B-Rock

25 Things

2009-01-28T09:09:00.002-06:00

Alright, alright...

Jason, Erin, Clint and Amber tagged me on this 25 things deal, so here goes!

(Blog readers, this is a Facebook thing)

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. My favorite restaurants are Rooster’s in Baytown, Delia’s in Alvin, Tortuga’s in Galveston, Pappy’s in Argyle, Gringo’s in Pearland, Pappadeux in Kemah and Johnny Carino’s anywhere. Oh, and In & Out Burger…

2. My blood type is AB+ and I donate blood sometimes when the blood mobile comes to church, but I don’t like needles, so it drives me crazy when the blood bank calls me on my cell phone and asks me to come in and donate on my own.

3. Most days I love my job in youth ministry – but sometimes I wish I worked outside…Probably as a game warden.

4. I don’t have a consistent record of voting in elections, but I did vote in 2008, and I studied the platforms of everyone I would have to vote for and took notes into the ballot box with me so I could remember who I wanted to vote for.

5. I’ve living in Texas my whole life except for 7^th grade when my dad’s job temporarily moved us to North Carolina. As a result, I feel like I know NOTHING about Texas history and that disappoints me.

6. I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my life – Chicago, Brooks and Dunn, George Strait, Acappella, AVB, Ray Boltz, David Ball, Keith Urban, Clay Walker (5x), Avalon, Casting Crowns, Leeland, DC Talk, Jaci Velasquez, FFH, Ginny Owens, Phillips Craig and Dean, Wayne Watson, Michael Card, Shane & Shane, Shaun Groves, Amy Grant, 4Him, The Newsboys (4x), The Supertones (picked them up at the airport and took them to dinner), Grits, The Judds, Audio Adrenaline, Caedmon’s Call, Third Day, Michael W. Smith, Mercy Me, Chris Tomlin, Diamond Rio, David Crowder Band, plus a lot more I can’t remember. And, I once skipped a free Jars of Clay concert in 1998 because I didn’t know much about them yet…I’m still kicking myself.

7. I DO NOT ride roller coasters. I’m a chicken.

8. I’m thrilled that my job doesn’t require me to wear a tie, even on Sundays.

9. I didn’t hit my “growth spurt” until about 9^th or 10^th grade. When I started 8^th grade I was 4’6” tall and probably weighed about 70 lbs. My mom used to point out good men who were short so that I could have some role models and not be discouraged about my size.

10. I made a good enough score on my SAT/ACTs to qualify for a full-tuition scholarship to college. When I was being interviewed by the admissions counselors who would decide who would and who wouldn’t get the scholarship, one of the counselors used a creative metaphor about crayons to ask me if I felt like my success on the test was a result of nature or nurture. I think I answered something along the lines of 50%. I was wrong and he’d probably be amazed if he knew how much I’ve thought about that question since then. I think it’s more like 99.99% nurture…There have always been a lot of people in my life who cared for me a lot.

11. I feel like I’m a terrible conversationalist, but I like to be talked to. I appreciate people who have the ability to make me talk by asking good questions, but I don’t feel like I’m good at that.

12. I’ve had jobs as a t-ball umpire, soccer referee, Target sales associate, campus tour guide, office assistant, youth ministry intern, oil pump-jack painter and youth minister.

13. I wish DFW had a better Christian radio station like Houston’s, and as a result, I listen to mostly sports talk radio and NPR (which my co-workers refer to as National Socialist Radio) in the car these days.

14. For years now, I’ve been truly trying to internalize an important life lesson I’ve learned – that “unasked-for advice is usually heard as criticism.” I think that my failure to learn this lesson early in life did damage to a lot of my relationships, specifically those with my younger brothers. More info on that lesson here: http://bobhyatt.typepad.com/pastorhacks/2009/01/best-of-2008-when-to-confront.html

15. If I could be anywhere right now, I’d be on the King Ranch in south Texas, standing waist-deep in the bay with a fishing pole in hand and a stringer of fish tied to my belt. I hope I’ll get to share this experience with my son one day.

16. I never met any of my great-grandparents.

17. Although I consider myself a sports fan, I don’t know much about sports history or statistics, I ALWAYS feel like it’s just a game, and I certainly don’t live and die by any team’s success or failure. That being said, Go Astros.

18. I sometimes miss being a youth intern…students more readily related to me back then.

19. My favorite music groups are Mercy Me, Shane and Shane, Caedmon’s Call, U2, George Strait, Clay Walker and Jars of Clay.

20. I don’t like to shave and I usually try to get away with going 3-4 days between shaves. I’m probably too old to get away with this.

21. In middle school, I played roles in two productions at a local community theater. I even played the violin in one of the productions. I never got interested enough in theater to being involved, but I’m thankful for the experience because it probably taught me a lot about projecting my voice and communicating with an audience…skills that I use a lot in my job.

22. In 7^th grade, an MRI revealed a benign, damaged area of my brain that doctors called a “gliosis.” They said that it was probably the result of an infection I had as an infant and that it shouldn’t affect me later in life. My wife is suspicious of that statement and wants me to have it re-checked. She’s probably right. (On a related note, Wikipedia is scary)

23. No matter how hard I’ve tried, I’ve never been able to water ski. I can knee board and ride the tube no problem, but I can’t get up out of the water on skis…

24. I would rather play golf with one other person than with three other people.

25. I really miss driving a pickup truck.

26. I probably put way too much time and thought into producing this list.

Only in Texas

2008-12-13T14:57:00.001-06:00

I'm sitting in the home-office, my feet up and my laptop in front of me, working on my sermon for tomorrow's worship service. The baby is asleep in his swing next to me, and right behind him is our Christmas tree. It's December 13th...

...and an ice-cream truck just drove by the front of our house, playing his sure-to-get-stuck-in-your-head tune, selling frozen treats.

And the weather man says that three days from now, the high temperature will be 38 degrees...

Tagged by SeeDub...kind of

2008-11-28T22:05:00.001-06:00

SeeDub tagged everyone, so I'll get back into blogging today...who knows if this'll be my re-entrance into the blogging world?!? Anyway, here goes:

I'm listing 25 things for which I'm thankful:

My wife, the mother of my son, with whom I've magically fallen even MORE in love with over the past couple of months. God is so faithful in blessing our marriage, and I'm blessed to have a partner in life, parenting, ministry and a great best friend.
My son, who has already changed us in so many ways and strengthened my worship of God. I can already tell that this ride - parenting him - is going to be one of the most fun and developmental endeavor I've ever experienced.
My son's grandparents, whose joy over his arrival has communicated so much love to me this year.
My brothers - because my relationships with them are getting better all the time...
My grandparents, and particularly my granddad who successfully underwent major back-surgery last week at age 92, for their love and spiritual example to me and my family.
Finishing Grad School this past May...
A church for which it's a pleasure to work. *Bonus* - the chance to study scripture with a father and son pair who accepted Christ last week!
Opportunities for my wife to work from home and thereby stay home with my son everyday.
Fridays off of work and the frequent opportunities to play golf
Our Thursday night Small Group and the friendships that are growing there - I look forward to helping each other raise our kids...
This Week? Mouse traps & peanut butter...
Google Reader
My buddy Adam - the kind of friend you can pick up where you left off with, even when you don't get to see each other often enough.
Youth Ministry Volunteers of every capacity - not only because I couldn't do ministry without them, but because I love seeing other people develop a true love and appreciation for students who are encountering God and faith.
The Graco Silhouette Infant Swing
The church staff that I work with and the relationships we enjoy at work...Plus, Staff Retreat.
Blue Bell Ice Cream
My Youth Small Group - because the boys in my group give me the chance to be in relationship with students even when the youth group seems so big...
My cell phone - my first smartphone which has significantly impacted my workflow, to-do list, golf game, and overall stress level, even though its alarm has woken us up a couple of times reminding me of someone's birthday at 11:45pm...
People who share youth ministry advice and resources...particularly Tim.
Skype and Webcams to let the grandparents chat with the kid...
Encouraging e-mails from youth ministry parents - the kind of notes that keep me energized about an often tiring ministry.
Dr Pepper
Growing up fishing on the King Ranch - a unique privilege that made vacations REALLY cool for the first 28 years of my life...
The love and forgiveness provided me by Jesus Christ

So that's it - if you actually keep up with this blog through my constant absence, consider yourself tagged!

Brock is not dead

2007-04-01T22:28:00.000-05:00

Every now and then - like at least once a week - I remember that I need to blog (usually when the sitemeter report comes in reminding me that there are still people checking this thing...).

But when I think about blogging, I remember - I could be working on my Exegesis papers right now. I have two of them due next Monday. And they're hard. And I'm tired of them. And I'm tired of the library. And I had to turn down 2 golfing invitations last week because of exegesis.

The light at the end of the tunnel? I registered for my last grad school class Wednesday morning. I'll take Advanced Restoration History this fall, and then graduate (hopefully) in December!

I'll do my best to get back to a more faithful schedule on this thing after these papers are done...

Oh, and it's Sarah's and my 2nd anniversary tomorrow! I love being married to her! Pray for her as she's had to put up with me now for two years, but especially because exegesis has made me REALLY boring for the last 2-3 weeks.

Celebrity Look-alikes

2006-12-05T16:59:00.000-06:00

I've got a youth minister friend who's big into Myspace because it helps him connect with his youth group kids. He's a great guy who happened to be my youth minister in high school and is a big part of the reason that I'm in youth ministry today.

Today I was looking at his Myspace and noticed a picture. It's from myheritage.com and it's a deal that shows his face plus about 10 celebrities that he resembles. You can go to their website, upload a picture of your own face, and it'll output these celebrity photos.

I thought my friend's was particularly funny though because his highest match - the one at the top of the picture and with the highest matching percentage - was a black guy. That was followed by 9 white guys that look a lot like my friend, but the black guy was rated the highest. I got a good laugh out of it...Until I went and uploaded my own photo...

No Comment

A Stagnant Day in Sweetwater

2006-06-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

The last two weeks have basically been a blur...getting ready for camp was crazy. I got a call on Friday night after narrowly avoiding a stint as Larry the Cucumber at the Fort Worth Cats game saying that our brand new church bus - now more aptly named Titanic - had broken down in Sweetwater, TX. It only has 4000 miles on it, and it was on its maiden voyage to a camp in New Mexico with our singles ministry, so it was pretty discouraging. With T minus 36 hours to go until my group left for camp, the decision was made that the family minister and I would have to drive to Sweetwater to retrieve the abandoned bus. After a lot of time in the car, we got to spend about 3 hours waiting at a truck stop while the bus was being prepared to be towed back to the metroplex. Unfortunately, the tow-truck driver was new to Texas and was really worried about getting lost, so we let him talk us into having him follow us all the way, which meant that we had to travel well under the speed limit...It was a long day before leaving for camp the next morning...

On top of that, I didn't have time to get the haircut that I was needing so badly, so now I've gone through a week of camp sporting the Paulk family 'fro that we get when we need a trim...Good times...

We close on the new house tomorrow, assuming that the walk-through goes ok...I'll be a little surprised if I'm totally happy with the punchlist during the walkthrough, but we'll see. In the meantime, we're excited about the move...although it'll be a really busy weekend...

Re-Uniting with the X, and that funky bump on my head

2006-05-17T15:29:00.000-05:00

I haven't mentioned it on the blog because of the fear of worsening the damage to my pride, but a couple of weeks ago I wrecked our X-terra. As a light turned green and the line of cars that I was in began moving, I looked away long enough to miss seeing that the guy in front of me was stopping again, so I hit him going about 4 mph. Since he was in a pickup truck, it didn't do much damage to his car, but everything on the front of the X-terra is plastic, so it didn't take much to rack up 3000+ dollars worth of damage to it. So our house-down payment savings gets a smaller boost this month since I had to pay the deductible on that.

Thankfully, the bump on my head is unrelated...

So the other day I'm trying to stay awake in my grad school class by leaning back in my chair against the white board behind me. It's a long wall, so they had to join two whiteboards together to cover it, leaving a seam in the middle that's hidden by a raised cover. I happened to be sitting right in front of that seam, but didn't know it, so when I would lean my head back against the board, it would rest right over that rounded cover. It wasn't terribly comfortable, so I turn my head a different way, but of course, the bump is still there. Suddenly I'm worried that I've developed a mis-shapened head and I have no idea how it could have happened! So it sit in class for 30 minutes, occasionally rubbing the back of my head trying to feel a bump that isn't there, before I look back and realize that bump was on the board the whole time...Unbelievable...

Anyone want to recommend a cellular carrier to us? Our contract with Cingular is up and we need to decide whether to renew with them or try someone else...

Search Results

2006-04-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

It's always entertaining to look at the search engine entries that eventually lead people to my blog...Today as I was looking at the results, I found out that there is a university in Canada called Brock University. They have a good website, and I thought I'd share a few quotes with you:

Brock students can expect the close, personal attention of a dedicated faculty and the opportunity to explore their academic interests through participation in seminars and labs.

Brock offers one of the largest selections of co-op programs in Canada.

Recently, Brock approved the construction of a $22.6-million facility to house a new bookstore, provide additional academic space and house the Lifespan Development Research Centre, a facility unique in Canada.

Brock's annual economic impact on the Niagara region is $265 million

Brock serves the Niagara region as a cultural, academic and recreational centre and offers the community excellent facilities for people of all ages.

...in 1964, Brock was named for Maj.-General Sir Isaac Brock, who lost his life at Queenston Heights in the War of 1812.

Brock has experienced significant growth over the past several years

Students, undergraduate and graduate alike, have always been at the heart of Brock.

...students gave Brock an overall grade of A-

Brock's reputation has attracted exceptional students and outstanding faculty members who appreciate the opportunities for research and professional growth and who are happy to invest in Brock's future.

I extend to you an invitation to visit Brock and to see our spirit of imagination, innovation and commitment.

Brock fosters teaching and research of the highest quality

...Brock encompasses physical and personal safety, protection services, interpersonal safety, crime prevention and security violations, emergency response, awareness and dissemination systems, environmental design and communication, social marketing and education.

Brock Means Business!

Brock has joined the elite business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

Top Ten Reasons to Choose Brock...

Each year, Brock wins awards...

In a Globe and Mail survey on student satisfaction, Brock was ranked first in several categories and sixth overall

True. True.

More ideas for Class

2006-04-21T07:05:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone here and on Niki's blog that gave great contributions to my class on blogging at camp this summer. As I've been thinking about the class, my brain produced the following statement, which I'd like for you to analyze and critique for me....

"If you're making efforts to insure that your parents don't know about your blog (or myspace, xanga, facebook, etc), then you're probably not doing it for God's glory..."

What'cha think?

Blogging for Students

2006-03-31T12:07:00.000-06:00

As long as I've known about blogging, I've had a concern for the way that it affects the students in my youth ministry. There have been occasions when I have had to confront students about the content of their blogs, and even extreme occasions where I have had to make sure that parents were aware of what their children were posting out there on the World Wide Web.

I also try to do a good job of keeping tabs on my students and their web-presences. Of course, the matter is complicated by the existence of so many social networking sites. It seems that for a while, all my students were hooked on blogger, but then they found Xanga and that became the biggest hit. Then, after one kid finds out about Myspace, all of the other kids migrate to that site and create new accounts. Add to that the fact that many of the kids have multiple Xanga sites and multiple Myspace sites, and you've really got a lot to keep your eyes on.

One other thing that I do is attempt to educate parents about the dangers and peculiarities of these social networking sites. It's for sure that parents are the ones who need to know what their kids are doing online.

But, it all comes down to this. Parents of students and I can only do so much to help keep the students accountable for what they're posting. I believe that, as with so many other aspects of a teenager's spirituality, real change will only come as a result of a change of heart within them that makes them want to do and say the right thing.

With all of that in mind, I am excited about a new opportunity that has arisen. This summer at Camp Zenith, I am signed up to teach a class called God's Blog. I'm excited about the chance to talk to a few hundred teenagers about their online identities, but I want to get some input from all of you about what kinds of topics need to be discussed. I have considered topics concerning online safety, and while they'll probably get some attention in the form of a handout or something, I'd like to keep the thrust of the class focused on the idea that we are accountable for our words, even if they're published on the internet under an "anonymous" name. I'd like to impress upon the students that we have an opportunity to let our words be God's words on the internet, but that even when we don't do that, our words have an effect on how the people that know us view the Lord that we claim to follow.

