We just landed in Miami a few minutes ago.
We’ll be hanging out here for a few hours before we take off for Santiago.
I’m getting to spend a few minutes doing what I love to do best….people watch. The Miami airport is full of some really interesting characters.
Where is your favorite place to people watch???
If everything happened as planned, by the time you read this, I will be in the air and on my way to the Dominican Republic. I get the opportunity to spend the next 7 days with a group from Cross Point as we continue to build the church/feeding center we sponsor.
You can track us as there will be several of us blogging live throughout the trip. CLICK on the image below to visit the blog and feel free to copy and paste the images available on the site to help us get the word out.
As I pack my final things tonight, I find myself very thankful.
Thankful for a beautiful family that means the world to me.
Thanks for a church that is passionate about serving those in third world countries.
Thankful for an amazing staff. I’ll be gone for 8 days and our church will not miss one beat. Jenni Catron, who leads the day to day operations of the church does an amazing job along with the rest of the team. I’m honored and humbled to get to serve with each one of them!
Yesterday at Cross Point Nashville we continued the never-ending series entitled SYNC. We talked about choosing the spiritual discipline of perseverance in the midst of our suffering, hardships, and pain.
I closed with Psalm 147:3 which says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
That verse is so powerful to me. It’s a reminder to me that God is my healer. He doesn’t always heal in the way I expect him to or when I expect him to, but he is my healer. He can and will bring about redemption and restoration.
Here’s the song we closed the day with. I know you’re busy. I know you probably have another dozen or so blogs left to read. But will you take a few minutes to listen to this song? Will you let God speak to you through this?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4xsWldmqAo]
I’m wondering today where you need God to be healer for you?
-In your marriage?
-In your finances?
-In a stressful family situation?
-In the midst of sickness?
Can we have one of those totally honest moments today where you just fill in this blank and then we’ll pray for each other today. Go ahead, fill it in!
I NEED GOD TO BE MY HEALER IN _____________________________
Last week a group of seven from our Cross Point Dickson campus visited Honduras: Walter Stephens, David Faulks, David Ford, Millie Ham, Cindy Pulse, Sara Stephens, and Erin Stephens.
The group was on a medical mission trip where they dispensed about $5000 worth of medicine. They also saw over 1,000 different patients!
Here are a few pictures they took. For more details, you can CLICK HERE and read Chad Robert’s blog, he’s the Dickson campus pastor.
I want to follow up to my post yesterday regarding hitting the lottery jack-pot. It seems that at least one blogger out there felt as if I was out of line by promoting gambling, and leading people astray.
Not going to spend a lot of time on that issue but do want to say this: I’m not suggesting you buy a lottery ticket. I’m not encouraging you to gamble. If I made you stumble or led you astray, I’m sincerely sorry. I think there are many more important things we can invest our money in besides the lottery, fast food, movie rentals, ice cream and other things that we blow money on to entertain ourselves.
The bigger issue is this: I understand the weight of my responsibility as a pastor and as a leader. I understand that I’m held to a higher level of accountability. I understand that some of you reading this think that blogging about my personal life is not a great idea. I want you to know that I don’t take my posts lightly. I usually have several people that read my post before I go public with them for that very reason.
But I also want to tell you this. This blog is not a place where you will find perfection. If you’re looking for that, you may want to drop this blog and pick up another. It’s a place where I talk about life. Specifically my life and what God is doing in my life and Cross Point Church. It’s a place where I will be open about what I struggle with and at the same time will share how Christ is forming Himself in me. It’s a place where you will find random fun posts about my family, my garden, and daily life, sprinkled among very strategic posts to make you think about where you are with God.
But use wisdom when reading this blog. I’m not always right. As a matter of fact, I’m often wrong. Don’t assume because I talk about it that I endorse it. Often I’m just trying to get us as a community to ask tough questions, and create community in the process.
There are times I write posts that I wish I could take back. There are times I write a post that I’m ashamed of, but it’s where I am. There are times I feel I may have made myself sound better than I am or wished I hadn’t been so honest.
I don’t know where the balance is in all of this, but I’m working on it. I know many of us are “working on it.” Be patient with me as I try to figure it all out and whatever you do, DON’T play the lottery. 
How do you deal with the balance? Do you struggle with this?
A friend of mine gave me an early birthday present. On this $1 ticket I won 4 bucks! Not bad. I’m headed to the gas station to blow it on beef jerky and a red bull.
Have you ever played the lottery? What is the largest amount you have ever won? Has it exceeded the amount you actually spent on tickets?
I’m going to do the math based off your responses and we’ll just see if it pays to play.
We are continuing our series at Cross Point we’ve entitled “SYNC”. We’re spending the summer looking at the disciplines, the rhythms, and the practices that we should arrange our life around if we really want Christ to be formed in our life.
Yesterday we talked about prayer.
I confessed to our church that in many ways I have reduced prayer down to a transaction. I’ve reduced God down to a vending machine. I go to him when I need something. Truth be known, I really don’t know what to do with God when I get done with my “list”.
God is teaching me these days that prayer is about so much more than my “list”. God is so much bigger than the vending machine I’ve reduced him to. I worship a God that breathed life into me so that I can know Him and love Him. And he longs to have a relationship with me.
So my commitment this week is that I’m going to pray less and listen more. When I get done with my list, I’m just going to sit in His presence. I’m going to see if just maybe God has something he wants to say to me.
How about you? What is God teaching you about prayer these days? What is God showing you about himself?
