5 Christmas Tips for Dad

Christmas time is here again.  Time for dad to get frustrated with house decorating, stress out over how much money is spent on gifts, and have his family overcome with a crazy, chaotic calendar.  But what if it doesn't have to be that way?  We have a unique opportunity at Christmas to create great family memories and lead our families in growing closer to Jesus.  And let's face it:  Our kids grow up way to fast.  So here are some tips for dads to make the most of the holiday season for their families.

1. Check your Cheer - Dad's, don't let the stress and spending of the holidays rob you of your Christmas cheer.  Be joyful.  Be hopeful.  You're family takes their cues from you.
2. Model Generosity - The holidays are a great time to teach your family about giving and generosity. Who are you planning to adopt, bless, and serve this holiday season?
3. Dive In To Decorations - We need to help our wives with decorating the house.  We need to make it a family affair.  We need to take time to drive around and look at Christmas lights with the family.  Embrace the sights and sounds of Christmas and be sure your family is having the complete holiday experience.
4. Make It About Jesus - It's easy for the message of Christmas to get lost in the hype.  Dads need to be leading their families to remember that Christmas is all about Jesus.  Dads need to be leading their families spiritually.  How are you doing with this dad? (For a great Christmas Bible reading plan click here.)
5. Plan A Christmas Calendar - I started planning a Christmas calendar last year and it made the holiday so much better for our family.  Here are 4 things you can do to be successful with this dads: 

• Make sure you're planning family time where memories will be made.
• Create time to build family traditions.
• Check out local events that can make the holidays fun for your family.
• Be wise about what you say yes to and what you say no to.

Dads, let's be intentional in making the most of Christmas for our families this year.  Let's lead well.  Let's model the Christmas spirit for our children & not miss out on a great opportunity to build memories that can last a lifetime!

Irreplaceable Team Members

All of us are on a team at some stage in life.  As kids, we're in teams for things such as sports and band.  As adults it comes in the form of the teams of people we work with in our jobs, the places we serve in the community, and can even appear in working with others on community projects or leadership teams.  Over the years I have worked with tons of teams of various forms, functions, and sizes.  Here's some things I've noticed about team members who excel and make themselves irreplaceable.

1. They are SOLUTION people rather than PROBLEM people.  Anyone can identify the problem.  Anyone can point out what is wrong.  When a problem arises, great team members approach their leaders, not just with the problem, but with a list of possible solutions.
2. They are TEAM focused instead of POSITION focused.  Without fail, if a team of people form for any purpose, there will be people who begin to seek out position and power.  Great team members realize that the good of the TEAM is always more important than any individual credit or credentials.
3. They see other people as a RESOURCE and not COMPETITION.  For many individuals, there is a natural human tendency that exists to see other people as competition on a team.  Great leaders and team members understand that people are their most valuable resource, so the INVEST time building relationships with others
4. They understand VISION and how to FOLLOW well.  Everyone has an opinion about how to do something, how to approach something, or about what they feel is best for a situation.  Great team members understand authority and they follow well, knowing that there are times where the leaders see things they don't see.
5. They never EXPECT others to do what they WON'T.  It amazes me how many people think leadership is gained through POSITION or title.  The truth is, great team members lead by doing the difficult things themselves and modeling for others the expected behavior/standard/action.  They are the first ones to show up.  They work the hardest.  They lead by example.

We all find ourselves on a team from time to time - at work, in school, in the community, at church.  If you want to make yourself irreplaceable but duplicatable follow these five simple suggestions.  Your team or organization will be better because of it.  And after all, isn't that the purpose of a team?

Dig In

Over the past three weeks I've had several people at Timber Ridge ask me about Bible reading plans.  It seems there are a lot of people taking the step to spend time with God in His Word on a daily basis.  And that is a life-changing step to take!

I wanted to share some online resources and reading plans for those of you who might be interested in getting into God's Word each day.  Below you'll find a few resources that can help you as you spend time with God each day.

