Back from Guatemala

Well, I just got home from the trip of a lifetime. I saw some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. God spoke to my heart in a very real way. Go to our blog and read about our trip: www.missionguatemala.info


-- Post From My iPhone

-- Post From My iPhone

Graduation... Bittersweet

Last night was our graduation celebration at Suncoast Baptist Church. It was such a good service! I was reminded that this group of graduates is the first group of teens that I have seen come up from 9th grade and go all the way through High School! It is really exciting!

It reminded me of a few things:

1. The time that I have with these teenagers is so short!
- I must teach them Gods word diligently in the short time that I have...

2. Every teenager has some kind of future!
- sometimes I want to just "let some teenagers go", but I must be diligent to invest into every one, regardless of the trouble they cause.

3. I am one of the biggest influencers on these teenagers!
- I need to confidently encourage them to seek Gods path and counsel them toward Bible college.

4. God has called me to love and pray for these teenagers unconditionally!
- Have I dont that enough? No.

5. No matter how old and cool the seniors get, they still want the same thing as the junior highers:
- They want to be loved, involved, accepted and needed... How can I make each teenager feel that?

Well, another year is coming... I will srive to remember these lessons all throughout the year.

Excited about growing...

I remember as a kid I was so excited about growing that I would constantly measure myself to see if I had grown, in fact I remember going over to my Grandmas house and standing behind a door while my mom would mark how tall I had gotten since the last time we had measured. I could take you to that door today and show you each date and how tall I was each time...

I think it is Ironic that we stop growing taller between the age of 16 and 20, and many times we do the same thing spiritually, educationally, physically and so on... Why is that?

It is so easy to shift into Neutral and let life pass by, but there has to be something more than that. There is! We all know that!

God has called us to grow! Just because our legs start growing doesnt mean our mind and our heart should stop growing too! How do we allow our heart and head to grow like we really want it to?

Educationally, (or Mentally)

1. READ
- I hate reading, but I read anyway. I am reading several books right now. I think the most interesting is "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell, also I just finished Communicating for Change, by Andy Stanley.

2. READ
- I love using technology as a source of growing. My iPhone helps me stay in contact with great men like Perry Noble and Andy Stanley daily to hear the great insight and wisdom that they relay throughout the day. Just last night Perry Noble said: "God called me to the ministry to serve Him, not to impress others" Ouch! Good Stuff!

MORE ANOTHER DAY...

RENOVATION!!!

Well, today I got quite a bit of work done around the house... of course with the help of Joe LaPerriere, one of the most handy men that I have ever met...

There were so many little details that needed to happen before we can lay the wood flooring down, and I had NO CLUE where to start. Yesterday I spoke with Joe and asked him to come by the house and tell me what I could do to level the floor.

So he told me that he would stop by this morning at 9:00 am and tell me what I needed to do... well, Praise the Lord! because when he got there, he told me what I needed to do... and then he spend 5 hours at my house helping me do it, and then also helping me do a list of other very important things! (some of which I had no clue about)

Well, first we poured out a compound that helped us level the floor... right now as I speak the floor is drying and getting harder and harder... after we leveled the floor then we tore up the tile in the entrance way with a "mini jack-hammer" and then we took off all of the base boards and then we took the old grout and thin set off the floor (well, most of it) and then we (he) cut all the door jams off each door in the house so the wood floors will go right under it. It looks really really nice!!

Well, what a blessing mr. Joe is, and it gets better... he had to leave at 2:45 so that he could make another appointment and then he called me around 3:15 and told me that he was going to come and help me glue down the wood flooring tomorrow!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting!!! and it seems like it might finally happen!! I am thrilled!

But wait: It gets even better, right now, Steve, Amanda, Steven James, Spencer, and Remi are all headed down here to North Port to spend a few days with us! Steve is going to help me put some wood flooring down and help me wire anything that we need wired and then do all kinds of other stuff! We are excited!!

Thank you Amanda and Steve!!

Then my parents are coming up Thursday and Friday!! How cool is that!

Then Katie and I will end the week with an incredible date, we are going to see the broadway show "Wicked", dont worry it is not a bad show, it is apparently the prestory of the Wizard of Oz... I have heard it is absolutely phenomenal!! We will also eat at the melting pot that night!!!

Well, that is our week! It sounds like lots of fun huh? Well, I hope so!

