I’m not here anymore
Keep checking htis site for archives of past posts. If you want to see the “new me” GO HERE!!
Thanks for reading.
-AOD
I Crap In God’s Way
I was mowing my lawn the other day, typical straight back and forth passes along the fence line. I’m pretty particular about the straightness, so I like to follow a certain “fixed” line, i.e. the fence. I’m about 5 rows into the mow, and I notice my dog sniffing around. He was about 5 rows over from where I was at the time and he begins to squat. I could have yelled and scared the you-know-what out of him, but I just let him go. I thought to myself, “now why would he go right where I was about to mow? Why couldn’t he have squatted in the place I already mowed?!“
Then God said, “you know, you crap in my way all the time!” (I don’t know if God uses Cristian cuss words or not, but I heard what I heard:-)
I pictured my perfect straight lines as God’s perfect will. Then my dog crapping in the way was me, messing up God’s perfect will. Now God has to use the permissive will card. Or does He? I had a choice. I could have stopped the mower, and picked up the mess. I could have mowed around it. OR I could have mowed right over it. I believe when we crap in God’s way, He can stop His perfect will and allow our imperfections to be cleaned up and hence creating a permissive will situation. He can (but I don’t think He likes to) work around our crap. OR He could He can mow right over top of the situation and see that His perfect way happens no matter what.
Each situation is different, but the bottom line is, stop crapping in God’s way! Pray and seek His face and ask that “His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven“. His perfect will!
BTW, I mowed right over top of it. The mower setting was pretty high, so no “hu-flung-poo” situation. Don’t judge me you would have done the same thing!
-AOD
Superstar Moments
I’m watching the Western Conf. Finals tonight and I observe Kobe Bryant coming off the floor upset at his teammate for making a mistake. He makes some kind of pointing jesture as if to say, “you need to cut back, so I can get you the ball!” Very frustrated, he goes to the bench during the time out as the camera follows him. One of his teammates (don’t know who, probably a scrub, that’s benchwarmer for those of you out of the lingo:-) holds out his arm for a high-five and in the midst of Kobe’s rage he hits the guy’s hand like nothing is bothering him. Let me be clear, I am not a Kobe fan or a Laker fan, but I know a superstar when I see them. True superstars recognize the people that help them get to the top, their teammates.
You may think “it’s just a high-five”. You may be right, but I experienced some high pressure situations in sports when I was younger and I probably wouldn’t even have seen that hand or the person for that matter. I’ve changed a lot since then, but I hope I don’t ever forget the people that are a part of the team, sacrificing family time, school work time, money and other crucial elements that make the flywheel turn.
Be a superstar!
-AOD
Life: A Vapor
Kate and I went to Pennsylvania this past weekend to visit some family. She grew up there and I spent most of my childhood there, including high school. We hadn’t been back there in a year mostly because of our youngest (6.5 months) and the 9 hour drive :-/
We saw the small town that hadn’t changed much. The people who also hadn’t changed much. And as I talked with some of my family, my aunt especially, I realized more and more that life is a vapor. And I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how fast my kids are growing and how long I’ve been at my job (4.5 years). This year is Kate’s 10 year reunion, we’ve been married for almost 6 years, bought a house 5 years ago and on and on it goes. So I felt a bit nostalgic when we were in PA.
BUT, I am so happy with the change going on in our lives right now and what God is doing. I love that He keeps us guessing. And while it is good to remember, I thank Him for change. The people that surrounded me growing up, including family, helped make me who I am and I’m grateful. I rest in fact, however, that I will get to spend eternity with them and rejoice together with them once the race is over. Right now, God is calling us to reach more people to spend eternity with Him. This life on earth is meant for us to enjoy and worship God, but He also has command us to go and add people to the kingdom in Jesus’ name.
After overcoming sentimentalism, my call in life is to preach Christ and Him crucified. What’s yours?
-AOD
Summer in OV
This summer is going to be an amazing time of experimentation, faith testing and unassuredness. I have been put in charge of a team to lead a much anticipated new “contemporary” worship service on Sunday AM. So me and most of our youth band as well as some other young adults will be putting songs together for this new service on July 5th. Also, I will be leading a team to do beach ministry in Ocean View during the 11am hour. Starting July 5th, we will be trying out a brief worship experience and speaking with a core leadership group of about 11 people and some others that I know will be attending for support.
We will also be doing a shut down of our services on June 14th and serving in the community. We are calling this “Bridge Out: Restore OV” based on Isaiah 58:12 which calls God the “repairer of the breach”. Then July 4th we are doing a community block party with live music, games, etc. So a busy summer is coming. (I didn’t even mention summer camp for the students)
The idea is to get as many preaching and serving points in the community as possible this summer.
