Pastor Pat's Prognostications...

Time does fly...

2011-08-18T10:28:00.002-05:00

Time flies when you are having fun. That is the old adage. But I really do believe it. It has been fun to have all the kids home for the summer and it seems like summer has come and gone so fast. Last year we sent my oldest off to college and the house seemed somewhat empty with her not at home. Just three kids and a wife to cook for, we could take the smaller cars on trips instead of the mini van. It was weird.
Now this year I do not have just one going off to college but two! Gulp. Both the girls are heading to school and I am not sure how the house will respond when the testosterone level is three to one over the ladies. I am sure my wife will keep the house in balance if you know what I mean but it still going to be weird not having those gals in the house.
I am so proud of both of the girls for the way they live their lives, and the young ladies they are becoming. I am also somewhat scared to send them off into the big bad world but have to trust that the lessons they learned in our house will serve them for the rest of their lives.
So next week Trudy and I are one step closer to having an empty nest... or at least another bedroom we can put things in.

Wrench Monkey...

2011-07-19T10:24:00.002-05:00

Remember when auto mechanics used to be called Wrench Monkeys? I do not know where that came from but I have one in my house!
In our family I think I am the only one who actually will work on a car. My father never worked on cars and my mother never did as well. I do not remember my brothers ever working on their cars either.
So my youngest daughter, the one who was the cheerleader, model, actress and all around girly girl gets a new car. Well it is not new but new to her and there has to be some work to be done on it. So she keeps asking, "daddy, when are we going to work on my car?" and I keep telling her soon. Well the day came where we went out to work on her car.
And guess what? She went to town! She was pulling bolts, getting grease on her hands and was an all around great help as we tore the top of her motor down. She actually had the intake manifold in her hands, that she took off!
And then we put it back together and it still worked! Even better!
So never judge a book by its cover, those french manicured nails might just be hiding some grease beneath them!

Camping

2011-07-08T09:06:00.002-05:00

The family and I are looking at going camping for a few days. Now with a family of six this is not a small excursion by any means. We have two boys who would be fine in the woods for three weeks if they have enough to eat. No showers, no teeth brushing, no hair brushing, they would be fine and probably enjoy it. My number one daughter would be somewhat OK but I am not sure she would want to be without technology that long. My number two daughter wanted to know what the rooms looked like. I told her we would be camping in a tent and she said, well just you boys right? She thinks roughing it is sleeping in a Holiday Inn when the cable is out.
And then there is my wife. God bless her, we don't have the disposable funds right now to go and stay in a condo for week, or a hotel for a few days for that matter but camping is not really her thing. But she is all for it, even though there are going to be bugs, and it is going to be hot, and we really don't have all the gear to really camp out, but she is game to go.
Should be fun and I am looking forward to a little family bonding as we spend a few days out in the wilderness, well as close as we want to get to wilderness.

Fireworks...

2011-07-07T14:02:00.002-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me how grown men can turn into children when they walk into a fireworks tent. Our church does an annual fund raiser where we man a fireworks tent. It takes a lot of work but it does a couple of things for our church besides raising money.
1) It gets outside the four walls. Too many times the church gets confined by the four walls of the structure that they never get outside of it. I spent the last weekend talking to guys who had too much to drink, gals who had not enough on, and people whose language would not be welcomed in most churches. You see when you explain to a guy that big hunk of fireworks is a 16,000 piece fire cracker, they usually use an expletive before they grin. It is good for our people to get out and interact with those we never see in our normal day to day lives. It lets us invest in their lives ever so slightly, who knows what might be sown.
2) It creates opportunities for team building, for conflict management and for problem solving. We needed all three when working with a rotating staff over an entire week where most were spending at least six hours a day in almost triple digit heat. Tempers did not have to go far to reach the boiling point when the tent was 120 degrees. And we also got to build team as the setup and tear down crew jumped in and did what needed to be done in record time. You should have seen them organize the battle plans when a huge thunderstorm headed our way. Everyone knew what they needed to do, how they needed to do it and when they needed to do it. I love it when a plan comes together!! And we had to solve problems. Like how do you tie down a loose tent flap, why with duct tape and a zip tie. How do you patch a hole in a tent? Well with the afore mentioned duct tape. How do you cool down hot tent workers? Well with an ice cold bottle of water or a diaper soaked in ice cold water. Hopefully that diaper was not the "used" kind.

It is finished...

2011-07-01T09:46:00.002-05:00

Yes, those immortal word Jesus spoke while hanging on the cross. Well they were finally uttered from my mouth last weekend as we finally finished the bedroom.
Actually calling it a bedroom is not doing it justice, we now call it the master suite.
It all started ten years ago when we bought this old two story house. It wasn't the layout, the paint color or the landscaping that you see on these home shows today that made me want to "say yes to the Address", we bought it because it was cheap, and could sleep six.
It had its share of warts and bumps though. The weekend after we moved in we found that the main sewer line was somewhat collapsed when we our washing machine started letting water out on the floor instead of down the drain. Digging about sixty feet of sewer line and holding the section that was collapsed in your hands while one of your kids flushed the toilet is a memory I will never forget.
So we got that fixed, and then we found another problem that winter. All the water lines in the house were so corroded that at the first sign of a cold snap they would freeze up. There is nothing fun about six people getting up at the same time to get ready for the day and find that there is no water in the house. That has a tendency to ruin your whole day, not to mention that you look like a homeless person as you can't shower, shave or even brush your teeth. So we went to work on that and replaced all the old copper and iron pipe lines with this new plex line that will not freeze, or burst. Such a breakthrough in technology!
And then we decided to take on the bathroom. Our house was designed with an indoor running track. I am not sure if that was the intended design, but you could make the circuit from the living room, through the kitchen and into the bathroom, exiting to one bedroom and then end up where you started in the living room again. It was really convenient for those cold mornings when you did not want to go outside to run, but not so convenient on those using the bathroom as you ran through. Since the bathroom was almost as big as the bedrooms we decided that one large bathroom could be divided up into two regular size bathrooms so off to work we went again. We finished the main bathroom in a few months working around the plumbing but the master bathroom was a different story. It took all of almost four years to finally complete the master bath. Pretty much there were labor disputes from the start, I did not want to do it and no one could make me. But we eventually got there and finished the master bath just as our first child headed off to college. Bad timing on my part as it would have been better to have those high school years of sharing one bathroom not exist but life goes on.
So the next project was, the master bedroom. First off our bedroom was really two rooms, one we kept the bed in which had a really small closet, the other room we kept all the other junk in. It slowly became a man cave, as in it evolved over time. First an overstuffed chair ended up in there to hang clothes on, and then a actual chest of drawers to put clothes in that were stacked on the chair. And then someone brought an old color TV which went on top of the chest of drawers. A bookshelf, filing cabinet and eventually musical instruments and the man clothes filled the room. My wife started calling it my "sanctuary" as man cave was too rudimentary. Well we decided to remove the wall and open up the bedroom, expand the closet and really make it into something we could enjoy. So over five months we redid the closet for his and her sides in a walk in closet where we can throw all our clothes anywhere we want and then shut the door and no one knows. We redid all the wall finishes eliminating the old wood paneling and lathe and plaster and installed new Sheetrock and insulation in the walls so the neighbors could not hear us snoring at night. We put a new window in to replace the one that allowed the night air (both hot and cold) to come into our bedroom, new painted walls, new trim even a new beamed accent ceiling and lighting enhanced our master bedroom look. Throw in a new bed, new comforter, a fancy red chair, reading lamp and bedside tables along with the new plush carpet and we finally had our master suite which was sweet.
So last Saturday when we finally got everything moved back into the room after the carpet installation we kicked off our shoes, sat in our red chair and relaxed and said, "it is finished"...

Superhero or not?

2011-06-15T08:38:00.002-05:00

Our church is doing our annual Kids Krusade this week and Pastor Lynda has picked a "Superheroes" theme this year. So of course everyone needs to come as a superhero, don't have a superhero outfit, have no fear, Pastor Lynda is here! She even made capes so if you don't have a supersuit, she will fix you up.
So here is where the delima is. We had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle show up for KK. Donatello to be exact with this staff. Some thought it was the Pastor dressed up in all black with a mask on and black tights and TMNT boxers on over the tights but he would never do that. So we may never know who that man in black really was. But it caused a ruckus because some do not believe that a TMNT is really a superhero. So in that man in black's defense I will rest this case of superhero or not.
1) Have you ever seen a six foot tall turtle? No, me either so I think that is super.
2) Have you ever seen a talking turtle? No, me either so super again.
3) Have you ever seen a turtle possess ninja skills? Nope, me either so super again.
4) Remember they were exposed to some kind of hazardous waste as young turtles which caused them to mutate to aquire their powers. Kind of like the Flash, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, and a slew of super villans. So I say super again.
5) Do they fight crime? Yes, so super again.
The defense rest, with the evidence placed before you we can indeed say, Cowabunga dude, the TMNT are Super Heroes!

So the Mavs won?

2011-06-14T09:07:00.002-05:00

Who would have thought it? The Mavericks win the NBA title over the Thrice Blessed, Star Studded Trinity of DWade, LeBron and CBosh.
It just goes to show you that "team" will always prevail over talent.
I have played on teams with great players. And I have played on great teams with average players. One star does not a great team make, and now I guess we can say that 3 stars does not a great team make.
Team building is one of my passions. I love to surround myself with like minded individuals who put their own egos and desires aside and strive for the best for the team. It is not always easy, many times people do not want to take a back seat or a subordinate role for the best of the team.
I remember a story I heard one time about a large company CEO who challenged another large company CEO to a team competition. They met and decided that they would do a mock war simulation in a forest environment with a ten person detail. The way it worked was this, they would take their ten best, camouflage them up, give them paint ball guns, paint ball grenades and paint ball land mines and whoever captured the other's base won the contest and the bragging rights. The ego minded CEO (whose team we will call the red team) put himself as team leader and picked his ten biggest, toughest and strongest people in his company to make up his team. The other CEO (whose team we will call the blue team) picked people from his organization not based on strength or skill but on the ability to work as a team. Each of them spent a week training with a former military commander who went over basic maneuvers and tactics with each team. When the time came for the battle, the Ego Centric CEO led his troops from the front, straight to the opponents base. The other CEO carefully arranged his troops to best defend his position and attack the other team from the flanks instead of head on. Two of the smallest people on the blue team were sent out as scouts and found a place and hid, allowing the opposing team who all traveled together to pass them without knowing they were there. As the red team approached the blue teams base the CEO of the red team who was leading tripped a land mine essentially eliminating himself and two of the people behind him. The red team was in turmoil as the remaining seven big tough individuals tried to figure out who would be in charge now that the CEO was eliminated. Unknown to them the blue team had taken up positions around the ambush site and all started to open fire at the same time on the arguing seven red team members. Four went down in the first volley of paint and the remaining three turned to retreat the way they had came only to encounter the two small members of the blue team that had hid in the woods. They opened fire and painted two of the three red teams members eliminating them from the competition while the third ran off by himself heading for the red base. The blue team leader them gathered his troops and forced a surrender of the only remaining red team member. The blue team had won the battle with no casualties and had decimated the red team.
When the military commander who witnessed the battle commented later on the competition, he said that he knew before the battle started who was going to win. The ego of the red team leader doomed his more talented, stronger and bigger people because he was not the best suited to lead his team in this battle. In their week of training a couple of the red teams middle managers showed better instincts and tactical skill than the CEO had but he still relegated himself as the leader. Where on the blue team the military commander noticed that the leader was better suited to lead and direct from the back lines and not the front lines. They worked with their strengths and won the battle.
So I said all of this to make this point. Sometimes it is not the superstars that make a great team. Sometimes it is a leader who knows when to lead from the back, let his people do what they do best and stay out of the way.

Fall From Grace...

2011-06-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

So many it seems lately have fallen from grace in our eyes. From Bret Favre sending pictures of his nether regions, Arnold Schwarzenegger fathering a child with an employee, and now a Senator admitting to numerous Internet liaisons it seems that infidelity is sweeping the headlines.
I wanted to write a how to avoid article for all men but realized that it probably would not do much good. So I will write a encouragement instead.
Guys, your family is too valuable to mess up for a one night stand. Those moments of passion are not enough to trade for years of stability and trust you share with your spouse. Once that trust is broken it is double hard to get it back, if at all. Those one time arrangements are not worth enough to damage your role as a father forever. Your children are worth more than that and they deserve more from you.
Also fellas, your reputation is more valuable than that moment of fulfillment. That moment will be gone the next day as will your reputation. And that reputation can never be gotten back. Guard that with your life.
And buddy, someone somewhere is going to find out, don't lie to yourself to thinking that you can keep it a secret. In the days before cell phones I was the first one to find out that my dad was cheating on my mom. He was seeing another woman at a cheap hotel on the edge of town. Just so happened that a friend of mine saw my dad pulling into the hotel in his Camaro (not the most invisible of cars). When he went by a few minutes later the car was parked in front of a room. My buddy split the beans to me one afternoon by saying, "hey, don't know if you know this, but your dad is seeing another woman out at the motel." I was stunned. I was 20 years old, recently married and could not believe that my dad would be seeing another woman, cheating on my mom. I made a mental note to check that hotel every time I drove by and sure enough I spied my dad's car there one night. It broke my heart. My mom and dad split up after that and my dad married the other woman and stayed with her till his death last year. But that relationship which wasn't great in the first place never got better. I think he felt shame and guilt for what he did every time we were together. I am not saying that he was all to fault, my mom I am sure was hard to live with too, but for the four sons who lived in that house, things were never the same in their relationship with their father.
So gentlemen, before you go chasing that swishing skirt, I want you to think for a moment of all the things that are on the line that you might loose, a devoted wife, a son or daughter, a reputation, your personal peace. Is it really worth just a few moments of passion?
Think about it.

Wisdom Teeth?

2011-06-09T11:23:00.002-05:00

Why are wisdom teeth called wisdom teeth? All I ever got from mine was a lot of pain.
It started last Tuesday day, a dull ache on the right side of my face, took some Ibuprofen and forgot about it. By Wednessday mid day it was no longer a dull ache but more like a jackhammer had opened up on the inside of my mouth. It was so bad that I went and bought some painkillers while I was traveling. Three days later it still was aching and I made the decision to call the one person I try to never call, the dentist.
You see I have extremly hard teeth. I have never (knock on wood) had a cavity. I have had hammers, wrenches and even a chunk of wood hit my teeth and other than one small chip they bounced off. Now my teeth are not perfect, they are not straight and I have an overbite that would make Bugs Bunny envious but they are hard like rocks.
So after almost of week of pain I finally called the executioner, er I mean the dentist. It was either that or play like Tom Hanks in Castaway but I did not have an ice skate. I was able to grab an appointment the next morning for which I was thankful. I got to the chair, met the dental assistant and it was as if I was a stock car at the Daytona 500 and the dentistry crew was the pit crew. They were buzzing around, put this in, take this out, bite down on this, and on and on and on till the Man arrived. He was a pleasent looking fellow for a person who inflicts pain on people for a living. So he leans me back in the chair and starts to probe around in my mouth. Words like "impacted" and "soft tissue" and "bone invasion" chilled me to the core. What those things mean I eventually found out is that my hard teeth were hitting my hard jaw bone and neither one wanted to give.
So after about 30 minutes of grunting, sweating, cutting, drilling, pulling and prying my tooth finally came out in about three pieces. Two stiches later the dentist says, "you do have strong teeth" and his assistant tells me "you will be very sore tomorrow" which left me with a sense of foreboding. I was really sore now, what about this later or even tomorrow.
Well I can tell you, I was really sore, had to take powerful painkillers and talked like a loon most of the day. Wisdom teeth, who knew wisdom could be so painful.
I am really hoping they don't call wisdom teeth that because it would be wise to take them all out at one time...

Dance, Dance, Dance

2011-06-06T09:02:00.002-05:00

Had the pleasure to watch a performance this weekend called "Firstborn of the Dead". No I did not go to some horror movie bonanza or something like that. "Firstborn of the Dead" is a ballet that depicts the life of Christ from his birth to death to resurection.
No spoken words, just dance. I cried.
Yeah lump me in with the Tim Tebows of the world. Hopefully there will not be a "I saw Pastor Pat Cry" facebook page spring up anytime soon.
It was emotionally moving seeing the grace and artistry of the dancers as they played their parts. Mary the Mother of Jesus (one of my church kids) emotionally charged as she held her newborn son and beamed at baby Jesus, and emotionally torn as her son was arrest, beaten and crucified.
The guy who played both Satan and God. Was kind of weirded out with that. He had this white robe, tan skin and a nice looking goatee, if I do say so myself, as he played God the Father. Then the same guy comes out with this mask on and it is Satan. I was a little conflicted there but it was all good. He actually played a better Satan than he did God.
And the guy who played Jesus. Well he really embodied the character. In his actions, in his way he interacted, you forgot you were watching a ballet.
Oh and no tights on the guys... I was happy for that.
Very nicely done and if you are in the KC area and get a chance to catch Dramatic Truth do it, you will be blessed.

End of the World?

2011-05-23T10:25:00.002-05:00

Well we are all still here as far as I know. We did not miss it. I don't think it has happened.
Many were believing that the rapture of the church, the great catching away of the people of GOD before the time of tribulation was to happen this weekend. Well as far as I can tell it did not happen.
But, just because it did not happen, doesn't mean that it will not happen. The Bible says that we are to be ready at any moment. We are not guaranteed one moment of time on this earth but are apportioned a set amount of time and then we will face GOD and give an account of how we have used those moments. It could happen at the time of the rapture, or it could happen when we are old and grey, or it could happen in a moment like it did for the scores of people who lost their lives in the tornadoes that just ripped acrost the midwest. When your life is called into account, be ready.
Just because one man missed it, doesn't mean that you need to miss it to.

Remodeling...

2011-05-20T08:59:00.002-05:00

So have I mentioned that I am in the middle of a remodeling project? I am sure I have but let me digress.
I am applying so many spiritual truths that are coming alive during my project.
Suff like,
To have a solid structure you have to have a "good" foundation.
My house moves all over the place on its foundation. The reason? Well it really does not have a solid foundation. It is what is considered a "mud sill" foundation which means the house is basically built up in the air on top of piers that sit on the ground. So when it rains, drys out or some other climate change occurs the house moves a little.
We can be like that in our spiritual lives if we don't "root" ourselves in following Christ.
When you "root" yourself in following Christ you dig down deeper than the surface. There you have holding power.
But when you are just a surface level Christian, you life will move all over the place. When the changes come to your life you will not be rock solid but you will drift and move according to those changes. You may not drift or move much but small compromises eventually lead to larger compromises and eventually lead to failures in life.

So build your house upon the rock! Get a firm foundation and don't be moved!!
Now where did I put that crowbar? Back to work.

The end of the world...

2011-05-17T08:26:00.003-05:00

Well it appears that end of the world is to occur sometime this month. I have heard that it will be on Saturday the 21st while others are saying the 22nd. Every few years or decades it seems that there is always someone who through rigorous biblical study seems to think that they can predict the end of the world. If you ask me when the world is going to end, I will reply when GOD says it is time. The Word says that "no man knows the day or the hour" and I will take it at that. So with that said I think we should be living our lives as if the next moment is our last.
But if the world is going to end sometime soon can I make a few recommendations.
1) I would like the world to end on a Monday, not on the weekend. I look forward to my weekends, thinking of Friday is the only thing that gets me through the week. It would make much better sense for the world to end on a Monday. Of course that might create some confusion as most people think the world really does end every Monday.
2) If the world has to end, can we have it end before the 18th? You see that is when the house payment, car payments and all the other payments come out. I would love to use that money on something else. Who needs a house or a car if the world is no more.
3) It seems like the last three or four times there has been an end of the world date set it has fallen in May. I just hate that. May is a time for everyone to look forward to summer finally getting here, the grass is coming in green, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner. If the world has to end can't it be like sometime in late October? Or mid January when it is so cold out no one would really care?
4) And if the world is going to end, can we have it happen at the same time all over the globe? I would just hate it if we hear that Eastern Asia was wiped out and destruction was slowly spreading east. It would be like watching the political election updates on MSNBC. Whoa, Japan just went down, ETA Hawaii six hours, LA in 12.
5) I have another pet peeve with declaring the world is going to end with out declaring how. Is it going to be an asteroid? An alien race? A pandemic? All the machines in the world coming to life and trying to kill us? Someone should make a movie about that. What I mean is if you know that the world is coming to an end, surely you have to know how, right? So share the info if you would so I can get busy building that space shuttle to blow up the asteroids, guerrilla ware fare to take out the aliens, a super serum to counteract the epidemic, or a sailboat with no electrics to escape the evil and blood thirsty machines that are out to get me.
Oh, and if the end of the world really is about to happen, make peace with GOD, and live life to the fullest. Because who knows, it could happen today and if not today, tomorrow.
Be Blessed.

Come in Dick Tracey...

2011-05-06T09:46:00.002-05:00

for those of you who are my age or older, that familiar line was a staple in the Sunday paper. You know how the Sunday paper went. Dad got the front page section and the sports, Mom got the local and the celebrity section and the kids got to share the funny pages.
Well Dick Tracey was always a favorite of mine. The vivid colors, the hero of course and the villians. But the coolest thing about Dick Tracey was all of his gadgets. He had all of these neato gadgets that every kids wanted.
Well as I was thinking the other day, most of the gadgets that Dick Tracey had we all have now. Bundled in one little phone package we have the most ingenious scientific gadget ever made. Have you ever really thought about what a "smart" phone can do?
Email? Check.
Day Planner? Check.
Clock? Check.
Adress Book? Check.
Calculator? Check.
Navigation System? Check.
GPS? Check.
Web Browser? Check.
Music Player? Check.
Video Player? Check.
Camera? Check.
Video Camera? Check.
Gaming System? Check.
Facebook? Check.
Pager? Check.
Memo Pad? Check.
And a Phone all wrapped into one little tiny box we can wear on our hip, put in our pocket or slip into a purse.
Calling Dick Tracey! Come in Dick Tracey! I have better gadgets than you do!

What is in your hand?

2011-05-05T13:13:00.003-05:00

Got to thinking about that passage of scripture where GOD asked Moses what is in his hand? Moses showed GOD his shepherds staff and GOD told Moses to throw it down and it became a snake, and then he told Moses to take it back up and he grabbed it by the tail and it became a staff again.
There are two keys parts of that story that I have been dealing with in my own life.

The first part is what was in Moses hand. I am sure Moses had that staff for a long while, it had traveled with him, herded sheep and was probably used for most everything while in Moses' possession. But Moses really did not understand what he held in the palm of his hand. I know that I am a lot like Moses sometimes, really not understanding the value that is right under my own nose and in the palm of my hand. To Moses that staff was just like any other shepherds staff, full of knots and blemishes, weathered, stained and really not that pretty to look at. But in GOD'S eyes that staff was a mighty miracle, used of GOD to help set a nation free. Why can't we see our own value when we are in the hands of GOD. Self doubt, feelings of inadequacies and our fears of our shortcomings being revealed cause us to see our own selves like Moses saw that staff, as ordinary. But did you know that just like Moses staff we are a miracle waiting to happen in GOD'S hands. Who knows what he might use you for, what miracles might be awaiting you if you will allow GOD to use you.

Secondly, Moses had to let go for that staff to become a snake. GOD told him to cast it down and when he let go of it miraculously it became a snake. And it must have been a pretty impressive snake as the word says that Moses ran from it. Sometimes when we have to let things go it can get pretty scary. As long as Moses held that staff in his hand, he was in charge. But once he let go of that staff and put it into GOD'S hand, well GOD was in charge and that can be a scary thing. Sometimes we need to let go of the preconceived notions, the shortcomings, the fear of failure and all those other things that make us hold on to the familiar and let go so that GOD can do something extraordinary with us. I love that GOD told Moses to pick up the snake right after Moses ran from it. He was assuring Moses that even though it might be frightening, that HE was in control. I can imagine Moses reaching out his hand ready for the snake to spin around and bite him as he reached for its tail. Imagine the wonder that must have fallen when he grabbed that tail and it transformed back into a gnarly, rugged and knotted staff that had been Moses' companion for so many years.

