NorthStar In The Community!

If you have been around NorthStar at all you know how important the community is to NorthStar Church. We have been working in the Kennesaw/Acworth community for over 11 years now. It realy is incredible to see the work that has been done and the changes that have happened.

As you can imagine, the challenge is how to keep that work fresh. To continue what we are doing while finding new areas to work. The biggest difference between now and 11 years ago is really three things.

1) Marlon Longacre is on staff (for 9 years now) and working harder than ever to touch the lives of our community.
2) We have a couple of thousand people to help us touch this community.
3) Kelley (my wife) is now working with Marlon to take the ministry to the next level.

With Marlon's work ethic and Kelley's organizational skills the sky is the limit.

With this in mind Kelley and Marlon have launched a new website that will allow our church and community access to the inside working of the community ministry. There is now and will continue to be tons of outreach opportunities on the site as well as an opportunity for the community to respond to the efforts.

It promises to be a huge tool in our never ending work to show God's love to our community. You can find a link at northstarchurch.org.

Great work Marlon and Kelley. Keep working it will all come together!!

Politics are fun aren't they.

As I take time out of my busy life to do my duty and pay attention to the State of the Union address (ok, so I was very aggravated that there was nothing else on, I missed Wife Swap for goodness sake) I am reminded of how important it is to be involved and vote.

I would no more tell you who to vote for than give you a bite of my cheese burger but I am increasingly agitated with the whole process. A few weeks ago our Pastor spoke about Nehemiah and how his life was cushy yet he saw the bad situation in his homeland and how his people were being taken advantage of. The good news is he decided to use his cushy life and its influence to affect change. And he did. You can read about it in the Bible.

I guess for me I don't understand why those we elect can't remember who elected them and work for those people rather than whoever has the money. It seems simple to me. I know that things are never as simple or as difficult as they seem but aren't we making this WAY to difficult.

Anyway, take some time and get to know the candidates. Then vote for whoever most closely holds your view. But whoever you vote for have fun.

Who Am I?

I have been around for a long time. I have been married for almost 21 years. I worked for Coca-Cola for 17 years. I have a 14 year old and 11 year old, both girls. I have worked for NorthStar for 5 years now. I have seen many things. I don't claim to be the smartest person in the world, but I do have opinions on many subjects (some would say to0 many). I really don't do colors and decorating, fancy food, painting, politics, Lost or 24.

There are many many things that I know little or nothing about. There are many many things that I disagree with others about.

With all that said, WHO AM I, to be deragatory publicly about whatever they choose to do. I mean, if you want to support Hillary that is your decision. Personally I am writing in Queen Latifah ( I like her clothes). I just think you make your own decisions and you live with the consequences of those decisions.

Who Am I to attack the decision you made? I will not do that.

Now that I think about it I guess writing these words is doing exactly that, forgive me for wasting your time.

Real Estate

In the past Real Estate as always been a great place to invest money and expect a pretty good return. Unless you have been asleep for 2 years you know that Real Estate has taken a big hit and it is difficult to sell a house at all and virtually impossible to get what you think it is worth (which is usually based on what you heard 2 years ago.

Let me encourage you that as long as you don't sell in this tough market your real estate "value" will be fine. This market will bounce back. I have no idea when but it will.

If you are a part of one of the many industries that are affected by the housing market in Atlanta, I pray that God will provide what you need to make it through.

Be patient, work hard and know that God is still there.

Friday

Friday's are great aren't they?

For me Friday is an off day. I do my best to keep it that way. It is a day for me and Kelley to hang out, work around the house or run some errands. Either way it is a fun day when we get to be together.

I guess the reason I wanted to write about my Friday is I hope you have a day like that. It is not necessarily "down time" but it is not working at my profession. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do but I do need that time away from it and there are certainly a million things I need to do around the home. I really love the time I get to spend with Kelley as we "get things done" or just hang out.

I hope in 2008 you will find a day like this regularly to spend with your spouse and reset yourself.

Predictions?

There are two things that happen at the beginning of every year. New Year's resolutions and predictions. I for one don't do well with New Year's resolutions (follow through has been an issue). So I will begin in 2008 making predictions. I lean toward the sporting end of the world so they may be mostly sports related. But, I will try to venture into new horizons.

Before I give you a "short list" of my predictions, let me share some predictions from others that I find quite inspiring.

1) "Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further developments." —Roman engineer Julius Sextus Frontinus, A.D. 100 (Good thing no one listened to him, I haven't seen a camel to ride around here)

2) "Law will be simplified [over the next century]. Lawyers will have diminished, and their fees will have been vastly curtailed." —journalist Junius Henri Browne, 1893 (Another wrong prediction, unfortunately)

3) "The Japanese don't make anything the people in the U.S. would want." —Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, 1954 (What was this guy thinking? I love my Mitsubishi toaster)

4) "Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail." —Arthur Summerfield, U.S. Postmaster General under Eisenhower, 1959 (You know I read this quote and I really expected it to be noted as follows (Cliff Clavin , Cheers 1995))

5) "By the turn of the century, we will live in a paperless society." —Roger Smith, chairman of General Motors, 1986 (I bet he is telling his friends "I didn't say what century")

Anyway, just so you will know these great prognosticators (now that is a word) are my inspiration. So below you will see just some of my predictions for 2008.

1) Atlanta Falcons bring Steve Bartkowski back and he uses his hoverround to set single season rushing mark for quarterbacks in leading team to a 5-11 record. Reestablishing their prominence as a perennial cellar dwellers.

2) Atlanta Hawks after a first round loss in the playoffs to the Detroit Piston in 2007-2008 season, decide to trade Josh Smith, Joe Johnson and Josh Childers to the Boston Celtics for a two year supply of New England clam chowder, tea and Boston Baked beans. Team GM gurantees no games in April for 2008-2009 season.

3) Atlanta Braves coach Bobby Cox gets finger stuck in ear and is unable to coach the Braves in the 2008 playoffs. Braves run the table en-route to its second World Series Title with whoever replaces him.

4) The killer bees will finally arrive in Georgia. They will find there is no water here and go back where they came from.

I do wish a great 2008 for all of you. I pray your dreams come true and God is at the center of them all.