I Hate Cold!

It doesn't take much for me to get cold. Not cold as in chilly. Cold as in I'm shivering and my bones hurt. Even when it is 80 degrees out I get cold. Knowing that imagine how this week has been for me.

The lowest temperature I saw was -20 degrees without windchill and the highest temperature I saw today was 7 degrees. My bedroom is the coldest room in my apartment so I normally sleep with four layers. Last night I had six blankets. I've been wearing long johns most of the day with multiple layers.

It is horrible. I need to take a vacation to some place where you can feel the heat of the sun when it shines. I know I should be use to the cold since I grew up in Michigan but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Snow Day Plans

We have a snow day tomorrow!!!! More like at too cold to move day. Monday is a holiday so that gives me a wonderful four day weekend. I'm making a to do list for day one of the weekend.

Too Cold To Move Day To Do List
1. SLEEP IN!
2. Message Prep
3. Pay Bills
4. Balance checkbook
5. Catch up with friends (via phone, e-mail, letters, etc)
6. Top secret plans that certain blog readers can't know.


Have I mentioned how excited I am to sleep in?!

SMT Prayer Guide

This is from a post on my friend, Dan's blog. This is a great way for us to be praying for our leaders at GCC. Join the fun.

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The five members of our Senior Management Team from Granger Community Church are going on a multi-day retreat this week to pray, plan and strategize for the coming year/years of ministry.

My friend, and teammate, Adam Callender came up with this idea:

For the 5 leaders of our church, pray 5 minutes at 5pm for this entire week.

I love to see the pastoral heart of Adam in this. Here was his email to our staff:

I don’t think I need to convince anyone that this is a very important time for Granger, not because of budget, but because we have a whole community, country, and world that needs to know Jesus TODAY, all while we face challenges like we have never faced before. Because of that significance I’d like to ask you to join me by praying for them this week. I will be praying for our 5 pastors for 5 minutes at 5pm everyday this week. With that here are the five things I’ll be praying for:

· Their families—that God protect them and show them love and peace while they are away

· Wisdom and Discernment to make sense of our current situation

· Unity—that God grows them together as one during this time

· Strength—to persevere for the 5 days of meetings and conversations

· Courage—Mark (and I believe God) made it very clear to us last year what his One Prayer is for His church and I don’t think that has changed today. Pray for courage for them to lead boldly not cautiously, so we can be a courageous church that gives glory to God.

Again, this is what I’m doing. You may choose to do more or less but I do encourage you to do something special this week.

Adam

Dear God Series

It is a new year at GSM and we are running hard after God. This weekend we kicked off our new series called Dear God. During a previous series we wrote letters to God asking him one question. All the letters were anonymous so students had the freedom to has anything they wanted. The staff team took those letters and found the common questions and themes. Using those themes they created this series where we'll take a look at what God has to say about the questions.

I've been reading some of the questions as I prepare for this week's message. (I am praying big time that God will speak clearly through me next week!) They are incredible! And I love that our staff decided to do this series. Our students are asking questions and we are going to go to the Scripture and see what God has to say about those questions. Here are some reasons I love this series

• Students determine the topics and they are relevant to them.
  
• We meet students where they are.
• We look to God for answers, not our own ideas.
• We tackle tough questions that may be keeping student from taking their next steps.
• We show students asking questions isn't a bad thing.

If you are a middle school or high school student you need to come check this series out. I have a feeling you won't regret it.

2008 International Euchre Champians

I know your are thinking "What?! There is an International Euchre Tournament? How did I not know this?" No worries my friends. It was a rather last minute decision.

During a family Christmas in Indy Team USA (Dad and I) took on Team Canada (Uncle Ron and Cousin Patrick) in the great game. After splitting the first two games we decided to play one last game to determine bragging rights for the next year. It was a close game but Team USA came through. Patrick managed to pull off an impressive loner in the game they won but it was the only one they had all night.

Okay honestly, I don't remember much of the details other than the fact we won and everyone decided I needed to blog about it. Here is a picture of both teams, unfortunately they are horrible. Good times with family. That is hard to beat!

Team Canada - Ron and Patrick Sheese

Team USA - Daddy and Me
(yes this is an old picture)