2008. The Year in Review

Now that we are 1 hour and 30 minutes away from the new year, I thought it would be nice to go back and look at what has changed in my life over the last 12 months. If you want full stories, you can probably look back at my previous posts and learn way more than you probably ever wanted to know.

The year started out quite trying with me looking for full-time work while working part-time at Kay Bee's (may it rest in peace). I actually enjoyed working at the toy store but don't think the hours were good (opening boxes at midnight was no fun.)

The church has been a struggle. My excitement has been waning for most of the year to the point that VBS suffered. The last couple of months seem to be better. It's getting better. Today's event, even being 5 hours long, was a blast for me. I hope the kids had a good time (although we know we are going to cut it down to maybe 2 hours next year.) I lost my paid position with the church stayed on as the non-paid children's pastor. I was asked if we were going to leave the church, but God hasn't called us anywhere else yet so the work continues. Some things are starting to form that I like a lot. I do need to start training someone to take my place though in case I ever get sick or God does call us somewhere else. We were thinking the other day, if my family left the church (extended included), our AWANA program would crumble (I'm AWANA pastor, my wife is the commander, my sister is the secretary, my dad is the leader for the 3rd - 6th grade class), our Children's minsitry would lose half it's leadership and the youth would lose most of theirs too. The true sign of a good leader is the fact they can replicate themselves so I am failing.

I got employed with San Bernardino City Unified School District in March. I'm a secretary. The job really has been the tale of two jobs though. My first boss had been in the position for 10 years and the office was a cesspool of moral. When she retired in June and the former regime was pretty much cleaned out (Dennis withstanding -- but he was the positive from the previous regime)left also, the attitude changed and now it's ok to joke and talk and smile. I like the office atmosphere now and I get to help kids indirectly. The fact that I was no longer employed part time at Kay Bee's made my wife happy and the fact that the job has good benefits made her much happier.

Life with 4 kids as they grow is interesting. The twins are getting bigger and talking way too much. Micah is becoming more social. So is Becca but she isn't supposed to be doing so. It's amazing to sit back and watch them sometimes to see what a miracle they really are.

I started umpiring baseball this year and I had a blast. It is definitely something I am going to do again. And again. And again. Towards the end of the year, I was able to talk to people about my other job and some of the events we held at the church. Relationship building with the lost is the best way to draw them to Christ. I hope I never get to the point where someone will tell me at the ballpark that they can't hear my words because my actions are speaking too loud. I can't wait for March.

2008 has been a year of paying the bills by faith. My mother-in-law and I don't really make enough to pay all of our bills and eat but God has been good and provided in unexpected places too many times. It was even more amazing when I didn't have the full time job. Now to start working on refinancing the home loan to make it more affordable, but God is good all of the time.

It has been interesting starting to get to reacquaint myself with long-lost friends. I have gotten to get to know Eric even better. I've started to get to talk to those I went on mission trips with back in 1991 (although I am still looking for 1989 Jamaica friends.) There are a lot of people who have had the influence on my life (as I mentioned in my last blog) and it's great to start talking to them again.

I hope 2009 is a better year but am learning to be satisfied in the God of 2008, 2009 and forever.

Happy New Year!

I know I've been missing lately

It's ok. I'm still alive and kicking. I kinda got hooked to the latest non-new phase -- facebook. Sorry for not writing.

Anyway, Christmas was very good. The kids all got homemade toys from us (babydolls, a notebook full of Lego designs, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" movie... ok, that's not homemade) but got all the good material goods from my parents and family. If you want to see more of what they got, check my wife's blog. She's supermommie to the right.

I got a call last night on the way home from church from our pastor. He informs me that he needs to meet with me and Brian, our assistant pastor, on Monday morning about plans to hold an ordination council next Sunday for the purposes of ordaining Brian and I to the gospel ministry. Now ordination council is no walk in the park. I need to read the Baptist Faith and Message real quick-like -- although it is what I have been taught pretty much my whole life as Biblical doctrine but now I have to read it straight through. It was written by theologians and not novelist so it is not the most exciting read.

If I pass the ordination council on Sunday, the following Sunday, January 11th, will be my ordination. There are a few people I will need to invite. Mrs. Umble, my 3rd grade teacher, always told me that she wanted to be a part of my first sermon. Unfortunately I have already had that (it was very short notice) but I can inform her of this. She comes back to school next week (as I go back to work) and since I work for the same school district as she does, I can just e-mail her and see if she responds.

There are a few people from Immanuel I want to make sure are able to come -- and some that I would love to show up to the ordination council. John Potter had a huge impact on my life as a children's pastor. Wayne Reynolds would be great to be there. I know asking for Rob Zinn would be near impossible as he is always busy, but he will always be my pastor as he was my Biblical teacher for so many years and lead me to Christ during VBS those 27 years ago. Of course, Rob being there would make my ordination council exponentially harder, but ordination is not supposed to be taken lightly.

It is moments like this that I look back and see who made the differences in my life. Mr. Paul, Mrs. Mina, John Hargett, Gil, Chaplain Bartz, Chaplain Narvaez, Jim Richardson, Chad Acklin, Mike Smith, Mrs. Roquette, Eric Johnson, Bill Baldwin, Glenn Tamura, Chaplain Clark and his diving team, Chris Magoon, Ron Curran, Brian Simms, John Denver and Kermit the Frog, Tom Parker, Todd Gordon, Tim Dunham, Timothy Mantzey, Arlette Dunham, Paul Reed, Mr. Clem, Roger Greenwalt, Bob Bland, Gordy Grover, Brian Ayers, Avery Myers, Linda Cataldo, Chaplain Stone, Chaplain Targonski. There are so many more that I have forgotten a name or forgotten a face that have impacted me over the years and made me who I am -- both positively and negatively. Some have gone on to meet our Lord, some have moved away from me, some I have moved away from. Some I have lost track of. Some are people who our paths just crossed for a moment that changed my life forever. I am a product of those God has put into my life to make me more like His Son. I thank God for the direction He has lead me and how He continues to change me to be more like Him.

If you can make it January 11th, ordination service should start at 6:30 pm at our church.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I am going to share something that is kinda personal today.  I'll try to be decent enough to not embarrass anyone, except myself maybe.

 

When my wife and I first got married, we figured out that we needed two blankets on our bed, one for her and one for me.  We can't really be too close to each other while we sleep since Trina thinks I am a human furnace and I roll around too much for her to sleep next to me (the king size bed is great!)  So the two blankets we have are both the same color on the outside but the underneath is different.  One is smooth and cooler while the other is fuzzy and inherently warmer.

 

Originally, the fuzzy blanket was mine.  I don't mind being warm, even in the summer.  When that first winter came, I was surprised when one night, I went in the bedroom and discovered that my wife stole my blanket and gave me the smooth, cooler one.  She was too cold.

 

So for a couple of years, I suffered through the colder weather, trying different blankets to augment my warmth deficiency.  What we do for love.  Nothing seemed to work until I finally found the right blanket.  It is a knit blanket made out of some kind of heat-capturing material (I think it's polyester yarn.)  It goes under the smooth blanket very smoothly and works wonders.  The initial problem -- it's pink.

 

It's in my bedroom and no one sees it except my kids and now my mother-in-law when I wash it.  So that's not too much of a problem.  There is starting to be a bigger problem though.  The material is not incredibly durable.  The blanket is now just about equal parts pink wonderfulness and empty nothingness as the holes get bigger and bigger each wash.

 

But, oh how wonderful to once again be embraced by my 'pretty pink blanket.'  It is probably the best thing to happen each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  OK, that may be going too far, but it is a great day when it comes out of our closet because the blanket switch has occurred.

More on Dennis

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/inland_empire&id=6545250

Here is the ABC news story and video. The first time I saw it, it was unnerving to see Dennis' face. It was a hard day at work today.

This is actually right up the street from Trina's grandmother's house... within 1/2 mile. Nice area.

Some sad news and a chance to pray

One of my co-workers, Dennis, was mugged in back of his church on Saturday night.  He was severely injured with hammer blows to the head which fractured his skull and shattered his eye socket (the eye is ok.)  He is currently in a drug-induced coma to help him to try to heal from this.

In the conversations Dennis and I had about children's ministry (he is the children's director at his church), he is a man who loves kids and loves to make God real in their lives.  He loves his community and runs a bus ministry to pick them up from around the church.  He stood up for justice and right, even when he could be put in danger.  He shined his light in work with the children and teachers of our school district.  This couldn't happen to a nicer man.

Right now, I am sure his family is wondering why him.  I don't know why.  What I do know is that God can work things out for the best for those who believe in Him.  This includes Dennis' church, his family, friends, and our office.  If you can find a moment, pray for Dennis to heal.  Pray for his family to heal and forgive.  Forgiving those who wrong a loved one is harder than even forgiving those who wrong you.

I want to get up and do something.  I want to go out and find these guys.  I want to go to his church and pray.  I want to visit Dennis (although he is probably under an alias at a hospital since he was mugged) so he is unvisitable.  I want to do something.  But right now, my best weapons are my knees.

New Years is coming, the year is getting fat

I know we haven't gotten to Christmas yet and this is like starting to have Christmas decorations up in October before Halloween (I'm looking at you Wal-Mart) but this is for good reason. We are doing the "New Years Around the World" event at church and there is a lot of preparation that needs to take place. We need to have a snack from each place, a craft, a missionary and missionary story, and some history of the country.

Well, our countries are, in order of time it turns midnight:
We start at 10:00 making decorations for India when it turns 10:30
10:30 India
12:00 Udmurtia, Russia
1:00 Iraq
2:00 Macedonia

In the 2 hrs we have for India, we need to cook lunch as well as eat it and do the craft and missionary story. I do need to get in contact with a missionary there.

