300th Post...So Let's Dance

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What's New?

It's been a busy last 8 days, but I finally have some time to get a quick post in. So...what's new?

• Got some new running shoes last week: Asics Gels 1130 (Runner's World Best Buy). You know, there's nothing quite like the feel of a new pair of running shoes. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little. But for me, it's fun to lace up a pair of new running shoes for their inaugural run. And speaking of running, I'm having some good times lately. Maybe it's the cooler weather.
• Also new for me, I now have a Lee County Library Card. That's right. I've lived here 9 years and am just now getting a card. What got me motivated...the library now has audio books for downloading (along with music, videos, and ebooks). That was worth it for me to go in and get the card. Now which book to download???
• Not really new, but I started back doing my push-up this week. I took a few week off because of an unusual pain in my left upper arm. Not doing push-ups didn't help, so I'm back.
• Also new is the Christmas Tree that is now up and fully decorated in our house. Macy does an awesome job decorating it.

What's new with you???

Loving Out Loud

Macy, my wife, sent me an email the other day encouraging me and she ended the message with "thanks...for loving me so out loud!" What a great phrase! I loved her new phrase and thought I knew what she meant. But, just to make sure, I replied to her email asking her to define the phrase "loving me so out loud." Here's her response:

I intended it to mean loving me in action, in word, in attitude, in being pro active in nature. It means a lot to me that you verbally and non verbally show love and kindness!

Wow! That just makes me want to love her even more so out loud! Who are you loving so out loud?

Running the Hills

This past week my running routine was altered by the terrain. Instead of the usual flat ground I typically run on, I was challenged by the gentle sloping hills of north Florida. Now, these were not real hills, just inclines I was not use to, therefore making my running more difficult. And believe me, if you're not use to it, hills can suck it out of you. But something interesting happened when I ran this morning back here in flat, southwest Florida...my time was much faster! The hills stretched my leg muscles and made them stronger.

Our faith is like this. If you think of your faith as a muscle, it too has to be stretched to grow. The struggle of going up a hill in life can be just what we need to become more dependent on God and less on us. It is in the storms (hills) of life we grow the most. So next time you face a hill, don't automatically think avoidance is your best option. Ask God how He is about to grow you and how your faith can be deepened as you run the hill. Remember, running the hills can stretch and strengthen your muscles and your faith.

Just Considering...

...how blessed I am. Macy and I have had a wonderful vacation this week up at my mom and dad's house. As the day winds down, I'm taking some time to just consider how blessed I am.

• I have to start with the all incredible food I've been eating today and yesterday. My mom along with Macy and Theresa can throw it down when it comes to Thanksgiving eats. In fact, I'm getting hungry for leftovers just thinking about it right now!
  
• My incredible wife Macy. My love grows deeper for her every day. I love being with her and she still makes me laugh...daily. I'm looking forward to spending 9 hours in the car with her tomorrow as we head back to Fort Myers.
• My family. I have enjoyed so much hanging out with my mom and dad, my brother David, his wife Theresa and my nephew Michael. We ate well and laughed often. You are each a special blessing in my life. Thanks for a great Thanksgiving.
  
• My health. So, maybe I haven't eaten very healthy the last few days, but I am grateful for this blessing. (BTW - I have been disciplined enough to run 4 times up here, even in the cold! I am thankful to be able to run.)
• Special friends. I'm thinking about the people God has blessed me with as friends. Good friends are an incredible blessing from the Lord, and I have been abundantly blessed in this area.
  

I'm going to go hit the leftovers, but thanks for reading my blog. I consider it an honor that anyone would read my ramblings and observation. I hope you have had a great Thanksgiving and go tell someone you appreciate them. In closing, a few pics of my awesome family....

Start of Thanksgiving Vacation

Macy and I traveled to north Florida to spend Thanksgiving with my mom and dad and my brother and his family. Today we worshiped at Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church where my dad was the preacher this morning. Following the service they had a pot-luck dinner thanking my dad for filling the pulpit over the last several months. We had a great time at the church and dad did an awesome job in the pulpit. And the food...oh my goodness!

