Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

Just saw this advertised in the new Relevant Magazine. It’s called 40 Days of Nothing, and it is put on by the guys behind XXXChurch.com. Some think these guys are great, some think they are not a real ministry because of where they go w/ their message. I’ve listened to their podcasts a few times and think that God really is using them. But it looks like this is something worth checking out as well. Here’s an excerpt:

Craig Gross and JR Mahon are on a mission to inspire the people to get out of the pews. Too often Christians spend their time praying, talking, and being “spiritual” but not getting their hands dirty. The book of James says, “Faith without works is dead.” There are too many meetings, too much political posturing, too much condemnation, and too much inaction. Starving Jesus will challenge you to less talking and more doing. Craig Gross and JR Mahon run the day-to-day operations of XXXchurch.com and both live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And it even gets better (maybe). They are having a tour, and they’ll actually be coming to Clinton. Right here in my neck of the woods. Now I’m going to have to think about getting the book.

A couple of months ago I was reading Dennis Bullock‘s blog and saw where he was so happy that all of his children had mastered the bicycle and no longer needed training wheels. While happy for him I was wondering when any of mine would get the hang of it. My four year old was out in force w/ her training wheels all the time. But didn’t seem to really want to take them off.

Then towards the beginning of May she started telling me she was ready to take them off. I really didn’t think she was, but I humored her. But I could tell she was really trying to ride w/o the training wheels touching. So I took them off and she couldn’t go anywhere. So I’d have to lean WAY over and hold her handle bars while I hobbled down the street with her to the stop sign and then back to the house. About two laps of this was all I could make. My back was killing me.

And then I figured out what the catalyst was. Some of the girls in school were asking everyone if they still used training wheels or not to ride their bike. So Addie felt the peer pressure to be able to ride without them.

So we made the trek to the stop sign and back a few times a day. And then one day she coasted down the drive way w/o any help. So I told her to go to the street and pedal. And she did. And the rest is history. She was so proud that she was ONLY four and the girls who were bragging were already five. Funny little minds, these kids have.

She’s five now and I think we’re ready to step up to a bigger bike.

[tags] training wheels, bicycle, learning to ride, daughter[/tags]

I started typing all this last night, but then Firefox disappeared, so I lost it and went to bed.

But last night, for some reason, I was thinking that today was going to be the start of a new week. A new era. Here were a few reason I thought it might happen.

• Because I was going to start eating better today. Yesterday was Father’s Day and I got a log of cookie dough and a big bag of M&M’s. I finished off the cookie dough quickly and ate a lot of M&M’s during the NBA game last night. But today should mark a new day.
• I will embark on a running plan of some sort. I’m not going to set any unreachable goals, but want a few challenging but realistic goals to chase.
• I will work out more (as in lifting weights). See above.
• Today marked the first day of Vacation Bible School. Last year my daughter busted her head open on the last day and had to get stitches for the first time in her life. It was one of those “life moments”. Hopefully no more stitches this year.
• Or maybe I was just thinking that because I was tired but didn’t want to go to sleep.

I’ve not eaten anything too bad, except for the chocolate sunday w/ my lunch. Yet to run or lift anything. And no stitches at VBS today. So I’ve still got some work to do.

Yes, it really is. After a five night stretch of sleeping on wood chips out in the Georgia wilderness and taking cold showers with a waterhose looped over a 2×4, it is. But it really wasn’t that bad. Working with the AIM training camp was truly a blessing. And a humbling thing about it was that the people that we were serving, who were going out to Kenya or Peru or Russian in a matter of days, they kept thanking us over and over and over.

One even went so far as to say that any success they had during their mission trip would be partly because of our service to them.  Wow. How amazing was that? And the last morning, when we were leaving, the Kenya team actual asked us to sit in a circle while they washed our feet as an act of service to us. Very humbling.

I think a lot of the Clinton students were semi envious. Not jealous, but when they’re seeing these guys and girls, young men and women not any different from them getting the opportunity to travel abroad to serve God’s people in a special way…there is a “Man, I wish I was going” feeling that wells up. But the truth is that there is just as much need and hurt and emptiness in our own neighborhoods and communities. And that fact hit hard today.

After being gone to BigStuf for 5 days and then being home for about 3 before heading to the Training Camp for 6, I was ready to kick back and not worry about too much today. So I cleaned the UHaul trailer out, sprayed it off and returned it. But I also found out that a 15 year old girl took her own life last night here in town. That makes the 2nd student from that grade to take their own life in the last 6 or 7 months. It’s obvious that there are hurts and pain and confusion even in our own little suburbia.

