WEBSITE!!!

i am a little excited right now. i just uploaded the new myLIFEspeaks website! that's right, it's up and LIVE. i made d-money a site recently and thought it was about time to re-do the myLIFEspeaks site. i worked on it for a few days and finally had the courage to load it up! check it out and let me know what you think.

it's time for summer to start! home for the 2nd day in a row with d-money and lane! went to the park yesterday and have worked from home today while it stormed outside. it's going to be a great summer...just discovered old school music on the music choice channels! WHOOOA!

Mobile blogging...like Twitter, but different.

faith time...and a public apology

on my first tour bus with the apostles of comedy tour. we have gone from nashville to charlotte, nc; to charleston, sc; to bluffton, sc. it's been a great time and it's taught me a lot about what has to happen to get a ministry noticed. the guys on this tour are amazing. you would think being on a bus with 4 comedians, a tour manager, artist manager, and world vision rep. the conversations on the bus and around the table would be nothing but laughter and seeing who can make the other person laugh harder.

while there are plenty of times when the laughter is tremendous, more often than not, the laughter gives way to serious talk about how to survive and get the tour more places. at first glance one might think the whole goal is to book more dates to get more money. while that is definitely a good business move, i think i am beginning to understand the heart of ministry more and more. i have been able to see guys who are very successful in their careers and in their lives talk about ways to get more time to talk ministry, to minister to people, and to get more opportunities for ministry through their gifts--comedy...and MAN ARE THEY GIFTED.

it made me think about myLIFEspeaks. i have wanted nothing more than to be able to minister to people where they are over the past few years. while i was on the church staffs, ministry DID happen, but the majority of it was typical. what i found once i stepped away from the church staff life was the reality of ministry in the workplace.

if you remember a few months ago i wrote about a new position i had taken with a wellness company. that has since disappeared and i have had to laugh more than once at the opportunity which has been placed before me. I HAVE A MINISTRY WHICH I HAVE BEEN CALLED TO!!!!

in february, missy and i stepped out on faith and (for the first time in our marriage) have no steady paycheck. our whole existence depends on getting to share our story. we are living by FAITH. we are trusting God and watching Him meet our every need! we are trusting Him for groceries, housing, healthy insurance and everything we need. it has been an awesome time.

if you know much about the ministry we have, we were called to share our story with as many people as possible. we get to help people through the opportunities God placed before us.

i have to confess, it was a whole lot easier when that was a ministry but the money came from a "fallback" like a full-time job. now it's scary and i get nervous, but the rock of our family, missy reminds me God has to be in control just the thought of living by faith scares the pants off me (not literally thank the Lord!!).

i know God has given me a talent...not three or five or more, but a talent to communicate. He called me last year to write my story and the story of others down. He really did. i don't mean in an audible voice, but in my LIFE i know that was Him calling me to do that. so, i am committing to working on the book. i will hopefully have our story written in the next couple of months and will begin the work on putting others' stories together for a second book.

please pray for me during this time. i have a tendency to be like Simon Peter and take my eyes off the call when the going gets tough. i stood in front of the group gathered last April (2008) and proclaimed my desire to have the book done by the end of last year...and no book still. the truth is i froze. literally, i wanted to laugh more than anything and i thought if i simply just waited, something would fall in my lap. it did and didn't. we received an unbelievable gift of love and i even got a chance to sit in front of the best stories on the planet...and did NOTHING with it.

i'm writing this as a public confession of my LIFE over the past couple of years. the depression and anxiety won...but will no longer be victorious over me. the self-worth wasn't there and the LIFE God gave me was held at arm's length at best. then sunday at church i read this passage:

Psalm 37:
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.

5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.

6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

I have a different look now. I have always been the one to cower in the face of adversity and conflict. i hated to look at finances...literally I HATE IT. it scares me to death. i have lived in fear daily of how are we going to survive...and today i am learning to live without that fear looming overhead. if He called me to do something, why do i need to worry? foxes have holes and birds have nests and the flowers are clothed in their beauty...so stop being a eunuch! (looking the part without the power!) i have the power of the almighty which raised Jesus from the dead on my side and living in ME and wanting to make me more like him and less like me...

pray for me and with me please...

