Goliath Killers-Media

Good Morning Everyone,

For the next several weeks on Wednesday evenings the teenagers and myself will be looking at the different Goliaths in our lives. It is our hope and desire that by searching out God's word we will be able to defeat our Goliaths the same way David did in 1 Samuel 17. Another component of this series will be a parent's newsletter that will hopefully spark some discussion at home as well as give our parents some resources. I will make those newsletters available on this blog. I hope you stop by from time to time and learn how to better defeat the Goliaths in your life.

This Week’s Giant-MEDIA
As parents you are fighting the battle of Media alongside your teenager every day. Whether it is the latest movie they want to see, the new MP3 they want to download or the ads they see in magazines and billboards you and your teenager are in the thick of battling the giant we call Media. Tonight in class your teen learned some ways to combat bad media in their life. I hope you will discuss what they learned with them and take advantage of some resources I am providing you with. Let’s work together and help our teenagers defeat all the Goliaths in their lives.

Be Strong And Courageous,
Paul

www.pluggedinonline.com- This Website Is A Division of Focus On The Family And Reviews All Aspects of Media From A Christian Perspective


www.lyrics.com- While Not A Christian Website This Site Can Be Used For Christian Purposes. This Site Offers A Searchable Database From Which You Can See The Lyrics Of The Music You Are Listening To

Count Your Blessings Name The One By One

Good Evening Everyone,

This is a rare evening edition of Random Thoughts From a Random Guy. I was encouraged today by my good friend Sarah Adams. Sarah was a member of the youth group here in Pearland when I got here. My loss was Harding's gain when she left to begin her freshman year. Sarah wrote a note on her blog today detailing how blessed she is. I read this note on her blog in the midst of a small pity party I was hosting for myself. I was both blessed and humbled by Sarah's note and inspired to do as the songs says and "count my blessings". I hope you will indulge me a little bit by reading about my blessings while counting your own.

1.My God-When I think what my life would be like without my God it makes me stop and have to thank him for giving me life and giving me life to the fullest

2.My wife-I am blessed that I met, fell in love with and married my best friend. Nobody on Earth understands me like April does. I only hope that all of either are or will soon be yoked to your best friend. She has been through so much with me but is always my source of strength. I fall in love with her in a different way every day because she has so much to give. I look forward to a long life together.

3. My family-April and I made a whirlwind trip to Dallas to drop off a care package to a lady from church. A hotel room was not needed because my sister and brother-in-law so graciously opened their home to us. I am thankful for them and their little girls and my brother and sister-in-law and their little girls. I have to say thank you to my parents for teaching us to love God and love each other. And I could be thankful for my family without mentioning my in-laws in Minnesota who always make me feel like I belong.

4. My ministry-I searched for so long to finally find the Pearland Church of Christ. I work with the best kids and parents. I am also blessed to work with a great minister and supportive elders. I am allowed to work with the senior citizens and I have the best secretary anyone could ask for

5. Challenges-Life and ministry present challenges on a daily basis. While I sometimes complain about these challenges they help me grow and more than that they help my faith grow

6. Our home-Even with blue tarps on the roof, sagging ceiling in the kitchen and a few brown spots in the yard thank to Hurricane Ike I love our home. Our home is my sanctuary, place of healing and a great tool in my ministry.

I hope you have thought about and counted your blessings. More than that I hope you tell someone about your blessings and the one from whom all blessings flow.

Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul

Moving and Shaking

Good Morning Everyone,

We are as busy around here in Pearland as we ever are. We have devos and service projects and the much anticipated Men Vs. Boys Paintball. I hope you are all blessed today.

Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul

The Great Questions Of Life

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I don't know if you are like me or not but I love questions. I love asking questions and I love answering questions. As I was sitting in my office today I began thinking of some of the great questions of life. Questions like...

Who created Stonehenge and why?

How does Jello stay Jello?

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound?

Is the glass half full or half empty?

Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?

Okay so maybe those are not the deepest unanswered questions in my brain but they are ones I think about sometimes. I started pondering great questions several weeks ago when our preacher DC Brown began a series on great Biblical questions and answers. I further began thinking about questions because of a visit I made last night as part of our Wednesday night with the Master program here in Pearland.

I met a young lady who was raised in the church and who is working with a friend who is searching for answers in his life. I gave her my e-mail address and told her to feel free to send some questions my way. I was thrilled that before I even got home my Blackberry was flashing red because I had an e-mail.

I spent the whole morning trying to answer these questions from a Biblical perspective while attempting to not give the typical "Churchy" answers. These questions challenged me, but in answering them God once again amazed me through his word. When I thought I was stuck all I had to do is look to the word and there was another answer waiting for me. I thoroughly enjoyed answering these questions. I feel one of the greatest aspects of ministry to ask and answer the hard questions.

What questions are on your mind right now? I want to know what you are thinking about. I don't care whether you are thinking about Biblical or non-Biblical issues I just want to know what is on your mind. If you have questions, ask them and I will try to give an answer. If you have thoughts and feel you need to share them but don't know who to share them with then share them with me. Feel free to comment here or send me an e-mail at pmcartwright82@gmail.com .

In other news i am happy to say that I managed to pay off a whole credit card today. One of my new year's commitments is to try to climb out from under some accumulated debt and I feel like this was a good start. I hope you are blessed for stopping by today, I know I have been blessed because you decided to.

Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul

Happy New Year

Good Morning Everyone,

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy new year!!! I am sure you think I am being crafty by waiting this long to wish you all a happy new year but the truth is I am just really bad at updating my blog.

We spent Christmas in beautiful snow covered Minnesota. I can't say much for the state except that it is beautiful when covered in snow. While in Minnesota I was given the privilege of preaching at the Roseville Church of Christ as well as teaching their Sunday morning Bible class. And just so you don't think all I did was have fun while I was there I have a couple of pictures to share with you of me shoveling snow and running the snow blower

I have decided this year to not make any new year's resolutions. I have found that most of the time the resolutions don't happen so I am making a decision not to fail. I am however going to work on some new commitments in the new year so we will see how that goes. While I am not going to share all of those commitments with the whole world I will share that I am hoping to keep in touch with my friends from the past during 2009.

To that end Thursday night I am going to have dinner with a couple of people I sang in choir with in High School. I am very excited to catch up with them and for them to get to know April better and for me to get to know their spouses better. I am even more excited that my best friend and best man Casey Rice will be returning home from the United States Navy tomorrow as well. I am hoping Casey will decide to make the Houston area his home again and that we can catch up on old times.

Today I hope that if yo have made new year's resolutions that you will stick to them. I hope if you are like me and not making resolutions that you will at least make some new year's commitments. Let's make 2009 a great year for furthering the Kingdom of God both here in the USA and abroad. I hope you are as blessed today for reading this as I am by your reading of this.

Be Strong and Courageous,

Paul