Back in the saddle...

Attitude is major in anything. I have heard the cliché that “your attitude determines your altitude” and many others. There have been thousands of books about it but yet I still don’t think that we get it. Sunday morning was the first time that I had led the congregational singing since I was covered with complaints and suggestions about what “not” to do from now on. I had decided to not lead worship for a while. I just didn’t have a heart for it; it had been ripped out and thrown on the ground. So Sunday I proceeded to pick it up. What an amazing time of worship it was. It felt as though God had soothed over every sour and bitter morsel from the incident and turned them into an acceptable offering that I was able to give back to him. As we sang, I wasn’t thinking about someone not liking it, or complaining about it…I was only giving praise to the one who deserved it. I had energy and passion and strength and boldness and felt like a completely new person. Why? God had taken everything that had woven and knitted and sewed into what I thought my worship experience should be and changed it. He changed my worship attitude. It is all for Him. The songs, the music, the gathering, the people, the prayers, the offering and the sermon.


Here am I…all of me…take my life…its all for thee!


Good Day.

Thanks giving time

Here is my short list of things that I am thankful for:

1. My salvation- without it, I couldn't know the depths of love that I know
2. Sarah- My amazing wife and best friend and a cover stealer like no other
3. My family- now both sides: I couldn't have asked for a more loving, supportive family than I already have.
4. Momma- for going through the wars of life together
5. My job- I truly am spoiled and blessed beyond measure here at Shiloh
6. My friends- the Speds...Seth and Gwen...Dustin etc etc etc
7. That IU is looking really good thus far
8. That someone in a moment of pure genious thought of the idea of Hamburger and Rice
9. That someone in another moment of pure genious thought of the idea of pizza
10. Snow and the cold...it just refreshes me and I love being cold and cooled off
11. New socks- I love the way they make you feel
12. pull over fleeces from Foot Locker
13. McRibs...McGriddles
14. Peanuts and Red Hots
15. Hot Chocolate
16. my health
17. worship music
18. my car...for now
19. sunglasses
20. and last but not least...that you are reading this and laughing at me...

Have a great weekend.

Honeymoon pics...hurray

What a wonderful time of growing together and so much fun...that dessert was pretty good too!!!

Good Day. Happy Thanksgiving.

Tuesday...smoozeday

I am a happy man...
my Hoosiers are looking GREAT...
I have a wonderful wife...
it is cold outside and supposed to snow a lot today...
we finally got all of our presents opened and the $ that was in the cards (I told Sarah I felt like a bank robber while counting the money, wow thanks you guys for making our wedding such a wonderful event)...
I love my job and wouldnt want to be anywhere else...
I was driving to work this morning and a song came on and the catch was that nothing I could do would ever make God not love me! What a thought and promise...

Who can separate us from the love of Christ? No one...not even ourselves!


Good Day.

I promise pictures soon...

Back home again...

It feels great to be home and back to work...Sarah and I missed the kids so much that we decided to drop in on them last night unexpectedly. I am so thankful for everything that God has given me and as I start out on this new path...I am woozy at all of the possibilities that are zooming around my head. I promise some pictures soon...but as I was doing my devo this morning I had a question pop in my head...what are the essentials for being a Christian? What I mean is, what are the things that a person must believe, must do, must not do to be a Christian? In the end, will it matter what our take on war was? What about our take on speaking in tongues? How we worship? Which translation we use? Whether we baptize by submersion or sprinkling? These are all things that cause strife and eventual splits in churches. I know that we shouldn't throw everything into one basket...and say "well, you believe what you believe and I'll believe what I believe". I am just saying that so many times we try to find the differences in how we believe compared to the next guy rather than finding a common ground and things that will bring us together as members of the body and family of Christ.

So what are the essentials...what makes someone a Christian...not a Wesleyan or Nazarene or Methodist or Baptist...but a Christian...

Please respond...I would really like to know what you all believe whether it is one or twenty things...


Good Day.

In Daytona Beach...

Just a quick update thus far:


-I am not too crazy about flying...it makes me sick and they like to go sideways for some reason.

- I LOVE being married to Sarah

- Our luggage got ripped and a pulling thingy got chopped off! So much for new luggage.

- Florida is beautiful

- We upgraded at Thrifty and got a Chrysler Sebring Convertible!!!

- Our flight got upgraded to first class with bigger seats for FREE

- We ordered room service at the Marriott and it was REALLY expensive

-When we got to the Marriott I walked in the wrong door which was for the Indianapolis Colts team who were staying in the Marriott with us...guess I fit right in

- I am like a big kid around the ocean...jumping, frolicking, making sand castles with Sarah, getting sun burnt...etc etc etc

MORE TO FOLLOW when we get back plus PICTURES!!!

Love from Florida....

Andy and Sarah

Only one day left!!!

