The longer I am a daddy the more funny my kids seem to become. Their innocence and the way they view the world and the things around us has a purity about it. Well the other day as we were driving down the road with both boys in the back seat Mason said “Daddy, God is that tree”. I quickly fixed his theology and told him that Jesus is not the tree. He quickly replied “Right, Jesus is behind the tree.” I laughed and said “I guess he is cause God is everywhere”.

There was a brief moment of silence in the car and then Mason said “Jesus is in the car with us right daddy.” “Yep he is” I replied. More silence…then I hear the sound of the seat belts clanking in the back seat as Mason says “Buckle up Jesus, it’s not safe to not be buckled in. (as he his putting the middle seat belts together.)

Just wanted to share this funny moment with you all.

Whether you have kids or not, I hope that you are drenching your day with Jesus. I am reminded of Deuteronomy 6 where Israel is being urged to talk about God, His laws, & precepts in every area of life.  I love this.  Check it out.

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

How are you doing with these things?  What are you speaking into your family, friends, and those around you.  Something to think about.

Wow, it has been a long time since I have actually “Blogged”. It’s not that I don’t like to blog, it’s just that the season I have been in for the past six months has been a personal journey. I have heard rumors about me which frankly I would be proud of if they were true. One such rumor was that I was leaving with one of my band members to go start our own church. Although that would be cool, it is not true.

What is true however is that the past 10 months of my life have been such a hard part of my own journey. I have remained silent to you, the public about the events that have occurred through out the year. They were painful and and I withdraw when I hurt. God moving John & Michelle on was painful for us all, but especially painful for those who went into spiritual battle with Him day in and day out. It hurt and I withdrew quite a bit.  Fast Forward!!

Here we are 18 days until our new pastor Eric Koehler delivers his first message as the lead pastor of Fellowship Church and I can honestly tell you that I am more excited about Fellowship Church than I have ever been before.

God has done some incredible things through Fellowship Church in the past, but I believe that it doesn’t compare to the things God is going to do in the future in our lives, church, & community.

My family and I just returned from one of the best Holiday vacations we have ever had. We went to Dayton, Ohio to be with my sister & brother in law, their 6 kids; my other sister & brother in law & their 3 kids, my parents, and our family. All in one house mind you. Now the first thought is not how much fun that sounds like but it really was the best Thanksgiving we have maybe ever had.

One of the reasons why it was so special is because of two little boys from Haiti, Aaron & Jordan. They are twins that my oldest sister Julie & her husband Rob adopted. They began the process of the adoption 3 years ago when the boys where just 6. They finally came home to live with their new family 4 weeks ago now at age 9. The adoption was a grueling process for them full of excitement and disappointment. But we got to meet these two boys for the first time last week.

We walked in the door and two bubbly little boys ran over and tackled me while saying “Uncle Jeff” in broken up English. It was the coolest thing ever! I had never met them. Within a few minutes they had captured my heart! Our family is so truly blessed!

Mason had the best time playing with all of his cousins and it was so hard to leave them all knowing that we only see them once a year. As we left I promised we would try to come visit this summer. Outside of Jesus, family is the most important thing in the world to me. I love my family!!

I know this is getting long but I want to share one other thing before I get back to working on Christmas. I think I am officially tired of Christmas and it’s only Dec. 2. But I get to have that attitude since I have been working on Christmas since Sept.

Anyway…as we just finished celebrating Thanksgiving I came across a verse which has impacted me in a profound way. It puts my whole perspective of life back into focus.

Proverbs 30:8-9

give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,
9 lest I be full and deny you and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.

That is my prayer.  I don’t want to have too much that I don’t think I need God.  And I don’t want too have too little that I resent God.  I want what I need so that I can be most useful in His Kingdom.

So for this Blog…it might be a little thin until the new year.  But know that I am excited about what God is doing!  And begin inviting people to our Christmas Services.  It is going to be a worshipful event as we focus on “That Night”!

I am at home enjoying my day off. I just got the boys down for their afternoon naps and thought I would get on here and blog a bit. It has been a while since I have blogged. Things have been crazy busy for the past few months. We have been in the process of trying to sell our house. This past week accepted an offer and we should be closing on the house in December if everything goes as planned. We are also looking for a house to rent so if you know of anyone looking to rent out a house, please let me know.

Yesterday was an exciting time for Fellowship Church. We announced that Eric Koehler will be presented to the church as  our potential new pastor.  Having met him last Tuesday I am personally so excited for what God is going to be doing!  We have been believing that greater things are yet to come and we now are seeing some of that come to fruition.

