feeder." So I gave my friend small bits of ice with a plastic spoon for about a half hour. It took about that long for the med's (from the nurse who came in) and ice to work enough for her to relax some.

Do you remember the last time that you begged for God to do something in your life? I remember being in such hospital beds gasping for air and hoping to live another minute. What about pausing what your doing right this minute, clear your mind, and consider how good God is. Think of how precious your kids are. What do you have in your fridge? How about your garage? What about your last vacation? Is God good or what?

He's good. Stop and beg of His mercies and ponder His awesomeness on your good days. We don't have to be in the hospital to beg for God's provision, let's do it today. Sometimes I really come to life when I stop and think of God's goodness and mercy, His gifts, His presence, His everything; my kids, my wife, my fortune, my garage, my day off, sunny days, Kingdom victories, ...the list goes on and the story never ends. Let's pause, and -Really Live; for a Whole Minute!

And, as my 5 year old son says when he really wants something from God, "Please Jesus" .... Please Jesus, give peace to Sally Long and healing to David Long! We love and trust you Jesus for Dave's complete healing.

Great Church Service: + derby cars, race truck, crotch rocket, and a 60 something nova...

Krista and I took the kids to their grandparents on Sunday...in Allen Co. Ohio where we were raised. By the end of the afternoon I had spent some time in the derby car barnyard where some friends were sawing and welding on derby cars, replacing a motor or two and tightening up the loose sheet metal from several previous derby's on some broke down surely unrecognizable Cutlass Supreme, or something! I left my good friend Chuck to take a tour of my brother in law's new hobby trophies. Spent a few miles at 120mph in Dustin's '68 Nova, walked around his '88 Chevy S 10 race truck, and my sister in law Candace let me take her (new to her) '99 Honda CBR 600 f4 sport bike for a short cruz around the block... yes, I touched 100 or so once then just took it easy. I couldn't stay for the derby car field run which is a favorite past time of mine most every year before the Allen Co. fair... but I can't complain with all the other action I was afforded that day. What a nice day....

I saved the best info for last - our church service was rocking awesome and God moved like an avalanche during the service. It was one of the most pivotal services in the history of my life as I laid out our plan for our name change, temporary relocation while we spruce up our current building for our Launch of Velocity Church on Easter Sunday April 4th 2010! Cool enough, it happened to be the first service Brooks and Katelyn Page were w/us, too. As Col. John "Hannibal" Smith from the A Team used to say "I love it when a plan comes together!" Who can turn back God's hand when He sets His mind to something? What weapon can be formed against us that will over take us? You know the answers to these questions - the answer is God is glorious, He is awesome, He is wonderful, He is the great I Am! There's nothing like His power, His love, or His overwhelming presence that gives peace to the anxious, comfort to the restless, healing to the hurting, & salvation to the possessed!

Was a great Sunday!!!

Rock on.... Velocity Church - Mansfield Moving Forward - Matthew 28:16-20.

My Saturday Nights...

Aahh... Saturday nights! I try to spend a low key evening on Saturday nights with my family as a prelude to Sunday morning. Tonight I'm watching Cake Boss and I'm really liking the idea of "Vision Casting" just watching Buddy's show about creating specialty cakes from scratch - no manual, no paperwork that tells him how to do it; He has to see the finished product in his mind, tell his team what he's seeing, communicate as clearly as possible and build a custom cake from the ground up to suit his client's order. Click here to see his site and order you a cake!

And so - The Ohio District office just came out with a new vision statement that I really like called "Custom Build." So many times we have to custom build ministry from the ground up and there's no field manual for the step by step plan. There are some good books out there for inspiration, but no play by play cookie cutter plan that's sure to work in your neck of the woods. Maybe it's a new ministry branch or a whole new Sunday AM approach... Go after it with prayer, total inclusion of all top leaders, and be totally transparent with people so they can:

1. feel your heart beat,
2. be confident that you're hearing from God, and
3. have their best interest in mind.

Gotta run - Cake Boss back on!

Team

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

There's nothing like a team effort. I love the concept of being on a great team. I enjoy the planning and execution of accomplishing a goal together with great people. Today, I'm feeling thankful for the team of people God as allowed me to partner with here in Mansfield. There are greater things yet to come and I'm excited to be apart of the big picture God is painting in Richland County on beyond!

To our launch team - You are awesome!!! To our supporters of VeloCity Church - You're a major blessing and I love you! Together we will stand firm, and continue to stand.

Speaking of Team: I watched "We Are Marshal" last night... I'm pumped! Great movie, great story of faith, prayer, and planning - and success!

decisions....

Executing a decision is often times more difficult than knowing the right decision to make. In other words; you know what to do, it's just hard doing it sometimes. In the event that your decision involves talking to someone about a tough subject; Execute your good hard decision today by:

1. Gently Communicating It
2. Showing Great Patience
3. Using Careful Instruction
4. Kindly Sharing Your Inner Most Thoughts on the Subject to Show Heart
5. Humbly Standing Firm on Your Decision

Back Home

Been to Florida and back on the bike - I love my wife and kids.... That's what I learned the most in the last 10 days!

Lean not on our own understanding

Think about what you fully understand. What do you know the most about? How do you understand math, science, or geography? How did the boy with the two fish and five loaves of bread do math after Jesus fed the 5K? He did math differently.

Trust God & lean not on your own understanding! Proverbs 3:5 That's a difficult thing to do. It takes faith, prayer, and planning. It takes sweat blood and tears! As I pray for God's favor in Mansfield, I'm asking God to keep my vision focused on the things he wants us to do. Believe me, I can't lean on my own understanding when it's time to move forward, I have to have faith that God is going to bring about the good things for people that I'm seeing in my prayer time. With a good bit of planning with great leaders, there's no reason why Mansfield Ohio won't be on the cutting edge of what God is doing in America!