Jillian and I just welcomed our first baby girl into this world on Sunday. Her name is Reese Dillon Iannetta and she is incomprehensibly beautiful! We are both very in love with her. It's crazy that she is here now after 9 months of preparation. She's better than I could have imagined. When I first had the chance to hold her for a while, I just stared at her with wonder and amazement. My eyes welled up with tears of joy. I didn't know what to do, I was so taken by her! Having this baby has made me see more of God than I thought I would. I mean she isn't doing anything for me...she is just eating, sleeping, and pooping, yet I love her like crazy. This is exactly what God's love is like for us. My love for Reese pales in comparison to God's love for me...His child. He looks at me with the same wonder and amazement...the same love and joy, but His love is perfect. And I don't have to do anything...He just loves me. Many of you reading this blog are right in the middle of parenting a middle school student and probably feel some of the same things. You love your child like crazy and it probably seems sometimes that they are not doing anything for you. I am sure you don't always revel in amazement. You don't always see them as beautiful beyond belief. There are times when your child even seems like a stranger to you. But you love them. You love them like crazy. That is God's love. I know that when Reese grows older, she will mess up and she will disappoint me, but there is one thing I know for sure. I will never stop loving her, no matter what she has done, no matter what she becomes. Why? Because this is God's love. It's unconditional. It's for me.

Any Day Now

My wife and I are expecting our first baby any day now. It's difficult not knowing when the baby will come. The unknown is always hard and more importantly, it moves us to trust God more. Over the last couple months, we have been preparing for this child to come...getting a crib, clothes, strollers, reading parenting books, and thinking about things we have never thought of before. We are making a lot of changes to our lifestyle and our house all in preparatin for our daughter. We have to be ready because when she comes, there is no turning back. She is coming and it's imminent. It started to get me thinking about Christ's return and how it is imminent and really how it will be any day now...especially in light of eternity. I was thinking about how intentional we are to prepare for our daughter's arrival, but how much less intentional people in general seem to be about preparing for Christ's return. We hear all about it all the time, but how often do we really live like His return is imminent. We go about our day planning for the future, saving money, being cautious about life, and thinking that someday we will do something great for God, but Christ could come back any day. When he does, all the things that were most important to us suddenly mean nothing. So what does preparing for Christ's return really look like? To prepare for our daughter, my wife and I have had to sacrifice quite a bit...we had to make purchases, work on the room, and read books...not to mention what my wife has to go through in her pregnancy. It's all for the child that is imminently coming. What sacrifices are you making for Christ? It's only what you do for Christ that will last. He is coming any day now and there is no stopping Him!

fathers

This year's father-son trip meant more to me than any past trip because I am only a month away from being a father myself. Watching these fathers express their love for their sons was inspiring to me. Here are a some things that I learned from this trip.

1. Men in general don't always express their true feelings, but this trip is a time when fathers unleash their love for their sons in a real way.

2. It is vital for fathers to be vulnerable around their sons especially when it comes to issues of sexual purity.

3. I think it's safe to say that the fathers on this trip grew way more than the sons. It made me realize that people grow more in their faith as parents than they ever did without kids.

4. The rugged camping atmosphere sets this trip up for success...men were meant to be in the wilderness, hiking through cavs, diving into rivers, and making fires.

5. This trip is only a way to start to opening up the lines of communication between father and son. My prayer is that it will be ongoing.

If you are a father and you don't do something like this with your son, you are seriously missing out. This is one of the favorite things I do with my job. I am back and I am already looking forward to next year.

What a difference a year makes...

I spent the past week with 25 seventh graders in Kentucky serving on a mission trip. It was a really good trip and a privilege to be a part of. This was the first year we took an all 7th grade trip and I made some observations. First of all, I realized why we don't take 6th graders on these trips. Secondly, there is a big difference between a 7th and an 8th grader. They did a great job, but I definitely could tell the difference between this trip and past trips with 8th graders. Even when we had 7th graders with 8th graders, it seemed that the 8th graders brought the level of maturity up quite a bit. Now, by no means am I saying that 8th graders are really mature and 7th graders aren't. However, the difference in maturity level was noticeable. Just another reason why this age group is so unique and why I enjoy ministering to them. They are changing every second it seems. It always seems like they teach me just as much or more than I team them. All in all, there was a lot of life change on this trip. My prayer is that it would stick. Also, my prayer is that these same students would come back next year because I can't wait to see what kind of difference a year makes!

