1994...

let's just say that 1994 was a very, very confusing year for me.

this is a great website.

the road to emmaus, pa...

we learned this week that our little film, "the road to emmaus, pa" has been accepted into the derby city film festival in louisville, ky. the showing will be on sunday, october 12 at 3:45 pm. 

the web site is almost done and is at www.theroadtoemmauspa.com. there will also be showings at the vineyard on november 2 & 9 with times to be released later. 

after watching the "almost final" edit last night, i'm excited for everyone to see it. there are quite a few things that were added from what you might have seen during celebrations and it flows nicely.

huge props go out to mark denney and norm freitag who edited this behemoth down to under 90 minutes. these guys really believe in this project and have worked tirelessly to make sure this dream became a reality.

milthaler

ddn...

one year closer to death...

today is my 31st birthday. last year, i realized that i never saw myself living past thirty. i, literally, had already accomplished all the life goals that i had set. i had been in the room for the birth of my child, i went skydiving and was a published author. bing, bang, boom.

this year, i've discovered a few new goals for the next chapter (or several chapters) of my life. strangely, none of them revolve around me or self promotion. they mostly involve my family, the students i serve and life of simplicity. this is very personal for me, but i thought this would be a good place for me to flesh them out on paper (so to speak).

1. i want my wife to truly know at the core of her being that her husband loves her.

-when you have kids, your marriage changes. if you're not careful, it can be for the worse. if you are intentional, it can be for the better. i want to serve my wife and lead our family with godly integrity. this goes to my goal of simplicity, but for the last month we have watched very little television. amazing things happen when you unplug and connect.

2. i want my boys to become men who love god, and love others.

-reagan and i went to the springboro v. piqua football game this friday night. he loved the atmosphere. he wasn't very interested in the football game... to my great displeasure. i asked him if he wanted to play football... nope. "do you want to be in the band," nope. so, what do you want to do i asked, "i want to be up there, so i can talk in the microphone." i've come to the point where i don't care if he plays football, or any other sport for that matter. i don't want him to be good at sports.... i want him to be good at life.

while we were at the game he met several people that i haven't seen in years. if you've been around reagan, he's not exactly shy. he is very verbal. when a man offered him a piece of candy, he accepted with a very sincere, "thank you". his mother has done good.

my life goal is to make sure i build into my boys godly character and an guide them towards an outward focused life. the big ZING, here is that i have to model these things. words are meaningless, i need to display the type of behavior i want to see in them.

3. i want to commission a generation for life long ministry.

-i've known that this is what god has called me to do for several years. however, i haven't quite put the intentionality into doing it. there is a cost to this goal and i'm ready to embrace it. i want there to be a generation of students who come out of the vineyard ready to use their entire life as ministry, no matter what vocation they go into.

4. simplicity.

-it is easy to let your lifestyle grow as your income grows. when hope and i were first married we had nothing. now, we both make a decent wage and it's easy to play the consumerism game. i don't need more stuff, i've already have all that i need. i recently made the decision not to buy and iphone. i would love to have one, i just don't need it. it costs more than my current plan... and i am most tempted to by it just to keep up with those around me.

i'm no longer into playing that game. i have some specific financial goals for the rest of my life and while some of them benefit my family... they mostly benefit the people that i will be able to bless because i have financial freedom.

that's about it for now. but, i feel as if i now have direction... something i was lacking when i turned thirty.

milthaler

playing pastor...

for the last two days i have been wearing my pastoral hat at work. i've been "being" with kids who are facing real life challenges. one of those students is melissa, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis today.

it was a crushing blow for her and the family who had been praying intently for healing and more positive diagnosis. this girl is a jewel and is always serving at the student union. in fact, she was writing letters to the much older folks in the rooms next to hers just to encourage them when i was there yesterday. she is intent on getting fitted for her new walker in time to be back to the student union so she can help leader her small group with her adult partner. i wanted to say, "listen, you've got a pretty good excuse to skip this weekend... why don't you take it?" but, i don't think anything i (or any doctor) would say could keep her away.

it's hard to see kids in pain and dealing with adult sized issues. but, it's also exciting to see them depend on god's strength though it all. the simple truth that jesus taught about becoming like a child is true... and has been at the forefront of my mind today.

milthaler

gettin' press...

i got a strange phone call today. seems as if a dayton daily news reporter stumbled cross my blog entry "on patriotism" and wanted to interview me for a story to run on september 11. i'll keep you updated when the story runs.

milthaler