Do You Hear?

The programming staff at Waters Edge has been working on Easter. We are only 5 weeks away! To give you a little taste of the kind of things we come up with here is a video from this past Christmas Eve.



We try to use humor to connect with people. Laughter helps everyone put their guard down. Now just in case you don't think we are funny there is always great music, a dynamic talk, and some type of moving element. Last Easter God used it all and over 300 people ask God to become a part of their life. I can't wait for Easter 2010!

And the winner is...

And the winner of 5 Good Questions is...

Daniel Carmen. It was hard to pick a winner. All six answers made me chuckle.

5 Good Questions

And now it's time for...

5 Good Questions

1. If you could professionally wrestle against anyone who would it be?
2. How much money would it take for you to lick another persons rash?
3. Would you rather pee your pants every time you laugh or have your laugh sound like a middle school girl screaming?
4. Is Superman ticklish? Why or why not?
5. Why do people say bye bye? I mean isn't one bye good enough.

Here's how you play. Answer the previous 5 Good Questions in the comment section. By Thursday at 10:00 PM Rob will decide which person answered the best and declare a winner.

God said not yet...

A couple of weeks ago I asked robshep.com readers to pray for me and Monica in our attempt to have a baby. We found out last Thursday that our sixth attempt with Clomid didn't work. So what's next for us? We are going to keep trying. Eventually we will try other fertility treatments, but for now we are going to try Clomid again.

I'm not mad at God for saying no or not now. Now before you think I'm some super human I'll tell you that we were both really sad. We were both disappointed that God didn't work things out differently. I think it's ok to be disappointed with God. I trust Him, but I wish He would tell us why.

It's hard to get mad at God when He's blessed me with so much. I have an amazing wife! We both have people who care about us and pray for us. The fact that people pray with us about this, cry with us, and will one day get just as excited as we do makes me feel incredibly blessed. If you are praying...thank you and please keep it up. I'll keep you posted as to what God says this month.

People talk poo about you

At some point this week someone is going to talk behind your back. I've found that no matter how nice, friendly, or polite I am someone is going to find fault with something I've said.  Maybe it's a complex I have but I wish everyone liked me.  The truth is even when I have the best of intentions someone is going to get their sensitive feelings hurt.  When this happens I've found that you have a few options...

1. Chalk it up to the person being immature, spineless, and way too sensitive. This makes you feel better but it rarely leads to fixing the problem. 
2. You can talk poo behind their back.  This also makes you feel better but then it shows that you are immature, spineless and way too sensitive. 
3. Pretend it doesn't bother you. Who are you kidding it bothers you.
4. Confront them and tell them that they are immature, spineless, sensitive, and a pathetic excuse for a human being.  Again this would make you feel better but it wouldn't be nice.
5. Confront them with grace because you know you've talked behind other people's backs.

I hate confrontation so most of the time I ignore it when I find out someone has talked behind my back.  Lately though I've tried to confront people with grace. My go to line is "you know me well enough to know I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Next time please talk to me about it and not behind my back."

Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you- for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others. - Ecclesiastes 7:21-23

Mind Dump

My brain feels constipated with thoughts. The following is a brain dump of all the random stuff going on in my head.

• Today I'm flying to ATL and back with my Lead Pastor Stu Hodges. We are going to talk strategy with a consultant. Exciting things are coming to Waters Edge this year.
• It was a great day at church yesterday. Over 100 people became Christ Followers. Can you dig it! 
•  I'm thinking about doing a post on how I'm an idiot Christian. It's been said to me by three different people that you can't disprove science and that Christians are embarrassing because they don't always agree with science. The problem I have with that is that science doesn't prove everything. A lot of science is based off theory. I was once told that we evolved from Chicken Dinosaurs by a college professor. If that's not faith I don't know what is. Call me an idiot but there are certain things that I believe because the Bible teaches it. What are your thoughts on this? 
• I'm in the process of sorting through resumes for a Community Group Manager at Waters Edge Church. If you are interested click here. 
• While working out last week I noticed an older gentlemen wearing a button down shirt, a sweater-vest, and khakis while at the gym. If there is anyone over the age of 60, who reads robshep.com, please let me know if something happens when you get older that causes you to no longer work out in proper gym attire. 
• Is it un-American to not really care about the Olympics? I like that we are leading the medal count, and I watched highlights of Shaun White's gold medal run, but for the most part I could do without them. 
• I went to my first tattoo parlor over the weekend. Is that what they are called? A member of my adult Community Group was getting a new tattoo and he asked that I come. So I did. 
• Dear self, if you ever get accidently stabbed take it like Jack Bauer and barely notice. And yes I caught up on 24 this weekend. Watching that episode I kept wanting him to say, "I don't have time to bleed" (Jesse "The Body" Ventura in Predator). 
• Last week I had the honor of tagging along with my pastor to a luncheon hosted by Ben Arment. A very diverse group of leaders were there. 
• Very excited about April 10th & 11th. 10th = TobyMac in concert and the 11th = NeedToBreathe in concert. I've got meet and greet passes to both so that makes me even more excited!