So, use the comments section and let me know what you think. If you were gonna teach a class of high schoolers about blogging as a Christian, where would you start?

Strange Times

2006-03-28T22:28:00.000-06:00

It was a weird news day...It seems like there's a lot of those recently. Like this one (Read Items 3 & 4):

So, I feel like you need to be caught up on the latest headlines, and I'm the one to help with that, and I'll do it by category and with commentary:

From the Fishing Department:
World Record Bass Caught, wins no money (So since he foul-hooked it, it doesn't count?!?!? Isn't that the fish's fault?)
0.12 ounces of fish wins fishing tourney grand prize for heaviest catch (If I'd have caught the world's heaviest bass in a wad of seaweed, now that would have been a moral dilemna...)

From the Marital Trouble in India Department:
Couple forced by village elders to divorce because he talks in his sleep (I talk in my sleep so much, there's no telling what kind of trouble I could get in. But I really don't understand the part about his wife being forced to sleep with another man before she can remarry him. Sounds kind of shady to me...like maybe one of the village elders has a little crush...)
No meat served for Dinner, Man decides to grill his own...body (Now don't get me wrong, I understand the need for a nice slab of beef on a regular basis - but this is a little "over-done," don't you think?)

From the Youth Ministry Recruiting Department:
Arcade Crane game injests three year old, and he likes it! (If this kid survives his teen years, he's gonna make a great youth minister one day)

And from the "You've Got to be Kidding Me" Department:
Two Month Old has 2 children removed from her abdomen... (Wow...what do you say? Wow...)

Ok, which of these stories sounded craziest to you?

2006-03-16T09:51:00.000-06:00

88 days, 18 hours, 16 minutes and 20 seconds...

That's how long it's been since the last time I've blogged on this thing. I know...that's pitiful.

So here's a quick rundown of what's happened:

Days spent in Baytown for Christmas: 8
# of times television went out: 2
Cost to get "under warranty" television repaired: $76.85
Cost of actual part installed to fix television: $3
Days till television went out again: 53
Hours spent in Graduate School Short Courses: 78
Assignments completed for Grad School internet course: 2
Assignments the rest of the class has completed: 7
ACU Lectureship Classes Attended: 9
ACU Intern Candidates Interviewed: 11
Job Offers Made to Candidates: 4
Job Offers accepted by candidates: 1
Youth Group kids taken to Soul Link conference in Houston: 39
Best attendance at Tuesday night in-home Bible Study: 13
Total Square feet in apartment livingroom where Bible Study happens: about 13
Rounds of Frisbee Golf: 2
Rounds won: 2

So there's a quick snapshot. For my internet course I read Metzger's The Canon of the New Testament. It was a surprisingly interesting book, and it was cool that Mike Cope was in the middle of his B-I-B-L-E series on his blog at the same time, and even made mention of the book I was reading.

In the midst of much catching up for grad school, preparing a sermon for Senior Sunday, working too much, playing with my cousins that are visiting, and generally procrastinating, I will attempt to be back into blogging from this point on.

Thanks for checking...

2005-12-17T15:50:00.000-06:00

Wow, It happened right under my nose, but I didn't notice till today!

Someone in Denver, CO was visitor number 10,000 to my site last night at 11:45pm MT. Let me know who that was! They were using Ricochet.net as their ISP...

2005-12-16T23:25:00.000-06:00

Tagged by Corey

By Brock

My cousin is stealing my grandparents from me over Christmas, and now he's tagged me for this crazy thing. Guess that's what I get for crashing his house for grad school every couple of months and only giving him a few hours notice...

Here goes:

My instructions are to answer the following questions with lists of 7:

List 7 things to do before I die:
1. Have a family
2. Go deep-sea fishing
3. Finish my Master's Degree
4. Spear-fishing
5. Elk Hunting
6. See Africa.
7. Train more youth ministers at my church

List 7 things I cannot (or will not) do:
1. Whistle
2. Tae bo (will not)
3. Dance (cannot)
4. Own a station wagon
5. Stick to a work-out plan that includes running just for the sake of running.
6. Skydive/bungee jump/Roller Coasters
7. Keep a secret from my wife - like what her Christmas and Birthday presents are

List 7 things that attract me to my spouse:
1. Her desire to always be with me
2. Smile and Laugh
3. Her Loyalty
4. Pretty Hair
5. Snuggly-ness
6. Her stress-reliever is baking
7. Her voice

List 7 things I say most often:
1. You gotta be kidding me!
2. Hey-O!
3. What in the world?
4. What's up, Dude?
5. Y'all listen up! (to youth group kids)
6. Heritage Church, This is Brock
7. Sarah, it's time to wake up...

List 7 books or series that I love:
1. What's so amazing about Grace? - Yancey
2. Celebration of Disciplines - Foster
3. Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry - Fields
4. Galatians & Ephesians - Paul
5. Leaving Ruin - Berryman
6. Traveling Mercies - Lamott
7. Life Together - Bonhoeffer

List 7 movies I would watch over and over again:
1. Tombstone
2. Meet the Parents
3. The Hunt for Red October
4. Rudy
5. Dances with Wolves
6. Braveheart
7. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

List seven people I would love to join in:
1. David Smith
2. Dallas Paulk
3. Kent Brantly
4. Matt Tapie (Not holding my breath...this is way too not-serious for Tapie's blog)
5. Matt Hartleib
6. Mike Cope (Hey, Dream Big!!! Think he reads anyone else's blog besides Larry James'? Wonder if he's ever seen mine?)
7. Todd Thomas

Thanks C-Pat!

2005-12-02T11:10:00.000-06:00

One interesting thing I'm learning about being a newlywed is that there are questions to be answered that I haven't encountered before. When I was a single man, I was lucky...All the other singles seem to hate being asked, "So are you dating anyone?" or "When are you going to get married?" But in my experience, I didn't get asked those questions very often, although when I finally did start dating Sarah, people took a lot of notice and let me know that they were pleased that I had FINALLY found someone.

However, now that I'm married, I'm noticing new questions. One is for Sarah, and one is for me.

Everyone wants to ask Sarah, "When are you going to have babies?!?!?" which is a question that sort of freaks Sarah out because we've only been married for 8 months. (Today's our 8 month anniversary, by the way...for those of you keeping score at home)

Everyone wants to ask me, "So, have you gained some weight since you got married?" which is a question that I easily know the answer to. It's "Not a lot, but I have gained a lot since Sarah moved to the same town as me!"

You see, when I graduated from high school, I weighed about 140 pounds...carrying all my books...and my little brother...

When I graduated from college however, I weighed about 195 pounds...naked.

So, in January 2004, when I found myself weighing about 205, I decided it was time for serious action. I quit eating seconds. I quit eating cheese on hamburgers. I quit french fries. I ate Lean Quisine. I ate breakfast every morning. I quit Dr. Pepper (That's what made it so serious).

By August 10th, I was down to 168 pounds...fighting weight...

Then Sarah moved to town on August 11th.

It's been 16 months since then. Now Look:

2005-10-28T11:42:00.000-05:00

Everyone is telling me that I should blog...but in the absence of one particular thing rising to the top of the heap to blog about, I'll do it all...

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I'm Jealous.

I'm jealous of my friend Ty, but it's not because he gets to go see U2 tonight with my brother.

I'm jealous of a guy I don't even know but my wife does, Matt Foster, but it's not because he snuck into a great concert at Madison Square Garden last week.

I'm jealous of Deana, but it's CERTAINLY NOT because she got to have a baby...Twice...

I'm jealous of my wife, but it's not because she got a free day off this week.

I'm jealous of all of these people, not because they get to have these great experiences, but because they retell the stories so well! I wish I could be half the writer that these people are! They really have a knack for doing what they do, and I appreciate their ability to reflect so thoughtfully on the events of their everyday lives. (Ok, maybe two guys going to U2 concerts doesn't qualify as everyday life, but you get the picture) If you're not already reading their blogs, you really should start.

Storytelling is such a wonderful art that is becoming more important all the time with the progression of this period of post-modernism. My friend Michael wrote an article that got published online by Youth Specialties about that very idea! Go check it out.

Anyway, I especially love getting to hear about how these great storytellers are doing ministry everyday...The way they tell the stories motivates me as I attempt to minister in my everyday life as well.

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We had a great Middle School Retreat this last weekend at Camp Copass. Only one trip to the ER on a middle school retreat makes for a successful trip as far as I'm concerned. One of our little girls impaled her foot on a stick while playing on the edge of the lake, but one screaming trip into town, a cortisone shot, some tweezers, bandages and crutches later, she's well on her way to recovery.

We had some great discussion about friendships and I taught about Ruth and Naomi in the hope of building some unity in our Middle School. I was encouraged to hear one little girl in class on Wednesday night tell her friend, "Brock said if there was one thing he wanted us to hear on the retreat, it was that Missionary Dating is bad...

At least they're getting something out of it...

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I'm INCREDIBLY behind on grad school work right now...which isn't being helped by the recent decision that we think I'm doing to do another master's degree after this one. It was hard enough to make myself buckle down and work when I only had 30 hours to go...now we're talking about another 48 hour program on top of that!!! So...don't call me and ask me to go have fun with you for a while...I have to work!

In the meantime, be blessed.

2005-10-12T08:40:00.000-05:00

Lots of stuff on my mind these days...thoughts about spiritual formation again thanks to a lesson on the Ipod by David Wray that is refreshing me about everything I learned in January in his class...Jealousy over all of the people who got to experience the Zoe Conference this last weekend without me...Feeling the need to explore the idea of hospitality as "giving the welcome of God" as presented by Grady King...Pressure to get my first youth ministry budget proposal started and completed...Excitement about a middle school retreat next weekend...Great memories of sitting at jr. high football and soccer games over the last few weeks and enjoying getting to know some youth group parents better...

As you can see, I'm doing great! But here's a cool story from last week...

Got a haircut on Saturday at my usual place, although I don't know why I'd call it the usual place since I've never seen the same worker there twice. So, it's always a luck of the draw on who you get to do your hair. I got called up by a hispanic woman who looked to be about 35. As I sat down, I noticed a daily devotional book at her station written by Kenneth Copeland and decided to ask her about it. As we were discussing what she was finding in there she asked if I had ever heard of another author and pulled out a book by Max Lucado. Pretty cool to be able to share my connection with him through Churches of Christ.

We talked about things that he had written that had been meaningful to us, and I was able to ask her where she worshipped, only to find out that she was really torn because she had always been a Catholic but preferred to worship in a Protestant church so she isn't going at all. I tried my best to let her know that I was glad to meet a fellow believer and to express my pride that she was a Christian. So, recognizing that she needed a place to feel more connected, I invited her to attend Heritage or Richland Hills and discussed with her what we could offer for her kids, what our service times were since she works weekends, and how we could help her feel at home here. I left her a phone number and hope that she'll get in touch with me.

It brought back so many memories of Randy Becton's class on Personal Evangelism that I took at ACU. I'm so thankful for a teacher who tried to teach us not how to "defend the faith," but how to care about the lives of people around us enough to be willing to talk about Christ in everyday conversation. I hope that one day that lesson clicks more consistently, but I think that because of the joy I had after having that happen on Saturday, it just might have taken a foothold. Thanks Randy!

2005-09-20T09:04:00.000-05:00

I noticed something funny on Saturday as I was watching some college football. I was watching a game between OU & UCLA. On one particular play, the Sooners had the ball up against their own goal line and their rookie quarterback didn't catch the snap that came to him from the center. It was a good snap, but he just dropped it. He was standing in the end zone, but was actually able to drag the ball to the one yard line and fall on it to avoid giving up a safety to the UCLA defense.

The UCLA coaches "disputed" the play, which means that they had the referees re-assess their decision with the help of instant replay and various camera angles to see if they had made the right call. Turns out, they had made the right call. The head referee turned on his microphone and said, "After reviewing the play, there is CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE that the right call was made on the field."

Here's the funny part - the crowd booed him! Since the game was going on at UCLA, it was a predominantly Bruin crowd, and they booed him! They were actually upset that he made the RIGHT call! They weren't interested in the fairness of the game...only in winning.

I know that shouldn't come as a shock to me, but it got me thinking... In Luke 16 and the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man asks Father Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his family of the torment he is enduring. Abraham says, "They have Moses and the Prophets, Let them listen to them." The rich man in turn tells Abraham that his brothers and his father will not pay attention to that evidence - that it will take more than the signs and words of the prophets to convince them.

How in the world can we ignore the evidence that it in front of us? Caedmon's Call is one of my favorite bands, and one song of theirs that means a lot to me is called "Shifting Sand." The second verse says:

"I begged You for some proof for my Thomas eyes to see.
Slithering staff, a leper's hand, and lions resting lazily.
A glimpse of Your backside glory, a soaked altar going ablaze,
But You know I've seen so much, I explained it away..."

So many incredible things that we've already seen and been told about, and yet it's hard to maintain belief sometimes.

One of my favorite stories of Jesus is one that is rarely discussed. In Luke 7, John the Baptist, from his prison cell, sends disciples to go and ask Jesus if he really is who he says he is. When they get to Jesus, he is not sad that John doubted. He only provides encouragement. He says, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.Â

I feel as if Jesus is saying, "Look at the evidence!"

And you know what? I'm convinced.

2005-09-05T22:44:00.000-05:00

"Hunting is a lot like religion or so it is I'm told, they're both just a simple little way of life, and they're both good for your soul, from Robert Earl Keen to Robert E. Lee, perfect strangers or best of friends, we all have a common little bond between us we were born to be huntin' men, If it flies it dies or so they say, and so often times it's true, yeah but you take yours and I'll take mine, and we'll have us a Bar-B-Que."
-Pat Green, "West Texas Holiday"

Well, at this rate, it's going to be a long time before we have that Bar-B-Que. You see, for the first time in my life, I went bird hunting this weekend! I was invited by a friend at church who provided a shotgun, vest and shells for me to join in the dove hunt. And I have to admit, I'm not really a natural. I've spent time shooting shotguns before at skeet, but this was my first time shooting at live targets, and I've decided that there IS a difference. So, after an entire day of hunting, here are my approximate stats:

Shots Fired: 45
Birds killed: 2
Doves killed: 1
Birds missed: 27
Doves our entire hunting group TRIED to kill in a day: 75
Doves our entire hunting group SUCCESSFULLY killed in a day: 7
Doves it would take to feed one grown man: 8-10
Days left in Dove Season to try it again: 55

So, all in all, my accuracy won't make my brother or my friend Skip proud yet, but I can't wait to get to try some more.

2005-08-30T19:56:00.000-05:00

It's bad news when I get tagged by a blog entry asking me to list my top 10 favorite songs to listen to right now because there probably won't be many on this list that are new...you'll probably think, "He's still listening to that?????"

1. Saved by Grace - Shane and Shane (By the way, they were great to see in concert...thanks to my wife!)
2. Yearn - Shane and Shane
3. Various Randy Harris Sermons on my I-Pod
4. Bless the Broken Road - Rascal Flatts
5. Crazy - MercyMe
6. Here I Go Again - Casting Crowns
7. This is How we Overcome - The Zoe Group
8. Fast Cars and Freedom - Rascal Flatts
9. Making Memories of Us - Keith Urban
10. Take me as I am - TJ McCloud

Tell you what...it won't bother me if nobody has to do this thing because of me...But I have to tag someone, so I tag Dallas, Niki, Mercer and Bruner.

2005-08-16T22:33:00.000-05:00

It's been a funny phenomenon that ever since we got married, everyone we know has one question for us..."When are you going to have babies?" Surprisingly though, it's not been either of our mothers who are asking these questions. It seems that my mother, who is obviously ecstatic about the prospect of being a grandparent, is satisfied (for now) simply with the knowledge that we do plan to have kids at some point (to be determined later) in the future. So, our parents are being pretty good.

It's these crazy church people who are so impatient about it!!! And it's funny, because many of them are people who have known us for 6 months or less. Sometimes I think that probably a lot of people don't realize just how short a time we've been married. But even those who know seem to be bent on pushing us toward parenthood. "It's in the water..." they say, and they tell us about the "curse" of being at this church - the one that says we'll be pregnant within three years of being here.

So, we pray a lot and just hope that God's plan doesn't include our becoming parents before we've had some time to get to enjoy each other for a few years.

