Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

It's On

VBS starts tonight.

6:00 pm.

Be there.

Seriously.

If you're not there, we'll hunt you down.

Be there!

Uninvited Guest

Something spent the night in our garage last night. Not sure what the "something" was, but we know it wasn't a small "something."

Our overnight guest managed to knock a small ladder off the wall, move sizable toys such as a basketball, and leave a sizable lump of poop. Sorry if that's gross, but that's what happened.

You know what's more gross? Picking it up without realizing what it was. That's gross, not to mention stupid. And that's exactly what I did.

Nicki heard the critter moving around in the garage this morning (I wasn't home at the time), so she opened the garage door. We're pretty sure it left because we later moved EVERYTHING out of the garage and didn't find it.

It's been a fun day here in Wild Kingdom. I've already been to the zoo this week. I don't need the zoo to come to me.

Zoo Review

We took Ryan to the Cincinnati Zoo recently. I love that trip! So awesome to have a world-class zoo right here in our city. And it always provides my family with world-class fun.

There is just something special when you see the kind of childhood excitement that I saw in Ryan during our zoo trip. Every five seconds, we heard, "Look Mommy!" or "Look Daddy!" as he was pointing out the next animal that we just had to see. (Brock loved the zoo too, but it was more about being chauffeured around in his beloved stroller than the animals. Trust me.)

The thing about a four-year-old is that he doesn't look at any animal for very long. We would look for a few seconds, and then Ryan was off to the next exhibit. There were two exceptions to that rule: the alligators and the manatees. Those animals froze Ryan in his tracks. Not sure why, but it was cool.

I had tons of "God moments" during that trip. A trip to the zoo makes me stand in awe of our Creator. If anyone can visit a zoo and see the creativity and variety in each animal's design, and then walk away still believing in Darwinism…that is simply a leap of faith that I can't make!

Also had some "God moments" watching my family as they watched the animals. I am the most blessed guy on this planet! Seriously, I dare you to find someone more blessed than me. I don't know why God has been so good to me. I definitely don't deserve it…but I'm very grateful for it!

Can't wait for our next day at the zoo!

A Post About Nothing

If NBC can produce a show about nothing, surely I can write a post about nothing.

Seriously, I have nothing to say right now. Which begs the question…why am I writing this?

Or, possibly a better question…why are you reading this?

The answer to both questions is probably, "I don't know."

I try to post something on my blog everyday. Today, I dipped my bucket into the old blogging well…but it came up dry. I'm tapped out at the moment.

You know what that feels like. I know you do. You try to give something because you know you should, but in reality, you're empty. You're all "gived out."

There's actually a beautiful truth that comes to light when that happens. You can't be "on" all the time. You can't always keep giving more and more and more. If you do, you will eventually come up dry.

The simple, but essential, truth is that you have your limitations. You are finite. There is only so much you can do.

In other words, you're not God. None of the above statements apply to Him.

I'm simply resting in that truth today. The truth is, when I have nothing more to give, it's ok. Actually, it's good.

Because when I hit my giving wall, it slows me down.

It helps me recalibrate things.

Things in my life are put back in their proper order.

God is God. I am not. And I can't ever operate like I am.

Hmmm…

I guess I had something to say after all.

No Perfect Leaders

There is no such thing as a perfect leader either in the past or present, in China or elsewhere. If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose in an effort to look like an elephant.
(Liu Shaoqi)

Batman Busted

Christian Bale should be on top of the world. His movie, The Dark Knight, in which he stars as Bruce Wayne/Batman, just shattered box office records over the weekend. You would think that life is all peaches and cream for Bale right now.

But…it's not.

Christian Bale was arrested in London yesterday for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister.

I'm not using my blog as a platform to throw stones at Bale. I mean, there's the whole, "let him who is without sin cast the first stone" thing. But I do think there is an application for our own lives that we can't afford miss.

Success in the eyes of our world is not enough. Money, fame, and success simply will not be enough to make your life complete. There will still be an emptiness that will go unfilled. There will still be sin that will go undealt with. There will still be haunting regrets.

It sounds simplistic, but the only answer to this is Jesus. Is that the classic "stained glass, Sunday School answer?" Yes. But sometimes those answers are still the right answers.

If money, fame, and success were the keys to a happy fulfilling life, then wouldn't Hollywood be the happiest place on earth? Wouldn't professional athletes be leading lives of complete contentment and peace?

But that's not what we usually see, is it? They have achieved the pinnacle of success in their discipline, be it acting or athletics. And they are paid handsomely for it.

But at the end of the day, it's just not enough.

It never is.

Let's Write a Story, Daddy

My son, Ryan, loves books by Laura Joffe Numeroff. If you have young kids, perhaps you've read…

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

or

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

or

If You Give a Moose a Muffin.

And I just found out that a new book, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, will be released in September.

These are classic stories. And really funny stories, too. Numeroff paints a very creative picture using very few words.

Ryan has now decided that he wants to take a stab at authoring his own story. He declared that the story will be entitled…

If You Give a Bear a Blueberry.

So tonight, Daddy and Ryan are going to sit down together and write this story. Maybe I'll even post it here on my blog???

Either that or I'll contact a publisher so we can make millions.

VBS is Coming Fast!

The insanity starts this Sunday at 6:00 pm! Your kids DO NOT want to miss this.

Register on our website TODAY!

When God Gives You a Message

Still trying to process what happened at ACC yesterday morning. I made a promise that God was going to rock us. From the buzz after our services, it's pretty safe to say that we were indeed rocked!

I want to be sure this is clear…all glory, credit, and honor for the message goes vertical. Last week, I knew that God had given me a word…and I could hardly wait to preach it. Seriously, I couldn't even sit still! Definitely a Jeremiah 20:9 morning for me!

Now…it's time to take the word of the Lord we heard yesterday and make it real in our lives.

Focus.

Follow through.

Can't wait to hear stories of how ACCers took down their giants!

(If you missed the message, it will be up on our website soon. You need to check it out. Look for the David & Goliath message in the Heroes series.)

Do NOT Miss This Sunday!

You've been put on notice, ACC. You absolutely do not want to miss this Sunday!

Our Heroes series is going to roll on with the story of David & Goliath. This week, God used this very familiar story to rock me in a whole new way.

I can hardly wait until Sunday! I've got a hot message cookin' for you! If I don't get to preach this message soon, I think I'm going to explode!

We're going to slice and dice some giants this Sunday. God is going to ROCK us!