Joel Young Blog.com

Today I am working at the local Chick-fil-a, whose wifi is working, and I overheard a conversation between a father and his kids. The father asked, “Do you all know what tomorrow is?” Of course all of the kids shouted, “YES!” So the father said to the youngest girl, “alright, tell me what tomorrow is.” The 7 year old responded, “It’s Thanks-pudding daddy.”

So, in honor of this young girl. I wanted to wish you all a happy “Thanks-pudding”. Pass the pudding!

On Sunday at Horizon I had the wonderful privilege of taking a hammer to a piggy bank in the name of the Lord. We finished up our two week conversation about being generous with our money and to end it with a bang I gave it to a porcelain pig with an 8 ounce claw foot. I have to admit that it was pretty gratifying for me, and was definitely a wonderful example of the pain that we often experience when we give generously. Breaking things in the name of the Lord is a business I would like to be in. The best part was the horrible time we had getting all the little pieces cleaned up when church was over. I underestimated the destruction factor just a little bit, but it was SOOOO worth it. What a cool Sunday.

I just had one of those moments that makes you want to fall to your knees and weep, thanking God for what he has allowed you to become.

My son has had a hard time sleeping lately. Jenna and I think that he’s getting scared by things in his room when the lights go out. He wails like crazy and then once someone is in the room with him he is fine. After making several trips to his room over the last hour I finally went in and decided to talk to him. Even though he can’t talk yet he understands a lot.

So, I sat down in the chair, held him in my arms and told him. “Daddy’s here, and I’m gonna protect you. I would never let anything hurt you.” I kept telling him that over and over and when I finally placed him in bed his eyes were already closed. Not a peep from him after that.

I can’t begin to tell you, nor do I probably have to tell you, how meaningful that was to me. In my lifetime I could become many things to many people, but nothing will ever mean as much to me as being the protector and father that my son needs me to be. Knowing that my protection can calm his fears blows my mind, and causes me to appreciate more the protection my own dad has given me in my lifetime.

Just wanted to share that amazing moment with the world.

This coming Sunday will be our second week at Horizon talking about becoming generous with out money, and I uncovered something interesting in my research today. I was reading about how Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church, and his wife Katy had become reverse tithers and now give away 90% of their income and live on 10%. While I was reading this article I was hit by something Warren said and to me it was me it was even more amazing than the faith they have to give 90%. He said,

“I don’t know a single pastor who does it for money. There are so many easier ways to make money. Believe me, if you want to make money, don’t be a pastor. But a lot of media think that the pastors are in it for the money. Every one of them I know would serve for free if they could.”

That really hit me hard. Would I do what I do for free? Well, even though the fact is at this point in Horizon’s life I basically get paid nothing there is a big difference between getting paid basically nothing and getting paid nothing AT ALL. The more I thought about it the more I realized that 2 years ago I honestly wouldn’t pastor a church for nothing. It wasn’t all about the money for me, but ministry was my profession. Thankfully, as my faith and reliance on God has grown so has my ability to see the importance and necessity of my work outside of just being my profession.

I think it’s easy for ministers of every level and type of church to become professional Christians, or career pastors. Sooner or later it becomes a weekly grind and if we aren’t able to get our heads about the clouds of routine we will become stuck in the rut of our work.

I’m not declaring my righteousness here, but I am truly grateful that God has allowed me to become a pastor, minister, husband, father, friend, brother, and son that relies more on him now that I ever before. I can truly say that I would pastor Horizon for free if it ever came to that. That’s hard to say outloud because it could very seriously become a reality for me within the next year, but that’s how much I believe in this church’s mission and love the people that are a part of it or will become a part of it in the future.

Like any educated web surfer I have been free of the stupidity of IE for years now. If you haven’t done so yet, you need to delete it from your computer and download a better browser NOW. There are many capable and functional browsers out there, but today I discovered a great new option.

Much in line with simple and super-functional web applications Google has released their first web browser called Google Chrome. I just downloaded it and I have instantly become a fan. I am already a loyal user of most of their web apps like gmail, picasa, google reader, and google maps. But this new browser has knocked my socks off.

It takes all of the things I hate about firefox and simplifies them, and all the things I hate about safari and made them more usable. With tab browsing, a bookmark bar, google application integration, and a sleek and open layout it is as functional as it is beautiful.

Right now it’s in the Beta stage and can only be run on a PC with either XP or Vista, but Google has assured us that there will be improvements and fixes along the way as well as a Mac version. I can’t wait to try it out on my powerbook.

Do yourself a favor and download it now for free. You won’t regret it.

Last night at our weekly staff meeting the creative minds at Horizon came up with what I consider to be one of the most creative ideas for Christmas programming ever. Of course, I am a little biased, but this is going to be super cool. If you are in town, you definitely want to be there on December 21. It will be a little overwhelming for church of our size to pull it off, but it will be worth every second of preparation when we do.

This rush of creative brainstorming got me to really thinking about what churches do every Christmas. All too often we as the church settle for the same old candlelight service with people reading the Christmas story, and never give second thought to doing something that will knock people’s socks off. For many churches, their buildings will be flooded with people who are only around once or twice a year. Why not take the chance to wow them with the story of Christ’s birth.

I’m not saying that we have it all figured out, but I just want to urge you to look past the typical this year when you go to tell the greatest story EVER!

I thought after three years of blogging it was time that I had a more personal theme for my site. So, the blog page has been overhauled. If you subscribe to the blog and never see the page, give it a gander. If you’re not, then I guess you’re looking at it right now.

Enjoying your Veteran’s Day? Thank a veteran or a veterans family for their service to this country. Pray for them as they serve.

Here’s some additional thoughts fresh out of the oven this morning.

Veteran’s day is a day that most people get off work for, but not me. I’m not complaining because I really to love the work I do, but pastor’s don’t get many holidays off. I mean, just because it’s a holiday doesn’t mean that Sunday comes any later that week. It still looms, always no more than six days away, and holiday or not you still have to present a fresh, true, and relevant teaching every week.

Since becoming a church planter I have become more aware of the real responsibility involved on preaching God’s Word. It’s something, that if done with great passion, consumes your thoughts.

So as you enjoy your day off today take just a moment to pray for your local pastor and the work that they are undoubtedly doing right now. It could change your life and perspective come Sunday.

Well, as of today I am the proud owner of both a PC and a MAC. I have been riding the fence for years and this makes it official. PC and MAC are gonna fight in my house!

I got hooked on MAC applications when I upgraded my old 30GB iPOd for the new iPod touch 2nd generation, which I officially can’t live without now, and today I bought a Mac Powerbook to compliment my Sony Vaio notebook. I do a lot of graphic and web design so I figure after about a year of using both I will develop a biased towards one. I’m excited to look SUPER-cool when I pull up to my favorite wifi hotspot and whip out my sleek little 12″, aluminum cased, mac and do some creative work. Because I’m sure my style points will go up now that I own one.

To all you haters out there. If you wanna see a royal rumble of processors then just head over to my place and we’ll let em’ throw down. Sound good?

Last night as I went to get myself a nice tall glass of 2% milk I noticed a
little sticker on the milk cap. It said,

“This milk is from cows not supplemented with artificial growth hormones. However, the FDA has concluded that there is no significant difference between milk from treated and untreated cows.”

Great. Now I am confused and thirsty because I spent time reading your little sticker. What a waste!