I’m tired.  Really tired.

This story started about 27 hours ago when I decided to go on this road trip.  Some would say this was the foolish adventure of boys, not one of responsibility and dedication of men.  But I would disagree as I sit here writing this post this afternoon.  I’m still tired but it’s so worth it.

Last week I learned that Lonnie, my former pastor and present mentor and friend, had his father taken away from him by death.  A crushing thing it must be to have someone you love, who’s been such a close part of your life, pass on to the next life.  In this case, there’s a sense of relief to know that his father had such a wonderful relationship with his Savior, Jesus Christ.

But there was a part of me that felt some of those pains for Lonnie, who has also been an important part of my life.  I hadn’t even thought of a road trip until a lady in my church asked me if I was going to the funeral. 

“I’m way too busy,” was the first thought on my mind.

At the same time, as God would have it, our church (this includes me) is reading this amazing book by Vince Antonucci called “I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”  I have been seriously changed by reading certain parts of this book.  Thanks Vince for writing it.  Anyways, there’s this section in the book that really struck a chord with Carie and I where Antonucci repeats several times the phrase “travelling at the speed of love.”

Unfortunately, Carie could not be in on the trip if I chose to go, but I didn’t want to go by myself, so I made the decision to go.  Rather than make excuses, I would “travel at the speed of love” for someone who had poured his life into mine – To be there for him.  So 27 hours ago, I decided to go, and then I began looking for someone to travel with me.

No one could go.  My father-in-law would have come, but I know it would have been a huge sacrifice (even though I know in my heart if I had really, really asked he would have gone) for him to go, so I started to look around.  Absolutely NO ONE could go with me.  Then the excuses flooded my mind.  “I can’t travel by myself.”  “I do still have things I could be doing here.”  “I won’t be able to blog as much.” (just kidding, I just threw that one in there)  But despite my own objections, that simple phrase kept returning to my mind.

So about 21 hours ago, I left by myself, feeling a bit bad for myself because I was going to be travelling alone.  Then I began to feel encouraged.  “Come on Marty, this 12 hour, overnight trip will be good for you!”

Eventually I called my friend Ray when I was in the Berkshires.  His wife picked up the phone and I said, “Hey Jo-Jo (nickname), I’m calling to take your husband away from you for 3 days for a 12 hour road trip, and that will be happening in about 45 minutes when I arrive at your house.”  Her response?  “Heres Ray”.  Ray listened and told me he’d get back to me, eventually calling me back and telling me he’d be going with me.

“WOOHOO!!!!!”

So we arrived in the place we’ll stay today without sleep, dirty and tired.  I’ve been twittering occasionally our whereabouts, and also sharing some of the music we’ve been listening to.  Get a Twitter account and follow me here, if you’d like.

Now I’m happy to be here, and to be able to share this time with you.  I’ll keep you posted as to what’s happening, but either way I know this – It’s all in the speed of love.

What speed are you going?

Is there something going on in Nashville that I don’t know about?

Before this endeavor into the blogging world, I knew that places like Hotlanta and Sunny California were thriving spiritual hotbeds, and I knew that Nashville, the home of country music, had some serious roots when it comes to gospel and spiritual music, but in the last 6 months, I’ve met some blogging friends who leave me the impression, directly and indirectly, that some great things are happening  in the Nashville section of God’s Kingdom.

I hear almost on a daily basis from people like Randy and Pete, an artist and a pastor respectively, who have some amazing things to say and teach in their blogs.  Randy has inspired me to think more creatively in the art world, and almost everyday as I read his blog, I learn something new in it.  And as far as Pete Wilson is concerned, this guy (to this point for me, through his blog) shows a leadership, ability to serve,and creativity as a pastor that is engaging and motivating.

Along with these two, they seem to be connected to some other people who I’ve been reading up on in recent days.  This publisher, this marketing/rock star guy, and this worship leader all have some things I’ve learned from reading what they have to say.