This will PROBABLY be the last blog I write for a while...meaning a week or so...I will be on my honeymoon. Things are going good except that we mailed the marriage license to the minister and as of right now...it never got to him!!! Other than that, the church is looking great and things are coming together...God truly has blessed me with more than I could ever have imagined...Sarah is wonderful, I have an amazing family and a great job with a church family that supports me and is behind me. What more could a guy ask for? Well, since you asked...I really wanted a digital camera...and that is exactly what Sarah got for me for our wedding gift!!! Yeah for me...well I hope you enjoy your week while I am in sunny Florida dodging sharks and the likes. Pictures to follow.


Good Day.

A praise report!!!

A couple of weeks ago I posted about asking the congregation for funds to help the teens in the youth group go to LOGOS5 which is our area Wesleyan Youth Conference...well for two weeks...the money really didnt come in some but not much...then this past sunday over $1400 came in! God is amazing and always meets our needs...always...whether we see it happening or not...he will get r done...so...all praise goes to God...How great is our God? Pretty ridiculously great, thats how great!!!



Good Day.

I need some advice...

What are your two biggest pieces of advice for me from here...through Saturday at 1130am?

LATE engagement pic

It looks like the most beautiful girl in the world and Shrek!!! Just kidding...

Something to pray about...

It is finally here...the week of the wedding! Wow, I thought that it would never come...but it has and come and it will be over just as quick...as I was driving home from youth group last night I started praying hard...why hard you ask? Because it hit me that I was going to be a husband and married the next time I seen most of the teens. I want to be an example to them of how a husband should treat his wife. More importantly, I want to be a great husband for Sarah. I want to be there for her at every turn...to hold her up when she is down...to hold her when she is sad...I want to love her like Christ loved the church... with an all-out love that never waivers...never moves, and never ever fails. So today...right now...just say a prayer for me that I can be the husband that God has called me to be...because we all know that Sarah deserves that and much more...thanks...and I am serious about praying for me...I want to be a great husband and the husband that God wants not only a Christian to be but also a Pastor...5 days...5 days


Good Day.

long night

I guess that it is a certainty when people get married that wierd stuff will happen to them...things that have never happened to them...and mine happened last night...I got food poisioning...from of all places...Little Caesar's!!! Talk about disheartening...I don't know if I will ever be able to eat there again after eating it once and seeing it twice. Hopefully there are no more surprises like this one next week!!! We are getting married in 1 week...7 days...168 hours...10,080 minutes...60,480 seconds!!! I am so excited to be able to be marrying my best friend and the most beautiful girl in the world...


Good Day.

Hope

Yesterday, I was watching Batman Begins, which is a really good movie, and it kept talking about hope. The city had been overrun with thugs and bad guys and many of the people had given up. Many of the cops, judges, and other people in power had given in to the powerful criminals. Then, along comes Batman and brings hope, people had something to be hopeful of...too often in the past 5-6 years have I heard about how our world is going to pot...how things are going downhill and that it "must be the end times". While I agree that the world is a place full of sin, I am sick and tired of people complaining about their surroundings and sitting and doing nothing about it. Someone just this week was talking to me about the whole using Jesus name in prayer in the military. I don't agree with it either...but if you are going to complain and grumble and give us the latest end time forecast...for goodness sake...do something productive. I believe that the church needs a restored sense of hope...the church needs a new "Batman" in the 21st century. We need to realize that one day...soon or not...every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord! AND, until that time...we must be dealers in hope and love rather than sour, spewing words that bring down every one around us... Jeremiah 29:11 says that the Lord has plans for us, plans to prosper us and to give us a HOPE and a future!!! Hows your hope doing?

We have the only living God among all of the religions of the world...may he restore any and all hope that you have lost on your journey of life.


Good Day.

My first day off in a while...

Things have been hectic recently...Thursdays are my day off from going to the office...Sarah and I have had pre-marital counseling the past three thursdays, met with the food lady...met with the photographer...etc etc etc...so today was a good day...a much needed day.


God is amazing in how he gives us certain things in our lives to relieve stress...mine is definitely basketball...so right now..i I am relieved and not sure why I am putting so many dots in between my words.

Good Day.

Not to us!!!

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life...we truly forget what "it" is all about. God made us to praise him not just with our mouths, but more importantly with our lives. May your light shine in your world today!

This is a picture of the youth group a couple of weeks ago...

uggghhhhh!!!!

I was warned ahead of time about losing my mind with the wedding approaching. With that said, I think I have lost my brain. I keep forgetting things, spacing on ordinary stuff and most annoying...I keep starting things and then something else comes up and I forget to finish the other thing...

So with the wedding AND trying to get everything together for the youth conference that is in December but registration is due November 14th...(yeah that stinks)...I am trying to raise the money, get the permission slips in, register etc etc etc. You get the point...I feel I have contracted A.D.D. It will be over soon...but for now...UGGGGGHHHH!!!



Good Day.