So what else have we been doing...

• We stopped off in Sarasota on the way up to the panhandle of Florida for brunch with our good friends Pamela and Jeremy.
  
• I'm about half way through reading a biography of John Newton entitled "John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace." Fascinating read.
• My neck is killing me - probably because of bad reading position yesterday.
• It's harder to run in cold weather!
  
• Mom made me some Chess Cake Bars yesterday. That, along with all the desserts at the church today, I may have overdone it a little today. I can't wait to run a little of this off tomorrow.
  

Life's Too Short...

...to drink bad coffee. Or for that matter, mediocre coffee. For those who know me well, know I enjoy good coffee. My preferred coffee to brew at home is Peet's. You can now purchase Peet's at your favorite supermarket, but I prefer to order it directly from Peet's. The reason, the beans are roasted on the day they ship them to me. Now, that's fresh!

What made me think of Peet's today? I got an email from them thanking me for being a customer. Everybody likes to be appreciated. So I thought I would throw a little love back to Peet's.

New Gadget

A week ago today I got a 16GB iPod Touch. I had been saving up and finally got enough cash. So, last Sunday afternoon I went down to Costco and made the purchase. (I like Costco because of their excellent return policy.) After exactly one week of having the Touch, let me say, I am very, very impressed. Here's my quick points review:

• First of all, it's a whole lot more than just a music/video player (it's an iPhone without the phone or gps)
• It's incredibly intuitive
• Everything just works...easily
• Best mobile email platform ever
• It's sets up and works great with Exchange Server (all my email, contacts and calendar stuff right there and it looks tons better than on my smartphone)
  
• Excellent web browsing experience on a mobile device - it's actually usable! (If you've ever tried to do much web surfing on a mobile device you know that it's not much fun)
  
• It does tons more than I had anticipated
  
• Great screen display
• Noticeably better audio quality than on my previous iPods.
  
• I really want an iPhone now!

If you're in the market for a new mobile multimedia/web device - I highly recommend the new iPod Touch.

Got to go watch the Cowboys now - Go Cowboys!!!

Very Proud...

Macy and I left the house at 6:30am yesterday heading up to Lakeland, Florida. Why Lakeland? This was the site of the 2008 Florida Baptist Convention and our senior pastor was preaching the Convention Sermon on Tuesday morning. We also thought it would be fun to pick up Pamela Bigham in Sarasota and take her along with us on what we were calling a "field trip." We had an awesome time with Pamela. She and her husband Jeremy recently moved from Fort Myers to Sarasota for Jeremy to attend Medical School.

Okay, back to the trip. Not only was our senior pastor preaching, but he also was nominated for the convention presidency. He lost the presidency by 12 votes. The time slot for the convention sermon was right after the announcement of the election results. This made for a slightly awkward situation, but he handled it with class and dignity and then proceeded to preach the lights out. Very proud of my pastor yesterday.

And I'm also very proud of Pamela. The girl is growing in her faith and has such a heart for the things of God. It is so cool to hear how God is using her in her new assignment in Sarasota. Macy and I really enjoyed our time with you yesterday!

I won

Penn State loses today to Iowa. LSU loses to #1 Alabama. And I won a really nice electric toothbrush today at our church’s Business Expo. Pretty cool! Thank you Dr Craig Mayer for this very nice doorprize.

I also had the privilege of officiating my friend and bother, Ed Schenck’s memorial service today. What an awesome man. He was a servant-leader and left an incredible legacy behind. It was an honor to be around his family today and see and hear the impact he made on them and so many others.

Update: Texas Tech just rolled over OSU. What a fun season!

C'mon Man

Why is Circuit City opening a brand new store over on Six Mile Cypress in Fort Myers when they are reportedly closing 155 store nationwide before the end of the year? C'mon man!

Voting Completed

It was exactly one hour from the time I arrived at my polling location until I had finished voting and was pulling out of the parking lot. Not bad. The process went smoothly for me once inside, but it is not speedy. I felt really sorry for the hundreds of people in line outside when I left. They would be there a while.