For Russia, I am in contact with a missionary there by e-mail. I also am following his blog (although he is transferring my request to his partner.) He has a very interesting blog. It's amazing what you can find on blogger with google.

In Iraq, one of my former chaplains, Chaplain Bartz (who I credit as one of the most influential people in my life (I wrote an essay for a scholarship in school that listed my two most influential people in my life -- my dad was first and Chaplain Bartz was second)) has pulled some strings for me and got an e-mail from me to a Southern Baptist chaplain in Iraq. So we are starting communications.

In Macedonia, I found a contact through the Russian missionary. She has an interesting blog too. Our only problem with Macedonia is that it is actually 3 pm here when it's midnight there, but it is because they went with central Europe instead of Greece. It is right above Greece though, so I am going to fudge it over so we start at 2:00 pm and when we leave at 3, we will celebrate Macedonian New Year.

So now, I need to start trying to get in contact with someone currently working in India. We were looking at some Indian food sites -- this may be interesting. The most interesting part will be coming up with the funds to buy all this stuff. We may charge a small fee to cover the cost -- maybe $5. For lunch, snacks, crafts and 5 hours, that's a pretty good deal. I am going to have to really have a really tight budget though.

I am looking forward to this.

I got tagged again and now I have to remove this spray paint from my shoes.

I got tagged again so I have to come up with 7 more things you don't know about me necessarily.

1)  I once got spanked for throwing an imaginary football.  My sister and I were playing in our room, she being a fan in the stands cheering me on as I was the quarterback for the football team.  (I was probably 6 at the time, my sister 5 or 4.)  I turned and threw her the "football" and she backed up to catch it... right through our bedroom window.  And it was closed.  And she hit the ground outside.  I think I was punished more because my dad was mad than for throwing the invisible, intangible and perfectly safe imaginary football.

2)  When I was 7, my family went to visit my mom's sister, my Aunt Ruth, up in Reno.  I still don't know that side of the family very well, but got to know my cousin Kyle some.  He got a brand new bike for Christmas and I got his old one for Christmas.  It was fantastic.  It was blue, sparkly, and I loved it.  I rode that thing for years as I did jumps off of curves, rode fast, and had a blast.

3)  Before I got that blue bike, I was over at my cousin's house (Sal -- from Dad's side of the family) and he and a couple of our cousins decided to go to the local liquor store to get some candy.  They left without me riding bikes, but I decided after a while I wanted to join them.  Of course, I didn't ride a bike but brought one anyways because having a bike would be faster.  So after my dad went wild trying to find me (he did find me right up the road from the liquor store -- talk about a different world) my cousin decided it was time to teach me to ride a bike.

4)  While learning to ride a bike, I crashed a lot.  One time, I crashed into a telephone pole, flew over the handle bars, missed the pole somehow and did a 'Pete Rose' slide (Headfirst) under a parked car.  I got up and wanted to do it again.

5)  When I was 9 years old, I played Little League Baseball in the Minors.  I was on second base when my teammate hit to the outfield.  I rounded third base and headed home and saw the catcher catch the ball and sit down on the plate waiting for me to show up.  Having nothing else to do, I slid.  While sliding, I lifted my leg and kicked the catcher in the chest, knocking him back a good 5 or 6 feet, where he dropped the baseball.  I was called safe.  The guy who hit me in was on second where the next batter hit pretty much the same ball.  The catcher caught the ball and sat down on the plate again.  The guy who hit me in did a drop kick into the catcher.  The catcher flew back a good 5 - 6 feet and dropped the ball.  The runner was called out and kicked out of the game for excessive violence.  The moral of the story:  If you are going to kick the catcher in the chest, be slick.

6)  I tried out for my high school baseball team when I was a freshman.  I was such a geek (still am.)  I wore my cleats during the track running and didn't do very well.  I really didn't have the talent to make the team (although I had heart.)  The coach offered me the chance to be the team score keeper (basically, the laundry kid) and get a letter.  Not the way I wanted to get a letter, so I declined and that was the end of my high school sports career.  I hit the books instead... ok, I cruised through High School.

7)  My second deployment in the Navy was a WesPac (Western Pacific Tour.)  Part of a WesPac was the Middle East/Persian Gulf.  I met up with my ship while it was in the Persian Gulf.  Not knowing much of anyone, I spent our first port call in Dubai, UAE, walking around town in my American clothes, being hot because it was hot outside, and wandering around a deserted mall because they close for siesta time (I'm not sure what that is called in Arabic, but it was pretty much a siesta.)  I look back now and wonder how I didn't end up on a terrorist video talking about the greatness of Saddam Hussien and the evils of Bill Clinton (This was back in 1994.)

Ok, I didn't tag anyone last time, but I will tag... no one this time either.  And there are no tag backs.

Cutting open the bottle

Just to let you know, I'm doing ok.  The funk isn't killing me so it's all good :)

This morning, I was cooking up some eggs and turkey ham for a sandwich.  I took a bite of it and decided I needed some green salsa.  We had a bottle that we hadn't used in San Diego that still had that stupid plastic ring on the top to seal in the freshness and keep out the creep-ohs that want to poison my salsa.  So I try to use a fingernail to open it. There's no perforation.
Not a problem, I'll hold the bottom of the bottle with one hand and use a knife in the other hand to cut it open.  Great.  I works... to a point.  The top of the ring, which covers the top of the lid, comes off but there is still enough of it left to keep it sealed.
Bummer.  So, now I figure, I'll tempt fate.  I will hold onto the bottle with one hand and only move the knife back and forth on the ring of plastic to cut it enough to tear it off.  No luck.  Can I slip the knife under the seal enough to cut it?  I push a little, knowing in my head that I don't cut towards myself because I no likey getting cut.  So, not too much pressure.  Cut a little, not through yet.
Ok, a little more pressure, knowing that I don't want to cut myself.  I get through, finally, and go through to my left index finger where I poked myself with the knife.  Of course, if you've ever had your finger pricked for a blood sample or something like that, you know how much that index finger bleeds when it gets pricked.  So now, I got this shallow cut on my index finger that hurts a little when typing (it really isn't bad at all.  Don't call 9-11 for me.)

There have been times in my life that I see something that I know is wrong and think, I wonder how close I can get without falling into sin.  And over and over again, I go over the mark and fall as one would suspect.  It's like that bottle where I want to open it but don't want to get hurt but keep trying things that will get me closer and closer to being cut until finally I am.  You would think I would learn but sin still has that way of tempting me to push it to the edge -- and me realizing that me trying to get as close without actually doing so is sin to me since I have been called to live a life of holiness, not tightrope walking on the edge of neigh-invulnerabilty.  (SPOON!)

I wonder how cut my soul is from pushing that knife through the barriers of sin?  Thank God that He has plenty of band-aids and lots of love and kisses to heal me.

How Funky is Your Chicken?

You know, there are times that I really get into a funk and I think yesterday was one that put me into one right now.

As of right now, I have a dull pain coming from one of my teeth, but that is pretty normal so it is easy to ignore. Then I learned last night that the budget for the church has been cut in every single department, including $1000 off the budget for VBS, bringing it from $1,500 to $500. I order more than $500 in curriculum so I don't know how this is going to work.

Right now, the idea is that there will be a series of fundraisers in the church limited to once a month. Now on the calendar, the Youth department already has a chicken wing bake sale set for Super Bowl Sunday (and they are good wings.) AWANA has one set for the end of February on the calendar already - the AWANA Art Auction. Kids come and make art, as well as some donated by the rest of the church, that is bid on in a silent auction. I need to start some sculpy scultures soon. So we are talking in the following 10 months needing fundraisers for Youth Camp, Children's Camp, VBS and possibly a Car Show. I talked to Shawn last night and mentioned that we need to start fundraising outside of the church because our people are tapped out. Candy sells. Those stupid little sticker books that get you discounts all over the place. Door-to-door viagra sales. Things like that. I hate turning our kids into little Am-Way Salesmen though -- especially with how much fundraising they do with school.

And then, as of late, it seems that I don't seem to do much right. Apparently, I'm not that good of a kids pastor. I've been a pretty lousy husband lately. I am not much of a housekeeper. I don't have enough time for the kids. Of course, hearing this over and over again has put me into a nice funk that I have to fight now to stay out of.

Some ideas floating in my head right now:
1) Wednesday Night at church: Mission emphasis is not really working right now. Perhaps we need something more practical like free homework tutoring with a Bible story in the middle (short.) Kind of a Bible Homework club.

2) Advent conspiracy is still floating around. Pastor didn't like the idea, but was ok with the idea of not buying one gift and making something instead and donating the price of the one gift to Lottie Moon. That may be something to think about for next year.

3) New Years Around the World is looming - December 31st. We will be celebrating New Years as it happens in India, Kabul, the U.A.E., Tanzania, and Spain. I need craft ideas, snack ideas (Lunch for either Kabul or Dubai), and missionary stories (Kabul will be a military chaplain. Dubai cannot be specific since that is in the red zone and missionaries there are undercover. Tanzania will be Richard and Karen Lee, who just spoke at our church on Sunday. Anyone know any chaplains in Afghanistan right now?)

4) What kind of fundraisers can the kids do that do not tax the congregation but can bring in outside dollars?

Ok, so I'll be fighting the funk today. Pray for me.

On the twelfth day of the playoffs...

Ok, I mentioned this on facebook, so on the ride up from San Diego, I was trying to keep myself awake by thinking of the 12 days of Christmas as a Laker's song. I'll throw out what I have so far:

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
A Shaq O'Neil Rap CD or...
A Shaq Shazam Soundtrack CD or...
The big Aristotle's confusing CD or...
Mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble

On the Second Day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Two Payton Gloves...

On the Third Day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Three beatdowns to French Lick...

On the Fourth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Four Calls from Hearn...

On the Fifth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Five Championship Rings...
Five more Championship Rings....
Did I mention 14 Championship Rings....?

