A Historic year is about to pass.

Ready or not here we go into 2009. I hear it, see it, believe it. have faith for it, and I confess it. This coming year will be the best ever.

Where am I? I am at home writing this and enjoying another relaxing day during the holidays. I hope that you have found time to relax.

My favorite Christmas moment for this year was just the true spirit of Christmas around our home this year. All of my children are married to Godly spouses and they genuinely love each other and like each other, so we really had a fun Christmas. Of courses since Will is the only grand child he was the center of attention.

My funniest Christmas moment was the day after Christmas when all the kids were at our house and we were playing a game together. This is kind of a miracle because we are all so competitive that someone usually ends up mad. This was not like that except Jeff in his usual competitive way semi - shouts at Olivia (Lance's wife of one month) "OLIVIA YOU CAN'T DO THAT." She looked stunned but she also knew that she was now really part of the family. To Jeff's credit the next day he called her and apologized for his outburst. It was all very funny.

What am I looking forward to? Well I must say that the church I pastor is moving to a new level of ministry as we lease our own facility for the first time. You cannot buy advertising like we will have on 24/7 basis. I believe that we will take a quantum leap this year.


Live your dream in2009,
Ed

GOD IS WITH US

The Emmanuel principle . . . God with us. How many times have you heard "He will never leave, nor forsake you?" To some this is just the polite Christian conversation when someone is in a crisis or what I call "preacher propaganda." For some reason this Christmas this scripture really hit me between the eyes.

Matt 1:23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." NKJV

Heb 13:5-6
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 6 So we may boldly say:
"The LORD is my helper;I will not fear.What can man do to me?"NKJV

Guess what? Here is a thought for you to take with you. If He is with us whenever where ever and He never leaves nor forsakes us then guess what? Where ever we go He is with them. Yes, you need to let out a little salt, let out a little light since He is with you He is with them through you.

Reach out and touch somebody this Christmas!!
Merry Christmas

Jesus is . . .

THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD. Jesus is what the world needs now.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. The world is in gross darkness and confused on many levels. The world needs His light.

THE HOPE OF THE WORLD. He brings hope where others bring disappointment.

If being a Christian and believing in the virgin birth of Jesus at Christmas (who cares whether or not it was Dec. 25th) is wrong then I do not want to be right.

Peace to you,
Ed

Cool stuff in my world . . .

My family continues to amaze me as they grow. Lance seems to call several times a week since he got married. I miss him a lot but I guess I should just get over it since he has been out of the house for five years.

My favorite moment of recent days - Well it came about a week ago when Jeff & Lacey, Chris, Denae, & Will came over and the 6 of us played Pictionary 20th Anniversary Edition together. Jeff & I were partners and we won. Chris & Connie were partners and were last but they were really funny. Will just played around the table and never fussed as he went from person to person all night. Lance and Olivia we miss you. If you only new the history of my family and board games. You would have found this a wonderful event as I did.

What am I reading? I found a little book on the sale rack by Les Parrott, "Three Seconds" The power of thinking twice. I have found it very helpful. Check it out.

What am I looking forward to? I want to see some pictures from Lance & Olivia's wedding. I want to see the pictures from Friday night when Connie & I went to Vintage Township and took pictures with Will and his parents (Chris & Denae).

What have I been listening to? Two things: Faith Hill's new Christmas CD and Dr. Cho's CD from the 2005 VISION CONFERENCE in Seattle (I have listened to it 3 times).

Peace To All!!

Rambo vs. Courage

I recently read this definition of "COURAGE." Courage is not the absence of fear but courage is doing the right thing in the face of fear.

That just went off on the inside of me like a bomb. Doing the right thing (the God thing) no matter what the circumstances are.

At the family reunion . . .
At the holiday party . . . .
On the job . . . when everyone else gets away with it.
In school . . .
In private . . .
At church . . .
While texting . . .

Most certainly fear will come but we all know that this is when the real Christian comes out and not Rambo.

These girls were speaking what the Lord had shown them. They had to have the courage to do so in front of several hundred of their peers.

Joshua had to face this Joshua 1:6-9
6 "Be strong and courageous, for you will lead my people to possess all the land I swore to give their ancestors. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Obey all the laws Moses gave you. Do not turn away from them, and you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed. 9 I command you — be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."NLT

Merry Christmas,
Ed

What are you ENDORSING?

Endorsement -to approve openly ; especially : to express support or approval of publicly and definitely b: to recommend (as a product or service) usually for financial compensation.

At the end of all the campaigning which meant listening to all of these endless endorsements of candidates from local, state, and national levels I decided to make a list of what I endorse. I also was challenged to examine my life and make sure my life endorses these things and not just my mouth.

The list could probably go on forever . . . . so I just thought of a few things. I pray that you are challenged and I hope that you laugh a little.

I ENDORSE VACATIONS . . . for as long as I can remember we have taken family vacations. Even as a child my parents did not have much but I can remember several family vacations. As I became a husband and father we tried to continue this tradition and even now with an empty nest Connie and I still take a vacation. My suggestion is a remote island. We like St. Martin.

