I have a confession to make…today was one of those days I felt like I could not have preached my way out of a wet paper bag. As a speaker there are days when you feel like you are “in the zone,” and then there are days when the zone is somewhere OUT THERE…and you are nowhere near it. (Every speaker has felt this way!)
Why did I feel this way? I think for two reasons…
The first is the fact that I had WAY little rest this weekend. I spoke for the South Carolina Baptist Conventions college weekend & had a blast. I love hanging out with college students…and I was able to meet Caedmons Call for the first time. It was so much fun…BUT…the service didn’t end until around 10:45 last night & then the crew & I had to drive back from Asheville.
So…I got in bed around 1:00…BUT…because I drank SO MUCH COFFEE to try to stay awake—guess what I did all night long? YEP…I pee pee’d!!! :-) I am not trying to be gross…but there was one point in which I considered just sleeping in the restroom for the rest of the night!!!
My alarm went off at six this morning and I felt like death warmed over!!! AHHHHH! BUT…and I mean this…I rolled out of bed PUMPED because I love what I do…I love the church…I love the people I work with…and so excitement was in my veins…until after the first service!!! THAT is when I felt like someone had hit me in the face with a bag of bricks!!!
We all have days like that…and that is when, as pastors, we are challenged to reach way back and give it all we’ve got…combine that with the fact that we have some VERY generous people at NewSpring who will forgive me if I’m a little “off” on a Sunday and it’s all good.
The second reason days like today happen…and this is THE main thing I took from today…is that sometimes GOD reminds us pastors that…if it were not for Him…we could not even blow our nose!!! I needed the Lord’s strength today to get me through the services…and He is SO AWESOME! Thank You Jesus for what I get to do…and thank you for the strength to do it…
A Few More Random Things…
#1 - Pray for our senior management team at NewSpring…we are heading out of town on a planning retreat in which we will be developing a three year strategic plan for what we believe God wants to do here at NewSpring Church…these things PUMP ME UP…I can’t wait!!!
#2 - Sign ups for our conference are going AWESOME…if you are considering heading this way in March—DO IT…and pastors, trust me…bring as many leaders as you can with you!
#3 - NO…Lucretia and I do not know whether or not the baby is a girl or boy yet…we will know in about a week and a half…I promise I will tell!!! To be honest…I am not sure what I would prefer yet. It would be SO much easier for ‘Cretia if it were to be a girl…we already have a name picked out THAT WE AGREE ON. BUT…a girl would MESS ME UP!!!!
If it is a boy…I am serious about wanting to name him Boaz!!! Pray for ‘Cretia…her heart is hard & she is NOT happy about my name selection. :-)
#4 - DO NOT FORGET that next Sunday we will NOT be having our 6:00 service…we are asking everyone who normally attends that service to come to our 4:15 service…and then we can go and watch the
Super Bowl! AND…this is for one week ONLY…we will resume our normal schedule the following week.
#5 - Speaking of the following week…CARS is going to be awesome…and I believe that we will see HUNDREDS of people accept Christ in that series!!!