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• Other people think your job is easier than it is.
• They think you make more money than you actually do.
• You think the same thing about their job.
• Having a job is a HUGE blessing.
• Americans stress out more than any other place I have ever been.
• People who show up early, put in a full day’s work, have a good attitude, and work hard normally catch all the “lucky” breaks in the job world.
• There is no perfect job so make the job you have perfect for you at this time.
• There are weird coworkers everywhere; don’t let that get you down.
• You just might be one.
• Remember that you represent Jesus Christ. Smile, be nice, be trustworthy, and act like Jesus is there with you on the job… because He is.

Ritchie

As you know, I love pastors and I love helping them. I am so thankful to be a pastor and I love it more than you can imagine. I pray for pastors every day, I coach pastors in my coaching network, I lead pastors on my staff, and I feel like God has called me to help as many pastors as I can. You and I probably have no idea how much our prayers help. Many pastors are faced with enormous pressure and discouragement so when we hold them up in prayer we really are assisting God’s work.

Here are a few pastors I want you to pray for today:

Gene Wolfenbarger. Gene is my best friend and he is the pastor of The Gathering in Sevierville, Tennessee. He is doing a great work there and he and a team of people from his church are traveling to Uganda and Kenya to pursue building an orphanage.

John Cross. John is a close friend of mine and he pastors South Biscayne Church in North Port, Florida. He has been so faithful and God has blessed the church with tremendous growth. John is getting married next Friday! He has never been married and God has brought a beautiful woman into his life. Her former husband was the pastor of a large church and he died unexpectedly. I am so excited for them. I plan to attend their wedding next Friday.

Jon McLain. Jon and his wife Cindy are former members of Avalon Church and God called them to Sylvania, Georgia to pastor Friendship Baptist Church. Pray for God’s blessings on them.

Cory Boerm. Cory is the new K-5 – 5th grade pastor at Avalon. I am so excited that he and his wife Christy have joined our team. They have two girls and they are moving from Texas. Pray for them in their transition. They are going to rock the house at Avalon!

Ritchie

I made a terrible error with a misspelled word in the last blog. It made something sound very dirty which I did not intend. It has been corrected, thank God. Feel free to read it now. Sorry.

Ritchie

This morning, before I had even had my first cup of coffee, my wife called me and told me she ran out of gas and was sitting on the side of the road in the pouring rain. That kind of threw off my routine. My normal morning routine during the week is this: get out of bed around 5:30, walk 4 miles while praying for an hour, run 4 miles while listening to a sermon, shower, eat breakfast, make coffee, read my daily reading from the Bible, write my blog, talk to my family, and then begin the rest of my day. I tell you that because anyone in my family can tell you that I am very quirky about getting out of my routine. That is something they have to accept about me if they are going to love all of me.

My amazing wife has a gregarious personality. She has never met a stranger, she is extremely kind and loving, she gives of herself to others, she is fun to be around, and she makes me laugh. One of her idiosyncrasies is that she does not like to take time to fill up her gas tank. She would rather put $10 of gas in her car three times a week rather than $30 of gas in once a week. This is not the first time she has run out of gas.

I thought about my reaction when she called me and asked me to come help her. My default position is to get mad. I normally get over it quickly but everyone around me does not. While I was on the way to help her I felt like God impressed me about these things.

1. I have a beautiful, loving wife. That is a big deal and something to be thankful for. We have three children together. We love each other. Plus I know by my coming to her rescue in the rain I will build up some credit in the emotional bank account. Trust me, I will cash that in. I can use all the “my hero” credits I can get.

2. I have a car. The fact that I own a car puts my family in the top 7% of the wealthiest people in the world. I am blessed to have more than one car. Most people in the world have to walk everywhere.

3. I have the money to buy gas. I am so thankful that I can actually afford a tank of gas. Lots of people are struggling in this economy.

When you think about it running out of gas is not a big deal at all. Kim, next time please don’t run out in the rain. That big truck that passed while I was pouring the gas in the tank got me totally soaked. I am pretty sure that counts for double points.

Ritchie

Over 50 paintings hang on the walls of my house. Some are oil, some are water color, some are acrylic, and some are pastel. The thing they all have in common is they were all painted by me or one of my children. I painted over 20, Brandon painted over 20, and Brittney and Brooke painted the rest. For some reason God chose to put an artistic gene in my family. Some of the paintings have hung in shows and a few of them have won awards. I am not suggesting that the Louvre has called asking to hang any of them in the Impressionist Gallery but most of them are at least good enough to make people who know nothing about art stare and say, “I didn’t know you wuz an artist or somethin’.” I always tell them that “or somethin’” is much more accurate. Of course a few of the paintings are terrible. My college art teacher may suggest that I have been far too generous in describing the quality of any of them. I am fully aware that if thieves ever break into my house they will steal my wife’s VHS collection of Jane Fonda workouts before they stole any of the paintings. The reason they are valuable to me, though, is because my children and I painted them.

Paul told us in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Your worth to God does not lie in your value as compared to others. You value lies in the fact that He created you for His purpose and pleasure. He created you to do good things. So stop comparing yourself to others and do what you were created to do. God created you and you are His masterpiece. Just as I am proud to display any of the so-called art in my house God is proud to display you as one of His masterpieces when you come to Him in faith.

Think about it.

Ritchie

When I was a senior in college I was driving through a small town in Georgia on a Sunday night. The town shall remain unnamed in case the “Barney Fife” sheriff is reading this blog. It was like a scene out of a bad movie. I had been ministering in a church that night and was headed back to my college dorm room in Jacksonville, Florida. It was raining so hard that I was driving about 35 miles per hour on a stretch of road that had 55 miles per hour as the speed limit. I was not very familiar with the term “speed trap” until that night.

