Two Great Faiths In One Candy Bar

FranklinMom.com

Lately, I've been helping my wife develop her blog - FranklinMom.com.  We've been encouraged by the early response.  I must say that women really love to socialize.  I can see why MomBloggers are the most powerful bloggers in cyberspace.  We have some big plans for the site and for the community to get involved.  More to come soon.  In the meantime, if you are a mom living in Williamson County, TN, this site would be great for you.  It's jam packed with family fun activity ideas, grocery shopping lists, recipes, events in Franklin, advice and so much more for the Franklin Mom. 

My Two Sons and Football

Kaden, the little rocket.



Alex, Super Bear.

The Ministry of the Unnoticed

Taken from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

August 21, 2009

"Blessed are the poor in spirit..." - Matthew 5:3

The New Testament notices things that do not seem worthy of notice
by our standards. "Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . ." This
literally means, "Blessed are the paupers." Paupers are remarkably
commonplace! The preaching of today tends to point out a person’s
strength of will or the beauty of his character— things that are easily
noticed. The statement we so often hear, "Make a decision for Jesus
Christ," places the emphasis on something our Lord never trusted. He
never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him— something very
different. At the foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is the genuine
loveliness of those who are commonplace. I am truly blessed in my
poverty. If I have no strength of will and a nature without worth or
excellence, then Jesus says to me, "Blessed are you, because it is
through your poverty that you can enter My kingdom." I cannot enter His
kingdom by virtue of my goodness— I can only enter it as an absolute
pauper.

The true character of the loveliness that speaks for God
is always unnoticed by the one possessing that quality. Conscious
influence is prideful and unchristian. If I wonder if I am being of any
use to God, I instantly lose the beauty and the freshness of the touch
of the Lord. "He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water" ( John 7:38 ). And if I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.

Who
are the people who have influenced us most? Certainly not the ones who
thought they did, but those who did not have even the slightest idea
that they were influencing us. In the Christian life, godly influence
is never conscious of itself. If we are conscious of our influence, it
ceases to have the genuine loveliness which is characteristic of the
touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He
produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.

Titans Fake Punt - Best Ever

Quietime CDs at Lifeway Christian Stores

My instrumental CDs are featured in the front counters at all Lifeway Christian Stores (150 or so) for the rest of the year.  Quietime Hymns and Quietime Devotion through October.  Then, Quietime Christmas until the end of the year.  All at a special price.  Wooohoo.  They make great Christmas gifts!

Summer Update

I haven't written since before July 4th.   Where has the time gone?  Let's see...

We spent July 4th weekend with the Bryan's at their house.  We lit up firecrackers that night, which we bought at the Triune Mall Flea Market.  Not sure why the flea market part of that sentence was so important, but oh well. 

Then, from there, I flew to Denver for a short trip to ICRS (the International Christian Retail Show).  It's my annual convention for the Christian retail trade industry.  I met with many friends and accounts.  It's always a worthwhile time on many levels. 

We took our house off the market shortly thereafter as it was not selling.  We had 20 showings and no offers in 90 days.  All of us were tired of keeping the house clean constantly - especially with a newborn in our home.  We decided to take the rest of the summer to sell off the remaining items we brought back into our garage from storage.  I've read two books on eBay, Amazon.com, Half.com and Craigslist.  I feel very edu-ma-cated on the subject and beginning to work on online selling and marketing of my "stuff".  I'm currently reading a book on selling my house For Sale By Owner.  That's what we plan to do once we've sold all of our stuff. 

We've been looking at several homes in several different neighborhoods.  We like new homes in the Stags Leap (off Arno Road), Kings Chapel (off 96 in Arrington) and Autumn Ridge (in Spring Hill) subdivisions.  We also like the idea of staying in our school district and keeping things stable for the boys.  However, we have only found homes that need a lot of work in Fieldstone Farms and Cottonwood.  These places are comfortable for us, but we're not excited about all of the work it's going to take to get them to where we need them.  In the meantime, we are making the best of things in our current house.  I have a lot of home improvement projects to do around the house.  We feel it may be best to take care of those anyway before we put the house back on the market. 

My parents have picked a condo in Tollgate, closed on the home on July 28th and have just moved into the new home this weekend.  Furniture has arrived and they are settling in.  It's a beautiful 3-bedroom condo on the top floor overlooking the rolling hills of Franklin, TN.  They are just in the outskirts of Franklin in Thompson's Station.  It's a perfect location right next to the I-840 junction and an easy 10 minute drive to their future golf course community - Laurel Cove (planned to be finished next year) built by Greg Norman.

We had a fun time with Mr. Jim Harrison (from church) who took the boys and I fishing on Gentry Farm.  Check out the pic to the right.  The boys caught over 10 fish each - mostly Blue Gill.  Alex and Mr. Jim caught a catfish each.

We had church camp this past weekend.  We had such a great time.  We were at Tims Ford Lake State Park.  We stayed in cabins in the park.  During the day, we'd spend most of our time in a private cabin owned by one of the members of our church.  The theme of our camp was "Soar".  Isaiah 40:31 was our scripture theme. 

      But those who wait on the LORD
      Shall renew their strength;
      They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
      They shall run and not be weary,
      They shall walk and not faint. 

We had a wonderful time of worship, singing and teaching in the mornings.  Our afternoons were spent boating, tubing, riding Sea Doos, fishing, talking, playing golf and eating - lots of good eating.  We had a talent show one night.  We had some great laughs and great fun. Check out an iMix on iTunes of some of the music we sang at camp.

Yesterday, we went to Target, bought the boys some back to school clothes, rolling book bags and supplies.  School starts Thursday and I think we're all ready to get back into our school routine. 
We also visited with Amo & Apo at their place.  The boys had fun helping Apo put together the new TV stand in "their room".  I took a nap!  Then, we went over to Kings Chapel and spent time some good friends at their new pool.  That was nice, but we were tired in the end.  Krissy went to bed at 8pm.  I put the boys and Anthem down by 9pm.  And, I've finally had time to breathe. 

We have a lot to do the rest of the summer.  My work is ever changing.  I'm developing several offshoots to Go Global Entertainment - namely a direct to church division and direct to consumer division.  These will be my focus in the years to come in addition to the existing International licensing and distribution business.  I'm in the middle of changing my distribution systems and plan to move out of my existing warehouse this month. 

I'm back on P90X after a short break due to a small surgery I had two weeks ago.  I'm ready to get back at it.  I'm off now to go do Stretch X. 

More updates shortly...at least now you're caught up.