The last two weeks have been some of the most busy, stressful, and blessful times of my life. If I have to pinpoint a time where life was balancing on the hinges, Thursday, November 20 would have been that day for me. Prior to that day, the following were closing in on my mind: sermon preparation; two research papers; two essays; an Acts 29 Boot Camp; the Song of Solomon Conference; and Thanksgiving week with family. Yes, this may be a norm for some of you and your stress levels, but for me, this was a challenge.
Sermon Preparation (Due Sunday, 23)
I was asked to deliver a sermon on Sunday, November 23. I took the challenge weeks in advance and began making preparations. I was preparing over Malachi 3:16-4:6 and was finding it to be very rewarding. By the time Sunday was approaching for me to deliver my sermon, I felt confident that I had the content understood, however, I was uneasy on sermon delivery. With writing my research papers and the Boot camp and Conferences approaching, I knew my time was slim. Time was slim indeed. I found myself with fewer and fewer time preparing for delivery and having to exhort more time towards my family and school responsibilities. By the time Sunday had approached I was confident that preaching the Word of God was going to have to be a move of the Holy Spirit. With little sleep and much prayer, the Lord brought me through to deliver a Jesus honoring sermon.
Research/Essay Papers (Due Thursday, 20)
Nothing is more exciting than every professor assigning all "do" assignments on the exact same day. It is really a blessing of school. Not! This was my case with all my papers. Spending countless hours in the library and often having to survive off the caffeine addiction of coffee, I wrote, and wrote, and wrote, and wrote. Amidst all of this great suffering for the great name of academia I was trying to balance husbandry, fatherhood, minister, and student simultaneously. Whoa! Needless to say, I was able to complete the two research papers but had to ask for an extension on my essay papers. Before you condemn me on slacking in my school work, know that I chose to make my family and sermon preparation a major priority over school. Since time has passed, all homework has been completed and the semester is almost final.
Acts 29 Boot Camp (Wednesday, 19-20)
Boot Camp? What the heck is the Boot camp? First, Acts 29 is the name of a church planting network based out of Seattle Washington. The founder of the network is a man named Mark Driscoll. He is current pastor at Mars Hill Church, Seattle. The Boot Camp is created for those who want to church plant through the network. Chenille and I are planning on planting through this network and when we heard that they camp was going to be held in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we knew that it was wise for me to go. Chenille could not go because of work, so I had to suffer by missing school and work. If you want to know more about the camp or the network, click on this link.
The stressing point for me during the conference was knowing that my papers were do that Thursday and I had a sermon to preach the following Sunday. Wait, I also had to pick up my mother at the airport on Saturday. Yes, my mind was full. Yet, in the meantime I was able to enjoy the time with much of my church family and two really good friends of Chenille and I, Stiko and Kelechi. These two are praying and considering church planting with Chenille and I. So, our time at the conference was fun and informative.
Song of Solomon Conference (Friday 21-22)
After the Boot Camp and the turning in of my research papers, I was glad to go home to my wife and take her to north Dallas to a marriage/sex conference. Having some weight lifted off my shoulders, this conference was needed. We traveled to Dallas after work on Friday, only after dropping Ethan off at some friends for the night. When we arrived in Dallas, we realized we forgot our Bibles and the laptop. Yes, the laptop with my sermon outline. No big deal, I was only going to be preaching the Word of God on Sunday! Needless to say, it was worth not having that stinking laptop so that I could focus on more important issues like sex. Oh yeah.
The Conference was led by Mark Driscoll (Ironically), who had prior engagements to teach at the Acts 29 Boot Camp and the Song of Solomon Conference. So, I was blessed twice with good teaching. Friday night and Saturday morning were honoring times of walking through the book of Song of Solomon verse by verse. Driscoll illuminated some facets to our marriage that we (all married people) need to work on. With good news, Chenille and I have been advancing greatly in our marriage and our love for one another. If you want more about this conference, check out Driscoll's sermon series over Song of Solomon called, The Peasant Princess.
By the time the conference was over, we had to rush home, get Ethan and later pick up my Mother from the airport.
Thanksgiving Week with Family (Saturday 22-30)
After my hectic week of school deadlines and conferences it was like salt to the wound when Ethan caught the stomach bug literally a day before Nana Mel came to town. However, the would be spent well.
My Mother came into town on Saturday evening. and left on Tuesday morning. During the time she was here, we were able to take her out to eat and enjoy watching the movie Madagascar II. My Mom was never seen without her camera phone in hand taking pictures of Ethan. This was good for her because this was the first time that she has been able to see Ethan since he was born. For you who don't know, she lives in Pennsylvania. So, we had a good time.
Only one day after my Mother left back to Pennsylvania, Chenille's Mother and Step Dad, Doug came into town to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. We were happy to have Thanksgiving at our home because traveling is difficult for us, especially when going home consists of visiting 5-10 different homes.
On Thanksgiving we decided to go to the Fort Worth Turkey Trot. Chenille, Debbie, Ethan, and I
walked/ran the 5k while Doug ran the 10k. Let me be honest, if my stomach wasn't queasy, I would have manned up the 10k with Doug. haha After the Turkey Trot, we came home, Chenille and Debbie cooked our food while Doug, Ethan, and I hung out until it was time to eat. When time came to eat, two of our friends/neighbors (Tim and Jill) came over to eat with us. This was fun because Chenille and I love company. Overall, Thanksgiving was great. We had family and friends we could enjoy and I had my beautiful wife to stare at while I ate her bomb mashed potatoes.
There it is, in a very compact nutshell. The most stressful blessing I have ever encountered. I hope I wasn't too vague in my description, but if I start to give good detail, then I will write more than is necessary for a blog.
