Mike Edmisten

Tonight’s closing program capped off an amazing week.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped. There are far more than I could ever name here. So if you helped in any way, thank you!!!!!

Huge props to Melanie Presta for leading the week. Stellar job!

Now it’s 11:30 pm. Time to go home and go to bed.

What a week!

Our closing program will be tonight at 8:00 pm.

It’s been a great week. A loud week. A fun week. A crazy week. A God-honoring week.

Come and celebrate a stellar VBS with us tonight!

The Reds are sending Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox. In return, the Sox are sending right-handed pitcher Nick Masset and second baseman Danny Richar to Cincinnati.

Ever heard of them?

Me neither.

It’s now being reported that Griffey has approved the trade to the White Sox. I haven’t heard who we’re getting in return yet.

The most ironic thing for me…I’m wearing my White Sox shirt today. I got dressed this morning long before I heard this news. I just pulled the shirt out of my closet. I’m not even a White Sox fan. It’s just a shirt that I own.

Too weird.

Cincinnati radio station, WLW, is reporting that the Reds have traded Ken Griffey Jr. to the Chicago White Sox. Since Griffey is a 10 & 5 player (10 years in the Majors, 5 years with the same club), he can veto any trade.

The deadline for his decision is 4:00 pm. But all indicators are that Junior’s days in Cincinnati are over.

Tim Stevens wrote, “A couple years ago when I went to our local Taco Bell, I noticed everyone had matching uniforms and hats, except one guy who was wearing a fluorescent pink hat. When he turned around, I saw the words on the front: ‘I forgot my hat today.’”

Apparently this was the boss’ way of reminding this guy not to forget his hat again tomorrow. His method was to slap what amounted to a neon sign on this guy’s head that said, “I failed today.”

You can relate. I can, too.

There are days when it feels like you’re wearing a billboard that says, “I’m a screw-up. I’m a loser. I’m a failure.”

And, truth be told, we are all of those things.

The Bible says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

That little word “all” has big implications. Everyone, without exception, has screwed up. Missed the mark. Fallen short. Sinned.

But instead of handing us a sign to indicate that we are total losers, God forgives and forgets our sin (Hebrews 8:12).

God slaps on a hat that says, “I forgot your sin today.”

I’m falling asleep at my keyboard right now.

Had a 6:30 am meeting this morning, which is just adding to my fatigue.

Anybody else got a VBS hangover???

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…………………

I’ve had some discouraging stuff come up recently. Nothing earth shaking. Just a little discouraging.

And interestingly, it’s happening when things are absolutely rocking in our church. Coincidence? No way.

When you’re achieving Kingdom wins, the opposing team will show up. You can bank on it. The last thing in the world that Satan wants is for God’s Kingdom to advance. So he’ll take any and every opportunity he can to stop Kingdom progress.

And that hacks the devil off. So he’ll use whatever he can to bring discouragement. The goal is to shift our focus off the main thing and onto…anything else.

It’s not gonna happen at ACC. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not next week, next month, next year…never. I have seen what happens when a church loses focus on the main thing. It’s a train wreck.

Maybe Satan intends for these little discouragements to get me to change my focus. He’ll be disappointed to know that it had the opposite effect on me. It simply caused me to take a step back and evaluate everything. Where we are. Where we’re going. What’s important. What’s not.

The end result? I’m more focused than ever.

Ever hear the phrase, “quiet as a church mouse?”

According to clichesite.com, here is the origin of the phrase: “In a time when mice were more prevalent, you might see a mouse run across the floor and even in a quiet place like a church, you would not hear it.”

Ok, I get it. Mice are quiet.

But did you catch the implication about the church? Church is quiet, too.

That hasn’t been a good description of our church lately.

During VBS last night, you could’ve found a lot of different words to describe what was happening. “Quiet” would not have been one of them.

As I type this right now, there is a lot of noise coming up from the church basement. That’s because a slew of teenagers are hanging out, playing video games, eating pizza, etc.

And I love it.

I love seeing the excitement of kids as they sing and dance and play.

I love seeing students who enjoy hanging out in our church building because they feel comfortable and accepted in our student ministry.

Yeah, all of that is noisy.

But it’s really a beautiful noise.

I can’t officially verify this, but I think our VBS attendance last night was a record. And it’s only the first night! Normally attendance doesn’t peak until the third or fourth night.

And not only was it a record number of kids, but it may very well have been a record number of adult staff. Seriously, it feels like half our church is involved in VBS.

I’m lovin’ it!