timmcollins.com

I just realized that somehow I’ve managed to leave a VERY important blog off my blogroll in the sidebar for several months now.

That’s right, you really need to check out Mike Monts De Oca’s blog. He’s a funny guy, and because he’s a graphic artist he usually has extra like downloadable wallpapers (and there’s a rumor about some new tshirt designs). Mike also plays lead guitar @ RPC, and is married to someone that’s pretty special to me.

Anyway, head on over and check him out. Now. Seriously. Get out of here.

It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I’d get back in the game with a few quick hits…

• Travis has been a great asset so far. I can already tell a difference in having him around.
• I love our family group. This is one of the best we’ve been a part of. And trust me, we’ve had some good groups. I’m still a firm believer in the power of community.
• I may be getting an iPhone soon. Hopefully then this guy and this guy will quit making fun of me.
• I also may be getting a different boat soon, but first I need to sell mine. Anyone interested? (here’s a hint: 16.5 ft of boat + 115 hp = more fun than you can imagine)
• School starts back soon, so it’s back to the routine. I’ve enjoyed having my wife and boy at home more during the day. Even though I’m usually at work.
• I don’t know how I keep being at the top of this guy’s list for sending him the most traffic. I haven’t blogged since like February or something.
• I get to eat lunch tomorrow with a good buddy from college. Looking forward to catching up with him.

That’s right, I’m going fishing again. But believe it or not, this one was my wife’s idea.

We got one final chance to sneak away before school starts back up and decided to take it. We’re going with Miranda’s brother, T.C., and some good friends, Luke & Naomi.

We were originally going to Key West, but changed our minds because of gas prices. Miranda had so much fun when we went to Little Gasparilla island last month that she decided she wanted to go back - without our monster. So we leave today and will be back next Wednesday.

There’s no interweb access on the island, which means this is my last post for a few days. I’d apologize for that, but I’m not sorry at all. My wife will be there and, quite frankly, she smells better than you. Nothing personal.

Anyway, for Sunday Rewinds, questions, comments, concerns, complaints, or anything else RPC-ish contact this guy or this one. In fact, from now on send ALL complaints to them. Ha ha.

So it looks like I’ll finally get to enjoy my father’s day present from this year. That’s right - Miranda & I are headed to Orlando tomorrow night to see Jerry Seinfeld do stand up. I was under the impression that he retired from doing stand-up after his show was over. In fact, I even have a dvd of his “farewell performance” from broadway. Maybe he’s been doing breakfast with Brett Favre (waffles, anyone??).

At any rate, I’m super pumped to be going. Should be good. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite clips from the show…

what’s your favorite seinfeld moment?

Today was another good day at RPC, and the end of a loooong week. Here are some highights.

Michael hit a home run. We continued our summer sermon series - “Faces of Leadership” - this week by hearing from our Student Pastor, Michael Mathews. He talked about how we should stop making excuses (”get off our but’s”), and he had a “but-counter” so we’d know how many times he said it. I lost count in the 80’s. Funny & poignant.

Our kids areas run smoothly. I didn’t stay in the back for the entire day like I did last week, mainly because I was in the way back there. They have a great system, and they work it well. Our kids, from birth through high school, are well taken-care of.

Next week will be special. Next Sunday we’ll hear a surprise message from a surprise speaker. Trust me, you’re gonna love it. And this speaker is so pumped that they’ve been preparing for weeks and have asked me to come hear a “preview” walk-through version tomorrow night. Should be excellent.

Today was exhausting. After getting home from RPC and getting Noah down for a nap, I finally got our old washer & dryer moved out of our garage, helped Miranda’s parents move their new big screen tv & set it up, then grilled out and entertained some friends that we had over. Then we put Noah down for the night & finished up the dinner dishes. This is literally the first time I’ve sat still since this morning. A busy, but good, day.

This week will be crazy. We’ll spend the week shifting offices around, getting ready for Travis to start work at RPC in 2 weeks. If you happen to call the office and we miss it, be a little patient with us - and blame this guy. Ha ha.

The host team was incredible. You could really tell a difference in the overall mood of the service because of all the greeters and hosts we had hanging around helping people. Luke Ostberg’s family group did an amazing job handling things today.

So that’s what going on around here. What’s up with you?

Wow, what a week.

Monday: got home from meeting @ 9 pm.

Tuesday: got home from meeting @ 10 pm.

Wednesday: visited my grandpa in the hospital in Daytona until 9 pm (including 4 hrs driving).

Yesterday: got home from premarital counseling @ 7 pm.

I’ve seen some turmoil in a couple of friends’ lives.

Oh, and we’re remodeling yet another office in anticipation of this guy arriving.

In between I attempted to be a dad and husband.

It’s a good thing this guy’s speaking this week and not me - I don’t know when I would’ve studied.