• 30 Days With Jesus - What better topic to study than the life of Jesus?  This reading plan takes you on an overview of the life and work of Jesus in just one month.
• 30 Days For New Christians - If the Bible and church are a new thing for you, this reading plan is a great option to give you a general, very brief overview of some major topics in the Bible.
• First Steps Reading Plan - This reading plan is designed for people who are new to faith in Jesus.  It's a year long reading plan that covers the Bible basics with a light amount of reading each day.
• The Bible in 90 or New Thru 30 - If you're looking for a more intense, deeper reading plan check out one of these plans.  The Bible in 90 takes you through the entire Bible in just 90 days.  New Thru 30 is a journey through the entire New Testament in just a month.
• YouVersion.com - YouVersion is a great tool to read the Bible online from your computer, phone, or other mobile device.  YouVersion also offers several reading plans to choose from as well.

The key to getting the most out of God's Word is to simply make the commitment to read it and then DO IT.  So pick the plan that's best for where you are right now in life and jump in.  You'll be amazed at how spending time in God's Word each day will change your life!

Are YOU Ready For Some FOOTBALL?

This Sunday (November 6th) we're hosting our first ever Timber Ridge TAILGATE!  The tailgate party will begin immediately following our 10:30am worship service.  I'm pumped up for this & here's 3 reasons why you should be too!

1. Free Food & Fun - We're gonna' be grilling tons of hamburgers and hot dogs and they'll be plenty of food for everyone!  Plus we'll have a blast hanging out together & watching the Cowboy's game.
2. Can you say BIG screen? - We'll be projecting the game on the big screen at The Conference Center so you'll have a great view of the game!
3. Friends, Friends, Friends! - Our church is less than 2 months old...so that means that literally EVERYONE is new!  The tailgate party is a great opportunity to meet new people, connect with others, and make some great friends!

I hope you and your family will make plans to join us Sunday for the 1st ever Timber Ridge TAILGATE!  It's sure to be a blast!

The Weekend Update

It's been a while since I've shared a Weekend Update, but I'm going to get back in the habit starting NOW.  Here's a glimpse into the weekend at the Burleson household.  Check it out:

• Friday evening we had some family fun at the pumpkin patch & hay maze that is sponsored by the Stephenville Christian School.  If you're local to the Stephenville area, you should go check it out.  You can find more info here.
• On Saturday, I ran my first ever 5k!  It was a very cool experience.  I've been training and working out for a couple months now with the goal of being able to finish this 5k by running the entire race...and I did it!  Hayden ran out on the course when I was about 40 yards from the finish line and I even carried him the rest of the way.  It was a big personal accomplishment in my life & I'm already planning to run another race to raise money for charity.

• Sunday was all things Timber Ridge!  Met a lot of new people and we concluded our Paparazzi series.  You can check out the weekend's message here.  
• This weekend we start a new series at Timber Ridge called Worst To First: The Bible's Greatest Comeback Stories.  I was already getting pumped up for it this past Sunday.  It's gonna' be a lot of fun!  You can get a sneak peek here.

A Little Link Love

Today I feel like sharin' the love...So here's a little link love on the blog.  Below you'll find a few things that I've found interesting lately & a few things that just happen to be on my mind.  Check it out:

• A couple weekends ago we talked about Making Monday Morning Matter at Timber Ridge.  It was all about how to use your job to impact the kingdom of God.  I came across a great article today that's full of practical ways to live out your faith at work.  Check it out here.
• We kicked off a brand new series this weekend at Timber Ridge Church.  It's called Paparazzi.  You can catch the message online here.
• My wife is an unbelievably talented photographer...and I don't just say that because I'm married to her.  She's about to kick-off some amazingly affordable sessions called Christmas Minis that are perfect for getting that great family holiday pic.  You can check out her work for yourself here.
• My good friend & fellow church planter Zak White is laying down some LEGIT basic money principles on his blog this week.  He's offering some great practical ways to make the most of your money.  Check it out here.
• Our Creative Arts Pastor & my friend Micah has started a new venture here in the Ville.  If you're looking for anything audio/video/technical/computer/web he is your man!  Check out his new website here.
• Earlier this week Pastor Steven Furtick shared some great insights into how to have a meaningful time with God each day.  Check it out here.
• If you haven't watched this video of the biker in Africa, it is a MUST SEE.  Check it out here.

