Dinner at the Simpsons!

Last night we went to the Simpsons to make dinner for them since Sarah is wore out and Dan is a little bit crippled at the moment. It was alot of fun and a blessing to get to serve them, as well Danny and I got to play some Madden together. The kids played well together, and we had alot of fun. It really was a blessing to spend time with them and to fellowship, unfortunately Sarah wouldn't eat my cooking because Isaac said something about me being Shoooey when we got there so she thought it would translate to the food, but ya'll know Dan he will eat anything!

Small Group at the Simpsons

Last night we had our first of many successful small group meetings. We had a ton of awesome food (Sarah's mom made an awesome cheesecake) and (my lasagna was a hit too or so I heard). We had a great time getting to know people in our group even more. The teens sat in with the adults and listened to Dan and I give our testimonies. I learned alot about Dan that I didn't know and it helped me understand more of where he is with his walk with God and that is a truly amazing place to be, to see how much of a heart of service that he and Sarah both have is a real blessing! I got to share my testimony as well and it was the first time that I had the oppourtunity to do so since my return to my walk with Christ and it felt amazing. Jared and I talked a ton more college football and he and I could talk NCAA for hours. I honestly think aside from the food that my favorite part of the night was the prayer at the end, we had some unique special prayer requests and we laid hands on Dan and prayed for his surgery that he is getting right now. All in all it was a great night of food, family, fellowship, and fun!

Finally a good day!

Finally a good day! So I get up this morning and head down to CTI Freight Brokers to sit in on some calls with Dave Begley, I wasn't there more than half an hour and had posted a comment to Paul Peterson regarding church and his Insurance situation, within 30 seconds he asked me if he could call me to help him with it! so I emailed my number to him and he called a couple of minutes later, I asked if he would like me to come by and sit with him and Sherri to explain it to them, so I was on my way and decided to stop by the American Family office down stairs to get a business card for Paul and less than 3 minutes into the conversation she is offering me a job selling Life Insurance (So I am meeting with her on Monday at 4pm) then I got to the Peterson's to help relieve the confusion for Paul, and less than five minutes after I am there Paul was comfortable playing footsies with me! 30 minutes after being there I got a call from this Manager from an Insurance Broker that I have been planning to go to work for in August! I was beginning to worry that this job may fall through, but now with the call from him I am even more confident and willing to get started, It seems like things were looking down and I would never be back to doing sales and now in less than a week I have three jobs offered to me at once all of which may be getting some feasible time from me! Also on top of that I found out this morning that the company that I have been driving a truck for for the last 5 weeks, got me a load that picks up at 9pm in Dayton and delivers at 12am in Toledo and I will still make $500 (guaranteed) money from them ....thus eliminating all of my "commission only worries"!

Simpson/Smith Small Group Cookout Kickoff

Wow what a great time we had hosting everyone out at our house today! We put alot of effort into cleaning up the house with what little time we had to do it in and we appreciate all of the help that we had cleaning up afterwards! Fact is Diana is way too busy to clean everyday and I clean like a man lets face we are dirty creatures lol! It was great to spend some more time getting to know Jared and Christine Taylor. It was generally fun to have everyone down let them know what the Simpso/Smith Small Groups plans are and what we have learned from the Small Group training and how we intend on applying it! Plus we had some awesome food, talked football, video games (talked and played), went over the Simpson/Smith meeting from July 4th that went so well. Plus discussed some more ideas that some people that had not been to Small Groups training! All in all it was a great night of fellowship, food and fun. We were honored to have you all down and we love you! Please remember to keep my Aunt Betty Curtis and her inoperable tumors....God is going to deliver her from this, I know it in my heart!

One of those days!!!

Today was one of those days where you just wish you hadn't got out of bed! Everything that could go wrong today has and on top of that I have a wife who is stressed out because of her job. Julie fell and hurt her arm tonight hitting the concrete I thought she might have broken it and was a little scared that may have been the case! Thankfully she is ok only a minor scrape and a little blood loss and she will be as good as new in a couple of hours more than likely! Also lost to Danny in Madden tonight....Not a happy camper there! I had time set aside tonight to fix the brakes on my Buick and Diana's dad was going to help me, but evidently I didn't get here in his time schedule and he left before we could get them change and then gave me an earful about making him wait! Oh well new day now lets make the most of it!

Small Groups, Small Groups, Small Groups, and More Small Groups!!

The more and more we talk about, get prepared for, and get closer to beginning our small group the more and more excited we get about it! I know some of you may have read the post I did earlier on some of our plans for small group, but we had lunch with Dave, Trish, Danny, Sarah and their families ( I love these guys and gals) and I gotta tell you that I love everyones enthusiasm regarding the commitment of having a successfull small group, we really have some great ideas not only for our group "in house" but also for some "in group" outreaches. I have been practicing on my guitar so much the last 2 weeks I can barely hold down the strings because my finger tips hurt so bad. Thank God for new thinner strings, they won't hurt as bad! I have been playing alot better now though which is helpful, it wont sound so bad. Just got a call from Dave B, I was planning on going to help the Peterson's move but he said that they are all moved in, so looks like I will get to abuse my fingers some more tonight! I may enjoy a flick at home by myself too, although I have some mowing to do, after it cools down a little.

