Good investments...

I am a cheapskate at heart. I hate to spend money on certain things. Now I don't mind buying motorcycle parts, electronic gizmos and such but for standard things I hate to spend money. I will never forget my wife telling me about a basketball camp in Joplin that our oldest daughter needed to attend. "She will learn all sorts of fundamentals, improve her game, and get some good conditioning" was the selling pitch my wife threw at me. Then she told me how much it would cost. And not only the cost of paying for the gym time but the travel back and forth twice a weekend an hour away. At first I was against it, "she can run in our hometown gym for free and I can coach her" was my thought process. Of course I knew that I would rather lay around on the couch watching football with her than sweating in an old gym and if truth be known she would rather watch football with me too. Not to mention that my coaching skills are carved right out of the Woody Hayes, my way or the highway coaching manual. But because I wanted to see her be the best she could be I decided to pay the money. So over the last two summers, and a couple of in between sessions we have written checks for extra basketball lessons.

Well last week my daughter signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Southwestern Assemblies of GOD University in Waxahachie, TX. She has always wanted to go to school there, even though it is six hours away and cost around $20K a year to attend we told her if it is GOD'S will HE will make a way. Well HE has made a way, although her basketball scholarship won't cover her total cost it goes a long way to getting her bills paid and I am sure her academics (I didn't mention that she is a brain did I?) will get her some scholarship money as well.

Well I was thinking the other day, we spent hundreds of dollars financing her basketball camps, all in all our return on investment was over 1,000 percent. Wish I could do that in the stock market!!

Brrrrrrr....

I was driving with my wife the other day and I made this comment. "It sure is cold out", to which she replied, "It is December!".

That little statement made me realize how sometimes even the most realistic thing that is right in front of us can baffle us. December is supposed to be a cold month, but we have had so much warm weather lately that I think we all forgot it is winter. I know I had. I was running around on Thanksgiving day in a T shirt, was messing around before that and occasionally only needed a light jacket. But this week, a Canadian air mass moved in and Wham! it was cold! My blood is not thick yet, my winter clothes still put up and I am not in the least prepared.

But life went on without me, the seasons changed without my consent and it got cold not because I forgot about it, but because December is supposed to be cold.

In our lives, let us not get so unfocused that we forget where we are, what we are doing and what the weather outside might be. For in that position we are not any good to anyone, to GOD and we will definitely catch cold!

#1 Thankful Thing

Number One Thankful thing... Well I have thought long and hard on this. I have tried to come up with something clever, something funny but nothing seems to do it justice. So I have decided to be real, transparent, and honest. The number one thing I am thankful for is my relationship with Christ. I did not grow up in the church, actually I probably grew up so far away from church it is not funny. My father was an alcoholic, workaholic, social anxiacal person, my mother, well she searched for meaning through all sorts of different circles in her life but never really found what she was looking for. I grew up thinking Church was for sissies, needy people who never took their lives seriously. Most church people that I ran into did not live their lives how I thought they should so I figured it was all just a coping mechanism for those needy people. But one day, at the urging of my girlfriend I decided to give Christ a try. It did not work. I was so frustrated, upset and mad until I realized that you can not just try Christ, you have to give your life to him. Non negotiable, binding, and totally dependant on you to surrender all to him. He does not want us to surrender some but to surrender all to him. So when I finally decided to give him all of me, there was a newness that came on my life. I came to realize my place in this world and my place in his creation. I came to realize that he cares for me more than anything else in the world, that he wants the best for me but also is willing to let me make my own choices in life, and sometimes to live with the consequences so I will appreciate him more. So the number one thing that I am most thankful for is my relationship with Jesus Christ, the risen son of Almighty GOD, the creator of the universe and the author and finisher of my faith...
Be Blessed,
Pat

#2 Thankful Thing

Number TWO!! We are almost there. What am I thankful for? Well speaking of number two, I am thankful for toilets. Have you ever thought what a marvelous engineering marvel the common toilet is? Able to accomodate both the male and female species equally, it is a wonder. A self contained water storage unit on the back that fills itself automatically. A porcelain bowl that requires little assistance to stay clean, throw in one of those little tablet thingy and you are good. A self trapping water space at the bottom that keeps the nasty odors out and a flusher that runs the water down into the bowl to get rid of the bad stuff, clockwise in N. America and counter clockwise in South America. I have never used a toilet in S. America so I can not confirm this. The toilet, without it our homes would be a very messy place.

#3 Thankful Thing

Number Three thankful thing for Thanksgiving is; Al Gore? Yep, not because he is an environmental watchdog now, but because he invented the internet!! I don't know what I would do without the internet! I would have to get my information for sermons through large reference books, I would have nothing but "clip art" to show in my slide shows, and I would know absolutely nothing as to what is going on in the world without the internet. Without Spacebook and MyFace, how would I keep up with everyone other than seeing them at Wal Mart? How would I play Football Fantasy with people I don't know? How will I get my mail without the internet, go to the Post Office? Yep, Al Gore, that guys is pretty smart guy to invent the internet, funny I thought it was some other computer guy.

#4 - Countdown to Thanksgiving

#4 Thankful thing.
I am thankful for indoor plumbing. Yep for an INSIDE bathroom. I remember the house we had in Missouri, it did not have a bathroom. We had a sink in the kitchen but that was it. The outhouse was about 50 yards behind the house and we had to take baths in a 5 gallon metal washtub that had a Pabst Blue Ribbon sticker on the side. This was not in the 1930's, or the 40's or the 50's, or the 60's but in the 1970's. Yeah we bought the house that time forgot. Nothing like having to get up in the middle of the night to make the long flashlight illuminated walk to the outhouse because nature called. And while you are there nature starts calling out all around you. Like the time a snake decided he had to go while I was in there and he decided not to wait and wiggled in through the crack in the door. Or the time when one of the cows decided to try to push the outhouse over while I was inside of it.
When we got our own bathroom in that house, that had a sink, a commode and a shower bathtub unit, we all did a little jig of celebration, none more thankful than me and the snake who now had his very own bathroom.

#5 Thankful thing

Number 5: I am thankful for the microwave oven. I mean imagine what life would be without a "nuclear baking machine"? Forget what it is doing to our bodies as we stand in front of it as it pours out its nuclear radiation to heat or reheat the hazardous waste we call food. Forget about the horror stories of things being blown up inside of them and the steam burns. I love the microwave! I can boil water in 90 seconds, I can heat up leftover Thanksgiving turkey in a minute, I can even get one of those special pizzas with the metal sleeve and have Pepparoni for lunch in three minutes. Too tired to cook? Throw one of those frozen burritos in the oven, nuke it for 60 seconds and Viola! you are ready to eat. Just be careful not to burn the roof of your mouth!

Thankful #6

#6 thing I am thankful for.
Paperclips... yep not just because they help unruly paper stay in order. But all the things that you can do with them. I have used paperclips to fix a toilet, to reset a computer, to act as a make shify hinge pin, as an ear wax remover (you know you do it too...), as a desktop sculture, as a Christmas tree ornament hanger, as a picture frame hanger, and as a metal catapault to send paperwads across an office. I mean they are usefull for about anything. Who knew a twisted piece of metal could be so usefull?

Things I am thankful for #7

#7 Thankful thing...
Q tips. Yeah that's right, I am thankful for Q tips. I do not know who came up with the idea of putting a piece of cotton on the end of a stick. Might have been a kids who was almost finished with his sucker working in the cotton fields one day. It fell out of his mouth into the freshly harvested cotton, the sticky nub of a sucker stuck to a ball of cotton and there you have it, the Q tip. I mean without Q tips not only would we have waxy ear buildup but think of all the model airplanes that would have horrible deformities, the minor wounds that would go untreated, and the endless amounts of antibiotic that would have to be applied with a dirty, bacteria encrusted finger. Q tips rule!!

Things I am thankful for #8

Number Eight: Things I am thanful for.
Clothes Dryer is my number 8 thing I am thankful for. Now some of you are thinking it is because it dry clothes and we don't have to hang them on a line. It is not, how many men have you ever seen hanging clothes on a line? None, those that would have to hang clothes on the line, well they buy their wife a dryer. No I am thankful for the dryer because you really don't have to wash clothes sometimes when you don't have time. Have an old softball jersey you forgot to wash before the game? A dryer sheet and a dryer and about ten minutes of tumbling and you are all set. Have a pair of pants that got all wrinkled up in your closet, throw them in the dryer, Violla! All better. Gave your long haired dog a bath and hate that wet dog smell, well, I don't recommend it but it has been done albeit your dog will hate you for the rest of your life. They dryer fixes everything!

Things I am Thankful for #9

#9 - Toenail clippers.
Have you ever thought what the world would look like without nail clippers? Remember that lady in the Guiness Book of World Records with 9 foot long fingernails? Yuck!! And if your toe nails were that long, shoes would be out of the question! I think long toe nails are the nastiest things under the sun, my grandfather used to have those long old man toe nails. You know the ones you need to take a hacksaw too, maybe even a grinder to finish them off. Thankfully he always wore socks with his sandals!!

10 day till Thanksgiving

Ten things I am thankful for.
I am thankful for a lot of things in my life, but I am going to get sappy and mention some on here. First off I will not list my wife or my kids or my church or my job which I am so thankful for all of them, but they are a no brainer, without all of them I am a most miserable person. So I am going to be funny, smart and hopefully ellicit a few laughs for what I am most thankful for.
Number Ten Thing I am Most Thankful for....

