Growing Old Fast...

Time seems to FLY anymore. My little sister is graduating from High School tomorrow and I have to ask: "Where did the time go? Where's Hopey instead of the woman Hope?" It's crazy to think that she's going to be 18 and in Nursing School next year!!

I also think of the seniors that are graduating this year from my ministry...where did the time go? Didn't I just see you in 10th grade? What the heck! Plus, the freshman I started with are now seniors...where does time go?

This talk is making me nostalgic...I'm thinking back to my youth group days and see that my Jr. High Youth Pastor (Scott Wakeley) is totally still in ministry in the same position and still loving it. However, seeing students like me in ministry, graduated from COLLEGE, I'm sure he's been asking this question for years: "Where does the time go?" It seems crazy.

May God Bless all you grads...CLING to Christ!

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Last Night (Wednesday May 28)

Last night we looked at the calling of a Hero. I opened the evening up with this clip from The Lion King:

I highlighted the part where Mufasa says: "You are more than you've become, you are my son...". I told the teens that they can be more than they've ever thought, because they are God's child and they can become heroes! The main points I made last night were that the world's definition of a hero is slightly different than God's.

The world's definition is someone with super powers, or someone extraordinary doing acts of courage or spectacular feats that average people can't do. God says anyone can be his hero and the calling of a hero is two things: LOVE and SERVICE. I shared with them the stories of Moses, Jesus and David all of whom were heroes and the things that defined them were LOVE and SERVICE!


As a side point I shared that we need to only please God, we don't need to please anyone but Him, so we can love and serve others, like the kid that no one wants to sit with because we don't care what others think, only what God thinks. I said it's hard and the only was we can be heroes is with God beside us!

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Trip to DC...

Hilary and I got back to Nyack, NY at about 8pm last night from DC. Hilary and I spent a GREAT time with friends and family. We drove Sue Pettit (m boss's wife) down with us and had some GREAT conversation with her on Friday. Hung out with my sister that afternoon, we went into downtown Washington, D.C. and saw: The Capitol Building, the Washington Monument and the Native American Museum. Went back to Heather and Brooke's house (my sis and her hubby) and watched Tyler Perry's "WHY did I get married?"

We then went to bed and hit the sites again on Saturday morning seeing The National Archives, the Museum of Natural History and the Mall (which is a BIG chunk of grass). After this fun, we picked up Brooke at the airport because he was on a trip to Louisiana helping out some people down there with Habitat for Humanity.

After we picked him up, we traveled to CHIPOTLE and had some good grub. Next day, went to church had a picnic at Roosevelt Island, headed home for grub, then watched Iron Man (the Guys) and Made of Honor (the Girls). Lastly, we hit up D.C. for a third time and checked out the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Mirror. We then headed home to bed.

Hilary and I woke up, ate some food and at 3pm headed home...and got there at 8pm! That was our Memorial Day/Anniversary Weekend!!

THANK YOU TO: Sue Pettit for a FUN ride, Heather and Brookey for an AMAZING WEEKEND and my lovely wife for MAKING it even MORE fun!!

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In D.C.

Hey! I'm here sitting in Falls Church, VA at my sister and brother-in-laws house! We went into DC yesterday and are going back again today! I am totally pshycked to be here and love my family! Hilary and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary here! Well, catch ya later!

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Coffee, Coffee, COFFEE! (Part 2)

Today, I DID have my coffee and boy am I HYPER!! I was annoying everyone in staff meeting because I was so hyper (not really annoying, just livening them up). Todays coffee is Gold Blend from Starbucks. Freshly ground and freshly made. It's labeled "Extra Bold". Here's what I look like in my office (seriously this is true)




Here's a quick video of my hyper-ness in action listening to the Afters :)

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Last Night (Wednesday May 21)

Last night, we talked about How to have the Heart of a Hero. We looked at a shocking story where there were severe consequences, yet still received grace. We focussed on the life of King David and saw a few things from his life that allowed us to see how to have the heart of a hero.

Here is what we discussed: God cares more about the INSIDE than the OUTSIDE; God's forgiveness is FAR-REACHING; God still allows CONSEQUENCES to our sins and God's GRACE is bigger than my GOOF-UPS!

Having recognition of all those ideas is part of having the heart of a hero! God can use you as a hero to other people...no matter what you look like and God can forgive you no matter what you've done to make you a hero!!!

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Tonight (TUES May 20)

Tonight, we talked about integrity. I started off with a shocking story of people cheating on a test and asked about the integrity of the men who did it. I discussed the ideas of all facets of integrity.

I challenged the youth about how honest they are, where they let go of their integrity and why they let go of it. I shared how truly important our integrity is. I used Daniel 6 to describe how Daniel was a strong man of integrity and challenged each student to become people of integrity.

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