Move Your Seat & Move Your Feet

This Sunday, October 9th, we're adding a new service at Timber Ridge Church.  We will have two service times, with worship experiences happening at 9 & 10:30 am.  You can read the details as to why we're moving to two services by clicking here, but the short version is that making this move opens up seats and allows us the opportunity to reach more people...and that's what we are all about at Timber Ridge.  

Here are 3 quick, easy ways you can help make this move successful THIS WEEK if you're a part of Timber Ridge.  As your pastor, I want to ask you to make a commitment to reach people this week for the kingdom of God.  Here's some practical ways you can do this:

1. Get The Word Out.  Pass out those invite cards you received on Sunday, use your Facebook account to share about two services & invite your Facebook friends, and personally invite your neighbors & your co-workers to join us this weekend.  There is incredible POWER in a PERSONAL invitation.  Don't come alone this weekend!
2. Move Your Seat.  If you call Timber Ridge your church home, commit to making the move to the 9am service for at least the next month.  That way we have more seats open at 10:30...and you can serve in the second service to help first-time guests connect with God & have a great experience!
3. Move Your Feet.  Meet me this Saturday morning, October 8th, at The Conference Center at The Deluxe Inn to canvass neighborhoods and hand out invite cards letting people know about our new service times.  We're meeting at 9am and everyone will be done between 10 & 10:30am.  It's a small time commitment that can make a HUGE difference in someone's life!

It's all about reaching people who aren't here yet!  And we'll do whatever it takes to reach those far from God with the hope of Christ.  YOU can be a big part of that this week!  Get the word out...move your seat...move your feet...and watch how GOD changes lives because of it all!

Move It!

At Timber Ridge Church we're committed to doing whatever it takes to reach people.  In fact, our goal is to make it hard to get to hell from Stephenville & Erath County.  One of the obstacles that any church that is striving to grow & reach people will eventually face is the obstacle of space.  At some point, you simply have to make more space so more people have an opportunity to come and experience a weekend service.

We have been blessed with great momentum & God has been moving in some big ways from day one at Timber Ridge.  God is changing lives and we want to do everything we can to keep that momentum going & continue to see lives changed.  

That's why beginning Sunday, October 9th we will be adding an additional service on Sunday mornings!  Our new service times will be at 9 & 10:30 am.

Why are we already adding an additional service at such a young stage in our church?  I'm glad you asked!  Here are a few of the reasons why:

• We continue to have new families check out Timber Ridge Church each week.  And our meeting space in our worship center at The Conference Center at The Deluxe Inn where we meet each Sunday is already at about 85% capacity - and that's with already adding a second level of seating at the back.  When new guests come in, typically a few minutes late, the worship area is already pretty full & it is hard for them to find a seat unless they go up to the front row.  
• Because we have had to add the second seating area toward the back of the worship center where our cafe & welcome center are located, we have had some noise issues with our kids ministries.  Due to the fact that the doors of those two rooms join each other, we've asked our kids workers to stay as calm & quiet as possible.  But let's face it:  Kids can be loud...and we want them to be loud & rowdy & crazy because it means that they are having a BLAST learning about Jesus.  If we move to two services we won't have to use the back area for seating and that will allow our kids to have more fun & make more noise without worrying about disturbing what God is doing in the worship center.
• We have a passion to see people use the gifts & talents God's given them to serve others and make a difference!  With two services, everyone at Timber Ridge will have the opportunity to attend a service and serve a service.  This allows people to find a way to plug into serving at Timber Ridge without having to miss out on our weekend worship experience.

So how can YOU and YOUR FAMILY make a difference in this move?  Well, I am glad you asked!  If you consider Timber Ridge Church your church home & are a regular attender, I want to ask you to MOVE IT, MOVE IT!  Seriously.  I want to ask you to MOVE IT in two specific ways.

