I don’t know if you all felt this way but I’m glad Christmas is over. We were so busy we didn’t get to enjoy it and it never really felt like Christmas any ways. We went to a great Christmas Eve service with my family at the church I grew up at, Central Christian Church. But other than that there was something about this year that made it feel different. One if the areas we are busy with is that we have been looking for a house to rent and finally found one and had to move our stuff in last week so wouldn’t have to pay an other months rent at our storage unit. It’s a nice little house, it eerie because the house is very much like the house we had in Savannah. The same wood floors and pretty similar layout. The room our daughter is going to sleep in is almost the same color, sea foam blue/ green. Odd. We traveled a lot to see different family members and get swamped by presents for our little girl, our family spoiled her this year. Not to sound like a complainer but I’m glad we can move on into next year and regain our focus on Christ.

What a great day for life long Dolphin fans. We beat the Jets 24-20, which gives us a 7-7 record and a little hope of the playoffs and the Chargers beat the Colts to stop their undefeated streak at 13-0. Making the ‘72 Dolphins the only team to go undefeated in both the regular season and playoffs. The streak is still alive!

Have you ever felt like you were at such a lose for where God was leading you America (ok, I had to say it that way cause it is the way Bernie Mac would have said it). I still have ultimate faith that God is leading our family for where He can best use us, but being in this waiting period not knowing where we will end up and no idea either. We have had to change our thinking about what we think God is wanting us to do, maybe He wants us to serve the church as volunteers but I have no idea what I would do in the world outside of the church. I have thought about it, looked through the classifieds and nothing. I have some real encouraging people in my life (especially my beautiful wife) who are being used by God to keep me up beat and focused on seeking God. Another wrench that has been thrown into the mix is that my beautiful wife just found out she is pregnant. Holy Cow! What we have been trying for a year and now she gets pregnant! I know God knows what He is doing and the worst part of not being God is that we don’t know what He is planning. Thanks for listening to me rant. I feel like I’m laying on a couch and you are hear to listen to my problems.

I saw on the news last night that a group called Atheist Agenda at University of Texas at San Antonio is passing out porn for bibles, the Koran and other spiritual texts. The president of the group said why not pass out smut for smut. He said that the they are passing out something that is semi-bad for something that is absolutely terrible. Other than being a Christian and sad that the devil is using this group to tempt one of the most vulnerable ages for Christians being away from home at college but I couldn’t believe that for some who said that atheists know more scripture than we think didn’t know that much. After saying this he never proved that he did and the few things he said was terrible about moral religions were not Christian beliefs but actually Muslim, that women are worth half as much as a man. He also could not articulate his position against religion. It was quite funny to me that he began to use the argument that C.S. Lewis uses in the beginning for Mere Christianity for a supreme being when he said that it wasn’t the scared texts that give us the idea that somethings are wrong, but he goes on to say it is out of empathy. Which our argument is that we had to get the idea from something other than ourselves because human nature leads us to do things that lead to pleasure not right and wrong.

The Florida Christian Youth Convention was great. We had a great speaker, Robin Sigars, a great local worship team that has only gotten better over the last three years we have had them, great bands, Shawn McDonald, Fireflight, Passionate and Shattered Silence. I can really say that we put in a lot of hard work and it paid off. We are back at it again starting in Jan ‘06 with a new theme, Possessed. Keep looking to the website www.fcyc.org for more information as we can post it. The greatest part of putting a convention like this on is the lives that are affected by God. As we walked out of the Lakeland Center on Sunday morning there was a youth minister and a volunteer talking with a student that made a decision that morning and see that and all the other decisions that were made over the weekend made all the hard work, time and headaches worth it. To God be the glory!

Today is the start of the Florida Christian Youth Convention. I have worked on the Publicity Team this year and so I’m excited as a team member to see how the convention is received by all who attend. We worked hard this year and withe a few set backs have put together an incredible convention around the them “Dirty Faith”. I post on Sunday to let you all know how it went and remind to be there next year.

I just learned that every December 1st is World Aids Day. I think it is a good idea to bring to the fore front of peoples minds that there are people all over the globe that are suffering from this disease. I know that education is our greatest chance to lower the rate of infection not only in civilized countries but also third world countries. I hope you will take time today to pray for those with HIV/ Aids and their families and also for those working hard to educate the masses. Many great strides have been made in the medicine also and through the work of Data, One, and Make Poverty History governments around the world are helping pay for drugs so that those who can’t afford them are able receive them.