But, if the last three weeks are any indication, it seems like God's making us practice up. Sarah's had some kind of bronchial infection, with diagnoses ranging from bronchitis to whooping cough, and it causes us to wake up numerous times during the night as she suffers coughing/wheezing attacks that leave her literally breathless for about 45 seconds. It's a really scary experience for me to watch, and understandably more scary for her to endure. After they pass, we're both so worked up it takes a few minutes to get back to sleep.

I'm not really anticipating getting a whole lot more sleep in the near future because I signed up for 2 grad school classes for this semester recently, but it sure would be good for Sarah to be able to sleep through the night.

So, pray for her, and pick a side on whether you're praying with us to wait for parenthood, or with our church who is praying for it.

It's already contagious, by the way...Two of our ministers are having new babies this month...

2005-07-26T22:47:00.000-05:00

For some reason, I'm seriously having a hard time coming up with good things to blog about right now. Sarah's grandpa is very sick so we went to the Panhandle to see him on Friday. He has some pretty severe heart problems and has asked us and his church family to stop praying for healing because he is just ready to go home. I am thankful for a legacy in my wife's family that trusts the Lord that much and is strong enough to say that...

But anyway, this may be a long post, but I'm gonna ask for your response at the end, so give it a chance...

We've spent a great deal of time and effort looking at used cars over the last week. It's time to replace my truck (by a long shot) and we are trying hard to find something in our price range.

I am seriously blessed to have a wife who has a very similar outlook to mine on money matters. We are both savers, and more importantly, we both feel a strong conviction to be good stewards of our money. We realize that we are only on the brink of a lifetime of expenses, surprises, and demands beyond our control, but we are really making a serious effort to make saving, tithing, budgeting and planning part of our constant routine. So far there have been no major surprises and therefore the task has been relatively simple.

I know that this is not the case for many of my closest friends. Many of them struggle with debt and with trying to maintain what they feel is a modest standard of living so that they can get rid of that debt, but I know that they feel enslaved by it.

Sarah and I were BLESSED by scholarships and planning parents that allowed us to finish ACU with no debt that we had to pay off. I remember a question that was asked of me during my interview for my scholarship at ACU by an admissions counselor, James Townsend. He said that he would like me to think of my gifts, talents and abilities as if they were crayons. His question was, "Brock, you've done some impressive leadership things for a young man your age...Do you feel like you were able to do that because you had a bigger box of crayons than others, or because you knew how to use your crayons better?"

My answer to that question has varied in different ways over the years, but I know that in regards to my lack of school loans and debt, I have been blessed in ways that not everyone has been, and that they have not all done things to bring that upon themselves. I do not hold that against them.

But there are questions that I feel we must ask as Christians. So many of us have learned that Jesus spoke more about riches than he did most other subjects. He obviously had something to say about them, and it's apparent that he meant for us to steer clear of letting wealth become a major concern for us.

Certainly our culture encourages us stay very concerned about accumulating wealth, and if it was just our culture encouraging this, it would be explicable. But I was encouraged and even instructed at ACU, by professors in the Business AND Bible colleges, about the importance of budgeting, saving, investing, and preparing for retirement.

I'm following their orders.

But I sometimes worry...(which is, of course, the problem)...that maybe I'm not supposed to be so concerned with these things. Reading the gospels could give me this idea alone, but I've had another motivator...I've spent considerable time doing mission work in third world countries and seen how the people live there. I'm not so naive as to think that I can make a difference in that by sacrificing my financial future, but I wonder what business I have worrying about it at all.

In the near future on my reading list is "Neither Poverty Nor Riches" by Craig Blomberg, and "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger" by Ronald Sider.

I could expound on this topic for hours, and I won't here, but I would love to hear your thoughts on it. What responsibilities do we have regarding our money? What standard of living should we deem adequate in America? Should we limit ourselves to just that and give the rest away? How do we, as Christians dedicated to serving others and also anticipating the return of Christ, prepare for the future?

Let me know what you think?

2005-07-03T16:31:00.000-05:00

Can You hear me?

Warning, long entry!!!

A couple of times a month I make a quick stop at the bank on my way to work in the morning. I am thankful that my bank opens at 7:00 am because that gives them a good hour and a half to get ready for me before I get there. The drive through is never at this time of day, and since there are 5 lanes, I’ve never had to wait. There’s a very nice young man about my age who is always the one to help me which is surprising because there are frequently other people working in the window who are closer to the desk when I get there, but he has always come over to handle my request.

At least I think he’s handling my request…

I can hardly ever hear what he’s saying! Every time he comes to the window, I turn off my radio, hang out of the truck to get as close to the speaker as possible, and also stretch my neck around the speaker box and vacuum chute so that I can try to read his lips. But I can’t hear him! I know we look hilarious as I’m hanging out of the truck, asking him to repeat it again. I finally have to just assume that he’s asking me how I am today, and I tell him what I need to do with my checks whether he is asking that or not.

This week I decided to go inside since I noticed that the lobby seemed pretty empty. Even though I wasn’t a window customer, the same gentleman came to help me. I learned that his name is Omabaude, but only because there was a sign by his window! I STILL couldn’t hear him! I at least knew that it wasn’t my poor hearing that was causing my problems outside, but I must have looked even sillier and now threatening as I leaned INTO his booth trying to hear what he was asking about my account number. He impresses me as a very sharp dresser and is extremely professional in his behavior, but he definitely needs to project his voice more.

In a totally separate incident, I was in my office at church on Wednesday afternoon putting together last minute pieces of information for parents of our Mexico Mission Trip participants. It was one of those moments in ministry where you need nobody to bother you (which doesn’t feel like ministry at all). So, I heard a knock on my door and upon opening it, I saw our building maintenance man escorting a young man who was wearing denim shorts that were sagging down to his ankles, a wife-beater t-shirt, numerous tattoos, beat up tennis shoes and a hat backwards with a red bandana tied around it. His eyes never left the ground.

Eric introduced him to me as J.D. I asked J.D. where he was from and in a voice that was as audible as Omabaude’s, he gruffly said, “California.” I asked where in California and he stated, a little less gruffly, “North Compton.”

Suddenly the red bandana around his head took on a whole new meaning.

I found out through Eric (J.D. was busy studying the floor) that J.D. was homeless but that he had found a church that had taken him in and had taught him about Jesus. He had decided to “get saved” only 3 days before and had been sleeping in a van. Eric was concerned that we needed to find J.D. a better place to sleep. I put Eric in touch with the right people from our church who could handle that (I guess that’s another blog topic – why didn’t I feel equipped to handle that? I know it’s not the church’s fault!) and they got J.D. a place to sleep that night.

The next day I asked Eric how the night went for J.D. I found out that Eric took him to the Econo Lodge and upon securing his room, Eric went home to gather some things to give to J.D. so that he could get cleaned up and satisfy his hunger. Before he could get back, J.D. called him to make sure he still coming. Eric reassured him that he hadn’t forgotten him, and the made his way back to the motel room with his arms full of soap, groceries, cologne, clothes and all kinds of other small necessities that Eric and his wife provided. When he walked into the room, he said that J.D. hit his knees and started crying! “You don’t have to do this for me” he exclaimed over and over. Eric tried to reassure him that he knew he didn’t HAVE to do it, but that he wanted to do it because it was what Jesus would have done.

Before the night was out, J.D. was talking to Eric and telling his whole life story of gang-involvement and mischief. He talked about his dream of becoming a fireman. They sat there for hours talking about life and at the end of it, J.D., on his own, took off his red bandana and threw it in the garbage.

Because of the body of Christ, J.D. has been given a voice. I wonder what Omabaude needs in order to be heard?

2005-06-25T13:42:00.000-05:00

The Cheese is old and moldy...

One of my best friends, Adam Cook, left on Wednesday for a 6 week mission trip to wheaz the juice in Estonia. That's supposed to be the country that the dude was from in the movie, Encino Man. Don't figure he'll run into Pauly Shore there, but he should have a great time and I know that the Kingdom will be blessed by his work there. Please be praying for him, and if you want to drop him a line, his e-mail is adam[NO SPAM]cook09@gmail.com.

I've been in six states since the last time I blogged, and now I'm just in a state of fatigue. We took our middle school students from the youth group to Pensacola, FL last week for a mission trip there. We had a good experience getting to minister to the children of low income neighborhoods there, but the best part for me was just getting a chance to get to know our teenagers better. I was on the trip with a number of students from Heritage that I had not been able to spend much time with yet, so having that opportunity was awesome for me.

This past week was Camp Zenith which was held on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University for our high school students. We took a smaller group than I expected (14 students) from Heritage, but that group did a great job of bonding together and making a committment to make sure that others from our group at home knew about the great experience that we would like to share with them next year, and to bring the level of worship intensity home with us to Heritage.

My wife provided an excellent birthday for me yesterday even though I couldn't get home from camp until after 4:00 pm. We had a fun evening eating the famous Paulk family Black-And-White cake that Sarah had made for the first time (very successfully too!), ate a great dinner and rested from our camp experience.

While at camp, I reunited with two friends who I found out were blogger as well, so a big Howdy goes out to Niki and Adam. I can already tell that their blogs are going to be on my "read-frequently" list, and they're being added to the links here too. Blessings my friends.

We leave for Mexico in two weeks for our high school mission trip there, but it's nice to have a couple of weeks at home to enjoy hanging with kids, and more importantly, being with my wife.

2005-06-02T23:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm two months into this thing. No, I'm not talking about my new youth ministry job - I've only been here since April 13th. And No, I'm not talking about my re-acquaintance with Dr. Pepper - that anniversary is tomorrow. I'm talking about marriage! It's our two month anniversary today! Pretty exciting times!

How did we celebrate our two month anniversary you ask? Well, we both worked full days, and then in the evening we took a couple of youth group kids to the Summer Youth Series event over at the Grapevine Church of Christ. I know, helpless romantics are we...

Here's a few things I've learned in two months of being married to her:

1. I understand more everyday that God gave me someone who's very dedicated to me. It's great to experience having someone who is constantly thinking about me all day long.

2. It's totally awesome to have her to come home to everyday. Even on days when we can't come home until 11:00pm (like today), it's great to know that I get to sleep next to her when I get here.

3. I never looked forward to leaving work like I do now. In the past, it was no big thing to stay at the office for a few hours late and get more work done...now, I just want to get my work done and then get home!

4. Even sleeping with her doesn't make her writing skills contagious. Now that she's started blogging, you all know how great a writer she is and how great a writer I'm not.

5. We were created to compliment each others strengths - we learn a lot from each other all of the time.

That's totally not an exhaustive list, and I wrote it really quickly, but I want to post it while it's still my 2 month anniversary, and (more importantly) my wife's ready for bed! Adios!

2005-05-22T14:22:00.000-05:00

For those who wanted to see it, here's my aspiring-artist wife's first painting! Pretty good, huh?

2005-05-21T23:12:00.000-05:00

It's been a Hot Weekend...

We got free tickets to the PGA tour's tournament, The Colonial, yesterday. After having a co-worker at church have to back out on me, Sarah eagerly agreed to come along. It was her first golf tourney experience, and she quite possibly chose the most difficult time to do it...it was like 96 degrees out there yesterday, and no wind. We both came back sunburned - perfect timing because we took pictures for the church directory this morning - but really enjoyed our time together and getting to watch some good golf. We got within hand-shaking distance of Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Kenny Perry, Justin Leonard and Davis Love III. But, did I mention it was hot?

Today, I had 3 showers. Not because I was doing anything particularly messy. Just because it's stinking hot! We went to a graduation party THIS EVENING and I sweated like crazy standing there playing washers! Not exactly a full contact quick moving game! We didn't even have to walk back and forth end to end! Just bend over, pick up the washers, and toss them...UNDERHANDED! I could hardly see the target because of the sweat in my eyes!

So now, here I am ready for bed, and I'm really frustrated...We're trying really hard to budget our money. My wife is amazing...she has decorated our apartment incredibly and hardly spent a dime. She works from home and never runs the air-conditioning even when I beg her to do it (from the comfort of my office where the preacher keeps the thermostat at 70) so she'll be comfortable. We buy all generic groceries. We are careful about lights, run only full loads of dishes and laundry, we try to eat out infrequently, we are disciplined about spending money on clothing, we signed up for the cheapest electric provider we could locate, we don't have cable...Shoot - my wife even started painting so we wouldn't have to buy artwork - we are budgeting tightly!

BUT...it's 11:15pm, and despite the fact that there are TWO fans running in our bedroom, the air conditioner (which is set on 85) just turned on. I DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND...it's 11:15...PM...and it's hot enough that the air just kicked on to bring it down to a balmy 85 stinking degrees!!! Makes me miss Houston where it was cool! I mean for real...someone check the oven and make sure it's not left on!

This is unbelievable.

But, I have to be thankful and just laugh, because I know me - if I was here by myself, I'd be sitting in front of the fan with the air conditioning STILL set to at least 85. And somehow, God knew that it would drive me crazy if my wife demanded we put it on 70, so he gave me a wife who doesn't mind "sweatin' it out" with me, and who looks great doing it.

Now, don't worry...if you come to visit, we promise to knock the thermostat down to about 78 and turn on the ceiling fans. But, it might not hurt to bring some of those funeral-home-paper-fans, those wetable bandanas for your neck, and a couple of bottled waters...you're gonna need it.

2005-05-17T10:43:00.000-05:00

I've had worship on the brain this week. First, Sunday night we took our youth group to an area-wide worship event with about 3 other churches. This is not new to me - we did a similar thing in Houston when I worked there. Second, I am blessed to be a part of a church where the shepherds are absolutely trying to grow and lead the congregation in spiritual growth. Part of that commitment includes a commitment to constantly learning and studying, and so one of every month's two shepherds/staff meetings are designated as "study meetings." Virtually no "business" is discussed - the purpose of the study meeting is to search the scriptures and other resources so that we, as a group, can grow together in our ability to lead like Christ. So, last night our worship minister delivered a presentation about worship, it's purposes, and how we're carrying it out in our church.

Sunday night as we were singing, I couldn't help but notice lots of kids who were bored during our worship service. I have been working in youth ministry in part and full time capacities for 6 years now, and I have felt like my job was to call kids to a higher level of commitment that would help them to become more devoted to Christ - a "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" kind of transformation. I expected that if I simply taught strong enough lessons, or lead powerful enough devotionals, or provided dynamic enough speakers and teachers, teens would eventually have an "AHA!" moment and decide that now was the time that they would take it seriously, and their faith and commitment to Christ would suddenly skyrocket.

But...What I've noticed is that as serious as I like to think that I am about my faith, sometimes I get bored too. Singing the same old songs in the same old ways takes its toll, I suppose, but I have come to believe that the content of the songs is not the detrimental element. Mike Cope posted today the words to one of my favorite Christian hymns - Be Thou My Vision. That song, as old as it is, is just as powerful as any new praise song that we sing, and so for me, it's not the age or quality of the song that makes worship meaningful.

It's a heart issue. When I'm having trouble offering praise to God in worship, it's not someone else's fault who picked out the wrong songs or who missed a que on the powerpoint show. It's a problem with my heart!

In my thoughts on how this relates to teenagers, I'm reminded of a quote that I know I've heard before but can't remember where - "We sin when we make worship boring for students."

Perhaps there is some truth to the idea that students are personally responsible, in part, for their involvement and attitude during worship. They do need to honor God the way that they know he needs to be honored. But what example are we giving them? Do we worship in a fearless way that doesn't care who's watching or listening? Do we offer old lyrics to God in a new way since their meanings are still just as marvelous? Are we passionate about our desire to fulfill our purpose here on earth - to give glory to God?

I need some responses here - if it's "sinful" to make worship boring to teenagers, than what can we do to help it be more meaningful? Help me brainstorm by commenting on this post and letting me know what you think.

2005-05-09T21:14:00.001-05:00

Off to Jamaica!

2005-05-09T21:14:00.000-05:00

In this week's exciting news, I needlessly massacred my own blog just for the sake of you Internet Explorer users out there. Normally I wouldn't have cratered so easily, but since the sitemeter says that 90% of you are viewing my blog in IE, I decided to help you out. So, hopefully you can now see the sidebar with the profile and links. In the process of helping you see that again, I deleted all of the pictures on the blog as well as a couple of posts, only to find out that wasn't the problem. The problem was one time on January 18th when I underlined some things and the underlining went too long and made a text box too wide. All that to say, if you wanted to see pictures of the engagement night, e-mail me. But now, without further ado, here's a few pics from the wedding!!!!!

