Homecoming

Tonight was an unbelievable night in Ground Zero. Tonight is why I do what I do. We had about 10 people give their hearts to the Lord and 15 rededications. We talked about Homecoming to go along with our football theme. God wants us to come home. He, like the father in the story (Luke 15:11-32) is waiting anxiously for our return. He's given us His greatest possession... His Son. What a great night it was. Tears were shed. Hearts were changed. This is what New Vision is about. What an honor it was to be the one God used tonight. Thank you, Lord.

My Best Friend

Friday, I had lunch with my high school best friend, Kevin. I haven't seen him in about 3 years, so needless to say, we had a lot to catch up on. It's been almost 13 years since we graduated. We grew up together in the same church and spent the night at each other's houses every weekend for years. As I was talking with him, I began to remember all the trouble we use to cause. The following is a short list of things we did to wreck havack on others from age 13-18:
1. At age 14, we filled up an empty plastic bread bag with water, tied it up and dropped it 5 stories onto a limousine roof in Gatlinburg, TN. As we let it go, the bride and groom inside the limo stepped out of the car.
2. When we were 15, we were lighting off bottle rockets at New Years. We decided to put the rockets in the bottle upside down. Blew up the bottle and shards of glass went into the swimming pool. Kevin held my feet while I went head first into the pool to fish out the glass. It was about 10 degrees that year on January 1st. We didn't get all the glass out and his parents had to have the liner replaced that Summer. They still say I owe them half of what that cost.
3. Went muddin' in Kevin's '73 VW Beetle. Got it so covered in mud, the cops pulled us over for driving a dangerous motor vehicle.
4. Senior year, 1995, Kevin and I orchestrated a toga party day at school. We got about 25-30 people to join us on the day we got our cap and gowns. We all got called into the office and repremanded. They made us remove the togas. THE PROBLEM: Kevin didn't wear anything but his boxers underneath his toga. He was sent home.
5. Same year, we signed up for Floral Design class just so we'd be able to be in a class full of girls. THE PROBLEM: 20 other guys had the same idea.
6. Freshman year, we found each of our Dad's old... and I do mean old, golf clubs. With no lesson and no instructions, we played our first round of golf. Been playing ever since.
7. Junior year, after catching his VW on fire, he bought an old Ford 150. It was orange and white. He lived on a hill and the guy he bought the truck from failed to inform him that the e-brake was no longer functional. As soon as Kevin shut the door on the truck, it rolled down his driveway, rolled through a mailbox, bounced off of a tree and stopped in the living room of his next door neighbor.
8. We recorded ourselves reenacting Coolio's Fantastic Voyage video for an English assignment. If you have ever seen the video, you'll understand this. We put the camera facing the trunk of my car and we would go into the back seat and crawl out of the trunk. We would dress differnet everytime we did it so it looked like their was about 30 people crawling out of the trunk. Trust me, it was very humerous and got us a standing ovation and an A+ on the project.

We had some good times. I was blessed to have Kevin as my friend.

Guilt

This week I have been in the town I grew up in... Warner Robins, Georgia. I was at a restaurant when I met an old friend from high school. Haven't seen him in 12+ years. We both have families of our own of which we both were bragging. It amazes me how people's countenance changes when they find out what I do for a living. This guy informs me of what he does for a living. He then asks me the infamous question... "what do you do?" As soon as the words, "I'm a pastor" leave my lips, you can see the blood drain from his face. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has occurred, so I am use to it. After a few seconds of stammering, this friend begins telling me how he use to go church, but can't now because he has to work. He goes on to tell me that he tries to be an inspiration for those around him. I never asked him what church he goes to or "how's your walk with God been lately?" It's amazing to me how guilt or conviction transforms people's conversation. I never condemned and I never said a word to make him feel bad about the way things were going in his life. I hope things change for him. I hope I made that difference. (More to come later on this blog about this trip to Georgia.)

It's That Woot Woot!!

I was at a store the other day and found a whistle tip for your muffler at a joke store. I was with D-Cat and Beav who have seen the above video and we started quoting Mr. Bubb Rubb. While we were quoting, out of nowhere, the sales associate joins in the quoting with a "It's just for decoration. That's it and that's all!" I was amazed by her knowledge of the Oakland vernacular. I guess the internet can make stars out of people... even Lil Sis.

