2013 - Reflecting on A Year of Learning

At the end of each year, I like to think over the past 12 months about what I learned, how I grew, and where God showed up. 

In 2013, my wife and I celebrated 15 years together, my oldest son turned 13, my family and I ministered to children in Brazil, and after a successful career in the marketplace, I left it behind to become an executive pastor moving our family to NC. What a year! It's a good practice to look back in order to dream ahead, so here goes.

• Deep relationships can be made with anyone on any continent if you: 
• Connect Deeply
• Communicate Consistently
• Embrace their Culture Respectfully
• If you identify your purpose/calling, regardless of how long it takes to get there, it will never leave you
• No matter how crazy the calling, God gives inexplicable peace when it's time to take the plunge
• Lasting joy happens when your heart, life, and work are aligned with your purpose
• Simplicity is one of the greatest tools for success 
• Struggles add texture to our story
• Authenticity is a leader's greatest commodity
• Daily disciplines yield lifelong results
• You can never underestimate the importance of your relationship with you children - start early and invest often. 
• Great marriages are built on overcoming great obstacles...together.  

**BONUS**

• Surround your children with smart people and they will become smart people. 

There you have it. A year of significant life change and growth. Thanks to everyone who made 2013 amazing!

GUEST BLOG - 5 Ways Legos Can Bring People to Christ

Today I get the privilege of featuring a guest blogger, my 12-year old son. He is a highly creative and artistic person with hopes to animate for Pixar Studios or become a Lego master builder (that’s a real job where you get paid to put Lego’s together as a career).  He wrote this shortly after we returned from a trip to Brazil this past summer all on his own. My wife and I are so proud of him and can't wait to see who he becomes.  I hope you get a glimpse of his heart. Enjoy!

Tension - When you sin, tension is being applied and over time the tension builds until finally, you break. When you find God, He repairs you with His “God glue” and you are whole again; just like when you are saved and come to Christ.

                                                               Before God                                                                       
       

After God

Light - If you hold a Lego brick to the light you can see that some of the light shines through. Just as we are the brick, God is the light. So when we put ourselves up to God, He shines through us so that other people will come to know Him.

We shine for Him

Brand - When you look at an ordinary 2x4 Lego brick and notice its studs, you can see that Lego put their brand on all of their bricks just as God puts His brand on us. We are made in His image and we are branded with the name of God.

His brand on us

Plan - Just as the Lego Company has a plan for each Lego brick that comes out of its factory, God has a plan for each and every person that He creates.  And His plan is better than any of our plans combined could create.

God's Factory

Different - Each Lego brick is different in its own way, and that’s just the way Lego wants it. Just as we are different in our own way, and that’s just the way He wants it. We may be the smallest or the slowest but we are made just the way our God chose us to be.

God wants YOU to be different