Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Someone Actually Made This

Tonight Lorie and I had a night where we drive around, stop in at random stores, just hang out and have fun. It was a nice night so we had fun.

Walking around Meijer, we found this board game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/27228. Are you kidding me? It's a game where you actually smell cards such as popcorn, skunk, manure?!

We really, really have too much time on our hands...

T

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Earth Hour

So did you turn out your lights for earth hour (8:30 - 9:30)?

We did, and to be honest, it made me think a little. First, Lorie and I don't use much power anyway. I was raised if you leave a room you turn out the lights. But then again, we use more power than we need. Our computer was on, right now we have music on we don't really "need", but it is nice. And after we were done, I had to use the restroom, and was kind of glad I had lights when I did that...

But it all goes back to what do we need? I know we live in a very rich society and it seems like we have a lot of needs because of what everyone else has, but do we really? Just because someone else has it do we therefore need it?

I don't know, just thinking about how many other people in the world manage to survive with much less than we have. Mind you, I say that while I'm sitting on my comfy couch writing something on the Internet on a laptop inside a home that is heated and sheltered from the rain outside while the music is playing on our stereo with nice cold iced tea on the coffee table (the remnants of my third meal of the day).

I really have to look into that wind generator...

T

Friday, March 27, 2009

I Love Zeus

Last night the Myricks dropped of their lovable ball of fur named Zeus. He's a bundle of fun, but today. Oh today. He managed to push out a piece of the fence and wiggle through while my back was turned. Chased him across seven different yards. He just kept running, no matter how much I yelled.

Let's just say that God was having fun teaching me patience today :)

T

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

But It's Okay, We're At Church

Today I was reading some Old Testament passages (kickin' it old school) when I found a little section where God says if there is only one person in the entire city who follows Him He will spare the city. But of course there was no one. And I started to wonder, how, how on earth can a group of people that were so dedicated to God end up with not a single person believing in Him. Then I found this:

Jeremiah 7:3-7 ~ This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Change your lives and do what is right! Then I will let you live in this place. Don’t trust the lies of people who say, “This is the Temple of the Lord. This is the Temple of the Lord. This is the Temple of the Lord!” You must change your lives and do what is right. Be fair to each other. You must not be hard on strangers, orphans, and widows. Don’t kill innocent people in this place! Don’t follow other gods, or they will ruin your lives. If you do these things, I will let you live in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. (NCV)

Can you imagine, giving offerings to other gods, actually murdering people in church, but then saying "But we're doing it in God's house, so we still believe in Him. It's okay." And I again I wondered, how, how could anyone possibly get to that place. A place where they think any action is okay as long as they do it at a good location, a holy place.

But do we do that? Does the church in general have people who lie, cheat, steal, but they still show up to church on Sunday morning and since they visited the "Holy Place" whatever they do in life is then okay? Yes, we're forgiven and yes, we are saved by grace but doesn't that mean we should live like it? When Lorie says she loves me no matter what I do does that mean I should go out and spend all our money on prostitutes? Or does it mean I should live up to the love that she's giving me?

Yesterday at our church staff meeting yesterday, someone said this that got me thinking along the same lines. "I wonder how many times someone is at work and they do the job in an hour, but they charge the person three hours, all the while sipping coffee from one of our church mugs..."

Maybe we should start living up to the love and mercy and grace that God has bestowed on us...

Matthew 7:20 ~ Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. (NCV)

T

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Power Of Music

Today I was listening to one of my favorite online radio stations, movie soundtracks (when I'm at work, it's usually either that or nature sounds, Liz loves that one) and a song came on. Now realize, it's instrumental. It's hard to describe the song, but there's nothing in the tone at the beginning to suggest the tone or what song it is, but I immediately knew what it was. It was in a movie I haven't seen since I was 10, The Natural (it's about baseball). But when I was 10, that's all I did all summer was play/umpire/watch baseball (if I wasn't at church I was playing ball or swimming, or both).

But it's amazing how that works. I heard at most three seconds and I felt happy, I felt like dreaming, and I felt like playing outside. I knew what the song was right away. It just amazes me how music has the power to do that. That's also why I bought a CD last week and still haven't listened to it, I want to make sure everything's right when I do because forever I will be transported back to how I feel when I listen to it.

Anyway, I like music...

T

Monday, March 23, 2009

Lazy

So today, I did pretty much nothing. I was just so wiped out from the weekend I slept a lot and Lorie and I watched way too much TV (which is way better when you have more than five channels I might add).

But one of the reasons I was so tired was the comedy night, which it seems like everyone liked. So that was good. I got to talk with the comedians more than hear their act. I like them more now, they're nice guys.

Tomorrow, maybe a real blog, since I'll be back to normal life :)

T

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

People Always Want What They Can't Have

So today I was reading about the history of potatoes (what? You know you do too) and how they were originally considered a "dirty" food that only peasants would eat (maybe that's why I love them).

Then, in the mid 1700's, a French pharmacist named Antoine Parmentier was thrown in a German prison and fed only what? The dirt food of the poor. The problem is he came out of prison healthier than when he went in.

So he tried to convince the French King Louis XVI to get potatoes. But the king didn't want peasant food from Germany for his loyal subjects, but he made a concession. He gave Parmentier the cruddiest piece of land on the castle grounds that nothing grew on and said he could grow them there and see if potatoes would catch on.

