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Home with the kids today since Karen is not feeling well. So, as most you know, I am a Star Wars geek. I love all the movies, have a bunch of stuff, and even gave away Light Sabers to some SC Youth Pastors. One of my favorite scenes is in Star Wars: A New Hope when Obi-Wan pulls the Jedi mind trick on the Stormtroopers. “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” I’ve been thinking, what are some situations where Jedi mind tricks would prove useful in life and ministry.
1. When a kid or teen is disruptive,”You want to sit and be quiet now.”
2. When your 4 year old twins don’t want to go to bed,”You want to go to bed and not wake up until 9 am.”
3. When your pet has an accident,”You don’t want to pee on the rug again. You want to pee outside.”
4. To the church treasurer, “You don’t mind if we double the youth budget this year. We need to think about the kids.”
5. To parents of kids in your youth group,”You don’t want your kids to have a computer in their room. You want to keep it out in the open so you always know what they’re doing. Oh, and you don’t mind if the youth pastor takes a day off every week and spends time with his family.”
6. To your varsity or jv coach,”You don’t want to take me out of the game. You don’t care if I shoot every time.”
7. To that cute girl you’ve been waiting to ask out,”You do want to go see Star Wars with me. You do want to tell all your friends that I’m your dream guy.”
8. To that cute boy you’ve been seeing,”You don’t want to think of me as a piece of meat. You want to treat me with respect and dignity and never put me in a compromising situation. You don’t want to take me to see Star Wars. You don’t care if we watch the Notebook again.”
9. To your parents, “You don’t need to see my homework. On second thought, talk to me about my friends, my habits, my faith, the opposite sex, and my homework so I don’t completely screw my life up.”
10. To your wife,”Heroes is your favorite show. You would love to go to the Basketball game with me. You will buy me ringside seats to wrestling at the Wachovia Center on January 28, 2008.”
11. To your husband,”You will turn the tv off and come to bed…for the rest of your life. And how about some flowers every now and then. And diamonds, lots of diamonds. And no more Big Macs for you buddy. You love vegetables.”
12. To the police officer at the window,”This is a church van. You don’t need to see my papers. I’m not the youth pastor you’re looking for. Take Greg and Wes.”

Hey, first of all, when Hulk Hogan showed up on Monday Night Raw to the tune of “Real American” I cheered like a 12 year old kid. Drake enjoyed it as well. Lots of things I want to say. Been thinking about the last 8 months. Much has happened. My life has completely changed. I have now been away from South Carolina longer than at any other point in my life. This whole deal could have gone either way. The fact that our family is intact, strong, and safe is a blessing all it’s own. The fact that we’ve come through so much makes it even sweeter. Sometimes things happen that Satan intends to destroy us. Then God shows up, protects us, and steers us through the debris. Sometimes I think about those people who um, er, eh, well, let’s say they had a different perspective than me. To them I would say, “Thank you. God has used a situation that I wasn’t strong enough for, smart enough for, man enough for, and exposed the areas of my life where He wasn’t Lord. He’s saved my marriage, my ministry, and my Mullikinness.” I will admit that there were times when I said,”If one more thing happens then I don’t think God is with us anymore.” It never did. Things got better. He never let us get to that point. It’s been hard landing on our feet, but even harder worrying about the people I left behind who needed to land on their feet as well. I wish I could have kept in touch with everyone better, told everyone how much I love them better, prayed for them better. So, where does that leave us…me and you? I’m thinking that the past is past, and the present is meant for celebrating. Celebrating friends, love, faith, fat men in Batman suits, 100 degree youth rooms, Tubeamania, gong shows, O Captains, primal yells, the Drake, the Twins, family, the farm, mission trips, in Orlando, Central, Pendleton, Aston, Philly, and Wilmington. So, where’s the party? Wherever, whenever, we take it.