Move IT!! from Timber Ridge Church on Vimeo.

1. MOVE YOUR SEAT.  I want you to consider attending the 9:00 service with your family.  This helps in two ways.  First of all, it frees up seats at 10:30 which is the most likely time a new guest will check out Timber Ridge.  Second of all, it allows us to start the 9:00 service with a good size crowd & we all know that earlier services are tougher to fill.
2. MOVE YOUR FEET.  I want to ask you to join us on our Street Team to help get the word out about starting this new service.  We will be meeting in the parking lot of the Conference Center at the Deluxe Inn at 6:00pm this Sunday evening, October 2nd & again on Saturday, October 8th at 9:00am to walk neighborhoods in our community & place invite cards on the doors of our friends & neighbors.  It's vital we get the word out & YOU can help by committing to pass out invite cards at one, if not both, of these times.

Every week God is changing lives at Timber Ridge Church.  We're willing to take bold risks & make big moves of faith in order to continue to see God change lives and transform our community!  I hope you'll consider BUSTIN' A MOVE in order to help other people connect with God through Timber Ridge Church!

(Thanks to Micah Petrea - our super-talented Creative Arts Pastor for the killer video!)

5 Ways to Grow Up

Last week I spent a lot of time thinking about how people grow spiritually. At it's very core, what do people need to know in order to grow in their walk with Jesus? The more I've thought about my own personal walk with God & about what I've learned observing some of my mentors in the faith, I think growing spiritually boils down to just a handful of things as basics. Here's five things I think we need to work on in order to grow in our walk with God:

1. Study God's Word. - If you are going to grow in your walk with Jesus, you have to spend time in the Bible. Plain and simple.
2. Pray. - If you want to know God more, you have to communicate with Him.
3. Serve. - Serving is exercising your spiritual muscles. You have to figure out how God's wired you and how you can use that to make a difference in the kingdom.
4. Share. - Growing your faith means sharing your faith. People who really develop maturity in following Jesus are people who share the message of Jesus with others.
5. Find A Mentor. - We all need accountability. We need people to keep us on track. But we need more than that. We need someone to follow. Someone who's been where we want to go and can advise us on the path ahead.

There ya' go. Five things you can do to grow in your walk with Jesus. And we all need to grow.

Because here's the truth: When a baby is learning to eat baby food and drools all over the place people think it's cute. They take pictures and videos of it and share them with their friends. But if the 35 year old dude sitting next to you in Chili's is drooling all over the place as he eats or is still using a bottle, it's really not that cute. It shows that a maturing process hasn't happened.

It's the same when it comes to walking with Jesus. We'll never be perfect. But we can be growing. In fact, we need to be growing. We need to be maturing. We need to be striving to look more like Jesus. That's what following Him is all about.

***If you're in the Stephenville/Erath County area and are interested in learning how to develop these 5 habits of growing with God, I'd love to invite you to our very first Spiritual Growth Group at Timber Ridge Church. It's a small group setting where you can learn how to do the five things listed above. I'd love for you to be our guest. For more info, email me at info [at] timberridgechurch [dot] com.

When I Grow Up - Part 3: Bold Risks

I'm in the middle of a series here on the blog about what we envision Timber Ridge Church to look like when we "grow up" and the plans, values, and steps we're taking now to get to that point.

You can read about the idea behind the series here.

You can read part 1 here.

You can read part 2 here.

When I think about what Timber Ridge Church will look like in the future - 5, 10, 15 years from now - there is one thing I am certain that I want to define us and that is this: We Act In Bold Faith. In fact, one of our core values is that very statement. We believe that without faith, it is impossible to please God. We also believe that the message and grace of Jesus really can change our lives, our communities, and our world. So we want to follow Him with radical, audacious faith.

Acting in bold faith is not the norm. In fact, we've created a culture in many churches and places in America where the norm is to play it safe. We want to live protected and safe lives, avoiding risks at all costs. But Jesus didn't call us to be safe. He never talked about our faith being comfortable or sheltered or free from danger. He taught quite the opposite. Jesus has called us to live out a bold, audacious faith that believes and acts in a way that shows anything is possible for our God. At Timber Ridge Church, we believe that bold faith is birthed from bold commitment and obedience. If we want to have a radical faith it is going to be directly related to our radical commitment to Jesus and His mission.