I ENDORSE READING . . . Read for relaxation, knowledge, and understanding. Those are all the reasons I am an avid reader. Jenny, my grandmother on my Dad's side pushed me to become an avid reader. I am not sure she ever knew what a profound affect she had on my life. Today I read because I want to learn and be mentored by others who know more than me. If you do not like to read I would imagine you are not growing in your life or your walk. Of course in this day and time pod casts and compact discs can take the place of reading.

I ENDORSE WATCHES . . . I am a confessed watch freak. I love cool watches. I am not sure that you would call me a collector but I do enjoy wearing different watches with different styles of clothing. I know that probably makes me weird or a Metro - sexual or something??

I ENDORSE COIN OPERATED KIDDY RIDES - Now that I am a Grandfather or as I want to be called POP I love the fact that I can drop a few quarters into a very simple little plastic horse that will electrically move back and forth and make my grandson smile so big it makes you want to jump up and down for joy. Not to mention all the people that stop by and coo and smile and tell you how cute he is. This makes my chest swell and eyes flood all at the same time.

I ENDORSE DUBLIN DR. PEPPER - Recently I had a young college girl (Jody) who attends the church I Pastor ask me if she could bring me back a six pack of Dublin Dr. Pepper. My enthusiastic reply was of course. Now for the uninitiated you may think this is crazy! In the 1070's and 1980's when the price of sugar began to rise most pop bottlers switched to high fructose corn syrup. Well Dublin Dr. Pepper is still made the old fashioned way with Imperial Pure Can sugar and man is it good. Plus it still comes in a glass bottle (no left over aluminum taste). You can only get this drink in a 44 mile radius of Dublin, TX. If you are ever there get some. MMMMMMMMMMM GOOD!!!

I ENDORSE GOLF . . . Yes, I love to chase a little white ball around and try to knock it in a small hole in the least amount of strokes. For some this game is about as much fun as watching paint dry. There are so many life lessons found in golf that there would not be time or space enough to write about them so lets just say I love it because . . . it is me against the course. I can enjoy it by myself or with a group. I measure myself against a course standard not a another individuals standard. It is almost like reading the Bible. The standard never changes. Now I know there are different golf courses around the world but you are still playing against par. I hope this makes sense. It does to me.

I ENDORSE WORSHIP . . . To me worship is so much more than singing a few songs at church. Worship is really used to describe a lifestyle. Worship just so happens to include music but it really is all about our relationship to a loving Creator who lost relationship with His creation because of one simple act of rebellion. Worship came into being because of this love affair of a Creator longing to see restoration with His creation. If we could just see our lives in the context of worship then things would be so different and I believe so much better. Worship is giving and not taking. We all worship when we give so lets practice some worship by giving our time, energy, talent, emotion, and of course this could include money. Worship is an investment we make to which the returns cannot always be measured by this worlds standards.

I ENDORSE MARRIAGE . . . WOW!! This one could be really long but it won't be. Let me just say that I am not made to be single. I have known this for a very long time, so I am very grateful to be married to the most awesome woman on the planet now for over 30yrs. She is my confidant, best friend, lover, vacation planner & partner, incredible Pastor's wife, great teacher/preacher, mother, and so much more. As a bi-product of this awesome marriage we have produced three of the most incredible children on the planet. I am so proud of Jeff, Denae, and Lance. God has given you incredible spouses to go along with each of you and I am so privileged to be called your Father. Let me just add my parents into this endorsement. They have been married for more than 50yrs and what an example they have been to me and their grand children. I salute you Mom & Dad!!!!

I ENDORSE CHURCH . . . Many of you have heard me say before that I became a Christian long before I became a Pastor. All this means is that if I had never preached a single sermon in my life that I would still as a Christian endorse the local church. Is the church perfect? The answer to this question is obvious but the church is still the living force through which God is going to touch this earth and make it better. We connect with others of like faith to reach a common goal of making a difference. We have a place of support when we need it. If being a Christian and a regularly attender at a local church is wrong then I do not ever want to be right. Let's go ahead and take a risk worth taking and commit to a local church through which we can love a lost and hurting world. We can do more together than we can separately.

I ENDORSE INTEGRITY . . . The root of the word integrity is integer or whole numbers therefore the root meaning of integrity has everything to do with wholeness. It is when we divide ourselves in our loyalties that we divide who we are. For example we said, "until death do us part" but what we meant was until something better came along. Integrity just means that we are who we say we are and we will do what we say we will do. This is why when my kids were growing up I very rarely promised anything. My kids would ask me to promise them that we would go here or do this and I very rarely ever did because what if something genuinely came up and I had to change it? I did not want to be a liar. I cannot remember who to give credit to for this saying but I think of it often. "I AM NOT PERFECT BUT I AM NOT A POSER." All this means is that I am not a perfect husband, father, Christian, or Pastor but I am not posing I AM TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD AND I BELIEVE THAT HE IS THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE AND NO ONE CAN COME TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH HIM.

The End.
Ed