I know I’ve just scratched the service as far as what’s happening there in “Music City”, but being from a very specific geographical location in the US, (New Engand) I love reading up on what God is doing in very specific places.  So If you have any thoughts on what God is doing where you are, or know some great bloggers I should connect with…

Please share.

This post is a part of Watercooler Wednesday!  Check it out here.

 
Welcome to MoMo’s! HERE are the guidelines. If this is your first time giving your “amazing story”, PLEASE take time to read them. It will save us both a lot of time.

To join me, write a post today (or a post you’ve written from last Monday to Sunday) sharing something tht has happened to you this last week - anything funny or interesting, crazy, fulfilled, too busy, hilarious, wistful, or any number of out of the ordinary happenings that made you happy or miserable last week.  Put a link in your post to this post permalink (not my general URL) and then put the permalink of your post (not your general URL) here at the end of this post. Thanks.  By the way, I do this because I love stories.  To tell them, to hear them, and to read them.

So tell me your “Inspired by the truth” story every Monday…

Here’s mine.

This last week has been really rough for me.  It started last Monday afternon when I arrived home from a trip to New York.  I noticed that my back was really hurting me.  Now this is not something revolutionarily new in my life.  Occasionally when I lift weights wrong or put too much strain on my back when I exercise, this happens to me for a while, but the strange thing about this was that I hadn’t really done anything for like 4 days that would put strain on my back.  It just started hurting.

And for 2.5 days of my week it hurt.  I had been a to a chiropractor last year, and he had given me some exercises to go through when it started hurting, so I did those, and felt only a bit better after a day or recurring back exercises.

Then on Wednesday I actually justified this to myself:  “So, If my back is hurting this bad, and that is without exercise, than I might as well exercise.”  So I went out and played basketball on Wednesday night, which not only hurt my back worse, but it also brought in flu like symptons on Thursday.

If Tuesday had been bad, Thursday was just miserable.  I was dizzy, unresponsive to conversation, my stomach hurt, my back hurt, and in the evening, I started sneezing, and my back hurt every time I did.  I even missed small group and wrote this post that evening.

I should stop now and say that through all this, my wife was on vacation and did an amazing job of taking care of me.  So thanks to Carie for her amazing patience!

On Friday – Sunday, I felt a bit better, which ushered in a new problem of a stuffy nose, which is how I finished my week of sickness.

I don’t share this with you to complain.  I share this with you so that you will help me come up with a list of things to do when one is sick.  For those of you who can sleep all the time, you’re all set – you can sleep all the time.  However, I pretty much sleep for about 6 hours a night, and about 30 minutes in the afternoon, and the rest of the day, I need to find things to do when I’m sick.  Finding things to do when I’m not sick is easy.  I’m not lazy.  But things to do when I’m sick…I need help!

Here are some things I did while I was sick and in bed this week:
Blogged
Read
Played snood, the ultimate  video game
watched season 1 of Prison Break with my wife

Come on, you can make this list better, can’t you?

This week as I mentioned here, Fellowship Church is beginning a new series called “Family Matters.”  I’m really excited to have someone with me this week to help me give the message @ FC. (Shhh, it’s a surprise)

This week, a crew of people are already preparing for their part in our family ministry, so that kids can be led into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, and have a blast in the process.

This week, people have arrived at FC on a particular evening and practiced playing music or improving our production for those who attend Sunday Morning @ Fellowship.

This week, a crew of people will arrive an hour early to prepare for that same service in different ways, like preparing the cafe or the bulletins, so that guests and attenders alike will feel comfortable as they attend this week.

This week, someone wants to make a phone call to a friend or a family member who has mentioned that they’d like to “start going to a church sometime” and they will feel the need to invite that friend or family member to Fellowship Church.

This week, and specifically this Sunday, is not just about a group of people coming here and listening to some guy talk on a stage.  It’s about a group (or body) of people coming together to lead people, ourselves and others, into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

This week is not about me.  It’s not about you.

This week is about being Kingdom-minded.

Okay. my friend Clay told me about this web site that features a theory of the show “Lost” that will knock your socks off.  If you’re a fan of Lost and are interested in what the deal is on this island, you need to go here now. 