Hey, what’s up everybody? Here’s how God has been blessing our family:
1. A lady at church has been slipping me money every week. She said God told her to do it and she didn’t want to embarress me, and I told her I was humbled to be a part of what God was doing in her life. It’s always come just when we need it.
2. We haven’t had to buy groceries since the week before Thanksgiving. We’ve gotten about 5 boxes of stuff from people at church although a rat ate our sweet potatoes. Oh, he’ll meet his end this week. Friday we got an unexpected HUGE box of Fruit Loops and today we got a gallon of milk.
3. A door is open for us to move into a smaller place for much cheaper. We are praying about it, but our experience at our house hasn’t been the best. The landlord has changed the deal a couple of times so we are praying for wisdom.
4. Basically, the only door God has left open is the one where he takes care of everything. Now, when you ask God to meet your needs that may mean you buy $3 of gas at a time, but you never run out.
5. I am at a point in my journey of thinking deeply about faith and action. I ask and trust God to meet our needs, but what is my part? I don’t want to be lazy, but I also want to be in step with God. I get caught up sometimes in thinking so much about what to do and the next step that I forget to be. Seems to me that’s why God made the Sabbath. I’m pretty sure that’s the commandment Christians break the most. It makes sense that in the moments I am focused on “being” that God will direct my “doing.”
6. A man at church recently got an Archeological Study Bible. I looked at and commented how awesome it was and how I had been researching a lot of Old Testament history. This morning, he gave me the Bible. I was speechless(and now you’re speechless that I could ever be speechless). Think God wants me to study His word more?
7. God has blessed our church financially recently after some lean months.
8. Karen had to get two prescriptions for the kids while in Ohio for Thanksgiving. They were both free with our insurance. God rocks!
9. He has shown me ways we can cut our spending tremendously each month. That, plus the apartment possibility would make it possible for Karen to continue to stay home with the kids.
10. I find it strange that I trust that God healed Karen yet I struggle to trust Him with the daily small things. Maybe it’s just me. If He can take care of Huntington’s disease then knocking out the rent shouldn’t be too hard.
I don’t know where you’re at, what you’re struggling with, what your needs are. I hope this has been an encouragement to you. We serve a great God. He does what He does because He can and He loves us. He doesn’t want us to jump through hoops. He wants us to be aware that it’s not some game of cosmic chance when good things come our way. There’s not a “Secret.” It’s just Him being I AM.

There are few things I wanted to get off my chest before I try to catch another 30 minutes of sleep.
1. If you’ve been keeping up with the Jena 6 case, I bet you haven’t heard this in the reporting.
2. A report was just released that there was a rise in teenage births. Many blame this on President Bush’s insistence on many Abstinence-only programs(just another thing people want to blame on him). Well, statistics show that 100% of teens who practice abstinence and don’t have sex do NOT get pregnant. People really believe that if we taught teens how to USE birth control then the pregnancy rates would go down. As a youth pastor of over 10 years let me clue you in on something(come in a little closer). TEENS ARE GETTING PREGNANT CAUSE THEY AINT USING NO BIRTH CONTROL!! Sorry for my grammar and yelling. It’s not that kids don’t know how to use it, they’re just choosing not to. Maybe they should show the episode of Friends where Rachel tells Ross she’s pregnant and he goes on and on about how he didn’t know condoms weren’t 100% effective. If kids won’t listen to reason then maybe they’ll listen to Ross and Rachel although…
3. They should tell the kids that if they do get pregnant then it will affect their lives a whole lot more than Rachel’s baby. Was that kid ever on the show? Nothing changed for Ross and Rachel after having a baby. The last episode, Rachel is getting on a plane to go to Paris(?). She aint got the baby. Ross aint got the baby. Who’s got the baby?! And how can any of these people afford to live in NYC without steady jobs?
4. I really believe that if you don’t make the decision early in life to wait until marriage to have sex then chances are you won’t wait. Of course, the line has always been blurred about “how far is too far?”. So, since I’m obviously not going back to bed, here are some signs you’ve gone too far…
If you’re touching anything besides their hand…you’ve gone too far.
If the door is closed(or locked)…you’ve gone too far.
If her father isn’t within a mile with a shotgun…you’ve gone too far.
If you have to stop and listen for anything…you’ve gone too far.
If the lights are off and momma aint sitting between you…you’ve gone too far.
If you can’t fit a Gideon Bible between you..you’ve gone too far.
If you have to plan a speech to get her to do anything…you’ve gone too far(unless it involves wrestling tickets).
If you imagine anything about her that doesn’t include Jesus, your wedding DAY, or bright lights…you’ve gone too far.
Drakes awake…gotta go.