So from the very beginning we will refuse to play it safe. When God leads us to do so, we will make bold moves and take audacious risks that are doomed to fail unless He intervenes on our behalf. We want to live and lead in such a way that people see God at work simply because of the risks we're willing to take because of the faith we've placed in Him. And we want to be bold from the start, because if you're not willing to risk it all when you have nothing, you sure won't risk it all when something is established and there is something to lose.

We believe that bold faith honors God...and that God honors bold, audacious faith. So we will exhibit radical commitment and obedience to Jesus in order that we might live out bold, audacious, risk-taking faith that honors our God.

When I Grow Up - Part 2: Maturity

A few days ago I started sharing a series of posts about what we want Timber Ridge Church to look like once we "grow up." You can read about the idea here and you can read part 1 here.

Today I want to share about our core value of teaching the Bible for life transformation. At Timber Ridge Church, our desire is to teach the Bible - through our weekend services, small groups, and other avenues - in order that people's lives might be changed. That means that as a church, we will measure success by life transformation. The trend in some churches today is to measure success and growth by Bible knowledge. Some churches are consumed with how much of the Bible their people know. But the problem that creates is that in most cases this produces spiritually obese Christians who gorge themselves on knowing the Word, but don't practice it and do what it says. Don't get me wrong - I believe that people need to know God's Word. I believe God gave us the Bible as our playbook & blueprint for life. But biblical maturity is not measured by how much Bible you know. Maturity is measured by how much Bible you do. At Timber Ridge Church we want to measure our success and our growth by Bible action, not Bible knowledge.

With that core value in place, we have the desire to be a church that is strong in it's spiritual maturity. That maturity will be shown not in the number of verses we can quote or the number of Bible study classes we can schedule. Our maturity will be shown in how we practice God's Word in sharing our faith, loving our neighbors, caring for the poor, and living out the commands God gives us in His Word.

The Weekend Update

The Weekend Update is a quick, bullet-style recap of the weekend at the Burleson household. Enjoy!

• Friday was Family Day for us. We took Hayden on an adventure to the Children's Museum that is a part of the Ft. Worth Science & History museum. Cool place. It was PACKED with kids that were there for school field trips, but we still had a blast.
• Saturday we spent getting the house & yard cleaned up and prepared for Launch Team meeting on Sunday.
• Saturday evening we ate with some family at Cook's Fish Barn - a little place in Sipe Springs, TX. If you are ever in that area (Brownwood, Comanche, etc) you have got to check this place out. The food is amazing...and yes, it is a literal barn!
• Sunday morning we worshipped with the folks at Rocky Point here in the Ville.
• Sunday night we had our weekly launch team meeting. We talked about our core value of taking bold risks of faith in order to follow God. Great stuff. More on that here on the blog mid-week.

Hope your weekend was great!

When I Grow Up - Part 1: The Vision

I announced last week that I'm going to be sharing a series of posts here on the blog entitled When I Grow Up. It's all comes from a challenge I was given in a church planters training course to envision what Timber Ridge Church would be five years from now & put practices in place now to lead the church to that place. I shared the basics of the concept in an earlier post that you can read by clicking here. So today, I'm going to kick things off with The Vision.

The vision of Timber Ridge Church is very simple and succinct. Timber Ridge Church exists to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be. The vision is simple...but the vision is BIG.

We want to be a church that meets people exactly where they are in life. That means that we're willing to accept and love people just as they are - baggage, junk, and all. Loving people right where they are in life can be messy and it can get hard...because let's face it: All of us have made a mess of our lives when we've tried to do it on our own. But we're committed to meeting people and loving people right where they are - mess and all - because that's how Jesus approaches us. Jesus loves us - mess and all - and he died on the cross to convey that unconditional love to us.

