Thursday Mornings @ Chick-fil-A

I believe prayer has the potential to impact our lives like nothing else can. Most people believe in prayer, but sometimes we're too busy to pray. Of course, there's a simple solution: let's just schedule a time and pray!

SO, I thought I'd invite anybody and everybody to pray with me for the next 4 weeks @ the Rivergate Chick-fil-A on Thursday mornings from 6:30 to 7:00. All we're going to do is share prayer requests and pray. You can even grab a chicken biscuit if you'd like!

If you can make it and you live in the Nashville area, I encourage you to come. I know I need prayer, don't you? Again, it's just for 4 weeks on Thursday mornings. And please feel free to invite anybody and everybody who may be interested.

I hope to see you on Thursday!

I Love New York

4 of us from PCC went to New York this past Friday and Saturday. When I think of New York, I think of New York City, traffic, busy, etc. But we were in the Albany area, and that’s some pretty country. I just can’t believe I was 45 minutes from Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame) and did not go. I have a feeling I’ll be going back up there soon.

We are so excited after our trip up there! It was a huge success! I’m still spiritually high from this trip. We met with several church leaders up there to talk about how we could partner with them and their churches to meet the needs of the Albany area. Our goal was to encourage those church leaders, but I think we were more encouraged than they were. I love New York!

Our next step is to send some teams from PCC up there. We just want to show and share the love of Christ with the people of the great state of New York! Here’s a picture of us with one church pastor who is starting a church (Refuge Church) in beautiful Cobleskill, NY.

Livin' On a Prayer

We're about to start a new series that focuses on what I believe is the most important habit we can develop in life. And it has the potential to impact our lives like nothing else can. It has the potential to move us from the good/average/mediocre life and into a life that is great and purposeful in God’s eyes. It's called prayer. And we're calling the series "Livin' On a Prayer."

This series has nothing to do with Bon Jovi. We're going to look at what the Bible says about prayer. However, before the end of this series, I might just practice my Jon Bon Jovi impression and break it out. I haven't done this impression since 1994, but we'll "give it a shot."

Hope to see you this Sunday!

We are HOME!

We got back home late Saturday night. As you can imagine, life is a little hectic right now. But it's GOOD! We have been gone a long time (28 days), and we are so thankful to be back. We saw God answer prayer after prayer, so thank you for your prayers!

Now it's time to get back to work! I'm excited about wrapping up the "Snapshots of the Savior" series this coming Sunday. I hope to see you there!

I now leave you with a few more pictures from our first few days at home...

Meanwhile, back in Russia...

Well, we’re STILL in Russia! In 6 more days, however, we will be HOME—church, family, friends, good food, drinks with lots of ice, and Braves baseball!

This past Friday (April 4) was “Gotcha Day!” In adoption language, this day is the day when you go and pick up your child to live with you—permanently! It’s been a long journey of faith for me and Carrie. And we realize that this new season of life is the beginning of another faith journey for us. By the way, initiation into this season of life has been a blast. I’m changing a lot of diapers, playing a lot in the floor, sleeping a lot less, and I’m loving every minute of it!

God is so good, so I should not be shocked that He has put this baby boy into our family. It just so happens that I ran across these verses as I was reading my Bible a few days ago:

Father of the fatherless, defender of widows—this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy (Psalm 68:5-6, NLT).

l

So as I sit here in my quiet hotel room on this Monday afternoon in Russia, I watch my new baby and my loving bride take a nap, and I am overwhelmed at what God has done for me. And I say a little prayer: “God, thank you for being so good. Help me not to take your blessings for granted. God, I don’t want to let a day go by that I don’t stop long enough to acknowledge all that You’ve done for me.”

Wherever you are right now, whatever you’re doing right now, just take one minute to thank God for what He’s done for you. After you take a minute, then you can look at a few pictures from our first few days with our child…

Just moments after we first “got” him…

My first time to feed him (or any baby)…

Feeding him before he went to bed that first night with us…

The little man and his tired papa taking a little snooze…

A picture from today before we left for the Baskin Robbins in Tver, Russia…

A picture from today at Baskin Robbins…