10) Deodorant -
Have you really thought what you and the world around you would smell like without D-O for the B-O? I mean just thinking about it makes me wanna hurl.
Funny story I told on myself. So I am at a trade show working, and we are setting up our booth which entails a lot of sweating and putting up pieces to show to potential customers. So I keep getting a wiff of BO and I am thinking my partner there is in need of a shower. So later on I have this sign held up over my head and I look to the left and almost passed out as I smelled my BO. I was so embarrased! I mean you know when you have a true friend when they tell you, "dude, you need to take a shower". Apparently I forgot to apply the D-O in the A-M before I went to the E-H (exhibit hall) for our D-T (display time). Yes I am an idiot!

Proud Papa...

Yep that is me.
My oldest daughter is graduating high school in the spring. She is a brain, has a 4.0, made a 29 on her ACT and is shooting for a 30 in December. She has great character, is a leader and will succeed in whatever she decides to do in life.
So approaching her graduation this spring from HS, She had to start thinking about continuing her education and what she wanted to do in life. Well she has always wanted to attend Southwestern AG Unniversity. I think it is from all the free T shirts she got at Preachers Kid Camp but she decided a couple of years ago that is what she wanted to do and she has not budged off of it. SAGU is a private institution, and private institutions cost a lot of $$$, somewhere around $20,000.00 a YEAR! Lets just say that is a significant chunck of my salary in a years time. To put into perspective that is more than we pay on our house payment, both car payments and my motorcycle payment plus the insurance it takes to insure them. Yeah, I just broke out into a cold sweat also...
So we tell her, you need to make good grades to get good scholarships because we can't do much to help pay for college. Then we started talking about maybe an athletic scholarship. Is it possible? Well she is a good athlete, but is she good enough to play college ball? She had the height, thanks to her dad she is almost six feet tall, but did she have the skills to play at the next level. Well she arranged a tryout at SAGU last week to practice with the team to see if she could compete. I told her, you are still just a HS Senior, seventeen and you are going to be playing against girls 3 to 5 years older than you, you don't have to dominate, just compete.
Well she goes out to warm up and the coach comes in, gives her the once over and shags balls while she was shooting to warm up. She missed her first couple, then she found her rthym and started knocking down shots. She is pretty good from fifteen feet in, and she kept floating farther and farther outside to where she hit at one time seven in a row from just inside the three point arc. The coach was grinning as she hit on after the other, we found out why after we saw his other big players range is only about ten feet.
So the other girls come in and it was so fun to just watch them size each other up. C ends up not just practicing but scrimmaging agaist the starting five and she held her own. She has some things to work on and she still has another year of maturation but from what she showed the coaching staff they agreed that they wanted her for next years team and offered her a "starters" scholarship which roughly is half the cost of school. Mom and I get a ten percent discount for being ordained so that leaves roughly forty percent to be covered by academics which I am hoping will happen.
So C if you are reading this, I am so proud of you and the hard work you have put in. No one can ever say you were given anything, everything you accomplish was earned with hard work and sweat. Keep working hard, be a leader and GOD will give you the desires of your heart, just like he did with your college.

Thoughts I think I think 2... airline travel

1) Airlines are always fighting to leave on time and many times it is the passengers that are delaying flights taking too long to get on. Heres a thought, use some common sense, quit charging for checked bags, cheapskates like me might check one every so often.
2) Have three lines going at security, first line for experienced travelers, not those that flew ten years ago, those that fly all the time, we get through the line in a hurry. A second line for the casual traveler, those that fly for vacation, going to see grandma and such. They get to the airport four hours before the flight anyway, they have time. And a third line for those that need help, like the old lady who has her entire bathroom shampoo, conditioner and rinse in the three gallon jugs and holds up the line when they tell her three onces or less. Or the little old man who doesn't take off his shoes, tries to get through the metal detector with his keys in his pocket and doesn't take off his jacket. Or the Mom with two little kids who all have their own carry on, filled with metal toys and stuff.
3) How about not giving anything for flights of less than an hour? I mean I can make it from Dallas to Tulsa without a drink. I just hate getting a drink in my hand and the stewdress ask me for it back. Gulp, thanks!
4) How about if you cancell a flight, make some arrangements BEFORE the people on that flight show up. Sometimes I think they hope that all 120 people affected just forgot they were flying that day.
5) A little honesty? Tell the passangers what is really going on with the delays, instead of our next scheduled departure time is X when everyone knows that will not happen.
6) How about making the seats with a little leg room? When the person in front of you has their head in your lap it is a little awkward. Does the three extra people on the plan really make that much of a difference?
7) Can we get a camera of the cockpit since we can't see in there? In light of the NorthWest plane situation, I would like to know what my pilot is doing up there. I know my kids would be a little worried if Mom and I installed a panel behind the front seats in our mini van to seperate us from the kids in the back. Who knows what they are doing, playing bingo?
8) How about we do boarding from the back of the plane to the front of the plane. Line up and go set down. Now they board the front first class so we can walk past them sipping their designer water, then the frequent flyers who sit all over the plane and the they start boarding back to front but people don't know where they sit, where their luggage goes and it takes forever to board.
9) How about some inflight entertainment, I mean, one magazine a month and the crosswords are already done?
10) How about a child section, you know at church we have these sound proof rooms for babies that are crying? Just a thought...

Thoughts I think I think...

Yeah I got the title out of a Sports Illustrated but I like it so I am borrowing it.
Thought I think I think series will be on a number of subjects for the next few weeks. Today is
Church.
1) I think most people find church boring. I know I do and I am a Pastor. The Church was not about sitting on our posteriors and "soaking up" good teaching. The Church is supposed to "go" and the "gates of Hell will not prevail against it". So are we doing more going than staying. Going is not boring, staying is.
2) I think most people find church irrelevant. I hate this but it is true. I would rather go and listen to a grease covered guy tell me some finer points about what I can do to improve my auto than to listen to a guy tell me what I can read for myself in the word. Show me how to use it and it becomes relevant to me. Too many times we are not showing people how to do things, but telling them how to do things. Most people like to be hands on, and they learn when they are involved, not watching from the sidelines.
3) I think sometimes we make church a show. I live a couple of hours from Branson Missouri where there are all sorts of shows I can go see and be entertained. And many times some of the church services are set up more as a show than an experience. When we gather to experience GOD, HE becomes the center of attention. When we put on a "production" for service we remove HIM from the center and we become the show. Too much glitz, not enough GOD.
4) I think most church people don't really know what they believe. I find this sad, it is like running around telling people how good something is, when you really have never tried it. I do not endorse or criticize something I have not tried. And when I get involved, I get involved.
5) I think many Christians play the part. I love motorcycles but I am not a "biker" I am a rider. Now I have leather chaps, leather vest, leather jackets and all the stuff including a bike but I am not a biker. I never pretend to be a biker, never have said I was a biker but many people who see me assume I am a biker because I ride a bike and wear black leather. Put me in with a bunch of people in suits and I look like a big bad biker. Put me in with a bunch of big bad bikers and I am just a guy wearing similiar clothing.
6) I think people know if we are posers or not. People hate posers, a poser is a person who says they are something when they really are not. I will use my biker analogy. I ride a really big Honda motorcyle. It has a 1800CC displacement (my car motor is SMALLER than my bike motor), fuel injection, and all sorts of great technology. It puts somewhere around 90 horsepower to the rear wheel and has somewhere around 120 foot pounds of torque. And I get told all the time, well it is not better than a Harley. I always ask that person what they ride, and they tell me that they don't have a bike, but if they did it would be a Harley and I always walk away and thing, "poser". Christians are a lot like that.
7) I think many Christians are wimps. Yeah I said it, many Christians are wimps. When the going gets tough many will change churches. If they are asked to go beyond their comfort zone they check out. If they are challenged, they quit. But the Bible tells us to meek and mild, turn the other cheek. Once I had a kid get right up in my face and threaten me. My christian thought process was to back down be a peacemaker. But that kid kept getting up in my grill and then he threatened to hit me. The word says the Holy Spirit will speak for us when we don't know what to say. Well I said, "you had better knock me out with your first shot, I will give you that and turn the other cheek, but if you try to hit me again, all bets are off and I will bust you up". He turned two shades of red but never lifted a hand. True Christians are the toughest people you will ever meet.
8) I think Church needs to get over itself. I hate it when people start to talk about other people and their problems while we cast a blind eye at our own. I remember when a lady told another lady about this woman in the church that was sleeping around. She called her a "whore" (can I type that on here?) and said she was bound for Hell, well the lady she was talking to said, "well she might be a whore, but you are a gossip and bound for the same place". I love that, the truth shall set you free.
9) I think religion is rebellion. Religion allows you to do what you want, when you want and how you want. That is rebellion. We are to be in a relationship, in where there is a two party interaction in everything. Rebels want to be alone, Jesus says he will stick closer than a brother.
10) I think the Church needs a wake up call. The Church is a sleeping giant who sees the world around them through rose colored glasses. The church needs to wake up and realize that the world around them is not the same world it was ten, twenty or fifty years ago. Ring Ring, this is the front desk, it is a new day and this is your wake up call.

