Sunday Recap....

Thought I would give you a rundown of the day...

• Alarm at 6:45, up at 7:00, at the church by 7:10 in gym shorts and a t-shirt.
  
• Prayed for my buddy Ian Shaw and Modern Life Church. He is planting a church in Chattanooga, TN and they held their Grand Opening today. Found out later that it was an incredible day as 80 people showed up for the service. A huge WIN for them. They have worked themselves silly getting their worship space ready for the big day.
  
• Go through the building turning on the A/C units so that the building will be nice and chilly when folks arrive. The building temp will rise 4-5 degrees when people fill the room and the outside doors are opened and closed a hundred times or so.
  
• Practice the sermon one last time to an empty room and time it at 35 minutes. That is not good as I usually speak for 5 minutes more than the last practice time.
  
• Head home in time to see Heather out the door for band practice and spend some time hanging with the kids.
• Participate in a Sunday ritual that is nearly as sacred as going to church. We drive to the doughnut shop and each of the kiddos picks out their breakfast for the day.
  
• Get to church in time to hear that last few songs of the band rehearsal and get all mic'ed up for the service.
  
• The band opened with an Alanis Morissette song, "Ironic" as we are talking about the Irony of God's people expecting a roaring lion for a savior, but what they got was a slain lamb.
  
• The music was incredible as usual and a song that I have really not liked for a few years has become really powerful for me during this series. It is called "Revelation Song" of all things. It has been popular for a while but I have never been a fan until now.
  
• The announcements are usually, well... announcements, but lately we have been showing some sarcastic "How Not To Pray" videos we shot to promote Cover Rowlett, a prayer project we are participating in with several other churches in the area. Yesterday's video was the "Father God" prayer, I will post a link when we put it on youtube.
  
• I was nervous about that video offending people, but it actually received more laughs and applause than any of the videos we showed in previous weeks.
  
• I spoke on Revelation 6 & 7, and had more to say than time to say it. We are pressed for time not so much in minutes but in weeks. We have to finish this series up before Advent which begins four weeks prior to Christmas.
• I felt there were two main thrusts to the sermon.

1. We are invited in to a life of Self-Giving Love.
   
2. Purity and Holiness is not just about what we DON'T do, but has a lot to do with how we choose to align our lives with the mission of God.

• I actually finished the sermon at 33 minutes, shaving two minutes off the practice time. Nobody complains about a sermon not lasting long enough.
• After the service we had a lunch for our C-group leaders. This year we have 6 groups to choose from and I am really excited to see what God does in and through these groups. These groups are critical for people connecting to Catalyst and feeling like family. Simply attending on Sunday mornings can leave people feeling like they are sitting at a kids table during a family meal.
  
• Went home and sat on the couch, completely wiped out. I wish I understood why preaching is so exhausting. It seems like it is just a 30 minute talk, but it leaves me so worn out most weeks. My dad was telling me that a study was performed and they found that preaching a sermon was equal to a six hour work day. I have no idea how the study was performed, but it seems fairly accurate to me.
• Chillaxed until we headed over the Mautner house for some delicious tacos. They have four girls under the age of 8. Holy Cow! It was awesome to see all the energy and personality these girls have. I joked that when the teen years hit, they could apply for a reality show. It was great to get to know them a bit better.
• Headed home and had a couple of teenagers waiting out front to get some help with their math homework. That is Heather's domain. I got the kids tucked in bed while I over heard , "did you get x+7 for that one". I felt obligated to tell the teens that the last time I ever had to solve a math problem involving letters was in my last math class.
  
• I watched the second half of the Raiders vs. Saints game while streaming some "Billy the Exterminator" from Netflix on the laptop.
  
• Hit the hay around midnight...