Evidently I did not see the sign that posted a sudden drop in the speed limit. It was raining far too hard. Did I mention it was raining really hard? After having passed through this dinky little town I saw the blue lights of a cop car in my rear view mirror. I had no idea what he wanted so I pulled over and then he got on his megaphone and told me to get out of my vehicle. I tried to get into his car but he made me stand in the pouring rain and lectured me about how he could take me to jail if he wanted to. I had no idea what he was talking about. He made me stand in the rain for a good ten minutes and then told me that I drove “35 through his town” and he did not take kindly to people who “broke his speed limit.” That was about 23 years ago and I still get mad about it. I fell into a trap.

This morning I read in Romans 11 where Paul wrote “Let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well.” If we are not careful the very things that we see as blessings in our lives – money, houses, cars, talent, jobs, and relationships – can become a trap that makes us think that everything is OK when it really is not. If I fail to keep my relationship with God as a priority those things which are very good can become a trap which causes me to turn from God.

Think about the “blessings” in your life and ask yourself if any of them have become an insidious trap.

Ritchie

I love youth camp, teen camp, conference or whatever they call it now. I do not love camping because I happen to think the invention of the house and indoor plumbing was a good thing. But I love camp and here is why.

Big time spiritual decisions are made there that can alter the course of a kid’s life. Are there emotional decisions made? Of course. When I was a youth director there were always kids that would stand up and start crying because their new BFF was the “bestest ever.” But there is something about getting teens out of their natural habitat and all the normal distractions for a few days so they can get filled with worship and intense preaching and teaching. Lots of teens get saved and lots of others turn their lives around at camp. There are many others that sense God’s call on their life for vocational ministry. I know. As a 16 year old boy at youth camp I said yes to God’s call on my life. That set into motion a chain of events – Bible college, seminary, starting Avalon Church, starting Avalon HOPE, pastor’s coaching – that has affected many of you. None of this would have happened if it were not for a group of adult that thought it was important to invest time, money, and energy into a bunch of teens.

To all of the leaders, counselors, and parents that thought it was important to invest into the lives of teenagers I want to say thank you. You probably had no idea that a church like Avalon would spring out of your investment. To all of those who are currently investing I want to say thank you. You are changing lives now, tomorrow, and forever.

Ritchie

P.S. I just got a tweet from our high school pastor and he is baptizing 17 teens at the beach this morning before our group somes home. See what I mean?

Sometimes I allow myself to make excuses about serving others because I start to compare myself with others who may be better than I am at something. Well you know what? If I only give back in areas that I am the absolute best in I will never do anything! There is never a perfect scenario or a perfect person. So what I must do is serve God with the talent he has given me. You may not be a licensed counselor but you can use your experience to help others. You may not be the richest person in the world but you can give and make a difference. You may not be famous or the best at anything but you are good enough to help someone. The truth is God has given you a personality, talent, experiences, and gifts that make you perfect to help someone. Just because you may not be able to change the whole world gives you no excuse not to change someone’s world.

It matters that you give, serve, invest, worship, attend church, and get involved. Everyone in the world may not be influenced but someone will be. So when you and I fail to show up or to give our best we are essentially saying that our life does not matter and that God had no idea what he was doing when he made us.

This picture was taken at our recent Avalon HOPE Kids Blitz and Back Pack Giveaway. We had hundreds of volunteers who made a difference. It would be hyperbole to say that we changed the world with our efforts. But I believe that we made a difference in many people’s lives. I think this young man would agree that you do not have to change the whole world to make a difference in someone’s world.

Ritchie

I was thinking earlier today about how I can get so intense, so focused on my goals that I forget to laugh. Laughter is about enjoying the journey and not taking yourself too seriously. I think we all need laughter. Solomon said that laughter is good for you like a medicine. I think that means it heals your soul. Maybe your body too. I also think Jesus made people laugh. Hebrew humor was filled with hyperbole. Remember when Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You guys strain your water for gnats but then you don’t even notice when you swallow a camel?” I think the disciples probably could barely hold their laughter. Can you visualize that? A giant camel in your drinking water but nobody notices. They need writers like that in Hollywood. That just kills me!

Anyway, I need a good laugh today. I hope that it focuses me on the joy of being a Christian and reminds me of how extravagantly, ridiculously wonderful God’s grace is.

I think I will start by thinking of some of the funny things God made. Have you ever seen a picture of a platypus? There’s a funny looking creature. Or how about a giraffe? Those necks are hilarious. Or how about an Alabama football fan? That tooth is just so funny looking. Sorry. I could not resist. I have some Alabama fans in my small group. Their tooth looks nice though.

Ritchie

At Avalon Church we are really big on HOPE. Avalon HOPE is a separate non-profit corporation and 10% of all of our offering income goes to it. Through HOPE we plant churches, support a children’s village for AIDS orphans in South Africa, do regular outreach through acts of kindness evangelism, train pastors, and assist needy families in our area through charitable aide. The three biggest event of the year are the Easter Boxes of HOPE giveaway (food for families in need), the Kids Blitz Back Pack Giveaway (a back to school event where the Gospel is presented in a fun program and school supplies are given to families in need), and Christmas HOPE (where we give substantial Christmas gifts to children in need like bikes, shoes, etc.).

We must always remember that everything we do is about people. Here are a few pics from the Kids Blitz on Saturday.

Ritchie

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