What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.  -E.M. Bounds

I am sitting under the covers right now typing this up trying not to wake up the guys who are sleeping. We are in Alabama for our annual staff retreat. It should be a fun time. I have been up for probably 2 or 3 hours. Just couldn't sleep. I got dressed and went outside, but it is in the 30's, so I only stayed out for about 30 minutes or so. Today we have a bunch of meetings and such to plan the next year. Of course we will take time to run through the woods a bit and explore. It is incredible here. The house is enormous and it is surrounded by 3 mountains. We are just sitting in the cove. The cool thing this year is we have wireless, so that is why I am posting. Of course it doesn't really give you the chance to "get away." Such is life....

Question of the day: How do you tell someone something so that they understand what you are trying to say, if you don't even know what you are trying to say?

• There is so much running through my mind right now.....
• This past weekend wore me out.
• The staff retreat starts tomorrow.
• Transformed is Saturday.
• I got a response, but not sure what it means.
• The next nine months should be a blast, but I am not having a baby.
• Christmas is 26 days away.
• I am tired.
• I need to go to Wal-Mart
• Are you still intolerant if you are intolerant of intolerant people?
• I need to love more
• And pray more
• What differentiates a personal revelation of as opposed to belief in
• I had some decent hot chocolate today
• Family means a lot to me
• But it doesn't matter that I say it, what matters is if I show it
• Prejudice, like sin, is in all of us. It just manifests itself in different ways against different people, religions, etc.
• For some reason I had a hard time focusing today
• And I was in a bad mood
• I heard a cool quote by C.S.Lewis that went something like this
• They tell me when I pray it is just a dream, for only one voice is heard and it is my own; but if it is just one voice that is heard, then it is your's Lord, for you are the dreamer, and I a part of your dream
• Thought it was pretty cool
• Love is worth it all
• I'm off to sleep

Do you ever just wonder if you make mistakes?  I do. I always wonder if I do the right thing, or if I do whats best, or how do other people interpret what I do. Breathe in, breathe out.

As for the title, I read it in the Bible....

I know it has been a little while since I have updated. I am guessing I should, just to let you know what is going on. I spent about 36 hours on the road this Thanksgiving weekend. It was probably one of the best experiences of the year thus far. I guess that is one of the advantages to being a loner; you don't have to have someone to drive with you all that way.

Tuesday night I made it into Gainesville in time for Nancy's birthday dinner. It was me and nine women. Somehow that just doesn't seem right, but it was a blast. Wednesday I met Ashley to take some pictures and have lunch. I had dinner with my aunt and cousins that night, and again met them for lunch on Thursday. I stopped by the Stine residence after lunch to bug them a bit, then back to my aunt's house to help move some stuff before dinner. The food was awesome as always.

Friday I drove to Maryland (couldn't find any Marys) for my cousin's wedding. I had to stop on the road somewhere in MD and throw up. Fun experience, but I guess you can say I left a piece of me there  I crashed about Midnight after spending a little time with them, and was back up at 7ish to get ready. After breakfast, we just kind of hung out till the wedding. It was a blast, and she was beautiful. There were 5 of us cousins there. It was like old times. Yes I got on the dance floor, attempted the electric slide, did the chicken dance, and danced to "The wind beneath my wings." I was reminded of how much I love my family, and miss them more than you can know. Finally got to bed sometime in the AM.

Sunday I over slept. Then I locked my keys in my car. With it running.  But I was in a good mood, so I didn't care. I figured I wasn't suppose to leave just yet. I finally made it on the road, stopped at Virginia Tech to have lunch with some friends, and made it back to Atlanta about 10 Sunday night.

There was something special about this weekend. Before the wedding was over, I told my cousin how proud I was of her, how beautiful she was, and how it was good that she always looked out for others. I also learned that you can't be in two places at once, and sometimes you have to choose to be somewhere when you may be needed somewhere else. I am also amazed at how God is always working even when we can't see it, don't think about Him, and we live for ourselves.

The future seems so close and the past so quickly fading. I guess the present is all we can know for the moment that we have it. Love seems to be the constant that reminds us of who God is and the Grace and Truth He provides.

cha cha cha....

I had a dream last night that woke me up from sleep immediately. I was wide awake. For some reason my car was at the bottom of a deep clear lake, and we were trying to find it. Some people I know were helping me, and there were other people there as well that I didn't know. This snake swims past me and goes close to some people behind me. Somehow one of them grabs it, whether it was going after them or not I am not sure, and throws it. It comes back and swims toward me. I try to get out of it's way, and it strikes and bites me on the face. Now tell me what that means....

I went to church last night. I know, so sue me. Jim Railey was speaking and he talked about the passion of Jesus, how everything he suffered was for our benefit. He showed a music video that had clips form the movie "The Passion." There is one line in the movie that always messes me up. It is where Christ is carrying the cross and he falls. His mother rushes to him on the ground and says "I'm here." He turns His head to look at her and says "Look, I make all things new." The price of making all things new was a complete and total destruction of His flesh. This was the text from last night....

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form of comeliness that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and aquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has bourne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole (our peace), and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgement He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made His grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death because He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief; when He makes Himself an offering for sin, He shall see His offspring, He shall prolong His days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand; He shall see the fruit of of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the Righteous One, My Servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He poured out His soul to deat, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.   -Isaiah 53

It has been said that Gmail can change your life. I have friends who would attest to this phenomenon. Their life was moving on at a pace of monotany, when they realized they needed a change. So they made the switch and things have never been the same. You can do so much with Gmail, that you cannot do with Yahoo or Hotmail. For example, let us say you have a friend in a foriegn country like Macedonia. Your conversations with them would be so limited with an ordinary email service; but not so with Gmail. You can chat live with the person while they are checking their Gmail. It is much more personal that way.

Yes, people have made reference to Gmail being the next wave of religion. It is true there are many similarities to Gmail and the Faith. They are both mysterious in ways that we don't always understand. There is a bond with those who likewise share in the gmail experience. You're conversations are always saved. Yes, there is something amazing about it.

So if you haven't experienced Gmail, then come to it. You're life will never be the same. If you have need of a personal invitation, let me know. I have 99 left....

...because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts.  -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

By Williams McChesney