So, believe it or not I’m really looking forward to mowing the grass in a little while. I don’t know, but a couple hours riding a mower and listening to the ol’ iPod sounds like a pretty good time to me right now. Call it my decompression chamber.

What do you do to get away?

Had the chance to go fishing with some good friends Saturday night, and I figured that since I wasn’t speaking the next morning a semi-late night wouldn’t kill me. Boy, was I wrong. Here are some of the very random lessons I learned…

• Murphy’s law tells us if you go fishing with a boat that has no spare tire for the trailer, you’re gonna have a blow out. Oops.
• Common sense tells us if you have a blow out on the Polk Parkway at 1:30am on Sunday morning, you’re on your own because nothing’s open. Oops #2.
• I’m sure there’s a law of thermodynamics that tells us if you drive on said flat tire, even at slow speeds, before long you’ll be driving on the rim. Oops #3 (but who’s counting?)
• Through personal observation I learned that you can’t drive very long on the rim of a blown out tire. By the way, don’t touch it - it’s REALLY hot by now.
• And if you leave the boat on the side of the road to go get a spare, be sure to leave two buddies and a Glock to watch over things (this one actually worked out ok).
• Oh, yeah - when you get back with the spare tire of a MUCH smaller boat (namely, mine) hoping it’ll fit, don’t get in a hurry because…
• Most likely, all five lug nuts will be firmly welded rusted in place.
• Don’t cut your hand on the shredded rim as you fight to remove said lug nuts.
• Once you get them off, the new (much smaller) tire/rim WILL fit, but don’t get excited yet because…
• When you lower the boat off the jack to drive home, the much-too-small tire/rim combo will IMMEDIATELY go flat (by now it’s getting laughable)…
• Don’t be afraid, drive home anyway. I mean, if you can demolish one trailer tire/rim, why not two?
• The smaller tire & rim will, surprisingly, hold up MUCH better than the much larger stock one did.
• After finishing the drive at a brisk pace of 10mph, you’re not going to bed before 3am. But don’t get too comfy because…
• you’re getting up at 8am to go to RPC and chase 100 13 two-year-olds around.

Good times. Actually, we had a blast in spite of our minor setbacks. But then, we’re kind of twisted like that.

What’s that? You say you already knew most of these lessons?

Then why didn’t you call me?

I’m using the month of July to learn about some of the other environments at RPC that I don’t normally get to observe. Today I had a tour of duty in ZooStation, our preschool department…

Where did all of the kids come from? Seriously, there are kids everywhere. Both services saw almost every room packed full of youngin’s.

What do you get when you put 13 two & three year olds and 3 adults in a small room? Organized chaos, that’s what. Beautiful, teachable, organized chaos.

Our kids workers (both ZooStation AND PowerUp) deserve a medal. They have great attitudes and are flexible, which is why it all works so well.

Work the system. Because the system works. The check-in, check-out, and volunteer systems at RPC really run like a well-oiled machine.

We have some facility issues. I saw some things today that I was unaware of - improvements we need to make to our facility to make our workers and kids lives easier. I was glad I got to see them with my own eyes - it made today totally worth it. By the way, we’ll begin addressing some of those issues this week.

Chris did an incredible job. Or at least that’s the word on the street. I’ll check out the podcast later this week.

If you want more rewind info, check out Travis’ post here.

Good night and God bless…

This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.

After I’d spoken at the two Saturday night services at CATS, Joe handed me the following picture. Some guy handed it to him and asked him to give it to me. He apparently drew this during one of the services. Joe didn’t know who he was, but the guy promised he was listening as he drew. I say it’s worth having one bored listener if this is what I get in return.

Can’t put my finger on it, but there may have been some creative liberties taken.

Whadda ya think?

It’s been a different kind of weekend, and this is a different kind of rewind. As most of you know by now, I wasn’t at RPC this weekend so it’d be tough to review anything that happened there. But Michael and Travis did a pretty good job of that already - check it out here and here. Miranda had to work, so Bobby McCue rode along with me as I went back up to Ocala to speak at all four of the weekend services for Church@TheSprings again. They’re doing a summer series where they’re having some different pastors who’ve been involved in a NEXT coaching network come and speak for them, and I was the first victim speaker.

Everything went well, and Bobby & I had a good time. Their crowd(s) were all really into the services, which made it feel like it wasn’t a holiday weekend at all. It was (believe it or not) a pretty relaxing and enjoyable trip overall. Bobby & I have been friends for the full 6 years I’ve been at RPC, but we don’t get to hang out like this very much. And on the way home we made a quick stop at Gander Mountain, the new store that’s supposed to rival Bass Pro Shops. It doesn’t - the quick review goes something like this: “same stuff, more money”.

Anyway, that’s where I’ve been the last 2 days. It was a good weekend, but I’m looking forward to being back at RPC this weekend.

What’s up with you?