Every morning we meet for worship and training. God has taught me so much as we have walked through the book of Acts. One of the verses that has stood out to me is chapter 4 verse 13. It says that when the elders saw Peter and John’s boldness they were astonished and they recognized they had been with Jesus. My hope and prayer for us as believers is that people will recognize when we have spent time with Jesus. Not because we’ve been to Super Summer or to Tokyo, but because we’ve been with the One who is above all and in all.

Our theme for this summer has been The Bottom Line. The bottom line of all that we do is to bring God glory! Psalm 46:10 is our prayer. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth!

Father- to you alone be all glory and honor! Thank you for allowing us to be your hands and feet here in Tokyo!!

For His Renown-

Session 1 of Super Summer is 12 days away! Yikes! I feel like summer is rushing past me and I’m just trying to grab hold!

YEC is exactly one month away and there’s still lots to do to finish before the big day. I’ve never been married, but I would assume it’s a lot like planning for YEC. I work all year for a day and half event that’s over before I even get to settle into the venue.

I love what I do. I love even more that the Lord lets me do it! Planning events for students to encounter Christ brings me so much joy. Every hour of work, sleepless nights and sore muscles are completely worth watching thousands of students worship the Living God!
I’ll do my best to keep updated throughout the summer to let you know how God is moving in and through us.
I’m looking forward to Him blowing us away, like always He’s so good!!

Our theme and verse for YEC sums it up best…
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9a

Is He enough for you?

As you spring clean, think about how He is sanctifying us.  Ephesians 4: 22-24 says “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through decietful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Thank you Jesus, for this season of renewal.  Thank you for defeating death so that I might have life. 

What could we do for them?  I want to step in, to fight back for them, to help in some way.  But I’m not in India, I’m in Dallas, TX where the worst thing that happens is being cut off in traffic on 635.  So, I will do what I can.  I will pray. I will ask the Father to comfort them and encourage them.  He loves them and has a plan for them.  He will receive glory from their faithfulness and boldness.  I pray they will have courage to face those who want to harm them, grace for those who don’t understand.  I think of Christs’ words in Matthew 5:10.  “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  To say that I empathize with these people isn’t accurate.  I have no idea what they’re going through.  But I do know that Jesus does.

1 Peter 2:19-25 (The Message)

The Kind of Life He Lived

^18-20You who are servants, be good servants to your masters—not just to good masters, but also to bad ones. What counts is that you put up with it for God’s sake when you’re treated badly for no good reason. There’s no particular virtue in accepting punishment that you well deserve. But if you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.

^21-25This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.

He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.
They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

If you think about it, please pray for those who are persecuted for Christs’ sake all over this world.  Pray for courage and protection.  Most of all, pray that Father would receive all the glory!

1.  CHUCK -

Love this show!  For all you folks who love spy stuff and computer geeks, this show is for you!  Chuck, a normal guy who works for a computer geek squad ends up becoming a CIA intersect.  Basically, he sees a computer full of CIA stuff and it becomes part of his memories.  He then is trained by CIA agents to use the information in his head to help them get the bad guys.  Chuck is on NBC on Monday nights.  The characters are smart and the comedy is witty!  I never miss an episode
2.  MODERN FAMILY

This show is hilarious!  Ed O’Neil (Al Bundy) plays the patriarch of the family. He has two grown children who have their own families.  These characters are ridiculous.  One of my favorites is Phil.  He’s one of the son in laws.  He tries to be cool but always fails.  My favorite episode was one where he had a kidney stone and pain and torment that caused him.  Knowing that pain first hand made watching it super funny!  If you haven’t caught this show yet, check it out at www.hulu.com or on ABC on Wednesday nights.
3.  THE BACHELOR -

Ok, I didn’t want to keep talking about the Bachelor, but come on, it’s been absurd.  The girls are by far the strangest group of women ever on this show.  I kind of feel sorry for all of them.  Jake seems to be holding it together, but everything has to be so dramatic with the girls.  I would have never picked the last four women.  The only one I liked from the beginning was Ali .  However, Gia has grown on me with her sweet and quiet personality and Tenley is also being portrayed as the nice girl.  She’s been divorced and that seems to be the only blur on her image.  Maybe Jake can heal her heart.  (Insert cheesy sigh here).  Now for Vienna.  What’s the adage, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?  Well, she’s crazy and dramatic and all over Jake, but it’s boosting the ratings.  The producers must love her for that!  I don’t get why Jake likes her, but to each his own.  They had hometown dates tonight and I won’t spoil it for those of you who have it DVR’d to watch later.  But let’s just say there is an abundance of tears and furrowed brows.
4.  SNL – Ashton Kutcher

I’m a fan of Ashton.  He’s usually clever and funny in his movies.  Also, I’m a fan of SNL, but the last year or so it has really been lacking in the funny.  The only characters that get good grades from me are Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig.  They usually come up with one or two really funny skits.   This weekend’s offering of comedy fell a bit short.  There were one or two funny bits: Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen  as Garth and Kat singing on Weekend Update was one of the funniest things.  They kept making each other laugh, which I think is awesome!!