And then, I want to know your thoughts.  You can also say “Thank you” to Clay and me for telling you about this site.

I’m not feeling very well so now I sit uncomfortably on my bed confined to my room while my life group gets to hang out without me. Oh well, I hope they’re having a good time down there.  Sounds like there’s a boatload of them tonight.  So while I’m up here, I’ll share a few random thoughts:

*I changed my software version of WordPress to 2.5 recently, and my stats plugin stopped working.  This has gone on for about 3 weeks, and then yesterday, randomly, it starts working.

*Mariah Carey – Doing good again,huh?

*Today, I told the guy that influenced me to be a Pittsburgh fan (Steelers, Pirates, Panthers) that I would be switching baseball loyalties to the Red Sox Nation.  He took it surprisingly well.

*I found this guys blog today because of this guys blog.  I think I’ll be a fan.

*Tonight Carie and I celebrate a new episode of “Lost“.  It would not be an exaggeration to say that I haven’t been this excited for a TV show in a while.

*I can’t wait until I started feeling better.   I look like a wreck.

Your thoughts please?

This week at Fellowship Church we’ll be starting a new series called “Family Matters”.  The focus will be on the family, and I’m looking forward to highlighting throughout the series this important God-ordained institution of the home.  Here is a list of the message titles at FC for the next several weeks:
(by the way, if these don’t necessarily pertain to you, that’s okay. At Fellowship, we want to be kingdom-minded, which sometimes means moving outside our comfort zones and seeing things through the perspective of others)

April 27 – Family Matters:  He said/she said
May 4 – Family Matters:  Parenting – An Orange perspective
May 11 – Family Matters:  My mom – The Golden Compass
May 18 – Family Matters:  Outlaws/Inlaws

If you have a family, or if you want to have a family, or if you know someone who has a family, then come and invite someone who you know that will be interested in what the Bible has to say about the family.

Sunday Mornings @ Fellowship (10:30 am)
325 Bullard St
Holden, MA 01520

Who’s gonna be there?

One of the things Im really thankful for is my team here at Fellowship Church.  When Lonnie left to go to here last October, I knew we needed a game plan that brought more people into the leadership mix if we were going to succeed as a church.  So I talked to a group of people (who all happened to be guys) to direct some of the major areas at Fellowship Church.  For those of you who are wondering, I did talk to two ladies, both of who turned the opportunity for one of these leadership roles down.

Through the process we’ve been growing as leaders and as a church for the last 6 months, but there’s still plenty more growth, and I’d like to take this post to say thanks to my team of leaders who have begun the process of taking Fellowship Church to another level, and “thank you “to those of who you leaders at FC, who might not have a title, but who have sacrificed and taken steps to help us be the church God wants us to be.

An important piece of this puzzle is that everyone on our team has a blog.

(in alphabetical order)
Al – Sunday Morning Programming Director
Billy – First Impressions Director
Jason – Director of Operations
Jeff – Life Group Director
Steve - Family Ministry Director

Tomorrow I’m going to share some of the blogs of people who make Fellowship happen at FC.

What do you like to see happen?

I just watched Andy Stanley during about an hour interview with a group of church planters around table and just answering every questions they could throw at him.  It was a great learning experience for me, and I’m honored to have been able to see it.  I’ve read most of what he’s written and seen many of his messages and appreciate from afar the things he has poured into my life.

Is there anyone you learn a lot from in your job or family or everyday life?

This week:

My wife’s on vacation from school.
I drove to Albany with Carie, Jess, and Darren.
I attended this church in Malta, NY and wrote this blog about it.
I’m eating healthy.  (no really, I am)
The Celtics will sweep the Hawks.
The Penguins will continue their sweeping ways.
I will be doing premarital counseling, attending a wedding, posting comments about relationships on blogs,and talking about marriage on Sunday Morning @ Fellowship.
I hate Enterprise Rent-a-Car.
I love humor.
It will be 80 on Wednesday here in Mass.
Fellowship Church begins a new series called “Family Matters”
God is already teaching me things

Will be an amazing one!