We’re Still Here – By M

… And, no, this blog title is in no way shape or form related to that weird Joaquin Phoenix movie.

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Anyway, Truthfully, we are still here and we are so sad to not have the opportunity to blog more.  I never really understood what it meant to have a busy life until this past summer/fall.  Things have basically been going about 100mph since the end of May and really haven’t let up quite yet.  We literally spent about two-thirds of the summer away from our home due to mission trips, summers camps, conferences, vacation, and other trips.

But in all honesty, I can’t complain.  God has really blessed Staci and me over this year and we wouldn’t take this time of craziness back for anything.

We are now proud owners of a brand new home (which pictures we need to get posted up soon) and that has been a huge blessing in our lives.  We’re still in the process of getting things more home-y in there, but it is nice to have all the essentials set up.

We’ve also been running our Pumpkin Patch fundraiser at church (so if you’re in our area at anytime come buy a pumpkin and support our youth)!  I still can’t believe that pumpkins are such an incredible fund-raiser!

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Hopefully things will begin to slow down for the two of us once the patch wraps up, and then we’ll be able to start posting a little more regularly again!  Until then… hope you all take care and we will be writing soon… I hope 🙂

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How have things been going for you and your family recently?

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-M

Craziest Summer Ever – By M

For those of you who subscribe to us, and others who casually read our blog, you may notice hwo Staci and I have not posted since mid-July.  Welcome to our crazy summer life!

I decided to throw some thoughts and other random things about the summer into this post.

– So I did the math the other day and 42 days out of 78 day summer we spent doing some kind of a youth activity (not including Sundays for Sunday school)!

– Within those 42 days, we spent 24 of those days outside of Beaumont and 22 of those nights were spent out of our own beds due to our 2 mission trips (UM Army and Big House), 1 camp (Lakeview), and 1 conference (Youth 2011 in Sacramento)

– Oh yeah the days above only include days spent away due to our youth.  We were also gone on a week long vacation in New Braunfels, TX (hittin up good ol’ Schlitterbahn and Canyon Lake).  We also spent several nights in Houston with Staci’s cousins who live there.

– Throwing out a round number, we spent a good 2/3 of our summer busy and away from home!  CRAZY!

– It was really rewarding though.  UM Army was incredible and Big House was lots of fun.  It was great bonding with the students at camp, and, what can we say, California is awesome and the conference was great!

– … well let me rephrase that last sentence… Sacramento and San Francisco were awesome!!!  L.A. was overrated.  No offense!

– The Holly wood sign was pretty cool though, but about the scariest road I’ve ever driven on in my life.

– The Golden Gate Bridge was really pretty.

– Oh yeah we still have one more overnight “Lock-out” with the students this weekend! yikes!

– TX represented well at the Youth 2011 conference (3 different main entertainment acts and teachers were from South East Texas!)

– Our house is almost completed and we move in literally 2 weeks from today!!!  (For more pics on the house check out my facebook page)

 

All in all our summer may have been outrageously crazy, but it was way worth it!  I love our job and house down here and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!  God has really blessed us and we are excited to see what God will do in the future!

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What have you been up to for the summer?

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-M

Quick Update – By M

Hello, All!

I wanted to take a quick moment to give you an update on our summer.  Hope yours has been going well.

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– I’m now officially in my mid-20’s (Thanks to everyone for all your birthday wishes!)

– The summer is half over!  …Or should I say “There’s still half the summer to go”?

– 2 Mission trips down!  Both really awesome!  Hopefully you caught my UM Army Update.. I didn’t get to write one for Big House, but it was great!

– Camp Coming up, and our trip to California for Youth 2011 (Can’t wait for that one!)

– Our house is coming along just swimmingly! (wow, did I really just say swimmingly?)

– Seriously though, our house is awesome!

– I conquered the Boogie Bahn at Schlitterbahn last week!  I’m so proud!  … more on that story once we get some pictures developed.

– I love water sports, I just wish I was about 6 years younger… I’m still sore from knee boarding and tubing earlier this week! (maybe I just need to get back into better shape)

– …Oh and I wish I owned a sea-doo

– I think this is the last time that Staci and I try to do vacation in the middle of the summer.  Way too busy!

– Harry Potter week is also coming up with our students.  That’ll be fun.  I’m excited for the 7th movie part 2!