And once we accept people just as they are, we refuse to leave them that way. Every single one of us - whether we've been trying to follow Jesus for years or whether we've turned our back on Jesus and tried to live life on our own for years - has not arrived. No matter where we are in life, we can all get closer to who God wants us to be. Plain and simple: None of us are there yet. In fact, we have a saying that we've started using at Timber Ridge Church already: No Perfect People Allowed. That's right - there are no perfect people allowed, because quite frankly there are no perfect people. We all have our own issues & struggles and have work to do to get closer to being who God made us to be. And we're committed to help people through that process. We're committed to walk with people as they discover who God made them to be & as they pursue the great purpose & plan God has for their life.

So Timber Ridge Church will be a place full of messy, imperfect people who accept & love others just like them - and who will stop at nothing to help others become everything God designed them to be. When I grow up...I want to love people right where they are - mess & junk and all - and help them see that, through Jesus, God has an incredible plan for their lives!

The Weekend Update

Here's the Weekend Update...just a couple days late!

• This past weekend Johanna spent Friday afternoon through Saturday early evening at Stonewater Church's IGNITE Women's Conference with a couple great friends. Hayden & I had a blast hanging out together, although several of our adventures got cancelled because he was a little under the weather. And I'm so thankful my wife got to get away for a little while & spend some time being ministered to & have people pour into her heart.
• Saturday was our 6 year anniversary as husband and wife. I simply cannot imagine my life without Johanna. She is simply amazing. She brings out the best in me and challenges me to be the best that I could possibly be in every area of life. I thank God every day for the gift He gave me when he brought Jo into my life. We celebrated by having dinner at the Buffalo Gap Steakhouse in Granbury...and is was G-O-O-D!
• Sunday morning I preached at one of our partner churches, New Hope Baptist Church, in Gorman. New Hope has been beyond generous in their support of what we are doing at Timber Ridge Church! Their generosity & help is simply unbelievable! (If you'd like more info on what we're doing in planting Timber Ridge Church or how YOU or your church can partner with us click here!)
• Sunday evening we had our weekly launch team meeting. We had a great night talking about God's heart for his lost children. And we threw down some massive amounts of pizza too!

A weekend spent with the people I love and sharing about the God I love...doesn't get much better than that!

My Best Buddy Turns Two

Two years ago today God placed an incredible, life-changing blessing in my life in the form of my son, Hayden. Today, my little buddy turns two. I cannot even believe that I just typed that sentence. To think that two years have already passed with Hayden in our lives blows me away. Time goes by so fast...and I want to cherish every second I'm given, making the most of the amazing opportunity, responsibility, and blessing that God's given me as Hayden's father. Hayden, maybe one day you'll read this...and if that ever happens, here's a letter I wrote today just for you.

Hayden,

I love you buddy. I cannot believe that two years of your life have already flown by. But I can honestly say it's been the best two years of my life. I absolutely love that God gave me the gift of raising you as a son. Over the last two years, I've taught you a few things...like how to ride your big-wheel four wheeler and how to throw and catch a ball. I've taught you how to say "frog" when you pass gas and how to say "Peace Out!" when you tell someone good-bye. I've taught you some cool hand shakes, some funny sayings, and some practical stuff that will help you in life, like how to wink at the ladies. But in the last two years, what I've taught you pales in comparison to what you've taught me. Hayden, you've taught me how to be a man. You've taught me how to live for something outside of myself - and to put you and your mom before my own self. You've taught me how to be a better person. You've taught me how to be a better husband. You've taught me how to love life more, cherish every moment, and love God with all that I am. You've taught me all these things - and so many more - simply by being you. With your own personality and in your own little way you challenge me to be a better me. I want to be a more godly man and a better pastor because I know you're watching. I want to be a better husband, because I know you're watching. I want to be a better friend, a better teacher, a better neighbor, the list goes on and on...all because I know you're watching. Son, I want you to know that I love you. There will be days when I blow it. I'm not perfect. I've messed up in the past and I'll mess up in the future. But I want you to know that it's not about being perfect. It's about giving your best. And so I promise you, as your dad, to give you my best. I'm striving, with God's help, to be the best father I can be and I promise you that I'll continue to do that. I love you buddy. Happy Birthday!