Yesterday was also the worship ministry’s first annual open house which was a big success.  As a result we have seven individuals that have signed up for audition times.

Continue to pray for the leadership this week.  It is a monumental and pivotal weekend in the story of Fellowship Church.  Thanks for all your encouragement & prayers.  We are exited to see what God has in store.

Hope your week is off to a good start. Mine started out this morning by taking Hudson to get his cast on at the The Children’s Hospital. He did great!

Thanks to Facebook & Twitter it seems the world knows what happened to my son.  In case you haven’t heard the story here you go:

I took Mason (4) and Hudson (15months) to Linvilla Orchard on Friday. We had a great time until we were getting ready to go. Mason was running out in front of me and Hudson was on my shoulders.  I was holding both of his hands as were were walking to go see the ducks. While I was walking I stepped into a huge hole and Hudson summersalted right over me. I was still holding his right arm as he fell off. It was enough that it broke the two bones in his forearm.

He cried at first but stopped.  I thought he must have just been scared pretty bad.  We went home, ate lunch and then he went down for his nap. After dinner he had his nightly bath and then Jennifer went to put him in his jammies. As she lifted his arm to put it into his sleeve he began to cry pretty good. We immediately knew that something was wrong so we headed to the E.R. where x-rays showed that his arm was broken.

He was given a temporary cast/splint that night to secure his arm until his appointment this morning. I was so proud of him today. He didn’t cry or anything. He giggled and smiled and at times watched intently at what they were doing to him.

I am not sure there is anything that breaks my heart more than seeing my boys hurt. My mind immediately thinks of my Heavenly Father watching his one and only son endure the torture of the cross. I can’t even image the pain that He felt.

Have you ever thanked him for sacrificing His son for us?

Events in life like this make me look up and say “Thank You!”

We had a great weekend at Fellowship Church. We had a great turn out for our community wide yard sale.  It was so cool to see so many great items donated by FC folks.  This was no ordinary yard sale.  We gave away things like patio furniture, bedroom suites, tv’s, gps units, clothes, bicycles, etc.  Our community was blown away that we were giving it away for free.  We really took a big step this weekend towards building a bridge with those around us in Delaware County.  God really used this event!  I want to say thanks to everyone who donated or came and helped Saturday.  Because of you it was a success!  Way to be Jesus to our community!  So proud of you all!

Yesterday I enjoyed my day off with my two boys.  I got up and made a pancake breakfast for them.  Then we loaded into the mini-van and headed over to look at a rental house that is available here in Glen Mills.

Jenn and I are convinced that God wants us to sell our house so it is officially on the market.   We have no idea where we will be living but we are stepping out in faith knowing that God will bless our obedience.  Did I mention obedience is not always easy or fun?  We really are needing to get out of the bondage of debt and this will help us do that.  Dave Ramsey would be be so proud!

With so much going on in our lives it seems that I have been wanting God to be more present in my life.  Why does it always happen like that?  Why does it always take something to bring us to a place of needing Him more?

This morning I was reading from the devotional book entitled Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby.  The first sentence blew me away.

“Our response to God greatly determines His presence in our lives. If we seek God with all of our hearts, then we will find Him”(Jer. 29:13–14).

Do you ever struggle to find God?  Do you ever wrestle with walking with him every day?  Do you try to find Him but feel that you can’t? If that’s you like it is me at times, be encouraged by these verses and continue to seek Him with everything that You are!

⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  — Matthew 7:7-8 (ESV)

⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. — James 4:8

³ Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. — Jeremiah 33:3

¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you, declares the LORD, –Jeremiah 29:12-14

A phrase that Pastor John used to use a lot was “God’s favor”.  I have heard stories all my life about people having real life needs met in miraculous ways.  Some people might think they are circumstantial or even luck.  But we know that it is God meeting the needs of His children just as He promised to.

Philippians 4:19 (New International Version)

¹⁹And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Monday night our dryer died on us.  I called a friend to come over and help me take a look at it.  If I were to do it alone,  it would be reminiscent of a tool time episode and we all know how those ended…fire, explosion, & usually personal injury.  After a couple hours of looking at it, we decided that we could not fix it.

My first thought was not “God will meet your needs”.  It was more like, “Great, what are we going to do?  We can’t afford to fix it let alone buy a new one.”    While my friend Jim and I were trying to put it back together, his wife told us of a mutual friend who had recently moved and had left a dryer behind.  She recommend we call her and inquire about the drier.

