It is apparently the new trend to figure yourself out in 100 questions or less, then post the results for all to scoff! So, here ya go...
When I was hired at Lifechurch.tv over 5.5 years ago, I took a Myers/Briggs test and tested as an ENFP. Since then, I've changed a lot. Through life experience and adding to my family...I have adapted some and obviously have become a "hard-nose" about things! Man....I used to be a nice guy!
So I'm at work and my friend calls me and asks me what my address is. Come to find out, my new friend is on his way to my house with a trailer and a couple of guys with chainsaws! When I got home from work, not only was every branch and limb that fell now cleaned up, but they took care of my neighbor's big fallen limb....AND raked my front and back yard up!
I was amazed at the generosity of some people! Now I get to focus on taking care of last minute family issues (still haven't finished christmas shopping) instead of loading limbs all day. So, a HUGE THANK YOU to my friend...and his son and co-worker for busting their tails so I didn't have to. Amazing!
This past week has been a little on the crazy side of things. We were hit hard with one of the worst ice storms in Oklahoma history. The ice fell from the sky and froze everything! Due to the sheer weight, trees started shedding limbs and bowing down to the ground.
Early Monday morning of last week, Rachel and I laid in bed listening to the giant Maple tree in our backyard creak, then snap, then WHOOSH!, then CRASH as it eschewed limbs. Several limbs hit the roof. We were afraid that they'd come through the roof or fall through the windows. We have an older home with mature trees all over the neighborhood. It literally looks like either a tornado or a bomb went off in our edition.
I bought a chain saw, and my friend Rob came over to help me trim some trees. Now I have to get all these branches from the back yard into the front, load em up and haul em off! VERY EXCITE!!!
We lost power Monday morning, left and went to the church to work in the heat. Then lost power there. We then stayed at a friend/boss' house with their four kids and our friends the Beckleys with their little guy. All in all, 12 people under one roof...NO ONE DIED! It was like a big sleep over! So, now..power's restored and all is left is the dang tree limbs! When this all started, over 500,000 people were without power. A week later and it's down to 100,000.
I grew up in a church where we would have a special time each and every week. It was indicated in that week's bulletin as a "message in song," or a "special." The truth of the matter is that usually it wasn't all that special. It was usually just mediocre. I think that, truth be told, we could have labeled most of them as "sub-pars." As in, "let's all git ready now as sister Donna comes up here to perform a sub-par!" The sad fact is that, in my opinion, the church perpetuates the musically un-talented to keep at it. This is demonstrated each season of American Idol where we watch as countless people believe that they have a beautiful voice because: a. their momma says so, and b. "I sing in my church!"
I don't really believe that we're doing these people a favor by coddling them just to be nice. I feel that it is much better to just tell them the truth. I'm not saying to tell them they're dreadful (with a British accent.) The unfortunate dilemma is that most likely you'll be crushing a dream, and slapping them with a reality check which will cause them to think about past performances....much like the video below...
So, all I'm saying is that we owe it to people to lovingly tell them if they are serving in an area where they just aren't gifted. It's worth it to us and to them to help plug them into an area of ministry that fits better. If you work with volunteers...I would love to hear any good stories on this subject.... *note: The video is not to make fun of the young woman, just to laugh along with her.
Each year, for the past several years, Lifechurch.tv hosts all of its staff and spouses for the annual "The December Event." (Yes, it is in its simplicity that you'll find the creativity of the name!) Anyway, we came together at our OKC campus and heard from Perry Noble, Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. All I have to say about him is that I have a new-found fear of butt-freezing snow snakes. You can read more about his talk and the first day of our event here.
Thursday had some really great information and insight which you can read about here. It was a rough day for the Henslee family though! Ezra got some sort of 24hr bug last week and was VERY sick. Rachel got it next, and wouldn't you know it I followed right behind. It all began Wednesday night when I was bowing down to the porcelain water goddess and retching myself so hard my femur hurt! Sorry to be gross....but I think the whole hotel was afraid an woolly mammoth was about to break through their wall! What can I say, I'm a loud sick person. So most of Thursday I was just achy and cold.
Rachel had to stay in the hotel with a crying baby so that we wouldn't put him in child care and potentially get other people sick. So, although she was feeling the best out of the lot of us, she had to listen to the screaming kid all day!
Today, all is well. The kiddo is doing better, Rachel feels better and I feel like nothing ever happened! I wish that were the case. I wasn't able to get as much out of the event as I would have like due to feeling so puny. So, I'll end the whining session now and let you get to reading the cool blogs that I posted links to up ahead! Moral of the story.....freakin wash your hands!!!! It's FLU season!!!!
Yep, I ran the half-marathon a little over two weeks ago. Now, this weekend I'm running a measly 5k. I got a small addiction to running over the past few months. Part of it is the hangout time with people that I enjoy being around, and the other part of it is challenging myself and meeting goals. At any rate, in order to meet another large goal that I've set for myself, I will have to participate in smaller races through the winter to keep up the goal setting pace!
This weekend we are running in the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis in Tulsa. There are a lot of people that singed up from the Tulsa campus of Lifechurch.tv. We have formed a team and will be wearing some nice red shirts that advertise our church and point people to the website. If everyone who signed up at church actually registers, we'll raise at least $1,000 for Arthritis and we'll have around 50 people running together. If you would like to donate, you can do so at my donation site. We're really trying to find ways to partner with our community and reach out while making people aware of our presence in the area.
