Preaching tomorrow

Tomorrow I have the opportunity to preach for the first time at "big church" shall we say. My preparation time this week has been a great time of worship. As tomorrow morning is quickly approaching I have been thinking about the weight preaching. It really is a priveledge and an honor to do this. So as I was thinking about this stuff I turned to my old dead friends, the Puritans, to see what they had to say about preaching. Enjoy.

"A Minister's Preaching"

My Master God,
I am desired to preach today,
but go weak and needy to my task;

Yet I long that people might be edified with divine truth,
that an honest testimony might be borne for thee;

Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,
with heart uplifted for grace and unction.

Present to my view things pertinent to my subject
with fullness of matter and clarity of thought,
proper expressions, fluency, fervency,
a feeling sense of the things I preach,
and grace to apply them to men's consciences.

Keep me conscious all the while of my own defects,
and let me not gloat in pride over my performance.

Help me to offer a testimony for thyself,
and to leave sinners inexscusable in neglecting thy mercy.

Give me freedom to open the sorrows of thy people,
and to set before them comforting considerations.

Attend with power the truth preached,
and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.

May thy people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted,
and help me to use the strongest arguments
drawn from Christ's incarnation and sufferings,
that men might be made holy.

I myself need thy support, comfort, strength, holiness,
that I might be a pure channel of thy grace,
and be able to do something for thee;

Give me then refreshment among thy people,
and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,
or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer,
or be harsh in treating of Christ's death, its design and end,
from lack of warmth and fervency.

And keep me in tune with thee as I do this work.


Now I promise that I'm not going to preach in Elizabethan english but I am so encouraged when I read these guys. They were truly sold out. What I love about them is that their passion and joy was theologically informed. In today's Christendom, where we just want to get excited and have a good time at the expense of theological depth, these guys show that theological depth and joy in Christ is a "both/and" not an "eaither/or". So, may we press on in His Word and daily search the riches of Christ and by this we will experience joy and fulfillment on a daily basis.

Germany and back in 48 hrs - for real.

My Dad has been a pilot for American Airlines for 29 years and this last week he retired. So a bunch of us went with him for his retirement flight to Frankfurt, Germany and back. We left Dallas Sunday at 2pm and returned on Tuesday at 2pm - insane. It was a great trip.

The whole lot of us before we left Dallas
Cockpits of a 777 are a button pusher's dreamland.
Dad coming out of the airport in Germany.
Me giving Mandy a backrub after the 8.5 hr flight.
Yea, we're stupid

Mandy laughing hysterically at something during a celebration dinner for Dad
Dad making a toast at his celebration dinner
Aunt Marion, Uncle Dave, Me, and Mandy
So at dinner I had this German dish called, Schwienhox (I'm sure I murdered the spelling). It was incredible. Here's a group of us as we sat down at our table.

Mandy and Uncle Dave and Dad in the cockpit before we took off from FRA back to Dallas
Me and Uncle Dave and Dad
Way to go Dad!
Dad and Cheryl
We took this just before we deplaned after our arrival back in Dallas.

Dad, thanks for all your work and for supporting our family for so many years. I appreciate you and am thankful that I could be a part of your retirement trip honoring you for your service.

Naomi and Ethan meet Levi

Levi's arrived!

Levi arrived at 2:56pm this afternoon. He weighs 7lbs and 5 oz and is 19 inches long. Both he and Mommy are healthy and happy. His first feeding went well and he appears to be very content. We are very thankful for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy. Enjoy the pictures.

My wife the bellydancer

Check this out! This is Levi moving inside of Christin's womb.

Due date: Aug. 16th

Christin is one day past her due date for the little guy. She has been having quite a few contractions today and feels like the baby is lower than ever. Hopefully there will be another little stinker soon. We'll post pics in short order when he arrives.

Ethanisms

Ok, Ethan's a riot. Now I realize that I'm his Dad but others can vouch for me on this. Here's a few of the things that he's said or done lately...

When Ethan thinks of something that he wants to do or somewhere he wants to go he asks, "Could we do that on Thursday?" He says this no matter what day of the week it is and he does it almost everyday.

A while back I was walking down the stairs with Ethan and told him that he was getting to be a big boy to which he said, "yeah, and handsome."

If you ask him what time it is he's likely to say, "thirty six o' clock"

When he wants to do something right now he says, "can we do that straight away?" I still don't know where he heard that.

Since he has an older sister he ends up playing with her girl stuff. But being a guy he wants to make it more manly so he recently asked if he could have a "boy princess computer".

He's a pathetic Momma's boy at times. At night when Christin tucks him in he says, "Mommy you hug me, rock me, kiss me, hold me, sing songs to me?"