Gina writes over at www.ginamcclain.com.  It took her a few blog addresses to settle into www.ginamcclain.com, and we’re all glad she didn’t go with the some of the racier alternatives.  It’s a great story that won’t be repeated on this family-friendly blog.  You should ask her!  We all wish she would write more, so go over there now and leave some obnoxious comments suggesting she write more.

About 4 years ago, Gina sent me an email asking me a question about something.  I don’t remember anything from that email, but I will never forget what she started it off with.

Dear Pastor Cliff,

I still laugh out loud when I think about being called, Pastor Cliff.

But you see that’s the thing about Gina.  She asks questions.  She’s always willing to run something past you, always wants to know what did and didn’t work when you did something, and is always, always, always willing to share.  She’s an original pro-family Children’s Minister.  When she was transitioning between Lifechurch.tv and Faith Promise Church in Knoxville, it was encouraging to both Starr and I to watch God provide the large and tiny details to confirm to their family His faithfulness.

So when have I met Gina?  I first met Gina in person at the Orange Conference in 2009, and talked her into giving some of us a little bit of time when she was at Orange 2010.  I’ve even visited her when she lived in Edmond, OK on a trip my family took through the Great State (that being Oklahoma.)  Her husband Kyle and her are great people to hang out with, and we’re kinda sad we don’t have that stop now on the drive between Lubbock and Tulsa.

As Gina has transitioned to a new church in Knoxville, TN at Faith Promise Church; she has kept her passions for the family.  I know she’s building a great team out there in Knoxville.  Remember we all need her to write more over at www.ginamcclain.com, so head over there right now and tell her so!

Today was the first day of school for my Preschooler, 1st and 3rd grader.  It was a special day full of first day photographs and trying to get our family settled into a new routine.  My day was anything but routine.  It was an especially long day.

7:45 am // Left the house with all the kids, carrying their back packs, lunch sacks, and school supplies.

8:00am // Arrive at work and realize that I’ve left my back pack at home.  That back pack holds my Macbook, amongst other important things.

8:25 am // I decide to stay at work and just pick it up at lunch.

8:26 am // Can’t find my Moleskine, and realize it’s in my backpack.  The backpack is at home.  That moleskine holds my life and entire weeks worth of to-do lists.

8:45 am // Get home and realize that the Moleskine is NOT in my backpack.

9:00 am // Find the Moleskine back in my office.  Sitting in the middle of my desk.

9:50 am // The quick 15 minute meeting that started at 9:00am is finally over.

10:00 am // I settle into my office to get some work done before lunch, but did I mention that it’s the first day of school?  I office in a Parent’s Day Out building.  The sounds of screaming, crying children surround me.  The first day is a particularly loud day of crying.

11:30 am // I decide to head off-campus to get some lunch and work on a talk that I’m giving on Wednesday Night.  I’m looking for a nice place with some free Wi-Fi.

11:40 am // I arrive at Freebirds to eat lunch, only to leave horrified that it cost over $7.99 for a burrito.  I only have $5 in my pocket.  I knew I liked Chipotle better.

11:45 am // I arrive at Schlotzsky’s (Funny Name, Serious Sandwich) to eat lunch.  Can’t find a parking spot.  Hit steering wheel in disgust.

12:00 pm // I arrive at United Market Street to pick up some pizza and a Coke, and eat in their super large eating area with free Wi-Fi.

12:15 pm // Still waiting for my food.

12:30 pm // Finally pay for my food, but can’t find a seat.  I guess every mother in town had lunch at Market Street since their kids were back at school.  Blerg.

12:45 pm // I decide to head home and eat lunch.  I figure I can get some work done at home.  It’s quiet there, no kids around.

12:46 pm // WhenI get home the neighbor is laying new concrete edging in their front yard.  Some cue the loud latino music, and concrete truck.

1:15 pm // I hurridly eat my pizza at home, and decide to just give up and head back to my office and try to work from there.

1:30 pm // I get to my office and it’s quiet.  It seems to be nap time at the Parent’s Day Out.

1:31 pm // Open to my office door to find that my lovely wife has taken up residence on my desk to finish up some of her work projects.

1:40 pm // I move Starr to an empty office nearby, and head back to my office.

1:41 pm // The Internet goes down in my office.  Shoot me now!

2:30 pm // I finally get some calendaring done in Outlook, and start to get busy on my to-do lists.  I’m now interupted by all the kids waking up from their afternoon naps at the Parent’s Day Out.