On the Sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Six Three's a making...

On the Seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Several Suns a-bricking...

On the Eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Ocho time three Jerseys...

On the Ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Nine Laker Dancers

On the Tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Ten Lakers a Slamming

On the Eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Eleven Skyhooks dropping

On the Twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
....

Ok. So this is a start :)

Movie Review: The Boy in Stripped Pajamas

Ok, so last night after the kids went to bed, my wife, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law went out to see the movie "The Boy in Stripped Pajamas." Not knowing much going in, let me say that it was a good movie... although it's hard to say that I truly enjoyed it when the subject is the Holocaust. Did I enjoy Schindler's List? No, but I thought it was a movie important to see but too hard to see a second time. As the Jews have said, never forget. By not forgetting, we are not doomed to repeat the past.

I put this movie on par with Schindler's, although it is not as gripping. It's hard to say much about the movie without giving up everything, but it goes where my wife feared from the very beginning, even before we walked in. It is a story about the innocence of a child in a time of extreme hatred and seeing beyond the stereotypes to find who is really inside.

Ok, if you don't want to know more, stop reading now. It's hard, like I said, to talk about this without giving some specifics.






Are you still here?





Ok. In the end, hatred conquers innocence inadvertently. The best, and worst laid plans of mice and men end in the destruction of what is good. There is a point in the movie where you know how it is going to end and want to reach out, grab the kid, and tell him to stop being so naive, stop being so innocent and trusting -- but in all reality, is this ever something that you want to tell a kid? When confronted between hatred and innocent, our hero chooses humanity. Our hero looks past the hatred of others to see who is inside -- the doctor, the watchmaker, the happy child. He learns the danger of betrayal and learns loyalty while never losing his child-like view of the world.

In the end, this is a divine irony and a tragedy.

I recommend if you get a chance to go see it, do. It is gripping and worth watching once -- although, like Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, End of the Spear and other movies that are stronger than our emotions can handle, it may be hard to watch a second time.

Why is Thanksgiving only once a year?

There is a Sesame Street video where Elmo wants Christmas to be everyday and his wish comes true. It becomes a disaster - where even the Count getstire of counting how many Christmas days in a row it is. If you want to watch it, it's on youtube in 6 parts (I believe). It's called Elmo Saves Christmas.

Anyway, I am not talking about making a turkey, having the bad can of cranberries, doing the stuffing and watching football (although 365 days of that may not be too bad.) I'm talking about the attidute of Thanksgiving. Having turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey mixed with stuffing, turkey straight up, and turkey casserol for the next two weeks is already too much "Thanksgiving" for me. So the question of why aren't we more thankful more often is really what I come to. It is something God needs to work on me more with too.

Some ideas (some I do, some I probably don't as often as I should):
1) Thank your servers at restaurants and cashiers at fast food by name. They wear those name tags for a reason and it isn't so you know who to complain about. My wife hates it when I say, "Thank you, Kathy." or whoever, but I know I like being called by my name because it makes me feel more human instead of just an autonotrom earning a paycheck.
2) Start looking at the little things around you instead of being so busy going from place to place and thank God for his blessings. I've deliberately started walking slower just to see things I would normally miss. It is a world of wonders that God deserves to be thanked for.
3) Thank God for the bad times. God allows those struggles in our lives because it helps us grow up to be more like His Son. So it isn't all bad.
Romans 5:3-5
"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

So, I would like to officialy begin my hopefully more often than annual Thanksgiving list:

1) I am thankful that I am still breathing, feeling, thinking and walking. It's quite the blessing.
2) I am thankful for my wonderful family and that they drag me out of my introverted caccoon all the time.
3) I am thankful for my mother-in-law for putting up with my kids.
4) I am thankful for my son and his autism as it has taught me to be more caring for those in need and to see the strength of God through his weaknesses.
5) I am thankful for 3 cheerleader daughters who are way too loud in the morning but always rush up to me after any separation, screaming, "Daddy!" and giving hugs. Baby hugs have a way of making the troubles of the day disappear.
6) I am thankful for a wife who puts up with my bad jokes, who loves me even when I am inconsiderate or lazy, and who calls me her favorite husband when I do something nice. Her companionship means more to me that I probably ever let on and for that, not only am I thankful to her but I am sorry I don't let it known more.
7) I am thankful that God has us at our church right now and that He has big plans ahead for our church.
8) I am thankful I lost my paycheck from the church. It hurts, but God knows what he is doing and so I will praise Him when I win and praise Him when I lose.
9) I am thankful for the job God has provided and the skill-sets He has graced me with to do the jobs that no one else is trained for there. I thank Him for the logical/inquisitive mind He has given me to try to make things work and how they work because it makes computer work so much easier.
10) I am thankful for the desire God has given me to work with kids and see them come to Christ. Talk about struggles :) I pray that God restores to me more of that kid-like heart that has grown cold lately so that I can see through the eyes of a kid the wonders of His word, His world, and His ministry.
11) I am thankful that I don't have to stop at 10 :) This is my list and I'll thank who I want to!
12) I am thankful for my friends. I am not the type of guy who keeps close friends because I have a hard time in communication but there are friends who stay with me and I am thankful for that.
13) Ok, I should have stopped at 12 since it's almost 8 and I should get back to my room.

Thank you, Lord, for the good, the bad, the happy and sad, the fights and joys, the girls and boys. Thank you mostly for your love as I wouldn't make it a day outside of your arms.

San Diego, here I come. Right back where I once fled from.

Howdy from Sunny rainy San Diego. We are here down from our home to spend a couple days eating, going to Sea World, and not watching football. Right now, I'm down in the lobby returning the luggage cart while wandering around because, really, I don't feel like sitting up in the room with my brother-in-law, his wife and my wife watching Bones. We could have done that at home :) I found the 'game room' already -- which consists of a pool table. The exercise room may get some use tomorrow morning just to see what that's all about. And of course, I'm currently in the "Business Center."

Overall, the place is good looking. It is more hotelly than the place where my mother-in-law and kids are staying (another one of her time shares), but it's nice. They have a video arcade up there. I may have to go visit my kids sooner or later.

I am starting to draw a little for the kids book I'm working on (http://storyblueprint.blogspot.com) so things may start moving there. I keep getting blogster and blogspot mixed up.

So, in case you're wondering, that's where I am. Don't go looking for me as I am hiding from you.

Have a happy Thanksgiving. I'll probably be back tomorrow to do the traditional Thanksgiving post.

How would you like to do something.... BIG?

Brian joined this group on Facebook that I think is actually totally amazing.  I love the idea and would like to see some people join into it... probably next year so there is time to really do it well.

Here's the video:

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/resources/advent_conspiracy_promo_video/

I have this thing on my computer, but it is 24 megs.  I'll copy it to my flash drive to share later.

The site is www.adventconspiracy.org
Take a look.  Pray about it.  Think about it.  Wonder if it is something our church can do next year.  Think about what you can make instead of buy.  Homemade doesn't necessarily mean cheesy.

I like it.  Brian, let's put some weight behind this because we have the weight to do so :)

Weight day #1

Just a quick note. We did weights today at my parents house after HEROES (my current addiction.) I was at 282.4. If you look back to last week where I was 285, that's down 2.6 pounds -- which means I'm $2.50 poorer now than I was just hours ago. Good thing they take IOU's.

Next goal - 280. I actually ate grapes today.

More on Trina

Ok, she's home.

She has "Costrocondritis." Here is what webmd says about it:

Costochondritis

Costochondritis Overview

Costochondritis is an inflammation of the junctions where the upper ribs join with the cartilage that holds them to the breastbone or sternum. The condition causes localized chest pain that you can reproduce by pushing on the cartilage in the front of your ribcage. Costochondritis is a relatively harmless condition and usually goes away without treatment. The cause is usually unknown.

• Costochondritis (with unknown cause) is a common cause of chest pain in children and adolescents. It accounts for 10-30% of all chest pain in children. Annually, doctors evaluate about 650,000 cases of chest pain in young people aged 10-21 years. The peak age for the condition is 12-14 years.
  
  
• Costochondritis is also considered as a possible diagnosis for adults who have chest pain. Chest pain in adults is considered a potentially serious sign of a heart problem by most doctors until proven otherwise. Chest pain in adults usually leads to a battery of tests to rule out heart disease. If those tests are normal, and your physical exam is consistent with costochondritis, your doctor will diagnose costochondritis as the cause of your chest pain. It is important, however, for adults with chest pain to be examined and tested before being diagnosed with costochondritis. Often it is difficult to distinguish the two, without further testing. The condition affects females more than males (70% versus 30%). Costochondritis may also occur as the result of an infection or as a complication of surgery on your sternum.
  
  
• Tietze syndrome is often referred to as costochondritis, but the two are distinct conditions. You can tell the difference by noting the following:
  
  
  • Tietze syndrome usually comes on abruptly, with chest pain radiating to your arms or shoulder and lasting several weeks.
    
    
  • Sneezing, coughing, deep breathing, or twisting your chest can increase the pain.

It may be part of cutting down the tree that she strained her chest. It wasn't me.

So she's home, she's ok, but she's still in a small amount of pain. Keep praying for her.