Why is it...

that about the time you think you're on your way, something jumps up and knocks you down?
It seems that way most times in life, everytime we start to see the finish line, somebody goes and moves it!!
I have just had a time like that. Here is how I get through it.
1) Focus on the positives and not the negatives.
When we focus on the negatives sometimes we make them out to be bigger than they really are. Focus on the positives in life, and even though you may have been tripped up, after you wash the mud out of your eyes the view is much better.
2) Get active.
Get out of the same old routine when something comes up and knocks you off your rocker. Do something different, first it will require you to focus your mind on the new thing you are doing, and second it will give you a burst of energy to get you through.
3) Have someone help you.
Go to friend and explain what happened. Sometimes just hearing that you are not alone, and that someone else made it through will give you the strength to finish. Two make light the heavy work of one.
Pat

Plans...

A friend of mine has this great saying, "fail to plan, plan to fail". I love it because it is so true. But sometimes even the best of plans goes off track. So here is how I deal with derails in my life.
1) Never paint yourself in a corner.
Now I am the King of Procrastination, really I have a PhD in it from Never Do Today What You Can Do Tomorrow Graduate School. But one thing I do is I don't put unrealistic deadlines on myself, and if something comes up that interferes with a deadline that I could not control, I change the one thing I do control, the deadline I put on myself. Now it takes discipline to do this, you can't just make up some kind of "circumstance" to push out your deadline, but lets face it, life happens. So be flexible with yourself and your plans.
2) Always look to the finish line, not the track.
I hated track when I was in school. It must have been in Jr. High when coach tapped me as someone to run the mile in the track meets. I should have been estatic, instead I could only think of that mile I had to run. But I got through it focusing on the finish line, not the process to get to the finish line. Sometimes that finish line looks so far off, but as you get closer you see the line grow larger in your vision, THAT is what will get you to the finish line.
3) When involved in an accident, look for insurance.
I know you are thinking what? Now he is talking about car crashes. No hear me out. When you have an auto accident, you exchange insurance information with the parties involved. What that does is let the insurance companies work togethre to take care of both of you. It is called CO-OPERATION. When your plans get derailed, look for some insurance from a friend, a Pastor, a parent, a grandparent, a neighbor and have them help you get back on track with your plan.
4) Sometimes a detour happens
I hate detours, it slows me down, makes me take new routes I am not familiar with and messes up my schedule. But on many detours I have seen the most amazing scenery, found the best restaurants and experienced things I never would have if I had stayed on the main road. Detours lets us experience things off the beaten track. So don't hate on detours, they happen, embrace them, learn from them, and you might even find out that you find a better way to get where you are going.
5) Plans fail.
There I said it, yep plans fail sometimes. It is OK, you will not be branded a failure for your entire life because you had one plan fail. I think sometimes we learn more from our failed plans than we do from our plans that succeed. Some of the most influential people in history failed and failed miserably. I like the old quote, "if you try nothing, you will be sucessful at nothing 100% of the time". So try and don't be afraid to fail occasionally, just don't make it a habit.
Pat

It is good to be appreciated...

We had Pastor Appreciation day this week. You know October is the month where you are supposed to appreciate your Pastor.
So our church was planning an appreciation time for us this last Sunday.
It was nerve wracking. You see they told us to not plan for anything. They would handle it all, and they did but it still wracked our nerves worrying about what might or might not get done.
They blessed us with great gifts, great words of encouragement and we cried and laughed and relished in it all.
You know sometimes you need to be appreciated a little... even if it is a little embarrasing.

Progress...

I have a bathroom I have worked on for about five years. Yeah, five years. Well actually we had this really big bathroom that I divided into a main bath and a master bath. The main bath was completed not long after the construction project started. The master bath went through some times of inactivity to say the least in the last few years. I would get started and then something would come up that would distract me from finishing the project. Now a bathroom is a pretty big project for a do it yourselfer, but I was capable of doing it, just not capable of completing it. So I was looking at it today, and a thought hit me. Progress is still progress even if it is just a little bit.
You see, the completion of the bathroom will not happen in five minutes. I wish it would but it is feasibly impossible. But a bunch of small steps leads toward completion and that amounts to progress.
So today I had a couple of hours free, so I thought I should go and work on the bathroom. But it is only a couple of hours, so I almost just wimped out and forgot it. So I dedicated the two hours and got some small stuff done. I did not set the world on fire, did not get it completed but I made progress, and that is the key.
Our lives are like that as well, many times we expect to see a completed project in a moment's time, only to find that it doesn't work like that. We need to work toward progress each and every day, and if we will do that we will find that we will eventually reach the goal that we have set for ourselves.
So a little step forward each day will lead you through to completion.

How are you doing????

Hi, how are you? Hi, doing good? Howdy, you doing OK? (In my best New Yorker accent) How are yooooouuu dooooing?
Now I want you to think. Are you thinking yet? How many times have you said that where you really did not care if they were doing well or not? I can hear your thoughts now, I have ESPN, "well I care everytime, I am not just saying that because that is what I am supposed to say". I will at least be honest, I have many times said that as rote and never really expected to get any more than, "fine, how are you?" from someone else. And of course I responded with my politically correct and polite, "great, thank you." And we go on our merry ways happy that we have brought a smile to the world. Are we really that insane?
For you see, I have come to realize that people who ask me how I am doing really are not that concerned with how I am doing. So I have decided to put it to a test, and I want you to join me.
But beware, if you decide to do this, when you ask "how are you doing?" you need to really care how they are doing. Because if you just do this to be funny you are missing the point.
Now for those of you who have decided you really care, the next time someone ask you how you are doing, you should use one of these punchy lines. See how they react, do they just continue on like you said, "fine" or do they actually stop what they are doing and show genuine interest.
Okay? Ready? Here are some ideas for you when you are stopped and and asked how are you doing?
- Pretty good, my house burned down. But all in all good.
- Okay I guess, considering that I am dying. (kind of morbid I know but we all really are dying everyday.)
- OK, other than that abduction by aliens the other night I'm pretty good"
- Great, I just ate radiation and I am feeling luminase!"
- Horrible, my 401K just went in the toilet, my ulcers are acting up, I think I may have a gastrointestinal parisite, my knees, hips and shoulders need replaced, my medicare coverage sent me a statement that said die already, my hairline is receding, my waistline is expanding, college is looming, chocolate is bad for you and then good for you and now bad for you again, we are out of coffee, and the toilet is stopped up. But hey thanks for asking.

Have a great day!!
Pat

Get some new eyes...

I have great eyes! Yes I said it, and I know that I am jinxing myself but I really do.
Baby blues, I had a lady tell me one time that "your daughter has the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen". I looked up and said "thank you", and she said, "I see where she got them from". I said "thanks" and blushed three shades of red. And my eyes work really well. I am 41 now and earlier this year my wife made me go to the optometrist to get an eye check up because she thought I would look good in glasses. Well I did not need glasses. Doc said my eyesight is great but when it goes to come see him. I hope that is a long time from now.
So why am I talking about getting new eyes? Because sometimes we need to look at things from a different set of eyeballs, a different perspective.
Do you know that we grow accustomed to things? Yeah, rocked your world with that little insight didn't I?
Well we after a period of time grow accustomed to things and do not notice them unless they change. So that is why we need a new set of eyes to look at things from a new point of view.
I was looking at some literature we put out and thought, wow, this needs updated. You see I had quit looking at it about six months or more ago. It was our church calendar, we send it out each and every month but I never look at it. You see most of the stuff that goes on in there I am a part of, and it is on my CrackBerry (adicted I tell you) so I don't need the paper model. But I picked one up the other day and was like, wow that needs some refreshing. So I have challenged our staff to upgrade the mailers, all because I looked at something through a new set of eyes.

OK I am going to get political...

I usually refrain from getting political, but this morning this just went all over me. I booted up my computer and first thing I see on the MSN headline is that our President won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Now don't get me wrong, I pray for our president and although I do not agree with every policy he implements I am not an "Obamabasher". So this is more against the people who decide these things than the President himself. But come on!
Lets see what he has done to shape peace throughout the world. Ah, wait a minute, I am thinking, uhmm, well, I really can't come up with anything right now. And that is exactly my point.
Now in the article it talks about how he is lending an ear to Muslim issues and countries in the world, that we all need to live together in this great big world regardless of race and religion. But are we? Just this week Israel has said the obvious, there will be no peace in the Middle East, because the other side does not want it. The militant Hamas, PLO and the other "liberation organizations" that masquerade as politicians but are really terrorist will never accept an Israeli homeland in that area of the world. And the situation with Iran, well that is a boiling pot ready to explode. And Pakistan, well their democratic leader has decided democracy worked great when he was getting elected, now that his time is up he has decided a dictatorship suits him better. Can we really say the world and its countries are in a better place today than say even in 2000? I don't think so.
It also talks about how he is working to disarm the nuclear arsenals of the world. Well this is never going to happen. We have nuclear weapons because we developed them first. The other countries that have nuclear weapons looked at us and said we need a big stick too, so they made their own big sticks. Only the countries who lacked the resources or the know how were never able to make their own big stick got left in the dust. And once you have a big stick, the only thing you don't want is for others to get a big stick. You see with nuclear weapons their is no safeguard. You can burrow down into the mountain, but even if you survive you may not ever be able to leave that grave for the living because of the damage done to the surface. Disarmenment is a farce. You can tell people to turn in their guns for incentives, some will but most will turn in a few and keep the ones that they need to protect themselves against those others who do not turn in all their guns. It is human nature. We are no closer to disarmement now than we were in the 80s during the Cold War.
It also talks about his commitment to World Peace. Can I say that peace only comes followed by a time of war? Check out history, it is the way it has been and will probably always be. We are just smarter about it now than we were in the past. Will there be another world war? I don't know but no one thought there would ever be the first let alone the second world war. Peace? Well I see Iran propaganding that it will become a super power in its military might, we have India and Pakistan firing missles across the bay in test flights, and both are nuclear powers, we have China driving tanks and marching soldiers in the streets showing off their army, and we have conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, a never ending drug war in Latin America, pirates (although stupid ones) attacking ships around the horn of Africa, and let us not forget Somalia, Central African Republic and the genocides that are occuring every day.
No, I think the people who award the Nobel Peace Prize are clueless. They are seeing with their ears but not with their eyes. Kind of like a lot of people today, they hear what they want to hear and then warp their vision to see only what they want to see.
Rant over.