So in closing, what is in your hand today that GOD wants to use?
Be Blessed!

Its the little things in life...

2011-05-04T10:27:00.002-05:00

that make all the difference in the world.
So many times we allow the little things in life to bring us down, but we also need to realize its the little things also that will lift us up.
My top ten little things...
1) The kiss. My wife of almost 23 years still insist that I kiss her when I leave the house and when I get home. It is one of those things you take for granted but should cherish each day.
2) My kids saying "love you Dad" as they head off to bed. Puts the day into prospective.
3) Having my basic needs met. I don't live in a mansion, drive an expensive car or have great material possesions, but I have a house that the roof does not leak (it used to), a car that starts each time I turn the key and gets me where I am going (I used to have one you said a little prayer before turning on the ignition) and enough toys to keep me happy.
4) Good Friends. I mean those kind of friends whom will actually show up and help you move something heavy in their truck and not let you put gas in their truck when you are done. Those kind of friends.
5) Health. I am overweight, work too much, don't exercise enough but still healthy enough to do most anything I set my mind to.
6) Peace. I sleep really well at night knowing my family loves me and I love them.
7) Trust. I live in a town where you can leave the doors unlocked and the keys in your cars. If your car happens to disappear, it will show back up again, washed, vacumned and full of gas with a thank you note from the neighbor for its use.
8) Good Food. There is just nothing in life like preparing a great meal and enjoying it with friends.
9) Indoor plumbing. I remember having to "go" outside, in the winter, in the snow. Thank GOD for indoor plumbing.
10) Air Conditioning. Yep, it is the little things that will keep everything working together.

A little "traveling" music maestro...

2011-04-29T09:48:00.002-05:00

I have been going like the enegizer bunny here lately. I kind of feel like Phileaus Fogg I have been traveling so much.
So in the last month I have been as far east as Florida and as far west as Las Vegas, as far North as Chicago and as far South as Dallas, TX. I have literally criss crossed the nation on flights the last few weeks. And in my travels I have noticed a few things...
1) Weather - the weather has been really weird here lately. From major storms to earthquakes to tornadoes the US has seen its fare share of wild weather. There is nothing like flying above a storm brewing below you and watching the billows of clouds and the streaks of lighting race across the sky. It is all nice and fun until the captain mentions a final descent and you realize you are going to have to go through that mess to get to the ground.
2) Of all the airlines - Southwest gets you there the fastest. Or at least it seems that way. I fly commercially all the time but each time I get on a Southwest flight it seems like the people who work there are wanting to "get away" more than I do. My all time favorite lines is this, "at Southwest, it is open seating, so grab the first seat you come to and take a load off so we can get out of here", my second favorite was, "come on people we are not shopping for furniture for the living room, all the seats look the same, just set down in one".
3) I love the National rental car Emerald Aisle - it is where you get to pick your own car out without going to the counter. You breeze right past everyone standing in line, pick the car from the aisle and drive away. It is always a fun day to pick out color, style and wether to go business casual or sporty.
4) Bellagio Rooms in Las Vegas - those rooms are pretty nice, but for my money they can't compare in price to the newest Holiday Inns where they are set up in suites. I was in on a few weeks ago that felt like a studio apartment in Manhattan's upper East side. It was actually bigger than the first apartment my wife and I looked at to live in.
5) IHOP - is there a better restaurant? You can get breakfast at ten o'clock at night. Who doesn't like that?
6) Best Airport - well the fastest airport to get through security is Tulsa International, those TSA people there have it going on. Worst, well Denver International wins this cake. Most frustrating? Dallas Fort Worth, because everyone in Texas who has never flew before flys out of there and they all try to bring their gallon sized shampoo on board with them.
7) Nicest City - well some my disagree but I like Pensacola, Florida. The people there seem genuine and nice, of course living on a beach will do that for you.
8) Toughest City - Chicago, have you ever flown into Midway and had to drive to I55? Enough said.
9) Best Airport Food - Cousin's BBQ in DFW Airport. Just make sure to eat AFTER the meeting, because you will probably get BBQ sauce on your shirt.
10) Craziest Aiport - Well that has to be Sioux City Regional Airport in Iowa. They have T shirts that have the call sign of the airport and the word "flying" under it. Their call sign? SUX.

Easter Sunrise Service

2011-04-25T10:47:00.004-05:00

So I am feeling a little convicted this morning. Yesterday was Easter and as I was heading to church in the morning I noticed that a few of the other churches that I passed were already having service. Then it dawned on me, they were having a sunrise service and I began to wonder if I had missed the voice of GOD.
I have never done a sunrise service. I am somewhat glad of that fact as I am not really what you would call a morning person. I am more of a mid morning person with a tendency to stay up too late. Call it what you want but I don't do mornings well and I know many people who share this trait with me.
So as I was driving to church I began to think about a Sunrise Service.
Who would attend? Would it look like a normal service but just at an earlier time? Do you need those guys with flashlights directing traffic in the dark as people come to park? Would the presence of GOD be more powerful at 6AM than say at 10:30? These thoughts raced through my mind as I pondered the very existance of a service at sunrise.
So as therapy I decided to list the pros and cons for a sunrise service. Pros first.
1) There will be just a few people there so finding a seat should be easy.
2) I bet there will be coffee available and it will be fresh, not left overs from the first service in the morning.
3) I betcha someone would bring donuts. Actually that would probably be the only reason I would even think of attending a sunrise service. I think it should be written into the bylaws that if you are at the church at 6AM you have to bring donuts with you.
4) No youth. Yep there would be no youth at the service banging on the drums and wailing on the guitars for sure.
5) Haven't had Brunch in a while, it would be a great opportunity to go eat at Dennys when no one is there as everyone else is at the normal services.
6) Nap time starts early. I might even be able to finish up those Saturday projects that did not get completed and still get a nap in right after lunch!
Ok the Cons...
1) You know it is going to be a long service. Pastor is jacked up on caffeine and doesn't have to rush because you know we are going to beat the Baptist to Golden Corrall today.
2) Leaving the house before sunrise will mess with your biological clock. Most people are getting in Saturday night late and then having to leave before the sun rises may mess up their entire week.
3) Do you actually watch the sun rise? Like sitting on folding chairs in the parking lot, in the pouring rain as the tornado sirens sound?
4) Kids. Enough said, we all know it takes an hour to get each one of them ready. And double that time on Easter when you have to doll them up in their Easter suits and dresses. Have you ever tried to put a tie on a one year old? We would have to get up about 2AM to make the service and I would be we would still be late.
5) What if you indeed showed up late for a sunrise service. Like 5 minutes after the sun came up? Would Pastor make you come back for the normal service since you missed it?
6) What if it is a cloudy day and you really don't get to see the sun come up? Does that really count?
7) Who will play the piano or any other instrument in the service that early?
8) Does the Bible say when Jesus rose from the dead and the stone was rolled away? What if it happened at 10AM, are we being unscriptual trying to rush GOD?
9) Does the Pastor have to preach the normal service also for all those that want to sleep in on Sunday? Man that is double the work for him.
10) And the number one question of having a sunrise service. Will the Pastor's wife make it on time? Does the service count if she is not there?

So whats new?

2011-04-18T09:00:00.003-05:00

So whats new in your life? Well I can tell you in mine I have recently discovered a disturbing piece of news. My two sons spent all day Saturday working with Dad. May GOD bless those two boys as I am not the easiest person to work with. They always seem to be standing right where I need to go and for some reason they don't realize it until I have to tell them. So anyway we are sitting taking a break and my oldest looks over at me and says, "hey Dad, know what?" So I respond that I did not know "what" and he says, "you have grey hairs in your beard". "No I don't I replied, they are blond and it just looks that way as they are covered with sheetrock dust." At this point my youngest says, "Dad I don't think that is dust, sheetrock is white and those hairs are grey". So it is official, I am getting old. I have lost the hair on my head and I have started to see grey in my beard, it is all downhill from here.

I wonder...

2011-04-06T08:56:00.002-05:00

There are things I spend some time wondering about. Like... Why do buildings make such weird noises when you are all alone in them. Are those noises there all the time and you never notice them till the you are in the building all alone? It should be quiet in the place when all the kids are gone and your wife is away at a conference, shouldn't it. Peaceful right? But I find as soon as I am all alone in the a house, the house starts to make weird noises. Like it misses all the activity so it decides to make up for it. In the first church building we pastored we were sure it was haunted. Really, a haunted church. The church had originally started out as a hospital back in the early 1900's and in the 80's was purchased by the church and remodeled. Well remodeled was a loose term, the patient rooms soon became small sunday school rooms with a table instead of a patient bed. The childrens Pastor's office was originally the room where they shot the x-rays. There was an upstairs area where the nurses would sleep when not on duty, a kitchen and all sorts of little nooks and crannies that hospitals always have. All of that is well and good till you start realizing that people actually died in that place. Souls were seperated from their physical bodies all over that building. So when weird noises started happening when you were all alone in the building, you said a little prayer and moved the 9 iron a little closer to your desk. I know you are thinking, the 9 iron? Well yeah, if an aparition appears I really need a club that I can hit, so the driver stays in the bag. Anyway I digress. So not long after I took the pastorate I am in my office in the back of the church and I hear this noise sounding like someone running on the hall upstairs. It starts loud right over my head and then slowly gets quieter as the runner heads to the other side of the building. I did not count the steps but I am pretty sure it was 13 exactly, like I said I did not count them but I know if I did it would be 13 steps. So one day I am sitting in my office and I hear the "runner" going down the hall. Clutching the 9 iron I walk into the large expanse of the hallway and say with all the authority I have in my voice, "hello?". It kind of croaked out, it sounded more like Dorothy when she landed in Oz than Sylvester Stalone in Rocky. Of course received no answer, that would have been really frightening. I went back to my desk and attempted to resume my work. But just as I was about to sit down, wham wham wham again going down the hall. I jumped and ran to the hall to pear outside to see if the upstairs runner had decided to come downstairs. Again I said "hello?" with no answering call to ease my mind. At this point my adrenaline is running on overdrive, I am so thankful that the women's leader wasn't dropping by my office, it would have been really hard to explain how I accidentally bashed her head in with a 9 iron as we were makign the funeral preperations. So after I returned to my desk, before I even got halfway across the office I hear the runner again sprinting on the upstairs hallway. Finally fed up, I headed for the stairs to confront whatever was up there. The church really never did much with the upstairs area, it was a collection of rooms for the nurses to stay overnight, a small bathroom and a few storage areas full of stuff. But I climbed up those stairs and found myself standing on the very hall that the runner had been running up and down on. There was a fine layer of dust over everything, and thankfully no footprints going up and down the hall. Although footprints left in dust, as I learned on Scoobie Doo were a sure sign that it was not a ghost I was dealing with. So I made my way down the hallway just to make sure there was no one there when I heard it, a slam that made my heart jump into my throat and my pulse go into racehorse mode. That slam was followed by another and another as it reverberated down the hall. But there was no apparition that was apparent at that time. I know that I closed my eyes at the first slam but after the third slam or so I realized I was still breathing so I took a peek and saw nothing hovering in front of me. So as the slams slowly lessoned I worked my way toward the origin of the sound. I ended up at the end of the hall where there was a large closet, a couple of storage boxes and an old hospital bed. As I was examining the area I heard the slam again but this time from really, really, really close. It was right behind the closet door. So I opened the closet door, ready to fight for my life and saw nothing at all. It was just a closet with normal closet things in it except it had a window in the back of the room. Later I would find out that the last addition to the hospital had been made on that side and that window was the access to the attic. So as I made my way to that window which was propped open I finally solved the mystery of the runner in the hallway. It was not an aparition, thankfully, not really sure what a 9 iron would have done to a ghost but I am sure I probably would have pulled my head when I swung and hit it thin anyway. There was no ghostly activities happening, there was an old attic fan set into the side wall of the attic that we had never used. And apparently whenever the front church door opened, it created a vacumn in the building with enough force that the building would "burp" through the attic fan, 13 times starting very loud and slowly getting less forceful till the atmospheric pressure balanced. I realized this as the attic fan started burping as I was looking right at it. What had happened was one of the church parisioners was opening the front door and dropping off supplies into the foyer. She opened the door, laid down the supplies and went back out to her car, as the front door closed and the attic fan burped. Every time I came out of my office with the lame, "hello" she was back at the car getting another load. By the time I got back to my office she had opened the door, dropped off her packages and headed back to her car starting the cycle all over again. Again I am thankful that no one was injured by a poorly swung 9 iron. Although I did have a lot of fun messing with other people who were all alone working in the church by themselves.

Relational Evangelism

2011-04-04T12:48:00.002-05:00

We are doing a series on realational evangelism on Sunday nights that is really thought provoking. What if... how many times have we asked "what if" and then failed to act on that impulse. What if, I purchased gas for the next person who pulled in behind me at the pump? What if, I offered to mow the neighbors lawn when they vacationed over the summer for free? What if, I offered to pick up some groceries for my neighbor and then refused to take their money? What if, I just walked across the room and introduced myself to the person who is all alone? What we discovered last night that we all entertain "what ifs" in our lives, but seldom do we act on them. So we made a list of the obstacles that kept us from taking that first step to reach out to someone. They are as follows: Fear Rejection Pride Laziness Communication Skills Lack of Knowledge Predjudiced Uncertainty Too Busy The company we keep Self Confidence Annoying People Appearance What we realized last night is that all of those "obstacles" were not obstacles that the person we are to talk to must overcome but they are "obstacles" we must personally overcome. Each of those "obstacles" (obstacles sounds so much better than excuses don't you think?) deals specifically with US. And in building relationships with other people it should be all about THEM. So what keeps you from stepping out and meeting a new friend? And how can you overcome the "obstacles" regarding it?

So what about the book...

2011-04-01T10:21:00.003-05:00

A while back (three years to be exact) I started writing a book. It was one of those, I have a little down time so I sat down and started writing. It is a book that will not change the world, it is a work of fiction but it all comes from somewhere deep inside my cavernous melon. Now I don't want anyone to think I am Max Lucado (I am not that deep), Frank Perretti (I am not that creative) or Ted Dekker (I am not that crazy) but I enjoy all of their writings so I penned my work with some aspects of theirs played out in my story. In describing it to someone one day I said it is like an angelic battle of psychopaths played out in the recesses of someone's mind at the same time also in another realm of reality that is really not real. Confused yet? So anyway, I have these friends who are book publisist, not book publishers, but those that help get the word out about the new books the publishers are publishing. Confused yet again? Anyway, they know books, so I have gleaned all sorts of information from them. Stuff like how many words should a first novel have? In case you are wondering somewhere around 90,000 (I am at 39K right now, so I have some more work to do). How do you know if it is any good and worth publishing? They suggested that I let teenagers read it as they will tell you if it is good or if it is like warm puke, gotta love the honesty of the American teenager. So I made a first draft the other night and gave it to my 14 year old son to read, it sure is handy having a teenager in the house. He is a voracious reader and it is right up his alley as far as fantasy meets the fantasical and is fantasticlly unreal and impossible. So last night my son spent about two straight hours in the living room reading my book while his sister was watching "Prince of Persia" with Jake Gyllinhal on the TV. Talk about tough competition! And he has ADD to boot so keeping focus is an issue, but I apparently passed the teenage litmus test as he kept reading till bedtime. My wife picked it up this morning and found some notes he left for me in the margins for me, nothing too bad and he is over half way through already. So keep your eyes open for a new novel soon to find it's way somewhere, if I ever get it finished...

Religious post

2011-03-31T08:10:00.003-05:00

I have been posting about sports for the last couple of weeks now, I thin it is time to get back to a Pastoral type post. The thought of suffering was brought up last night in small groups. Why would GOD allow suffering if he is a GOD of love and grace? That is a very good question. Why would GOD not just give us an utopia on earth, where no one got sick, no one fought, there were no wars, no scars and no death? Well he did actually, in the beginning. GOD created the heavens and the earth and then he created all the creatures of the earth and then he created man. GOD called him Adam and Adam worked as GOD'S overseer of a place called Eden. Eden was perfect. There was no sickness, no death, even the animals seemed to get along with each other, it was paradise. But Adam was alone, so GOD created woman and called her Eve and she was to be his helper and it was all very good, until this one day. You see the Devil has been around a while already, and described as a serpent he turned Adam's and Eve's eyes to look upon the world they lived in a distorted way. He tempted them and although GOD gave them very little limitiations in Eden, they disobeyed GOD. And because of that disobedience they had their utopia taken away. No longer would they be allowed to live in paradise. And with their banishment from Eden, Adam and Eve were forced to work the land for their substanance. To depend on themselves for every need they had. And with their banishment all the things in this life that afflict us today was allowed to affect their lives then. Pain, sickness, and even death now had equal footing with Adam and Eve in this new environment. And it has been that way ever since. Because of their disobedience suffering was allowed to affect GOD'S creation, man. Now the good news. GOD realized for a true utopia to be again, he needed to make a way to purge the world of the sin (disobedience) that caused sufferings in the first place. So he offered a sacrifice, one so holy and so valuable that the blood of this sacrifice could not only cleanse a person or a family of their sin, but an entire population. The blood of the sacrificial lamb was poured out willingly to redeem man from his disobedience. The blood of Christ. One day man will once again live in a world without suffering, without war, without hate, without death, but none of that would have ever been possible without the suffering of the Christ. It is somewhat ironic that the suffering that man inflicted upon himself with his disobedience was only absolved with the suffering of GOD'S only son. Be Blessed.

It is HOW OLD?

2011-03-29T10:08:00.002-05:00

So I live in a small town and bought this house about 10 years ago. The lady who had live there did so for the last 40-50 years and raised her family there. When she passed away we were fortunate to be able to purchase the house. Now here is where it gets dicey. We were told when we bought the house the estimated age was somewhere around 70 years. So we believed the house was built in the 1930's sometime. While I was working on my remodel of the bathrooms a few years ago I came across a couple signatures of the home owners from 1957 and their relatives from somewhere in Kentucky who apparently worked on the original bathroom remodel. That date felt about right since in our bathroom at that time it had PINK fixtures. I am sure it was called a "dusty rose" or something like that to look like one of the fancy cadillacs at the time but it sure looked PINK to me. So after the bathroom remodel I turned my attention to the master bedroom. Our house never really had a master bedroom, it had a small closet leftover from the bathroom remodel, and one large room that had a dividing wall splitting it into two small rooms, neither of which was big enough to really accomodate a king size bed. So our plan was to eliminate the dividing wall, take down all the lathe and plaster that covered the interior walls and insulate the exterior walls as there is no insulation in there now. So after spending a few days taking down all the lathe and plaster I discovered that when the house was built they used old clothe, bluejeans, burlap bags and newspaper to seal the area between the floor joist and the wall framed opening. I was yanking the old trash out of the bottom of the wall when I found a newspaper that was actually readable. I carefully unfolded it and found that it was the a paper from May of 1899! Yes, 1899! So I am trying to think how my house could have been built in the 1930's and have a newspaper put in as insulation from the 1890's? I smell a mystery here, going to break out my Scoobie Doo lunch box and go and solve this mystery!

The Underdogs...

2011-03-28T09:05:00.004-05:00

I just love an underdog story, don't you? Take a person or a team who isn't supposed to accomplish something, have them set their minds to accomplishing that goal that seems impossible and have them overcome tremendous obstacles on the way to achieving their goal. That is a movie ready to be made! I am following the Final Four as March Madness winds down and low and behold there are a pair or underdogs, or as they call them in the tournament; Cinderallas, in the Final Four. Granted, two of them have to play each other for a chance at the national title so it is set that no two Cinderellas will meet in the national title game but still, it is great to see the underdogs doing what no one expected. Viginia Commonwealth and Butler University are in the Final Four. Now Butler was there last year, riding on the talents of a great player who now plays in the NBA. But no one thought they would be back! And Virginia Commenwealth? They were not even a lock to make the tournament, they had to play in an extra game to even get into the field of 64, talk about an underdog! The story lines of underdogs are the stuff of legend. David versus Goliath, The NY Jets and Broadway Joe winning the Super Bowl, Texas Western winning the National Title over Kentucky, and now? Who knows? But it sure makes for an interesting story.

It's Madness I tell you...

2011-03-18T09:27:00.002-05:00

The NC2A basketball tournament got underway this week. Did you know that the first Thursday and Friday of the NC2A tournament days are the most missed work days of the year? And those that are at work are more than likely watching the live stream on their computers instead of working.
I remember the first year that CBS started live streaming the games over the internet. I had a co-worker send me a link that the games were on. I just could not believe him so I had to click the link. Of course when the game booted up I had forgotten to turn down the sound on my computer so Billy Packer screamed out of the speakers in front of my computer to my embarassment. As quick as a cobra I hit the mute button and then sheepishly looked around to see if anyone had noticed. I am sure they thought I was talking to myself in one of my many voices like a ventriloquist without a dummy.
So as I sat in wonder with live basketball playing on my computer. I was in hog heaven when I noticed a button on the bottom of the screen that was labeled, "boss button". Well you know that I had to push that and low and behold a microsoft excell spreadsheet pops up on my screen. It had highlights and figures all layed out in some accounting type function, I am sure it was probably the P&L statement for CBS sports but it was genius. I am sure our bosses wondered why everyone in the office was working on a excell spreadsheet when we normally never used that program. So I got to wondering what other uses a boss button could be used for?

How about a boss button in your car, you know when you are late coming back from lunch. You could hit that button and have your best client's voice sound over the car speakers talking to you like you had him in the car. Your boss then would understand why you took a two hour lunch and you could then expense it to the company.

How about a boss button when the boss catches you for the fifth time loitering around the coffee maker. I am thinking something like a sheet that falls in front of you that looks the exact same color as the wall paper. You are standing there and the boss glances in and sees you and when he does his double take you hit the switch, the sheet falls and when he looks again you are gone! That would be awesome.

How about a boss button when you need to leave work early? You need to get out at 3 but you have burned up all your sick time and vacation time. How about a button that inflates a blow up replica of you that looks eerily like you sitting at your desk. Of course we would need a sensor that as someone walked past the hand would raise in mock greeting. That would be great.

Of course these are great ideas but I know that many would use them for purposes other than the NC2A tournament and the productivity of the country would go down the toilet. So for now we will just have to use the boss button on the CBS live feed. Just don't forget to turn down the sound, or you may have Billy Packer screaming out of your speakers, "GONZAGA DID IT!! CINDERELLA REIGNS IN INDIANAPOLIS!!".
Have fun everybody!

Easter is coming...

2011-03-17T08:40:00.002-05:00

With Easter around the bend we are doing a series on Wednessday nights regarding the final week of JESUS' life. Last night we studied over the Passover meal.
Did you realize that Judas had already sold out Christ at this point, willing to turn him over for 30 pieces of silver. But what I had missed in the story was not that Judas was as the Last Supper, but that Judas was also one of the disciples whom JESUS served by washing his feet.
Can you imagine the scene. The disciples are jostling for position to see who gets to sit on JESUS's left and his right. They are debating who the best disciple is, who get the special honor of sitting closest to Christ, and then JESUS comes in. He wraps a towel around his waist, gets a basin of water and goes to the first disciple and starts to wash his feet. The Bible does not say that JESUS even asked to wash that disciples feet, he just did it. All the disciples probably did not even notice when JESUS came in as they were arguing over who the best was. But I will tell you what, I am sure when that disciple felt the water on his feet and saw it was his Master who was washing them a hush fell over the crowd. But what is amazing is that JESUS even washed Judas' feet. The dude who would betray him, the guy who would turn him over, the man who would sell him out. JESUS knelt down and took Judas' foot in his hands and washed the dirt and such off of his feet. Feet which had just earlier that day trod into the High Priest presence with an offer of betrayal. Feet that would carry Judas back to the soldiers and then on to where JESUS was staying that night. Feet of the betrayer and yet JESUS washed them as well.
A true servant will even serve the one who will betray you later...

Life goes on....

