Vacation Bible School at our church each year has a grand finale of sorts. Bounce houses. Popcorn. Snow Cones and of course the dunk tank! Guess who drew the short straw this morning amongst the pastoral staff of our church…

I love birthdays. I love celebrating life. I finally hit 37. I have to admit that I’m a little blown away by how fast time has flown. I am also amazed by God’s overwhelming grace in my life that I have been more than blessed by his goodness. My life verse I know I have blogged here about before, but is and will be the prayer of my heart for myself, my wife, and my kiddoes, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” Thank you Lord that it is only by your grace and goodness alone that I am who I am today. Amen.

In Mike Yaconelli’ book, “Dangerous Wonder” he makes a comment that makes me wonder how I am perceived by those I serve. He writes, “the greatest enemy to Christianity may be people who say they believe in Jesus, but who are no longer astonished and amazed.” How come church feels so dull to so many of our students and even to many of our adults? How do I as a young pastor help move the people of God from that place of duldom to a place of being astonished and amazed? Check Yaconelli’ book out here. It’s a good easy read.

This is what we are. A community of broken, bruised, and battered souls trying to find a place in this world called church. When I took my ordination vows I made a commitment to God and to the church that I would be a pastor who would welcome everyone who professed Jesus as Lord of their lives and who recognized their need for God to live and reign in their lives. How do I empower those within the church to becoming people who truly face their own brokeness and need for God’s healing?

As my oldest has a week off from his two younger siblings we parental units are getting some extra quality time with the two kiddoes. Each one of them are a blast in their own very special way. As young pastor still trying to find my place in the world of balancing my marriage, family, my kids, and the church I still have to stop and listen to those ever so small nudges from the spirit of God. The small reminders that I’ve not stopped to enjoy the most important part of my life and my calling. As I tucked the boys in tonight, I remembered something my oldest would always say to me early on in my ministry, “dad, take your shoes off.” I finally figured it out what this meant after several thumps of the head from the Lord. You see me taking my shows off meant I was home for the night. To this day the first thing I do when I arrive home from church is take my shoes off.

It’s VBS week at our church this week. My job this week is guitar man. One of the songs we sing is here from Gospel Light’s Kingdom of the Son music CD. VBS is a wonderful week in that it’s a week you get to be at ground level with sharing the love of Christ in a way that gets kids JAZZED!

My wife and I dropped our oldest off at a cool music camp for the week yesterday. I have to admit I already miss my boy. I know he will have fun, but when I watched him hug his mom for what seemed like an eternity, I have to say I miss the days when he was just a baby, and when we hugged him and held him as tight as he held Deb. I didn’t get to do a whole lot as a young lad as my boy has done in his short life. I also don’t remember my parents dropping me off at camp and me being able to hug them as long as my boy hugged his mom. I’m so grateful that we get to be parents and that we have been blessed by God with some amazing children.

I often find myself placing onto my kids my own desires to be the perfect father when it comes to spending time with them. When opportunities arise for us to be together I don’t want to miss them. When you didn’t come from the greatest of households growing up as a kid, there are things you wish your father or mother would have done that they didn’t do and being and spending time together with us kids was often what they didn’t do as parents. My sons are becoming of age where entertainment is key to spending time with good ol’ dad. For me as a kid, I would have loved to hear my dad or mom say, “Hey, you guys want to go to a baseball game today?” Or, let’s go get some lunch and then go to the mall for some ice cream.” Or, how about a movie?” Or, how about playing catch? Where do I draw the line as a parent when it comes to helping my kids differ between having to be entertained and just being when it comes to this idea of quality time? How do I help them get to a place of wanting and seeing that being together doesn’t require a game boy? Is it fair for me to expect my kids to jump at the chance of spending time with me? Or….are their needs for quality time with us parental figures being met and I’m just a complete nimrod for wanting my sons to think like me? Of course I have to have some kind of twist to this mornings rant. Often my busyness does seem to get in the way of me spending quality time with my heavenly father. When was the last time I truly went to God’s word and meditated on it and conversed with my Lord about how he has bestowed upon me the grace and the blessing of his mercy onto this discombobulated sinner?

Hot, it’s hot, it’s hot. Now I am cool. I just had me some of this a few minutes ago. I now can get through the hot spewing like weather to be youth guy tonight.

Spider man action figures are often found on my kitchen floor or bedroom floor when I get up in the mornings. Often these little action figures will show up throughout the house for us parental units to step on and break our ankles. Anyways, my kids love these action figures. There’s something that happens when a couple of kids get together and pretend that they are a superhero. I can think of several superheroes in my life that I’d love to imitate. Imitating God’s love to my family, our friends, and to the world has to be at the top of my life. Is it hard? By all means. My sermon yesterday was really about what it would mean if we were to bless others with God’s love. What if we were to imitate the love of Christ to all those we meet and greet? Even with people who differ with us in all aspects of life. Even our enemies. The church has to ask the question, "what would the church look like if we were to truly imitate the love of God?" I’m guessing the church would look and sound a whole lot different. For me how do I teach, model, and equip others in the church to model a kind of love that has the ability to move mountains? How does a young pastor convey this message in a day and age where people are just way to busy and are burned out on life? How do I as a pastor empower the church to come to grips with the fact that when Jesus said, Go out into all the world, it really meant, "while you are kicking back at Starbucks or Peetes coffee make sure you imitate my father’s love in every way you can. A love that is for the broken, the lonely, those who are hungry and who are looking for a bit of shelter from the storms of life. How I do make Ephesians 5:1 come alive in todays church?