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An Open Letter

Dear Fear, Regret, Sin & Mistakes,

 Let's face the facts....we're not getting along anymore.  You and I have been together for a long time now but something has changed.  I'm not sure if it was you or me first but I don't think things will ever be like they used to be.

For years you gave me what I thought was joy, happiness and satisfaction.  When things were difficult in my life I ran to you and you were always there to accept me.  What I didn't realize though was that you weren't helping me.  Every time you held me, you were just looking for a way to make me more addicted, dependent or afraid to do anything without you.

Well, now I'm writing to let you know I'm not afraid anymore.  You can't hurt me.  I know you'll try and you may even cause me some difficulty or pain but I'm not going to let you keep that hold on me.  I'm moving on and I don't want to see you ever again.  I don't want to be reminded of my past.  As a matter of fact, when I think of my past I'm not even going to talk about you.  I'm choosing to remember the joyful times, the happy times, the moments of success and blessing.

I know you'll remind me that my choices not only hurt me but hurt others and so my response is prayer.  I'm praying for forgiveness.  My God has already forgiven me and I'm asking Him to help those I've hurt to forgive me as well.  

There have been enough tears, enough doubt.  I'm choosing to believe the truth that my Savior has spoken into me.  Despite all you have done to me and my reputation, I know that He is able to do so much more with me, in me, through me.  He has overcome all my imperfections.  He has won the battle against you.  

Goodbye.

Mac the Magnificent

This morning was a little rough. Mac decided to be somewhat high maintenance last night which led to our hesitance to waking up. As it turns out, Mac was just excited to show us what he can do. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm proud to tell you that Mac rolled over for the first time! Sadly, Anita and I totally missed it. We had both gone in the other room for a minute while he played on his mat. I was feverishly called to come to the living room where we saw Mac on his belly. 

 A few minutes later we got to see him do it again. So what can I say? My son is incredible.

Closure?

Life is an experience made up of large and small moments.  Inside each of these moments, relationships are found.  The depth and importance of these relationships are as broad as the sky.  But for each moment and the corresponding relationship, we can usually point to a beginning and an end.  

Where we run into a problem is when we can't point to the end.  That's when we use words like "closure."  Even if the ending is bad, we prefer to have an ending, a moment, a story, a final chapter.  Whether it's sports, school, romance, or a job, we like to have a clear and finite finish to the storyline in a given moment or relationship.

If there isn't a finishing point, we convince ourselves we're "over it" and we brush it off like it's no big deal.  The only problem with that is when we're suddenly reminded of the relationship or moment.  You can be completely fine and moving forward in your life and then you wake up one morning from a dream.  For the rest of your day you debate whether or not to call, text, email or maybe even write a letter.  Most of us don't.  We just suffer through the day until those memories are properly contained and we go back to our B.I.O (brush it off) mentality.

John Mayer says it this way....

"Even if you think the flame has died, theres's a least one lyric that'll hit that last hot spot, and then you'll find yourself as [messed up] as the day you lied and said you never wanted to see her again."

He of course is speaking purely about romance but I think the logic applies to all areas of life.  My effort to overcome this feeling of "wish I woulda" is to live the moment.  Fight for every inch of it and when the end approaches, punch it in the face and make a fight of it.  At least that way you'll know there was an end and you'll have that all desirable closure.

Glory

We started a new series at The ELEMENT last night.  "Glory" is a series designed to focus our hearts in worship and give context and explanation to what worship is.  Because we have some very talented musicians and volunteers, our services are well done and professional from a production stand point.  Our worry is that we respond to the excellence of service instead of the God the service is created for.

Last night was a great refocus night for NSM.  I honestly believe our students are hungry for truth, doctrine, passion and authenticity.  This is a great challenge for us as a leadership team responsible for the direction of teaching.  Below you'll find our bumper for this series.

Perhaps one of the highlights of the evening was seeing our students respond to what is going on in Haiti.  We found a video sharing some of the powerful work God is doing in that country.  I also had the privilege of telling NSM that without much prepping, they gave $700 toward Haiti relief.

I'm so proud to be a part of this great movement of God.  He is at work and lives are being changed!

