A day in the life of...Mark Williams

Sickness, Soccer, Football, and Bible Study

The sickness hit our household 3 days ago.  Hence, the reason for no posting.  Melanie came down with some sinus junk with a sore throat.  I pulled double duty with that.  I'm so thankful she's doing better now.  

Tonight, Micah and I will go see George County vs. Stone County in football.  Looking forward to this!!  I love me some football.

On Sunday, we start our "Wild Goose Chase" Bible Study at church.  This is going to be an excellent 6 week study.  

We had our first U-10 Boys soccer practice last night.  We had six of our 8 players there.  We should be ok this season.  We are a little young, but we'll get better.  

Change

I think about "Change" a lot.  I believe that it's the way God wired me.  Some things are good when they don't change.  God said, "I am the same yesterday, today, and forever."  I like that consistency.  My God never wavers or changes. 

However, I believe that the "Church" must change.  I believe that there are ways of engaging people today that are much more effective than the way it's been done in the past.  The church has a "come to me" mentality.  But we see in scripture that it is far different from that.  Jesus presented more of a "I'm coming to you" ministry.  The church is more like it's supposed to be when it is serving.  That is when people will see Jesus. 

Methodology and practical church are things that are hard to change in the established church.  People see it as a threat against their faith.  It's not a threat against faith as much as it is against religion.  We have laid this "grid" of rules and expectations on top of an authentic faith in Jesus Christ.  And that has made it something it was never intended to be.  God's STORY is one of redemption.  Many times, we forget that.  We forget that WE are part of the story of redemption.  And the cool thing about redemption is that God redeems us in different ways.  In return, ministry is not the same with everyone. 

When I look at the "Church", it seems we have over-programmed ourselves into thinking that:

program x + program y (for 20 years) = Christ follower

When, in fact:  Total surrender to Jesus = Christ Follower

We have overcomplicated it.  I believe that Jesus just wants us to surrender to Him.  Give it all to Him. 

Jumprope

I think the jump rope is one of those things that "anyone" can do.  Some take it to the extreme.  Check out this amazing video!!

Mid-week sports thoughts

Brett Favre:  Here is a 39 year old kid.  Brett Favre has come out of retirement.....again.  This is the 3rd or 4th time he has "come back".  People get frustrated with his indecision.  I do too.  However, a 39 yr. old Favre is better than most of the other quarterbacks in the NFL.  I don't fault him for wanting to play.  He has every right to it.  I do, however, think all he needs is to take the class "Decision-making 101".  Make a decision and stick to it.

Tiger Woods:  Tiger lost a major this last weekend on the last day.  This is a first for Tiger.  He's usually the steady and consistent player.  I don't think he's sulking.  He's probably been hitting the golf ball since 5:30 this morning making sure it doesn't happen again.  Tiger is still the best.  And by the time it is all said and done, he'll be the best ever to play the game.

George County Rebels:  The first game for the Rebels is this Friday night at Moss Point.  It's going to be a rebuilding year it seems.  With the loss of a great running back, the offense may be lacking some.  Quote to remember:  Championship teams aren't built by individuals who do extraordinary things.  It's built by  doing the ordinary things with excellence. 

Technology Tuesday

Floating City in New Orleans.  We just returned from New Orleans a few weeks ago.  This.....sitting on the MS River....in front of the Aquarium....just a few blocks from the French Quarter.  This is laughable...but enjoy.

The blog has been sleeping

The blog has been sleeping.  I don't like it when it sleeps.  However, I haven't found the time to blog much lately.  I am "out of the habit" of it from the summer months.  So, here is what I'm going to do.  I am going to take some time and put together some topics mixed in with my everyday life experiences.  And we'll see what happens. 

It is therapeutic to blog.  But at the same time, it can become a "habit" that you just do like anything else.  So...I'm going to try and get it re-organized. 

Snake in the washing machine

I never thought this day would come.  We were in the office this morning working.  We get all kinds of "unique" calls and requests at the church.  Today, however, was different.  Our secretary came down to mine and Dusty's end of the building and stated that a church member was on the phone.  She had a snake in her washing machine and was freaking out.

Dusty and I hopped in the car and were off.  But not without the video camera.  We got there, and Dusty and I looked in the washing machine.  At that moment, I decided that I would be the cameraman.  Wise Choice!!  Below is the video.  You've got to turn up your volume, b/c the sound is funnier than the video.

Trip to New Orleans

I admit it.  I love New Orleans.  Actually....I love the food of New Orleans.  I like other things about it too.  Some things, however, not so much.  It is definitely a city with much diversity.  New Orleans reminds me so much of trips with my family to the Big Easy.  I can remember going for my birthday one year.  I remember going down for road races like the Crescent City Classic.  New Orleans is also where I went to seminary. 

This trip, however, was a short, 2-night family mini-vacation.  It was the last-hurrah for the summer.  We knew that if we didn't get away, school would swallow us whole without us even knowing it.  So...everyone was game.  I finished work on Thursday, and we headed out. 

