• CFMedia is providing Media Support for the First Choice Women's Center Fundraising Banquet on Thursday, April 30, 2009 - setup for the event will be 3pm, with a mandatory tech walkthru at 6pm. Event starts at 7:15pm
• CFMedia is also providing Media Support for an Appreciation Concert Christ Fellowship is producing for Perrine Elementary Teachers and Support Staff. Concert is Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Concert will be held outside at Perrine Elementary - setup for the event will be noon, with soundcheck at 1:30pm. Concert starts @ 2:30pm

If you are interested in helping with either of these events, please contact me at jreed [at] cfmiami [dot] org, or call the church office at 305/238-1818.

I Peter 1:6-7 | In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Preparing for trials is not something I ever really thought about. I'm not the Boyscout-type guy... Be always prepared... That's just not the motto of my life. I'm they type of guy that rolls with the punches.

Paul is clear, however, that trials will come, and will test our faith. God does not shelter Christians from trials. Instead, He encourages us to prepare AHEAD OF TIME by strengthening OUR FAITH in Him.

It's hard for a self-proclaimed procrastinator to plan ahead, especially for the bad things that will happen in life... and then when the bad things happen...

I Peter 1:8-9 | Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

... when the bad things happen we focus on the goodness of Christ. Even though we have not seen Him, we know of Him and His love for us - and the knowledge of His love gets us through the trials.

God, thank you for the trials. Allow them to bring us closer to you.

Today I met with the Landlord, and among other things I turned in my keys to the bldg. I no longer run a bookstore. It was hard to see the bookstore close down. I had put four years into the store, only to have it shut down primarily because of the struggling economy. C28 West Palm Beach will be closing down in a couple weeks as well... Times are tough in retail! Thankfully, while the bookstore and C28 began it's financial descent, God opened a door at Christ Fellowship, continually providing for my family's needs.

Many people ask me "what's next for Jeff? What are you going to do now?" Well, I'm loving my time at Christ Fellowship, and enjoy the ministry that God has opened for me there. The only other thing I'm doing is right now currently watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while refusing to go to sleep... myBabyGirl is taking a lot of my time, and I love every second of it! Caitlyn turns seven months this week, and is becoming quite the handful. What a blessing family is! But I digress...

Deep down I'm okay with the Bookstore going out of biz. I hated that I was the one that had to shut it down... after all it had been in the community for 15+ years. It took up a lot of time, and a lot of resources... but I know that lives were changed and through it all God is glorified.

I Peter 1:3 | Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ...

Like Rick said in his Quiet Time video, as Christians we don't find our Hope in who we are, or what we do, or what we have... but in Him who gives us a living Hope.

When life falls apart, when the things of this world disappoint, when those you trust fail you... look to the living Hope that sustains regardless! And remember...

Romans 8:28 | And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose.

What a SRVC this week. It was so exciting to see all the elements of Boot Camp come together. From a production standpoint, we pray about things, and then plan on things, and then do some more praying... it's always so exciting to see how God puts them together and uses our efforts to connect people to Him.

Had the pleasure of bouncing around to different campuses this wknd. On Saturday, CFPB looked good (as always). Sunday 6:30am I walked into CFWK to check on their setup. It's amazing to me how many people are smiling at 6:30am at that campus (I'm usually not that early...) Then headed over to CFDT, hung out at the Caring Place (CFDT's Homeless Mission/Worship Service). A homeless gentleman asked for my socks, then when he saw how beat up my shoes were, he felt compassion for me and told me to keep my socks, that I needed them more (maybe I need new shoes). Also had the pleasure of hanging out with CFDT Media Volunteers... a limited number of people who work hard every week to make the services happen! I have a lot of respect for them!

Rick's message on Matthew 16:24 hit me.

Matthew 16:24 | Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

This blog over the years (sans the crazy posts about Apple) has been about me "Running" after God, following Him along the paths that he would take me. But in a weird moment, Rick said something that brought me to a standstill... I should consider Jesus as my Rabbi, and the more I follow at my Rabbi's feet, the more I become like Jesus.

Inspecting my life, I am a follower of God. But am I living my life to the point that I am becoming like Jesus. Do I have the compassion for the world, for my community that Jesus would? Does my personality, my traits, my habits echo what my Christ showed? Do I show forgiveness with the same tenacity that my Savior forgave me?

Little things came to mind. Thoughts, Conversations, Actions... and I knew what I needed to do.

