Tag Archive - Jacksonville

Global Day Of Prayer

June 9, 2011 in Breathing Deep with 0 Comments

The Global Day Of Prayer is broadcasting live to an estimated 400 million Christians from Jacksonville, Florida this Saturday, June 11, 2011. That’s a pretty big deal for our community.

Why Jacksonville?

“Jacksonville will be the first U.S. city to anchor this global event,” said Charley Christie, event organizer for the 2011 Global Day of Prayer. “It made sense to choose a city like Jacksonville which, in 1564, proved to be the ‘spiritual gateway’ to North America led by the French Huguenots who erected a cross at Fort Caroline. This sparked the first Christian celebration in the new world and we find it fitting to bring the 2011 Global Day of Prayer to such a place.”

The Global Day Of Prayer was founded with the goal of uniting Christians through praise and prayer, and to mobilize the church to become involved in social issues.

As we’re drawn together through our faith, please pray with me for peace, love and unity through one church, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord… and one family of believers.

What would you add that we should be praying for globally, and locally?

Looking Up

May 18, 2011 in Breathing Deep with 0 Comments

All of the answers are found up there :)

There’s a whole lot to be thankful for in our world today… and this is an incredibly exciting time to be in Jacksonville, Florida!

God is working miracles right before our very eyes…

both glambitiously large and nano-signficantly small…

remember, some of the biggest WINS are sprouted from tiny seedlings!

and it’s…

edge-of-your-seat

hold-onto-the-railing

you-won’t-want-to-miss-a-beat

GOOD STUFF!!!

We need to keep looking up to Him to:

  • stay humble and know that it’s really all about God (to Him goes all the glory)
  • continue to learn and grow
  • be thankful for what He has done for us.

What do you have to be thankful for today?

Keep On Keeping On

April 25, 2011 in Soul Food with 4 Comments

My first job out of college was with an international engineering firm, Law Engineering, Inc. Law was as old as dirt – they had several sages within the company that were seasoned professionals and pioneers in geotechnical engineering. Based in Atlanta, the firm specialized in geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, and added to it “environmental” as this niche became fashionable due to the rise of Environmental Due Diligence, and in the wake of Love Canal and other massive environmental problems discovered during the 1970′s and 80′s. The company was an excellent place to learn the business. I worked a lot and advanced from a Staff Geologist to the Jacksonville Environmental Services Department Manager in 3 short years. My brief stint as a big-company guy was fun; visits to the corporate office on Abernathy Road, staging a well-attended leadership roundtable in Jacksonville with Jim Kammert of Barnett Banks and Andrew Young, a Law company spokesman after he left the Atlanta Mayor’s Office, and leading the clean up of the former “Gator Bowl” area under the direction of Sam Mousa, then the City’s Public Works Director.

With all that going on, our Environmental Services Department (Dept #444) was pretty high-profile…

but we were NOT it.

Department 442, the Geotechnical Department, was by far the shining star in our branch.

Dept. 442 and its geotechnical engineers were the masters at “Keep On Keeping On.” They consistently and steadily turned in profitable numbers in Law Engineering’s profit-center accounting system.

So on the Happy Monday following Easter I decided to write today about how He continues to “Keep On Keeping On”…

how I need to remember what Jesus did…

not just at Easter…

but every day throughout the year…

and year after year…

Jesus came here to earth and walked in the flesh…

He was the only one to ever live a sinless life…

and then He died at the cross…

He died so that we could have forgiveness for our sins…

and eternal life…

I need to remember what Jesus did…

because He did it all for each and every one of us…

and for that I’m humbly grateful.

Going Places: What’s There To Like About Jacksonville, Florida?

April 19, 2011 in Breathing Deep with 0 Comments

hmmm, well I have quite a list of what I LOVE about Jax:

  • I love our beaches, they are flat and wide (during low tide). The sand is soft. They allow dogs (sometimes). We may not have mountains in Jacksonville, but I really dig our beach!
  • The St. Johns River and its numerous tributaries, estuaries and associated wildlife add an incredible diversity to our ecosystem. These are a part of our outdoor lifestyle here in Jacksonville.
  • The small community feel of many areas of town. I’ve spent most of the time living here in the community of Neptune Beach. My office was in Riverside for 4 years so I got to spend quite a bit of time there (though I’ve never lived in this area of town, I still enjoy going out with friends for dinner or meeting for coffee there). I also love San Marco and the Town Center area.
  • Our climate is temperate, we have some seasonality and can light a fire in the fireplace in the winter. I’m not a real fan of the heat so the summer can be a bit much.
  • I love the people here. It has been home to me for almost 20 years now and through time I’ve been able to make a lot of connections within the community.
  • Of course, I love my church and my friends there. I’ll leave it at that (as y’all know, I could write about God, Church and Love all day long – and some days I do!)
  • My family is here, and growing! I recently moved my mom to town from Pennsylvania, and have two daughters plus one grandson here, and a baby granddaughter on the way! Also, Grammy Ann, my first wife’s mom, is here, she’s one of my very closest friends and someone who I think of whenever I mention family. I spend most of my time with them!

How does this all fit into Going Places? Well, I have felt particularly moved over the past two months to start finding new ways to give back to our community, and have been doing a lot of searching through our local government and associations to find this special place where I can do more… not sure where this will take me, but I know that God will be leading me, in His way and time. One place I know that He is leading me is to connect with more and more people outside of my Church, and believe this is a healthy thing for any growing Christian and follower of Jesus.

Please share with us what you love about where you live!

Going Places is the blog series focusing on where God is leading us. It may include travel destinations, but doesn’t have to. This series is open to guest bloggers. If you would like to submit a guest post please contact me.