Kick

Last night was a pretty significant day for me! For the first time I was able to feel the baby moving. Every time the baby would be moving and I'd go to feel Sarah's stomach the baby would stop moving! So yesterday she finally decided to cooperate. It was pretty cool because it helped to make it more real. I'm looking forward to her growing more in there and being able to see her move more, and then in February finally being able to meet our cute little girl!

Tagged

I came up with some random facts about Sarah, so I thought it was only fair for her to reciprocate when she tagged me. So here you have some random facts that she came up with about me.

Sam:

1. Is bilingual.
2. Doesn't like popcorn.
3. Doesn't like trimming the (Sam inserted "evil") hedge in our backyard.
4. Likes to wear a dress shirt/sweater, dress shoes, and JEANS on Sundays.
5. Reads a lot: to fall asleep, to do schoolwork, to learn, for pleasure...he reads a lot.
   
6. Makes me drive on long trips so that he can do his schoolwork and read in the car.
7. Is very rhythmic...he always has a beat in his head or his feet, hands, fingers, toes, etc.

Green Eggs & Ham

I DO like Green Eggs & Ham! Sarah & I just ate @ the Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors, MN. I thought the oven baked "Green Eggs and Ham" omelet sounded good, but it was beyond good, it was delicious! It had pesto in it which gave it a very unique flavor. Besides that, it was HUGE! The size of my plate! I could only finish like half of it.

Good Day

See You At The Pole this morning was great! I got up before 6 a.m. to make hot chocolate for everyone and then picked up the freshly made donuts. I met half of the crew at the W. Middle School and then drove over to the B. Middle School where I met John who was taking care of getting the goodies to the BHS students. Between the 5 campuses there were around 70 students plus some adults that came with their kids...my numbers for the BMS were kind of shaky because there were well over 26 students there (about half of them were from the Elementary school!), so I just basically stopped counting when I realized I would definitely not have enough to go around...miraculously there was enough for everyone to get a cup of hot cocoa and a snack!

ONE, the inter-church High School and Middle School gathering was tonight. It was great to see the students from other churches I had not seen in a long time!

It's great to be part of a team ministry that crosses denominational lines! Jesus' prayer is that "they will know we are Christians by our love!" and that we would "be one" as the Father and He are one. What a privilege to be part of unifying the Body of Christ to more effectively connect this generation to God by working together!
Will I be able to sleep?

Pandora

Last week Justin M. introduced me to Pandora...my life is forever changed. I have had it playing out of our laptop into the radios around the house whenever I'm at home...it's great. You put in a couple of artists you like and it will make a "radio station" of those and similar artists...how cool is that? I'm hooked.

Concert

Last night Sarah and I took my grandparents out to a Wintley Phipps concert that was AMAZING! I was able to hear Wintley at Catalyst last year, so when I got the invitation in the mail I knew right away that it would be an awesome concert. The power of God is very evident when he sings. The youtube video doesn't do it justice, but it will give you an idea of what it's like.

The Making of a Leader

The topic of leadership is very popular today. There are many books that trumpet the latest leadership principles that are sure to make a business succeed, but in “The Making of a Leader” Frank Damazio writes about what we can learn from Biblical history about the formation of a leader. Frank Damazio pastors City Bible Church in Portland, Oregon. He has been teaching and pastoring since 1976. He wrote his book as a textbook for a class on leadership when he was teaching at Portland Bible College and therefore the format of the book is very much like a textbook. Because it was written for a leadership class its intended audience is young and aspiring leaders that need help discovering their God-given callings and identifying the shaping processes that they are or will be going through as God molds them into leaders. Damazio challenges some popular leadership notions with Biblical principles and shows how God desires leaders to be called, formed, and live. He does a very good job of identifying the shaping processes that different leaders in the Bible went through and relating them to the formation of every godly leader. It is a very good book for any leader to read, no matter what stage of development they are in.
If you haven't read it yet and you think you might be going through a shaping time, or if you are planning on being in ministry leadership of some kind: read it. If nothing else you'll walk out with some other incredible nuggets hidden in the pages.