S7s: 13 Mar

1) Watershed Youth High School Retreat was this weekend. The place was Carolina Point, a camp run by Young Life on the NC/SC border near Brevard. It's a beautiful site and still growing. We had the camp to ourselves and were blessed with great weather. The theme of the week was the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22. God clothes us in his garments and invites us to celebrate with him. It's good stuff. The kids were amazing and there were some changed hearts. I'm always fortunate to get to share in these opportunities and experiences.

2) NC Primary is Tuesday. I can't wait to vote. Not even decided which primary I'm voting in yet. It will be a last minute decision.

3) NCAA Basketball tournament is ready to roll. I have followed very little college basketball, but I'll still make a bracket. Right now, Let me study the bracket and get back to you on who I think will win.

4) Here's one reason why wrestling is so great-- Seth Curry would never give this interview:

5) More sports: what a huge loss for the NFL-- Marshawn Lynch, Peyton Manning and Calvin Johnson all retire in the same year. Megatron will always be my favorite, I got a lot of joy watching him play while he was at Georgia Tech:


6) Just when you thought you knew it all:
http://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-discover-a-potential-new-species-caspar-the-ghost-octopus/

7) Track season has begun. We had our first and second meets last week. The weather was great. Not brutal like March often is. The team is deeper that we were last year. We don't have the top tier talent, but we've got some strong performers. And I'm really impressed with some of our new kids. We placed 6th at Reynolds on Tuesday and were 3rd in a home meet on Thursday.

My old Dell died, so we tried to pair two new computers to time and score. It didn't work perfectly. We had a system that was fine, but my project before April 7 is to make sure that our computers are communicating. Hosting meets is an ordeal, but we have great facilities and the right equipment. It's just a matter of having all the pieces in place (technology, volunteers, weather).

13 Pennies

I spent the last week with the Grace Youth on our local mission trip. For various reasons, the summer mission trip right in our backyard. We might not have traveled to Dalton, Georgia, New Orleans or Houston, but we might have made a larger impact on the kids who participated.

Go to my flickr page for photos of the trip.

We had many projects including Manna Food Bank, Asheville Greenworks, the local Women's Mission, the homeless Veterans shelter and a retirement home. Every morning, we started at the Presbyterian Home For Children. It takes in children who do not have parents or, because of circumstances, cannot stay with their parents. The PHFC attempts to give hope to children who otherwise would not have much hope.

In 1904, when Perry Smith, who was orphaned at 12 and grew to be a Presybterian minister, was given charge to start an ministry for orphans in Western North Carolina, the issue was raising enough money to begin and sustain the ministry. Hazel Johnson, just a child, came forward from the back of the room and asked if what she had was enough to get them started. It was 13 pennies. With that humble gift, the elders were committed to building the orphanage and the Presbyterian Home for Children gets its start.

It's never about how much you give, it's about the heart of your gifts. Whether it is tithing to your church, Christmas presents or your beloved's birthday, the love that accompanies the gift should and will be more valuable than the gift, no matter what it may be.

^{Mark 12:41-44
41}Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴²But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,worth only a fraction of a penny.

⁴³Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."