Gathering day

Well, it happened this morning. What a great gathering time. The worship was great! And Steve D. was on and it will be hard to complain again.

This afternoon Becca & I played hard - games mostly. We were invited to the Johnson's house for some intentional time. And now, we are at Thompsons for a little life together.

We were just discussing how God is moving in my life. It is cool how direction in my life is falling into place. I am excited to see things come into focus. Thank you Jesus.

More on that later.

Well, nothing new on other fronts. Next couple of weeks are going to be busy, but manageable. Trip to California. Not looking forward to that. Don't get me wrong; I will do the trip. It is the fact I am away from my daughter and I don't like it.

Later,
Carter

3 day weekend

IT IS HERE!!!! Why is it we look forward to long weekends? Do we feel we are sticking it to the man? Is it like a "free" day? A get out of jail free card?

With all that said, I am really looking forward to the weekend. NOTHING PLANNED. Except GRILLING, having fun, maybe trip to beach (depending on weather). I purchase my state park sticker the other day. $24 bucks! Worth it for sure....

I am excited because some of the wrestling with God is paying off. I can see some clearer direction forming on the horizon. I AM EXCITED about that. More later.

It is pretty quiet at work today. Several people gone; makes it like a ghost town. But we will start dancing on the tables with loud music and singing this afternoon. And lets not forget the Tostitos and salsa.

Have a great and safe weekend!

Out like a light,
C-man

Food for thought

CHANGING A LIGHT BULB THE CHRISTIAN WAY
How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?
Charismatic : Only 1
Hands are already in the air.
Pentecostal : 10
One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.
Presbyterians : None
Lights will go on and off at predestined times.
Roman Catholic : None
Candles only
Baptists : At least 15. One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad and fried chicken .
Episcopalians :3
One to call the electrician, one to mix the drinks and one to talk about how much better the old one was.
Mormons : 5
One man to change the bulb, and four wives to tell him how to do it.
Unitarians :
We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey you have found that light bulbs work for you, you are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your light bulb for the next Sunday service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.
Methodists : Undetermined
Whether your light is bright, dull, or completely out, you are loved. You can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or tulip bulb. Bring a bulb of your choice to the Sunday lighting service and a covered dish to pass.
Nazarene : 6
One woman to replace the bulb while five men review church lighting policy.
Lutherans: None
Lutherans don't believe in change.
Amish :
What's a light bulb?

It's gonna be a great day

How much more positive can I be? It looked like the rain is holding off. I saw a glimpse of the sun. I must admit - I have a lot to do today and I am sure I am not going to get done.....

Yesterday went well. After of my delaying and stewing, it was a piece of cake. The team I met with was very positive and it was great to hear positive feedback. Deur and N8 were right - it is a positive experience to go thru.

Anyway, gotta go. Busy 8-5 and then meetings tonight. It will be a long day!

C

and the rain came down

WOW. It is raining in Michigan. Can you believe it? I suppose it is a good thing. But enough! Thank you, Jesus.

Tomorrow will be spent with the 4th grade of class from GRIFFIN Elementary. We will be touring the capital and several others places. I get to head up a group of all girls. Conversation will not be a problem.

Well, it has been a great weekend. Lots of relaxing time with the daughter. That has been good. We have been walking and talking alot. Which is great.

Tuesday is a big day as I will be meeting with the WEST Michigan District board of the Wesleyan church. I have been seeking advise from several sources. All keep saying that I NEED to just be myself and all will be good. I can't wait. I plan to have fun with it.

Becca & I are at Thompson's house spending life together. And I am being rude by blogging and trying to keep up with conversation. Season finale for Alias tonight. I want to meet Jennifer G. some day.

Just rollin, rollin, rollin
Becca's dad

Another Blogger added

Please welcome to our blogsphere - Zoomer! Enjoy the ride!

There are days ...................

ambition

check the link out above. There are days I really feel like that fish!

And this week has been that for me. I feel like I am trying hard; praying hard; reading serving worshiping....blah blah blah. And yet, God is quiet right now. It is totally ok that God is quiet; I mean after all He is the He is. Unfortunately my human nature, which does not look any further than now, gets frustrated. For those who know we,check out here. I am not a very patient person. I do not like to wait. I have a hard time at Christmas not telling my daughter about the gifts I bought her; and I already know what the gifts are!

Anyway, I am anticipating a good weekend. Tomorrow is a no commitment kind of day. Becca is done with soccer so we will probably chill out. Sunday will be the gathering, working on the brakes on my car and life group. Monday, I am going back to school. Elementary school that is. I am traveling with Becca's class to Lansing to see the state capital. I am driving separately (thank you Jesus) so I will not be part of the full commotion.

Well, I am having lunch today with some good friends. I enjoy their time because it is usually light and fun conversation that will turn challenging. What I mean is they know me well enough to ask hard questions. It is always good and we always have a great time together.

Well, tata for now.
Carter

For the love....

