This week’s Luke readings:

• Reading 1: Luke 9:51-62
• Reading 2: Luke 10:1-24
• Reading 3: Luke 10:25-37
• Reading 4: Luke 10:38-42

To all you Duval Country Students: SPRING BREAK!!!!!

Yesterday we kicked it off with a pretty awesome beach day.  It started off a little cold but ended up being pretty nice.  Just ask the back of my knees.  It looks like someone took a red sharpie and colored in my legs.  The hot water in the shower this morning took me out.

Just a reminder: we have no Wednesday Night IGNITE this week.  But we will be back on track the following week kicking off a new series!! I would reveal to you some detail, but I want to finalize a few things before I let you know exactly what we are going to be studying.  But I can tell you this, you don’t want to miss it.  Make an intentional effort to be there!!

If anybody is doing anything fun this week, let me know.  I would love to come hang out with you during your break!  If we go to the beach, I will just have to stop and get some SPF 3,000 for the back of my knees.

Hope this week is great, make good choices and enjoy the time off!!!

It has been a crazy past week or so and I haven’t found the time to get on and post in awhile.  Let me catch you up on what is going on…

I spent last week in Estes Park, CO visiting my baby sister Amy, Clayte, and Wes at Ravencrest (a one-year Bible college).  I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed being there and spending some time with some really great people.  I also had the opportunity to sit in on a few classes and was very impressed with the teaching that I heard.  I really connected with one of the teachers, Frank, who is basically the principal of the whole deal.  He was passionate about what he was teaching, which made me excited as well!  I wrote this in an earlier blog but want to say it again, if you have ANY interest in hearing more about Ravencrest and what its like, I would love to talk to you about it.  I would highly recommend it to any who are interested.

The only bad part about this trip was the travel.  My flight to Denver was the roughest I have ever been on; and all I could think about was LOST and which character I would be if our plane did crash.  I choose Jack, mostly because of the beard that he has in a couple of the flash forwards on the show…that beard is incredible.  Obviously we didn’t crash, but I still wouldn’t mind having that beard. On my way back to the airport on Thursday, I drove through the worst blizzard of the season and missed my flight.  So when I finally got to the airport, I learned that all the flights for the day had been cancelled and every hotel near the airport was full.  Not good news for me because that meant that I had to spend the next 20 or so hours in the airport!  I can’t tell you how many times I rode the train from terminal to terminal.  A tip for those of you who are ever stranded in an airport: spend some time on those people mover things; you can get some serious speed going.  Oh yeah, one more tip avoid eating a burrito from some random burrito stand, not good, that’s all the detail I can share on the blog.

But it all worked out, I got back on Friday at about 3:30.  It was good to be back and see my beautiful wife and just spend some time with her after being gone all week.  I missed her, but I also have to admit, I missed you guys as well.  Its funny, because everytime I go anywhere outside of Jacksonville and engage anyone in conversation, I first tell them about Allison and then tell them that I have 100 high school students as kids.  They look at me like I am crazy, but I am proud to say that, because you guys (the kids in the youth group) really do mean the world to me.

The more that I think about it, the more I realize how much I deeply desire for you to pursue Christ.  It isn’t always easy or always pretty or always what everyone else is doing, but there is no doubt that it is worth it.  So take a second and think, are your attitude and actions reflecting Him?  Is the way you talk to or about other people honoring to the Lord?  How about the way you respond to authority?  The jokes you tell or play?  Your time spent alone?  As you answer that question, I hope it spurs you on.  I hope that you think about what Christ did on the cross and what you can now do to glorify Him for dieing in YOUR place.

My hearts desire is to be more like Jesus in everything that I do.  I am not perfect and fail often, but more than anything I want people to see that in me and I want people to see that in you too.

Its good to be back.  I missed you guys.

It has been awhile since I last posted.  I have promised that we will have a Rehab photo page and a Battle of the Blues winning tribute and that promise still stands.  It is coming shortly…

Right now I am sitting in the lounge at Ravencrest Chalet, a Torchbearers School, in Estes Park, Colorado.  I had the opportunity to come back out with my sister, Amy to visit, see the campus, catch up with Clayte Rutt and Wes Jones (former CFC students), and sit in on some classes.  For those of you that don’t know what Ravencrest is: Ravencrest is a one-year Bible college where you spend 9ish months studying the Scripture. 