FYI: Starbucks is giving away a free cup of their regular coffee today if you tell them you voted.

Interesting observation...When I arrived at McGregor this morning (another election polling place) there was NO line to vote outside. I could not believe it! They ought to let you have the option to vote at a polling place that is close to where you work. Just a thought. Go vote.

Voting

I'm in line right now to vote. I got here at 6:15am. There are 15 people in front of me. It 6:35 now and the line behind me is getting real long. Glad I got here early. I'm also glad I brought something to read.

I hope you have, or wll be, voting today.

Feel the Weather

It started with a dramatic change of temperature last week. I went from running in a suana to actually being a little chilly when I fininshed my runs. How refreshing! The cooler, drier air is such a treat for those of us who live here in SW Florida, where it stays pretty warm all year round (we actually had several record lows for October!).

This is especially nice for anyone who exercises outside. The weather almost begs for you to come outside and do something. For those of you who live here in SW Florida, take advantage of this time of the year and decide to start that exercise program you know you need to. I promise you'll feel better!

  

Picasa 3

Google continues it's march toward world domination. Well, maybe not world domination, but they do have a new version of Picasa out. It's still in beta, but that's not stopping me from giving it a try. I've been using Picasa 3 now for several weeks and my my initial reaction: I really like it. Picasa is Google's free photo software that is simple to use and takes care of all basic photo editing chores you might have. Picasa 3 is not a revolutionary upgrade, but does add several useful new features (see link below for details). If you're not using Picasa yet, I highly recommend it. If you're using Picasa 2, I would encourage you to upgrade if you don't mind running a beta version. See link below for download site.

http://picasa.google.com/

Info on new features in version 3

High School Football

Last night, Macy and I went to a local high school football game - ECS was playing host to Moorehaven. Our nephew, Tyler Leach, plays for ECS and we've been wanting to get to a game to watch him play. We picked a good one - it was homecoming for ECS. Unfortunately, it rained most of the game. But we stuck it out, almost to the very end. It was actually a pretty exciting game, with lots of offense. ECS won with a final score of 50-38. I guess if you're going to sit in the rain watching a high school football game, you at least want some excitement. Congrats to ECS for the victory. And in spite of all the rain, Macy and I had a great time.

Attitudes

Quality of life is greatly determined by my attitude. If my attitude stinks, life doesn't seem so great. But when I have a good attitude, everything seems better. The thing that messes with our attitudes the most is change. Nobody likes change. Yesterday I had to tell some folks about a change that I knew they would not be so crazy about. What was so cool was how they responded. While they didn't like the change, they understood the purpose behind the change and had a great attitude about it. What a great reminder to me how important our attitudes are and how much they impact our lives and especially the lives of those around us.

How's your attitude today?

Off the Ship

We arrived back in Ft Myers yesterday afternoon after a truly relaxing and wonderful cruise to the Caribbean. For me personally, it was a time of needed relaxation and rest. But there is also something wonderful about returning home and to the routine and rhythm of life. I'm looking forward to Monday morning, running early and going into the office. I'm off the ship and back into the real world...and that's a good thing.

Here are some pics from our cruise...

Omar Update

Hurricanes and cruises don't mix well. Fortunately for our cruise we were able to avoid Omar and not experience any negative effects of this storm, other than we were unable to port in San Juan today (not a big deal for me personally).  So if you were worried about how Omar was impacting our cruise, no problem...we're good. BTW, I have never seen a hurricane with this path. Very strange.

Crusin' Day 3

Something about spending 2 days at sea on one of the world’s largest cruise ship that puts one in a relaxed frame of mind. Believe it or not, I didn’t even check my email for 48 hours! We arrived in Philipsburg, St Maarten this morning. We had an great time of worship and Bible study with our group Sunday morning. And yesterday morning (Monday) we had our first marriage seminar session. Other than that I’ve been eating, sunning, chillin, eating, hanging out with Macy and friends, eating, and having a great time. I think I could live on this ship.

Group news: Wayne Woodring won the Belly-flop competition yesterday. He won this same award 2 years ago on Navigator of the Seas.