Sweet Cousins

2005-05-09T21:13:00.003-05:00

Picture Time

2005-05-09T21:13:00.002-05:00

1...2...3...Jump!

2005-05-09T21:13:00.001-05:00

Here's what was waiting for us in the back of the truck...

2005-05-09T21:13:00.000-05:00

What a Cake!

2005-05-09T21:12:00.000-05:00

My beautiful Bride!

2005-05-09T21:11:00.000-05:00

2005-05-01T21:08:00.000-05:00

Here's something fun...Since moving to Ft. Worth, Sarah and I have yet to provide our own dinner on a Sunday night. It turns out that there always seems to be a little bit of food leftover from the children's ministry's activities, and tonight was no exception. We were really excited to find out that tonight was cereal night - so we came home with leftover cereal and milk. But...not just any cereal and milk...Reese's Puffs and WHOLE MILK. Exciting times for a couple who usually eats Quaker Oat Bran and skim. So, we sat outside on the balcony, living the high life, eating Reese's Puffs in thick, creamy Whole Milk. Good times.

I know, random update, but it was really exciting...

2005-04-30T21:40:00.000-05:00

I've put it off as long as I can...I'm finally back to blogging starting tonight. Please excuse my absence. In the last month and a half, I've moved, gotten married, travelled to Jamaica, piloted a sailboat in the Caribbean, eaten a lot of good food, drank Dr. Pepper, tea and Coke after a 432 day haitus, started a new full-time ministry job, started learning to be married, met a WHOLE LOT of people, received a WHOLE LOT of gifts, realized I love being married, gotten internet-access at home for the first time since college, and procrastinated on a bunch of grad school homework.

Everything is going great. I have felt terrible about not blogging, but I have had to prioritize and blogging has taken a back-burner. However, with the arrival of Mrs. Paulk on the blogging scene, I am again motivated to pick up the laptop and continue filling you in on everything. Thanks to everyone who reads this so faithfully.

Our wedding was totally awesome. Matt-ness did a wonderful job of officiating, and everyone else was so gracious to be there for us. Adam, Brett, Dallas, Brantley, Kyle, Michael and Kurt were awesome to have with me as groomsmen/ushers, and Sarah really enjoyed having Garen, Katey, Erin, Jenny, JB, Kim, Elizabeth and Lindsey Hall help her with the big day.

Jamaica was also great - our accomodations at Sandals Ocho Rios were very nice, the food was great, the beach was awesome, and overall we had a great time. We decided - if you're not drinking alcohol, you're probably not getting your money's worth out of an all-inclusive resort...but we certainly had no major complaints and we had a wonderful time in Jamaica.

Things at church are going really well - the kids in the youth group are great and we're experiencing a lot of demonstrations of people's love for us as they are very eager to let us know how happy they are that we're here. They had a pounding for us and collected staples for our pantry...we really cleaned up that night as we came home and had to completely rearrange the storage system in our kitchen cabinets to accomodate all of the food they gave us.

I'm way behind on grad school work and haven't read anything of substance since before the wedding, but I'll get back to a more normal routine soon. For now, thanks for checking in on my life! I'll let you know more, more often, from here on out.

Blessings!

2005-03-25T09:07:00.000-06:00

On Monday we traveled to Ft. Worth and rented our apartment, which is great news. That is accompanied by more great news that upon our move in, we receive a FREE I-Pod Mini!!!!

So, things are going well. We're in Baytown right now preparing for a joint garage sale with my parents on Saturday. I'm working on getting grad school stuff finished up so that I can be free for the honeymoon! Anyone ever been to Sandals? Got any advice for us?

2005-03-16T17:13:00.000-06:00

Ok, Ok...I guess I've been caught doing some family neglect too. No sooner do I post, admitting my failure to recognize my dear friend Kent in my "Friends Blogs" list, than I get these harrassing comments posted from not one but two family members!!! They want to know why they haven't shown up on the Friends Blogs list...

So...Consider these reasons:

1. This is a Friends Blogs list - Family was never mentioned...
2. Dallas has updated his blog TWICE THIS YEAR - easy to forget when it's collecting cobwebs. Brand new laptop at home and he won't use it...
3. Corey moved his blog...See this entry. Apparently cousins don't notify each other when they start a new one. No wonder BlogLines hasn't been showing anything by his name...

However, in an effort to keep up good family relations, I have added both of these trouble makers to the Friends Blogs list pending more of our family members jumping into the 21st century and warranting a Family Blogs list.

Anyone else feeling left out? I'll hook you up...

2005-03-15T14:11:00.000-06:00

I've been caught in the act of "Friend-Neglect." I updated my "Friend's Blogs" list on the sidebar, and then received a comment from someone who definitely belongs on that list who didn't make it. SO...Please notice the new, revised Friend's Blogs list and find my friend Kent Brantly. He's a great guy who's living in Guatemala right now learning spanish. So...he won't come to my wedding, but he'll always be in my heart...HaHa!

In other news, this past weekend we had a singing group in from Lubbock Christian University called Best Friends. They did a couple of concerts for us and hung out with the kids from our youth group. The best part of the weekend for me was that they sang a song that really touched me called "On My Cross." I'd heard it before, but was reminded of it this weekend and it's great. The lyrics say:

How wide is Your love
That You would stretch Your arms
And go around the world
And why for me would a Savior's cry be heard
I don't know
Why You went where I was meant to go
I don't know
Why You love me so

Those were my nails
That was my crown
That pierced Your hands and Your brow
Those were my thorns
Those were my scorns
Those were my tears that fell down
And just as You said it would be
You did it all for me
And after You counted the cost
You took my shame, my blame
On my cross

How deep is Your grace
That you could see my need
And chose to take my place
And then for me, these words I'd hear You say
Father no
Forgive them for they know not what they do
I will go
Because I love them so

Those were my nails
That was my crown
That pierced Your hands and Your brow
Those were my thorns
Those were my scorns
Those were my tears that fell down
And just as You said it would be
You did it all for me
And after You counted the cost
You took my shame, my blame
On my cross

Hope that was a benefit to you. I think the biblical writers were on to something...It does Christians a lot of good to hear and remember the Gospel story - like every week.

2005-03-08T15:09:00.000-06:00

Wow...That was hard...

On Sunday night, Sarah and I did one of the hardest things we've done since we've been together - we told the youth group at ACOC that we have accepted a new job in Fort Worth at the Heritage Church of Christ. There was much crying and hugging as some people were angry, most were confused, and all were dissapointed. That was a terrible thing to have to do.

I'd write more, but my words aren't coming right now because it's been such an emotionally draining week.

2005-03-01T13:30:00.000-06:00

Check out the new Link --- My Amazon Wish-List. Want to know what I'm interested in reading? Want some good ideas for reading yourself? Check it out sometime!!!

2005-02-18T18:21:00.000-06:00

I'll Bite...

Well, Deana started it, Chad continued it and my brother emerged out of the depths of the pit of forgotten bloggers to do it, so now I want to join the ranks...Here's a list of 25 things I've done:

1. I have successfully fished for sharks while standing in 4' deep water.
2. I have visited over half of the states in the U.S.
3. I have eaten rattlesnake meat.
4. I have preached a sermon in front of over 1000 people.
5. I have gone scuba diving in a flooded nuclear missile silo.
6. I have spent a night stranded on the King Ranch.
7. I have been left behind by my missionary group in a bad neighborhood in Honduras.
8. I have gone snow-mobiling.
9. I have built a pier in a bay in South Texas.
10. I have helped save the life of a dehydrated 3 month-old baby girl.
11. I have ridden on the night shift with a police officer.
12. I have ridden on an elephant.
13. I have killed and cooked my own dinner in one evening.
14. I have climbed to the summit of three 13,000+ foot mountains.
15. I have jumped off the edge of a mountain, landed on snow, and slid 200 yards.
16. I have participated in a triathalon.
17. I have run out of gas in a boat.
18. I have driven an ambulance.
19. I have gotten lost by myself, on foot, in the mountains.
20. I have played the violin.
21. I have forgotten how to play the violin.
22. I have driven a forklift.
23. I have decided to follow Jesus.
24. I have failed and decided again to follow Jesus.
25. I have proposed to and planned a wedding with a wonderful woman that I love.

What about you? Do you have a list?

2005-02-17T11:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had a friend say to me, "I'm tired of the same old thing...I want something new and exciting to happen...Everything is just getting old..."

I tried to explain that when we start wanting so bad for something new and exciting to happen, we sometimes miss out on the greatness of what's already happening...

That was a terrible attempt at explaining a great concept...

Frederick Buechner says it much better:

"Boredom ought to be one of the seven deadly sins. It deserves the honor.

You can be bored by virtually anything if you put your mind to it, or choose not to. You can yawn your way through "Don Giovanni" or a trip to the Grand Canyon or an afternoon with your dearest friend or a sunset. There are doubtless those who nodded off at the coronation of Napoleon or the trial of Joan of Arc or when Shakespeare appeared at the Globe in "Hamlet" or when Licoln delivered himself of a few remarks at Gettysburg. The odds are that the Sermon on the Mount had more than a few of the congregation twitchy and glassy-eyed.

To be bored is to turn down cold whatever life happens to be offering you at the moment. It is to cast a jaundiced eye at life in general, including most of all your own life. You feel nothing is worth getting excited about because you are yourself not worth getting excited about.

To be bored is a way of making the least of things you often have a sneaking suspicion you need the most.

To be bored to death is a form of suicide."

[from Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC's of Faith]

Thanks Fred.

2005-02-16T21:18:00.000-06:00

No Fun...

I'm pretty sure it's no longer entertaining to keep up with my blog. I got tired of trying to keep up with people's blogs at one point and I discovered Bloglines - a free web-service that monitors all of the blogs that I like to read and tells me when there's been an update. That way I don't have to spend time everyday surfing through all of those blogs.

So, when I load Bloglines, I have a list on the margin of my screen of the names of all of the blogs that I am subscribed to, and the ones that have been updated are in bold print. Needless to say there are a lot of blogs on that list that don't seem to be in bold very often. Once in a while I'll notice a name on that list and think to myself, "Wow, haven't heard anything new from them in a while."

I'm afraid I may have become one of those people.

I don't know if I have any friends who use Bloglines. If I do, they probably only occasionally notice that I haven't been blogging very frequently. However, for everyone else who expectantly navigates to b-rock.blogspot.com hoping for some fresh view into the party that is my life, I feel bad knowing that I dissapoint quite frequently.

Speaking of Being No Fun - Sarah left today for Midland...she has Bridal Portraits, Wedding Showers, haircuts and family to see about. So, I'm all alone...there's no one here beside me...

In the meantime my lonely week will hopefully consist of completing some grad school work, maybe catching a late showing of this, attempting some more work on the website that I've been planning for our youth group for 2 years now (notice - no link for that...), and hanging out with my little brother on our way to a family reunion on Saturday.

It'll be awesome - except I miss her.

Next week is ACU Lectureships! Will I see you there?

2005-02-01T10:46:00.000-06:00

patrolling the Streets

As part of the course requirements for my Christian Spiritual Formation Class, I participated last Friday night in an all night ride-along program with an officer from the Alvin Police Department. I was totally convinced going into the night that the highlight of our night would surely be something like tracking an elderly woman who had escaped from the local nursing home or something.

To begin the night, we had a briefing where I got to listen to the officers' preparing for the night by being informed of warrants and other information they needed to know about. I was introduced to the officer that I was to ride along with - I don't think he ever made eye-contact with me - and he didn't speak a word to me besides "Nice to meet ya." He seemed generally un-enthused about life and I resolved myself to the idea that I had a long night of silence ahead of me.

After the briefing was dismissed, we headed to the patrol cars and I sat around while he prepared his cruiser - inserting the video tape into the recorder that would monitor our interactions with people through the night, securing his ticket book and tazer, etc. Once he finally got in the car, he explained all of the systems in the car that I would want to know about - the computer that connects to a network allowing him to check license plates and criminal histories, the siren and light system, the radios, the radar system and the recording system. Then he spoke to his wife on the phone for a while, we went to Sonic for a few minutes to get a drink, and we finally hit the streets at about 11:10 for on a 10:00-6:00 shift. Very little action, just as I'd suspected.

Our first call was to respond to the Wal-Mart parking lot where a man felt like someone had hit his car ON PURPOSE with a shopping cart. OH BOY!!! My first real taste of Police work! The damage to the man's car, if there was any, was not visible to the naked eye, but we spent a good 30 minutes talking to him and attempting the view the security tape from the parking lot that didn't end up being useful at all. We would later file a report simply so the man would have something to show for insurance claims.

We started patrolling, and it wasn't long before we got a call about a domestic disturbance. We responded to the scene and found a woman who was frustrated because her husband was drunk and when she had attempted to prevent him from leaving the house, he got mad and punched out a window. He then left and went to motel for the night. We tracked him to the motel and had a talk with him, warning him to stay where he was or risk police action on account of his public intoxication.

In our search for him, we stumbled upon two teenagers in a pick-up truck who were parking in our of our city parks. They were apparently having too much of a good time because when the young man got out of the car at the officer's request, he was wearing the female's pants. He felt stupid and we got a good laugh out of it since he was about 6'2" and the girl whose pants he was TRYING to wear was about 5'0".

We later pulled over a speeder doing 76 in a 55 mph zone. His license was suspended so he received a citation for that. He was traveling in a caravan, so the other two cars he was with stopped ahead of us to wait on their friend. We called two other units to come and check out those vehicles, and they discovered that one of the drivers was driving while intoxicated, and upon further investigation, discovered marijuana in the vehicle as well. He went to jail.

We responded to two false alarms about attempted burglaries, helped one stranded motorist, and sped around Alvin at speeds in excess of 100mph.

As it turns out, I had been extremely underestimating the criminal prowess of our little town, and my appreciation for the work and professionalism of the Alvin Police Patrol Division was greatly increased.

In other news, today marks T minus 60 days until I become Sarah's husband, and I couldn't be more excited. We've been working on honeymoon planning and finalizing gift registrations in lieu of the coming showers. She's a lot of fun to plan a wedding with, but I don't recommend it to any of you - she's already taken!

On Thursday morning I have to drive to Abilene for a short course on preaching. I'm taking a class with Dr. Mark Love - the man who preached my favorite sermon of all time on Ephesians at the ACU Lectureships in 2003 (I think). Obviously, I feel like Dr. Love has an authoritative word or two to say about preaching, so I'll be excited to participate. Part of the required preparation for the class is to watch "A Knight's Tale," so I feel like we'll get to think outside a box a little.

Sarah flies to Midland tomorrow morning to do some wedding preparation and also to go to a doctor's appointment. Pray for her safety!

2005-01-18T13:49:00.000-06:00

It's been a funny day today...I got the building today, hoping to get a lot of work done in my quiet office. I've had multiple visitors and phone calls all day, and don't feel like I've gotten much accomplished, and yet, I've gotten a lot accomplished because of the conversations with visitors, and the motivation that they provided me.

This weekend we took a group of youth group kids to the Fortress Church of Christ for a weekend mission experience. The teens got to work with another youth group from the Missouri Street Church of Christ of Baytown and we painted the inside of Fortress, and also led a children's Bible lesson on Sunday. It was a great weekend, and the teens had their eyes opened to some harsh realities that their peers living in the inner city face every day. As they were cleaning up, they found drugs, dead rats, and other general unpleasentness. Our van was broken into and a few items stolen, but it was just a hint of the kind of life that people have to get used to there.

2005-01-06T09:54:00.000-06:00

I know, I know...it's been a LONG TIME for me...No good excuses...

I'm on break right now from my week long graduate school class at ACU. It's a great class with my all-time favorite professor, so I can't complain about the 8-5 one week schedule. Not getting a whole lot of rest, but sure getting a lot of good information and teaching on spiritual formation.

This morning we're talking about Spontaneous Spiritual Formation Moments...moments in your life when you've "instantly" been shaped spiritually by the events of your life. For example, the parents who watched their children swept away into the sea two weeks ago in the Indian Ocean. It's not a pleasent subject, even though sometimes the moments can be positive ones, like having a baby. Most of the time, it's a painful experience.

