kylegilbert

Brynna and I needed to pick up some bread for dinner the other night, so we stopped in at Walgreens rather than having to deal with the crowds at Wal-Mart.  When we entered the door, I realized that we had a small problem.  No body told me that in October, Walgreens is transformed into a haunted house.  There were skeleton faces all over the place, and not just the innocent “Mr. Funny Bones” kind of skeletons either.  I’m talking about rotting hair and flesh kinds of creepies down several isles.

So I picked up my daughter and told her to put her head on my shoulder and keep her eyes closed – that there were some things that were kind of rude that she wouldn’t want to see.  Fortunately, I think she took me at my word and did what I told her too, and we quickly grabbed our stuff, paid for it, and headed out the door.

It’s a strange world that we live in.  It’s becoming increasingly difficult to protect the innocence of children in our society (and I know it’s worse in most other countries).

Some of you may be tempted to tell me that I shouldn’t shelter my daughter like this, but I’ll tell you in advance that I think you’re crazy.

In preparation for moving early next week, I’ve been trying to get our phones, electricity, and other utilities set up so that they’re ready to go when we get there. Through this process, I’ve noticed some discrepancies in the name of our address. Some places have it listed as Drive and others as Road or Lane.

Well, in an effort to get this sorted out, I decided to check Google Maps to see the official listing there. The image below is what I discovered. I have removed the street names to appease my wife and throw off all our would-be stalkers, but otherwise the information is unchanged.

Hmm.  I guess we can just take our pick?

You know that someone really loves you when they’re willing to help you bridge the cultural divide and give you lessons on appropriate attire for a new place.  That’s what my Pastor did for me tonight at our reception.  I accused him of just wanting to show off his arms, but either way, I was pretty surprised to see him walk into the service looking like this tonight.

My favorite part – he even tried to mess up his hair in honor of me.  Now, that’s some serious love.

Here’s a tea party that Bryn and I had the other day.  She invited the guests and set things up as shown above.  I never knew I would have so much fun with my kids!

I’ve been walking a tightrope in most of my conversations over the last few weeks. If I seem too excited about the new job I’ll be assuming at Faith Promise Church, I come across as a jerk – uncaring about the many relationships that we’re leaving behind. On the other hand, if I communicate my sadness to move away from so many friends, people think that maybe I don’t really want to go, and that there must be some hidden reason that we’re moving to Tennessee.

As a result, I have to explain both sides to almost everyone I talk to.

In addition to this, I think many people are trying to connect the dots of recent events with this change, and sometimes the result is very far from accurate. So, just to set the record straight, let me do a little Q & A:

Is this the reason the West Campus was closed down?

Please!!! You’ve got to be kidding me!

We had no idea about this position until several weeks after the West Campus was closed, and we were a bit hesitant when we first heard about the position.

Why are you leaving? Are you glad to move to Tennessee?

While this change is very challenging to us, in that we’re moving farther away from family and leaving many of our closest friends behind (not to mention that I’ve never lived outside of Texas), we feel a clear direction from God that this is where we’re supposed to be.

It really helps that one of my closest friends, Josh Whitehead, is on staff there as Executive Pastor.

What will you be doing there? What exactly is a Communications Pastor?

My primary responsibilities will include overseeing the church websites, directing PR and marketing initiatives, doing some graphic design, and working as a part of the pastoral staff at FPC.

What is Faith Promise Church like?

Most of you reading this will know my passion for small group ministry and doing church in non-traditional ways. Faith Promise is that kind of church, and they’re making an impact by reaching people who aren’t being reached through traditional methods of doing church. (They have just under 3,000 in weekly attendance, and they are on track to baptize 200 people this year. Most of those are not children).

Well, we found a great deal on Craig’s list, so I purchased some boxes and unloaded them in our garage.  It took two trips, but it made me proud of my Jeep.

Ben White introduced me to the love of fonts a few years ago.  I didn’t really understand the beauty at first, but that’s no longer true.  Fonts are pretty amazing in their ability to communicate, and they are amazing in their simplicity.  (Yes, I know I’m a dork.)

So I wanted to share this website I came across today so that it will either a) help you to love fonts too, or b) reinforce your understading of my dorkiness.

As of tonight (technically yesterday), our house is on the market for sale.  To help show off the house I put together this web page last night.

There’s a ton of great things about my parents.  They’ve raised me to love God and care about His church, and I know they would do anything for me, but tonight I’ve been thinking of a really funny thing about my dad.

My dad is seriously tough.  He’s the kind of guy that could accidentally gash his arm working on the lawn or cut off a finger with a chainsaw and never cry out in pain.  In fact, the only way you’d know anything was wrong was the presence of blood.  (I’m exaggerating on the injuries a bit – my dad still has all his fingers, but I think you get the point.)  He’s very tough, in the good sense of the word.

But what’s even better is that even though my dad is tough, he’s still affectionate.  He gives me hugs, and he tells me that he loves me.

I love my dad, and I’m very glad to be his son.

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine that found out that he probably has terminal cancer. More shocking than that news was the way he responded when I asked him how he was doing. He said he was delighted and excited that he might soon be with God. To put it in his own words “I’m on cloud nine.”

What do you think about his response? Is this a guy who has faith that will be commended by God, or is it something else? Is this a response we should all aspire to in similar situations, or is it foolish and insensitive? I’ve always wondered about this myself, and I’m curious to hear some opinions.

And here’s an important piece of information I haven’t shared yet: he’s got a wife and kids.