Trina

Well,
walking out of church this evening and my mom is rushing up to me, then points over by the door leading upstairs to the children's department. My wife is sitting down on the ground, leaning against the building and clutching her chest.
See, she's been having cholesterol problems lately, or more like it, they have been developing for a while. She has had some pains in the past and the doctors have told her if she doesn't control her intake, they are going to have to control it with medication.
So there she is. I come up to her and ask her how bad it is. She doesn't talk much. I do say that she needs to spend most of the day tomorrow in bed. This may be possible since Dianne is off tomorrow. We talk, others talk around us, including a nurse and someone else with some medical experience, and it is determined that she needs to go to the hospital. So I call Dianne.
In our house it usually ends up being that whoever needs to go to the hospital, I'll end up staying here at the house to take care of the kids and get them to bed. This is two fold. Trina hates me in hospitals as much as I dislike being there. Secondly, if they get back early enough, I can still get to sleep and go to work tomorrow (although I'm already thinking I'm going to have to call off tomorrow.) It is normal at this point. Dianne has more sick time on the books than I do, although with her already on vacation tomorrow, it makes a lot more sense.
I think everyone thought it weird that I didn't take her to the hospital and instead let Dianne take her. We have our routine. I think Trina does prefer it this way.
So, if you read this tonight, pray for Trina. If you read it tomorrow, pray for her some more. We need a healthy Trina around the house. She's too great of a mom and wife to be sick.

Shave and a haircut - 7 hours

Not for me. Yesterday we started on the daunting task of trimming our tree. If you have ever been to our house, you know the monstrosity known as our fruitless mulberry. In fact, I believe you can see part of the tree on the top of this page. Just know, the picture was taken from the same side of the trunk as we are standing.

There are some good things about the tree. It helps keep the house cool during the summer from the shade it casts over the front windows. It has some big, strong branches that hold two hammock swings that our kids adore (Micah is in one of them up there.) And I guess I am carbonly off-set for the rest of my life because of that tree (beware, global cooling is coming!)

In my eyes though, the tree is sometimes more hassle than it's worth. During the fall, our yard (and our neighborhood) is covered with the thousands of leaves that take their time falling down. At night, the birds love our tree, and thus, show their love on our cars that we have to park underneath it. When it rains (which here in Southern California isn't too often) the water washes the rest of their love down on our cars and they become pretty disgusting. And then... there's the trimming.

Three of us armed with a chainsaw, branch cutter on a long pole, a couple of small 99.99 Cent Store saws (I asked, if you uy 100 items, you don't save a penny), a pair of pruning scissors and the sheer determination to drastically trim the tree this year, we set off at 10 am yesterday. Of course, with 4 kids inside, one of us had to stay inside on rotation to be with them as they watched out the window at the endeavor. Rotations were fast and furious. The cars were all moved (who wants a smashed windshield?) the chainsaw cutting ever-so-slowly (we need a better chainsaw -- not an idea for a Christmas gift Paul) and the branches began to fall. Well, sometimes. Oh what a tangled web they weave when first we practice to not trim the tree last year.

Come 5 pm, it's getting dark and we are.... 1/3 done. The branches are all cut up and stacked into a huge pile. The driveway is clear, both on the ground and above it from the cut branches being gone -- nothing but blue sky. Yay for free access by rain. But there will come another weekend where we are going to try to tackle the second third that will take another 7 hours, and probably a third weekend after that.

I'm just glad God doesn't get tired of pruning me like I am of that tree already.

John 15:1-2
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Hurry up and Weight

Well, my parents, sister, wife and I have started a... contest of sorts.  We all weighed in on Monday after Heroes (I was 285) and then came up with the goal to lose 50 each.  For every pound we lose, we put $1 in the pony.  For every pound we gain, we put $2 in the pony.  At the end of the time, we do a family activity to celebrate (probably not go out to eat.)  So I'm supposed to get down to 235.. which isn't too bad since I said 225 was my goal just days before.  Now to actually try to do something besides think about losing weight.

What is sad though is that my brother and sister-in-law were going to get into it also, but they suddenly pulled out.  Personally, I think my sister-in-law doesn't like hanging out with our family (although I know Joey doesn't like hanging out with the extended family too much so it doesn't surprise me too much.)  I miss my brother and think it would be cool for them to be in on this too but oh well.  

I need to start thinking about how to lose weight though... seriously.  I sit 8 hours a day for work.  I like being on the computer or watching football.   So it is a matter of getting up and doing something.  My son and I could do some running around a park/school at waaaaaay too early in the morning.  I could fix my bike and bike to church on the weekends, which would save us gas at the same time.  Of course, I could cut down my fast food consumption to moderation.  That would make my wife happy.

I guess I'll start with doing something with my son.  In the evenings, I get home after dark, so that won't work unless we go somewhere (during the winter).  During the spring, umpiring does help.  I should maybe play football with the youth on Wednesday nights.  

So... anyone have any suggestions to help a couch potato to get up and do something?

In the end... it's going to be about discipline and dedication.  Thanks God.  I don't want to learn those right now!  

1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

7 random things and my wife wants me to make them things she doesn't know

Ok, so my wife 'tagged' me on her blog with this:

So I'm supposed to give you 7 random things about me.

Ok, not too hard... or is it. Random things about me. And to make it worse, my wife wants me to make them things she doesn't know. Wow... talk about a daunting task. I guess there has got to be some history, some likes, and some actions.

So...

1. Somewhere at my parent's house I have a collection of machetes (ok, it's 3). I got one really nice one in Jamaica with a nice wooden sheath and 2 from Honduras that are generic. In Honduras, I thought I would share my love of machetes with everyone and so I bought little wooden machetes for everyone who supported me to go to Honduras.

2. When I was in Jamaica, I had pistachio ice cream almost everyday. Of course, I was about 100 lbs back then, so it did me no harm. Man, I miss my metabolism.

3. During the summer between my 6th grade and 7th grade years, my brother and sister were in year around school so I was by myself. My best friend went back to New Hampshire to visit his dad, so I was pretty much all by myself. I spent the summer eating chicken noodle soup, raisins and playing "Santa Marina" on our TRS-80 model 3 computer. K-Lord was new around this time so I was listening to them off and on except they were playing "Oh, Happy Day" once an hour, so it got old pretty quick.

4. I once spent $200 hiring a taxi to take me from San Diego to my parent's house for my dad's birthday party because I didn't feel like waiting 12 hours. I just got paid so to me, it was no big deal. I just have to get out of town in my mind. My parents thought I was crazy.

5. My wife knows this. I never finished a book while I was in High School. Let's take Lord of the Flies, for example. I read everything but the last two chapters. We discussed the last two chapters so much in class that I didn't feel like I needed to finish it. Same thing with Hamlet, MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet and Huckleberry Finn. I loved them all, but never finished them. I guess I just wasn't too curious as to how it ended, or maybe it was I didn't want the story to end and so it continued in my mind because I never got to the end of the book. I'm guessing I was just lazy.

6. I am starting to do some real leg work to write a children's book. 2 days so far -- but 2 days are 2 days further than I was 2 days ago. If you want to follow along, here's the blog to track my work: http://storyblueprint.blogspot.com/ It's called, "My Journey into the World of Children's Literature." Let's see if I have the dedication to keep it going.

7. While my wife is a book person, I am a movie and TV person. My current show is HEROES. I'm majorly geeky into it -- into the online comics, the online community, and the online game. I like taking part in the group effort to solve the puzzles. I got really into what is called and "ARG" (Alternate Reality Game) back a few years ago when a really good ARG was introduced at the unforums at unfiction.com based on the Matrix -- one of my comfort movies. My comfort movies are:

• The Matrix trilogy
• Shawshank Redemption
• Cars
• Rudy
• The Princess Bride
• Major League
• Groundhog Day
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  

I can watch these over and over again when I'm alone. I like them. They are my books for the lazy :D

Ok, there's my 7. I think 5 of them are new for Trina, but what was she expecting. She gave me.... nothing new :)

No on 8 protests get personal

http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/story/1391705.html

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=6502661

The backlash has begun -- and it is no surprise. Above are links to two stories about people who donated money to the Yes on 8 campaign being personally targeted for their donation. Donations are a matter of public record so it is fine that they are being asked by those around them. What this is turning into though is intimidation for voting in what you believe. If you believe differently than those around you, they can get you to resign (even after 25 years of dedicated service). They can slander your business on all the news channels.
From their point of view, since you "encouraged hate," they can encourage hate against you, making 2 wrongs right. I have been asked why I supported 8. Of course it is because of my religious convictions. Let me see if I can find my exact response:
Where my problem comes is the federal government taking something that I believe is morally wrong and them declaring it morally right. For the most part, I am libertarian when it comes to financial decisions, but when it comes to things that are my beliefs and convictions, I don't believe the government should condone it.
More importantly:
Isaiah 5:20
20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.

But remember, Jesus said:
18"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also." John 15:18-20.

Is it any wonder that the world is going after those it hates?

Micah went to the game yesterday

Well, at the little league I umpire at, the president of the league is the mother of one of the football players at Oregon State. He's quite a good player too. But anyways, she invited me to go to the UCLA/Oregon State game earlier in the summer and I was able to go yesterday with Micah.
We wrote letters yesterday at the church and then came home, dropped Becca off, and we were on our way. Micah seemed excited to go to the football game which is always good. We end up getting to the Rose Bowl around noon. I'm getting pictures up for where we parked and where we joined up with everyone for the tailgate party...

Ok, an explanation of the numbers:

#1 -- This is where I parked my car. Yes, it's in the middle of a golf course. I'd say that is in the middle of the 18th fairway since the club house is right next to the green there.

#2 -- This is where the tailgate party was. It took Micah and I about a half hour to get from our car to their party. We walked it 4 times - once to start the day, once before the game so we could get back to the car, put stuff away and put suntan lotion on so I wouldn't get a lobster boy, once back to the part after putting suntan lotion on and once after the game when we went back to the party, had some more to eat in the dark, and then left about 7:15 pm.

#3 -- This is where we were sitting with a group of board members from the little league I ump at. Very nice people. It was fun to watch the game but you know, after watching football on tv all the time when you are constantly on the line of scrimmage following the ball, it is kinda weird to be stationary so far away from the play. We never knew if they made 10 yards for a first down until they moved the chains pretty much. But you know, being part of the crowd is always fun.

