Gilbert Thurston

Random Thoughts About Life, Ministry and Whatever Else Happens to be on my Mind

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Inside Today’s Experiences

November 9, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • What a great day!
  • The energy in both Experiences today was awesome!
  • Maybe everyone was on a sugar rush from the free M&M’s.
  • Again…I never want to hear that you don’t get fed at United.  :)
  • Saw some people jumping in both Experiences…I know the worship team loves to see you pumped up…it excites them and inspires them to give their all.
  • And the cheering was great…what a roar…in fact I was in one of the hallways for one of them…awesome!
  • The Bible tells us that when the angels sing it’s so loud it sounds like thunder…today you were thunderous!
  • Makes it easy for me to get up to teach then…although again I for whatever reason did a better job with the message at 9:15.
  • You’d think it would be the other way around but for some reason my brain was not sending info as fast as my mouth was moving at 10:45.
  • In any case, it was a lot of fun today…except when you booed my mention of the Redskins, but hey I forgive you.
  • Ok, actually I don’t…so I’ve got something to say….”How about Penn State last night?”
  • Wow that was a low blow…ok I’m done…now back to our regularly scheduled blog already in progress.
  • I think the M&M illustration had it’s intended effect…had a lot of people say they’ll never be able to look at M&M’s the same way again.
  • Don’t forget that next week is when our OUTBREAK will begin in Chambersburg…you are not going to want to miss it…I can’t wait to share with you what God is instructing us to do this holiday season…
  • …hang on the best is yet to come!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

To Say Yes to One Thing…

November 7, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

…You’ve got to say no to something else.

This morning I discovered another blog that I want to subscribe to. That put me up to 36 that I follow on a daily basis. It was as I was subscribing that I realized I needed to eliminate at least one for every new one I subscribe to. The reason is if I just keep subscribing without ever eliminating, then eventually that’s all I’ll do all day long is read blogs. So my new goal is to get the number down to 25. I right away eliminated 4, now I’ve got some tough decisions on the remaining ones.

So how about for you? What do you need to eliminate in your life to make up for something else you just put on your schedule? If your in the midst of making a decision about whether to do something new in your life, ask yourself, “What will I eliminate to make room for this if I decide to do it”?

This applies not only to time but to your finances as well. Everytime you spend a dollar on one thing, by defualt your saying no to 1000’s of other things you could have done with that dollar. So before you go buy that new gadget, ask yourself what you’ll say no to that you’re currently doing to make room for this new expenditure.

For more help on creating this type of margin in your life, go back and listen to the Take It To The Limit series we did earlier this year. And starting this week I’ll be preaching a 3 week series on how to handle your finances in the midst of our current economic downturn. Hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Random Thoughts on a Thursday

November 6, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • I can’t tell you how excited I am about our new series starting this weekend called OUTBREAK.
  • I’ve had to share the “big announcement” of the series with a handful of people and everyone is really pumped and thinking like me that we could literally change the nation this holiday season.
  • I love how God confirms to me through others sometimes that I’m smack dab in His will.
  • It’s been amazing to have so many people saying to me “Gilbert what can we do about ___________”…and for me to be able to say…”Got it covered…we’ll talk about it in the OUTBREAK series.
  • Well the election has finally passed.
  • No matter whether you voted for Obama or not, stop for a moment and realize that you’re seeing history being made.
  • Does electing an African American erase the horrors of slavery or mean that racism no longer exists in our country?  No…but it does show we are taking steps in the right direction.
  • Remember as I said in this post, whether we voted for winner or not, we now have a new President who deserves our prayers regardless of whether we agree with all his policies or not, deserves our loyalty…unless he asks us to do something unbiblical and deserves our respect as our leader.
  • I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m surprised how many Christians through the e-mails they been sending, their Facebook postings, blog postings, etc. are showing a real lack of knowledge of the Bible and Christian love.
  • Once again I will say…if your hope is in Barak Obama or was in John McCain, you’re in for a huge disappointment.
  • Only Jesus has the power to bring the change so many people in America are craving.
  • Not Democrats, not Republicans, not government, not militaries, not the school system…nothing will bring true and lasting change to this nation or planet except for Jesus and His church.
  • One final thought…God was not surprised by what happened Tuesday and He isn’t today up in Heaven going, “Oh no what are we going to?  How in the world did this happen?”
  • No God is still in control and His plans will still prevail…So please stop your whining…and be the Christian you are called to be!
  • Filed Under: Uncategorized