2011-03-15T16:32:00.002-05:00

and on and on and on.
I read a statment the other day that kind of shook me up. It said, "some people never start living till they are told they are dying". Have you really thought about that?
If I were told today that I had one year left to live, I would have to seriously think about how I would use that year. I can tell you that I probably would not waste a single minute of it that is for sure.
So I got to thinking what would I eliminate from my time constraints if I had one year to live.
So here are my top ten.

10) Waiting in line for a fast food meal. I mean it is "supposed to be" fast food, I would walk to the front of the line and tell everyone I have one year to live and I can't stand around waiting for them to decide if they want a number one or a number two.
9) All my banking would be done on direct deposit and autodraft. Why wait at the bank to cash a a check or pay a bill. Just have them take it out and do it without you, they will get it all at the end of my one year anyway.
8) The DMV - I would never wait at the DMV again, period. I would not renew my tags, liscense or anything else by waiting in line at the DMV. If it could not get done by phone or email then it won't get done and whoever gets my car will have to pay the late fees.
7) Facebook - I know people whose whole lives are tied up in facebook. I guess they would put up a status post that they have a year to live and see how many would like or dislike that status. I would just quit it all together and let those friend request, mafia war helps, coins, pillows, flowers and whatever else gets given to your facebook account just pile up and up and up... I am sure some will get mad that I never did "friend" them after I am gone.
6) Waiting on Red Lights - Before you going calling for the Sherrif, I would just pull up to a red light and make a right turn if the light was red, even if that was not the direction I was wanting to go. Remember I am dying here, so forward moving is the goal.
5) Waiting in line for movie tickets, for movie seats for anything movies whatsoever. I don't really think Saint Peter is going to ask me if I saw "Inception" and what I thought about it.
4) Sports Events of any kind (unless I have an immediate family member participating) - Who knows, in a years time the only winter sport we might have will be hockey. But I am not going to waste my time watching guys play a game for hundreds of thousands of dollars when I can be out playing catch with my own kids.
3) Video Games - This one is going to hurt... yeah I really want to finish that seventeenth level and win the game finally but I have already wasted 12 days, 14 hours and 32 minutes sitting in front of the TV with controller in hand, no wonder I have a weight issue.
2) Home Improvements - I know that light socket needs fixed, and the receptacle by the TV needs a new plate but I figure when I kick the bucket there should be enough insurance money left to take care of those things.
And my number one Time Waster I will eliminate:
1) Blogging - I know you will miss me, you will miss the wit and sarcasm and the deep thought provoking topics and all but it takes too much time to just sit and write about things I would rather be out doing. So a fair warning, a heads up, if that call ever comes and you see that my blog has not had an update in a month or so, say a little prayer for me. Even if I have not been given a year to live, I probably need your prayers even more...
Be blessed.

Its been a while

2011-03-14T08:45:00.002-05:00

Well sports fans, it has been a while since I graced the blogosphere. So I am back to give you some random thoughts and insights as only I can.

So the NFL owners have locked out the players? I wonder how long it will be before we start to see those guys sending out resumes to get jobs other than playing football. I would love to sit in an interview room with a few of them.
Interviewer: So tell me about yourself.
Candidate: Well, I am 6'5" tall, weight 290 pounds and can bench press 450 pounds 16 times in succesion.
Interviewer: Thats impressive, but you know that you are not going to be bench pressing anything in this office. We do internet marketing for highly competitive creative businesses.
Candidate: Well I am ultra competitive!
Interviewer: Great. Lets talk about job experience, what have you been doing since graduating college.
Candidate: Well last year I was in Green Bay, pretty much worked each and every day with an emphasis on Sunday, knocked down other people and tried to kill the guy behind the lines. You know, ran through the grunts and middle management and then tried to pile drive the CEO of the company. I put that in company speak for you so you understand.
Interviewer: Well that is interesting. What kind of goals are you setting for yourself?
Candidate: I want to get 15 sacks a year and make the Pro Bowl.
Interviewer: No one gets sacks here, and we don't have a Pro Bowl.
Candidate: Oh yeah, I knew that.
Interviewer: Lets talk compensation; this job will pay you $40K starting off, with an option on bonuses and yearly reviews for compensation increases.
Candidate: A month right?
Interviewer: No we get paid Bi Weekley. Every two weeks, understand.
Candidate: Oh that is even better. $40K every two weeks is a little under what I made at my last job but you said that was just starting out right?
Interviewer: I think you misunderstood me. $40K is for the entire year.
Candidate: You mean $40K total, for August through January? That is like just over $6,000 per month. You have to be kidding me, my car payments are more than that!
Interviewer: Uhmmm, when I say the entire year, I am talking January to January.
Candidate: What kind of company are you running here. People can't live on that kind of money in this economy!
Interviewer: Well that is our starting wage, if it is not satisfactory you might want to look elsewhere.
Candidate: Well I do have a few more interviews, hopefully those companies will pay me what I am worth!!
Interviewer: Good luck.

I have a feeling if this thing drags on you might actually see this scenario play out in real life.
Can't wait, but I will miss football too.

Snow snow everywhere.

2011-02-01T15:11:00.002-06:00

Let is snow let it snow let it snow.
Man we are getting hammered by snow right now. As is most of the US.
But down here in the south we are unprepared for it and don't know how to deal with it.
I saw a guy go by a minute ago who had four shovels taped to the front of his car, not really but it would not surprise me.
So here are some wintery snow tips for us southerners to make it through the white stuff.
1) get a SNOW shovel. That little spade shovel is made to dig dirt, not snow. Go get a snow shovel and if you can't find one of those get you a big ole manure scooping shovel, it will work.
2) put chains on your car. Not like big old decorations but on the tires that drive your car. They will give you traction to drive out of the bar ditch you did not see, sometimes.
3) and most importantly, take it slow. Just because you have four wheel drive does not mean you are driving a tank and can go the speed limit everywhere. Take it nice and easy, remember traction is more important than anything and be safe.

Plumbing is like life...

2011-01-21T09:51:00.002-06:00

I hate doing plumbing, it is the one thing about home improvement that I just do not like at all. Let me explain why.
1) You never have the right tools. Do you know why plumbers drive those big trucks always sagging in the rear? Because they have to have every tool known to man to make plumbing work. Usually I am using the only tool that will do what needs to be done and it is never the right tool which means plenty of bloody knuckles and lots of effort.
2) You never have the right parts. An adapter here, a reducer there, some joint compound over here. Every time you start a plumbing project you end up buying double the parts you really need and most of the time you have to make at least two trips to the store to finish.
3) It is cramped in there. Most plumbers have to work in small spaces. Under the sink, behind the toilet, in the crawl space of the house. As a big man I am space challenged when it comes to those kind of things.

Life in a lot of ways resembles plumbing.
We very seldom have the right tools to do lots of things that we are asked to do. Which results in a lot of blood, sweat and tears to accomplish something. But if everything was easy, where would the sense of accomplishment be at the end of a trial.
We seldom have the right parts laying around the house. Wether it is a bag full of money, a helping hand, an extra car, a replacement dishwasher, a replacement spouse... Usually we have to make do with what life has left us, we just can't run to the store in most cases when we are going through a trial in life. We just have to make do with what we have and see if we can make it work. And if we can't make it work we might have to ask for help or go somewhere to see if we cna get the right parts to complete the job.
And life can get really cramped sometimes. We find ourselves lots of times squeezed into small places without room to breathe. But take heart, remember that it is only for a time, it is only for a few agonizing minutes until we can stand again.
Be Blessed

Been gone for a while...

2011-01-07T13:20:00.002-06:00

Hope everyone had a great Holiday and a great new year.
Here are some thoughts to start out the year...
1) It is never as important than you think it might be unless it is dealing with your health, your kids or your wife!!
2) Make time for you this year, sometimes we get so busy doing everything that we burn out. Take some time to read, write or even play.
3) Take time out for your family this year. Spend time with them, play, teach and most of all listen.
4) Pinpoint three areas in your life that you want to deal with this year. It might be your health, it might be family relations, whatever. Make a point to improve those three items the first half of the year and then celebrate the improvements the second half of the year.
5) Have fun. Remember, we have only one life to live. It would be a shame to live it and never have any fun!

Vacation... sweet vacation

2011-01-04T21:04:00.002-06:00

Been gone a vacation for the last few days, much needed. Some signs to tell you that you are indeed in need of a vacation.
1) you start to dream about work. We should never dream about work, we should dream about being off of work. When you start dreaming about getting that project done on time, it is time for a break.
2) you start thinking of excuses why you should not go to work. Excuses like, maybe I have menagitus, or some unseemly rash comes on after you haven't washed in a few days, or you have nothing clean to wear. Those type of excuses that don't hold water normally, become reachable when you need a vacation.
3) you start worrying wether or not you can afford a vacation. Come on, you don't have to spend a lot of $$ on vacation, you just need some Calgon and a good hot tub of water to get away.
4) you worry what your boss will think if you take vacation. Can I tell you that he does not worry about what you are thinking as he is jet setting himself off to Cancun!!
5) your wife starts dropping hints that you are starting to look like a tiger in a zoo. Here is the mighty desk worker in his natural habitat...

What's your favorite Christmas time candy?

2010-12-16T12:18:00.002-06:00

We asked this question of our kids and we got four totally different responses. You would think kids growing up in the same house, sharing a set of genetic codes from just two people would be somewhat alike, but not our kids, they all picked something totally different.
So I got to thinking about my favorite holiday candy, and I found that I don't have one. I know weird isn't it. All my kids have one, my wife has one (can you say chocolate covered strawberries?) but I don't have a favorite. I guess I am kind of a "one candy fits all" kind of person.
So I decided if my wife is reading my blog to give her some hints. So here are the top five...
5) The Ultimate Gobstopper. Now this isn't the little marble jawbreakers you get at the C store. Now the "Ultimate" is a the mother of all Jawbreakers. It is so big you can't bite it in half even if you tried. Actually I think you might need a diamond tipped cutter to make a dent in it. It is the greatest, and it last and last and last, and if you are in a pinch you can play marbles with it. Just dry it off first!
4) The Watchamacallit. I just love saying it when you went to the store when it first came out. You go to the counter and ask, "do you have a watchamacallit?" The clerk gives you a weird stare and you ask again. Then you look down and say, "well here it is" and you put it on the counter and try to keep the smug look off your face.
3) Mr. Werthers Original Hard Caramel Candies. My Grandfather used to keep these around the house. I assumed since he liked them they were nasty like polk greens. But one day I thought I would try one, and wow, it is like a caramel candy that last and last. I think I ate a whole bag in one sitting. Now the only problems with these are they are individually wrapped, so when you sit and eat a whole bag there are a bunch of wrappers and they are hard to hide.
2)M&M's. I don't know if there is a better candy than the good old M&Ms. Hard candy shell, with a chocolate, peanut or peanut butter center. It is one of those candys that you can feel confident eating even if you found it in the floor boards of your car. Kids, adults or even grandparents love them and a bowl of them will go for a long time. Pour them out into a bowl and unless my father in law is around they will last a long time.
1) Whoppers Malted Milk Balls. I think these are my favorites. I have always loved Whoppers, it is the only candy I have ever found that came in a recycled milk carton. I just love eating a whopper, letting the chocolate melt off of it and getting that puckered malt flavor at the end. You can eat about a handful and feel good about your self and still have half a half gallon left at the end of the day. And nothing beats those that the malt center has become gooey and it kind of like a soft nuggety center. Yum...

So what is your favorite.

Letting go...

2010-12-15T08:52:00.002-06:00

I think with me letting go is a problem. I do not think I am quite at that "hoarders" stage but I can see the signs of that disease in my life. Now don't get me wrong, my house is not littered with old newspapers, magazines, pizza boxes and clothes strewn all over the place (OK well we are not counting the laundry room). But I find in my physical and spiritual life I have a hard time letting things go.
I was going through my closet a couple weeks ago and saw a suit that I have not wore in over 10 years. It is a great looking suit, double breasted, pin striped and about five sizes too small for me now. So instead of donating it to some foundation, I looked at it, wiped the dust off the shoulders and hung it back up thinking that I will one day be skinny again and put that dude on. When in reality if I get back to that weight I am not sure I want to be wearing a fifteen year old suit.
I was looking through my stack of stuff and found I have a briefcase fetish. I have about ten briefcases laying around my den. I have briefcases for all sorts of situtations. I have messenger bag briefcases (4), I have a briefcase that has a handle and wheels (1), I have a soft side leather briefcase (1), I have a hard side leather briefcase (1), I have a soft side egonomic laptop computer briefcase, I have a briefcase that will allow you to put a change of clothes in it as well as all the papers and laptops you might need (1) and I have a stainless steel clad briefcase I bought on a whim one time because it was cool. Okay, so I only have 9 briefcases but really how many do I need? I think I am going to get a backpack briefcase so I can have a nice round number of ten. See there I go again, adding and not releasing.
I have a hard time letting go of things. Do I need a stainless steel briefcase? No so why do I still have it? That is the hard question.
Do I need to work weekends? No, so why do I? Do I need to allow others to take on things I am doing currently? Yes, so why won't I embrace them and allow them to help me instead of wrapping my arms even more tightly around my problems?
Sometimes letting go is the hardest thing to do.

Brrrrrrr....

2010-12-14T12:55:00.002-06:00

Was Chicago the last weekend and I have come to one conclusion, it is really COLD up there in Winter.
I started to wonder why people would want to live in an area where the temperature rarely gets up over the single digits for long periods of time.
Here are some must haves if you need to go to the frozen north sometime in the near future.
1) a HEAVY coat.
I live in Oklahoma, you know the place where if you don't like the weather hang around a few days and it will change. It gets cold here, but not cold like it gets in Chicago. You have to have a heavy coat. Something that will break the cold and keep the heat in. My coat is not a heavy coat, it is a middleweight coat, kind of like Sugar Ray Leonard. But in Chicago you need a Mike Tyson kind of coat, one that will bite the ears off of the wind if it has to. The happy people in Chicago in the winter are the ones walking around looking like the Michelin man. A Heavy coat is a must.
2) A furry hat.
Now you can do a regular hat but only the furry hats survive Chicago winters. I do not know if it is the fact that they were once alive, or at least partially alive still, but those furry hats will keep your noggin warm. I tried to wear different hats in Chicago but to no avail. You can wear a baseball hat only till the next gust of wind rips it off of your head. By the time you reach up to grab it, it will be in the next county and in 30 seconds will be somewhere over in Michigan. Plus baseball hats are meant to be worn in the summer anyway... You can try to wear a stocking hat, but only certain people can pull those off. You either look like someone spray painted your head a bright color or you look like you are somehow related to the clone heads from Jersey. And as far as keeping your head really warm, well they have a shelf life of about 15 minutes when at that time the stocking hat is colder than the outside temperature. You can also try to wear some of those "cool" hats, like a scottish driving hat (won't keep your ears warm), a beret (unless you are Phil Keagy or in the Special Forces please don't even wear these in the summer) or a cowboy hat (see wind notice here) nothing works like the animal pelt molded to your noggin. There is just something about fur around your ears and balding pate that just makes you warm. So when picking out your warm weather hat, go for the dead animal that has been turned into a beanie.
3) Gloves.
Gloves are also a must have in the windy city. And I am not talking those sheer skin driving gloves either. I am talking gloves that you can hold car keys in your gloved hand kind of gloves. Ones with fur on the inside AND the outside to keep your digits doubly warmed. My gloves are the nice looking, very distinguished leather looking gloves with a little fluff around the wrist area, that absolutely positively do not work in cold weather. I would have been better off making sock puppets and wearing them on my hands than those thin little wisp of what passed as a glove that I had. I would recommend again furry gloves that come all the way up to your armpits, if you can't get them that long at least settle for ones that will go up to the elbows. Believe me you will need it.
4) Boots.
You need adequate footwear if you are going to take on Chicago in the dead of winter. Lets just say that my topsiders and my slippers would not cut it, even with two pairs of socks. You need those boots that have insulation in them. Now in Oklahoma we have steel toed boots for rough work, in Chicago you need steel toes, heels, insteps and ankles if you are going to make it through the winter without getting frostbite. And don't get those slick soled bottoms either, get some that can grip in the winter, you might be walking on snow, ice or really cold mud that is only slightly above freezing that seeps into your socks and leaves you all day wondering if your toes actually ever did have any feeling in them. I have been in Oklahoma a little over 12 hours now and I still can't feel my toes, I hope they are still there.

So if you are heading to the great North, dress accordingly, or you might not make it back.

Staff...or Staph?

2010-12-07T10:57:00.002-06:00

I will never forget the one time I told someone that I had "staff". They looked at me like they needed to immediately wash their hands. It was then that I realized what I had said. I should have said that "I have A staff" as there is a difference.
I am so thankful for the staff that I have. They are all pretty much home grown, came up through the minor leauges so to speak in our church.
Out associate Pastor John Dorsey is such a rare treasure. If anyone knew how much money we pay him for all that he does, they would snag him in an instant, just saying. He does it all. I used to joke with him when he was doing his studies at ORU when he was taking a carpentry or a plumbing class because all Sr. Pastors need to know how to do those things. But Pastor John really does know how to do all those things. He has a heart for our community, a real desire to make a difference in the people of our community. He even volunteered to serve on the city council when a seat became available, so he is either committed or needs to be committed, as to a psych ward. But he loves helping people. There is no one I know that if a widow woman calls because her toilet is leaking will get all giddy and excited about fixing a leaking toilet than Pastor John. When we first arrived in Welch he was a teenager just out of school and off chasing skirts and big money in the mining towns of Neveda. When he returned to Welch he started leading worship in our church and we had to put some limitations on him. Boy he did not like that one bit, even walked away for a bit but I am so glad he stuck it out. GOD is really making him into one in whom he delights. He took his schooling and applied to get credentials and for a while actually held higher credentials for a while than I did. It was at that point he was pushing me onwards and upwards. And his wife, Christina, she is the director of our day care. She is as much a blessing as Pastor John is. Servants one and all.
And then we have Pastor Mike and Pastor Katie, our youth Pastors. They are so much like my wife and myself it is scary. Katie is the pushy one, always on the run and always planning something. Mike is like myself, thoughtful to the point where we forget to move on sometimes. But they are really being shaped by GOD to be the couple that he will use for decades to come. I sometimes forget they haven't even hit 30 yet! They were not always on staff either. Katie grew up in the church, her and Mike got married and they kind of did their own thing for a while. I remember some of the gifts that were given at their wedding and thinking that they might have some problems later. They did, but they worked through them and GOD called them to do ministry as only they can. Katie leaped first in getting credentials and Mike followed soon after matching her. They are still working through their ministry style, still raising a family and working in carreers but the sky is the limit for them. One day the light will turn on and they will find their groove and then watch out world...
Pastor Charlie and Elaine are our music/performing arts Pastors. My wife and I have known them for a long time. We actually attended church together when we were all riding a pew instead of standing on stage. They were a crazy pair then, still are today. Elaine is a PK (Pastor's Kid) so she has been doing this all her life. She has seen it all and then some. Elaine was a stay at home Mom who took care of their SIX kids and Charlie was working for a dog food company as a design engineer. Our wives had a mutual interst in sign language which meant they left Charlie and I with his six kids and my three. So after one night of that Charlie and I found we both loved music and we both played trumpets so from that night on the screams of the kids were drowned out by the blasting of our trumpets. I probably owe my musical talents that I have today to Charlie, without him showing me, training me and challenging me I would have never rediscovered my musical talents. We spent a number of years with Charlie and Elaine until they decided to change churches. A situation came up and they left to attend another church, it wasn't long after that we took the Church in Welch. We of course asked them to come and be part of our new church when we started in Welch but they were just getting settled at their new church so they declined. Of course the relationship faltered as our common interaction dissolved into a once a month or eventually a once in a while visit. It was not until we opened our new building that we invited Charlie and Elaine to come entertain us with some music and acting. After that interaction my wife wanted to reach out to them but we put it on the back burner to make sure that GOD was speaking to us and not our own desires and wants. About two months later we met with them and offered them a staff position to be our Worship Pastors. I was not sure they would accept, but when they told us they were feeling called we rejoiced and they came and joined us at Gateway. It has been a few years now since they joined us, Pastor Charlie is now credentialed, and they are using their talents and their kids talents to bless our people. It is amazing how GOD has used them for his glory.
Pastor Lynda and Darrell are our Childrens Pastors. They have been with us since the beginning. Not as staff but as a part of our family. Darrell is my wife's brother, my brother in law. We had some childrens pastor at the time that they started at our church and Lynda mentioned that she would like to work with kids sometime. Unknown to us, GOD was working to prepare them for that work as our childrens pastors left about a month later and Pastor Lynda and her husband moved into that position. They served for a while before we asked about them getting their credentials and found out that Pastor Lynda actually graduated from a Bible College with her degree in teaching. Lynda applied for credentials and with her schooling was able to get credentials as a minister as well. Darrell decided he did not want to pursue pastoring was was willing to be a helper and a helper he is. They have been such a blessing, spending each and every sunday working with our churches kids, ministering to them and investing in their lives. I tell them all the time that their efforts are like planting an oak tree. They dig the hole and put in the acorn but it will be years before their labors are realized. But over the course of time GOD will reward them for their efforst.
So in our little old church, we have a gold mine of staff. And each and every day that I work with them I am blessed.
Many churches have staff, our staff is like a shepherds staff that you can lean on and will help you reach areas that you could never reach.
Other churches I have heard about have said that their staff is like staph, an infection that causes discomfort. I am so glad our staff is not like that.

How in the world did I survive?

2010-12-06T09:44:00.002-06:00

I was thinking of my childhood this weekend and as the memories continued to flow by as I strolled down memory lane I had a dramatic moment where I realized I was lucky to be alive...
Let me recount some of my experiences...

I rode in the back of a pickup truck going down the highway. Yeah, I know what were my parents thinking? I guess they were thinking we only had a pickup truck, and with my Dad driving and Mom riding shotgun there was only enough space between them for my two youngest brothers. Which means me and my next youngest brother got to ride in the back.

I went through a auto accident once with my Mom and I was not wearing a seatbelt. I think we were in this big old station wagon. I remember brakes squealing and then hitting the big padded seat in front of me and ending up on the floor board. Then I remember Mom saying something she shouldn't have...

I remember owning a BB gun at the ripe old age of six, and I never shot my eye out with it. But I did shoot my brother once, right in the keister.

I remember drinking water straight out of the water hose...multiple times. I know, I was a daredevil.

I remember making a gasoline bomb out of a beer bottle and a hankerchief. It burned up the entire backyard and an acre of pasture.

I remember running through the house while my brother threw LIT matches at me. I grabbed a can of hair spray and just happened to catch one of the lit matches in mid flight with the spray, viola, FLAME THROWER.

I remember putting a speedometer on my ten speed and going down the biggest hill I could find. I got a little scared when I hit 70 about halfway down the hill. I think I coasted about a mile.

I remember eating dog food on a dare; trying to get the swing to go ALL the way around the pole it was hanging from; having BB gun wars with friends; and riding inside a tractor tire down a hill till I got stopped by the barbed wire fence.

And that is just the half of it... yeah, I am indeed lucky to be alive.

Its the most wonderful time of the year...

2010-12-03T08:20:00.002-06:00

I always love to hear that Christmas song because it means we are getting close to Christmas. The Holiday decorations go up, the Christmas tree goes up and the presents start showing up under the tree.
But for many this is the hardest time of the year. They are reminded of past joys that multiply the sorrows they feel in their hearts. They may have lost a loved one this year that will not share this special time. They may have relocated because of careers putting them in a position away from family and friends for the first time. They may have lost their job this year putting presents on the tail end of the to do list behind the mortgage, insurance and food.
So as you enter this Holiday Season, as you pass one another on the street, in the mall or at Wal Mart. Remember there are those who are having a hard time right now. Do something out of the ordinary this Holiday Season.
Invite a homebound neighbor over for Christmas dinner.
Buy the person behind you a cup of coffee at the donut shop with a hearty Merry Christmas.
Shovel the snow out of your neighbors driveway.
Drop off a present at that Single Mom's house that is just for her.
Know a family struggling to pay their bills? Pick one of their bills to pay for them.
Adopt a child in your neighborhood and leave some gifts at the front door. You could put a note that Santa gained weight this year and couldn't fit down the chimney and the front door was locked!
There are a million things that we can do to brighten someones Holiday season, get creative and see what you can do to turn this into the most wonderful time of the year.