So although it wasn’t a plane ride to the other side of the world. It was a drive back to Mississippi w/ a stop off at Six Flags. But there is much, much ministry to be done right here in our own back yard.

So if you think of it, please pray for the Mosley family. And also pray for Clinton, MS as a whole. It, and we, need lots and lots of prayer.

And it’s hot here too!

We arrived here in Gainseville Thursday afternoon. After seeing where we sleep, I was amazed. It’s like a huge green Army tent that was about 189 degrees inside. Wood chips on the ground w/ a bit of a tarp to rest our heads on. Good stuff. So we get situated and then throw the frisbee for a while. The actual mission teams aren’t supposed to come til the next day, so we were able to kick back a bit.

Then we took a trip to CiCi’s Pizza. Arguably one of the best pizza buffets around, IMHO. Then a Target run for another frisbee and other necessities (the other one had already broken). Worship that night w/ the team leaders was different but good. But there were some experiential worship stations and some accoustic worship.

Following that was bed time. And we guys were in the big tent that was now cooled off a bit. There actually was a big fan in there, but it seemed to move hot air around. But it was night and cooler so it was bearable. But we had some fun. We call it…Shadow Puppett Theater. We made shadow puppets on the ceiling of the tent for at least 45 minutes. Classic. Then we went to sleep. And we woke up FREEZING. Don’t know why it was so cold. But it was. I mean unbearablly freezing.

Most of the Mississippi team goes to the airport while 3 guys stay behind w/ me and we mow/weedeat/patch tents/shuck corn/fill Tiki torches, fill water, wash dishes, etc. Then missionaries start to arrive. Again,  this is a training camp for them before they go out to Kenya, Russia, or Peru. So they’re being trained, we’re serving them a bit and being trained a bit. But it’s a good mix of folks. Basically aged 15-22.

I’ll try to get some pics of where we’re staying and how everything is laid out soon. Camera was out of batteries, but got some new ones.  It’s hot. There’s no AC, and I’m going minimal on the showers. Life is good!

I’m done packing. Now I need to get to sleeping.

I should pull out of town tomorrow morning to go to Gainesville, GA to participate in an Adventures in Mission training camp. When AIM sends missionaries to diff parts of the country and world, they come for training first. Well, we’re going to be serving the missionaries. Serving food and cleaning after them and various stuff like that. But out group will get to participate in the Mission Trainging as well. So it’s a good deal for us. We get to give AND get!

One thing about Gainesville is that it is 37 miles from Northpoint Community Church. I’ve always wanted to check it out. Never been to a mega church before. And I really dig Andy Stanley. Not saying a megachurch is my thing. But dunno. Never been there.

But we’ll be sleeping in tents, using “home made” showers, and roughing it. Probably a contrast from BigStuf last week. But I should have net access of some sort, so I hope to have some updates and photos!

So last week we were at BigStuf. Fantastic week. This is my 10th summer to go there. I went one summer while in college as a “leader”, and then this was my 9th summer to take a group. So obviously I’m a believer in the quality of this place! BigStuf is always good stuff.

The trip started off w/ a bang…literally. It was only about 30 miles down the road before we had a blowout. But after a fairly quick tire change at a local tire store along the way, we were back on track.

Louie Giglio, Stuart Hall, and Jared Herd were the speakers for the week. Stuart was good, but had a few things in his talk that some of my kids thought were distracting. Some little jokes that probably keep middle school students on track were bumping some of my high school students off track it seemed. And a comment or two was taken wrong. In no way do I think that Stuart’s heart or intent was anything but pure, but it was something worth mentioning.

Jared Herd I’d heard before. In that time I thought he was almost a “Louie-lite” meaning he gave a message very similar to one I’d heard Louie give before and seemed to have a lot of the same mannerism and all. Not that that was a bad thing, but it seemed to be not his own stuff. This time I came away really enjoying Jared’s messages.

And of course Louie was speaking w/ impact again. Talked about being Wired for Worship and being Wired for This World. Pretty convicting stuff when he talked about how we all have responisibilities as Christians to minister to and support and help those in our world who seem hopeless.

Worship was as great as always. Started a little slower for some reason, but as the week went on, it seemed to grab me more. It deff was a production. More on that later, but they can really create an environment that is packed w/ the “Wow factor”.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. There were no squabbles or fights that I know of between our students. And some funny stories as well. Maybe I’ll get the volleyball tourney story in or the motorcycle gang story up soon. Some are funny at the time, some are funny to look back on.