We had a nice time in St Maarten this morning. Gotta run and get ready to go eat again.

Cruisin

We leave for a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise this morning with a group of couples from our church. I'm so looking forward to the time away and I the time with Macy. I will be leading seminar sessions during the week on marriage, which I love to do. And the rest of the time...I will be relaxing and enjoying the beautiful Caribbean weather and view.

For those wanting a little more detail: We be on Royal Caribbean's "Liberty of the Seas" for a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise. 

I hope to blog and post pictures of our trip.

Back Into the Habit

I know...it's been over a month since I last blogged. I had been consistent for a year and a half, and then I just fell out of the blogosphere. My goal: get back into the swing of posting regularly.

Once I got out of the habit, it was real easy to keep "not posting." But lately I've had quite a few people (Jana, Rob, Gerald, Pamela and a few others I can't think of now) encouraging me to get back to the blog and start posting again. I think that was the encouragement I needed.

So, here I go. Back into the habit.

Mark's 5 Questions

We have an awesome staff here at McGregor - great people serving Jesus in ways most people will never know. I wanted to take a moment to highlight one of those awesome guys today by playing a little "5 Questions." So, I'm going to ask Gerald Malloy, who serves as our Worship Ministries Pastor, this week's "5 Questions." Gerald...

1. As Worship Ministries Pastor, what are your responsibilities here at McGregor?
I am responsible for providing the worship aspect through music for Middle School, High School, College, Singles, and various ministries and venues at McGregor Baptist Church.

2. How do you define “worship?”
Worship is our response to the greatness of God.

3. Give me your current top three praise & worship artists?
Hillsong, Charlie Hall, Chris Tomlin

4. What’s the biggest change in the praise & worship landscape right now?
Musically, I remember years ago that praise and worship was just a chorus. Now they are full length songs. As far as the church, worship is, or should be more intimate, not so much a performance. More and more worship leaders are trying to walk the line of performance or intimacy.

5. What do you most enjoy about your ministry?
The thing that I enjoy the most about my ministry is seeing my ministry team/band use their gifts for God. I love to see my guys get involved and watching them grow spiritually.

Thanks Gerald. Take a moment and go check out Gerald's blog at www.themindofmalloy.com.

Greatest Olympian?

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the 2008 Olympics. Before I get to my favorite moments, let me give you my thoughts on the claim of the "greatest Olympian" debate. While I think Michael Phelps is an incredible athlete, I also don't want to give him a title just yet. And here's why. Swimmers have the opportunity to win multiple medals. Most Olympic sports do not have that option. For many Olympic sports, there is only one medal to win. Consider Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. They played games throughout the 2 weeks of the Olympics and ultimately won the gold medal. But there is only one gold available for them. Most team sports are like this, except for Gymnastics. Swimming gives out more medals than any other Olympic sports. So while Michael Phelps is an incredible athlete, it's hard for me to compare him with other great Olympians in other sports. What do you think?

A Few Favorite Olympic Moments:

• Men's swimming relay team come from behind to win Gold
• Beach Volleyball - USA Gold in men's and women's
• Dara Torres missing Gold by .01 second (she's 41 years old)
• Women's 4x400 relay for Gold - another come from behind to win race
• Watching the fastest man in the world run

The Run Within

Macy and I arrived back in Fort Myers this afternoon from a wonderful time in Jackson, MS. But as nice as our time was away, it sure is good to be back home. And while we got rain in Jackson this morning from TS Fay, we had no weather related problems on either flight. We had the proverbial "smooth sailing" all the way home.

I've been off my normal running schedule this week. So, I did something a little while ago I've never done before, I ran on a Sunday. I'm not sure what came over me. I was compelled to run. I needed to run. There was a run within me that just had to get out. So, I waited til the sun went down, got dressed, and headed out. It felt great!

Tomorrow we head out as a staff for a few days of intense planning and preparation. I'm going to do my best to get at least one run in while away.

Gotta go now and watch the closing ceremony of the Olympics. I sure am going to miss the nightly ritual of Olympic watching.

