Pray Big!

I am ashamed to admit that I don't pray often enough and that when I do, I spend way too much time on things that are "small". At the time I am sure that they seemed pretty big to me but when I reflect back on them I am left with one thought most of the time: why?

1-Why was that "thing" what I thought was so important?
2-Why are my prayers more like checklists than conversations with the Father?
3-Why do I pray so small?

I need to make a fundamental change in how I pray and I think that many of us probably do as well. We serve a God that is so huge, so loving, so amazing...the list could go on and on. So why do I not spend more time talking with the ultimate source of life and how to live it!?!? We are all taught to "follow your dreams" and "you can do or be whatever you want to". So why do we as Christians not pray big? Why do we not pray about or dreams or desires more? God surely knows them, but I believe He wants us to realize and embrace them also. We should take comfort in the fact that if they are of His will they will happen, and if not, He has something far better in store for us.

Lord help me to pray big! Help me to have conversations with you and not a one sided checklist of mine!

My Favorite Baseball Player!

Pretty amazing story of how God restores and uses broken people to bring glory to Himself!

This is Stinking Hilarious!

Give Thanks!

Today is Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for!

1- I am so thankful for Jesus. Without Him, there would be no hope which would lead to a pretty bleak existence.

2-I am thankful for my family! I could not imagine life without my wife and kids. Angie makes me a better man and Rodgers, Kylie and Elijah teach me something new everyday.

3-I am thankful for my friends. God has blessed me with friends that I can "live" life with. I am thankful that they help to sharpen me and love me no matter what.

4-I am thankful for the youth at my church. It is such a privilege to work with them and a consider it a huge blessing to have them as friends!

What a great ride this life is and I am thankful for all the ups and downs as well as the twists and turns. Take a moment today to give thanks to the Father who makes all of the things in this blog possible.

Another Reason to Vaca in Europe

Thought I would share this. Pretty cool stuff.

The Harvest Is Plentiful!

It's turkey time y'all or as some of you may refer to it, Thanksgiving. This time of year always makes me think of lots of food. From the days of the pilgrims and Indians there are stories of plentiful harvests and bountiful provisions from the Lord. I want to always remember how blessed I am and how little I deserve any of it! I am thankful for a beautiful wife and 3 amazing kids. I am thankful that we are all back together after a grueling 8 months apart last year. I am thankful that I live in a country that allows me the freedom to worship and serve Christ without the fear of death. I am also thankful that there are brothers and sisters around the world that are willing to risk death to praise and worship Christ and I pray for their safety! I also pray that I would not forget what Christ says in Matthew 9: 35-38:

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

I am convinced more and more each day that there are loads of people in our world who desperately need Jesus! I pray for the eyes see to them, the willingness to be a worker and the power of the Holy Spirit to help me speak truth into the lives of those I encounter! I pray that God would get me out of the way and allow people to see Him. Here am I Lord, send me!

WHAT A YEAR! COULD THE CURSE REALLY BE DEAD?

Well I must say that the events over this past year have been pretty amazing when it comes to Gamecock sports! My COCKS won the National Championship in baseball and this past weekend punch their ticket to their 1st ever SEC Championship game. As if that isn't enough, they did it by crushing the Florida Gators in The Swamp 36-14. To quote a great friend of mine as we texted back and forth during the game, "this is my favorite football game ever!" It is even sweeter for me because living in Jacksonville is almost like living in Gainesville in that there are freaking Gator fans everywhere! Well my COCKS have basically shut them up for at least a year and life is glorious as a Gamecock living in enemy territory. I must say that this success is well deserved and couldn't have happened to a more deserving fan base. As painful as it is sometimes I am proud to be a Gamecock and 2010 has been well worth the wait! Here's to what the future holds if the CHICKEN CURSE really is dead! FOREVER TO THEE!

What Makes a Powerful Leader?

I spoke to my high school and middle friends about this question this past Wednesday. While dissecting this topic and trying to find out what was so different about Jesus as and a leader I landed on three things:

1- Jesus was an incredible listener

2- Jesus maintained a presence in the lives of those around Him

3- Jesus was faithful.

I believe that all too often leaders can not get away from being in it for the fame, power, control, success or whatever else is driving them. I hope my friends see that the 3 values listed above will create an environment of trust and love, and a leader people will follow to the ends of the earth! I also firmly believe that this best in the context of relationship! I was incredibly convicted by how often I seek to be heard before I listen, seek to put myself first and just how absent from my friend's lives I can become.

I pray the Lord continues to convict me of these things. I want to set my eyes and goals on the things Christ embodied and help my high school and middle school friends to do the same!

My Heart Smiles!

After being away from youth ministry for around 5 years I am back at it with my church's youth group here in Jacksonville. I have to say I am loving every minute of it because I feel like I am doing what God made me for! I am enjoying the new relationships with the 30+ kids who are coming and I am very excited for what God is doing in this ministry. I am also eager to see what He has in store for us. My hope is that we can build authentic community that will impact our friends, families, church and anyone else we encounter along the way! The ministry is called R.O.C.K. (Representatives Of Christ's Kingdom); so if you think about us throw up a prayer or two.