When I Grow Up

I have been super blessed to be a part of the Northwood Church Planting program over the past few months. Northwood Church in Keller, TX doesn't just talk about planting churches. They do it. They have planted literally hundreds of churches in the last few years. The wisdom & guidance that the Northwood staff has poured in to me is unbelievable.

A couple weeks ago we finished up our last weekend training session called a module. Toward the end of it we did an exercise where we acted like our church plant was 3 years old and had been wildly successful. We had to present to the group how we arrived at this point - what we did right, what we focused on, what challenges we faced, etc. Through this process, the team at Northwood challenged each of us to know what we want to be when we grow up. Basically, to know what kind of church we want to lead in the future and to take the steps necessary to begin to build that DNA into the church from day one.

Over the next couple weeks I'm going to be sharing about the values & vision of Timber Ridge Church in a series of blog post called When I Grow Up. I'll share what we dream Timber Ridge to become and give some brief, basic ideas of how we'll get there.

If you're on the Timber Ridge team, have been checking out the launch team meetings, support Timber Ridge, or are interested in what God is doing with Timber Ridge Church, check back over the next couple weeks for a good picture of some things that will be important to us as a church.

The Weekend Update

It's been a long time (think months instead of weeks) since I've posted a Weekend Update, but I thought I'd give it another try. Here's a recap of the weekend in the House of Burleson.

• My brother & sister-in-law welcomed a new baby boy into the world on Friday night, so we made a quick trip to Houston to be there to support them. It's about a 5 hour drive one way. Hayden was a champ. He complained a lot less than I did!
• Welcome to our world Lucas Wade Burleson (a.k.a. Luke). Congrats Justin & Christie. Luke is one handsome little fella...in fact, he looks a lot like his uncle. ;)
• On Saturday we made the 5 hour drive home, with a stop at Old Navy to grab some Easter clothes. I scored one pair of Old Navy premium denim jeans for $6.97 and a second pair for 97 cents!
• Saturday evening we spent cleaning house & getting ready for the Easter Cookout & Egg Hunt we hosted on Sunday evening.
• Sunday morning my family & some other Timber Ridge peeps went and served at Stonewater Church, our sponsoring church. We served in their front-line/welcome crew at the Granbury campus for the first service and then made a flying trip to the Glen Rose campus to serve in the kids ministries for the second service. Crazy, action packed morning for sure!
• Sunday evening we hosted the Timber Ridge Church Easter Cookout & Egg Hunt. We had a blast meeting people and hanging out & the kids loved the Egg Hunt. Every basket went home overflowing with Easter Eggs.

Overall, it was a pretty busy, but productive weekend!

The Little Thing

Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to take a family movie night and went to watch Rio. Johanna has been wanting to take Hayden to see it for a few weeks, so we went to the local Cinema 6 to catch the matinee. What we didn't realize is that they were only showing Rio in 3-D...which is totally cool...unless you have a 23 month old who doesn't really dig wearing glasses.

But we weren't deterred. We decided to go ahead and give it a try & bought three tickets. And Hayden absolutely loved the movie. He sat in our laps the whole time, mesmerized by the movie, and at times even interacting with it by talking to the characters or telling us what was going on. He had a blast. But here's the thing...he never wore the 3-D glasses. He watched the entire movie without the glasses. A couple of times during the movie I took my glasses off just to experience what he was experiencing. And it was just as I thought. It had that blurry, hazy look that 3-D movies have when you don't have glasses on.

That got me to thinking about my relationship with Jesus. How many times do I go through life happy and content, but in reality missing out on something so much better that God wants from me because of some little thing. You see, Hayden really did like the movie. But he missed out on how great it actually could have been because he wouldn't wear the glasses. I'm convinced that many times in life we get stuck in living good-enough lives when God wants us to experience incredible, better-than-great kinds of life. I recently read a quote from a pastor that said too many times we settle for good-enough lives while serving a more-than-enough God. And I think the reason we miss out so many times, is because of the little thing. It's not the big thing that trips us up. We may not have some great moral failure or some shortcoming that is super significant in the eyes of the world. But at times, we allow the little thing - that little act of disobedience or that small failure to ignore God's still voice - to keep us from missing out on all that God has in store for us.

