justin j mack

those little tricksters

we had a bunch of little tricker-treaters ring the door-bell and say the standard, "trick or treat" and then we gave them some fruit snacks and candy.  but occasionally i would ask if i could do a trick, instead of giving them a treat, and i quickly learned that really the only option was the treat.

here is a picture of two of those cute little tricksters.  my nephews, jack and noah and my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and tara.  in case you where wondering, no the ladies did not dressed up for the occasion. that is how they always look.

a personal profile. grandpa mack

the birth of my sister's baby ella (named after my grandma ella mack) has had a strange reverse affect on me.  it's reminded me how quickly life comes and goes!!

this past summer i experienced the loss of my grandfather, arnold mack. 

after 93 years of life, 67 years of marriage and ministry, he left an incredible heritage and example that we could all learn from.

over and over i was reminded of his love for me as his fragile hand would rest on my back and his shaky but strong voice would pray a prayer of blessing over my life at the alter of my parent's great church in phoenix.  but his love wasn't just for me.  throughout my life, people i hardly knew would come up to me and tell me of the great love my grandfather had showed them.

i called my dad's cell phone just hours before my grandpa passed and as he was standing at his bedside giving me an update of his failing health, i heard my grandfather say in the background, "tell that boy i love him, big big love".

although it was nice to hear, he didn't have tell me...he showed me for 28 years!!!

my photo album just doubled

the picture of new little neice ella inspired me to add a few new photos to my album, so feel free to take a look.

here is a random fact for you...

i have had more than 300 more hits on my photo album than on my actual blog. 

does this mean that people are more interested in the way i look than in what i have to say?

ella mailyn bishop

my third little neice born to my sister and brother-in-law (jeanene and matt) on october 23rd at 5:14am

my 3 little neices

zion, zoan, and now ella

i have been called a few different names in my life...

son, brother, husband, friend, etc. but one of my favorites has got to be uncle justin

yesterday i became "uncle justin" for the third time

my little sister and her husband just gave birth to ella mailyn bishop

for those that are wondering...i love the sound of uncle justin but daddy is the one that scares me!!

a smaller group

last night we had our small group. we normally have about 20-30 but last night we had 9.

although it was our smallest group, i personally though it was our best.

we sat out on the porch, had some ice cream, laughed a lot and had a great discussion about friendships.

it really re-inspired me to raise up more leaders so we can keep our groups smaller and more personal.

thanks for a great night, chris and amy, shawn, matt and megan, jared and amanda, and tara!

a personal profile. elwin and ranae mack

two of my-world heroes

from time to time i think i am going to post "personal profiles" about family and friends that have influenced my life in great ways.

i'm grateful to be able to start with my mom and dad!!!  all my life they have set an amazing example of unconditional love and selfless sacrifice that i'm only now learning how incredible they are. actually i probably still do not (and may never fully) comprehend their love and their many unknown sacrifices.

my dad is a rock!! although he may appear physically fluffy during the non-biking/hiking times, the support and consistency he provides as a pastor and father is literally life-saving.

my mom has to be my biggest fan!! as one of the most talented and excellent-at-everything-she-does-type-of-persons, she always looks past my faults and somehow sees the goodness in me.

thanks mom and dad...for everything...

 

would you rather...

1. ...lose a finger or a toe?

2. ...ride the wild thing until you threw up or eat a box of kashi peanut butter bars?

i personally would have to say...  "the finger" and "the wild thing"

digital discipleship

i've had some inquiring minds ask about this idea of digital discleship

it is a new term i picked up reading mark batterson's evotional blog

basically, jesus asked his followers two thousand years ago to share his kingdom principles with the entire world.  with the help of greek parchment paper, the german printing press, and now the world wide web, it has reached billions of individuals

digital dischipleship, as i understand it, is simply using contemporary technology (ie. bloggin) for God's kingdom purposes

i believe in using every technology available to advance his kingdom

the first "would you rather" question

at our last small group leader training, all of our leaders we asked to consider one of the great theological debates...

"would you rather"...stub your pinky toe each night for one week or drink lukewarm day old coffee every morning for two weeks?

i said "pinky toe but changed my mind to lukewarm coffee after i thought about the pain of re-stubbing an already stubbed toe over and over again" 

after some mixed responses, they were all asked to come up with their own creative "would you rather" questions

over the next couple weeks i will randomly post the questions that our rvc small group leaders came up with

the first one is...would you rather have to smell rotten eggs for a week or smell like rotten eggs for a week?

and no, not all blog entries are going to require this much thought!!