Mount Everest...

I have been intriqued about Mount Everest ever since that book by Jon Krakauer - "Into Thin Air" came out. It gave the account of a Mount Everest expedition that ended in tradgedy, eight people lost their lives that day but some others exampled courage and stamina to make it through the night on the deadliest mountain in the world.
I started thinking about this in relation to ministry. I believe whether you are pioneering or planting a church, pastoring an established church or reviving a church that has been dead or "mostly dead" (Princess Bride concept :-P) it is like climbing a mountain.

The expedition starts with preperation, you get everything together, even stuff that you might not really need but may need on occasion because once you start the journey it is really hard to go back and repack. You loose all your momentum and you waste the time you spent on your initial asscent. Prepare, Prepare, and Prepare some more. You won't probably get it all, but if you prepare correctly you will get 99% of it ready. But many poeple don't prepare at all, they just step in by faith and hope that it will work out. "I am leaving it in GOD'S hands" I have heard too many times. Can I say this, if GOD wanted to do it, he does not really need you. He works through us, and through our preperation we prepare ourselves to be ready to move at his command in any way that he wants. Consider this, you a driving home from work, how many different ways can you go to get home? I am not sure, but I think I can get home about 15 different ways. I don't use them all but I know all of them and they are an option if I need them. If I only know one way, and a tree falls over the road, I am stuck there till someone comes along and moves the tree. Preperation is vital.

The expedition then begins the climb up the mountain. This takes Perspiration. Yep, good old sweat. Too many people in ministry today don't want to work. Yes I went there. They want a 9-5 job Tuesday through Friday, yes ministers get to work a four day work week because Sunday is a work day! Yeah it is tough, sit through a service (if you aren't preaching) go eat lunch with friends for two hours and have the church pay for it, go home and take a nap in the afternoon and then go back to church for the evening service and then go to your ice cream parlor of choice and again put it on the expense account and then take Monday off since you worked so hard on Sunday. Have you ever thought what the people in your church that work a real work week, Monday through Friday, think about your schedule? No wonder everyone thinks ministers have it made. So get out there and start working. Get your manicured hands dirty, put the suit away and get out the Levis, Wranglers, and Rustlers (nice product placements huh? I have two new pairs from each company coming!! not really) and start perspiring. I will say it again, if GOD wanted to do it, he doesn't need us, but because he wants to work THROUGH us we have to start working for him. Climbing a mountain is not easy! You have to carry all this gear that you might or might not need, the air is getting thinner so it is hard to breathe, it is really cold so you are dressed like a snowman with layers and layers of clothes. And the pathway is snowy and icey and one mistep you can fall to your death. Yep, mountain climbing is like doing ministry!! Maybe that is why many won't journey outside the church office because of the slippery slopes.

The last part of being able to climb the mountain is perserverance. That is pushing on past all the obstacles and being tough enough to suceed. Many people are not tough enough anymore. I remember reading of preachers going to towns, preaching the gospel and then getting tarred and feathered by the town folks only to go onto the next town to do it all over again. I was like What? These dudes were C r A z Y!! No, they weren't crazy but they were tough and had a job to do. They did not care what people thought about them, they did not care how much they put in the offereing and wether they could correct them or not. They did not care if anyone came to their meetings. They just knew this is what GOD told them to do and they were going to do it till he told them to quit. The church today is soft. There I said it, we have fostered this culture of sitting around in a circle holding hands singing "KumByAh my Lord, KumByAh" while the world around us is calling out for a savior. We have to be people who are willing to push through, to cowboy up, to rock and roll, to "have fun storming the castle" (another Princess Bride mention, I am on a roll!) if we are to see the moutaintop.

So prepare, perspire and persevere in all that you do, and I believe you will be standing on the summit before long.
Pastor Pat

Follow the directions...

I really hate following directions. I don't know if it is a "man thing" or if I am just wired that way. But following directions is not a strong suit of mine. I remeber when I was younger putting things together and having leftover parts. I remember putting a wheel on my bicycle once, popping a wheelie and seeing my front wheel fall off. For the record, that was the longest wheelie I have ever ridden, although when it ended it was not pretty.
So anyway, I was working on my stratocaster guitar putting in some new electronics and following the directions that came with them. I had it all wired up correct and it still would not work. I got so frustrated that I just put it down and started on some other things. So about four hours later I was just looking at the diagram that came with my parts. And my eye caught something. There was a wire on that diagram that I had not seen earlier. Sure enough I look and I had forgot to put that wire in there. It was not really important, it was the ONLY wire that took the signals from the pickups to the electronics. Kind of like the driveshaft in your car that turns your axles and your wheels. You can have the best motor, best transmission and the nicest tires in the world, but without a drive shaft tying them together, you are going nowhere.
I think our lives are like that sometimes. GOD gives us directions and sometimes it appears to be just a tangle of wires, but somewhere in there if we forget to connect to him, all if for not. So stay connected, or you won't go anywhere or make any music!!

Amazing...

I am truely amazed at what GOD can do even when you have no idea what you are doing.
I was facebooking the other day and saw one of the gals from our college ministry days was getting married. So I posted a congrats! and then saw one of the boys from our XA days had posted as well. Last I knew, he was off on the east coast somewhere. Well I sent a friend request and he responded and low and behold he is a PASTOR! Wow, he was supremely talented, and we knew had a call on his life but that he is a full time Pastor just blew me away. I can't begin to count all these "kids" that we had the opportunity to minister to who have grown up, and are followers of Christ, active in Ministry and serving GOD with all their hearts. Now before I get too big headed I know we had a very small part in it, GOD is the one who equips those he calls, but I think it is too cool that some of these "kids" are out working for GOD and we had a part in their lives.
Really makes you think about ministry and investing in the lives around you. GOD does indeed give you his sheep to shepherd, what you do with them while you have them can impact eternity!

What makes a good parent?

I thought of this question the other day and had a hard time coming up with an answer. If you asked the kids, they would say a good parent is the following.
Lets them do whatever they want.
Gives them whatever they want.
Lets them stay up as long as they want.
Doesn't make them take any responsibility.
Doesn't interfere with their life.
Lets them make all their own choices.

Then I thought of what society considers a good parent to be.
Disciplines their children so they will obey.
Gives them what they need, not necessarily what they want.
Makes sure their well being is considered and enforces dos and do nots to help the child.
Makes the child take responsibility for their actions.
Makes decisions in the best interest of their children, that might not necessarily be what the child feels is in his or her best interest.
Allows the child to explore making decisions, but has the understanding with the child that the Parent's decision is final.

I have four children I am attempting to raise. Each with a different personality, different motivations and my parenting skill sets have to be flexible to be able to parent each of them where they will see the best benefit.
Parenting is an unexact science and even the best of parents sometimes have a child who is a "challenge" but we can never give up or give in. The results are too important.

Any last words...

I read a little article on last words and it got me to thinking, what would you want your last words to be? Well I am a little off balance so I started to think of crazy last words, stuff that might be funny or apropriate in some circles. So here goes...
Arnold Swartzenagar lying on his death bed, he reaches up to Maria Shriver his wife and says, "I'll be back..."
Albert Einstein ~ "Ah, Infinity!!"
George Steinbrenner owner of the NY Yankees ~ "I am looking forward to seeing Billy Martin again, so I can FIRE HIM once more!"
Crazy Horse (American Indian Chief) ~ "Geronimo!!"
General George S. Patton ~ "I will NOT return!"
Chuck Norris ~ Who am I kidding, Chuck Norris will never die!
Mr T. ~ "I pity the fools who have to carry my casket..."
Harry Carrey ~ "Holy Cow!!"
John J. Rambo ~ "what do you mean I ran our of bullets?"
The Godfather ~ "I am accepting an offer I can't refuse..."
to be continued...

