It has been a couple of days since I have posted and I can imagine each of you are suffering withdrawals from the last few days lack of your lifeintheshop.com fix.  So I will try to make it up to you with a couple of Tuesday posts.

This weekend was really great and super busy.  I told you on Friday that I had a surprise Valentine’s Day date for Allison planned for that night.  And it went great, I think she had a good time.  I know I did.  I will let her tell you about it if you want to know.

On Saturday a couple of guys played in the Let it Fly 4 on 4 flag football tournament in Orange Park (where I am from, in the garden all in the dirt).  Our team name was the Nuggets and consisted of me, Brad Harby, Kyle Boetcker, Josh Miller, Will Rutt, and Colin Bourne.  I bet you are thinking that is an all star squad that just took everybody to the house in that tournament.  If that is what you are thinking, thank you.  We actually got stomped but still finished 4th in our division.  So next time you see those guys, make sure you tell them you are pulling for the Nuggets.

Saturday night, Allison and I celebrated Valentine’s Day part 2.  She cooked me a homemade gourmet dinner.  I would be willing to put Allison against anybody in the kitchen.  She made this lemon chicken stuff that was out of this world.  I have the best wife in the world, no doubt about it.  She got me something for my iPod, a calendar, some candy, a movie, and a few other things.  My Valentine was awesome.

Yesterday we had our first annual President’s Day Picnic at the Park.  The weather was incredible and so was the game of ultimate frisbee.  I felt like we played for 2 straight hours.  (Team Columbia (Jeff named the team that, I still don’t really get it) prevailed 15-14 thanks to Chloe’ Siegler making an incredible catch near the end of the game).  If you missed the day at the park yesterday, you missed out.  We really had a great time and I am looking forward to doing that again soon!

That is your quick weekend update.  Hope yours was as good as mine.  More posts to come soon.  Comment away…

This weeks readings:

1. Reading 1- Luke 5:27-39
2. Reading 2- Luke 6:1-16
3. Reading 3- Luke 6:17-38
4. Reading 4- Luke 6:39-49

For some of you this is going to be a great weekend, for others of you a nightmare.  It is Valentine’s Day Weekend!

This will actually the first Valentine’s Day Allison and I have ever spent together since we started dating.  The past couple of years I have either been out of town or she has been out of town.  We are NOT avoiding each other on this day, I promise!  

I am taking Allison on a surprise date tonight.  I have some fun stuff planned that she doesn’t know about.  So hopefully she doesn’t read this in the next 40 minutes before she gets off work!!  I won’t give any good details until after we go out.  I want it to be a surprise to her!!

Just want to give you a quick thought to those of you getting ready to celebrate with a special someone and a quick thought to those of you who aren’t.

To those of you who are celebrating this weekend with a boyfriend or a girlfriend:  Make good choices!  This is such an exciting time in a relationship and if I know the guys that are reading this, there is probably some serious romance going down.  But remember to protect yourself.  This is a specific time when you will be tempted to act on your physical desires, but be strong and stand firm.  I would encourage each of you to think about your future spouse this weekend and think how you would want someone to treat them as you spend time with your current significant other.  I am continuing to pray for each of you as you take what we have been learning the past couple of weeks and step out in obedience as you pursue God through your relationships!

To those of you who are not spending this weekend with anyone: Make good choices!  This is a time when you will be tempted in different areas to sin, but I say to you be strong and stand firm.  (I know this sounds similar to above, but stay with me) Know that you are loved by the Creator of the Universe in a way that words cannot explain.  Trust that God is in complete control and knows exactly what He is doing.  Use this time to pursue God and pray for your future relationship.  Ask God to continue to protect you and grow you and rejoice that He is at work right now!  Most importantly don’t ever forget that you are valuable and loved in the eyes of our GREAT God.

I hope that you guys each have a great Valentine’s Day Weekend no matter where you are at or what you are doing!

Couple of unrelated things:

• Keep up on your Luke readings.  We are teaching Reading 3 this week at Checkpoint.
• The Short-Term Missions Meeting is Sunday after third hour in the old Sr. High room.  If you are interested at all in a short term trip, YOU NEED TO BE THERE!
• You have NO SCHOOL MONDAY!! Hip-hip-hooray!  That means you should come to Picnic at the Park.  Meet at the Shop at 11:30 am with a bag lunch and join us for a great day at the park!
• REHAB 2K9 is right around the corner.  Get your sign up in ASAP.

I think that’s everything, if you have any questions or comments you can leave them on here or email or facebook or text or smoke signal me them.  You guys are great.  This is the day that the Lord has made, be glad and rejoice in it!!!