Whew...I feel better now.

Plain Wrong

On Monday night for my adult Community Group we had Toaster Pastries for snack. I haven't had one of those in years, and I was pretty excited about it. When I opened the box I noticed right away that something wasn't right. Apparently they forgot to fill one of the icing packets. That's just plain wrong.

Yesterday I pulled out a fresh Q-Tip and it was missing the fuzzy part that goes in your ear. If I hadn't of noticed I would have pierced my brain and probably died. Ok that's a little dramatic, but you get the point. It's just plain wrong.

As a Christ Follower love should be what I'm known for. Have you ever met a Christ Follower who was filled with bitterness, anger, jealousy, and negativity? It's kind of like an icing packet without icing or a Q-Tip without the fuzzy part. It's just plain wrong.

Love this video

I recently was introduced to PS22 at my friend Jessie Mintor's blog. She has a fun blog that you should check out here.

Ps22 is a elementary school choir from New York comprised of fifth graders. It's directed by Gregg Breinberg. They are not a school for the arts or a magnet school. Even if they were it would wow me...but it's especially a wow since they are not. I think you will enjoy the following videos...



Above: PS22 singing Viva La Vida



Above: PS22 singing Don't Stop Believin'

ABC's

I got the following blog idea from Jake Holland. He has a very entertaining blog. You should check it out here.

The following is a list, from A to Z, of things I enjoy.

• A is for Amazing Race - one of my favorite TV shows.
• B is for Batman -my favorite superhero.
• C is for Chipotle - by far my favorite food. I'd eat it everyday if I could. Plus Oprah said it was healthy.
• D is for Die Hard - one of my favorite movies of all time. Catch it on TV some time to see the greatest action movie of all time.
• E is for Easy - I like things to be easy. If it's filled with drama or overly complicated I check out.
• F is Farmville - not the game on Facebook! There is actually a place in VA called Farmville and it's where I met my wife.
• G is for Gag nasty - this is my phrase of choice when talking about something gross.
• H is for Hair - I'd like to keep mine and may or may not purchase more for my head at Hair Club for Men.
• I is for Iron Man 2 - hitting theaters on May 7...can you dig it!
• J is for Jerseys - I own 7 Lakers jerseys and I do enjoy wearing them.
• K is for Kohler- I recently got a new Kohler toilet. It's a class five which means it's awesome.
• L is for Lakers - I've been a fan since I was in the third grade.
• M is for Monica - my favorite person ever.
• N is for NeedToBreathe - my favorite band. Check em out here.
• O is for Outback - as in Australia. I'm currently learning to speak the Aussie language so I'll be bilingual.
• P is for PTI - Pardon The Interuption on ESPN is a very entertaining show.
• Q is for Qi - Have you ever played Words With Friends the iPod App? I often get the letter Q in this game and my go to word is Qi. I don't have a fat clue what it means but I play it anyway.
• R is for robshep.com - I enjoy having a blog. I appreciate you coming by and reading it.
• S is Sobe - whenever I'm tired I try to find a Sobe energy drink.
• T is for Tonight- the new album by TobyMac is excellent.
• U is for under there - did you think under where? If so I just made you say underwear.
• V is for visiting the Office - ok I may be cheating on this one, but every Thursday night I love to visit The Office...one of my favorite TV shows.
• W is for Waters Edge - I love my church.
• X is for X-Men 2 - one of my favorite superhero movies.
• Y is for Young Life - my wife became a Christ follower through YL. Plus they have the funniest skits around.
• Z is for Zachary Levi - the star of Chuck. I'm so glad Chuck came back for it's third season. Love it.

I call this adventure the time my house smelled like death

My wife, Monica, and I came home the other night to a smell that was literally gag nasty. Just to give you some perspective it smelled like death had rolled around in feces. Immediately, Monica and I started running around the house trying to find the smell. We tracked it down to a school experiment that Monica had done with her fourth grade class. The experiment involved broccoli and it was left out of the fridge. It stank.

