Developing leaders in my FSA small group...

On Sunday morning's Carrie and I go to Brentwood Church (http://www.brentwoodchurch.org) and volunteer to help with students. I am a 3rd to 5th grade boys small group leader. It is really incredible to see how each of these kids has their own distinct personality. Even at 10 years old the leaders are leading and the other boys fall in line. Each kid I have is unique and a blessing to spend time with. I can remember when I was in 5th grade at church and how wide open I was... I can only imagine the teacher, Mr. Bishop, was irritated with the class. Though he may have been iritated he never neglected or lost sight of his reason for working with 5th grade boys. He is the person that initiated my accepting Christ and choosing to get baptized as an outward expressions of my faith. When I get irritated with my guys I remember my 5th grade teacher and relax. My group consists of Colin, Austin, Kyle, Cole, Devon, and others that don't attend as regularly as these guys.

I am a Virginian.

The process of morphing from a Michigander to Virginian took place over several years. Carrie and I were married in June of '04 and moved to Virginia in August of '04. We moved to Virginia having no friends or family... just one another. It was difficult but we were able to make it happen. During the early months of living here we spent a lot of time together. Carrie didn't have a job and usually slept in till about 10:30AM... one may think that would be enjoyable. Not so, people are meant to work and when we don't it is easy to feel useless and depressed. This was the case with Carrie. So, it was a great blessing when Carrie found a job. One of the first things we did here was try to find a community of Christ followers. I guess we looked around for a couple of months before eventually finding Brentwood Church. At Brentwood we were able to make some friends. We lived in an apartment for several almost three years... it was difficult for me to feel at home in an apartment. During the third year of living in the apartment we started thinking about buying a house. This was a major thing for us as it would indicate we are making a longterm commitment to Lynchburg. Eventually, we found a house and plant more substantial roots. At this point Virginia started to feel like home. In fact, it started to feel like when I would go to Michigan to visit that it was just that... a visit. After a few days or so I would want to come back home to Virginia. Don't get me wrong I still like going to Michigan and seeing friends and family, but it certainly does not feel like a vacation. We drive all over the place visiting people... kind of tiring. I much prefer people coming to see us. There is no extended family to see and we have more time with the visitor exclusively. Given the opportunity I would not move back to Michigan... I am a Virginian.

I guess I should add that I will ALWAYS be a Detroit sports fan!