A great verse for the new year

“And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up” Galatians 6:9 Living Bible

Happy New Year

I love new beginnings. I've already made goals, started a new workout, organized the house, balanced the bank accounts, set a new direction for the year and started making plans for the Burks family trip this summer. I love new beginnings.

For some reason I find myself a little more excited about this new beginning than normal. I believe 2008 is going to be the beginning of a very exciting time in mine and my family's life. I pray we are much closer to God and each other as 2008 ends.

A Prayer :: Lord, let your will be done in my life this year. May you open my eyes to your great plan and may you please lead me through this year. I want, really more than anything, to be yours and only yours this year. You are so good to me. I love you.

GOD . . . not impact

The impact God has planned for us does not come when we are pursuing impact . . . it occurs when we are pursuing God.

The most important is not the work I can do for God . . .
The most important thing I can do to make God the most important thing.

I want to start each day on my knees and in His Word. I want to fear Him more than I fear man. I want to live a life that is focused on Him and not focused on the next ministry project I'm going to take on.

A Christmas to Remember

Its December and the Christmas pressure is here in full force! What do we do with all our lists, parties, and family trips? How do we stop long enough to get it? How do we really get what this time of year is all about? I want to. I want this year to be a Christmas to remember.

I want this year to rank up there with those year's where wonder filled my life. I clearly remember being told a story when I was a kid that at midnight all the animals around the world would bow before God in worship. I believed it. I wanted so bad to see it. I wanted go to a farm and see horses and cows on their knees!

I remember driving around the neighborhood looking for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Seeing Rudolph fly through the North Texas Sky was routine to me as I grew up.

I long for wonder! . . . I'll start with God and His Word.

So . . . with that simple little confession . . . I'm off. Not sure where I'm going, but the trip is to find what's worth remembering.

One more thing, feel free to jump in and help. A guide on this little trip would be great.

THINK

Click the picture if you have trouble reading it.

teenagers are cool

i love students. i love everything about them. i think they are funny. i think they are smart. the way they live life is awesome.

i love this pict.

Talk Less Do More

talking makes me tired. i made a decision that from this day on, i'm going to talk less and do more. i know what to do. i don't need to be reminded. i don't even want to be reminded any longer. i just want to do what i already know i'm supposed to do.

spider outside my window

i took this picture today . . . its outside my office. if you notice in the middle of the pict there is a large spider . . . look for the black dot. i think its the same spider that was with me last year. he's in the same place. do spiders live in one place year after year? if they do, i would like to be more like a spider :)

life

my dad passed away a few months ago. he was by far one of my biggest fans. he was married to my mom for 59 years, the father of 5 kids, a faithful follower of Christ and a good employee.

to say i miss him is the understatement of the year.

you know the hard thing for me is that i was just not ready for this. i thought i was. i expected it to be very different than it is. how do you prepare for the death of someone you love and care for? how? you have months to prepare for new life that enters your family. you see your wife's body change and then one day you go to the hospital and you have a new life in your life. but with death, it just happens.

i would love to hear my dad's voice again. i would love to go the lake and ski with him just one more time. i would love to walk on a baseball field one more time and look up into the stands and see him sitting there next to my mom. i try to hear his voice and i can't. oh how i want to hear my dad call out my name.

Broken Legs

my daughter bailey broke her leg a few weeks ago. i must say that seeing her walk through the house and struggle to get around is killing me. its one of those things that is a bit hard for me to understand about life.

i don't want her to be hurt. i don't want her to suffer. i would gladly switch places with her. it hurts me to see her hurt.

i am sure she will be fine. they tell me that's what trampolines are for.

Marko and Tic at YS St. Louis

checkout marko and tic at ys st louis . . . pretty fine cheerleaders . . . watch the video now, its loaded at the top right corner of my blog.

Parkour

You got to see this. . . i was watching E60 tonight on ESPN. this stuff is amazing.
Read the following slice taken from the american parkour website
The kid in the picture is jumping from one building to another . . . not on a board!

What is Parkour?


Parkour is the art of moving through your environment using only your body and the surroundings to propel yourself. It can include running, jumping, climbing, even crawling, if that is the most suitable movement for the situation. Parkour could be grasped by imagining a race through an obstacle course, the goal is to overcome obstacles quickly and efficiently, without using extraneous movement. Apply this line of thought to an urban environment, or even a run through the woods, and you're on the right path. Because individual movements could vary so greatly by the situation, it is better to consider Parkour as defined by the intention instead of the movements themselves. If the intention is to get somewhere using the most effective movements with the least loss of momentum, then it could probably be considered Parkour.

What isn't Parkour?

Parkour is not acrobatics, tricking, stunts, recklessness, or jumping off high objects for no reason. It is not any movement or activity that doesn't fit in the above description "What Parkour Is". It is also not "What you make of it" ... it is predefined and has a purpose, if something doesn't suit that purpose, it is not Parkour.

Fast

it's fast. life that is. i just got back from the national youth workers convention in st louis, spent a couple of days at home in arlington, and i'm off to birmingham in the morning. i love what i get to do, just wish i had a little more time to just sit still. a little more time with my wife and girls would be nice too.

i did read something really cool this morning. i found it in the little book of Amos. Amos 5. the message translates it like this, "so seek God and live! you don't want to end up with nothing to show for your life." i love it when i find stuff like this in scripture.

ok . . . i'm off . . . gotta get back to it