Mexico Mission Trip

In 2 months from today we'll be flying to San Diego, CA for our family mission trip with Christ United Methodist Church to serve with Yugo ministries in Ensenada Mexico.  We had a team meeting today after church to meet our fellow servants and receive instructions in preparation of our trip. There are 47 folks of all ages booked on this trip, and we will be building a total of 4 houses as well as running a Vacation Bible School for the children where we will be working.

Our family will have a free day on Saturday, 6/8, so we are planning to take the girls to Sea World and see the sights in San Diego.  We'll meet up with the team on Saturday night and stay at the college dorm near David Jeremiah's church Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, CA and attend worship there on Sun morning.  I've listened to David Jeremiah's radio program and watched Turning Point on TV; also, I saw David Jeremiah speak at the FedExForum in 2009 so I'm looking forward to visiting his church.  On Sunday afternoon we board our 5 buses and make the 1 and 1/2 hour trip into Mexico, which I understand is a beautiful drive along the coastline.

The Bible verse I shared in my previous post from Joshua 24:15 "...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.", is a verse that God spoke clearly to me prior to and during my first mission trip, and is one that I have been praying for with my family in preparation for this trip.  Today, Jay and Ginna Tillman (our team leaders) shared with us this guiding passage for our Mexico Mission trip, which was derived from a combination of Bible verses in Psalms and one from Isaiah which were shared by other team members:
                              "I created you, I called you, I am going to help you"

The last part of the passage comes from Isaiah 41:13 "For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."

When we arrive in Mexico, we'll have a chance to meet the families we will be building homes for at the site of where we will be staying.  We'll split up into 4 teams and begin building the homes on Monday, each team will be assigned a foreman from Yugo and interns will be there to assist as well.  In the afternoons, the children on our trip will have the option to go help with the VBS; this will be good because I'm sure Taylor and Nicole will enjoy this opportunity.  The houses will be completed by Thursday, and there will be a key presentation ceremony to the family which is the highlight of the trip I've heard.  As I look forward to this trip, I pray that God will continue the work He is doing in cultivating a heart for serving within my family, and that through this experience we will all grow closer to Him.

Mexico Family Mission Trip

2013 is off to a fast start - I celebrated my 45th birthday this week, and for me, birthdays are more enjoyable now only because my girls get more excitement out of them than me.  As I look to the year ahead, I'm most excited about the family mission trip we will be going on with our church to Ensenada Mexico in June.

A number of years ago, several friends from our Sunday School class went on the first of what has been an annual mission trip to Mexico to serve with Yugo ministries in building homes for families and running a vacation Bible school for the children.  After seeing several videos and shared testimonies from fellow church members who have gone over the years, I told Cindy that once our girls reached an age where they could contribute and learn to appreciate this experience that we would be going on this trip - well, the time has come, and we're beginning to pray and talk more about it now that it's a mere 5 months away!  Our plan is to fly to San Diego on the night of June 7th (fortunately we have enough Flex Perks points for 4 free airline tickets!)  We'll have a full day to explore SD before departing on Sunday for the short drive to Mexico.  We'll spend the week in Ensenada at Yugo's outreach center and return to San Diego on Friday (in time to catch a Padres game, I hope), and then return to Memphis on Saturday June 15th.  Our team leaders for this trip, Jay and Ginna Tillman, have been on this mission trip multiple times with their 3 daughters, and I'm really looking forward to serving with them.  By the way, Jay is a fellow Longhorn and he was the first Texas Ex I met when I moved to Memphis 19 years ago. (small world, huh?)  I understand our first planning meeting will be soon, and I'm looking forward to seeing who else will be joining us on the trip.  I hope to update my blog as I learn more about our upcoming experience, but here's a taste of what we can expect:

 You Tube video - CUMC Mexico Mission trip 2012

In anticipation of our trip, I'm praying for Taylor and Nicole to begin looking forward to this trip and remove any fears they may have in traveling to a foreign country and being around children from another culture and way of life.  I pray that this experience will bond our family tighter and create an experience they will remember for their lifetime.  I'm praying that they will encounter God personally on this trip and He will begin to shape and mold their Christian worldview.  I have no doubt that God will reveal Himself to our family -- and this is why I am so looking forward to this trip!