#4 -- This is where Micah and I passed Coach Rick Neuheisel as he was going home for the day. Since we were with the party for the Oregon State player, we were in orange. He was a gracious guy though. He said, "Have a good night." Yeah, I know, amazing. Well, at the time I was on the phone with Trina, walking with my son holding my hand. I said, "Thanks." He seems like a nice guy though. My run-in with near celebrity :D

Overall, the day was good. The game was tied 3-3 at the end of the half so everyone stayed around through the half. Then Oregon State put two quick touchdowns in the 3rd and the waves of defectors began. By the end of the third, the stadium (at one time holding 86,000 people) is now half empty. By the end of the fourt, there's more orange than blue in the stadium. Micah enjoyed himself, but boy, that boy can wolf down some cotton candy.

It was interesting though. At the end of the game, Coach Neuheisel gets on the stadium PA system and thanks those who stuck around to the end and appologized that they have not been performing better. He was embarrassed, disappointed but said that he is working at restoring the glory for UCLA. That, to me, is quite the coach. He didn't say my players failed. He didn't say we didn't have it today. He took responsibility in front of the loyal fans and said something. I like the guy. I hope UCLA gets back to some dominance so that the UCLA/USC games are competitive and looked-forward to.

I'd love to go back for some college football though. It's a blast being part of something so communial. I mentioned to someone though that this would be a great sociology project talking about the propaganda involved in college football to create that community and loyalty. I like being part of that.

2 Timoth 2:5
"Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules."

The great shakeup of 2008

Well, it has been a while since I posted. In fact, it's been since September 11th, so it may be time to post again.

What has happened in the last 2 months?

I had my birthday. I was depressed. I got over it. What was weirdest/most telling was that all of my gifts had to do with food. I wonder if someone is trying to tell me something. I like food. Perhaps I like food too much. Maybe it is time to start showing some self-discipline and stop being lazy. I don't know if I'm up for it, but it's time to start getting serious about life and discipline.

I have been doing mediocre lately in my ministry but I think something has turned a corner. I think I am finally ready to get back into the swing of things after too long being out of the swing of things. One of the things that came up was Harvest Festival. I don't know how willing I was to start off, but my brother-in-law really pushed me through it and by the time it came around, I was in the swing of things. We ended up having about 400 people come through our Harvest Festival -- 300 of which weren't members of our church. It was quite an outreach and now we have our work ahead of us to follow up on everything. I did e-mail everyone who gave me an e-mail address the same night (although I haven't heard anything back from anyone yet.)

Election night was interesting. I had special class with my family and so I had the laptop watching election results. It became pretty evident that Obama won about 7 pm to me, considering all he needed was 15 electoral votes + the 55 California votes he was getting no matter what. So that was not too much of a surprise. What was a surprise, and a pleasant one at that, is that Proposition 8 won. Of course, it's not over. If it would have failed, I don't think there would be marching in the streets, but ok. I understand why.

What is going on though is the perversion of love. I see the signs, "My love is the same as your love." "We demand equality." "No to H8te." The Bible tells us that God is love. It also tells us that homosexuality is God giving man over to their sinful desires, exchanging what is natural for what is unnatural. Reading through Romans 1, we can see that we are in the last verses of Romans 1.

29 They are full of every kind of sin, evil and ungodliness. They want more than they need. They commit murder. They want what belongs to other people. They fight and cheat. They hate others. They say mean things about other people. 30 They tell lies about them. They hate God. They are rude and proud. They brag. They think of new ways to do evil. They don't obey their parents. 31 They are foolish. They can't be trusted. They are not loving and kind.

32 They know that God's commands are right. They know that those who do evil things should die. But they continue to do those very things. They also approve of others who do them.

The amount of people out there in Hollywood who are not gay but marching because they believe this is a civil right says that they are approving of others who sin. They are calling wrong right and right evil now. I have seen my views called nearly racism, that I am acting in hate, that this is wrong to deny people the right to marry. God is love. We, as a society, have distorted love. We have turned love around to a gushy feeling that is easy to fall into and sometimes even easier to fall out of.

I have also been asked why denying them the right to marry is right. Wouldn't outlawing adultery be just as affective in sanctity of marraige? How come we stand up against this sin but not others? Just because we do not stand up to every sin does not make it wrong when we stand up against one. It isn't a hatred of homosexuals. I have worked with homosexuals. I have been cordial. I talked to them everyday, was friendly, and greeted them with a warm smile and handshake. It is not the person I am against. It is the normalization of something God calls sin and making it normal and sin to stand against.

I understand the civil right marches that are starting to take place because they are hearily approving of those who do evil in the sight of God as normal behavior.

On Saturday, we are having a letter writing campaign to write Marine recruits to thank them for being a part of our military. The letters will go into Christmas stockings that will be hand delivered. It is a really cool project that I look forward to being a part of for a while.

The following Saturday is our second annual car show. Should be a good time.

Ok, done for now. But let me close with this:

"1 All of you must be willing to obey completely those who rule over you. There are no authorities except the ones God has chosen. Those who now rule have been chosen by God."


I guess there's one more thing. I am considering starting a weekly morning prayer session to pray for our government, federal, state, local and finally our church. It would probably be from 6 am - 7 am at the church and I fully expect to pray for Obama, Feinstein, Boxer, Schwartzeneger, Baca, our mayor, not that God will change them necessarily, but that they will make wise decisions, that God will minister to them and bless them, and that God blesses America, as well as confessing our own sin and throwing ourselves fully on the grace of God. It is time that the church as a whole repents and gets serious about God.

I am such a tool

Well, from my last post we learned that my car's battery decided it wanted to go to a better place. Last night, we found out where that better place is going to be - K-Mart. We got a new battery for my car last night and I started to change the old one out. This is one of those batteries where the bolts go in the side of the batter instead of a connector to the top. So disconnecting them includes unscrewing the bolts to disconnect the wires. I got the negative bolt off with no problem and then started to work on the positive bolt.

I had a crescent wrench that is actually pretty cool -- it's like a monkey crescent wrench. But it didn't like that small bolt very much and started to strip the bolt. Then I went and grabbed a real monkey wrench and it stripped it more. So I quit for the night and went to look for a socket set in the morning. I thought I had mine down at the church, but it wasn't there. So I borrowed the church's set. I came home and tried to take off the bolt again. I sprayed it with some PB Blaster. I tried different sizes, but the bolt was stripped and wouldn't come out. So I went online and saw a pretty obvious thing -- try a pipe wrench. It worked and I was able to finish changing my battery -- which worked. I drove to work without being jumped this morning (which says a lot in San Bernardino. I hate being jumped -- especially when I'm broke anyway.)

But this whole thing got me thinking about something Trina and I were talking about last night while shopping for the battery. The fact that neither of us really have any close friends anymore outside of each other. The frustration of working but not developing the relationships needed to keep people involved and engaged in the ministry of the church. Going through all those tools this morning trying to change my battery makes me wonder if I am a tool in the wrong setting. My crescent wrench is a great tool that is good for changing tires, brakes, and bolts everywhere but on my battery. The monkey wrench is a good tool too. The socket set is probably the right tool until something goes wrong. The pipe wrench is an emergency stop-gap measure that shouldn't work but does. Am I the wrong tool for the right job right now? Am I the right tool in the wrong job because I've stripped the job of it's original integrity? Have I stripped others around me of their authority, the respect they deserve, or passion because I have been out of it for the last year?

Right now, everyone is talking about 7 years since the attack on the World Trade Center changed our lives. It didn't come to me until that last sentence in the last paragraph that it has been about a year since my twin towers crumbled -- the closure of the school and me going from full-time to part-time and the beginning quest of looking for a job -- which took 6 months and most of my self-esteem.

Anyway, back to being a tool. I've noticed relationships I had in the past have deteriorated to small-talk acquaintances. I do wonder if it's me, that some have seen the wrong side of me and figured they don't want to associate with me anymore, that I just am not interesting anymore. Then I wonder if it is the fact that we have a difficult group to be with as we have 4 kids under 7 and Micah can snap at any given moment to undesirable to everyone but our family. Is it that we seem too needy? Socially inept?

Maybe because I don't follow social norms as tightly (or at all) as some (or most) would deem necessary. Growing up, I used to just show up at certain people's houses all the time and hang out. That isn't looked on as an enduring quality now that I have a family and they have a family. I wonder how the Dunham's dealt with me. Maybe I'm just not a good friend. I can see that. I am horrible at communication. I am not too active. I don't know. Maybe my tool kit has gone bad and others are moving on with other tools that will help them build the lives they want. Maybe I have been left behind because I'm just the big kid who has turned a little too serious lately.

I am sure if I reread this post right now, I'd be depressed. Sorry for the sad emo-istic life story. In all reality though, I still see God at work in my life and in my family. I am just wondering if God may be closing things and causing discontentment to make it obvious when he opens something else -- but I am prepared to stay where I am. Whatever God does, He knows what He is doing better than I do.

The Verse:

Psalm 34:17-19

17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.

18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

19 A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all

I took Potpourri for $100

If you ever watched Jeopardy, one of the best categories is always Potpourri, because it is a catch-all category. It's like they researched so much on a subject and had more than 5 questions that they had to save the 6th question for the infamous catch-all category. So, this post, like the category, will be my potpourri post.

I'll take potpourri for $200 (Weird Al is now outdated with the new money amounts.)

Micah looks like he got punched in the eye and someone clubbed him in the knee. Trina had to take him to the hospital today and tonight. This morning, he eye was all swelled up (although he could see out of it still unlike tonight when it had swelled shut.) The doctor thought it was some kind of allergic reaction. Meantime, sometime between when I get home and about 7:30, Micah comes out of his room and his knee is all swelled up. So they took him back to the hospital tonight. Well, they just got back at 9:30 (a very short visit) and he's on benedryl and amoxacillan (both spelled wrong.) So pray for him to clear up soon. He missed school today and he'll miss it again tomorrow.