Sermon Preparation (Due Sunday, 23)
I was asked to deliver a sermon on Sunday, November 23. I took the challenge weeks in advance and began making preparations. I was preparing over Malachi 3:16-4:6 and was finding it to be very rewarding. By the time Sunday was approaching for me to deliver my sermon, I felt confident that I had the content understood, however, I was uneasy on sermon delivery. With writing my research papers and the Boot camp and Conferences approaching, I knew my time was slim. Time was slim indeed. I found myself with fewer and fewer time preparing for delivery and having to exhort more time towards my family and school responsibilities. By the time Sunday had approached I was confident that preaching the Word of God was going to have to be a move of the Holy Spirit. With little sleep and much prayer, the Lord brought me through to deliver a Jesus honoring sermon.
Research/Essay Papers (Due Thursday, 20)
Nothing is more exciting than every professor assigning all "do" assignments on the exact same day. It is really a blessing of school. Not! This was my case with all my papers. Spending countless hours in the library and often having to survive off the caffeine addiction of coffee, I wrote, and wrote, and wrote, and wrote. Amidst all of this great suffering for the great name of academia I was trying to balance husbandry, fatherhood, minister, and student simultaneously. Whoa! Needless to say, I was able to complete the two research papers but had to ask for an extension on my essay papers. Before you condemn me on slacking in my school work, know that I chose to make my family and sermon preparation a major priority over school. Since time has passed, all homework has been completed and the semester is almost final.
Acts 29 Boot Camp (Wednesday, 19-20)
Boot Camp? What the heck is the Boot camp? First, Acts 29 is the name of a church planting network based out of Seattle Washington. The founder of the network is a man named Mark Driscoll. He is current pastor at Mars Hill Church, Seattle. The Boot Camp is created for those who want to church plant through the network. Chenille and I are planning on planting through this network and when we heard that they camp was going to be held in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we knew that it was wise for me to go. Chenille could not go because of work, so I had to suffer by missing school and work. If you want to know more about the camp or the network, click on this link.
The stressing point for me during the conference was knowing that my papers were do that Thursday and I had a sermon to preach the following Sunday. Wait, I also had to pick up my mother at the airport on Saturday. Yes, my mind was full. Yet, in the meantime I was able to enjoy the time with much of my church family and two really good friends of Chenille and I, Stiko and Kelechi. These two are praying and considering church planting with Chenille and I. So, our time at the conference was fun and informative.
Song of Solomon Conference (Friday 21-22)
After the Boot Camp and the turning in of my research papers, I was glad to go home to my wife and take her to north Dallas to a marriage/sex conference. Having some weight lifted off my shoulders, this conference was needed. We traveled to Dallas after work on Friday, only after dropping Ethan off at some friends for the night. When we arrived in Dallas, we realized we forgot our Bibles and the laptop. Yes, the laptop with my sermon outline. No big deal, I was only going to be preaching the Word of God on Sunday! Needless to say, it was worth not having that stinking laptop so that I could focus on more important issues like sex. Oh yeah.
The Conference was led by Mark Driscoll (Ironically), who had prior engagements to teach at the Acts 29 Boot Camp and the Song of Solomon Conference. So, I was blessed twice with good teaching. Friday night and Saturday morning were honoring times of walking through the book of Song of Solomon verse by verse. Driscoll illuminated some facets to our marriage that we (all married people) need to work on. With good news, Chenille and I have been advancing greatly in our marriage and our love for one another. If you want more about this conference, check out Driscoll's sermon series over Song of Solomon called, The Peasant Princess.
By the time the conference was over, we had to rush home, get Ethan and later pick up my Mother from the airport.
Thanksgiving Week with Family (Saturday 22-30)
After my hectic week of school deadlines and conferences it was like salt to the wound when Ethan caught the stomach bug literally a day before Nana Mel came to town. However, the would be spent well.
My Mother came into town on Saturday evening. and left on Tuesday morning. During the time she was here, we were able to take her out to eat and enjoy watching the movie Madagascar II. My Mom was never seen without her camera phone in hand taking pictures of Ethan. This was good for her because this was the first time that she has been able to see Ethan since he was born. For you who don't know, she lives in Pennsylvania. So, we had a good time.
Only one day after my Mother left back to Pennsylvania, Chenille's Mother and Step Dad, Doug came into town to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. We were happy to have Thanksgiving at our home because traveling is difficult for us, especially when going home consists of visiting 5-10 different homes.
On Thanksgiving we decided to go to the Fort Worth Turkey Trot. Chenille, Debbie, Ethan, and I
walked/ran the 5k while Doug ran the 10k. Let me be honest, if my stomach wasn't queasy, I would have manned up the 10k with Doug. haha After the Turkey Trot, we came home, Chenille and Debbie cooked our food while Doug, Ethan, and I hung out until it was time to eat. When time came to eat, two of our friends/neighbors (Tim and Jill) came over to eat with us. This was fun because Chenille and I love company. Overall, Thanksgiving was great. We had family and friends we could enjoy and I had my beautiful wife to stare at while I ate her bomb mashed potatoes.
There it is, in a very compact nutshell. The most stressful blessing I have ever encountered. I hope I wasn't too vague in my description, but if I start to give good detail, then I will write more than is necessary for a blog.
+022.JPG)
1 comment:
Hello all!
Yes son you are a busy bee..( :
So..i get home & then I was sick too! I guess we're just gonna have to keep doin' it over till we get it right..ha,ha,ha!!
Sorry we couldn't have all connected at the same time. But i know the Lord is going to make that happen too when the time is right! Till then..have a wonderful Spirit filled Holiday!!
Lots of kisses n' hugs!xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Mom/Nana Mel/Mel
Post a Comment