How about some comments? How have some instantaneous moments shaped who you are spiritually?

2004-12-16T13:07:00.000-06:00

Exciting times around here...We're getting into the full-swing of wedding planning now. Thanks to everyone who wrote, commented or called to wish us congratulations on our engagement. Everyone at church was very excited, and we even got our pictures up on the screen on Sunday morning at church to announce our news! It was a lot of fun. Please start or continue praying for our upcoming marriage. We're super excited about it.

Soon I have to start working on reading for my January short course, Christian Spiritual Formation. I have quite a bit of work to do on it, but since it's a class taught by one of my favorite teachers, I know it'll be great. Plus I have some friends from school taking the class with me, so I'm really looking forward to that experience.

Spring youth group calendar is in the works...we're planning a weekend mission trip to the Fortress Church of Christ and a weekend for our girls to attend Girls Reflecting Glory. Should be a great semester.

I just picked up a copy of "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families." It's a book about the killings in Rwanda in 1994. I haven't started reading it yet, but I have already gathered that 1 in 10 people were killed in that country. I cannot imagine that kind of destruction. I'm amazed that the world allowed that kind of thing to go on. I'll comment on this further after I've at least begun the reading, but you might consider checking into this book...I think it'll be very much worth reading.

2004-12-08T21:06:00.000-06:00

I read an interesting article tonight on Yahoo news about violence against women. The idea is that men, primarily Islamic men, use skewed versions of their religion's teachings to justify murdering and abusing women either to defend their own honor, or to simply excuse their already-abusive relationships.

The statement was made, however, that this does not only apply to Islamic religions. The article said, "some experts believe any male-dominated religion, in which God and his prophets or apostles are male figures, creates conditions for the subordination and abuse of women." It cited a statement from the Polish minister for gender equality (incidentally, a woman) who said that Poland is experiencing problematic violence against women that is rooted in the strong influence of the Catholic church on public life.

Lots of noise is being made in American Churches of Christ right now concerning the role of women in the church. Many people (women and men alike) believe that the Church of Christ has been a "men's club" for far too long and that this is an injustice that contradicts the character of God, the promise of the new covenant, and the reversal of the curse that was placed on mankind after the fall in the Garden of Eden.

There are also many who feel strongly that allowing women to have a more prominent role in service to the church is biblically wrong and contradictory to the commands of God, the instruction of the New Testament and the way God created humans to function.

There is much disagreement on this issue, but we are certainly not supportive of violence against women.

In the article, the Polish minister made the statement, "Catholicism does not directly support or oppose violence against women. But there are indirect links through culture which is strongly based on religion. It is a structure based on patriarchal domination of God the Father and the less important role of women can be seen for example in the letters of Saint Paul."

I am sorry to hear of this Polish minister's misunderstanding of Paul's attitude toward women. She certainly bases her opinion on passages in which Paul indicates his instruction for churches of his day and what leadership positions women should take in the church's meetings together. But, she misses passages like Galatians 3:26-29 where Paul says,

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I have news for that Polish minister...the church does have a position on violence against women. The church's position and every Christian's position is that

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The church does not support oppression of anyone because our Lord came, and subsequently sent us, to release those very people. Let us understand that the Kingdom of God and the grace that it brings allows us to treat each other as equals...equally dependent on the blood and resurrection of Christ - both male and female.

2004-11-21T20:57:00.000-06:00

I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for Midland and won't be back in the office until Tuesday, November 30. I may get a chance to blog in Midland, but I'm not making any promises. In the meantime, let's get some more responses to my previous posts - what movies have a message that has affected you strongly? There's a lot of people reading this blog who aren't involved in the commenting! Come on ya'll, let us know what you're thinking!!! You can even post anonymously if you want!

Happy Thanksgiving.

2004-11-18T13:13:00.000-06:00

Last night I taught a bible class and addressed the idea that sometimes we leave God "in the box" and don't really take advantage of the promises and blessings he's given us as individuals, much less the gift of "every spiritual blessing in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3) that's been given to the church. I used a couple of video clips from "Castaway" showing how Tom Hanks' character collects all of the FedEx boxes that wash up on the beach but leaves them alone for quite some time before opening them to see what might be inside that he could use to survive. He, of course, ends up using every item that he finds - ice skates, a dress, videotapes, bubble wrap and the now famous Wilson volleyball. I taught about how we seem to try to make it on our own for so long like Hanks' character did until we finally get desperate enough to take advantage of the unopened resource that we've been leaving unused.

One of my youth group girls, as we were about to be dismissed, said, "I have a question...Do you like watch movies and think 'wow, I can teach a class over that,' or do you just come up with a class and then try to pick a movie that fits it?"

My answer was "yes." Sometimes I watch a movie like The Matrix, Braveheart, Remember the Titans, Castaway or Gladiator and immediately see the teaching value in it, but those are obvious ones. I'm not nearly as attentive to these things as many of the other people, particularly ministers, that I know.

What about you? What movies speak to you? Let's get a lot of people to chime in here...leave a comment and tell us about yourself!!!

2004-11-16T13:25:00.000-06:00

So, my brother who has written 5 blog entries in his life, is taunting me now, asking if I ever blog. And the answer is, "YES...Sometimes." Sorry D - I'll try to keep up with your ever-increasing volume of information a little better.

This weekend was a great retreat weekend. We took the youth group, along with the Huntsville Church of Christ Youth Ministry and the SouthEast Church of Christ Youth Ministry to Gulf Coast Christian Camp in Columbus, TX. We learned about how the whole earth is "DRENCHED" with God's glory and that he is always at work in the world. On Saturday night we had a worship service where we allowed the kids to minister to each other by leading the worship with prayers, songs and scriptures, as well as stations for washing each other's feet and praying with each other. It was a sacred time. I got to have good prayer time and foot washing time with a number of my students and I can only hope it meant as much to them as it did to me.

Once I returned to Alvin, it was back to the reality of Graduate School since I have 2 papers due tomorrow as well as a lot of reading. This week in church history we're discussing the ideas and origins of purgatory, indulgences and papal forgiveness in connection with the crusades. I must say that my understanding of these concepts has significantly increased, and my hostility against them has been tempered quite a bit. They make a lot more sense to me having understood the concept out of which they developed.

Just a few days till we leave for Midland for Thanksgiving. On my recommendation, Sarah's 9 and 12 year-old cousins are coming here on Saturday night and then on Monday morning they'll ride with us to Midland for the Thanksgiving celebration. I'm really excited because it's going to be a great time of closeness with Sarah's family - there will be 16 of us staying in a 2 bedroom house, so it'll be close quarters. They're all worried that the cramped space is going to frustrate me, but they don't realize that Paulk family gathering's have always been the same way that that I'm very accustomed to sharing the floor with other people to sleep. So, come on Thanksgiving.

2004-11-10T15:20:00.000-06:00

I'm finding out more and more just how imperfect I am. No, I didn't assume that I had it all together. No, I didn't think that I was doing everything right. But, lately I'm getting some character feedback from a few people who love me, letting me know some things about myself that I was not aware of.

A few years ago I was interning at a church in San Antonio with the youth ministry. One day as I was walking out the door of the office to go to an activity, the youth minister I was working with reminded me of something important that I needed to do. I continued to make my way out the door without stopping to hear what he was saying and only gave it minimal attention. Before he even got done speaking, I said, "Yeah, I know..." and walked out the door. He shouted after me, "No, you don't know! Come back!" So, I came back into the office and he proceeded to gently help me realize that I was in the habit of constantly telling people "I know" when they were telling me something that I needed to do, and it made it sound like I was cocky and that I didn't think I needed their help or that what they were saying was important. I took that to heart and have made a concerted effort to not assume that I know what someone is saying or talking about. I'm very thankful for the lesson in that office in San Antonio that day.

Fast Forward 4 years...

I'm finding out that another of my weaknesses in ministry is that I am somewhat defensive when people try to approach me. I've never meant to be defensive, which I hope people can believe, but it's apparently come across that way. When someone comes to me with a concern about my ministry or a complaint about a decision I've made, in my mind I've tried to logically explain my actions and the train of thought that lead me to make those decisions. What I'm finding out is that once again, it makes me sound like I am cocky and that I don't think I need their help and that what they were saying is not important.

So...apparently I'm not as custom fit for ministry as I've allowed other people to convince me that I am. And I'm coming to the realization that I'm glad for that...receiving grace from people who love me is a lot more relieving than receiving praise from people who are just satisfied with me. I do hope that people will be patient with me as I strive to have an attitude of humility about ministry and as I try to help others see Jesus in me.

2004-11-07T21:05:00.000-06:00

Tonight we had a great devo with the youth group. We went to the home of some members who live down on the bayou in Liverpool. We had a HUGE bonfire and the kids got to roast marshmallows and hotdogs and try to avoid burning their eyelashes off by getting too close to the fire. Then we had about an hour of good worship time, which we've been needing, so that was a great thing for us tonight.

On Thursday, Sarah and I went to Dallas to attend the Dallas Area CofC Youth Ministers meeting so that we could promote Soul Link. We had a good reception from the guys there, and we hope that some of them will bring their youth groups.

That evening we went to Waco where we could spend some time with my buddy Adam. We had pretty good times there, and got to check out Sarah's Dad's land which turned out to be an adventure. Our friend Jonathan drove his truck off into a ditch and got it stuck, and while we were trying to get it unstuck with my chain, I got a flat tire on my truck...so that took a while, but we finally got out.

When we got home to Alvin, I had to immediately take Sarah to the ACOC Ladies Retreat, which meant that I had to spend the weekend by myself. I occupied myself with an elder's meeting on Saturday morning, movies and repairing Sarah's rocking chair on Saturday afternoon, and church this morning.

If you haven't read my previous post yet and started helping me get my free Ipod, please read it. I'm doing the Blockbuster online rental thing and it's working great so far...I may keep my membership to that!

2004-11-01T11:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, listen friends...here's the deal.

I can't believe I'm doing this, but I need your help. I was referred (by CNN Headline News) to a site called www.freeipods.com where I could supposedly get a free Apple IPod. Catch is that I have to get five friends to participate in at least one of the available online offers that the site's sponsors have. If five of you will do this, I get a free IPod.

SO...there's lots of random stinky offers that you can do, or there's ONE GOOD OFFER THAT WON'T COST YOU ANYTHING! You can become a subscriber to Blockbuster Video's new online movie rental service (compare to Netflix) and you only have to do a 2-week free trial. After the two weeks is up, you can cancel the membership, or, you can keep it going and it's a pretty good deal anyway ($17 a month for unlimited Blockbuster movie rentals.)

SO...hook a brother up and try out this link. I'll owe you big, and I'll let you listen to my IPod...

http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=11319147

2004-10-25T14:24:00.000-05:00

I was in a social club (which is the ACU version of a fraternity) while I was in college called Pi Kappa. The name was chosen because the initials were the same as Promise Keepers, a nationwide men's ministry after which the club was to be modeled. In fact, many of the early activities included involvement in Promise Keepers activities. You can check out this article to see what I mean.

The Promise Keepers organization held at its core the "7 commitments of a Godly Man," and Pi Kappa morphed that idea into the "7 commitments of a Pi Kappa Member." They are:

1. A Pi Kappa Member is committed to honor Jesus Christ by obedience to God's word by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. A Pi Kappa Member is committed to pursue vital relationships with a few other men, understanding that he needs his brothers to help him keep his commitments.
3. A Pi Kappa Member is committed to practice spiritual, moral, ethical and sexual purity.
4. A Pi Kappa Member is committed to build Christ-centered dating relationships, marriages and families through love, protection and biblical values.
5. A Pi Kappa Member is committed to support the mission of his church by praying for his minister, and actively giving of his time and resources.
6. A Pi Kappa Member is committed to reach beyond racial and denominational barriers, demonstrating the power of biblical unity.
7. A Pi Kappa Member is committed to influence the world by being obedient to the great commandment and the great commission.

This weekend at ACU's homecoming, I got to go to the Pi Kappa homecoming breakfast. I was disappointed that the only mention of spiritual things at the breakfast was a recital of the commitments (more for the sake of nostalgia and testing-of-memory) and a prayer for the food. The location of the meeting was changed and there were never any invitations sent out, so not many alumni showed up. The current members that were there made no attempt to meet the alumni and the new pledges were so busy cooking the breakfast that we couldn't meet them either. After about an hour, a group of old alumni walked in who had gone to the original location for the breakfast because nobody told them otherwise. They had waited for a long time and eventually gone to breakfast together at a restaurant that we used to frequent. I can't tell you how much I longed to have eaten with that group - a group of men that I know are still trying to live out the commitments day by day.

Kevin Linderman, Paul Pasarilla, Bryan Scott, Jason Martin, Kevin Porter, Brad Fuqua and David Allan - I didn't even know all of these men personally before the meeting (I met Paul for the first time), but I know that they are men that I want to be like. They're living lives that are honoring God and raising families that are a glory to him.

Maybe I'm too harsh...maybe the current membership of Pi Kappa will turn out like these men that went before them. I certainly hope so. However, Pi Kappa was founded with the intention of being a shining light on campus of men who were actively helping each other live more like Jesus everyday. As I spoke to current students who weren't Pi Kappa members this weekend, I got the impression that the identity has changed. I saw the signs of that while I was there, but certainly had hope for the new pledges that it would not fail. I hope that the Lord will provide men who want to re-invigorate Pi Kappa with the passion and accountability that it once had, but if not, I hope that Pi Kappa goes the way of the Dodo because the world doesn't need "just another social club"...The world needs men who will make a difference.

2004-10-20T21:05:00.000-05:00

I get a real kick out of watching the stats page that is linked to my blog. You see, the little counter that tells you how many people have visited my page (down at the very bottom...), I can click on it and it tells me how many people have looked at my site, what time they did it, which pages they looked at, and what page they were referred by. Don't worry, I'm not monitoring your net use...I don't even know who ya'll are. But, I know what page you were on right before you came to mine! HaHaHa! (maniacal laugh...)

Anyway, It's great to see the kinds of search engine requests lead people to my site. The latest? Someone entered "Poisonous Snakes Missouri" into a Google search and ended up on b-rock.blogspot.com! I'll have random visitors from all over the world at this rate.

What about you? Do you track your viewers? Where are they coming from?

2004-10-17T21:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I feel like all I do is drive lately...

This weekend we decided late that we could leave Friday morning, drive to Corpus Christi to surprise Sarah's cousins, drive to Kingsville to see my grandparents and my parents and little brother, and then drive home to Alvin to do a youth group activity.

So...we drove the 4 hours to Corpus only to sit in traffic in Corpus for almost another hour. Then we picked up her cousins at school where they were totally surprised and very excited to see us. The looks on their faces were worth the drive. We spent most of the evening making circular tracks around the buffet and arcade at Gatti Town, and we had a lot of fun.

Later that night we drove on to Kingsville where we sat and talked to Muz and Grandad for 2 hours while waiting on Mom, Dad, and Dallas to arrive at about midnight. We all went to bed. Sarah woke up before anyone else and tried to take a shower, but when she tried to turn on the water it made a loud sound that woke up everyone in the house except me. So, she was really embarrased, but we had a great time there. I got to take her out on the King Ranch (just the tourist's loop), and we got to see deer, cara-caras (mexican eagles), coyotes, cattle, horses, buzzards, owls, and even a crazy big lizard. So, that was a lot of fun.

Then we had to jump on the road where we drove for a quick 4 hours to make it back to Alvin at 4:30 in time for the 5:00 Jr. High Beach Night Trip. We ended up having 9 Jr. High Students show up (a Jr. High Record) and we went and played touch football, roasted weenies and smores and had a devo. Great times last night.

Today was a good day because I taught two lessons that went well, was prayed over by the elders for Clergy Appreciation Month, and got to spend the whole afternoon with Sarah. I could get used to that...

Will blog more later this week.

2004-10-11T08:36:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't blogged at all this month, and it's almost halfway over...I feel terrible about that, and yet feel strangely at ease because my friend Michael Mercer is pretty tardy in his posting as well. Granted he'll get on there and make some excuse about being at a youth minister's conference for the past 4 days, but does that really excuse him?!?