Recently I have been reflecting on how God revealed Himself to me in amazing and remarkable ways on my first mission trip 4 years ago.  Since I haven't blogged about this experience, I'll revisit my journal and save these thoughts for a future post.

Why I volunteer with KidVenture

In an effort to recruit volunteers, I was asked to write a testimonial on why I volunteer with our children's ministry at my church.  Since I haven't updated my blog since July, here's my attempt to recharge my blogging activity.

This year marks my 3rd year teaching/leading a small group in KidVenture.  When KV launched in 2010, I was going through Downline ministries institute which instilled in me core Biblical principles on discipleship.  Through Downline, I was being equipped to make disciples in my home, church and community, and I also discovered that I had the spiritual gift of teaching.  KidVenture offers me the opportunity to exercise this spiritual gift with children who are at an age where they are anxious to learn and with hearts that are open to love the Lord.  

The time commitment is minimal -- I teach every other week and this enables me to still be involved in my own Sunday school class while not miss out on worshipping with my family each Sunday.  The greatest benefit I get from teaching in KidVenture is that it gives me a model for leading discipleship in my home with my 2 daughters.  

I encourage anyone, especially those with children, to invest in the lives of the children at CUMC.  The following verse from Paul to Timothy is on a baton I received at the completion of the Downline program and it sits on my desk to serve as a continual reminder of the eternal importance of teaching, disciple-making, and passing on God's Word to the next generation. 

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will be qualified to teach others."  -- 2 Timothy 2:2

Parenting in perspective

When I began this blog last December I remember one of the motivations of doing so was to help me focus on and dive deeper into what I was reading in my quiet time and the thoughts/concerns I was praying about -- in short, put words into these thoughts I was having at the time.  I had been journaling off and on, particularly when I came across scriptures that spoke to me, or when I wanted to jot down a key point from a sermon or bible study lesson, or just record a memorable moment experienced with the girls.  I enjoy times of reflection, and consistency is in my DNA, so my early morning quiet times have become a sacred part of my daily life.   When I miss them, or more often, when I am rushed or my mind begins to wander to the plans of the day, I easily lose focus of what God may be trying to teach me through His Word or the circumstances I'm going through.  Yesterday I had one of those moments when you realize that time is just flying by -- half the summer is over and it seems like yesterday was the end of May and the girls were just getting out of school.  And to a lesser extent, I realized I hadn't blogged in 2 months.  There's a correlation here.  Indeed we have been busy this summer.  So here goes...just some quick thoughts on something I've been thinking about a lot lately:  parenting.

I've been reading through the Old Testament this year, and I'm currently in the book of 1st Kings.  The Kingdom has just split as God's patience with Israel has nearly reached its end.  The OT is filled with stories of Israel's continued disobedience toward God.  God was the perfect parent and Israel still wandered.  When I think of my role as a parent, I am reminded to look to God when I lose patience with my girls; acknowledge that I'm not perfect and just strive to extend mercy and grace like my heavenly Father.  With Cindy being out of town for work last week and this week, I've been forced into a more active role in this regard.  Of course when she's around I have the luxury of falling back into the common football analogy -- where we play zone coverage, and more often than not, Cindy does the heavy lifting much of the time as the "go-to-Mommy"  Today was full-on man-to-man coverage for me as the enemy is bearing down on Taylor.  With her right arm currently in a cast, she's been fighting a fever off an on and was diagnosed yesterday with an ear infection -- and last night's mysterious middle-of-night ankle pain episode led to a midday sick call from camp.  I was prepared for this and left work early to get her and Nicole, but I was not prepared for the dinnertime theatrics that ensued tonight.  As much as I tried to smooth things over, there was no winning this battle.  I think it was lost when Cindy left town yesterday -- they miss their mom.  I pray this week for a little extra dose of patience and wisdom in parenting as I man up to be the father God intends for me to be for His children, Taylor and Nicole.

Summer 2012!

