…a God who heard my cry and sent His Son to set me free from bondage,

…Brittany,the most amazing wife and mom ever…and she is SMOKE!

…Levi, my firstborn,

…Crew, the crazy one,

…Goldie, the sassiest princess,

…Jude, the best surprise EVER,

…my dad, the inspiration for so much of what i have become,

…my mom, for always fighting for the family,

…Jeremy, the best and biggest little brother a guy could have,

…John Savage, what a father in-law should always aspire to be,

…Lynda Savage, the reason my wife is the perfect wife,

…Mimis and Pop, the greatest grandparents in the world,

…Hannah, the crazy-fun sister-in-law,

…theedgechurch, a people that really DO what they SAY,

…Mark, a best friend and a helluva lead worshiper,

…Disciple, a real edgy guy, with amazing gauges, and a guy with a pure heart for the “widows and orphans” of our time,

…Kyle, an incredible drummer, but an even better youth director,

…Kathryn, for always using appropriate language and never losing her power,

…Stacie, the best kids worker for always being in some form of a cast or splint!

…Kathryn AND Stacie, for loving kids the way they do,

…Tonja, for her loyalty, love, service and humble heart…she is the first impression of theedge to others, and a great one at that!

…Charles Bello, for being a mentor, counselor, friend, and for listening to all my crap,

…living in a country where i am embarrassingly rich- i own a home, 2 cars, tons of clothes, an xbox, wii, AND a ps2, and i have never been hungry a day in my life. it’s really too much!

…being able to coach the best bunch of 3rd graders ever on the Natural Disasters tackle football team,

…great friends around the country that i have been able to meet-up with again through this crazy thing called Facebook,

…being able to do what i love, and love what i do,

…Starbucks: tall mocha cappuccino with a shot of cinnamon,

…my Mac book- the greatest computer EVER made!

…my iPod- the greatest gadget EVER made,

…a real wood-burning fire place, and the smell it creates in the winter,

…the colors of fall, and living in a neighborhood that has lots of trees,

…an electric leaf blower – to clean up all the said leaves after they fall,

…Rob Bell and his teaching,
John Piper and his teaching,
Matt Chandler and his teaching,
Francis Chan and his teaching,
Erwin Mcmanus and his teaching,
Mark Driscoll and his teaching,
Dave Edwards and his teaching,
Donald Miller and his writing,

…Favor of God and their willingness to serve in Gulu, Uganda the way they do, and for their hospitality shown to us when we visit,

…being able to worship God every Sunday in freedom and liberty,

…having lived long enough to see the first ever African-American president,

…that my biological mother did not take the “easy” way out, and gave me up for adoption,

…that my wifes biological mother did the same for her,

…s’mores,

…puma’s and nike’s,

…Ross- where you don’t have to pay retail for said puma’s and nike’s,

…Josh Bottomly’s blog,

…Kristy Gammill’s willingness to worship through her art,

…Bjorn Bauer’s paintings (that i have stolen and put in my office),

…Daryn Story and his unwavering loyalty and service for almost 8 years,

…the music of David Crowder,

…Twix,

…staff trips to Dallas, Tulsa, and New Mexico…”sticky!”

…staff Christmas parties,

…my health,

…the awesome Jesus Freaks in Germany and the Freakstock they put on every year,

…Sonic drinks,

…pizza hut thin crust pepperoni,

…but most of all this year i am thankful for Jesus the Christ and His unconditional love for me!

being in ministry is not always great. simply stated, you are always working, you are always on call, and you are always “up for vote” so to speak. people either love you or hate you…there’s not a lot of in between.
but every now and then, something happens to you in ministry that is beautiful.
every now and then, God shows up. and when he shows up, all the bad, ugly, and hurting parts of ministry disappear and you are born again…again!

i had one of those moments this weekend.

my wife and i took our 4 kids to the woods of kansas to speak at a retreat for young adults. it’s a group called 242 (they get their name from acts 2.42). i don’t speak a lot – i mean, outside of my own church. so, this was a great chance for our family to get away and to do something a little different than the usual. brittany and i were excited about sharing with this group. we were excited about spending time with them and trying to serve and minister to them the best we could.

but something unexpected happened. they ministered to us!

they shared…

they served…

as we were leaving my kids were actually crying, because they had made such good friends, they did not want to leave! amazing! how do young adults love on little snot-nosed kids so much that those kids want to stay?!? wow.

so, this is a mad shout out to all of the 2 4 2 crowd! thanks! you guys were great. and we really appreciate your heart and the way you accepted us into your group. we feel that our family has been adopted, and we gladly accept! we love our new family and i pray it will be a long, beautiful friendship. your love and kindness probably did more ministry to us than we could have ever done for you.

so remember a few things…

don’t get in such a hurry that you eat bad burritos,

if you take the fruit you could be livin’ in a van down by the river,

and don’t ever forget that…………..
this is ALWAYS about that!

peace.out.