This is some school spirit!

Small Group Plans!

Well we didn't have alot of plans for the 4th of July and evidently neither did Danny and Sarah Simpson. So we set aside some time today for God and we got together to celebrate our independence and freedom in Him, by discussing our plans as a group for our Small Group that we are Co-leading, I gotta say out of all the couples that we have hung out with in the past Danny and Sarah are my favorites! I have almost as much of a man-crush on Danny as I do Adrian Peterson (of the Minnesota Vikings, Dan knows why!) and Matthew McConaughey...just kidding Dan! Anyways we had the opportunity to speak freely about God in a public place (Don't vote for Obama or that may not be happening for long). Isn't our Independence great! So we discussed out plans about our group and here are some of our ideas! Oh and BTW I will be posting a poll on some ideas for our group activities!

1. Our first night we are all (as in Me, Diana, Danny and Sarah) going to give our testimonies! We are also going to have a very laid back time of fellowship a short remix and a Game Night, Diana and I have an awesome board game to bring! Kind of a get to know everyone a little better night!
2. We are going to schedule a fun night once a month away from the host house (ideas welcome), kind of like how the Men's group meets in different places each month!
3. We will have a sign up sheet for snacks so that we can alternate so the Hosts are doing everything on our own!
4. We are also going to have a sign-up sheet for SERVICE...I mean helping people in the church or their immediate families that may not attend CP that have had babies, or surgery and may not be able to do as much as the normally can!
5. We are working up some ideas for community Outreach! I have already cleared a Car Wash through Ray to collect money for the Church's Benevolent Fund. This will be coming soon, and the church gave out $200 a few weeks ago to a needy family and we want to bless God by returning that to our church to help others in the future!
6. We need a phone/email list of the people who know that they will be attending our Small Group! If your read my blog my email is reddog45107@yahoo.com you can email it to me anytime or you can call me @ (937) 603-4599
7. We are going to have an in group prayer chain! We want dedicated people who will call one another to pray for our wonderful church and for our awesome leadership team! I am sure that everyone of us says a little prayer for Ray every day, but I'm also sure he can use all the prayer he can get seeing as how Satan is always attacking him and his servitude for the Lord!

We love you all and we are all really excited about the small groups and the opportunity to grow together towards God!

BIG DADDY WEAVE CONCERT!!

Wow what an amazing performance, I thought they were as good as Matt Redman and he is my favorite artist! We made the drive to Hillsboro despite the threat of rain, and I had prayed earlier that God would hold off the rain until after the show, guess he heard my cry for help! The rain held off until 10 minutes or so after we got into the car! They played all of my favorites plus a few other peoples hits it was truly amazing. "Every Time I breathe" was so awesome and is my favorite song by them, and they performed a new one that is very exceptional off their new album that comes out July 22nd, get it you wont regret it. At one point during "Fields of Grace" "Big Daddy Mike" their lead singer said this was his favorite part and it instantly made me think of Pastor Ray "There's a place where religion finally dies" and the next line in the song is my favorite "There's a place where I lose my selfish pride". I have to tell you that it was a privilege to see the band perform it in person but Chris Wall and the CP Orchestra can bang it out pretty close to as well as the band that wrote the song! A couple other highlights of the night was getting to see my cousin David, his wife Michelle and two of their kids, we ran into them, had no idea they would be there and sat with and worshiped God with them it was pretty awesome, and on top of that we ran into Jeff Meyer and his family from our old church Dove and found out that they had planted a new church in Hillsboro and were still attending Dove like once a month! But the most amazing thing of the night was getting to enjoy the music with my wife!

A New Start! and Vod

I finally found out when I start training for my new job! I have been wanting to get back into the sales field for the last few months....when I am not selling it feels like something is missing in my life! I absolutely love selling, the competition of it, the personability of it, the building of client relationships, closing the deals, the o so high feeling of making the sale, the general excitement that selling and learning new things everyday brings! I am super excited about starting training! I start August 4th and it is a 4 week training session which I do get paid for, not only that but they also help me build a "bank of money" up so I can be paid the 2nd month while I am out selling and building my own business! This almost builds up to the excitement that ny wife and I have shared for Jesus and our new home Center Pointe, which has brought many wonderful new things into our lives! We are eager to get started with the small groups. We are eager to further build relationships. We are also eager to keep growing in Christ, as much as we have grown in the last few months, we want more, and more, and more....you get the idea! God has been awesome to us and his faithfulness remains the same today as it was yesterday and all the days before! I cannot even being to say how much our growth in Christ has meant to us over the last few months all I know is that is has changed us both tremendouly and I will never turn away from God again!

Romans 8:28 (New International Version)

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.