Friday Night Lights

Last night my family and I attended our first Stephens County High School football game. First off.....I cannot believe how many people came out for this game...it was amazing. We planned on getting there about 7:00 for the 7:30 game. Surely that would have been fine....right? WRONG!!!! We hit a line about a half mile long out on Big A road going to "The Reservation." I ended up having to drop off everyone while I searched for parking. There were cars and people EVERYWHERE! I had been told that Toccoa was crazy about their football, but I totally underestimated the enthusiasm for this event. Amy, myself, our girls and my sister-inlaw and her husband hung out with Bryan, Kelda, Lisa, Doug, Stacy, Jason, Jennifer and Kel. I also saw Brown and Jo Evelyn while we were there. The first half was a little scary as SCHS got off to a slow start....but the second half rocked! Stephens County ended up winning and all was good. We all reconvened at Sonic afterwards for some ice cream, slushes, sweet tea (with refills) and a lot of fun. The whole night was great.....except that some redneck kept yelling "make 'em bleed!" at the top of his lungs during the game......

the Journey....

I don't know anyone who thinks that they have enough faith. I know that I always feel like I could use a little more. Maybe it's because I have a mind that seems naturally directed by logic, numbers and formulas. Maybe it's because I am a male... convinced that I can figure out just about anything on my own. Or maybe it is just because I choose to be in control even when I know that I should let go.

This journey of going into fulltime ministry as the Campus Pastor for the Toccoa Campus has been an amazing ride so far (and we haven't even had our first service yet!). I remember so clearly that one day as I was praying trying to figure out whether to take this step when God taught me something huge. I was trying to figure out how to make this job change, move from Seneca to Toccoa, etc "work." There were alot more questions than answers. For instance...Do we buy a house and move right away? Do we wait until the house sells to move? Alot of big questions that I didn't know the answer to. What God taught me that day was that He was not going to ALLOW me to know the answers to all the questions. For me to make the move in to this job, God was going to REQUIRE my faith....not just ask for it. So, Amy and I decided that we were going to make a huge step in faith and buy a house in Toccoa and move as soon as we could.

Now for the rest of the story....
We bought our house in Toccoa without selling our house in Seneca. Following my last day at my former job and before my first day at Foothills, Amy and I took a short vacation. When we returned, one of our rental houses (that was supposed to be purchased by the renters) was abandoned by the renters leaving us with a large extra house payment. That gave us 2 house payments for the month of July....3 house payments coming Aug 1 when we started paying for the new house in Toccoa. I was FREAKIN OUT! 3 PAYMENTS!!!! AAAAARGGGGH! But God is good. He immediately brought us a renter for the abandoned house in the middle of July....So we only had to make 1/2 a payment on that house. Then last week, we got a sales contract on our house in Seneca with a months worth of rent for Sept until the loan closes. For those keeping score....in this whole process we have only had to make 2 house payments for ONE month (August)! God is amazing! We had no idea how God was going to work this out.....but he did. The move required our faith....God has taken care of the rest....and HE WILL CONTINUE TO.

Friday's Random Rant

1. I am watching Olympic Women's Water Polo as I blog. Why? I really don't know.

2. I love wearing flipflops. I never worn them when I was a kid because they were uncomfortable to me. But I revisited them several years ago and would rather wear flipflops than any other shoe.

3. I ran track when I was in 7th and 8th grade. I wasn't very good. I was extremely skinny and remember the shorts being extremely baggy. Those shorts were part of one of the most embarrassing moments of my adolesence.

4. Beach or Mountains? Mountains! My wife prefers the beach....guess where my vacations are....

5. I hate snakes! They seriously give me the willys! Bugs are no problem but if I ever have a snake to deal with at my house......I will be calling for help!

Been along time....

Okay. Bryan Hartzog pointed out to me the other day what a complete blog slacker I have been lately! And to Bryan's accusation I say "YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT SIR!" I could give you all of the reasons why...like I have been busy finding a location, or moving, or learning to live without kitchen cabinets.....but I am not going there.

Here is the latest. We are in our house in Toccoa! Whooo Hooo! Thanks to all who helped...Kyle, Frank, Sabrina, Sam, Jason, Bryan, Dave...you guys rock!

The girls started school yesterday. This has been one of the most frightening parts of the move. But God is faithful. All the girls had a very good first day. All came home saying that they had made friends and that everyone was very nice! Thank you Jesus!

We have a contract on our house in Seneca! God IS in control!

We are very close to having a location for the Toccoa Campus. Please keep this in your prayers.

I have another blog that is dedicated to the Toccoa Campus. It will be a great place for you to catch up on information, what is going on, meetings, get togethers, etc.

Alright....I'm out. Happy now Bryan? LOL

Shannon