The Calm Before The Storm...

It's been a hectic week, here on the coast. Doing all the fine tuning before the majority of our students arrive on campus next week. For the next few days, there will be an uncanny quietness. The calm before the storm.

Today is a beautiful day on the coast. Temperature is in the mid 70's, with a light wind. What a day! It was actually cool here last night. I think the temp dropped to the low to mid 50's. Yep, fall is here. Ahhhhhhhh! I love this weather.

By this time next Saturday, the calm will have given way to the oncoming hurricane. Our Move-In Block Party at TU will be in full swing. We have 30-40 of our returning students coming in early to help move in the new freshmen ( and the upperclassmen! ) at TU. Phase 2 of our Outreach Attack Plans will be in motion. Our goal is to be averaging over 100 students each week in our worship gatherings. We're on target to already shatter that number.

H2O Radio...

Last Spring, our h2o Campus Ministry launched a full scale Internet Radio Station! Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week non-stop Contemporary Christian Music along with today's Modern Worship Leaders. You will also hear online devotions...h2o news...and lots more! The world just became smaller...

Our station is on the air NOW! Please take this as my personal invitation to go over to our h2o Radio Station website. First and foremost, pray for it...ask for God's blessing, and for his protection. Ask God to use this outreach tool to His Glory!

Then, download the FREE Player and begin enjoying h2o Radio!
Remember, the more people that downloads the player...the more that listen...the more we share the Gospel. Be apart of our Acts 1:8 vision!

Cedar Point Trip...

My first trip to Cedar Point is in the history books...and all I can say is WOW! CP is an absolutely amazing place! Billed as the largest roller coaster park in America, it literally lived up to it's reputation. From every shape, form, crook, turn, you name it...CP has it. And I loved every minute of it. I rode a few rides, but my biggest enjoyment was watching Tabitha ride the rides! She's a beast...a coaster beast! That girl is fearless...has ice in her veins. She road almost all of the gigantic rides, and when given more time, she'll ride ALL of them! Unbelievable. And yep, I'll be back...

Freshmen Weekend At Tiffin University!

It was a wild & crazy weekend this past week at Tiffin University. Students from all over the country that have chosen TU as their new home, were allowed on campus for 2 days of maddness & mayhem! They got to actually stay in their dorms, meet new roomies and dormmates, lost a LOT of sleep, and had an action-packed weekend. If you want to see more pics, CLICK HERE!

Merry-Go-Rounds...

Oh, if I could only get the spinning to stop...

It's not easy living with a somewhat uncontrollable beast that's camped out inside your head. Over the years I've done my best to simply maintain stability, yet most-times all to no avail. Just when I'm beginning to think things are calming down, everything explodes. The first step is always to admit the problem...I guess I'm doing that now.

I have a problem.

I'm an over-anxious, aggressive, intimidating individual with a huge...huge case of hyperactive Adult ADHD. Combined with my ultra-sensitive case of OCD (or as my daughter would say CDO...it's like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order...like they should be), life in my head is...well...(I'll let you fill in the blanks).

At any moment in time, I'm flippin' channels on the TV, checking my email, talking to 4 different students online, listening & memorizing new music, texting 5 different people and blogging...all at the same time. NO KIDDING! That's not to mention making a couple of phone calls and drinking coffee right in the middle of it all. Granted, I can accomplish a large list of things in a very short period of time, but my head feels like I've got a Tasmanian Devil trapped inside. It would just be nice if it would all go away when I sleep...but it doesn't. It keeps spinning...and spinning...and spinning...

What I've noticed over the years, is that even though my 'accomplishment rate' is phenomenal, it's easy for me to lose sight of the bigger picture. After all, if we miss the 'why', the 'what' sometimes becomes irrelevant. 'Busy' is the verb of the day...the decade. Why do we do what we do? Are we lost in this never-ending downward spiral where we're more focused on individual tasks instead of the final outcome? Is any of this making any sense or is this the beast taking over?

Even now as I write this, I'm making corrections on my calendar...listening & memorizing a new song...texting 2 students...talking with 3 other students online, making to-do lists (now that's funny) for this coming Freshmen Weekend at Tiffin University...and having dinner, oh and I'm checking the weather radar online.

Do you get it? Are you like me too? How do YOU do it? How do you tame the monster?

Imagine being on an old-school merry-go-round. Thirteen screaming kids all running and pushing their hardest to get that old merry-go-round to go as fast as it will go, then just at the right moment, jumping on for that unforgettable adrenaline rush...trying to hold on... WEEEEEEEEEE!

Welcome to the corridor of my mind...

Then just as you least expect it, the merry-go-round comes to an abrupt halt. Some crazy child thought it would be cool to put his feet down and use them as brakes and has successfully brought this playground party to an crashing end. Kids are thrown in every direction, laughter transforms into tears, and as you look back, the mechanical marvel of the merry-go-round sits eerily still...motionless in time. And the images in your mind of the last few seconds play back over and over again like a video player stuck in rewind mode.

This is exactly what happens when I get a good dose of reality. Everything's going non-stop on this merry-go-round inside my mind, then reality steps in and brings my party crashing down around me. My instinct tells me to get up quick, get that merry-go-round going again...faster than ever before, only to realize my partners-in-crime are tired of this game and want to do something different. It's no longer about me...it's about others...it's about something bigger...

I forget sometimes about that much bigger picture...no, not forget about it, just am too focused...'busy' with the menial daily tasks to take that necessary glimpse. It's harsh at the moment, but very quickly the harshness fades away and the picture becomes crystal clear. Yep, I see the picture...I get it...

I've had a good dose of reality lately. And I didn't like it. But I needed it. My merry-go-round was going full tilt, almost out of control. I still don't like it. But if someone had not have applied the brakes when they did, I would seriously have missed & overlooked the main objective of the ride itself. And I'm very thankful for that. I'm focused again...kinda scary, huh?

I wonder if that's what it was like for one of Christ's disciples in Matthew 8:21. Ready to go...do...be, but this one had other things to do...his mind was occupied...OCD...busyiness...

I don't want to be like that guy. But I could be...could you?

Things I have to do: 1.) I have to...oh no, the merry-go-round is moving again, and it's my turn to help push...

Catch Up...

Hey Everyone,

We've been super busy up here on the NorthCoast. Go Here to see some of the stuff we've been doing at Tiffin University. And Go Here to check out the massive outreach project weekend at The River Church.

Hope all is well with you, we're gearing up for an incredible Fall Semester at Tiffin University. Can't wait for our students to be back on campus. Sorry for being short...lots of things to do...

Quick Update From The Coast...

It's been a very busy couple of weeks at the Whaley house. We were blessed to be able to take a small trip back to Arkansas (more on that later), a couple of quick things going on around the house, you know the drill.

But the fun news of the week was that Mrs. Denise and I went to see the opening of the new Indiana Jones movie, 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'. UNBELIEVABLE! I grew up on all those Indy movies and I must say I love this series more that anything else. But this one caught me off guard. I've never been a Shia LaBeouf fan, mainly because of that crazy 'Even Stevens' TV show. But since he's made the switch to the big screen, this young man is really making a name for himself. He was really OK in "Holes", really good in "Transformers", but after last night, I'm an official Shia LaBeouf fan. And to pair his performance with my favorite actor of all time, Harrison Ford, I was in movie heaven. This is certainly one for the history books...hope you get to see it.

More coming soon...