New Year Devo

Here is one of my favorite devotionals for a new year, enjoy.

Isaiah 52:12 “You shall not go out with haste,… for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”

Security from Yesterday
God requires an account of what is past (Ecc 3:15)
At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future. Yet sometimes we are a little nervous when we remember our yesterdays. We ask “How will this year be different?”. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders, but God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present. Don’t you sometimes wish you could forget the past? If you are not careful you will fall into the same things God delivered you from

Security for Tomorrow “…the Lord will go before you…”
This is a gracious revelation – that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures. As would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard”. God’s hand reaches back to the past. Settling all the claims against our conscience. We no longer have to carry the guilt, heartache, bitterness… because He settles it

Security for Today You shall not go out with haste…
As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. Let us go out with the patient power of knowing that God will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. Learn & grow from it

It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ

My point: Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands. Step out into the invincible future with Him

What are 3 things you will do different or change in '08?

Happy new year, MAKE it a good one.

normal?

Someone once told me that "normal" is nothing but a setting on a washing machine.

We are in a season of our lives where we are adjusting to the "new normal". Raegan is now a couple weeks old and Hannah is still a red-head in her terrible (although hilarious) two's. Hannah is now adding jealousy to her personality & Raegan is sleeping great - DURING THE DAY!!!

Deni is getting an average of 8 hours of sleep -PER WEEK!!! I am doing what I can around the house and with Hannah but I just don't have the right equipment (breasts) to provide what Raegan needs (milk).

Adjusting to a newborn is amazing. I absolutely love it. It is just different than what we are used to - normal. Well, it is now the new "normal".

My point: you can keep a list of the negative or you can focus on the positive. So many people have bad relationships because they keep score. Unfortunately the bad is remembered or scored more often than the good. If you want great relationships, keep a running list of the positive things. Let the negatives go. That way - winners all around.

What are you still dreding or allowing yourself to have a bad attitude about that you just need to accept as the new "normal"?

If you want to see "normal", look on your washing machine.

Raegan Noelle

I apologize to my fan (notice that is not plural) for not blogging in a while. I have been out having a baby. Well, I didn't actually have the baby...

We went to the hospital last thurs night and had a beautiful little baby girl friday morning. Raegan was born at 10:45am on Dec 7th. She weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 19.5 inches long. Those stats really don't say much to me but they seem to be the ones people want to know.

She looks a lot like her sister Hannah did when she was born but I can only pray she doesn't act like her... She has traces of red hair on that bald head of hers - Lord help me!!!

What's in a name:
- We chose the name "Raegan" because we like it. Enough said!! Actually each letter in her name can be taken from our names and used to form "Raegan". "Raegan" means "royalty" and she is our little princess. My suggestion was "Dengar", which means "Deni got pregnant by Gary and they had a little girl", but Deni wasn't having any of that.
- Her middle name is "Noelle". We chose that simply because she is our holiday season baby. It is not a family name at all - we just thought it was a good December kind of name.
- Her last name is "Fowler", that name was chosen for her because it was my sperm that created her. Ok, enough about the name.

Raegan is a beautiful, healthy little girl. I pray she has a great life with a HUGE dream. It is so exciting to dream of all the possible things this little girl will do with this precious life.

My point: life is precious and is meant to be lived with purpose. If you don't have a dream, I am sorry. If you do, what are you doing to help that dream become a reality. With a new life comes new responsibility. It is cool knowing part of the reason I was put on this earth is to "train up these girls in the way they should go..." (it's in the Bible, it's not a gfowler original quote)

The fact that I am responsible for another human life (actually 3 of them) is utterly ridiculous!!!

more cowbell

"Living the dream" is what I tell people when they ask how things are going @ C3.

Part of the dream is working with great people and great friends. As part of a team, I know my role. Part of my role is to speak Sunday's on occasion. Konan needs a break every now and then, so today was my turn (& maybe my last...ha)

I always thought it would be really cool to use the "cowbell" skit from SNL. I was never sure how to make it fit... until now.

I talked about 1 Cor 12 where Paul tells us that we are all a bunch of different parts but our faith in Jesus unites us into one body. One body with many parts. Those parts work together to create something that by themselves would never be able to become. Christians are to work together to form a healthy body. That healthy body is then able to "reach, tell, serve, bless, teach"... and everything else a healthy strong body is supposed to do.

Enter the cowbell:

I used the skit to illustrate how, just like a band, we all have different talents and if misused (like Gene does with the cowbell when he is mad), the body is not healthy. But if used to compliment and accent others, we can create gold records. Our body can even wear "gold diapers" (you gotta watch the clip to understand that one...).

My point: Are you playing well with others. If you are a Christian, you need to be part of a body. You have a gift that will strengthen the body. If you are not a Christian - email me, we can talk. If you are a Christian and not part of a body (local church), you are missing out - BIG TIME!!! You are like a hand in a jar - detached from the body. That is just gross!!!

We had fun today. Now you can tell everyone that "C3 church played the cowbell skit."

disclaimer: we edited the video to remove the cuss word. The one on here contains a word that rhymes with "bell"... view at your own discretion.