lil'l toes

This is my wife's little toe!

She broke it yesterday (as if you coulnd't tell by the pic - you can't look away can you?)

She stubbed it into the corner of a wall and the wall won.

My beautiful wife (toe and all) is lying on the couch playing the 'it doesn't hurt that bad, I'll be fine' role. She can walk but painfully and with a limp.

It got me thinking about the 'lil toes' in our life. Your little toe makes up about 1% of your total body mass - I figured 1% b/c some of you have huge little toes - you know who you are!

Injuring 1% of your body can cause you to be unable to do the simplest of things like walking.

When it comes to our life what 'lil toe' issues do you have?

Maybe it's your thought life. That ONE thought keeps you from being all God has for you.

Maybe it's your mouth. Those STUPID things you say keep you from being taken seriously.

Maybe it's your wallet. The GOT TO HAVE items keep your from being free from debt.

Today's walkaway: 1% is a huge number when you think about it. I've heard it said that 99% obedience to God is 100% disobedience. I'd encourage you today to look at your life and check your little toe and see if there are any injuries that could cause your walk to be hindered.

intentional

Beth and I have been pretty good at creating a great (not a good) monthly activity for the Warren5 to do once a month. It stretched us to be creative, intentional and to plan ahead.

This past week, the Warren5 headed to see a Dayton Dragons game. The Dragons are the farm team for the Cincinnati Reds.

We showed up an hour early and each of the kids got a FREE hat, met a bunch of players and about 16 autographs.

Then we got to sit in the rain for an hour. Despite the rain we had so much fun. Our had a blast! It was so awesome as parents to listen to our kids thank us and tell us how much fun they had.

Today's Walk-away: Be intentional! Whether it's as a parent or as a ministry leader being intentional causes us to plan and take things to a level of excellence verses just settling for an average day. God didn't create us to be average.

process

Process is defined as a course of action to get an objective accomplished. This past weekend we had our graduation service at CLC. We had 52 graduates recognized. The process we had went flawless until...(insert oh crap! now) after service.

Unfortunately ONE Senior showed up who was not included in the presentation. Today we will meet to discuss the process and how to better include everyone.

Feedback is so important and being willing to try new things is imperative when it comes growth. So often we want to try to just assign blame to make ourself feel better but in reality it's all about making sure that the ONE doesn't get missed.

I realize that I (we) can only do what we can do but making sure that I've done all I can do is the goal.

Today's Walkaway: Good isn't good enough if better is possible. Sometimes I hate that statement but it works as such a great filter to life. Being a good dad isn't good enough if I can be a better dad. Being a good husband...being a good friend...you get the picture...

How are the processess in your life working...are they just good enough?

daddy day

A few months ago I began doing 'daddy days.' Every Saturday I take one (of three) of the kids out for donuts and something. We'll go to the Pet Store, the Airport, looking at cars, etc. but basically it's just spending 1 on 1 time with one of my incredible children.

Today, Brooklyn and I went to the pet store and purchased her first fish.

She is so excited to have him and to have the job of taking care of him.

I hope her excitment lasts and she'll have this cool looking fish for awhile.

Today's Walkaway: Getting something new is always so much fun but that emotion wears off and then the responsibility of care kicks in. Whether it's a fish or your faith emotion is fine but having the conviction to remain committed is key.

Just a thought about...

So I was eaves dropping (I hope that's spelled right) on someone's conversation yesterday...everyone's does it...and this person said, "Give me a number I can reach you at." As I thought about that statement I thought - that's so ridiculous. I mean unless this person got a lot of bogus numbers from girls in High School, what other kind of number is there. Can you imagine responding to him, "Hey, here's a number you CAN'T reach me at." I wanted to jump into the conversation and comment but I refrained myself.

Today's Walkaway: So often what you say reflects your thought process. You've heard it said, "Think before you speak." This saves me from looking dumb and God knows I need that as often as possible.

Today's Feedback: Send me some dumb statements...

Here's mine - (let me set the context) - it's Sunday Morning and the P&W leader says, "Everyone stand to your feet." Think about it...

Columbus, OH

I'm off to Columbus for a few days for our District's Annual Meeting. It's a great few days of reconnecting with friends.

This year is a BIG year as we are electing a new District Superintendent. I have been praying that God's will is done and our new superintendent will take Ohio to the next level. It's exciting to be a part of growth and I'm expecting our new leader to do that for us.

On the flip side it is equally as depressing when you're not growing. Whether it's my life, my church or my district remaining stagnant is draining.

Doug Clay (our current superintendent) has done an amazing job and his shoes will be hard to fill. From day one his mission was clear (that's a sign of a great leader): Resource Church Health. I know God has huge things in store for Him as well as Ohio.

We'll miss you Doug!

Today's Walk-Away: Vision is contagious. People will always follow a great vision. Vision draws, excites, connects and energizes people. If your life were to have a one-sentence vision, what would your vision say?

Snooze

Beth went to wake Emma (our five year) up and she responded by saying, "Just five more minutes." I guess she wasn't ready to wake up.

A lot of us are like that...we rarely like to wake up. There are so many factors to our 'just five more mintues.' It's raining, I went to bed late, it's been a long week, it's Sunday. So we snooze!

I think it's easy to snooze. It's almost effortless.

The painful admission is that a lot of times I can find myself 'snoozing in life.' Missing out on opportunties that God is providing all b/c I want to just snooze.

There's a saying, "You snooze - you lose."

I don't want to lose anything. Time with my wife. Memories with my kids. Experiences with God. They are all so valuable.

Today's Walk-Away: Ephesians 5:14 says, Wake Up... I want to live my life ready to experience all that God has and not snooze my way to losing what He has.

setting the bar low so you can succeed!

I watched the improbable game 7 Sunday between the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks. The Celtics were supposed to crush the Hawks - that didn't happen. Boston won the seven games series and all is restored in the NBA world.

What I found so interesting is what happened AFTER the game. After Boston won they celebrated like they had just won the World Championship. I mean they were jumping in the air, chest bumping (I do that with my peeps too) and acting like beating the worst team in the playoffs was a big accomplishment.

They celebrated, to me, too much for a first round series win.

Now that leads to me (and you)

How often do we celebrate things that as fully devoted followers of Christ should be common by products of our lives.

I put my tithe in the offering today God. ("uhhh...thanks" - God)

I read my bible...

I didn't kick any cats!

I think sometimes we set the bar too low as followers of Christ and then feel way too good when we succeed at meeting our low expectations.

Maybe it's time raise the level of expectation?

encouragement

I made someone's day today! It took about 30 seconds to make a phone call and tell someone what a great job they're doing serving our church.

As a pastor I make a lot of phone calls asking people to help with this or to volunteer in an area but ONE THING I try to do more than the recruting stuff is to make phone calls to make people's day.

People love to hear they're doing a great job and I've noticed if you look you'll find something they're doing great. "Hey you're doing a great job doing nothing over there."

They'll get the point. But seriously, I once heard, "encouragment is like oxygen for the soul."

We all could use a little encouragement.

So sometime today - encourage someone!