Tejas Update

Wednesday evening we caught an earlier flight by flying standby and literally had to run thru the terminal to catch our flight as our names were being paged. Catching this flight got us into Dallas at 8 PM instead of 11:30 PM. Thank you Lord. We are enjoying our time here. Getting used to fighting Dallas traffic on the freeways and in the mall parking lots.

My Mom wanted our family and my brother's family to open our gift last night. We didn't argue with that and now the Knights are the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii System! I think I am just as excited as the kids about that.

Got started reading E.M Bounds on prayer on the plane. It's good deep stuff and its exactly what I need right now.

Texas

My family and I are headed to the homeland tonight for Christmas. I am looking forward to some down time with family and friends. I'm also going to dedicate some time with God for some much needed spiritual renewal. My spiritual batteries desperately need a recharge, so I'm going to read thru the gospels and read "The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer". Throw in a trip to Railhead Smokehouse and Joe T. Garcias in Fort Worth and this is going to be a great trip.

Governor Manchin on Coach Rod's Departure

Sunday, Governor Manchin issues this statement:

"The last seven years that Rich Rodriguez has been football coach at West Virginia University brought great excitement to our fans and tremendous and positive notoriety to our state, and I am truly sad that he has made the decision to move on.

I have known Rich for most of his life, from a boy whose only wish was to play football at WVU to a young man whose only wish was to coach at WVU. His dreams came true, and he brought back with him to West Virginia a love and a loyalty for our state that I thought would never change.

But, unfortunately, over the last two years, I have seen Rich become a victim of a college coaching system driven by high-priced agents that has turned those dreams into just another back-room business deal. Something is wrong with the profession of college coaching today when a leader’s word is no longer his bond, and it does not bode well for the student-athletes who entrust these coaches with their futures.

I wish Rich and his family nothing but the best, but I challenge everyone in our state and across this country to start looking more closely at the system that we’ve allowed these agents to create, because in the end, it serves no one well but them.


I can’t say enough about the WVU fans and financial boosters who have made such tremendous commitments to this football team, and I commend President Garrison and Athletic Director Ed Pastilong for having a program that is truly worthy of the national spotlight. I also trust them and the WVU Board of Governors completely with the coaching search that now lies ahead.

In the meantime, I encourage the people and fans of West Virginia to continue to show their support and respect for our tremendous student-athletes as they prepare to compete in front of a national audience in the Fiesta Bowl."

- Gov. Joe Manchin III

I am now a Buckeye Fan.

Apple Trouble

Even though my battery is charged, every time I pull the AC power on my MacBook. the laptop is powering down. Not cool. Any suggestions?

Lessons from Hoosiers

Hoosiers is one of my all time favorite movies. When it came on in HD last night, our family had to watch it again. Early on in the movie, I noticed a great leadership principle that has been shared in church planting circles: Run to Confrontation. When Gene Hackman takes over as the Hickory coach, there's a local yocal that still thinks he's the coach and actually tries to hijack the first practice.

Hackman pulls him aside and basically says, "Your coaching days are over." They have a heated exchange, but in the end, Hackman stands firm and entrenches himself as the leader in charge. This was a good reminder for me not to let friction in the church fester, but to confront the issues with people, lay our cards on the table, and hold firm as a spiritual leader. Too often it seems easier to ignore conflict for a time, (short term gain) at the expense of long term health in the church.

New Small Group Coming...Honk for Service

For the better part of today, I have been spending time with fellow StoneBridgers David, Manny, and Dan as they helped Aaron Johnson put a new alternator on his car. I am so proud of these guys. They understand what the church is called to do and be, and they are living out these principles. For about a year, they have held an occasional "auto care" day, where they do routine maintenance, brake jobs, minor mechanical repairs, etc, for people in need. They have ministered to many people outside our church, and have experienced and built a bond of brotherhood with each other while doing it.

Now Dan is ready to launch this into a regular small group which has a mission of serving others. They will have a short time of Bible reading and prayer, and then get busy doing what they do. I am so excited on many levels: living out the mission of our church by serving others, and these guys starting such a great ministry on their own initiative.

Snow Day

We are enjoying our first snowfall of the season. The kids were out of school today and are off tomorrow due to the weather. After I finished a CityReach Board conference call, I headed to Barbour County to hunt in the snow with Belinda's boss and his son.

We saw a bunch of deer and I'm happy to report that all three of us got a deer. I killed mine around 4 PM when about 5 deer darted through the woods downhill about 120 yards from where I was standing. When I got home I measured our snowfall -- we've got 8 inches!

I'm posting a picture of me with my deer and also my doe from two Saturdays ago. Notice my new goofy hat fad.

A Saturday of Missed Opportunities

It's taken me a while to get over what happened on Saturday. And I'm not only referring to THE GAME. Around 2:30 PM, after Ryan's basketball game (his team won 34-0), I headed out to the woods for one last crack at getting a buck this season). Didn't see anything until 4:30 pm, when I glanced to my left, and saw a MONSTER buck staring at me. As I lifted my rifle to take a shot, he calmly trotted off into some cover and I never got off a shot.

I figured I'd go home and heal my wounds by watching WVU wrap up its National Championship bid, and well, you know what happened. Morgantown on Sunday was like a funeral procession, and it was hard to overcome the mood during our worship service.

I'm excited about the Fiesta Bowl, because I believe we're playing a National Championship caliber team in Oklahoma. In fact, I think this will be a tougher assignment then playing Ohio State in the "National Championship". Playoffs anyone?

First Snowfall

Winter is here! We're getting our first snowfall of the season. We got two inches Monday night, and the forecast predicts 4-6 inches will fall between today and Thursday morning. I put new tires on the Jeep last week just in time for winter. Time to get the skis waxed.