3:00 pm // After going to the bathroom, and returning I discover that I forgot I had a 3:00 pm meeting.  The person I’m meeting with is sitting in my office.

4:00 pm // The 3:00pm meeting is over, and our ARENA cHMS people are waiting for our 4:00pm meeting.  I will spend the next hour in this meeting.

5:15 pm // I arrive home and hug and kiss my entire family.  I get to find out how their first days were.  Good times.

5:45 pm // I wake up from an accidental nap.  I fell asleep with my neck tied up in a knot and stuck behind my back.  Ouch!

6:00 pm // I sneak out real quick for a haircut at the greatness of Sports Clips (Haircuts for Men).  But during my entire haircut, I’m assaulted by my stylist verbally when she finds out I’m a pastor.  She wants to know how much I get paid, what I do all week since I don’t really do anything when it’s not Sunday morning, and wants to know why I would even want to work at a church.

7:45 pm // After dinner I head out for what should be a quick 4 mile run.

8:00 pm // About 15 minutes into my run, I have to stop at a traffic intersection.  I accidentally push STOP on my iPhone Runkeeper App (review forthcoming), instead of PAUSE.  That resets my entire run history, and now I have to stand at the intersection and reprogram the stupid app for the last 3 miles of the run. Blerg…

8:30 pm // Finally get home.

9:50 pm // Watch my Texas Rangers get within 2 outs of no-hitting the hated Minnesota Twins and then give up a hit.  No no-hitter for tonight.

10:00 pm // Head to bed, and hope it all works out better tomorrow.  Good Night!

In spite of this super long day, I am still super blessed to have lived it.  Glory to God that my long days are still such pleasant inconveniences!

I first started reading www.samluce.com way back when about 50% of his posts were about how much cooler I would be if I owned an Apple product.  I guess it convinced me to purchase one, because now I throw in an “Apple is better” post on my own blog every so often as well.  (I am NOT however any cooler than I was previously.)

Sam has one of the easiest to read blogs out there in Children’s Ministry, with a combination of funny posts, thoughtful posts, and a healthy dose of practical tools for the everyman (or woman) working with families and kids.  He has a real passion for the person working with kids in a small church, and I know many around these fancy Internets that look to Sam as the expert on how to make much with very little.  He’s innovative and always willing to try something new for the sake of the kids at his church.  In my humble opinion when you combine his crazy pentecostal childhood stories, his love for America’s Pastime (albiet it tainted by a desire to raise his children to root for the Yankees), his A+ skills at impersonating anyone he’s met, his superiour skinnyness, and his ability to quote from 80′s teen movies and I have myself a serious man-crush!

I first met Sam in Atlanta at the Orange Conference in 2009 when we all shared a hotel room.  He’s always the most popular person in the room wherever he goes, yet I’ve watched him make everyone around him comfortable.  He’s drawn to that person that needs the most encouragement, and always made time all week long to give everyone who needed attention just what they needed.  But we warned…Sam has an unbelievable gift of discernment.  He’ll sniff out an impostor and self-promoter faster than anyone I’ve been around.

I consider Sam one of my best friends, and over the past few years I’ve come to consider his voice one worth listening too.  He’s a person that is who he says he is.  This fact alone makes him special in a world of people that can sometimes be hard to figure out.  He loves God, loves his church, loves his family, and it’s easy to see that the things he lives out make him somebody worth following.  Go today and read his blog at www.samluce.com and spend some time making a new friend!

By the way…if I had never met Sam and saw a dude walk up to me in an alley with this look on his face I would just hand over my wallet and run for my life.  Do not talk with the messed up hair guy in a black jacket with the collar propped up.  Seriously!

This here blog is just over 4 years old, and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much this online site has brought to my life.  Sure, it’s challenging to put readable text out there for strangers to read, and it’s a good discipline to put my thoughts into words for the world to read; but the best part by far has been the people I’ve met.  Over the next few weeks I’m going to highlight some of these people.

I can’t write about everyone I’ve met, but I’m going to give it my best go ’round.

Enjoy!

On Monday I took the day off from work and spent the entire day with my kids. We went swimming in a neighbors backyard pool, we ate lunch at Taco Bell, I sprayed them with the water hose in the backyard, I watched them ride bikes up and down the street, we picked up a few groceries for dinner, and I taught them how to cut their own steaks at dinner.  It was a great day, and a day much different than I ever had before kids.

If you’ve not taken the time to listen to Andrew Peterson, let me be the first person to highly recommend him!