If I had hair...

2010-12-02T09:29:00.002-06:00

I would be pulling it all out sometimes.
There are things about human nature that just astound me. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Iwas watching some TV the other night while on the road and saw a show called "Jail". It is filmed in local lockups as they bring people in who have been arrested that night and go through the booking process. It amazes me how people who have handcuffs on, who are being fingerprinted, and put in a jail cell keep telling those people who arrested them that they did not do anything wrong.
There was one lady who was clearly intoxicated, slurring her words and could not walk a straight line. And as they put her in the cell she shouted out for all the hear, "I not drunk, no drinking I have done." So from translating those words, either she is Yoda's padawan trainee or she is drunk as a skunk. She proceeded to later try to tear a phone off the wall before she was restained in the restraining chair.
And another guy who was being arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, could not figure out why he was being arrested. He did not actually shoot the guy, he missed, so why should he be arrested for shooting at a guy and missing? Iwas thinking are you serious?
I guess I should not be amazed at what I saw on TV, I see it all the time in the church world. People who profess to be Christians doing things that they should not be doing and when they are caught in their lies and their sin their first inclination is to blame others, or if there are not others to blame to ignore it and pretend it did not really happen. And then there are others who take on the victim mentality that it is not their fault, the world is against them and they should not be held responsible for their actions. Are people so blinded that they can't see their forest of sin and rebellion for the trees in front of them?
Just wondering...

So I am sitting in an airport minding my own business...

2010-12-01T21:25:00.002-06:00

When a lady's voice comes over the speaker and says my name and that I needed to go to the gate counter. I had flashbacks to my grade schoold days when you would get called to the office that way. I could nopt figure why I was needed there as I had already checked in for my flight, had my ticket in hand and was starting to get upset because I was afraid they were going to bump me from the flight. The earlier flight had some electrical problems AFTER takeoff and had to come back to Omaha and the flight was cancelled. So I get up there ready to tell the woman that I am a PLATINUM frequent flier when she hands me a different ticket and says she bumped me to FIRST CLASS. I was kind of shocked and then she said "is that OK?". I was almost speechless and finally got out, "you bet".
Well I went up to that counter ready to give that lady a piece of my mind, tell her where the corn grows and the cows graze. I went up there ready to battle, ready to throw down and get down because it was on like Donkey Kong. And it was all for nothing as she did not mess me around but blessed me abundantly.
So have you ever been called to the principal's office thinking you were in trouble only to find out you were being blessed?

My Favorite Commercial

2010-11-23T08:49:00.002-06:00

I just love the Gieco commercials right now. The introduction dude always gets my attention when he says, "can switching to Gieco really save you 15% or more on your car insurance? Does ..."
So I decided in this blog post to rank the top five Geico "Does..." commercials.

1) Does an ex drill instructors make really bad councilors... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhlWddAXSRA
Drill Instructor berates an emotional young man who is expressing his feelings. Favorite line, "well let's go over to Mamby Pamby Land and see if we can find you some self confidence"

2) Does the little piggy really cry wee wee wee all the way home... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F_G2zp-opg
A lady is driving her SUV with the eerily high cry of WEEEEEEEEEEE reverberating through the car. We finally see a little piggy crying WEEEEEEEEEE out the back window all the way through the commercial even after the car stopped in which the driver says, "Max, Max, MAXWELL, YOU'RE HOME" at which time the little pig stops saying WEEEEEEEEE.

3) Is Abraham Lincoln honest? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdy3orO6tQA
Old grainy black and white footage show Abraham Lincoln in a room when his wife walks in and ask "does this dress make my backside look big". Abe is certainly flustered as his wife's backside is indeed big, after a moment he raises his hands and puts his fingers just so far apart and says "Perhaps"...to the angst of his wife.

4) Is having a snowball fight with pitchig great Randy Johnson a bad idea? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yenuvSUKugc&feature=channel
The Big Unit Randy Johnson throws a snowball through a guys arm, feathers from his down jacket falling out as Randy picks him up. The look farther on and see holes in someones garage in a snowball shape...

5) Does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aZLw_KBdqc&feature=channel
Country Western star Charlie Daniels is seen playing the tar out of a fiddle. As he finishes you realize he is in a fancy restaurant as he hands the fiddle to a man wearing a tux and says, "That's how you do it, son."

Did I mention that I don't even use Geico? They couldn't save me 15% on all my insurance needs but I love thier commercials non the less.

Christmas is coming...

2010-11-22T10:00:00.002-06:00

We always decorate our church so the Sunday after Thanksgiving we have our Christmas Decorations up. It is a real pain in the neck for our staff as we kind of go overboard for Christmas. At our church it is not acceptable to have one little tree on a tabletop with some twinkle lights. No, we go BIG. Multiple trees, lots of light and lots of Holly everwhere.
I know many times as a staff as we are dealing with hanging the lights and the greenery, we probably look at it as a temporary thing that we have to take down in a little more than a month. But JESUS is the reason for the season, and I think we should do it BIG to celebrate him.
So pray for our staff as they bring the seasonal items out of the attic, dust them off and put them on display for all to see as we celebrate the coming of the Savior.
Do you do it BIG at your church or do you just get by?

Shattered lives...

2010-11-21T18:20:00.002-06:00

We have the pleasure each weekend before Thanksgiving of hosting a Teen Challenge program in our area. Each year we have ten to fifteen girls from that program grace us with their presence for our service. And each and every year I am beset by tears and emotions as these girls share the stories of their shattered lives. Many of them abused as children by those close to them. Many of them turning to drugs, alcohol and self mutilation to ease the pain of their suffering souls. But each and every year as I cry tears of sadness hearing the stories of their lives, I also cry tears of joy as I hear the redeeming stories of their lives by the living GOD.
Where pain and shame once lived, now joy and pride of a newfound life is testified to all.
These young ladies are a living testimoney of how GOD can truely change a life.
GOD is still today taking shattered lives and mending them once again into a life worth living.
Shattered lives to Redeemed and repaired.

Planning...

2010-11-20T15:29:00.002-06:00

I am remodeling my wife's closet. It was not a planned remodel. After our bed disaster we had to take everything out of our bedroom to dry out the floor. So the closet got trashed and today my wife complained that she did not have enough closet space because the closet was unorganized.
So I jumped into my SuperHero tights and thought I would save the day. Alas, I think I am more prepared to be a SuperVillan than a SuperHero.
You see SuperVillan's usually plan some monumental disaster but forget one little thing leaving room for the SuperHero to save the day. That seems to be what is happening on the closet. I am always a half inch this way or that way from making something work. It seems that everything is just a hair too big or a hair to small for it to work and it is frustrating me.
Now I should not expect some miracle, I am working with absolutely no budget and I am cobbling things together that were leftovers from something else.
I am not sure why I jumped into it without doing some proper planning. Well I do know why I did not plan, and my excuse is not good. My reason for not planning was the job was too small to plan. I figured by the time that I worked out a plan on paper I could have the entire job done. But alas my fiendishly clever plan to conquer my closet has turned into a nightmare. I guess there is nothing that is too small to plan. I just need a SuperHero to come and finish the job.

Drip, drip, drip...

2010-11-19T12:25:00.005-06:00

For the last twenty or so years I have slept on a waterbed. Yeah I know I should have grown up many years ago but stay with me.
When I first got married back in the 80's waterbeds were all the rage. My wife and I however went conventional and bought a standard queen size matress and box springs to start our house. However not long after that we developed a hatred toward that matress and box springs. If I remember we bought it used, and we were starting to figure out why its previous master released it. My mother though was dealing with arthritis and the queen size waterbed she had was bothering her joints so we agreed to a trade. We took over our parts, swapped out with her and soon we were floating on a bed of water, warm water to be precise. It was one of those bladder type waterbeds where if your spouse was sleeping too close to the edge, you could actually send them flying out of the bed with a well timed flop. We absolutely loved that bed, it was warm as soon as you got in, soft as a pillow and the gentle waves lulled you to sleep. Waterbed 1.0 was great, then we got a pair of cats.
Yeah those cats ran through our bed one night while we were sleeping and we awoke with wet sheets from about a hundred claw marks that had penetrated the bladder. It is never a good thing to wake up feeling wet and cold in your own bed. It brings back bad memories of childhood that no one wants to relive. Well that was the end of that water bed, waterbed 1.0 died so we went searching for another bed.
What we found filled our hearts with joy. My brother in law was moving and decided he did not want to move his KING size soft side waterbed and offered it to us. It was the best of both worlds!! It was WATERBED 2.0! The hard wooden sides that greeted you every morning with a smack to your ankles or cut into your thighs as you manuvered yourself out of waterbed 1.0 had been replace with soft foamy edges on the 2.0 model. The free floating bladder from model 1.0 had been enhanced with some kind of foam in the middle that made bed 2.0 "waveless". Now I will tell you in just certain situations a flop from enormous heights still will create enough of a wave in a waveless waterbed that is capable of spilling your spouse right out into the floor. But the smaller waves of just rolling over disappeared overnight with that magical foam. The other great thing about this bed was it took standard size sheets. No longer did we have to shop at "Waterbeds R Us" to get our sheets. No longer would we awake in the night to find the sheets had slipped off and we were laying on a cold plastic filled zip lock bag. We could shop at normal stores, buy those neat frilly sheets that were in style today and they fit like a glove. We were so happy... and then it happened.
We had our first experience with a leak late one night many years into our ownership of waterbed 2.0. We probably had that bed at least 10 years before we ever had a leak. It had this thick cover that wrapped around the entirity of the bladder so cat claws would never come near to penetrating the liquid filled center. It was made of such thick plastic I actually considered putting some goldfish in there so they could swim around. It would be so cool to actually sleep in an aquarium. Of course my wife would never go for that, it would freak her out knowing that she was sleeping actually WITH the fishes!!
So it came as a shock to me when we first experienced a leak in waterbed 2.0. I remember waking up in the middle of the night feeling cold and clammy. As I laid there I realized that I was wet from chest to toe. My first instinct was that I must have had an "accident". I know, I know, I was at this time in my mid 30's, mature and still the first thought I had was that I had wet the bed. As I laid there, cold and wet I suddenly realized that I really had to go to the bathroom, and if I had to go to the bathroom then I could not have wet the bed. It was then that the most horrible thought came to my mind. My thirty something wife must have wet the bed and I am laying in HER "accident".
As a young child I always had to share a room with someone. And because of that sharing my brothers and I always had bunk beds. You know where I am going with this, but don't jump to far ahead. There is a reason why the OLDER sibling always gets the top bunk. There is nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night to the feeling of rain falling on your body. Nothing worse except when you realize that you are indoors, and that is not rain that is falling.
So as I laid there, cold and clammy in my wife's "accident" I did what every husband, father, and grown man would do. I yelled at the top of my lungs, "YUCKKKKKKKK!!! YOU WET THE BED!!!!" which immediately waked my wife who was still sound asleep. as I jumped out of bed my hasty exit created another problem. You see in a water bed, the heavier of the two individuals displaces more of the bladder's water creating a hole or a depression in the bed. That hole or depression will collect andy and all liquids that are on top of the vinyl bladder of the bed. As I rolled out of the bed the depression that I had been causing was suddenly no longer there and the water quickly found the depression that my wife was now occupying, soaking her from chest to toe as well. She quickly awoke only to tell me she had not had an "accident" ("Yeah right" I thought to myself) and that I was a moron for thinking that of her. Actually she did not call me a moron, I added that part as that was what I thought of myself after I falsely accused her of being a five year old with a bladder problem. Anyway after a night on the couch (both of us) we discovered what had happened was that somehow something sharp had slipped down between the bladder and the soft edge of the bed and poked a hole in the bladder. We did a patch job on that hole the next day, dried out the covers and had a good laugh at our "accident" and went back to enjoying our waterbed 2.0.
That is until this last Monday. I had to catch an early flight that day so I was getting up early anyway but I was not planning on getting up quite that early. About 4:45 AM I heard the distinct sound of "drip", "drip", drip" which I chalked up to an early morning thunderstorm. But then I realized that the sound of this drip was not falling from the gutters outside but sounded like it was coming from inside the house. Since we had just finished remodeling out master bathroom I just knew that we must have broken a hose or the sink faucet had sprung a leak. My thoughts were derailed though when I put my foot upon the floor and found the carpet to be cold and clammy and really really wet. Not just soak it up with a towel it will be OK wet but water standing on the floor wet this is a sinking ship wet. It was then that I realized waterbed 2.0 was out for the count. I grabbed a towel and tried to stop the outflow of its precious liquids but it was beyond what I could repair. As I began to gather my things to quickly put it out of its misery and as humanely as possible drain its remaining fluids this thought caused me to choke up. My days as a waterbed owner were coming to an end. No, I would never again be lulled to sleep by the slow rocking of the waves, or have the opportunity to fling my wife out onto the floor with a well timed flop. No, that morning as I drained the last of its still warm water from its radidly deflating shell I realized that I had finally grown up, no more waterbeds for us. Sleep is too precious a commodity now than to wake up wet, cold and clammy every so often. But it was sure fun while it lasted.

What do you do, when you don't know what to do?

2010-11-18T12:50:00.002-06:00

That is a question that many have been struggling with lately. I have counciled many people lately who have asked that question. What do we do in this situation?
Well the answer is not always what they want to hear. It is not always the situation that they want to go through. And it does not always lead to an area of their life that they want to explore.
But through every situation we need to remember that GOD is still there. Many times we feel like GOD has abandoned us, that he has left on vacation and is not returning our calls.
But GOD has never left us or forsaken us. He is still there even when we feel like he is not.
But many times his answer to our cries is "not yet" or "no". And when we do not hear what we want to hear we think that GOD is not there. It is not that he is not there, it is just that he is not telling us what we want to hear.
So when you don't know what to do, make sure you are listening for everything that GOD is saying even those things that you may not want to hear.

Coffee... yum

2010-11-12T10:37:00.003-06:00

So for Pastor's Appreciation day the church got me a coffee maker. Now before you go, "well they must not like him too much" they got me the bomb diggity coffee maker ever made.
It is one of those that makes one cup of coffee from those little packets you insert into the machine like loading a shotgun. The only way for it to be cooler would be if it made some sort of whoosh whish noise like on Star Trek.
So with the maker which is too cool (Oh I have already said that) came all these different kinds of coffees. There is of course the typical girly coffee, Hazelnut, Irish Cream, Vanilla, but there is this stuff called BOLD, Caribou, Columbian Roast that look promising. See I grew up on coffee made in a percolator, on a stove top. That coffee was the kind where if there wasn't grounds in the bottom of your cup it wasn't REAL coffee.
So I made pancakes for supper last night and decided, yum Coffee! So I made a cup and then I see my kids bringing cups in filled with... wait for it... HOT CHOCOLATE!
My coffee maker makes steaming hot cups of HOT CHOCOLATE also!
So I got to thinking, what other options could I put in that machine?
So here are FIVE things the little coffee packagers should put out for my do it all coffee and more machine.
1) Chicken soup - now I am not sure how they could get the noodles and chicken chunks to go through the little strainer but I am sure they can figure it out. Something like those sea monkeys that when they were added to water expanded and get bigger. That would be great to get a steaming cup of soup without using a can opener.
2) Milk - now stay with me. Nothing can cure insomnia like warm milk sipped from a mug. Not an every night drink but maybe one where you keep a couple of those little canisters next to the antacid in the medicine cabinet.
3) Sweet and Sour Sauce - pop some frozen chicken nuggets in the microwave and cook on nuclear. Then drizzle some HOT sweet and sour sauce on them. YUM!
4) Gravy - I can not make gravy to save my life, but if they had one of those little canisters, I could make gravy all day long!! Oh we ran out of gravy for the potatoes? Let me pop in one of these little canisters, whoosh whish and Viola!! Gravy nice and hot!
5) Pudding - Everyone needs a quick and easy desert every so often. How about a pudding canister that pops in there and out comes some chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, caramel, butterscotch or any kind of pudding you can think of.
It won't be long now when we stand in front of a little door and say, "computer, I would like a chocolate shake please" and whoosh whish the door rises and there is a chocolate shake.
I can dream can't I? Captain Pat, star date 76985 signing off.

Surprised? You should't be...

2010-11-11T08:43:00.002-06:00

When the church helps people with no strings attached, why are the people being helped surprised? Isn't that what we are supposed to do?
We had a house in our community burn down the other night so my wife sprang into action. She started finding out what they needed. It is amazing the little things that you find you need when everything is gone.
So the people of our church started donating things, little things like razors, toothpaste and a hairbrush. My wife handed the hair brush to the lady of the home and she immediately ripped it out of its package and started brushing her hair. She said she had been wanting to do that all day.
And last night at church my wife mentioned that they were getting settled into a small RV but that they still had some needs. She had asked them if they needed a coffee maker (some of us would run out of a burning house clutching one thing, it might be the coffee maker) for the morning. They said yes but that they like to perculate their coffee on the stove top. They did not like the "drip" coffee makers. Well we did not have one of them but a lady in our church had two. So she offered it to them. My wife takes it out last night and pulls it out of a bag and says look what one of the ladies in our church had and the lady smiled a little bit. Then she pulled out some creamer and said she had found this also, and the the lady smiled a little bit more. The my wife pulled out two coffee cups and the lady's smile lit up the room. She told my wife that the coffee pot was good, and the creamer was good but they would not be able to drink it because they had no cups to put the coffee in. My wife is the bomb! She was told over and over how surprised they were that total strangers were helping them out. Church, we need to step up and quit helping people with hidden agendas and trap doors to get them in our church. We need to help because that is what Christ would have done.
In the end those people lost their home and everything that they owned inside went up in flames. But this morning as the sun rose once again they were able to sit together, side by side, maybe even holding hands and they get to drink a cup of coffee together. I am glad we got to surprise them.

Cowboys fire head coach...

2010-11-10T08:44:00.002-06:00

Yeah I know it is old news but I just can't get over the look on Wade Phillips face as the Packers just beat the tar out of his team on Monday night football. He looked lost, he looked disappointed, he looked like his world had just turned upside down and he was the only one that was still with his feet on the ground.
Now I am not going to get into should he or shouldn't he have been fired. I probably would have fired him a few weeks ago before the season totally got out of hand. But what I want to discuss is what happened?
The Cowboys have all the talent in the world. Now don't get on the our star QB got hurt and that is why they are so bad train. He got hurt two games ago, and they only had ONE win then. They have arguably the most talented offense in the leauge. Their defense is not that much different than the one that ranked in the top ten last year. So what happened?
I think it is something that happens to many "teams", they get to believing in their own success and forget how hard it was to get successful. Stay with me a moment. To be successful in anything it takes a lot of effort. Nothing can replace hard work, nothing. But many times we become victims of our own success and we begin to feel entitled and that we have arrived. It is at that point that you have to check the ego at the door and put on the hard hat and go to work. When I looked at the Cowboys in the preseason they made all sorts of mistakes, missed assignments and yet all everyone talked about was that they were going to be the first team to host a Super Bowl. This was all before the season started. Some of the NFL commentators said there were big problems in Big D but most of the talking heads just brushed it off and said once the season started they would be fine. Well they are not fine today and because of it Wade Phillips is on enemployment.
So what can we do as leaders and coaches to avoid the pitfalls that snared the Boys this year.
1) Don't buy into the lie that you are all that and more.
Many times we get enamored with our success that we forget we are all still human and do not have GOD powers to simply speak something into existance. We still have to do the little things right, still have to lay the foundations and work hard.
2) Don't get complacent.
Abraham Lincoln said "the enemy of great is not bad, but good". I try to live that because there are a lot of people who could be great but settle for good. And the problem with that is the same problem the Boys are having today, they were pegged for greatness, just being good is not good enough.
3) Do the little things right.
GOD promises in his word that if we are faithful in the little things he will give us the larger things in life. It works like that in all aspects of life, start small and slowly as you gain experience you get bigger things to work with. But if you never do the little things right, you will keep repeating that job until you do.
4) Do your job with all your heart
I have watched some of the Cowboys play their tails off, and still I have seen others, well not look like they had their heart into it. I would be the last one to ever question an athletes heart, but I know that during my athletic carreer there were times when I just gave up when there was still time on the clock. Working in a losing effort is not fun, it is work. But that work will pay off later in life, trust me.
5) And finally, Sometimes change is needed.
Do I think that the new coach will do any better? Probably not. But I will say this, I guarantee you that this week in practice and in the locker room things are different. It may not be large change, it may be something as insignificant as a change of pace of schedule but many times change is needed to jump start our lives. As humans we love to be comfortable, but only in our uncomfortable state do we truely start to look for opportunities, for options to make life better. The world is changing around us and we need to be ready to change with it or we might find ourself on the end of a loosing record and a boss looking to fire somebody, think about it.

Conflict...

2010-11-09T10:32:00.003-06:00

Man, who does not love conflict?
I love to watch conflict happen, especially when it is not happening to me. How many times are you drawn to a story becuase of the conflict found inside?
Think of all the great movies. What do they all have in common? They all have conflict. Great books? They all have conflict. It is part of the story, it is part of the backround, it makes life exciting. Yep, I said it, conflict makes life exciting.
It is that part of life that is unpredictable and uncontrolable. It just happens and how we deal with it defines our lives in so many ways.
Now when I am in the midst of conflict, I am never happy. I do not like conflict, I avoid it like the plague. But in every season of conflict I have come through I have changed and learned from it.
I have become a "better" Pastor because of conflict. I have become a "better" person because of conflict. I have learned to be a "better" employee because of conflict. I have learned to be a "better" boss because of conflict. I have become a "better" husband because of conflict. I have become a "better" father because of conflict. In every situation that has arose the conflict within it has made be "better". That does not mean that they were not painful, that they were comfortable and everything was rosey as I was going through them, but they all made me "better".
That is the key, for you see in every conflict there is the opportunity for you to get "better" or for you to get "bitter". The only difference in those two is the second letter. For when you get "bitter" it most times revolves around the "I" part in your life. When you get "better" is when you resolve the conflict and the we part of it becomes the central part. When you are wrong you get to appologize. When you are pridefull you get to be humble. When you are right you get to be a gracious winner, and when you are vindicated, you get to be free.
But when you get bitter, it becomes all about the "I". I have been made to look bad, I have been attacked, I have been wronged, and I have done nothing wrong. Sound familiar?
That attitude can cause bitterness to creep in and the conflict will never go away because it soon becomes a part of you. Instead of freedom being found when conflict is resolved you stay inside a prison made from bitterness.
So the next time you are in conflict, choose to be "better" than get "bitter".

So what move what moves you?

2010-11-05T09:07:00.002-05:00

Remember that car commercial a few years ago whose tag line was "what moves you?"

Well I got to thinking about that yesterday in relation to my life. What really moves me, to action that is. See there are many things that move us emotionally. A scarry movie, speaking of, I hear they are making a remake of the "Thing". I will never forget that movie the rest of my life. We were living in Odessa, TX and during one of those free cable months we got HBO. Well I waited till all my brothers went to bed and Mom and Dad had turned in and I snuck back out to the living room to catch some late night TV (who am I fooling it was probably around 8:30, Mom and Dad were freaks like that). So anyway "Thing" comes on. The premise is these people in the artic find an alien frozen in the ice, after it thaws it comes alive and starts killing everyone. That movie MOVED me. I did not sleep a wink for the next few weeks just knowing "thing" was out there stalking me. I was emotionally scarred.
And who can't cry when they have to shoot "Ole Yellar" in the end. Oh and "Chariots of Fire" when the race is going on and your heart starts pounding like you are running for you life. And how about the original "Rocky" when he is running through the streets of Philly. All those things move us emotionally, but do they "move" us to action?
I am seeing a trend in our society that people are not as easily moved to action anymore. Is it because we are more educated? Is it because we are more selfish? Is it because we are too busy?
I do not think so, I think it is because we are oversaturated with suffering and needs. I will never forget the first time I saw a starving child in Africa. It was burned into my mind so badly that I wanted to box up the leftovers we had after dinner (it was goulash I think) and send it over to those starving kids. My Mom said it would spoil before it got there (I am not so sure) and not be any good to them. She then said that we needed to adopt a child, send money each and every month so that they could be fed and taken care of. The problem being, there were four young boys in our household and if we sent off money to feed someone in Africa one of the four in our home would be going hungry (we were really poor, yet I did not know it till I was almost grown). Even though I was unable, I was moved with compassion to the point that I was willing to DO something to help. Today we are so inudated with the needs of the world that I think we become insulated to the suffering and needs of people today. It all becomes white noise to our receivers and just does not garner our attention anymore. So much so that we even filter out the needs of those that are living right down the street from us.
So wake up America and see the needs around you for they are many and be moved to do what you can to make a difference in someones life.