Pray for us as we take on these new areas of ministry. We are super excited to use these different expressions of church!
Here’s the graphic for our June 14th project…
-AOD
The Narrow Way
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to lead our Sunday AM service with our Youth. We creatively called it “Youth Sunday” 
I had so much encouragement from different people (young and old) I wanted to share it with you. The worship service was totally lead by students (except for me on guitar and the drummer) and then I preached a sermon titled “Expect the Unexpected”. It came from a lot of reading and research I have done with a group of other youth pastors on various books and of course God’s take on what He “expects” of us. I will admit, as my friend @booboocraig so eloquently pointed out to me, it is a little slow moving at first. But hey, it had been almost two years since the last time I spoke on Sunday AM Well, here goes…
Announcements:
Worship:
Speaking:
-AOD
Bon Qui Qui @ Catalyst West Coast
I was bummed I couldn’t make out to LA for Catalyst West Coast with Hillsong United, Andy Stanley, Craig Groeshel and others. In the Catalyst green room Anjelah Johnson did a behind the scenes interview. She is best known for her character on MADtv, Bon Qui Qui. One of the many cool people that show up to the Catalyst events. Check it…
Easter Craziness
We had a great Easter as a family. My family came up from Wilmington, NC and stayed in our tiny house (9 of us + 3 dogs). It was a lot of fun. We didn’t do much but sit around and be family. I guess that is what made it fun. Sometimes we plan ourselves to dealth, when we should just sit and hang out.
I got the pleasure of leading worship for the entire church on Easter Sunday! What a powerful experience. I’ve lead before, but there is something about Easter Sunday that makes it different and honestly more challenging. You prepare and practice, but the nervousness is still in your heart because you keep telling yourself, “there are people out there that don’t know Jesus”. In fact even more people than normal on Easter Sunday. But the Holy Spirit showed up, and compensated for my mistakes. Proving that it was never about me leading worship, but about what He was going to do that day in spite of me.
We also had couple Easter Egg hunts after church with the fam. We had a little kid one, with my sisters and Gavin and of course our Abigail. Then was the big one! Me, Katie, Caleb, Jayla and Bethany searched for eggs with the prize being a dollar an egg, with 12 five dollar eggs out there and an extra $30 for the most eggs! (Thanks Ma and Pa) It was their present to all of us, and A LOT of FUN!! Kate got the most eggs (1 more than me) so we raked in $130!
I hope your Easter was a great as ours with your traditions and food, etc. (btw, Jayla cooked a BOMB ham! yummmmm) We throw in these traditions and fun because we have a Jesus that made freedom possible! He is risen! Hallelujah!
Contemplative Ministry
A group of local youth pastors and I are reading a book called “Contemplative Youth Ministry” by Mark Yaconelli. We are into the 3rd chapter and this book has already affirmed and admonished the way we “DO” ministry. That’s just it, we spend more time DOING ministry and not BEING in the presence of God. If you are a ministry leader or a church attender, stop DOING things for a moment and just BE with God.
It’s true, “good works are a result of our faith” but good works alone are NOT what God wants. Sometimes we, as ministry leaders, DO events and activites and we make ministry our idol. If you are sacrificing your family at the altar of church, you’ve made ministry your idol. If you are worried more about the next big event and not the lonely life at your church that needs attention, you’ve made minisry your idol. If you attend church to see what they can DO for you, you’ve made ministry your idol.
Again, for some of us, it may be time to stop DOING and start BEING.
-AOD
Getting a Loan
God has really been speaking to me a lot lately about how my kids view me and how I view my kids. Our Children’s minister and I are putting together a parent conference for our church. (I hate the word conference, any other suggestions?) In preparation, I heard it said that my kids are not really mine, they are just on loan from God. Hmmm…what does this look like? Well, I think I’ve heard that before, but it never clicked with me until now (because I have kids). Here’s the thing…God gives us these wonderful children, so we can teach them and show them who God is. We live to glorify God, right?
When Abigail (18 months) needs to be disciplined, I should discipline like God would (think; less yelling When she wants upppy, upppy, upppy or just “UP” as we would say, I need to pick her up (like He does). When Abigail and Kerrigan (4 months) are to the point where they can comprehend, they shouldn’t have to wonder who God is or what He’s like. They should already know because of the example I show them. In this financially crunched time, I’m glad the only loan I need is the one God has already given me!
Thank You Jesus!
-AOD
