Gilbert Thurston

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

Inside Today’s Experiences

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  • 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.

Random Thoughts on a Thursday

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  • I continue to be excited about this weekend…don’t forget to be inviting like crazy.
  • I know I say that every weekend, but this weekend I’ll be sharing the last message in the Live Like You Were Dying series and the topic will about how and why to live with eternity in mind.
  • Again the absolute worst thing that will happen is someone will tell you no.
  • Remember that’s not a rejection of you, it’s a rejection of attending church.
  • This weekend we can team up to make an eternal difference…I know myself and the team will be ready to do our part…now you just need to do your part.
  • Speaking of excited…the next series which we’re calling Outbreak should be phenominal!
  • Many of you are concerend with the state of the economy and more specifically, your own finances, so we’re going to take 3 weeks to look at what God has to say about it.
  • On Tuesday Earl was out of town and asked me to drop by the hospital to see someone since our visitation pastor Vernon Edward was also out of town. 
  • When I first got to the guys room he was still in Physical Therapy, so I figured I should probably register with the hosptial chaplains office since it’s been 2 years that I’ve been in town and had never done that.
  • It was hysterical…the guy grilled me…he was seriously considering not giving me a name badge. 
  • What should have taken about 5 minutes turned into a 20 minute ordeal…with at least 2 of those minutes consisting of him sighing heavily pondering what he should do with me.
  • Ultimately I walked out with a badge and a lecture on good hospital visitation practices and a request to make sure Earl knows all these things…mmmm, think someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
  • Our final small group lesson for Live Like You Were Dying was on Tuesday night…thought it was the best of all of them.
  • Hopefully your group is like ours and will take a week to celebrate all that God did in your group over this 4 week study.
  • Yesterday was a productive day because I could barely walk.
  • About 3-4 times per year I get a build-up of Uric Acid in one or both of my knees, which means for about 24 hours it’s in severe pain with swelling enough that it makes it hard to walk.
  • I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to help out with Trunk or Treat last night for the kids.
  • Dianna and her team do such a great job and are always offering to help us when we need childcare options, so I like to help out when I can.
  • Speaking of…she’s always looking for more volunteers.  At the most you’ll probably be called on once per month if even that.  She needs more help on both Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.  Here’s her e-mail you can let her know of your interest.  dianna@mycfcog.org
  • Today is final preparations for the weekend!  Can’t wait.

    • Other Weekend Thoughts

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  • Literally if I don’t start managing my weekends better, I’m really only going to have 30 days left to live.
  • As I’ve shared before I have an overactive adrenal gland which makes the highs of adrenaline higher than most, but also the crashes afterwards even harder.
  • Today I’m really feeling it from a weekend worth of ups and downs.
  • Friday for the second week in a row, Earl and I were scheduled to go skydiving.
  • We were stopped the previous Friday because of bad weather and this Friday was no different, except that 3 times they called us to come out because the weather had cleared, only to 3 times be sent home disappointed.
  • Each time my body had started producing the adrenaline only to have it dissipate…which wears me out.
  • Friday night Lisa went to CAYA by herself so I could recover.
  • In fact here’s how bad it was…Friday afternoon after the last aborted attempt to jump, we went to Curcuit City to pick up 4 new “toys”…as of right now, all 4 are still sitting in their boxes untouched.
  • Saturday myself and 14 other leaders from the church headed up to Lancaster County Bible Church for a conference.
  • I love LCBC…I spoke there when I worked for Purpose Driven and have taken groups of people up for tours on a few other occasions.
  • Like us, they are in the middle of a corn field, only difference is that instead of 800 people on a weekend, they are drawing over 8000.
  • On the way up we stopped off at TJ Rockwell’s in Elizabethtown, PA for a great lunch…if you’re ever in that area stop by, the food was excellent!
  • The conference was good for two reasons:
    • First, it was nice spending the entire day with so many people from the church.
    • Second, we were able to attend LCBC’s normal Saturday evening service. It’s always nice to be able to occasionally worship and take everything in without having to be the one speaking or watching to make sure everything is running smoothly.
  • On the way home, everyone was very excited…it was well worth the time and money!
  • Yesterday was jammed full of stuff…I of course spoke twice at United, which really gets me on my adrenaline swings.
  • Then we had our staff luncheon over at the Mill’s house…I went home for a little bit and quickly DVR’d my way through the Redskins win over Detroit (that may not have caused an adrenaline rush, but it certainly didn’t help my stress levels.)…
  • …then back to the church to set-up for the annual congregational meeting, followed by a brief appearance at Kim Mill’s surprise 50th birthday party in the multi-purpose room…
  • …and then back into the sanctuary for the meeting.
  • All in all another busy weekend that I’m feeling the effects of here today.
  • But of course I wouldn’t change a thing…loving life…living like I am dying!

    • It’s 3:30am do you know where your pastor’s at…

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    …if you’re guessing still at church, you’d be right. We’re working on installing some lighting in the sanctuary and as usual this is turning into an all-night project. Have a few moments free while Andy is doing stuff only Andy can do. Got caught up on all the sports I missed tonight, some e-mails and so thought I’d quickly blog. This reminds me of last year this time when we did this kind of thing almost every night for about 6 months getting ready to move into the building…wow I had forgotten how much these nights really stink…not sure how we did for months on end. Ummm…think I hear him coming…act busy!

    The Greatest Words Ever Spoken

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    Greatest words cover.jpg

    Towards the end of 1999, I felt God leading me to read the Bible from cover to cover in only 1 month’s time.  Now up to that point I had usually read it at least cover to cover each year and sometimes twice, but this was going to be a huge undertaking.  In January of 2000 that’s exactly what I did…one of the highlights for me was being able to so quickly read the words of Jesus and see how they all fit together.  In other words I could see how things in John chapter 1 and John chapter 21 fit together because I read the entire Gospel in 1 day.

    I bring all this up because up until now that was the only time I’ve ever had an experience like that and obviously it’s not easy to pull off on a consistent basis.  But last month I was asked by WaterBrook Publishers (a division of Random House) to review another book for them.  The book they sent, The Greatest Words Ever Spoken will allow both you and me to experience something similar to what I did back in 2000.

    In essence what author Steven Scott has done is take every word that Jesus speaks in the Bible and categorized them by topic.  Want to read in one sitting every word Jesus ever spoke about heaven…turn to page 143 and start reading.  How about how to handle anger…there’s every word on page 474.  Now yes you could do this same thing with a good concordance and the willingness to look up every scripture, but what I’ve found in using this book for a week now is that not having to stop to look stuff up really benefits you in keeping the flow of what Jesus said going.

    In total the book is broken up into 9 sections, with over 200 topics covering over 1900 statements that Jesus made.  In addition Steven Scott has written introductory comments to each of the 9 sections that helps you prepare your mind for the topics that are about to be covered.

    With Christmas coming, this would make an excellent gift for you to ask for or give.  Highly recommended!