Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Cardinal Fever!


Growing up in southeast Missouri, I was a kid obsessed with St. Louis Cardinal baseball. To say that I was an avid "fan" would have been a major understatement. I spent all my time in the field behind our trailer, imitating the athletic heroics of all my favorite players. During those seemingly endless Sunday night church services, I covered every square inch of our bulletin with pictoral drawings of the legendary Cardinal line-up: Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, Stan Musial, Kieth Hernandez, Bruce Sutter. My imagination was burning with Cardinal fever! One year, I even convinced my sisters to include the team in their bedtime prayers every night--calling each player by name...Ha! (I was preparing for the ministry then and didn't even know it!) The year was 1982, and the Cardinals beat the Brewers for the World Series!

When my parents moved us to Baton Rouge in the late 80's, I still followed the Cardinals but from a distance. My childhood interest in sports began to change when I embraced God's call on my life for the ministry. Serving on staff now for over a decade, most of my time is consumed with helping people cross the line of faith. My competitive streak has shifted gears from winning games to winning souls. Eternity doesn't hang on the hook of who wins this year's BCS, Super Bowl, or pennant race.

I must confess, however, I caught a fever this past month--it had streaks of red! I felt like an 8 year old boy again: glued to my TV set, a nervous wreck with every pitch, and shouting instructions to the team. When St. Louis won the World Series Friday night, it brought me back to that little trailer park some 24 years ago. I don't know why I get so emotional over stuff like this...I guess I am just re-living something I cherished as a boy. Does God really care about who wins the World Series??? Who can really say? I don't know, but Friday night I sure did!

Thursday, October 26, 2006

One Way


What a great experience!! Last night, all of our campuses and generations came together for a time of worship and celebration. We've been praying all week and believing God for the miraculous as we make preparations for this weekend. You cannot be a healing place for a hurting world and not believe in the touch of the Divine. Miracles come in all different shapes and sizes. The Bible tells us in Job 5:9 "For God does great works too marvelous to understand. He performs miracles without number." Isn't that a great promise to those of us who are in desperate need of a miracle? There is no limit to God's love or power...it's literally to inifinity (without number)!

I was excited to see all of our students crowded in the front of the sanctuary, raising the bar of passion and expectation among us...crying out for the salvation of the nations. Our very own JP Brumfield stepped up and challenged all of us to give just a little bit more for our King! I remember chasing down JP when he was a high school kid at Woodlawn and had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. Now to watch him work in our student ministry and lead outreach teams all over this city is truly amazing--a miracle without number!!

Stay fired up and fueled up...it's going to be an incredible weekend!

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Italy





I've been absent from the blog-sphere for nearly 2 weeks, but this time my reason is totally legit. Rachel and I had the incredible privilege of traveling to Italy to train and equip youth pastors and leaders from all over that great nation. We were gone for 8 days, and every single day was action-packed! I ate pasta with every meal and was kissed by more men than I could count...Italian culture gives new meaning to the Biblical concept of greeting each other with a holy kiss!! It's difficult to put into words the amazing experience we had there.

Have you ever met someone and it was instant friendship? When Rachel and I met Scott Steelman and his wife Vicki, we clicked immediately. They've been serving the next generation in Italy for 6 years now, and we had a blast partnering with them at this Youth Impact Leadership Conference. Some 85-90 people journeyed to the coastal community of Bari, many of them making great sacrifices to participate. Some traveled over 14 hours by train, took time off from their jobs, paid their own way to get there, gave up time with their families...the atmosphere was raw with a hunger to learn and grow. We did our best to download all of our ministry experiences into 3 days of intense training workshops, and the people devoured everything. Our passion and desire to reach the next generation was matched with theirs, and the chemistry between 2 different cultures was ignited. After the conference was over, we ministered to a local church that Sunday night. At the end of the service, 3 adult men came forward to receive Christ--amazed, the leaders later told me how significant it was for men to step forward, since most of the people involved in church were women and children. One older gentleman requested prayer for healing in his legs. But he made it known that even if God didn't heal his legs, he still wanted to give his life to Christ...how cool is that!

Before we left, we had a couple of days to hang out in Rome. I was blown away to see the architecture and to think of the history of the city. We saw the Coliseum, the Forum, the Vatican, the Pantheon...so many landmark works. But the highlight for me was when we went to the underground dungeon known as Paul's prison. What was it like to live as a prisoner there in that cold, dark cell? What kind of courage does it take to spend your final days locked up because of your allegiance to the crucified Savior? We shared a spiritual moment in that underground bunker and prayed that God would strengthen our resolve and our commitment to Him!!

When it was time to return to the States, we were heartbroken. The people, the pasta, and the passion had captured our hearts. God is definitely at work...all over the world!

P.S. I am really sorry there are no pics posted yet. I have been trying for the last few days but have run into technical problems. I am still working on it, so keep checking back!

Monday, October 02, 2006

Another Wild Birthday

We celebrated another birthday yesterday--Mikaela is now 4 years old! After Rachel's 30th birthday blowout 2 weeks ago, this time of year is proving to be very expensive for me...and Christmas is just around the corner--Yikes!! All of Mikaela's little friends came out for some jumping-fun at "It's My Party" off Essen Ln. Nothing like a room full of sweaty kids, Kool-Aid, cookie cake, and a little chaos--who said parenting was boring?? Not in the Haman house! Mikaela is still trying to figure out how she went to bed Saturday night a 3 year-old and woke up Sunday morning a big 4 year-old...she thinks she'll be 5 in a couple of days. Time goes by so fast, it will feel like a few days for me! A big "thank you" to all our family and friends who helped make Mikaela's day so special.