This evening I was blessed with 10 tickets to see the St. John’s vs. Georgetown University basketball game at Madison Square Garden, and our family had a great time taking 6 Shelter Rock Church students with us. We enjoyed playing Heads Up together on the train, eating pizza and Krispy Kreme donuts in Penn Station, and best of all, seeing St. John’s win the game. Super fun night building memories with students.
Valentine’s Day 2014
To celebrate our love, on Wednesday I surprised Adriana and had an Edible Arrangement with a teddy bear delivered to her at work. She was totally shocked! Today we went into Manhattan and had a really delicious lunch at Dos Caminos. During lunch we had fun reminiscing about our most fun memories together. After lunch we walked around and discovered a new favorite NYC hangout … Chelsea Market. This place is awesome! We had a great time walking around, seeing all of the restaurants, stores, etc. We even found – finally! – street tacos! We had some gelato and a crepe, and picked up some freshly made doughnuts for the girls. On our way home we came up with 20 date ideas that we are going to work on accomplishing this year. This evening we came home and our girls had set a romantic mood in the house, complete with candles, cards, chocolates … and locked us in our room to watch a romantic comedy. So sweet!
Happy VOLentine’s Day!
Tomorrow is all about love. My wife and I are super excited to celebrate our relationship. (More on that tomorrow!) But we also wanted to send special love to the people who are the backbone of youth ministry: our Volunteers! To show our love in an inexpensive, simple way, I sent each of our team members a card with a coupon for a free Krispy Kreme donut and a little poem of appreciation.
What are some creative ways you show love to your volunteers, not just on Valentine’s Day, but throughout the year?
Daddy-Daughter Date with Claudia
Last night Claudia and I had the chance to go the the Brooklyn Nets game at the Barclay’s Center and see them play the New Orleans Pelicans. We had a lot of fun together, and even got to go down on the court after the game to shoot free throws. Very appreciative of this fun memory we were able to share on our daddy-daughter date. My girl’s growing up so fast!
These Guys Are Rad! “Somebody That I Used to Know” Cover and “Gang of Rhythm” Car Loop
Thanks Jack Crabtree for turning me on to these guys. They are so cool!
Throwback Pic
My buddy Ryan found this pic of us back around 1991. We had a rap group called G-Force. Ahhh yeah! Hard core right there. lol!
You Don’t Have to Sit by and Watch Your Teenagers Self-destruct …
I just finished 5 months of focused prayers for my daughters using Every Day I Pray for My Teenager by Eastman Curtis. It contains 136 prayers covering spiritual life, areas of struggle, relationships, education, and life skills. Each day has a prayer for a specific area with Scriptural references. Here’s a word of encouragement from Eastman in the book:
“You don’t have to sit by and watch your teenagers self-destruct. No amount of psychological data can convince me that it’s normal for teenagers to go through stages of rebellion and detachment just because of their ages. The Word says that young people are to ‘be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). God has bigger plans for our teenagers than we do! He has greater expectations of this generation than we could ever have. If we will commit to pray for the youth of this nation and the world, we will see the supernatural power of God turned loose to transform them right before our very eyes.
“That means we have a job to do. The prayers in this book will help you use the Word of God boldly as you war in the heavenly realms for your teenagers (see Ephesians 6:12). But prayers need to be mixed with faith in order to see results! Remember, Hebrews 6:12 tells us that we inherit the promises of God through faith and patience. Faith and patience characterize an active advance on the kingdom of darkness which realizes that ‘the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds’ (2 Corinthians 10:4)! Do you really believe that God can move in revival on our young people? Then expect such a move! Throw away doubt and unbelief.
“When the circumstances you see in your teenagers’ lives seem to contradict the words you are praying, then choose to believe the Word. Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s Word does not return to Him empty but will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purposes for which He sent it. Because you are praying the Word you can expect the results for which you are praying.
“Remember, James 5:16 says that ‘the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.’ Our intentional conversations with God can literally move His hand within our family’s circumstances. If we will learn how to pray the Word, as parents we can see our families raised in the admonition of our mighty God and a generation completely changed into His image” (pp. 296-297).
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