1..2..oh he kicks out! Unbelievable. These two have been at it for some time! What a match! This will go down in history as one of the best KWWF matches in history. Matt swings him against the ropes, but Wes ducks underneath the clothesline and takes rolls him up in a small package. 1..2..3!!!  We have a new champion! Wes Howard is the new KWWF champion!!

That’s one of my fondest memories of my childhood. My brother, Matt, and I had an imaginary wrestling federation.  We called it the K.W.W.F. The Kids Word Wrestling Federation. My brother is 5 years older than me and so, he was ALWAYS champion. ALWAYS. His reign was years as Heavyweight Champion. Then one day, he let me win. He let me become champion and I will never forget it.

I choose to remember that. Or the time that my brother stayed up all night with me waiting for Santa to come even though he knew the truth. “Let’s go check again Wes! Maybe he has come now!” When he finally did, I ran to wake up my parents. It was 3AM. They told me to go back to bed. We didn’t. We watched wrestling videos all morning until they woke up.

I don’t want to remember the time that my brother stole my XBox and pawned it for drug money. The time that I watched my dad and him fist fight. The time I cried my eyes out at his first rehab graduation. When he shot cocaine in the wrong place on Christmas Eve and was in the hospital the entire holiday. The countless number of rehabs or that my parents have been drained emotionally, physically and monetarily by him over the last 15 years.

At some point, I changed the way I looked at my brother. I let the bad memories become prevalent and over time I began to think of him as a hopeless addict instead of my brother who needs help and deserves help. I was convicted by a message that I wrote when the question was asked, “Do you see people the way Jesus sees them?”

How would I get up and preach this message and ask that question and not look at my brother the way Jesus sees him? Someone who needs hope and the love of a Savior. My parents had never given up on him. Why did I?

So I called him. Every day. For the first 2 weeks, I never got an answer. Just couldn’t catch him at the right time and a random number is not one you answer when you are living the lifestyle he lives. Then, one day I was in traffic and was very tempted to get angry about the next hour I would waste sitting in it. Instead, I decided to “choose joy” and started thinking of a way I could use this time to glorify God.

So I called again and I knew he would answer. And he did. We got to talk for 35 minutes about everything. It was awesome and I got the opportunity to finally tell him that I believe in his story and that it’s not over. I got to tell him that I love him and pray for him everyday. Most importantly, I started to remember him for the right reasons and view him as someone who needs this love and hope.

No one is too far gone for the love of Christ. And if we are the vessel for that hope, no one is too far for us to continue loving.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Unemployed and 2 weeks away from not being able to pay rent.
Getting a shot in ministry by becoming an assistant.
Starting a community group that eventually became a ministry.
Meeting my wife.
Speaking to a church in the Dominican Republic.
Accepting a job as a middle school pastor.
Communicating weekly to students.
Preaching in Brazil.
Leading over 220 students at a 5 day camp.
Learning that you are going to be a daddy.
Accepting a job as a campus pastor.

And all of it happening in almost exactly 2 years. You can’t make this stuff up. I could have never scripted this. Yes, I am writing this post to share some news with you but before we get to that I want you to take a second and thank God for the story he is writing in your life. You may not be in the best circumstances or where you would like to be, but God is still writing. You make a horrible storyteller with your life, trust the one who created you with it. It’s not over yet.

Or you could be in a great place and overjoyed at what is going on, also remember that God is still writing. And it’s not to bring you more success, but to bring you closer to Him. All of those events I listed, some were good and some were tough, but they all brought me closer to Christ. It’s not over yet.

My story has once again taken a turn that I didn’t expect. On August 1st, I will begin the next chapter in my ministry as I become a campus pastor for Cross Point Community Church in Nashville. I will be leading the Downtown Campus that meets at Rocketown.  I am so excited to be returning to my home church and getting the opportunity to be a part of that team again. It is truly a dream job.

With any job change, you are leaving something behind and I was reminded last night and today what I am leaving behind here at LifePoint. The most amazing, beautiful, fun, Christ-like students I could have ever asked to lead. They taught me so much in the past year and they taught me even more on how to accept change.  I have been overwhelmed with well wishes and videos of how much they learned and loved our time together. I will never forget them and I am so excited for what’s next in their lives. I could have never dreamed how much they would mean to my wife and I.

And that sums up life right now for me. I could have never dreamed the events of the past 2 years or what’s going to happen in the next 2, but whatever does happen – God will get the glory. He deserves it no matter what circumstance you find yourself in.

I’m 30.

I’ve always dreamed of being a young dad. You know, the dad that in 5th grade the kid says, “My dad is 30!” I dreamed that I would have 3 kids by the time I was 25. I am now glad that isn’t true, because I was pretty much an idiot at 25 and wasn’t married, but regardless that’s what I always dreamed of happening.