i guess i'm getting hyper-sensitive, but i don't care

lately i've begun to notice a word being thrown around that makes my skin crawl. it's a word i have used in the past because quite simply i never thought that much about it. i never really set out to be offended, but i have found myself being more and more offended when i hear the word, even from my own kids. next time you use "retarded" make sure you use it in its true sense.

i guess it comes from hearing teenagers use the word to describe each other and to cut down others. the word is known world-wide. people use it daily and think it's funny and i have to admit it never affected me...until i heard it in its actual context.

it's great fun to sit in a room and hear a school psychologist describe your son as retarded. it's humbling to think your son is actually retarded, but it's even more maddening to think about my "retarded" son going through LIFE not realizing others are making fun of him. when i hear my 13 year old describe how the word is used at school and to know there are kids who think it's funny to make fun of kids like lane, it frustrates me immensely. i think it frustrates me so much because i did the same thing. i thought it was cool to laugh at eugene or demetrus. oh how i wish i could take it all back now...because a "retard" lives in my house and brings me tremendous joy...DAILY!!

what did you check first?

here is a convicting thought i have been having for a few days. then i read this blog post by the student pastor at our church and was convinced i had to put these thoughts out there.

what is the first thing you check on when you wake up? for some of us it is the weather on the television, for some it's to see how much time we have left, for others it could be facebook or twitter. i must admit many days my first "check" of the day is the iphone to see what's going on in the world rather than going to the Word to find out what He's telling me today.

if you're busy and need some suggestions as to what to read today in the Bible, i would suggest YouVersion. it's a great version and has plenty of translations. it has an iphone app and gives you daily Bible reads. what are you waiting for? how many voyeuristic lives can you live through all the other stuff? why not live your LIFE today...

first full day in the dominican

today we spent our first day here in the dominican republic (DR). we are staying in sosoua by the sea. it's a beautiful place and as you can see from the picture, we are well taken care of here. here are my first (and most definitely random) thoughts about the differences between here and haiti.

1. when you get off the plane in haiti, you walk down the steps, across the tarmac, past the band, and into the airport.

2. when you get off the plane in the DR you walk down the jetway, through the dancing casino girls who want to have their picture taken with you, and into the air conditioned airport.

3. the ride to the mission complex in haiti is 25 miles and 1-1 1/2 hours.

4. the ride to the mission resort in the DR is 8 miles and 10 minutes.

5. haitians stare at white people...because we aren't common there.

6. dominicans don't stare...we are VERY common here.

7. haitians speak creole

8. dominicans speak spanish

9. haitians are proud of their country

10. dominicans are proud of their country...and hate haitians

11. haitians love it when we love their children

12. dominicans don't mind us being there and loving their children.

13. haitians want something but for the most part are orderly when we are working

14. dominicans tonite almost trampled me as i held a little boy with severe special needs because the lady next to me was giving away yarn bracelets.

15. haiti is my second home...

16. the DR is going to be number 3...

17. haiti is dusty and dirty

18. the DR is green and dusty...just not so dirty

19. tourists in haiti...non-existent

20. tourists in the DR...speedos and well tanned.

21. kids in haiti...BEAUTIFUL

22. kids in the DR...BEAUTIFUL

i'll post more random thoughts and musings as we go...yeah, i can do that since i brought my laptop and am using the WI-FI here in the resort...what a different world and we're just on the other side of the island. i have to admit i struggle just a little bit knowing that this world exists here. i struggle to think so many ministry opportunities exist here that haven't been tapped into yet, but i'm learning more and more every day that God is going to get things done. He doesn't need my help but He has chosen to offer me the chance to join Him and watch Him work. He's going to do something...even on this trip...that is going to blow my fragile mind!

the new face of hate: @aplusk

i don't know if you're on twitter or not, or if you even care, but sometimes amazing things happen.

ashton kutcher recently became the first person to have 1,000,000 followers on twitter. in case you live under a technological rock, that means one MILLION people CHOSE to follow him...pretty cool stuff. the fun thing about it was he was in a race with cnn to see who would reach one million first. one person with as much interest as an entire global network!

i jumped on the ashton bandwagon pretty quick and was blown away to find out his efforts to help rid the world of malaria by getting mosquito nets purchased for use around the globe. the malaria no more project and ashton worked together to bring awareness to the serious issue of malaria in africa. the plan is simple, when someone (even someone in a 3rd world country) has access to a mosquito net...their chances of contracting malaria go down, so let's work on getting them nets...simple enough right? you can see in the picture the mosquito nets we GLADLY SLEEP UNDER when we go to haiti. i would dare say you would like the same protection if you lived in an area where malaria was a real problem...not a sad spot on the evening news, but a real-LIFE problem that was killing your friends and family members.