– Is it just me, or does Angry Birds make you more angry than the birds are?

– …At least nom-nom in Cut the Rope makes me smile!

– I think my brother cheats at Words with Friends.

– Summer is going by too fast

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I hope to be able to write another real post soon, but thanks for tuning in!

What are some awesome things that you have been up to this summer?  Is it going by as fast for you as it is for me?

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– M

U.M. Army – by M

Staci and I just got back from a week long mission trip in Huntsville, TX. For those of you who aren’t familiar with U.M. Army, the trip consists of putting students into small groups of about 4-6 with an adult. The teams are then sent out to do work on different people’s houses. Many of these people that the students work for do not have the means to be able to pay for the work that needs to be done to their house.

This week I had 9 students in my group. It was an extra large group because we were really hurting for adults this week. My group had the oppurtunity to work for a lady we’ll call Ms. Sara. Our project was to build a new front, 8×8, covered porch, as well as a 4×8, back porch.

It was a tough week. We had record setting heat, and not a lot of time to get a whole lot of work done. Not to mention that, although I do have remodeling experience, I have never built anything from the ground up.  But it was awesome to see how God worked through our group as well as the whole UM Army group throughout the week.  And it is cool to think that I now have the know-how to do some pretty awesome building projects.

Monday was a tough day. We ended the day not having completed much except for putting a few really deep holes in the ground (that had turned out to be in the wrong places), and built the beginning of a porch frame that was the wrong size. Our group finished the day extremely defeated. But God lifted our spirits on Tuesday as we finished the day having our 4 corner posts set as well as the beginning of our deck.  The highlight of our group’s week (except for finishing the deck) came Tuesday afternoon.  At this point, we had our 4 main corner posts in as well as our frame and cross braces.  Everything had 5 screws in it and was ready to go… well, ready except that we had forgotten to check if the door would open once we put the decking on.  I asked, very reluctantly, for a deck board that we could place across our frame.  I placed the deck board, reached for the door, pressed the handle, and began to pull…  Time stopped…  My heart stopped… it, it, it, IT WORKED!  The door swung open with about a half inch of clearing!  We cheered!  But the test wasn’t over yet.  I moved the deck board over to double check the door.  It swung closed!  WOOHOO!  After making so many mistakes and having so many defeats within the first two days, this was definitely what our group needed.  Tuesday ended with a make-shift deck and stairs that just allowed Ms. Sara to get in and out of her house.  Tuesday complete.

Wednesday we began hot and early in the morning.  We all decided that we needed to at least have the deck mostly complete and the stairs in so that Ms. Sara could easily get in and out of her house.  So with our spirits much higher, and a goal to reach in mind, we began hard at work.  As we tried to dig in for the stairs we hit a big problem (pun intended).  Ms. Sara’s yard was covered in all kinds of crazy tree roots.  We’d dig for a few inches and hit a root.  We’d eventually break through after 10 to 15 minutes of beating it with a shovel or pickax.  Then we’d dig another couple of inches and hit another root.

We figured ways around the roots and continued to work and work:

Finally by the end of the day, this is what we had:

We were almost finished.  Thursday would bring us to the final sawing down of the 4×4 posts, finishing the handrails, and puting on the roof; all pretty daunting tasks.  We began slowly as we hit another snag.  Our circular saw decided it didn’t want to cut anything anymore.  We changed the blade and still nothing.  Luckily our Color Group Leader had an extra with him that we were able to use that day.  The afternoon capped of with a visit from my Pastor and his wife, as well as our UM Army director, and others from the group as we wrapped up the roofing job.  This is what it lookied like as we finished Thursday:

So Here’s a nice before and after shot (ps.. the before shot is just of the staircase that used to be in front of Ms. Sara’s house.  I took the picture of it once we had already moved it.)

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Now Ms. Sara can easily get in and out of her house and even set a chair out on her deck and enjoy the cool evenings and breezy mornings.

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Oh and I can’t forget the awesome job on the back porch that half our team did.  Before, there was nothing. After, there was this:

The truth is, this picture doesn’t really do the justice of the difficulty of this project because of the steep grade on the backside of the house that you can’t really see in this picture.

Anyway, my group knocked this one out of the park and finished the week by painting up this blue house on Friday:

I’m really proud to have been the leader of group “Yellow – S”!!!

