"THE BIG MANLY"

"Play the last song Daddy... just slide it over to the last one, it's called "The Big Manly."" That was the request of my 5 year old daughter Kendall as we drove to visit my Mom a few days ago.

So, I pressed the forward control on the cd player until we came to the last song on the Veggie Tales, "A Very Veggie Christmas" cd. I was wondering how I had missed a song called "The Big Manly" all this time -- and just what that song was.

As the music began I recognized the very familiar "Joy to the World," followed immediately by "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," followed immediately by "Oh Come All Ye Faithful," and it finished with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

After the second song began I asked Kendall... what is the name of this song honey? She said "The Big Manly daddy..."

As one song ran into the next I quickly realized the name of the song was "The Big Medley," not "The Big Manly," but that's ok; she's only 5 years old. As we drove I listened to her sweet little voice singing every word to each song of "The Big Manly/Medley -- each song of hope, clearly about Jesus, and I couldn't help feeling very blessed. My daughter loves Jesus, and loves to sing to/about him. And as for the name of the song... I think it should be called "The Big Manly!" It makes total sense to me...

A Few More Thoughts on Being Thankful…

I know it’s time to start counting the days until Christmas – time to put up the tree, the lights, and all the other great Christmas decorations. It’s time to go shopping, wrap gifts, and watch those favorite Christmas movies – as well as listen to favorite CDs or play lists – all the while reading and re-reading the story of Jesus’ birth.

It’s time …

And what a great time it is!

It’s time for the world to focus on Jesus, and when he came to earth as a human baby and changed our lives forever. And though it should be our focus daily, he’s on our minds more – much more this time of year.

But in thinking about this, my mind goes back to Thanksgiving… I mean, shouldn’t it go there anyway? But since our Thanksgiving holiday has just passed, and Christmas is quickly approaching, I just want to look back at a few things, and just a few, that I’m thankful for in 2007.

1. I’m thankful for a blessed 2007 for Kristin, Kendall, and me.
2. I’m thankful for a blessed 2007 for the Sunshine family.
3. I’m thankful that Intermission has been blessed in so many ways in 2007.
4. I’m thankful that my family had two great vacations in 07… Florida and Holden Beach, N.C.
5. I’m thankful that my arm healed so quickly (thanks to God and your prayers) after
breaking it in the cycling accident – I shot my best golf scores ever after it healed, weird
huh?!?
6. I’m thankful for a great Vacation Bible School.
7. I’m thankful that our week of camp was awesome, again.
8. I’m thankful for our mission trip to Honduras, everyone we met, and all God taught us
through the experience.
9. I’m thankful for all the simple, yet great opportunities we are blessed with on a daily basis,
as a family at Sunshine.
10. I’m thankful that God is my God, my Father, and friend – and for his patience in teaching
me that I have a lot to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Cumberland Falls, Crazy Teens, and a weekend with Jesus...

I was blessed again with the opportunity to teach at SpiritFest this past weekend, it’s an annual event that takes place at the Cumberland Falls State Park in Corbin, Ky. SpiritFest is always a great, spiritual event for teens and adults alike, and I enjoy participating in it.

The theme for the weekend was "Escape," a very relevant subject for Christians and non-Christians alike, and God blessed us with a wonderful atmosphere and clear focus for our time together.

The teens that attend SpiritFest are some of the most respectful and enjoyable you will meet -- and the Adults that God uses to make it all happen are fabulous. Special mention goes out to Mike Anderson, and Mike Lewis (Mike & Mike) -- God uses you guys in wonderful ways together -- thanks for being available for him and us.

My family and I were very spoiled again this year – Kristin and Kendall deserve it, but you're going the extra mile in spoiling me, and I'm thankful for all the love and kindness.

Here are a few pics taken during free time, God is amazing!

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

“Shine Baby Shine”

Tonight in our bedtime devo we read Matthew 5:13-16.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

As some of you know, my daughter Kendall is 5 years old. She has a great heart, is lots of fun – and she’s a “pill” just like her mom. I never thought it possible to be in love with two ladies at the same time, but I am… my wife and my daughter.

Anyway, back to the story… after I finished reading the verses above I asked Kendall if she knew what the verses mean. Without taking a breath she said “it means that when you’re good it’s like a light that helps people see God.” I was so proud of her – like always – all I could do is smile and say you’re so right sweetie. After that we prayed, hugged, told a “made up” story, hugged some more, kissed goodnight several times – and then she went to sleep.

Now here I am winding down after another day “blown up” with blessing after blessing from God. It seems I can’t keep my mind off that sweet little girl in the other room, and as I think of her the words that keep coming to mind are the same as the title of this post…
SHINE BABY SHINE!

One Thing

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:8

This verse is one of the most if not the most passion inspiring verses for me in the Bible.
Just relax for a moment, close your eyes and block out everything that is going on around you and hear it again...