I think we all need to be reminded to live life with our 3-D glasses on. Don't settle for good-enough because you have that little thing keeping you from experiencing God's best in your life. Good-enough living is ok...it's just not for people who serve a more-than-enough God.

What I Could Not Do

This past Sunday we attended StoneWater Church in Granbury, TX. StoneWater is partnering with us to launch Timber Ridge Church & we've worshipped with them a couple times in the past few weeks. The Lead Pastor, Jeremy White, continued their series "Jesus Is..." by talking about Jesus Is Sacrifice. Jeremy taught on how remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross should impact us every day that we are alive. Quite frankly, it was one of the best sermons I've ever heard on the cross & death of Jesus.

At one point in the message Jeremy talked about how Jesus not only died for us as individuals, but that he also died for the people we love. Jeremy used a cross that a friend had made him with his family name in the center as an object lesson to talk about how Jesus sacrificed on the cross not just for us, but for our families as well.

God really used this message to remind me of an important truth: Jesus did for me what I could not do myself. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross paid for my sin which I could not do. His death & resurrection gave me eternal life, which I could not earn. Through the cross, Jesus put me in right standing with God, which I could not achieve on my own.

But Jesus also did what I could not do for the ones I love the most. Jesus didn't just die for me. He died for my family. He sacrificed his life for my wife, which I love with all of my heart. Jesus gave himself for my son, whom I would do anything for. Jesus did for my family what I could not do. On the cross, Jesus paid the ransom for my wife and my son that I could never afford. He not only saved me, but through his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus saved the people I love the most.

That's a sacrifice to remember. And remembering ought to make us want to live for Him even more. I was lost & considered an enemy of God. Myself, my wife & my son were subject to God's complete wrath. But Jesus changed that on the cross. He did for me - and for the ones I love the most - what I could not do.

Jesus Is In The Trying

Every day when I get home from work I try to spend good, quality time with my son Hayden. Since moving to Stephenville, that time usually results in us playing catch or some kind of game involving some type of ball in the back yard. Yesterday was no exception.

I got home and Hayden found my basketball and took it out into the yard. He told me to "'Mon!", which combined with the proper hand waving, is his way of saying, "Come on. Follow me." We went to the back corner of the yard and he begin to shoot "bakkets" or baskets. He loves to shoot hoops on his Little Tykes basketball goal, but yesterday he was convinced that the cylinder shaped transformer box on a power pole behind our back fence was a basket. There was only one problem: It's about 25 feet in the air.

He shot and shot...and shot....and, well you get the picture. The highest he ever got the ball was about a foot above his head. And after every shot that failed to reach the "basket" he would make one, determined, repeated statement: "I twy." (Which means "I'll try again.")

And so he did. He tried and tried...and tried...and, well you get the picture. We spent about 20 minutes trying to make a basket yesterday afternoon. At one point his arms were so tired that he couldn't even get the ball above his head. So he asked me to hold it for a second, and within about 30 seconds he was ready to "twy" some more.

God used my basket shooting adventure with my son yesterday to teach me something. He taught me that Jesus is in the trying. You see, when it comes to following Jesus, we will all stumble. We will all miss the mark. There are days where I struggle and fumble and fail miserably. Some days I don't get anywhere close to the basket.

But being faithful in following Jesus isn't about making the basket every single time. It's about trying again when you miss. And trying again...and again...and, well you get the point. I don't know about you, but I don't have it all together. There are days when I blow it - as a Christ-follower, as a pastor, as a husband, a father, and a friend. But I am determined to try. Because I believe with all my heart that Jesus is in the trying.

So you've messed up? Who hasn't? So you've blown it big time? We all do. Get back up. Dust yourself off. And try again. Jesus is in the trying.