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I also had the opportunity to speak Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights as well as lead worship on Thursday.  It was such an awesome experience and it was awesome to see all the work that God had done through the week.  It really is too bad that we have to wait a-whole-nother year until the next trip.  But Staci and I leave soon for our Big House trip with our middle school students which will be a lot similar, but on a lot smaller scale.

It’s awesome to see so many students doing so much for the good of others and connecting with each other and connecting with Christ.

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When was the last time you went on a mission trip? What did you do? Where did you go?  What did God do?

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– M

One Last Quick Post – By M

Many of you know that we have an insanely packed summer ahead of us.  So I wanted to say an official farewell of sorts.  Obviously, we’ll still be posting some this summer, but they’ll be pretty few and far between, and they’ll probably be a lot like my quick updates.

But before I say goodbye, for now, I wanted to make one last post before the crazyness escalates (cause it’s already begun).

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Quick Takes from my life:

– My head looks funny because I put sunscreen on my face and, for the first time in about 2 years, forgot to put sunscreen on my head.  So first the top of my head was way red, and now it’s way brown right above my forehead.

– I still can’t bare to watch the NBA Finals.  But I have to say (and it tastes bad coming out of my mouth) that I’m leaning more toward a Dallas victory just because Nowitski (for the first time ever) has rocked the house.  And the Heat are just too dang cocky, and they can’t hold a lead.

– I read a good one about LeBron.  If you asked LeBron for a dollar he would only give you 75 cents because he doesnt have a fourth quarter.

– Our house is really coming along!  We got brick going and everything!  We can’t wait

– I’m staring at my wife, and she’s hot!

– Did you know Marble Slab has a really good rewards program?  A free cone after every five.  So they may be way over priced, but it’s a nice treat on those days where you just need a break.

– My mom’s coming to Beaumont so she can go on mission trip with us!  It’ll be fun!

– Ironically, my mom is coming to help Staci cook, and my mom isn’t exactly a good cook.  And I wouldn’t be saying this if I knew she wouldn’t admit it to everyone she comes in contact with.  Love you mom 🙂

– Calvin and Hobbes is a great comic strip, but you should’ve already known that.

– LOST Season 4, here we come (for the second time around… too bad you’re my least favorite season)

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So I think that’s all I’ve got.   I hope you enjoyed it… and I hope you don’t miss us too much when we’re gone (Actually, I hope you miss us a lot!)  We will miss you, and we will miss our blog.  Look for random posts this summer, stay in touch, and have a great summer!

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What do you have planned in the upcoming weeks?  Give me a quick take or two from your world.

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– M

What Songs Move You? – By M

“You moooove me, Baby!”  …Have any of you heard of Mark Lowry?  He’s an old school, 90s, Christian comedian and song parody writer.  He’s known for great hits such as this (click “this” for the link) remake of “Place in this World” by Michael W. Smith, and this remake of the classic “I Surrender All” by Clay Crosse.  He also does stand up, and one of his sketches is talking about how we say, “I love you with all my heart” because the heart is the seat of the emotion.  However, in the Bible the seat of the emotions was the bowels, and he dares his audience to imagine saying to your significant other “I love you with all my bowels, Honey.”  Then makes a joke about a husband telling his wife… “ooooh baby, you move me!”  Anyway, I guess you can make the connection (hopefully those bowels aren’t doing too much movement, if you know what I mean)… and this pretty much has nothing to do with the rest of my post

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Well, ok, it does.  Recently, aka yesterday, Staci and I put up a post about music that we really like.  And as I thought about why we like music, I realized that we are drawn certain types of music, movies, art, etc because it moves us… (so you see my train of thought now.  Sadly, Mark has ruined me to think of him every time I think of being “moved”).  And now I’ve totally ruined what comes to your mind when somebody says that they’ve been moved by something (yay, I’m not alone anymore!)

So I was thinking about songs that move me, and I wanted to share them with you.  I know that I’ve probably ruined all seriousness in this post, but hopefully we can all get back on track and you can appreciate these songs:

This first one is actully an instrumental piece from the show LOST.  As many of you know, Staci and I are pretty big LOST fans.  Variations of this theme are played during very serious, heart warming/heart breaking, moments in the show.  But even if you haven’t seen the show and couldn’t pictur action to this music, listen and enjoy because this piece is really beautiful.  I hope you like it.