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

I said hear it, not read it again -- you're supposed to have your eyes closed! Anyway I think we get the point, this really is a very powerful, passion inspiring verse -- and I really do want to be pure in heart. But I'm not... not for the most part.

Pure means to be one thing and one thing only. If there is anything else in the mix there is more than one thing and that's not pure, and scripture says "the pure in heart will see God." (I have the song "One Thing" by Rich Mullins running through my head as I write this)

So how do I become pure in heart? Well... I don't become it, there is only one way I will ever be pure in heart and that is to allow God to make me that way. David prays in Psalm 51... "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." I know we like the comfort of trying to convince ourselves that we are going to try harder to be pure -- but our lives will NEVER EVER be pure as a result of our trying harder. When we try harder we are already failing -- that's the thing -- when I try harder it's me trying and not him doing, so now I'm tainted and not pure before I even get started on this thing. Only by allowing God to create a clean, pure heart in me will I ever be pure in heart.

How does that happen? That question is not easily answered...

We have all heard the illustrations of how we get pure gold or silver, or pure anything for that matter. It has to be seperated, and sometimes this is a painful process. That's one of the reasons we can't do it on our own -- we like things painless -- but it can't always be that way.
To get pure metals such as gold it takes fire to melt away the impurities -- when that process is complete what's left is pure gold. In the same way if we want to be seperated from the impurities that have taken root in our lives we have to give ourselves over to God and allow him to seperate them or melt them away from us. In doing so he is making us pure in heart.

How God purifies is not always so obvious but one thing is sure, only God can purify, and he will if you allow it.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:7

Life and godliness...

2 Peter 1:3-8
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I love what these 5 verses have to say to us… Through the power of God we have everything we need for life and godliness! We don’t have to manufacture anything, or try to figure it out on our own, it’s his to give, and he will give it!
Of course tied with that promise is our coming to “know him,” but that’s to our benefit even if it wasn’t tied to this particular promise – just check out John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

It’s pretty obvious that knowing God is definitely good for life – now and eternal.
There is so much more to this passage than that though…
Verse 4 tells me how to participate in the divine nature of God himself.
And verses 5 – 7 tell me the characteristics I need to allow God to develope in my life, and there is a promise that comes with these as well…
Verse 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Delivered from being Ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ… wouldn’t it be great if we would allow Him to get us there??!!

Humility

In Guideposts, Ronald Pinkerton describes a near accident he had while hang gliding. He had launched his hang glider and been forcefully lifted 4200 feet into the air. As he was descending, he was suddenly hit by a powerful new blast that sent his hang glider plummeting toward the ground.

“I was falling at an alarming rate, Trapped in an airborne riptide. I was going to crash! Then I saw him – a red-tailed hawk. He was six feet off my right wingtip, fighting the same gust I was….

I looked down to the ground: 300 feet from the ground and still falling. The trees below seemed like menacing pikes.

I looked at the hawk again. Suddenly he banked and flew straight downwind. Downwind! If the right air is anywhere, it’s upwind! The hawk was committing suicide.

Two hundred feet. From nowhere the thought entered my mind: Follow the hawk. It went against everything I knew about flying. But now all my knowledge was useless. I was at the mercy of the wind. I followed the hawk.

One hundred feet. Suddenly the hawk gained altitude. For a split second I seemed to be suspended motionless in space. Then a warm surge of air started pushing the glider upward. I was stunned. Nothing I know as a pilot could explain the phenomenon. But it was true: I was rising.”

On occasion we all have similar “downdrafts” in our lives, reversals of fortunes, humiliating experiences. We want to lift ourselves up, but God’s word, like the red-tailed hawk, tells us to do just the opposite. God’s word tells us to DIVE – to humble ourselves under the hand of God. If we humble ourselves, God will send a thermal wind that will lift us up.

- taken from 750 Engaging Illustrations.

A dear friend and brother - Dewey Cordle - sent me an email with a link to this video. It is amazing and very powerful. If you take the time to watch it I'm sure you'll be blessed.



Special thanks to ScottyG of "ScottyGs Place" for his help in making this possible. Your efforts on our behalf haven't gone unnoticed. (Ok so it sounds a little over the top, but I really do appreciate your help Scott.)

What Are You Thinking?


…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8

Our thoughts are very powerful and have a big impact on our lives. If our thoughts are negative, hopeless and sinful, our lives will tend to be negative, hopeless and sinful.
On the other hand, if our thoughts are positive, hopeful and focused on God, then our lives will tend to be positive, hopeful, and focused on God.
This verse gives me comfort and hope that I can get past all the noise, junk and just plain messiness in my head that seems to dance around in there so often, and allow him to develop a heart in me that is truly focused on him.