Major Self Promoter

Why write a blog if you don’t want anyone to read what you write, right?
My community group had fun with me last night, because on several occasions, I have actually blogged about a topic that we were discussing and as I shared my view and opinion on the matter, I told the group that they could read more about my opinion at www.nickcarnes.com – Now its the big joke. Whenever I start to talk someone throws out nickcarnes.com, in fact I don’t even think they refer to me as Nick anymore, but rather, Hey Nickcarnes.com. They have told me to have t-shirts made to wear around, but I think I am going with the $4.99 car magnets from Vistaprint.com.
(You can order some too and give me free advertising :mrgreen:

So maybe I am a little bit of a self-promoter, ok a major self promoter, but I told my group I would give them some free advertising, so here goes, a shout out to Kieth and Alexia Larson, Eben and Cathy Gray, Shane and Diana Padgett (the coolest couple I know), and Ford Hatcher (who drives a Chevy).

Are you a self-promoter? For good reasons or bad?

Conversations with a 5 Year Old

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Nicki was reading the Bible story of Jesus’ first miracle to Gavin out of his Bible story book. It got to the part where Mary told the disciples to do whatever her son told them to do. So I was trying to convey to Gavin that he could be a disciple of Jesus and part of that was doing whatever Jesus tells him to do…

Gavin: “I asked Jesus to come live in my heart, but I don’t know what he’s doing in there. I don’t know what he says, I won’t know what he says until I get to Heaven!”

I love the innocents of children. Everything is pure and simple to them. I was so excited that he was talking about asking Jesus into his heart…this was news to Nicki and me. Nicki talked about it with him about 6 months ago, but she did not know he asked Jesus in his heart or even remembered the conversation. We are continuing to talk to him about “asking Jesus into his heart,” as he had trouble remembering ‘why’ he did it.

We finished the night by talking about miracles. I told Gavin that a miracle would be like Jesus turning a cup of water into a cup of chocolate Milk (His favorite beverage of choice).

Gavin: “If I went to the store and bought a watch and prayed that Jesus turned it into an Omnitrix watch, that would be a miracle!” – [Yes! He understands miracles…]

Me: “Yes, that would be a miracle!”

Gavin: “Well at night and in the morning I prayed that Jesus would give me an Omnitrix watch, but I never got one!”

Me: “Well, Jesus doesn’t always give us what we want, but he promises to give us what we need. You can pray and ask Jesus for extra money so you can buy food and mosquito nets for children in Africa…” (We are trying to teach Gavin to help other people less fortunate than himself) “That would be a miracle for those little kids.”

Gavin: “Well I ‘need’ an Omnitrix watch because when mommy goes into the hospital to have Hailey, when someone comes here to watch us, I will need an Omnitrix watch to turn into an alien to beat up the bad guys if they break into the house.”

We still have a long way to go, but Gavin did agree to start sorting through his toys to give to less fortunate kids. We discussed him living outside and having to sleep in the grass. He didn’t like that, because bugs would bite him, so since he has been taught that bugs bite little boys and girls all the time who do not have a house to protect them from such things, he is going to bless them with his excess. Little by little, I hope we instill healthy lessons in our boys. It is tough!

Conversation with a 5 Year Old.

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This was the conversation that was being yelled across a couple of rooms between Nicki and Gavin (our 5 year old) this morning…

Gavin: “Mommy!”
Nicki: “What?”

Gavin: “It feels like Tristan has a baby in his tummy!”
Nicki: “What?”

Gavin: “It feels like Tristan has a baby in his tummy!!!”
Nicki:
“That’s just Gas!”

Gavin: “Oh!”

:mrgreen:

A friend was telling me they had a conversation with a guy where they asked, “Why would someone want to bring a child into this evil world?” – My response when I heard the question was…”With the world as evil as it is, children are the pure ones (not meaning without sin), they are the innocent ones. Their motives are pure.”

With Nicki being pregnant, Gavin understands that she has a baby living in her…so it was normal and natural as he and Tristan were playing/wrestling to relate Tristan’s tummy rumblings to be nothing more than a baby! It was a great moment!

Are you a Twit?

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Do you Twitter?

You should. You can follow me HERE – There are some other great church leaders and pastors who I follow you can grab them from my profile if you are not following them already! Twitter is a simple platform that allows you to update what you are doing throughout the day, as well as to start conversation, in short form, its not another blog, its for short simple statements. Check it out!

P.S. Help my man Andy Brazelton out by following Doug Fields – Even if you don’t know who Doug is (He’s the Youth Ministry Pope). Andy bet him a lunch that Doug would have at least 1,000 twitter followers by the end of the month if he started to twitter.

Weekend Re-Cap

Here’s a recap from this weekend:

  • Friday was awesome for two reasons:
    #1 I was off.
    #2 TCAG put on our bi-annual Movie on The Lawn for the community, we had over 2,000 people from the community show up!
  • Movie on the Lawn is a night where we show a free movie on a huge screen at our community outdoor amphitheater. We give free popcorn, free drinks, free sno-cones, and sometimes free hotdogs to all who attend. Its a huge bridge event for our church.
  • Saturday, I went to breakfast at Sunrise Grill with Nicki, that’s our Saturday morning breakfast date, we don’t miss it unless we are out of town. I don’t let anything interfere with this “date” as Nicki loves it there.
    Continue reading “Weekend Re-Cap”