Well, friends.  That’s about all I have for now.  I’m not feeling super witty this week so I apologize for the lack of creativity.  Perhaps it’s the lack of vitamin D since we haven’t seen the sun much this year.  Also don’t forget to post your own reviews or comments if you have them!  Have a great week!

Here we go:

The Bachelor: www.abc.com

This show is quite possibly the craziest, worst written reality junk out there.  I do like the guy though.  His name is Jake and he’s a pilot from Dallas.  He claims to be a Chrisitan and seems very kind.  The girls, on the other hand, are plain crazy.  There are a few that could be in the running, but I’m hoping that this guy will see through all the drama and lip gloss and find a girl to love.  I don’t fully believe that something like finding your soul mate should happen on tv, but I’ve seen stranger things.  Anyway, if you’re not watching, you’re not missing a whole lot other than girls picking on each other for kissing this guy and coming home and talking about it.  If you do want to watch, it’s on Monday nights on ABC.

American Idol: www.americanidol.com

I LOVE this show!!  First, I’m a huge fan of music and people who can sing.  Secondly, I just can’t stop watching the bad auditions. I feel bad for them, but also know that the producers just want to keep their ratings up by showing the weirdies.  Let me share a few of my favorites from the first episode:

The first girl to audition really caught my attention by the shear fact that she based her ability on the video game version of the show.  Sad.  She told Randy that he liked her 90% of the time on the game.  Real life…maybe .09%

Second favorite was the kid in the striped shirt who kept saying “holla” in a really high pitched falsetto.  I loved him and he made me laugh.  Sassiness in stripes.  Seriously though:  Holla!

There were some pretty good singers – The girl with the Portuguese grandmother was great.

The guy who beat cancer was pretty and had a nice voice. I loved the kid whose family was from Uganda and he sang a George Strait song “You Look so Good in Love”.  Which, by the way is one of my favorites!  They never show all the good ones they choose.  But that’s how they get us to watch all the way to Hollywood week.

The night wound down with Norberto, who was a strange little guy who looked like Prince and Gloria Estefan had a baby.  He was all sorts of interesting.

I liked the addition of Victoria Beckham.  Even though she needs to eat something, she was super classy and seemed to give the contestants good criticism.

I missed Wednesday night’s auditions, but I heard all about Pants on the Ground.  Saturday night, while I was in downtown Ft. Worth, I heard a group of 8 year old girls singing it.  Catchy little tune

How I met Your Mother:  www.cbs.com

This show has quickly become my favorite!  With it’s witty banter between characters and Neil Patrick Harris’ version of a ladies’ man; what’s not to love.  If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and watch.  This past Monday was the 100th episode and they celebrated by doing a song and dance routine about suits.  Sounds weird, but it’s fun and makes me want to move to NYC.

Well, friends, that’s all I have time for today.  I’ll be taking notes for the next installment.  If you have any of your own commentaries that you’d like to share, please send them to me!  Oh and FYI, this is just the tip of the iceberg – there are many more shows worthy of review.  In due time, they too shall reach the pinnacle of their success as a featured guest in Mandyland.

This weekend I was honored to be part of the inaugural service of the Cowboy Church of Brenham.  My parents and 4 other families are starting this new endeavor.  Dad is the teaching pastor.  I must say that I was blown away by the response of the first Sunday.  When we talked to my parents a few weeks ago about how many they were expecting, they said they were setting up for 160.  Usually in things like this, we tend to hope for the best, but plan for half of what we expect.  Well, yesterday, 160 came.  Plus 140 more!  The guys were pulling chairs out of everywhere!  It was so obvious that God was there.  He showed up and people experienced Him.

How often do we underestimate what He can and will do?  Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God will do ABUNDANTLY more than we can think or imagine for His glory!!  My desire for 2010 is that I won’t let my expectations overshadow God’s ability to exceed them!  I don’t know if anyone else senses this, but I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be something like we’ve never seen.  So here’s to all the possibilities ahead and to our Great Savior who will blow our minds with what He makes possible!!

Here are the lyrics to the song and the video below. Check out  www.myspace.com/addisonroad

If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I’m Yours

I’m not my own
I’ve been carried by You
All my life

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I’ll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

I am not my own
I’ve been carried by you all my life

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

You’ve become my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free