Nothing lasts forever

Part of my job at Fellowship is leading one of the newly married community groups.
This group started because our other newly married community group was overflowing and more and more young people were visiting. So a year ago Katie and I helped start a newly married community group.
Katie and I were talking today that there are over 20 couples who consider this place home.
We get the opportunity to pour our limited 7 years of marriage into these newly married couples.
Today I referenced a book called "This Momentary Marriage" by John Piper.

Let me first say that I would recommend ANYTHING by John Piper. If you are looking for a good book to take you beyond "Christian bookstore reading", I would highly recommend Piper. He cites scripture constantly. He backs up his thought with the truth of God's word. His books are not sit down, drink a cup of coffee and finish in a weekend. Rather they make you wrestle, challenge you, and make you uncomfortalbe- but still i recommend them.

The idea of This Temporary Marriage is that nothing lasts forever, including marriage, except for Christ.
We know that our possessions will not last forever, our house, our bank account, our tennis game, etc. But either will our relationships. Matt 22:30 tells us that in eternity there will not be marriage.
So what does this tell us about marriage?
It is God's idea.
It's a gift from God.
But this is a gift with a purpose, sort of like a gym membership. (NOTE: NEVER give a gym membership as a gift, there is nothing good that will come out of that gift!) But lets say that someone gives you a gym membership. It is a wasted gift if you do not use the gym to work out and get in better shape.
The same is true of marriage. It has been given to us as a gift to make us more like Christ. It we are not allowing our marriage to make us more into His likeness I would argue our marriage is being wasted.

I don't want to talk too much about the book, you can read it for yourself.
Actually you can download it for free.
Your marriage, or your singleness (also in this book), are too important to just happen.
Your marriage is THE greatest tool that God has given the world to show His covenantal relationship with His people.
Read it for free HERE

consumed

This is pretty consuming right now.
In a good way.
Going much faster than we imagined.
Drywall is going in today.
Even this pic is really old. We have all electrical run, windowns and doors, etc..
More pics later.

Random pic of Davis helping with Annie.
We've started putting her down at 7:30. She is sleeping till 7. Its good to have our evenings back.

New playground

We are the epitome of safety around here.
No one can tell this playground isn't up to code.
Wood, metal, full size hammers.
I'm pretty sure that my favorite part of this picture is the fact that Davis is working in a polo.
*disclaimer- i had nothing to do with this. this was davis' mom and poppa.
notice davis at the foot of the ladder.

Little Lady

Little lady is what I find myself calling Annie most often.
She continues to eat great and sleep 10 hours a night.
Today she is 4 months old!






We got down the bouncy seat and jumper and it is so crazy that she can already fit in these things. We can't wait to see how big Annie looks compared to Lawson, Demetria and Chris' son, when he arrives in less than 3 weeks!

Worship

I know that I could lose some readers after this post, but so it goes.

This is a picture of Lane Kiffin walking through a sea of orange on Saturday before Tennessee's game against W.Kentucky.
Almost every form of biblical worship is expressed in this photo.
People are shouting.
I'm sure some folks were speechless.
People are raising their hands.
People are offering praise.

Incredible worship, terrible god.

The exact opposite could be said on most Sundays.

terrible worship, Incredible God.

Some people in that crowd stand with their hands raised, voices loud and hearts engaged. Yet the next day if they chose to go to church they would say, "Oh, I'm just not a passionate person." Really?

We ARE worshippers. Everyone worships.
Everyone.
We all worship something. Some people worship celebrities, some people worship a position, others worship money, or status, or even our children. The list could go on, but we are wired to worship.

As I look at the picture above I think about Philip Fulmer. Where was he during this picture? Just last year he was the center of this "attention" and how quickly earthly fame fades. How quickly will these same people turn on Lane? His first loss, his first major mistake in play calling? When we haven't "won it all" after so many years?
The reason we will eventually turn on Lane is simple. Lane Kiffin will NOT satisfy. As much as we would like for him too, he won't. He can't.
Lane Kiffin is a miserable Savior.
Lane Kiffin is not meant to be a savior.

How much time will I spend this week talking about a game, instead of talking about life. (John 10:10)
How much time will I spend dwelling on things that will fade away, instead of things that will endure. (Psalm 100:5)

Please hear me say, I am not hating on Lane, Tennessee football or anything else that steals our attention.
What I HATE, is how quickly my heart turns from the One who loved me first, (1 John) how quick I am to worship and serve created things instead of the Creator (Romans 1). What I hate is the sin in my heart and yours that allows us to enjoy temporary happiness instead of Eternal Joy.

We ARE worshippers.
This week I don't want to worship a sport. I don't want to worship Katie, Annie, Davis or anything else good that comes from God.
I want to worship Jesus Christ, my only hope.

I hope you know He is yours.

Final Photos

Here are some final photos of our time at the beach.
Annie's eyes are amazing, no photo trickery here, just point and shoot.
We had a great week with family and are so thankful for family that is also friends.

some pics of our time

Here are a few pics of our time with family in Charleston.

Davis is becoming such a big boy.

Muma spending the morning with Annie on the porch.
Davis acting like he is Annie.
We have found that Kristin has the magic touch with Annie.

We had a shrimp boil on Tuesday Night, poolside.

Love this picture of Davis and Katie.

Yes, I did wear this shirt. Love it.
Delicious




Just dominated some catch phrase.
Going to bed.