We lit not one, but three, Yankee Candles. We then vacuumed the carpet because the smell had permeated the entire house. Then we bagged the broccoli, and put it outside. Hours passed and then some friends came over. As soon as they walked in the door the smell hit them in the face like a ninja kick. It took a full night of candle burning to finally get the smell out. Who knew that broccoli could smell so heinous? It makes me wonder if it can smell that bad can it really good for you?

My turn for Valentine's Day

In our second year of marriage my wife and I started a tradition where we take turns planning Valentine's Day. When it's not my turn I don't have to think about a date, or a gift. When it is my turn the pressure is on. This year it was my turn to plan our day together. We celebrated on Saturday because I had church all day on Valentine's Day.

It started with breakfast in bed. Now before you give me too much credit it was her favorite donut from Dunkin' Donuts. I then gave Monica her gifts. It started with a coupon book that I made. I saw this on a friend's blog...

My coupon booked included money for a chick flick, a massage, pedicure, and a Chick Fil-A ice dream. If you are interested in learning how to make your own click here. I then surprised Monica with a wireless printer. She's been wanting one for a long time. It wasn't in my Valentine's Day budget, but I had gotten paid for an upcoming wedding so I used that money to surprise her.

For lunch my plan was to take her to Bone Fish Grille. I looked on their website and saw that they were open at 11:30 on V-Day. I called to get a reservation and the lady on the phone told me that they weren't open until 4:00 PM. I kindly reminded her that their website said they were open at 11:30 on Valentine's Day. She then kindly reminded me that it was Saturday and Valentine's Day wasn't until the next day. We ended up at the Olive Garden.

We finished the day by buying a new toilet at Home Depot (this wasn't really a part of the date but we did go after lunch). We've needed a new one for some time and had finally saved up the money to buy one. It's a class five toilet. I'm pretty excited about it.

Monica said it was a great day so I'm happy.

Movie Review: Valentine's Day

Since Valentine's Day is on a Sunday, and I will be at church all day, my wife and I celebrated a day early. What better way to celebrate than going to see the star studded new movie "Valentine's Day." "Valentine's Day" has a gigantor list of A list stars in it. Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, McDreamy and McSteamy from Greys Anatomy, Jamie Foxx, Taylor from Twilight and Taylor Swift to name a few.

For the amount of stars in the movie one would expect it would be amazing. It's not a bad flick, but it's not great. The story is good, the characters are engaging, and it's fun to see that many stars in one movie. The problem for me was it wasn't that funny of a movie. I smiled a couple of times, but it never made me laugh. The other problem I had with the film is (and this may be the pastor coming out of me) sex is for the most part is as casual as a handshake. There were a few glimpses of waiting, but it wasn't for marriage.

"Valentine's Day" is rated PG-13 for very mild language, and way too short sleep wear. I give it a thumb to the side.
Rob's Rating System: Two Thumbs up = I loved it, worth paying full price, and I will own it on DVD.
One Thumb up = An OK movie, worth a matinee showing, and I may buy it on DVD if I see it in the $5 bin.
Thumb to the side = Wait and rent it. I wouldn't be mad if someone gave me this DVD, but I wouldn't buy it.
Thumbs down = I hated it, wish I wouldn't have wasted money on it, wouldn't own it on DVD

What we could all learn from Chick-Fil-A

In most southern parts of the United States, there is a little slice of Heaven known as Chick-Fil-A. Now besides the high quality of their fast food, the thing that sets them apart is their amazing customer service. Chick-Fil-A goes above and beyond. Even though it's fast food they come by your table and ask if you want a refill, give you an after dinner mint, and often take up your trash. It's an amazing experience and they don't even ask for a tip! But even if you've never been to Chick-Fil-A there are a few things we all learn from them.

• Treat people with respect not because they can do something for you, but because you can. Did I mention they don't work for tips?
• Don't settle for mediocrity. Chick-Fil-A is fast food but they go above and beyond. How many times do you settle just because you can?
• Chick-Fil-A's are closed on Sundays so that employees can spend time with their family and if they choose to go to church. If we took time to rest and shut down once a week I believe we would be less stressed, have healthier relationships, and come to work on Monday's re-energized.
  •They are incredibly creative! If you've ever seen one of their billboards or calendars then you know what I'm talking about. All of us have the potential to be creative, but for some reason we've convinced ourselves that we are not. Sure creativity takes a little bit of work but it brings life to things. We need to add a little creativity to our marriages, families, and work places.