Twitter

I forgot all about twitter. I was into it for a little bit, had some people following me and then forgot I even had it. My wife mentioned the other night that she had not seen any tweets from me. I thought she said "Sweets" so I thought I would have to get some candy for her, but then I realized she said "tweets" so I am going to have to get going on the old twitter again.
But I always wonder, who really cares? I mean do people really want to know what I am eating for dinner? Do they really want to know where I am all the time? Are they that interested in my boring life that they want to know that my kids are driving me crazy, my schedule is bonkers and I have gained ten pounds in the last three weeks?
I mean I am not a celebrity, I am not famous so who would want to follow me, I am me and I don't really care what I am doing most of the time.
Well I guess I better go put some random dribble of information on the web for all to share in the boring life of a Pastor/Father/Husband/Salesman/Referee/and whatever else I am.
:-)

Decisions Decisions

I was talking to someone the other day and made the statement that every decision you make affects something later in your life. They looked at me like I had a horn growing out of my head. So I did a little research the other day and documented every decision and if it had a negative or a positive impact on my life.
7:30AM - Alarm went off, (decision) decided to hit snooze three times, (impact) was almost late for a meeting.
8:15AM - Hurrying to meeting (decision) so did not take time to hit the bathroom, (impact) almost wet my pants before getting to the meeting.
9:00AM - (Decision) Decided to have breakfast right before the meeting, (impact) split gravy on my shirt with no time to change.
12:00PM Meetings going good, (decision) to have the fiery chicken enchiladas for lunch, (impact) ate fiery enchiladas for lunch for the next four hours over and over and over again.
1:00PM Meetings resuming (decision) to take a short cut to the next location, (impact) almost late for the meeting again, twice in one day, bad.
5:00PM Meetings over (decision) to find a hotel for the night since I did not call ahead with a reservation (impact) other than the new ulcers I received worrying about where I was going to stay or if I had to sleep in the car, nothing, except for the "in desperate need of a renovation" hotel I stayed at that smelled like bad chicken curry.
11:00 PM Still up, decision from earlier is causing me to not to be able to sleep, bad bed, bad smells and the water pipes keep rattling the walls, or at least I am telling myself it is the waterpipes.
11:30 PM Make my last decision for the day. (Decision) Tomorrow lets make good decisions!!

B U S Y...

I have been soooooo busy. Seems like every waking moment I have had an appointment to keep, someplace to be or someone to take care of. I think we can let those times draw us away from what we really need to be doing.
I realized this the other day when I asked my kids a question about why they had not gotten something done. Their reply, "I have been so busy." So I asked them what they were busy doing? Well, school (which gets over at 3PM) so I gave them that one. So "what did you do between 3PM and 5:30PM" when I got home I asked them.
"Well, we uhmmm got a snack, and did homework and things" was the reply. So 2.5 hours worth of homework and snack making, really? I asked them.
Well there was a couple of video games in there, and a movie and some Facebook time and some more games on the computer, oh and Fantasy Football (BTW I am dominating my league!!) to do.
We get that way in our lives, where stuff starts to push out the important things. Like spending time in the Word, in fellowship with GOD and others, in having GOD only time.
So when you use the old, "I have been busy excuse" think of the things you have been doing and decide if that is a good excuse.

My Baby's Sick

Pastor Trudy was under the weather today in some severe pain. So in the midst of her pain I was trying to comfort her and she put her feet up on me as I stood by the bed. I stood there for about five minutes, and then I got to thinking. How long would I stand there and support her? It was becoming really uncomfortable, standing there and not being able to move. My feet were not in the greatest of positions and were getting sore. So as I thought of those things I realized that I would stand there all day if she needed me to. She was really hurting and the pain and discomfort I was feeling was nowhere near what she was feeling.
I think that is the way Jesus is. He was willing to die so that we would not have to. He was willing to take the pain so we would not have to experience the discomfort. He was willing to do whatever it took to take the pain away from our lives.
That is the kind of legacy we should leave. Gotta go check on my baby, pray that she will feel better.

Top Ten....

Movie Quotes from Pastor's Pat's perspective.

10) "You can't handle the truth!" ~ A few good men

9) I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse" ~ The Godfather

8) "I ain't got time to bleed" ~ Predator

7) Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get" ~ Forrest Gump

6) "He is like iron" ~ Rocky III

5) "Adrianne!! Adrianne!! I did it!! I did it!!" ~ Rocky I

4) "Luke, I am your father" ~ The Empire Strikes Back

3) "Show me the money!!!" ~ Jerry McGuire

2) "I love Brian Piccolo" ~ Brian's Song

1) "Hello, my name is Indigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die." ~ The Princess Bride

Ten Reasons....

Why I ride a motorcycle.
10) How can you not look cool riding a motorcycle?
9) the smells you don't smell in a car.
8) The open sky stretched before you, isn't the same in a car.
7) Gas mileage is Great!
6) Air Conditioning is not required! The faster you go, the cooler it gets!
5) You HAVE to wear jeans, no Khakis allowed.
4) The thrill of traveling over 60 MPH, looking down and seeing the road three inches from your boot.
3) The roaring of the pipes as you set at a stop light and irritate the person on the cell phone next to you.
2) The oneness you feel with the road, with no distractions. No radio, no cell phone, no kids.
1)Because my wife will let me!!

I hate...

Clutter.
But I apparently love it also since there is so much around.
Stay with me.
I find that clutter to me are items that I rarely use, that really have no value, and just take up space.
They are things like the bowling ball that I have in my office/den/walk in closet. I have used it twice in ten years. I am not a bowler, but I found this ball at a bowling alley in Indiana (I think) and I bowled the game of my life (179). So I bought it for $5. I have taken it one time to go bowling and I have moved it twice from one house to another. Why do I have it, well it has meaning to my bowling career.
They are things like the old briefcase I had laying around the other day. So I counted up the briefcases I own, yeah it shocked me too. I have seven briefcases! They all do not look the same but this one I am refering to and another one I have, they are simliliar. Now I don't use more than one at a time, so why do I have seven? Clutter. And the one I was going to get rid of has a broken handle so that is why it was replaced. But it was not removed, why, well it had meaning to me.
See, our lives are like that. We allow things that may have meaning, but serve no purpose or use in our lives to clutter us up to the point where new things have no place to exist. I will always remember that bowling ball and the game I rolled, I do not need the ball to remind me. I will always remember that briefcase that has the broken handle. Well maybe I won't but I have another that looks just like it that is fully functional with handles that work, so I will not miss it in my life.
So every so often, get rid of the clutter that surrounds your life so you can let new things take those places.

Confusion is good?

Yep, when you work out you need to confuse your muscles to get them to burn excess fat, get larger or get leaner. Your muscles react to confusion and it is a good thing. Who would have thought confusion was good?
Athletes vary their workout routine to get the most out of every workout and to become physically the best they can be.
What if we applied that to our Christian walk? I can see it now, headline reads, confused christians confounds churches.
I think some confusion is good in our lives, it makes us look deeper for the answers that elude us, it makes our brain process information in a new way to bring new meaning to old things.
So confuse yourself a little this week, build some brain muscles, learn some new truths and exercise some of those spiritual muscles that have gotten flabby!!

Disappointed?

Well get used to it!
I actually had someone tell me that one time. How encouraging!!
But it is also true. We WILL be disappointed at one time or another in this life. It is part of the living process. But it is how we deal with disappointment that determines wether disappointment will cause a multi car pile up or be a momentary speed bump on our journey of life.
The greatest people in history dealt with disappointment.
Abraham Lincoln ran for a government office and lost before he won the presidency of the United States.
George Washington, who won many a military victory as a commander, was constantly facing disappointments over loss military battles in his life.
Jesus himself, was disappointed over the lack of faith he found in his own followers.
We are constantly disappointed in this life, but we can find consolation in others who also suffered disappointments but did not allow their disappointments to keep them from achieiving great things in thier lives.
So get disappointed today, get over it and get on with it!

Remember the Golden Rule...

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" my Mom used to tell me that all the time. Did you know it is not in the Bible? Well in that exact wording is isn't but the threads of that saying are woven throughout the Bible. So if that is the case, why don't more people do it?
In our culture we have turned that around, it is now "do unto others before they do it unto you" and that is just wrong.
I got to thinking, if we treated people like we wanted to be treated the world would be pretty good. You want respect, then give some respect. You want some compassion then give some. You want unconditional love, then give some unconditional "I don't care what you do to me I will always love you" love back to someone. But as much as people say this is what they want, most want it one way. They want you to do unto them as they would have you do unto them, not as they would do unto you. It is a sad state to be in, when you are always taking and never giving.
But that is not an excuse for us to do the same. My Momma said, "remember the Golden Rule", she did not say "remember the Golden Rule, if those people are being nice to you".
Too many times we allow the actions of others to shape our reactions. So the next time you are feeling a little vindictive, vengeful, maliscious and just plain mean, remember the Golden Rule and be a better person for it.

Just thinkin...

If you have seen "Night at the Museum II" you will know the clip I will try to explain. Larry is needing some advice and information from the exhibits that come to life after dark at the museum he is in. Yeah I know, its a movie so let it rest. Anyway, he is looking for someone wise, someone smart, someone who knows the answers to all the questions. So who does he go to? The statue of "The Thinker". So he asked his question and Larry finds out that the thinker is not that bright, he actually is the stereotypical jock who is more worried about his biceps than binary codes. It was a pretty cute way to see that things are not always exactly what we think that they may be.

Too many times we go to someone who we "think" is smart and ask their advice on life. We go to someone who we "think" knows the answers to our questions and can give us good direction. Sometimes we just seek out those that will tell us what we want to hear, those that "think" the way we want them to so we can justify our decisions.

So next time you are "thinking" that you need some help with a decision in your life, "think" who you are entrusting to help you with that decision, make sure they are more interested in your well being than in their own being well.

Are you under the influence?

No not that kind of under the influence!!
What I mean are you under the influence of someone? You see just like drugs and alcohol can make you behave totally against your normal nature. Yeah we have all seen them, the ones with a light shade on their head...the ones that "think" they can dance... the "here watch this" that ends in disastor. When we find ourselves influenced by the wrong things we operate outside our normal nature and if we do it often enough we find that the new nature becomes the normal.
So who is influencing you?
I have a great bunch of fellow pastors that I get to influence often. Sometimes it is not for the good, but most times I hope I am having a good influence on them. It might mean giving encouragement when they need it, it might also mean giving them a kick in the pants if they need it. But what I have learned is our nature is affected by the things that influence us.
So if you are not under the influence of something or someone that is helping you change to a better person, you need to find that something or someone that will help "influence" you to the good.

