Senior Day

Today is Senior Day for the Tennessee Volunteers football team. On Senior Day, I appreciate the way Nick Reveiz and Chris Walker have conducted themselves, led the Vols and represented Jesus Christ during their time at UT. While at UT they've played for 3 head coaches while dealing with several injuries and multiple other changes. All with class.

Last fall, Nick Reveiz spoke at our church's Upward Flag Football awards night. It was the night my oldest son gave his heart and life to Jesus Christ!! It was a night our family will always remember. We are grateful for the time Nick took, during the football season, to share his testimony with the participants in our league.

With a win over the Kentucky Wildcats today, the Vols become bowl-eligible. I'm really hoping today is not the last game as a Tennessee Volunteer for Nick Reveiz and Chris Walker.

Fun on Friday

Sometimes I wonder how some TV commercials ever make it from initial concept to production. A prime example is the current Dr. Pepper commercial that features the rock band Kiss. Somewhere along the way someone said, "Hey, I've got an idea. What if we have a commercial that features Kiss along with a band of midgets we call Little Kiss? I bet that will help us sell more Dr. Pepper". And then someone, someone with responsibility to make important financial decisions said, "That's a great idea". On the flip side, I find the Target "2 Day Sale" (post-Thanksgiving) commercials that are currently airing to be quite hilarious.

I learned this week that Sonic is the official drive-in of the Southeastern Conference. Who knew?

I've blogged previously that I'm participating in a fantasy football league for the first time this season. Each week, I am amazed at the unpredictability of NFL games and the players involved. There are a few players who are consistent from week-to-week, but there are very few "sure things". Why anyone would ever gamble on football games is beyond me.

Great Quote Thursday

When you play, play hard. When you work, don't play at all- Theodore Roosevelt

A Day of Commitment

Today, as we do one Sunday every fall, our church (http://www.sevierheights.org/) dedicated part of the morning service as Commitment Sunday. On this day each year, church members are asked to make a financial commitment to support the capital needs of the church for the coming year. It's a beautiful sight to see families, couples and singles file down the aisles of the worship center and lay their commitments on the altar. God is blessing Sevier Heights in amazing ways and we look forward to what He will do in 2011 and for many years to come.

Just over the mountain in Burlington, North Carolina, another commitment was made in a church service this morning. Following the morning service in which he preached, the church family of Fellowship Church in Burlington unanimously voted to call my brother Mike as their Senior Pastor. We are very excited for Mike and his family. I pray that this morning's commitment of Fellowship Church to my brother's leadership and his dedicated and committed service to them in the years ahead will be much blessed by God. Congratulations Mike! Congratulations Fellowship!

The Time In Between

Once a month, I'm assigned a day to visit all church members (or their immediate family members) who are hospitalized. Last Thursday was one of those days.

Some hospital visitation days are busier than others depending on the number of patients and hospitals to be visited. Some days are more memorable than others. Last Thursday was one of those days.

On Thursday morning, I visited and prayed with a lady who, barring a miracle, was basically waiting to die. She asked me to pray for "God's best intentions" for her. And I did. An hour or so later, I prayed for a two day old boy and his family. Within a couple of hours, I'd spent time with a family enjoying the beginning of new life and a family dealing with the end of life. And I was once again reminded that I'm living in the time in between.

If you're reading this post, you're living there too. The time in between. In between the beginning and the end.

Here's The Point: What are you doing with the time you've been given in between? Ephesians 5:15 and 16 remind us to be wise and make the most of every opportunity. That's how we should live in the time in between.

Fun on Friday

Three times in the last few days I've been in a checkout line behind a lady writing a check. I can't imagine how long the lines at Walmart would be if check writing was still a predominant form of payment.

If you've not seen the UT Vols Men's Basketball team play yet, you need to catch a game and watch Tobias Harris. He's a special player.

Yesterday after visiting some church members at UT Hospital, I was walking back to the parking garage and ended up behind a man, in his hospital gown and walking with his IV, who was wearing a coat. At the first opportunity he headed outside to smoke a cigarette. A hospital patient with an IV taking a smoke break. Seriously.

Anybody tried the flavored sour cream at Salsarita's? What is that? Just wondering.