So if you are blessed to live near a Chick-Fil-A go eat their today and let them inspire you. If you don't...well it's worth it to plan your next vacation near one.

Better Blogging: 48 Simple Strategies by Tony Morgan

I'm currently reading "Killing Cockroaches" by Tony Morgan. Tony's a great author and an uber blogger. In his book he gives 48 Simple Strategies for better blogging. Now some people say it doesn't matter what you do with your blog, after all it's yours. I say that if that were the case then you should just keep a journal. You shouldn't blog for other people but at the same time when you blog you should keep your readers (or potential readers) in mind. Here's Tony's list...

• Be You
• Speak into people's lives
• Keep it brief
• Post regularly
• share the link love
• Don't try to sell
• Don't self-promote
• Use Humor
• Be vulnerable
• Build others up
• Share your wisdom, but don't make me feel dumb
• Celebrate success, but don't make me feel small
• Tell stories
• Don't try to cover up your mistakes
• Track your numbers
• Don't obsess about your numbers
• Comment on others' blogs
• Monitor who is linking to your site
• Talk like a normal person
• Check your spelling
• Tell me about your family
• Find your voice
• Find your audience
• Focus on that audience
• Tell us what you love
• Offer your opinions
• Don't spread gossip
• Tell the truth
• Spread the truth
• Use lists
• Allow comments
• Provide an email contact
• Check your links to other sites
• Develop relationships
• Use pictures
• Keep it original
• Tease us
• Remember, everything you write will be read
• Don't publish everything you write
• Pay for good design
• Don't correct posts, except for typos
• Update posts, but only sparingly
• Don't ask me to link to your blog
• Create conversation
• Share what you're learning
• Stick with it
• Have fun
• again, be you

TobyMac: Tonight

The summer of my fifth grade year I went to a music festival with my church youth group. At that festival I was introduced to TobyMac in the band dc Talk. I instantly fell in love with their music. dc Talk still to this day is my favorite band of all time. Love em!

Well TobyMac has gone on to become a very successful solo artist. Between dc Talk and his solo career I've invested 20 years of loving his music. On Tuesday he released his newest disc "Tonight." I picked it up last night and right away I could tell Toby delivered on another great album.

Every song sounded most excellent, but a few of the stand out tracks are Tonight, Get Back Up, Showstopper, and Wonderin'.

How Do You Define Sin?

There are certain things the Bible says that make me uncomfortable to talk about. It's hard for me to talk about divorce being a sin. I believe it, but there have been certain counseling situations where it was really uncomfortable to talk about.

The Bible says that homosexuality is a sin. That's easy to say until you come face to face with someone you love who is in a happy monogamous relationship. On multiple occasions I've sat across from someone I know and care about who asked me my opinion on what the Bible has to say about their lifestyle. The degree of hatred and judgement they have been shown from the church makes it hard for me to talk about what the Bible says.

The problem for me is that the Bible has been used to spread hate towards others. It's been used to make people feel superior to another human being. I think today many people feel the same way and their discomfort causes them to dismiss certain parts of the Bible. Our discomfort shouldn't be a reason to dismiss what the Bible says. You can't pick and choose what you believe. If that were the case you might as well throw the whole thing out.

So how do you define sin? Is it based off what makes you feel comfortable or what the Bible says? In my opinion sin is defined by the Bible, but our knowledge of sin should never cause a person to look down on another human. It should never lead to pride or hatred. Our knowledge should lead us to humility and thankfulness that God forgives our sin.

Pray for a baby

Over the past six years my wife and I have not been able to get pregnant. My wife, Monica, has a very positive outlook. She has said that even if God doesn't allow us to get pregnant she has lived a blessed life. She does an amazing job of celebrating when others get pregnant. She often brings the best gifts to the plethora of baby showers she attends each year.

At the same time she really does want to get pregnant. She recently finished taking Clomid, a first line fertility drug. The next couple of days are pretty critical for us. Our prayer is that God would allow us to get pregnant and that it would be a healthy pregnancy. We'd love the prayer support. If God brings us to your mind please pray that God blesses this treatment of Clomid with a healthy baby.

The Belly Burner

Recently for a funny segment at Waters Edge I bought a Belly Burner. If you're not familiar with this product it's pictured below...


