It's Official

I am now a Mac user!!! And of course the first thing I do is use the built in camera to take a goofy picture!! I was lucky to figure out how to do that, for real!! I have wanted a lap top for awhile and after many days of serious thought and advice getting, I decided to go with the MacBook Pro. I will use this as my everyday computer and give my desktop to my administrative assistant. It is gonna take some time to learn how to navigate around, but all Mac users that I have talked to, (about 7) have told me it will be much better than a PC. I can't wait to get everything set up and all my files moved over and settled. The really cool thing is that I have the parallel desktop which allows me to switch back and forth from Mac OS to Windows if I start having withdraws. Should be fun.
I'm excited about this weekend, Crystal and I are leaving to go to Knoxville for a couple of days to enjoy the Boomsday festival. I have no idea what it is, but she has been before and wants to go back. I will give a full report when we return. Things are still moving at a great pace on "The Garage", they are only a few days away from being all done with the painting, which means the carpet, sound, light and video, floor stain, TV's and gaming stations can start going in!! Speaking of TV's, we were notified that other day that the company we are using is out of 37" inch flat panels so we are going to have to upgrade to 42" FOR NO EXTRA COST!!!! Thank you Jesus!!! what an awesome blessing!!!!
Well, that's about enough for a Saturday, I'm off to the gym and then to my nieces' birthday party.


Bholda

Good stuff

Today was good stuff. Me, Eddie, Reggie, Bryan and Kip went up to camp Marietta to do some long range planning stuff, and it was great. It really does us a lot of good to go up there because we can't get cell phone reception so the distractions are at a minimum. I love getting away and spending time with those guys. I can't wait to see what God is going to do over the next year here at Marathon. I'm excited about our new series coming up at AMP'd, "Dirty Little Secrets" We will be talking about *Hypocrisy, *Self-injury (cutting, eating disorders), *Sexual sins, *Abuse, and *Hatred. It is really shaping up to be a powerful series so please be in prayer about that. I will post on how things are going with the series. The youth building is still rocking along and we are zooming in on a grand opening date to be shared later :) I guess that's it for right now, I am putting off the inevitable...a trip to the gym!!

RUNning the Race,
Bholda

The goings on

Well, it's been awhile since my last post, of course. I'm still not very consistent and i apologize, hopefully i'll get better soon. I will start off with a quick update on The Garage. We are looking at being in by the end of September, and are getting one step closer tomorrow by laying sod around the building and on the parking islands. They started painting today i believe, which is really going to make it look like the end is near!! I'm so pumped i can't stand it!!!! AMP'd was great this past Wednesday. Steve-O and Taylor (student ministry interns) have really stepped it up the last couple of weeks in the video, graphics and worship areas and I can't wait to see what the future holds. We have 1 more week of our series called "The life of an American teenager" and then in September we are starting our series "Dirty Little Secrets" which is going to be a powerful 5 weeks i believe. We will be dealing with hypocrisy, self-injury, pornograpy, abuse and hatred. I am praying that God is going to move in a tremendous way in our students lives during this series, so PRAY with me if you will please!!
On a more personal note, Crystal and I purchased a "new" vehicle today. We bought a 2004 Honda CRV and we are very excited about it. With the adoption waiting in the wings, we really wanted to have a more reliable, gas friendly vehicle to drive around in. Even better than all that, we got rid of that stinky Volvo!! Praise the Lord!! That thing has been a thorn in our side for sure. The folks over at Norris Ford are great to work with and I would recommend them highly if you are looking to buy a vehicle. Thanks Ryan and TJ!!


Gettin' better gas mileage,
Bholda

Quick Update

It has been a really good week I must say. I am pumped to finally be back in the swing of things with AMP'd, and I'm looking forward to getting Project 109 up and running. As a matter of fact, we will be taking it to North Greenville University tomorrow evening for the football teams first scrimmage. Our aim is to introduce Marathon to the students of NGU and hopefully recruit a few (ok...a bunch) to get involved and serve in our student ministry. I will be getting up in the morning to prepare "109" for her first journey of the '08 school year. We are working on getting the high school football schedules together and mapping out the route for "109" to travel this season. It should be a blast, like always!!

The Garage is still progressing full steam ahead, and we are shooting for a late September grand opening. The next couple of weeks are going to be awesome because they will be painting, carpeting, finishing electrical and hopefully wiring up all the tvs and sound/lighting stuff. I will try to get some pictures posted soon. I had an incredible creativity meeting with my interns and Wil yesterday, and I am thrilled to be ahead for quiet a while now. Our September series is lining up to be the most powerful series yet...more on that later.

Well, I guess that's it for now, stay tuned for more stuff soon!!!


On the real,
Bholda

A Special Day

I can't believe it, but today Crystal and I have been married 7 years!! You may be wondering why I can't believe it's been 7 years and it's not that I didn't think we would make it or anything, I just can't believe Crystal has been able to put up with me for 7 years!!! I can hear the "AMENS" resounding over the blogging world even as I type. It has been an incredible 7 years and I can't wait for what the future holds for our family. Speaking of family, we are still waiting to hear from DSS about our adoption, so we are basically just doing the hurry up and wait thing, which is always fun (NOT) As far as the anniversary, we basically just met up at Applebees in Easley and had a nice, quiet dinner after Crystal got off work. It was fun to just hang out and talk and spend time together. I am very blessed to be married to such a wonderful, God-loving, woman like Crystal. She is so supportive and encouraging to me! She is incredible!! I know it's mushy, but hey, it's the truth! Well, that's about it for now, hopefully I will be posting about some stuff that's going on in the world of student ministry around Marathon.

Feeling like an old married man,
Bholda

Crooks Stink!!

Yeah that title pretty much says it all! Someone took a box of blank checks out of our mailbox last week while we were gone on the mission trip, and we spent most of today closing accounts, calling our bill companies and trying to get everything squared away. It has really been a pretty tough couple of months lately with a ton of crazy things happening. But I am quickly reminded even as I type that there are people that have it much worse than me, and I pray I will always keep that in mind. I know that God has a plan for EVERYTHING, and nothing that happens in our lives is ever wasted. I know God is using all this stuff to teach us something and it is my prayer that Crystal and I will be alert and not miss the lessons He is teaching.
On a more positive note, things at Marathon are rocking along! Last night at AMP'd was awesome, the band did an incredible job and there was tons of energy.

Here is the set list:
The time has come-United
My Surrender-Marathon original
Hosanna-Hillsong
Healer-Hillsong
Awesome God-Mullins
Sing, Sing, Sing-Tomlin

We had a guest speaker named Cameron Wooten come in and share what God is doing in his life, and it was amazing. He was diagnosed with a type of leukemia not long ago and has continued to give God glory every step of the way. His strength and faith in God was very inspiring, and he challenged our students to make sure Christ is at the center of their lives and nothing else. It was great, our kids were hanging on his every word, and I know God used him in a mighty way.

The Garage is nearing completion and I am so excited!! They have begun painting, putting in ceiling tiles, toilets (those may be important) finishing up electrical, an Hopefully we will be in there by the end of September or first of October, which should be perfect timing. I will keep ya posted on the progress through pictures soon.

Well, it's about time for a little grub, which is always good in my opinion!!


RUNing the Race,
Bholda

Mission Trip Posts

It's been a while and I have a lot to say!! But, it will probably be a couple of days before a big post so I can gather pictures and my thoughts. It was an incredible experience and lives were changed!!!I will update soon I promise.

RUNing the Race,
Bholda