Seriously, I've done a lot of thinking and the people that blog very frequently (including Michael who usually does really well...) are very impressive to me. It's not because they have such great things to say, although they usually do. No, the reason that they are impressive to me is because their blogging frequency seems to say something to me about the balance of their lives. When someone can make the time to get up each day and live by the kind of routine that allows them to stop, sit at the computer, create, and publish, it is an inspiration to me. Especially when they can do that in the midst of working in full time ministry. Michael and Mike Cope are great at this...

Like so many other things in life, the key to good time management and scheduling is balance. I am far from mastering that. Don't get me wrong, I get my responsibilities done and don't usually turn things in late or anything, but I have not mastered the art of making time for things I want to do with consistency...things like taking a walk with Sarah every evening, blogging, reading for fun, working out, getting together with more old college friends and fishing...I miss doing all those things...

___________________________________________________

Celebrate today! On this day in 1974, my life was made possible because a 21 year old guy and a 19 year old girl exchanged vows to stick with each other through thick and thin no matter how hard it got. As my parents celebrate their 30th anniversary today, their three boys honor them with their lives and are so proud of their commitment to each other and of the people that they both are. Love you Mom and Dad.

___________________________________________________

Sarah and I went to Dallas this weekend to see my old friend Adam and Sarah's two college roommates, Erin and Kim. We had a fun time there, and I inadvertently discovered, and I've considered not admitting to this, that I am pretty decent at this game on X-box called "Dance, Dance Revolution." There...It's out in the open...I certainly don't "have great moves" by any means, but the game was fun and seemed like a good social activity. Sarah was good at it too, and we've both commented that as embarrassing as it may be, we wouldn't mind owning it ourselves...can you say e-bay?

While we were in Dallas, we stopped at a store whose sign only said, "Giant Book Sale." We shopped for a while and found some good deals but I only ended up buying two books...both fiction ones that I thought would be good for my reading for fun goal. Last night I started reading the first one, a book called "Yucatan Deep" and am really enjoying it. To my surprise it ended up being a Christian Fiction book, which I didn't know when I bought it, but was pleasantly surprised about. As I opened the front cover to read it last night, I noticed it was published by Zondervan which is a Christian publisher, and got really excited. It deals a lot with Scuba diving which of course I love, so I'm really excited about getting into it. I haven't read a novel in quite a while! I think I could enjoy this...

_______________________________________________

Plenty of Church History reading to do this week, but it's a great day and I get to go meet with a bunch of my youth minister friends today. Hope you have a great one.

2004-09-28T09:23:00.000-05:00

Of course you know, I've been dying to blog every day since my last entry, but wanted to leave the snake picture at the top so that you could all see it.

The past week was great, but the highlight actually came from my internet grad school class. I wrote an essay for the class and prof to respond to, and after the class responded, the prof just wrote, "Brock, I just wanna say thanks. A wonderful essay..."

I was proud of this accomplishment, and wanted to post the essay for you all to read, but I figured that the details about my reading assignment's content would be pretty boring, so here's the beginning of my essay...that part that's fun to read...

Deep Convictions about Christ's Divinity -
This past Saturday morning I took a group of youth group students into inner-city Houston to do a service project. We went to The Heights Church of Christ – the oldest Church of Christ building in the Houston area and the original “Mother Church” that planted quite a few of the large, prominent churches around the Houston Metro area. This church has dwindled in size to around 30 members, and the building is literally crumbling around them, so we went to help with some general clean-up. The history of the building was amazing and it was a joy to get a tour and hear about how it had been such a thriving congregational meeting place for so long. However, the tour was not complete without the final stop in the minister’s office where there was a great library of significant size that contained an enormous amount of out-of-print books, old bibles, aged commentaries and the crown jewel – a leather-bound collection of Millennial Harbingers from the middle of the 19th century.

As I browsed around this library, I was amazed and envious of such a vast resource. Commentaries by Charles Spurgeon caught my eye, along with a book of memoirs written by Alexander Campbell. And yet, I was also not surprised when I found books that were written from an antiquated (hopefully) legalistic stance that was once much more prevalent among Churches of Christ. Thumbing through some of these books, pamphlets and tracts reminded me once again, not of legalistic attitudes and ignorance, but rather of the deep conviction that these men and women felt while they were writing these pieces. Their passion about the subject matter, right or wrong, is still a moving quality that warrants my respect even if I do not agree with their position.

As I read our readings for this week, I could not help but notice similar passions in the actions and arguments of so many of the men that were involved in the sometimes bitter turmoil that occurred during the formative years of the middle 4th century.

2004-09-21T14:40:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of the snake...

2004-09-21T11:57:00.000-05:00

SNAKES!!!

We've had a crazy couple of days. Sunday night after Youth Devo, Sarah and I went home to her apartment and when she went into the restroom, she found a snake! Of course she called for me to come help. It was about 1 foot long and was a beige color with red/brown diamonds on its back. I caught it in a trashcan and threw it into a field behind her apartments.

About a hour later, I saw another snake, this time about 2 feet long crawling into her kitchen. I tried to catch it, but it got under the stove and I lost it. I pulled the stove and refrigerator away from the wall and shook everything around, but couldn't ever find it.

Sarah was trying to be really brave and was going to attempt to go to sleep anyway, but asked me to check her room for snakes. When I was checking the perimeter of the wall, I found a third snake, of the same description as the first two. I trapped him in a trashcan and transferred it to a cooking pot with a glass lid so I could see it better. It has a distinctly triangular head and diamonds all over its back. It shakes its tail like a rattlesnake, but I figured it must be too young to have rattles...it's about 12-14 inches long.

So...the next 24 hours involved lots of discussion with the apartment managers, and eventually they gave Sarah another apartment on the other end of the complex. It's bigger and has a fireplace, but they're not charging her anymore rent than she was paying.

We also were able to identify the snake...a NON-VENEMOUS Juvenile Texas Rat Snake. We also found a fourth one in the apartment while we were moving her stuff last night into the new apartment...Poisonous or not, a snake is a snake and 4 snakes is way too many...glad she's out!

Now if I can just read all my medieval church history grad school stuff. Anyone have the Cliff's Notes for Athanasius?

2004-09-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

No Rest for the weary...

OK, I've tried to post this twice, but it hasn't worked...I don't think Blogger's messed up...I think it's me. The indian...Not the arrow...

Long weekend this weekend. My little brother Dallas stayed with me, which was great, but I felt bad because I wasn't very entertaining. I had to study for and write a sermon which took quite a bit of time, but he had a great attitude and actually got some of his own homework done.

On Sunday the sermon went really well. I got a lot of positive encouragement, but not much constructive feedback. Not quite the same as preaching in a college class to Randy Harris and a bunch of other preaching students. They don't hold anything back when giving "feedback."

In other exciting news, Sarah has a job! But, it's only for 1 day. She's substitute teaching tomorrow at the Friendswood Christian School for a fourth grade class of 2 students. So, it's basically babysitting all day. But, it'll be a good shot in the arm for her as she needs to get out and be around some other girls...maybe she'll make some friends with some other teachers. Pray for her tomorrow!

2004-09-07T14:46:00.000-05:00

THE LAPTOP IS BACK!!!

After two solo-trips to Tennessee and back (my computer is so brave), the laptop is back with a new mother-board and it's working as good as new. So, I guess we know what the problem was. Now my only question is, should try to buy some more warranty for this thing? I only bought the 1-year warranty thinking, "I'm careful with all my stuff...I won't break anything." Now, I've had to send it in twice for a faulty part. What ya'll think?

This weekend was fun, we had Sarah's mom, two aunts, one uncle (and his sister), two cousins, and one visiting dog in for the weekend, so we spent the whole weekend entertaining. It was fun though. We took the to Galveston to eat and also got to take her little cousins swimming, so that was great.

Great times going on...I'm in love with an amazing girl, I have my computer back, and my youth calendar looks great for this fall. Thank you Lord! Now if you'll just instill this Sunday's sermon into my heart, we'll be doing great!

2004-09-06T11:08:00.000-05:00

This morning as I read some material for graduate school, I got to thinking once again about something that has been on my mind for a long time...my citizenship.

Every time I go to a football game where they sing the national anthem, or when they sing "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at Minute Maid Park, or when we meet at the flagpole at church camp and recite the pledge, I stand with hand over heart and patriotically think to myself, "This world is not my home, I'm just a' passin' thru..."

It's not that I don't like America. I appreciate the freedoms that have been afforded me by living in this country. I appreciate the sacrifices of veterans, KIA's, MIA's and POW's that have selflessly allowed me to have this freedom. If I was drafted into the armed forces, I would gladly serve and consider it an honor to fight for the right.

And yet, I don't necessarily feel that I live in a superior country to the others of the world. Even during my short stints in world missions, I've experienced the joy and happiness of living in another country and how pleasent it can be.

In my church history study, I've noticed that people have always been patriotic and proud about the country or kingdom that they were from. This morning, I read about the historians of Rome who wrote as if the Roman Empire would go on forever as the focal point of history that everything had been building up to. I'm not hearing much from the Roman Empire these days on the news, how about you?

They were obviously mistaken. It reminds me of professional and collegiate sports competition. I like to watch sports just as much as the next guy, but everytime some team wins a championship, they celebrate as if they are and will always be known for being the greatest. And then, one year later, we're watching someone else respond the same way to interview questions, claiming the nobody can beat them and that they are the best in the world. Last year's champion's words are quickly nullified, and another group of fans gets to gloat for a year before taking their seat as the humble runners-up to somebody else.

My view of history (naturally biased as it is) says that history is building up to the coming return and kingdom of Christ. (We can thank St. Augustine for helping this view get developed) America is great, and has historically stood and fought for some noble causes, but it is not the focal point of history. It's really not even as impressive as some of the empires of antiquity and those that, like China, have lasted for so many hundreds of years.

My citizenship is one in the Kingdom of God. His is the first army I sign up to fight for. To Him is the first pledge of allegiance that my heart utters. I am more proud to honor His Banner of Love than the stars and stripes. And one general of His army, Jesus Christ, has made more sacrifice for me than all of the casualties in U.S. engagements, combined.

Hail Jesus, You're my king
Your life frees me to sing
I will praise you all my days
You're perfect in all your ways.

Hail Jesus, You're my Lord
I will obey your word
I want to see your kingdom come
Not my will but yours be done.

What about you? Where's your citizenship?

2004-09-02T14:23:00.000-05:00

Isn't it funny how life keeps us entertained?

When I moved to Alvin, there was a lady in our church who had been falsely accused of abusing an infant that she was babysitting. The child had suffered from shaken-baby syndrome, from which he would eventually die, but we all knew that it could not have been at the hands of this loving woman from our church. All of the facts of the case were inconclusive about placing blame on her, but the District Attorney indicted her not once, not twice, but three times trying to get her convicted of this crime.

At the end of the first trial, in which she was appointed a state attorney who was fairly incompetent, the result was a hung jury with 11 jurors wanting to convict her, and 1 hold out. When the DA indicted her again and brought her to trial a second time, she got a better attorney and the trial ended with another hung jury, only this time with 11 wanting to acquit her and only 1 wanting to convict. So, the DA took her to trial a third time. Finally, after three trials she was granted the justice that we'd all been waiting for as she was acquitted of all charges. However, by this time the fees for her attorneys had cost her enough money that their family would always feel the burden of this false accusation. Relatives took out second mortgages on their homes, and people donated thousands of dollars to help out, which was the blessing of being involved in such a loving church family.

This week, that woman from our church got a summons for jury duty. She reported to the court house where she was in the jury pool for a child abuse case. When she got into the court room, she couldn't believe the irony, but the DA prosecuting the case was the same DA that had charged her, and the defending attorney was the incompetent gentleman that tried to defend her first trial. The irony was just too funny.

The DA started to question the jurors when he noticed her sitting on the front row. He asked the group, "Is there anyone in this group besides Ms. Smith who knows myself and the defense council previously?" After nobody raised their hand, he said, "Ms. Smith, would it be fair to say that, given your acquaintance with myself and the defense counselor, you would have a hard time being an objective juror in a child abuse case?"

She simply answered, "I think that would be fair to say..." and was dismissed. Case Closed...

Psalm 140 says,
" Rescue me, O LORD , from evil men;
protect me from men of violence,
who devise evil plans in their hearts
and stir up war every day.
They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent's;
the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Keep me, O LORD , from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from men of violence
who plan to trip my feet.
Proud men have hidden a snare for me;
they have spread out the cords of their net
and have set traps for me along my path.

O LORD , I say to you, "You are my God."
Hear, O LORD , my cry for mercy.
O Sovereign LORD , my strong deliverer,
who shields my head in the day of battle-
do not grant the wicked their desires, O LORD ;
do not let their plans succeed,
or they will become proud.

Let the heads of those who surround me
be covered with the trouble their lips have caused.
Let burning coals fall upon them;
may they be thrown into the fire,
into miry pits, never to rise.
Let slanderers not be established in the land;
may disaster hunt down men of violence.

I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor
and upholds the cause of the needy.
Surely the righteous will praise your name
and the upright will live before you.

Praise the Lord for taking care of our sister and defeating the enemies that would set a snare for her.

2004-09-02T10:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a work day...I arrived at my desk at 7:45am and left work at 10:50pm last night. I was pretty beat. Afterwards, Sarah was feeling sick because we hadn't eaten so I took her home and made some eggs for her and got her to feeling better, but I didn't last too much longer after that...I was fading fast.

But this morning I'm recharged. Yesterday I turned in 5 papers for 2 grad school classes, which is part of what kept me busy all day. I now have major papers due on the 8th, the 15th, and every Wednesday this semester. This grad school stuff is really time consuming.

Sarah's mom comes to town tomorrow night for the Labor Day Weekend, as well as her 2 aunts and two female cousins. I'll be the only guy hanging out in this group of wild women, but all of them like me already, so it'll be a fun time to hang loose and just be myself. I love hanging out with her family so much already that I look forward to these kinds of visits.

My Dad started his new job this week after being laid off from the job he worked at for 27.5 years. Praise be to God for his provision in finding work for Dad so soon after his other job ended. He was off work for less than 1 month!

2004-08-30T10:21:00.000-05:00

The commenting in here is going crazy! Thank you all for your attention to my blog. You make me feel like I should actually write in it more frequently (who knows, maybe someday that will happen!) A Special Thanks goes out to Michael Mercer's Mom, who I've never met, but I am thankful that she keeps up with the blog too. Great to have you aboard...

I have absolutely no time to be blogging. I'm in that in-between week where I'm working on two graduate school classes at once, and it's keeping me really busy. But, the real problem is that my laptop gave up the ghost last week (it's under warranty, heading to the repair center in Nashville today) and so I have not had access to most of my stuff. I'm using my OLD laptop (purchased in 1995) to try to get all of my church history internet class stuff done, and really wishing that my good laptop would work. This is bad timing for it to go out, but the warranty runs out in November, so I'm glad it happened now instead of December 1.

Last night we had a youth devo at Sarah's apartment, and I have to tell you about how moving the worship time was for me. Yesterday morning at church, one of our members led worship for the first time by himself on a Sunday morning and did a great job. Strangely, we sang nearly ALL of the same songs again on Sunday night, and so by the time youth devo rolled around, I was really needing some variety. So, we stuck to some of our newer youth songs...Zephaniah 3:17, Refiner's Fire, Do Not Fear, As the Deer, Heart of Worship, I want to know You, In Need...and the time was well spent. I personally felt refreshed in worship like I haven't felt in a while, and was so thankful to the LORD. I know that he is refreshing my love for him, day by day, and I am so thankful for his dedication and faithfulness to me. Special thanks for my youth group too for making last night go so well.

Are you checking out Mike Cope's blog? If you're not, you missing a blog that's much better than mine, and updated much more frequently. Check out the link on the right...

2004-08-23T09:50:00.000-05:00

Aww, Look...my loyal readership waiting with baited breath as I again take forever to write a new post! Thanks for your great comments. Mercer, is your mom still reading my blog?

No really, I have a decent reason for waiting to blog! This weekend Sarah and I went to Midland to pick up a bunch of her furniture. We left last Wednesday night and drove to Waco where she met my friend Adam and his brother Blaine which is an experience to be remembered. On Thursday we went to Abilene, ate lunch and made the rounds visiting a bunch of our old college friends and introducing each other to them. Then on to Midland that afternoon where we went out to dinner with her mother, Mary, who treated us to a great steak dinner at a local place called Wall Street.