    Other Weekend Thoughts

    November 3, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

    Ripcord.jpg
    • The highlight of my weekend was…seeing 3 more people come to Christ.
    • Ok, skydiving was a close 2nd, but there’s nothing like seeing and hearing the stories of life-change that continues to happen in our midst.
    • Got a great e-mail this morning from a woman who has been transformed by the love and forgiveness of God.
    • That’s a huge tribute to all of you who work to make United what it is and those of you who support us financially to be able to continue the exciting things God has for us to do.
    • As for Friday, for the 3rd week in a row I woke up ready to jump.
    • When I looked out the window, it was sunny and I knew that it was finally going to happen.
    • Little did I realize it would still take so long.
    • We were told to be there at 9AM, but it still wasn’t until about 2PM until I finally jumped.
    • Part of the reason was that at one point the plane broke down…usually not a good sign, but we still decided to go anyway!
    • I was surprised that I didn’t get nervous.
    • Highlights for me were:
      • I met Tanya, a United attender, who just so happened to be the one who packed my parachute.
      • It was a beautiful day and we could see a long distance away.
      • I was able to pull my own ripcord as you can see in the picture above!
      • I stuck my landing!
    • For other pictures and commentary, click here.  For a brief video, click here.
    • Poor Lisa…in the last month I was carried into the Experience in a coffin and then went skydiving.  She’s ready for me to play it safe for a little bit.
    • Friday night we went to the farm where I grew up to spend time with family members making apple butter.
    • The big cauldron gets started cooking at about 5PM and doesn’t finish usually until somwhere between 6-9am the next morning.
    • During that entire time it has to be stirred continously.
    • Of course the big question on all my family members minds were, “Why in the world would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane.” 
    • In any case it’s a great annual tradition and I get to spend some time with family members I don’t get to see an awful lot.
    • Saturday was pre-martial counseling for a couple, then home to work on the sermon and watch some college football.
    • Wow what a great ending to the Texas vs. Texas Tech game.
    • Yesterday in addition to the Experiences, we had one of our monthly Guest Luncheons.
    • It’s always nice to be able to enjoy a full meal with some of the new people to the church and hear their stories.
    • The rest of the night was just chilling while Lisa went to CAYA.
    • Today I started working at 6:30am and I’ll be here at the church until probably at least 9PM.
    • Other than driving over and a brief dinner break, it’s been one thing after another…
    • Hope I don’t fall asleep tonight during the Redskins game.
    • Oh well that’s what DVR’s are for.
    • Have a great night…don’t forget to vote on Tuesday!

    Filed Under: Uncategorized

    Inside Today’s Experiences

    November 2, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

    • Nice getting an extra hours sleep today!
    • Still got up at the normal time though and came into the church earlier than normal.
    • Meant I got to see a beautiful sunrise!
    • All in all, it was a great day…everything from set-up to rehersal to each Experience went very smoothly.
    • That’s saying a lot considering the number of transitions and technical elements that were in the Experiences today.
    • Great to see 3 more people come into a relationship with Christ!
    • The worship team was really hitting it hard today…everyone did a great job.
    • Really liked the energy on the song Came to My Rescue.
    • Hard to believe that we’ve been in the new buidling now for 1 year.
    • Saw quite a few people wiping away tears after the baptism video.
    • Speaking of videos, everyone seemed to get a kick out of watching Earl and I go skydiving.
    • Tomorrow I’ll blog more about that Experience and some of the other things that went on this weekend.
    • Loved this series…hope you got a lot out of it and that you’re living like you’re dying.

    Filed Under: Uncategorized

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