Monday, October 30, 2006

The Pumpkin Patch Is Now Closed!

So here's the news: We are completely out of pumpkins. I mean out. People were buying rotten ones from our pile on the side of the patch. It is done. It is finished. El finito.

So how did we do? Better than last year. Better than the year before. Not quite as good as our first year, but close. All in all, I think we did pretty well.

A big thank you to everyone who helped out this year. There is one more chore. Taking down the patch at 4:00 on Wed. If you can make it, please do.

As for everyone who bought a pumpkin, a huge thank you. Without your support we would not be able to have our mission trips every year for the low costs that we provide.

God is good... All the time...

T

Saturday, October 28, 2006

When Did It Become So Hard To Read?

I'm not kidding. People in general don't read. I've known lots of people that barely read at all. But why?

Here's how this got into my head. First, I was waiting for my computer to do something today, so I was reading my Bible, and I thought to myself, "Why don't I read more often?" I love the Bible, I loved what I read, I have all sorts of other books I want to read, but I don't read as often as I should (I type this on a computer while watching TV, how bad is that?)

But here's the other half. There was a study done last year. In general, people lose the love of reading at age 9. NINE! Then, they don't start liking reading again until 17, if they read at all.

Are our imaginations so tainted that we can't see what we read past fifth grade? Are words on a page that much of a chore? Look at history. Up until a hundred years ago, that was the primary form of entertainment. We didn't have TV, video games, computers, and unless you were rich or lived in a city (or both), you were unable to be entertained any other way. All you had was books. And look at some of the great books out there! Way better than the movies that are coming out of Hollywood (most of which are based on books anyway!)

So as you read this, finish by going to read something else. Don't let your brain die! And while you're at it, the Bible ain't that bad...

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. - Joshua 1:8

T

Monday, October 23, 2006

More Pumpkins

Hey all, sorry I've been MIA at my blogging, but there is one thing to add that everyone needs to know :)

699 pumpkins will be arriving at the church on Wed. at 3:00pm. Be there to help unload!

T

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Take It With A Grain Of Salt

I like to read, trivia is fun, and I'm always interested in all sorts of weird facts. But then today, I was reading something that reminded me that all information is slanted. Meaning, it all comes from someone's point of view. I was reading about rings and diamonds and the page added a fact that we all know and love.

Experts say that you should spend two months salary on an engagement ring.

That makes sense, right? You've heard that before, of course. Then below that, it said this.

But remember, these experts, it's their job to sell diamond rings.

What a surprise that these "experts" are making up facts to promote their own well-being. So as you read and learn and see plenty of weird and wonderful facts on the internet, always ask this question. Who's saying it and why? It may help determine the validity of the fact :)

T

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Home Bible Studies

Isn't it funny how God works things out. It seems like so many times whatever I'm trying to figure out or work with, God sends my Bible reading or other books my way at the right time. So here's how this one works...

I was talking with a few of the people in Home Bible Studies doing the Youth Disciple course, and they were telling me how attendance is dwindling because people don't want to do the reading and homework. Of course, part of what WATER in Fire& Water stands for is Teaching, the studying of God's Word and applying it to our lives. This got me thinking why people don't want to study, why they don't want to learn. Then I read this by Charles Spurgeon. He starts talking about the human body, how merely eating and tasting the food is not enough, the body had to work to digest it.

"It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. "

It's not enough to just sit on Sunday and be told something. You have to learn more. You have to be living it. So all of you that are not in a Home Bible Study, maybe it's time to sign up...

Ps. 119:15 - "I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways."

T

Monday, October 09, 2006

Pumpkin Woes

I'll get some pictures up of the patch, I promise.

But one of the reasons I haven't written lately is something else has been on my mind and making me busy. "What is it" you ask? It is the many, many holes in the schedule at the pumpkin patch. Apparently the novelty of working at the patch has worn off. But herein lies the problem. You see, the pumpkin patch is a fundraiser for students who want to go on the mission trips to make money. So the question is, why should I have to work to make you money? The short answer is I don't. The long answer is you should be working! (The biggest hole is from 4-7 each day, a shift that any student can easily work).

To help you see the big picture, I added up Liz and my hours and using the dollar amount from last year, which may change depending on how many pumpkins we sell, but using that number we have collectively worked for almost $140. $140 in 6 days! That's money that could be in your account to pay for your mission trip. To help you see said big picture even more, the last mission trip Sr. High took inside the country (Mexico was a little more expensive), the cost of the trip was $125. Basically, Liz and I have paid for one of you to go on a trip. In less than a week. Imagine what you could do if you were working...

One last thing, again, bigger picture. (Please understand, I'm just trying to help you see why you need to be working at the pumpkin patch for your own trip). For any given missions trip, Liz and I have to sit down, figure out where we can go, book it, do all the financial accounting for it, organize it, make and collect all permission slips, collect all deposits and final balances (which means more accounting including student accounts), get all additional medical paperwork, hand it out and chase people to collect it on time, create and implement training, then spend a week (maybe two) away from our families leading the trips. I'm asking, is it really fair that we work in the pumpkin patch to pay your way too?

Please, parents and students, fill the holes in the pumpkin patch schedule.

T

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

2811

That's how many pumpkins we're expecting to unload today and put in our pumpkin patch. 2 8 1 1. Lotta pumpkins. If you want one or would even like to help, be there at 4:00 to get first choice :)

T

btw, I've been reading a lot about death lately, I don't know what that means...

Monday, October 02, 2006

National Turkey

Something interesting I read this morning. This is from a letter written by Benjamin Franklin to his daughter:

"For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead tree near the river, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing hawk; and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him... The turkey is a much more respectable bird and withal a true original native of America."

Can you see it now? A picture of a turkey on the presidential seal. Nice...

T

Sunday, October 01, 2006

One Generation Is All It Takes...

If you're looking for a fun book to read, go to Judges in the Bible. It's like Lord of the Rings with not as many creatures.

Anyway, there's a common thread in the book (not to give it all away for you). Almost every story ends with God using someone to do something amazing, and almost every time the next chapter starts with Israel doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. I've read this book a few times, I like it, and I always wonder why they forget so easily. God does something amazing and a few years later, no one remembers it. Then this morning I saw this verse.

They're talking about Joshua dying, and all the people who were with him when they take over all of the land that is now Israel. Judges 2:10 -> "After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers [means "after they had died"], another generation grew up, who neither knew the Lord or what He had done for Israel."

One generation. One age of people. That's all it takes for us to forget God. Don't believe me? Look at America right now. How long did it take us to go from prayer in school to guns in school? 30, 40 years? This generation is quickly becoming the one to forget God. So there's two things to this. One, don't be the generation to forget God. Tell your friends, live for Him, do everything you can so we don't turn our backs on God in one fail swoop.

But the other responsibility is to myself and the parents of this generation. How is it possible that one generation does all these amazing things for God and the next one knows nothing about it? The older generation never told them. Those guys in Judges may have done great things, but they never told their kids who God was. Otherwise, the children would have known what God did through their parents.

So fight for this generation, both from the inside and the outside. Don't let it be the one the forgets who God is and what He has done.

T