Blogelemy

What I Twitter About...

I used a couple of sites to come up with the above image describing what I Twitter about the most.

Interesting.

Meeting one of my heroes: Tony Dungy

This past Wednesday morning, I got to attend the Minnesota Prayer Breakfast at the Hilton in Minneapolis with some of the Pastors from Grace Church.  The prayer breakfast brings hundreds of people together for a gathering to pray for our state.  There were a lot of heavy hitters at this breakfast.  Football players, coaches, Governor Pawlenty and a number of other State Leaders were present at this event.  As you can see from the picture above and below our table for the breakfast was incredibly close to the podium.  In fact, there wasn't anyone closer to the front than us.  Travis, the junior high pastor, and I kept feeling like we were in seats we had no business being in.  We were sure that we were supposed to be in another room with a video feed of the event.  Nonetheless we felt blessed to be able to attend.

Table 39 - Can you get any closer to the front?!

The thing that I will remember the most from this event was the opportunity to meet one of my heroes, Tony Dungy.  Tony was the keynote speaker and spoke for about 15 minutes on his new venture from being a prolific NFL coach to building into the lives of young men who don't have fathers and are on a life trajectory towards pain to themselves and others.  Tony has always been someone I've respected as I and many others have watched him take his national platform as a NFL (Superbowl winning) coach as a way to influence others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is evident in how he carries himself and how he communicates where he get's his strength and wisdom.  He definitely strikes me as a man of character who lives his faith out loud.  As a Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan, I see a lot of the turnaround from the Buc's of old to the Buc's of today came from Tony's leadership in the organization.  I am grateful for the privilege to be able to meet Tony and will always be a fan of what he is doing to further the Kingdom.

Another reason I love my job

I love seeing God work to transform people's lives!  You don't have to be a pastor to see this happen but as a Pastor I feel like I get a front row seat to it sometimes.

A week and a half ago, a student stayed after on a Wednesday night to talk with me about the state of his mother and father.  This student painted a vivid picture of a husband and wife who live in the same home but do not act as if they are married.  He shared that he had never seen or heard them fight or argue but could tell that they were no longer “in love”.  He also shared that it seemed that they were going to be getting a divorce sooner than later.  He told me that he had been given a free ticket to the Family Life Conference from another student in his small group whose parents are involved in the leadership of Family Life and that he was going to go home and ask his mom and dad to attend the conference.  Honestly, from the picture he painted earlier in our conversation I thought that there was no way this couple was going to attend something like this.  That’s when it hit me, this is why we need to pray for God to do a miracle in this couple’s life.  This student and I prayed that night for God to do a miracle and have his parents accept the invitation and not only go but be transformed in their relationship. 

That Friday, we got the word that his parents were going to the conference!  I couldn’t believe it!  But I also knew that the time to pray was even more significant.  It was one thing for them to go.  It is a completely different thing for them to be open to change and transformation.  So, after a few phone calls the small group leader and I gathered as many guys from this students’ small group that we could on short notice to come to my home and pray for this husband and wife by name.  It was amazing to see this many guys on a Friday night coming to our home to lift up their friends’ parents up in prayer.  And Glory to God, He has done a work in this couple.  I got a text message from this student last Tuesday night that read: “I can’t believe it.  My parents have had a complete 180.  I’m so happy I can’t even explain it.”

Clueless in Bracketville

I am so clueless when it comes to college basketball.  However, I love competition and will always fill out a bracket or two as long as it is with people I know.  I usually spend a considerable amount of time filling out different brackets with the hopes of winning at least one of the leagues. 

In the current March Madness competition I am in two online leagues.  One with the Church staff and the other with the Senior High students.  And this time I filled my brackets out in haste and submitted the same brackets twice.  At the beginning of the tournament, I would check online to see how my picks were and they seemed mediocre at best. So, being neither disappointed or elated, I figured that I would end the competition in the middle of the pack and haven't checked the standings.  I definitely didn't have the time or interest in sitting down and watch any of the games for an extended period (I've spent more time writing this post than I have watching College Basketball this year).  This past week I went to our midweek program (Crave Wednesday's) and one of the students came up to me and said, "Quite the competition with the brackets, Huh?!"  I tried to find a way to fake that I knew where things were with the standings but I had to quickly admit that I was pathetic and had no idea what was going on.  He then shared that I was tied for second place and that if UConn and North Carolina go the the final game, I will win.  I was shocked!  I feel like the person who made my picks based on the color of the jersey or the ferocity of their mascot.  After checking both competitions, if UNC and UConn win and UNC beats UConn in the final, I will win both competitions. 

In the words of Dick Vitale: "Yeah Baby!"