This next song is more upbeat and just gets me excited (It’s also not instrumental).  It’s by a band called MUTEMATH and the song is called “Typical”.  (The music video is pretty cool too, so enjoy.)

This is another upbeat song that puts me in a good mood everytime I hear it, and it basically makes me want to act like the guy in the music video.  This is “Count Me In” by Leeland.

For this last one, it’s not so much the song as it is the music video that always gets me.  Some of you may have read this post about how over the past few years I’ve become more of a cry baby when it comes to movies and such.  Well this one makes the water works turn on everytime.  This is “SMS (Shine)” by the David Crowder*Band.

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Obviously there are a ton more songs out there that move me; the song by Gungor that we posted in our last blog, plenty of Jars of Clay, Mat Kearney, and other David Crowder*Band songs, many many worship song, and more, but I won’t bore you to death.  And I hope you can find these songs enjoyable and moving.

I’d love to know:  What songs move you?

New Music

Recently, Staci and I were opened up to a new world of music thanks to Catalyst.  I have to admit that I am a bit of a music snob, and I’ve really had a hard time finding some new stuff that I really like.  On a similar note, I also have to admit that my favorite type of music just doesn’t really exist anymore.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying say that no new music is good, I’m just a bit of a snob over it (one of my downfalls).

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Anyway, I digress… As I stated above, I have found some new stuff (some might even call it trendy stuff) that I really like.

I (Michael) will be in plain text while…

Staci will be in italics

ps… for those of you who have read our shared blog posts before, this is kind of the opposite of what we do. So I hope we don’t throw you off 🙂

You can click on the artist’s name and it will take you to their official site, by the way.

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Gungor

One band that we both have really grown to love is Gungor.  This is a youtube video of my favorite song of theirs.  This particular version is of them doing it in the forest “unplugged,” if you will.  It’s pretty cool, and the album version is even better.

In all honesty, I didn’t want to go to their concert the night they were playing at Catalyst.  So we just walked around and looked at merchandise and things until it was time for the speaker.  But then when we heard them play after the speaker, we were blown away.  We’ve loved them ever since.

 

Seryn

I’ve found myself playing this song over and over while I do graphic design stuff for church.  They just inspire creativity.  When they played at Catalyst, you could just look around and see people with their mouths open.  We were all mesmerized.

 

The City Harmonic

The City Harmonic is another really awesome up-and-coming band.  We gave away there EP at church and the student who got it said that she really really liked it…  Confirmation from a teenager, that makes TCH legit!

This is another CD that I’ve been playing over and over while I do graphic design stuff.  I hope they come out with another album soon.

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A couple of other “not-so-new” bands that we really enjoy, and would love to share with you are:

NewWorldSon (yes it’s all supposed to be one word like that).

I actually heard “There is a Way” on K-Love driving home from work one day.  I didn’t know who sang it, but the next time we heard it on the radio, we wrote down some lyrics to find out who sang it (don’t you love technology?!).  We really like them a lot! 

One of my favorite things about them is that each of their songs is unique, with an overarching blues feel.  Good vocals, good music, good lyrics, great album!

 

NEEDTOBREATHE

This is a bit older band, NEEDTOBREATHE.  You may have heard this song of theirs…

 

Dave Barnes

Dave Barnes has been one of my favorite artists for the past 6 years.  This is one of his newer songs, but I also really like his old stuff.  Oh–and a bonus is that he makes goofy videos and can make fun of himself on youtube.  See example HERE.

 

The [M]useum

This one is kind of a shout out to a friend of mine (Ben Richter) who is the front man of the band.  Their lyrics are really honest and one of my favorite aspects of the band is their desire to make a difference with more than just their music.  They just released a single “Not For Sale” (click to download).  This song is a way that they hope to raise awareness of the human trafficking going on across the world.

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We could go on and on, but I think that’s enough for today.  We hope you enjoy!  And maybe you’ll even find a new favorite artist.  🙂

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–Staci AND Michael

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Q for you:  Who is one artist/band we should all check out?

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The 2011 NBA Finals – By M

Torn…. torn in two!!!  That’s how I feel about the NBA Finals this year.  I have to admit that I’m still mad that my Spurs couldn’t seem to cut it this post season.  It’s extra dissappointing considering how solid of a year we put together.