Revelation churches...

We are finishing a series on the Revelation churches. I truely believe that there is a little bit of each of those churches in the American church today, but I have decided if I have to be one, then I want to be Philadelphia. They were the only church that was not rebuked but were encouraged.
They were not the biggest, the wealthiest, the most secure, the influential, the most famous. They were not made up of Apostles or from what I can find were ever visited by Paul, Peter or any of the Apostles. They were not leaders of the world, their town was not even a destination city (unless you were looking for wine, and there they had you), a center of commerce or wealth.
They were pretty ordinary. But they were faithful. Though they were small, they were faithful, though they had little monies they were faithful, though they were being wrongly attacked by the other church (it called it the Synagouge of Satan, what a name!) they were still faithful.
And because they were faithfull, GOD to them was changed from I AM to I WILL. Multiple times he promised "I will" to the people of Philadelphia.
When GOD says that he will, it is not of matter of if it will happen, but a matter of when it will happen. I wish to be faithful so that GOD will be a GOD of "I will" in my life.

One Year later...

It has snuck up on me. It came so fast, it doesn't seem possible.
I have been employed with the new company for one full year!
So what have I learned?
Here is my top ten list.
10) you need to be a really good verbal communicator when you work remotely and don't have face to face time with your co-workers. What is it, 80% of all communication is non verbal, I believe that now.
9) E-mail will kill you if you allow it to become your datebook. I know, I am in the middle of a project, and "you've got mail" chimes and I go and click it and now I am buried under the work I "was" working on and now the new work I "have" to do.
8) You can't drive 300 miles in 3 hours. Well not legally you can't. I have learned once again that we need to make a plan, and then we need to work the plan.
7) Airlines have the option to totally mess you over, not buy you dinner and take advantage of you. Don't you dare be one minute late for a flight, even if they are the ones that made you late. But don't think that they are going to leave on time to get you where you need to be either. They are in charge, you are cattle.
6) Rental cars places don't always have cars. Even if they say they do. And if you reserve a car, it doesn't mean you have one there waiting on you when you get to a strange city in the middle of the night needing to get to a hotel and you only have $5 cash on you. See the airlines, rental car people are two spots behind them.
5) Fill out all those perk things the hotels, car rentals, airlines and other people give you. First they will know you are a "serious" traveler and secondly you "might" get some free stuff. I emphasize "might".
4) Phone chargers, laptop chargers and any other kind of charger is not an "optional" item even when you think you are only flying in and flying back out the same day and you really won't be using your equipment that much and they will last at least 12 hours. See number 7.
3) Know the laws of the land that you are visiting. I will explain, if you are visiting Dallas, the speed limit signs are not a limit but a suggested speed to keep you from getting killed. Drive under it and you will be shot on sight. If you are visiting Washington DC, keep you hand on your wallet and take out those two weeks of receipts you have been saving for your expense report. You don't want those people thinking that your wallet is buldging because they think it is money. If you are visiting Chicago in the middle of winter, dress accordingly, polyester slacks at 14 below with a thirty mile an hour wind will lead to frostbite on your lower extremities. I could go on and on... and don't talk to me about LA! Where things are not always what they seem, or people either!
2) Everyone does not want to be your friend. Your happiness is not affecting other people. In fact if you are too happy, you will make grouchy people even more grouchy. Case in point the airline, rental car and hotel desk. Happy people get bumped from flights because of overbooking, grouchy people get upgrades.
1) Change is hard, but change is usually for the good. Everywhere you look there is change. The seasons, the position of the sun and the moon in the sky, your midriff and your hairline. Change is everywhere all the time. So don't be afraid to change, you might just find out that you like it.

Handcuffed!!

My son was playing with his cousin whose Father happened to be in law enforcement for a time. They apparently found Dad's handcuffs and decided to do a little play acting. Well my son was apparently the "robber" in this game and his cousin slapped the cuffs on him. Well they found out that Dad did not know where the keys were. They had to go to the police station to get un-cuffed.

Now this picture has been altered to stay with a "G" rating as they were playing shirts off, and not to impress anyone with my son's physque I added a computer generated T shirt. But the look on his face is what kills me.

That is a look of hopelessness as he realizes that he is handcuffed and there is no getting out.

Many people live their life this way, handcuffed by the things of life they walk around with this look on their face as if there is no hope!

Don't be handcuffed by life, look in the mirror, take off those shackles that bound you up and be free!!

Vacation it is not...

I have recently embarked on a three week sabatical from the church. What that means is I am letting my staff take care of the day to day operations so that I can refresh. Now many have asked me, well take a weeks vacation. Well in being in a Pastor even when you are away, you are never truely away. There are situations that come up (and we had a funeral this week that I ministered at) and you really never stop being the Pastor. You worry about things that are going on, you worry about who is doing what, you worry about if services are going on as scheduled. But with a sabatical you are supposed to not worry about those things. You let others handle them.
I thought not thinking about church stuff would be easy. Well it is not, I have been challenged in the last week about what we are doing for our community, what differences we are making, are we serving to our ability? I have read through at least two books this last week and a half about dreaming GOD sized dreams and also chasing after what GOD would have us do. I think I am thinking church more now than ever. But I am only one week into it and I am already preparing for a sermon that is three weeks out. I am itching to get going again casting vision for our community and dreaming GOD sized dreams.
Be Blessed

I am so thankful for the little things that I have in life. I did a lot of driving this week through a couple of states and saw that people live in all sorts of climates and conditions and it got me to thinking that I have it so good.
I may not live in a mansion, but I do have a house that keeps the critters out and the rain off my head. The AC might not keep it 68 but it does keep it below 80. The water might not have great pressure but it is not rusty, does not stink, and is hot most of the time. The carpet is not new, but it is better than dirt and my bed might not be the best but at least it is a bed and not just a blanket in the corner.
I may not have a brand new car, but I at least have one that runs, gets me to where I want to go and does not cost me a fortune.
I have a family that loves me, a wife that thinks I am still great after all these years and a GOD who is always faithful.
Life is indeed good!

Have you ever not been able to sleep?

I am away from home in a hotel room and can't sleep. So I got to thinking...
If you knew what you know now, do you think that you would have gotten married in the first place? I know I probably would not have...

Now wait a minute, it is not about me. I think if my wife knew all the stupid decisions I have made, how much I hog the covers and mess up the bed, how sometimes I zone out and don't listen to her she might have decided not to marry me in the first place.
Now me on the other hand, I am so lucky I got her to say "I do" before she found out all the things that "I don't"!!

I love my wife!!

Convertibles...

I just love convertibles!! I happened to get a convertible Mustang on my last trip and decided to go "topless" for a little while running down the highway.
Here are some rules for running with the top down...
1) Everyone will look at you. With the top down it is like a traffic accident, everyone wants to see who is driving that car. So prepared to be stared at, thumbed at (as in good thumbs up) and notived wherever you go.
2) If you have a bald spot, it will get burnt. Trust me on this.
3) Bugs will fly into your car with the top down. Hey they are interested too in the convertible and will fly in for a closer look. Note, if you are above 6' plan on a few finding your forehead as they miss the top of the windshield.
4) if you have loose papers laying around, well you will lose papers.
5) You can not put the top up while traveling at 60 MPH no matter how fast the rains are coming in. Keep an eye on the sky and be aware for raindrops at 60 are no picnic.
6) You are not protected from bird droppings with the top down. Just so you know.
7) All those smells that you don't smell with the windows up you do with the top down. Like the ocean salt smell as you cruise down the beach hiway. The wild flowers blossums as they bloom in the fields, and the pig farm you pass by none too quickly.
8) Did I mention that sunburns on the bald spots really hurt?
9) Did I mention that if you are above 6 feet and wear a hat, that said hat will disappear at approximately 53 miles per hour.
10) Enjoy yourself. No one hates to see someone riding around in a convertible with a frown on their face. Come on, have you ever seen that grumpy person and think what must be wrong with them when they have a convertible and they are STILL not happy...
Peace!

I been everywhere man, I've been everywhere...

Johnny Cash used to sing that song. I am living it.
I have been seeing a lot of this beautiful country the month of June. It amazes me the complexity of creation. Can you imagine putting all of this into order? Can you imagine that all of this just happened?
There will be arguments and conversations about how life came about, but I find the more I try to rationalize and explain it, the more I find that I do not know.
You know, I have decided that not knowing everything is a good thing. I don't need to know everything, some things I really don't want to know. But the more I know, the less I seem to grasp, and the more I grasp, the less I know.
So it is OK not to know everything. But one thing I do know, we sure live in a pretty country!

Improving?

Are you improving? I was thinking of this the other day when I was discussing basketball with my daughter. Are you improving in every aspect of your life?
In school we are always improving so we can go from one grade to another, slowly climbing the ladder till we reach graduation. Then some people go onto college and further their educations while others learn a trade and improve in their careers.
But some people cease to improve. That bothers me. You see we can always get better at everything in our life. There is nothing that we can't improve on.
So are you impoving? First you need to set goals, just like in school, look at your grade, determine where you want to be and work toward it.
So improve, what do you have to loose.

Hi there!!