I’m now 30 and just barely married. (In that I mean I’ve only been married a year, not that my wife is doing chloroform searches on google right now.) My wife, who is gorgeous, is only 25 and wasn’t interested in the least bit in having kids for a while and that was completely understandable. Also, she would be a high risk pregnancy as well and that scared her.

I accepted that I was probably going to be dad that my kid describes as “old” at the lunch table when everyone tells how old their parents are and I was OK with it. This is the plan that God has for me and who am I to say that it’s a bad one.

It’s weird how when we stop making plans for ourselves and just accept that God is in control, things change. My wife told me one night, “I think God has softened my heart on having children right now.” My heart jumped and I tried to hold back my excitement. I didn’t even look up from my book when I said, “Oh really?” Then I said something inappropriate for this blog.

A few days later my wife told me that she was ready to try. We did our homework and knew that it was going to be hard since she was high risk. We knew that it was going to take a while. We had the mindset that if it happened, great. If not, great.

Fast forward a few weeks. My wife was at the doctor because she was still hurting from some cysts that she had. The did an ultrasound and found no cysts and no baby. They weren’t sure why she was hurting so bad. The doctor was going over a disease that it could possibly be when she decided to look at her blood work. She stopped in mid-sentence and said, “Oh, you’re pregnant!”

We are pretty sure that it happened on the first try. The first try! That is unbelievable.

I’m going to be a daddy. Typing those words brings tears to my eyes. I’m going to be a daddy. A semi-young one at that!

February 5th, 2012. I had no clue that day could ever mean anything to me. God did. I had no idea that the second I stopped worrying, God would start working. I just needed to trust.

You aren’t in control. Hear that. Know that. Believe that. God is good. His plan is perfect, even when it seems like it’s not.

You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail. Proverbs 19:21

For the record, I think it’s a girl. If it is, she will be named Riley Grace Howard. (If you are my son and it’s 15 years into the future and you stumbled on a weird thing called a “blog” and are reading that I was hoping you would be a girl, I’m sorry. I love you just the way you are.)

Jose Bautista is a Major League Baseball player.  He has been playing in the majors since 2004, but you most likely had never heard of him.  In his first 6 seasons as a big league ballplayer he never hit over 16 homeruns in one season.  This year he hit 54. He had a monstrous year that included 124 runs batted in.  Almost double his previous career high.  He had a very successful season.

Most of you know that on October 16th, I will be marrying the love of my life.  I can’t wait, but I am not under the illusion that our story ends there.  On our programs we entitled our special day, “Storybook Beginning.”  While a little cheesy, I believe it’s perfect. Here’s why.

Think of your favorite romantic comedy and then think of how it ended. Most likely it ended with a wedding.  That was the end of the story.  We are left to assume that they lived “happily ever after.”  We wanted to make the statement that our real story is just beginning.  The wedding starts the real hard work and we are committed to making it work.  We don’t want 1 successful season or even 2 successful seasons.  We want to be a dynasty.

Jose Bautista had a monster year.  An amazing season, but it’s been his only one so far.  The rest were mediocre.  When Amy and I look back at our “stats” we want to have more monster seasons than mediocre ones.  We want to set the records each year and more importantly we will never become free agents or be traded to another team.

We are ready for this beginning.  I can’t wait to call her my wife.  Batter up.

“I am so scared God.”  That was my exact words to God in a recent prayer.

It’s funny how you can be in completely different situations, yet have the same conversation with God.  It’s a great reminder that we are never too far or too close to God to be humbled before Him.  About a year ago I was praying the exact same thing.

My recent prayer wasn’t because things in my life were bad, in fact they are really good.  I am engaged and I absolutely love going to work everyday and I’m leading an incredible group of about 130 people called Stretch.  My life is amazing.

My prayer came because the next season of my career was happening and I was about to embark on a completely new journey.  My life was too good to suddenly change.

But I decided a while back that what I wanted for me wasn’t going to cut it.  My life story only has one author on the cover and it’s not Wes Howard.

So I found myself in the middle of my room crying my eyes out once again and telling God that I was scared.  The next morning I went running to clear my head.  I wanted to spend some time talking with God to sort it all out and at about mile 4 I was gently reminded that it was OK to be scared.

As of today, (August 26th) I have accepted the position of Middle School pastor at LifePoint Church in Smyrna, TN.  I’m excited for this next step in my ministry.  I’m excited to be able to pour into these kids lives and teach them Biblical truths that have become evident in my life. I’m excited that the love of my life gets to stay in the church that changed her life. I’m pumped to get started.

But I am also sad.  Cross Point gave me a chance when no one else would.  Pete Wilson saw something in me and mentored me for a year.  I have never been around more genuine, passionate people who live out what they preach.  I learned so much by just watching the way they love their families, strangers and most importantly, God.  I am leaving a family.

You know what’s cool about kingdom of God though?  We are all family and there’s another family in Smyrna ready to welcome me in.

So that’s my big news.  New job, new church, getting married and buying a house all within 1 month of each other.  Throw one up for me!