Encouragement

So it's been a little over a month that I have been away from Children's Ministry at the Rock Church. I miss it incredibly and everytime I walk up to the building I see the children and my heart just sinks. The amazing leaders that have stepped up have told the children that I am stepping away for a while so that I can just be with my family. Sometime soon, I will step back there and tell the kids how much I love them and miss them, I am just not sure how. This morning I was greeted with a typed out note from one of the 9 year olds. She found an antique - it was really just a typewriter and she wrote me this letter. I will retype it in the exact spelling that she wrote it in.

Dear charley,
I hop that you will come back to kids town soon
It was fun when you were there. It still is bits are just not as fun as they used to be. Your hospitality and crazt energy go us going on our feet .so thanks for your kind loveing teach .hopefuly your familey will have no problems. your a great and wonderful teacher. your like a friend to me. By the way carver is so so soo cute! Your rilly rilly Awesome! Hopfully I'll go to Nitro Air again. Will you have another child so I can watch him/her in the nersary. Or! I could baby sit for you. That would be fun!

Sincerly,
____________

P.S Love ya
P.S.S Hi!
P.S.S.S thanks again!


I don't think I could receive anything that said Love than this. It warms my heart and gives me hope. I am completely broken right now and have faith that God is going to put me back together the way He wants to. I look forward to seeing what that looks like. In the meantime, its all about making the right choices and not giving up.

A Time for Change

For the past 4 and a half years I have served as the Children’s Director at the Rock Church. It has been incredibly fulfilling and is one of my greatest passions in life. One day I would love to make it into my full time career. However, right now I need to focus more on my personal relationship with Christ and becoming a better husband and father. I’ve had some personal struggles that have caused a lot of damage to my family and at this point I am not the right person to lead a ministry. This season of my life is going to be dedicated to healing and restoration. Thank you Rock Church family for all of your love and support. It has been a great joy and honor serving you.

A Decade to Remember

I started thinking today that this decade might end up being the most eventful of my life. I got married, had a kid, went to college, moved around and had the opportunity to see quite a bit of the US and a few other countries. My roots are pretty well established here in Washington now and I don't see myself moving anytime soon. So I have compiled a few highlights of the past 10 years.

2000

College Student at Liberty University in Virginia

Worked at Holiday Inn Select doing Room Service

Moved back Home to TN to work as a Landscaper and Waiter at Applebees

Joined the King’s Players to Travel Around the Country doing Christian Drama in Churches, Schools and Prisons –Visited around 30 States and Tijuana

Started Dating Laura Corns

2001

Sold my guitar to move to California

Worked at Nabisco slinging Oreos onto Store Shelves

Married Laura on December 15^th

Moved to Bellflower down the street from the Prisoner Exchange

2002

Took a few Community College Courses with Laura

Started working at Keebler as a Territory Manager

Worked with Youth and Led Worship at Grace Baptist Church

Started Playing Golf

2003

Laura graduated College from Cal State Long Beach

Moved to Lynnwood WA to work with First Baptist Church of Martha Lake as Youth Directors

Started working at All for Kidz as a Booking Rep

Bought our First Condo

Became a Professional Yoyo Man/Motivational Speaker

Bought my first new Car – Saturn Vue

2004

Performed at the White House for the Easter Egg Roll

Performed in England and Canada and all across the US as a Yoyo Man

Visited France for a few hours and the airport in Amsterdam

Got our first Dog – Indy (She Bit People)

Kicked out of First Baptist Church

Started going to the Rock Church and working with Youth

2005

Almost moved to Texas to work with the Yoyo Company – Instead decided to quit and have a better marriage

Started working at the Rock Church as the Children’s Director

Started working at Crown Bolt as a Merchandiser in Home Depot Stores

Indy kept biting people, so we had to put her down and we got Beast the Bichon

2006

Sold the Condo and Bought a House with a Mother in Law Apartment and In-Laws moved in

Started working at Cintas as a Service Sales Representative

Started taking Annual Camping trips with the Barrans and other great friends at Rasar State Park

Started Taking Online Classes from Valley Forge Christian College (Children’s Ministry University)

Laura was in two accidents in less than a month that pretty much totaled all cars involved. She came out relatively unharmed

