Logan's birthday

Logan, my oldest son, will celebrate his 9th birthday on Saturday.
However, we are going to celebrate a little tomorrow.

He thinks he is going to school, but instead I am going to let him
skip and spend the morning with him. We are going to go biking with
his new bike on Bootleg Canyon.

After biking, we will get cleaned up and pick up Jessica and head to
ESPN Zone inside the NY NY casino for lunch. Then it's off to the
Apple store to pick up his gift.

He has no idea that any of this will take place!

Back to the real world

Holidays are over and things are back in full force. Youth wad good
last night. There was a small crowd, but I encouraged them to make the
greatest commandment their new year resolution: "love the lord your
God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I was back in the office today and got a good bit done. I brainstormed
about our education and children's ministry. Also talked with my
cousin about possible mission trips.

I play in a men's league basketball game tomorrow night and I am pumped.

Sent from Garrett's iPhone
702-332-7845

Lazy Sunday

I have laid in the bed pretty much all day. I'm looking forward to a
great night at BYG.

The New Year

We had a great time with our "family" visitors over Christmas and the New Year. They left on New Year's Day and then we had some more visitors show up. Sara and Linsday from GGBTS were driving back from OK/TX to SF and they stayed a night with us. Fun times!!!

However, I ended up getting sick in the middle of the night and have felt bad ever since. I even stayed home from "work" today to just get a little extra rest so I would be ready for youth group tonight. Third day of the year = Sick day #1.

I managed to push through our Saturday night service last night. I felt bad the whole time, but it was still a great service. It was a great time of worship. It has been a little frustrating that we see no community people. I feel that I am out and about building trust and relationships with the lost of Boulder City, but still none want to experience Jesus. I am trusting that God will draw them toward Him.

I am using the Logos iPhone app frequently and I am committed to reading the Bible all the way through this year. Everytime I read it gets better. It truly is the Living Word.

I start Tuesday playing in a men's basketball league. I hope to be able to keep up with the college kids that asked me to play with them. At least they asked me to play. We should be good!

A lot of things are happening this year. The biggest is baby #4 coming in May.

This has not been a philosophical or theological blog, but I am getting started for the year. Stay tuned for more to come.

obsession

What are you obsessed with? Money, looks, sex, power, pride, technology, etc. I just read an article from The New York Times entitled “To Deal With Obsession, Some Defriend Facebook. Here is the link to the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/technology/internet/21facebook.html

It really got me to thinking about the purpose of this group and the reason why I wanted to start it sometime ago. This culture, our culture is obsessed with everything but God and our relationship with Him. As a pastor I am always telling the people I minister to, to focus on Jesus and spend time getting to know Him. I have to confess that I am hypocritical.

For example, I look at how I spent most of my day yesterday. Everything I did was all about me. I did not humble myself at all to really listen for God yesterday. I spent the morning organizing my office, so it would look nice. I then went to lunch and a basketball game and to the Las Vegas Bowl and then came home and drank hot chocolate, took a shower, and went to bed. I was obsessed with me yesterday.

Think about yourself for a moment. What are you obsessed with? Do you wake up in the morning looking to be obsessed with Jesus Christ? We are approaching a new year. This is the time when we make resolutions to be nicer, lose weight, read more, and spend less money.

If we followed the Greatest Commandment given to us by Jesus Christ as our resolution, how would our lives change? How would the lives of the ones around us change? Jesus says, “to love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” To take it a bit further and look back in the book of Deuteronomy 10 the title of the section of scripture is “to circumcise your heart.” In verse 12 it goes onto say, “what does the Lord require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.”

Cut off the part of your heart that is causing you to obsess and refocus your heart and fearing God, walking in His ways, loving Him and serving Him fully. Make that your obsession.

theResurgence (theResurgence)

theResurgence: Everything by @JohnPiper. Ever. http://bit.ly/19DsTp
Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/theResurgence/status/2931877087
Sent via TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com)

Sent from my iPhone

Thought

God not only created the world, He is active in the world and is
keeping creation together

Sent from my iPhone
702.332.7845