We are continuing in our series, Holding Out or Hooking Up?, tonight at IGNITE in the Shop.  This is the last week in the mini-series, To Date or Not to Date?. 

Tonight we are going to answer the question, are you ready to date?  Now that you know how to date (honor Christ) and you know who to date (character counts), when are you ready to date?  If you want to know the answer, come to IGNITE tonight and you will find out!

Luke 4:37 says, “And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.”

After reading in Isaiah in the synagogue, Jesus declared that He was the one the reading was talking about.  Jesus taught in the synagogue and it says that the people were amazed at His teaching.  A demon just declared that Jesus was the Holy One of God.  Jesus just rebuked that demon and cast it out of the man he possessed.

Word was beginning to spread about Jesus.  I often wonder what was being said.  Was it that he was a madman?  Was it that he was an incredible teacher?  Was it that He was the Messiah?

As I was thinking about this; I began to wonder how the word that was spreading about Jesus affected the way that people perceived Jesus.  I can imagine that if the word was He was a madman, that is probably the perception people had of Him.  I can imagine that if the word was He was an incredible teacher, that is what people expected Him to be.  I can imagine that the words that people spoke about Him had a direct affect on Jesus’ ministry.

So why do I say this?  What did I get from this?  It made me think about what I say about Jesus.  How do I talk about my Savior?  Do I communicate the joy He brings me or do I communicate frustration or disappointment?  Do I declare God’s goodness in the midst of trouble or do I grumble and complain when things aren’t going my way?  What is the report that I spread into my surrounding areas?

I was challenged about the way I talk, the way I act, the way I respond.  If perceptions of Jesus are built around MY report, I want to speak of my Savior, my God in a way that brings Him GREAT glory!  So just think about that as you are at school today, or at work, or at home.  What is the report you are spreading?

Yesterday afternoon I watched a sermon by Louie Gigilio (one of my pastor man crushes) and I was reminded of a couple of things that I wanted to share with you.  I am not going to write a lot of my own thoughts, I am just going to write two things.  A passage from 2 Corinthians 5 and the lyrics to a song that most of you know and love.  I hope and pray that as you read both of these things you will pause wherever you are at, whether you are at home, at school, on your iPod, wherever, that you will just pause and really think and really meditate on what God has done through Jesus on the cross.  After I watched the Louie DVD, I was struck how I sometimes take my salvation for granted, and it is no little thing, and I want to spend my days celebrating and rejoicing that I am free.  I hope you will do that very same thing…

2 Corinthains 5:13-21:

“For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.  For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.  Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  Now all these things are from god, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reonciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (emphasis added)

Lyrics to Mighty to Save:

Everyone needs compassion-A love thats never failing-Let mercy fall on me

Everyone needs forgiveness-The kindness of a Savior-The hope of nations

Savior-He can move the mountains-My God is mighty to save-He is mighty to save

Forever-Author of Salvation-He rose and conquered the grave-Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me-All my fears and failures-Fill my life again

I give my life to follow-Everything I believe in-Now I surrender

Savior-He can move the mountains-My God is mighty to save-He is mighty to save

Forever-Author of Salvation-He rose and conquered the grave-Jesus conquered the grave

Shine Your light and-Let the whole world see-We’re singing-For the glory-Of the risen King-Jesus

Savior-He can move the mountains-My God is mighty to save-He is mighty to save

Forever-Author of Salvation-He rose and conquered the grave-Jesus conquered the grave

Wow.  Our God is mighty to save.  Hope you will feel free to comment on these with your own thoughts or with your own reflections or with your own questions.  I hope this can be a place where we can all encourage each other as we celebrate what God has done for us through Jesus on the cross.

I just had lunch with Justin Mangum at Chik-fil-a at the towncenter and on my way back I stopped at the Shell station on Gate parkway fill up the Triton (for those of you who don’t know, I am referring to the Dark Blue Van, a Triton V8 XLT, that sounds so awesome).  As I started to pump my gas, I happened to glance over to the pump on the opposite corner from me and saw the lady there pumping her gas and running in place.  Maybe you think I just had a typo or got my stories mixed up but I can assure you I did not.  The lady was pumping her gas and running in place, THE ENTIRE TIME.  I couldn’t stop looking at her.  It was like 8 minutes of a dead sprint while still holding the gas pump.  I am not kidding you, it was one of the strangest things I have ever seen.

