Get a room!

First of all a big thank you to the old guys, I mean married guys, for your advise on the stress issue. We're making progress with the wedding plans, the New Year's Eve Party is another story. We've spoken with a caterer about getting the party set up. He said that he would find a place and now has backed out of that for some reason leaving us holding the bag. I've been on the phone all day with everyone I can find that has a room large enough for 3 to 4 hundred people. The bad thing about most of these is that we'd have to use the in house caterer, which will cost us more, but we really just need to find a place. Please pray that we can find the place we need, at the price we can afford, and that it will be exactly what God wants us to have. Other than that we're doing well. Thanks go out to Luke Martin for the laughs I got on his latest blog post. Hope you have a great day!

Just Breathe in and out or AHHHH!! Stress

I kinda fell like I've been hangin out with Ozzy on the crazy train over the last few days. We've been crazy busy with the Shout Fest concert that happened Sunday and I've been trying to help Beth as much as possible with the wedding. The stress of helping with the wedding is just crazy. I'm a firefighter so I'm used to being stressed, let's face it being in a burning building is slightly stressful, but there have been times over the last week that I've thought about sticking my pen in my eye just to have something else to focus on. It seems really funny to say that but its true. I was talking with Beth yesterday on the way back from the Braves game, the Lexus Level Rocks!, and we both have reached a point where we both just want to be together. The wedding is important but is it really worth all the stress? I'm thinking today would be a good day to reach out to my fellow married bloggers for some encouragement. I want to be more than just a survivor, I want to be a conqueror. Is it ok to just survive? I'm looking forward to finding out! Hope all of you are doing well!

Hearing God

We've been going through a sermon series and small group studies about hearing God over the past two weeks and its reminded me of something that I seem to forget quite often. I like to keep my life loaded with stuff going on all the time and (for those of you who know me you'll agree) I love to listen to my music loud and "sound bathe". All of this presents an interesting question, how can I hear God with all of this noise going on? The answer is that I can't. We read 1 Kings Chap. 18 last night at small group and it reminded me that although God can speak through wind, earthquakes, and fires (I've seen that one 1st hand), but he mostly speaks in a still small voice. I think that much of our frustration, as the church in America, about not hearing God is our own fault. If we would stop all the running, turn off the noise, and be still and know that he is God; how much more effective could we be for the kingdom of God? God what do I need to stop doing that is keeping me from hearing you?
We got the place and time for the wedding stuff locked in. So I'm ready to finish the details so we can enjoy this time. We're heading to the Atl for my cousin Tiffany's wedding this weekend and to catch a Braves game on Sunday. Lexus Level seats, oh yeah!

A good e-mail

Here's an e-mail that one of the guys I work with sent out today. He and I are the only 20 somethings in the company that I know of right now, so we try to keep it real. haha anyways here's the e-mail.

Most of you know that I LOVE Chinese food, especially if it's at a Chinese buffet. Recently, this was the message that I found inside my fortune cookie: "Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time!"
In this world of moral relativism, where some would say there is no such thing as "absolute truth," the Bible teaches us that it is our responsibility as Christians to be about our Father's business spreading the truth - the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
I know sometimes I get caught up in the "things" of life, that I forget to take time to share Jesus with others. But, I have to remind myself that it's as easy as telling others what the Lord has done in my life and the future that I have to look forward to. If I'm obedient when the Holy Spirit prompts me to share Christ with others, it's that little matchstick of hope that can be what is used to ignite a bonfire of hope for someone else.

I am reminded of 1 Peter 3:15. It says, "but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…"
Please excuse the mini-sermon, but I felt impressed to share this. It has really challenged me. I hope it will bless and encourage you too! :)
Isaac M. Fineman Operations Coordinator of Christian Talk 660 www.ChristianTalk660.com Assistant Promotions Director of His Radio Network www.HisRadio.com

Changes...Changes

Well we've had a few changes this past week. I had a good talk with Beth and we decided to have a very small wedding and reception with just family. I think this is the right thing to do for us both. She was very stressed about the wedding and just wasn't having any fun. Yesterday after we made the decision was the first time I've seen her smile about the wedding since we started planning it. We're also going to move the date up to sometime in October. Since we're having a small wedding we decided to take that money and spend it on a huge new years eve party with all of our family and friends. We want to enjoy that time with the people that we love. God is good!

Being relational

I've been reading through Matthew over the last few days and something caught my attention that I hadn't really thought about before. When Jesus called the first disciples they just left everything and went with Him. What got my attention was the fact that they didn't think they just went. Now I don't want to discount that a super natural event took place and they followed because of that, but I wonder about the relationship that Jesus had with these guys. It seems reasonable to think that these guys must have seen something in Jesus that they liked and decided to follow Him because of it. I could walk up to some people working at the ports today here in Savannah and say "Follow Me" and they would, most likely, look at me like I was crazy. What was is about Jesus that these guys found so irresistible and more importantly where can I get some of it? I've really been searching this out over the last few days because this directly relates to my generation. We are VERY relational, almost to a fault. We feel the need to connect with people on a personal basis and to be loved and listened to. I've really been asking God to speak to me about this as I feel that this is key for me as I work toward starting a new life group for people in my age group. How can I be relational and real the way that Jesus was then and continues to be now? How can I reflect that kind of love and interest in people where they are right now? How can I teach others to be more like Jesus in this way? It seems almost overwhelming but very exciting to me at the same time. I'm tired of the same old way of living and doing things and I'm ready to push into what God has called me to. How about you?

Reaching for more than the normal

I've been doing a whole lot of thinking lately in between all of the production work that I've been doing at work. I've been wondering how often we as the church settle for the normal when we could have the extraordinary. How many times have you and I been told that God wants to bless us and then we turn around and run right to the normal? I can think of several things in my life, but I'll talk about my music since that's been at the forefront here lately. I feel called to go and be a full time musician. I've felt like this for a while and I've even met some of the people, through my radio job, who could help make that happen. But every time I get up the courage to begin believing in that call I get my legs taken out from under me by the world. The call of "You're not good enough!" or "No one will take you seriously!" echo in my head as if they had been yelled from the top of the Grand Canyon. I normally wrestle these thoughts for a while until I come to the realization that they are just not true. Lately I've realized that I have a choice to make when those thoughts start. I can choose to believe them and wrestle with them until I come back to the same place I started or I can choose to believe the call, reach for more than the normal, and step out into the extraordinary that God has called me to. When I choose the extraordinary it opens the door for me to receive the blessings that God has for me because I'm being faithful to what he has called me to. I hope that this thought helps you as much as it does me. Lets reach out for the extraordinary!