Allegiances...

2010-10-25T08:50:00.002-05:00

I will never forget the first time I was with my future wife's family for Sunday lunch. After lunch it was onto the TV room for some football. So I walk in and say "who's playing?". My future father in law, and two brother's in law as well as a cousin or two respond, "the Broncos and the Raiders". Now let me stop right there and explain a few things. The Broncos and the Raiders hate each other and their fans feel the same way. It is not one of those type of hates where you hate on someone for being too good looking, or way to athletic or too popular. This kind of hate borders on the excessive type of hate like you have for that girl that dumped you to date that nerdy kid in your class. The type of hate you have for that kid that stole your bubble gum in class and then blows bubbles right in front of you to rub it in. That kind of hate.
So after they say "Broncos and Raiders" I blurt out to my embarrasment "Go Raiders".
Have you ever been in one of those situations where the music is so loud and the noise so deafening that you have to yell to the person sitting next to you to communicate? So you know how it feels when you are sitting there yelling to be heard and all of the sudden the music drops out and you are yelling at your friend who is sitting two feet away and all the people look at you like you are a moron. Well I got those kind of looks and then looks of menace and mayhem.
My father in law said something like, "what did you say?" and my two brothers in law started to rise I changed my allegiance right fast. I was born in the Bay Area, my mom and dad were Raider fans because only the wealthy were 49 fans. So to step foot in a Bronco fan's house and to date his daughter I had jumped right behind enemy lines. So I became a Bronco fan. I converted and placed my faith in John Elway and the Blue and Orange.
So yesterday was a little hard on me as I saw the Silver and Black just beat the stuffing out of my adopted Raiders. I wonder if it is too late to recant...

Difference between faith and trust

2010-10-24T16:18:00.003-05:00

I was doing some study for a sermon the other day and I came to a startling conclusion. Faith and Trust are not the same thing.
I used to believe that Faith and Trust is the same concept, interchangable one with the other. But in studying I have found out that they are entirely different and that Trust believe it or not is actually a step up the spiritual ladder than Faith.
I know, I know, I am in major danger of going off the deep end here, getting a call from the head of our denomination for speaking heresy but hear me out on this.
Faith, the evidence of things hoped for, the substance of things unseen. Sound familiar? Paul wrote those words and I have lived by them. I have faith that GOD is going to bless me, he is going to keep me safe, he is going to keep me and my family well. I have faith that he is going to bless the flock he has entrusted me with. I have faith that the Broncos will pull out a win against the hated Raiders even though they are down 21 points... well I kind of hope they do... but really don't think they will. So my faith is not so well with the Broncos...
So that is really what faith is, the hopes that all those things we hope for and the unseen workings will work out for our good.
Well I came to realize this... I can be standing at the top of a 1000 foot cliff looking down at the rocks below. And as I stand there I can have faith that GOD will send an angel to catch me should I jump. I can have faith that should I fall that there would be a soft landing at the end of the fall and I would survive and be OK. I can have faith that halfway down I would grab a branch and it would swing me into a sea cave where thousands upon thousands of dollars of Pirate gold was stashed...sorry there I go hoping again.
Faith is one thing standing at the top of a cliff and declaring that GOD will catch you. Trust is a whole other ballgame. Trust is actually taking that leap from faith into action.
I realized that Trust is really when we put Faith into action. We can have Faith without action, but Trust kicks in when we begin to act on our Faith.
It is Trust that the three amigos stood down Kind Nebekenezer when he threatened to throw them into the firey furnace. They trusted that GOD would deliver them out of the King's hand either by being burned up or saved from the fire.
Oh GOD that I would have Trust to feed the fire of my Faith!!

Under the weather...

2010-10-18T11:07:00.002-05:00

I just hate being sick...
Number one my wife is not the sympathetic type. She doesn't baby me around, make me chicken soup and keep orange juice and toast at my bedside. I guess that is OK, but it sure is nice to have someone wait on you hand and foot.
So as I sit here my nose is stopped up, my throat raw and my head is pounding. I have taken drugs to help with the symptoms but the end result is I still feel bad.
I think we can relate this to a lot of our lives. We have issues that come up and we take the necessary steps to correct them but they still plague us. Maybe not as bad as when they first started but they still cause us discomfort.
I know in my life there have been financial issues that still continue to raise their heads that cause discomfort. There are car repairs, house repairs, football expenses, cheerleader expenses and lets not forget college!! All of these are not incompacitating on their own but when they gang up together watch out!
I saw a cartoon the other day with a harried lady who was quoted as saying, "normally I take each day at a time, but recently a number of them have been ganging up on me." I kind of feel like that today, head cold, cough, congestion... all ganging up on me.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

A dangerous trend...

2010-10-15T10:15:00.002-05:00

There is something that is happening among our churches today that is somewhat disturbing to me. I do believe this is just a trend or a fad or whatever you would like to call it but I have seen that once something like this happens others are quick to jump on board and they take it a step further and then once again someone else jumps on board and they take it a step further and pretty soon we are so far off from where it started that we are in left field.
What am I talking about? The use of secular music in our churches.
I have been told that if you think it is too loud, then you are too old. Well I have never gotten into that position ( I have been known to pump up the volume in my car ask my kids, nothing better than a little Stryper in the morning to get your blood going!) so I do not think I am too old to adress this. And as I was raised heathen so many of the songs I am hearing in churches today I was banging my head to as a young adult.
Let me put some examples out there. A few months ago there was a video of a church service where the worship band was playing "Highway to Hell" from AC/DC as an introduction to a sermon series. Now they did a very good job with the song and they seemed to be enjoying themselves but all I could think was, why? Were there not any other songs that would have introduced the series better? How about "To Hell with the Devil"? I think I have echausted my Stryper references for this post...
I thought it might have been a one time event but I also attended a conference a month ago where "Dream On" from AeroSmith was on the worship set list along with a "Star Wars" montage. They were all well done, performed admirably. But again I had to ask, why?

I had one of my worship singers ask me a few weeks past to do a secular song. When I asked why he wanted to do the song he really did not have a reason other than it was not what the congregation was expecting... So do we need to be "shocked" to pay attention today?
I know we live in a age where the Lady Gagas, the Marilyn Mansons and the Rob Zombies shock and awe us so much with the look at me and what crazy stuff I am doing that we can't take our eyes off of them. I remember as a young adult there was this guy named Alice Cooper who bit the head off of a live chicken. And this guy named Ozzy Ozborne who bit the head off of a bat. That was like so 80's gag me with a spoon and take away my high tops kind of shock and awe of the day. But I see it coming back in society today where we have to one up each other to get attention. The things done on todays stages make chickens and bats seem like child's play.
So as the church do we have to resort to shock and awe tactics to gain an audience? Do we not have enough Chrisian music writers writing songs to keep our attention today that we have to dig into the classic rock albums to stay relevant?
I am all for classic rock, but is AeroSmith really relevant today? I mean Steven Tyler is like 60+ and the rest of the band is up there in age as well... how would you feel if your Grandpa got up on stage and began singing "Dream On" in his highest falseto and his skinny leather pants?
And AC/DC? Well they were really good back in the late 70's and 80's. How do I know? I had their albums in my cassette tapedeck that I just upgraded from my 8 track player.
People that was THIRTY years ago, come on! Tell me they still aren't relevant today and there is not something else.
So as I thought about this culture we are in today, the church is usually about 50 years behind the world. And looking at the music choices being empowered in our churches we might have caught up a few years. So now we are only about 30 years behind!!
So I am thinking that this Sunday, I am breaking out the pastel blue sport coat, the white t shirt and I am going to push the sleeves up to my elbows. I need to find my white shoes and my white pants, I think they are in the back of my closet and I guess get a wig so I can feather my false locks back on my head like I did when I had hair. Dig out my 501's and my white hi tops and my Op T shirts and it will be on like Donkey Kong! I will be relevant again to kids who will say something like, you look like that guy I saw on TV Land...
What's next? Is someone going to start bringing back Parachute pants and we will all start doing Hammertime on stage as the spirit moves? I hope not, I am not sure my back can handle it anymore...

Waiting... part 2

2010-10-14T09:19:00.002-05:00

I have been writing a lot of sequels lately... go figure.
But last night something really cool happened in small groups, guess what the lesson was...
Yep you guessed it, waiting on GOD.
I thought it was pretty cool that what I was dealing with was covered in the lesson the very day I blogged about it.
So what I learned, well I guess the waiting part is a test as to wether I trust or do not trust GOD.
The story in our lesson last night was about Lazerous. How he died and Jesus did not get there in time to heal him. I really related to how the author describe the angst that Mary and Martha must have been going through "waiting" on Jesus to show up and heal their brother.
I made this point. They sent a message off to Jesus and when Jesus received the Bible says he stayed there another two days. So Mary and Martha send a message that Lazerous is sick and they are expecting Jesus to come a runnin' as we say in the south. But Jesus doesn't come immediately like they expected. Can you imagine Mary and Martha watching the road for Jesus and his followers to come walking over the hill. They send the message and the next day they are thinking well if he is close he should get here today. And the sun sets ending the day and Jesus still has not arrived and Lazerous is getting worse. So the next morning they just know that this is the day when Jesus will arrive. So they set about getting the house ready, looking and yearning for Jesus' arrival because Lazerous is really getting bad now but still no Jesus. Imagine this if you will. Lazerous is fading fast, his breathes are becoming more and more shallow, he hasn't opened his eyes or communicated with his sisters for a few hours now. He is at death's door and I am sure Mary and Martha are just waiting for Jesus to bust in the door and make their brother well. Imagine you are sitting at the bedside of Lazerous and he takes his last breathe and dies. Mary and Martha at his point must be thinking, well Jesus must be really close now and yet Jesus still does not show up. An hour goes by and Lazerous starts to look real pale as his heart has ceased to beat. Four hours go by and rigamortis sets in. Eight hours goes by and the family is telling Mary and Martha that he is gone and we have to prepare his body for a funeral. The next day they have the funeral and they put Lazerous in the tomb and roll the stone in front of the door.
When do you think Mary and Martha felt that GOD had let them down? At the point of Lazerous' last breathe? When rigamortis set in? When they rolled the stone in front of the door. You kind of see Mary's faith when Jesus does show up when she said "if you had been here you could have healed him". To Mary the promise was dead, laid behind a stone in a tomb.
How many of us are in that situation today. Promises and dreams given by the Lord dead and gone, the breath of live no longer living in them?
I know that I have felt that way. That GOD had missed the deadline, if only he had acted then...
But with GOD, he can bring back to life the dead and buried dreams. He can breath life back into the promises of yesterday with just the sound of his voice because he is GOD.
All he had to do was say, "Lazerous, come forth", and he did!
So trust in GOD, even when the cold hard fingers of death have gripped your dreams and promises and remember that death has no hold on him who has the keys!!

"I hate waiting"... Inigo Montoya "The Princess Bride"

2010-10-13T09:59:00.002-05:00

Remember the scene where Inigo is waiting for "the "man in black" henceforth known as Wesley" to reach the top of the cliffs so he can kill him?
Stop right now. If you have not read or watched "The Princess Bride" get your Kindle and download it or go to Blockbuster or your movie store of choice and rent it, either read it or watch it and then you can continue reading.
Okay if you have read it or watched it please continue...
So Inigo is waiting at the top of the "cliffs of insanity" for Wesley to either climb to the top of the cliff so he can kill him with the sword or for Wesley to fall which accomplishes the same result as the sword, death. So Wesley is taking his time climbing the cliff, which is a very laborous task. Inigo looks down on Wesley as he climbs and asked if he could possibly speed things up, meaning either go ahead and fall to your death or climb up here so I can kill you. I love Inigo, a man of action!
But what happens when men of action have to wait... and wait... and wait... well we get frustrated.
I have been waiting on a lot of things in my life lately. GOD has given certain promises and directives that I know are to come to pass but have yet to show up. I feel like Inigo looking at GOD and saying, "could you possibly hurry things up?".
It is frustrating to sit around and wait for something to happen. It is like watching paint dry, you can blow on it, wave a piece of paper and fan it, but it really does not dry any faster. All you can do it wait... and I hate waiting.
Waiting is a waste of time. It is non activity, it is fruitless. There is nothing worse than doing nothing. And yet that is where I am at today, waiting on a GOD who is not hindered by seconds, minutes, hours or even days and years. Time for GOD does not exist as he exist in a place where past, present and future all intersect. In actuality GOD exists in a place where he just revealed to me the directives and promises in days past. He is in that place where fear and excitement both ran the gaunlet of my emotions. He is also in the present where the frustration and anxiousness of something to come which has not yet arrived clouds my mind with doubt and fear that I might have missed it. And he also exists in that future place where the promises he made come to pass, where he sees the joy on my face as the dreams are realized. Where the excitement of the fulfillment of promise raises the faith level in my heart.
I guess as I walk through this I will hold onto the scritpture that says "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall walk and not grow weary, they shall run and not faint, they shall mount up on wings as eagles..."
I may not be flying today, but one day it shall be.

Airports...

2010-10-12T08:33:00.002-05:00

My daughter is going to take her first solo trip on a plane coming home from college to see us this Christmas. So I booked her flights yesterday and sent her the e-mail acknowledgement so she would know what is heading her way.
She sends a response to her mother that she received them but then asked, "what am I supposed to do?"

I have found that there are a lot of travelers who have no clue how air travel works today. As a frequent traveler (approaching 100K air miles this year) I will offer some handy suggestions for you so frequent travelers like myself don't walk by you shaking my head in pity as you get the full body search from the TSA..

1) Pack light. I know that airlines are charging for bags to fly now so many are resorting to trying to carry on as much as they can. You get TWO carry ons. Only TWO no matter how small that fanny pack it is considered a carry on. That small infant in your arms? Well unless he or she is crawling on the plane, you are carrying them on so they count as well, just kidding. Oh but that diaper bag counts as yours unless you purchased a seat for the little one. So back to the carry on bag thing. You get TWO bags to carry on and they have to fit in the overhead compartment. Do not stuff that bag so full it won't fit or you might have to offload your undies into your other bag while your seatmate checks out wether you are a boxers or briefs kind of guy. I don't even want to go there with the ladies.
2) If you do carry on TWO carry ons, you only get to put one in the space above your seat. The other MUST go under the seat in front of you. Now there are some seats which do not have a seat in front of them, mainly exit rows and bulkheads, but unless you are a frequent flier you are not likely to get those seats, and frequent fliers know the rules anyway so this really doesn't apply to most of you. So you put the larger one in the space above and cram the smaller one under the seat in front of you. Now at this point it is YOUR decision to bring on TWO bags, and that does not give you the right to take the leg space of your neighbors on each side as your own leg space has been confiscated by your carry on bag. No one appreciates when you rub your sweaty legs against ours trying to get a little extra leg room because of your oversized carry on. Oh and share the armrest, think of it like the DMZ in Korea, no one lives there, you occasionaly get to rest there but it doesn't belong to either of you, it is just a buffer to keep your sweaty parts on your side and my sweaty parts on my side.
3) Once we start boarding, get your behind on the plane and sit down. You know where your seat is (unless you are flying Southwest and then just grag the one closest) get to it and sit down. We are not shopping for furniture, all the seats are the same. And the number order goes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ect from front to back and the seats go ABCDEFG (just like the song) from right to left across the plane as your board. So if you are in seat 29B, just get on the plane and walk as fast as you can to the back, you are somewhere way back there. And if the flight attendant says, "please take your seats so we can leave the jet bridge" they are talking to you, yes the one standing in the aisle. If you do not sit down they will get rude and call you out in front of all of these people like Mrs. Smith used to do in fourth grade. Of course they won't make you wear the little pointed hat that has DUNCE written on it but we will all think it in our minds.
4) Be courteous of the person next to you. There are many of us that are business travelers who take the hour and a half flight as a little down time. We like to read, catch up on the news, listen to music and relax. The last thing we want to hear about it how long it has been since you flew, and where you are going. I am sure your cousin Vinny is an interesting character but unless he is in the mob and works as a hit man I am probably not that interested.
5) The flight attendants are there for YOUR safety. They are not there just to give you pillows or blankets or serve breakfast like down as Mo's Diner. Unknown to most people there are tazers on the airplanes and the flight attendants will use them on you. So say in your seat, obey them like they are a drill instructor and behave and you will be fine. Cross that line and you might find yourself strapped to the seat drooling out of the side of your mouth.
6) Going back to arriving at the airport, there are two lanes when you drive onto the airport, one for departures and one for arrivals. Think of it this way, the departure lane, that is for those that are leaving. And the arrival lane is for those getting home. Simple? No one likes the guy who keeps trying to pick up where everyone is dropping off.
7) If you are not checking bags there is this thing called the internet that Al Gore invented which will allow you to print your tickets BEFORE you get to the airport. Yes that is right, you can go right from the car that dropped you off straight to the security gate without bothering the nice ladies at the ticket counter. Leave that area alone for the poor people who did not read this blog and travel once a century.
8) At security the TSA will want to see your ticket and your PHOTO ID. And no, a year book will not count. Please have them out when you get to their podium or you will get the glare from the TSA as they are waiting on you. If you are still fumbling with your ID when you get to the security officer you will see a very indescreet nod from him or her to the screening area. What that is a signal for them to do a full body search on you because you broke their flow. And a full body search will mess up anyone's day.
9) Going through the screening area is a very important area to keep your wits about you. If you see kids, avoid that line at all cost. You can not believe how long it takes kids to take their shoes off, get all their electronic gadgets out of their little backpacks and get through security. Old people are even worse. They will almost come to blows with the TSA because they have to take their shoes off. One lady made a comment about "how stupid it was to take their her shoes off, what are they looking for a bomb?" The TSA heard that and she ended up behind the screen... just saying.
10) So we have already covered shoes, lets go onto other accessories. Make sure your socks do not have holes in them as you will not get your shoes back till after the screening. And if you are not wearing socks, well that is really gross for the rest of us as you walk your barefeet through the little narrow tunnel that ALL OF US have to walk through as well. Have some decency and bring some booties or something.
11) Ladies (and some guys, you know who you are) take your jewlry off and put it in your carry on bag BEFORE you get to the airport. It takes you like 15 minutes to take off the necklaces, the bracelet, the anklet, the earings, the toe rings, the belly button rings, the nose rings, the tree rings and all those other rings. Save some time and put them in a bag in your carry on and AFTER you get through security put all those things back on. Nothing worse than to stand behind a lady as she takes off all her jewlry and you start thinking, "man I am a schmuck, my wife doesn't have nice rings like that..."
12) Some airports are now equipped with full body scanners that will take your picture and even though you are fully clothed will show up on the screen with you naked. So don't go thinking you can hide some contraband on your person, they will find it and you will be in big trouble. Also when you stand there you need to put your hands over your head like you are getting arrested. I know it just makes it easier on the TSA when they find your contraband. Oh and guys suck that gut in, it might be a gal doing the screening.
13) On your baggage that you put through the scanners, you have to take your Laptops, MP3 players, gameboys, playstations, XBox, PSP, and any other kind of electronic equipment out and put them by themselves in the big grey tub. If you try to send it through and hope someone won't noticeit, well it is like when you put gum under your seat at a restaurant, we all notice and they will too.
14) Liquids, you CAN NOT take liquids or gels into the secure area of the airport. They have to be 3 onces or less and in a clear quart size ziplock bag that will be taken out of your carry on and inspected by the TSA. I can't tell you how many BIG bottles of shampoo have been thrown away at security. Think hotel size bottles and you will be fine. Nothing worse than to have to wait on your stuff to come through and see someone has a gallon size bottle of shampoo, a gallon size bottle of conditioner and a gallon size bottle of mouthwash and the TSA has to stop the line to check those things out.
So all in all flying is as frightful or as peaceful as you would like to make it. Just remember these simple rules and you will find yourself flying the freindly skies in a matter of no time. If you decide to skirt these rules, well have fun in the private screening area...

Fix it part TWO...the sequel

2010-10-01T09:17:00.002-05:00

Well since I had such an outpouring of emotion in regards to my blog last week about fix it problems let me lay some new ones on you.
I have experienced the highs and lows of the fix it personality this week.
I have found probelms that have plagued me, and overcome them. And I have had problems that are going beyond the fixable.
My wife comes in the other day and says her car is broken. Of course that is something us husbands are just waiting to hear, it just makes our day all full of sunshine and flowers. NOT!
So my wife's car is throwing a trouble code and her check engine light is on. Always not a good thing. So I run the code down and find it is a sensor that is likely clogged. So I get out the old carburator cleaner which is guaranteed to break down carbon deposits making your car run smoother and more efficient. It will also peel paint off of a vehicle if you spray it on the paint by accident and will make you feel like your eyeballs are being removed with a spoon if you spray it in your eyes... don't ask how I know this, it brings up painful memories... I digress...
So after working on her car for a while I get the dreaded check engine light to go away and it has stayed away for the better part of a couple of weeks. So I have once again earned my "Mr. Fix It" badge from the Man Scouts of America.
But I have another problem. I have a brother I have mentioned before who has multiple problems. I have tried and tried to fix them for him only to have him break the things I thought I had fixed. So he called me yesterday, early release is supposed to be a good thing but I found myself thinking I do not have the ability right now to deal with this. He is two and a half hours away and needs picked up from the correctional facility. Well as I explained my delimma and that fact that I was a couple of hours away he fixed his own problem. He had someone else pick him up. He even found a place to stay for the night, and I am thinking he has done it!! He is doing it all by himself!! Then I found out that my Mom fixed it for him. She wired him money to take care of his problems. His Mom had come to his rescue once again.
Sooner or later there will be a day when my wife's car throws a code that is going to require more than carb cleaner to fix it. I will be forced to actually put a new part on it or replace the car altogether. There comes a point in time where you just can't fix everything, it becomes to expensive.
I hope my mother realizes this one day, sometimes there are things that money can't fix.

Super glue, duct tape and bailing wire...

2010-09-24T12:13:00.002-05:00

I am a fix it person. Show me a problem and I will fix it for you, many times not having to buy a part to do it.
I have fixed a screen door with a little bailing wire instead of having to buy new door hardware.
I fixed a faulty muffler hanger on my old truck with some bailing wire.
I fixed my water bed one time with some super glue and duct tape.
I have used duct tape and a black plastic trash bag to fix a broken window (it is still there by the way).
I have duct taped hoses together, poles together and even used duct tape one time to fix some ducts... who'd thunk it?
I have used super glue to glue back together broken glasses, a piece of fine china my boys broke (sorry mom) and numerous fingers in the process (by accident of course, you have SEW fingers back on).
But many times when it comes to fixing someone's problem, it takes more than duct tape, super glue and bailing wire.
Many times I want to just take people and fix their problems for them.
Have a drinking problem? Well quit going to bars, the liquor store and don't hang out with people who drink, there you go, problem solved.
Have a drug problem? Well just stop. Just say No. Its easy.
Have a weight problem? Well quit overeating and exercise, its that simple.

