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!!!

Wow, it has been a long time...

It sure has been a long time since I have posted on here...

Life as I knew it has changed in many ways since the beginning of December. There have been many challenges as well as many, many blessings! I am so thrilled to begin a new year, serving the Lord, and enjoying my family! I want to learn more this year than I did last year... I want to read more than I did last year... I want to make more connections with influential people than I did last year.

Over the past month we have seen many different things happen.

Katie and I were able to go to Rhode Island for a week to celebrate Christmas. It was a wonderful trip. We were able to see the sights and eat at all of our favorite restaurants. We even managed to get a Dell's Lemonade! Wow! Those are great! Before we knew it, we were headed back to Florida and looking forward to a busy busy month...

Each week there was something huge going on, one week it was the Christmas program, (which was great by the way) another week it was Christmas Caroling and other Christmas Parties... Lots and Lots of fun, but Very Very Busy!!

The week of Christmas we went up to Jacksonville and had a great time with the family... we were able to spend time with Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Bethel, Aunt Roanna and Uncle Steve and all the kids... It was a great time! We also spent a lot of time with Amanda and Steve. It was refreshing to see our relationship grow during our time together. While we were there we had family pictures taken and did a lot of other exciting stuff like watching the Dark Knight, and swimming in the 108 degree spa before jumping into the 60 degree pool... Trust me! It was exhilerating!!!

Well, last week Amanda and Steve drove all the way down here to Port Charlotte and Katie and I got to watch Stephen James for a few days!!! It was so much fun!! I really miss him and I loved spending that time with him. It reminded me of how much my Uncle Steve meant to me when I was a young guy! It is neat to be on the other end of the uncle/ nephew relationship.

Will is doing (and eating) MORE THAN EVER!!!!! Tonight: Will ate two ENTIRE pieces of Pizza tonight and for lunch he ate olive garden breadsticks, 6 yum yum snacks, and a bottle... this boy just eats and eats and eats!!!! It is unbelievable how much one little baby boy can eat!!!

He is just a very short ways from walking all by himself... He can already hold on to stuff and walk all around the room... In the morning I will take him out of his crib and he will crawl from his room to our room to find mommy... (Daddy lets her sleep in in the morning... what a great guy!! :)... He crawls all over the place and is CONSTANTLY GETTING INTO STUFF that he should not be touching... like light sockets, lap top computers, remotes, iphones... The first thing the boy crawled for was a TV remote!!!! He is a natural born techie :)

Well, there is a lot here but I am sure that one day I will look back and be so thankful that I took the time to write about the details! God has been faithful even through the challenges we have faced...

Thank you God for what you did in 2008 and thanks for what you will do in 2009!!!

Loving my iPhone!!! (in Rhode Island)

Well, I am up in Rhode Island right now and it has been quite some time since I have posted the last time! Sorry about that! Life has been insanely beusy these last few weeks! God has answered SO MANY PRAYERS!!!!

Well two weeks ago My family and I went up to Jacksonville with Eric and Sylvia Cheske for thanksgiving! It was a great trip! We were there for several days, and other than the lack of sleep every night (because of Will) it was a wonderful trip!

We came home and within that next week I got an iPhone, a new vehicle, and we had our Christmas performance: "The Splendor of Christmas"

I will work my way back explaining wach of those:

The Splendor of Christmas: What a busy week it was, almost every night we were out at the church practicing or setting things up for the show... We did the show twice this year (Saturday and Sunday night at 6:00pm) on Saturday night we saw at least 12 people accept Christ, and on Sunday night there were at least 6 people that accepted Christ! God definitely answered our prayers and made both nights a great success!!