How about Potpourri for $400.

My car is falling apart. It's not the nice dent in the side. It's not the interior (although I could use a nice cleaning), it's the fact that the battery has officially died. I can drive for a while, then stop the car and almost immediately try to restart it, absolutely no charge. So it's time to buy a new battery -- as if we can afford it. But that's the fun part.

Potpourri for $600

Yes, Sarah Palin. People disparage her because she is good looking, because she has no national experience, because she is a conservative, because she's a mom of a down's syndrome kid, because she should be a mom and not a politician. How much was made of the guy standing up and yelling that Hillary needed to iron his shirt?
You know what, I like her. I like that she is a person of character. Character still does count. People complain about Bush because he does not waiver from what he sees is right even if he is seen as stupid, doing the unpopular thing, or going against public opinion. One of the reasons our government was made the way it is was to protect us from the whims of the plurality. Us being in Iraq is right. It may not be popular. In fact, it may be downright hated by most (some because they don't like seeing us succeed since we are pampered, some because they hate capitalism and think socialism or communism is better, and a minority because they want to protect our soldiers) but we are following a policy we have followed since the times of Teddy Roosevelt and beyond. The idea that we are the world police -- or more appropriately -- we are the good people who stand up and make sure that evil does not succeed.
But now back to Sarah Palin. I think she is the type of person who will stand against popular whims for what is right. She is articulate. She is good looking, but more importantly, she has a history of doing what is right. Everything I read about her, usually people complaining, tells me that politically, she is by far the closest to my ideology. I'm one of those people that the media was saying was revigarated by the Palin appointment.
What's funniest is the polls that are coming out right now saying McCain is ahead of Obama 50-46. I'm sure that's got some people scratching their head.

Potpourri for $800

DAILY DOUBLE! Let's make it a true daily double.

My mom calls me tonight and tells me that someone came by the church and told dad (he was there tonight) that the state controller owes the church some money and just asked for a 30% finders donation so they can continue to find people the state owes money to. So yeah, of course it's a scam. Not only does the state not owe the church money, but charging people for finding money the government owes them is illegal -- ignore all those become a federal money finder e-mails you get -- SCAM! So anyway, my mom goes to check on the church and decides to check for everyone she knows too. Well, apparently, Pac Bell owes me $90.92 for a deposit from an apartment we rented years ago. So good news there. I guess I have some paperwork to fill out since $90.92 will do us well in buying me Heroes Season 2 (I'm just kidding Trina.)

Potpourri for $1000

Like I said in my last post, I have been reading a book called "Raising a Modern Day Joseph." I've also been reading another book about leadership and team in a changing world. One of the things the leadership and team building book was talking about (I'm in chapter 1) is that the idea of a corporation is changing. Bureaucracy is shrinking. You can't do business the same way as was done in the 50's. But one of the things was that because of the shrinking size of corporations, they can't afford to do things twice. Everything needs to be done right the first time.
Well, we saw that in motion today at work. People need to take pride in their work and make it look the best they can in the time given. One of my co-workers was doing enough to get it done but it was really sloppy. After she left (I'm a secretary -- most people I work with are she's) we had to go back and fix it. We didn't have time and tomorrow morning we are going to have to push through it and work harder than should have been worked.
But my new supervisor came in today to just visit because she was doing paperwork downtown to make it official that she will by my supervisor. My pastor's wife applied for the job, but it's not her. But anyways, she seemed nice enough for 5 minutes we saw her. It will be nice to have the ultimate authority to give us some vision and direction that we know is not going to change next week (at least we hope.) We'll see when she gets to work.

Ok, so that's potpourri. I'm sure there is more, but we only have 5 answers so potpourri on potpourri may come later.

What are you doing after High School?

I am in the middle of actually reading a book. Yeah, I know it's a rare occasion, but this is actually really riveting. The book is called, "Raising a Modern Day Joseph." I am about 4 chapters in right now, but it is eye opening.
The entire book is written off the premise that somewhere around 80-90% of all kids who grow up in church fall away, if not for just a year, when they graduate from High School and how we, as parents can raise children who do not fall away but stand strong in the knowledge of God and His realness. I left the book at work, so I have to do this from memory (I may have to re-read chapter 4 -- although this is set up like a discussion book -- I may lead a Sunday night Discipleship class during AWANA for parents) but the book starts out with the idea of a parent's MDM - or Most Dramatic Moment. The MDM is the point where a parent loses control of their child and has to let him or her go off into the real world without their guidance. And they do an interesting thing in comparing Jacob with the father of the Prodigal Son -- or more appropriately, their sons.

Looking into the life of Joseph, he was 17 when he was forced to leave home -- much like our children who grow up and stay in the house until they are 25... oh wait. He was thrown into a hostile situation which tried to get him to betray his beliefs. He was alone. He was put into a situation where temptation was strong. He was betrayed. He was accused of a crime he didn't commit. He went to jail. He festered in jail for years. But through it all, he stayed true to his beliefs. How do we raise children like that?

They talk about 5 qualities that Joseph had (of course, I'm only 4 chapters in). These 5 (I hope I remember them) are:
1) He respected fellow humans - He respected Potiphar and the authority he was in his life.
2) He respected human relationships - He would not defile Potiphar's marraige by indulging in the temptation given by Potiphar's wife
3) He knew there was right and wrong - He would not indulge with Potiphar's wife because it was evil
4) He knew God was the source of wisdom
5) He respected God -- He knew that sinning in the flesh with Potiphar's wife was a sin against God

I think that's right, although I'm going to have to re-read chapter 4. That was a heavy chapter.

This is something I have been looking for for quite a while and I think I've found it (well, my wife found it and showed me.) I am going to get pretty gun-ho about this. One of the things they talk about is the having a growth plan from preschool through high school -- something I've talked to Randy and Shawn about recently anyways. I've been talking about doing a vision team with Youth, Children and Preschool ministries and I think this may end up being part of it. I am thinking and praying about it.

In some additional news, Roger, the pastor up at Northwinds, has asked our church if we would help them this year do their harvest festival up at a park in North Fontana. I am actually leaning towards doing that this year. Our area really isn't hungry for another harvest festival since Mt. View does a really good one right up the street while there is nothing in North Fontana. God has been putting some things in motion that we may be moving up to North Fontana as it is (I'm actually hoping we do) and maybe merging back with Northwinds, since we were their mother church so this would be a good opportunity for our people to get to know their people better (I love their people. I had a year working with them and training them how to run an AWANA program. They are great.)

Well, it's nearing midnight and I have work in the morning. Curse you Olympics! That was a nice job by the USA higbar dude :)

I know I should stop but it's too much to resist

Once every four years, people care about sports they usually don't care about. Who can name a celebrity weight lifter? (I did see the featured blog about the female weight lifter and her weight lifter husband, but for that, who?) Are there any well known water polo players in the US? (I like mentioning it because my wife loves water polo.) Olympic trampolining? What? I think London is introducing Olympic Spelling Bee (I don't know how the different languages will work, but they are in the planning stages and they are going to allow ESPN to show it.)
But you know what? I can't get enough of the Olympics right now. Yes, I got sucked in. I am staying up until midnight watching like a junkie. Michael Phelps is amazing but he really isn't the story of the Olympics for me right now. Right now, it's about the Jamaican sprinter Bolt. Are you kidding me? He pulled up with 15 meters (that's the real bad thing about the Olympics -- the rest of the world uses that logical system instead of getting on the American bandwagon and using the real measurement system, the English system -- which England doesn't even use anymore) and still won by 5 meters while pounding his chest and basically doing the Deon Sanders high step towards the endzone. If he would have ran all the way through, I don't think anyone would be breaking the world record for decades. He would have had around a 9.50. That's unreal. As the announcer said, they were entering video game times -- although I don't think I ever got a 9.69 even with the comb trick. This kid is 21. If he doesn't truly run something all the way through, we may never know truly how good he is. What was funnier was after the race, the interviewer asked what he would get if he ran all the way through and the response was, "I don't care about that. I just wanted to win." or something close to that. He made it look easy -- so much so that it kind of blows out the idea that you have to try as hard as you can to do your best. Everyone else looked like they were about to bust an artery while he was showboating. Of course, this doesn't take into account the years of training he has done to make this moment look easy.
Just think about this: how many relay teammates can you name for Mark Spitz? In the same way, the swimmers who were a major part of Michael Phelps' ability to win 8 medals will be the nameless other swimmers who will be a question on Jeopardy in 20 years. Phelps has said the right things about teammates and giving them praise, but it won't help the other 4/5 of them be remembered. The best thing they will have is a gold medal they will show their grandkids and will say, I won this on a relay team with Michael Phelps. And the kids will say, "Who?"
Ok, time to go to work. I guess it's a good thing I don't have MSNBC, CNBC, QNBCWERS, and QWERTNBCY so that Olympics can be on 24/7. Although we have the new D-TV converter for the antenna and it gets amazing reception. If I would have known how good it was, we would have got it months ago (and the kids like that we have 14 PBS channels and Qubo.)
Out.

Well, the good news is...

We are looking for the good news right now in our house. Yeah, there is good news, such as Becca's enjoyment of school, but more things are falling apart than staying together at this point.

• The biggest thing is that the finance committee of the church met on Sunday and decided that they can no longer afford to pay me from the church. I talked to Dale last night and he said that I still had the position of children's pastor, but it was now volunteer if I desired to keep it. At this point, there is nothing pointing me to another church. In fact, there are many things pointing me to get busy at the church getting parents involved in the ministry of their child. AWANA has some exciting things they are doing that I have been dreaming of doing for years and it looks like this fall may be the time to stop dreaming and start working. But it is volunteer. I don't mind working for free, but my bills do mind it.
• Speaking of bills, the mortgage is going up in September and we don't know by how much yet. I have started talking to mortgage companies about refinancing, but we got in at the exact wrong time -- the height right before the bubble started bursting, so the house is worth $60k less than our mortgage is for. So we are trying to refinance. I guess the good news is that the new law they passed to help saps like me takes affect in October, but we will definitely struggle in September if it takes that long.
• I just accidentally published this post, so it's longer than the post was before. Just ignore the accidental post.
• Micah is bored. He's been out of school for two months and I think he is eager to get back (although he'll probably fight it for a while.)
• With church income gone and umpiring done for the season, there is absolutely no extra income. We were looking at our bills and there is absolutely nothing we can cut. So now it's time to start wondering where everything is coming from. I don't know.

