What does the future hold? I have absolutely no clue. I don't know what the next minute will hold let alone what tomorrow may hold. That is the amazing thing about following Christ. Tomorrow is a mystery to me, but not to my savior. There's amazing peace in that. I will plan for the future the best that I can, but ultimately I place all my plans into His hands.

God loves us. A simple phrase that most Christians would readily agree with. I’m not denying it’s true. God does love people. The Bible tells us that he loved us enough to send his son for us. The problem arises when we begin to confuse love and approval. Just because God loves us does not mean he approves of what we do. I see this more and more reflected in my life with my children. I love them. Their hugs and kisses are worth more than gold to me. I love them even when they mess up and do wrong things. My love for them doesn’t change. However, just because I love them does not mean I approve of everything they choose to do. When my daughter lies to me, it cuts deep. I still love her, but I don’t approve.

I think we sometimes need to examine ourselves very closely. We get so comfortable in God’s love that we fail to realize that there are things that we’ve allowed into our lives that don’t please him. He still loves, but he isn’t pleased. Are we willing to be open enough with God that he can begin to point these things out to us? I hope so, because more than anything I want us all to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

I have some questions for Sam’s Club. Why do we have to show our membership card to come in and shop? What is the benefit of having a worker stand there glancing at our cards? This is just my opinion, but wouldn’t some very clear signs stating that Sam’s Club requires purchasers to have membership be just as effective? It’s not as if someone can sneak in without membership and secretly buy products. As I was just there this afternoon, the only way to purchase is to have the cashier swipe your membership card. I understand that you don’t want people to unknowingly walk in, shop, and then discover that they aren’t allowed to buy. The problem is that your workers really don’t check people that walk in. All you have to do to enter is walk close behind someone else that shows their card. As long as you are close the worker doesn’t even give you a second glance. And let’s not forget today. Today as I walked in, I mistakenly grabbed my Discover card out of my wallet and showed it to the worker. There was no, “sorry sir but that isn’t a membership card.” There was no, “Hey! Members only punk!” There was a smile and I walked right on in. So again I must ask the question, why do I have to show my membership card?

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I know it's something we take for granted anymore, buy I find it amazing that I can be writing this post from my phone. When I click publish, it will post this to my blog on Google which in turn will sync it to my official blog page. As a tech person, I am constantly amazed at the multitude of technologies that are being created. It also saddens me. Knowledge is increasing, but wisdom seems to be on the decline. While knowledge is great, the wise application of it is much greater. Don't really have any reason for that random correlation other than it was on my mind.

This is just a little post to let everyone know that I am sitting in the coffee shop at 6 in the morning. I've been up since 4:45. I thought with age came a love for mornings. Let me just unequivocally express that I do not like mornings. Mornings are for sleeping. I'm sure if I were to research the etymology of the word morning I would find a clear association with the word mourning. They are homonyms and it just makes sense. When you wake up early, you mourn the loss of sleep that you are experiencing. Hence, you are mourning. Over a few centuries the word changes to describe that time early before the sun rises.

To make it even better, there is a pastor I know meeting with a group of men here this morning. They are having a men's Bible study or accountability meeting. Now in addition to being tired, I have a beautiful sense of guilt that they are being very spiritual while I'm griping.

My pastor had a great quote this past Sunday. I tried to jot it down after the fact, but I know what I’m writing is a paraphrase at best.

“People spend a lot of time preparing to celebrate Christ’s first coming, and often spend so little time preparing for his second coming.”

May your Christmas celebrations tonight and tomorrow be filled with Christ’s presence and the knowledge that his return is getting closer than ever.

One of the saddest things I see as a youth pastor are youth that once loved the Lord grow indifferent. It's not that they totally reject God, they just really don't care anymore. Yeah, they still show up. They can still talk about God. Yet, you watch them and see that there's simply nothing there. No substance behind the talk. This problem isn't limited to youth either. It cuts out your heart though watching it happen. There's not much you can even say because again, they just don't care.

Not much more to say. It is weighing heavy on me though.

I'm writing this with approximately ten minutes left in the third quarter. The score is currently 24 to 10. Not looking good for my Buckeyes. But, thankfully my life isn't built upon football. I really enjoy watching it and the Bucks are my favorite team, but it doesn't consume me. That's why in a few minutes I will go to bed with the game still on. I'll go to sleep without knowing the outcome (well, sadly I think I know the outcome already). My life has more importance than a game.

Great, as I write this OSU just gave up another touchdown. Stupid Buckeyes. They couldn't play their way out of a wet paper...oh yeah, it's just a game. Looks like I'll be saying that for another year.

Just wanted to wish anyone reading this a Merry Christmas. While you are celebrating, take a quick look at the church I attended yesterday here in Iowa. It might be hard to see, but the three glass panels upfront have water flowing down over them. They are permanent and obviously go with the words above. The lights below were red and green, but I was told they regularly change them. It was a very nice effect. The only thing was the noticeable absence of a cross. At least I don't recall seeing one. The cross is still central to the message of Christ. Just my opinion I guess. I think a cross would have looked great in the center pane of glass. I'm sure creative people could come up with all kinds of symbolism. Anyway, that's enough for today. Since we had Christmas today already, I'll probably still write tomorrow on the 25th.