The earlier the better?

We are about two weeks behind on a family tradition that started the first year Paige and I got married. The first weekend after Halloween we take down all the fall decor and put out all the Christmas decorations. The regular CDs in the car have to be switched out for the Christmas. The pumpkins are thrown out and the trees go up. Our season of giving begins weeks before most people's. This year, we got busy and got behind, so today was the day. The major Martin event started off with an injury this year. As I was carrying the Christmas bins down from the attic, I missed the 5th step from the bottom and fell on my ankle. Below is a picture of what I call my 'cankle'. As you can see, it is swollen and there is no ankle... it just goes from calf to foot.

No, my ankle is normally not that fat. Anyway, so we began the marathon Christmas decorating today. I love my wife, so I say this in love. She is obsessed with Christmas trees. Everytime we have been around someone who is getting a new tree, she asked to take their old one. And even when the trees go on sale after Christmas, we stock up. This year, we added a 9 foot tall, 6 foot wide evergreen to the family. It took 6 - 140 count strands of lights to light it up. It looks nice; even better than the other 5 we already have. I have talked her down to having just three up this year.

I did enjoy spending time with my girls today. We spent about three hours taking all the ornaments out and hanging them one by one on the massive tree. These are the memories that I will always treasure and I know my girls will never forget. They'll always remember how we had to rearrange the family room and push everything to one side so that we could fit this green beast of a tree in the house. I love decorating!

Pep Rally

This past Wednesday was an unbelievable night. We continued in our series called "Friday Night Lives". This night we scheduled a Pep Rally for God. We talked about things that we need to be pumped about. 1. We are the apple of God's eye, 2. James 1:18 says that out of all creation, we are God's prized possession. That alone excites me. 3. The Bible tells us that in the end, we win, as long as we are on God's side. I don't know about you, but I want to be on the winning team. The teens were stoked about this event and even dressed in black and yellow. (Michael, thanks for the Stryper shout out.) In two weeks we have the last night of this series. It will be Homecoming and free food for all teens as we have a tailgate party.

Black Out!

I never understood why Louisville fans love the black jerseys so much. And then this weekend happened. I was sitting down to watch "The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry", Auburn vs. Georgia when unbeknownsed to me, my beloved Bulldogs rush the field in silver pants and for the first time ever... black jerseys!!! I was overcome with emotion. How can a jersey stir up those kind of emotions? I was stoked about this. It also helped that Georgia trounced the Tigers 20-45. I am now a fan of the black... now I gotta try and find one of these on the Internet.

Honestly!

Have you ever been talking with someone and they preface what they are getting ready to say with "I'm going to be honest with you." What's that about? Does that mean everything they said before that point was a lie? Or try this one... I was at church the other day and I was joking with someone when I said something that was not truthful. The comment was made that "you can't lie at church." What, does that mean it is acceptable to lie outside of the church? I guess God gives you a mulligan if you don't actually do it in His house. "Hold on a minute, Ralph... let's step outside the church so that I can be honest with you."

Chinese Pizza

Today I had lunch with my wife at a Chinese Super Buffet. The outside advertised that it had 268 items on the bar. Wow! As I am looking over the bar, I see things like pizza, hamburger, french fries and chicken nuggets. I thought I was at the Super Buffet not WokDonald's. Anyway, the food was good with one exception... the sushi. Yeah, two places you should never get sushi from; ValuMarket and a buffet. Trust me.

Friday Night Lives

Can we apply Friday Night Football strategies to our daily lives? Find out this Wednesday night @ 6:30 in Ground Zero when we start our new series entitled, "Friday Night Lives".

Arnold Palmer

Public Service Announcement for Arnold Palmer:

Too many times I have been carded when I order an Arnold Palmer. For the record, an Arnold Palmer is half tea & half lemonade. I hate getting carded for things that don't matter. It's not like I'm buying a large amount of fertilizer. The following is a list of other things I've been carded for:

1. White-Out

2. Canned Air

3. Gasoline

4. Halo 3

5. Sudafed

6. PG-13 Movie (I was 19)