I had the opportunity to go for a walk last night with my daughter. We went out to the north pier in Grand Haven and walked. It was a beautiful night. Slight breeze; great temperature. It was awesome. These times are always great for exercise; but more importantly talking with Becca. She has some great insights. I enjoy hearing about her day. I am constantly humbled when I see that "know your children's school" advertisement on tv. Stop the world - I want to get off.

What a crazy night? I am wrestling with God on some issues and I did not sleep well last night. So I am tired. That is not a good way to show up at work. Part of my job is being creative. It is hard when the sleep tank is low. Not to mention, it rained like a monsoon this morning. SO I sit at my desk, review my tasks for the day, tired and wet. Not a good combination.

Hey, I will stop whining for now.

Rain down, rain down on me....
c-man

What a beautiful fall day!

There is a part of me that is sad about missing summer. It came and went so fast. Wait a minute? There is no doubt in my mind that the weather is really screwed up right now. But we will take the sun and run I guess.

What a weird week? I am glad it is over. Today is day one and I am happy about that. Recap of the weekend.

Friday: Hung out with some friends and eat pizza and had great conversation. Little shout out to Fiona - the cat. MEOW!

Saturday: Slept in; made breakfast for the Boo; Last soccer game; Soccer team party; help a friend build a fence in his back yard then had a grill out; took the Boo to a movie (New York Minute); Hooked up with Becca's mom; Rounded the evening with some challenging conversation with Jeff and of course that involved a fire.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday: Gathering. I left my house this morning feeling great about being on time. I have been slacking in being on time for setup. I get almost all the way thru GH and realize, I left my bass guitar at home. ARRG! FOR THE LOVE. Anyway, the band rock; Steve and Steve tag team was awesome; Video went well and as usual Jay and Ben were the Dynamic Tech Duo. Have I mentioned I love participating on the worship team? I do. Mike Morgan - you rock!

Tonight is Core Focus. A time where we gather as a team to review what's happening. Usually a very encouraging time and great to meet see how things are going.

I am struggling to fill out a questionnaire I need to fill out. It is for the up coming district board meeting I have at the end of the month. I totally understand why I need to fill it out. I just am rebelling against it. PRAY THAT DEMON OUT. I know it is childish. But I still don't want to do it.

Deur and I have been talking about the upcoming Willow Creek Leadership Summit. I am EXCITED about doing that. The 3rd and 4th of June I am planning to help out with a benefit concert in Muskegon. It is a benefit for the Muskegon Rescue Mission. It is an evening of praise and worship. Bunch of guys I have not seen in a while; it will be great.

Well, that's all for now.

Off like a dirty shirt,
Becca's dad

Another Blogger added

Please welcome another good friend of mine to the blog-o-sphere - Matt Furr. Matt and I have known each other for a long time. He is married and lives in New York. In addition, He has one child and another on the way!

With all that spare time, he should have plenty of time to blog.

No pressure, Matt

I do not like the new look

It is not the look, it is the comment section. I like knowing who is sending what comment. I do not know why I am so block headed over this, it is difficult to manipulate the look of the blog. I have come to know this as a piece of myself. So it is personal to me.

With that said, I am behind on the blog stuff. So here is a recap.

Sunday afternoon: Hung out with the life group and the life group's leaders parents. That was fun. And Hey a shout out to Zoe - for looking so good Sunday morning. She had her baby dedication. That was cool. Anyway, good times at Thompson's house.

Monday: Normal hi ho out to work I go day. Monday night I put the finishing touches on my MLG outline. Watermark is offering the opportunity to have mini life groups (MLG). The focus is to gather in a smaller setting with a limited time and scope. Pretty cool concept. It allows people who have smaller chucks of time to commit an opportunity to be in a life group. Anyway, I will be leading some of these - which I am excited about.

Tuesday: Sent the MLG outline to Steve D. and Steve T. In a very encouraging way, ripped the crap out of it, and pieced it back together. I say that, knowing I am going to get some flack. I am exaggering. I asked for them to go it. I asked for the input. And they were both great about it. Just kidding guys.

I also participated in the Watermark Staff lunch. The main topic - how to define Life Groups. WOW! What a great conversation. Talk about tearing it down and building back up. I am very excited to hear how the conversation landed. I had to leave before the final draft. We will find out at the gathering Sunday.

Wednesday - Another day worked. I picked up the Boo at her dance class. We had dinner; did her homework; and went to play soccer together. We have a park very close to my house where Becca & I hang out a lot. I am committed to losing weight. So part of that processing is great out and exercising. So, Becca schooled me on the art of soccer. She is pretty go for her age and it was fun getting beat by her. Then we went home and I started on a survey I need to do for an evaluation coming up.

I am sure I commented on this before. But I am working on getting licensed and ordained thru the Wesleyan church as a pastor - it scares me too just typing those words. At the end of this month I will be meeting with the District Board to talk about me, where I think God is heading and ministry in the Wesleyan church. A little scary meeting. Should be good though. I am half excited about it.

