Will the real Iron Man Please Stand Up?

Good Morning Everyone,

Well I made it out and saw Iron Man on opening day. I have to say I was really impressed with this movie. Aside from some gratuitous scenes to play up the fact Robert Downy Jr's character was a womanizer it was a great movie. The movie has a little bit of something for everyone. There is of course the action we all saw in the previews, there is an underlying love story between the two main characters and there is a great story of redemption on the part of Robert Downy Jr.

As I walked away from the theater I began to wonder what kind of role models kids have these days. Sure Iron Man saves the day but he drinks, smokes and womanizes while he does it. As a minister I want to always put forth the effort to provide for the needs of those I am ministering to. The Apostle Paul refers to this as becoming all things to all men. As a youth minister this means going to football games, school plays and concerts for the teens. This also means being available when they need someone to listen to. Above it all this means helping these teens enter into an eternal covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. As Christians I believe we all have the responsibility to provide heroes for our kids that they can look up to. Ultimately that hero needs to be Jesus Christ. He left the right hand of God to come and live the life of a human and to give his life as ransom for us.

While I believe Christ to be the ultimate role model I also believe we need Earthly role models to look up to. Today I want to issue a challenge to all who read this blog. I want you to tell me who the "Iron Man" or "Iron Woman" is in your life. I want to know who you turn to when the chips are down. I want to know who you want to be like when you grow up (you may be grown and still aspire to this one).

I know you expect me to give you my answer right away but I am going to make you all work for it a little bit. I want to hear from some of you before I show you my hand on this one. You may e-mail your answers to pmc01hu@yahoo.com . I hope you have been blessed this morning and I hope you know that if anyone deserves to be called an "Iron Man" it is Jesus Christ who gave his life for you.

Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul

Summer Blockbusters Vs. The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Hello Everyone,

I don't know about all of you but I am way excited about all of the movies coming out this summer. For those of you who may have just begun reading my blog you might not know that I am a HUGE movie fan. I could literally spend all day watching movies and not get bored. I love summer for a lot of reasons but right in the top three reasons on my list are movies in the summer time. Here is a sampling of the movies I hope to take in this summer.








1. Iron Man-I have never read an Iron Man comic book but the movie looks great and i am excited to go see it.













2. Indiana Jones-I grew up watching the original movies and I think that Harrison Ford has one more good one in him.











3.Batman:The Dark Knight-You would be hard pressed to find a man my age that didn't tie a towel around his neck and pretend he was the caped crusader at least once in his life. The first movie in this series left me wanting more and I think this next installment will deliver.



As much as I enjoy the big summer blockbusters I think sometimes we forget that some of the greatest stories ever told have never made it to the big screen. From where I sit you will never find a man physically stronger than Sampson. There will never be a better "wild man prophet" type than John the Baptist. No prison break scene can compare to the night Paul and Silas were set free. I could go on and on but you get the idea. I hope that there are people reading this that love to get caught up in a great blockbuster movie but more than that I hope everyone that reads this is constantly caught up in the word of God. We read in Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.


So as I come to a close I want to encourage you to enjoy getting caught up in a good story. Those of you with families I would suggest finding appropriate movies to view with your family. I also encourage you to set aside time to get lost in the Bible as a family. My hope is that we would never let Summer Blockbusters win out over the Greatest Stories Ever Told. These are my thoughts for today thank you for allowing me to share them with you I hope they were a blessing to you.


Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul

Don't Leave Behind The Important Stuff

Hello Everyone,

Well here I sit in the last week of April and my mind is spinning with ideas about all the things I have to do in the coming weeks. At the top of my list is packing up our apartment. It is hard to believe that next month that this apartment will have been my home for a year. As we begin the packing process we are prioritizing what to keep and what to throw away. When I got married I was a HUGE pack rat. Marriage has been good for me for several reasons but close to the top of the list is that I have stopped being such a pack rat. I am of the opinion if we have not used something for a year that it is time to get rid of it. Along with all this prioritizing I have to remember that some times you have to keep things you don't use very often because they are important.

I think there are important things that we sometimes take for granted. The other day I was coming home from going to the store and I noticed my Bible was in the back seat of our car. In that moment I had the thought that I should bring my Bible in but my hands were full of groceries so I said I would go get it later. I didn't go back to the car until the next day and I noticed my Bible still sitting in the back seat. The really bad thing is that I knew where my Bible was I just chose to be lazy and leave my Bible in the car. What is worse than that is that I fooled myself into thinking I would go right back out and get it.

All of this got me to thinking about not leaving behind important stuff. The Psalmist said "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" Psalm 119:105. What I did by leaving my Bible in my car is the equivalent of going outside at night without a flash light. So after I realized what I had been doing I began making a conscious effort to not leave my Bible in the car.

What happened next was AMAZING!!!! I started reading my Bible more. Our theme for Camp Bandina this year centers around the Minor Prophets. I am not sure when the last time you read the minor prophets was but if it has been awhile then I would suggest giving them a look. I want to end my thoughts tonight with a question that occurred to me after leaving my Bible in the car. What if God had decided to just leave us someplace? What if instead of sending his Son to die for us he simply forgot about us? It's a pretty scary thought when you get right down to it.

I challenge you to stop leaving your Bible in your car, on a pew or in a classroom. Bring it into your home open it up and allow God to have the proper place in your life he deserves. I hope you are blessed for reading this.

Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul

A Prayer Request

Good Evening,

I just wanted to write a short note and request prayers on behalf of some good friends of mine the Larry Family. I have know Crichelle Larry since I was in 7th grade and we have always been great friends. Recently Crichelle delivered twin boys prematurely. There is a lot to this story and I think it would be good if you could get to know Crichelle, her husband and sons for yourself. If you would like to you can go to their family website http://family.jclarry.com/ and get to know them. I know they would covet your prayers even if you can't make it to their site.

Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul

Taking The Next Step

Hello Everyone,

Well I know it has been a long time since I have posted but I am back. I wanted to share the latest piece of good news in my life. Beginning next month I will be assuming the Youth and Family Minister role at the Pearland Church of Christ in Pearland Texas.

I know a lot of you who read this remember saying I was through with ministry, and for a time I thought I was. In the past few months I have learned one big lesson. That lesson is to never tell God what you are or are not going to do. After spending some time in the belly of a big fish I am now ready to do what God wants me to. I would like to thank all of you who checked on me and prayed for me over the past several months. Check back soon I am going to try posting more and more.

Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul

A Tribute to Eric Myers

Saying Goodbye

I want to tell you all about a friend of mine named Eric Myers. Eric and I were freshmen together at Harding University. Eric was in my social club when I was at Harding. When I got into our club Eric was the treasurer and shortly after I got into the club I was elected to be his assistant. Eric always went out of his way to make sure that I understood what I was doing and that I did a good job. Eric is probably one of the most patient people I ever knew.

Not too long after I got into our club I was elected to be a beau for one of the girl’s clubs on campus. For those of you not familiar with this ritual, the girls clubs at Harding select men that they feel reflect them well to become members of their clubs to help them when they need it. The night I was beaued Eric and our other friend Matt Clouse made me think they were fighting and they needed my help to settle it. Little did I know this was all a ploy so I would be surprised by the girls coming to beau me.

Eric and I cheered for our clubs at club sports, we participated in Spring Sing together and we served as officers and beaus together. Everyone loved Eric Myers. Eric excelled to become the Vice President of our club and he did one of the finest jobs anyone has ever done in that position. We used to watch Jeopardy together and more times than not he would beat me.

Eric died last night (February 24, 2008) in his sleep. According to friends he had been feeling ill most of last week and could not ever get warm. Eric went to sleep and never woke up and I never got to say goodbye. We have lost a good friend, brother, son and fiancé today. Eric was full of life and if you were around him very long you could not help but get caught up in his spirit.

While all of this may sound sad I write this with hope in my heart. The reason I have heart is because even though I did not get to say goodbye to Eric I will get to say hello to him again someday when we meet in heaven. All of the qualities I mentioned about Eric were overshadowed by his love for God. Eric was so many things but at the top of it all Eric was a child of God. I would like to think that Eric would not want us to be sad today. I believe he would want us to rejoice because he has claimed his reward in full in heaven.

I want to encourage you to always try to maintain strong ties with those who are close to you. There was a time when I didn’t go a day without seeing Eric Myers. It has been nearly three years since I last saw him and while I am so happy his now home I am sad that I didn’t get to say goodbye.

I want to leave everyone who reads this with a passage from Proverbs that reminds me of Eric.

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

I hope that you have friends who fit this passage and I hope that you remember to stay in touch with them this side of heaven. Please remember to pray for Eric’s family and for his fiancé’ Kristen.

Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul Cartwright

Still Here

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Well I am still here. I apologize for my lack of blogging recently but things have just been really busy. I hope that everyone reading this had a great weekend and is making the most of the week so far.

We had a great day of worship here at Woodward Park yesterday where we witnessed the birth of David Molina into our family. Arnold Centeno baptized David following the message yesterday. I don't know about you but witnessing someone committing themself to Christ is a great way to start your week.

From time to time I would like to use this forum to share resources that can help you have a better walk with Jesus Christ. Today I want to introduce you to The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. CPYU is a website that parents and teens alike can use to find better ways to understand one another. This is a great resource for parents feeling out of touch with their teenager.

One of the featured articles on this website deals with pornography and the effects it has on our teenagers today. Included in this article are several ways to make sure that the Internet usage in your home is used for only wholesome things. These are all easy to follow guidelines that will make your teen's Internet usage safe and they include...

• Place home computers in a central area of the house, not a child’s bedroom or secluded area. Make surfing the Internet a family experience.
• 
  Talk with your children about what they can and cannot do online, while trying to understand their needs, interests and curiosity.
• 
  Know your child's password and screen names; they may have more than one.
  Set reasonable time limits on computer use, and ensure that your children adhere to the limitations.
• 
  Parents (not children) should always establish and maintain an Internet service provider account (AOL, Earthlink, MSN), and the account should always be in a parent’s name (not a child’s). This ensures that a parent can legally maintain control of the account’s use and can access records if necessary. If an account is set up in a child's name, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain account information without the child's permission.
• 
  You should also realize that children might be accessing the Internet from outside the home, such as friends’ homes, work, libraries and school.
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  Be open with your children and encourage them to come to you if they encounter a problem online.
• 
  Explore filtering and blocking software, which is used to sort information on the Internet and classify it according to content. A major drawback is that some filtering may block innocent sites, while many "negative" sites still get past the filters. Though these programs can be great assets, parents still need to maintain open communication with their children to inform and protect them.

These are just a few ways that you can make sure you and your teenager are safe when surfing the Internet. I believe children to be our most precious gift and I take protecting them very seriously. If you would like to read this article in its entirety you can click here and learn more about protecting your children. The Internet can be a great thing but it is up to us to make sure things are safe for our children. I hope you are blessed today.

Be Strong and Courageous,

Paul