Our New Vehicle: Katie and I have been searching for a new vehicle for the past few months and we really fell in love with the Ford Expedition. Well, I found one on Craigs list that was for sale in Cape Coral so on Monday we drove down to cape coral, looked at the vehicle asked him if He would take a little less and then we agreed on a price! What a great deal we got. This 2003 Expedition looks beautiful! We were able to go get in on Thursday and drive it for a few days before we left town. It is a great car! Beautiful inside and out! It looks brand new! The previous owners took GREAT CARE OF IT! Once again: Praise the Lord!

My new iPhone:... :) ..... need I say more! WOW! THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!! This was such an incredible Christmas Gift! I can do anything on this phone! It will manage my bank accounts, pop popcorn, control my TiVo, guide me with directions, entertain me for hours and hours, AND I CAN EVEN MAKE PHONE CALLS WITH IT!!!!! WOW!!!!!! I cannot wait to show everyone at Christmas all of the things that this phone will do!


Well, I have typed too much for now, so I am going to go for now... Thanks for reading! Pray for us as we are on our vacation right now and we have been VERY SICK!!!

We are so blessed!!!!

Merry Christmas to Lee and Katie Tomlin (and Will)

Today Katie and I went and test drove this new vehicle. I have been searching for the right suv for quite sometime and I have been really liking the Ford Expedition more and more.

Well, today God brought a great deal to us, and we are so thankful and excited!
It is a great car owned by a very nice family who took VERY GOOD CARE of it! We offered him a little bit less than the asking price (without being offensive) and he accepted it!

I will probably be going to get it within the next day or two depending on when I can fit it in.

This is one incredibly busy week and that was before we were buying a new car!
Well, here are some pictures for you to check out! What do you think?

2003 Ford Expedition XLT

Getting Ready for Christmas!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Will. He was at work helping Daddy and the only way to keep him happy is to let him eat ipod cables... (don't tell mommy!!!) By the way: He is not normally naked at work, but we had a rough/ wet day all over daddy's office!

Will helping Daddy with the Christmas Tree

Will Playing with all of the Christmas Lights!! Seconds later he was tasting the christmas light!!

Well, tonight Katie talked me into putting up the Christmas tree... to most people any time before Thankgiving is crazy, but this is better than past years. Last year we had out tree up in October, so this year we are a little more normal.

It was lots of fun! Everything is very new to Will which makes it so exciting to watch!! Tonight we wrapped Will up in Christmas light and he loved it! (until daddy took them from him because he was trying to eat them)

We are already in the Christmas spirit, we have the screen door open and it is about 65 degrees in the house, we have had Christmas music playing all night and Katie was even offering me Hot Chocolate!! I opted for the sweet tea instead, but it was still an option!

We put the tree up so early because we will be out of town for wuite some time during the holidays... Here is our vacation schedule...

Thanksgiving: November 26th - 29th with My Family in Jax.

Christmas #1: December 8th - 13th with Katies Family in Rhode Island

Christmas #2: December 22nd - 27th with My Family in Jax.

New Years Eve: HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!

Well, hopefully you can understand why we are getting ready for Christmas so early, because it will be over before we know it!!

This is definitely one of the most blessed Christmas's of my life! It will be so fun to be with friends and family throughout this entire holiday season!!

Thank You Lord for your Blessings!!!

Another Fun Wednesday...

Tonight was the second night of our YOUTHTUBE series. This is a series of message that adress our influences... The first week was: What Influences You? The second week: Who Influences You? and Next Week, the final week will be: Who do you Influence...

It has been a fun series. Tomorrow night I am getting together with the youth group to make some videos! I am excited! Especially because we are going to have Little Ceasers Pizza! They just opened up two weeks ago and I alread have been there three times! I love the CRAZY BREAD!

So that is happening tomorrow night and then we will not be having another youth service until DECEMBER!! Can you believe it!! TIME FLIES BY!!! I am so excited about Christmas this year... I am ready to get out my favorite Christmas CD: David Phelps: One Wintry Night...

Alrighty, well I am going to go play with our internet and see if I can hook it up to my XBOX 360. We got the cable and internet last night and I also went to wal-mart and figured out how to hook up the wireless router!! I am using it right now!