I arrived here yesterday morning and got the grand tour of the campus (it isn’t very big) but it is ABSOLUTLY BEAUTIFUL! It is located at the top of a mountain within in the Rockies and I already can’t get enough of the view.  Classes start this morning and I am looking forward to sitting in on them and hearing the teachers I have heard Amy talk so much about.

I would really encourage each of you to begin praying and asking the Lord if He would have you come out here for a year and study the Bible before heading to the next phase of your life.  I know that it isn’t for everyone, but so far I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested.

I will try and write another post after I sit in on some classes.  Hope you are having a great week back home…

Just a reminder to encourage you to continue reading the Luke readings for Checkpoint.  I know that the schedule has been wild over the past couple of weeks with Mission’s Conference and then Rehab, but I would highly encourage you to read each week.  This week’s readings in particular have been absolutely incredible (this week’s readings are located under the Scripture Reading category).

I am continually amazed at who Jesus was and how He went about conducting ministry.  Everything that He does, doesn’t seem to fit how you and I would do things.  And I think that is exactly why He does them the way He does.  Jesus is giving us a picture of what it means to be so in tune, so in line, in such dependence on the Father.  He does exactly as the Father wills.

I struggle with that so much.  So often I run things through my filter and the way that I think they should be done.  I think that my finite mind knows what is right, yet I don’t get it at all.  When instead I should be in total dependence on the Father which would cause my every action, my every word, my every attitude to be different and to be for His glory!

I am so thankful that I opened up and read Luke this week.  A great reminder and a great picture of how we should live life, in complete dependence on God.  I hope that you will take a few minutes and spend it alone with your Creator this week, watch what Jesus does and know that our Great God is shaping us and forming us into that very image.

What an incredible weekend!  I don’t know about you, but I want to go back!!  If you didn’t have the chance to go this weekend; you missed out on one of the best retreats we have ever had.  But don’t worry coming up in six short months is Breakaway 2009, so mark your calendars now (September 4-7).

My hope and prayer after this weekend is that you had more than just a fun weekend.  My hope and prayer is that you are living your life differently now.  My hope and prayer is that you are being rebellious and standing up in this decaying world.  That you are living the beattitudes and being salt and light.  My hope and prayer is that by God’s power, you are changing the world.

A couple of important thingsthe Doc encouraged us to remember from this weekend as you head back into “life” at home, at school, at work, on the field, wherever you are:

• reject passivity
• accept responsibility
• play your role with courage
• anticipate the greater reward

These are great life principles to live by as we go back to everyday life.  Remember that the beattitudes are like links in a chain, and that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  They all work together and you must seek to live out each one.  These beattitudes, these words of Jesus, are counter-culture and when you live them out your new identity will be salt and light.  And when you have an identity that is salt of the earth and the light of the world, through God’s power, you will change the world.

Those people that the world say are rebellious are actually just conforming to this world.  The true rebels are those who stand firm in the truth, live out these attitudes, and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  Are you a rebel?

I will add a bunch of pictures in the next day or two so check back for those and a special tribute post to the Battle of the Blues winning team, Carolina Blue!!

Here is last night’s video.  I seriously can’t get enough of “Waldo” grunting at the end of the search!  Thanks to Erik and the video team for all their hard work!

Erik finally broke the code and figured out how to post the Checkpoint Rap and Slap on youtube.  So I thought I would post it here as well.  Last nights Waldo video should be coming soon. Enjoy…

Rehab 2K9 is in 4 short days!!!  IF YOU HAVEN’T SIGNED UP YET, GET ON IT!!!!  This is a weekend you really don’t want to miss.  Doc Harmeling is going to be bringing the Word, Matty Dee and the band will be leading us in worship, and we will be making memories throughout the entire weekend!  If you have any questions about it, let me know.  Really, you don’t want to miss.  This has the potential to be one of the best retreats ever, and I mean that.

Some trip details:

• Meet at the Shop @ 5:00 pm Friday to leave.
• We will return to the Shop @ 3:00 pm Sunday.
• Bring clothes, sleeping bag or sheets, toothbrush, money for snacks, and any other good units you think of bringing.  (legal of course)
• BIBLE, PEN, AND NOTEBOOK!
• Smile and excitement.

It is going to be a great weekend, I am praying for each of you this week as God prepares your heart to do a mighty work!

This week’s readings:

• Reading #1- Luke 8:16-21
• Reading #2- Luke 8:22-39
• Reading #3- Luke 8:40-56
• Reading #4- Luke 9:1-11