But Parmentier was smart. First, it's potatoes, they grow anywhere. So they grew in the bad land. But he also put castle guards around the crop to protect his valuable food. He then told the guards to accept bribes secretly and let people steal the food if they tried. What happens when you tell people they can't have something? Within only a few decades so many people had stolen potatoes and planted them at home that potato farms were as numerous as wineries in France.

So basically, it's still true. People only want what they can't have...

T

Monday, March 16, 2009

Too Many Favorite Things

I got to combine a lot of my favorite things today. I was working outside while planning ahead (one of my new favorite things, believe it or not). It was great. It's kind of scary to think where technology has taken us, I worked outside with Internet (and had classical/soundtrack music going) while enjoying the sun and that one bird that keeps squawking just above my head. Add in the iced tea I had in my frosty mug and it was a good day.

And on an even better note, I'm still ahead of schedule on my collar bone. I have 100% mobility back, my strength is ahead of schedule, the only thing they're concerned about is my calcium deposits don't seem to be that big, so I still have to go back, over spring break, but that's okay!

T

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

What's Your Motivation?

So my lovely wife is making the screens for our Sunday morning services today, one of her many talents and jobs. And we briefly talked about all the names she has to put on the screens this week.

In our traditional services it is our Celtic Sunday so there's a little bit of special music, and for each song/group, Lorie makes a screen to let people know who's playing. Always nice.

But the reason we were talking about it is we remembered back to a while ago when Lorie for a sermon series did not put anyone's name on the screens. And for weeks, no one said anything. That is until someone realized their name wasn't up on the screen when they played. And boy did they complain.

It just makes me wonder why we need to put people's names in the bulletin, on the screens, etc. Yes, it's nice to recognize someone for giving back to God, but if that is the primary reason they give, so their name is "in lights" so to speak, is that really the right reason to be playing/singing for God?

If you're going to give something to God, just give it to God and don't worry about all the other stuff. This is from our Bible Study discussion tonight (see you there at 7:00!)

Matthew 6:1 ~ Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. (MSG)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Do Not Attempt

Sorry, but I was watching TV a few minutes ago and sometimes, the stupid just gets to me.

It was a Maytag commercial, maybe you've seen it. They tell about the features of the washing machines, then they show a monster truck drive over two rows of machines. And in small print at the bottom:

Do Not Attempt

Really, I'll have to do my best. Because if I had enough money to buy a monster truck and thirty odd washing machines, you better believe I would use that money to drive over the machines just to make sure they were sturdy enough. Where am I going to find thirty Maytag washing machines? Drive to seventeen Sears?

Thank you, guy who makes the fine print, you may have saved my life...

T

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Goals While Fasting

As most people know, Ash Wednesday (last week) kicked of a forty day period of fasting in the Church known as Lent.

During Downpour (our weekly Bible Study) last week we went to or church's Ash Wednesday service and then came back to the youth room to talk about what Ash Wednesday is, how it started, why we do it, etc. (it always amazes me a little how many people are willing to go through weird church rituals with next to no idea of what they are doing in and why). We talked about how it's really about your heart, not what you do. We talked about how instead of just giving something up you can take something else on, things like that.

So in the spirit of people fasting or giving something up without knowing why or focusing on the heart, I want to share something I was reading today. It's from a group of people who were fasting to God and they prayed to God, telling Him how they did all this fasting but it didn't help, how God seemed to have not cared about their act of suffering for Him. And here's what God said:

But the Lord says, “You do what pleases yourselves on these special days,
and you are unfair to your workers.
On these special days when you fast, you argue and fight
and hit each other with your fists.
You cannot do these things as you do now
and believe your prayers are heard in heaven.
This kind of special day is not what I want.
This is not the way I want people to be sorry for what they have done.
I don’t want people just to bow their heads like a plant
and wear rough cloth and lie in ashes to show their sadness.
This is what you do on your special days when you fast,
but do you think this is what the Lord wants?
“I will tell you the kind of fast I want:
Free the people you have put in prison unfairly
and undo their chains.
Free those to whom you are unfair
and stop their hard labor.
Share your food with the hungry
and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes.
When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours,
and don’t refuse to help your own relatives.
Then your light will shine like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your God will walk before you,
and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
Then you will call out, and the Lord will answer.
You will cry out, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ ~ Isaiah 58:3b-9a

So if you're fasting for Lent, may I ask why? And are you not just giving something up, but are you also living better, doing more, helping those God loves while fasting?

T

Monday, March 02, 2009

Almost Mucas Free And Able To Go To Canada

Sorry it's been a while. Last week both Lorie and I were out for days. 101+ fevers, aches, congestion, coughing, we share everything.

I will say that today I missed Canada a bit. I got a call at 8:00am (a great time to call when I'm sick by the way) and found out that again they want more forms with my passport. The only fun part, I think Canada is the only place in the world where you can get a call from the deepest French part of the country and have the person on the phone be Indian. I love diversity :)

I'll be blogging more, but to add to Liz's blog, the Sr. missions trip is almost full. If you still want to go or have a chance at the waiting list, you better sign up soon...

T