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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

Does This Sound Like America?

Today I was reading a story about Hezekiah in the book of Isaiah. I've read it before, but with all the financial problems in America right now, it kind of had a new twist to me.

The back story, Hezekiah is the king of Judah and is about to die. He prays for God to heal him, so God does, giving him fifteen more years to live. Hezekiah happy.

Now the king of Babylon (right now starting out, one day super-power that will enslave Judah) hears about King Hezekiah's miraculous discovery and sends the king a gift. Nice gesture. So King Hezekiah in his thanks and ego for being healed shows the envoys (the guys who brought the gifts) around the entire palace, including the royal storehouses of gold and silver, all the expensive gifts given to God in the temple, etc.

Why did he flaunt his wealth? He's an idiot. But that's not the worst part. Isaiah comes to visit and tells the king that because he did this, one day in the future all of this wealth will be carried away. Even chldren born to the king will be taken as slaves. And after hearing this doomsday prophecy, here's Hezekiah's reaction:


Hezekiah told Isaiah, “These words from the Lord are good.” He said this because he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.” ~ Isaiah 39:8

He thought "no problem" because it doesn't directly affect him. Now does that sound like America?

"There's not enough oil to sustain the way you live."
"But there's enough for me now, right? So I can still drive my H3, right?"

Something to think about...

Another Perspective

Today we had a group of people come into the church who are building a Family Life Center kind of like ours (its' the same architect, slightly different design). I just happened to be in the gym and was able to talk to them for a few minutes, to answer questions, etc. Nice people.

It just kind of reiterated to me how important it is to get outside input on things, how hearing what someone else sees, even if you don't always follow it, at least knowing and maybe getting ideas from them is a good thing. Like these guys, we talked about our projection system in the Life Center, which is really bad (you can't be close to the stage and still see the screens), and no one would have told them that until I was there. And they even saw some things in our room I hadn't noticed, like the acoustics work (I'm just so used to it).

So whatever you're doing, get an outside opinion. It helps :)

Prov. 15:22 ~ Plans fail without good advice, but they succeed with the advice of many others. (NCV)

T

Two Hands!

My arm is finally out of the sling and I can type again (although I'm sucking at it)! I'm ahead of schedule according to my x-ray, but now I'm doing all sorts of physical therapy exercises (and they don't hurt at all, there's no excruciating pain when I lift my arm, no, none... maybe a little...)

Now I just need to have interesting things to day and I can blog again :)

T

No Blogging For A While

Sorry, but typing is not that easy anymore. See if you can figure out why. Liz saw it right away (hint, it's the collar bone).

T

Winter Retreat

Sorry I haven't been blogging all. Every moment I'm at my computer lately has been doing the Winter Retreat. It's funny how you can have everything done, then more appears.

Either way, I'm gearing up for this weekend. I hope you all are ready for some outdoor fun. We had lots of snow last night!!

T

Crosses Done... Kinda...

I'm almost done the crosses. One is completely done and standing in the Sanctuary, the one for NewSong, I ran out of nails so I will finish it tomorrow.

But a few more things that hit me today (literally).

The first one was while I was doing the first cross. I was working and had some worship songs on and then the old hymn "How Marvelous, How Wonderful" came on. Now, that hymn is always powerful with me, but when you're actually making a cross and it comes on, not to sound girly but I was trying my best not to cry. It was just crazy to think that this was the instrument used for my freedom.

Then Lorie and I put the nails in. If you want to know why the crosses are pre-nailed, come to church on Sunday, but yes, they both have small headed nails in them. Lorie left to go to the Sanctuary as I finished the nails myself (she said I was better at hammering) and I was going to move it. I realized I couldn't lift it because it was too tall to get through the door and still a little wet from the stain so I got the bright idea to use a dolly/cart. I put the cross on no problem. But then, the nice circular base started to twist, I had one hand on the cart, the other on the cross trying to make sure they didn't fall. There was only one thing I had to balance the cross, my head. Now for those of you keeping score, there are over a hundred tiny, small-headed nails in the front of the cross that were now pushing the weight of the cross into the side of my forehead. And it freaking hurt. I managed to stand it back up alright but I was thinking about how much that hurt then almost slapped myself again for being a woosie (see last post). I had the dull side of the nails, and not into my forehead like Jesus would have had. Again, realizing a little more what Jesus went through for me.

But then the clincher. This one's a little nicer. One cross done and in the Sanctuary, working on the second one and cleaning it up, making it look kinda pretty (which Arlene Reynolds said I shouldn't do, the real cross would have looked gnarly, and I agree but this is for the church so I wanted it to look somewhat decent). And I was doing it, songs like "Everything Glorious" and "Everlasting God" and "The Stand" came on and I realized hos God used the cross to make us pretty. How we are cleaned up and "made glorious" because of the cross.

Anyway, it's been a weird experience. What will be key is in seeing them used Sunday morning in church and Sunday night at our prayer night with the students. Maybe more on that later.

T

Crosses Are Heavy

I'm on day two of making the crosses for our church and today was a little rough. I have one pretty much done, the other one was causing me some trouble. I kept having to cut the crossbeam hole over and over. So that required me putting the cross together, seeing it doesn't fit, taking it apart, cutting a little tiny bit off, repeat many, many times. And as I was moving the main beam back and forth I started to think, "Boy, is this cross ever heavy." Then another thought went through my mind:

"Shut up".

I mean, I started thinking about how Jesus had to carry His cross, bloody and battered, falling on His bare knees all the time for what must have seemed like an eternity and here I am complaining "Oh, it's so heavy" in my comfy basement while I try and make my cross look all pretty.

Yeah, Jesus had it harder, and I thank Him for it...

T

Making Crosses

Sorry to mess up the website with my last post. But it's a cool video...

Anyway, tonight I was working on a special project for Celebrate Recovery. I was making crosses. And not little woosie crosses, seven feet tall, two of them.

As I was making them I started thinking about how hard this would have been two thousand years ago. I had a handy little table saw, they did not have electricity so it wouldn't have helped them. And then my thought processed deeper (which is scary) and I thought about the guy who's job is would have been to make crosses. After all, there were tons of crucifixions by the Romans, odds are there were guys who sole occupation was to make crosses for the Roman government. I mean, what goes through your mind every day as you make instruments of death and torture. Who will get this one? What did they do? How much will they suffer? Were they so calloused they didn't even care?

And what about the guy who made Jesus' cross? Did he know Who was going to carry it? Did he know God was going to be sentenced to death upon it? Would it have been more special or just another day at the office?

Yeah, it's bad when I stay up late, I start thinking...

T