As a part of our Christmas Conspiracy, we partnered with our friends at Faithbridge Community Church to help out their community during the holiday season.  One of the greatest needs that was shared was the very real concerns of parents – many of whom have lost jobs this year - who were afraid that they may not have anything to give to their children this Christmas.  We shared this need with Iron City and they responded in unbelievable fashion, overflowing the collection boxes every week.

In three short weeks, we collected enough toys to fill a Honda Element and to make Christmas morning special for a couple dozen families in McKees Rocks.  In addition, we were able to tangibly demonstrate the love of Jesus to an anxious bunch of parents.  And as I watched grateful parents file in and out of the gift room yesterday I was reminded of this passage:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.   James 1:27 (NIV)

I am enjoying our current series, “No Ordinary Joe,” learning lessons from the life of Joseph.  Today I pointed out a few lessons that we can learn from Joe about dealing with disappointment.  I hope it was as helpful for the other people there today as it has been for me getting ready to preach it. 

We all have to deal with disappointment from time to time, but most of us suck at handling it well.  We learn from the life of Joseph that, just because we’re going through a disappointing situation, it doesn’t mean that God isn’t at work in our lives.  You can listen to today’s message by downloading it here.

First of all, Sundays are my favorite days of the week.  Yesterday, we had a decent crowd (57) at ICC in spite of a bunch of folks out for the weekend.  The “Catalytic One” (my dad, Lamar Duke, and our Catalytic Pastor) preached for us and talked about “A Lifestyle of Generosity.”  The band did a great job — started off the day with a pretty sweet version of “Give a Little Bit.”  It was a good one all around.

On top of the “good exhausted” feeling of coming off of Sunday, Mondays are great because Monday night is Date Night around here.  Amber and I didn’t really date at all before we got married.  We “hung out” a lot.  Spent a lot of time with friends.  But not much dating before or after we got married for the first couple of years.  We really made Date Night a priority when we moved to Pittsburgh and it’s been awesome.

Why date night?  Because as life gets (and stays) busy, it’s amazing how easy it is to go all week and not have much — or any — meaningful, one-on-one conversation with each other.  Marriage is work. 

Hey married guys out there — get off it and put together a Date Night.  You have to take the lead.  Give your wife a couple of days notice, pay for a babysitter, and take her out on a date.  Just the two of you.  You’ll be amazed…