On Friday, we ran some errands before visiting Mary's school where she works so that I could be introduced to some key friends there, and then we made our way out to Greenwood, the town outside of Midland where Sarah's Dad and Brother live with their families. We had a great visit with them, and although Sarah claims that she wasn't nervous about me meeting those important men in her life, I know she was relieved that they both took to me real quick and we got along so well. Friday night we celebrated Sarah's birthday (which is tomorrow) with her mother with their traditional birthday meal - salmon patties, gravy, mac and cheese, hominy, green beans, crescent rolls, fresh fried okra and a chaser of homemade family recipe desert known as Granny D's Cheesecake. It was awesome, and thankfully, we came home with leftovers of all of it, most importantly the cheesecake.

That night we packed all of her furniture into my truck and the trailer that I brought with us. She was concerned that we might not have room for all of her things, and so was impressed and thankful when I fit everything into the covered trailer and the backseat of the truck, and didn't even have to use the bed of the truck like we had planned on. That way, everything was protected from the weather and was also locked up for all of our stops on the way home which made her feel a lot more secure about it.

The next day on the way home, we stopped in Abilene to eat lunch with my brother Brett and my cousins and their two kids. Over lunch, Sarah was telling my cousin-in-law Corey about how I'd packed everything into the trailer and he said, "Oh yeah, if he's a member of the Paulk family he's a master packer..." It was pretty funny to hear that expectation (even if I did know it was true).

So, the trip was very successful and we both felt great about everything that happened, but the best part was being able to spend 18 hours in the truck with Sarah and just enjoy sitting next to her and talking to her about so much and laughing together a lot. She's such an answer to prayer...

Youth calendar got finished last week and distributed yesterday so now I feel like I can breathe a little bit before we're back in full swing. Speaking of full swing, I'm working hard on grad school stuff these days. Church history class starts today on the internet, and I'm not finished with all the papers from my Maymester class (they're not overdue...I just need to get them done).

So, what am I reading? "The Changing Shape of Church History"

Hope it gets better than the first chapter was...

2004-08-16T11:37:00.000-05:00

Do you think it's possible that sometimes I wait too long to blog? Sorry to all my loyal readers out there (Both of you)...

I'm excited about the new semester in youth ministry, but I'm in the throes of the calendar planning time, and it can get frustrating and tedious. Good news is that we're starting a high school small group program that should hopefully deepen not only the relationships between the kids, but more importantly their understanding of Christ, their biblical literacy, and their excitement about the Word.

Sarah's job hunt continues, but I'm beginning to learn that I enjoy her being off of work and not having anywhere that she has to be everyday. I'd rather her be free to spend time with me. It's nice being able to meet her for lunch everyday and spend so much time with her, but I know that it'll help her feel better if she'd find full-time, gainful employment.

We're leaving Wednesday to go to Midland and pick up a lot of her furniture and things. I'm really excited about the couple of days away and about getting to spend so much good talking time with her on the road.

Once again, I'm really not reading anything right now, which is really sad. I started "This Present Darkness" last week, but I'm really not getting into it...it's a Christian Novel about Spiritual Warfare, and I just am not feeling very imaginative right now so it's not doing it for me. I've got 4 eight page papers due on Sept 1 and 1 fifteen page paper due the 15th for my Maymester class. Also, the "History of Christianity" class that I'm taking over the internet this semester starts next week, so I'll be doing a LOT of reading for that. I know I'll soon have good intelectual topics to talk about from these readings...the problem will be finding time to blog!

Blessings...

2004-08-12T09:28:00.000-05:00

Ok, Ok...you may need to sit down, but I'm actually updating my blog. If this comes as too much of a shock and you feel yourself starting to hyperventilate, take some deep breaths and read this entry in short doses to help the feelings subside!!!

You all need to know that things with Sarah are going great. She moved to Alvin on Sunday, with her little Ford Mustang packed to the gills with whatever she could fit in there. She stayed with the preacher’s family for the first two nights, but she signed her apartment lease Tuesday afternoon so she’s excited about getting to do some decorating and having a place to call her own. We’ll travel out to Midland at the end of next week to retrieve her furniture and bigger things. It’s an exciting time for us, but however much she cares for me, she’s caring for the youth group just as much. She has immediately found a niche with the girls in my youth ministry (in fact, I think some of them have forgotten my name since she got here…) since they’ve been starved for feminine attention at youth group events for the past 3 years. It seems like they’re all trying to play catch up on all of the girl-talk and conversations that they would have had if she’d been here for those years, and everytime we finish a youth group activity Sarah looks at me and says, “Brock, I just love those girls so much already!” She’s gonna do great here! We’re all really excited about it, me especially! (Obviously)

Summer is over for me (Tuesday was the first day of school in Alvin) and it seems like it just flew by. We had a good summer this year - the first summer since I’ve been here that I can look back on and say, “You know, that was really successful.” We had a mission trip to a place in Missouri called Camp Barnabas which is a camp for children with disabilities. We were there for physical disabilities week, so my students were paired one-on-one with kids who had ailments like spina bifida, cerebral palsy and the like. My students really stepped out of their comfort zones (changing diapers on teenagers, helping with using the restroom and showering, etc) but I was really proud of them and I think we’ll go back. It was a great experience. Three weeks ago we went to Camp Bandina (my first time on the hill) and had a great session along with the Spring-Woodlands, Conroe, and Watter’s Rd. churches. I was assigned to teach a class to Jr. High kids called “Be a Revolutionary,” so I did character studies everyday on Old Testament characters, using Esther, Job, Abraham, Noah and Elijah. It turned out really good, and kids commented a lot on how much they were learning in my class. I even had counselors tell me that kids were coming back to the cabins talking about my class, so I felt good about that. Finally, two weekends ago we had a leadership retreat at one of our member’s lake house. I took most of my high school juniors and seniors, and we discussed the state of the youth group. We looked at 1 Timothy 4:12 which talks about how even as young people, we can set examples for the believers in speech, life, love, faith and purity. So, we put those categories on the white board, talked about what it means to be an example in each of those areas, and gave ourselves a group grade in each category. They were real honest with themselves (We had a C average) and did some good thinking and brainstorming on how we can more effectively lead the group closer to Christ. Then we studied some of the leadership characteristics of Nehemiah and had some time of confession, off-loading the hurdles in our lives that might keep us from being strong leaders this year. It turned out to be a strong weekend.

2004-07-15T09:44:00.000-05:00

Well, the weekend was totally amazing, and all I've been able to do since then is brag on Sarah and how excited and happy I am about her. I went to Corpus Christi to see her this weekend, and we got to spend great quality time with her family, my family, and each other. The whole trip was great, although too short, and we can't wait to get to see each other again. Having to readjust to phone conversation from face to face ones has not been easy. Both of us are excited and expectant about the future, and especially ready for her to live in the Houston area. That'll be a great day...

I feel terrible about the fact that I'm not really reading anything right now. Yesterday I pulled "This Present Darkness" off the shelf, which is supposed to be a novel about spiritual warfare (I think). I'm excited about reading that, but I'm not sure it's the kind of reading that I feel like I'm lacking right now. We'll have to see.

My Bible class went well last night...I was torn up all day about how to communicate the message that I wanted to convey, but thanks to the movement of the spirit it all worked out. I love when I'm sitting in worship and the Spirit suddenly gives me an idea that throws my plan out the window because it's so much better.

I have a great desire lately, based in part on the emphasis by some of my spiritual heroes, to learn more about the Kingdom of God and what that phrase means for us today. At Stream in the Desert this year, Rick Atchley inferred that it was incorrect to simply equate the Kingdom of God with Heaven or the Church, which indicated to me that we are now living in the Kingdom of God. I'm assuming that is due in part to the fact that Christ conquered death and was given "all authority in Heaven and Earth" when he rose from the grave. However, I'd love to learn more about the concept of the Kingdom of God being witnessed right now. As we sing songs asking for the reign of God, what are we asking for? Any recommendations about where to study this? (I guess the gospels are a good jumping off point, right?)

Blessings to you all...

2004-07-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

Sarah got to town last night, and all of the feelings that we've been having about each other and simply trusting that the other person was feeling as well were verified. We both feel 100x more confident about the relationship that we were already feeling super confident about. So...things are going great, but we covet your prayers for our wisdom. She interviews with a home builder here in Houston today at 3:00, so we're anxiously awaiting the news from that.

Great SYS last night in the Houston area...One of our local youth ministers spoke on the need for fellowhip to keep us from falling away and how badly we need each other as Christians. He blew it out of the water...great lesson.

Today I get to take my youth group kids bowling which is great because it means that I get to spend time hanging and relating with them. I love these kids more and more everyday, and my heart aches for them to be in love with the LORD. What a calling, this youth ministry...I'm loving it! (Shameless theft of a phrase from McDonald's)

Adios.

2004-07-03T20:40:00.000-05:00

Wow, total change of plans. The LORD has provided Sarah with a job interview in Houston on Tuesday of this week! That means that my 8 day wait to see her has suddenly been reduced to a 2 day wait, and I'm absolutely thrilled that in a couple days the feelings we've been developing and trying to communicate to each other over the phone will finally be visible and conceivable...Oh the joy I'll feel upon seeing her face after the past two months of 4+ hour phone conversations stretching into the wee hours of the morning. Be praying for us as we both feel like we're approaching the crest of the hill on a roller coaster and suddenly we'll be carried on a wild ride that's going to be fast and furious because of the combining of our two worlds, as well as the beginning of her first career job, first time to live alone, and first time to live 9 hours from home. I have full confidence that we can, with the LORD's help, emerge on the other side of this wild ride holding each other's hand, much closer than we are now, and prepared to climb the next hill. If this is a relationship that can continually honor the LORD and benefit the kingdom, then that is my prayer. Talk to HIM for us, if you will.

2004-07-01T19:58:00.000-05:00

Down to single digits in the countdown of days until I go to South Texas to see Sarah. Times are good, and yet the clock doesn't seem to speed up, no matter how hard we wish it together on the phone. She's excited. I'm excited. We're excited. We can hardly stand the anticipation, and yet the anticipation is what causes the excitement. This is a great time.

Today I took a number of youth group kids to experience frisbee golf...a game that none of them had ever played. The high school boys pulled ahead and left me with all the jr. high girls...Some of the boys spent more time in trees retrieving errant frisbees than they did playing...we drank a lot of water...it was windy...we met some guy who was drinking beer in the public park and passing out free frisbees to my boys. All in all, it was a great day, and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Note to anyone interested - if you decide to play frisbee golf, pick up some of the actual disc golf discs rather than playing with aerobees and cheap walmart toy frisbees...you'll play better and lose fewer of them.

Also, the youth group started a challenge to read one Psalm per day for the rest of the summer. I made the mistake of not asking kids to declare that they were taking the challenge, so now I don't know if any of them are doing so. I should find out. I'd love to see them experience the wonder of the Lord through his word.

All in all, summer has been great, and amazingly, it's half way over. I can't believe how quickly this thing is flying by. Really makes me reconsider the preciousness of the time I get to spend with these youth group kids...sometimes it seems like it's only a few minutes.

Here's a cool quote from a youth minister friend's bio on his church's website -

"Hobbies/Interests -
I love the out of doors. Hiking, mountain biking, riding four wheelers, and sports of any kind. I love Youth Ministry and consider it enough fun to count it as a hobby on some days. On the other days, I head outdoors to get my brain back. If that happens to take me to the mountains of Colorado or New Mexico, then it's a really good day."

Good call...good call...

2004-06-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

Amid various youth group activities, I'm busy counting days until I can leave town to visit the girlfriend. The days seem very long, and keeping myself occupied with ministry tasks is only a limited relief. Can't wait to head south. Phone conversations with her are marvelous, and are a joy to me everyday, but they only make me long to see her that much more.

Yesterday, after spending about 6 hours on the road taking a group of kids to camp, I came back to the church for a congregational meeting, and then took a group of 7 kids out to play ultimate frisbee, which is becoming one of my favorite games to play. I'm terribly aware when I play it that I've lost a step or 10 since my old high school soccer days, but it's a blast to get out there and run around. It would only be more fun if we could get more people to play. Hard to solicit much involvement from some of the teens, it seems.

Today I'll go to MD Anderson Cancer Center and sit with a family whose grandpa is having cancer surgery today. The ministry of presence is one of the greatest things I think I learned in my ACU education. Their expression for it was, "Don't just do something...stand there!" So, I'm on my way to go stand.

Still haven't started reading anything new. Anyone have any ideas about what to read right now?

2004-06-23T16:54:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Texas Children's Hospital to spend some time visiting one of our youth group girls that's having some tests run and has to stay there for a week. We had a good time getting to see her, and after talking and praying over her, we went down to the hospital chapel and spent a little bit of time praying for the other patients in the hospital. I'm hoping that was a teaching time for the students that were with me...I'd sure love to see our group become more dependent on prayer.

Things have been going well here...God is answering prayers consistently, most recently in the form of someone new to date. I've been praying for quite some time that the Lord would provide a girl for me to start a relationship with, and that she would be someone who was marriage minded and mature. I have had just such a young lady dropped in my lap (actually while I was away at grad school in May) and am praising the Lord for his provision as I now have a great girl to date. Please be praying that the relationship will be healthy and also for my ability to lead spiritually the way I need to always...May I point us toward the Lord and his movements.

Unfortunately, I have not been reading at all, other than a couple of articles that I've been needing to work on for graduate school stuff. Seems I've been spending more time on the phone recently (per the young lady) and have seen the reading take a temporary back burner. I'll get back on it...Need to make a trip to Barnes and Noble.

Summers in full swing...youth ministry is exciting right now, and I'm blessed to be a tool being used.

Blessings...

2004-06-16T13:56:00.000-05:00

Well, leave town for a few days on a camp trip, and everyone wants to know why you aren't blogging! Guess I should have told you all that I was leaving.

Just returned this morning at approximately 1:45am from Camp Barnabas...a special needs camp for children with disabilities. The kids from my youth group were able to work and develop relationship with these special campers. We had a wonderful week, and the youth group kids that I took really stepped up to the plate and worked hard to provide a great camp experience for the campers.

I'm sure I'll talk more about this later, but I'm playing office catch up today, so I'll let you know.

Blessings...

2004-05-26T14:45:00.000-05:00

Remembered one of the main reasons that I got into youth ministry last night. I went to San Antonio to be with the kids from my old youth group that I used to work with because they were having a senior banquet for their graduates. It was great to see all of them, but the greatest part was that after the party and after visiting a few people at their homes that I needed to see, I got to sit on the patio at Taco Cabana for about 2 hours with three of my coolest students ever. Matt, Matt and Candice were like medicine for me last night, just sitting there, hanging out and laughing a lot, and letting me be a friend to them. Three kids that are doing a great job of trying to be like Jesus, and their enthusiasm for life and their joy is contagious. I long for those kind of relationships with kids in the youth group here, but it's been difficult. Still praying though.

Trying to get ready for summer has been a stressor as well, and I never feel like I do this well, but here we go...it's coming whether I'm ready or not.

I felt like I needed to update this thing, but my mind's not really in it right now, other than what I've already written. I'll be back...

2004-05-24T10:19:00.000-05:00

The Prayer of a Preacher (From Michel Quoist's book, "Prayers")

I spoke, Lord, and I am furious.
I am furious because I worked so hard with gestures and with words.
I threw my whole self into them, and I'm afraid the essential didn't get across.
For the essential is not mine, and words alone are too shallow to hold it.

I spoke, Lord, and I am worried.
I am afraid of speaking, for speaking is serious;
It's serious to disturb others, to bring them out, to keep them on their doorsteps;
It's serious to keep them waiting, with outstretched hands and longing hearts, seeking for light or some courage to live and act.
Suppose, Lord, that I should send them away, empty-handed!

And yet, I must speak.
You have given me speech for a few years, and I must make use of it.
I owe my soul to others, and words are crowding my lips to bring it to them.
For the soul could hardly express itself if speech were taken from it.
We know nothing of the infant inside its little body.
And the whole family rejoices when, word by word, phrase by phrase, its soul is revealed to them.
But when one of the family is dying, the others stand despairing by his bed, listening intently to his last words.
He passes on, locked in silence, and his relatives will no longer know his soul, once they have shut his eyes and closed his lips.

