happy birthday to me!

It was a full and eventful birthday weekend... very challenging considering the commitment I've made to some decisions to be more healthy... but 41 is not so bad...

I was able to enjoy a lunch of Friday with my dad... always great to hang with him for a bit and just talk... love you so much Dad! You're one of a few heroes in my life!

I had a great day Saturday until its end... full day with the family... baseball tryouts with Noah and Nate... It was a beautiful day outside and I love watching them grow and have fun doing things they love to do and excel at... both of them also had afternoon basketball games... Nate's team won and he dropped in a few points (30 to be exact!)... Noah's team also won (he had 4 points, 5 assists, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks... that's pretty remarkable for a rec league game with no fast breaks allowed)... like I already said - enjoy watching those two little guys!

hey... somewhere in there NC State actually won a basketball game... great birthday gift!

I spent the evening with my Wake Tech team at a home game vs. Patrick Henry Comm College (a really good team!)... we were fortunate and in the end really played hard and played together as a team and pulled out a 77-71 victory... the win puts us stand-alone in third place in our conference... not bad considering the top 2 teams are both ranked in the top 10 nationally in our division! I have enjoyed this season... especially the personal relationships built with players and seeing some small and some great life-change... that's the whole reason I'm there!

Following our post-game remarks in the locker room we were given some bad news... another player from Vance-Granville Comm College (the top scorer in the conference with several universities scouting him for future play)had collapsed in a game against Guilford College and had to be rushed to the hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Our entire team and I took this news hard. It's hard to wrap your mind around a young man losing his life with such a seemingly bright future awaiting him. Our head coach turned to me and said Coach Thompson you need to lead us in prayer... though challenging - what a great opportunity to share such a moment with my team... the room was filled with quietness and tears as we put things in perspective and remembered this fallen athlete... This has led to some great conversations via texting with some of my players today... please pray for the Vance-Granville team and the families impacted by the loss and also pray for our team as we respond to real-life challenge!

I spent the day today in Winston-Salem with Angela's family... her dad turned 70 this past week and we all surprised him and showed up at their church today... Just great to spend the day celebrating the life of another hero... Don Brendle... one of God's finest men!... so glad to be a part of two great families!

in the midst of all of the events, gifts, and time with family I received many birthday wishes from so many of you... just want to say how much I love all of my friends both near and far... and really love my True North Church family and the partnership we share in ministry and following Jesus!

happy birthday to me!

Questioning Jesus...

That's the title of the series we started today at True North Church... great start to a new series. The series is being built around some of the life-changing questions Jesus asked in some of his encounters. So many questions we are asked don't even need to be answered... and even if they do they really don't matter that much... but some questions like "will you marry me?" are significant questions and the answer can change your life forever.

Today's question came from John 5:6 where Jesus asked sick man "do you want to be made well?" ... Could Jesus actually have been asking if the man wanted to be whole?
After listening to the man's excuses about why he could not get well ... then dismissing those excuses Jesus healed him... he said "rise, take up your bed and walk..." Jesus' healing had nothing to do with the man's obedience or even his faith... it was simply Jesus and His ability and His willingness to heal.

I was convicted today about some of my physical issues and the excuses I make about not being able to lose weight. I felt like Jesus was saying to me... "get up son and be healthy..." Everything I need Christ has provided for me. I am making some hard choices this evening to walk in the wholeness that he has provided. Pray for me!

As we sang today at church I want to confess now to Jesus...
"I believe You're my healer, I believe You are all I need. I believe You're my portion, I believe You're more than enough for me. Jesus, You're all I need."

So now as strive harder to make some good choices I'm trusting in His ability and willingness to heal ... and the verse in Deut 7:15 ... "and the Lord will take away from you all sickness..."

If you don't have a church this series would be a great time to come and visit True North. I have a feeling every Sunday is going be filled with great challenge that can produce life-change!

Valentine's Day...

While sitting down to blog for a bit I just began to think about the time I have spent with my beautiful wife, Angela. Watching Luke go through this learning period of having his first girlfriend has made me think back to many of things I used to do with Angela. We've been together on Valentine's Day now for 21 years... whew! She's as amazing to me as she was the first time I saw her. She brings sunshine when life seems dreary and she brings spice when life taste bland. She's my best friend and I love her!

Luke is so fun to watch... he brought his girlfriend to church for the first time today, they went out to lunch with us, and now he is gone to his first movie with her. They exchanged small Valentine's gifts with each other and he was so excited that Blair had made him a cake in the shape of a heart! I guess this had to happen at some point!

I love gift-giving... it's one of my favorite things to do. With Angela it is easy... when I get her something nice she loses it and asks me to get it for her again... I can't tell you how many times that has happened... so for Valentine's Day I replaced her lost ipod. Last night though I gave her a date night and we went out alone for Japanese food and then went and sat for a while at a coffee shop... lots of fun... love hanging out with just her!

anyway... Happy Valentine's Day!