We got Phoenix – the greatest dog ever

2007

Vacation House in Orcas Island with Great Friends

Laura started working at the Rock Church as well

First Trip to Hawaii

2008

May 30^th – Our First Child Carver was Born

Many Trips to the Hospital

Family Reunion Trip to Hawaii

Vacation House in Camano Island

Starting Working at Gold Creek Community Church on Sunday Nights

2009

Memorial Day Camping Trip

Softball Tournaments

Orcas Island Vacation House

10 Year High School Reunion

Jason Haggard Wedding Trip to Tennessee

Victoria BC Anniversary Trip with Laura

life's muddy

To be as vague as possible, this past week has been tough. My last post was about feeling dead and I haven't felt so hopeful lately. I am just a sinful rotten person and it is only by God's grace that I am here today. Right now life is muddy and hope seems dim. At the same time, I am surrounded by people who have muddy lives as well. To often, we put on some type of front to those around us when inside we are writhing in pain or hurt. I am really thankful for those in my life who have extended out their ears and hearts to meet me where I am. I haven't opened myself to them all, but I hope and desire to. I don't want to trudge through crap alone. I need some help. I write all this to say - Be that friend to someone today.

Dead inside...

A few times a month I get together with friends from our church for our life group. We talk about life and God and how to make it through the day. We normally watch a video with some discussion questions, but we were out a babysitter so we talked about how we have changed since high school. It’s been a little over 10 years for me and life is completely different. I’ve lived in 4 different states, traveled all over the place with work and have been married for almost 8 years and have a 1.5 year old son. In high school I was very passionate and had some pretty strong convictions on a lot of things and I became quite legalistic in my beliefs. My passions were strong just a little misguided sometimes. Imagine that, a misguided teenager. My convictions aren’t quite as strong now and I am not so sure that’s a good thing. I still have many of the same struggles, but inside I feel dead. I see where I am and who I want to be and feel lost. I’m frustrated and I am hurting those I am closest to. Something needs to change and I want to revive the passion that I had before. I want it guided in the right direction.

Do you feel valued?

Many of you know that I have two jobs. One pays the bills and one is my passion. I am so fortunate to have both of these and have a few days a week to just be daddy. Most of the time I work hard and it always feels great to see the results of hard work. But there is something deep inside most of us that wants something more than just to see the results for yourself. We want to feel valued. We want to feel appreciated. I want to feel valued. I want to be appreciated. Part of me wants to say it's a weakness, but at the same time I recognize that this is the way God has wired me. In my life and careers I see both sides of the spectrum of value.
The Rock Church is my family. I have never felt unappreciated there. I am encouraged to dream big, reach higher and grow more. It's hard work and takes alot out of me on Sundays, but at the same time when you are doing what you love and what you are passionate about it empowers you.
Today I finished up a 13 hour day and walked away irritated because of where I stand. Over the past 3 years I have had a pretty good amount of success in a sales job in a difficult economy. I have had some opportunities for advancement and I have turned them down because it would pull me away from family and ministry too much. I caught some flack today and it just left me frustrated and feeling undervalued for what I have accomplished.
All this to say, I am wired to thrive when someone has my back. I thrive when I am encouraged. I'm not the only one. So instead of wallowing in my frustrations, I am going to make a conscious effort to show others that I value them.

Sundays and feet

Many times in ministry days can just be a blur. You have guest speakers, not enough volunteers, new projects, broken pagers, wild kids...etc. As we were wrapping things up this morning I was monitoring the bounce house and one of my first graders was putting his shoes on had something to tell me about his soccer game yesterday. He always sounds excited about things and I could not quite understand what he said so I said "great" or "awesome". Well his mom happened to be standing there and asked me if I heard what he said. I responded sheepishly "something about soccer, but I couldn't tell for sure what it was". She told me he said "Yesterday a soccer ball hit me in the face". Wow! Did I feel like a jerk. It stinks when you get so caught up in the noise that you miss what's really important - the relationships. I hope the families at the Rock Church know that I love their children and really don't think it's cool for them to get hit in the head by soccerballs. My favorite part of working with children is the relationships. I love it when kids are so excited to tell me about their week or something important that happenned. Next week, I'm not going to miss out on that.