Austin Porter dot org

When meeting with a mentor in ministry earlier this week, I was asked the question by this experienced pastor, “Can you name 5 people, right now, whom you KNOW needs Christ in their life today?”

WOW. What a challenging question! I was actually taken back for just brief moment. As I searched through my mind, the faces with the names of 5 different people finally started to come into view, and I was so thankful that I could honestly say ”yes” to answer his question.

He went on to say that there really wasn’t a need for me to name them out loud as this question was posed as more of an exercise to examine my heart AND just as importantly, examine the quality of my awareness for establishing existing relationships where I am currently engaged in sharing my story of how Jesus is drastically transforming my life.

I am thankful for the men in my life who are consistently challenging me to not only think about building God’s Kingdom through the work of His church, but rather to focus on truly impacting the people in my relational circle who desperately need God’s work in their life.

The latter must always precede the former, as the former will only result as the latter is expressed!  

Because I know that for me, it can become all to easy to place my attention on teaching other people how to reach others without ever truly doing all that I can to reach them myself…

Unfortunately, I think this predicament can (all too often) hit so many of us ”church planters” & “church leaders,” so let me ask you…

“Who are you intentionally influencing today?”    

I’m finally in the mood to follow up on the news I shared with you on Tuesday. So, here is the rest of the story…

Teresa and I were on White Horse Rd. (Hwy 25) in Greenville heading to Asheville, NC to spend some quality time with our family for Mother’s Day when all of a sudden our day went from very exciting to very intense in just a matter of brief seconds.

As we were coming up on Furman University, we passed a BP Station positioned slightly on a hill to the right side of the road. Teresa and I were in the left hand lane, just barely beside a Toyota Tacoma in the right handlane, when out of the corner of my eye I see an old school beat up brown pickup truck appear to pull out into on coming traffic.

Before I knew it, the brown pickup struck the Toyota on the right side, which immediately drove this Toyota directly into our front end passager side, catching our bumper on its rear as we were drug down the highway right into the median just freakishly allowing us to escape the on coming traffic on the other side of the road.

The result: Our front end completely CRUSHED & TRASHED all over the Interstate!

Needless to say, it was the most scared, yet most pissed off, I have ever been in my entire life. As I told you before, we had just made the 2nd payment on the thing that very same morning just before we left the house.

And to make matters worse, we just so happened to discover that the pickup that caused the entire mess was the result (even according to the state trooper’s accident report) of a “DRIVERLESS VEHICLE IN MOTION!!!”  

That’s right. The idiot at the gas station filled up his truck, walked inside to pay, and “FORGOT” to put the stupid piece of junk BACK INTO GEAR, leaving his vehicle at the mercy of the gravitational pull of the earth and the on coming traffic directly located at the bottom of the hill.

OH, I WAS HOT!!! Especially when he walked out of the station, took a look around, saw what he had done, and all he could offer as an explanation was, “Sorry dude, I didn’t realize it was out of gear…”

Are you freakin’ kidding me????

I was THIS CLOSE to breakin’ all out, trailer trash, Westminster raised, redneck on this ol’ boy.

Anyway, it was definitely a day I would love to forget. The only problem is I CAN’T forget about it and move on because this dude’s freakin’ insurance has taken it upon itself to drag their feet through the whole process as SLOWLY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

And their excuse, “We’re still investigating the accident sir…”

Still INVESTIGATING??? What is there to investigate!

Your IDIOT left his truck out of gear, destroyed two other vehicles in the process, and came as close as you could possibly come to killing everyone involved. And you STILL need to INVESTIGATE this deal?

Morons.

Anyway, this explanation is turning out to be more of a rant, but thank you for still reading (if you are) and for caring enough about us to check back for the full story on what really happened.

Again, we sincerly appreciate all your prayers, phone calls, emails, and responses as we have tried to work through this whole ordeal. Hope it hasn’t been too disheartening but I do appreciate the opportunity to vent.

I guess the therapy session has ended. So, there you have it. Just another day in the life of the Porterhouse!

Like I said before, CRAZY story!  “DRIVERLESS VEHICLE IN MOTION“

Seriously, you have GOT to be kidding me…

Ever have one those days? Well, today is one of those days for me!

But in keeping with my discipline of posting on a regular basis, I thought writing SOMETHING would be more beneficial than writing NOTHING at all.

Maybe its not, but then again who really knows? 

Here is to getting in at 8:45 pm, getting on the net for the first time today, and trying to come up with a productive, cohesive, interactive thought…

SO… 

In keeping up with the average response to the usual question, “Hey, how was your day?”

Let me just say, “My day was fine, how about yours…” 

Teresa & I would like to THANK all of you who pray for us on a regular basis as we certainly experienced the power of your prayers Saturday morning.

Unfortunately, as we were traveling to NC to spend the day with my grandparents for Mother’s Day, we were involved in a terrible accident. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured but sadly all of the vehicles are basically totaled, including my brand new (at least to me) 2006 Mitsubishi Raider purchased only 2 months ago. Ironically, we just made the 2nd payment earlier that morning.

Yes, I wept!!!

However, we are trying to focus on the positive with none of us being seriously injured. But I must confess, the insurance company is already becoming a huge headache as we spent all of yesterday seeking their approval for doctor visits, vehicle repairs, and a rental car (none of which have yet to be approved).

Thankfully, the accident was NOT our fault (more to come on how it happened later… CRAZY story!) and we have some very nice meds to take some of the edge off the frustration of dealing with the whole issue (again, little joke).

So we still praise God for WHO He is and HOW He is continuing to both protect & provide in every situation. And we say “THANK YOU” again to all of you who happened to be praying for us that day. I really believe that it is because of your prayers that we are still alive today.

Yes, it was THAT close to being THAT bad. More to come a little later…

This week has really taken it out of me…

After preaching 5 sermons in 4 days, driving back & forth to NC, getting in late every single night, and really just being away from home since last Saturday has taken more than its toll on my normally energetic lifestyle.

But nevertheless, I am doing what I can to finish strong…

Back in the classroom today (gotta love 7th grade science class), making some last minute plans for meeting with mentors, finishing up some church planting details, and getting ready for another night out on the town with my beautiful wife Teresa!

(Again, it has been since LAST Friday night that we’ve been able to spend any quality time together & I hear my favorite Japanese steakhouse is in the works for tonight. Did I mention, “I LOVE my wife!”)

So, we just keep pressing on. Moving in on what God has in store for us to do for the advancement of His Kingdom each & every week!

I really love doing what God has called me to do during this season of my life, but I still get excited when I know I get to sleep in on Saturday mornings after a CRAZY week like this week has been.

All this to say that after tonight, I will be dead to world until 11:00 am tomorrow morning!

So if you know what’s best for ya, you had better NOT come a’ knockin…