Summer is my favorite time of year.  Baseball is in full swing; homegrown tomatoes and juicy watermelon; longer days and weekend evenings relaxin' and grillin' on the patio after day of yard work.  And of course, the much anticipated summer vacation trip to the beach.  This year we made 2 trips - first to Dallas over Memorial Day weekend to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary, then we made our annual trip to Perdido Key, FL for the week of July 4th.

This was the 6th year in a row we have been, and we are so grateful to Barbara and Jim (Cindy's sister and my brother-in-law) for allowing us to stay at their beautiful condo (Indigo) facing the beach.  The first year we visited, in 2007, the girls were 2 and 4 yrs old - now, they are 7 and 9, and for the first time they really enjoyed getting in the ocean.  It's always been more about the pool and just enjoying the condo and fun restaurants, and to a lesser extent, playing in the sand the past few years (the first couple of years they didn't even like walking on the sand!)  We all look forward to our family beach trip and I'm thankful for the memories we are making.

Every year I have made a slideshow (love doing this on the mac!), and this morning while I was running I had the thought -- how can I share this with my parents who are currently half-way across the world in Russia on a cruise to celebrate their actual anniversary date (7/12)?  Upload it to youtube!  As much as I love youtube, I have never attempted to upload a video.  After figuring out how simple it was, I posted it to facebook, but later discovered that my video could not be viewed on mobile devices as it contained music on it that was copyrighted.  I even received an email from youtube acknowledging this fact; however, there was no syndication issue with allowing the music to remain on the video for regular (non-mobile) youtube viewing.  So, here it is.

Summer 2012!


And now I think I'll upload my previous year's slideshows.  Enjoy your summer!

"See You Sunday" to Gone Fishin'

In the closing minutes of Game 5 of the Grizzlies-Clippers game last Wed night the crowd began a new chant - not the familiar "Beat LA", rather one that was indistinguishable on TV.  A quick twitter check revealed it was "See You Sunday", a confident belief from the 18,000+ in the FedExForum that the Griz would finish this series in Game 7 at home after being down 3-1 and become just the 9th team in NBA history to overcome such deficit.

After winning Game 6 in LA and reading TJ Simers convincing column in the LA Times that the Clippers were dead, I was certain the Grizzlies would close out the series.  I made it downtown after church around 11a on Sunday and wondered to myself if Beale St. has ever been this alive on a Sunday AM.  This was to be the "Mother of all games" as Geoff Calkins penned in his CA front page column on this Mother's Day.  Unfortunately we know how it ended.  The Griz shot only 32.5% (I believe it was the 2nd worst shooting percentage all season), and Lionel experimented with some questionable lineups in the 2nd half, yet the Grizzlies held a 1 point lead heading into the 4th qtr.  The crowd remained loud and hopeful, ready and waiting for the team to pull further ahead, but the Clips began to build a lead about mid-way thru the qtr.  With about 4 minutes to go, down by 8, the crowd rose in unison and held up their Believe Memphis towels...it was an awesome sight and a great memory in the making.

But it was not to be on this day.  No "Make Your Own Luck" from Rudy Gay this time around.  As I exited the eerily quiet Forum, I remembered how I felt much worse after Game 1 (losing the 27 pt lead and losing by 1 pt at the buzzer) than after this game, which the Grizzlies didn't deserve to win.

So, it's time to turn my attention back to baseball...it's funny I had the same feeling last year, albeit it was a longer playoff run, but I got so wrapped up in the NBA that I feel I've missed out on the past several weeks of the baseball season.  That will be a welcome recovery from this playoff loss disappointment.  

Believe Memphis

Love this picture of Tony Allen 

Really looking forward to the NBA playoffs getting underway and what better way to gear up for the playoffs than a game like last night's which featured 8 steals for Tony Allen...7 of his 8 steals are on display in this video below:
And below it, the fake pass is classic TA:

With the Clippers loss tonight, Memphis is now locked into a #4-#5 matchup with the Clippers with home court to be determined the next 2 nights - if the Knicks can beat Clippers tomorrow night, the Grizzlies can lock up home court advantage with a win at home Thurs vs. Orlando.   Home court would be huge considering the Grizzlies are riding a 10 game home winning streak.  But, even if the Grizzlies have to open on the road this weekend, I still like our chances...who can forget last year's Game 1 steals on the road in San Antonio and in Ok City.