At Trails End

What a fun day! sleeping in, wrestling around with my youngest, a family trip to the local library, ice cream, house hunting, and to top it off, a wonderful meal for all of us in Amish country of Casey County at The Wagon Trail Restaurant!

Wayy too much fun! (and exclamation marks!)

[By the way, the food at The Wagon Trail was fresh and delicious, and run by a great family!!!!]

Encouraging Abe

I have always respected Abraham Lincoln for what he went through and what he stood for. When I saw this quote of his I wanted to share it...

"Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed."
- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln went through his share of potentially discouaging situations. So for him to still have this perspective, it makes it all the more meaningful.

Let's do the same.

Spent

Fridays I feel spent. After a week of early rises and late bed times, I'm flat exhausted. At this point in the night tonight, I'm waking up from 2 hours of sleeping already, and ready to crash again.

Our soccer season at Pulaski County High School is quickly coming to a close. No doubt it will be bitter sweet as I have loved working with the girls and care about each one of them, yet the break from the long days will be welcomed and much needed.

As far as next year, that will be a family decision that will be made after season's end.

But I digress...

I must get back to my beauty rest ;)

...zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Influence

Each of us has way more influence than we think. Just ask the people watching you. -- Louie Giglio (@louiegiglio)

This is so true... and easy to lose sight of.

It's Official

I got the jacket now... I'm finally official ;)

Name That Restaurant

This menu belongs to a great restaurant in McCreary County, KY. I ate the Dixie Burger and got the Resees Peanut Butter Twister for dessert tonight... Loved it!

What a fun restaurant! Do you recognize it??

Senior Night

So happy for the senior ladies tonight. Great night to celebrate their years playing at PC, and a great team win against an in town rival!

Congrats ladies!

Dancin' Even More!

The attendees getting an edu-macation about Folk Dancing!

Dancin' More

The decorating was great! Like an old-fashioned barn dance!

Dancin'

More pics from the Father/Daughter Folk Dance yesterday to come, including this beauty of my lovely date! :)

My Beautiful Dancing Partner!!

The first annual Somerset Father/Daughter Dance is officially in the books! But it's effects go on and are limitless as fathers and their daughters got to share a wonderful evening together.

I applaud my wife Elizabeth and Megan Zurowski for their hours of work and prayer that went into this. It was well worth it!!

Lauren and I got to connect a lot and share a beautiful night together. I'm so thankful for those wonderful moments together with her :)

Daddy/Daughter Date

Stay tuned... Father/Daughter Dance at the Center tomorrow! (Saturday)

Pics to come...

Love It

Every day the school system busses kids from all over the county into Pulaski High.

Kids I otherwise would never have seen or met.

But now, I get to invest into their lives and show the love of Jesus.

I love what I do!

Fall Is In The Air

It's a chilly 45 degrees here in Somerset this morning - a temperature we haven't felt for months!

Fall (and cozy, homey) feelings are in the air!

Team Photo

Team Photo!!

... And Again

She did it again!

The Way To My Heart

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...

My wife wins my heart every day!!

[love me some omelet!]

For Such A Time As This

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" http://bible.us/Esth4.14.ESV

You are not on this planet by accident. Psalm 139

As believers, God has a plan for us to accomplish. A good plan for our life. Jeremiah 29

He has made you on purpose for a purpose.

He has given us all talents, dreams, gifts, and spheres of influence. We are meant to use those gifts to make a difference in the lives of others, for His glory.

You were made for such a time as this.

Messy Manger

I wanted to share a verse tonight - one that is mysterious at first glance, yet profound when understood. The Lord has used it mightily in my life over the years, so it is a pleasure to share it with you.

May it speak to your heart as well...

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. http://bible.us/Prov14.4.ESV

Here's to messy mangers!

Strength

Weak? That's not so bad...

http://bible.us/2Cor12.9.ESV But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Thoughts

"Change your thoughts, change your world."

I saw that quote on a coffee mug today. If only we truly understood the power of our thoughts...

What's been filling your head??

Happy birthday!

Happy 9th birthday to our first born! Lauren you are such a joy and a blessing to our family! We love you so much!

Just getting home from a long day... Wore out but blessed! Ahhhh, bed!

Road to Emmaus

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. http://bible.us/Luke24.21.ESV

I had the opportunity to preach on the Scripture above this morning. This is taken out of Luke 24, the two disciples and the road to Emmaus.

Jesus had just been crucified 3 days earlier, and the disciples were disillusioned to say the least.

This one verse is amazing because it exemplifies the "hope deferred" feeling the disciples had, as well as the symbol of their greatest answer or hope, in that it was the third day.

The disciples thought Jesus was going to redeem Isreal by delivering them from Roman rule, and what they thought was a great defeat (Jesus' death) which led to great confusion, they were actually in the midst of a greater story/deliverance/answer then they ever could have imagined - salvation had come to the world.

The point is this - we have a tendency to become disillusioned by our circumstances when things don't work out the way we thought. But don't give up hope, you might be in the middle of the greatest breakthrough, or a better answer than you could've ever asked or imagined.

Let's ask God for His perspective on the things in life we are facing, that we might see the bigger picture, God's picture, of what He is doing in our lives and in the world around us.

We might be surprised to find out we're in the middle of a God moment way bigger and better than any plans we could've ever come up with ;)

Soccer Skillz

I recently downgraded to a 'dumb' phone and besides having to take an hour to write anything, its working out well:) So here is my first post from my non-smart phone - a pic of my son participating in a soccer skills challenge today. My daughter and he played great and had a lot of fun!

Thomas

Blessed are the ears that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the murmurings of this world. -- Thomas a Kempis (@TomKempis)

A friend of mine recently turned me on to Thomas a Kempis... it's quotes like this one above that I can see why, and am glad he did :)

Let's turn our ears toward heaven, and hear from the eternal. May the voices of the temporal only diminish.

Sports Story

One reason I love sports - the stories behind the players. Like this one...

NFL Own it - ESPN

Faithful

So glad we can put our full trust in the Lord tonight - He who promised is faithful...

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. http://bible.us/Heb10.23.ESV

I am His

I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me. http://bible.us/Song7.10.ESV

This verse in Song of Solomon reminds us of who we belong to, and that the desire of our God is for us.

If that doesn't get you encouraged in your walk with Him, you better check your spiritual pulse ;)

Right on Track

Unfortunately, the lady maroons suffered another tough loss tonight. In a game where we controlled the tempo and possessed the ball well, its tough to not walk away with the win.

Even still, I believe we're right on track.

New coach, solid schedule, continual progress... I'd say we are right where we need to be. Our goal was to peak come playoff time, and hopefully we are on target to get there.

I think we are.

Anyway, proud of the way the team played tonight. Go Maroons!

Goodbye Smartphone

Goodbye smartphone... Hello dumbphone??

After years of having a smartphone supplied by work, I no longer have that luxury - which means time to downgrade (ahhh! Just kidding :)

After doing my research, Straight Talk pre-paid seemed to be the best option for us. No commitment, low upfront and low monthly costs, and a simple, flat $30 a month.

Much cheaper than the "post-paid" bills of a Verizon smartphone. Love Verizon, but didn't love the smartphone monthly cost, and they wouldn't port my number to pre-paid.

So we'll give it a shot. I bought one month of service, they threw in a reconditioned phone for free, ported my number (customer service was lacking some there), and I'm good to go.

Dumbphone? I'm thinkin' (and hoping) not.

Righteousness

One of my favorite Scriptures, and a great reminder of the wonderful news in Jesus Christ:

http://bible.us/Rom3.21.ESV But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—

He did what I was unable too... Yes, and, Amen!!