Special Connections

Macy and I have spent the last several days reconnecting with some very special friends in Jackson, MS. We lived in Jackson from 1993 to the end of 1999 and in those almost 7 years we made many special friendships. Last night we were able to spend time with many of our closest friends here in Jackson. It was such a blessing to share this time with them and reconnect.

A couple of thoughts on reconnecting...
-Time does not diminish the closeness of true friends.
-I'm terrible at being a long distance friend. (I keep saying I'm going to get better at this)
-Macy and I have been blessed with some incredible mentors/influencers in our lives.
-Good friends are one of God's best blessings here on earth.

I have been blessed with so many awesome people in my life. I am grateful to God for the all those wonderful relationships.

By the way - Tropical Storm Fay is heading toward us here in Mississippi now!

Time with the Parents

My mom and dad got in Thursday evening. Macy and I have been looking forward to spending some time with them this weekend. Macy fixed a wonderful grilled fish dinner and then I fired up the Espresso Machine for coffee drinks. Then we settled in to catching up all while trying to watch some of the Olympics. Macy and mom stayed up til 1am, which wouldn't have been a big deal other than Macy had a doctors appointment Friday morning at 8am.

Friday, I got up early (5am) and went for my run so I could take Macy to her doctor's appointment. Let Mom and dad rest (they need it after driving over 500 miles). The rest of the day was shopping and looking around the area. It's always fun hanging out with mom and dad.

They took us out to Pagelli's for dinner last night, one of our favorite new restaurants. Today has been a little less going and more hanging out, although mom and Macy just left to do a little shopping. Me and dad stayed behind this time.

They're planning on going back on Monday now due to the oncoming hurricane. That's right! Here we go - Ft Myers has a "bull's-eye" on it right now with the latest forecast showing, what will soon be, hurricane Fay coming right at us. Better go check my battery stash.

A Couple of First

As most of you know, I've been on the 6 week hundred push ups plan. Well, I finished week 6, and it was time to see if I could do 100. I had predicted that I would not be able to do 100 push ups at the end of the 6 weeks. I was right. Sunday evening I did 70 push ups in a row. I was pretty pleased (that's a whole bunch more than I could do 6 weeks ago!). I'll just keep repeating week 6 until I'm able to do 100.

Monday mornings are my "long run" day. Lately I've been doing a 4 mile run on Monday's, but today I decided to bump it up a little and ran 4.5 miles. It felt good. I've never run that far before. I think I'll go for 5 miles next week on Monday.

BTW - I hope you're watching the Olympics - good stuff. The highlight so far came last night with the men's 4x100 free relay. Unbelievable finish!

Olympic Motivation

I got rained out this morning for my run (actually it was the lightning that kept me in). So I decided to run later in the day (meaning it would most likely be very hot). When I finally got around to running, about 5pm, it wasn't too hot, but incredibly humid. But here's the good part...I ran my fastest two mile time today, post foot injury. Normally I run 3 or 4 miles, but used today's run as a chance to work on speed. I think my motivation for the extra speed came from watching the Olympic men's 150 mile cycling road race. Very motivating.

And speaking of the Olympics, did you catch the opening ceremony last night?! Unbelievable! Typically, the opening ceremonies have either been very weird or just boring, in my opinion. Last night was different. Amazingly different. It's hard to describe if you did not see it, but I know I have never seen anything on that scale and magnitude integrated so beautifully. I could have done without all the Chinese propaganda that spilled out from Costa and Lauer throughout the night. but other than that, a truly spectacular event that won't soon be forgotten.

Goose Reading

Thanks to a good friend, I was able to get my hands on a pre-release copy of Mark Batterson's newest book Wild Goose Chase this week. Last night I read chapter 1. Oh my! He's seems to be picking up right where he left off with In A Pit With A Lion on A Snowy Day. Here's a taste of what to expect if you pick up this book when it's released on August 19:

"Boredom isn't just boring: boredom is wrong. You cannot simultaneously live by faith and be bored. Faith and boredom are antithetical."

