Crossword - Jan. 10, 2007

Pastor Roy introduces the new sermon series on "Cure for the Common Life". A book written by Max Lucado that talks about finding and using the gifts God has given each person.

The World of Organization

People have said that ignorance is bliss, and I am truly behind it. If you are ignorant in how you spend your money, then you don't worry about where it is going, just when it is gone. If you are ignorant in how you raise your kids, you will sit and wonder what happened to them when they grow up. If we are ignorant in how we spend our time, we will be overwhelmed with what we don't get done. This has been a problem for me for a while. I like to be organized but can never find the right way to do it.

I have had organized both paper and electronic. I have a pda that never gets used (not like an organizer). So as life passed me by, so did some deadlines or things I wanted to do. So slowly I have begun to get myself more organized. Since most of my time is spent in front of a computer, I looked to online tools to help me. And being the Google fanatic that I am, I am using their personalized homepage to help keep things together. On the image below you will see my general layout. I have a few add-ons for Gmail (E-mail), Google Calendar, Remember the Milk (to-do list), my weather updates, My Google Documents (both document and spreadsheet), a Google Notebook (for storing misc information found on website, etc). By having this screen available to me whenever I get on a computer with internet access, it is very easy for me to see what I have coming in, what things I have to do and what things will be coming up.
I know this won't work for everyone but it does work for me, but in getting organized, I have found that I have soo much stuff to do, that I must keep on top of everything. I am known to put things off for later but have really begun to focus on getting things done when they are supposed to be. As humans, we do this all the time. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to sin and our salvation. So many in the world running around saying there is no God because they want to make themselves feel better and to be held accountable to no one. Who needs a Good when I can just deny his existence and live my life the way I want to. I, as a Christian, must continue to show people who God is, not always by talking to them but in the way I live my life and the things that I do or say.

Online Bible Study

For those who are interested, I have started doing something a little different, for the next 11 days, Zach and I are going to read thru Revelations and discuss what we are reading and talking about. Each night we will read 2 chapters and then he will ask questions about things he might not have understood or have questions about and I will try my best to answer.

I am putting this on my blog to allow for more people to be involved and to get answers from a bigger pool of people. Join us in this online Bible Study. I will post a schedule (because of the holidays) here shortly.

Read Revelations here

Happy Birthday Roy E. Probus Sr.

So yesterday was my father's birthday. He would have been 56 years old. I talked to my mom last night and she said it was hard, but that she saw a picture of him acting very goofy and it made her laugh and feel better. She seemed to be getting everything back in order. She has all her finances straightened out, so her life will start being normal now.

I on the other hand are having issues... Not with my fathers birthday or death or anything like that. Out of all the kids, I am probably doing the best. More so cause I didn't see him that much, so not seeing him isn't a big deal. I mean I hurt and I miss my father (alot) but I don't dwell on it and get emotional all the time. I still think about calling him or needing to talk to him. Mostly when I know that I have to get my car fixed or have a question about a noise it is making. I do miss my father.

I was watching house on Monday and the episode we saw had a son who was about to die and a father who was needing to talk to him before hand. Made me tear up. The biggest regret I have is not talking to my father more and not getting to see him "alive" before I saw him in the hospital. I hadn't seen him in almost a year before we drove down that weekend. But the only thing I can do know is remember him and help my children to remember him. My youngest brother, Michael, made a statement to me and my other brother about his kids not ever getting to know their grandfather. Kaitlyn has only seen her papaw once, while he was alive and then once in the hospital. She will never know him. Abigail and Timothy know him and miss him.

So Happy Birthday dad. I know you would have enjoyed it.

Renew me O' Lord

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

The last few months have been a whirlwind of events for me. Lots of things going on, some good, some bad, others just kind of annoying. During this time I have been feeling really down on myself. I am not sure why but do have some belief that I know. I know I am not perfect and mess up, but sometimes I am just too lazy to apply myself the way I should. I, like everyone else, tend to find other things to do rather than studying scriptures and reading my Bible. I have a family, a ministry, a job and kids to help me stay occupied but even those are not very good excuses of why I shouldn't be in the word as much.

As a youth pastor I have to read up for my lessons. Figure out the scripture and go from there. Helping to apply it to the lives of my students. But usually that is a very small piece of scripture and I don't use it as a time for me to learn but to learn how to tell my students. I am in the process of working out of this.

I am also very frustrated with my youth group. As much as I try to direct my students, very few of them seem to listen. I have tried all kinds of tactics to get them to understand, but many of them seem to want to socialize rather than learn about God. We have issues with talking and disruptions during the singing and lessons. I hear of the actions of some of them outside of the youth group and my so-called leaders doing things they know and have sworn they wouldn't do. The boyfriend/girlfriend craze is really moving and hurting our group. Guys like the girls and vice versa. We have students who don't feel their life is complete without having someone to call boyfriend or girlfriend.

I was a teenager and did the same thing, so I can understand. But I also remember the heart ache and problems that this caused in my life. Liking someone only to find out they don't like you. To see people who you like, go from person to person only to be hurt each time. I look at the girls in my group and see the hurt they have from families and not truly having father figures to look up to. Some of them wanting soo much to have a boyfriend because "dad" wasn't/isn't around to help them through their life, so they are looking for love in all the wrong places. I look at some of the guys and see them liking girls and going back forth, only to know that it isn't because they truly like that girl, but more because that girl will look good on their arm and impress their friends.

Another issue seems to be the competition we have among the students.. The fighting and backbiting that goes on because we want to make ourselves feel better or put us above everyone else because we are worried about what people might think or being labeled a failure. I have some great kids and most of them can be almost anything they want to be, but right now they seem so self involved that they can't see beyond themselves. My heart hurts for them, for their parents, for myself because I am not sure how to handle the situation or "force" someone to see that they need to change.

So right now I am resting in God's grace that He is in charge. Too many times I lean on my own strengths and "so called" greatness. I also become selfish and believe that I can do anything on my own, only to be knocked down like I feel right now. I am in the process of really evaluating what we do as a youth group, what I do as a person and seeing what needs to be changed.

Pray for me.