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But now I feel like I need to choose between evils; the Dallas “Wavs” (Mavericks) or the Miami “Superfriends” (Heat).  I know that pretty much any non-Heat fan is going for the Mavs… and the truth is if it were any other team in the league (yes, even the Lakers – eeew, that’s hard to say) I would be rooting for them.  However, the dilemma is found in the fact that the Mavs are even more of a nemesis to the Spurs than the Lakers, Heat, or any other team in the league.  We live way too close in proximity, I have way too many mav fans as friends, and they’re really good at talk but have never had any grounds to back it up.  I will say Nowitzki and Kidd have worked their rears off in more than stellar (Hall of Fame, really) careers, and they are definitely in an elite that deserve rings.  The Problem is Terry drives me nuts, I have no respect for Mark Cuban, and I totally love the bragging rights!

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So here I am stuck between choosing Lebron (who is definitely great as well, but I’m a loyalist and believe he should have stuck with the Cavs) or the Mavs…. dang, this just did not turn out well for Spurs fans…

The truth is, I do believe the Heat have a couple of titles coming their way.  Although I would love to see that never happen, I believe it will.  So why not start now… maybe this would be their only triumph…. who knows…

But for the sake of all Spurs-loving fans out there, I just can’t get myself to root for D-town.  Sorry I can’t keep it in Texas this time… still, much love to all my mavs-loving friends out there, and the best of luck to both teams.

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Who is your pick for the Finals (biased – like me, or un-biased)?  Who’s your number one team in the league (obviously you already know mine)?

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-M

I Don’t Get It – By M

Ok maybe I do get it… but it’s just not how I am any more.  Let me explain what I’m talking about…

I know that I mention Jon Acuff in probably half of the blogs I write.  I don’t mean to be a creepy-psyco fan or anything; I just happen to read his blog often (along with several others) and I read this post about “The Hangover 2”, and it got me thinking…

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Quick Disclaimer:  This post is NOT meant to be written towards anyone.  It is also MEANT to be a non-judgmental assertion of some of my thoughts.  If you have seen or plan on seeing “The Hangover 2”, please know that I would never EVER judge you for what you may or may not watch at the movies.  That would just be ridiculous.

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With that said…  When I first heard about the first movie, I already had one good reason to not go see the movie: The name.  I know, I sound like my mom….  😦    But truthfully, that is enough to stop me from spending $10 at the theater.  I can’t exactly imagine anything good coming out of a movie with a title like that.

However, I really would like to make this post about more than just one movie.  There’s something I find a little disturbing in the trend of the young generation of the church/Christians.  We seem to be really good at justifying things that we do that we know we probably shouldn’t.  This applies to more than just movies; you can apply it to TV shows, books/magazines we read, things we do on the weekend, things we do with our boyfriend/girlfriend, etc.

I think that’s why I liked Acuff’s blog post so much.

If you didn’t click on the link, his post is essentially about the excuses that  Christians make when they see movies that they know, like “The Hangover”, will be full of all kinds vulgarity, and probably shouldn’t see anyway.  We make excuses like being “relevant” and “with the times”, covering your eyes during the nudity, focusing on the “deeper” meaning of the film, or, in Acuff’s terms, reverse Jesus-Juking anyone who questions you watching it (in other words calling someone judgmental and closed-minded for not watching it, and for judging what they haven’t seen).

I think about the verse Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”  And also in 1 Corinthians 10:23 ” ‘Everything is permissible’—but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’—but not everything is constructive.”  I have a choice to do whatever I want to do.  God isn’t gonna stop me.  And… I like that!  I like that God doesn’t force me to love Him, or do anything on His behalf.  However, some things that I want to do just aren’t good.  Some things I want to do, in the words of Paul, are just not “beneficial” or “constructive” to me.

I am a firm believer in finding God in “secular” things.  Staci and I are always connecting movies, TV shows (especially LOST), music, and books (even including Harry Potter) to our relationship with God.  I love to find God in things that people didn’t intend because I believe that what the Bible says about all creation singing His praises is true.  But I also believe we can find these things in movies much more wholesome (great, using another word my mom uses) than movies like the “Hangover”.