So Tuesday morning in my office I called our friend that had moved.  Sure enough, they had two dryers and only needed one so they left one at the house.   When I asked what they were planning to do with it she simply said, “Do you need it?  We were just going to donate it”.  It was at that point that I was reminded about the verse in Philippians.  God was meeting our need for a new dryer.

Last night Jennifer and I drove out to their house and loaded the dryer into the van.  We took it home and got it installed, and celebrated God’s favor while doing some laundry.  Thank you Father!

Wow, it seems like it has been forever since I have blogged.  Our family just returned from our vacation at the shore.  It was sorely needed.  What a great time with the family.  Here are some highlights.

• Mason went on his first rollercoaster with daddy.  So proud.  He didn’t even meet the height requirement.
• Hudson began nodding his head in the car to U2 Vertigo.  We had it on repeat for half the trip it seemed like.  Everywhere we went Mason asked for his favorite song.  Uno, dos’, tres….
• I took Hudson to get his stitches out.  He did great and didn’t even cry until half way through.
• We roasted s’mores and Mason loved it.  Over and over again.
• We went swimming every day.
• We walked the Sea Isle boardwalk twice, and the Ocean City board walk twice.
• Mason and I did the log ride…and he loved it.
• We hung with Dave, Lesley, & Kate Berkeyheiser in Ocean City.  They took the boys for an afternoon and evening so Jenn and I could go out on a date.  It was great.
• I had great times of prayer and being in the Word in the evenings which really refreshed me.
• I fell deeper in love with my family.  They mean the world to me and I had such a great time with them.  I love having boys!!
• I was reminded how lost, lost people are….people need churches like Fellowship. Churches that are about authenticity rather than religion.  Jesus wants us to be simple and authentic so that people can come to know Him!
• I am looking forward for greater things yet to come!

I hope you are having a great day with friends and family this 4th of July. We are so blessed to live in the U.S.A. Yeah we have our share of problems, but it is a great country and a great place to live!
Today our family went to one of the state parks along the Delaware river and had ourselves a family picnic. Mason and I flew his kite (which ended up in the river because the string came off the roll…daddies fault) and played baseball. We had a great time together as a family. I love family times! They are the best.
After our picnic we went to a close friends house for a pool party. The kids swam we we got to hang out with lots of great friends.
Now…the kids are napping and we will be going out to watch the fireworks on the riverfront in Wilmington. I am thankful for days like this. God thanks for family times. Thanks for friends, and thanks for blessing us with a great country. It is my prayer that you will raise up Godly men and women to help turn America back to you!

Happy 4th of July

Did you know that the Bible mentions prayer 512 times?  I’m no scholar but something that is mentioned that many times in Scripture must be very, very important.  It must also be something that God wants us to do.  This morning I looked up some of those verses.  One passage that particularly sticks out to me is found in Ephesians 6:18-20. This is what it says.

Prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. ^19-20And don’t forget to pray for me. (Your Leader) Pray that I’ll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for getting out. Taken from the Message

When I grade myself on how well I am doing with these instructions I fall short.  I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ all the time.  Those people include all of my friends & family.  Those people who have “prayer requests”.   I often fall into the thought process that says  if I do that, it is sufficient.  But what about the rest of the verse.  Paul, their Pastor and leader says, “hey guys, please don’t forget to pray for me!  I am your leader.”  He asks for prayer as he leads.  Why?  Because leading is not easy.  Because leaders need vision.  Leaders need to know where God is wanting them to lead.  The responsibility for the church getting the gospel out falls on all of us, but scripture specifically asks for us to pray for the leaders.  They carry heavy loads & burdens (both good and bad), that the church will never ever know.

I have been guilty for not lifting up my fellow staff members like I should.  Most of us are praying for our  lead pastor John Cremeans as he is in this tough season but have we been praying for the man that is standing in the place of leadership right now in John’s absence?  I am convicted and convinced that we need to be praying for Gus Sareyka, our Pastor of Life Development as he leads Fellowship Church during this season.  Gus is a man of conviction and a man that loves Jesus and Fellowship Church.

If the apostle Paul asked for his church in Ephesus to pray for him and his leadership, shouldn’t we be praying for our leadership?  I want to encourage you to take time to pray today for the entire staff of Fellowship Church, the elders, and especially Gus as they leads us through this time.

I was looking for an encouraging video to inspire us to pray…I found this and it made me laugh….I used to have “hammer” pants.