Thank you, Jesus,
for being my Rabbi.
for setting an example for me to follow.
for correcting me when I astray.

Help me to make my life all about You.
Help me to have compassion for others that You bring in my life.
Help me to personally know You better... and strive to be more like the person You are.
Help me to continually fall in love with You.

• Engage fully in all 6 Boot Camp Services (our weekend services)
• Spend time with God every morning for 30 days
• Pray and fast along with all of Christ Fellowship on Thursday, May 7th
• Reach Beyond the walls of the church once with your Small Group

I'm taking the challenge, and I hope you do too. I do, however, have an additional addendum for some of you out there... the #BootCamp2.0 challenge... share your Boot Camp Challenge experience online through your Social Networks!

If you Facebook, then share what God's doing through your life on Facebook! Write status updates, share pics, post notes/articles about your experience with the Boot Camp Challenge.

If you Twitter, share your experience (in less than 140 characters, of course) with how the Boot Camp Challenge is changing your life. Please use the hashtag #BootCamp2.0 somewhere in your twits (no space between "Boot" "Camp" and "2.0"). By using the hashtag #BootCamp2.0, Twitter will combine all our experiences together into one feed!

If you Blog, then share with your readers/subscribers how the experience has brought you closer to Him.

You can start with Sunday's services, where Rick spoke to all our campuses on "Commitment" (audio's already online if you missed it), and then online devotions start tomorrow at the "My Boot Camp Challenge" website. Share what God did during your fast, or how you helped reach out to your community during your Reach Beyond... we want to hear your stories!

I ask my readers to hold me accountable, as I go through this. But then I challenge you 2.0 people out there (you know who you are) to come alongside me, be open with your experiences and share with your friends, family, and co-workers how God is growing you through the Boot Camp Challenge.

Will you take the Challenge, 2.0 style? Holler at me - jreed [at] cfmiami [dot] org - if you do, and we'll see you online!

(Thanks to Carlos Lollett for the idea...)

UPDATE: Just got a look at the Bootcamp Challenge website. AWESOME! Check it out. Do it! Do it! Do it NOW!

Apple responds...

"A PC is no bargain when it doesn't do what you want," Apple spokesman Bill Evans says. "The one thing that both Apple and Microsoft can agree on is that everyone thinks the Mac is cool. With its great designs and advanced software, nothing matches it at any price."

Love it. Congrats, M$, for continuing to miss the mystique of Apple... or at least misrepresent it to America.

Favorite lines:

• "There's a misinterpretation of Jesus, and you're blaming this on the Early Jews"
• "What's the son of a duck. It's a duck. It it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck and it raises the dead like a duck, it's a duck."
• "That's why John's last [of the four Gospels]. The first three were rough drafts."
• "Isn't it possible that you're missing the point, and Jesus is an elephant?"

Check out the entire interview below.

Thoughts? Well, initially I'm just happy we won at something. I mean, Football's a joke. Basketball streaky. Baseball doesn't live up to it's potential. But hey, at least Miami's coeds know how to PAR-TAY!

Am I surprised? Not really. I'm not in the college scene that much anymore, so it's not like I know from personal experience... myBabyGirls would kill me...

What this is, though, is a symptom of being in this city...
I love that God's called me here...
- to make a dent in this city...
- to help a city that's in dire need...
- to share His love to people that don't know...
God, thank you for the honor of working for you...

For the record, Playboy voted University of Florida the #4 Party School. At least the "U" can beat the Gators in something...

- - - - -

It's been a rough couple months. I'm constantly reminded of the fact that there aren't enough hours in the day for me to accomplish what needs to be accomplished, and a "non-necessity" like blogging is usually the first thing to go. Recently, I've found myself anxious, frustrated, and short tempered at work(s) and at home...

Blogging, for me, is really my opportunity to analyze, process, and appreciate WHY I'm actually doing what I'm doing... so by not blogging I really had stopped processing the work... instead, just getting overwhelmed with more work. Note: this is EASY to do for a workaholic... To all the workaholics in ministry, don't just ask "what" you are doing. Understand why.

I need to blog. I need to process, to analyze, to critique, to celebrate... even if no one actually reads this thing... I need to for me.

Now, with my throat cleared, it'll be nice to get my voice back!

Look for the return of RUNwithGOD in the coming days. See you then.

PS - Thanks to DJ Kool for letting me borrow the title... and to @Jorriss to being as culturally demented as I am to pick up on the reference.