Last week we talked about vision and how it is important to keep vision in front of your volunteers and other church workers. This is also important for you to keep your vision in front of you. That seems like an interesting comment and almost like it doesn’t make much sense. But just like your volunteers, sometimes you lose sight of the vision because you’re so entangled in the details of everyday life and getting the job done. When that happens you have to be able to step back and refocus. When you can successfully do that then you will do a better job of helping to refocus your team.

I personally have had to do that which is part of the reason that I was writing what I did last week. I’m no revolutionary person or super thinker, but when I experience things I feel like there may be someone out there who hadn’t thought about things that way and I want to share with them. There are times when we have to remember why we are doing what we are doing and what the big picture is.

Today I get to do that in a special way. Today is my 9th wedding anniversary. I’m quite excited for this because it’s an opportunity to spend time with just my wife, which is something you don’t often get when you have 3 children and one of them is under the age of 1. But more than that, we get to spend time reflecting on why we fell in love in the first place. We get a night to pull away from the rest of our world, the work and kids and big decisions and all this other stuff, and just focus on us. It may not be a big thing, but it will be enough to help us get refocused before we jump back into life as we know. And maybe, just maybe, we can shift our focus knowing that the person right beside us loves us that much more.

This past weekend I celebrated 7 years of marriage with my wife. We were completely blessed to have been given the whole weekend to ourselves. We were able to reconnect and spend time just being us. Once you have kids, you lose a lot of that and it’s harder to make time for it. Anyway, I learned quite a few things about myself this weekend. Some of them were things I actually rediscovered. Here they are…

1. I love reading mystery novels. I love mysteries and thrillers and didn’t remember. We went to Borders a couple times this weekend (see #2) and I starting reading a book that I couldn’t put down so I ordered it at Amazon.com. I’m so excited to get this book and read. I’ll probably write about it when I’m done.

2. I love Borders. I don’t know if there’s a difference between all the bookstores in the world, but Borders has a more inviting feel to me. I love the colors on the inside and I felt compelled to stay and read. Eva and I love reading books and we love spending time together in that way.

3. There is a lot of good music in St. Louis, MO. I love this town. It’s home for me, but as I grow older I’m finding out things that I didn’t know when I was little. There is good music here that isn’t always on the radio. We went to a GREAT concert Friday night (see Concert Review) and I’m sure that I’m missing so much good music here.

4. I have amazing friends. The more time we get to spend with them the more I realize that God has really blessed us with some great people. I can’t wait to see what God does over the next few months as we get to know them better.

5. I must really be growing up. Eva and I went to a couple movies this weekend and one of the movies we saw was profanity laced. It did nothing for me and sort of took away from the story of the movie. There was a time in my life where I didn’t care and would watch anything. That’s not the case anymore.

6. Jim and Jeremiah may quite possibly be the perfect storm of public embarrassment. They may also be the perfect storm of straight fun in many forms as well. There’s not much else to say about that.

7. I will, always have, always will, love ice cream. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

8. I don’t write new music because I’m lazy and can find many things to do besides sitting and writing.
8a. I really want to start a music group. That has been my dream and it won’t go away. I’ve done all I can to turn away from this idea, but it keeps putting itself in my line of vision.

9. I adore my children. I loved having the time away where I could connect with Eva, but I was quite happy when my kids came home last night.

10. I cannot live without my wife. Period.

11. God is amazing! He continues to bless me in ways that I KNOW I don’t deserve. I’m not sure why He keeps it up, but I’m so glad He does. Thanks be to God for everything I learned this weekend. I also pray that I keep learning things. If I stop learning, I’m dead.