BluefishTV.com has some fantastic videos that they are allowing people to download for free right now. I wanted to share three of them with you today.

The first is called "Definition of a Trader."  Check it out - I think you'll be inspired:

The second video is called "History of Traders."

There is a third video that I can't embed on this page called "Church and the Racetrack." You can watch it by clicking here.

So, how do you feel after watching these videos? Do you sense God telling you something?         

I'm speaking on the topic of "How Do You Help Walk Your Kids Through Tough Times?" tomorrow night at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. I want to encourage all parents to come if you are in the vicinity. The speech will happen from 6:45-8:15 in Wooddale's Hillside Rooms as part of their Parents InTUNE ministry. Here is the introduction to the presentation, which will include 13 helpful ways to help walk your children through the difficult times of life.

When I first saw her, I knew that my world would never be the same. I was so in love. The location was a hospital room in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the occasion was the birth of my daughter, Breanna. My wife Cyndi and I married so young. We were babies having babies. Just twenty-one years old when we stood at the altar, we had a “five year plan”. Our idea was that we would get married; both work for about five years, make lots of money, explore the world, and have lots and lots of fun before we had children of our own. God had different plans. And, just sixteen months after we said, “I do,” our precious Breanna was born.

The moment I saw her, my heart melted. I didn’t expect her to be a her. She was supposed to be a he. At least in my mind she was. I had all sorts of grand ideas of being the father of a major league baseball team. We were going to have nine boys who all played different positions. The first was going to be my all-star pitcher, the oldest son with the golden arm. I even have a cassette recording that I made on our way to hear Breanna’s heartbeat while Cyndi was still pregnant. On the tape I say, “Hey buddy, we’re going to hear your heartbeat today. How’s my little guy doing?”

But, that sight of her - those perfect little eyes, her cute little nose, those tiny little fingers – she was so delicate. I not only fell instantly in love, I wanted to protect her from any harm that could possibly come her way. When people would come visit, I watched them with the eyes of a protective father. Were they holding her just right? Were they being too rough? Were they paying attention to what they were doing?

It wasn’t just protecting her when she was in the company of others; I just didn’t want to let her go. Cyndi and I have a photo of me holding Breanna in my arms while I brushed my teeth before I left for work. I would hold her until the last possible minute and as soon as I’d get home from work, I’d pick her up again. I never wanted my daughter to go through any pain in her life. And then it happened, the doctors told us that they needed to give her a shot. The vaccination would protect her from serious diseases. But, the vaccination would also cause pain. Knowing that it was best for her, I consented, and held my daughter as the needle went inside of her leg. The scream was awful! The look in her eyes was awful too. With her little baby eyes she stared at me as if saying, “You allowed for this to happen, Daddy! Why Dad?”

And then more and more pain came into her life. There were scrapes and bruises that we paid prompt attention to. There were disappointments. There were failures. There was bullying. There were mean girls and mean boys. There were arguments, and sometimes I had to say, “no,” which made me the direct cause of pain in her life.

Any of you who are parents in this room today know what I am talking about. As much as we would like to protect our children, somehow shielding them from the pain of a cruel world, it is impossible. Pain is a part of the human experience. And you know that, or else you wouldn’t be here tonight. Our topic for this evening is, “How Do You Help Walk Your Kids Through the Tough Times of Life.”

Woodbury Community Church has set an aggressive goal this year to see 75% of the people who attend our weekend services involved in small groups by the end of this year. Our eventual goal is that 125% of our congregation's weekend attendance average would be involved in small groups. Why? Because we believe that nothing changes a person more than being a disciple of Jesus Christ, and that disciples are best nurtured in the context of a small group. Small groups allow us to strip away false pretense. Healthy small groups mean that we are known by others. It means that we have a place to be real about our failures and people with whom to celebrate our victories. Life is hard. It was never meant to be lived alone.

My Dad sent me an e-mail last night. The e-mail is an interview with Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church in California. In the interview Rick says, "Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness."

This year, our church has been studying The Sermon on the Mount. In His revolutionary sermon, Jesus gave his listeners the secret to a life that was blessed by God. Blessing doesn't always mean happiness this side of heaven. Sometimes blessing means that we get on God's anvil, and He chisels away the things in our life that need to be formed into something new. The process may hurt, but the end result brings blessing.

Small groups help us through the process. They also help move us to action; away from complacent Christianity and into the spiritual battle. This 4 1/2 minute video by Matt Carter, the pastor of The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas talks about being a people who live in missional community. It's a video that has encouraged me today, and I hope it will encourage you.

I Love My Wife . . .

Cyndi has been with her Mom and Dad in Colorado for the past week. She is there to help her Mom recovery from foot surgery. With each day that passes, I’m reminded more and more how much I love her and how much of a difference that she has made in my life and the life of my children. I can’t imagine what life without my precious wife would be like.

She is the sunshine who brightens our home, the constant who brings order to chaos, the counselor who listens with tender ears and speaks with God-given wisdom, the culinary diva who continually creates amazing meals that rival those of any five star restaurant, the coupon queen whose extra time researching saves us hundreds of dollars a month. She is my best friend, the woman of my dreams, the sweetest person that I’ve ever met. I’m still captivated by her beauty, drawn to her presence, and in awe that she said, “Yes.”

Thank You, Lord. She is all of this, because she is first, Yours. You have done a wonderful work in her and I’m a different man today because of it.

People regularly ask me if the sermons that I preach are available in manuscript form. You may now download .pdf versions of my sermons at the Woodbury Community Church website. You may also download small group questions to help you dive deeper into the content of the sermons. The new sermon and small group content is available by clicking here.

Would you prefer to listen to The Challenge, rather than reading it?

You can listen to the chronological reading plan for The Challenge on your computer or iPod by clicking here.

In 2010, over seventy people at Woodbury Community Church took The Challenge, a challenge to read through the Bible over the course of one year. Many of those who took The Challenge completed that challenge yesterday. Many did not, but in taking The Challenge, they read more of the Bible in 2010 than they did in 2009.

In 2011, I want to challenge you once again to attempt to read through the Bible. There is nothing that will change you as much as God’s Word. D. L. Moody once said, “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book,” when referring to the Bible. When we spend time in God’s Word, we are changed.

In 1959, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, the minister of Westminster Chapel in London wrote, “There is nothing more important in the Christian life than the way in which we approach the Bible, and the way in which we read it. It is our textbook, it is our only source, it is our only authority. We know nothing about God and about the Christian life in a true sense apart from the Bible. We can draw various deductions from nature (and possibly from various mystical experiences) by which we can arrive at a belief in a supreme Creator. But I think it is agreed by most Christians, and it has been traditional throughout the long history of the Church, that we have no authority save this Book. We cannot rely solely upon subjective experiences because there are evil spirits as well as good spirits; there are counterfeit experiences. Here, in the bible, is our soul authority.” (D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Second Edition, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1976, p. 6.)

One of the common requests that I received last year was for a reading plan that would allow us to read through the Bible chronologically. This year we’ll use the Chronological Reading Guide, which was put together by Back to the Bible Ministries. You can download your copy of the Chronological Reading Guide by clicking here.