Windermere Wednesday

If you have been around Church camps at all you know that there is one day where the kids just shut down.  It not because the don’t care or their not listening, it’s because they have wore themselves out in everyway: spiritually, physically, and mentally.  That day was Wednesday.  By the time we got to Chapel last night the young people were glazed over.  Brandon Briscoe brought another great message from the book of 1 Samuel.  It was the story of David and Goliath.  A well known story no doubt, but I love the take that Brandon brought.  The lesson in a nut shell was simple.  Good things in life will cause you not to do the right things.  And it’s better to be right than to be good.  I loved it.  Anytime a man stands up and preaches about Character and responsibility, count me in. 

As I was talking to Shawn’s small group after the service, they were describing the  fear of going home and being a hypocrite around their friends.  The answer to hypocrisy is a simple one: make the choice and don’t do that anymore.  Choose righteousness!!  Forget all the pier pressure and just make a stand and make a choice.  The harder answer is the real struggle how do I stand by myself.  This is a lie from the Devil and from our flesh.  “I’m the only one that wants to serve God.”  No you’re not.  You just might have to make the stand to find the others that are wanting to stand with you.  When God called a man in the Bible he always calls someone along side that man.  God never intended for us to be the “lone Ranger” Christian and change the world all by ourselves.  This is why a Church, a youth group, and school club are so important and necessary in the life of a Christian.  You should find someone that is striving to be what you are trying to be and stick to them like glue.  Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”  Notice he doesn’t make you better, he keeps you uplifted in the midst of life.  Who is your friend?  who is the one that uplifts you when the world is closing in around you.  Everyone needs someone.

I know the youth will be ready to receive what God has for them on Thursday.  As for me I have been able to do a lot of preparation for Ukraine and finish writing all of my quizzes for the discipleship class, as well as some other items on the to-do list.

Tuesday at Windemere

The second day at camp was a great day.  The food has been really good.  I was able to finish writing all my quizes for my Discipleship class in Ukraine.

One of the things we are trying to do at Fellowship is to focus our missions efforts on the things we believe God has called us, as a church to do.  One of the areas we believe God is focusing us on is the country of India.  The morning session was a missionary from India that was sharing some wonderful stories of the miricles God has been doing to bring the Indian people to the saving knowledge of Christ.  India has the biggest percentage of the worlds lost population.  I had an opportunity to share our burden for India, and I believe God is going to do some amazing things through this new partnership. 

The youth are having to walk literally 15 minutes from their cabins to all the activities of the day.  So, I had an epiphany.  We have a 72 passenger bus sitting in the parking lot.  As I gave the kids a ride to dinner, I have never recieved so many "thank you"s in my life.  Remember, its been over 100 degrees everyday.  I think we improved the camp experience today. 

Last night Brndon Briscoe brought another great message from the book of I Samuel.  It was based on the story of Dagon the godof the philistines when the ark of the covenant was brought into the temple.  I'll let you read the story for yourself.  The point was God doesn't need you to accomplish his will or magnify his name.  He can do that all by himself.  God chooses to use those that are broken to the point that they cry out to him.  This is what we saw in Hannah, and the children of Isreal in order to defeat the Philistines.  God is speaking so loud, pray that it not fall on deaf ears.

SECOND AT WENDOMERE

Sunday night we loaded a bus at 8:30 p.m. and started on an 11 1/2 hour treck to the middle of Missouri to a place called Wendomere.  It is a beautiful camp nesseled in a cove on the Lake of the Ozarks.  There were 40 people on the bus, some Jr. High and some High School students and the couselors and bus drivers (thats me).  I, being a morning person and Shawn being a night person, let Shawn take the first shift.  I was catching some zzzzzzz right after we got out of Pampa.  We had made a little spot in the back for us to sleep, but remember, we are on a school bus and the roads made you think you were in a war zone.  The widows were ratteling, the luggages was boming with every bump, and the High Schoolers are mapping out the next horor movie in the seats in front of me.  Needless to say,I didn't get much sleep. 

As camp got underway we could tell that God has some great things in store for us. One of the things that God has been doing in my life is allowing me to see past the exterior of flesh and see the soul of a man.  This is important, and for some it is scary because they have workedso hard at making a fortified wall so no one can get in.  Brandon Brisco is the High school speaker this week and he was talking about the neccessity of believer having the heart of God toward people.  I belive this camp is changing the lives of our kids.

The Great Adventure of 2011

When I was in the process of planning our vacation, I kept everything a secret from Katie and Kellie about what we were going to be doing.  We took off Thursday morning for the Ocoee river in Tennessee for a wild adventure whitewater rafting.  This is something I have always wanted to do and I wanted to experience it with my girls.  We had such a good time.  This river has some class III and IV rapids on it and you would have thought we were pros.  I would highly recommend this river for anyone feeling froggy. (That’s me in the red shirt and white legs)

After we finished our rafting we headed over to Bryson City, N.C. were we stayed at the base of the Smoky Mountains at a wonderful little cabin. (http://www.greatsmokies.com/peacefulcreek)  I had the opportunity to take my nephews on their very fist tubing experience.  It was priceless.  They were scared to death the first time down, but just like ducks in the water they were ready to go again and the second day we had a blast.  By this time Mom and Dad had met up with us at the cabin.  Mom has always wanted to take the train ride that leaves from Bryson City so that’s what we did.

We got up on Friday morning and boarded the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad.  it was a good time for all as we went by some mountain lakes and waved at people rafting down stream.  it was slow paced but that’s why I enjoyed it so much.