I am setting a goal right now, this very minute and we will see if it happens... I plan to have everything finished with the flooring by one week from Saturday (April 4th) and then I plan to be moving in the week of April 5th - 11th. I plan to be sitting on a couch in the living room watching TV and enjoying the house NO LATER THAN April 17th...

Lets see how it goes :)

Great Things Are Happening!

I am so thrilled about what is going on here at Suncoast Baptist Church!
In the last month we have reconstructed our database and our database software and that may sound boring or unimportant to the average joe, but that is one of the most exciting things we have done (in my opinion) in a very long time... here is the reason...

A month ago, Pastor and I went through our church database and we were amazed at how many people we just did not know! I mean, the list went on and on and we had no clue who so many different people were. We realized that we have not been keeping track of our people like we should be...


Ben Jennings put it this way: " God gives us people and we are supposed to reach these people, if we do not reach them then we are not being good stewards of Gods gifts, so are we going to passively pursue people? or will we actively pursue people?"

LETS BE ACTIVE ABOUT REACHING PEOPLE!!!!

I am excited about our new system of keeping track of people! I have already met so many people that I never knew before! I mean, several of them have gone to this church for months and months but I never met them....

Change is in the air!! I love it! Well, we are also closing on our home on Friday! We are very excited! Paul king and Paul Lockhart are going to be at the house most of the day Friday and they will be painting for us! I am so excited!!!!!

I cannot believe what God has done in the last month...

Well, life has been so busy in the last month. I have not been able to post nearly as much as I would like, but I am striving to gain the discipline that I need to be more consistent at this. I know that one day when I go back and read all of the incredible blessings that God has provided, it will be a great record of God's Goodness.

Well, in the last month many things have happened... lets see, Katie and I got a new vehicle and just a short time later My parents got me an iPhone for Christmas. Well, with that iPhone I have been able to find a lot of stuff... including a new house.

:)

Let me explain, one day, I was sitting around looking at some new IPhone Applications when I found a realestate app. It helps you find good deals on homes and property in the area... Well, I thought, even though we arent looking right now to buy, I will go on and see how it works. I loaded the app and typed in our price range and the area we are interested and the first house that it pulled up was a beautiful 2400 square foot, 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, formal living, formal dining room, family room, kitchen with stainless steel appliances, privacy fenced in back yard, wood deck, storage shed, play ground, and It seems like I could go on and on... but what did not make sense was the price... It was listed for $109,000. Are you kidding me? That is incredible!! So Icalled the realtor to find out what was wrong with this house or was was typed wrong in the add, and the realtor, Sue Miller, explained to us that this home was a short sale. She told us how this home was built in 2005 for $360,000 and the market has dropped so much that the family who lives in it cannot fford it, and they cannot sell it.

Sue went on to explain to us that a short sale means that we offer the bank a price and they decide what they will take from a new buyer, and then the bank takes the loss on what the first owners could not pay (the difference between what they owed and what we are willing to pay)

Sue explained that she had shown the house several times, but no one had put any kind of bid on it yet. Sue explained to us that if we were to put a bid on the house, the Bank MIGHT accept 109,000. Well, Katie and I looked at the house, and LOVED IT.

We decided that we would put a bid on the home... now, we were not sure that we wanted it, we just wanted to know what the bank would say the lowest they would take on this home... (You cannot negotiate with the bank on a short sale, after you put a bid in they either accept it or reject it, and if they reject it they will tell you the only price they are willing to accept)

So, Katie and I decided to play it safe and bid even lower than what the realtor recommended, we placed a bid for $102,000. Well, about three weeks later, while Katie and I were on a date... (we went to an Italian Restaurant called Denato's, then we went to the mall, and were standing in Old Navy waiting for a movie to get ready to start... ((Mall Cop... ULTIMATELY CHEEZY))... when I got a phone call... I had already been on the phone 2 or 3 times that night, and so I decided not to answer it, and just to check my voice mail... well: I listened to the voice mail and it was Sue and she said: LEE AND KATIE CONGRATULATIONS!!!! THE BANK ACCEPTED YOUR OFFER!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!

We were so excited! We found out that we were going to be homeowners... Sue went on to tell us that the only change the bank made to the contract is that they wanted us to close earlier instead of waiting so long...

So we will be closing on our new home on March 10th...

There have been so many exciting details that I will come back on another day and share... All I can say is... PRAISE THE LORD!!! THANK YOU LORD!!!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!!

He has been greater than I could have ever asked or thought!!!