I know you are reading this right now. I jus thought I would say hi. To those I see on a regular basis, well I can't wait to see you again. To those that I don't see on a regular basis, well I miss you and can't wait to see you again.
I am amazed at how many people stay connected through the blogs. It is an avenue to share and stay a part of something even though you are so far away.
So be well and I will see you...sometime.

An Ear of Corn

This had to be the biggest ear of corn I have ever saw... I almost wrecked when I saw it as it appeared to be eating this house. I got to thinking about genetic engineering, remember the attack of the Giant Tomoatoes? Well this is the attack of the 50 foot tall ear of corn.

That is a bunch of water, in Pensacola Bay. Crazy thing about this, we were on a bridge to go the Hemmingways restaurant, and had to cross about a mile and half section of water to get back to the mainland. And about halfway across from both sides there are these unfinished bridges. They do not connect as they stop probably a half mile from each other but they parralel the main roadway most of the way. It is a fishing bridge. Now I started thinking, what would be more practical? Making a seperate bridge to fish off of, or expanding the original bridge to make a fishing lane? I would think one bridge would be cheaper than two... Sometimes we are like that in life, we complicate things more than they need to be. Just remember, should the Lord tarry, no one gets out of this life alive... Be Blessed!

Must be Canadians, eh?

I am in beautiful Pensacola, Florida today. Got to go eat at Hemmingway's on Pensacola Beach. You know, Earnest Hemmingway's place... anyway, the waves were rolling, the the wind was blowing and I would say it is in the high 70's and there were people in bathing suits on the beach. As we were looking out the window eating lunch, I thought, they must be from Canada!! Too chilly and too windy for my taste. They would probably try to roll me back into the water anyway thinking I had beached myself.
A shout out to all our serving military and to all that have served. Pensacola is a hot bed of Naval Activity, on my flight down I sat next to a young Marine, had two young marines directly behind me and a couple across the aisle. Weren't nobody taking over our plane I will tell you. Although I did kind of realize that I am so far out of touch half the stuff they were talking about I could not understand. What I did understand is that Marines on leave do some pretty crazy stuff and that I am too old to do crazy stuff anymore!!
Heading to Minnesota, where there are no Ts and everything has a D in it.

Somtimes...

I wonder about random thoughts...
Roller Coasters, why do they not have vomit shields on them? You know we have all been there where we get sat next to a youngster who hasn't taken Dramamine and you just know that you are going to get thrown up on.

Will we have cars in heaven? I mean I really want a '63 Impala convertible, and will GOD allow burnouts on the streets of gold?

When the rapture takes place, what will happen to all the stuff that we leave behind? Will it be a free for all to come and get out possesions or can we leave a "rapture will"? To my unsaved cousin Vinny, I leave my stamp collection and my 78 Pacer.

Can you move when you get to heaven? What if you don't care for your neighbors? Can you go to GOD and request a different mansion if your neighbor is playing loud worship music all the time or doesn't keep his yard mowed.

Have you seen the commericals we have on TV now days? It is embarrasing enough when you have to discuss with your kids what Viagra does and what ED means. But now there is this new stuff that, well, uhmmm, let's see, how do I say this? This new stuff that makes your "ego" bigger. Savvy? So what's next? Get taller pills?

Twitter? I used to get into trouble in school because I would twitter with my thumbs. Who knew I was about 20 years ahead of the times.

I deleted my Facebook account on accident. So all these new friends who used to be old friends, do they show up as new friends or as old friends? Can I count them twice? And is it bad to not add friends that turned out not to be friends in the first place when I reset my friends? And do I have to be everybody's friend. Where is the button that you hit that says, "I really do not like you and don't want to be your friend, so there!" ?

Why can't a major leauge pitcher throw a strike when he really needs it? It is only 60'-6" to the plate and you do it for a living? Come on, throw that meatball down the middle!!

If Baseball is 90% mental, why wasn't Einstien an all star?

Rain rain go away

Come again some other day. Remember that childhood rhyme? Well I am saying it today. We are in a perpetual flood for the last couple of weeks. It has rained almost every day and I am not talking a little bit. But do you know what?
The rain sure does make all the plants grow very nicely. The old dead bushes, seem to sprout up with renewed green. The trees seem to just glow, and the flowers, well they glisten in the morning.
Life is like that, we go through storms in our lives, but in the midst of the storms we grow stronger, we sprout up and sometimes we glisten with the washing that comes with the storm.
So lift up your heads, drink in the storms, for sunshine will surely come!

Busy

You know sometimes we get just too busy. Busy with work, busy with church, busy with family and busy with just things.
Sometimes we can get so busy that we forget the things that are important to us. That is the time when we should just set back and make sure we have our priorities right. We might need to re-organize some things. We might need to just say no to some things. We might need to let some things lay for the time being.
Many times we are the ones responsible for our own overloaded schedule, so we have no one to blame but ourselves.
So when you feel overwhelmed, step back, evalauate and make good choices to take care of all the things that are pressing us each day.

Emergency anyone?

Yep I am in Huntsville Alabama today. Flew in this morning, and on the way realized I had no car rental set up. No problem you say, just call and make a reservation? Well not since there was a tornado down here that wrecked a bunch of cars and everyone who had insurance has rented them. Not a one available. Nada. Zilch. So what am I to do, I have a meeting an hour north of here and four hours south. What did I do, I became a slug and asked my client to haul my carcass around. Yep I am a freeloader. At least till we get to Mon-gum-ry (Montgomery for you nautherners) where I will get my own wheels. Talk about a little stress to get your blood pumping in the morning.
It was almost as stressful as listening to my wife tell my teenage daughter that she could not stay up all night washing clothes. Actually she was going to sleep for two hours, then change out the washer and dryer, sleep two more hours and then change out again every two hours till morning. My wife said, "you will not do that", She says, "I have no choice". My wife says, "Absolutely not", My daughter says, "I have too!". Well she said she had no clothes to wear to school. Now did she really have no clothes or did she not have the clothes she "wanted" to wear? Well her emergency could have been adverted if she had taken care of her needs over the weekend when she was laying around watching movies. And I guess my car needs could have been taken care of if I had made arrangements earlier. So cut down on emergencies, plan ahead!!

Viva Las Vegas...

What is so good about Las Vegas?
I mean it is cool to see the architecture, all the lights and such but I just don't get it. To get to anywhere you have to travel through a maze of casinos and meeting rooms. Probably three times I got so turned around I thought I was not going to find my way out.
The people are not that friendly really, the city not that clean, and the airport isn't that great.
So is it all about the gambling? I saw person after person throwing money down on the tables and inserting into the slots but those people looked as poor as I.
I guess the attitude of my cabbie summed it up. He retired to Vegas in 1991, had a nice retirement account and such that he and his wife decided to live there. So I am thinking to myself why he drives a cab? And he answered and said that he drives a cab for the insurance and for his gambling money. So I am thinking to myself, you know if he saved all that gambling money, the things he could buy for him and his wife in their old age.
I guess it is the age old question, do you think if I let it ride I can get it all back at one time?
They don't have those polished marble floors, the nice architecture and the big TVs because everyone is a winner. That town was built on a whole lot of losers!!
It is good to be home!

Chicken, its not just for dinner...

Have you ever met someone who is just plain "chicken". I find myself sometimes feeling like a chicken in some senses because I want to avoid conflict. Does lack of courage lead oneself to becoming a "chicken"? Does avoiding conflict make you "chicken" or wise?
I have thought about this and have decided that avoiding conflict because you are scared makes you a "chicken". But to avoid conflict to keep someone from getting hurt does not make you a "chicken" but makes you a good friend.
See there is a line that has to be crossed in each situation, just as you would not let a toddler "toddle" onto a highway, you should also keep your friends from getting hurt. But when you allow your friends to get hurt because you would not speak up, you are a "chicken".
A good friend is not just one who will tell you the truth, but will also tell you the truth when they know that it is not what you want to hear.
So don't be a "chicken", be a good friend.

Politics

Now I hate to get involved in a political discussion as everybody's views and opinions differ about as much as humanely possible. But here goes.
I believe we are in a dangerous position in this country today. What I see is a total shift from the foundation that was laid by our founding fathers.
Take a quarter out of your pocket, or a dollar, or a penny and you will see that all of them have one thing in common. "In GOD we trust" is inscribed on each of them and all of our currency for the United States. But is that really true today? I don't think so.
We see the US giving Billions (with a B) of dollars in bailouts to companies such as AIG, GM, CitiBank, subsidizing banks who made risky lendings, and securing employment to scores of people who have bilked the system for the last ten years, I think it is time to indeed to take "in GOD we trust" off of our money as it is not true anymore. At least for most of America.

We should replace it with, "in the Congress we trust"... well that may not work. How about "in the Senate we trust"... uhm no as well. How about "in our elected leadership we trust"? Well that probably is not true either. "In the Treasury Department we trust"? Well they have made a mess of things too. So maybe just "in the US we trust". Well I could see that twenty years ago, but today probably not. Many people of this country have put their trust in our new policy makers and leadership and I am afraid as things get worse that trust will erode. And then where will we be? I think that we will continue to have some trust issues till we put our trust in the one that is indeed trustworthy. You know the one that is mentioned on our money for at least today.

Forward Thinking...