I recently finished reading Jerry Bridge's newest book Respectable Sins. An incredibly challenging read and one I would highly recommend to anyone wanting a challenge to live a more godly life for Christ. You might remember Jerry wrote the classic Pursuit of Holiness some 25 years ago. It is still, in my opinion, the best book ever written on personal holiness and spiritual discipline.

I started reading last week Kenny Luck's book, RISK. Enjoying it very much and the challenge Kenny brings specifically to men and their faith. Possibly more to share about this book as I get into it further. By the way, our church is hosting Kenny here for his first ever RISK Conference in October. Should be an awesome event for the men of our church and the community.

By the way, if you live in the Fort Myers area, you can purchase any of the books mentioned in this post (when released) at the McGregor Bookstore.

By the way, what are you reading?

A Great Find

Our Bible Study Class gave Macy and me a gift certificate to Hemingway's Island Grill for our anniversary and I couldn't wait to try out this relatively new restaurant in our area. It's located at the Coconut Point Mall in Estero. First off, they have themed and decorated the restaurant to look "up scale island plantation" which creates a very nice and comfortable atmosphere for dining. We had a wonderful waitress that was very friendly and attentive and our food was excellent. There are lots of choices on the menu and most items were reasonably priced. From soups to the entrees, it was all very, very good and I look forward to going back.

Thanks Class!!!

Xtreme Week

It's been an incredibly busy week and the it's not slowing down any for the weekend. Here are a few of the highlights...

• Wednesday evening I had the privilege of teaching at our church's Midweek Focus service. I taught from Psalm 119:97-104. The big idea: God's Word produces godly character. The catch, we have to be engaged in knowing God's Word and doing God's Word before it can have this effect on our lives. Basic, simple stuff - but oh so life-changing.
• Running has been especially challenging this week. The heat combined with the humidity is unbelievable. Good thing I'm now running with my brand new RoadID. www.RoadID.com
  
• This weekend our Women's Ministry is hosting a Beth Moore simulcast conference. I had the opportunity to welcome the ladies to the conference last night and be a part of the commitment time this morning. Awesome conference and really cool to see the response from the women attending.
• Tomorrow evening is our annual Sunday School Leadership Conference. Our theme this year is sacrifice. We're opening with a drama with 8 of us from our Ed Team. It's going to be hysterical (at least it should be). We even break into a musical number at one point. Dont' want to give anymore away, but it should be an incredibly challenging night for all attending.
• Trying to wrap up my Bible study on Hebrews 1 this afternoon. Saturdays can be a challenge to study and prepare - there are too many other things /distractionyou want to do.
• Speaking of distraction - X Games 14 are in full swing now. I love watching these extreme events. These guys/gals are amazing.
  
• I finish up week 5 of the 100 push ups plan today. One week to go and in theory I should be able to 100 push ups without stopping. I think I'm going to need at least an extra week or two. I'll keep you posted.
  

Complicating the Simple

Have you ever seen a simple idea become grossly complicated as it goes through the "organizational process?" This video is a great reminder of how we all can get distracted from our core message. Ever been in one of these meetings? Pretty funny stuff.

Crying at Wedding and 50 Push Ups

After not being able to run my normal routine this week, I had a really great run this morning. Maybe the rest was good for me. I have fought acute sinus allergies most of the week. Had the "big yucks." It's nice to be feeling better today.

Went to the wedding of Derek Allen and Rebekah Bischoff this afternoon with Macy. Macy cried. I didn't. It reminded me how different men and women are. At no time during the wedding did I ever even feel the urge to cry or even think that might be a possibility. Even though I didn't come close to shedding a tear, it was a very nice service and I am very glad for Derek and Rebekah as they start their new lives together.

I did 50 push ups a little while ago. I'm only halfway to my goal of 100 push ups and I only have 2 weeks left in the program. I'm thinking I won't make the 100 in 2 more weeks. But then again, I could not have come close to doing 50 push ups 4 weeks ago. That's progress.

Powerful Day

Wednesday of this week our church hosted the funeral service for Fort Myers Police Officer Andrew Widman, who was killed in the line of duty this past weekend. Simply put, it was a very powerful service. It also was an awesome reminder for all who attended or watched live on all the local TV affiliates that life is short and our only hope comes in Jesus Christ.