you can imagine my surprise this morning when i woke up and found the following "tweet" from @aplusk:

you are right, I'm a feelingless drone sending you love RT @Deltaqte: No one gives a ____ about you anymore. You are not one of us, ______.
about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

if you're not familiar with "tweet" language RT means "re-tweet" and the message is being passed on from one person to another, in this case ashton is "re-tweeting" a message he was noted in. i chose to edit the tweet since it had some colorful adjectives.

here's my question...why would someone choose to criticize another person for using their abilities to help others? seriously, why? why would someone be upset with another (even a celebrity) for helping others? how can ANYONE not care that others are dying daily because they don't have a place to escape to? my thought is @deltaqte lives in a house with walls, windows, and screens. i would say they have never seen malaria or those it affects. that's the ONLY way i think it can happen. if they are familiar with malaria then what in the world brings the hate out? did you not like ashton as the "face" or "money maker with the lebaron" in cheaper by the dozen? come on!!! meat pants RULE!

i don't think i have ever thought of that side of celebrity status. people criticize everything...not just what you wore on the red carpet, how you look on the beach in spain, but what you're doing. i never thought of ashton kutcher as one who would be changing the world...LITERALLY...and more than i can say for most!!!, but i whole-heartedly get behind him. in fact, we just bought some new nets for Haiti recently and i feel closer to him already. maybe we'll hang out next time he and the family get to nashvegas!

next time: THINK before you rant...

why you can only drink water unless you know someone who wouldn't want you to do that...

ever wondered why some people want to die over a certain hill? i have to admit i have questions as to how some people get to their interpretations and justify their positions according to what they choose to hold as a conviction.

why did Jesus choose to turn water into wine as His first miracle? did He not know that wine, or any alcohol, would be a polarizing substance in today's culture? surely He did. did He know that Christians around the world and denominations would be split on that very topic? did He know that there would be those who live their lives knowing they are good because they have never drank alcohol? did He even care?

does He care now? why does the Bible refer to drinking alcohol and give warning to not be drunk, but never says either to drink or not do drink. why would Jesus choose something so divisive to turn water into? could it be because it wasn't a big deal and wanted to set an example? i don't know the answer to that...but i'll have a drink...of water...because if i do that, no one gets angry...except the people who work at coke, or pepsi, or the Christian who works at the bottled water plant.

I CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE!!! so maybe we won't settle some of these arguments...until God intervenes.

i have heard great men of God speak to the alcohol issue and do great jobs...on BOTH sides of it. johnny hunt comes to mind as a proponent of abstinence as does a great friend and mentor, jerry sutton. then others (mostly non-baptist) bring equally persuasive arguments to non-abstinence, but because the Bible is clear on drunkenness they all agree on that--i didn't choose to name them because quite honestly some of you would get a giant red magic marker and cross them off your Christmas card list because of their position! so i have to ask, isn't it a little humorous when we argue over where God chooses NOT to speak but can agree so easily on areas where God plainly speaks??

when was the last time you chose to shut up when it was your conviction (which you by all means SHOULD listen to) and not God's command...?

why?

i found this in a grocery story not too long ago and thought it warranted a picture. the only question i have when i look at it is WHY? why in the world would you put this on your product? surely SOMEONE had to think this was a bad idea...but i guess they lost out.

i can hear the conversation now:

boss: what do you think of this logo

employee 1: *snicker* it looks...well...great!

employee 2: *laughing a muffled laugh* oh DEFINITELY!

boss: good, we're going to print!

later that evening:

boss: honey look at our new product!

boss's wife: WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING?

i needed this today

this morning i was talking to God (not really listening a whole lot honestly) and just poured out my fears and insecurities to Him. it was more than a little scary knowing that i was coming "clean" with it all. i tend to take things and make them "mine" rather than leave them to Him.

so, as i was wrapping up my "talk" i asked Him to show me something today that would calm me...in His word. then i read (youversion is AMAZING with daily readings...) and i came to Galatians 1.

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:6--niv

need i say more? NO!