I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!!!

By the way... I am in serious need of an iphone. It is unbelievable the many many different things you can use it for! I NEED I NEED... :) ok, maybe not need, but That sure would be cool...

If I don't get it, I would still be the most blessed person that I know!

Thank God!

I love you all!

Lee

Hey Everyone!

FINALLY! It has been over 3 weeks that we have been in our new home without any TV or Internet!! Tonight at 7:00PM the comcast guys showed up and took care of business! They got us up and running in about 45 minutes! It is so exciting!

Well, we also had a great night spending time with our friends Eric, Sylvia and their two sons, Evan and Gabriel. We ate some chilli, went swimming and played scattergories!!

It was great!!

I will update more some time soon... God has done a lot of great things in our life over the last month. I cannot wait to update you! Thanks! Love you all!

Lee

A Few Pictures of Our New Home! Come VISIT!!!

Here are a few pictures of our new home!

Praise the Lord! We are so Blessed!

What a week...

This has been some week. God has blessed in so many ways and although it was probably the busiest week I can ever remember, I am thankful for all of it!

A little over a week ago, Katies parents came into town and we went and closed on the new house in Sabal Trace Villas. So beginning last week, (one week ago today) we started moving into our new home. Monday and Tuesday were big moving days when I wasnt running to the printing company and the local public schools to put out the flyers for Trunk or Treat. Then Wednesday we had our Costume Party in the youth group. Thursday, I was at the dentinst early in the morning trying to get my crown glued back in. They told me if this glue does not work then they will have to make a whole new crown!!! Pray it works!! The rest of Thursday was a busy day of getting all of the last minute things ready for Trunk or Treat, and then Friday we were basically here setting up for Trunk or Treat all day.

Trunk or Treat was a great success! We had over 1,200 registered attenders. (that is not including any workers, church members, or road side parkers who just snuck in) We were able to get the gospel in every persons hand and also we were able to make many connections with people who said they would love to get more information about our church! What a blessing! We need to pray that we can reach those people who are interested and have them come to one of our services!

Then Saturday we had Men's Prayer Breakfast at 6:30 AM at Perkins in North Port. We had a record attendance of men. There were 22 of us there at 6:30 am! It was a great time of prayer and fun fellowship.

After prayer meeting we went back to the church to clean up from trunk or treat, and then we went and helped Barb Howes move everything from her storage unit back into her house.

Then, Sunday was our churches Anniversary Sunday!! It was such a great day!! We had a fun service in the morning and then we all went out to Port Charlotte Beach and ate and played games and spent the whole afternoon out there together just fellowshiping!

Last night Katie and I spent a nice evening at home and just relaxed and went to bed by 9:30. That was aearly, but it was nice.

In our devotions today we read Proverbs 3... I love verse 33. May we each seek to make our family the "godly" family simply because of our heart and our actions... That is what Joseph did... His entire family was blessed because He was faithful!

Pray for me this week... we have a potentially life changing decision to make by Friday. We are praying fervently and ask that you pray with us!

With Love, Lee

check out these cool articles!!!!

http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/llnews.aspx?articleID=9613&bnpg=0

http://www.winknews.com/sports/local/32475054.html

GUESS WHERE I AM GOING TOMORROW NIGHT!!

GUESS WHERE I AM GOING TOMORROW??

I AM GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!

Let me tell you how it all happened:

Yesterday Katie and I were driving home and she wanted a chicken sandwich. She told me to go to McD's or Chick Fli'A. I told her that McD's was easier because it was on our side of the road. I was about to pull in when she changed her mind and said, No, go ahead and go to Chick Fil-A. So I did. When we got there, there were news media everywhere. I asked the drive through employee what was going on and she said that our local minor league team was hosting an event. She also told us they were giving away two World Series Tickets. Needless to say, I went in and filled out a flyer for the drawing...

