Great Tool for A Great Goal...

I've been thinking a lot lately about my goals for this coming year. From the first thought of goals for 2009, I've felt led to read the entire Bible through in a year. I've read the New Testament through several times. And I've read a ton of Old Testament books. But I've never followed a plan to make sure I've covered all the Old Testament or the entire Bible in one specificed time frame. That's one of my main goals this year.

Today I got an email from YouVersion, which is an online Bible tool that is incredible. It has tons of versions of the Bible you can read online, it allows you to journal thoughts as you read, and it allows you to learn from others who've journaled their thoughts as well.

The email was about the One Year Bible Reading Plan. It's a simple plan to read the entire Bible through in one year. It's a completely free site and the great part is that it's available both online and through your phone if your phone supports mobile web services. I think this is a great goal for anyone to sink their teeth into this year. And YouVersion is a great tool to help us realize this goal.

I'm looking forward to this challenge. I will be stretched. Challenged. Transformed. Grown. All for the good. What about you? What are your goals for 2009?

Holiday Highlights...

It's been a crazy-busy, but crazy-good past several days. Here are our holiday higlights - bulletin style.

• We spent four days on the weekend before Christmas in Houston with Johanna's family. We had a blast and I loved getting to hang out and be uncle to my nieces and nephews.


• While in the Houston area, I got to watch my brother coach his freshman basketball team. I know he's my brother, but even if he wasn't I'd say he is an incredible basketball coach. His team outscored their opponent 32 to 13 in the second half to win a close game.


• On Tuesday night, Dec. 23rd, we had our Rockin' Christmas Eve's EVE Service at The Connection Church. It was definitely a ROCKIN' service. And with around 900 people in attendance, I'd say the turnout was rockin' too!


• Johanna and I spent Tuesday night through Saturday afternoon with my family doing the whole Christmas thing. It was a blast and I loved just getting to spend time hanging out with the fam.


• Saturday we headed back to Kyle, along with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law because I was preaching on Sunday morning at TCC.


• The only downside to the whole holiday week was that I started to get sick on Friday and I was worried about preaching on Sunday.


• Sunday came and I still had a voice so you can bet I was gonna' preach. So many friends were praying for me and my sickness that it was literally like God removed all the "ugh" feeling while I was preaching - the fever, the congestion, the sore throat, the aching - all of it. It was amazing. And it was a great morning at TCC.


• That about wraps up the Holiday Highlights. I'm looking forward to watching some football bowl games this week and getting over whatever this sickness crud is that I have.

Daily Christmas Cartoon #19...

Daily Christmas Cartoon #18...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #17...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #16...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #15...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Let The Driving Begin...

This afternoon starts a crazy day of holiday travel for Johanna and I. When I get off work today, we'll be heading to Houston for Christmas with her family this weekend. We'll stay there until Monday morning, when we head back to Kyle to be here with our church, TCC, for our Rockin' Christmas Eve's EVE Service. (Disclaimer: If you live in the Kyle area, you DO NOT want to miss this!) Then on Tuesday night, we hit the road again to travel to the Stephenville area for Christmas with my family. Next Saturday it's back to Kyle for church on Sunday, where I'll be preaching for the first time since we've moved to The Connection Church.

I'm pumped about getting to spend time with our families. I've worked my tail off this week so that I can spend as much time over the next several days being fully present with my family and friends. It's one of the Christmas gifts I can give to them. I want to be able to focus my time and attention on the people I love this holiday season and limit the distractions that pull my attention away from them.

Whether you have to travel across the state, across the country, or just across the street, my hope and prayer for you is that this holiday season you'll be able to be fully present with the people you love.

Daily Christmas Cartoon #14...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Overheard Over The Weekend...

I never got around to posting a Weekend Update on Monday so I thought I'd share some brief things that I heard this weekend that made me laugh, made me think, and challenged me to grow.

The first one was from my incredible wife, Johanna. We spent most of the day Friday playing various board games like Scattergories and Trivial Pursuit: Pop Culture Edition. Scattergories is a game where you are given a letter and several categories. Your job is to come up with a word that begins with the letter you're given and fits the categories you have. The letter was "N" and one of the categories was "Things You Find On A Map." I put "Nicauragua." Johanna put "notes." Then she had the nerve to challenge my answer. Her arguement: You can't find Nicauragua on every map. My reply: Well, there aren't notes on all maps either. She argued that there were and then she said this: "Yes there are! There are notes on all treasure maps." Seriously babe? A treasure map? At that point, even I was left speechless. But I will say this: I absolutely treasure my wife simply because we can laugh together...and occassionally at each other.