But many times fixing our problems is more complicated than what I just mentioned. I have never struggled with an alcohol or drug problem but I have struggled with a weight problem. I know what my problem is (duh, I am fat) but I still mess us sometimes.
Like the other night I was returning from a trip so I stopped on my way home to get some fast food. I pulled into BK and took one look at the menu and felt a sensation going through my body like a crack addict must feel about to get a fix. I gazed on the menu board and decided I did not want to spend too much so I ordered off the dollar menu. I ordered two double cheeseburgers, since they were just a dollar each. But I really wanted a spicy chicken sandwich too, and since it was just a dollar as well I ordered one up. I did not order any fries because they are not too good for you... yeah I know small victories. But then, to wash it all down, well I think it would be stupid to order that much food and then get a diet Coke and feel good about yourself so I got a chocolate shake. It came to a little over $5 and I was pretty happy about that fact. At least until the food came out.
I dumped the contents of the bag into the passenger seat and placed the shake in the cup holder. I unwrapped one of the burgers and the first taste sent my whole body buzzing like an alcoholic getting another round. I quickly finished that one off and decided it was so good I had to have another.
Set em up barkeep, I think I am going to stay awhile.
As I devoured the first and then the second doublecheesessliceofheavenburger I washed it down with that somewhat runny chocolate shake. It wasn't the best shake I have ever had but it washed down the remains of the cheeseburger just fine. It was after I had eaten both cheeseburgers and drank most of that shake that I looked down at that spicy chicken sandwich. It was still appealing but I was pretty full at this point.I really did not need to eat it but I wanted a taste. So I reached over, unwrapped it and took a bite. Oh mama, this was even better than the slice of heaven cheeseburger. It was crispy with a hint of fire to it that made your nose start to water and your tastebuds sizzle. As I chewed that bite I looked over at the two empty wrappers and the quicky diminishing shake and thought to myself, "I really don't need this, I just want it". So I wrapped it back up, sans the one bite, and put it back into the bag with the other now empty wrappers and the almost empty chocolate shake. Quickly before my willpower was lost I put it in the floorboard in the backseat where I could not reach it.
As I drove home I pondered my actions. I did not need that much food, I really could not eat that much food, but I want ahead and bought that much food because, well it was cheap and I really wanted it. It was then and there that I decided I had a problem and it is one that duct tape, super glue and bailing wire will not fix.
I read about Lindsay Lohan today and I thought to myself, what a waste, she has no self control. Two weeks out of rehab and she is back doing drugs. I sure am glad I am not like her... but in some areas I think I am...
Something to think about...

Just take the ___ out!

2010-09-23T11:27:00.002-05:00

Take out the _____.
You fill it in. Most time I am told to take our the "trash" because no one in my family can see that it is overflow other than my wife who happens to notice those types of things. So then I yell at the boy closest to me and request that they take the trash out.
But that is not the thing that I see most people trying to take out in their lives. Most of the time they are trying to remove God or at least replace him with something else. I guess it is easier that way, it gives us a glimmer that we are in control , because no one controls God. God just won't seem to come around and appease us with our fantasies that we know what is best for our lives. It is like that overbearing mother who thinks she can choose the people that you associate with, what carreer field you will go into and that you always wear clean undies in case you are in an accident. How many times do we actually listen to those choices that others made for us?
Well if you are having a God complex like this I have good news for you. You can scientifically eliminate God from your lives! Yes it is true, God really does not have any interation in our lives that can not be explained away in science!!
See the attached link for a great example of replacing God with science.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddIg3tzTggA

Yes you see, science once again proves that God really does not exist. Moses actually just so happened to be at the right place at the exact point in time when a 60+ mile per hour wind just so happened to be blowing in the right direction at exactly the time when they were pushed up against the edge of the sea. And when the water fell and covered Pharoh's army just so happened to be the time when the last Hebrew finished crossing and Pharoh's army happened to be in the middle and wind just stopped, and everyone got wet.
Wow, and people say I am nuts for believing in a God I can't see.
I really have a better feeling about God supernaturally intervening on that day than believing some gale force winds just so happened to blow hard enough to part the Red Sea. What are they going to throw at us next? That some explosion cast particles throughout the universe millions of years ago and some of that matter took up a place not too far from the sun to create a big ice cube but not too close to create a big oven but just far enough to create a life sustaining planet? Then I guess someone will come along and tell us that life on earth somehow evolved from some single cells of protiens into all the animals that cover the face of the earth today? And that we as humans really are descendants of that same single cell that made the girrafe, rhino and the blue whale and we became who we are as we went from single cell, to tad pole to frog to fish to lizard to monkey to ape to man. Yeah, that sounds believable... about as much as Moses just happening to be at the right place at the right time to cross the Red Sea when a big wind blew...

Twinkies...

2010-09-18T10:47:00.002-05:00

We are finishing our "Snack" series at our church this weekend. I know, I know... a "snack" series? Yeah, we preached as a staff the first week on Zingers... and the second week on
"Ding Dongs" and this week on "Twinkies".
So the first week my wife preached that Zingers come out of our mouth more often than going in our mouth. A word spoken harshly comes out of nowhere, can hurt and can't be recalled once they left. She really nailed it when she flung (sorry honey, if I said "threw" that would not really tell the story) Zingers around the auditorium. People are still talking about it.
Pastor John preached on Ding Dongs, don't be double minded. Double minded people are unstable, kind of like a Ding Dong once you bite into it, it starts to break apart once the chocolate coating has been compromised. Double mindedness creates people who are wishy washy and tossed to and fro by every fad and new thing to come along becuase they have no foundation.
So this week we finish on Twinkies... you will have to come Sunday to hear it. But I will tell you this... Twinkies... cream filling, Yum!! And only 150 calories.

Satire vs Mockery

2010-09-17T11:40:00.002-05:00

Was at a conference (Inluence) where a young man presented this thought to us.
Do you know what the difference between the two, satire and mockery are?
Well mockery aims to wound, where satire is a humorous way to look at something.
How many times do you aim at satire and end up in mockery? I know for me many times something starts off innocent enough in a humorous way and ends up going way to far until someone gets hurt.
I believe as the speaker said that many times that fear alone keeps us from using humor as an effective communication tool. But if our motives are good, and we don't push things too far, humor can have a great effectiveness in presenting a point.
Think of this...
I find myself many times breaking into my "business" voice when I pray. I lower the timbre a few steps, and my wife says I start speaking in King James. I thought it was absolutely false until we were sitting at Olive Garden and I started to pray. I felt my vocal cords loosen, and a "dear GOD" came croaking out of my mouth that would have made James Earl Jones proud.
I continued, "LORD, bless our fellowship (we were just having dinner, but fellowship sounds so much more scriptual and old testament sounding), bless the meal we are about to receive (wow I say to myself, as I don't know if I have ever "caught" a meal before) and bless it to our bodies and our bodies into your service. Ahmen."
I sat there after I prayed that prayer and thought to myself, it is all true! I do use my business voice and I speak King Jamesesnees when I pray. I just hope when the prayer gets to GOD he can figure out who it is on the other line...

How much for that human in the window?

2010-09-10T08:12:00.002-05:00

I got to thinking about this the other day and I can't seem to shake it. How much is one human really worth?
See what happened is this kid was walking through my front yard, not on the sidewalk mind you but through the middle of my yard. My wife looked up from the couch and said, "there is a kid walking through our front yard". Well I was on my way out anyway so I kept walking to the door and headed to the car never seeing the kid until I remembered that our trash can was being blown down the street. So I decided to retrieve it and it was then that I saw the kid. He was bent down behind my pickup truck and when he popped up he looked very suspicious. Well I just nodded at him and headed that way to get the trash can that was behind him. He quickly started walking away putting distance between himself and I. I retrieve the trash can and dragged it back to the house but I can't help but notice that the kid keeps looking back at me over his shoulder. After depositing the trash can back at the house I get into my car and just happen to hvae to drive up the same street the kid was walking on. When I turned that way I saw him break into a trot and soon disappear around the corner of a building. Now I am starting to get suspicious when I saw him start running as it was as I just pointed my car his direction when he started to jog. As I started up the street I saw it; rolling down the street in my direction was a blue and yellow nerf football. This was the same football that had somehow found its way into my trash can that morning. One of the boys must have gotten tired of it or Mom had enough of it not being put away but I did remember it that morning sitting on top of the trash. Well our thoughtful trash guys knew not to throw it away and so they had tossed it into the yard where it came to rest, you guessed it, on the back side of my truck. So as I pulled over to retrieve said football my mind started racing on what I should do to this little punk that stole my football. That is what I really thought and said was, "you little punk kid". Well I went on down the street and the kid apparently thought I was gone as he poked his head back around the corner and after seeing me then took off across another person's yard. At this point I turned the car toward my destination and drove off in a fever as I thought about how brazen this punk kid was.
After a few minutes of stewing I realized that I had pretty much condemned this kid over a $1.99 Nerf football. I know stealing is not right and I am pretty sure that with the way the kid acted he knew it was not right as well, but over a football that could have very easily been thrown in the trash that very morning, I was willing to condemn him?
It was then that I thought about how someone gave his life for all of mankind, wether we were a murderer or a thief, an adulterer or a punk kid. He paid the ultimate cost, way more than $1.99 for the cost of our transgressions. As that sobering thought coursed through my mind I started to see a young boy without a football more than a punk kid. Who knows his story, I know I don't. Maybe he had never seen one before, maybe he had never gotten to play with one before. Maybe he has never ever owned a football, maybe he saw it in the trash earlier and realized we had discarded it. I don't know but what I do know is that young boy is worth much more than a $1.99.

Welcome to Heaven, can I take your order?

2010-09-09T08:26:00.002-05:00

Our small group got to discussing this last night and a thought came to me. Do we live to serve our GOD, or does our GOD live to serve us?
Think about it.
Many times I have heard it preached that GOD is there waiting to fulfill our every need, if we will just ask he will provide. He is as close as the very mention of his name. If we ask him and believe with mustard seed faith, he will come through.
I know that these statements have originated from my own mouth at one point in time or another, and last night I was challenged to rethink my relationship with GOD.
We need to get this through our thick skulls, GOD is not a butler, standing ready to serve us as a moment's notice. He is not standing just behind us in a black suit and bow tie picking up our little messes as we travel through our lives. And yet most of the time we treat him like a butler.

Our prayers go like this, "Oh GOD, I need your help today. I have messed up really bad. I know your word tells me that I should control my attitudes and actions but sometimes you just blow it, ya know? So I really need your help GOD. This has escalated beyond my control and I need you to provide a way of escape for me. I know this is all my fault but remember you chose to love me first, just as I am. Oh and I know you have been working on me about my temper, but I am a work in process reemmber. I have done so good for the last five days, no problems and then all of the sudden this comes up and I lose it. But GOD I know that you are for me and not against me, that you will be my strong tower and place of refuge. Your word says that you have plans for me, plans to prosper me and bless me. So GOD, you have to do what your word says and take care of this. I really do appreciate it so much. Thanks, check ya later. Out.

So do we exist to serve GOD, or does GOD exist to serve us? That is the question I am posing to you today. Paul said that we were lay our lives down and live as Christ, meaning we are not worried about our personal preferences, our comfort, or our very lives. Nothing being more important that fulfilling GOD'S purpose. So as you think about this figure out which catagory you are in. When you are praying, is it like you are at McDonald's ordering from GOD or are you at the HQ receiving orders for duty.

Mistakes...

2010-09-08T08:30:00.002-05:00

We all make them, mistakes that is. Some are small ones, like putting on a black sock and a dark blue sock when you are getting dressed in the dark so you don't wake up your wife (guilty).

Others are significantly larger like running a red light and getting in an accident (guilty and in my defense the light was in a funky location).

But the worse of mistakes is the ones that are life changing. Yeah I heard a lot of grief that day at the office about my one blue sock and my one black sock. And the humiliation and hassle of dealing with a fender bender is no fun whatsoever. But the mistakes that change lives forever are the ones that really bother me.

And I am not talking about those accidents that all of the sudden happen, I am talking about the self inflicted mistakes. You know the ones where you shoot yourself in the foot type of mistakes.

I have found that many of these types of mistakes boil down to one thing, greed.

Now we normally don't associate greed with mistakes, normally it is about materialism or money but greed can be a driving force in our lives and when it is out of control it can lead to many mistakes. The "want" for things, wether it is that item on the shelf, that boyfriend's love or a position of influence, the things that we really want can drive us to not think things through and make monumental mistakes in our lives.

One of the Ten Commandments that does not get talked about enough is the "thou shalt not covet". What GOD is saying is that we should not look at something and want it so badly that we will do anything to get it. The society we live in today is all about instant gratification, we have a certain time limit set in our minds on how fast thing should be. We think we should be able to get whatever we want whenever we want. I remember asking my Mom for a toy when I was a child and she told me that we did not have the money for it. I asked her, "don't you have any checks?" If I knew I would not get the spanking of my life I would have thought of stealing that toy just because I wanted it. That is a mistake I am glad I did not make, but many have.

I remember a girl I knew in high school who made the mistake of going too far with her boyfriend because he threatened to leave her. She wound up pregnant, the boyfriend broke up with her and she got an abortion all in the span of a few months. I know that she must live with that mistake the rest of her life.

I have lived my entire adult life in the business world and have seen people use one another to make their way to the top. One gentlemen I know told a lie about a fellow employee that secured a big promotion for himself. It was all good till the lie came to the forefront and the truth was exposed. The man who got the promotion was demoted and the one who whas lied about quit the company because they believed a lie. In the end the company was worse off than it started all because of one mistake made by someone trying to get ahead.

So next time you are tempted by greed to make a decision, remember it might be the biggest mistake you ever make...

Batten Down the Hatches...

2010-09-07T08:16:00.002-05:00

There is a hurricane a coming to Oklahoma? It surely must be a sign of the end of the world as we rarely (like never) have hurricanes in Oklahoma.
Now we get our fare share of rough weather in Oklahoma.
Thunderstorms - Not the sit on your stoop and watch the lightening show kind of storms. Our thunderstorms are the kind that rattle your windows, blow water sideways and knock trees down in your yard. And they usually last a few hours followed closely by you guessed it, another storm.
Hail Storms - Now we do get the usuall pea sized hail on occasion. But we also get the softball size, knock a hole in your windshield hail. I remember one hail storm where the yard looked like someone took a sledgehammer and went around hitting the ground.
Ice Storms - I am not talking sleet here, I am talking everything getting an inch of ice covering it. It covers everything, from power lines to trees.
Straight Line Winds - Now this is a weird thing that happens here, we get like 80 MPH winds that just come out of nowhere. They are really strong and blow shingles off, knock trees down, and will clean your yard of an laying around items.
Tornados - I saved this for last. We have our fare share of twisters here, this area is called Tornado Alley for a reason. They come out of nowhere, tear things up and then leave the way they came.
So now we have Hurricanes coming to Oklahoma... big deal, NOT!

What was that???

2010-09-03T11:36:00.002-05:00

How many times are we scared by things that go bump in the night? I know I have been. I remember waking up one time and there was a hooded man standing at the foot of my bed holding an axe. I laid there as still as I possibly could as every muscle in my body stood ready to jump up and throw my little brother at the serial killer. I must have laid there at least five minutes in sheer terror as the axe murderer just stood there staring at me. At about the five minute mark I realized that I had forgotten to breathe which was just as well as I realized my soon to be assailant had not taken a breath either. Finally the fog of fear in my brain lifted just long enough for me to make out that his axe head was not all shiny and sharp looking but had little tufts of something on it. Focussing as hard as I could I then realized that it appeared he was wearing two shirts as one was a slightly different color than the other. So I moved, slightly, like I was turning over in bed to see if he would react and nothing happened. It was then that I got a slightly different angle to look at my soon to be killer. He was not near as frightening from this angle. He actually was really skinny, bean pole thin. And his face although shrouded from the hoody was not really looking at me but looking at a blank wall. It was then that I realized that someone had moved the coat rack from the living room and put it at the end of my bed.

I had been working late nights and rolled into the house somewhere around midnight. Apparently Mom or Dad was cleaning the living room and relocated temporarily the coat rack to my bedroom, at the end of my bed to be exact. I was so tired that when I came home I walked right past it on my way to bed. It was only later that night when I woke up that I saw it for the first time. You see, there was a hat, actually two that was at the very top of the rack. We would just stack them up on it and someone had thrown their hoody over the top of the pair of hats making it look like a hatted and hoddied killer. Then the coats were on the lower sections and made up the body where a pair of them were sitting side by side with one side of the hoodie covering them. Violla! There you go, ready made axe murderer.

Oh the axe. Yes the axe was actually a glove someone had placed on one of the arms to let it dry. So I laid there in utter terror for over five minutes scared of a pair of hats, a hoodie, two coats and a winter glove.

So many times in life we are afraid of things we should not really be worried about. So next time you are sitting scared to death, think it through. You might be surprised that

Football is almost upon us...

2010-09-02T08:20:00.002-05:00

Tonight and this weekend is the last of the preseason games for the NFL. Yeah I know for most of us it is a big as the big named stars will not be playing saving their energies for when it really counts; next week.
But I want you to consider something, each NFL team right now has 75 players on it. By Saturday night they have to be down to 53. That is 22 players per team that will find themselves unemployed come Sunday morning. So for roughly 600 plus players this last preseason game is a make it or break it weekend; literally playing for their NFL lives. Those guys who have a starting position all lined up aren't worried about their performance tonight, most won't even be in uniform. They will be on the sidelines wearing their team issued sweat suits and their 2 Carat diamond earings laughing and cutting up the entire game. But for those guys on the proverbial bubble it is life and death of their NFL carreers. One mistake is all it will take for them to find themselves out of a job and most likely out of football. One missed block, one missed assignment, one missed pass route, one missed throw and their dreams are over of being a NFL player. Talk about pressure. You make the team and even as the 53rd man you get the leauge minimum which is way more than you can make down at the 7-11. You make the team and for this year at least you know what your future holds and you get a chance to improve and make an impression on the coach. You make the team and you are a part of something that a bunch of other guys would give anything for. But if you are one of the unlucky ones, your future is left clouded, what are you going to do? Do you try again next year? Do you hang up the dreams? Do you try to catch on with some inferior leauge and hope someone notices you?
So as you Yawn your way through this last preseason game this weekend. Remember these are real people with real hopes and dreams. Root them on with all your might for next week 22 of them will be just like you, out of the NFL.

Happy Birthday!!

2010-09-01T10:13:00.002-05:00

Today is the 17th birthday of my #2 daughter. So much has transpired in 17 years.

She had heart surgury to correct a heart defect at 8 days old. I remember getting the call while at work that I needed to come to the hospital as there was something wrong. I drove over as fast as I could and arrived to see an abulance sitting at the hospital. As I was going to the baby ward I passed a couple of EMTs who were taking my baby girl the other way unknown to me. Looked like they were taking some equipment, but under all that techo stuff was my newborn daughter. Then I get to the room and the doctor is waiting with my wife to tell me my daughter has a problem and is being transfered to Tulsa. I head directly there as my wife would not be discharged till the next day and find my little girl in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She was there with all the preemies and babies with health issues and I could not believe that this was happening to me.

They eventually transfered her to Oklahoma City where a team of doctors did open heart surgury to repair her defects. She was not given a very good prognosis, the man who did her heart ultrasound said that not only did she have an artery and a vein in the wrong locations she was also suffering from numerous holes in the chambers of her heart. At 8 days old they did surgury, at one point she flat lined as they took her off the heart lung machine and they had to restart her heart. She spend the next 12 days with tubes going in and out of her, a few of those days on a ventilator in a small glass room with lots of beeping and nurses and doctors checking in on her.

On day 20 they said we could take her home. We loaded her up and brought her back to our home which seemed like we had not seen in ages. She acted like a normal baby other than all the medicines we had to give her and the check ups she had to endure. She grew up like all the other kids, and I have to admit I would forget she had open heart surgury till I saw the scar running the length of her breastbone.

She had another procedure when she was younger to check on her arteries and later received a pacemaker to make her heart stay in rythem. She just a couple of weeks ago received her new and improved pacemaker as her original was starting to wear out.
It amazes me that she pretty much has not allowed this liability from keeping her out of the game of life. From gymnastics, to basketball and softball to cheerleading, to acting and modeling she has continued to live life to the fullest. She inspires me every time I think of what she has accomplished in the short time she has been in my life.
She is smart, funny, and articulate. Beautiful and gracefull and is always a ray of sunshine on cloudy days. I can't wait to see what achievements she has in front of her as she lives her life to the fullest.
It seems like only yesterday we celebrated her first birthday and her mom and I both felt so blessed to have her in our lives. We have celebrated many birthdays since then and she is still as much of a blessing now as she was then.
Happy Birthday Cam, we love you and are so proud of you!
Dad

What does wiring a guitar have to do with a relationship with GOD?

2010-08-31T10:08:00.003-05:00

As you know I am a guitar enthusiast. Let me clarify, I am a cheap guitar enthusiast. I just love the old Telecaster that Bruce Springsteen plays, buy one just like it and it will cost you something around, well lets just say my first house did not cost that much. And to buy a replica, well you are looking at somewhere around 5 large bills. I also loved the white Stratocaster that Jimmi Hendrix played at Woodstock, the reverse headstock just rocks! But to buy one to match, house costing again! And a replica, well you are looking at 8 large bills.
So what is a cheap guitar enthusiast to do? Well you build one yourself silly.
So I built the Tele first, shaped the wood, bought a neck (I am not that talented yet...) got all the hardware and electronics and put it together. Did the same with the Stratocaster. But to really get an electric guitar to work you have to do some work on the eclectic components... duh!
So I soldered and soldered (I hope I am spelling that correctly) all those little wires together, from the pickups to the switches, to the tone pots to the volume pots to the output jack to the ground points. Hey, there is a lot a soldering to be done on a guitar.
So anyway I am playing one of my guitars the other day when it starts making this horrible shriek during worship practice. Nothing I can do will fix it so I change guitars. Now my other guitar is making an annoying buzz, not something that really stands out but is annoying none the less. So last week I tear into the guitars to fix them problems with the wiring which brings me to my title of this writing.
If you do not have a good ground on your electronics, your guitar will have an annoying buzz that makes everything just sound bad.
If you do not have a good grounding on your relationship with GOD, well you will become annoying also. Grounding our relationship with GOD is so important, it keeps us humble not only in his sight but in the sight of others. It keeps us from getting so full of our self that we force all of HIM out. It keeps us insulated from the things of this world that will light you up as quick as a lightning strike if you do not keep yourself grounded in GOD.
And if you have a loose wire that connect with something that it is not supposed to connect to it will cause a huge SHRIEK!!! in your life. We are designed to connect directly with GOD, nothing else. But when we try to plug ourselves into something other than GOD, well that is when the shrieking occurs. It is loud and obnoxious, painful to hear and even more painful to watch as you try to make sweet sounding music and all that comes out is pain and agony. Loose wires in the relationship with GOD have a tendency to connect to things that they should not causing all sorts of problems. It might be a relationship, or a habit or some other innocuous thing that causes a short circuit in your life causing the unbearable shriek.
So get to work making sure your life is grounded in HIM and all lines are plugged into HIM solidly so you can make sweet music from your soul.

Letting go...

2010-08-30T10:16:00.002-05:00

We took our oldest child to college this weekend. It was a mad rush of getting her car ready (it had an overheating problem and we were going to TEXAS!), getting her car packed and leaving on time. So we thought once we arrived on campus it would be all laid back and easy, NOT!
Who knew that a college kid would need so many things. Irons and ironing boards, trash cans and vacumn cleaners, hair dryers and laundry soap. Seemed like it was never finished, thank GOD for Wal Mart!
So as we spent the weekend with her there was an unspoken tension that filled the air knowing that on Sunday we would say our goodbyes and leave her on campus six hours from home.
We had a lot of fun, she made some new friends and in the end the letting go part was really all in our minds. We hugged, cried and said "love you, see you later" as we gathered our belongings to come home.
It is a weird feeling, letting go. She has been brought up well, is independent, a thinker, smart and hard working. She has determination, grit and guts. She is very rational, not critical, and not one to jump without first thinking it through. She is all of those things and yet it is scary to think she is going to make her own choices now. She is going to be making her own rules to live by. She is going to decide when she goes to bed, what she is going to eat and what she is going to do.
I guess as parents we are all working for that day when we are to let them go into their own life. But it sure is hard to let go when you have held on for so long...

