It’s that night each year that you lose an hour of sleep. So, before you go to bed, don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour. Then, you’ll be on time everywhere you go on Sunday!

When you become a parent, you relive all of the “firsts” with your kiddos. You see them roll over. They take their first steps. They are finally potty-trained. And, it seems that after no time at all, they are in school. And so it is with our four year old, Hayden. He started Pre-K this year and is having an absolute blast. In August, we experienced our first day of school with him and this past Wednesday we experienced our first teacher-parent conference.

It was awesome. We went to his room and sat in those tiny preschool chairs as we listened to Mrs. Stephanie talk about our little pride and joy. She told us about him, showed us the progress he is making, and even told us some funny stories about Hayden. It was a blast!

In our family, we love “firsts.” We’ll never forget our first trip to Disney with Hayden, followed by our first trip with Hayden and Madison. We always talk about our “firsts.”

What’s your favorite “firsts” memory?

Yesterday I was reading in a book that I am using to disciple a new believer. In looking at the “Discipline of Friendship,” Hughes recounts the story of David and Jonathan. It’s one of my favorites. These guys had an awesome friendship – look at this:

• They were one in spirit (1 Samuel 18:1)
• Jonathan loved David as himself (19:1)
• He spoke well of David (19:4)
• He helped David grow spiritually (23:16)

Then Hughes says this:

The deepest friendships have in common this desire to make the other person royalty. Disciplines of a Godly Man

Jonathan wanted David to be king. He had a passion to see David fulfill God’s dreams.

So, what about you? Do you have a passion to see your friends be royalty?

In other words, do you support them in such a way that they will succeed (and may even go further than you or get what you “deserve”)?

Today, I again realized that I need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. If I do not get that, it’s bad news for everyone around! Honestly, I have always needed more sleep. However, today two of my staff members have accused me of getting to much sleep last night (and that is not a good thing).

How much sleep do you need each night?

• Madison called herself, “Palace in Wonderland” instead of Alice.
• Hayden decided to forsake his new policeman costume for his astronaut one.
• Rain – we actually went to the neighbors only and it was very laid back – we liked it!

Kim took these great pictures:

I was able to capture these videos – I hate talking in videos.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Kim was taking the pics as usual!)

If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God’s  kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit.

I can’t say exactly what will happen when you admit that you can  never fully know or experience enough of the Holy Spirit yet choose  to seek Him regardless. I know only that when you surrender fully to the Spirit, Christ will be magnified, not you (John 16:14).

When it comes down to it, many of us do not really want to be led  by the Holy Spirit. Or, more fundamentally, many of us don’t want  to be led by anyone other than ourselves.

The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask  you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do.

So, if you say you want the Holy Spirit, you must first honestly ask yourself if you want to do His will.

So, really, why do you desire the Holy Spirit’s activity in your life?  Do you want to experience more of the Holy Spirit merely for your own benefit?

I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God  cares more about our response to His Spirit’s leading today, in this  moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions.

We forget that we were never promised a twenty-year plan of action; instead, God promises multiple times in Scripture never to leave or forsake us.

The key is that He never promises to reveal these purposes all at once, in advance.

Nowhere in Scripture do I see a “balanced life with a little bit of  God added in” as an ideal for us to emulate. Yet when I look at our churches, this is exactly what I see: a lot of people who have added Jesus to their lives. People who have, in a sense, asked Him to join  them on their life journey, to follow them wherever they feel they  should go, rather than following Him as we are commanded. The  God of the universe is not something we can just add to our lives and keep on as we did before. The Spirit who raised Christ from the  dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us. He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow Him to the cross, to true Life.

What I am saying, though, is that instead  of thinking and telling people they are crazy when they feel like  the Spirit is leading them into something that doesn’t necessarily make sense to us, we should join them in the discernment process. Instead of discouraging people, we should pray for more insight and  boldness. Instead of deadening people to the Spirit’s leading with our words and our actions, we should celebrate and join the Spirit’s movement in and through them!

Are you walking with the Spirit? Are you living each day seeking His control? This book was a challenge to truly practice what we often talk about – being filled with the Spirit. Ask Him to fill you – and He will!

Kaleo is a ministry being launched by Chris Stephens, pastor of Faith Promise Church, as he seeks to re-invigorate pastors to the mission of the church. His goal is to walk with pastors to support and encourage them to make a difference for Christ in this world through their local church. Today he shared this with our staff:

Kaleo is about 3 things. First, we want to create continuity or resources that will launch pastors into a new passion for ministry. Second, we want to do conferences that will encourage pastors to excel in the ministry in which they were called. And last, we want to provide support for them as they make the changes necessary to impact this world for Christ.

So, on April 29, 2010, pastors from across the country will converge on Knoxville, TN for the first Kaleo conference. You will not want to miss it – PUT THE DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR NOW!

I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. NKJV

So, that’s it, right? Solomon was just given wisdom because he asked for it. End of story? Wrong.

In 1 Chronicles 22, the Bible says

Now, my son, may the LORD be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the LORD your God, as He has said to you. Only may the LORD give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the LORD your God. verses 11 & 12, NKJV

David had been asking God to give Solomon wisdom. I think David had made a big deal about wisdom in Solomon’s life. After all, David could testify first hand to the effects of the lack of wisdom. Also, David had dreamed some big stinking dreams for Solomon.

So, some questions for you:

• What are you making a big deal about to your kids?
• What prayers are you praying for them?
• What dreams are you dreaming for your them?
• Where is your spiritual leadership taking them?

Every night I pray for these things with both of our kids:

• That they will come to know Christ at a young age and serve Him with their whole life
• That they will have the wisdom to make wise choices in life
• That they will impact their generation for Christ
• That they will be leaders of leaders
• That they will be pure and holy

David’s prayers were honored. How are you seeing your prayers honored in your kid’s lives?