One more quote that's sure to challenge you...I'm a huge fan of Mark Batterson. I don't know him and he surely has never heard of me...but he has a great blog that covers life, leadership, church planting and everything in between. You should check it out: www.evotional.comAnyway...he had a great quote on his blog the other day that simply changed my perspective on Scriptures and reading the Bible and got me back on track with my conviction to journal when I study God's word. Check it out...I don't think the Bible was meant to be read. I think it was meant to be meditated. Meditation is a...

So I was really challenged tonight in my devotion time (yes...night...not morning) by a quote from Matthew Henry. Chew on this and see if you can digest his response to Nehemiah 8 (specifically the verses surrounding verse 13): The more we converse with the word of God, if we rightly understand it and be affected with it, the more we shall covet to converse with it, and to increase in our acquaintance with it, saying, How sweet are thy words unto my mouth! Those that understand the scriptures well will still be desirous to understand them better.Stop and think about that for a moment. How...

This weekend has been very, very encouraging...We took our MC students on a retreat with all of the other MC programs in the state of Florida. Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt (Rockford MC) spoke the retreat and talked about christians influencing culture, not culture influencing christians. He also talked about the fact that no matter the situation, God expects us to keep going...to stay faithful.After that we came home and went to a special service at Calvary. God is so faithful...some people who are very close to us were genuinely healed of back, shoulder and knee problems. This is the first time...

Traffic. Lots of it.We left yesterday at noon and didn't get back to Orlando until 2:30am. I think everyone thinks it's cool to come to Florida for Christmas. That was stupid.Anyway...we had a great time in North Carolina. We were able to spend time with Dara's family and also got to connect with some friends in Charlotte. What an encouraging and refreshing time for us!

Man...what a cool season Christmas is...It makes it so much fun because Max is at the age where he has really been anticipating Christmas for the last couple of months...so much Dara had to make a big calendar and start x-ing out the days until Christmas so he could get a visual of how far away it is.I also just simply love the emphasis put on family during this time. We have a really close family, but the holidays give us built-in time to spend together. The next two weeks are going to be completely focused on spending time with our family (both Dara's and mine). I love it.At the end of the...

I guess a blog is here to get your thoughts out and then others can read it and glean something from it...HOWEVER...it's also a forum to share big moments via the internet. Ladies and gentlemen...I have just experienced one of these BIG moments:The Tampa Bay Bucs just returned a kickoff for a TOUCHDOWN! Now...this may not be a big deal to you, but for me...a longtime Bucs fan...before Michael Spurlock returned that kick 90+ yards, the Bucs had NEVER scored a touchdown on a kickoff return. Over 30 years and over 1,800 kickoff returns...NEVER. Miracles do happen 🙂

We had a great day today...the last day of the first semester. Tony preached our Encounter service and absolutely hit a home run! He spoke on the jealous love of God...so deep and impacting and challenging. Great job, Tony!!!Now we're off for a little over two weeks...the rest will be welcomed!

If you know me at all...you know that my passion is to see the body of Christ living and functioning together in true, Biblical community. If you want to hear my thoughts on this...you can check out my Community Podcast at our Master's Commission website:www.comconline.netClick on the front page link that says "Podcast" and it will take you straight there. DD

Wow...time flies in Master's Commission. Tomorrow is our last day of the first semester. We'll be out of session until we get back together again on January 2nd. The break will be well deserved...the team has come together so well over the first 4 months. I am so looking forward to seeing what God does in the lives of all of our students over the next 5 months.Tomorrow will include our Encounter (chapel service) in the morning...Tony is preaching is first Encounter! John Gum and I will be leading worship together...that should be fun. Then we will end out with a special time together with me...

Max David Docusen was born on December 7, 2003.It was so much fun going to the hospital that night. We left around 2am and were so excited when we arrived at the hospital. We ended up having Max later on that day...it was a day that forever changed my life. Later on that night, after everyone had left the hospital, I remember holding Max in my arms. I was holding my son. My boy. My baby. I had dreamed of this my entire life. I looked at his precious face and started talking to him:“I love you, Max. I will always be here for you. I will never leave you. I will always support you.” The tears...