Reforming Students

Felicia and I are back home after a lengthy trip to see our families in New Mexico.  New Mexico was, well, New Mexico. Ugly, liberal, and a terrible place for a guy with allergies to every plant in a state that should still belong to Mexico. I lived there for 4 years so I’m allowed to bad mouth it. It was nice seeing our families though. We took and interesting route — We drove to Jacksonville, FL (2 hours), flew to Indianapolis, drove 20 hours with my dad to New Mexico (he left from Ohio — he’s there for business), saw my family, drove another 3 hours to see Felicia’s mom and sisters, drove 2 hours to the Albuquerque airport, and drove 1 hour home from Brunswick, GA. after 20 hours of straight driving through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, every reunion is sweeter! We were glad to see everyone, but are also very glad to be home. I pick up our dog Gangster in about an hour. I’m pretty sure he’ll be happy too, and let’s face it, we missed him. He’s a dog, I don’t get it, but I do like him a lot and will be glad to have him lounging around the house again.

So, 2009. Other than a reminder that everyone was right when I thought they were wrong as a teenager, time really does fly — or as is better stated by the Apostle James, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). I hope to be even more set on redeeming my time and living all of life to the Glory of God. We have a lot of great things coming up that I’m very excited about.

I realized recently that I have a large blog audience that doesn’t live near/around me or even know me personally. That’s humbling for sure. So, I thought it’d be good to announce on here that my wife is currently ~15 weeks pregnant. We’re very excited about having our first child, and have been spending a lot of time talking about the kind of parents God wants us to be. It’s interesting to think that now, all I have counseled other families on and have studied for the benefit of the Church will need to be played out in my own home. Lord willing, this is only the first of many to come! We’re looking at a June birthday.

Starting the second week in January, I’ll be preaching through the book of James. I’m very excited about that and hope you will listen along at ephesusstudents.com.

Ephesus Church is beginning small groups at the beginning of the year. I am leading one at our house, so I look forward to building community with our family of faith through this avenue of intimate discipleship.

I plan on reading Calvin’s Institutes with the guys at Reformation21 in 2009. I’ve read a lot of different parts of the institutes, but never cover to cover. It should be a rewarding experience.

I should, Lord willing, be back into a regular training/racing regimine in long course running and triathlon in 2009. I took 2008 off to get on my feet at Ephesus, and now feel ready to add that back into my schedule. Training for Ironman events takes a lot, but I’m really looking forward to it. Right now, I’m planning on 2 different Ironman events in 2009 (Florida 70.3, Augusta 70.3) and maybe a marathon thrown in there somewhere. I’ll probably do a sprint distance triathlon at some point as well, just to make sure I’m transitioning well.

I hope to expand the depth and breadth of Ephesus Student Ministry this year, and will be utilizing the Ephesus Students website to incorporate even more resources into what we do for students and their families. We continue to push towards equipping families to disciple their children and hope to see more parental involvement in everything we do, for God’s glory, and for their good and the good of our students and the health of our congregation.

I’m setting a goal to post on Reforming Students (this blog!) at least 4 times/week. I know it won’t always happen, but I’m a goal oriented guy — if I set it, I’ll seek to meet it.

2008 has been wonderful — we’ve accomplished a lot, and hope to be able to accomplish much more in the year ahead. Of utmost importance, we hope to grow even deeper in our relationship with Christ Jesus our Lord, who has caused us to walk in newness of life. Thanks for taking an interest in our jorney — we pray that you all have a wonderful 2009!