www.troubadourfarms.wordpress.com

best,

-nate

The writing bug has bit me friends. I’m climbing out of the “I don’t update my blog” vortex. I’m stewing a handful of new blogs as I write and I’m really proud of what they say. God has been doing a lot in me and I’m doing my best to share it with you.

Stay close…they’re coming…

-nate

It’s pretty serious, my man crush that is. His name is Joel Salatin and he is a Farmer…if you can’t tell. You might think “a farmer, why a farmer?” It’s a REALLY long story and I’m not a fan of long blogs so use the power of google and enjoy yourself. All in all Joel and the movie Food Inc. have started a revolution in my life and the life of my family and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you!

-nate

Got this in the mail today. I can’t tell you how much I needed it…

To the person who followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for me and even write me a card and snail mail it….I say thank YOU!

Here’s what it said:

“you were prayed for today. The Lord prompted me to intercede for you because He loves you. He sees your hard work even if others don’t. He sees your frustrations but other don’t. He knows you’re tired when others don’t. He hears your wondering heart and says “stop wondering”; I am the way the truth and the light. Psalm 119:147- I rise early before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in Your word. Be encouraged!! Rock it out and keep bringin’ it on Sunday mornings. Your church loves you-good days and bad”

That last line put me in tears. Person, because of your card I worshipped the Lord….thank you thank you thank you!!

-nate

December always shapes up to be my busiest/stressful time of year, even more than Easter. I have a collision of personal and professional and it always makes for an eventful month!!

3rd: Mosaic Volunteer Christmas party. I’m planning and leading the charge

7th: My mom’s b-day…forget this and hear it for days

12th: My 6 year wedding anniversary…forget this and die

***don’t forget that I work for a church and xmas eve is rapidly approaching….oh and don’t forget we are a portable church :0)***

24th: xmas eve. set up, rehearsal, full run through, 2 services

25th: xmas day. involves an awesome morning with my family. then packing up and driving 3 hrs to Charleston, SC

29th: Dads bday

Are you tired? I am and it’s only Nov. 30th.

-nate

Let’s keep this simple…

“Do you or do you not pay musicians at your church?” If you do or don’t…give the WHY

I’d love to get some great dialogue going on this..so everybody chime in!

-nate

God gave me an eye opener tonight. Let me set the scene…

We had our neighbor friends over for dinner. They have 2 girls they same age as our 2 kids. We were sitting downstairs after dinner talking and the kids were in the playroom upstairs. We heard some anger type cries coming from the neighbor kids and their mom went up to check. She came back downstairs and said that we may want to have a chat with our son because he was saying some mean things. Carrie went upstairs and promptly came back down, told me what happened, and said I needed to handle it…here’s where it begins.

The second I grabbed my sons hand to take him into his room, he began to cry. I sat him on his bed and asked him to tell me what he did (even though I already knew), he just looked at me and cried. I said to him, “it’s very important to me that YOU tell me what happened”, he shook his head no. I asked him why he would not tell me and he replied, “I’m scared.” This was nothing new because that just meant he thought he was getting a spanking…yes, we spank in our home. The thing was, I already knew what he did. I knew what the punishment for him was going to be and it wasn’t a spanking. It was just very important that he fessed up to what had happened.

I asked him again to tell me what happened and asked him why he was scared…he cried harder. The cry though wasn’t one of fear at this point. It became a familiar cry, one I personally was familiar with. It was a cry of shame. I asked the question one more time and this time he answered. “I don’t want to tell you because what I did was bad.” This shook me inside. You see, he knew what he did was bad and it was messing with him. He thought if I knew he did something bad he’d fall short in my eyes. In his mind he wants to be a little boy that his Dad can be proud of and if I knew what he did maybe I wouldn’t be. I stood up and sat next to him, by this time I was borderline crying myself. I brought him in close to me and said “buddy, i love you. there is nothing you can say or do that would make me love you more or less. Exactly who you are makes me the proudest Dad in the world, nothing will ever change that.” In that moment, he stopped crying, he calmed himself, I asked him one more time to tell me what he did, and he told me.

What I took away from all of that is this. How many times has God come to us already knowing where we fall short and just wanted us to talk to Him?! Tell Him where we’ve fallen short. We begin to cry a shameful cry not wanting to reveal our ugly side trying to be these perfect Christians, ones that God can be proud of. He then leans in close, grabs us and says, “I love you just the way you are. I think you are perfect in every way, there is nothing you can say or do that would make me not want you……just talk to me.” In that moment everything seems to disappear and we have an open honest conversation with our Dad.

when’s the last time you had an open honest conversation with your heavenly Dad?

I love being a parent,

nate

I work in full-time ministry. That means I invest a of time into caring for people, planning services, building relationships, and encouraging people to grow in their gifts and use them to serve the Lord.

I’m a family man. That means I invest a of time into loving, providing, caring for my wife and 2 kids. I plan stuff for us so we can experience things as a family. I invest time into the relationship with my wife and kids encouraging them in their gifts and how we can use them to serve the Lord.

Since moving and taking over a worship ministry, a lot of my time, focus, and energy has been placed on my ministry at the church. As a result, my ministry at home has suffered. The Lord has really been getting my attention with this because letting my family slip IS NOT AN OPTION.  My wife and children are my priority, not my team at church. Thinking through how to shift my priorities 2 areas came forward where I need to step it up:

1.) Time

Church- I meet with key volunteers to encourage them and let them know that I’m thankful for what they do. Usually I’ll buy them lunch or coffee

Family- I need to be more consistent with date night. Buy my wife dinner. Tell her how much I value all she does in our family and encourage her in her womanhood and motherhood. Spend one on one time with my kids acknowledging their love language and loving them in that way.

2.) Planning

Church- I spend a lot of time planning experiences for our church members. I want them to walk away from Mosaic and say “wow, I love my church”.

Family- I need to spend more time planning family days, not just laying around expecting my wife and kids to entertain themselves so I can rest. As my kids grow in to teenagers I want them to say “I love our family”. They will only say this if I show them that I love our family.

Who knows, in 10 years I might not be working for this church or even in full-time ministry. I do know that in 10 years I’ll still be married to the same woman and I’ll have the same 2 kids. My family is forever, ministry is a season and seasons change.

favor to you,

nate

The above picture is me after 8 hours of sleep, a nice breakfast, and coffee. I know right?! I look like I drank 12 beers and pulled an all nighter. Within the past year i’ve been getting these dark circles and puffy bags under my eyes. I did some research and it turns out it can be related to stress, lack of rest, and even diet but another big contributing factor is genetics. This was my “hmmm” moment.

See my dad always had bags under his eyes but he WAS pulling all nighters drinking, partying, working too much, and not eating well. I figured he just lived a hard life but it seems it could be in the genes! So, do I just live with people thinking I’m strung out? NO…the hunt for a solution began and I think I may have found it.

Immortelle Eye Balm

I started using it on Monday right after I took the above pic. It’s Wednesday and I feel like I already notice a difference.

As I age I’m looking forward to embracing it, but sleepy, puffy looking eyes I refuse to have!

Can you see a difference?

Nate

do you get belly button lint?