I wore the Belly Burner for almost a week. I figured if I was going to talk about it I needed to experience it. They promised amazing results. Below is a picture of the amazing results I experienced...

You'll notice that it does wonders for your abs, but it doesn't do anything for your double chin. All joking aside this picture was actually a part of the segment. It got a great reaction. I hope you enjoy it as much as my church did.

Men and Women are NOT equal

Men and women are not equal. Now before the feminazis crucify me let me explain. Equality means that something is the same in measure or worth. 4 is the equal to 4. Woman typically are not equal with men when it comes to muscle mass or strength. Woman and men are not equal in their emotional make up. It doesn't mean one is better than the other, but the emotional make up is different. Men are not equal to woman when comes to the ability to birth a child...thank God.

Men and woman are not equal and I'm thankful. I'm thankful that my wife and I are gifted differently. I'm glad that we bring different things to the table. I'm glad that in some areas she is way more gifted than I am. Now humans beings are all valuable because they are created in the image of God. But saying men and woman are equal is like saying all pro football players are equal. It's just not true. My wife has more value than I do in certain areas (spelling, motivational drive, and attention to details) and I have more value than she does in certain areas (rapping, remembering memories and stories, and according to her I make better home made cookies). True harmony comes when we celebrate our differences and learn to work well with each other. I need her differences in my life and I'd hate it if we equals.

Snow Days

To have a decent snow in the 757 is a rare experience. In fact whenever the weather people call for snow most people who live in Hampton Roads don't take it too serious. That all changed this past weekend. The weather people said a big snow storm was coming and for VA standards they were right. Church was cancelled on Sunday, so I had two snow days in the house. Enjoy some pics of our snow days...

Pictured Above: My lovely wife Monica and our good friend Danielle.

Pictured Above: Danielle wore these shoes on a walk with Monica.

Pictured Above: The girls made homemade sugar cookies. They were fantastic!

Pictured Above: One of the Students from WEC, Dillon Tulip, was quite the entrepreneur. He went door to door shoveling driveways for cash money.

Pictured Above: A first in the Shepherd home...animals. To entice our friends, Dan and Danielle, to come over Monica said they could bring their dogs. It was weird having animals in my house, but it was worth it to hang out with our friends.

Pictured Above: Our town home in the snow.

Pictured Above: This was what we saw out our front door.

Now you may notice that I'm not featured in these pictures. That's because I spent most of my time watching movies, and playing video games with my buddy Dan. I enjoy a good snow day, but I enjoy it because everything shuts down and you get to simply hang out with people. I'm not a big fan of playing in the snow. Plus I don't have any snow clothes. I didn't even own a jacket until Monica made me get one last year. Ok she didn't make me get one she bought one for me for Christmas...and I'm very thankful.

To Philly and back in less than 24 hours Part 2

The Lakers vs. Sixers game started at 7:00 PM. We got to the stadium over an hour early. I like to walk around the stadium, look at the memorabilia stores, and get all the free s.w.a.g. (stuff we all get). The game was great! The Lakers won, but Allen Iverson drank in the fountain of youth and put on an excellent show. Here are some pics of the game...

Pictured Above: We had great seats! The game ended up being sold out. Over 20,000 people.

Pictured Above: Allen Iverson (from the 757) drives to the basket. It was fun seeing Iverson play. Pictured Above: Ron Artest shoots free throws. He's crazy but so far I'm glad he's a Laker.

Pictured Above: We were 20 rows behind the Lakers bench.
Pictured Above: The Lakers won by 8!

Now we were supposed to stay in Philly on Friday night, but because of the impending snow storm we made the call to drive back to VA. We left at 11:00 PM and arrived home at 4:10 AM. We hated leaving early, but in the end it was the right call. We were able to enjoy two snow days at home.

Pictured Above: Our GPS predicts our arrival home is 3:55 AM.

To Philly and Back in less than 24 hours Part 1

Last October Monica surprised me with tickets to the Lakers vs. 76's game in Philly. The game wasn't until this past Friday...the wait was killer for me.

Monica took off from work and we left for Philly at 9:15 AM. We got to Philly around 2:15 PM. Here are some pics of what we did before the game...

Pictured Above: The Rocky Statue.

4 years ago when I went to Philly the statue was in Hollywood.

I'm a HUGE Rocky fan so we went there first.

Pictured Above: In Philly you have to run the museum steps that Rocky made famous.

Pictured Above: Eating a Philly Cheese Steak in Philly!