For the rest of my drive home, I ran a couple of scenarios through my head to possibly explain what in the world she was doing, so here they are:

a) She was cold and trying to warm up.  However, this can’t be true.  She had on pants and a long sleeve shirt and it was beautiful weather.  So I quickly concluded this couldn’t be true.

b) She was stretching after a long car ride and loosening up stiff legs.  However, she was in business clothes and I don’t know how many people actually travel in business clothes.  So again, this can’t be the reason she was doing what she was doing.

c) She had leg touretts.  This so far is my most logical explanation.

d) She wanted to work out during her free time.  Except she wasn’t in gym clothes, she didn’t look uber in shape to begin with, and she didn’t let go of the pump almost the entire time.

e) She was day-dreaming that someone was chasing her.  Again, another logical explanation.

But that is all I have.  I can’t think of any other reason someone; mid-day, in business attire; would run in place while still grasping the gas pump.  I hope that you are as blown away by this as I am.

I would welcome you to comment on any other theories on why this lady was doing this or any other strange sights you have seen while pumping gas.  (If you don’t drive, you can talk about filling up your bike tires with air, it just won’t be as cool of a story)  Let me know…

This week’s readings:

1. Reading 1: Luke 4:14-30
2. Reading 2: Luke 4:31-44
3. Reading 3: Luke 5:1-11
4. Reading 4: Luke 5:12-26

It has been a couple of days since I have had the opportunity to post.  I am going to try and figure out a way I can do this over the weekend.  Shouldn’t be that hard, so I won’t let the delay happen again.

Just a quick update on the weekend:

8 months ago on Saturday, Allison and I got married.  I don’t know about you, but that blows my mind!  It has flown by faster than I could have ever imagined.  I will tell you this, being married to Allison is so stinkin’ awesome, she is the best wife in the world.  I am so thankful to the Lord that He blessed me with her as MY wife.  I would highly recommend marriage to most of you (not to Allison of course, she is taken) but to whoever the Lord has for you cause it really is awesome.  (Youth Pastor Hint: Don’t rush into it though, protect yourself now, it will make it that much better, I promise!)

Some of you guys played ultimate on Saturday night and it looked like a pretty good time.  Plus the winning team got home made brownies that Allison made.  I was bummed I didn’t get to play, but Allison and I were having dinner with some friends.  Check out Trevor Knowles facebook for some action shots of the big game.

I hope you enjoyed Checkpoint yesterday.  Eric did an incredible job teaching Luke 4.  That passage is so relevant to the struggles you and I go through every single day.  I hope that you have kept the verse (1 Corinthians 10:13) that you wrote down close by and that you are committing it to memory.  It will be a great reminder of an incredible truth.  And as always he added in a few classic Chik-fil-a stories.  A couple of us were telling Eric that he should write a book, entitled “Stories from the Drive Thru: The Eric Gillis Story”, about all of his experiences and stories from work.   If you agree with me on this, go ahead a post a comment on this post and we will form it into an official petition.  I have also asked Eric to always have a Chic-fil-a story available for every lesson he teaches; he seemed to think that wouldn’t be a problem.

Cool side story about Checkpoint yesterday: After Eric’s lesson, a student at Jeff Dyke’s table prayed to recieve Christ!  PRAISE THE LORD for a new brother in Christ!!

This is just a brief summary of the weekend.  Hope yours was as good as mine.  I will write more later, this morning’s Luke reading hit home for me, can’t wait to tell you more about it.  Plus, I think I still owe you my TV guide post about the greatest shows on television, I know you are dying to read that. 

Check back soon for more updates including: upcoming events and this week’s Luke readings.

Sorry I am a little late in the day to update my new Friday post, but I woke up this morning to the sound of a chain saw and looked outside and my neighbor hired a tree trimming service to give the one, two, shake down to all the trees in her yard.  Anyway, I woke up to go to work and the van was blocked by a monster tree chipper.  So I reluctantly went back inside and climbed in my warm bed.  Darn to bad luck.

I have been thinking a lot about our Luke readings and I really hope that you guys are spending a few minutes each day and actually reading them.  When you sit down and are intentional about reading God’s Word, it really will change you.  I mean, last night I read the Luke 4 reading and was reminded again that Jesus was tempted just like I am.  But He didn’t give in; He quoted the Scripture and stood firm.  There is hope for me as well!  I often forget that the temptation is not the sin; but the action to follow through in the temptation is the sin.  When I am tempted, I feel like I have already failed.  And sometimes I think that it is just to much and that I can’t do it, but again I am reminded of this passage in Luke 4 and also of what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10.  This is what it says: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”  In my Bible, that verse is circled, underlined, and GREAT NEWS!!! is written next to it.  And that is an understatement to the hope that verse gives.  That is my prayer and challenge for you on this day, during this weekend.  No temptation is to much for you, God is faithful and WILL provide a way of escape!! Stand strong!!

I am going to eat some lunch now, probably a salad and a glass of water.  Actually probably not, probably wings, fries, and extra ranch dressing.  How can you beat it?