kylegilbert

The cold days have kept us indoors, but that hasn’t stopped us from having fun times together.  The photo above is from a party my daughter put together a few weeks ago.

I’m was seated at the bottom left (the backwards cap got me in a little trouble).  Good times were had by all.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been walking through the process of purchasing a house here in Knoxville.  Unfortunately, things haven’t gone quite as smooth as we were hoping, but there’s still a chance that we will close on the house this Wednesday.  If not, we’ll have to send new paperwork back through bankruptcy court (the house is currently owned by the bank), and that will delay closing by several weeks.

Through this time, a few things have become apparent:

• I really struggle with patience.  Once I have a thing planned in my mind, I struggle with any deviation to that plan.
• Being unsure of what’s going to happen is unmotivating.  For instance, even though I’m packing everything up, many things will have to be unpacked if closing is delayed.
• Its hard to enjoy living in a rented house once you’ve packed away all your decorations.  It feels like a barren shell of a place – not like home.
• There is some sick part of me deep inside that kind of enjoys packing (just a little).  Maybe my mom dropped me on my head as an infant, or something.
• This is a GREAT time to buy a house.  Both the soon-to-end tax credit and the extremely low interest rate sweeten the deal considerably.  In fact, my wife might just end up with new living room furniture for the first time in our marriage.

As a pastor, I really enjoy walking alongside couples as they transition from engagement to marriage. Recently, I shared something with a couple who is working through a few challenges.  I thought I’d post it here in case it might encourage others too:

[Speaking to their issue] …marriage is full of junk like this. If it’s not quality time, it’s sexual frequency, differences on how to spend money, communication problems, or family issues. Having a great marriage is not the absence of problems. It’s having a rock solid commitment to work things out, even when you don’t want to.

Nothing profound here – just a good reminder.  Everybody has problems, but in marriage, work, or any other thing we do, the process of working through these problems is what makes our relationships healthy.

I just started reading a book by Geoff Surratt called Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing. It’s my first time to read a book by Geoff, and I’m really enjoying it.  He writes from the mistakes he’s made in the past, and it’s quite funny.

Right now I’m only on the first “stupid thing”, and he’s already nailed me.  It’s about pastors trying to do everything themselves rather than sharing the responsibility.  I’m not sure if it’s my insecurity, my perfectionism, or just a fear that others won’t enjoy being involved, but this is an area where I really struggle.

Fortunately, God has given me enough clarity to see that the things He has called me to do at Faith Promise are beyond my abilities.  Light years beyond.

I’m committed to kicking this tendency to the curb because there’s too much at stake.  Whether it’s our communications strategies, our church website, the Internet Campus, outreach campaigns, or anything else I’m working on, I want to get others involved.  I want to share the fun and the responsibilities.  I want to step out in faith to see what God will do when I and the other people I’m serving with come to the end of our abilities.

Just so I don’t give the wrong impression, almost everything I’ve done at Faith Promise has involved great teams of people.  People like Josh, Brad, Heather, Matt, Phil, and many others have been deeply involved in every successful thing that I’ve worked on at Faith Promise so far.  I’m deeply indebted to each of them, and I can’t wait to see new people join us in ministry and planning.

Barring any unforeseen complications, this is the house we’ll be moving into the beginning of next month.  We’re grateful for our time renting a home in Farragut, but it’s time to move on from here, and we’re excited to make this our new home.

At the same time, a lot of my reading over the past few days has been focused on the temporary nature of this life and our stuff.  It’s adding some great perspective as we make this transition.  The house and stuff that we own is cool, but it can never own our hearts.

Lord, please help me to value obedience to you over my possessions.  Protect my heart from being ensnared by temporary stuff.

So, what about you?  In the materialistic world we live in, what helps you to remember that it’s all temporary?  Any tips?

The eventual fate of all snowmen is a bit of a bummer.  My favorite consolation is to see how long the fellow can last in the face of warming temperatures.

The second image below was taken several days after the snow had completely melted from the rest of the neighborhood.

I’m happy to report that even though it’s been over a week, there are still snowman remains in my front yard. He’s the toughest snowman I’ve ever built, no doubt.

Oh, I love my kids! I love how they are growing and learning, and I love that I get to help direct their lives to Jesus and living for Him without reservations.

One thing that I’ve discovered is that it’s a little bit hard to come by resources that are really great for helping my kids learn about the Bible. Either the stories tend to be poorly written, miss the point, or have lame illustrations. Fortunately, Keri has a collection of books that she and her siblings grew up reading, and they’re fantastic. I don’t personally know about newer editions, but these 1966 Arch Books are my favorite. I read one with the kids every night.

Anybody else have kid resources that you’d recommend for teaching about Jesus and the Bible?

Yesterday we had a great day in the snow with the kids. We built a seriously big snowman (almost as tall as me), and we had a great snowball fight.

Yesterday’s post made me remember a funny prank that I played on Josh about eight years ago. Someone from the local jail left a message on my answering machine, and I recorded the message and spliced in my name so it sounded just like the message I had received. Then, I called Josh when he wasn’t in the office and left the message on his answering machine.

You can listen to the message here:
Tarrant County by kylegilbert

Good memories.

I found out tonight from one of my brother-in-laws (Nathan, AKA Great Gorilla) that Keri’s Uncle Paul decided to talk a little smack during a sermon the other day.  I downloaded the sermon and cropped out the comment to share on here.

Uncle Paul by kylegilbert

This is awesome! Thanks, Uncle Paul! Consider the favor returned.