It took us 2 hrs and 15 min. from our driveway to the Riverside Hilton.  We had a NICE view of the Miss. River.  Our room was literally 10 ft from the water, except about 5 stories up.  It was a nice nighttime view especially.  We headed down to Drago's (actually in the Hilton) for dinner on the first night.  I had their world famous charbroiled oysters!!!  Man....they were delicious!!  Melanie had a nice seafood pasta.  We enjoyed our dinner with the kids.  

After Drago's, we walked down to the French Quarter and had some beignets at Cafe du Monde.  We made the walk around Jackson Square as well.  I love Beignets!!  I'll say it again....I love beignets!!  It was great to see Malaree eat beignets for the first time.  She had powdered sugar ALL over her.  It was great!!  We then walked back to the hotel.

Friday, we got up and headed out around 9:15 am.  We walked down to St. Charles and rode the streetcar through Mid-town, Garden District, and ended up at Audobon Park.  We were headed to the Zoo.  We elected to take the shuttle from the streetcar stop to Audobon Zoo, rather than take the 1 mile walk.  It was a wise choice.  We knew we would be doing plenty of walking throughout the day.

The zoo was great.  The weather was great.  And we all loved watching the animals.  After the zoo, we headed back toward Canal St. on the streetcar again.  We took in the Insectarium.  Pretty cool exhibit.  I ate some dip made with crickets.  It was actually pretty good.  The "Butterfly Garden" was absolutely amazing.  Melanie took some EXCELLENT photos of some of these beautiful creatures!! 

We then headed back to the hotel for some afternoon swimming on the roof of the hotel.  It was nice to chill a little before supper.  For dinner, we headed to a true Cajun restaurant, and my dad's favorite....Mulate's.  Mulate's is known for great food, great Zydeco music, and some good ole dancin'.  Malaree and Melanie got in on the dancing.  I definitely recommend going if you make a trip to N.O. 

Today, we got up, went and got some beignets, and made our way to the Aquarium.  Micah and Malaree LOVED it too!!  We also caught the "Wild Blue" IMAX movie about the Ocean.  Really cool stuff.  You may think all these "outings" were expensive.  Actually, we bought the "Audobon Experience" tickets, and it wound up being less than $8 per "attraction" for adults, and less than $5 per for the kiddos.  Definitely the way to do it.  It was nice to take a day and a half to take them in too. 

After the IMAX today, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our minivan.  Then we were off to home.  All in all, it was an AMAZING time with the family.  We ate some Fabulous food, saw some of God's most amazing creations at the zoo, aquarium, and insectarium.  And I prayed a lot for the city and it's people.  In a place where sin rules, God is still doing some amazing things in New Orleans.  We had a great time, and I can't wait to go back!!

Big Sunday

This coming Sunday will be pretty full in regards to what is happening.  First, we will be "promoting" all of our classes from birth to 18 yrs of age.  We call it Promotion Sunday.  I may try and work on a better name for it in the future!!  That means about 45-50% of our S.S. will be "changing" classes. 

Secondly, our "fall" semester of Discipleship will begin as well.  We have a short 3-week session to kick that off.  Two classes will be offered. One for women called "Women of the Bible" will be going on.  For men, I'll be leading a study called "Quiet Strength" based off the book by Tony Dungy.  I'm really looking forward to it!!

Beginning August 30th, we'll begin a 6 week study called "Wild Goose Chase", based off the book by the same name written by Mark Batterson.  We will have 4-5 groups that will meet, and then the evening worship times will be focused around the topics discussed as well. 

We've also got some S.S. organizational training happening on Aug. 16th after the A.M. worship.  This will give us an opportunity to meet with all of our teachers after they are in place for the new S.S. year. 

The new "school" year means the start-up of our Wednesday night opportunities as well.  We will be getting back into full gear over the next 2 weeks.  Choirs, 633, prayer meeting, RAs, GAs, and other groups will be kicking off.  It is time to get it going again!!

Going again

We're back in Agricola.  It was good to be in worship today.  It was pretty cool to see the blue shirts from Kids' Camp too!!  I had a ton of people come up to me and tell me that they had a blast!!  I believe we'll have a great group go again next year. 

Tonight, we have the Lord's Supper.  I love taking part in this.  I have been reminded, through a study I led a few months back, how intimate and meaningful this can be.  I'm thankful that we are being reminded again about what Christ has done for us.  Tonight will be good.  Also, we will be watching a sermon by David Platt tonight.  David and I were in seminary together in New Orleans.  He is an amazing guy and gifted communicator of God's word.  I'm looking forward to our church hearing him preach tonight via video. 

This afternoon, after church, I helped Micah learn how to shoot his new compound bow.  He really enjoyed it.  I had a great time too.  I've got a sermon coming out of this!!  He bought the bow with his own money from his birthday and allowance he's been earning. 

My body is still a little tired.  I feel it when I sit down for a little while.  Looking forward to more rest tonight.  I'll never catch up, but at least I'll feel better after another night's sleep.