That's all for now. Need to run out and get some lunch.

From the point of no return.
Carter

Please be patient

I am still looking at new looks for the blog.

More later

I received a harassing email today. I apparently have not blogged enough.

What a week. Yes, my birthday was this week. I fully expected more cards than I received - (2) to be exact - but I guess that is the way it is. My parents did not even send me a card. In fact, I talked to my dad on my b-day and he forgot. I received a call this morning wishing me a happy birthday from him. Better late than never I guess. I did receive two phone calls. Shout out to the Thompson family and Theresa V. for their efforts in making my birthday a little better. I really appreciated it! A special shout out to Jessica T. for the awesome cake - even though she did not think so. (I am single. Home made food of any type ROCKS!!!) I spent my b-day in the back of a car traveling to Indianapolis. As exciting as that sounds, it was not. Now don't get me wrong. The individuals I was with are great. We had great conversation; I napped a few times. To clarify, we needed to meet with some customers. So off we went. It is just difficult spending the day of my birth traveling. I am done whining.

Thursday night was spent getting a hair cut for the Becca. I don't know. But it seems that it is becoming more of a production to get the hair actually cut. There is the washing and drying; highlighting and trimming and styling and blah blah blah. She is worth it. Am I whining again?

CAMPFIRE THIS WEEKEND! Can't wait. If it does not happen at Johnson's, I am going to have a campfire some where. Watch you local news for updates.....

Tonight - low key. Games and ice cream.

Nothing spiritual today - except man it is a beautiful day here in west michigan.

Out,
C

Well it is Monday morning. The 2nd day of the week. That is a habit I picked up for SLWC. Yesterday was DAY ONE. In some regard it is good to think of it this way.

Speaking of the weekend. The RECAP:

Friday night was great. Becca and I went to visit some dear friends. Not deer, Deurty, dear. It was great. Becca gets along great with their daughter. I get along great with the parents. They get along with me. It is a win-win-win scenario. Is that possible? Anyway, I was able to get some really needed insight into an issue I am dealing with. THAT WAS GOOD. The only thing I feel really bad about staying as late as we did. So to them I apologize publicly. I hope the soccer game went well.

Saturday - I am such a bad dad. It was cold. I went to the wrong soccer field. And Becca did not have a coat. In fact, I had a short sleeve T-shirt on and it was cold. The game was a Mulligans Hollow. Which for you non-Grand Haveners is right near the channel which leads to Lake Michigan. The wind and rain at times was cold. Did I mention is was cold? Thank God, Becca's responsible parent - her mom - was there to save the day. When it was all said and done, the score was close, we had hot chocolate and it was good and the girl was happy. Which of course makes dad happy.

So we went to the library to do some research on the movie Mean Girls. Becca really wanted to see it because of the actress whose name I am not remembering right now. Anyway, in this case, thank God for the internet. The reviews are not very good and certainly not appropriate for a 10 year old. So we saw Ella enchanted instead. Again, the girl was happy and dad happy too.

Sunday morning - Yes, I am pleased to announce, after several phone calls from caring people Sunday morning, that I made it to the gathering on time. WAAHOO! Thompson hit a home run as far as I can say. Great service. Band was on! The theme for the morning was on prayer. What is the prayer life all about? It is great to part of Watermark. It is always so funny. 9:50 rolls around - hardly anyone there. 9:55 - slightly more but still not many. 10:03 the place is rocking with people. It is funny to watch.

Sunday afternoon was all screwed up. No life group last night. Thompson's - group leaders - headed east for some lame reason. Ok, it was not lame - I am bitter. A friend of theirs showed up from England. I will pray about my attitude. Johnson's had a way busy weekend - including Jeff working second shift. They served all day for the Science O group. Which BTW, will be headed to the national competition. Again, congrats to Ross and all on that team!! That just left me and the kitten to hang out and relax.

On AMC, Star Trek III was playing. I only bring it up because the graphics were so lame. It is amazing how far we have come in the CGI world to make things look so real. Anyway, I am glad they found Spock. What would the rest of the saga be without him?

Off to work I go, hi ho hi ho
C-man

A friend sent this to me. I thought it was good enough to blog.
TWENTY TRUTHS TO REMEMBER IN 2004


1. Faith is the ability to not panic.

2. If you worry, you didn't pray. If you pray, don't worry.

3. As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home every day.

4. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

5. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still. So He can untangle the knot.

6. Do the math. Count your blessings.

7. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

8. Dear God: I have a problem. It's me.

9. Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.

10. Laugh every day, it's like inner jogging.

11. The most important things in your home are the people.

12. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.

13. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.

14. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.

15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead.

16. We do not remember days, but moments. Life moves too fast,so enjoy your precious moments.

17. Nothing is real to you until you experience it, otherwise it's just hearsay.

18. It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you are done.

19. Surviving and living your life successfully requires courage. The goals and dreams you're seeking require courage
and risk-taking. Learn from the turtle, it only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.

20. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are.