Partnering with schools

Today, I received a call from someone at Hudson Middle School. She said that she was scheduling all the dances for the next school year and wanted to make sure that their dances didn't conflict with any of our Edge ministry events. First of all, I couldn't believe that she actually cared about this. Secondly, I love the fact that our events are actually taking enough students away from the dance that the school is actually concerned about it. That's a great encouragement to our ministry and the Edge students who are getting the word out at school.

With all of that said, I love the opportunity to partner with public schools. With the middle school in this community, there have been unbelievable chances to partner such as FCA, coaching, teachers who attend our church, the superintendent attending our church, and now this. I treasure the times I am at that school because it changes the whole ministry from "come to our territory" to "we'll come to your territory." Isn't that the way Jesus did it? He came to this earth to our territory to live among us. I am so grateful to God for the opportunities that have opened up in the schools the last couple years. My prayer is that God would use the interaction I have with students, teachers, coaches, and principals for his kingdom.

Now that the dances don't conflict with our ministry, maybe I will volunteer to chaperone at the dances...now that will be entertaining.

Thanks for letting me share my joy with you.

Time to step up to the plate, parents

A parent recently sent me an link to an article and news clip from goodmorning America. It's about how teens are viewing oral sex as no sex at all. It's a very acceptable thing to do among teens right now. On top of that, there are teenage girls actually getting paid for sexual acts, taking off clothes, etc. I am not even talking about inner city kids...I am talking about wealthy affluent community kids. It's always been bad, but it's getting really bad.

My fear is that by the time students get to high school, it's too late! With each day, I feel that middle school ministry is getting more and more vital so I am working to do my part. Honestly, I think high school is the new college and middle school is the high school. The girl in the goodmorning america video is 14.

This is stuff is happening at your kids school and maybe to your kid. Even if it's not happening to your kid, they know someone that's doing it. It's vital that parents do not choose to bury their head in the sand as so many do. Who is going to educate these kids? Who is going to tell them that oral sex is sex? Who is going to define prostitution for them? Who is going prepare them for the battle of pornography? The church? Yes. Parents? Absolutely. High school is too late for the sex talk. Middle school might be too late. What are you afraid of? It's your kids life. Step up to the plate and have the talk. It's seriously time. Christian school? I don't care. Yes, even you.

PHIFF

I got PHIFF. Do you have it?

Recently, at a retreat, I got to witness 4 students make first time decisions for Jesus Christ. It was an amazing thing! Just the other day, I met with one of the girls who made the decision. Her parents wanted me to talk with her more about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (which is really great!). I told her that knowing Christ is a guarunteed ticket to heaven with him forever and there is no changing that (Rom 8:38-39). But I also wanted her to know that it is so much more than that. After talking to her, I came up with a little acronym to show what happens to someone after they are saved. I call it PHIFF.

PURPOSE: Knowing Christ gives the believer a purpose to life. What was our purpose before Christ? Well, the truth is that whatever our purpose was, it is nothing compared to the new purpose and meaning to life. A believer knows that they are living to glorify God in all they do, to obey him, and to keep eternity in mind. (2 Timothy 2:21)

HOPE: A believer has the hope of eternity. The believer no longer just puts their hope in the next best thing that is going to happen in their life, but instead puts their hope in the only thing that lasts forever, eternal life. This means that no matter how many bad things happen throughout the course of the believers life, they will still have hope...a complete hope. (John 3:16, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

IDENTITY: The believer also has a brand new identity. Once someone is saved, he is a new creation. That person belongs to Christ. The believer no longer is identified by the way they look, the friends they have, or how good they are at a certain sport or instrument. Those things all come in a very distand second to the fact that they were purchased by the blood of Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

FREEDOM: Freedom is given to those who know Christ. Many people think that following Jesus means that you have less freedom because you have to follow a lot of rules. Not true. True freedom comes from being free from the power of sin. No longer is the believer a slave to sin. Sin is not freedom but only slavery to that sin. Christ's death liberated us from the sin that owned us. (Galatians 5:1)

FAMILY: The believer also gets a brand new family. That person still has their immediate family, but now the believer just made their family a lot bigger. There is now a special bond among other believers. You are on the same page, you have support, love, and accountability. We were made to have community with other believers...we cannot do this life alone. (Acts 2:42-47)

While this is not an exhaustive list of everything that happens to a believer, it is really important to share these things. Knowing Christ is so much more than just a free ticket to heaven...you get purpose, hope, a new identity, freedom from sin, and a new huge family in Christ. You get PHIFF!