Penny For Your Thoughts

Many of you have joined me in carrying a penny this week as a reminder of our liberty we have in Jesus. In particular, in hopes that every time we touch the penny that we carry with us, or see it laying on our night stand, that we would be reminded that Jesus gave us freedom for success not for selfishness.

I am amazed at how such a simple thing can be such a powerful reminder throughout the day. While pennies are plentiful, I have been keeping the same one in my pocket since Saturday evening service and its presence has prompted a lot of prayers this week.

A quick reminder, four questions for making every decision in such a way as to guard our freedom:

1. Does this build me up?
2. Does this bother my conscious?
3. How will this influence others?
4. Is this the loving thing to do?

Imagine how different our lives would be today had we made every decision in the past based on those thoughtful questions. The good news is our future can be very different as we consider these questions prayerfully prior to making new decisions.

See you this weekend as we begin a new series: Happy New You!

Christmas Eve

@ fifth CHRISTMAS eve service. Had a grea time seeing folks @ both CR campus and Oro Valley

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Happy New You Teaser

In case you missed it, here is the teaser for our New Years series that begins on the weekend of Jan. 2nd and 3rd. And to be absolutely clear about my stance, it is not really me at the end of the video, our guys Photo Shopped me in!

Christmas Tree Shopping - It Has To Be REAL!

I'm a purest! I have to have a real tree...Kathy would love to get a fake just because of the mess - but unless someone in our family develops some kind of deathly allergy I will ALWAYS have a real tree. Doing my part to keep the tree farmers in Oregon in business!!!

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My Greatest Thrill: Stunt Plane Ride

Even though this was a huge thrill flying in Ned's stunt plane, walking in faith with Jesus has always been the biggest thrill of my life. Special thanks to Ned Linch for taking me up for a wild ride!

Most of life is a "Wild" ride! For many of you this past year has had some unexpected barrel roles and wind current that were totally unexpected. The truth is that many of us will face insurmountable circumstances in 2010 as well. It is nice when life gives us a smooth ride, but that is not always the case. So, how do you make it through those very difficult times?

Simple. Who is piloting your life? For me to take this "Wild" ride in this experimental plane was easy, because I was not the pilot. My friend Ned is a retired F-16 pilot and a current pilot for a large airline. When I strapped in I had total faith and trust in him, his skills and abilities. '

So often in life we are trying to pilot our own lives, we are not created to do so. We don't see the air currents of life that are coming at us tomorrow or even today. I don't even want to be the co-pilot of my life. Put me at the controls for even a moment and I will spin out of control of the first barrel role, crash and burn. That is a picture of Lordship. Jesus is the pilot. The one I totally trust to fly the plane. The more I keep my hands off the controls and trust Him regardless of how rough the ride may be, regardless of the storms, the safer I am and the more I will enjoy the journey!

Ned and I have already plotted a plan for another ride. I am looking forward to flying "through" Monument Valley!!!

Son, Joel, playing piano. Listening to songs and playing them by ear

Dinner with the family at Taco Bell

Dinner with the family @ Taco Bell