Let the Games Begin

The practices have started and the uniforms have arrived and now it is time to put it to the test on the field. Kylie had he first soccer game with her new club on Saturday and we could not have asked for a more beautiful day. Kylie had so much fun and she is really starting to improve! She now spends a lot of her free time with a ball at her feet wanting me to teach her "tricks". Sadly, her team got killed on Saturday but she was not down about the lose. In fact she told me, as we were walking to the car, that she thought that if they just played harder next time that maybe they would win. I must admit that it makes my heart smile to see her loving the game that brought me so much joy as grew up and continues to hold an incredibly special place in my life. Of course at this point who knows what the future will hold for Kylie and her "soccer career" but I am glad that it is bringing some joy to her life right now!

My mom and step dad, Rocky, were here for the week last week which was the first time that they have seen our new stomping grounds. They definitely got a picture into the chaos that is our everyday life right now with work, homeschooling, dance, t-ball, soccer, AWANA, and what ever else that week's schedule may bring. It was fun to have them and the food is always good when mom is around so that doesn't hurt either. Hopefully they will return soon because it was a joy having them here and I know the kids truly loved it!

Angie went to the women's retreat with our church this weekend so I had the kids to myself for a day or so. I hope that it was a great time of learning, bonding, and reenergizing for her because due to chasing the 3 rug rats around, she does not get that enough! We do miss her when she is gone but it is fun to hang with just the kids from time to time.

I hope you are all well and we would love to hear from any of you if you are coming through Jacksonville anytime

Life Is Busy But Good!

Well it seems the one thing that the Millers know how to do is stay busy! I guess that comes with the territory when you have a wife and 3 kids and we all have "stuff" we are involved with. Most days I am only home to sleep and the rest of my time is at work or at one of the kids activities. I must say that it keeps this journey called life a whirlwind adventure.

Kylie is loving her dance classes which are on Monday nights and she says they have mostly been working on the stuff that will be in her recital at the end of the class. I haven't really seen her dance but if she is just an ounce as good as she is beautiful in her outfits she will knock us dead! Ky is also playing soccer on a U6 coed team that had their first practice tonight. She continues to surprise me in that arena too and I think that we will get her into the academy program next season so she can get some more one-on-one instruction from some coaches other than her dad. Rodgers is playing t-ball for the first time and is loving it so far. He is pretty good for only having played in the backyard in Charlotte. He is continually getting better at catching, hitting, fielding, and especially moving his feet to get his body in front of the ball. His team name is the Braves which I am excited about because it is my favorite major league team! However, Angie and her family of Pirates fans are not too happy about the choice! I believe that it is all still resentment from when the slowest man on the planet, Sid Bream, made it home safe to win the game and send the Braves to the world series and the Pirates to their couches. These 2 busy bees are also doing AWANA on Wednesday nights and it has been so amazing to watch both of them thirst for memorizing scripture while learning what it means to be a light in a dark world. WHAT A BLESSING!

Couple all of that with church, small group, work, family time, and time with new found friends and you have a full week, every week. As you can see life is busy and at some times it can seem too hectic but I know that I would have it no other way. As Angie's dad, Fred, would say, "life is about the joy in the journey"!

Below are some of the first pics that I snapped with the new toy I got as an early birthday present. Hope to see your faces soon!

For Your Viewing Enjoyment

I Know It's Been Too Long!

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything on here and to be truthful it is not due to a lack of things to right about. I have simply been lazy and I guess a little busy too!?!? My biggest problem right now is where to begin and how to condense this post so it is not a short story.

I guess I will start with this; if you haven't heard the news yet the Millers are now Florida residents. We are living in Jacksonville and trying to adjust to all the changes as smoothly as we can. Angie and I are official though! We have FL license tags, drivers licenses and are registered to vote in the state of FL. I am really enjoying working here and I fell like I am learning something new just about every day right now. We are in a 3BR apartment which has been and continue to be interesting as we were definitely used to our 2100 square foot house. Needless to say we are seeing a lot more of each other. We feel incredibly bless to have sold our house in Charlotte and I realized even more so today, as I was reading an article in Forbes magazine that listed Charlotte as the city with the 3rd highest drop in home prices in the nation over the past 3 months, how blessed we are to have sold our house!

The kids are finally starting to adjust to this being their new home. They are getting involved in several things and making new friends seemingly every day. Rodgers is going to play t-ball this season so he is excited about that new adventure. Kylie's new adventure started today with her first ballet/tap class and she absolutely loved it. She is also going to play soccer so it seems as though I will have a well round young lady on my hands. They are also both doing AWANA at a local church on Wednesday so their schedules are already full. Elijah is tagging along to everything and starting to wonder why he doesn't get to do any of there things. He is growing like crazy and making a lot of new friends too while trying to keep up with his two older siblings.

We have found a church that we like called Eastside Community Church and we are getting involved already. Angie got her ESL (English as a Second Language) certification the other week and is helping with that ministry at church which uses the Bible to help others learn to speak, read and write English. We are also already involved in a small group with 4 other couples from church and are already feeling the blessings of sharing life with them! I am hoping to find a niche to fit into as well so we will see what God has in store.

Well I guess that about catches you up on what is going on with us. We are truly amaze at how faithful God is to us when we deserve nothing! I hope that you are seeing and experiencing Him in a new way today. Rest on this verse from 1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Please call if you are in Jacksonville or coming through! We would love to see you!