Speech, Lord, is a gift, and I have no right to be quiet through pride, cowardice, negligence or apathy.
Others have a right to my words, to my soul,
For I have a message from you to give them,
And none other than I, Lord, can give it to them.
I have something to say - short perhaps, but welling up from my life - from which I cannot turn.
But my words must be true words.
It would be a breach of trust to seek the attention of another, and under the cover of words not to reveal the truth of the soul.
The words that I pour out must be living words, full of the mysteries that my unique soul has grasped, mysteries of the world and of man.
The words that I speak must be conveyors of God, for the lips that you have given me, Lord, are made to reveal my soul, and my soul knows you and holds you close.

Forgive me, Lord, for having spoken so badly,
Forgive me, Lord, for having spoken often to no purpose;
Forgive me for the days when I tarnished my lips with hollow
words,
false words,
cowardly words,
words through which you could not pass.
Uphold me when I must speak in a meeting, intervene in a discussion, talk with a brother.
Grant above all, Lord, that my words may be like the sowing of seeds,
And that those who hear them may look to a fine harvest.

2004-05-22T20:59:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow's Senior Sunday. I'm preaching. My family's coming to listen. My seniors are finishing school. It's an important day, and I really should have my sermon finished, but instead I'm writing here.

The week has been busy with taking care of lots of duties, catching up from being away at Abilene last week, and what-not. Seems like there's still a lot more that I would have liked to get done. And it's at this point that I remember one of those Life-changing lessons that I have to hang my hat on...

THE LORD AND THE CHURCH HAVE BEEN MINISTERING FOR 2000 YEARS BEFORE I GOT HERE, SO IT'S NOT MY JOB TO WORK SO HARD TO TRY TO GET EVERYTHING DONE. In fact, most ministers I think rob the members of their church of the opportunity to serve because we get so caught up in trying to get things done on our own. It's a fine balance because the things I'm getting done feel really important to me as a Christian, not just as a minister. I'd like to think I'd be doing them even if I wasn't in full time ministry. But there are other responsibilities that have to be taken care of as well, and here I am, 9:00 on Saturday night and the sermon's not done. I'm glad it's not all up to me...

2004-05-18T09:20:00.000-05:00

Exciting times...Finished the grad school class which was great, but that only means that the work starts now. I've got nearly 60 pages worth of papers to write that are due in August/September, and I've already signed up for two internet courses to take during the fall.

Started reading "Leaving Ruin," which is a novel by a guy that used to be the worship leader at Highland, Jeff Berryman. Really enjoying the book. Some of the prayers that the main character prays in the book while teaching the beatitudes are beautiful. Be blessed by this one which he prays while introducing the sermon on the mount...

Dear God,

We sit and wait for your words. Carve the words into us, Lord, let us know your words as we know the heat of the desert, in our pores, and don't forget to give us water when we forget to drink. We are foolish, we know. But we want to listen, we want to walk on the mountain with you, but we are stuck down below, and our hands cannot reach high. Will we hear you today, O God, or will we only talk to hear our heads rattle, empty pots of pride and boasting? Speak, Maker, and with a God's war-hammer break the stearn fortress, and march around our stupidity and rage seven days, and blow trumpets and shout, so that we might fall to a gentler rule. I wish you were here to speak. Walk among us. Amen.

2004-05-12T09:50:00.001-05:00

Graduate School...

I'm afraid maybe this is the calm before the storm. The class has been incredibly easy so far, and so it's weird to think that I'm in graduate school. The class I'm taking, Advanced Youth Ministry, is very applicable to what I'm doing. It's funny because the professor that taught all my youth ministry classes in undergrad is in the class with me as a student...crazy stuff.

Time in Abilene has been fun. Have gotten to hang out with brother a little bit, and that's been good...need more of it though.

Hope your week is blessed...will write more later

2004-05-01T16:57:00.000-05:00

Apparently, I still kinda stink at golf. I played decently on Friday, scoring a 95 on 18 holes, which is just a little bit worse than bogey golf. They rank everyone according to score, and create 4 divisions in the rankings, so everyone is either an A, B, C or D golfer. I was a C...which means I was better than 1/4 of the guys there I guess, so that's not too bad. But it means I was worse than at least half of the guys there too, and lots of them were senior citizens. I was frequently humbled and shown up by one 75+ guy that was in my four-some who kept hitting the ball farther than I did. (It helped my ego to know that both of us were out hitting my Dad...)

We played on our teams this morning, but got rained out after only 6 holes.

I saw 2 alligators...they were both shorter than I am, but where there's babies, there's got to be a mama I guess, so I'm glad I made it back safe.

On Thursday, I received my 4 books for my first graduate school class...I have to have them all read by May 10. So...I'm supposed to be reading, but I'm typing to ya'll instead...I love my readers, don't I!?!?!

Till next time...

2004-04-28T18:18:00.000-05:00

Kind words from my HONEST brother yesterday...

He said, "Brock, no offense, but when we started playing golf today and you said that you hadn't played in a few months so you might be out of practice I thought to myself, 'Surely it can't be that bad.' But then once we got started, I realized you were right...it was that bad..."

I can't describe more accurately the pitiful way that I "played golf" yesterday...need to hit the driving range before the tourney this weekend.

In other good golf tournament news, I read a website yesterday about the course where we're playing this weekend...here's a quote straight from the web-page.
---"It's not unusual to see an alligator or two in the wetlands by holes 13 and 15, so watch the kids and ball-searching there."

WHOA!

2004-04-27T11:51:00.000-05:00

It's a really scary thing to think that I would play in a golf tournament. My golfing skills are the cause of much frustration for me, and sympathy from my friends, but I'm set to play in a tournament with my Dad this weekend. Scary thought.

I have only played in one other tournament in my life...a real informal scramble after work one day at the plant where my dad works. We drew straws to pick teams, so I ended up on a team with a bunch of old guys that I didn't know who were really there to drink and smoke cigars the whole time.

The funny part when, on the 5th hole, I was taking a practice swing before I stepped up to the ball to hit, but I apparently got a closer than I thought I was, because I hit the ball during my practice swing. Since I wasn't stepped all the way up to it, I hit the ball off the end of the club so it went straight in the direction I was facing, not straight off the club face. The ball hit the golf cart that one of the old men was sitting on and he spilled beer all over himself because it scared him...

I'll let you know if anything equally funny happens this time.

2004-04-24T21:25:00.000-05:00

Lonely days are hard, and don't seem to have a good effect on me because when I'm lonely, I work more. I've spent my day going back and forth between home and work, watching TV or working at my desk. It has rained all day, which has hampered my half-hearted plans for riding my bike to get some exercise today.

Did get to have a good conversation with the couple that is leading the marriage seminar at the church this weekend. They were a blessing as they spoke faithfully about my promising future.

It's weird to experience a day with little-to-no human contact. That happens more and more often these days.

I'd have gotten a lot of good reading done if Amazon would deliver my graduate school books, but alas, they're slower than molasses in January.

Blessings on you, my friends.

2004-04-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

Eugene Peterson is talking to me a lot about Annie Dillard right now. She's a writer who is very attentive to God in the creation...she studies creation for all its good and bad and finds God in it.

She compares the church's worship with man's expeditions to the north pole. There is a constant goal in mind, but always a changing strategy, frustrations, struggles and hardships. Sometimes, we don't make it. But still, knowing all this, we still try. She says that wherever we go, to the North Pole or to church, "there seems to be only one business at hand: that of finding workable compromises between the sublimity of our ideas and the absurdity of the fact of us."

She tells stories of North Pole expeditions who failed because the tried to do it too fancily and with too much unnecessary equipment, and of expeditions that failed because someone tried to do it alone. Finally, to describe our services, she says, "A high school play is more polished than this service we have been rehearsing since the year one. In two thousand years we have not worked out the kinks."

Interesting thoughts. What'd I get out of it? We can't do this worship thing alone, and we can't try so hard that we don't depend on God to help us get it right. When we worship, we're inviting Jesus into our presence because he's willing to be among tax-collectors and sinners. Getting it right is only and invitation...

Moving on...

Lonely evening tonight. Couldn't think of anything to do, so I did what I absolutely hate...I shopped. Not because I wanted to, but because I needed some new undershirts, socks, shorts, t-shirts and shoes. Anyway, I still refrain from buying much because my non-sense of fashion will defeat me everytime and send me to work wearing clothes that are "so 1999" if I trust myself to pick out clothes...Have to be careful. Wouldn't want the teenagers thinking I was an old guy, huh?

2004-04-23T17:50:00.000-05:00

My best friend's Dad, Greg, died less than two years ago...

He was in a band in his younger years, and played with two friends named Buddy and Bob. Throughout their lives, although moving away from each other, they remained close friends. Their families were friends, and they all had a great impact on each other. Not long after Greg died of cancer after a two year struggle, Buddy passed on as well. Today, my best friend called me to let me know that Bob died last night...he had been aware of cancer in his body for less than 24 hours, but it was in the final stages and he didn't last long. Amazing, the speed of death.

My friend keeps having to face the deaths of those close to him (which makes me wonder about the wisdom of being close to him!) and I hurt for him. Life is not easy for any of us, but seems like it is especially cruel to him right now.

I feel less sorry for myself today.

2004-04-21T10:03:00.000-05:00

I'm noticing more and more that I'm more forgetful than I used to be...or at least more than I remember being in the past. (Think about it...think about it...)

Seems like every morning while I'm getting ready for work, I'll think of some things that I need to do...people to call today, something to bring to the office from home that I'm gonna need, appointments that I need to schedule, birthdays to remember...and from the time I get out of the shower and the time I get to the door to leave, all of that thinking is ancient history and there's not much chance of any of it happening until about a week later. Maybe the water in the shower's too hot...messing with my head.

This morning, I'm supposed to be leaving for a fishing trip to South Texas, but alas, my plans were foiled because of a boat motor that wouldn't start. So, I'm working all week when I was planning on being on vacation. I'm noticing that the work-week feels eternally long when you weren't planning on being a part of it. So, this morning is a little sad.

2004-04-14T16:20:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun piece of irony for you...my first graduate school course which I'm taking next month is called "Introduction to Youth Ministry"

2004-04-13T09:16:00.000-05:00

Crazy things going on here that I never thought would happen...I picked up my old greek book last week that I learned from during my freshman year of college. I never wanted to touch that thing again, but I'm going to have to know greek for graduate school, so it's time to start learning it again.

My current frustrations in ministry are seemingly large, but Eugene Peterson has addressed them recently for me. Here he is:

"The person...who looks for quick results in the seed planting of well-doing will be disappointed. If I want potatoes for dinner tomorrow, it will do me little good to go out and plant potatoes in my garden tonight. There are long stretches of darkness and invisibility and silence that separate planting and reaping. During the stretches of waiting there is cultivating and weeding and nurturing and planting still other seeds."

2004-04-05T10:56:00.000-05:00

Stream in the Desert was a good experience, once again. And, once again, the highlight was the leadership conference on Friday Morning before Stream actually began. Rick Atchley spoke all weekend, specifically on Friday calling us as ministers to return to preaching repentance and the good news of the kingdom of God. It was a great calling...especially the statement that we have been "guilty of preaching ABOUT Jesus, but not LIKE Jesus."

I'm currently reading "Travelling Mercies" by Anne Lamott. Interesting insightful irreverence from a Christian author. Seems that the people around me with whom I've shared portions of the book are not as impressed with her insight as I am, but she comes highly recommended from minister friends whose opinions I trust so I will stay the course for now.

One token complaint about Stream...Where's the single ladies?

2004-03-30T12:18:00.000-06:00

This is great...Thoughts on updating your blog...

"it's getting so easy to update a web log that some users seem to type in their thought willy nilly, posting unimaginable banalities like a nation of alan partridges trying to fill an internet's worth of dead air: CDs they're listening to, scintillating accounts of their day at work, urls of sites they feel they should acknowledge, despite having nothing new to say about them. it is like one of those terrible christmas family newsletters for every single day of the year."

2004-03-21T16:11:00.000-06:00

My Reflections...

I watched our members during the Lord's Supper Today. As we finished singing about Amazing Love as if we were a people totally unamazed by that love, I was struck by how badly we have allowed ourselves to be crippled by a world more amazed by the sight of the blood given, than by the offer of the blood giver. As words were recited about the life of David - a man after God's own heart - we pursued the desires of our hearts and minds as we tuned out the voice of the speaker. The text read, the prayer said, we passed the bread. As we silently partook of a "communal" meal, even the sound of cracker cracking on metal was muffled as much as possible. A tray was passed down one row in my line of sight, and after it passed, I heard the familiar, "pffftt....." of a bottled soft drink opening and carbonation escaping. For one Christian, the refreshment of a coke chased the dryness of the un-risen bread that reminds us of a risen savior. The bitterness of the sacrifice Christ made to satisfy our greatest need, followed by the world's cheap answer to our need for temporary relief. What a contrast. And that contrast describes our attitude in worship. We seek our own comfort while we "celebrate" our leader because he DID NOT seek his own comfort. To sing with vigor would require energy...not comfort. To be truly amazed at His love would require contemplation...not comfort. To encourage each other during the meal would require vulnerability...not comfort.

It seems that our battle cry in the fights over worship and style has always involved finding what our members are comfortable with. Well...I'm not comfortable with seeking our own comfort...

2004-03-10T13:39:00.000-06:00

I've had trouble getting caught up on energy this week. SoulLink week really was draining, as was the preaching preperation on Saturday night and Sunday morning. SoulLink, our Houston-area teen conference, was the best ever. The classes went a lot better than they ever have, and we were all really satisfied with the experience. As a result, I've been a little under-motivated this week. Looking forward to lock-in on Friday night though.

Next week I'm leaving to go to Kingsville so that I can go fishing, and there's a chance that my fishing buddy from church will get off work and get to come with me, so that'll be great times!

Hoping I might get to fish tomorrow as well. Focusing on my prayer life as of late, which has resulted in a decrease in my reading. So, not much new material to talk about yet, but I'm appreciating the increase in my prayer efforts. God is working.

Have a blessed week.

2004-03-04T12:37:00.000-06:00

Busy Week for me this week. With the fast approach of SoulLink on the horizon, and the addition of a sermon to preach on Sunday due to the preacher's new grandbaby's arrival and the preacher's subsequent plans to skip town this weekend. This will certainly be a busy one for me.

I'm wrestling with the text of my sermon and exactly what I'm trying to say. I don't feel that I'm wrestling as smartly as I'd like. I don't yet feel equipped to handle a text as masterfully as most of the preachers that I look up to, and yet, I imagine that they would say the same...that they aren't prepared to handle a text yet in many ways. But somehow their messages always hit home, and it's a testimony to God's work through the speaker and his breath through the speaker's mouth. I pray for that this weekend.

Picked up a "new" book this week..."The Way of the Heart" by Henri Nouwen. He was one of the people written about in Yancey's "Soul Survivor" which is another great book. I've read/owned "The Way of the Heart" before, but I loaned it to someone about 5 years ago and never got it back. No biggy...it's a cheap book anyway.

Looking forward to rest...

2004-02-21T15:32:00.000-06:00

Well, I spent almost the entire day yesterday on my kayak. Great times. I explored some parts of Christmas Bay that I've never seen before, including some that you can't get to in another boat. Didn't even come close to catching any fish, but it was totally fun anyway. Different day fishing by yourself though. I was struck by the idea that I probably didn't say 1000 words yesterday, which is a rarity for anyone who can speak. The nice thing is that there were glimpses of time alone yesterday that I was able to be quiet and try to, as I always read about, "Listen to God." Can't say that I heard anything, but I know that he heard me and will answer my prayer to develop myself into a better "God Listener." Of course, I was missing the stillness part that is so often connected with listening to Him...That'll be another challenge for another day.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Abilene, ACU, and the annual Bible Lectureship. It'll be a great time since a large part of my extended family will be there, and we'll spend the week together focusing on God, specifically on the book of Isaiah. Pray for my safe travel.

This week I watched my all time favorite sermon 7 times on video tape. However, this sermon is my favorite because it challenges me and the church so much. I got the bright idea to show the tape to some other Christians in our church, and after watching it with them 3 times, they have challenged me to present some ideas to the elders that are very groundbreaking and would require a huge shift in our thinking and actions as a church. I am not ready for this kind of responsibility or task, but seem to be the one being commissioned for it. I will continue to pray on this matter as well.

Hope your week is great, whoever you are out there reading all this. God is good. Remember that...

I'll be back on Thursday.