Patience Grasshopper...

2010-08-24T16:30:00.002-05:00

I am like an out of work Doctor, I have no patience...
I think it must be an reflection of the day and age we live in that I am not the only one without patience in this world.
Thinking back a few years you can see where I am coming from.
When I was a kid we had a party line phone. That was when there was just one line from your house to the switchboard. Sometimes you would pick up the phone and someone was already on it talking away. Well you would just have to wait... and wait... and wait till they got done.
I remember when we first got computers hooked to the internet, remember the bzzzzzz, beep, bzzzzz gurgle gurgle as it connected... yeah good times.
I remember when the phones all had rotary dialers, the 1's weren't too bad but when you had to dial a 9 or something, well that is why for an emergency you dialed 9-1-1. After that rotary had to be twisted around to 9 and then had to slowly make its way back to the stop so you could dial again, many of those people in need of an emergeny either died or got better.
I remember when the only fast food was the kind they delivered on roller skates...
Remember when their was no such thing as remote controls? You had to get up and walk to the TV to change the channels. We watched a lot of really boring TV when I was a kid because no one wanted to get off the couch and loose their seat.
I remember Mom making dinner and actually cooking stuff in the oven and on the stove where we had to wait for it...
I remember saving my money to buy that new bike, dollars, pennies whatever I could find till I had enough to actually pay for it in full.

The more I think about it the better the old life was.
On that party line, you actually knew what your neighbor was doing, if you lifted the phone really quiet like.
I remember where the internet was slower than getting the encyclopedia, forget downloading any damaging files, it wasn't worth the effort.
Rotary dialers? Well you really really really needed to call someone to use one of those.
Fast Food, I saw a restaurant the other day that had on their marquee "we knew you were coming, and your food is ready".
Remote controls, well I don't have patience for commercials anymore, I just flip to another channel.
Cooking on a stove top? Doesn't everyone had a nuclear reactor to warm up their chicken pot pies?
And actually saving money up to buy something? Why shoudl we do that when we can buy it now and pay later at a low monthly interest rate?
Some days I really do think the old days were better...

Cattle call?

2010-08-23T11:43:00.002-05:00

When I was a youngun (that is southern for a small child) we operated a ranch in Arkansas. Nothing too big, we ran under a hundred head of cattle, grandpa had the big ranch, he ran about 300 head so we worked over there also. So I was around cattle most of my young life. And we had something that was a "cattle call". It usually consisted of a "whoop" with something after it. My grandfather could place his hand up along the side of his face, point his face in the direction where he thought the cattle were and give a loud "whoop!" and a few minutes the cattle would come over the hill heading for the corrall.
So the other day my wife says I need to take my daughter to a casting call, so I agreed. She later told me it was a cattle call as we did not have an appointment with the casting director so it would not be a big deal. Well I kind of got excited, I haven't called cows in a long time. So I started to practice in my mind all of my cattle calls. (I did this in my mind as you don't want to stand in the front yard yelling "whoop whoop whoop", it drives down your property values) for this opportunity I just knew I was cut out for. Why they were inviting my daughter to a cattle call was beyond me, but I just knew I would blow them away with my cow calling.
So we get to the hotel and there is a pretty good line already formed. We arrived early and I was sure glad we did as when we finally made it to the room where I assumed the "calls" would be made we were numbers 341 and 342. (for the record there were over a thousand people in line when we left!!) So we get there and stand in line with all these other people. There was this one guy who kept walking through the line and he would pull people out at random and take them away to another room. I just knew that they were doing special calls in that room, although I could not hear them. "Just wait till I get back there" I thought to myself, the people on the top floor will hear my "Whoop" when my turn came.
But alas the guy never did pull me out of the line. So we made our way through the line to a point where they gave us a piece of paper to fill out which had all sorts of things on it. They wanted to know my suit size, shoe size and even my dress size and my measurements. Well I have never wore a dress so I guessed a XXL would do it and my measurements were somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-40-45. The even asked my hair color, which I promptly wrote in as "bald".
So anyway after we finished our paperwork, we got our numbers and nice lady took our mug shots, face and profile just like at the police station. She pointed us to a door and I started warming up my vocal cords for the yodel of a lifetime only to pass through the door and find myself at an exit.
My daughter later told me that they just "called" it a cattle call as you feel like cattle walking through their little lanes they set up.
I am guessing whoever came up with that phrase never worked on a ranch, for when you walked through those little lanes there was usually a butcher awaiting you at the end.
So at least there wasn't a meat cutter waiting behind door number one...
I never did get to use my call...

Not Me!!!

2010-08-20T11:37:00.002-05:00

It was not me!! I am telling you, I did not do it. I had nothing to do with it, I wasn't even around it when it happend! I am innocent, not guilty, or whatever else you want to call it. It wasn't me!! I swear!!

Have you ever heard that before? I have, coming out of my own mouth when I was a kid. See I had three younger brothers which meant there was a lot of things that happened that I really had nothing to do with. But this one day I messed up. I broke one of my Mom's things. It was really an accident, the ball should have missed the vase and bounced off the wall back into my glove like it had the forty times before. But this one time it took a funny hop off the end table and seny my Mom's vase crashing to the floor. I made a heroic diving attempt at a catch but alas came up short and the vase broke. It was at this point I had a decision to make, do I take the path of George Washington who never lied but I am sure was spanked by his Daddy for cutting down that cherry tree with his little hatchet. Or do I take the Al Capone defense and blame it on someone else and join the mob?
Well I ran out of the room and prayed that my Mom would not notice the vase that I left in pieces on the floor when she came home. So later that night my misdeed was discovered and all of us boys were lined up and asked who broke the vase. My youngest brother just looked at my Mom and then smiled at us when she said, "I know you did not do it as you were with me." One down, three to go. Well my next to the youngest brother pointed out that he was over at his friends house from before Mom left till after Mom got home. Two down, two left...
So it is down to my brother and me. Mom is displaying the evidence right before us. Telling us how she can't keep any nice things in the house because us boys don't respect her stuff and on and on. So then she asked the question, "who broke my vase?" Well my brother replied "not me", and then I went on the rant I wrote out above.
My Mom was flummoxed so she did the only logical thing, she said we will talk to your father about it. Well that really got me scared because who knew if my Dad might pull out some kind of fingerprinting machine or had the house wired for sound, he was kind of like that. Mom went into the kitchen to dispose of her now broken and useless vase. So my brother then accuses me of breaking the vase and he is not going to get a whoopin' because of it. It was as this point I decided to go all in with Al Capone. Yes, I blackmailed my brother. I told him all the things that he had done that Mom did not know about and if he squealed not only would I roll over on him I would make his life miserable. I may have even threatened to break his legs, but I can't remember if I went that far, I probably did.
So my Dad comes home and asked the simple question. "Who broke the vase?" Again we both denied it, wallowing in the sea of guilt and shame for our misdeeds. So my dad turns to my Mom and says, well there you have it, neither of them broke it and I am sure they would never lie to me". More guilt falls upon my shoulders as my Dad turns to console my poor Mother over the loss of her heirloom.
It was then that I realized I had gotten away with it, I had succeeded in my rouse, I had become Al Capone.
I lived with that guilt and shame every time I saw that end table where my Mother's vase had set.
It was many years later that I finally came clean with my mother. I told her that I was the one that broke her vase. It was as if a hundred pound weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I appologized and told her how it had happened and she said she knew. A week later she found my ball, with my name on it behind the end table where my Mother's vase set right along side the scuff marks on the wall where I was bouncing it.

So the next time you have the choice to be a George Washington or an Al Capone, take it from me. George might have gotten a whoopin, but at least he lived his life without a guilty conscience.
We need more George Washingtons in this life that take responsibility for their actions...

Enough is Enough

2010-08-19T15:19:00.002-05:00

Been traveling the last week and haven't had time to update the old blog, so here goes...

I think I found out this week that enough is enough. I had to catch and early flight on Monday which meant leaving before the sun was up. I actually banged the door and woke up the rooster, who I am sure he was not too happy with me but hey he wakes me up all the time too!!
So work, work, work and finally about 9:30 that night I finally settle into a hotel room. Thats a 15 hour day boys and girls...
So then on Tuesday we have to start early, 7AM to look at restaurants, which means I have to be there early (don't want to be late) so the day starts around 6AM and ends that night again just after 9PM when I checked into a hotel. Another 15 hour day...
So on Wednesday I just have to fly home, but try as I may I can't sleep in, out of the hotel by 9AM because I had to get my phone fixed. try as I may to catch earlier flights doesn't work out and again I find myself not getting into bed till after 11 PM that night. That was the easy day, only 14 hours going non stop.
So I found myself last night driving home feeling really distant from GOD. I mean for the last three days I have ignored him. Not on purpose but when you are working every waking minute there is really not any time for anything else. I realized this as I was driving alone in the dark heading toward home when I saw a bright and shining star on the horizon and I started to think that GOD placed that star right where it is. So I started talking to GOD, just telling him my day, how busy I was and such which is kind of silly since he already knows all of that stuff. So as I was talking I got this distinct impression that GOD was asking me how I was. I mean it was like, "how are you?" in my spirit. And I had to admit I was not too good. I had turned off everything in my life for the last 72 hours that did not associate with work, including GOD. Now I am sure that GOD was watching everything that I did, he is like that but it made me realize that as a friend I pretty much had ignored him for three days... It was then that I realized that enough was enough and that I needed to reconnect. Thank GOD that he gives us a nudge when we start to get off balance to put us back into proper balance in him...
So when you find yourself going nonstop, take a moment to get back into balance with HIM, it will make all the difference!

Are you in control?

2010-08-12T10:49:00.002-05:00

In thinking about the male airline attendant who recently went AWOL at JFK airport this week and it got me to thinking about being in control of the circumstances around us. And then last night in small groups what was the topic all about? Control.
So I got to thinking, how much control do we really have in our lives?
Not much I have come to realize. I mean yes we can plan for the future but can we control the future? I don't think so.
Can we plan our lives out with our marriage, our carreers and our retirement? Yes but how many times does that work out like we planned? Yes, I have to agree with our teacher from last night, control is just an illusion.
Which brings me back to the airline attendant. He lost control, but he also gained control at the same time. He lost it over a rude customer (as a frequent flier, to all my other frequent fliers out there, be nice to people and follow the rules, thanks) who felt they were above everyone else and more important than some insignificant flight attendant. Well I can tell you that person did not make their connecting flight or their meeting or their appoinment that they were flying to after the attendant made his emergency landing. He gained control over the whole situation, took control more like it. But sometimes there are things out of our control, like when the cops showed up at his house and arrested him. There we go again, control really is an illusion...

Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars?

2010-08-11T11:47:00.003-05:00

Who came up with this crazy thought? Men and Women are not that alike.

Mars is an always hot desolate red planet, filled with gas pockets. Well OK maybe men are from Mars.

Venus is a large hot planet with an impenetrable layer of clouds covering its atmosphere. Once you get through the clouds 90% of its surface is covered by vocanoes, active most of the time. Venus does not spin as fast as the Earth, it takes roughly 115 earth days to turn a full revolution driving the temperature up to 464 degrees during the day and to -45 degrees during the night. The wind on Venus blows most times at around 217 miles per hour and it rotates in a completely opposite direction than all the other planets other than Uranus. Well maybe Women are from Venus.

Redneck Much?

2010-08-11T09:29:00.007-05:00

We are doing a series on Sunday called the Redneck Christian series. It plays off the Jeff Foxworthy "you might be a redneck if..." where we are using it as "you might be a christian if..."

So anyway I went through google images looking for "redneck" pictures and I found some doozies. But what I have come to realize is that rednecks come from all aspects of society. Now hear me out. I centered my search on cars and houses. Those are the two most valuable investments most Americans have so it sums up most of our financial wealth in regards to the car we drive and the house we live in. Well looking at houses is kind of hard to tell if the owner is a redneck or not. Sometimes the outside looks all right but the inside might be a different story.

But in looking at the cars on that site, I have realized that there are a lot of rednecks out there.

I know rednecks get a lot of harassing but they are really ingenious people. Here are few examples.

Say your car locks all of the sudden stop working. You can't lock your car with all the valuables inside of it, what are you going to do. Well the dealership tells you it is going to cost $300 to fix it. Well a quick run to Ace Hardware and for about $10 you can get a length of chain, a drill bit and a master lock. Drill through the face of the door and then through the frame of the car. Slip chain through the two holes and put a padlock to tie the ends together on the outside. There you go, done. Try to get into that car with a coat hanger...

http://www.failfunnies.com/32/images/totally-secure-fail.jpg

Say your Air Conditioner goes out and you live in the south. You don't want to be sweating to the oldies on the radio like Richard Simmons driving down the road do you? So the dealership tells you it need a complete AC makeover, cost is $800, what do you do. Well if you aren't a redneck, you pony up the 8 bills. If you are a redneck you think, I have that old window unit that we pulled out of the old trailer, and I have that new generator I bought for the deer stand in winter, I wonder... viola Air Conditioning...
http://www.inquisitr.com/38418/redneck-car-airconditioning/

So there you go... if the world suddenly has a major crisis, all electrical, communication and technoligies goes in an instant, suddenly the American Redneck with all his ingenious skills will be in high demand!! YeeHaw!!

Fear of....fear?

2010-08-10T15:06:00.002-05:00

I had an experience lately that brought to my attention the number one thing people are afraid of, and it is fear.
People are afraid of being afraid. Fear is a God given instinct that gives us pause when we put ourselves in a dangerous position. Like standing on the edge of a cliff looking down causes your knees to get weak and the need to move away from the edge. Like standing on the BIG diving board at the pool and deciding that it is way too high to be jumping from.
But we can't allow our lives to be ruled by fear, so much that we are afraid of anything that we decide to do nothing.
My daughter told me the other day after making a mistake in a ballgame that she was afraid of making another mistake. That type of attitude many times can put us into captivity. We shut ourselves out and decide the only way to not make another mistake is to quit playing all together. But once we get over the fear of making a mistake, we are free to make the plays that result in winning the game instead of losing the game.
I once read where the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, missed more game winning shots than he ever made. Yep, he did not make them all. I know every time I think of his Airness he was drilling a jumper over Byron Russel of the Utah Jazz or Craig Ehlo of the Cleveland Cavaliers to win a championship. Let me ask a question, what if Michael had missed his first shot to win a game and decided to never try again? Well we would have missed some memorable moments that is for sure. But Michael got over his fear of missing, how? Because he embraced making the shot more than missing the shot. He got over his fear in doing what should in the natural made him the most afraid. He did not allow missing the game winner to define him although he missed more than he made, instead his willingness to take that game winner made him into the greatest basketball player ever.
So next time you are afraid to try something over the fear of failing, remember to shoot, and if you miss shoot it again, sooner or later you are bound to make one!

Summer is almost over...

2010-08-09T08:30:00.002-05:00

Wow, where has the time gone? Summer is almost over. Kids start school next week and it is official, summer is over.
There were many things that I wanted to do this summer that did not get done.
I wanted to landscape the yard. Nothing major but I wanted to trim some trees, cut back some bushes, plant some stuff, build some stuff, but I got absolutely nothing done on the yard this year. I think part of it was the heat, it was so hot the other day I saw a cat swimming in a kiddie pool. But part of it was the yard was not a passionate thing for me so it fell on my priority list.
I also wanted to clean out my shed. It has gotten so full of stuff over the years it needs a good going through. But then again I was not passionate about it so it fell to the inactive list.
I also wanted to go on a long motorcycle ride this year. Nothing crazy but at least an overnighter where I could pack my stuff, ride a few hundred miles a day or two and camp out. But then again, priorities took the center stage.
I also wanted to work out more this summer. You know get active, walk, run, burn some energy but then again, priorities, priorities, priorities.
So I can sit here this morning lamenting on what I did not accomplish this summer, beating myself up for my failure and shortcomings. That is what most of us do right? But I am going to focus on what I did get done this summer.
I finished a bathroom remodel that has been on the books for five years.
I repaired a broken and unplayable guitar for my daughter.
I worked on my daughters car with her.
I played catch with my kids.
I took my kids and my wife swimming, twice.
I took my wife out on a few dates, not near enough dates but I am still trying.
I took my oldest son golfing.
I took my youngest son minature golfing.
I have played video games one night with all of my kids all evening a couple of times.
So all in all, I think I did OK this summer, I mean will the yard remember that I did not spend quality time with it this summer? I don't think so... but those others will.

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

2010-08-06T08:32:00.003-05:00

Football season is upon us once again. All is right in the world once more. Now don't get me wrong, I love all sports. I even watch curling during the Olympics but Football reigns supreme!
I am not really sure why I get all jacked up for football. I played when I was younger but I really loved baseball and later basketball much more than football. But when it comes to watching sports, football is my preferred viewing.
So the top headlines for this football season will be as I prognosticate...
1) Will Brett Come back... are you kidding me? YES he will come back. For one more season to win it all, he has a team that came within an interception and one that he threw to add insult to injury from going to the SuperBowl. He just doesn't want to do the 2 a day practices in the heat. Look for old number 4 to show up about the second or third preseason game.
2) Will the New Orleans Saints repeat? Well they have a good team, another disaster in the Gulf but the Saints will fall short this year. Sorry all you WhoDat fans.
3) Will the Patriots find their way back to the promise land? Well they still have Tom Brady, Randy Moss and, and, and, Wes Welker. I don't know if I can name a guy on D. So I would say no.
4) Is Rex Ryan all hot air or is he onto something? Have you seen this guy? I love him! He is a little rotund, a little thick around the middle but he strikes me as a guy who would jump on a grenade if you were in a fox hole, let it explode and then jump up and say, "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?" They are primed for a run at a ring, although I think their QB play may doom them.
5) First coach to get canned in the season? Well the Raiders coach, whoever that is currently is always a favorite pick but I also think the Panthers and the Bears better play well the first part of the season or their could be some changes.
6) Is this the year Payton Manning gets hurt? Of all the teams the Colts are the one that can loose one player and go from a SuperBowl team to the cellar of thier division. But Payton never gets hit so he is going to have to trip over a dog (ala Brian Griese), wreck his motorcycle (ala Ben Rothlisburger), or get in trouble with the commish for his "gangsta" birthday party (no charges filed yet Michael Vick) to miss a game. So to answer my question, no.
7) Will the Messiah get to play? You know Tim Tebow, the one who walks on water? As a Broncos fan, I am not enamored with our new head coach or the decision to take Timmy. He is a great college player, empahasis on college. As a pro QB? I am not so sure. But if the coach wants to win me and Bronco nation over there is an easy decision to make. Both of the Bronco starting Running Backs went down in training camp within minutes of each other. A position where we do not have a top ranked guy anyway. It is time to take one for the team, put Timmy in that halfback roll. He outruns everyone on the team already, is as big as some of the largest running backs in the league and can deliver a hit. Picking a running back in the first round with the number 25 pick and having him rush for a thousand yards his first year is a good pick!!
8) Will Big D who gets to host the SuperBowl this year have the "home" team playing? I don't think so, my condolences to those who worship the single star and gather in the church that Jerry built. Their team is good, but they never can seem to get over the top. This year is no exception.
9) Will the TO and OCHO or the OCHO and TO show work out in Cincy? I just have to think there are too many O's for that be successful. But these two guys love the spotlight so much that I think they might just push themselves beyond what they normally would to just outshine the other. I am sure the Commish is going to be watching their games very closely... get your popcorn ready.
10) So here it is, time to make my picks for the upcoming year. Representing the NFC in the Super Bowl this year, yes it is the old grey beard, the immortal one, number 4 and his Minnesota Vikings. And in the AFC, is the brash and bold, the young and the old, the New York J E T S JETS JETS JETS.
Have a good one!!

Trust...

2010-08-05T10:35:00.002-05:00

Trust is an important thing in life. Sadly too many times our trust has been smashed to smithereens by friends, family and others who let us down. But without trust what kind of world would we live in.
I think it is important for kids to trust their parents, but sadly even that trust in many cases is fractured forever. I remember playing this game with my daughter when she was still really young. She would climb up on this couch we had, right up on the top of the back on the end and she would jump right into my arms as I sat on the chair next to it. Well one day we were playing this game and she kept jumping and jumping and finally she got tired of it and went and found something else to do. So I got involved with a discussion with a guest and unknown to me my daughter decided to revisit the jumping off the couch game. Luckily for me the saucer shaped eyes of my guest gave away what was happening behind me as I turned and luckily caught her before she hit the ground. As I lifted her up to chastise her that she can't jump when Daddy is not looking, the angelic look on her face that told me she knew I would catch her caused the words in my throat to disolve. She trusted that no matter how close to the ground she might have fallen I was going to catch. And catch her I did, at the very last moment. She had complete trust in me.
I think it is important for husbands to trust their wives. I know, I know, I have counciled numerous people whose trust in those relationships has been betrayed. Many are unwilling to trust ever again for fear of being hurt once again. But I still believe that when a marriage is made if there is not any trust between spouses that marriage is doomed for failure. Sometimes my wife and I have to tell each other things that we really do not want to reveal. Fears, mistakes and common everyday issues are brought up but because we are willing to share them with each other we do trust one another with everything in our lives.
So I have said all of this to make this point. If as a child we need to put complete trust in our parents, and as a spouse we need to completely trust our mate, why do we have such a hard time completely trusting GOD with every aspect of our lives? Come on, I know people well enough that there are parts of their lives that they refuse to turn over to GOD for one reason or another. Most times that reason is rooted in the big T word, trust. Do we trust GOD to handle our problems or do we not. You see GOD is our heavenly Father and we are his children. And as children we need to trust our father to have a healthy relationship. I have never put my children in harms way and they trust me to never put them there. I have never purposely caused my children pain, and they trust me even with their most painful injuries to treat them with care and respect. And although I believe if you asked my children they would say that they trust me whole heartedly, I believe there are many of GOD'S children who do not trust him in the same manner. That is a sad statement of a relationship a GOD who loves us.
Also as a husband to my wife there needs to be trust in that relationship to be healthy as well. The New Testament calls the church the bride of Christ. Now as a large man, I always have a hard time envisioning myself dressed in a wedding dress about to marry Jesus. I can imagine him lifting the veil and going, "ohhhh" as he sees my bald head and my gotee. But as the Son of GOD, and as the bridegroom of the church, he is the one that will bring wholeness to the body of Christ. And as the bridegroom of the church, we need to trust him as well. My wife knows that every decision I make is based on how it will impact both of us. She knows that every fork in the road that is presented to us will be a fork that both of us take no matter what. She trust that I will never knowingly do anything to hinder our relationship. Jesus is the same way to his bride, the church. We just need to realize that he means for our best, even though sometimes the road is hard, our best interest he has in mind.
So what are you failing to trust in? Are you willing to trust GOD in EVERY aspect of your life, as a child trust a parent or as a wife trust her husband?
Think about it.

One is the loneliest number...

2010-08-03T08:50:00.003-05:00

That old Three Dog Night song has a lot of truth in it. One is indeed the loneliest that you have ever knew.
I am by nature a loner. My father was that way. Even though he had four sons and a wife he was never really happy being around people. He was an intelligent man, could crack a good a joke and was a wiz in the kitchen making up party snacks. But my Dad hated being around people. We usually saw each other in passing during my teenage days. Dad was off to work usually between 6 and 7 AM, came home around 6 PM and watched a little TV before he turned in at 8. I know my Mom struggled with his actions, being "available" for an hour or so each night was not enough for her or her four sons. And soon you could see it in our lives that we all took on the character of our Father, we all did our own thing and very rarely did something together.
My Father and Mother divorced after I had left the house, I am not really sure what happened in the last couple of years of their marriage but I am sure not much changed. I really thought my Father would never remarry, being alone suited him. But apparently the loneliest number is truely one. He remarried within two years of his divorce and was the same with his second wife as he was with his first. Always aloof, seperated, never really engaged.

I learned a lot from my Father. First I learned that even though I sometimes like to be by myself, I am not happy when I am alone. I can be in a room full of people and still feel alone, but that is not reality. The reality is although I may feel alone I can never be alone in a room full of people unless I decide to be alone.