After some more tubing and a trip up through the Smokey Mountains we were ready to head back to good old Georgia,  but we weren’t done yet.  We had to stop by the Amicalolla Falls, the most beautiful water falls that I have ever seen in my life.  We all got adventurous and hiked up the side of this wonderful mountain  with the water falling right next to the path.  A picture is worth a thousand words!

Well this has been our great adventure of 2011.  I believe it is one for the history books in the Sizemore family.  I have more pictures and stories on tap for those that are interested.

Hot-Lanta

AS we checked out of the hotel of the Radisson Tuesday morning the clerk behind the counter asked, “And how was your stay?”  I said, “Well it was alright.  The bathroom was to small for four people trying to get ready. (I do have three girls I’m dealing with.)  Because we were on the top floor we were listening to all the motors and fans operating on the roof.  The beds were full size which made them a little small for comfortable sleeping, and they were sleep number beds (which I don’t have) and didn’t know what my number was supposed to be so we got up with back aches.  Needless to say, her smile and have a nice day was of very little consolation.  The good news is we only had a 3 hour drive to get to Mom and Dad’s after breakfast.

We got to the house about 12:30 eastern time and had some lunch with Mom and Dad.  I didn’t realize how exhausted we were until I turned around and everyone was taking a solid nap all over the living room.  So I joined them in Mom’s recliner and caught some Z’s.

After a nice dinner with all the family, My brother Chris invited us over for a run around his neighborhood.  My brother is preparing for his first marathon in October and is up to a solid four miles.  I, on the other hand, am a casual runner and run about two miles with stops.  So, off we went.  The hills were crazy.  I was literally having to stop myself from tumbling down the street.  The trails that we were running on were beautiful.  Then we walked up to the top street in the neighborhood and there was a beautiful view and the houses were amazing.  But the best thing about the run was that I was running with Chris.  I enjoy our time together. 

After the run.  We went back to Mom’s. I took a shower.  And I was out for the night.

The Fast Track

 

What an amazing Sunday we had for Memorial Day at the Church.  I’m sure when I say that many of you will be wondering how we honored our war heroes of the past, but there was just one hero we honored yesterday and that was Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  The One that was willing to take our shame and die for our freedom and bring us back into a loving relationship with God.  Last Sunday being a fifth Sunday was a time of celebration at Fellowship Baptist Church.  It is the time that we introduce all the new members to the Church.  We had two new adults join the Church through believers baptism and two families join by letter.  It is good when God adds precious souls to the mix.  Our evening service was filled with praise and adoration for our God as the praise band took us to the throne. Then we communed with the Lord as a family. 

Monday morning we got up and finished the little bit of packing we had to do and we were on the road to Nashville.  We are taking our family vacation to spend some time with my mom and dad in Atlanta, but it is a two day trip.  So, we decided to knock most of it out on Monday.  We took off about 8:20 (after getting a Jesse’s Burrito of course) and arrived safe and sound in Nashville at 9:50.  this was our first time to travel all together in our new Yukon and it was nice.  The travel was so comfortable that I felt refreshed when we got to the hotel.  It was weird how fast the time went.  it was like people were praying or something.  So we are getting around this morning and will finish the trip today with about a 3 1/2 hour trip.  I will fill you in on the vacation as it happens.  It seems like the only time I find to blog is when I’m out of the office.

Stuff To Do

I am amazed at how much stuff we have to do.  I remember as a kid sitting on the couch in the middle of the morning saying, “I’m board.  There’s nothing to do around here.”  I would be so excited when summer was coming to a close and school was about to start.  Of course I made sure that no one knew that about me, but it was true.  I just wanted something to do.  Now it seems that there’s not enough hours in the day.  Here’s the strange thing.  If I’m not careful and purposeful I can work all day and not really accomplish anything.  I find myself tired and unfulfilled.

A wise person once said, “Live everyday on purpose.”  I have tried to take that thought to heart.  I have come to understand and appreciate that everyday we have is truly a gift from the Father of lights and should not be wasted.  We are so good at becoming “busybodies.”  Running here and running there; and after all the running we really haven’t gone anywhere.  I say life is to short.  What did you do today?  Did the day count?  Was there purpose and meaning?  Did the World change because you got up this morning?  We do have that power you know.  We have the opportunity to change the world simply because we are in it.  It’s 10:30 at night and I have been running errands all day long for my family: Shopping, cleaning, mailing, filing.  I even went to the DPS and scheduled a time for I first born to take her driving test next week.  And with all that, I still didn’t clean off my todo list.  But that’s O.K. because I have tomorrow, or I don’t.  That’s not my call.

Today was an odd day for me, because in the mist of all my business I really didn’t interact with people that much today.  Scott and I had a conversation about Revelation and the men that write about it. (One of the highlights of my day by the way.)  Other than that I didn’t talk much.  I went to several stores doing what I had to do.  I was in a sea of people, but just kind of doing my own thing.  I called Kim several times today (because I miss her like crazy.)  But for the most part it was just me.  The ironic thing is today is my day off.  I don’t know; maybe for a minister that’s what a day off means.  I don’t have very many of those to be honest with you. I must say except for the 2 hours it took me to change the spark plug in my motorcycle, I had a pretty relaxing day. 

One of the things on my todo list was to clean the downstairs bathroom.  I think I will knock that out real quick and then enjoy it by take a nice hot bath.  If that sounds feminine to you,  You don’t understand the therapeutic nature of a long hot bath and you’re missing out.  I might even top it off with bubbles, because I like bubbles.  I have to be ready to change the world tomorrow.