I guess the good news is that God is still in control. It's a matter of living a life that is trusting that God keeps his promises and no matter what, we will be taken care of, even if it is not how we think God needs to do so (who am I to tell God that His way is wrong.) This is a concept that we are going to be trying to instill in our children, and parents, in the next few months and beyond so maybe God is instilling that belief in me too.

Verse:
Romans 8:18 (Tony Paraphrase)
I consider the bad things we are going through right now are nothing compared to the great things God has in store for us!

Does this kindergartener make me look old?

Well, Becca woke up excited this morning. She is starting her first day of Kindergarten. So Trina had to get up way too early, we got the kids dressed and ready, Cassidy came over waaaaaay to early (the knock on the door was 5:40 am) and they were out of the door at 7:30 am. I got to hang out at home until around 8:20 before leaving to go to work.
I haven't heard from Becca how she liked her first day at school though. I talked to Trina twice today on the phone, once from her not being very happy that I left the dog inside and that she had to clean up after her and the other to make sure where Carrie needed to pick up Cassidy. Neither occasion gave room for me to talk to my eldest daughter to hear what she thought of her first day of a journey that takes too long for someone so young but something I would do over again if I could edit out some of the rough spots. I'm sure she was very friendly and very assertive, even with Trina there with an opening day parent meeting. (That's why the kids were all up at 7:30 to go be dropped off at a friend's house.) She told me she was shy and I kinda snickered. I've never seen her shy. Maybe scared of new situations but never shy around new people. She is the extrovert that Trina and I aren't.
I hope Becca doesn't have to learn some of the lessons I had to -- that being mean isn't cool (I have always wanted to apologize to some of the kids I made fun of when I was young -- Jean Audette and Mark Grabazsweski) that other kids are mean sometimes, that being cruel isn't a good way to fit in, that behaving strange or odd is a good way to get attention. I hope she doesn't have to learn these the hard way. I do hope she learns to be compassionate, to learn how to learn, to be friendly even when no one else is, to be willing to stand up as an individual even against popular belief for what she believes, and how to distinguish between the truth and the lies. She is a smart kid but has never been in an organized learning environment (like I was in Kindergarten... I hope I turned out ok.) She seems, to me, a biased parent, to be the poster child of a kid who is well learned already because her parents invested in her (mainly Trina) and that preschool is not the universal solution to a problem they could not possibly try to solve.
I hope she had a good day. They say in Baseball you can tell how the season's going to go by the first at-bat (watch Major League.) I wonder if the same is true in Kindergarten.

Verse:

Philippians 1:9-11

9 I pray that your love will grow more and more. And let it be based on knowledge and understanding. 10 Then you will be able to know what is best. You will be pure and without blame until the day Christ returns. 11 You will be filled with the fruit of right living produced by Jesus Christ. All of those things bring glory and praise to God.

Now that McDonalds has shown the bad

My friend Eric sent this to me. All I can say is that this is the polar opposite of the McDonalds commercial. Makes me glad that I am involved with kids. I'd love to see some copy cats at my league one of these years :)



It is quite large, so I hope you have a fast connection. (Made me tear up.)

The new McDonalds commercial

Ok, we're watching beach volleyball right now (because there is absolutely nothing on.) Every commercial break, they are showing the new McDonalds commercial. This commercial right here:


Ok, when I saw this, I didn't think it was cute that the grey team got revenge by getting gross food or something. My first thought was that if I was the coach of the green team, I would have slapped them all around for a while. Ok, not literally slapping, but getting the point across that we need to be gracious in victory, and congratulatory in defeat.
Ahhhhh... it's on again. That's 4 commercial breaks in a row.
Anyway, the question comes up if we are wimpifying our kids? Is this a product of political correctness? In my opinion, no. What I find ultimately sad is that we have to make rules about this in team games instead of being inate. As an umpire, I have had to tell kids in the dugouts not to call out the other team's names and not to yell and scream when the pitcher is about to throw. In fact, I am going to bring up next year that there should be no negative cheering (hey pitcher, AHHHH!, the like) and only positive cheering (Let's go whoever, We want a home run, etc.) This should really be part of who the kids are. Sportmanship is bigger than winning and losing. That is the lesson of little league, AYSO, Pee Wee football, and all youth sports that should be conveyed. Not that winning is the ultimate goal but that character is.

The verse is actually what I taught this morning in Children's Church. It fits:
"Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the Earth." Matthew 5:5

Meekness is not weakness, it's discipline to keep strength in check. It's being gracious in victory -- being a good sport.

Reflections of a Little League Umpire

Well, it seems that I am done umpiring for the spring/summer season and I wanted to go back and write down some of the things I went through this season. Let me say, this was my first season as an umpire and it definitely won't be the last. I had a blast getting back into baseball and people have told me that I lost weight during the season, so it was exercise (or I sweated it all off behind the plate while in full gear.) Some of the highlights of the season:

1) It was like my second game. Angels (who went 20-2 this season) vs. Yankees. Kid hits a ball right down the first base line. I look, and look, then call it fair as it hits the yellow line. Angels coaches not too happy. Then I look again, reevaluated, then call the homerun as the ball went off the foul pole. Coaches now really unhappy, but I stick by my call. I think I got it right.


2) It must have been my 10th game. I made a call at the plate that apparently the catcher didn't like. He turned around and said, "You suck!" I was in shock at this point and didn't do anything. After the inning I went to his coach and said, "If I hear that again for the rest of the season, I'm tossing him from the game." The League President said that if she hears something like that happening, the kid is out 2 games minimum.

3) Last game of the season for the Yankees and Angels. I've done about 60 games by this point so the coaches know me, my style, and I know them. The Angels are up by 14 or so in the bottom of the 6th (they scored them all in the top of the 6th. I thought, I'm going to give the Yankees their last ups since this is the last game of the season even though I could have called it for mercy rule. It's the last game and they needed some kind of confidence. It was bad though since the Angels kept scoring in the top of the 6th. Not very confidence building.) So, the Yankees end up scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th (preventing the shutout) which was good. Two outs and the kid who told me that I sucked in memory two is up to bat. I've let it go by this point. He's caught a few games since then and it was cool. He hits a pop fly towards the 3rd base line which falls about 2 inches foul from my point of view. The manager, who is in the third base box, doesn't like the call (this would have scored another 1 or 2 at least) and turns around frustrated. He says, "If it would have been the Angels, I may have gotten the call." Now, on it's face, he said he was making a comment about the Angels, but to me, he was questioning my integrity -- saying that I was rooting for the Angels. Now mind you, the two Angels coaches, Bret and Roy, are good guys that I could even see myself hanging out with on the outside and I enjoyed talking with them throughout the season, but I call games fair. It's not right for me to cheat the kids by playing favorites. At this point, when Steve (manager of the Yankees) says this, I call time, stand up, and cool off for a second. After the game, Steve thought I was going to toss him right there. I calmed down, and called for the next pitch. I forgot what happened, but the third out happened pretty shortly afterward without another run scoring. I went to Steve as soon as the game was done and said, "I know you are frustrated, but that comment was totally out of line." He acknowledged, but was still frustrated and didn't say anything. About 15 minutes later, as I'm heading out to my car, he comes up to me and says, "If I ever say anything like that again, kick me out of the game." He realized what he had said and felt bad. We ended up talking for a while. I like Steve too.

4) In fact, I like the group up at the league. Mrs. Strong is great. Mr. Ford is great. The managers I had the opportunity to work with were cool. In the heat of the moment, sometimes tempers got riled, sometimes words were said that probably shouldn't have been said, but the kids are what are important and we all got that across.

5) Through the season, I saw teams that were good that played that way, teams that were overmatched that played that way and teams that were good that their attitude stopped them from doing well and they underachieved and another team that was overmatched but played with so much heart and discipline that they overachieved. It's hard to do bad if you have too much talent and hard to win if you are rebuilding, but those middle teams showed me that attitude and heart are the difference between 3rd and 4th place, between the coach having an all-star team and the coach watching all-stars from the bleachers. I was so impressed with how Coach Strong (the president's husband) ran his team. They called everyone sir or ma'am. They were respectful. They never gave up. And they overachieved. I'm looking forward to seeing them next year.

6) I umpired on the bases for a 9-10 year old all-star game. It was the league I umped at all season vs. another league. I did the bases since they wouldn't let me do the plate (makes sense. Home Plate Umpire has a lot of influence and they don't want the illusion of favortism.) The game went so against the my league's team in the calls that the kids thought I was cheering against them. One of the kids, on a close call at first, turned to me and said, "Why are you on their side!?" I wasn't. Everything inside of me wanted them to win, but I was not going to make calls that are against what I see that are going to benefit them. If they are going to win the game, they were going to win it on their own, not with my assistance. It was the hardest game I'm umped and looks like it may be for years. They lost. They didn't talk to me after the game (the kids, parents were ok.)

There are other umpire stories and people I will look back on this first season, but I wanted to get down some of the major ones.

Here's the verse that really exempifies Coach Strong and his team. Something for me to strive for:
"We are full of joy even when we suffer. We know that our suffering gives us the strength to go on. 4 The strength to go on produces character. Character produces hope. " Romans 5:3-4

Does this 5 year old make me look old?