The experience of seeing well over 1,000 Law Enforcement Officer at the service from Lee County and all over the state of Florida was impressive. The funeral procession from our church to the Graveside was amazing.

But the most powerful moment of the day for me came was when Susanna, Officer Widman's wife, spoke for just a few minutes during the service. She talked about getting caught up in the "sheer force" of her husband's vision to make a difference in the world for Christ. Very moving.

I am praying for Officer's Widman's family.

Links to stories and pictures:
Article on Funeral Service
Transcript of Wife's words at Funeral - this is powerful

Sunday Afternoon Reflections

It was a fun week at a camp, a quiet weekend, and an awesome morning at church today.

• I loved spending the week with the children at camp. Their energy and zeal for life and fun is contagious. I also loved the fun with the other camp leaders.
  
• I'm missing Macy like crazy. She is up in North Carolina with some other women from our church for a long weekend.
• I've taught 9 times in the last 7 days!
• I had the privilege to speak to our Connected Single Adult Ministry this morning. I taught on Nehemiah and his prayer for success. The Big Idea: success is being used by God for His glory. That's my prayer - God use me!
  
• Just got off the phone with Macy and missing her even more. It's been almost a week now since I've seen her!
• Ordered a RoadID braclet for running yesterday. I started thinking if something happened to me while I was running, nobody would know who I was. I know, pretty weird thought, but it's true. Plus, I know it will make Macy feel better.
  
• I'm into week 4 of my hundred push-ups program. Not sure I'll be able to 100 push ups in a couple of weeks, but we'll see. I know I'm feeling a lot stronger and can do more push ups now then 4 weeks ago by a mile.
• Hits to my blog tripled this past week! Could it be all those parents checking out the pictures of their kids at camp?
• Have I mentioned how much I miss Macy?! Can't wait until tomorrow night!!!!

Got to go do some push ups!

More Camp Photos (for those interested)

Here's some pics from last night's Talent Show and some water activities this morning:

Camp Update - Thursday Morning

I just finished a good run and am now uploading pictures from camp yesterday for your enjoyment. Yesterday was a good day at camp, although still a little wet.

These are the faces and the fun times of McG's Children's Camp. Enjoy.

Camp Update - Tuesday Night

When will it will stop raining?

We have not seen the sunshine here at Camp McG since Monday evening. And for most of the day today it has been raining. And it rained really hard right before our Evening Worship time tonight. We had a lot of wet kids in there. It's an interesting smell when you get a bunch of wet kids in a pretty warm room. I'll stop there and leave the rest to your imagination. But hey, what's camp with out a little funk?

FYI: I added more pics to my post from yesterday (including pic of the "Big C" at the top of this post). There are now pictures from AM and PM (over 60 photos).

I'm having a blast doing the messages during our worship services, both morning and evening. Three down and only four to go. So far we have covered character, calling and courage. We looked at the character of Stephen, the calling of Peter and Andrew, and the courage of Joshua. Pray that God will challenge the kids through His Word this week in a powerful way. Pray that their commitment to Christ will grow deeper. Pray that they will establish strong relationships with our adult counselors and with other children. Pray that it will stop raining!

Miss Dawn - we miss you!

Camp Pics - Tuesday

Updated: All pics now from Tuesday (AM & PM).

Camp McG is Underway!

I left yesterday to head up to Tampa, Florida for our annual McG's Children's Camp. And we're off to a great start. 82 children, 3rd-5th graders. Talk about energy! Our worship last night was hot! I mean...the room was like 100 degrees. But even with the AC not working right, we had a great time.

This morning we started with the Morning Show and another time of worship/Bible study. The AC is working much better this morning. The highlight this morning was seeing Pastor Steven dressed up like a pirate - Captain Nobeard.

Kids having fun, adults having fun, camp is good. I'll try to bring some pic later today.

It gonna be a great week!

Crazy

Yesterday I saw the craziest thing - a duck chasing an alligator!