Once again, I want to reiterate that I am not trying to judge those who do what they do.  It’s their choice.  I’m also not trying to sound “holier-than-thou” by saying that I have simply chosen the alternative.  The truth is, I didn’t always make these kind of decisions in my life.  Remember at the beginning of this post (which was so long ago that you probably don’t) that I had said I do get why people watch these kind of movies. There was a time in my life when I would have gone (and did go) to the opening night of movies like the “Hangover”.  Where I watched what I thought looked funny regardless of vulgarity.  In fact, I  even owned a handful of those kind of movies.  I laughed at the worst parts and scoffed at those who thought I was doing the wrong thing.  And then I realized that God has the best thing for me, while most of things I do are only the “good” (or, a lot of times, not so good) thing.  So now I have stopped watching many of the types of movies and TV shows I once found funny due to vulgarity, and the funny thing is, as I have moved away from watching those things, the less I have a desire to see one, and the more I am convicted when I do watch one.

This post isn’t meant to judge, just to hopefully get you thinking.  ” ‘Everything is permissible’ – But not everything is beneficial…”

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What is the best movie you’ve seen in recent months (and if it’s “The Hangover 2” be honest.  Like I said I won’t judge you)?  What’s one you’re looking forward to in the upcoming ones?

(For me, by far, Inception is the best one I’ve seen recently (even though that was a while back).  And I know it sounds nerdy, but I’m actually excited for Harry Potter 7 pt. 2 this summer.)

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– M

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Learning… Still Learning – By M

It’s been a few posts since I wrote a serious one, and I feel like I’ve gotta just write this and put it out there.  …This post could also be subtitled “This is me being real.”

Isn’t funny how God will teach you stuff when you don’t ask for it?  And then sometimes he heaps more on just for fun, and you’re sitting there like “Ok, God, I get it you win!”  That’s been my life last night and today.  Let me tell you about it.

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Last night I was so mad at one of our neighbors that I coulda set fire to his car and not even cared one bit (ok, maybe a little bit exaggerated, but I did want to slash his tires). Without going into vast details, I felt very wronged by a neighbor of ours.  I was furious!  And for me that’s pretty big news… I’m usually pretty levelheaded.  I even explained to Staci that I had only been that mad maybe 2 or 3 other times in my entire life.

How many of you have heard the verse in Proverbs that says “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown” or “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD”?  Well let me just say, that both these verses apply to my wife.  Staci has always really helped challenge me in my daily Christian walk, and last night she did it again; so I just needed to brag on her for a moment.

After things had more or less resolved and Staci and I were getting ready for bed, I explained to Staci the anger and hatred I still had in my heart.  At this moment Staci hit me right in the heart muscle when she reminded me that we needed to love that man, pray for him, forgive him, and maybe even take him some cookies!  And I’m left sitting there thinking… why do you have to do this to me?!  Why won’t you let me be mad?!  And then I remembered the verses I mentioned above about “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown” and “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD”.  My wife is incredible!

If I were to explain the story of why I was so upset, probably 9 out of 10 would say, “Hey, you had a right to be mad.  That guy was a jerk!”  In fact, I know I told myself that lie several times last night.  Staci helped remind me that as a Christian I gave up my rights.  Jesus commands us to to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  I think Jesus should have tagged on  to the end of that phrase “even when you’re really, really mad (and have a “right”) to be mad at your neighbor.”

As a Christian, I have given up my rights to follow my desires and to live a life God has called me to.  I, honestly, do feel ashamed of my anger, and, although it took some warming up to, I am excited to bake some cookies for this guy and take them over.  I just hope he doesn’t think we’re trying to poison him or something.

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So at the beginning of this post I mentioned that sometimes I think God gets a kick out of teaching us more when we really don’t want it.  As much as I felt like I learned my lesson last night, I got on my Google Reader and two of the blogs I read mentioned something along these lines.  First, Jon Acuff of SCL had written for “Serious Wednesday” that he had been convicted of judging his hair stylist and explained that whole story, which really hit me in the heart, and then Donald Miller’s post for the day was entitled “Want to be Happy? Forgive Your Enemies.”  Once again… shot in the heart!

So, needless to say, God has been forming me in these last 24 hours… we’ll see what He throws my way next.

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When was the last time you wanted to rock your “neighbor’s” world (in the wrong way)?  What has God been teaching you in your day to day circumstances?

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– Michael