Well, this ain’t Kansas. It is snowing again here in beautiful Wilmington, DE. It’s the slow fat snow not the fast small snow. Of course, the other day we had fast fat snow. It sure is fascinating to a redneck like me. Here’s what’s up:
1. Here’s something I read. I haven’t applied all of them yet, but still good advice. Again, I read Tony’s blog daily. Hopefully, these tips will help us all blog a little better.
2. OOps, now it’s fast small snow.
3. As I listen to the political discourse in this country I wonder,”Is there any civility left?” I mean from O’Reilly(who I watch) to Olbermann(who no one watches) people on both sides are mean and cruel. I think people are waiting for someone to rise above it. I think that’s what Obama set out to do. Even the ladies on “The View” have Bush-derangement syndrome. Rosie went from being the “queen of nice” to not nice at all. I’ve seen a shift though. People used to just attack Bush, but now I see more and more attacks on Christianity. Don’t take my word for it. This site does a great job of chronicling all of it. This leads me to…
4. This is old news, but I didn’t realize that Kathy Griffen said,”Suck it, Jesus” at the end of her Emmy winning speech. First, most of you don’t know this less than funny comedian. Second, she did say that her intent was to mock all the people who thank God in their acceptance speeches who obviously aren’t living it ie: 3-6 Mafia after winning an Oscar for “It’s hard out here for a pimp.” Thirdly, I’m praying that she learns to say “Jesus is Lord” in this life because she won’t have a choice in the next. Fourth, am I living my life in a way that makes Jesus look like a joke to most people?
5. Speaking of comedians, I am still trying to work up the nerve and the time to venture into Philly for open mic night at a comedy club. (This is where you send encouraging comments for me to do it.) Have you heard the story about the hurt knee, the church van, and the beer can?
6. Now we’ve got fast fat snow.
7. When a 19 year old can get an AK-47 from his stepfather’s house then something is wrong.
8. Finally, a sensible article about Clemson football.
9. Fast small snow again. Really fast.
10. Lastly, I had an accident with my Blackberry last night. It is half working so I am going through withdrawal. Plus, I’m not eligible for a new phone until April. Guess, I’ll be using a borrowed phone for a while. Hopefully, they can transfer my phone book. Got a church dinner tonight at the Shady Maple. Flounder with stuffed crab meat. It’s gonna be awesome.

Well, Thursday is my day off. There was still snow on the ground from yesterday, but it was too powdery to build a snowman. Do you know how hard it is to build a snowman while 2 4 year-olds are tearing it down. So, instead we may a snow pile. Quote of the day-“Don’t ever do that again, Milena!”-Charis after Milena put a snowball down her back.
1. I’ve put the blogs I read on the side of the page. I read Perry Noble’s and Tony Morgan’s every day. I really admire those guys for their work. If anyone knows them, tell them I said hello.
2. Kudos to my friend Kerry Traynum for this story.
3. Did you hear Mitt Romney’s speech today? I didn’t, but here are some questions I would’ve asked him: Where are the gold plates? To your knowledge, how many times has Joseph Smith’s testimony of his vision been changed by him or church officials? Does the Bible stand alone or do you read it in light of the book of mormon and the pearl of great price? Saw a guy holding a sign promoting this site during a report on the speech.
4. Watch Rob Bell’s video “Everything is Spiritual” yesterday. That man is smart. Every time I hear him speak he blows my mind. He challenges me to study more and to understand the OT more.
5. Still hoping I can get on Survivor before it ends.
6. What did you guys think of the Heroes’ finale? Was Noah the shooter? Is Nikki really dead? Where do we go from here?
7. We want to see as many people as possible while we are home. Email me at heath@chiunited.org to let me know what’s up. We’ll be available after the 18th.
8. Facebook groups are nothing more than online bumper stickers. It’s crazy how people join and leave groups so quickly. Just saw one called,”I’m going to see the Golden Compass because I’m not ignorant.” Well, call me ignorant.
9. Anyone got $15,000 I can have to get my Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership? I already know a few people who will get graduation invites if I get THAT degree.
10. Pray for me as there will some changes in how I fulfill my ministry responsibilities starting in January. It’s going to be a challenge, but Pastor Mike and I are on the same page and it’s going to be cool.
Whether you’ve got snow on the ground or not, I hope this finds you healthy, happy, and holy.