My weekend at Crosspoint.tv.

In September of 2010, my wife and I visited Crosspoint.tv, a church in Nashville, Tennessee.  I went there to interview for a staff position. I was blown away by the amazing staff they have. After only one weekend I felt like I had known them forever.

We arrived in Nashville and met Jenni Catron and her husband, as well as Chris Surratt and his wife. We had dinner, chatted and then went to a yogurt place where we just hung out like we had been friends for a long time.

The next day, we went with Jenni to the Nashville campus and heard their Sr. Pastor Pete Wilson teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I already felt a connection to this place, because a good friend of mine and a former co-worker named Blake Bergstrom is the pastor at the Nashville location. He wasn’t there the weekend we visited, he was climbing some small mountain in another country, called “Mt Kilimanjaro”J.  I really enjoyed my visit at the Nashville campus. Maurine and I loved the worship, we especially loved the song “All the Pretty Things” by Tenth Avenue North.

We then jumped in the car and went to the campus I was interviewing for. It was about 45 minutes outside of Nashville. This location met in a school and it was really neat. Small town, but very nice, and great people.

Then we headed back to Nashville to have dinner with Jenni, Pete Wilson and my beautiful wife. I was honored to meet Pete and just chat with him.

Our visit was over and the next morning we headed back to Edmond, Oklahoma. My brain was spinning 100 mph. I enjoyed everything, but this was a big decision. Picking up and moving my entire family is a scary thing for me.  The decision wouldn’t just affect me, but my entire family.  I knew this had to be God’s decision.

If they would have offered me a job that day, I would have said yes. But, here is where God comes in. Jenni was very busy the next few weeks, so both Crosspoint.tv and I had some time to really pray and seek God’s direction. Even thought I originally thought it was the right thing, I started feeling it wasn’t the right timing for our family. I would have been in the wrong seat on the bus. Did I call and tell them I was no longer interested. No, I waited, because I didn’t want to manipulate the decision. I wanted to hear from God.

Jenni called a few weeks later to let me know that I did not get the job and they had offered it to a young man that had experience leading small churches. I was very relieved. I love this place and what it is doing for God’s Kingdom. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t in God’s plan for me and my family at that time.

Thank you God for allowing me to be where you want me to be.

I found a new pet peeve. When someone doesn’t turn their turn signal on it drives me nuts. I moved back to Oklahoma from Chicago, where everyone uses their signal. It is a way to communicate when you are driving. It tells you that you are turning or you are changing lanes. This is a very simple form of communication.

Remember I said it is simple, so why is it so hard for Okies to figure this out. Is this why our car insurance is so high? Because people are getting rear ended or smacked one way or another. I don’t believe for once that insurance is so high because of all the uninsured drivers. It has to be because of the misuse of turn signals.

I am thinking the only people that are exempt from turn signals are people who live on dirt roads and only when they are turning in their drive way. Other than that, turn on your stinking turn signals but please don’t forget to turn them off. Because that drives me crazy also.

Black Friday!

I don’t understand it. Why would someone get up so early to go shopping? Apparently there are a lot of people who like to do this. I know you can save money and get great deals, but seriously, there is no way I am getting up that early to stand in line in the cold, at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. No Way! Some people even stand in line for days.

My wife and oldest son enjoy being part of the crowds. My son can’t wait, you should hear the excitement in his voice. All day on Thanksgiving they will talk about where they are going, what time, which store first, second, where to eat, etc. I shouldn’t be negative about the event they enjoy, even though I don’t. My wife doesn’t understand how I can watch football all day, but doesn’t complain about it, so how can I complain about something she enjoys? Plus, I may get a great gift out of the deal.

I am just trying to wrap my brain around this Black Friday thing. I worked in retail for 10 years and the customers were crazy on this day. They would hurt each other, get in to fights, argue and curse. Then as they walked out the door with their perfect gift, tell you “Merry Christmas.” Huh, you just beat someone up in the toy dept and now you are telling me Merry Christmas.

Are you going shopping on Black Friday? Where are you going and what time will you go? What is the gift you have to have or do you just like to go for the excitement?