I fall asleep praying at night a lot. I mean well. I try hard. But sometimes, no matter how hard I try to stay awake I just can’t. And then there are times when I can’t fall asleep so I pray and pray and pray. This happens more now that I am getting older. I used to never have a problem falling asleep. I can relate a little with Peter, James, and John as they were trying to stay awake while Jesus was agonizing over what He was going to face. I don’t know though…I would like to think that the adrelin would’ve been pumpin’ through my body and that I would’ve been able to hang with Jesus and not fall asleep that night. Especially seeing Jesus in the condition He was in. I mean think about it…this was the only time they saw Jesus this upset. He even told them how upset He was when He said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death”. Not one time, not two times, but three times they dozed off! Then jesus told them, “Watch and pray that you may not enter temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” They understood the part about the spirit being willing, but the flesh weak. They wanted to stay awake. They just couldn’t. I feel like that a lot. I want to do what’s right(My spirit is willing), But I do the opposite(But my flesh is weak). I think I’ll stick to mostly praying in the mornings after I have a cup of coffee.

I can’t believe that we are finally winding down to our 9/23 launch. When we moved to Southern Chester County in April of 2006, our launch seemed so far away. I am glad that we gave ourselves the time that we did before planning to launch. It gave us time to pray, plan, and prepare. It’s so cool to see how God worked all of the little and big details from where we would meet to the worship team to the money to finance all of this. God is so good!

There will be a lot of activity happening from now until launch. Our TV commercials start to air next week. You can check them out at on YouTube . They will be airing 60 times each week through the end of September. We also have 20,000 direct mail pieces going out soon. We are also using Tellstart that will call 40,000 homes in our area letting them know about our launch and giving them an option to receive more information.

I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through Elk Creek Church!

My two year old looks like an angel! I love this picture of Abbey… this is my wallpaper on my iPhone.

She may look innocent, but I was reminded of the sin nature that is in all of us…even little Miss Abbey!

My wife took the kids to the mall yesterday. Of course a trip to the mall wouldn’t be complete (in the kid’s minds) without going to the Disney store, the toy store, and topped off with some ice cream. After visiting the toy store, my wife was walking through the mall and noticed Abbey playing with a new toy. The only problem was my wife didn’t buy Abbey a new toy. Abbey took the toy from the shelf when my wife wasn’t looking! My wife immediatetly drilled her with a series of questions. The exchange went something like this…

Q. Where did you get this toy?
A. Duh…at the toy store.

Q. Is it right to take things that don’t belong to you?
A. No

Q. That’s called stealing…is it ok to steal?
A. No

Q. That’s very naughty…do you understand me?
A. Yes

Q. That’s right! We are going to march right back to the store and you are going to give the toy back to the lady and tell her your sorry…ok?
A. OK

She understood that what she did was wrong. That was evident by the “I’m sorry” that she gave the lady at the toy store when she returned the stolen merchandise!

Sin has such a powerful grip on humanity! Aren’t you glad that “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world!”