How much forward thinking do you do? If you are like most, we think more of what we have done or what we need to do in the next small segment of time that we never get around to thinking long term.
You see we can get so caught up in the moment, we loose sight of the future. Or we get so focused on the past that we can't catch a vision for the future.
I was asked in a job interview once, "where do you see yourself in five years?". It was a good question and as a hungry job seeking individual, I answered, "as a valuable asset to this company". I got the job but ended up staying 20 years.
When we think, where do we want to be in 5 years, 10 years or more, do we really chart a course to get there or do we just pipe dream it and kill the vision just after it has been birthed?
So start dreaming of tomorrow and the next day and chart a course to get you to that place in life. Be forward thinking!!

Kids...

Man they are a handfull sometimes, cost a lot of money to raise but I think worth every dollar.
I wanted to brag on my kids for a bit, we don't do that often enough. Really we probably spend more time criticizing them than we do encouraging them.

My oldest was born on Father's Day and it is appropriate since she is almost just like me. She is so talented, in many different areas. She plays every sport that she can in school and is looking to possibly continue athletic endeavors at the college level. I pray she does as we can use every scholarship available. She is talented musically as well. She plays bass guitar and drums and is good at both. She recently went to competition where you have to play a drum solo. Well she kept trying to back out and she did not put her best foot forward to practice and at the dress rehearsal she played for one minute fifteen seconds or something like that. At competition they give you FIVE minutes which is a long time to play a drum solo. So she takes her prepared minute, and at competition decides that is not long enough. So she starts with what she prepared and then played another FOUR minutes off the cuff. Yep, just made it up and kept playing. She rated superior with her spur of the moment effort. I din't have to wonder what would have happened had she prepared a five minute performance in the first place. She would have blown people away. She is so good sometimes, she allows her talent to carry her, when she starts applying that talent to some practice and puts her mind to be the best. Watch out!! Oh and she is a straight A student as well taking college courses as a 15 year old. Brains too? It is not fair one girl should be so blessed.

My daughter number two is so different from daughter number one. Number two athletically was not as big, but really was a good athlete at her age. She got hurt early on and decided that sports was not her thing. So she gets into music. She can sing, play the guitar, pick around on the piano, she is a runway model and getting paid (products and discounts at the places she models for, that is getting paid as far as I see it) to do it. She is a cheerleader, leader and also is a straight A student as well. She is so respectful, polite and a joy to be around. And she has a handicap. She was born with heart problems, had open heart surgury at 8 days old, had a pacemaker put in and had a heart surgury procedure earlier this year and yet nothing slows her down. You forget she even has the issue until you see the scar and are reminded of the surguries. She will end up at college somewhere, either as a cheerleader, or as a brainiac or on some TV show or fashion show. Who knows, the world is definately her oyster, and I don't even know if she liks oysters!!

My oldest son. Well he is so sweet. He looks like a model, plays middle linebacker and has dimples that when he gets older will probably get him in trouble. He is still a little shy, and he doesn't realize how good looking, how smart or even how good he really is. He is at that age where his voice is starting to change, his feet are getting bigger and he is starting to fill out. He also is a force at wanting to get better in sports and will work to do it. He is going to be a beast when he gets older, I just hope his sweet spirit stays with him. I think he will be a football player that will knock your block off, then reach down and help you up and pray for you as you wobble back to the huddle. Oh and he is a BRAIN also. He reads like a little widow woman, always a book in his hand, he and his Quiz Bowl team are some of the best in the state and he has a ton of knowledge stored in that head of his. He is a lot like his Dad in that aspect. He remembers everything. One day he will either be playing middle linebacker and smacking people, running a corporation or spending eight weeks on Jeopardy schooling Alex on who the first century warlords of east Asia were.

My youngest son. Where to start. Well from the beginning he wasn't supposed to be here. My wife and I tried to quit at three kids. She had a tubal and ended up pregnant with number four. I remember thinking he was going to cost me a lot of retirement funds and at least three more years of kids in the house when we found out about him. He has yet to start sports, he would rather set around playing video games. But he personality is so bright he just about makes everyone laugh as he comes into a room. He is musical like the rest of his family, taking piano lessons, and is a natural comedian. He is still so sweet that he likes to set next to me and has no problem showing affection for his family. He is smart as well, not book smart yet but he can figure out a way to take most anything apart, and then put it back together.

So all in all I am blessed with the kids I have been given. Everyday I thank GOD for the days I have been blessed to have them and I know that I will miss the days when they are not an every day part of my life. So I will enjoy them as long as I have them. Love you kids.

Music

Wow it has been a week since I shared. That is what I think of blogging, sharing ideas, dreams, fears and such with one another. We are all in this together.

Music is a big part of my life, I play it, write it, dream about it and fear it. Confused yet?

You see music is hard work, and I am not just talking about learning to play. Music is hard because it takes so many things working together to make it sound good, let alone great. Take last night for instance, we kicked off this band. Well we have practiced like four times, which is really not enough for us to gel and know exactly what each other will do. We had our ups and downs, but all in all in was not too bad. But in those times where we were struggling a great point was made to me. When we had a little issue with tempo, ALL the instruments tried to fix it, at the same time. Yeah it was ugly, the drummer got a little off, the guitar tried to play louder to get the drummer back on the right beat, the other guitar then got lost trying to decide to follow the other guitar or the drummer, the bass player (me) then got really loud trying to get everyone to follow me and the leader was snapping fingers trying to get everyone together. Can I tell you that an eletric guitar or two, a bass guitar and a drum set are all WAY MORE LOUD than a pair of snapping fingers? But guess what, the LEADER was the one snapping the fingers and if all of us had taken a deep breathe, quit trying to do our own thing and melded into the tempo of the snapping fingers together, we would not have gone two or three measures where it sounded like chaos.

GOD is like that sometimes, he is snapping off the tempo, but we want to march to our beat, or the beat of our friend, and life becomes chaos until we settle into the groove provided by the Father and everything works out...sometimes I wonder if it would be better being a one man band... but then I see a picture and think, I don't want to look like that!

Define; Great?

I am having a hard time defining great. Yeah, I know but great just doesn't seem that great anymore. It appears more and more like good is masquarading around saying it is great when it really isn't. What is even worse is people are beginning to recognize good as great and it is really starting to upset me. So I tried to put some limits on great but found that great had no limits and then I tried to put some standards on good and found out good has no standards either. It seems what some would say is good, others call it great, and still others call it bad.

So I told someone we had a great service. Well we did, the Spirit of GOD was moving and challenging lives, we were basking in the presence of GOD and I left thinking we had a great service. But what accounts for a great service? Is the presence of GOD the clincher? Well then I have had great services in the car and in the shower before. Is it when someone gives their life to GOD? Well we have had dull services that people have responded, and we have had great (there I go again) good services that people have not responded.
So I am needing some help in defining great. Abraham Lincoln said the enemy of great is not bad, it is good.
Lord, help me be great for you. Help me be great for the people I lead and teach. Lord help me be great for the kingdom.
And make me really good at golf, because other than Tiger, it seems no one is near great.

Are you up to the Challenge?

Challenges are all around us. Some are dealing with financial challenges, others with physical challenges, still others with challenges of other natures. But one thing is certain, we will have to deal with challenges in our lives.
Most people look at a challenge as a negative. But I am choosing to look at a challenge as a positive. It is when we are challenged that we rise up. We might not rise high enough to get above that challenge we face, but we do indeed rise up to meet it. So we are definately higher than when we first started. Challenges should be faced, relished and if we do our absolute best, respected as they bring out the best, or the worst in us.
It is when the worse is brought out, when a challenge is failed. I may challenge myself to run a marathon in under 6 hours. If I ran a marathon in 8 hours have I failed? Well I did not meet my goal but I did finish the marathon. It is a matter of perspective.
So in this troubling time, are you up to the challenge to keep your perspective on the positive side?

dealing with disappointments...

You know I was thinking the other day that life would be so much better if we were never disappointed. If everything went exactly how we wanted wouldn't the world be a better place?
I mean what if everything we ever tried to do came off without a hitch? Learn to play the guitar, be a computer genius, make a bundle of dough on Wall Street, make some great dough and be a great chef, start a new business, whatever we decided to do, instantaneously we become really good at it. Wouldn't that be great?
Well I have come to realize that it would not be so good. For you see we would not have to work for anything, it would all just happen naturally. We would not have to practice, it would just automatically happen without hours and hours of hard work. What good would it be then to be able to play the guitar? You could not impress your friends because they too could play like you in two easy lessons. You could not impress anyone with your computer skills, because everyone could be a computer genius.
The differences in people are what makes us unique and our disappointments shape our differences. There are things that I get disappointed in all the time that do not work like I would like them to, but through those disappointments I am shaped and molded into the man I am today. Sometimes those disappointments lead to more effort on my part to get better. Sometimes those disappointments show me that what I am trying to do is really not in my "giftings" and I should look at other avenues. And sometimes disappointments are just that, disappointments which we should get over and move on.
So bring on the disappointments, not just all in one day...

Two steps forward and one step back...

Or is it, one step forward and two steps back. I am in the middle of a remodel project, and it seems that everything that I am doing has to be done over again each and every time because of some change that effects everything. By just changing a bathtub, I have had to change my framing, the flooring and a couple of other things to make it work.Life is kind of like that. By the choices that we make early in life, they affect us for a long time after as we keep having to fix things that were caused by those mistakes.I remember thinking that the decisions that I made as a young adult would not last forever. But how wrong I was, some of the decisions that I made still haunt me today. But thank GOD I did not do anything that really drastically affected my life like I have seen in the lives of others.So life is like remodeling a bathroom. It takes careful consideration, detailed planning and dilligent execution to make it all fit together and work.Now hand me that hammer, I got to make this thing fit...