I also learned that you can be all alone in a house full of kids and a wife, if you want to be. You have to decide to be alone with all those people around you, but if you decide to be alone, you can be. I have decided to not be a recluse in my own home, to have an effect on my kids, and be a husband to my wife, not just a provider.

Yes one is the loneliest number, if you allow it to be.

Preventative Maintenance

2010-08-02T11:40:00.002-05:00

I envy those people who are all over preventative maintenance. I have great aspirations of doing preventative maintenance but never seem to get there.
There are two hard parts to swallow being like I am.
Number one is things will break down without preventative maintenance. I hate it when that happens. Nothing ever breaks down when it is convienent. It always breaks when it is the most inconvienent time and is most desperately needed.
Secondly, I have the guilt issue to deal with. Because I am always second guessing myself IF I had done the preventative maintenance it may not have broken in the first place.
So what can I do to get into that preventative maintenance frame of mind?
I need help!

Second Chances...

2010-07-30T12:55:00.002-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since I blogged, got tied up in life.
We had a situation this week that I thought was very interesting.
Our daughter was born with congenital heart disease and a major heart defect that required surgury at 8 days old. She has had numerous heart treatments over the years including a pacemaker at 11 years old. She just this week received a new pacemaker and is looking forward to the upgrade for the next six years or so.
So during this week it got me to thinking, if she had been born in the 1940's, she would have died before we left the hospital. There was no surgical option back then for her condition. If you are interested google "transposition of the great vessels" as it is a long narative to describe it.
Born in the 1950's? No, same result.
But back in 1963 a new procedure was perfected that gave hope to those born with this condition. The "Mustard" procedure enabled a patient to have a somewhat normal life, but the resulting problems created in the heart usually contributed to a heart attack and death by the time the patient reached their 20's. So if my daughter had been born when I was, circa 1968, she might graduate high school but college was a reach. Sports activities, no way. Basic life, barely.
But she was born in the early 1990's when a new procedure allowed her deformity to be corrected. The Jatene procedure was now being used which gave a better opportunity for life long turn. Because of some of the defects in her heart, a pacemaker was needed to regulate her heartbeat. Without that pacer she would not be able to lead an active and healthy life. She will turn 17 in a few days, plays sports, cheerleads and does everything a normal 17 year old does other than being able to go through a metal detector without setting it off.
She was given a second chance at life through medical procedures and break throughs before she was even born. She was released from the hospital on Thursday after receiving her new pacer and we came home for a time...
The call came at 1:30AM, one of our Pastor's children had ran his car head on into a tree. He was being taken to the hospital via ambulance when his father called me. We made it to the hospital about the time the patient was returning from a CT scan which showed no issues to his brain or neck. After looking at the pictures of his totalled car (they were pretty bad) and hearing the nurse say he was a "lucky boy" I told him it was not luck but that GOD was looking out for him. To confirm my statement, a EMT came in who had seen the car and said, he was indeed lucky as they had seen cars with less damage and the driver had not been so lucky. Again I made my statement about he was watched over. I do believe he received a second chance. He could have very well died in that accident. They were wearing seatbelts, an invention that many years ago has saved many a life but without them I am not sure he would be here today. He received a second chance. Cars today are made with crumple zones that protect the occupants, without those he might not be here today. He received a second chance on technological break throughs that came many years prior today. That is why he also has received a second chance at life.
The startling difference is my daughter understands the gift of life she has. She tells us when we go to the hospital that every time she is thankful for the second chance on life she received through break throughs that happened even before she was born. She even mentioned it yesterday at the hospital telling her nurse that she lives a normal and healthy life and how blessed and thankful she is for a second chance in life.
So what brings me to my point. The young man last night, I do not think he understands the blessing he has received. He still feels he is lucky, but luck does not change one's outlook on life; Being granted a second chance does. I hope that one day and one day soon he realizes just how blessed he is over being lucky and is thankful for a second chance.

The hard parts...

2010-07-23T08:42:00.002-05:00

Being a good leader is not all fun and games, there are a lot of hard times that do come with it. As a leader you have to not only deal with your problems but deal with the problems that those you lead have as well.
As a leader you have to be able to be both an encourager and a motivator, a pusher and a holder, a helper and a hard nose, a discipleler and a disciplinarian, and a teacher and a taskmaster.
It is a fine line to walk sometimes as you lead people into areas of their lives that they have never gone to. There is the constant fear of the unknown, the uncomfortableness of new surroundings and the smell of failure lingers all around. But as the leader we have to instill confidence in our followers. We have to hold their hands until they get acclimated to their new surroundings and we have to kick them in the pants sometimes to get them to jump out of the airplane and trust that their chute will work so they can enjoy the ride down.
So if you are a follower, pray for you leader, that he or she will be able to become the person you might need at that very moment to get you to the new level in life you need to be.
And if you are a leader, pray that the great leader will help you as you endeavor on this quest.

Airport meanderings...

2010-07-22T08:13:00.002-05:00

In my secular job there is a lot of travel involved. Some of it to nice locals like Orlando, Hawaii and the mountains of Denver. Other times the locals are like Dallas in August, or Buffalo in December. Sometimes I am looking forward to meeting clients and getting out of the office a few days, other times I dread having to leave the family and travel.
So I was in a couple airports the other day and I got to thinking about the expressions on our faces. I saw a wide range of expressions on people's faces as I waited for a flight. I saw the harried look of a Mom with three young children trying to get everything through the security checkpoint. I am not sure if she would have looked so harried had the business traveler (not me) that was behind her had a different look on his face than the one he wore. He looked severerly upset, not sure if it was because he was behind her or he was going to miss his flight or if he had just had a bad meeting, but his body language and his face told everyone to back off or I might bite your head off! Thankfully they made it through security without a tussle.
As I was watching others I saw a cute old couple walking down the aisle looking for their gate. They had to be in their 80s and they were walking arm in arm down the middle of this bustling airport, in no big hurry with big smiles on their faces seemingly without a care in the world. I watched them walk past and actually turned to watch them turn the corner because it was just too cute.
I saw people with smiles, people with frowns, people with the "don't bother me" looks, people with the "I'm disinterested" looks and people who kept their heads down and did not look at anyone.
So I got to thinking, as a Christian we should be the most smilingest, happiest and upbeat people in the world. That doesn't mean everything is rosey everyday, we have our ups and downs, but we have someone to lean on. So next time you feel that frown coming on, anger rising up, relax and smile a bit, you never know who is watching...

Outdated...

2010-07-20T10:23:00.002-05:00

Do you ever feel outdated?
I am shopping for computers, my associate needs a new one as he is working on the Frankenstein right now that I pieced together out of old deceased carcasses. My daughter is also shopping for a laptop for college so I have been doing my research. And to my dismay, I am finding that doing research on computers is a huge waste of time, because by the time that unit gets to me it will already be outdated. They are improving computers at warp speed it seems.
I was told one time that you should measure computers in ten year cycles. That means if your computer is 2 years old, it is in real life almost 20 years old. Some of our computers would be centurians as I keep them around a long time...
So my thought for today is this, how long has it been since you upgraded yourself? What do I mean. Well you can take a computer, put new RAM in it and it runs better. Put in a new hardrive and it will contain much more. Put in a new processor and it runs faster. So what have you done to upgrade your life?
What I have found is if you do not maintain your computer it will slowly fill with junk and not be as effective as it once was. It will also start to break down without maintanance and routine upgrades. But just as we should be looking to upgrade our computers, we fail to look to upgrade our lives.
How do you upgrade? Well you pick something that you would like to add and you do it. It might be dropping ten pounds, it might be running a marathon, or a triathlon. It might be playing catch wtih the kids, or going swimming or buying some new clothes from this decade.
It might be taking a cooking class, or some other kind of education that you can apply to your life. Whatever it might be, spend some time looking to upgrade your life, you might be amazed at the results...

Swimming with the sharks...

2010-07-13T14:24:00.002-05:00

I have never understood why people would want to swim with something that is big enough to eat you?
I swim with the sharks and aligators everyday trying to stay ahead of the projects I am working on. Here are a couple of good ideas to keep you from getting bit.
1) Keep all apendages INSIDE the vehicle at all times...
When you are swimming with the sharks and aligators trying to fight off deadlines and timelines, keep everything close to hand. You spend way too much time going too and fro trying to do too much you will find all of your time wasted in transit.
2) Watch your back...
Always look behind you so you can see what you finished and what you have not finished. For it is that one item that you left undone that will sneak up and bite you in the backside.
3) Use your head...
To many times when we are just merely tying to survive we loose our head and panic. Use the brain the good Lord blessed you with to get yourself out of the situation you find yourself in. Panic leads to chaos and chaos to death. But most times those that think their way through a situation will live to fight another day.
4) Just keep swimming...
If you try hard enough, you CAN out swim a shark or an alligator. But you have to be extremely motivated...
5) Don't worry about the sharks or aligators without teeth...
Too many times I find myself fighting off an aligator or a shark to find out later they did not have any teeth. I wasted all that effort on an advesary that looked big and bad but really had no bite. Mark the dangerous ones and fight them first, they have the worse bite...
6) And have fun...
My grandfather used to say, show me a man who loves what he does and I will show you a man who has never worked a day in his life...
Be Blessed!

Planning...

2010-07-12T09:32:00.002-05:00

I am really struggling with something in my life right now. It is the art of planning.
Yes planning is indeed an artform. Just as someone might stare in awe at a Rembrandt or a Van Gogh I stare in awe of people who are good at planning. You know those people, the ones with every day and every minute planned out for their whole lives. I in many ways admire them, they know what they will be doing three weeks, four hours and fifteen minutes from now. But I also feel sorry for them as their lives have been enslaved by their planner.
I am somewhere stuck in the middle. Have a certain amount of grasp on my planner, but too many times do not access it to check what I have going on when I make new plans.
But just as in awe as I am with those who have the art of planning down, I also stand dumbfounded at those who don't seem to have any idea what planning is all about. Some people just expect things to fall into place at the last minute without any preperation or planning. Are they nuts? I have been known to get into something and at the last minute realize something was amiss, but to not plan at all and hope it works out? That is nuts!!
One of my board members once said, "fail to plan, plan to fail" and it has become a mantra for me. So for those of you out there with planning issues, start small and plan out just today, you might be amazed at all that you get done...

Hey, watch this...

2010-07-09T09:12:00.003-05:00

Those three words have cost so many people so much pain over the years. So in thinking back I have listed my Top Ten "Hey, watch this" moments in my life.
10) Was with my brother riding bikes on day when I said, "Hey, watch this" and tried to stand up on the seat. I still can't figure out why the boys bikes have that straight bar and the girls bikes have that angled bar, it seems backwards. It REALLY seemed backwards then.
9) Was again with my brothers when we found some bottles and gasoline. A few minutes and a ripped up T shirt later I held a lighter in my hand and said, "Hey, watch this" right before I set the entire backyard on fire.
8) Was with a couple of buddies doing donuts in our cars one time when I decided to engage the emergency brake on my Mercury Bobcat (AKA Ford Pinto), I screamed out, "Hey, watch this" as I revved the motor, got a good run and yanked on the hand brake. After the fifth revolution and a bar ditch quickly approaching I was spared any further injury or car damage when I hit a dry patch of asphalt and came to quick stop. It was almost a disaster.
7) I was showing off to some opposing cheerleaders who were checking me and my fellow teamates out when I told one of teamates, "Hey watch this" as I received the ball in the layup line and attempted a one handed dunk. Unfortunately the ball hit the side of the rim effectively blocking my dunk attempt. Unwilling to give up I persisted trying to get the ball THROUGH the rim now instead of over it and found myself almost perpendicular to the floor as gravity took hold. I bounced up pretty fast after the crash; nothing hurt but my pride and my backside.
6) "Hey watch this" was the last words I said while trying to water ski on one ski. Oh and I forgot to let go of the rope till I was ten feet underwater. They never did figure out if my "watch this" was for the skiing or the diving.
5) "Hey watch this" was what I said before I took a bow and a target arrow and shot them straight up into the air one time. Silly me; I forgot that what goes up must eventually come back down. While scrambing for cover the thought occured to me that I might just have accomplished something no one else had ever done, shot themselves with a bow and arrow. It was a narrow miss.
4) I was riding a BMX bike through a make shift trail one time when I decided to jump a small ravine. Pumping my legs furiously I called to my friends, "hey watch this" as I approached the crest of the ridge. As I hit the bank of the ramp, my left foot came off the pedal in mid pump causing me to pull not only to the left but to decrease in speed as well. Instead of soaring majesticly over the ravine, I hit a tree to the left side of the ramp and landed IN the ravine, not on my bike.
3)I remember saying "Hey watch this" once while playing with an electric fence (yeah I know, country kids). So I was touching right next to one of the conductors on a fence post and apparently there was just enough charge leaking into the conductor that it made the hair on my head stand on end. With my 1970's bowl cut it was a really funny looking thing. I did it about three times when I saw some of my family come around the barn, and you guessed it, I ran to the connector, said "Hey watch this" and wham! Next thing I remember is someone shaking me like a rag doll and throwing me to the ground. It was the wrong connector...
2) I was playing with some friends one day when we decided to play stuntman. Stuntman is a game where you make up and do your own stunts. There were a lot of "hey watch this" that day with most ending rather badly. But I had this great idea to run along the top of a concrete wall and jump off the end into a tree and climb down. It was going really well till my left foot slipped off the wall and I fell into a rose bush in the neighbors backyard where their mean dog lived. I don't remember saying "Hey watch this" but I am sure I must have at least thought it.
1) And my greatest "Hey watch this" moment? Swinging on a wild vine in the woods. We had swung on that vine the year earlier after we cut it off with a machete and had a great time swinging out over the 20 foot drop off of the ravine. I remember seeing it the next year and remembering all the fun we had on it. Running to it first I cried out to my friends, "hey watch this" as I pulled it back, took a run and swung. It went well for the first five feet but I started to hear this cracking above me and I felt myself falling a bit but I continued out to the apex of my swing when I heard the snap that spelled doom for my return trip. I had cuts and bruises but no broken bones when they finally fished me out of the ravine. My grandfather asked me if I had thought that after cutting that vine off at the ground if it would still be somewhat alive a year later. I told him no, all I could think about was how impressed my friends would be after I said, "Hey watch this!"

The Power of the tongue, and the ears...

2010-07-08T10:56:00.003-05:00

The Bible warns us about the power of the tongue, it says it works all kind of evil, is untameable and on and on. We have heard it a hundred times. But what about the power of what we hear?
We recently had a situation where someone said something and it was taken in the wrong context. It got a lot of people worked up and questioning the person's character. I just hate it when that happens.
I had a situation not long ago where someone accused me of saying something that was not good. They went around town telling people what I had said, using it out of context of course. I was not shocked or even surprised that this person had done that, their character is well known and they love to stir it up. What really got me was the people who know me coming up to me and telling me what they had heard what I had said and that THEY HAD BELIEVED IT!
We need to not just guard our tongues that we not allow them to run rampant, but we need to guard our ears and not just hear what is being said but take in all the context around it.
If you hear that someone has said something, first evaluate what was relayed to you. Does it meet the character test of the person who said it? If not it is probably not truth. Does it sound like something that person would say? If not it is probably again not truth. And then thirdly if it is something that is causing a problem with you, go to the person who is bing accused and find out for yourself what was said. You might find yourself in an awkward situation but it sure beats finding out that you misinterpreted something and caused harm to a relationship.

The POWER of PRAYER...

2010-07-07T10:12:00.002-05:00

Many believe that prayer is ineffective today. Many believe that GOD has turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to this world and that we are on our own. Many believe that GOD has ceased to exist. And yet many believe the exact opposites than what is listed above. Let me share in the power of prayer.
My nephew was diagnosed ten days ago with Leukemia. He has been a healthy and happy ten year old and then all of the sudden he is sick with cancer. So our church goes into prayer mode. So he gets diagnosed and goes in for chemotherapy, one of the side effects of chemo is it dirties the blood up so bad that dialysis becomes necessary for most patients. His parents called and said his blood levels were within a point of having to go on dialysis. This was early evening, and the call went out to pray. They kept testing it until the next morning when it had dropped nearly three points and the doctors decided dialysis would not be needed. Then after his chemo treatments started he did not want to eat. So we prayed again that he would regain his appetite. The next morning he woke up and told his mom and dad that he was hungry. He wanted pancakes, custard and beef jerky!! His appetite soon started to return and he became more active. Then the other day they reported that he was still pretty tired and to pray that he would regain his strength so he could go home. So we prayed again. And yesterday I am happy to report that he got to go home. Although he still has a long process to go yet, we are praying for a complete recovery. And I believe that those prayers will be answered as well.

Fireworks are over...

2010-07-06T09:09:00.002-05:00

Each year our church does a fundraiser in which we sell fireworks to our community. For the last four years we have operated a tent on our church grounds. It is a great time for all of our people to mingle with the community we are here to serve. The great part is it allows us to connect with our neighbors of the community and provide an answer to a need in our small community. The bad part is it is seven non stop days of fireworks. So this year we were approached with the opportunity to man a different tent in another town as a fundraiser. We opperate the tent in our community as an outreach and we get paid a little for that service, but this other tent, well that is another story. This one was a HIGH traffic tent and we were doing it mainly for the money. We had problem after problem thrown at us but my staff of volunteers did a great job making both tents a success. After the final packs were loaded back up on the trailer to go to the warehouse for storage every one seemed to breathe a sigh of relief that it was over. Physically I am glad it is over as my body is still lagging from lack of sleep. But spiritually, I am somewhat saddened that those quality hours we got to sit around and visit are over. That the people who loved to serve won't be bringing by lunches and dinners and snacks for those that were working. All in all through all the hard work, when we look back we get to see the blessings that were there for us.

Addicted much?

2010-07-02T11:17:00.002-05:00

Addictions are something that most Americans associate with drugs, alcohol or something really bad in life. But I have found that addictions rule most of our lives. No I am not saying that everyone is a crack head or an alcoholic or something like that. But I would say that we all have addictions in our lives.
I know I do.
"hi, my name is Pat and I am an addict"... "Hi Pat..."
I am addicted to many things, so in full diclosure I am naming them off in order of need.
1) Coffee - I am a coffee addict. I found myself the other day ordering coffee at 7PM. That is a like a drug user mainlining heroin or something. Only old people drink coffee that late, or addicted coffeeaholics. Of course I was eating breakfast (its just not for mornings anymore you know) and it seemed resonable, but I felt the prying eyes of my boothmates staring at me and I could feel their inperceptable head shaking as they thought, "that is so sad".
2) Technology - I am a technology addict. The other night I could not get connected to the internet to find out what was happening. Wireless was down, I did not have a cord to plug into a wall outlet and my Crackberry wasn't working as a modem. I finally in a fit of rage turned all of it off, and then tried again to get it to connect. Yep I am addicted to technology. If the solar flare everyone keeps hinting about really does happen and we loose all of our technological marvels, I will probably just curl up and cry for a day or two...as I try again and again to log onto the web.
3) Radio - When I am in the car I have to have the radio on. Driving without sounds is like, well not like driving. Without the radio you hear the thump thumps of the stereo next to you and you get jeleous. Why does he have a stereo and I don't? You only hear the sounds of the engine, the road noise, the wind noise. You mind starts to wander and you think things you never thought before. Like do those people know they look rediculous playing air guitar and drums behind the wheel as they lip sync to their favorite songs coming out of their radio. Reality suddenly settled in when I realized that I was once one of them. Banging on my stearing wheel with my hands in a desperate attempt to play the drums. Bobbing my head to the sounds of the beat, singing at the top of my lungs.
Well maybe one of my additions I will try to adress this week. First I will get my coffee and boot up the computer before I switch off the Ipod, one thing at a time...

How to lead when you are scared to death...

2010-06-29T09:53:00.004-05:00

How do successful leaders lead when the place they are leading their followers scares them to death?

1) They keep their eye on the finish line.

I think one of the greatest leaders of all time was George Washington our first president. But before he was president he was an officer in the army. At this point the United States of America was just a vision, a dream of our founding fathers. George Washington did not have an experienced group of soldiers, he did not have an intelligence network, he did not have anything at his disposal but a group of rag tag frontiersman who were used to going it alone, and a bunch of soft city dwellers who probably couldn't tell you which end of a long gun to put the powder in. But even though the odds were against him, George Washington kept his eyes on the prize. The crossing of the Potomac is my favorite George Washington picture. In it George is in the front of the boat, foot on the gunwhale ready to be the first to jump to shore. He was not steering the boat, there was better men to do that. He was not rowing the boat, there were better men to do that. He was standing lookout, ready to spring into action when the unseen became known. He was staring at the finish line, independence.

2) They think of themselves as less than others.

It has been told many time about a leader giving himself up for his men. Great leaders think of others first before themselves. Recently one of the ships sailing around the horn of Africa fell prey to pirates as they boarded the ship and took it over. The Captain requested that the pirates take him captive and let all of his other men go. That takes guts!! You have no guarantee that you are going to make it through, no guarantee that your captives won't mistreat you or even worse take you life. There is only one guarantee in that situation, your men will be freed. A great leader thinks about other first than his or herself.

3) Great leaders lend a helping hand.

I think Nehemiah in the Bible was a great leader. He was able to not only lead those that followed him from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem's walls but he was also able to rally the ragged, miserable outcasts who lived within Jerusalem's broken down walls. These people were not living in houses but under the stones that had fallen when the city was sacked by the Babylon army. Nehemiah was able to form a cohesive group out of people who had been living in captivity in Babylon and the remnants of Israel who still lived among the burned out walls of Jerusalem. Even when those around him rose up to oppose his objective of building the wall he was able to hold together every faction at his disposal. How could he accomplish that? I believe that Nehemiah did not just organize the wall building, but that he got his hands dirty actually building the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah jumped right in to lend a helping hand to rebuild the walls of Jersusalem. Great leaders don't just organize and delegate, they get down and dirty in the trenches with those that follow them.

Scared Spitless...

2010-06-28T13:51:00.002-05:00

We got a call from my in laws last Friday that our nephew is being diagnosed with Luekemia. Yeah it was a shock to us as well. He is the same age (well 6 months older) than my youngest son. He and his family are part of my church body and his mother is a staff Pastor. And this just frankly stinks that he is going through this.
The Bible tells us that it rains on both the godly and the ungodly and that means both good and bad. But many people tell us that as Christians we are exempt from trials. Oh not so fast... we are not exempt but we do have a power to lean on.
Jesus said that we can cast our troubles on him, that he will supply all of our needs, and that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.
Well my church has decided to stand on those promises, to pray and intercede for a miracle in this young ones life. There is a passage of scripture that talks how JESUS did not do any miraculous things while he was in his hometown. Was he weak from doing miracles, did his miracleometer run out? No, he did not do any miracle because the people of his hometown did not believe. Well we are believing for a miracle, no matter what report we might receive.

Father's Day

2010-06-21T09:19:00.003-05:00

Well yesterday was "officially" Father's Day, but really today is my 18th anniversary of Father's Day. 18 Years ago I was blessed with a baby girl on Father's Day in 1992. She was my first child and with her being born on Father's Day it made it that much more special. But today I am sitting here realizing that I have a young woman's birthday to celebrate today. She graduated high school earlier this year, has her first car, and is off to college in a few months. She is legally an adult today. Wow, I am getting really old.
My associate pastor just celebrated his first Father's Day yesterday, although his daughter was not born on Father's Day, she was just a few weeks early, I thought to myself as I saw him walk into church with that baby in his arms that just a short time ago I was in his shoes.
It seems like only yesterday we were learning how to bathe, feed, burp and change diapers on this small little helpless infant that joined our family. She was so fragile, so defenseless, so tiny. Now she is not so fragile, not so defenseless and not so tiny. It probably won't be too long when she will find someone to spend the rest of her life with, and they too will begin the process of begining a family. Then there will come a day when I will get to celebrate Grandfather's Day...
OK now I officially feel old...
So Dads, as we remember Father's Day, remember, it will be gone before you know it, and that bundle you once carried home will be placing a new bundle in your arms...