Archive for category work
What a Difference a Day Makes
So, today would’ve been exactly 35 days away from me moving into our new apartment in Columbus, but that’s not going to happen. We received a phone call this morning from the apartment complex that the apartment we originally looked at was available to move in as early as Friday!
So while I was planning on patiently waiting for April 27th to start living and working in Columbus, God was orchestrating this new plan.
That’s not even the best part. Last night was an INCREDIBLE night at our youth services. It started out typical, but once I started teaching I could tell that God was up to something different. It came down to me teaching through one of my favorite passages, Isaiah 6:1-8. I won’t go into the details of what I talked about, but it came down to making a choice. I didn’t challenge the students to make this choice (the typical student pastor route), I made it. Right there, on the stage. The choice I made was to do whatever God called me to do. Whatever, wherever…no matter how hard or how impossible. I guess all it takes for God to take notice is complete abandonment of our will in exchange for His (sound familiar?).
I’m not saying that it’s going to happen the same way for you, or even happen the same way for me ever again. What I can say is that in this case, as soon as I let go, God changed things. I’m not sure what’s going to happen next, but anyone who says the Christian life is boring hasn’t lived it!
Timeline
Posted by thelokey in church, encouragement, new job, spiritual warfare, work on October 6th, 2008
Here’s the last 24 hours of my life…
10:30PM – Got home from helping Crissy’s sister move a washer and dryer into her apartment and took a Tylenol PM so I could get to sleep because I had to be up early to start MY FIRST DAY at a new church.
11:30PM – Noticed a small, but sharp pain underneath my left shoulder blade. I thought, “That’s weird, I took a pain killer earlier when I wasn’t even in pain.” Went to sleep.
4:30AM – Woke up with EXCRUCIATING pain in my left shoulder. It hurt so bad I was trying not to scream and I couldn’t take a deep breath. Not being able to breathe made me panic, making it harder for me to breathe (you get the routine). Took 2 Aleve to see if the pain would go away. Didn’t even take the edge off!
5:15AM – 7:00AM – Show up to Kennestone ER to find out what’s going on. After getting some IV fluids, they decide to take a chest X-Ray to rule out any lung problems due to the shortness of breath. After the chest X-Ray I was given a muscle relaxer and Vicodin for the pain. Slept for a couple of hours off and on while they waited for blood work to come back. The doctor concluded that I have a muscle spasm in my back in one of the muscles of the chest wall. Which explains why I can’t breathe deeply.
8:00AM – 9:45AM – Came home, showered, got dressed and drove to Rockmart (about 35 minutes away) to make it to the church (where I was supposed to be at 7:30AM). We got there right at 10:30 while the pastor was still preaching. About 10 minutes after arriving he calls me on stage to indroduce myself and share my vision for the student ministry.
11:00AM – Second service, same speech.
1:00PM – Went to lunch with Crissy’s parents (they were in town).
2:30PM – Took her parents to see the house we’re trying to buy.
4:00PM – Went to Wal-mart to get my prescription filled and kill some time before the Youth Service.
6:00PM – Got to the youth space and waited for the students to show up.
6:30PM-8:30PM – Hung out with some of the students, shared more of my background, and answered questions from them.
9:00PM – Finally took some pain meds, and decided to write this blog post.
Bottom line…Satan’s attacking, God is good, and pain meds are WONDERFUL. Good night.
Transitioning
So in the last 7 days I have officially resigned from my position at Lost Mountain Baptist Church to start as the Student Pastor at Crossview Community Church in Rockmart, GA. Needless to say it is a very exciting, stressful time for me and my wife.
Even as I’m typing this entry I am at my office at Lost Mountain working on what will most likely be my last video for this church. There’s a whole long list of things I have to train other people how to do before I leave so there won’t be “holes” left when I’m not here. It sounds a little arrogant to say, but I’m amazed at all the things I’ve been doing both in and out of the realm of the student ministry. I guess it just goes to show my inability to say “no”.
The church we’re moving to is a great place! It’s unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of before. It’s the kind of place I hear about other people being involved in and think to myself, “Man! I wish I could do something like that!” Well, we are.
This will be the first time Crossview has had a Youth Pastor in their short, two year existence. There’s no precedent, no traditions, no “old guard”. It’s brand new, starting from scratch youth ministry. I’m so terrified of messing it up it hurts my brain to think about it. But from what every person I respect in Youth ministry tells me, if you think you’re prepared to do it, you’re wrong and won’t rely on God.
So, here’s the start of the next great adventure…God, if You don’t come through, we’re going to flop! It’s a good place to be!
Recent Work
Here’s my most recent graphic for a new FOCUS series. I’m going to try to start putting more graphics up that I do for fun or work.
This one is particularly cool because it’s a picture that I found on the web (photo exchange site) and then stylized through Photoshop to make it look like graffiti art. Yes, I know it’s been done before, just not by me.
Here’s the before and after…