That's right. We spotted about a 5 foot alligator in the lake behind our house this weekend. He begin to swim across the lake towards our house. At the same time I was watching the gator, I also spotted a duck (common moorhen) with her 3 babies (probably more like teenagers). As the gator got closer to land, momma duck started squawking and squawking.

The gator disappeared underwater about 30 feet from the shore and then re-appeared about 7 feet from the shore. It was at that time that the gator started to swim parallel with the shore line and from the shore the duck started chasing after the gator, still squawking at the top of her lungs. Macy then spotted one of momma's little ducks in the reeds. The gator swam right past the little duck, probably trying to get away from one very loud mouth and persistent momma duck. Momma kept going out of our sight, chasing after the gator. That's one brave and very crazy duck!

I never thought I would see a duck chase a gator! Crazy.

Week 3 of Push Ups

I'm into the third week of my "hundredpushups.com" program. Week three turned up the heat a little on me and I had a hard time completing all the reps on day 1. It's hard to believe that supposedly in less than 4 weeks I will be able to do 100 push ups in one shot. Even if I can only do 80 after 6 weeks, that would be a pretty good thing. After completing week 2 I was able to do 31. I got a long way to go!

Had a good run this morning. My times are getting a little better, but still not where they use to be pre-foot injury. I am up to 4 miles on my long day each week and running 3 miles the other 3 days. The humidity and heat however take their toil on my body. I can't wait for a little cooler weather.

Speaking of things I'm looking forward to, next week is Children's Camp. For the last 3 years I've had the awesome privilege of being the camp pastor for our church's Children's Camp. I love being around the kids in this kind of environment. This year, instead of just speaking each night, I am also speaking during the morning sessions. Much more prep this year, but I can't wait! I'll keep you updated through the blog on how the week's going.

Map Your Run

Here's another cool web site I discovered a few weeks ago called MapMyRun.com. It's pretty ingenious, especially for the person who likes to run, bike or walk for their exercise/recreation.

The site allows you to map your runs/rides, calculate your mileage and even log your workouts. The site actually offers a whole lot more and its all free. Below is my normal 3 mile run. You can use map view or satellite view on all your courses. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

New Restaurants

During our "staycation" a couple weeks ago, Macy and I tried out several new restaurants in the Fort Myers area. Here are my observations.

Blu Sushi (Gulf Coast Town Center) - food wise this was my favorite. I love sushi and this was done with perfection. It was also the priciest of the four. But for a special occasion and for the person who really digs sushi - highly recommend. By the way, Macy is really warming up to sushi and actually ate quite a bit of fish this time with me!

Bice's Grand Cafe (Coconut Point Mall) - Macy had eaten here before, but this was my first time. Very nice place with really good food. Italian and a whole lot more.

Pagelli's Cucina (Coconut Point Mall) - My favorite for the combination of atmosphere, food and service. I can't wait to go back to this Italian restaurant. Macy said it was the best lasagna she has ever had, and the few bites I got I tend to agree. And it's priced very reasonable.

Fire Pit City Grill (Gulf Coast Town Center) - my least favorite of the four, but not bad. I just didn't get excited about the food or the environment. However, it was packed when we were there. This restaurant is owned by the same parent company as Pagelli's.

Let me know your thoughts on any of these four places.

Bon appetit!

Wishing You A Happy 4th of July

I hope you have a great day and a wonderful celebration of Independence Day. I've already got my morning run in and now getting ready to go out and do a little yard work. Later this afternoon Macy and I will head over to some friends house for a little celebrating and fun with couples from our Bible Study Class.

A few 4th related links for you to enjoy today...

• Nothing says the 4th like a grilled hot dog. Hop on over to Hot Dog City for some Hot Dog fun and totally useless info. I love the song!
• A little more serious, here is a post by Mark Batterson (In A Pit with A Lion on A Snowy Day author) with some cool info on several of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
• Want ideas for things to do with the family, especially the kids? Then check out this site that is loaded with crafts, games, recipes, activities and tons of info.

Celebrating the day with gratitude for all those who have sacrificed for the freedom I enjoy today!