Well, with 4 kids, it is inevitable for them to grow up (unless you throw them into some cryogenic freeze machine, but then they will come back and zap you with their newly acquired freeze powers which emanate from their fingertips in an evolutionary desire for survival.) And with that, there are milestones which make me, as a parent, look and say, "Has it really been that long?"
Becca turned 5 on Wednesday. She was so excited. I now ask her, 'Who's my 5 year old?' Of course, half the time she complains that Micah is still older (as he always will be, I explain.) She wants to grow up so fast and I still consider her my baby (again, something she has refused for the past 2 years.) (Just like real life, I use a lot of parenthesis in my listening to boring lectures, sometimes sermons, watching bad tv shows, etc. Too many smart comments like a dummy.)
Well, if you are a reader of Trina's blogs, you will know that we are pretty broke right now. This always bums me around birthday time (July-October in this family -- except Trina, the odd-ball (I love you.)) One of the things I was thinking about for Becca's birthday was taking the family out to see Wall-E at the El Capitan, but that won't be happening. In fact, not much will be happening. We had some family over on Sunday to celebrate. Dad made a cake, Trina and Dianne made cupcakes for Extended Session at church earlier. Becca was ecstatic that she got 5 Barbies (3 big, 2 small, 1 elephant.) I wish I could have done more though.
Of course, looking back on my childhood, the highlight of my life was my sixth birthday. My dad and I went for a walk to the mall and I got a radio and cassette deck for my birthday. I was so happy. Then we got back home and a bunch of people from the baseball park (It must have been my 7th birthday... I started playing baseball at 6) and church (I always thought it was 6th... could my mind be playing tricks on me?) were at our house and we had a baseball ice cream cake. But it was simple. I didn't get a lot, but it was a celebration. I learned that it wasn't about stuff, it was about recognition and celebration and getting together. Maybe us being broke and me not being able to spoil my children rotten is a good thing as they will grow up not being materialistic but will take joy in the little things.

I like Trina's gimmick. On substantial post, I'll probably find the verse that sums up the post.

11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:11-13

And come to think of it...

10 gazillion dollars to whoever can tell me where my title comes from.

Ok, maybe not 10 gazillion. Maybe some imaginary ones from the mind of minolta or something.

God's Wonderful News For Your Life

I had the opportunity to preach at another church on Sunday Morning. It was day 3 of their VBS (They ran a Friday, Saturday, Sunday VBS) and the day of the salvation message. Well, I began working on a sermon based off of John 14:6, the key verse for the day. Then God showed me Isaiah 43:1-4. Well, my sermon changed completely. Thought I'd post the sermon here for some bedtime reading:

Good morning. I love Vacation Bible School. Are you enjoying VBS this weekend? I became a Christian at Vacation Bible School when I was in first grade, so it has been one of my passions for years. It always excites me as the summer approaches and it is a little sad as it passes because I love VBS so much.

What is the motto of VBS this week? (Know the Truth, Speak the Truth, Live the Truth.) We are studying this week about living God's unshakeable truth and as I was studying for this sermon, God showed me a truth that I can stand on. It completely changed my idea of what this sermon was going to be, but after all, my words are meaningless without the power of God behind them.

I want to share with you something powerful, something life-changing, something that is such great news that you won't want to walk out of here the same way. That news, that truth, is that God loves you.

Like I mentioned before, I became a Christian at VBS some 26 years ago, and although my decision was real and life-changing, I have often struggled to get out of the way with my ego and intelligence and let God have His way with me. I have lived a defeated life for many years. I struggle with guilt about sin even after asking forgiveness. I beat myself up a lot. I look sometimes and wonder how God can use someone like me who just doesn't get it.

I'm sure that Israel felt the same way. Let's turn in our Bibles to Isaiah, chapter 42, verses 18-25. You'll see here that God calls Israel blind, deaf, disobedient, unreceptive to His messenger, and God was pouring out his furious anger on them. Look at verse 24,

"Who gave Jacob to the robber and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the LORD? Have we not sinned against Him?'

They were not willing to walk in His ways,

And they would not listen to instruction."

Look at what God's response is,

"So [God] poured out on Jacob His furious anger and the power of war.

It surrounded [Jacob] with fire, but he did not know it.

It burned him, but he paid no attention."

God is judging them for their disobedience. And then, the logic of grace steps in. Let's read Isaiah 43:1-4

1 Now this is what the LORD says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel —
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

2 I will be with you
when you pass through the waters,
and [when you pass] through the rivers,
they will not overwhelm you.
You will not be scorched
when you walk through the fire,
and the flame will not burn you.

3 For I the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior,
give Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place.

4 Because you are precious in My sight
and honored, and I love you,
I will give human beings in your place,
and peoples in place of your life.

There are three things I want us to see in this passage about how much God loves us.

First, no matter what we have done in the past, God still wants to have a relationship with us. What we deserve is the full fury of God's anger. What He offers instead is forgiveness. He says that He already called us by His name. There is a scene in Toy Story where the Buzz Lightyear makes a comment about being accepted into the culture because their ruler, Andy, had written his name on Buzz's foot. In the same way, God has written His name on our lives. He made us. He loves us. He wants to be our best friend, our personal God. It doesn't matter if we fall or deserve punishment. Those may come, but God is offering a relationship with us that He will mend up.

And this relationship is stronger than any of our problems.

This leads to our second point. Not only does God want to have a relationship with us no matter of our past, but no matter what we go through in our present, God will be with us. Look at verse 2 again. In the waters, the river or the fire, God will be with us. I like how the Message paraphrase puts this,

"When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.

When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.

When you're in between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end."

Last week, I talked to the children of my church about some of the most depressing times of my life. I told them about how I saw my pet dog get ran over by a car when I was six, how I had to deal with a grandmother dying, how I grieved the closure of an after-school program I was in charge of at our church, how I mourned when my son was diagnosed with autism – times of real mourning and grief. We were talking about the second beatitude, 'blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.' In times of real mourning in my life, God has comforted me in ways that I didn't see coming. He has been there when I lived in between a rock and a hard place. He helped me to not go under the depression. I know, because He has proven Himself faithful in the past, that He keeps His promise. My favorite verse in the Bible, Romans 8:38-39 says,

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,

nor angels nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing

will have the power to separate us

from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!"

This brings us to our third point. Not only does God want a relationship with us despite our past and not only will God be with us through our present, but that no matter what it will cost, God paid to have us back and secure our future. Again, I like how the Message paraphrase says verses 3 and 4:

"Because I am God, your personal God, the Holy of Israel, your Savior.

I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!

That's how much you mean to Me! That's how much I love you!

I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you."

God says that we have redemption. What is redemption?

There is a story about a young boy who made a model sailboat. He worked carefully on it for days and finally finished it. It was beautiful and he couldn't wait to take it out and try it on the creek.

He took the boat out and let it sail. It floated beautifully, but soon got caught in the current and began to rush downstream. He tried to pull it back in but the string broke and the boat raced. He ran and ran and tried to catch up to it but it was no use. He looked all day until the sun went down and couldn't find it.

Two days later, the young boy was walking home from school when he saw a model boat hanging in the window of a pawn shop. The boy got closer and realized that this was his boat. He ran into the shop and said, "That's my boat! I lost it two days ago; can I have it back?"

The shop owner said, "I'm sorry, son, but someone brought it in this morning and I paid for it. If you want it back, you're going to have to buy it."

"How much is it?"

"One dollar."

The little boy ran out of the store and raided his piggy bank. He had exactly one dollar. He returned to the store and bought his boat. On the way out, the boy said, "Now you're my boat twice. I made you and then I bought you."

God made us. We were the apple of His eye, His personal treasure, but we left him and became slaves to sin. At the moment we told God that our way was better than His way, where we disobeyed Him, we became slaves to sin. But God, in his infinite mercy and grace, made a way to buy us back. Romans 5:8 says,

"But God demonstrated His love for us,

in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

I have sinned. Romans 3:23 says that all of us have and according to Romans 6:23, the payment of sin is death. Jesus is saying, "I paid a huge price for you! It wasn't all of creation. It was my own life." My sin says someone must die and that someone is either me or someone who has no sin. Jesus has no sin and He says that He will die for me!

But this doe requires an action on our part. I don't know if you sang the Wiki Wiki song, but it is based off of Romans 10:9, the basis of the ABC's of becoming a Christian. First, you have to admit to God that you have sinned. You have to repent, or make a u-turn and turn from living a life of sin and start walking towards God. Then you have to believe that Jesus is God's son and that He died but came back to life so that we do not have to die. And finally, you have to confess that Jesus is now you boss – what He says goes in your life and that you are allowing Him to make changes in your life.

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And then, there was the closing and they went to the offering contest. The girls won (big surprise in my book.... not! and some guy named Alex got the pie. I told him I sympathized since I have gotten the pie 6 out of the last 8 years.
Well, we went back today to pick up VBS decorations to give to Trina's Aunt and her church and talked to the pastor of the church I preached at. He said that 2 kids talked to the teachers afterwards and told them that they prayed to become Christians. He's getting me the names and addresses so I can send them letters or do whatever. Well, those are the first 2 decisions I've had from the pulpit, so it's cool.

For the past year or so I really have been in a glaze. A funk. Depressed. There have been so many different things which have totally torn me down. I think God showed me Isaiah 42-43 to show me that He still loves me and to get over it because to God, I'm worth more than being in a funk. I'm praying that this is a watershed moment - a turning from living a defeated Christian life to a real one, with my excitement and enthusiasm back to reach kids for Christ. It's been hard to get excited, but I was excited on Sunday. The message was from God because I never would have gone there without His guidance.

BTW, here's a video where they mention the verse shortly before but do an excellent job illustrating the fact that God paid a great price for me.



Pray for my friend and his wife, kid and one on the way. It's not good right now.