The second thing overhead this weekend came from our Lead Pastor, Cole Phillips. After a great night at our Christmas party, he was thanking us as a staff for what we do and he said this: "And this coming year, we're going to continue to do whatever it takes to reach those who are far from God...because that is what we are all about...and really, that is what Christmas is all about." Reaching those far from God really is what Christmas is all about.

And finally Perry Noble, pastor of Newspring Church, shared this in his sermon this weekend: "Jesus isn't the reason for the season. He's the reason for life."

Daily Christmas Post #13...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #12...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #11...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #10...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #9...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #8...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #7...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Wow Wednesday (Xmas Style)...

I haven't posted a Wow Wednesday blog in a while. But this was just sent to me on facebook and it is Wednesday so it just seemed like fate. If this doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit I don't know what will! I'll go ahead and confess. I laughed...hard.

The Gift...

The other day I was driving and listening to some Christmas carols...because they are on every flippin' station! It's kind of like when the President is on TV. Anyway, I was listening to the song Hark The Herald, Angels Sing and I began to really listen. You know...the type of listening where you quit just humming along and you actually focus on the meaning of the words of the song. And the second and third verse hit me like a ton of bricks. This is now one of my new favorite Christmas carols. Here's those two verses:

Christ, by highest heaven adored,Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,offspring of a virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;hail, the incarnate deity,
pleased as Man with to dwell,Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,Glory to the newborn King.

Hail, the heaven-born Prince of peace!Hail the Son of righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,Glory to the newborn King.

THAT is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about a God who was willing to step out of heaven and be "veiled in flesh." As John 1:14 says in The Message, "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." Light and life to ALL he brings. He was born that man no more may die. That's the gift of Christmas. Incredible.

Daily Christmas Cartoon #6...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #5...

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

The Weekend Update...

Here's a look at the weekend that was:

• Friday Johanna and I spent the late morning and afternoon Christmas shopping. We bought lots of gifts for our families and I spent a lot of time playing with toys in Toys R' Us while we were looking for gifts for our nieces and nephews.
• Friday evening we went to Austin Bowie High School to watch my brother help coach the Magnolia Bulldogs. It's the first time we've got to watch one of his teams play but we weren't the good luck charms he was hoping for.
• After the basketball game, we went and ate with Matt Deaton. Matt's a great friend that we hadn't seen in a while so it was good to catch up.
• Saturday was spent cleaning house and doing some Christmas decorating.
• Zak & Amber invited us to go to dinner on Saturday night. We had our first experience at Guerro's and Hey Cupcake, two of South Congress Avenue's big draws.
• Sunday was all things TCC. After church, we had the other pastors and their families over for lunch. I'll just say this: Jo's roast = Yum, Yum, Good.

Overall, it was a great weekend. What was the highlight of your's?

Daily Christmas Cartoon #4

(Check the December archives on the right of this blog to see the daily Christmas cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #3...

Here's today's daily Christmas Cartoon. C'mon...laugh a little. Enjoy. (Check the December archives on the right of this page to see the daily cartoons you've missed!)

I am PUMPED about our new series starting tomorrow called Re:Gift. Over the next four weeks at The Connection Church we'll be looking at how we can become the ultimate "re:gifters" and give away the gifts that God gives us. If you live in the Kyle/Buda area, you need to come check this out. I guarantee it will challenge you to look at Christmas in a whole new way.

Daily Christmas Cartoon #2...

Here's today's daily Christmas Cartoon. C'mon...laugh a little. Enjoy. (Check the December archives on the right of this page to see the daily cartoons you've missed!)

Daily Christmas Cartoon #1...

Starting today and going through Christmas I am going to be posting a daily Christmas cartoon. While searching for Christmas images to use for our Connexion Students Christmas party invites I found several funny cartoons. I thought I'd pass them on in the form of a Daily Christmas Cartoon. My hope is that these daily cartoons and funny images will bring some brightness to your Christmas season. Here's the first. Enjoy.

How To Fail A Test With Dignity...

My brother showed these pictures to me a few days ago and they cracked me up. I had to pass them on. I hope they make you laugh as much as they did me. Some of them are a little small but if you click on the picture it will take you to a bigger version.