THEN THIS MORNING I GOT A CALL ON MY CELL TELLING ME THAT WE WON THE TICKETS!!!!!

I won two tickets to the World Series!!

PRAISE GOD!! WE ARE SO BLESSED!

The Right Tool is so important...

How many times have you tried to do a job with the wrong tool? Maybe it wasnt even a "wrong" tool, just not the right tool or the best tool. Well, today I was able to see first hand how important it is to have the right tool for each job that you do.

I began the day today with a messy yard and many overgrown trees in the side and back yard. I called up a man in my church who owns a lawn business. He had nothing to do this morning and so he brought over all of his equipment.

He had everything from the right mower, the right weed-eater, the right chain saw, the right truck, and the right blower.

We began working this morning about 10:30am and by 12:30 we were done. The work that we accomplished in just two hours would have taken me almost two days to accomplish without the "right tools".

I cannot imagine using my little saw or my hedge trimmers and a ladder to slowly take down the palm branches that easily came down with a brush of the extended chain saw. That tree alone would have taken hours, yet with the right tool it took just a few moments.

It would have been quite frustrating to try to load a mountain of brush into trash cans and then figure out when to put it all out by the road...

I think you get the picture.

This made me think: How many times in life do we use the wrong tool? How many times do we endure frustration and waste a lot of time because we are not using the best tools. Whether we are in ministry and talkins about different administrative processes or at home trying to clean up a mess with the wrong tools.

Maybe it would be worth the investment in time and money to get the right tools for the jobs we are seeking to accomplish.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Wow! What a busy week it has been! I cannot even remember where most of it went. I got to enjjoy several excursions near the end of the week. Let me tell you about them...

Friday: I met Julio Pena at his house at 8:00am and we went bike riding down a bike trail at Mayakahatchee State Park... Lets just say, I have a new respect for Biking. WOW!

I expected it to be a pretty easy task, riding a bycicle through the woods on a trail. But after riding through the first creek, I wondered what I had gotten myself into... (WITH MY NEW SHOES) It may sound like I did not enjoy it, but I LOVED IT!

Dont get me wrong! It was a lot of work but it was a great experience.

Later on Friday Katie and I took Will to get some pictures taken at Sears! He is one cutie pie! Wow! They are great pictures!!

Then Saturday I went to Riverwood Golf Club. We went with 8 guys and that was so much fun! Thank you Mr. Kent!

I LOVE BEST BALL!! (that way whenever I screw up the game I can still do a great job and just pick up my ball and try again where one of the other guys left off!!!)

Well... I am tired, and I am going to bed!! Goodnight!

Saw Sarah Today...

This morning Katie and I got a phone call from a friend in our church and He told us that He was going to the Sarah Palin Rally today with Pastor Chip. We told them that we would get a hold of some tickets and meet them there. Katie and I rushed out the door, ran to the republican headquarters of Port Charlotte, and got some tickets. (Around 11:00am)

We all arrived at the Germain Arena by 12:30pm and walked a few miles from where we parked, and then continued walking as we tried to find the end of the line to get in... By the time we got to the end of the line, we realized that this rally was going to be jam packed. About two and a half hours later we finally made it in the building.

It was set up by God because they stopped letting people in just a few minutes after we walked in the doors... I cannot imagine waiting for over 2 hours just to be told... sorry there is no more room inside.

Well we went inside for a great rally... We were able to see Connie Mac, Tom Moroney, Charlie Crist (and his fiance), and the beautiful Sarah Palin. Wow! It was a great rally!

At one point there were about six hippie looking protesters and Sarah said: "My son is over in Iraq right now fighting for your right to protest"... THE PLACE WENT CRAZY!!! It was so neat to be a part of such an inspiring event!

It is funny, many people that I talked to said: They wouldnt have come this far or waited this long to see McCain, but for Palin, it was well worth it! :)