Great Quote Thursday

More often it's not how handsomely or eloquently you say something, but the fact that your words mean something- Ronald Reagan

"Where's The Boy"?

This morning, our family delivered our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes(http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/occ) to the collection tables at our church. Preparing shoeboxes, which has become an annual tradition for our family, began the first Christmas that Tonya and I were married. In the years before our first son was born, Tonya prepared a shoebox for a girl while I prepared one for a boy. But since our sons have been born, they have each prepared a shoebox for a boy their own age.

My favorite Operation Christmas Child story comes from a few Christmases back when, for the first time, we thought our older son understood what the shoeboxes were all about. We had taken him shopping for items for "the boy" he was preparing the box for. He had helped place the items he'd chosen in the shoebox (mostly things he would have wanted for himself) and then helped wrap the shoebox for "the boy". On the night we took the box to church to turn it in at the collection table, with boxes stacked high along the wall, our son asked, "Where's the boy?" Turns out that our son thought he was preparing a box that he would be personally delivering to "the boy" he had shopped for. He had brought his gift for "the boy". And in that moment, I began to experience Operation Christmas Child in an entirely new way.

Here's The Point: For years, when I had prepared a shoebox, I was preparing a gift for an unknown, never-to-be-seen child somewhere on the other side of the planet. But for our son, Operation Christmas Child was personal. He expected to meet "the boy" that he had prepared the box for. He had spent time and effort on the box because it was his gift for "the boy". It wasn't about the box, it was about "the boy".

That Christmas, because of my son, I was reminded how personal ministry truly is. That "the boy" who we send a shoebox to is a child who Jesus Christ gave His life for. That Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes are not simply a thing we do each Christmas. They're about reaching "the boy" with the love of Jesus.

Fun on Friday

If you're looking for a great blog with lots of information on the Tennessee Vols Men's Basketball team, check out this blog http://www.tnfullcourtpress.wordpress.com/ by my friend, Mark Pancratz, who serves on the UT basketball staff as the Assistant to Head Coach, Bruce Pearl.

If you worked in the campaign of any candidate in the recent election, please make sure all your candidate's signs have been removed. What was once a campaign sign is now basically trash on the roadside.

Great Quote Thursday

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them- John F. Kennedy

On Veterans Day 2010, a very sincere "thank you" to military veterans, several of whom I am honored to work with daily.

Catalyst Conference- Daniel Pink

Daniel Pink is the best-selling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind. Here is some of what he shared at Catalyst:

In the workplace, people are really attuned to fairness.

Once you pay people enough, you take the issue of money off the table. Additional money does not significantly affect performance.

People connect in the workplace around three main areas:
Autonomy- People engage by choice. When people talk about their favorite boss, they mention freedoms.
Mastery- People desire to get better. For people to get better, there must be feedback.
Purpose- There are limits to the profit motive; it is insufficient.

The problem with annual performance evaluations is that they are annual.

The workplace is a feedback desert for the millennial generation when they are a feedback generation.

Catalyst Conference- Gabe Lyons

Gabe Lyons is the author of The Next Christians and the founder of Q. Here is some of what he shared at Catalyst:

We must understand the context into which we are called. The cultural landscape is post-modern (there is skepticism toward certainty); post-Christian (a decline of Judeo-Christian thought) and pluralistic (all faiths are welcomed in society).

There are three approaches for Christians to interact with culture:
Separatist- having nothing to do with modern culture
Cultural- attempt to blend in without regard to the Gospel
Restorer- to focus on creation/fall/redemption/restoration

Don't just critique but create.

Don't just state the Good News, embody the Good News.

Christian mentors must help young adults learn to "be" Christian- "as you go make disciples".

Fun on Friday

Last weekend, on a drive to West Tennessee, we drove through Bucksnort. Just saying the word Bucksnort makes me smile.

Realized this week that it's probably been about a month since I've stepped foot in a Walmart. Gotta be a personal record.

Congratulations to my friend Andy Holt, or should I say Representative-Elect Andy Holt, for winning the election for the Tennessee State House seat for District 76 this week.

Great Quote Thursday

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow- General George Patton