Random thoughts....

The weather has finally turned colder and I LOVE IT!!!!!! We had the windows open yesterday and when we got home it was FREEZING!!!!!!!! We closed all the windows and Tim put on his manly-man hat and made us a fire. It's awesome. I always thought before that I don't care if I have a fireplace in my home, but I was wrong....they are great!!!

Please keep my friend Kari and her family in your prayers because she is just going through some stuff right now that is really challenging her.

I'm planning on posting some stuff about Charles Spurgeon on here later this month. I'm studying up on his and he is fascinating! If you don't know much about him you are in for a treat...if you do know about him then please send me some info. I'm hoping to get a set of his sermons from CBD for Christmas...I've heard nothing but good things about them.

Nele comes tonight!!!! I'm super excited about getting to the Cincinnati Airport to pick her up. We leave here this afternoon and should see her at about 6:45pm. It will be great to have her home again. I don't have a lot planned except spending some quality time with her.

The Point Community Church is doing well. God is moving mightily through the His church and it is very exciting. Shane McGrath has been brought on as our Associate Pastor and this is a GREAT addition to The Point. Rick continues to do an excellent job at heeding God's calling for the church and showing us how to follow, too. Our small groups started about a month ago and they are going well. We are hosting one here at our house and we have 5 couples participate each week. We are growing closer to the Lord and one another together...it's fun.

I think that's all I have. Is my mind that small or am I just boring? I can't decided. Oh well...if you want lots of stimulation then you will have to go somewhere else. :-)

"Parenting in the Pew" book review

Yep...this is one of the hundreds of things on my mind lately. I have been getting so much out of worship in the last year and a half that I now have a very strong desire to give Joseph the same thing. For a while now I have been baffled by exactly how I can accomplish this. I found a book (which I'm sure that some of you know already)..."Parenting in the Pews".

I have read the first 3 chapters and I am very impressed with the biblical advice and Godly heart of the author. The first thing that I learned was as Christians we are not automatically programmed for worship. We have to learn how to worship just like we learn how to throw a ball. The second thing I have learned is we are not to go to worship looking to get something out of it. No, instead we are to go and offer ourselves wholly to God. Interesting...I always thought that I would go to my church, sing, pray, and listen, and then get this amazing feeling that I somehow saw God. HA! Nothing could be further from the truth. I should go into worship ready to meet God by praising Him...not singing about Him, but TO Him. Think about it people....it's not about me! It is eye opening to understand this.

So, what does this mean for Joseph? It simply means that I have to teach him how to praise God. I'm actually still in the process of learning how to worship, therefore, we will be learning as a family. I know we can do this. Joseph is a smart boy. We are going to praise God and "make a joyful noise" together.