Monday Morning Quarterback

here are some of my 20/20 hindsight observations from yesterday:

1. i woke up feeling really crummy yesterday.  that almost never happens on a sunday.  i was exhausted.

2. in spite of how i felt, it was good…it’s always good…to get to north point on sunday morning and begin anticipating how god is going to be honored and how his holy spirit is going to work in the lives of people.  yesterday was no different.

3. the band was awesome, as usual.  the amount of time they are practicing for their holiday at the hall gig is really paying off on sundays!  

4. i think that “this is the day” (the new song we’ve been doing for the past couple of months) is one of the best new worship songs i have heard in years.  we could sing it every sunday, as far as i’m concerned.

5. yesterday, preaching was difficult.  i knew that i was only going to speak for fifteen minutes (because of the special missions presentation) and i really struggled with my preparation.  honestly, it’s much harder to prepare a 25 minute sermon than a 40 minute one…but our current format has really helped me study harder and prepare better.  narrowing down a message to fifteen minutes…and saying something of substance…is beyond tough!  it takes more time of preparation, not less.

6. i have a love-hate affair with this time of the season.  the holidays are tremendous times for families to travel, spend time with each other and reconnect.  i believe that time is needed and healthy.  i also hate it when our sunday attendance goes down during this time.  just thought i’d be honest about it…

7. even though our services lacked some of our usual energy, the rest of the day was stellar!

8. the volleyball tournament was over-the-top fun.  we had ten teams…a little less than 50 players.  incredible turnout.  there were at least 25-30 others that came out to watch.  we should have just had “church” out there!

9. does anyone else find it ironic that our sports-hating, anti-competition, tech-nerd youth pastor was playing in the championship game?  sweet.

10. mark my words.  team romo (aka, the trash-talking longorias) will go down next time.

11. thanks to eddie fieder for an awesome eagle scout project.  the volleyball court is incredible.  the payoff was huge. 

12. 24: The Movie was cool.  we had about 40 people show up for the broadcast and nobody was disappointed.  bauer is back.  all is right with the world.  i think we need craig haney’s jalapeno cheese dip and chips every sunday.

13. it was such a great day, not even another last-second, fire-norv, chargers-suck loss could spoil it.  this is gonna be a great week!