Glory Bumper from Phillip McCart on Vimeo.

"New Legs"

With the genius of Alexa Chloe  Villavincencio and her amazing designs for our new look in Middle School ministry, I've been "encouraged" (threatened by my students) to create some new looks for our other environments.  (Btw, Alexa is the talented photog who took the most recent pics of my family.  Check those out here and hire her for your next shoot.  She's awesome!)

So I started messing around and I like what we've come up with.  What I do for new logos ideas is search the internet for vector images.  Blah, blah, blah...I see some ideas I like and make some tweeks for our look.  Sometimes the image I find is a perfect match for what I'm feeling.  Here are some of our new looks....

     

Alexa made this for our Middle School Worship Service.

  

I created this for our mid-week large group worship service and the one below for our High School worship service.

 

What do ya think?

Letting Go

 Two months in to 2010 as of Sunday.  How is your year going?

Mine has been very different than I thought it would.  I received an email, read a blog and did some things today that caused me to be a bit reminiscent.  For a guy like me that can be problematic.  

2009 was a great year and a challenging year.  The direction 2010 is going makes me think it's going to be a productive yet painful year.  I've never been good at letting go of things.  That's a good and bad thing.  For me it seems as though I'm at a point where I have to.  Here's a taste of what I'm talking about....

past hurts

past success

habits

preferences

friendships

expectations

Sorry I'm not being more precise but my point isn't to vent about my struggles.  My goal in this post is to pose the question to you.  Are there things in your life that you're either being forced to or you need to let go of in order to move forward in your personal or professional life?  What's stopping you from releasing your hand?

The Truth Hurts

Finally, someone says what we've all been thinking.  There is no real reason to listen to this "artist."  Lady Gaga is not innovative nor is she a very talented musician.  She is a gimmick and a fad. Sorry folks.  The truth hurts.

 
 

Out On The Ledge

So I had this idea.  About a month ago I was sitting at the dinner table and I thought of doing something different.  We were planning on doing a series for our Wednesday night service (The ELEMENT) on the topic of relationships.  Specifically, romantic relationships.  

We decided to intentionally plan the music portion of the night to do two things.  First we wanted to give the students an opportunity to request some music.  We have some of the most talented musicians which means we can do pretty much anything we want musically.  Second, we wanted to connect some of the current pop radio music with the teaching of this series.  So we programmed for three "perf" (performance) songs each week.  

After making this decision I was challenged to do something creatively with the teaching.  The original idea I came up with was to teach through story instead of the traditional sermon.  After reading books like "The Shack," and "Leadership and Self Deception," I knew that this was possible based on all I personally learned from these stories.  Where we landed with the idea was to make our story a creative element in the service and a built in illustration for the sermon.

So I took on the challenge of writing a short story.  I'm not completely satisfied with the finished product but for my first effort at writing a legitimate short story I feel pretty good.  Tonight was the finale of the series and I believe this creative element was successful based on two measurables.  

The students seemed tuned into the story reading and at the end several communicated their opinion on the outcome.  Perhaps the bigger sign of success was the conversations I had with several students who expressed an identification with the characters in the story.  We discovered that this series connected with our female audience more than we ever have.  Student ministry usually leans to the more masculine side of creative connection so we felt good about speaking so much to our female crowd.

It felt both very scary and somewhat exciting to be out on the ledge creatively.  Every once in a while it's good to challenge yourself and move out of your comfort zone.  It helps remind you just how dependent you are on God to move in your ministry area.  If you're interested in reading the story click here and be gentle with your feedback.  Hope you like it.

2010 Snow Pictures

For anyone that didn't catch these pictures on twitter and facebook a couple of weeks ago (namely my family without facebook), I wanted to make sure you got to see my beautiful family.  We had a snow storm and it was an actual snow storm.  Actually the most snow since 1989; the only white Christmas I can remember.  So check the photo album on the right entitled "2010 Snow Pictures."  You're welcome.

BTdubs

Seriously people....I miss you. Call or text me or something.  Let me know how you're doing and what amazing things are happening in your life.  Or at least comment here on the blog.  Who's got two thumbs and misses his friends like crazy? THIS GUY!